Getting It Together
Were I forced to choose between the current right/left renditions of the terms "liberal" and "conservative," I would be forced to say that I could be neither.
I certainly can't identify with the ugly distortions to which both of these terms are being subjected. I am NOT a libertine 'liberal', i.e. bent on wasting public revenues and exploiting people in the pursuit of personal pleasure. Nor could I endorse the greed implicit in excluding wide swaths of people from the basics that a prosperous modern society must make available to all its members (and guests) -- food, shelter, medical care -- human dignity -- which seems to be a subsidiary aim of the libertarians/neocons who have tried to preempt for themselves the term, "conservative."
One must rather be a 'conservative' in its original sense of being an advocate for a just society that respects the claims and demands of its members. I don't think that we all WANT the same things, so we need not demand economic equality. But it is pretty obvious that we all NEED certain basics to function as human beings and we must not drive people to suicidal madness or criminal rebellion when we deprive them of these. Conservatism means conserving PEOPLE!
Things are moving too fast in our global economy and are facing us with a frightening list of critical challenges -- rapidly diminishing energy reserves, environmental degradation, health crises, challenges to world peace that are bound to arise from the competition for basic resources. As 'liberals' we must challenge the militarists, terrorists, or others who would perpetrate violence rather using peaceful persuasion to accomplish solutions of our common problems.
True liberals and real conservatives share a vital interest in our joint public well-being and we must get ourselves together before it is too late to achieve it in these all too perilous times!
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort
to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
I certainly can't identify with the ugly distortions to which both of these terms are being subjected. I am NOT a libertine 'liberal', i.e. bent on wasting public revenues and exploiting people in the pursuit of personal pleasure. Nor could I endorse the greed implicit in excluding wide swaths of people from the basics that a prosperous modern society must make available to all its members (and guests) -- food, shelter, medical care -- human dignity -- which seems to be a subsidiary aim of the libertarians/neocons who have tried to preempt for themselves the term, "conservative."
One must rather be a 'conservative' in its original sense of being an advocate for a just society that respects the claims and demands of its members. I don't think that we all WANT the same things, so we need not demand economic equality. But it is pretty obvious that we all NEED certain basics to function as human beings and we must not drive people to suicidal madness or criminal rebellion when we deprive them of these. Conservatism means conserving PEOPLE!
Things are moving too fast in our global economy and are facing us with a frightening list of critical challenges -- rapidly diminishing energy reserves, environmental degradation, health crises, challenges to world peace that are bound to arise from the competition for basic resources. As 'liberals' we must challenge the militarists, terrorists, or others who would perpetrate violence rather using peaceful persuasion to accomplish solutions of our common problems.
True liberals and real conservatives share a vital interest in our joint public well-being and we must get ourselves together before it is too late to achieve it in these all too perilous times!
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort
to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
posted by Ed Kent at 3:00 PM
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