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That political meme
Jan. 5th, 2008 09:33 pmI suppose I should join ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
xolo and loganberrybunny in this meme. It's interesting that Google shows only two examples of it in their index.
2008 Presidential Candidates: I don't like any of them. They're all either "stay the course toward ruin" or "no chance of winning". I like Clinton because I think she's lying about having buried the hatchet with Big Pharma, but I dislike the idea that I should vote for someone because I *don't* believe what she says about her plans. I like Paul because he actually has real moral values that he sticks to even when they're politically inconvenient, but he is a racist sexist pig and the American "king for 4 years" model means that racism and sexism would become more socially acceptable during a Paul presidency. Edwards has Fascist leanings (his kowtowing to Israeli donors was just wrong) but it's possible that I would be least dissatisfied with his administration.
Party: I don't like any of them. They're all either imperialist or no-chance-of-winning. This is an unfortunate result of the two-party system that George Washington never wanted, which makes politics into a ball game where both sides use the same tactics and the winner is a near-random choice—and the laws that come out of it are a near-random side effect of which side happened to score a goal on which play.
Abortion: The claim that this has anything to do with fœtal personhood is a just a cover story. Abortion is all about subjugation of women and really nothing else. The standard test for this is to ask a "pro lifer" whether he would rather save an unborn fœtus or a real 2 year-old child. By any reasonable standard the 2-yo is more valuable, yet the stereotypical response is to save the unborn because it is still "perfect" and unsullied by reality.
Affirmative Action: It's unAmerican. Of course, America does many unAmerican things (since its choices are unsullied by reality) and IMHO affirmative action does not make the Top Ten list of "bad ideas that should have been discarded a long time ago".
Alternative Fuels: Ethanol is a bad idea. It creates yet another use for grain, which the world can't grow enough of as it is. Why not build a giant spaceship to scoop up some atmosphere from Jupiter and bring it back to Earth so we can burn it as fuel? "Egregious violation of carbon-neutral principles", certainly, but could it be cost-effective?
Capital Punishment: In general this is a bad idea, because it creates a moral equivalence between the State and the criminal. But America is a bloodthirsty country and some capital crimes need to be on the books in order for Yanks to feel good about their government. Why not make it a capital crime to violate your oath of political office? Then yank the penalty from "lower offenses" like merely murdering someone. Assigning the highest punishment to oath-violation could have a positive effect on American patriotism, so of course it'll never happen.
( Additional quantities of similar drivel )
xolo and loganberrybunny in this meme. It's interesting that Google shows only two examples of it in their index.2008 Presidential Candidates: I don't like any of them. They're all either "stay the course toward ruin" or "no chance of winning". I like Clinton because I think she's lying about having buried the hatchet with Big Pharma, but I dislike the idea that I should vote for someone because I *don't* believe what she says about her plans. I like Paul because he actually has real moral values that he sticks to even when they're politically inconvenient, but he is a racist sexist pig and the American "king for 4 years" model means that racism and sexism would become more socially acceptable during a Paul presidency. Edwards has Fascist leanings (his kowtowing to Israeli donors was just wrong) but it's possible that I would be least dissatisfied with his administration.
Party: I don't like any of them. They're all either imperialist or no-chance-of-winning. This is an unfortunate result of the two-party system that George Washington never wanted, which makes politics into a ball game where both sides use the same tactics and the winner is a near-random choice—and the laws that come out of it are a near-random side effect of which side happened to score a goal on which play.
Abortion: The claim that this has anything to do with fœtal personhood is a just a cover story. Abortion is all about subjugation of women and really nothing else. The standard test for this is to ask a "pro lifer" whether he would rather save an unborn fœtus or a real 2 year-old child. By any reasonable standard the 2-yo is more valuable, yet the stereotypical response is to save the unborn because it is still "perfect" and unsullied by reality.
Affirmative Action: It's unAmerican. Of course, America does many unAmerican things (since its choices are unsullied by reality) and IMHO affirmative action does not make the Top Ten list of "bad ideas that should have been discarded a long time ago".
Alternative Fuels: Ethanol is a bad idea. It creates yet another use for grain, which the world can't grow enough of as it is. Why not build a giant spaceship to scoop up some atmosphere from Jupiter and bring it back to Earth so we can burn it as fuel? "Egregious violation of carbon-neutral principles", certainly, but could it be cost-effective?
Capital Punishment: In general this is a bad idea, because it creates a moral equivalence between the State and the criminal. But America is a bloodthirsty country and some capital crimes need to be on the books in order for Yanks to feel good about their government. Why not make it a capital crime to violate your oath of political office? Then yank the penalty from "lower offenses" like merely murdering someone. Assigning the highest punishment to oath-violation could have a positive effect on American patriotism, so of course it'll never happen.
( Additional quantities of similar drivel )
