Posts

I've pulled one post for editing, and will resurrect some forgotten drafts.  This will take a while, but I won't forget.  First things first.

Americans

Juan, a well-studied, legal immigrant to the U.S. from Mexico, asked me to explain why people from the United States call themselves "Americans," when "America" can be anywhere in North America or South America.  He said Mexicans can be called Americans, too.

I agreed; in a sense, yes, you could call anyone in the New World an "American." 

So he asked again, why are United States citizens "Americans?"

I said, "Well... what do you call people from Canada?"  "Um, Canadians," he replied.  I asked, "What do you call people from Los Estados Unidos de Mexico?"  He responded, "Mexicans."  "And people from Cuba?"  "Cubans."

"So, Juan, everybody has come up with a name for their country that refers to someone or something, yet Americans just want to be people.  Canada and Mexico have their own names, and they want to call themselves by their national names.  Nobody calls themselves 'American' except those in the United States thereof, because nobody wants to call themselves 'Americans' other than we. People from the United States of Mexico call themselves 'Mexicans,' and people from the United States of America call themselves 'Americans.'  We don't really have anything to call ourselves other than 'United-Statsian,' but that is too hard to say."

The Trojan War

I lost a battle in the Trojan War last night.  It was to me what Gettysburg was to Pickett. 

I don't know how it happened, but I know it occurred after I accidentally unplugged my computer.  No big deal there, that's happened before.  Then I turned it back on and got about 500 alerts and warnings saying my hardrive was about to explode or something.  RAM memory was imploding.  Nothing was on my desktop.  "C:" was gone.  Ran my McAfee Total Protection anti-virus scan; it found four viruses and one trojan horse.  It was like watching a mute HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyessy:  "My mind is going, Dylan.  I can feel it.  I can feel it. I can feel it." 

But before it started singing "Daisy," I managed to recover the system that was auto-saved two days prior. In the end, I succeeding restoring everything but personal files, which were great in number and immeasurable in importance to me. 

At least I no longer need to de-fragment my computer, as there are no more fragments.  Of anything.

P.S. Unless you were ever so bored that you actually watched 2001: A Space Odyessy all the way to the end, you will have no idea what I am talking about.  So watch this.

Those UnConservative Libertarians...

"[Libertarians] have this idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do. Government should keep our taxes down and keep our regulation low and that we shouldn't get involved in the bedroom, we shouldn't get involved in cultural issues, you know, people should do whatever they want. Well, that is not how traditional conservatives view the world, and I think most conservatives understand that individuals can't go it alone, that there is no such society that I'm aware of where we've had radical individualism and that it succeeds as a culture." ~Rick Santorum

I've called myself a libertarian before, then I stopped.  You see, libertarianism is an ideology of individual liberty; so extreme is this ideology, it sometimes seems as though people are free to define the word itself as they will. That is, there are "big 'L' Libertarians," who generally belong the Libertarian Party; and there are "small 'l' libertarians," who simply identify with the tenants of libertarianism; and there are those who call themselves libertarians having a wide spectrum of personal opinions on everything under the sun.  Libertarian principles, apparently, extend even to its nomenclature.

I stopped referring to myself as a libertarian, because I felt the term "paleoconservative" (or "old-style conservative," if you will) was much more descriptive of my American opinion of law and society.  As paleoconservatism can be covered under the umbrella of conservatism, I think this term also implies my Christian faith, as conservatives back-in-the-day generally relied on the church to influence society, and society to influence government.  This is the best outcome for a government of, by, and for the people. Government founded on consent of the governed principles can only succeed if the governed are, at least for the most part, motivated and influenced by the church.  The church is God's "embassy" on earth, here to influence the world one individual at a time. (Salvation is not a collective matter.)  As God deals with individuals, and as individuals make up society, and as society creates government, the church must, as part of that society, act as an agent for change in society. 

The church received, neither in law nor scripture, extralegal status as amicus gubernare, having the authority to demand implementation of any sort of code of conduct through legislation or decree. Rather, the church was commanded to demand of individuals (thus society) codes of conduct and morality; in most respects, government is neither here nor there, Biblically speaking.

That said... I'll dissect Richard Santorum's statement piece by piece.

"[Libertarians] have this idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do."
*GASP* Who do they think they are?  Americans?  Very un-conservative...  *Wonders what Santorum's alternative to this would be*
"Government should keep our taxes down..."
The beasts!  They should be proud to render undo Caesar what is rightfully his! Very un-conservative...

"... and keep our regulation low..."
What is the purpose of government if not to run every area of human activity? I mean, who are these loony liber-utionaries? Very un-conservative.

"... and that we shouldn't get involved in the bedroom..."
Hey, you don't know what sort of unmonitored, terrorist activity can be going on under your bed at night.  Liberterrorists could be plotting their next blog post under there.  The fiends.  Very un-conservative. *Wonders what Santorum was thinking when he said that*

"... we shouldn't get involved in cultural issues..."
Conservatives believe government retains the power to appoint American Idol judges.  Libertarians would cause the demise of the entire reality-based television genre if they had their way.  Very un-conservative.

"... you know, people should do whatever they want."
If people did whatever they wanted... then... well... government wouldn't be as powerful. Very un-conservative.

"Well, that is not how traditional conservatives view the world, and I think most conservatives understand that individuals can't go it alone..."
Yeah, we need collective responsibility and ownership of our property.  Your family is my family, your child is my child, your house is my house, your job is my job, your property is my property.  CONSERVATIVES OF THE WORLD, UNITE!

"... that there is no such society that I'm aware of where we've had radical individualism and that it succeeds as a culture."
*Whispers* Hey... Rick... over here, yes... *leans in* America succeeded.  Yeah, we kinda owned the idea. Our culture was built on it, you know... yeah, so you might wanna... retract that one. Yes.

Those libertarians...