I had a moment this week where I experienced many emotions at once...well, within the span of 30 seconds. They went in this order: Fear, Anger, Humor, Confusion. Allow me to explain (and not in the usual meandering sort of way).
At work, I sit in a cubicle. The walls are thin (and short) so I can hear the conversations of my neighbors. One person, in particular, brings me almost daily entertainment. He is a smart guy and also a hardcore, Glenn Beck loving, republican. Every morning he walks up to my neighbor and gives her some new reason why the world is going to end at the hands of democrats. Personally, I think both sides of the political aisle are awful so I get a kick out of this. Plus, now and then he says something that I hadn't heard before, which leads me to do some fact checking.
But I digress.
During one morning rant, this guy says that [whatever his issue of the day was] was going to lead the country to an Orwellian State. Now, for any people out there living under a rock, he's talking about a pretty good book called 1984, written by George Orwell. If you've never read it then go check it out. And then let me know if you would have "loved" big brother.
First came the fear: Oh no! He invoked the "O" term! Protect our rights! Freedom is NOT slavery!
Next came anger: What? But I supported what the democrats did in this situation (this might have been about healthcare reform)! How dare he say this!
Then humor: I usually think of Republicans when I picture an Orwellian State. It's funny that they think of Democrats.
Finally, confusion: Wait a minute - so which political party is more likely to lead there?
Granted, it's been over 10 years since I read 1984 but here's what I remember. It was a government that routinely makes up fake wars to try and unite the populace. It was a place where Big Brother was always watching, and the secret police could grab anyone they wanted in the name of national security. It was a world where not even your thoughts were safe.
Well, under a republican president we invaded a country for no reason. We got the Patriot Act and countless instances of abuse of power by government agencies. Plus the number of police cameras in public places grew dramatically. Not to mention republicans want everyone to follow their set of morals and values (from the bible)... which basically means they want to control your thoughts.
My only argument for blaming an Orwellian State on democrats is that they want to make the government bigger and bigger until it runs everything.
So I want to poll my 5 readers. Which political party is going to lead us to an Orwellian State?
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Orwellian States: Democrat or Republican?
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4 comments:
Well, as an independent centrist I tend to look at both parties with a very critical eye.
I agree that the Republicans tend to be more traditionally religious and often their politics are motivated by that dogma. I also agree that we should have focused more on invading Afghanistan rather than Iraq. But, I disagree that there were no valid reasons. There were reasons - they were just flawed. On the extreme ends, there are Republicans (one's even trying to run for president) that have very extreme and offensive views on homosexuality - equating gay sex with zoophilia.
On the other hand, to say that all the Democrats want is "bigger" government is phenomenally simplistic and demonstrates a biased lack of critical analysis.
Take abortion for example: on the extreme ends of the left (who traditionally vote Democrat) some people advocate that as long as an infant has one toe still in the vaginal canal then that child is still part of the woman's body and abortion is still relevant and should be legal.
Seriously!
Even the more moderate Democrats would like to see the arbitrary fetal viability date pushed further down the line and without regard to whether the child could survive outside the womb or feels pain.
You don't have to ask me to cite these things, they are fact. And, in my opinion, just as Orwellian as anything the Republicans can come up with.
The bottom line in this example is: if I were a Democrat and believed that a fetus is nothing more than a mass of cells that belonged to a woman - I would fight against "oppression" and for the rights of women to control their own bodies and have reproductive choices.
If I were a Republican and I believed that life begins at conception, then I would see abortion as murder and fight against the "murderers".
Both political parties draw off of the deficiencies of the other. Both sides take issue with particular views of the other and swear that those opposing views are going to be the end of us all.
I'm sitting here thinking, so what's a solution?
A third party? The problem with a third party (as the "Republicrats" see it) is that they take votes away from them and alter the landscape of political races.
Well, duh.
Maybe three or four or five viable political parties would do the trick. Perhaps diluting a broken system and allowing the best party to rise to the top is the better idea.
I dunno.
But, I do know that neither side can lay claim to sainthood. Not the Republicans. Not the Democrats.
David K
Of course I was creating simple stereotypes for each political party. That helps spark more debate :-)
...but you never answered that question. Pick one - is Big Brother a republican or democrat?
My answer is both, and that's not a cop out. The "fake war" that has been created and fostered is not Afghanistan or Iraq. It is the supposed "civil war" between right and left that has both sides terrified of the other, and distracts everyone from the single path that the federal government is on towards an Orwellian state.
Both parties advance a Big Brother agenda. The GOP is generally in favor of an expanding military, and a large standing army will eventually find enemies and wars to fight, real or not. The Patriot Act permitted unprecedented invasions of privacy.
But as for "wanting everyone to follow their set of morals and values," the Democrats take that mantle hands down. If you're going to ascribe Judeo-Christian morals solely to the Republican Party, then liberal "ethics" is what, exactly? Environmentalism would appear to be part of it. And the Democrats have spared no effort in imposing their beliefs about the environment on the entire country, most recently with cap-and-trade. How about secularism? Rather than say the Pledge without "under God," or say nothing, Democrats want to forbid every child from reciting it in school. Democrats fight to remove Christmas trees from public parks and crosses from privately-built memorials on federal grounds. Just because there is no Church of Liberal Secularism doesn't mean that Democrats are not aggressively forcing their morals on the rest of society.
And if any party is going to create a "thought police," it's the Dems, i.e. champions of hate crime legislation which imposes harsher penalties on criminals for what they are presumed to be thinking.
But the GOP is also the party of censorship. And it is the party that rejects a constitutional right to privacy. And if any party were to put a camera in everyone's home in the name of national security, it would be the Republicans.
But ultimately, Big Brother comes about as a result of expanding government. That used to be the province of the left. But especially in the second Bush administration, the GOP seemed to get onboard, too.
We are a nation of consumers. So it is no surprise that our government is one, too. Wherever it can, the government will expand to consume resources. The Constitution anticipated this, so tried to set the system up so that it was constantly fighting against itself. But every so often, we run into some pivotal event (as Rahm Emanuel would put it, a crisis) that sets all the rails in the same direction, and allows the government to push outwards. WWI led to the creation of income tax. The Great Depression brought us Social Security and Medicare. The Cold War sparked a massive military build-up and nuclear proliferation. 9/11 and the War of Terror put our soldiers overseas and will likely keep them there.
Now the Great Recession has allowed the government to take over the home mortgage and student loan markets, and sink its teeth into everything from banking to the auto industry to medical insurance.
If I asked 100 people which party would be in power for most of the next 50 years, I'd get a pretty even split (comically, most Dems would probably say the Republican party, and vice versa). But if I asked the same 100 people whether the government would be larger/more controlling/more Orwellian in 50 years, wouldn't at least 90% say larger? Regardless of party, it's the direction the government is going. So isn't that what we should be focusing on/worrying about/trying to prevent? Instead, what we're focused on is making sure that the other guys aren't in charge, even though they will be about half the time.
Rob, I thought that by saying neither party was a saint, I would be implying my answer - which is "both".
I am in near total agreement with spud.
Spud, thank you for citing more examples of bipartisan tyranny.
David
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