July 4, 2004

  • For some good reading, check out The Daily Howler’s dissection of some media criticisms of Fahrenheit/911. I haven’t yet seen the movie (or any Michael Moore show for that matter), but I look forward to it.

    The state politics list has recently been talking about Minnesota based political web logs. I haven’t had a chance to start reading a bunch of them, but here’s a short list of some that I intend to look at when I have the chance:

    I also intend to check out some of the links on http://www.fraterslibertas.com, including Mitch Berg’s Shot in the Dark – A good place to find the regional conservative viewpoint of things.

    I should make it clear that I do not endorse any of these web logs. I may find I agree with some of what some of them have to say, but from what I’ve seen, I’ll also disagree with a fair amount of it. So why read them?

    While in a day to day fashion we (humans, Americans, Minnesotans, etc.) may be petty, greedy and selfish. We commit all sorts of sins and make a wide variety of mistakes. However, I do believe that ultimately most of us want the world to be a good place where everyone can exist. A place where our children have better, safer, freer lives than we did.

    But everyone looks at the same basic problem from a different perspective and comes up with different solutions. Some of these solutions are simply unacceptable to me (such as the Project For The New American Century or the concept that the way to ensure gay rights is to pressure them to not be gay).

    It is too easy to become a fascist of your own beliefs – to have your philosophy become your religion and your efforts become your crusade. Convert or die! To develop a better approach, I believe that we need to know and understand the opinions and concerns of everyone who would exist in our ideal world – which, unless we propose mass slaughter, would be everyone.

    It may even be possible that, in considering a viewpoint that initially seems wrong, that one may suddenly see the problem in a new light and change one’s own mind.

    In any case, similar to the “War on Terror”, a war of ideals can not be won by killing the opposition. It can not be won by forcing the opposition to submit to your will. It can only be won by creating a vision that the opposition can become a part of. That will be accomplished by a combination of convincing them to change their minds and making sure that what you offer is broad enough to accommodate a reasonable range of differences.

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    As much as I claim that we need to focus on what we want to build rather than what we oppose, I can’t resist sharing the following…

    I was answering a survey the other day which asked me the following:
    In your own words, why do you believe things in the country are off on the wrong track?

    This question can not be answered so easily. What follows were simply the things that came to mind without much thought, but they are a starting point for deeper discussion:

    • In general, I think that representative Democracy is broken by an corporatist two party system that are two faces of the same coin. I think we need to restructure elections (using a system such as Instant Runoff Voting) and look seriously at campaign financing reform. (although I don’t have a good suggestion of what way to turn)
    • I think we need to stop looking at corporations as anything more than a contract between two or more people to do business together. A contract can not fund candidates, a contract doesn’t have rights, a contract doesn’t own property or have liability – the people behind the contract do.
    • I think we need to realize that we are only 4% of the world and if we truly believe in Democracy, we should realize that we don’t have the right to enforce our will on anybody outside our borders – we should participate in world politics the same way we expect our citizens to participate in local politics.
    • I think we need to remove parentalistic and consensual crime laws. I think we need to end the war on drugs. I think we need to end the war on terror – You fight an idea by convincing people not to hold it, not by killing them and driving them further into it.
    • I think we need to start using renewable energy sources and cease using imported and fossil fuels. This is critical.
    • I think the media, in general, should be fired. I think that lying, deception, or distortion in anything involving political or economic choices should be considered fraud and that every decision maker who approved the distortion should face criminal penalties.
    • I think that teachers should be paid a lot more and be given the tools and resources they need to do one of the most important jobs our country has. If this is not possible, I believe we should end the farce that we call “public education” (this needs a lot more explaining, but I believe is a core issue)
    • I think that our courts need to limit frivolous law suits and suit settlements, and that medical care needs to be made more accessable and affordable in some way.
    • A great deal more, but at this point I decided not to finish the survey…

    Anyway, that was a quick run down that is by no means comprehensive (many important subjects are missed) and is not well explained or reasoned.

    Hopefully in the near future I will be able to start digging deeper into some of the individual points.

    One of the great challenges I believe we face is that for either Democracy or Capitalism to work in a healthy manner, we have to have an active, informed, involved community. We do not. I believe that part of the problem is media and another part is education, but it is probably more complex than that. How does one address this issue without falling into the classic liberal contempt for the masses? For a humorous look at this issue, check out The Onion.

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    Daisy Cutter is playing at the Red Sea in Minneapolis July 11th and 30th. Yes, I know I need to update the website.

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