Depending on the expected snow storm, I might be more productive this weekend.
Friday, December 14, 2007
TGIF
It's Friday and the day of my company's holiday luncheon, so I have very little that is substantive to say. I did want to post this picture I found while looking for communication cartoons for my powerpoint presentation at work. Hopefully I won't ever really get there (although my post last night might be a good start).
Thursday, December 13, 2007
The Good Old Days
Some thoughts occurred to me while I was listening to Denis McDonough speak tonight about candidate debates in this country (YPFP sessions are off the record, but seeing as the topic of the discussion is posted on the front page, I don't think I've given anything away):
We bemoan the disappearance of the 'good old days' in politics - a time when politicians could be more candid and less partisan (forgetting, of course, the partisanship and witchhunts of the McCarthy era). The primary culprit seems to be the media - blamed for dumbing down debates to soundbites. Is this necessarily true, however? The 'old days' certainly had their moments (the bipartisanship during the Truman administration detailed in James Chace's excellent biography of Dean Acheson was astounding and makes me entirely wistful), but have those moments passed entirely?
Isn't it patronizing on the part of talking heads to assume that the public doesn't want these poll-tested, prepackaged deals? Why on earth do they assume that average Americans don't care? Its our country too- perhaps even more so, since we are the soldiers and police officers, firefighters, EMTs, teachers, shopkeepers, workers, and everyone else. We are America. Why wouldn't we want to know exactly what and where our leaders plan to drag us in to?
This will become a common theme here, but we have the power and responsibility to ask the tough questions, as do our spokespeople - the media and Congress - and our leaders - again, Congress and the President - have the responsibility to answer to us. Americans generally dislike those who ride on other's coattails. Its time we realized that's what we've been doing, assuming the media will do our job for us. I always feel like this part ends up echoing 'if you build it, they will come', but its true. If nothing else, we've learned that politicians respond to polling. So if we start demanding real answers, and stop accepting prearranged debates, then mightn't they start to give us what we want?
This is in danger of becoming a bit of a rant, so I think I'll stop here, but this is definitely a subject I feel passionately about. Americans are not dumb. We might be insular and isolated, apathetic or agnostic, but generally, present us with a reasonable argument and we'll at least hear you out. Of course we won't necessarily change our minds, but I think most of us are at least willing to consider alternatives. So present us with some! We don't care only if we have nothing worth caring about. Let's collectively agree not to let politics be one of those.
We bemoan the disappearance of the 'good old days' in politics - a time when politicians could be more candid and less partisan (forgetting, of course, the partisanship and witchhunts of the McCarthy era). The primary culprit seems to be the media - blamed for dumbing down debates to soundbites. Is this necessarily true, however? The 'old days' certainly had their moments (the bipartisanship during the Truman administration detailed in James Chace's excellent biography of Dean Acheson was astounding and makes me entirely wistful), but have those moments passed entirely?
Isn't it patronizing on the part of talking heads to assume that the public doesn't want these poll-tested, prepackaged deals? Why on earth do they assume that average Americans don't care? Its our country too- perhaps even more so, since we are the soldiers and police officers, firefighters, EMTs, teachers, shopkeepers, workers, and everyone else. We are America. Why wouldn't we want to know exactly what and where our leaders plan to drag us in to?
This will become a common theme here, but we have the power and responsibility to ask the tough questions, as do our spokespeople - the media and Congress - and our leaders - again, Congress and the President - have the responsibility to answer to us. Americans generally dislike those who ride on other's coattails. Its time we realized that's what we've been doing, assuming the media will do our job for us. I always feel like this part ends up echoing 'if you build it, they will come', but its true. If nothing else, we've learned that politicians respond to polling. So if we start demanding real answers, and stop accepting prearranged debates, then mightn't they start to give us what we want?
This is in danger of becoming a bit of a rant, so I think I'll stop here, but this is definitely a subject I feel passionately about. Americans are not dumb. We might be insular and isolated, apathetic or agnostic, but generally, present us with a reasonable argument and we'll at least hear you out. Of course we won't necessarily change our minds, but I think most of us are at least willing to consider alternatives. So present us with some! We don't care only if we have nothing worth caring about. Let's collectively agree not to let politics be one of those.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Reading List
Really more like a reading wish list at this point, since I've been behind on my reading list since I was 13 (current list length: 30 pages, typed).
William Blake: The Complete Illuminated Books
From the Guardian.
(Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan)
The Founding Fathers, Exposed!
This was a fun article on Alexander Hamilton. It's important to remember that while the Founding Fathers were fairly impressive, they were still only human. A lot of them did things that would get a politician fired today (at least).
But of course, that's part of the brilliance of their work: they recognized their failings and those of others, and created a system of governance of the people, by the people, which mitigates the flaws of all of us. They also realized that what was acceptable to them might not be acceptable to us, and incorporated mechanisms to deal with changes in accepted practice, so that our system could carry on, despite all the bumps in the road. And now, we're just the latest incarnation of an enduring vision; not of a perfect union, but hopefully a more perfect one.
But of course, that's part of the brilliance of their work: they recognized their failings and those of others, and created a system of governance of the people, by the people, which mitigates the flaws of all of us. They also realized that what was acceptable to them might not be acceptable to us, and incorporated mechanisms to deal with changes in accepted practice, so that our system could carry on, despite all the bumps in the road. And now, we're just the latest incarnation of an enduring vision; not of a perfect union, but hopefully a more perfect one.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Foundations of Liberty: The Great Writ
Today the Supreme Court takes up the argument that the 2006 Military Commissions Act stripped the Guantanamo Bay detainees of the right to petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
Tom Lynch at Cato weighs in.
Tom Lynch at Cato weighs in.
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