August 21, 2004

• LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE VIEWPOINTS

  Did you see the news item about the well-buried report on the effectiveness of Charter Schools (a major feature of Bush's No child left Behind act)? Turns out despite one-on-one, fairly expensive, ego stroking of the poor little darlings, they don't test as well as those left in our ugly old public schools. Also as outfit that owns 60 of them in CA has been accused of "fiscal wrongdoing" and is closed down. Some of the poor students now have no place to go as they are either 1. over 18, or 2. have been permanently expelled by their district schools. As with many of these "privatized" programs, greed was the major motivation in setting the system up. Grabbing some of that tax money looked pretty good.
  I guess that's my major bitch with the modern so-called conservatives; if you look closely, they mostly seem terribly selfish and unconcerned with the general welfare except to make sure that its problems impinge on them as little as possible.
  Incidentally, I always though the definitions of Conservative and Liberal were thought of in terms of how they approached change and their attitude toward other's viewpoints. Conservatives satisfied with the status quo and fairly complacent about their opinions as being "Those that were tried, true, and right" while Liberals tend to see the situation as "improvable" and wanting to try improving it as well as being more tolerant toward opposing viewpoints.
  In modern times (since Reagan) the Conservatives seem to have become a good deal more intolerant and reactionary. This has left us poor rationalists and liberals at a disadvantage as we for a long time thought we were playing the game under the old, more polite, rules. Also if you respect the other guy's viewpoint, it's kind of hard to attack it viciously.
  Modern philosophers and social thinkers are now calling this period the "Post-modern" or "Post-rational" era and the old rules don't seem to apply any more. I find observing it fascinating, but I'm sure glad I'm not trying to make my way in the world.

  • 10:39 am
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