I had a conversation recently with a few guys I know where I think I said something along the line of “You know, women don’t really like the jealousy game. I suppose it’s effective, but we don’t really like it.” And one of my friends said, “We’re not interested in what you like. We’re interested in what works.”
Sigh.
My friend was kidding but it occurs to me that I have spent almost my entire life avoiding men who try to make me crazy with jealousy. I don’t think it leads to very good relationships. I know that from both experience and observation. It turns people into desperate shells of humanity, always looking over their shoulders; and I can’t even tell you what it does to children. But I think that it’s true that a great many people do play this little game because it “works.” What it works toward has always been my question and concern, but I suppose it keeps things interesting. Like a constant competition. If you’re into that kind of thing…
On to other stuff and things.
So, because post-election there have been many calls to either modernize or get even more reticent re: conservative values (depending on who’s talking, arguments here and here representing both sides. Many thanks to Allahpundit for corralling all this stuff…), I’ve been interested in pieces like this because it takes the principles of someone I admire very much and uses them to promote the idea that if the GOP wants to be moral, they’ll understand that this election was about ‘fairness’. A bit:
C.S. Lewis begins his classic Mere Christianity by listing phrases we’ve all heard or said: “How’d you like it if someone did the same to you” – “That’s my seat, I was here first” – “Leave him alone, he isn’t doing you any harm” – “Why should you shove in first.” He notes that a child’s first introduction to immorality is when someone cuts in front of him in the school lunch line. The response is instinctual: “That’s not fair.” All moral codes, Lewis says, begin with that one reaction: “That’s not fair.”
The Republican Party can appeal to “Judeo-Christian values” as long as the sun shines and their voices hold out. But they’ve abandoned the most basic moral value of all: fairness.
This isn’t a crazy thought. But, having read Mere Christianity myself, I can report that Lewis also understood that life is not fair and attempts to try to force fairness by being a government run by busybodies interested in making us eat our Brussel sprouts doesn’t really help. I came across this gentleman’s blog and I like it, particularly this post. A bit:
One may now feel justified in defaulting on a contract simply because, in his judgement, the other person or entity is rich and doesn’t really need the money. This mindset, when predominate, does not foster a robust economy.
Consequently this mindset shift has increasingly hindered economic activity over time because such activity is based on millions of transactions. Contracts are signed. Trust is placed in others. It is agreed that if you do this then I will do that. As trust erodes so does the ability for the life blood of an economy, commerce, to happen freely. Rather contracts are broken, defaults abound and lawyers celebrate. In the end the economy suffers, and so do the people.
Unfortunately for us all the drag that immorality places on commerce doesn’t stop with the participants. The immorality of corruption leaches upward from an immoral society into governing authorities.
So you see if you’re say, Elizabeth Warren and you scream and cry about immoral practices that led to the housing bubble while flipping houses yourself to make a profit, that’s an example of how morality affects economics. And if you don’t understand that like this guy here:
In Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren, the single most knowledgeable and effective exponent of consumer protection from financial industry scams, soundly beat Sen. Scott Brown, a champion of financial deregulation.
I’m not sure you understand what “fair” actually means. It seems silly to have to say this again because I thought people had finally understood but equality of opportunity trumps equality of outcome. Think about it. You’ll get there someday. but you have to think.
Anyway, I’m pretty much here at the moment. But I change all the time…not in fundamentals. Just in strategy…whatever that means. A bit:
And though I have my anxieties about the president’s next term, I also have a hunch the GOP dodged a bullet with Mr. Romney’s loss.
It dodged a bullet because a Romney victory would have obscured deeper trends in American politics the GOP must take into account. A Romney administration would also have been politically cautious and ideologically defensive in a way that rarely serves the party well.
Finally, the GOP dodged ownership of the second great recession, which will inevitably hit when the Federal Reserve can no longer float the economy in pools of free money. When that happens, Barack Obama won’t have George W. Bush to kick around.
So get a grip, Republicans: Our republican experiment in self-government didn’t die last week. But a useful message has been sent to a party that spent too much of the past four years listening intently to echoes of itself. Change the channel for a little while.
Other things:
I think I’m hanging with the cousins in Virginia for Tgiving. Shopping was floated so that sounds fun. And I think cousin Ginna Michelle is going to come with me to Annapolis this weekend to see the Bro. Good stuff. So, here’s how I’m preparing for Thanksgiving.
Seriously, knock off the echo chamber talk. All it’s going to do is embolden even better reporting from these outlets. Wait…never mind. Keep it up. But while you’re at it, check yourself.
What it’s being used for should tell us something. Many things in fact. You don’t put resources toward things that don’t yield a return on that investment. But you kids knew that, right?
Math. I’d love for someone to crunch the probability numbers that there wasn’t even a single error…
So, campaign contributions by smartphone AND voting by smartphones could present a problem…
Do you like it? I think I kinda do. It’s good driving music.
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