Comments on: Just Tell Me Why

By: steve

steve — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 03:59:24 +0000

Well said. Deserves to be a NYT Op Ed.

By: john

john — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:50:44 +0000

Well I have pondered this bit of Republican wisdom for a couple of days. At first I thought I’d respond by pointing out the facts, after all it’s perfectly valid to argue for more military spending and less domestic spending. That’s part of what I’d call centrist Republicanism. But the same people making this argument, are comfortable with a future Attorney General who, when asked whether waterboarding is unconstitutional, says “if it amounts to torture, it is not constitutional” But then refuses to say whether it is torture ( good old NPR finally wakes up and points out that American soldiers have been prosecuted as long ago as the Spanish American War for waterboarding, and it has long been considered a war crime under the Geneva Convention.) Then when asked if the President can authorize people to disobey the law, says “The president is not putting somebody above the law; the president is putting somebody within the law,” and “The president doesn’t stand above the law. But the law emphatically includes the Constitution.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/washington/19mukasey.html

Without going into a long argument, it is obvious that there is a total lack of consistency among Republicans on fundamental constitutional issues. Indeed, in spite of their ’small government’ stance they support near-total Presidential power.

So why do good people support them?

After all the caveats about right-wing media control, silly fear of terrorism, American naiveté, the failure of the vast majority of people to keep themselves informed, and so on, I think it comes down to tribalism.

Jimmy Carter: too whiny not a Big Chief
Ronald Reagan: firm and sunny, no troubling doubts, Head Man

see http://www.jawfish.net/wp/memes-ideas-that-reverberate/

By: steve

steve — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 23:49:34 +0000

pathetic.

By: john

john — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:06:06 +0000

so the same person sends me this:

“Subject: Difference Between a Republican and a Democrat
Fred Thompson and Hillary were walking down the street when they came to a homeless person. The Republican, Fred Thompson, gave the homeless person his business card and told him to come to his office for a job. He then took $20 out of his pocket and gave it to the homeless person.

Hillary was very impressed, so when they came to another homeless person, she decided to help. She walked over to the homeless person and gave him directions to the welfare office. She then reached into Thompson’s pocket and got out $20. She kept $15 for her administrative fees and gave the homeless person $5..

Now, do you understand the difference”

I understand this to mean Dems rely on welfare paid for by rich people, and Republicans rely on job creation by rich people, and that 75% of welfare goes to administrative fees. Since the original welfare was part of the New Deal, and was entirely about job creation, and since our current welfare is essentially a Republican system of return to work for mothers with dependent children, it doesn’t make much sense. It is true that Democrats are generally in favor of a more progressive income tax. But maybe there is an insight into his views?

By: Barbara

Barbara — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 21:48:57 +0000

This post pretty much sums up the frustrations of the liberals/progressives I know. I can’t even talk to my best friend of 33 years anymore. Her husband is a retired-after-30 years Navy SEAL who still works as a civil servant doing pretty much what he did while in the Navy (thank goodness he didn’t go to work for Blackwater; believe me, they tried to recruit him). We have never seen eye to eye on politics, but never before have I not been able to overlook our differences in favor of friendship. Her opinion is that W does all the things he does regarding Iraq, etc. because of all this secret info the public is not privy to, and is unflagging in her support of him. It’s sickening to me and I realize that I no longer know or respect her. It’s sad that 7 years of W has turned so many Americans against one another. It will be many years of cleaning up his mess, if that is even possible. After all, Iran is just around the corner.

By: john

john — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 16:37:55 +0000

Well I didn’t mention “Whats the Matter with Kansas” which talks about the issue of why people vote against their own interests. I have also written a bit about the tribal effect, where humans are evolved to live in kinship units, yet are thrust into the vast and complex modern world. So we often obey instincts which are not suited to our actual situation. I think this explains the Ronald Reagan phenomenon, but mass hysteria is also possible.

There really is a person who triggered this post, and my guess is he has a kind of tribal-elder feeling about Republicans, and maybe I do too about Democrats ( not Hillary! ). But I don’t think so in my case.

By: steve

steve — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:38:07 +0000

If you get an answer — any answer at all — please share it with us as another post.

I had a similar conversation with someone in 2004 and ran into the same blank wall.

It seems as though climate change may not be the only sense in which we are like the proverbial frog in a warming pot of water.