Thursday, January 08, 2009

DNC Reform

I was pleased with Tim Kaine's Acceptance Speech for the DNC Chair. It would be wonderful if we could move beyond the structural negativity of the Howard Dean and Clinton years.

IMHO, it is in this area of civility that Obama can have the greatest impact.

As the Left controls public schools, the university, Hollywood and the press, reform of the Democratic Party would have a greater impact on our society than anything that any Republican could ever manage to do on their own.

I confess that there is blog is a landmine of harsh barbs directed at about progressives. The reason for these barbs is an attempt to use writing style I was taught in school in a self reflective way to point out that the shrill discourse that is ripping our world apart comes from the the intelligentsia that control our intellectual institutions.

Individuals tend to reflect the rational style of their society. Conservatives tend to reflect the intellectual climate as it is defined by the cultural institution.

Great examples of this are Bill O'Reilly who reflects the culture wars that raged in the newsroom when he was a young reporter. O'Reilly simply switched sides and openly discusses the effects of media bias. The O'Reilly "culture war" is an open acknowledgement of the culture war mantality that dominates American media. Oddly, Mr. O'Reilly seems to fail to understand that his call for Americans to join in the culture war perpetuates the divisions without solving the problem.

There is an opening for the people on the left, who control the schools, to start teaching logic and quality discourse again.

The right also is infected with people like Ann Coulter who has made a career bouncing Al Franken style attack satire back on the left. Her sattire is perhaps a step or two in quality above Franken.

These are not the people who define culture. They are people standing on the outside who reflect the prevailing style.

The cleanest path to a bright future would be for Democrats to realize that socialism isn't the utopia, as Marx promised, and that the tools developed by the left to manipulate the masses that our schools fail to educate simply create a bitter, divided impoverished society.

The Democrat's 50 state strategy is a good strategy as the American political system really needs a steady change in leadership. Republicans might be wise to match this.

The Republican strategy of Libertarians and Conservatives united in a common fear of Democrats will continue to fail if Democrats adopted true civility in discourse, practiced fiscal reserve, encouraged small businesses, discouraged abusive financial practices (like credit default swaps and short selling).

The Conservative/Libertarian union against the Republicans would fail utterly if Democrats reformed, discarded the material dialectic, and started behaving better than the Republicans.

3 comments:

Jason The said...

You lost your credibility (and thus my attention) when you used "rational" and "Bill O'Reilly" in the same sentence.

Call it shrill if you'd like, but facts will remain facts, no matter how calmly you make speak distortions.

Reality is funny that way. It's always fun to read some conservative hand-wringing that the "world is being ripped apart" by passionate debate and political battles that are actually necessary to remain fresh, changing, and pro-active in face of a constantly changing set of challenges and adversity. Blaming Howard Dean and Clinton while lauding O'Reilly and completely ignoring the "us or them" mentality championed for the past (near) decade almost exclusively by the GOP is laughable in it's inaccurate assessment of events (hopefully) others are much better at remembering more factually than yourself.

What a hater I am, huh? Nope, just tired of nonsense parlayed as political analysis. It damages our dialog and hinders progress much more than heated discussion or partisan politics ever will.

Anonymous said...

Ever been out of Utah? Seen anything of what actually is going on in the world? Bill O'Reilly credible? Hand-wringing? Ever held a kid who's been blown up by 35 yr old US ordnance, watched his parents gesticulate in silent, choking grief? Try that and then write some more with your university education...

y-intercept said...

AC, I have lived outside of Utah. If I had only lived in Utah, as you suggest, then I would be a dedicated Democrat.

I feel sad to hear of a tragedy with a thirty-five-year-old UXO. Adopt a Landmine is an organization working to eliminate landmines and UXOs.

I feel horrible for the terrible thing you witnessed. On reading your post, I could not quite figure out why you decided your experience with a 35-year-old UXO means that I should not be alllowed to speak?

There may be a good connection, but the post didn't quite make it.