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Pandering to the Religious Right
Obviously as we move closer to primary elections, we’ll start to see the wedge issues swing into the fore. And yet, this year we’re hearing a great deal more about how disappointing the religious right is finding the entire stable of Republican hopefuls. So it’s not like the religious right is likely to be avid readers of our site, but we’ve got a nugget of info for them, and we’re gonna share it anyway:
Politicians have been pandering to you for eons. Many do not share your beliefs even slightly, while many more know your beliefs might be convenient during a primary election, but they’ll back way off once they get the nomination. Issues like gay rights and abortion are popular primary cycle issues, but since most registered voters live most of their lives without these issues ever truly impacting them, you should be suspect that the issues spent any time in the limelight at all.
We’re not trying to be cynical or anything, but it should be abundantly clear to every American that politicians have to appeal to a much broader base of people than their actual opinions could ever get them. For this reason, those who seek the highest offices, work tirelessly to make their message palatable to the largest possible audience. With regard to religion — which is the simplest of all manipulations — this sometimes means you conveniently become “born again”, and sometimes this means you espouse a “deep belief” which no intelligent person could possibly believe you truly hold.
Whether you’re a big fan of god or not, we think it’s about time you stopped letting politicians so easily pander to you with wedge issues that obscure the larger inefficacy of modern government.
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Less Blood, More Gore
Al Gore, winner of the popular vote in 2000, and focus of the incredibly important 2006 documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”, today was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize — along with the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — for their work to alert the world to the threat of global warming.
As such, if we’re channeling the current administration, we are now required to say that this is just further proof that the international community is a failure. They ruined the UN, now they’ve ruined the Nobel Peace Prize. Shit, it was bad enough when they gave the prize to Jimmy Carter, but now you’ve given it to a liberal who’s actually still a relevant political figure!? What’s next? An award for “Most Abortions Performed in 2007″!?!?
Sheesh! Calm down “Administration”. How about we just offer congratulations, and hope that this endorsement of Gore’s efforts will add to the already justifiably high profile of an important environmental issue.
Cheers!
ShareNanny State Tactics Are Getting Out of Hand
The whole gang here is comprised of a bunch of ex/non-smokers these days (with one militant exception), so we were okay after recent chatter regarding a Beverly Hills smoking ban in outdoor dining areas. Of course we’ve all got the right to enjoy the lovely Southern California weather while we eat, but we’ve gotta draw the line somewhere, and a recent City Council decision in the California city of Belmont to ban smoking in multi-unit apartment buildings is just over the top. Not only does this present an incredible enforcement problem at a time when our law enforcement is already stretched to the limit, but it ought to be just enough to raise everyone’s libertarian hackles.
I’d love to think America is on a path to better, more health conscious habits, but let’s get real. Just because Whole Foods is doing business like gang busters doesn’t mean we don’t all eat the shit out of MacDonalds. Or better yet, do you wanna super-size that Jamba Juice? There’s a way to turn something healthy into…um….not so much. Americans in general have terrible dietary habits, and make incredibly poor decisions about what they put in their bodies everyday. But these are our decisions to make. My instinct might put me on the forefront of banning obesity so we stop the skyrocketing cost of healthcare in America. There are way more fat people than there are smokers, so isn’t that a worse problem than public smoking? Maybe it is, but in both cases, we’re talking about public enforcement of private activity on a scale and scope much larger than anything in my lifetime, and it’s starting to freak me out. After 9/11 we’re giving up civil liberties so fast it’s gonna take us years to figure out how deep in the hole we’ve dug down. This is a slippery slope situation, plain and simple.
Don’t get me wrong: I think everyone should quit smoking, and I’m quite happy that I have the right to tell them not to smoke near me while I’m eating my breakfast burrito on the lanai. But still, you’ve gotta put this stuff in context, and lately, the context is a dark, dark place.
ShareWe’re Pining For Some Plain Spoken Politics
One of the most common refrains in American political discourse is that the older you get and the more money you make, the more conservative you become. Well, this hasn’t worked out so well for us because of our irritating adherance to rational social politics, but lately, we’re starting to hear the siren call just a little bit.
So far we’ve heard little more than pandering and evasive talking points from the Democratic presidential hopefuls. On the other side of the fence, Ron Paul has emerged as the first prominent politician to start to tear down some of our most long standing and ill-conceived policies. Paul first became our hero when he enraged Rudi Guiliani by suggesting that Americans were somewhat complicit in the attacks of September 11th. And now, in the most recent debate, he declared the Drug War a failed policy which has wasted billions and accomplished nothing. These and others are exactly the variety of issues that should be getting aired during a presidential election cycle.
With the above said, we’re still never gonna endorse the guy. Check out Paul’s Wikipedia page and you’ll find a hard-lined, states rights Republican who is a self proclaimed “unshakeable foe of abortion”. Still, even if we don’t always agree with him, we find Paul’s honesty incredibly refreshing and we’re really happy to see him shed some light on issues no other politician — on either side of the aisle — seems willing to touch.
Then again, such is the freedom of the candidate with no chance in hell of ever actually getting elected.
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//FROM THE ARCHIVES
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