Philosophy over people
Slash Politics, 8/30/10 - The latest in what seems to be an inexhaustible well of Sharron Angle sound bites is up this morning — this time, Angle says she would have voted against Hurricane Katrina relief funds. It sounds cruel and heartless (and it is), but Angle has a reason: The funds weren’t offset with cuts elsewhere, and their oversight wasn’t acceptable to Angle.
She wasn’t alone: Indiana Congressman Mike Pence raised questions about the funds, before ultimately voting for them, under pressure apparently.
But that doesn’t change the fact that Angle said she would have cast her vote against funds for people who had suffered an unspeakable tragedy, literally seeing their city swallowed by the sea. Those people needed help. They paid taxes to get help. And help — even now, years later — has been slow in coming.
It’s this ability to turn a blind eye to real people in real need that I think is a fascinating, and tragic, part of the conservative persona. To hold one’s own philosophy so highly that you’d refuse aid to people who desperately need it just to avoid contradicting one’s own beliefs seems to me the height of arrogance, if not moral idiocy.
Angle is not wrong that deficits are not good, and that debt is a bad thing, long-term. She’s not wrong that pay-as-you-go rules are good things, in general, to ensure that spending remains in control.
But there comes a time when those principles must yield for the good of real people suffering in real situations not of their making. (For example, extending unemployment benefits, which Angle also opposes, having once said those benefits “spoil” the jobless and keep them from looking for work.) In those times, we must do what we need to do to help.
By the way, that, too, is a philosophical outlook. I like to think of it as humanity.
Read the whole article
Philosophy over people
Slash Politics, 8/30/10 - The latest in what seems to be an inexhaustible well of Sharron Angle sound bites is up this morning — this time, Angle says she would have voted against Hurricane Katrina relief funds. It sounds cruel and heartless (and it is), but Angle has a reason: The funds weren’t offset with cuts elsewhere, and their oversight wasn’t acceptable to Angle.
She wasn’t alone: Indiana Congressman Mike Pence raised questions about the funds, before ultimately voting for them, under pressure apparently.
But that doesn’t change the fact that Angle said she would have cast her vote against funds for people who had suffered an unspeakable tragedy, literally seeing their city swallowed by the sea. Those people needed help. They paid taxes to get help. And help — even now, years later — has been slow in coming.
It’s this ability to turn a blind eye to real people in real need that I think is a fascinating, and tragic, part of the conservative persona. To hold one’s own philosophy so highly that you’d refuse aid to people who desperately need it just to avoid contradicting one’s own beliefs seems to me the height of arrogance, if not moral idiocy.
Angle is not wrong that deficits are not good, and that debt is a bad thing, long-term. She’s not wrong that pay-as-you-go rules are good things, in general, to ensure that spending remains in control.
But there comes a time when those principles must yield for the good of real people suffering in real situations not of their making. (For example, extending unemployment benefits, which Angle also opposes, having once said those benefits “spoil” the jobless and keep them from looking for work.) In those times, we must do what we need to do to help.
By the way, that, too, is a philosophical outlook. I like to think of it as humanity.
Read the whole article
