Traditionalists versus Intellectuals
I had a lunchtime conversation with a female colleague this afternoon and the discourse turned to the institution of marriage. There were comments from the gut, intellectual musings, historical references and the inevitable Bush position on gay marriages. I'm not sure where I come out on marriage personally, even though I've been in one for twenty years. What I can say is that there is comfort in kindred spirits and knowing that you don't have to submit to life's trials and tribulations alone. And you know, I think these transcend the sex of the involved parties.
But, I digress. Who can get married and how it all plays out are totally a societal issue as is borne out in the fact that there are many societies that do it differently. Our American society is based on the beliefs (and that's all they are) of Christianity and have served us, and our progenitors, well for 2000 plus years....that is, until now. Are we ready for this change? Apparently some are and some aren't. But that's not really what this post is about?fooled you didn't I?
The baffling part of these types of "freedom" issues is that, regardless of which way you might lean, you probably have an opinion about issues like gay marriage and, I'll wager, our beliefs are inconsistent with our core values. My best example of this is the current administration (naturally). They are, as we speak, touring the country in an effort to convince us that they are the best guys to support the principles of freedom and democracy around the globe. Then why do they want to restrict freedoms here at home by making constraining changes to the very document intended to express just how free we really are? If there are limits to personal freedoms, which there surely are, what are the criteria for them? I would argue that "traditions" are poor criteria but probably the most widely applied and effective to a degree. Traditions allow us to lead our lives in an uncomplicated way. It keeps us from worrying about how to live and the consequences of doing so. As I have said in previous posts, tradition is also a fundamental tenant of conservatives.
It is because of the natural conclusions that you and I are drawing right now that I make this proposal. Instead of using the words Conservatives and Liberals, I recommend that we adopt the monikers of Traditionalists versus Intellectuals. Clearly our conservative half would prefer to live life, never changing, without getting caught up in too much controversy or thought about the rights and wrongs of society or others. In order to break with tradition, you need to have really thought about the "why?s" of tradition. I know I do and that?s why I write this blog.
Some of the things I think about are:
Why don't abortion rights activists all have lots of adopted kids- especially black and Latino ones? That way we wouldn't need abortions and all the unwanted children would be cared for...in the traditional sense.
Why don't all of the pro-automatic gun folks live in places like Harlem? There are plenty of folks there that probably have them (I'm not picking on Harlem it just has the right historical notoriety to make the point) so they'd be in good company.
Why do we give the government all this extra money by buying US savings bonds when we know they'll just blow the money on something stupid like trying to turn Arabs into Europeans? Oh, and why aren't congressional (including executive branch) salaries tied to a balanced budget? Aren't we prosecuting people for spending other people's money recklessly?
Why do we continue to endorse the "faithful" to lead our country and try to kill them all off in everyone else's? (This one I know the answer to?.ha!)
Why do we continue to de-regulate where demand for products and services are consistent and required?
Why do we allow insurance to be priced based on some normal statistical distribution and then let them change the population by tossing out the high risk part (3 sigma)?
Why do we legislate environmental standards that benefit the globe and then give the offending industry 20 years to comply?
So, am I an Intellectual? Probably not quite but I'll bet I've given one hell of a lot more thought to these issues than the Traditionalists.
Oh, I think about other things too but I can?t write them down. How about you?
But, I digress. Who can get married and how it all plays out are totally a societal issue as is borne out in the fact that there are many societies that do it differently. Our American society is based on the beliefs (and that's all they are) of Christianity and have served us, and our progenitors, well for 2000 plus years....that is, until now. Are we ready for this change? Apparently some are and some aren't. But that's not really what this post is about?fooled you didn't I?
The baffling part of these types of "freedom" issues is that, regardless of which way you might lean, you probably have an opinion about issues like gay marriage and, I'll wager, our beliefs are inconsistent with our core values. My best example of this is the current administration (naturally). They are, as we speak, touring the country in an effort to convince us that they are the best guys to support the principles of freedom and democracy around the globe. Then why do they want to restrict freedoms here at home by making constraining changes to the very document intended to express just how free we really are? If there are limits to personal freedoms, which there surely are, what are the criteria for them? I would argue that "traditions" are poor criteria but probably the most widely applied and effective to a degree. Traditions allow us to lead our lives in an uncomplicated way. It keeps us from worrying about how to live and the consequences of doing so. As I have said in previous posts, tradition is also a fundamental tenant of conservatives.
It is because of the natural conclusions that you and I are drawing right now that I make this proposal. Instead of using the words Conservatives and Liberals, I recommend that we adopt the monikers of Traditionalists versus Intellectuals. Clearly our conservative half would prefer to live life, never changing, without getting caught up in too much controversy or thought about the rights and wrongs of society or others. In order to break with tradition, you need to have really thought about the "why?s" of tradition. I know I do and that?s why I write this blog.
Some of the things I think about are:
Why don't abortion rights activists all have lots of adopted kids- especially black and Latino ones? That way we wouldn't need abortions and all the unwanted children would be cared for...in the traditional sense.
Why don't all of the pro-automatic gun folks live in places like Harlem? There are plenty of folks there that probably have them (I'm not picking on Harlem it just has the right historical notoriety to make the point) so they'd be in good company.
Why do we give the government all this extra money by buying US savings bonds when we know they'll just blow the money on something stupid like trying to turn Arabs into Europeans? Oh, and why aren't congressional (including executive branch) salaries tied to a balanced budget? Aren't we prosecuting people for spending other people's money recklessly?
Why do we continue to endorse the "faithful" to lead our country and try to kill them all off in everyone else's? (This one I know the answer to?.ha!)
Why do we continue to de-regulate where demand for products and services are consistent and required?
Why do we allow insurance to be priced based on some normal statistical distribution and then let them change the population by tossing out the high risk part (3 sigma)?
Why do we legislate environmental standards that benefit the globe and then give the offending industry 20 years to comply?
So, am I an Intellectual? Probably not quite but I'll bet I've given one hell of a lot more thought to these issues than the Traditionalists.
Oh, I think about other things too but I can?t write them down. How about you?
posted by Politico at 3:16 PM
5 Comments:
Never saw myself as an intellectual, but I'm certainly not a traditionalist... do you have a third option? :-)
Great rant, but I'd like to add one thing:
When people like Pat Robertson and Oral Roberts claim to speak for God, don't they think he's gonna be a little bit pissed come judgement day? I'm not an overly religious guy, but I've gotta believe the big man upstairs doesn't like having words put in his mouth.
I'm an intellectual married to an extreme traditionalist and it's driving me batty.
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