There is absolutely no valid legal argument against same-sex marriage. Marriage is a contract. It is likely illegal to bar two consenting and competent adults from entering a contract under any state or federal law. Everything beyond “contract” (such as “it’s for love”, “religious rite”, “procreation”, etc) is extra-legal cultural baggage and is up to the individuals involved to decide upon.
Whenever an acquaintance of mine asks why Obama hadn’t released his birth certificate, I always turn it around: “When are you going to show me yours?” When they say, “It says ‘Muslim’ on his birth certificate!” I respond with “Yes, as much as yours says ‘Christian’.” When they say “Why won’t he produce the original?” I tell them “You can’t do it either. They don’t give out the original.”
It’s more fun to turn it around. Helps point out the absurdity.
Of course, it’s more fun to ask them about the birth announcement. COMMUNAZI TIME MACHINE!
An idea I thought of a while back is to divide China into several countries.
I keep hearing about how unsustainable a billion-plus people are run by a government like theirs in a weirdly agricultural-but-with-rapidly-rising-industrial economy can be, and I wonder: what if they were 5 (or so) separate countries with trade agreements? Would that actually work better? Or is China too monocultural for that? (Which I doubt.) All of this “growth” (which some experts claim is surpassing the US in the next few years) precludes any political uprising or civil unrest they’d have to deal with. China might have to quell several rebellions in the next 20 years. Economics without politics is fantasy. It all goes together. China will not likely surpass the US economy for a long, long time.
I think the idea that manufacturing is the determiner for economic health is going to be shattered in the next decade or so. “Oh, we build things! We win!” Uh, no. Money isn’t always made on tangibles, folks. And certainly not exclusively. How does the information industry translate into capital and wealth? We aren’t manufacturers, but remove our contribution and it all comes tumbling down. That’s why I say simply claiming manufacturing is your barometer is false. We’re in a post-industrial phase. The impact of declining manufacturing may be diminished with the increase in information technology, but it may be too soon to tell.
In other words, it’s a little more complicated than one might think.
In response to someone who claims that the possible dismantling of the NHS is proof that “socialism always fails”:
First, you have to define socialism. Most likely the response will be something along the lines of “no private property” or something resembling communism, both of which are incorrect. Then you have to see if the UK even practices socialism (they do not; they are a social democracy, which is significantly different), and whether the disassembling of a medical system backed by the government by Conservatives who just got into power after more than a decade is the same thing as ‘socialism failing.” Then you’d need to define “fail”: fail entirely? Leading tot eh deaths of thousands? Or simply losing popularity? Finally you have to prove that socialism, in any practical form has “failed”.
If citizens in the UK oppose the dismantling of the NHS, then socialism hasn’t failed; the Conservatives’ chances of maintaining power has.
This is copied from a conversation I’m engaged in on Metafilter.
[W]hy does Libertarian = idiot?
Because libertarianism is not a political theory or philosophy; it’s a comfortable justification of selfishness. And they’d rather be comforted than educated.
posted by grubi at 11:38 AM on July 8
Er, those two are virtual synonyms. But, saying that libertarianism isn’t a political theory or philosophy is rather disingenuous. That’s not to say that it isn’t a rather selfish, wrong-headed, and short sighted philosophy, but it’s still a more or less cohesive body of thought.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:49 AM on July 8
My reasoning is based on the idea that a genuine political philosophy would ostensibly be about what one thinks is the best way to govern. And the arguments handed down from libertarian writers/thinkers don’t seem to be about how best to govern, but about how best to justify individual self-centeredness.
I know it’s not the standard definition, but this is what I meant.
posted by grubi at 12:40 PM on July 8
Agreed, then. A libertarian government would either quickly collapse or quickly revert to Republican-esque policies.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:53 PM on July 8
A prelude to anarchy! ANARCHY, I SAY!
posted by grubi at 1:37 PM on July 8
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
–Langston Hughes, “Let America Be America Again”
“We’ve spawned a new race here. Rougher, simpler; more violent, more enterprising; less refined. We’re a new nationality. We require a new nation.” — Benjamin Franklin, 1776
To be sure, this line was not uttered by Dr Franklin in real life (to the best of our knowledge), but the sentiment is true and has remained true these long 234 years since the quote was supposed to have been uttered. For all of our destructive behavior (and it has been considerable), for all our mistakes and, yes, even crimes, we have been a nation of innovation, of reinvention, the first true post-modern and reconstructivist nation and, therefore, culture. All cultural things that follow (jazz, baseball, rock and roll, and anything else Ken Burns and his brother may ever find fascinating enough for their documentaries) from that notion, that we are inventors and innovators, that we are rougher and louder and more direct… these are American ideas I adore.
We are not perfect and remain far from it. But I would say that is because we are the most human of the cultures, or at least the most celebratory of our human tendencies, both strengths and weaknesses, both good and bad. And while greater poets and more talented writers may rhapsodize better than I can about the United States of America, I can proudly say I am spawned from that rough, simple new race of humanity that celebrates and revels in its humanity. I do not wish to rise above, nor eradicate, nor ever find shame in my humanity, but instead I shall find my strength and worth in and shall strive to improve that very humanity, and therefore, my Americanness. America, both as an entity and an ethos, appeals to me and my very personality. I am, for better or for worse, an American. A proud American.
Happy Independence Day.
I already had this discussion recently at work. And keep in mind, I truly do love American football:
American football has a draft, trading, and a salary cap, in addition to the playoff system that includes a large chunk of the league, thereby giving more teams a shot at the title. International football, by contrast, is PURE capitalism: players go to the highest bidder, players are lent for CASH, and whoever’s on top at the end wins it all.
Which one’s socialist, then?
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