Democratic Socialism

This is cool:
What is Democratic Socialism
Some stuff I can dig on, without all the right wing spin.

Bush's principles, popularity and pragmatism

Last night, GW Bush spoke for a few minutes and answered some questions in front of the Economic Club of Southern Michigan.

Bush said his 2nd most troubling time was the near economic collapse last year. Told inaction would lead to a crisis worse than the Great Depression, Bush said he decided he had to intervene to prevent widespread stock market collapse and bank failure.

"That's a sobering moment," he said. "I thought about it, and I didn't really want to be that president. So I abandoned free-market principles."

Later in the Q&A portion he was asked how he wanted his 'legacy' to read in the history books. "I hope it is this," Bush said. "'The man showed up in the office with a set of principles and he was unwilling to sacrifice his principles for the sake of popularity.'"

Hmmm....He was will to sacrifice them in the face of facts and practicality over the nation's finances. I think that's a great thing that he should be lauded for. Pity he wasn't willing to give up his principles in the face of facts earlier or on other policy matters.

Oh, and he also said the words "freedom" and "God" countless times. I guess that would be the extent of his principles.

Memorial Day

Strictly speaking, this American holiday is supposed to be about paying tribute to the people who have died in wars in the uniform of the USofA. But nothing is so cut and dried. It never is.
Should we honor those who died fighting against the Union in the US Civil War? Native Americans who died for their nations, against the Federal government? People who served, but didn't die? People who served and died as Americans on the Tory side of the Revolution?

Memorial Day also seems to have something to do with buying mattresses, riding motorcycles and grilling meat over an open flame. It is a day when some Americans make an extra effort to remember a particular loved one who has died (though not necessarily a veteran).

I just watched a baseball game and thought about stuff like this. That's patriotic enough for me. The Minnesota Twins are better than I thought, and I did like the red, white and blue caps that both teams wore. America, I think I'll keep her.

World Government is happening

Yeah, that's right - I'm for increased centralization of world governance. First I came out of the closet as an avowed liberal, then an admitted socialist, and now this. No, this doesn't make me anti-freedom or unpatriotic. And I don't hate God either. It is just more of my confrontational pragmatism that is at work.

This has been a long, slow evolution since men first came together to divide up the fish and game they killed, and the women they mated with. It is seen in the origins of the United States of America. All the big world trends point toward a smaller world, and a necessarily more global form of government.

There are many among us who hate this. From anti-globalisation lefties, anti-UN and pro-StatesRights righties, to '9-11 Truthers' the falling barriers to world cooperation and order are demonized and fought. But this trend is unstoppable. It can be resisted and slowed but the world is getting smaller. Little by little, day by day we are linked by technology into a more interdependent world. This makes more interdependent nation-states inevitable.

Better to roll with it, and make it work than to resist it completely.

Patriots and Socialists

American right-wingers are working hard to frame current political thought and issues around these two words. They want us to think that Democrat = Socialist and Republican = Patriot. I've been bumping up against it quite a lot lately. The debate around buzzwords is so stupid, I find it hard to wrap my mind around it. I want to go on more about this silliness soon, but in the meantime Bill Maher wrote a nice rant about it, quoted here:

There's a name for people who do the right thing for their country, even if it involves sacrifice. And no, it's not "socialists." It's "patriots." We all know the modern definition of a patriot: It's the person who pays the least taxes and listens to the most A.M. radio. But that wasn't what it always meant.

Patriots want their fellow citizens to be able to go to the hospital. They want to make sure no one sells them bread made out of Chinese skulls. They want a country where the deer and the antelope can still play - and not just so Sarah Palin can shoot them from a helicopter. Patriots want to burn less coal and buy less oil. Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the White House roof and Ronald Reagan had them removed. You've heard of "opposite marriage"? This is "opposite patriotism."

Rush Limbaugh celebrated this Earth Day by praising coal-fired power plants and the plastic bag, while Glenn Beck cheered a man on while he cut down trees.

During the campaign, Obama suggested that one simple thing Americans could do to help with fuel-efficiency was check their car's tire pressure. And Republicans freaked, because to them, every suggestion for the common good is a direct attack on their personal liberty, and it's unpatriotic to interfere with anyone's God-given right to be big, dumb and selfish.

When the President suggests things that will help the greater good, that's not a slight against your fragile manhood. I know, you're a rugged individualist. But you're not - you're just a schmuck.

Going back to Reagan, all of our leaders have predictably and reliably told us that government is always the problem, never you my precious, perfect American citizen. You are always perfect just the way you are, like a precious little snowflake. A beautiful, precious, 350-pound, pig-ignorant snowflake.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/05/08/2009-05-08_americans_please_wash_hands_before_criticizing_obama.html#ixzz0F3lV9XPh&B

The Lying Liberal

I supported John Edwards' primary run for President. His positions on issues of governmental policy were the most similar to my own. He did not seem a particularly down to earth guy. As it turned out, he was treating his wife and family very badly during this time. I make no excuse or have no regret for supporting his candidacy.

You see, as a thinking person I see a difference between government policies that best serve my country and private behaviour that serves or dis serves individuals. I find these sorts of private scandals entertaining, but I'm not looking for proof of hypocrisy in my politicians. I'm looking for government policies that are good for my country.

So, the next time the headlines are full of a public offical taking drugs, cheating on their spouse, nailing a prostitute, reaching between stalls in a public toilet, etc. I will laugh and enjoy the spectacle. It doesn't color my liberal ideals one little bit. For me, liberalism's core principle is pragmatism in public policy. Hypocrisy between public and private behavior does not matter.