Motus Mentis

8 Comments

1. Amy says

   Malcolm, I agree–enough already!

   Mud slinging and dishonest campaigning aside, I am very concerned with the unbridled violent tone of Sarah Palin’s rallies. Any politician — Democrat or Republican, Green or Independent, small-town mayoral race or presidential race — who does not immediately and vehemently denounce an audience member who yells “Kill him [or her]!” at a political rally does not deserve to get one vote.

   It’s one thing entirely to boo at the mention of the opponent. I assume people get their dander up at these events, but the tone lately has simply gone WAY too far, and it is dangerous and ugly and divisive, when we (as a country) really need it not to be. I find it particularly ironic coming from the “values” party, with their claims of honor and the moral high ground.

   Matthews played a clip a few days ago from Limbaugh’s radio show. The Barracuda was on the line and, in answer to his comment that she seemed to be hitting Obama harder than anyone else, she said she had nothing to lose by doing that! The fact that the country is the big loser obviously is of no consequence to her or the-man-formerly-known-as John McCain.

   Not only does she have air whistling between her ears, she is devoid of any sense of decency, honesty, integrity — you name it, she ain’t got it. McCain owes the country an apology for inflicting this train wreck on us.

   After voting Republican for the majority of my life, I can’t take it anymore!

   Posted October 15, 2008 at 9:12 pm | Permalink
2. Malcolm says

   Amy! What a delightful surprise. I had no idea you were a visitor here. Welcome!

   Yes, it is awfully dispiriting that so many people are so besotted with Ms. Palin, including many extremely intelligent Republicans who really ought to know better (starting with Mr. McCain himself). It is comforting that her candidacy is apparently about to be soundly rejected at the polls — but that this babbling simpleton, this rustic creationist ignoramus, could ever have moved so many of our countrymen (and women) to such febrile, imbecilic, and sometimes vicious enthusiasm is a sad comment on American culture.

   Posted October 16, 2008 at 12:18 am | Permalink
3. Amy says

   Hi Malcolm.

   As one who generally keeps her politics to herself, I usually remain relatively mellow on the subject. However, something about this campaign tweaks my every button. Sorry, but Sarah Palin makes me nuts! I want the first female VP or POTUS to be someone WORTHY, and WORTHY, Sarah Palin is not.

   After the debate this evening, I admit, I honestly felt sorry for John McCain–SINCERELY. Yes, I truly believe John was a Maverick in his own day and time, unfortunately, that day has dwindled. Rather than give more personal verbage, I thought I would post a letter that sums up (basically) how I feel.

   Interesting to note that this publication (D Magazine) is a VERY conservative Dallas/Republican monthly magazine in the heart of Bush-ville!)

   Leading Off] By Wick Allison, Editor In Chief

   THE MORE I LISTEN TO AND READ ABOUT “the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate,” the more I like him. Barack Obama strikes a chord with me like no political figure since Ronald Reagan. To explain why, I need to explain why I am a conservative and what it means to me.

   In 1964, at the age of 16, I organized the Dallas County Youth for Goldwater. My senior thesis at the University of Texas was on the conservative intellectual revival in America. Twenty years later, I was invited by William F. Buckley Jr. to join the board of National Review. I later became its publisher.

   Conservatism to me is less a political philosophy than a stance, a recognition of the fallibility of man and of man’s institutions. Conservatives respect the past not for its antiquity but because it represents, as G.K. Chesterton said, the democracy of the dead; it gives the
   benefit of the doubt to customs and laws tried and tested in the crucible of time.

   Conservatives are skeptical of abstract theories and utopian schemes, doubtful that government is wiser than its citizens, and always ready to test any political program against actual results.

   Liberalism always seemed to me to be a system of “oughts.” We ought to do this or that because it’s the right thing to do, regardless of whether it works or not. It is a doctrine based on intentions, not results, on feeling good rather than doing good.

   But today it is so-called conservatives who are cemented to political programs when they clearly don’t work. The Bush tax cuts-a solution for which there was no real problem and which he refused to end even when the nation went to war-led to huge deficit spending and a $3 trillion growth in the federal debt.

   Facing this, John McCain pumps his “conservative” credentials by proposing even bigger tax cuts. Meanwhile, a movement that once fought for limited government has presided over the greatest growth of government in our history. That is not conservatism; it is profligacy using conservatism as a mask.

   Today it is conservatives, not liberals, who talk with alarming bellicosity about making the world “safe for democracy.” It is John McCain who says America’s job is to “defeat evil,” a theological expansion of the nation’s mission that would make George Washington cough out his wooden teeth.

   This kind of conservatism, which is not conservative at all, has produced financial mismanagement, the waste of human lives, the loss of moral authority, and the wreckage of our economy that McCain now threatens to make worse.

   Barack Obama is not my ideal candidate for president. (In fact, I made the maximum donation to John McCain during the primaries, when there was still hope he might come to his senses.) But I now see that Obama is almost the ideal candidate for this moment in American history. I disagree with him on many issues. But those don’t matter as much as what Obama offers, which is a deeply conservative view of the world. Nobody can read Obama’s books (which, it is worth noting, he wrote himself) or listen to him speak without
   realizing that this is a thoughtful, pragmatic, and prudent man. It gives me comfort just to think that after eight years of George W. Bush we will have a president who has actually read the Federalist Papers.

   Most important, Obama will be a realist. I doubt he will taunt Russia, as McCain has, at the very moment when our national interest requires it as an ally. The crucial distinction in my mind is that, unlike John McCain, I am convinced he will not impulsively take us into another war unless American national interests are directly threatened.

   “Every great cause,” Eric Hoffer wrote, “begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” As a cause, conservatism may be dead. But as a stance, as a way of making judgments in a complex and difficult world, I believe it is very much alive in the instincts and predispositions of a liberal named Barack Obama.

   Posted October 16, 2008 at 1:24 am | Permalink
4. JK says

   As a formerly dependable voting Republican, thank you Amy.

   ““Every great cause,” Eric Hoffer wrote, “begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntz7SWm-xWo

   This is difficult to watch, no children in the room. This is Conservatism in its’ finest hour. This is Faux News stuff for the masses. But it could be terrorism. I’d need a ruling from Cran.

   Posted October 16, 2008 at 6:15 am | Permalink
5. Malcolm says

   Amy, thanks for joining our conversation, and thanks very much indeed for posting that letter, which sums up very nicely why I too have a conservative streak (though I part company with most conservatives when it comes to religion — which admittedly is also one of those “tried and tested” traditions that have bound societies together throughout human history).

   Allow me to intoduce you to Dr. William Vallicella, a philosopher and blogger from Arizona who recently posted his own understanding of what it means to be a conservative. Have a look here.

   Posted October 16, 2008 at 10:27 am | Permalink
6. Amy says

   JK, the video clip you posted is indeed disturbing. Michael Reagan exudes hostility!

   Malcolm, thanks for introducing me to Dr. Vallicella. Interesting read.

   I love the following post:
   “The human potential for evil and the propensity to abuse power are the bases for one of the strongest arguments against government” – and the bases for one of the strongest arguments for it.

   Too true!

   Posted October 16, 2008 at 1:43 pm | Permalink
7. Malcolm says

   Ah yes, Amy, that remark was a composite from two of our frequent visitors: Bob Koepp, a prodigiously intelligent and articulate fellow who, for some reason, doesn’t have a site of his own, and the estimable Deogolwulf, a gifted English writer and social critic who comments occasionally here. Do yourself a favor and visit Deogolwulf’s website, The Joy of Curmudgeonry. It is outstanding. Browse the archives.

   Posted October 17, 2008 at 12:58 am | Permalink
8. Pat Goldsmith says

   Hi all- I’m thinking of having a t-shirt made up to read …

   “Vote GOP, we’re Anti-social”

   just for the hermits out there…

   Posted October 23, 2008 at 11:48 am | Permalink