Monday, October 18, 2004
Thinking, Thinking, Thinking…
I have been having a problem with this blog, which is why I haven't posted in a while. If I take on the current biggest global bozos, I will get bozos thinking that I am doing it purely for political reasons, and that I am therefore utterly bogus. Well, I'll take the risk, because I have to do it. Hard-line Republicrats are bozos, and that's all there is to it. So are hard-line Greens, Libertarians, and Independents. They are all bogus, as well, because they think that everybody else is bozotic or worse. So forget it. I'm going to call them as I see them.
Now let us get clear about this political thing. Gandhi pointed out that you don't convert enemies by attacking them, but by befriending them. An even earlier example is Shakyamuni Buddha converting the murderer Angulimala, who was astonished that anybody would not be afraid of him, and would wish to be his friend.
So let me remind you that when I discuss politics, I do not mean to imply that everybody in a particular party is a bozo. A lot of people are trying hard to understand and to do the right thing, in every party. I may disagree with them, but I don't claim that they are mentally inferior, or simply lying about what they want, which I hear others do.
I'll have to explain all this further, I know. But now, let's get started.
One of the fundamental design principles of the U.S. Constitution is to try to get good, or at least adequate, government from an assortment of self-promoting rascals by setting their interests against each other. We call this the Separation of Powers between the Legislature, the Executive, and the Judiciary. That's the main reason not to mind the rascals too much, but we do have to make sure that none of them get too far ahead of the others. Of course, any political party you listen to will tell you that the rascals have gotten out of hand, and presumably there is something in that idea.
So I approve of the Supreme Court telling the Bush Administration that U.S. law applies in Guantanamo, so they have to give the prisoners Due Process, in the same way that I approve of the Supreme Court batting down some of Abraham Lincoln's and FDR's excesses. I don't like a President having the power to put people away, no matter how nasty any of them might be, without charge. In fact, it seems to me that we fought a great big war over things like Imprisonment During the King's Pleasure in the days of King George III, and our George III, Jr. may profit by his example.
I also approve of the President appointing members of the Supreme Court, so that over time all parties get a say in interpreting the Supreme Law of the Land. I also like government gridlock, when one party has a majority in the House of Representatives, and the other in the Senate. It's like Aesop's Fable of the Frogs who Wanted a King. They complained about King Log, which never did anything, but they complained a lot more about King Stork, who went around eating some of them up.
I have been having a problem with this blog, which is why I haven't posted in a while. If I take on the current biggest global bozos, I will get bozos thinking that I am doing it purely for political reasons, and that I am therefore utterly bogus. Well, I'll take the risk, because I have to do it. Hard-line Republicrats are bozos, and that's all there is to it. So are hard-line Greens, Libertarians, and Independents. They are all bogus, as well, because they think that everybody else is bozotic or worse. So forget it. I'm going to call them as I see them.
Now let us get clear about this political thing. Gandhi pointed out that you don't convert enemies by attacking them, but by befriending them. An even earlier example is Shakyamuni Buddha converting the murderer Angulimala, who was astonished that anybody would not be afraid of him, and would wish to be his friend.
So let me remind you that when I discuss politics, I do not mean to imply that everybody in a particular party is a bozo. A lot of people are trying hard to understand and to do the right thing, in every party. I may disagree with them, but I don't claim that they are mentally inferior, or simply lying about what they want, which I hear others do.
I'll have to explain all this further, I know. But now, let's get started.
One of the fundamental design principles of the U.S. Constitution is to try to get good, or at least adequate, government from an assortment of self-promoting rascals by setting their interests against each other. We call this the Separation of Powers between the Legislature, the Executive, and the Judiciary. That's the main reason not to mind the rascals too much, but we do have to make sure that none of them get too far ahead of the others. Of course, any political party you listen to will tell you that the rascals have gotten out of hand, and presumably there is something in that idea.
So I approve of the Supreme Court telling the Bush Administration that U.S. law applies in Guantanamo, so they have to give the prisoners Due Process, in the same way that I approve of the Supreme Court batting down some of Abraham Lincoln's and FDR's excesses. I don't like a President having the power to put people away, no matter how nasty any of them might be, without charge. In fact, it seems to me that we fought a great big war over things like Imprisonment During the King's Pleasure in the days of King George III, and our George III, Jr. may profit by his example.
I also approve of the President appointing members of the Supreme Court, so that over time all parties get a say in interpreting the Supreme Law of the Land. I also like government gridlock, when one party has a majority in the House of Representatives, and the other in the Senate. It's like Aesop's Fable of the Frogs who Wanted a King. They complained about King Log, which never did anything, but they complained a lot more about King Stork, who went around eating some of them up.
