Remember the president repeating over and over that the time for debate was over? Remember Al Gore saying the science was settled? Remember the astroturf coffee party claiming we needed more civil discourse? Been called a teabagger? Today I was set off by a statement that extremists were spreading ignorance. Here’s what really bugged me. It was said by someone I really like, admire and probably disagree a fair amount with. He had a link to someone deriding “teabaggers”. Look it up
Many people use the acrostic “Taxed Enough Already” for tea. In 1773 patriots in Boston harbor threw English tea overboard rather than pay the 1% tax of the stamp act. To be clear it was not the amount of tax or the tax it’s self. It was what it represented, that goods had to go past the colonies to England to be stamped and taxed, then back to the colonies. Moreover it was the feeling that King George III and English aristocracy looked down on colonists, saw them as merely a source of revenue and interfered in their affairs with intrusive governance. The Democrats and Obama have rung up $2,000,000,000,000 in debt in a mere 421 days. Whether or not our income taxes have been hiked is a pointless discussion with the Bush tax cuts sunsetting and economic policies devaluing the dollar. Like the hotel said to the rock band after the party, somebody has to pay for this. Given that government seems not to be listening I think the tea party idea is very germane to our cultural history.
Being in my 50s I want to say something to younger people. In years past it was not uncommon for people to have friends who had very different ideas and to argue those ideas without imparing that friendship. Today people are surprised when people of different ideologies hook up or that people like Sean Hannity and Bob Beckel can be friends. I’m here to say it used to be much more common. Today we like to ally ourselves with people who will support our fragile world view, suck our thumb and complain about discord. Okay, not everyone. There is a pattern though and Al Gore helps explain it.
When I first heard Gore prattle on about my breath killing the planet I felt a little odd to have arrived at the party so late as to have missed the debate portion and be stuck with the sermon. Of course there is a reason for that. I remember reading some years back of true believers in global warming staging a debate with those horrible holocaust deniers who wanted to drench baby ducks in oil. The funny thing is that the debate became so one sided in favor of those opposing the warmists that it turned into a minor disaster. Pretty much everyone agreed those opposed to global warming won, but worse yet a portion who came there were persuaded to switch sides to no longer believe in global warming. I want to be very clear here. First and foremost among reasons not to debate is the certainty that your side doesn’t have the goods and will be beaten mercilessly in an exchange.
This brings us to question the whole purpose of debate. Are you a truth seeker in science or philosophy or are you an ideologue? An ideologue enters into battle with the purpose only to defend their premise. Clearly not mounting a defense is preferable to risking a loss. Conversely one seeking truth will want to observe or participate in an exchange without regard for which side they find they fall on. Truth will out on the battlefield of debate. If however you have sought truth and believe your argument rests upon it then you will be eager to test your mettle and prove your assertions.
All of this leads to simple conclusions. Debate is never over and is always good. Anyone who has played in a band knows the power of fusing ideas. Anyone who has ever had to solve problems on a team or trust their life to a partner in a dangerous situation knows the old axiom that two heads are better than one. Our great country debated whether to oppose England, how to proceed and how to form a government. In fact our current government was the second try as the first quickly failed. Nothing could be more American than spirited debate.
One thing I believe with all my heart is that in the end we must love our brother. We must not allow the molten anger of our cause to sear through the bonds of our brotherhood. I say this in the most difficult time of all for me to say it, for I believe that never before has our nation faced a greater threat… and that threat is from within. I believe we have been infected with the ideas of Marx and Alinsky. I believe the only thing that can bond the fabric of our society is our constitution and I believe in it’s traditional and original meaning and intent. I believe the modern interpretation of our constitution has become a cancer determined to unleash an all powerful government and I believe that well meaning people I care about may believe things that I do not.
It is not an easy thing, to see the hubris and vitriol directed at people who, like me, value the traditional interpretation of history. It would be perhaps easy to accept a third of the country believing in the supremacy of government in our lives if it were not that minority that had achieved power over most Americans I believe, as polls indicate, think government has become dangerously powerful. However I personally think such disagreements ought to be ones we can amicably have between good friends. I see a simple solution. I believe very few people truly lead in the ideology of power that is all consuming government. I believe most supporters simply have come to accept the argument.
The greatest irony is that the argument is always about being compassionate. It is the exception to the rule that seeks to become the rule. Our society serves most of us very well. First we find someone who may prove the exception to the rule. In fact as news items show this person may in fact prove that our compassionate society does work. It doesn’t matter. What matters is conjuring the fiction and asking if you are heartless or will you grant the power to rectify things. Then we set about remaking society as a whole to fix the exception, however fictional. It’s brilliant because it requires no real thought to accept, just emotion. In fact if you apply critical thought and begin asking questions… why the whole thing just falls apart!
This is why the ideologues who wish to remake America into something else wish to avoid any debate. Ideologues are not rational. Their concepts serve as their own proof and their disproof serves as a call for more of their concepts. However I believe that among those mesmerized in the persuasive arguments of the ideologues the vast majority could be liberated by debate. Perhaps I am overly optimistic. I just don’t see my fellow American as my enemy, even if they are championing a course I believe is destructive to our nation. In the end I believe something else…
I believe in the nature of our nation. I used to be one of the people who would might have called someone a teabagger had I grown up in a different time. However the more I was exposed to people, history and those who touched my life the more I began to see something amazing. The more I saw the greatness of America the more I sought to know it. I believe the founding concepts of our nation are so compelling and self affirming it is not possible for most to resist them. Personal freedom inherent in the nature of who we are as opposed to a gift from a central authority… Intoxicating to anyone seeking more out of life than to live in their parents basement. Freedom is so seductive it lead to nearly every nation on earth choosing to self govern and have free markets where before men lived under the tyranny of kings.
Let the debate begin. Let those people you meet see the nobility and decency that has made this the greatest nation ever. Don’t apologize for our success and wealth but extol it. This nation has become great through freedom and open acceptance of different ideas. We have always been shaped in debate We will not remain great if we choose acrimonious condescension over civil debate. Today we need the best ideas and thinking, not the most dogmatic ideologies. Debate is the door to the liberation of ideas which can survive the gauntlet that only debate can offer.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 at 11:35 PM and is filed under social commentary.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Is it Time for Debate Yet?
Remember the president repeating over and over that the time for debate was over? Remember Al Gore saying the science was settled? Remember the astroturf coffee party claiming we needed more civil discourse? Been called a teabagger? Today I was set off by a statement that extremists were spreading ignorance. Here’s what really bugged me. It was said by someone I really like, admire and probably disagree a fair amount with. He had a link to someone deriding “teabaggers”. Look it up
Many people use the acrostic “Taxed Enough Already” for tea. In 1773 patriots in Boston harbor threw English tea overboard rather than pay the 1% tax of the stamp act. To be clear it was not the amount of tax or the tax it’s self. It was what it represented, that goods had to go past the colonies to England to be stamped and taxed, then back to the colonies. Moreover it was the feeling that King George III and English aristocracy looked down on colonists, saw them as merely a source of revenue and interfered in their affairs with intrusive governance. The Democrats and Obama have rung up $2,000,000,000,000 in debt in a mere 421 days. Whether or not our income taxes have been hiked is a pointless discussion with the Bush tax cuts sunsetting and economic policies devaluing the dollar. Like the hotel said to the rock band after the party, somebody has to pay for this. Given that government seems not to be listening I think the tea party idea is very germane to our cultural history.
Being in my 50s I want to say something to younger people. In years past it was not uncommon for people to have friends who had very different ideas and to argue those ideas without imparing that friendship. Today people are surprised when people of different ideologies hook up or that people like Sean Hannity and Bob Beckel can be friends. I’m here to say it used to be much more common. Today we like to ally ourselves with people who will support our fragile world view, suck our thumb and complain about discord. Okay, not everyone. There is a pattern though and Al Gore helps explain it.
When I first heard Gore prattle on about my breath killing the planet I felt a little odd to have arrived at the party so late as to have missed the debate portion and be stuck with the sermon. Of course there is a reason for that. I remember reading some years back of true believers in global warming staging a debate with those horrible holocaust deniers who wanted to drench baby ducks in oil. The funny thing is that the debate became so one sided in favor of those opposing the warmists that it turned into a minor disaster. Pretty much everyone agreed those opposed to global warming won, but worse yet a portion who came there were persuaded to switch sides to no longer believe in global warming. I want to be very clear here. First and foremost among reasons not to debate is the certainty that your side doesn’t have the goods and will be beaten mercilessly in an exchange.
This brings us to question the whole purpose of debate. Are you a truth seeker in science or philosophy or are you an ideologue? An ideologue enters into battle with the purpose only to defend their premise. Clearly not mounting a defense is preferable to risking a loss. Conversely one seeking truth will want to observe or participate in an exchange without regard for which side they find they fall on. Truth will out on the battlefield of debate. If however you have sought truth and believe your argument rests upon it then you will be eager to test your mettle and prove your assertions.
All of this leads to simple conclusions. Debate is never over and is always good. Anyone who has played in a band knows the power of fusing ideas. Anyone who has ever had to solve problems on a team or trust their life to a partner in a dangerous situation knows the old axiom that two heads are better than one. Our great country debated whether to oppose England, how to proceed and how to form a government. In fact our current government was the second try as the first quickly failed. Nothing could be more American than spirited debate.
One thing I believe with all my heart is that in the end we must love our brother. We must not allow the molten anger of our cause to sear through the bonds of our brotherhood. I say this in the most difficult time of all for me to say it, for I believe that never before has our nation faced a greater threat… and that threat is from within. I believe we have been infected with the ideas of Marx and Alinsky. I believe the only thing that can bond the fabric of our society is our constitution and I believe in it’s traditional and original meaning and intent. I believe the modern interpretation of our constitution has become a cancer determined to unleash an all powerful government and I believe that well meaning people I care about may believe things that I do not.
It is not an easy thing, to see the hubris and vitriol directed at people who, like me, value the traditional interpretation of history. It would be perhaps easy to accept a third of the country believing in the supremacy of government in our lives if it were not that minority that had achieved power over most Americans I believe, as polls indicate, think government has become dangerously powerful. However I personally think such disagreements ought to be ones we can amicably have between good friends. I see a simple solution. I believe very few people truly lead in the ideology of power that is all consuming government. I believe most supporters simply have come to accept the argument.
The greatest irony is that the argument is always about being compassionate. It is the exception to the rule that seeks to become the rule. Our society serves most of us very well. First we find someone who may prove the exception to the rule. In fact as news items show this person may in fact prove that our compassionate society does work. It doesn’t matter. What matters is conjuring the fiction and asking if you are heartless or will you grant the power to rectify things. Then we set about remaking society as a whole to fix the exception, however fictional. It’s brilliant because it requires no real thought to accept, just emotion. In fact if you apply critical thought and begin asking questions… why the whole thing just falls apart!
This is why the ideologues who wish to remake America into something else wish to avoid any debate. Ideologues are not rational. Their concepts serve as their own proof and their disproof serves as a call for more of their concepts. However I believe that among those mesmerized in the persuasive arguments of the ideologues the vast majority could be liberated by debate. Perhaps I am overly optimistic. I just don’t see my fellow American as my enemy, even if they are championing a course I believe is destructive to our nation. In the end I believe something else…
I believe in the nature of our nation. I used to be one of the people who would might have called someone a teabagger had I grown up in a different time. However the more I was exposed to people, history and those who touched my life the more I began to see something amazing. The more I saw the greatness of America the more I sought to know it. I believe the founding concepts of our nation are so compelling and self affirming it is not possible for most to resist them. Personal freedom inherent in the nature of who we are as opposed to a gift from a central authority… Intoxicating to anyone seeking more out of life than to live in their parents basement. Freedom is so seductive it lead to nearly every nation on earth choosing to self govern and have free markets where before men lived under the tyranny of kings.
Let the debate begin. Let those people you meet see the nobility and decency that has made this the greatest nation ever. Don’t apologize for our success and wealth but extol it. This nation has become great through freedom and open acceptance of different ideas. We have always been shaped in debate We will not remain great if we choose acrimonious condescension over civil debate. Today we need the best ideas and thinking, not the most dogmatic ideologies. Debate is the door to the liberation of ideas which can survive the gauntlet that only debate can offer.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 at 11:35 PM and is filed under social commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.