I don’t have comments because they encourage stupid people to write. But I do like a considered response. They are always welcome.
Tim said:
“I also thought I’d remark a bit on your blog post on right wing thinking. I think the first issue is to separate American right wing thinking from what other nations consider right wing. In the states, the form of nationalism exhibited by other nations is not existent in the same form. To a right wing American, although they are proud to be part of the Federal Union that is America, they tend to want its head (Washington DC) to mind its own business. This is why it is somewhat difficult for other cultures to understand it. That can be seen from your view in this statement;
“Conservatism is often set in opposition to socialism which in some places is code for a moral failure. I find this strange, particularly in the United States which was formed by small mutually supportive communities based around a church. The ritual of ‘barn raising’ is illustrative. In the small rural community, the active men and women joined together regularly to build a barn structure (an essential for life) for one of their members. They did that knowing that next year it might be their turn to have the community assist them. In a country where many millions live, and work is not always physical, that process has streamlined into contributions of income. But it is at heart essentially the same. Next year it may be your barn.”
The problem isn’t that “conservatives” are all lone capitalist wolves, they still make good neighbors – concerned as anyone else about the community. What they don’t like is Washington DC eggheads coming in and telling them how to raise the barn and then later using that as justification to tax their labor. Income (labor) tax did not exist when this country came into existence and it did just fine without it up until certain politicians, ever impressed by Europe, the same Europe our ancestors chose to abandon, liked what Bismark was doing and thought they’d try it out here. Sure the rank and file accept it, but that is what is at the core of the two systems. Socialism wants to centralize and Conservative (americans only it seems) want to de-centralize. Since I have a Libertarian streak in me a mile wide, I tend to side with the right wingers on many issues. The point where I separate from them is their religious fantasies. I find it ridiculous that all of these guys are running around saying that secular freedom is not what the founding fathers had in mind when in reality it is EXACTLY what most of them had in mind. Now sure, back then there wasn’t as much of a threat to religious people as there is now in regards to secularism – but that’s just too bad isn’t it? If America is truly a “capitalist” state then it must allow these ideas to be fought out in the public arena. And because the general mill joe is usually retarded – they aren’t really losing so Goddamn much as to raise such a stink about it. I mean hell, there are more churches in this damn place than anywhere else on earth save the city of Rome.
The one thing that I find most interesting about the leftwing in this country is how they desperately “hate” everything that puts food in their mouths and a roof over their head. I suppose what it is really about is guilt. Let’s say the average person sees another person suffering from poverty. He can have several reactions. One would be to not give a shit at all. Another would be to be concerned but not moved to do anything. Still another would be to be concerned and then moved to action to assist that person on a personal level. I think the final reaction would be to be concerned and then start calling for someone else to do something about it. I think that the leftwing in America pretty much fills that final reaction. They all want something to change but they don’t want to do it themselves. If it can be done arbitrarily through taxes then so be it. But I can promise you that “big business” that they all despise so much will never be affected by higher taxes. They can just move to another country more willing to help them meet their goals. I don’t think many socialists understand that balancing act. If you take naturally industrious people out of the equation who is going to be industrious? How would you reward them? Now they get rewarded by having more physical things. Another issue that many socialist seem to fail in is understanding human nature as it relates to leadership. If you centralize too much the people at the top of the political heap slowly start becoming the elite class. And they will reward themselves with physical treasures as well.
So I suppose that is a battle of a subjective nature, but that is the way it seems to work to me.”
I haven’t listed my questioning of ‘the left wing’ yet, I might talk about some of Tim’s points a bit there. What strikes me straight away is I live in a country where the population would like to get rid of states and just keep the federal system, where he lives in a place where it goes the other way. That’s a matter of population size I bet. I need to read more about the the New Deal, as I have a sketchy (probably romantic) notion of how that socialist experiment brought the USA out of economic ruin, then was shunned by all.
Economic theory certainly expresses a culture, doesn’t it? It’s not a science…