It was once an article faith, stated early on by one of the founding fathers, and here I paraphrase, "that we seek to have the good opinion of our fellow nations." These days we have moved far away from espousing such a view, let alone practicing it, so much so that our government and its people are now, in large part, either oblivious to or contemptuous of the idea of maintaining the good opinion of the rest of the world. A poll taken by ABC shows that those who support McCain and Palin are vastly at odds with most of the rest of the planet. I would only add that, despite the obvious flaws of the Obama Biden ticket, they are also at odds with their own nation's welfare.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/09/2360240.htm?section=world
3 comments:
I though I would point you to another blog with a different frame of reference. In particular a conversation thread of people in the middle who strongly disagree with traditional conservative unsupported views (anti abortion, religious dogam, creationism, etc...) yet also recognize where conservatives correctly criticize liberals.
For as a reader and a voter, when I read your posts, I still think you miss the bigger issue of why conservatives are winning and liberals are losing the elections. And the issue (again from my frame of reference) has much more to do with social cooperation and trust than you think.
Link 1
Link 2
Notice the discussion on link 2. In particular, read the comments of a clearly liberal commenter who goes by the name of Disgrunteled goat. I think his view clearly sum up (to me) why so many people fear liberals-- a keep us from the truth mentality is just a non-starter.
I do not see how voters will ever trust those who think this way. Currently, liberals are viewed MORE this way than conservatives.
Regards
Thai wrote:
"I still think you miss the bigger issue of why conservatives are winning and liberals are losing the elections."
Are they? My dear Thai, you first have to contend with the idea, an idea I believe to be about as close to fact as the one that says electrons orbit atoms, that the terms liberal and conservative are, in this culture, hopelessly and perhaps willfully confused to the point of meaninglessness. I don't have the time or means to fully discuss this complex development, (I would need a grant for that), but I will offer that of the two terms, liberalism has suffered by far the worst distortion.
Now on to your second assertion, which is flatly incorrect. You may recall that in the most recent mid-term elections, Democrats, not Liberals mind you, but Democrats, trounced the Republicans, not conservatives mind you, but simply, Republicans.
Now, if it tuns out that the U.S. electorate chooses McCain/Palin over Obama/Biden I feel strongly that it will not be due to any perception that a "keep us from the truth mentality" resides to a greater degree amongst Democrats. Both parties are manifestly corrupt and dishonest, equally prone to hide the truth- to the extent that they have even ascertained it for themselves-and I believe many if not most voters understand this instinctively and all too well.
Having said that, we are a manifestly dumbed down nation, and to the extent that Liberalism tends to embrace complexity, which is not the same as wanton permissiveness, elitism or any other such calumnies that have been thrown Liberalism's way like so many rhetorical hand grenades, it should be no surprise that the party that least embraces complexity, and where the Republicans are concerned that is a vast understatement, stands the best chance of success. This is especially the case given our deeply flawed electoral system, a subject that would require yet another grant.
Just as our economic fortunes have deteriorated, so too has our political culture. But these themselves are the product of a general cultural deterioration such that metaphorical allegorical thinking has been steadily superseded by literalism, the enemy of complexity. So even though the Democrats now only offer, at the margins, a rather faintly liberal concoction, even that may be too much for a nation where a large segment of the populace believes with all their might in an angry sky god and guardian angels.
LOL!!!!!!!!! :-)
Amen and touche!
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