Sorry if I came across as saying "conservatives are not educated." I have heard that
argument before and I think that falls into the same nonsensical
category of logical fallacy as arguments like "liberals are evil."
They are simple ad hominem attacks that detract from true debate.
James is much smarter than I and has more education than I ever will.
In spite of that (kidding!), he is quite conservative.
I can see how you could think I was implying that from when I wrote
"church leaders urge us to make educated decisions." I simply meant
was that I think we should not vote for one party because we think
that Mormons are supposed to be conservative. I think it is common
for members of the church to assume that they should be conservative
because they have been lead to believe that their religion urges them
to do so. That was me at one point actually! I actually joined the
college republicans because I felt that is where I belonged as a
Mormon.
The opposite is true. Gordon B. Hinckley stated (in that famous Larry
King interview) "The church does not become involved in politics."
My point is simply this. The root of evil is not the democratic
party. Our church does not, and never has stated anything near to
this. There is no question about party affiliation when you get your
recommend renewed. We are free to chose whatever party we want
because none is perfect (they both stink!) My point in relating
democratic leaders of the church was just to point out that you can be
a democrat and not get excommunicated. Many of the Church's'
doctrines could lead one to have political leanings for either party.
For example:
Ezra Taft Benson stated: "The central issue in the premortal council
was: Shall the children of God have untrammeled agency to choose the
course they should follow, whether good or evil, or shall they be
coerced and forced to be obedient? Christ and all who followed him
stood for the former proposition--freedom of choice; Satan stood for
the latter--coercion and force. The war that began in heaven over this
issue is not yet over. The conflict continues on the battlefield of
mortality. And one of Lucifer's primary strategies has been to
restrict our agency through the power of earthly governments (from his
book The Constitution--A Heavenly Banner)."
I understand this to mean that we should be free to make our own moral
decisions without government involvement. That is obviously a
left-leaning thought. But from that same idea, you could find support
for conservative economic ideals. The gospel leaves room for all
parties.
To pin 'evil' on a political party ends progress. There is simply no
way to negotiate with a person who thinks you are literally doing the
work of the devil. Israel and the Palestinians are a perfect example.
Many Israelis believe that god gave the land to them and that the
Palestinians should simply be destroyed. Guess what the Palestinians
believe? Same thing. No wonder they can't make any progress! All
they do is blow each other up.
When your platform is 'you are evil' you choosing to make no progress.
You might make yourself feel a little better but you don't solve
anything.
Also, if my statement that "we need to turn off rush, et al. and think
for ourselves" meant I felt that conservatives are uneducated then I
can understand that. That was not my intent. Keep in mind, I think
that applies to Air America listeners too. Being a member of the
media I try to keep apprised of what is being batted around the AM
dial. My knee-jerk reaction to James original list was that it was
nothing new to me. I had heard it all before, time and time again on
the radio. The same crap is constantly thrown at republicans from
democratic pundits, same tactics- different party. It's all mindless
banter and I just wish that I could hear something new.
While we live in a country that still has a separation of church and
state, I just think it is counter-intuitive to tell yourself that God
is on your side. If it weren't so, Mormons would have a heck of a
time with it. We may have Romney and Reid, but we're still a pretty
small minority. Besides, everything the government gets involved in,
it screws up! Just imagine what it would do to religion if it got
involved. Eek, I'll take secularism, thanks!
Imagine what it would be like to live under Shari'a as a Mormon. We'd
beg for secularism!
Finally, (Sorry, I know, I know. I can't shut up!) as for the media
thing. Sorry if I wasn't too clear. I was trying to say that, from
my perspective, there are instances of left-leaning journalism just as
there is right-leaning journalism. It just appears to me that the
real problem comes from those people who are unable to accept 'news'
if it doesn't support their opinions. The idea that there is a
liberal conspiracy to skew the news is as laughable as the 'protocols
of the learned elders of zion.'
James, I appreciate your firm stance. John Steinbeck (favorite author
btw) once wrote about how the one thing missing in this country is
people who are willing to stand for something that they believe in.
It is a rare person who is willing to take a stand for what is really
important. With enough of them, you can change the world.
But you criticise the 'liberals' because they offer no solutions.
Your critique was strictly pointing out their flaws and how they are
messing things up. If you feel that the liberals are screwing up
this country, what about the conservatives? Are their solutions going
to solve everything?
I feel that for a person to get to a position of influence in this
country, they have had to have made a myriad of concessions to their
party (can't get anywhere without either party support. The delegates
are really the ones who choose who leads this country) and had to
accept money from so many donors that by the time they are in a
position to do any good, they have sold their souls. Who has more
influence over a congressman: a lowly letter-writing voter or, the
multi-zillionare company that paid for your election? Most
politicians (if not all) serve those that got them in office and I
don't mean voters. We're too easily manipulated. When it comes down
to it, we really just have depublicans and republicrats. Governance
in this country has gotten so diluted that we don't even understand
the reasons our leaders make the decisions they do and they rarely
serve our best interests. That goes for both parties.
Democrats are too spineless to do any good, I think they are too busy
trying to please everybody to actually come up with any ideas, and in
the meantime, accepting any idea, no matter how repulsive.
Republicans, on the other hand, are set on doing things their way, no
matter how bad of an idea of it is. Then, when things go sour, they
play the 'doing whats right' card. It makes me think of "they draw
near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."
Last thing (promise!), why do we owe our thanks to liberals for
pornography, etc? I fail to see a connection. I understand this is a
growing problem even in our own church, which is largely conservative.
Shouldn't we find someone to blame that actually has something to do
with the problem of pornography, like the consumer? I would dare to
guess that they are all not 'liberals'. What good does blaming a
bunch of bureaucrats do- other than sell books, that is.
I'm sure much of what I write will be misunderstood due to a lack of
clear thinking on my part but, what the hey, this is fun! Email is
weird because sarcasm gets totally lost but I get a kick out of you
guys making fun of my goofy ideas and appreciate that you don't get
mad when I bite back. We should get a blog or something where we can
respond to one anothers ideas. Heck, I think we could probably cover
the whole political spectrum!
This is, of course, all your fault You started it. :)
-Josh
Labels: Politics