Conservatives, Liberals, People and Dogs
The Costco parking lot is always strewn with cars with the usual Wellstone!, Kerry, and so forth bumber stickers. I believe that one shows one's commitment to the cause by just how much real estate at the back of the car one is willing to cover. Yesterday I saw amid the usual stickers
Liberals treat dogs like people, conservatives treat people like dogs.This confirms my favorite saying (which Charles Krauthammer calls a fundamental law of American politics)
Conservatives think liberals are stupid.Oh what a cozy world it must be where everything is so clear and all disagreements are caused by the bad motives of those who pretend to disagree with you.
Liberals think conservatives are evil.
posted by Harsh Pencil | 11/08/2005 03:11:00 PM
I think the labels conservative and liberal are reductionist and have very little value. On the bumper sticker, I would think more of a person who treated a dog like a person than a person who treated another person like a dog.
ssc,
1) I would hope we ALL would think more of people (oops, persons) who treat dogs like people rather than people like dogs. The point was that the car owner automatically thought that those that disagreed with her (for some reason I assume the owner is female) were bad people.
2) Regarding "I think the labels conservative and liberal are reductionist and have very little value": This from a founder of "Minnesota's Conservative Debating Society? Are we having a Barry Goldwater in his old age problem here?
Insults aside, there is a difference between a label which anyone can wear and a philosophy which must be (l)earned.
Insults? You wound me! A gentleman is one who never accidently offends and I did not mean to offend, so you imply I am not a gentleman.
But the John Adams Society actually is "Minnesota's Conservative Debating Society." That is a fact. That is what is on our webpage http://johnadamssociety.org. Are you saying that has no meaning? Should we change this to Minnesota's Debating Society, or Minnesota's Populist Debating Society?
You seem to be beating a dead horse here. It doesn't matter what label the Society has. What matters is whether the membership is conservative. I believe the membership is conservative -- so the label is accurate. If the membership were not conservative, the label would be inaccurate and I hope the Society would change the label.
This of course brings me to my original point, labels on bumper stickers are reductionists -- we don't know what the owner of the car means. However, on the point of dogs as people and vice versa, everyone seems to agree the car owner has a point.
That point and our apparent consensus is more important than the one you brought up. But, we can agree to disagree on that one.
Air Marshall, why must my friends on the right breed contempt of the people in their pursuit of prestige and power? Is this not the greatest political sin? Ought we not convert all the population to our values with respect, persuasion and advocacy?
In my opinion, elitist contempt of the people is an obstacle in starting a total takeover.
I am proud to shout out my conservativism. B
ut, I demand that we rally all the people -- the whole mob -- to our common cause.
It is entirely possible that JAS will be the populist catalyst for a series of events that will lead to a great conversion of the world.
We can only hope that that conversion will come soon.
I dare not consider the ugly alternative for fear of despair.
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