- The Constitution is a few pages. The health care bill is more than 2,400. There's no excuse for him not knowing the Constitution backwards and forwards. It's the rulebook for his job.
- Rules of any kind are irrelevant. Intent is all that matters. This is the social revolution of the 1960s coming home to roost. Rules are for squares, man.
- The Left is totally ignorant of financial matters. As other nations have shown, the little boy in Congressman Hare's example is going to have a lot of company if we don't snap out of it soon. The Greeks are finding that out right now, but Phil has no appreciation for that fact at all. Intent is all that matters.
- Phil Hare cares deeply about people. I know there are lots of opportunists and parasites on the Left (I'm looking at you, Al Gore), but Phil isn't one of them. He means what he says when he talks about sick kids and his harassers miss that point entirely.
- The Left and the Right are talking right past each other if this video is indicative of anything. If there is going to be a good conclusion to this, the Right needs to argue that suffering is a tragic reality of life and this kind of compassion is going to increase suffering, not decrease it.
- I would bet that many in the Peron government cared deeply, too. They really did want to help the poor. Unlike Mussolini, who was Peron's idol, the Argentines didn't run off on militaristic adventures. They just redistributed their wealth until the whole thing blew up on them. Once that happened, there were lots and lots and lots of little boys without health insurance. The cure was worse than the disease.
- Phil's argument is an emotional one. That's fine as far as that takes you, but in the end you have to accept that sometimes bad things happen to good people. He's not willing to accept that and so closes his eyes to the cost of his help.
- Intent is all that matters.
There. That's as far as my thinking takes me. Dean has a great post on this subject, too. To borrow from the old Clinton campaign slogan: It's the Peronism, stupid.
I find I keep returning to my favorite sci-fi novel, "The Demon Breed", in my considerations of the recent government growth. In this book, there is a government which oversees many dozens of planets populated by humans. This government allowed people to solve their own problems, for the most part. This produced a more capable and confident citizenry.
ReplyDeleteIn contrast, our government tries to solve the problems of the people. We are then left with an ever more deficient populace with problems in need of solving.
There are victims in the first scenario. But as you point out, there are just as many, if not more in the second. I have been a conservative for most of my life. I became more of one during and after Hurricane Katrina: seeing able-bodied men whining to TV cameras strengthened my resolve.
But I fear this will lead people to think I'm a eugenist or anarchist, which I am not. I believe that the less government we have the better, while still maintaining a national identity and security.
Isn't it sad that simply stating reality - life can be tragic for some and attempting to make it perfect for all with make it tragic for most - leads you to fear that you will be called names?
ReplyDeleteWell said.
ReplyDeleteI'd also add the "end justifies the means" theme. These Democrats believe so much in their policies that any amount of corruption and thuggery is acceptable.
"The ends justify the means" is one of my pet peeves. The ends cannot justify anything because it's the nature of the means that determines the true end. I try to explain that over and over to people, and it simply amazes me how people who are otherwise very intelligent (scientists all) can't seem to grasp that very simple concept. Either they are engaging in magical thinking (i.e. if I click my heels and believe hard enough it will come true) or they are so unthinkingly arrogant as to actually believe that they can control the outcome even though there are a nearly infinite number of variables.
ReplyDelete