This column originally appeared in the Williston Observer on December 18, 2008.
The tenets of my liberalism
When I hear my children praise Barack Obama and spout some traditionally liberal values, I smile inwardly, but I often find myself presenting them with the conservative viewpoint on the issue or making sure I debunk the rhetoric. My daughter, now learning the fine points of forensics, often catches me in this, repeating her lessons that one of the best way to bolster your side of a debate is to know the arguments of the other side.
While this is true, my bigger point in illuminating the counterargument is to make sure that when my kids are exposed to ideas, they are exposed to a wide array of ideas; not only so that they can anticipate the "other side", but so that they can explore all sides, and make up their own mind about what side they fall on, in any issue.
I have to think that all the exposure to knowledge that my own parents gave to me and my siblings was to that end. Not to make us personal ideology clones of themselves, but to give us each the ability to form that ideology on our own.
I hope that was their goal, because if they wanted clones, that's not what they got. Given a political spectrum, my siblings and I are spread all over. And as I look beyond my sibling to my cousins, the same pattern holds true -- from politics to religion to food to music, we all have the same roots, but we have all spread out like branches on a tree.
For a tree to flourish, it must be fed, and likewise so must the flourishing of an ideology be nourished with ideas.
---
I think there are two main points of contention between today's American liberal and today's American conservative. These points on which our views pivot are social justice and personal liberty.
To ensure social justice, we must have a strong government that has a role in ensuring that justice is maintained. Generally, conservatives feel that government is best kept to a minimum. Liberals aren't the opposite - we don't think that more government is better. Instead, we feel that in many cases, government is the best equipped entity to solve some problems.
Some of the best and most helpful social safety net programs, be they food stamps, Medicaid, or Medicare and Social Security, were all started to tackle problems too big for individuals to tackle themselves, too necessary to be left to the vagaries of philanthropy.
It was only through a strong federal government that we were able to see the dreams of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King come to fruition in the racist South. No one can today, with a straight face, insist that this exercise of government power, to ensure social justice, was an abuse of that power.
Conservatives tend to oppose most government regulation of business. By contrast, liberals don't support regulation for the sake of regulation, but we know that left to its own devices, business would only look out for itself. Whether it is environmental protection, worker protection, or consumer protection, it may be true that the market would eventually cull the bad apples, but not before true harm is done. Better, we feel, to regulate industry from the start.
Paradoxically, liberals want government to stay out of our personal business even as it is a strong advocate of social justice. To me, the most stable government, the strongest economy, the mightiest military, all mean nothing if we do not have our personal liberties. All of the former are there to protect and promote the latter.
While it is probably a truism that to have perfect liberty we must also have perfect insecurity, today's conservatives, exemplified by President George Bush and his cronies, are willing to trade liberty for security at an unacceptable ratio.
Liberty and security can coexist, but liberty must always take priority. If it does not, the drive for security will overwhelm the drive for liberty, until that which security was meant to protect is gone.
---
Labels can change. The Republican of Lincoln's time bears little resemblance to the Republican of today. Today's Democrat would cringe ashamedly at the racist rantings of Dixiecrats. We can't always count on labels.
What we can count on, this year, into the next year, and beyond, is that by discussing our differences, by exposing our ideas, we will find common ground. It is there, in the common ground, that progress is made.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
November - thanks tempered by fear
This column originally appeared in the Williston Observer on December 4, 2008.
November - thanks tempered by fear
It was one heck of a November. There was simultaneously much to be thankful for and much to be fearful of.
In the former category, for me and the majority of the the rest of the voting population, the election of Barack Obama has let us all breathe a collective sigh of relief. Demonstrating restraint and respect, Obama continues to abide by the truism that "we have one president at a time," and hence refused to meet with G-20 leaders in Washington in mid-November.
At the same time, however, he is not wasting a single moment in trying to shore up the ailing American economy, choosing economic advisers whom he feels will best be able to guide him and us through the next financial year. Results have been mixed, with Wall Street responding favorably one day, but taking a hit the next.
To the relief of retail managers throughout the area, reports from the local media noted that retailers were pleased with sales over the past week, which bodes well for the season. As Chittenden County goes, so goes the nation?
With positive retail sales, and a $200 billion kick from the Treasury Secretary to get banks lending again, brokers in New York and around the world may have something positive to hang their hats on, and hence a reason to buy, or advise others to do so.
The price of oil, the bane of our existence a scant six months ago, has moved into bearable territory of late. That, of course, means bad news for the OPEC nations, and plans to cut production to raise prices have been discussed. Cheating, however, is rampant, which is good news for oil consumers.
Even with the price of gasoline down significantly - under $2! - we may have locked ourselves into a pattern of decreased usage, a trend which could help our pocketbooks, as well as our environment, in the long run.
The lower prices have also helped some of those who need it most. While the decision to drive can be helped by conservation - by good planning and combining destinations, for example - some uses of fuel have no viable alternative. I'm writing specifically of home heating.
There were those who feared actual fatalities from people freezing to death in their homes from want of fuel. The decline in the price of oil has meant, however, that heating oil is more affordable than it was feared it would be. Lower prices, paired with an increase in the federal subsidy, could allow the Vermont fuel assistance program to help over 7000 households instead of last year's 6100.
Locally, the month of November was a productive one for our schools. Between the book fair, parent conferences, and five Frameworks Committee meetings, good works were done for the children of our town.
Personally, I'm thankful for the advent of December, as that means the near end of holiday shopping. My wife is not one to put things off, and on November 30th, we were able to put the finishing touches on this season's economy-bolstering gift-buying.
The end of November also allowed me to put the finishing touches on a 50,000-word novel, for the third year in a row. I may write more about that some other time, but for now, suffice it to say that writing so much in a month makes a busy month even busier.
As for the latter category, those things to be fearful of, the economy is no where near back from the brink, and it seems the littlest thing could set it atumble.
The Big Three auto companies, in trying to scare Congress into fronting it billions of dollars, only seemed to manage to make people wary of buying from them.
Terrorism continues to plague the world - with India its latest victim, the threat of a regional nuclear war again raises its ugly head.
And in one way, it seems we are back in the 18th century, as the crews of ships in the Gulf of Aden and the rest of littoral Somalia, who want to do no more than deliver their cargoes and see their families again, have to contend with pirates.
In closing, and on the lighter side, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin continued to show up in the news, to the particular detriment of Alaskan turkeys. And worse, the Patriots may not be able to buy their way into the playoffs this year. Woe is New England.
November - thanks tempered by fear
It was one heck of a November. There was simultaneously much to be thankful for and much to be fearful of.
In the former category, for me and the majority of the the rest of the voting population, the election of Barack Obama has let us all breathe a collective sigh of relief. Demonstrating restraint and respect, Obama continues to abide by the truism that "we have one president at a time," and hence refused to meet with G-20 leaders in Washington in mid-November.
At the same time, however, he is not wasting a single moment in trying to shore up the ailing American economy, choosing economic advisers whom he feels will best be able to guide him and us through the next financial year. Results have been mixed, with Wall Street responding favorably one day, but taking a hit the next.
To the relief of retail managers throughout the area, reports from the local media noted that retailers were pleased with sales over the past week, which bodes well for the season. As Chittenden County goes, so goes the nation?
With positive retail sales, and a $200 billion kick from the Treasury Secretary to get banks lending again, brokers in New York and around the world may have something positive to hang their hats on, and hence a reason to buy, or advise others to do so.
The price of oil, the bane of our existence a scant six months ago, has moved into bearable territory of late. That, of course, means bad news for the OPEC nations, and plans to cut production to raise prices have been discussed. Cheating, however, is rampant, which is good news for oil consumers.
Even with the price of gasoline down significantly - under $2! - we may have locked ourselves into a pattern of decreased usage, a trend which could help our pocketbooks, as well as our environment, in the long run.
The lower prices have also helped some of those who need it most. While the decision to drive can be helped by conservation - by good planning and combining destinations, for example - some uses of fuel have no viable alternative. I'm writing specifically of home heating.
There were those who feared actual fatalities from people freezing to death in their homes from want of fuel. The decline in the price of oil has meant, however, that heating oil is more affordable than it was feared it would be. Lower prices, paired with an increase in the federal subsidy, could allow the Vermont fuel assistance program to help over 7000 households instead of last year's 6100.
Locally, the month of November was a productive one for our schools. Between the book fair, parent conferences, and five Frameworks Committee meetings, good works were done for the children of our town.
Personally, I'm thankful for the advent of December, as that means the near end of holiday shopping. My wife is not one to put things off, and on November 30th, we were able to put the finishing touches on this season's economy-bolstering gift-buying.
The end of November also allowed me to put the finishing touches on a 50,000-word novel, for the third year in a row. I may write more about that some other time, but for now, suffice it to say that writing so much in a month makes a busy month even busier.
As for the latter category, those things to be fearful of, the economy is no where near back from the brink, and it seems the littlest thing could set it atumble.
The Big Three auto companies, in trying to scare Congress into fronting it billions of dollars, only seemed to manage to make people wary of buying from them.
Terrorism continues to plague the world - with India its latest victim, the threat of a regional nuclear war again raises its ugly head.
And in one way, it seems we are back in the 18th century, as the crews of ships in the Gulf of Aden and the rest of littoral Somalia, who want to do no more than deliver their cargoes and see their families again, have to contend with pirates.
In closing, and on the lighter side, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin continued to show up in the news, to the particular detriment of Alaskan turkeys. And worse, the Patriots may not be able to buy their way into the playoffs this year. Woe is New England.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)