The recent flurry of multi-billion-dollar federal bailouts of major corporations rips the mask off one of the great American myths — the one that proclaims our belief in the free market.
Bull. We believe in a free market when the going is good. When poor business practices and greed on a scale that would make Midas blush create chaos, the titans of the free market cry out for Uncle Sam to come to the rescue.
When people seek subsidy for health care, that’s called Socialism. When giant corporations are subsidized, that’s economic necessity.
If the Right has any decency, there will be a moratorium on using the “S” word when debating any policy that calls for government intervention. With the Bush Administration presiding over the most expensive government intervention in history, even the most shameless paladins of the Right ought to blanch at the hypocrisy of complaining of creeping Socialism.
True libertarians, consistent in their beliefs, have every right to shout their anger from the rooftops — and they should be heard. It has to be admitted, however, that their American ideal is long gone.
Liberals (as the term is used now) don’t believe in the free market; they do seek a form of Socialism. So-called conservatives don’t believe in a free market either — they believe in managing the game for the benefit of the wealthy and powerful.
Who pays? We do. Who benefits? Not us.
I have slowly come to the conclusion that we need to stop deluding ourselves. We are no longer a Republic; we are an Empire. We are no longer the children of Adam Smith, we are the scion of Midas.
What is a citizen to do? I honestly don’t know. We’re riding the tiger. We can’t stay on and we can’t let go.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
Friday, September 19, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Off to the races...
Sisters has a real, live political race on its hands, complete with five candidates vying for three seats on the Sisters City Council and a Political Action Committee backing a slate of candidates with ties to the building industry.
We also have a decision to make about renewing local option tax support for Sisters schools. While there doesn’t seem to be an organized opposition to local option, there is likely to be some resistance from people who aren’t happy about the way the district has handled issues such as the state penalty for the disallowed home schooling program at a local Christian school.
The economy plays into both of these races in different ways.
Taxpayers may be eager to save a few dollars on their tax bill as money tightens up, leaving the school district vulnerable on local option. Voters in the city council election may be motivated in one direction or another by how they perceive the business climate in Sisters.
We’ve been watching the longest political season in American history lumber to its climax. Now Sisters has its own season. It’s (thankfully) much shorter, but it may be just as intense.
Stay tuned.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
We also have a decision to make about renewing local option tax support for Sisters schools. While there doesn’t seem to be an organized opposition to local option, there is likely to be some resistance from people who aren’t happy about the way the district has handled issues such as the state penalty for the disallowed home schooling program at a local Christian school.
The economy plays into both of these races in different ways.
Taxpayers may be eager to save a few dollars on their tax bill as money tightens up, leaving the school district vulnerable on local option. Voters in the city council election may be motivated in one direction or another by how they perceive the business climate in Sisters.
We’ve been watching the longest political season in American history lumber to its climax. Now Sisters has its own season. It’s (thankfully) much shorter, but it may be just as intense.
Stay tuned.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Fear and loathing on the campaign trail (apologies to Hunter S. Thompson)
I hate politics.
I don’t find anything uplifting in it at all. Music, sports, nature — these things lift my spirit, give me a sense of the the vast beauty of the universe and the potential of humankind. Politics is just depressing, the lowest form of human endeavor.
Yet it’s important. Politics is how we choose who makes the policies that affect all of our lives. Policy determines whether we’re safe enough and prosperous enough to enjoy music and sports, whether there will be the means to venture into nature or whether there will be any nature left.
I have friends who are passionately engaged on both ends of the political spectrum. Funny thing is, though they have mighty different bumper stickers, they pretty much have the same values. They want their kids to grow up free, safe and happy, healthy and fulfilled. They want wide open spaces and the means to enjoy them. They like the same kinds of music and probably root for the same teams.
But put them together in a room and start talking politics, they’ll fight like a couple of cats tied up in a sack.
Politics is a form of tribal identity. As soon as you push those political and cultural hot buttons, people who share so much in common start focusing on their differences. Those differences become divides; divides become chasms. People who disagree become adversaries; adversaries become enemies.
Debate becomes conflict, conflict degenerates into a kind of political/cultural civil war.
This is nothing new. Politics in the U.S. (and everywhere else that’s free enough to have any) has always been nasty.
I don’t have a solution to this; I don’t think one exists. But I have made a determination for myself and I stick with it: I’ll never judge a person by his politics — though I might judge him by the way he pursues his politics — (that's him or her for you gender-neutral-language cops) and I’ll never lose a friend over a political disagreement.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
I don’t find anything uplifting in it at all. Music, sports, nature — these things lift my spirit, give me a sense of the the vast beauty of the universe and the potential of humankind. Politics is just depressing, the lowest form of human endeavor.
Yet it’s important. Politics is how we choose who makes the policies that affect all of our lives. Policy determines whether we’re safe enough and prosperous enough to enjoy music and sports, whether there will be the means to venture into nature or whether there will be any nature left.
I have friends who are passionately engaged on both ends of the political spectrum. Funny thing is, though they have mighty different bumper stickers, they pretty much have the same values. They want their kids to grow up free, safe and happy, healthy and fulfilled. They want wide open spaces and the means to enjoy them. They like the same kinds of music and probably root for the same teams.
But put them together in a room and start talking politics, they’ll fight like a couple of cats tied up in a sack.
Politics is a form of tribal identity. As soon as you push those political and cultural hot buttons, people who share so much in common start focusing on their differences. Those differences become divides; divides become chasms. People who disagree become adversaries; adversaries become enemies.
Debate becomes conflict, conflict degenerates into a kind of political/cultural civil war.
This is nothing new. Politics in the U.S. (and everywhere else that’s free enough to have any) has always been nasty.
I don’t have a solution to this; I don’t think one exists. But I have made a determination for myself and I stick with it: I’ll never judge a person by his politics — though I might judge him by the way he pursues his politics — (that's him or her for you gender-neutral-language cops) and I’ll never lose a friend over a political disagreement.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
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