Opinion:

What this Centrist stands for

Beth, She Who Will Be Obeyed, recently wrote "What this Conservative stands for" which was a very clear statement of her beliefs and opinions. I wanted to post something similar for what I stand for, but Beth did such a fine job that instead of writing my own list I wanted to use what Beth said as a springboard to contrast what a centrist (which is what I think I am) stands for. Initially, I was surprised by the large areas of agreement that I found, but after some thought I realized that most folks do have many beliefs in common, it is the details where the devil and disagreement usually lie. So, in the spirit of healthy discussion, I present Beth's points (in italics) followed by what this Centrist stands for:

1. Adults are responsible for their own actions. Blaming their own behavior on drugs, alcohol, coming from a poor family or because they are gay or black or female or brown or white is neither rational nor useful. Every day we all have choices to make - good ones and bad ones, and if you make bad choices, then don't blame me and expect me to pick up your pieces if things don't go well for you.

I agree with this completely and have nothing to add that wouldn't repeat what Beth said.

2. Life is precious. Whether you believe in God or don't, life is the most precious thing we have. That includes the life of a baby growing in a mother's womb. I get annoyed at all the liberals who think that 592 American deaths in Iraq (and every one of those deaths is distressing, but probably necessary in a war) is the worst thing that can happen on earth, when millions of Americans have been denied being born because abortions are too easy to come by for any reason whatsoever (let's leave rape out of this discussion, please). The Death Penalty should be abolished, and replaced with life in prison - no parole whatsoever.

I do believe life is precious, but unfortunately I diverge from Beth here. I believe that a woman has the right to control her own body, including a fetus growing in her womb. If the government starts mandating what a woman can and cannot do with HER body when she is pregnant, where would it end? Every egg, even unfertilized, is a potential human life, and if we take this path to the illogical conclusion the song Every Sperm Is Sacred from the Monty Python movie The Meaning of LIfe will become our anthem. We should not focus on potential life more than we work on improving the lives that are already here. As a part of that same underlying philosophy of focusing on the life that is already here, I do believe in a Death Penalty as well, but not as it is implemented now. I believe there are certain individuals who do need to be killed for the same reason a mad dog is destroyed, to protect the public. Unfortunately, the Death Penalty is currently used more as a political chit by prosecutors and other politicians than as a solemn act by a society trying to protect itself.

3. Education is the road out of poverty. Many public schools in cities and suburbs fail to teach children the basics - math, reading, grammar. They graduate these kids, and when the kids can't keep jobs, they make bad choices (see #1). Alternative education choices, including private schools, give kids a much better chance to become productive adults because they spend more time on the basics.

I agree with Beth that education is indeed the road out of poverty. We are failing our children, but far too many people expect to be given an education. Sorry, but an education has to be earned. It is the responsibility of the parents to ensure that their children are working to earn that education. It is NOT the responsibility of the teachers to raise the children as many parents now seem to expect. I know several teachers very well, and they are all hobbled by the administration, the PTA, and the paperwork. They have so little time to teach that it is amazing that any children now know how to read. The teachers are forced to satisfy all these different groups with divergent agendas that have very little to do with actually educating the children and as a consequence have almost no time to TEACH. The only role of the public schools should be to provide the tools and resources for children to earn their education, not to teach morality, not to teach "creation science", not to babysit children. It is the children who have to do the actual work of learning, and it is the responsibility of the parents to make sure their children do the work.

4. Not all values/cultures/morals are equal. I am sorry folks, but cultures like fundamentalist Islam, where women are property and slavery is okeydokey do not have as high a value as Western culture. They are not equivalent to us in morals. Fundamentalist Islamic Arabs want to rule the world and force us all to be their slaves or convert to their rather perverted view of Islam

I agree that not all values/cultures/morals are equal, but I also get angry when people proclaim how superior Western culture is when a very short examination of even very recent history will show how many of the things we decry about fundamentalist Islam were very much a part of Western culture even within the last 100 years. (PLEASE NOTE: I am NOT saying here what Beth believes, do not think I am speaking about her views in any way here, I am referring to a general trend I have observed in the blogosphere.) It is still less than 50 years since people were lynched for being the wrong color in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is still less than 50 years since we had laws enforcing the relegation of people to the back of the bus or to certain water fountains because of the color of their skin. It is less than 100 years since Western civilization unleashed chlorine gas on a battlefield to indiscriminately kill enemies. It is less than 65 years since a significant part of Western civilization had a program to kill Jews, a program that was set up by an elected government that turned murder into a horror on a mass-production scale with the acceptance and active participation of the population. Women did not have the right to vote in the United States until 1920, well into the twentieth century, and even now in the twenty first century women are not treated completely equally as men. You don't even have to look back 10 years to find an instance in Texas where a black man was chained and dragged behind a truck by two white men because of the color of the victim's skin. If we are going to argue cultural relativism, we should look to our own history and how our culture evolved before we pronounce the death sentence on another culture. I do believe Western civilization has evolved and is now better than it was before, and I believe it is better than fundamentalist Islamic culture. I do NOT believe that fundamentalist Christianity is any better than fundamentalist Islam, because the same hatred is spewed from both camps; the primary differences are the particular words used and the straw-man enemies chosen. Fundamentalism of ANY kind perverts religion and culture into a philosophy of hatred that is nothing but evil.

5. We all have the right to protect ourselves and our homes from harm. I am a gun owner. I am proud of that fact.

Agreed.

6. I don't care if someone is gay or lesbian or straight. What is done in the privacy of one's bedroom is not my concern.

Agreed, and I would go further and say that there IS a fundamental right to privacy (which is included in the Constitution, by the way, otherwise why is there a requirement for search warrants written into it?), and what is done in private concerns NO ONE other than the people directly involved.

7. The money I earn is my money. I work very hard for it. Taxes are necessary, but politicians need to stop thinking of my money as the government's money. We need to keep taxes as low as possible - this encourages growth. (Economics 101)

Agreed. It is not the role of government to "redistribute income". It is the role of government to ensure equality of rights, not equality of results.

8. We all have the freedom to worship as we choose - so long as that religion does not harm other people (Islamic fundamentalism comes to mind, as does Satanism). The courts are flat out wrong when they say that Christians cannot express themselves but Muslims and Jews can when it comes to religious symbols.

No dispute here, but I think the actions taken by the courts in many cases are honest errors trying to follow the spirit of the non-establishment of religion enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

9. Owning property is a fundamental right. Home ownership is a wonderful thing. Habitat for Humanity is a wonderful organization that helps people own their home. I would rather see home ownership subsidized by the federal government than Section 8 housing and projects.

Again, complete agreement here.

10. Women and men should be paid the same for the work they do. I am in a predominantly male environment at work - believe it or not, I am a technical consultant. It is still an old boy's network, and I fight that every day.

I agree with this completely, and I would extend it to say everyone should be paid the same for performing the same work at the same level of competence. Unfortunately, I cannot think of a good way to enforce this without creating a big-brother/nanny state. The only way true equality will be achieved is by slow evolution of our culture.

11. A free market that is competitive (which means either eliminating or regulating monopolies) is a really good thing.

This is where the rubber meets the road in terms of philosophy of government versus reality, because one could argue by breaking up monopolies you are penalizing them for the crime of being successful, but in reality the destruction of competition does do society more harm than the harm done by breaking the monopoly.

12. A free market that allows for free trade with other countries is also a good thing - as long as we don't allow other countries to dump artificially low-priced goods on us in an attempt to kill our own production. See #11.

Free trade has become a mantra chanted in a similar way that Communism was proclaimed to be the only moral way to run the world. We should look at how trade is conducted and focus on ensuring that the trade is fair, which means on occasion making it less "free".

13. The so-called War on Drugs needs a peace treaty. It is no more that a repeat of the alcohol prohibition of the 20's. The government should tightly regulate and license drugs like marijuana and possibly cocaine. Other drugs, I'm not too sure what to do about - some are just downright lethal. The gang problems our cities have will not exist without the profits they make from the drug trade. We have way too many kids in prison for doing stupid assed drug tricks - they should be out and learning how to make a legal living.

The War on Drugs is one of the most egregious cases of the "nanny state" that I can think of, yet many who decry the nanny state are among the most die hard of the drug warriors. I agree with Beth in this area as well.

14. Every single one of the Bill of Rights is what makes our country so wonderful. That includes the right to gun ownership and the rights to worship as we please. I am worried that too many judges are abridging our freedom from unreasonable search and seizure - and the folks pushing for these searches without warrants are from both sides of the political spectrum - stop it, I say!

We are the inheritors of the results arising from a convergence of intelligent men with the flowering of a philosophy of government that is almost miraculous. We should treasure the legacy we have been given. Unfortunately, Beth is right in her concern, because the Bill of Rights is slowly being eroded by all three branches of our government. The Judicial Branch has been lowering the bar on searches among other assaults on privacy and rights, the Executive Branch pushing for expansion of police powers (the USA PATRIOT Act and Patriot II), and the Legislative Branch is passing stupid laws that routinely violate the rights enshrined in the Constitution. It is past time for citizens to stand up and let their representatives know that our government is of the people, by the people, and for the people, not the other way around.

15. The elderly - as children, we need to take more responsibility of our parents' needs when possible - not the government. Too many times I hear very wealthy people complaining that their mom or dad can't afford rent or to eat because their medications are too expensive - for God's sake, help your parents! They raised you - the federal government should not be taking the place of families. If someone has no family, that's different - of course we should help them - but the next rich BMW-driving SOB who complains that his mom or dad is suffering because there is not enough Medicare - well, I would say something really rude here!

This is one of those difficult, sticky areas where strict adherence to a philosophy of minimal government intervention in life runs head on into the compassion that people feel towards those who are in need. Children should care for their parents as their parents cared for them. Unfortunately, our Western civilization has almost completely abandoned the idea of the extended family with familial responsibility being paramount in our lives. Instead, we focus on personal fulfillment, leading to the rich BMW-driving SOBs who complain about how the government isn't caring for their parents properly. I don't know how to solve this problem while still following the philosophy of "all men are created equal".

I may follow this up with more later. Comments are both welcome and encouraged.

Posted by Jack at 11:15 on Sunday 4 April 2004 | Trackbacks (1)
The Noble Pundit linked with Cultural Relativism