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May 23, 2005 Nuggets, Vol. 1 I like the idea of, form time to time, writing an article that's a series of short takes on current events, or recent articles at UK and so forth. Here is my first such attempt, Nuggets, Vol. 1. Below I will chat about Liberals, jam, Shaivo, stupidity, Germany, and throw in some quotes. First, a recent column argued that the Liberal viewpoint is a “dying” ideology. So here I am, a foot soldier in that Liberal movement, soon to be without an army to serve. It's a sad sad day for me – what to do, what to do. ;) Actually, what we call “Liberal” most other folks call normal – it works rather well in the rest of the civilized world. What the Right has succeeded in doing, is to move the middle itself to the Right a few notches. In any case, Liberalism works, we are just the last to realize what the other humans on this rock already know – we are like that guy that doesn't get the joke, and doesn't get that there is even a joke not to get, while everyone is standing around giggling. There are many examples as evidence - take my oft cited favorite, Sweden. The upper tax bracket in Sweden is 60%! Surely we would put such a policy on the Left side of the fence. Yet, in terms of standard of living, Sweden is currently number two in the world (Norway is number one, we are number 9), and in terms of it's economic freedom, an index given to nations, annually, by an American Think Tank (conservative), it's just behind the USA. Five other European nations are ahead of us on this index, and they all have higher taxes, taxes targeted at the wealthy, national health care, etc. Liberal policies just, well, work. I've asked several times in my articles for a Conservative real world example – some sample nation that we can look to and say, “There, see! Right-wing conservative ideals work!”. Anyone? Second, I love all of the articles at UK that are about ordinary, everyday, events. Be it the cat under the hood of the car, the nature of stupidity, the depressed lady in bed sharing sweets with her kids, or the jelly vs. jam dilemma – they are good stuff and I can identify. I've often been a bread-spread extremist myself! I scoff at jelly – who had that bright idea, anyway? Jam spreads so much better – it makes more efficient use of the sandwich. Plum Butter is a personal favorite of mine. This might be why I much prefer pudding to jello, but that's another article, as is the mayo vs. whipped dressing (Miracle Whip) debate... Third, there have been a string of recent pieces about Shaivo. No, I never get sick of them – I think Shaivo demonstrates what the radical Right is capable of, and a good counter example to letting faith into government in that particular, dangerous, way. Lets assume that Bush and Congress weren't making a purely political move (one that backfired, in any case), just for the sake of argument. We have, then, folks working within the confines of separation of powers and law, breaking those barriers for reasons that they feel are best for the rest of us. Not what I would call a good trend – hopefully not the norm if the Right continues its advance. Fourth, as the recent pieces explained very well, there is much more depth in the Shaivo case – saying “they killed her” is, as another columnist might say about certain issues, stupid. If stupidity is indeed a disorder, then the folks on the far-Right need treatment. That was a joke, relax ;) Fifth, it's fun to map the terms Liberal, Conservative and Christian into the politics of another country. Germany seems to be turning away from the Social Democratic party in favor of the Christian Democratic Union. German voters barely reelected their Social Democratic leader two years ago, in large part because he agreed to disagree with Bush over the Iraq war. Before any American Conservative salivates at these terms, however, consider that the Christian Democratic Union is gaining popularity because the Social Democratic party cut benefits and made it easier to fire people (in other words, American Conservative policies). As one disgruntled German former Social Democrat said, “Social Democrats aren't helping ordinary people”. So, as tricky as it is to get around these terms which mean very different things in Germany, it seems that the German Christian Democratic Union blames the German Social Democrats for moving too far to the center! Ya gotta love those gosh-darn atheist-communist types in Europe...[sarcasm] Sixth, here are some quotes: "This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy." said U.S. Representative Christopher Shays, R-Conn. "The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man." -- Thomas Jefferson [Separation of Church and State protects religion from government, as well as government from religion] ------------ About the author Frederick Smith: I enjoy writing about the positive virtues of humanism - humanists are the good guys. Email: dahlek65@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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