What's Right, Not What's Wrong.

I’m Asking What’s Right, Not What’s Wrong.

I said it in my first post to this blog: “It takes both the Right Wing and the Left Wing to make the Eagle fly.” For a long time, I’ve held the Libertarian position that both the Republicans and the Democrats are wrong on very fundamental issues, and both have been guilty of as much authoritarianism as they can get away with. The LP complains that both parties are in constant violation of the clearly-stated letter of the Constitution, and they are experts in pointing out what is wrong about both the Left and the Right. Today’s Tea Partyers appear to be taking the same position, and I’d say they are probably correct in both cases.

I conclude though such thinking has been very valuable in arousing an otherwise catatonic public, what is needed now is a clear articulation of what is being done right by both the Left and the Right. When we are confronted with the absurdity of the GOP making its national and international policy decisions by saying, “Whatever you liberals propose, we are against it,” we must get people to start looking for what we agree upon, and looking for what any of our institutions or the people who staff them are doing right, and to make it clear we support them, and approve of their service.

I believe for all its faults, and theirs, our government is not a monstrous bureaucratic beast staffed by the incompetent at the lower levels, and predators at the top. It is not true that simply becoming a Senator proves you’re a crook or a fool. We call for anti-incumbent voters to “vote the bums out,” and then we will install someone who presumably is not a crook, who will thereafter perform the duties of the office honestly and well. We would do well to identify such candidates, but even more important, to identify such people who are already in office. From President to Town Council, we should be looking for people holding office who are doing things we believe are right, both Demos and Repos. I will not believe there are none.

Everybody has a rap going about what they are against. Everybody is quick to point out what is wrong with the other guy’s rap. It makes for shtick on the comic shows, grist on the pundit shows, and sells a lot of books. It is used as negative campaigning, that is, not giving the voter a reason to vote for you, but giving him a reason to vote against your opponent. In the long run, I think it is an unhealthy practice. I’m thinking like Affirmative Action, the “both sides are wrong” viewpoint may have outlived its usefulness, Tea Party notwithstanding, and we had better start identifying and salvaging what is working aboard the Ship Of State. Everybody has a reason why stuff isn’t working, and knows just whom to blame. That is mousiedung, little tiny bullshit. The job is to make it work, not come up with a profile for why you can’t be blamed. “No excuse, Sir! However it got broke, I will make it run, Sir.”

This is particularly true about how The People are thinking. To influence how power is used, and votes are cast, we must influence how people think about things. What can we here at ARM do or say to turn people’s thinking toward supporting the activities of any of our elected, appointed, or employed public servants who are doing a good job, and doing it well? What can we do to restore a true sense of patriotic community to our country, which is increasingly factioned by politics and media marketing? We all know “no government” is an absurdity, and destroying bad government is not the same thing as repairing it. The problem is creating good government, which begins by acknowledging there can be such a thing. What fundamental ideas about what it is to be America do we all agree upon, Left and Right? What kind of patriotism, what kind of humanitarianism, what kind of personal freedom and social responsibility, what kind of leader or government would draw the support of both the Left and the Right, Libertarian or Authoritarian? Whom do we trust to hold the offices, and how do we elect them?

We need to lead people to get onboard the Ship Of State we call America, and get it running and the flags flying, and people cheering her name again, not to jump ship or mutiny. Like they said in the Old Corps, “Don’t get pissed; re-enlist.”

James Nathan Post