tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post1326293818636582665..comments2024-03-27T15:34:14.749-07:00Comments on dangerous idea: Do Conservatives want a Meritocracy?Victor Repperthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10962948073162156902noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-88420757301650926182010-02-13T11:52:41.764-07:002010-02-13T11:52:41.764-07:00I think you're quite right about the indivisib...I think you're quite right about the indivisibility of many political issues.<br /><br />I can be accused of clubbing too much with my own kind when I say that in my experience the tendency (or desire) to paint a stance on an issue as left or right is more typical of the right. I think this is so for many reason I wont' get into here, but it seems to me that self-consistency is an ideal that "liberals" take more seriously.<br /><br />For instance, the Tea Party Patriots statement of core values (http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhsxmzm7_19fcdzskg5) speaks about the value of national sovereignty and free markets. The problem is that free markets are in themselves a threat to national sovereignty.<br /><br />It just boggles my mind that they do not see that their core principles contain blatant contradictions. To the extent that their core values contain contradictions, it can be said that they do not have core values.kmishonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-36895631750404895432010-02-09T14:28:16.660-07:002010-02-09T14:28:16.660-07:00Further, what counts as conservative or liberal is...Further, what counts as conservative or liberal is bound to vary from country to country. C. S. Lewis would be very much a conservative from the standpoint of British politics (insofar as he was political at all), but he ended up deciding that the National Health Service was better than the alternative of lacking one, and seems to be a strong supporter of preserving the environment. He also opposed the bombing of Dresden during WWII. These positions would be anathema to conservatives in the American political debate. <br /><br />African-Americans tend to be more devout than whites, but also very solidly Democratic voters. So I guess it's a white Christian liberal that's an oxymoron.Victor Repperthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10962948073162156902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-17102144370872748562010-02-09T14:22:10.705-07:002010-02-09T14:22:10.705-07:00I would have thought a conservative Christian is a...I would have thought a conservative Christian is an oxymoron, if anything. A friend of mine told me about a discussion in Dostoyevsky about whether a Christian, in virtue of being a Christian, must be a socialist. The answer might be no, but it is an issue that has to be taken seriously. <br /><br />But, as I indicated, I'm not much of a believer in the political spectrum. So being on the side of liberals with respect to certain central political issues that are in place today is kind of a contingent fact about me and the current issues. When political correctness starts getting pushed too far, I tend to get in touch with my inner conservative, as I did when the APA wanted to scarlet-letter colleges who had codes of conduct that prohibit homosexual sex. <br /><br />Conservatism and liberalism are terms that I would like to see defined more clearly if they are to be used.Victor Repperthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10962948073162156902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-16467505471946604982010-02-09T13:41:11.846-07:002010-02-09T13:41:11.846-07:00Wait a second here.......A liberal Christian???? N...Wait a second here.......A liberal Christian???? Now thats an oxymoron.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-81993187963972764092009-12-09T12:13:45.627-07:002009-12-09T12:13:45.627-07:00The political issues I care about most tend not to...The political issues I care about most tend not to be intrinsically left or right, even though some of them have a strong association with one of the political parties.Jim S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/15538540873375357030noreply@blogger.com