Cybrpnk's Rantings

Okay, let's take a shot at this. I've spent a bunch of the last few days mucking about with blosxom and am raelly [sic] (honestly, that's a typo, but I decided to leave it in) quite happy with it. I wouldn't say painless to set up, but not too bad. Probably take me months to really get this stuff figured out, but seems to be ready for me to start posting. Yeah, I know, a bunch of the things on the page don't really work yet, but I decided that those could get fixed along the way, rather than be used as an excuse to not post.

So, why am I doing this? an obvious starting question, no doubt. I'm one of those people who is always getting into political and societal discussions with people, often in person, sometimes in e-mail. My wife has been telling me for quite some time that I should be writing, and not just talking. So, here's a start.

Let me start out with some ground rules:

1) I am unabashedly leftist. This doesn't mean I'm unafraid to take a position that others who consider themselves leftist might abhor.

2) I strongly believe in the concept of a society. That means that I think that, at some level or another, we are all in this together. I believe that the problems of some should be seen as the problems of all. I think that those of us who are more fortunate are obligated to work for the benefit of those who are less fortunate.

3) I think everyone is a hypocrite, myself included. Be honest about it, it can be quite liberating when you stop feeling that you need to justify every inconsistency in your life. I think that one can be a pacifist and still appreciate the beauty of an F-16 being flown by a master.

4) I think that anyone who thinks they don't get their money's worth out of our government should consider how lucky they are to have drinkable water coming our of the taps in their house or apartment. That's a small token of just how good we have it here compared to most of the world. When was the last time we had a cholera epidemic in America?

5) If you think it is un-American to question what the government is up to, you are missing the point of what it means to be freedom-loving. Politicians who wrap themselves in the flag in the name of protecting their malfeasance are doing a worse injustice to people who fought and died for this country than are people who burn the flag.

6) This country took a big turn for the worse when the fundamental role of Americans stopped being 'citizen' and started being 'consumer.'

7) The major thing wrong with our public schools is the conservatives' own doing. After all, whose idea was it that it was more important for the schools to turn out employees than it was for them to turn out citizens?

8) I believe that Alexis de Tocqueville was correct when he wrote 'Ultimately a people get the government they deserve.' I believe that we here in America will get better government when we act like we deserve it.

9) The 'free market' is a myth. Get over it. Your choices are government using the rule of law to control how commerce works, or anarchy. Ironic isn't it that the same people who don't want to pay any taxes are some of the heaviest users of our courts? Maybe if they brought some personal integrity into their business dealings they might need fewer lawsuits to sort out the messes they create.

10) I am not anti-business, but I don't worship business either. As a technologist I am always asking this question about new innovations: is this a case of technology serving people, or of people serving technology. I believe a corollary question should be asked at a national level: is Wall Street working for society, or is society working for Wall Street?

11) Destroying the environment is as much of a threat to our national security as terrorism. Maybe more so. Think about which one has a greater chance of killing all of us.

A lot of my view of what is wrong with America today was perfectly expressed by the UN Special Envoy to Iraq Lakhdar Brahimi. During a press conference on Februray 13, 2004, in response to a question about the dangers of civil war in Iraq he offered the following:

"Civil wars do not happen because a person makes a decision, 'Today I'm going to start a civil war,' [They erupt] because people are reckless, people are selfish, because people think more of themselves than they do of their country."

Are you listening Dick Cheney? Sanford Weill? Anyone?