I believe that religious liberty, and by that I mean the
right to share one’s beliefs and worship according to one’s conscience, is a
fundamental human right. There is a growing anti-clerical feel in the atmosphere
and that worries me. Republicans appear to be more concerned about this issue
than Democrats, but I think the arguments that Thomas Frank made in What’s the Matter with Kansas are fairly
accurate. I believe many Republicans
are frankly full of crap and provide mere lip service to the beliefs I
sincerely hold and deeply cherish. Yet despite voting Democrat in the past I progressively feel like
there isn’t a place for me in the Democratic Party because of its increasing
and often open hostility to religion.
We were founded as a nation of laws, not men; however more
and more of our self-appointed elites think themselves above the laws of this
land. President Trump is a crass and obvious example of this, but frankly
President Obama abused his Constitutional mandate via executive orders. I am honestly
appalled and distressed by many of the words and actions of our sitting
President, but some of the extra legal tactics of the Democrats, like the
character assignation that we’ve seen with Kavanaugh this last week, are just
as distasteful to me. (I have no idea whether the allegations against Kavanaugh
are true and I believe fair and open hearings to get to the truth are important,
but the way victims are being deployed for Machiavellian political ends is
obvious and rather disgusting.)
I think most problems are best solved locally. Both parties
claim this but both aggrandize power to themselves whenever they control the federal
government. An unelected federal bureaucracy checked by an unelected judiciary determines
the grand majority of political controversies, especially important and
difficult ones—this makes a mockery of our pretensions to democracy. When
people don’t have a real say they lose civic virtue and become apathetic. They
forsake the common good because they have no real say in it and instead find
their identity in individualistic and materialistic pursuits. The best way to
reinvigorate the American people would be to give them a real say and real
control in politics and this can only happen at the local level.
Maybe it is because I am on Twitter, but it seems as if our
discourse has lost all civility and been stripped of all moral norms. A lot of
people like to blame our current President, and he is certainly part of the
problem, but this issue runs deeper than one person and a new President will
not bring about a significant or material change. I think the heart of our
problem is philosophical. If all real knowledge comes from experience then only
those that have experienced something can talk about it. What is more, if only certain
groups can talk about certain things then all discourse will be reduced to lecture.
For example, if only a woman can talk about sexism or a person of color discuss
racism then there can be no discourse between a man and a woman on sexism and
no discourse on racism between a Caucasian and African-American. Instead, the
person with experience will talk and the other will be reduced to listening. No
one likes one-way discourse and this creates resentment that comes out in virulent
insults and the expressions of toxic prejudices. Neither are justified, but I
think our post-modern epistemology destroys any hope of a commonly accessible
truth and this in turn shifts the goal of discourse from either the discovery
or proof of truth to the imposition of power.
Finally, I have been convinced, via philosophical argument, that
abortion is wrong. I believe the government should do all in their power to
limit it. Most Republicans pay lip service to this issue, but I doubt the sincerity
of many.
I should add that I don't think many of these things can be solved through the political process. Things like our epistemology, the way we talk to one another, and even our commitment to religious liberty inform our politics and can at times be influenced by our politics, but they problems rooted in habits, customs, etc. that run far deeper than what mere lawmaking or litigation can reach.
What is more there are a number of structural changes, like the increase in surveillance technology and the ability of robots to replace human workers that will have huge social and eventually political ramifications. These will likely prove to be the biggest challenges the next generation will face.
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