As I get older, the subtleties of behaviors become more apparent to me. I realize that I actually do think differently than most people. (I've been told this all my life, actually.)
In one of the forums, I said something about seeing conservatives as compassionless. This is a common complaint of mine, that "compassionate conservatism" is an oxymoron. This person, a conservative of course, mentioned his good works giving money to bums and volunteering in a soup kitchen. And in a similar vein, I discovered that Dick Cheney, whom I love to hate, actually is a major contributor to charities with his wealth. Almost philanthropic, in fact (to my immense surprise).
But it occurred to me that I look at these things in terms of longer overall function and greater consistency. What if I'm sick and don't pass that bum on the way to work that day? What if it is too cold for him to be standing out there? What if no one else gives him that $2? Rather than giving a bum a couple of dollars for a hot meal, I'd rather I (and yes, everyone else) pay a couple more dollars in taxes every week and there are soup kitchens set up that will be there every day, and where someone is paid to work every day. Then that bum won't be standing at the corner. He won't have to stand there for an hour to get $2. He knows where he can go to get a hot meal, and maybe take a shower so he can go on a job interview. And, yes, I realize many of them will not do it that way. They are ill, or addicted, and no matter what we do, they will not become productive members of society. But which of them deserves not to be given that chance? Instead of donating $24 dollars a month to Christian Children's Fund (and I've nothing against them, it's just an example), I'd rather pay $24 a month more in taxes and see to it that every school in the country has an afterschool snack program, or sufficient books and supplies, or shelters and clothing banks so that no child in THIS country goes to bed hungry or in unclean clothes tonight. They scream about "earmarks" when a Senator wants to be sure that $300,000 of a particular pool of money goes into a project at a University in his district that is researching alternative energy sources or to help fund a prototype biodiesel-producing algal pond project. But they will support spending billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of people dying over shrinking oil reserves. And then they say, "Why aren't you people working on finding other sources, if you're so against us securing our oil supply?" Well, why did you vote for congresspeople who would vote against funding energy research and for war? Why did you vote for the fool that claimed he would cut your taxes and enrich you personally now, rather than the person who said that we need to pool our resources to achieve great things and make life better for everyone in this country in time? Why is it so important to you that you have the power to control each dollar, rather than trusting in others to examine the issues we don't have time to all examine individually and do the most good for everyone? That's what it all boils down to. "I wanna control my own money. It's mine, mine, mine, and I'll decide how to spend it!" All the while not realizing that deciding to contribute to the nation IS deciding how to spend it.
The supply-siders are fond of the saying, "A rising tide lifts all boats." But they fail to ever note that every boat is lifted from beneath. It is all the little streams and creeks and rivers flowing into the sea that create the mass that is affected by the tide that lifts the boats. A rising tide is created by a lot of things, but there wouldn't be one without incalculable individual droplets of water. In an economy dying of thirst, filling a rich man's swimming pool and waiting for it to evaporate and fall again as rain doesn't save as many lives as handing out bottles of water to thousands of people.
Sorry that this isn't as cohesive as most of my writings. It's really just some thoughts off the top of my head this evening. Seeds for an article, rather than clearly written arguments.
Copy & paste to friend: (Click inside box; Ctrl + C to copy; Ctrl + V to paste)
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read more blogs!
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Fender
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Apr 8 @ 6:35PM
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Excelllent blog 
Soon as I get a kudo, I'm giving it to you 
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redtigr
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Apr 8 @ 7:50PM
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In an economy dying of thirst, filling a rich man's swimming pool and waiting for it to evaporate and fall again as rain doesn't save as many lives as handing out bottles of water to thousands of people.
You think just fine. Outstanding blog; quite clear, point made, absolutely spot-on
~*~
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Godless
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Apr 8 @ 7:58PM
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Couldn't agree with you more. It's very hard listening to conservatives for me, and I'm surrounded by them. Most of the time, it's the hatred that spews from their mouths regarding gays and blacks. Once in a while, though, I get that "hell, I wouldn't want to live in CA, way too many taxes" bullshit, and I snicker... because Texans are virtually taxed to death everywhere they turn and property taxes are quadruple what CA is. It's not that they prefer not to be taxed, it's that they prefer to pretend they aren't being taxed.
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lefthandedluckie
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Apr 8 @ 9:19PM
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You have a very understanding mind. Sharp and thoroughly to the point. I like what you write!!
Keep up the excellent work, my friend!
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stormbringer99
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Apr 9 @ 10:43AM
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Good Points!
I wish I had some sort of extra bit to add but the only thing I would add is time is valuable too. If you care about a cause then volunteer! Donating money is great and very necessary but they also need manpower only a few hours a week or even a month can make a huge difference.
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observed50
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Apr 9 @ 11:18AM
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My single largest complaint about conservatism in general is that it is backward looking. The world's a mess, with historical trends that tend to address one problem only to have others appear because we think we can address one problem, like energy, without addressing things comprehensively. For some reason, in a radically different world, conservatism thinks yesterday's attempted solutions, which didn't really work then, should work now. Be it religion, politics, economics, family, education...every major human institution didn't work yesterday, but for some reason, should work today.
Somehow, conservatism is able to capture people's imagination that fears the future and imagines all the worst, and fill it in with delusions of a grand past, as if there wasn't slavery & Jim Crow, unchecked pollution, abusive families, land theft, partners to genocide, schools for some and not for others, and on and on, all supported by churches, synagogues and so on that said little in the face of all that was a mess. We should return to the Bible, as if it wasn't used to support slavery, native genocide in the Americas, sexism and racism, genocide of the Jews, and on and on. We should return to conservative values like family, when men could beat wives with nothing larger than their thumb, that the protection of women and children had to emerge from the SPCA because men organized to protect their pets before you could get them to quit abusing their wives and children. The list is endless...and it is all about yesterday's values.
As opposed to a world that was delusionally, populated by Ozzie and Harriet.
But fundamentally, the world can't look forward when its very education system globally is all about looking backward to begin with, as schools try to get kids to 'fit' into a system of yesterday, rather then be designers of a future, families worry about kids believing in the things the parents and grandparents believed in, communities worry about traditions, and history, and religions keep using 2000 year old books as a map to tell them what gods want with no check whatsoever in reality other than...it feels good to me.
Aging for me is more about the keen recognition that despite being an optimist and an activist, years of work makes exceedingly clear to me that humans love to live in their shit, fear triumphs insight anytime, and the herd triumphs always in pulling people towards and over the cliff, from drugs to megachurches, to war.
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eastham
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Apr 9 @ 12:57PM
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I am growing increasingly concerned with the disparity between rich and poor in this country. It has grown to dangerous levels. In fact, the gap between rich and poor is wider here than for any other developed country.
For the majority of Americans, wages are stagnant. In 1973, the wealthiest 20% of Americans accounted for 44% of total US personal income. Today, the top 300,000 Americans have as much income as the bottom 150 million working Americans. While total income rose 9% in 2005, it was limited to a fortunate few. 90% of all Americans saw a .6% drop in income.
We have 47 million Americans without health insurance, and we rank 37 out of 191 countries in terms of health care quality. Lack of health care insurance coupled with a major illness is one of the top reasons for personal bankruptcy.
Many of us, and I include myself here, are not the students of history we should be. Economic disparity triggered the French Revolution and the Bolshevik Revolution. It nearly led to civil unrest here at the change of the last century. We stood at the brink. If we had not had Teddy Roosevelt in the presidency, a man who saw that the accesses of the Gilded Age were fueling economic disparity that was a danger to the republic, we would have most certainly slid into violence.
I guess the question becomes, who is our TR now?
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