Absolutism

Bill Clinton, whether you like him or not (and I do not particularly like him) once said something profound that has stuck with me. He said “Conservatives seek to draw lines that should never be crossed. Liberals seek to erase lines that should never have been drawn.” I always thought that was a great analogy for the tension between right and left. Every human being has a code. Every human being has a sense of right and wrong. The problem is that each person’s view of right and wrong is just a little different than ever other person’s.

There are absolutes in nature: pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter and it never changes; the force of gravity on Earth is 32 feet/second squared. But when it comes to human behavior, we have never agreed on what is right and what is wrong. You can say murder is wrong, but for a child growing up in a primitive warrior society like the Vikings it was not just okay but expected that one kill and be killed.

Now, you can say “MY code is from God so it is both absolute and right.” But that is just another level of subjectivity because there is no agreement on who God is or what he demands. Everyone has a sense of right and wrong, and the first step to being a good person is following your conscience. But the second essential step to being a good person is recognizing that just because someone else does not follow your code, they are not “wrong.”

Every human being has a code and almost every human being tries to do what they think is right. In 19th century Virginia, blacks were forbidden to learn to read and write. Now is that the kind of line that should never be crossed or should have never been drawn? Many localities forbid dancing, or the sale of alcohol. Are those absolutes? I think you would say that rape, or child molestation, is absolutely wrong, and I would agree with you; and yet the Ten Commandments, which says flatly thou shalt not kill, makes no mention of rape or child abuse.

Some people consider “compromise” a dirty word, and yet compromise is the way American government and society functions. Following your conscience is necessary, but moral absolutism, when you measure everyone else by your code, is what grinds the gears of civility to a halt because it makes people self-righteous and closed. I believe we need to accept rather than dismiss other perspectives and not be so quick to create “enemies lists” of everything we hate and disapprove of.

Forcing Trump to Resign?

Interesting if true.

The Palmer Report just released an interesting opinion piece.

To summarize, he is saying some Democrats have hatched a plan to sue Trump over his conflicts of interests. This would allow them to subpoena his financial records, which he wants to keep hidden. If they are successful, Trump will have to release records that will paint him in a terrible light, or resign in order to keep them hidden. A very nice rock and a hard place!

Right v. Left

I grew up a Southern Baptist conservative. My first presidential vote was for Reagan. Then I voted Libertarian for a couple of cycles. I voted for Ross Perot when he ran, though in hindsight that was probably a bad idea. Then Nader. I voted for Obama twice because his sense of idealism resonated with me. (Had the 2008 race been McCain v Hillary I probably would have voted for McCain.) I voted for Hillary this last cycle only because it was the closest thing to an Obama 3rd term. lol. And of course because I thought Trump would be an unmitigated disaster, which he is proving to be. My political views are civil libertarian, socially liberal, and fiscally moderate. I believe that the free market works, but it has no soul, so government can and must intervene to regulate where it is needed, and to provide help for our citizens who need it. I think government when it is serving the public interest is a force for good, but government can also become an unchecked cancer on the body politic. I believe it is human nature to be self-serving, but that the modern, humanistic, Age of Reason world has given rise to a sense of social justice and empathy that we must not let die because it makes us a better species. I believe in science, the scientific method, and empirical evidence, and anyone who denies these forces is standing against Nature and Reason. I believe the axiom that an eagle requires both a left wing and a right wing to fly. I also believe in the saying “Conservatives draw lines that should never be crossed. Liberals erase lines that should never have been drawn.” I believe there is value in both the left and right, and the tension between them is necessary and productive. The public interest and the private interest are equally valid concerns, and the sacrifice of one to the other can only produce instability and poor results.

1984

Wow. I just watched the movie version 1984 for the first time in a long time, probably since the 80s. Man is that a disturbing film, even more so than the first time I saw it. It really resonates in the post-fact era, and I urge everyone to rewatch it. The decision to turn your back on the truth is a conscious one, justified by your belief in a “higher” morality. Somehow you have managed to convince yourself that treating other people with humanity is a goal that should be superseded by (choose 1 or more from the menu: national security, law and order, jobs, the economy, God, states rights, the war on terror, the flag, patriotism, preserving the white race or culture, etc.). When you decide that treating people and the Truth with respect and honesty needs to be abridged for ANY reason, you, friend, are the villain. And that means I have one question for you conservatives: how do you live with yourselves?

Stupid Meme

This meme appeared on Facebook page for something called National Liberty Federation, a page that specializes in racist, misleading, and outright stupid images.

That is a stupid meme on many levels. First, government doesn’t educate our children. Schools do, and they are run locally. Secondly, there is nothing wrong with having educational standards so some districts can’t decide to teach that the Earth is flat and history never happened. Third, by facilitating public education, our society could in no better way invest in our future. An educated citizenry is the most valuable resource any civilization will ever have.

Reparations

Why are all you racists offended by the acknowledgement that the United States of America (that’s us) enslaved blacks for nearly a hundred years and then for another hundred years held blacks down, oppressed them, and ensured that they were an underclass with no chance to improve their lives or the lives of their children. And now that blacks are achieving political equality, you throw your hands up and say the nation bears no responsibility for the economic disadvantage it imposed on them? What kind of twisted morality is that?

I’m not racist!

A woman on Facebook tried to prove that she wasn’t racist (on a page filled with racist anti-Obama memes) because she had a black boyfriend. My response:

I’m not interested in your credentials. I’m simply mocking you and every follower of this page for what you know in your ‘ittle-bitty soul has been vile, mean, petty, and racist epithets and memes directed toward Obama and his family. You really want me to start digging up the various “ape in heels” comments? You associate yourself with racists, so I don’t give a dime who your boyfriend is. You truck with foul people and that makes you their ilk.

Period.

Security bombs

Americans are spoiled whiney babies who don’t realize how good they have it, how awesome and efficient and well-organized American civilization really is.

And then reality comes along to make my point in a very sad way. As people bitch and moan and complain about long lines at airport security, another passenger plane falls victim to terrorism.

Since 9-11, no plane originating on American soil has suffered a terrorist attack. I just wanted to mention that, Please feel free to resume your bitching about lines at airports.

Heaven Cent

I stumbled across a fascinating concept today. No where in the Bible–ABSOLUTELY NO WHERE–does it say we go to “heaven” when we die.

Christian preachers and priests are advertising a promise that neither God nor the Bible ever made.

Now, John 3:16 promises everlasting life, but what does that mean? Obviously it does not mean physical immortality since pretty much everyone who has ever lived has also eventually died, Highlander movies and tv series notwithstanding.

Logically, then, it must mean everlasting life of the soul. But the Bible never confirms this. Check it out yourself. The closest it comes is a far reaching metaphor in John 14:2, which says “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” That’s it? That’s what 2000 years of Christians have pinned their hopes on? It doesn’t even really say anything.

Take this, and the fact that there is in fact no contemporary original evidence that Jesus ever existed, and what you get may be the biggest con job in history. Bigger even than the Mormons and Scientologists!!!

States Rights

Throughout the history of the United States the assertion of states’ rights has boiled down to one element: a state’s right to treat its own people like shit without interference by the federal government. As far as I know, no state has yet taken up arms, literally or figuratively, for the right to treat its citizens better, to improve working conditions, wages, or access to health care. No. The only right that states have ever proven that they are willing to kill for is the right to enslave their own citizens.