The Republican presidential primary is providing an excellent lesson in the distortions of big money in political races. Tea Party supporters, in many ways the most influential force in Republican politics, are having a heck of a time taking control of the nominating process. In part, this is because they have struggled to unite behind…
Romney on the Value of Marriage
At Saturday night’s debate, the Republican candidates were what they would say to a homosexual couple who wanted to “form [a] loving, committed, long-term relationship.” The logic of Mitt Romney’s answer suggested a surprisingly low valuation of “marriage”: Well, the answer is, is that’s a wonderful thing to do, and that there’s every right for…
Christian Conservatism, Part II
Grant’s comment on my previous post reminded me of another area of disagreement with conservative Christians that is worth highlighting: I am comfortable with government as an instrument of our communal values and efforts in aiding others. If we as a group of citizenry feel a desire to help “the poor, downtrodden, sick, disadvantaged” (in…
What Separates Me From the Religious Conservatives
I am an active church-goer, a Christian believer who has spent time proselyting for my faith. But my politics almost never align with those conservative Republican evangelicals who get so much attention in the Republican Party. Why not? I think the answer boils down to some fundamental differences in perspective: 1. Religious Belief v. Political Belief…
Gingrich Takes Shot at “Massachusetts Moderate”
Here’s some breaking further evidence for my earlier post on the power of “Massachusetts” as a political symbol in Republican rhetoric. Tomorrow in the Manchester, NH, Union-Leader, Newt Gingrich is running this full page ad (pdf). Note the contrasts here: Bold v. Timid, Conservative v. Moderate, and Reagan v. Massachusetts. Gingrich’s own home state (Georgia) never…
Republicans, Massachusetts, and “Authenticity”
An oft-repeated truism of the current Republican primary campaign is that Mitt Romney struggles with demonstrating “authenticity.” It is easy to pin this on his past ‘flip-flops’ played up during the 2008 campaign. Some of it surely has to do with his Mormonism, making him easy to characterize as ‘different.’ But I think there’s an…
Democracy and Technocrats II
As promised earlier, here are my main concerns with technocratic government, from the new governments in Greece and Italy to the emergency city managers cropping up in the United States. To begin with I would actually like to set aside one argument: that technocrats are often associated with autocratic government. There are plenty of historical…
Recommendations: Blogs
A brief intermission from the weightier matters for a some overdue credit where credit is due. As regular readers know, I’m pretty picky about my political reading fare, especially when it comes to pundits. But there are a few political blogs that are must-reads for me. I thought I’d pass along my recommendations and let…
Democracy and Techocrats I
I wrote a bit about the events in Greece when Prime Minister George Papandreou called for a referendum of the European bailout. Since then, Papandreou rescinded his referendum suggested, struck a deal with the opposition to guarantee maintenance of the bailout agreement, and stepped down from his post. In his place, the Greek parliament instituted…
UC Davis, II
Some further thoughts on the UC Davis incident: I think the most troubling response I’ve heard to the pepper spraying is the idea that the police are totally justified in using any level of force to ensure compliance with any law. This is simply not acceptable in a democratic society like ours. Even law-breaking citizens…