Comments Posted By Doug King
Displaying 41 To 44 Of 44 Comments
I echo #30 who complimented and quoted Nagarajan(#26): ”There is no such thing as good faith in politics. One side tries to win a decisive victory over the other.” We expect a play-to-win mentality from parties and candidates, but I would hope journalists and ordinary citizens would adopt a learn-and-inform mentality, especially between election cycles.
When winning is our only objective, we often lose respect for the other side. Conservatives are not immune from this problem which afflicts all sides in American politics. It's hard to have a civil conversation about any important topic without inflammatory labels ("racist", "socialist", "wacko", "bigot", etc.) getting thrown into the mix. These labels are the political equivalent of shouting "Fire!" in crowded theatre -- it's very difficult to converse civilly after being accused of, or hearing someone get charged with, being a person who fits a despicable label.
It sounds trite, but we would be better off if we followed the adage, "Seek first to understand and then to be understood." Some years ago I was invited to a friend's house (in Orange County CA) for a political information meeting. The ground rules for attending were: 1) Agree to research candidates and issues as assigned. (These research assignments focused on lesser-known candidates and complex issues. I was assigned one Demo. and one Repub.) 2) Summarize your research in one minute by presenting only facts -- no opinions or endorsements were allowed. I was surprised to learn it is possible to adhere to the facts-only rule. Of course, after the presentations, people mingled and said whatever they wanted. I changed my voting plans in some cases based on what I learned that night. It proved to me it is possible to have civil and enlightening conservations about politics. You can respect those who disagree with you on important issues. You don't get that level of discourse from talk-radio -- not from Limbaugh et al or from Air America. That kind of conversation is hard to find anywhere. I wish more media outlets (newspapers, networks, talk-radio, blogs) focused more on learning and informing and less on persuading and judging.
Comment Posted By Doug King On 31.07.2009 @ 09:55
A FEW RAMBLING THOUGHTS ON THE GATES AFFAIR
Funny man -- I think we agree on many points. The topic of racism has such a political football in American politics, I sometimes wonder if it is unsolveable. A favorite tactic of the Left is to accuse (white) conservatives of racism, while a favorite reaction from the Right is to accuse liberals of reverse racism. To a large extent, they are both right and wrong. Right, in that racism and reverse-racism are alive, well, and ugly. Wrong, in that making loud, hysterical accusations only makes the problem worse.
Comment Posted By Doug King On 26.07.2009 @ 17:32
PROSECUTING TORTURE AS A DISTRACTION FROM THE ECONOMY
Conducting a criminal investigation is high stakes poker that Obama will likely lose. If the investigation produces no indictments, the pro-Cheney crowd will say 'I told you so!' and the controversial techniques like waterboarding would be politically legitimized. On the other hand, if people are indicted or even convicted, there's a strong chance the public would sympathize with the (overzealous) wrong doers whose motives were simply to protect the American people. Either way, Obama could be perceived as prosecuting those who disagree with him on policy -- something that won't sit well with most Americans.
Comment Posted By Doug King On 12.07.2009 @ 14:58
Chuck Tuscon (#10 & #15 above) said "It will be a cold day in evangelical hell before a Mormon gets elected president in the US."
We are already on the road to hell -- economic hell. If the Senate passes Cap and Trade, if we get single-payer health care, if liberal theories continue to dictate economic policy, if high-principled Republicans continue to refuse to agree amongst themselves on divisive issues, and if voters continue to fixate on irrelevant details such as Romney's faith -- we will arrive in hell before we know it. And once there, we will stay until we get our act together.
It's way too early to sift through candidates for 2012. I think conservatives would be better served focusing on unifying ideas and principles than personalities at this point
Comment Posted By Doug King On 9.07.2009 @ 20:11
