May 2008

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Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all.

-John Paul Jones

Random Ruminations on Reforming the Right (and Other 'R' Words)

Excellent. I hope this works out: The Next Right.

This is somewhat related to an idea that's been on my mind a lot lately. There are certain Righty pundits, namely Mark Levin, who get extremely agitated by Republicans who talk about jumping ship. Levin sees it as a loyalty obligation to stick with the Republican Party and reform her from the inside, instead of casting Libertarian or other opposition votes. For my part, I've had somewhat of a realization over the last few days, spurred-on by a biography on Confederate Partisan Ranger John S. Mosby that I’m currently reading. It occurred to me that it is unhealthy and antithetical to historical precedent to perceive political parties as rigid, non-vacillating, and never-ending institutions. Quite the opposite, we've had not only a handful of varying political parties, but the political parties themselves have evolved over time to become wholly unrecognizable versions of their former selves.

For example, from the aforementioned James A. Ramage book on Mosby, the passage below seems almost surreal by today’s stereotypes (particularly in the modern context of Katrina and the Democrats’ desire for massive Federal reconstruction of New Orleans):

For the first four years after the [Civil] war [Mosby] refrained from politics and then in the summer of 1869, when military rule under Congressional Reconstruction was about to end in Virginia, he came out exactly in the center of the political stand of the majority of white Virginians. The state Conservative Party (later the Democratic Party) that opposed Radical Republican Reconstruction nominated Gilbert C. Walker for governor. When he came to speak in Warrenton, Mosby met him at the train station and hosted and introduced him at the local rally. In his remarks Mosby said that Walker stood for civilization while the Republican Party represented "barbarism." Mosby actively campaigned for Walker and for his friend James Keith, a fellow Warrenton attorney, running for the state legislature. Both won, and the Conservative state legislature ratified the 14th and 15th Amendments, bringing an end to Reconstruction in Virginia. [...] Mosby became an aggressive Conservative Party [meaning Democrat] member, personally taking the offensive against carpetbaggers, Northern men who came into the South and worked from Radical Republican governments.

Does there come a point where enough opposition-party mud has been flung at a political party and subsequently stuck to render the party unsalvageable? The first example that comes to mind is the Whigs, who experienced mass defection because of their stance on slavery. Practically overnight the Whig Party of the mid-Nineteenth century utterly vanished in favor of the Democratic and Republican parties. A few months ago a commenter on the Atlantico remarked that the Republican Party was the party of racism, whereas the Democrats were the "Civil Rights" party. Can you imagine this being heard 140 years ago, when the North, New England, the Abolitionists, and Lincoln's Administration were overwhelmingly Republican and the Democratic Party was prevalent among Southerners, Secessionists, and anti-Abolitionists? We don't even have to go back as far as the Civil War. In 1964, the Democrats had three times the number of dissenters for the Civil Right's Act than the Republicans. And yet, enough mud has been thrown - and stuck - at the GOP that they are the party of racism. They are the party of greed. They are the party for rich, white men. The party of evangelical fanaticism and evolutionists. In general, the forest of concepts upon which the Republican Party was built has been lost for the mud-laden trees.

I think the Republican Party has served a nice, long run, and its time has come. I understand that the Next Right is looking to redefine the Republican Party, to get back to some of its grassroots. And that's great. But I also think that the time has come when we should not shy away from a complete make-over. And not just change for the change's sake, but understanding that the political party system is a fluid and evolving concept. As long as we remain grounded in our principles, then the name and history and baggage of a political party should be irrelevant. Why should I, someone who's trying to promote small-government, pro-capitalism, and traditional liberalism, be encumbered with a century and a half of GOP closeted skeletons? Likewise, I don't feel like today's socialists should be encumbered with the war-mongering likes of John F. Kennedy and FDR. Are we stuck in this rut because Fox News or CNN tells us so, or because of the deep pocketbooks and far-reaching influence of the D/RNC? Today's Democrats should form the New Socialist Party and we GOP train-hoppers should form the New Democratic-Republican Party and we should be going after each other in terms of our ideological differences instead of our historical mud-slinging and baggage pointing.

At the very least, making a serious effort towards a new Conservative Party would hopefully elicit wide-sweeping changes and reform within the current Republican Party: A "Next Right" upon which we can all agree.

Posted by Rammage on May 8, 2008 at 02:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Surge in fatal shark attacks blamed on global warming

What sensational headline? From the article:

'The one thing that's affecting shark attacks more than anything else is human activity,' said Dr George Burgess of Florida University,

Of course - probably our combustion engines and clear-cutting of the rain forests. Human activity has inarguably endangered habitats, food chains, and many species. Setting aside skepticism over global climate change and its causes, I'm sure that human activity of some sort is causing an increase in shark attacks.

'As the population continues to rise, so does the number of people in the water for recreation. And as long as we have an increase in human hours in the water, we will have an increase in shark bites.'

Oh. That kind of human activity. Where more people are going into shark-infested waters for fun.

Well, that sorta makes the headline look silly. Perhaps it ought to read, "Victims blamed". I don't imagine that would go over well, but it might sell papers anyway.

'What's needed is some kind of system to prevent people and sharks coming together in a dangerous way.'

Hrm. If only there were some way to keep people and sharks apart.

I got nothin'.

Posted by Wulf on May 4, 2008 at 04:22 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Wrong house... oh well.

Isabel Llorente said she never thought this could happen here.

I don't know which upsets me more... the fact that this could happen here (and does all the time), or the fact that most people still don't think that it could.

Posted by Wulf on May 3, 2008 at 12:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

"Now"?

At the bottom of this NY Post article on Obama and Clinton whining about the media and each other is an interesting sentence.

A majority of those surveyed now view Clinton as untrustworthy.

And it only took 16 years of national exposure to this woman for them to figure it out? I guess Americans may be slightly sharper on average than we sometimes give them credit for - I didn't think that a majority would figure it out until halfway through her first term as president. But it's been months since I figured she would win the election.

My apologies, America.

Posted by Wulf on April 19, 2008 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Mike Wise and Playoff Hockey

Beer in hand and hockey on TV, I am loving life right now. While it would certainly be accurate to say that I am a die-hard fan of the Buffalo Sabres, it is probably more accurate to say that I am a fan of all hockey. So even though the Sabres didn't make the playoffs this year, I am quite happy to be watching the Washington Capitals take on the Philadelphia Flyers tonight.

Hey, how about that Mike Wise article in the Washington Post? (free subscription required) What's that? You haven't heard anything about this article? Well, it's got some hockey fans and commentators pretty hot right now. Rumor has it that 20,000 copies of it were printed out to be given away to fans at the Wachovia Center in Philly, but the plan mysteriously fell through at the last minute.

Wise doesn't like the way the rough-and-tough Flyers are physically dominating and punishing the graceful, offense-minded Caps. He complains that fights are shown on the video scoreboard, and the Philly fans are too bloodthirsty. He wishes Gary Bettman could only realize that this is just bad for hockey.

I am happy to make the argument that this is simply what playoff hockey is all about. The Caps - and other pretty teams who skate and shoot beautifully but don't have grit and gristle - get cut down by teams who might have less talent but who have more guts. That's how the game is played, and that's why my beloved Sabres were eliminated soundly by the Ottawa Senators last year despite having the best regular-season record in the league. You don't have to be happy about it, but every team knows that's reality.

Wise and others who pine for more grace and fewer fights need to come to the realization that the sport they like is not the sport these players are playing, and that's not wrong. There are many things a team needs to go deep in the NHL playoffs, and physicality is tops on the list. To wish it were otherwise is to ask hockey to become some other sport.

But rather than turn this into a long treatise on what place violence should have in the sport, I'm going to point out that Wise's article probably doesn't much offend Philly fans. Consider this paragraph:

For most of the evening, there was this unmistakable air of testosterone coming from the Flyers' direction that just reeked of physicality, a way of exerting their mauling style on the Capitals that just sent their denizens into some medieval state of euphoria.

The Flyers, who in years past have gone by the nicknames "Broad Street Bullies" and "Legion of Doom", attract their fans specifically because they reek of physicality. In fact, most hockey fans would rather see their team get physical and dominate, rather than be pretty and eliminated - just ask any fan of the Buffalo Sabres. I would be proud to see my team eliminate another team by any means, including physical domination.

So Mr. Wise, don't gripe about the Flyers. Gripe about the Caps. They are a phenomenally talented and exciting young team, and they don't need the refs to toughen up - they need to toughen up themselves. If they can't get physical against Philly, they deserve the early summer vacation - and I say that as a fan.

Posted by Wulf on April 17, 2008 at 09:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The joys of teaching

All teachers enjoy sharing the accidentally humorous responses given by students. Here is one from my latest test:

Q: Define a covalent bond, or describe what happens in a covalent bond.

A: The shaming of electrons.

Posted by Wulf on April 14, 2008 at 10:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Pennsylvania Poll on Barack Obama

A new poll has been released on Barack Obama's now-infamous San Francisco speech, where he claimed that small-town Pennsyvanians cling to religions and guns because they are bitter and bigoted.

According to the poll, approximately half of the Pennsyvanians that were questioned about the remark responded that they would pray for Mr. Obama. The other half said that they wanted to shoot him.

(H/T Mrs. Rammage)

Posted by Rammage on April 13, 2008 at 03:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)