Whatever
LIBERALISM = MORAL ANARCHY
Or so someone decided to inform me on my walk home from class this morning using big, pink chalk letters on the Quad.
I am not a conservative by any stretch of the imagination, however, I am fully aware that nature hates a vacuum (literally--see virtual particles) and that my views and beliefs cannot be formed on the basis of convenient labelling. Thus, I fall on the conservative side of some issues, and I see this as a very good thing. Life is not black and white, liberal and conservative. Anyone will tell you they know this cliche and probably subscribe to it. But then why is this nation becoming more and more us and them?
We are already a two-party system. Our government likes to categorize and a vast majority of the time it is through the labels of Democrats and Republicans, neither of which, believe it or not, actually describe reality all that well. The point of the parties in the first place was not to have a dominant culture based on whoever is in office (elected by little more than half the people), but to present opposing ideas from any side that any group of Americans is passionate about and have honest debate within government.
I don't want to throw insults back at conservatism or conservatives because I don't think what is emerging now is a good representation of either. So I will call this new mentality that seems to be driving the country cultural conservatism. It is this I blame for the idea that 'liberal' is now a dirty word and for the ideas that are pulling us toward a one-party nation where law is based on righteous belief and no longer freedom or reason.
Lest anyone get the wrong idea, I am not suggesting that Democrats are right in this situation and being oppressed by the evil Republican government. Though I still think the Democratic party would not have been as extreme as the Republicans and certainly I believe they would not be supporting so many ideas that I find offensive in government, they are, as Erik has said on numerous occasions, a bunch of whiners. Both sides are playing the cultural conservatism game.
In his most recent post, Erik also pointed out that the Tom Delay situation is ridiculous because there are Democrats who should face the same allegations that are not being scrutinized. And this is the whole problem. We shouldn't be saying, well if this one can get off, why are we attacking this other one? We should be saying, why aren't we attacking all forms of corruption? Why is anyone allowed to get away with this? The Democrats shouldn't be protecting their own from things like that anymore than the Republicans should. That is the problem with the Democrats...they are trying to play the game with their own half-assed ideals and they are losing simply because the majority happens to like the half-assed ideals of the other side. It's the people of the nation that should demand that this issue be bipartisan. Because you know the parties won't do it. But instead everyone, like the person who wrote on the Quad, is being swept into this game, which breeds intolerance and hate.
Anyway, speaking of intolerance, I've come to the conclusion that montheistic and organized religion has played a very large part in the total destruction of cultures throughout history and is still at it today by its very nature. I am feeling intolerant about it right now cuz my Aztec class keeps reminding me of what has been lost to the Catholic church and other such religious "saviors". It's really annoying to think about all the hypocrisy cuz there's just so damn much and people *still* don't get it. *sigh*
But more seriously, the evolution of religion is very interesting. And in other news, I read about Passover in the newspaper...I always kinda knew what it was about, but this year it particularly struck me as offensive. Yeah, yeah, I know, no-one but me cares. Anyway, I'm curious, how many people actually know what Passover stands for?