7.21.2004
a few points
So I'm driving back to Boston when I'm cut off by a black Mercedes bearing the enigmatic model mark 543 D (I've looked it up everywhere; can't find it). This luxurious car is being piloted by a big, beefy man in a crisp white shirt who looks over at me as he passes and puffs a huge puff on his monster cigar. I check out the license plate: New York (of course), TAX•PLNR. Sir, I hope you are unsatisfied with your materialistic life.
There was a nice debate on NPR about "values" and what it means now that both the Republicans and Democrats are insisting (loudly) that they have values. It seems that Republican "values" are faith, family, and the constitutional right to have the government butt out of your business. I'll amend that by also saying that there's the constitutional right for the government to step in to shove your agenda down someone else's throat, ala the Constitutional amendment defining marriage as monogamous heterosexual. Democratic "values" on the other hand are the Poor Richard's axioms: pull yourself up by your bootstraps, work hard and be free, and be socially responsible, even when it means giving up some of your income so that the less fortunate can live decent lives. Democratic "values" include supporting welfare, even when its recipients don't work for it, making it easier to distribute the morning after pill in schools without parental consent, and allowing abortion-clinic assisted murder.
I'm on the fence for many of these and, before anyone gets angry, I'm also taking the devil's advocate position for many of these. It's just interesting that "values" can mean such different things to two disparate groups who are about to argue exactly over the issue of who's got more values, better values, or stronger values. At the beginning of high school debates, we'd always go over a definition of the terms over which we would be debating, just to make sure we had it right. That might be a useful process if what we're after is a debate about where this country should be going. But that's not what each party wants, the Republicans want to scare Americans into thinking that the liberals and their aging-hippie friends are leading to the moral degeneration of this great nation. And the Democrats are trying to convince people that freedom and liberty are just as valid as the more recognizable "good-old values" of church and apple pie. I don't think that Republicans are anti-heathen, and I certainly don't think that Democrats are anti-pie (just look at Ted Kennedy), but I think that there's good money to be made in opening the divide, if only because it'll help you get elected.
There was a nice debate on NPR about "values" and what it means now that both the Republicans and Democrats are insisting (loudly) that they have values. It seems that Republican "values" are faith, family, and the constitutional right to have the government butt out of your business. I'll amend that by also saying that there's the constitutional right for the government to step in to shove your agenda down someone else's throat, ala the Constitutional amendment defining marriage as monogamous heterosexual. Democratic "values" on the other hand are the Poor Richard's axioms: pull yourself up by your bootstraps, work hard and be free, and be socially responsible, even when it means giving up some of your income so that the less fortunate can live decent lives. Democratic "values" include supporting welfare, even when its recipients don't work for it, making it easier to distribute the morning after pill in schools without parental consent, and allowing abortion-clinic assisted murder.
I'm on the fence for many of these and, before anyone gets angry, I'm also taking the devil's advocate position for many of these. It's just interesting that "values" can mean such different things to two disparate groups who are about to argue exactly over the issue of who's got more values, better values, or stronger values. At the beginning of high school debates, we'd always go over a definition of the terms over which we would be debating, just to make sure we had it right. That might be a useful process if what we're after is a debate about where this country should be going. But that's not what each party wants, the Republicans want to scare Americans into thinking that the liberals and their aging-hippie friends are leading to the moral degeneration of this great nation. And the Democrats are trying to convince people that freedom and liberty are just as valid as the more recognizable "good-old values" of church and apple pie. I don't think that Republicans are anti-heathen, and I certainly don't think that Democrats are anti-pie (just look at Ted Kennedy), but I think that there's good money to be made in opening the divide, if only because it'll help you get elected.
