“Goldwater’s peculiar version of conservatism rose from the desert like a cactus blooming in the springtime, irrigated by massive federal spending on public works (especially dams and power plants that provided Phoenix with the water and cheap electricity necessary for air-conditioning that made the stifling summers bearable). Suburban-style housing developments were underwritten by federal mortgage subsidies. The freeways that connected remote Arizona to national markets were a part of the interstate highway system, the largest public works program in American history. And, most important, Arizona’s growing prominence as a center of defense research and production depended on an infusion of military spending; in effect a re-distribution of national wealth from the tax-rich populous states of the North-East to the then tax-poor, underdeveloped Sun Belt.” (Thomas Sugrue, reviewing “The Conscience of a Conservative”, by Barry Goldwater).
It is against these benefits of New Deal Federal government that the conservatives and libertarians, especially those who benefited from the programs, have ironically been protesting. They want to reduce the Government to, what? Nothing? They are totally ignorant of the fact that without them they would not now enjoy prosperity and comfort in the Sun Belt. Ignorance is a many plundered thing.
Ethics demand honesty, self-knowledge and introspection. Given the quality of education*, hypocrisy and inability to expand the brain sufficiently to perceive the actual facts is something one has to be resigned to. But I bet it still made Epicurus sick as a dog.
* My personal definition of education: A process which is not a glorified training for a future job, but a process which gives the student an inquiring mind, a thirst for knowledge and the ability to assemble the bits into a coherent whole.
This definition appears to contradict what many people believe they are getting – – a certificate that will in due course make them rich.
The constant struggle to reduce the help to the more vulnerable members of society and at the same time to deliberately increase the wealth of the rich is one of the great moral issues of our time. I am not concerned about whether it is Christian or not; that is for the preachers. But for Epicureans to espouse this way of thinking is a sin. There are things greater than one’s bank balance. If one cannot bring oneself to be caring, empathetic and communitarian one is diminished as a human being.
The above comment illustrates perfectly how ideology quickly becomes preachy. I am sounding like someone from the religious right. But I will leave the comment as a warning to myself and to others. In the ideological struggle against selfishness we must sound less strident and more tolerant. Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do.
Republicans have some points of view that are sensible and valid. The problem is that so often that sound mean-spirited, strident and selfish.
It seems as if, when the most resentful of them get to power they cannot handle it.
If you spend all your life preaching that its the government that’s the problem, when you get into government you find there’s no one on your side who is experienced or competent. Any good people are busy making a fortune on Wal;l street and getting that wrong, too. You need the Democrats if you want competence and efficiency – – they at least believe in government.
I don’t believe waht I’m reading. the Bush government is the best since Reagan. It has kept America safe since 9/11, it knows how to deal with terrorists (the Democrats stand there, hearts bleeding), we have some sensible people now on the Supreme Court and we are taking the fight to the terrorists in Iraq and Afganistan and winning. We’ve rolled back regulation so that companies can be free and expand and we’ve reduced taxes so that the better off can spend more.