The Ideological Thing
Thursday, December 23, 2004, 01:54 PM - Politics
A couple of post down asked the question about Bush's "ideological thing". Here's an old article by Jonathan Rauch looking at the comparison between Bush and FDR. Definitely worth the read.

In a guest post on Andrew Sullivan, Reihan Sallam talks about the "ideology of self-reliance" (which included the link to Rauch's article). There are a bunch of links there that also are worth pursuing to get at this issue.


Class War
Monday, November 15, 2004, 02:29 PM - Politics
I've been doing a lot of carpentry in the new apartment lately.

I've been working with the team on a new online publication lately.

I just read Richard Florida's Creative Class War essay at the Washington Monthly.

A couple of quotes that struck:
The last 20 years has seen the rise of the "culture wars"--between those who value traditional virtues, and others drawn to new lifestyles and diversity of opinion.

Clinton was a famous world traveler, appreciative of foreign cultures and ideas. Bush, throughout his life, has been indifferent if not hostile to all of that. ...Clinton, in his rhetoric and policies, wanted to bring the gifts of the creative class--high technology, a tolerant culture--to the hinterlands. Bush aimed to bring the values and economic priorities of the hinterlands to that ultimate creative center, Washington, D.C.
There is something terribly amiss in all of this. I have a bunch of questions jumbled up in my mind, and I just feel that if they were put together properly, sense would come of it.

- Much of the work of the Creative Class is information manipulation - more movies, more games, more privacy tracking - but to what end?
- Isn't there something wrong that our major export is entertainment and ideas and that the engine of our economy is non-essential consumer spending?
- Why don't the anti-globalization folks support the traditional virtues and values of parochial cultures?
- Why don't I get the same satisfaction from a completed software project that I get from my new bookcases?
- For that matter, why am I a memebr of the Creative Class because I manage technology, but not because I build beautiful bookcases?

There's a plethora of others, yet they all seem to boil down to there being something about tangible product and tangible work and tangible fulfillment that's missing in the conversation.


Faith & Politics
Monday, November 15, 2004, 10:14 AM - Politics
It's one thing to disagree with the politics of the other side. When Reagan won and Newt Gingrich won, I was concerned because of their political agendas but I was not concerned that the process was in jeopardy.

With this administration, I am concerned that the process is in jeopardy. Bush and his core constituency believe that Bush is following a calling that is higher than the mere words of man. I fear that he, and they, will morph his role from that of President into that of Prelate.

It's this sense that I take away from a story such as this from the AP via the Seattle Post Intelligencer:
Federal judges are jeopardizing national security by issuing rulings contradictory to President Bush's decisions on America's obligations under international treaties and agreements, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Friday.
It's one thing to chatise the free speech of others. It's another thing to call into question a foundation of our system of government which, in this case, is an independent judiciary. Ashcroft's words seem to come from a place where the speech of the Chosen One is sacrosanct and that questionings are punishable heresy.

I'm a-feared that this means that all the rules of man are subject to recall. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are quaint pieces of paper in the face of Bush's beliefs and the beliefs of his supporters.


Reality
Friday, November 12, 2004, 06:02 PM - Politics
Fascinating. It's been only a month or so since the Susskind piece in the NY Times, where the administration hack chastises "us" for being part of the reality-based community, and there are over 8 million hits on google for the phrase.

And masterful. We are now defining ourselves in their terms.

The irony is in that hoary question of liberal relativism: what is reality?


Moral values
Friday, November 12, 2004, 01:30 PM - Politics
Much is being written about the impact of moral values on the recent American voting. The term moral values is taking on, of course, specific political meaning, that being the moral values of conservative Christians.

When all said and done, I voted for Kerry because of what I consider to be moral values. Tolerance is a moral value. Inclusion is a moral value. Respect for others' beliefs is a moral value. Beating swords into ploughshares is a moral issue. Supporting the weak against the predations of the strong is a moral issue. Protecting all life, not just human life, is a moral issue.

So, again, the conservative Christians have co-opted morality for their political ends. But that in no way makes them moral.


Blogging
Tuesday, November 9, 2004, 03:41 PM - Politics
Two cogent takes on the good and bad of election blogging:
But the ability to transmit words, we learned during the Citizens Band radio fad of the 70’s, does not mean that any knowledge is being passed along. One of the verdicts rendered by election night 2004 is that, given their lack of expertise, standards and, yes, humility, the chances of the bloggers replacing mainstream journalism are about as good as the parasite replacing the dog it fastens on.
Blogging As Typing, Not Journalism

But Craig Newmark, of craigslist, said the challenge for blogs and social-networking sites is to find a way to get the millions of people they attract to go beyond the echo chamber of the Internet.
Blogs Counter Political Plottings



Homegrown Terror
Tuesday, November 9, 2004, 03:22 PM - Politics
An interesting observation on the locus of terror:
Ashcroft's Justice Department has shown almost no interest in what was, until the calamitous events of September 11, the primary domestic terrorism threat--the white nationalist, anti-government militia movement and its corollaries with theocratically driven terrorism, primarily abortion-related assassinations and bombings. ...

Apart from the one-off attack in September 2001 by 19 young foreigners, most of them Saudis, the country's most deeply entrenched and most persistent domestic terrorist threat has come from within its own borders and at the hands of its own citizens. It would be folly to believe that the American terrorist underground, after 15 years of sustained and bloody action, has somehow just given up and disappeared.
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
On one hand, the point is taken that the current administration in particular doesn't want to alienate the passions of the domestic right-wing by coming down on activists, even those in the extreme. On the other, past administrations haven't done a lot with this. Also, it is disingenuous to dismiss the 1993 WTC bombing and the terrorist attacks globally.



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