Huckabee
I just came back from hearing Mike Huckabee speak.
He was very funny, telling jokes and anecdotes.
But when it got to the serious things, I felt his political policy was based on a golden rule idealism -- if everyone just followed the golden rule, we wouldn't need so much government, wouldn't need all those taxes, and things would be peachy. Sure.. but original sin is a pretty common christian belief...
There was another amusing point when someone asked about religious beliefs and running for office -- despite saying that he didn't think you had to be a Christian to hold office, here is a paraphrase of how he said it: "It doesn't matter if you're.. Jewish.. Roman Catholic, and Evangelical, like me, or.. Mormon." No mention of Atheist (which inspired the question), Islamic, Buddhist, "Pagan", Hindu, or any of the other possible religions. Just those of the judeo-christian background. Interesting...
One other thing I remember is that he talked a lot, A LOT, about how.. better.. he was than the candidates, and political system. There was a lot about what he'd do, what he did (like taking the high road, etc).. which, after so much repetition, came off as rather self-righteous.
So all-in-all, although many in the crowd gave him a standing ovation, and although much of what he said sounded reasonable, thoughtful, believable.. the problem is, if you control the information, as one can do, in a general lecture, you can sell anything. And a general audience may not know enough specific political or economic theory to beware the product. I feel Huckabee did just that -- control the information and sell his conservatism as common sense. And that's politics, I guess; that's belief. But I was hoping that someone like him, who preaches honesty, would go ahead and take one honest step out of his comfort zone, and deal with the fact that life is complicated.
He was very funny, telling jokes and anecdotes.
But when it got to the serious things, I felt his political policy was based on a golden rule idealism -- if everyone just followed the golden rule, we wouldn't need so much government, wouldn't need all those taxes, and things would be peachy. Sure.. but original sin is a pretty common christian belief...
There was another amusing point when someone asked about religious beliefs and running for office -- despite saying that he didn't think you had to be a Christian to hold office, here is a paraphrase of how he said it: "It doesn't matter if you're.. Jewish.. Roman Catholic, and Evangelical, like me, or.. Mormon." No mention of Atheist (which inspired the question), Islamic, Buddhist, "Pagan", Hindu, or any of the other possible religions. Just those of the judeo-christian background. Interesting...
One other thing I remember is that he talked a lot, A LOT, about how.. better.. he was than the candidates, and political system. There was a lot about what he'd do, what he did (like taking the high road, etc).. which, after so much repetition, came off as rather self-righteous.
So all-in-all, although many in the crowd gave him a standing ovation, and although much of what he said sounded reasonable, thoughtful, believable.. the problem is, if you control the information, as one can do, in a general lecture, you can sell anything. And a general audience may not know enough specific political or economic theory to beware the product. I feel Huckabee did just that -- control the information and sell his conservatism as common sense. And that's politics, I guess; that's belief. But I was hoping that someone like him, who preaches honesty, would go ahead and take one honest step out of his comfort zone, and deal with the fact that life is complicated.