Greatest Hit from February 2005.
Here were some of my thoughts in response to President Bush's reinaugural speech
Compassionate Conservatism:
One thing that is becoming obvious I did not use the spell checker all that much in the early days.
Compassionate Conservatism:
In America and in the West in general the ideal of compassionate conservatism is best exemplified by those working on their own to solve a problem or to aid someone in need. The left sees most problems as problems to be solved by government intervention and tax increases, the right sees private initiative as the way to help others. The problem is those on the right often agree then say they are too busy to help out. This opens the door for those who would push for governmental intervention and that means restrictions upon our liberty.
In the two paragraphs the President is not calling for government programs he is calling for us to switch off American Idol and find a social problem to fix, a person in need of help, or some other noble calling.
IMO, a part of the problem resides in Libertarianism and in Randism and streaks of those two philosophies do influence Conservatism. Libertarian philosophy, IMO, stresses individualism too much it does not give sufficient recoginition [sic] to the fact we do depend on each other. No matter what our abilities are, our work-etheic [sic], and our luck we all need others to help us advance in life. This in no way minimizes a given individual's responsibility for their own actions and their own success but we all have seen the brilliant boor who may be as smart as the dickens work like a son of a gun but makes little headway because they offend those around them.
If Libertarianism is bad on this Randism (aka Objectivism) is completely out the window. I like some things Ayn has to say but her ideas tend to lead people to this idea as "self as supreme" and everyone can succeed and to forget about those who can not. Helping others is not just a "warm-fuzzy" (as a buddy who is a Rand fan characterizes volunteerism).
Source: Compassionate ConservatismIn the two paragraphs the President is not calling for government programs he is calling for us to switch off American Idol and find a social problem to fix, a person in need of help, or some other noble calling.
IMO, a part of the problem resides in Libertarianism and in Randism and streaks of those two philosophies do influence Conservatism. Libertarian philosophy, IMO, stresses individualism too much it does not give sufficient recoginition [sic] to the fact we do depend on each other. No matter what our abilities are, our work-etheic [sic], and our luck we all need others to help us advance in life. This in no way minimizes a given individual's responsibility for their own actions and their own success but we all have seen the brilliant boor who may be as smart as the dickens work like a son of a gun but makes little headway because they offend those around them.
If Libertarianism is bad on this Randism (aka Objectivism) is completely out the window. I like some things Ayn has to say but her ideas tend to lead people to this idea as "self as supreme" and everyone can succeed and to forget about those who can not. Helping others is not just a "warm-fuzzy" (as a buddy who is a Rand fan characterizes volunteerism).
One thing that is becoming obvious I did not use the spell checker all that much in the early days.
posted by Marcus Aurelius at 9:01 PM
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