Often for me these days I have conflicted feeling about my country. We are engaged in so much folly that it is hard to read the paper without a sense of dread. It is hard, very hard, to study history (as I have to as part of my work and as I love to) without feeling a profound sense of loss and even at times shame seeing how far we are falling away from the firm principle and profound commitments of our founding. So I often arrive at Independence Day finding deep stirrings of patriotism conflicted with current sadness and despair. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Pondering America
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010The Slow Train….and its eventualities (a follow-up)
Saturday, June 26th, 2010As a follow up to my last post, Dick Morris (former Clinton administration advisor turned Republican) played the scenario out as a game of political chicken. It is an interesting article:
The Next Big Crisis: State Bankruptcies
He pegs Judgment Day as 2011. We will see.
Calvin Hanging Out on The Border
Monday, May 17th, 2010Recently, Arizona law makers passed a law that says that police can ask to see a person’s papers if they are suspicious of them being an illegal alien. There has been a firestorm ever since. First, I am generally an advocate of fairly open and easy immigration. If you can get a job and make money here and you will obey the law (and pay taxes), I am for you getting in and having a shot at American freedom. America is full of immigrants. Second, I will admit that I am very concerned when the government makes judgment calls. I worry about the abuse of power and could see bad things coming from a law like this—were it abused. I generally think that the police (in general) do the best job of making discretionary decisions (Shall I compare thee to Congress?), but I could see how an overzealous policeman could stir up trouble with this law. So, for the record, so far I have real ambivalent feelings about this law. (more…)
The Issue
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010At present, THE issue of our day politically has been or is being crystallized in places like Greece. THE question we face is whether we will reduce the promises and entitlement that we presently have or whether we will cling to our entitlements and be content to incessantly steal from each other. The choices are clear—embrace reality or cling to the fantasy. If we do not change our ways and even come to terms with the fact that we have made promises that we obviously cannot keep, we will perish as a free people (maybe we already have). This is not a prophetic utterance—any simple glance at a rudimentary spreadsheet will confirm the fact that we have embraced a view of life that is fantasy. The silver lining has now worn off the clouds.
One Good Thought After Another Part #2
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010The next great article that I read was Jonah Goldberg’s “A Knife in Obama’s Back?” Which points out that the Obama administration has fallen into such abject hubris that only Rahm Emanuel is Obama’s only tether to reality. (When Rahm Emanuel is your tether to reality you have a deep problem.) This is the second part of the Carter administration and it is terrible to watch. Here is the article:
http://article.nationalreview.com/426684/a-knife-in-obamas-back/jonah-goldberg
Healthcare Summit
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010Today, our President and Republican leaders met to discuss healthcare. (Remember, the President was going to focus on jobs—not healthcare—but that was two weeks ago.) I watched a little of it after work today. Here are few observations. The Republicans are well served by any event that contrasts their view of this with the Democrats. The Right does well when contrasts are clear and it is becoming crystal clear on this issue. This issue, however, is just the tip of the ice berg. The real issue will the government be our care taker or will we care for ourselves. Americans, even when we have given into this in so many areas of life, don’t like to affirm it. Many have come the to the conclusion (and rightfully so) that the government is irresponsible—promising entitlements that it cannot provide sustainably. (more…)
Notes from the Cave (Part 4—Last Part)
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010As a reminder: This is the final part of a series based on my recent illness ramblings. Start with #1 for the context.
Note #4: We are NOT ready as a people to make good decision about the future!
If the future is up in the air in the next four years, we should take stock (carefully) of where we are as a nation. Assuming that we are willing to reject a vision of the future in which the government rules over our personal and national economies, where will we go from there? My sense is that we are NOT ready to make either the commitments or the changes necessary to change our country back into a land where freedom and responsibility can and will dwell together. Here are a few of the fault lines where we are apt to fail: (more…)
Notes from the Cave (Part 3)
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010As a reminder: This is part 3 of a series based on my recent illness ramblings. Start with #1 for the context.
Note #3: The Differences Dividing Us are Real and We are Approaching a Jumping Off Point
Sometimes one can be overwhelmed by the drivel in our political discourse. Sometimes it is hard to see differences between the parties. With some of the issues coming down the road now, however, the differences are stark and imagining compromise between them is difficult. (more…)
