Re: The greatest Mystery to me is Republicans


Jane wrote:
> Suzy said:
>
> >>>Hmm. Interesting; let me recast it a little:
>
>
> <<<Or is it an interlocking set of communities
> and individuals who face challenges so enormous that creative,
> cooperative remedies must be the backbone of survival?
> >>>
>
> A Republican/conservative/libertarian would say: absolutely
> yes. You need creative, cooperative remedies--you need lots of them,
> and they should be flexible. That's why you need to cut back on
> government, since government arranges itself in bureaucracies that are
> rigid and stifling to that very creativity. Bureaucracies are also
> actively hostile to communities.
>
I'm a Republican, then.

LM


> >>>Where do we draw the line between A's fist and B's nose (that
> is, the smoker's right to kill himself, and the non-smoker's right
> not to be dragged along in the process by inescapable second-
> hand smoke)?
>
> A Republican would say: at private property. I get to do
> what I want on my property. You get to do what you want on yours. In
> publicly owned spaces, the will of the majority prevails.

How does Lawrence vs. Texas fit in with that?

(for those who do not know that particular case: police break into a
house on a mistaken tip-off from a neighbor, find a gay couple
peacefully having consensual sex and nothing else untoward going on,
arrest them for sodomy, haul them off to jail)

How does this fit with the Republican position you describe?

> But--hey. What about the universal health care thing? If there's
> universal health care, and society gets to tell me how to live if it
> has to pay for me when I get sick, then doesn't it follow that in a
> universal health care system society would get to tell me what to eat?
> how much exercise I have to get? Etc?
>
> And now you know why libertarians are opposed to universal health
> care programs.

OK - so why do we have police, fire departments, roads, and any
government at all? If we have a publicly funded police system, society
gets to tell me how to behave in order to not pay for me if I commit a
crime. If we have publicly-funded fire departments, society gets to
tell me how not to behave if I don't want to cause a fire. Repeat ad
nauseam. Why is health care so different from other public services?
(answer: because insurance companies are getting awfully rich from it)

And if the government doesn't (or shouldn't) provide infrastructure,
police, firefighters, health care, utilities, etc. then what on Earth
is it for? Entertainment? It's awfully expensive for entertainment -
frankly, I'd rather just get some extra mystery novels for what I pay
in taxes.

I don't know what party I belong to anymore (according to Jane's
standards, I'm a Republican - but I don't think that the current
Republicans are acting according to Jane's standards), but here is my
view on government:

It belongs in its proper sphere - the public sphere. It should provide
services that contribute to the well-being of the public -
infrastructure (and transport), security (i.e. police, army, border
patrol), public health (and universal health care is part of that),
basic education (at least through high school), basic environmental
protection (keeping poisons out of our air, our water, and our food)
and other services that private business is not motivated to provide.
This is what government is for. It is not for declaring the "values"
of America in stentorian tones. It is not for "bringing dignity to the
White House". It is public service - serving the public. We pay for
government because it provides us with services that private businesses
will not. And personally, I want more value for my money.

Now - because the proper domain of the government is the public sphere,
it should get the Hell out of the private sphere. When I'm on my
private property, as long as I am not violating the basic human rights
of another citizen, I should be able to do whatever I want. That
applies to having consensual sex with whomever I want in whatever way I
want (see Lawrence vs. Texas), it applies to ingesting whatever
substances I want (see drug laws), it applies to countless other
things. The shade of gray between public and private is private
businesses open to the public - one can (and probably should) argue
that restaurants should not be serving contaminated food to the public,
and thus should have their kitchens inspected - things like that. But
what I do on my own private property should be my own private business.
Marriage, incidentally, is a private activity - and I think it's high
time the government got out of everyone's marriage beds, gay or
straight. I have no idea why the government was in everyone's marriage
beds in the first place.

LM

.

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