My son (17) is out tonight with his girlfriend
and her mom. Wonderful people, liberal as they come. I've talked a couple of
times with the GF, who has expressed to me a concern that she might offend me if
she shared her political views with me. She deems me perhaps a right-wing
knuckle-dragger, much given to the taking of umbrage. I am in the military
after all - what else might one
expect?
I don't know that I really am
all that conservative - I like to think of myself as being more of a
libertarian, with a slight conservative bent, but unchained by the orthodoxies
of either political camp. I took one of those on line
tests a few months back that basically confirmed that, on a four axis
chart.
So anyway, my wandered on the
ride home this afternoon on what format a political discussion with the GF and
her mom might take. The great fear of course, is that we'll get to talking in
general terms and pretty quickly it will degenerate into a name calling session.
There seems to be so little give and take these days, all of the barricades are
manned and the fields in the middle are
mined.
Unlike the USENET, where calling
someone a Nazi theoretically wins the argument for the other side , it's
somewhat more difficult when face to face to let something like that slide,
especially with domestic tranquility at risk. So anyway, I started to mentally
categorize my beliefs, for posterity
:
I believe that human life is
sacred.
I believe that democracy is the
worst possible form of government, except for all the
others.
I believe that liberals are
builders, and conservatives are defenders. I believe that both are
important.
I believe that government's
primary functions should be to defend the borders and deliver the mail in a
timely fashion. Everything else is pretty much discretionary, open to debate and
subject to revision. People don't really want to be governed, but they need to
be. Still, I believe that government is best which governs
least.
I believe freedom is more
important than equality. If the only way to make things more equal is to reduce
freedom, I'm not interested. Human nature being what it is, equality will have
to be enforced, while freedom will have to be defended. I'd rather be a defender
than an enforcer.
I believe that taxes
are a necessary evil. The fact that they are necessary should not obscure the
fact that they are evil. You work to provide for your family, and the government
asks a share of the bread wrung from the sweat of your brow. Societies have
responsibilities, but only because they collectively choose to. There
is a
social contract in effect: We do owe our less advantaged brothers and sisters
the chance to pull themselves up out of the mire. But they owe it to us to take
that chance.
I believe that the
taxation system is fundamentally coercive: It may be your money, you have earned
it through your labor, but if you don't pay, eventually a man with a gun will
show up at your doorstep and take you away.
I believe in
privacy.
I believe in
charity.
I believe in
virtue.
I believe that charity is a
private virtue.
I believe in personal
responsibility.
I believe that choices
are actions, and that actions have consequences. If you didn't pick up on this
growing up, you weren't paying attention.
I believe that a market economy offers
the best opportunity to live a good life to the most number of people. If you
believe differently, I'd like to see your
analysis.
I believe that if I choose
to work hard in high school to get to a good college, work hard at my career in
pursuit of a better life for my family, and save money for my retirement, that
shouldn't make me a piggy bank to plunder for those who didn't make those
choices. If you choose to teach or "help people," because that's important to
you, you shouldn't be surprised if the market disfavors those choices in favor
of those who actually make tangible things for other folks to buy. That's what
markets do, and ours is a market economy. You should be content instead with
the non-remunerative rewards of your chosen field.
I believe that if everyone took
responsibility for those people and those things that they can directly impact
(family comes to mind, friends and neighbors come next), that the world would be
a far better place. Think globally, act
family.
I believe it's time for another
beer.
I believe in
sin.
I believe that envy is a
sin.
I believe some people
should
be ashamed.
I believe that abortion is
a sin. I am not sure it should be a crime, because I know that my beliefs are
based on a religious philosophy, and not everyone shares that philosophy. My
philosophy does not require them to.
I
believe that legislatures should legislate, executives should execute, and
judiciaries should interpret.
I
believe that what any of the three branches of government usurp the role of one
of the others we have ins some measure ceased to be that which we were
justifiably proud of having been - a glorious experiment in personal liberty by
self-government which is not yet demonstrably and finally a
success.
I believe that Roe v.
Wade was poorly found. I do not think judges should emanate
into the penumbra. I find nothing in the Constitution that permits them to do
so.
Notwithstanding the preceding, I
believe in stare decisis.
I
believe that the principal element in "the freedom of choice" should involve
keeping one's knees together. Get that one right, everything else falls into
place.
I believe that humanity is not a
birthright, but a testable proposition. Notwithstanding my belief that human
life is sacred, I believe that society has the right to defend itself against
people who commit horrible crimes, and punish them proportionately. I believe
that right includes the ultimate sanction. I believe that there are those who
look like us that are not of
us, who by their acts of inhumanity have
proven that they are not human in that fundamental way that separates us from
other mammals. I shed no tears when vicious murderers are put down,
pour encourager les
autres.
I
believe that the DH rule spoils the
game.
I believe that not all change is
progress.
I believe in the law of
unintended consequences.
I believe in
learning from those who went
before. Quo
desiderat pacem, para bellum
I believe in
passion.
I believe that rational
analysis will always win in an argument with passionate
beliefs.
I believe that wrestling with
pigs is counterproductive. You just get dirty, and the pig enjoys
it.
I believe that people of good will
may disagree. I believe the other guy often has a point. I think he probably got
there through a valid process. I don't believe that disagreeing with him
necessarily makes me a bad person. I believe that anyone who truly believes that
it does is not worth arguing with. If you don't agree, please see preceding
belief.
Posted @
08:41 PM
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Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." - John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Ceasar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friederich Nietzsche
