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November 19, 2005

Being a Radical Moderate

I sent this in response to an email from someone who reads the Noise and thought I was more right wing, because I see it as my job in the Noise to provide a counterpoint to the left-wingedness of the local arts & entertainment rag:

 I'm a small-l libertarian. 

 That is, I find the right's obsession with turning morals into laws and the left's obsession with political correctness equally annoying. I'm small-l, because its obvious to me that there are certain things the government is good for, and a reasonable amount of government is good. We don't have captialism in this country, we have democratic capitalism, an oxymoron that means “whatever we want it to mean”. 

  A good example was there was the diatribe in Reason (the libertarian magazine) recently about the Bush Administration refusing to funnel foreign aid money through any NGO that wouldn't sign a pledge against prostitution. “Interfering with their first amendment rights.”

  Personally for me, that's dead on. If you want a hotbed of prostitution in a country, including child prostitution, slavery, etc. just go to an area where lots of foreign aid workers and peacekeepers hang out. Its not interfering with anyone's first amendment rights to not give them money to spend in another country... 

  Now do I think prostitution should be legalized in the US? Maybe. Its a tough call, there's good and bad sides. A large L would say Yes, me I'm just more Jeffersonian. 

  So definitely small L. The world is too complicated for capital letter people. Be a democrat, not a Democrat, or a republican, not a Republican. Be a christian, not a Christian. 

  You're definitely right that I trash the left more then the right even on my Blog. That's because I generally find them more annoying. My wife put it best: All snobs are bad, but Granola Snobs are the worst. 

  That is, I find that right wing extremists are obviously ignorant idiots, while left wing extremists are well-educated idiots. It seems more useful to puncture the balloons of left wing extremists because they're more smug. 

  I actually have plenty of criticism of the Bush administration's conduct of the war, but I tend not to write about it because the stupid-left-wing-let's-make-it-worse-by-pulling-out-or-make-up-shit-because-we-hate-Bush is so much more common. Probably that's a response to comments, I don't get a lot of “boo-ya, kill the ragheads” comments on my blog, instead I get more of the “soldiers are hillbillies” comments. 

  Something I think we both agree on though is that the Bush administration is very Wilsonian. However, I see the Bush administration's change in foreign policy direction as a big change for the US and I hope it continues. I (and for that matter the Bush administration) very much acknowledge that in the past the US has supported dictators at the expense of freedom. Even Ronald Reagan did so right? 

  However, while all previous administrations except perhaps Wilson (who might have been successful if he hadn't had a stroke) have mostly paid lip service to spreading freedom (except for RR in Eastern Europe), Bush2 has stated clear goals and is tracking the State Department in working towards those goals. see here

 So are we supporting a dictator in Pakistan? Yes  Are we also trying to build up the infrastructure to support democracy in Pakistan? Yes

 To me those two questions/answers sum up the period we're living in. If 9/11 taught us anything, it taught us that we need to be a mixture of Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt.

Posted by the at November 19, 2005 10:10 AM

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Comments

You are truly giften in the ability to use a thousand words to say nothing.

I have developed a weberian ideal type for you, thanks for all the fodder to work with.

anyway, this is what happened to this country. after productive economics went stangant and excess finance took over, the little satan children spawned from the military industrial complex went into high tech and finance. their collective success, realtive to everyone else, gave them pride whereby they believe they are “better than others”. this belief, based in the resentment of personal inadequacy led to a “new conservatism” that rationalized hurting people as doing good. killing for peace is a good example. anyway the statist ideology of the new reactionary middle class, built by financial capitlaist rendered this class incredbily incompetent in beliefs. like greedy children they began to dismantle the state their previous generations built. these new technocrats think like computers and are emotionally undeveloped, being unable to harness a true ethical sense. to the technocrats, obeidence to the system is key, it is how they derive their power. the irony is however, that they are dismantling this system unconsciously because their ideology is destabilizing the very system they need to survive, namely global capitalism.

the hope in all this is america has turned on you guys. thank god. it is not cool anymore to be a paste eater. working class people are now seeing through all the dogshit militarism you spout false patiots.in fact these folks are getting quite pissed. again, recruitment numbers are down and will stay down. who is going to fight your phony wars derived through your phony ideology of fear? looks like we will have to start drafting all the r&d depts at all those high tech nasdaq companies…the little nerds who propose war and think killing people is necessary. reactionary statists, drunk on their fiat dollars in this nihilistic age. good luck

in any event the above explains why you are so wrong all the time. a little soul would be of incredible help to you.

and bastard, it is not an accident that there are no conservative artists, at least good ones.this culture war is jimi hendrix vs. pat boone, and you will lose.

ernie

Posted by: ernieervin at November 19, 2005 12:38 PM

Whatever dude. Party on, Ernie.

Posted by: Opinionated Bastard [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 19, 2005 1:05 PM

I’m a relatively successful, full-time artist who, since 9/11, has become a “neocon” (with a small “n”).

I’m surrounded by artists and actors all of the time - in the US and in Europe - and a more nit-witted, ill-educated, and at the same time smug and sanctimonious subculture would be hard to find outside of Academe.

Now if I didn’t keep my opinions to myself, outside of the internet I mean, I’d be ostracized in a New York minute. I’d be ruined, and I’m not about to do that.

Am I really so unique as an artist? Well then I must be doing some pretty bad work, as opposed to the wonderful herd of wise and memorable artists alluded to above.

And who gets their political insights from entertainers anway? Oh yeah, they do - from each other.

Posted by: Burt at November 22, 2005 6:52 AM