In case you’re wondering what the folks who cheer for South Carolina to fail are thinking today, here’s a brief snippet from the S.C. Policy Council:
lawmakers have turned off the unproductive tax-dollar spigot for hydrogen research funding, at least for one year.http://bit.ly/dAexDCabout 1 hour ago via bitly
Oh, and what do I mean by saying they’re cheering for South Carolina to fail? Well, you know, just like all those Republicans who are cheering for the U.S. economy to keep failing, especially in light of the stimulus. Or all those Democrats who cheered for the U.S. to fail in Iraq (and in fact couldn’t wait, but kept wanting to rush the process by declaring it already a failure). Or the Sanford allies who do the same with regard to public education.
You know, like that.
Related Posts
Declaring Iraq either a failure OR a success is still premature. The kind of shakeup at that geopolitical level takes years, decades, before a really cogent perspective can be arrived at.
The biggest example of this is the Cold War. Conventional thinking says that the US won the cold war. But given the shakeup in the world economy, the fragile state of the US, the neglect of domestic needs in favor of a bloated defense budget (aided by a seeming national willingness to be terrorized by a few terrorists), the rise of China, the domestic political stalemate and division in our country…I think it’s entirely possible that in 50-100 years time, history will record that BOTH the USSR and the USA were losers in the Cold War, the Soviets with stunning swiftness, the USA in a kind of a slow motion degradation over the 40 or so years following. Maybe China will be judged to be the winner.
The reason why your reflexive pro-military pro-interventionist stance is more perplexing to me than it would be coming from a typical SC across-the-board right-winger is precisely because of your more progressive views on things like education and health care. I know you will argue that we can have both, but I maintain that a society that is overly militaristic to the point of fetishism, that treats the defense budget as a sacred cow, is also a society that devalues those other domestic considerations that you and I both care about. That’s why the work of the Sustainable Defense Task Force is so important. They point the way towards a future in which the dire scenario mentioned above does not come to pass:
http://www.comw.org/pda/fulltext/1006SDTFreport.pdf
Positive attitudes are easy when there is a desire and the willingness to make things better.
We live in an area, that is fabulous…. We people need to find the solutions to the problems that we people allowed to occur in the first place….
Bare with me a moment, some detail to bring a human connection to this message.
I recently was speaking with a professional who is a nurse who has chosen a career that takes her where a demand for her expertise is needed. She has helped to update the Heart Cath Labs at various hospitals through out the country. She proudly let me know she has had the pleasure of working in every state in this nation, but one and she will also get an assignment there before she retires. Where does choose to live, right here in South Carolina. She also recently told me, no place is prettier or more wonderful to live than right here in SC. When in SC she divides her time between the Charleston, SC area and York, County SC both of which are her home fronts that bring the relaxing and nourishing existence she thrives upon after a challenging assignment.
My husband and I were very fortunate to be able to enjoy a wonderful session recently where Christopher Warren Greene was being introduced to the voting members for the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. One of the comments which should tell us much about ourselves, that Christopher Warren Greene made; he was amazed at the can do attitude that people of the “Carolinas” have.
He did not say North Carolina, he said “Carolinas”. He said the optimism of the people of this area is wonderful. It is something that he and his family wanted to be a part of. He said, on an interview with Mike Collins on WFAE Charlotte yesterday, that he loves his native Britain, but the optimism of the people in the “Carolinas” is something that you do not have in many places. He and his wife and his son have moved into their home in the Lake Norman area, and as he has said “they will parachute into London for London engagements, but Charlotte will be home.
For those of you in the Columbia area and not having a great awareness of what happens closer to the Charlotte, NC state line a bit of detail below:
Christopher Warren Greene is now the Music Director with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra in the 2010/11 season, he will continue to hold the position of Music Director of the London Chamber Orchestra and has been Principal Conductor of the Camerata Resident Orchestra of the Megaron Athens since 2004 (taking over from Sir Neville Marriner). From 1998 to 2005 he was Chief Conductor of the Nordiska Kammar Orkestern, and from 1998 to 2001 was Chief Conductor of the Jönköpings Sinfonietta.
One of the things Mike Collins asked his guests yesterday about their choice to come to Charlotte,NC was “”””WHY”””” you have so many other places you could be. The answer given, would make any one from the “Carolinas” proud.
What I say to those who want to whine, about the state of things, is: We can make things better.
Solutions are out there, they might be difficult, but most things worth our time and effort tend to bring challenges. It is when we over come challenges that we feel pride of success.
Nice analysis, Phillip!
My recollection of the buzz from the Left was that we wanted the US to stop trashing Iraq in the name of saving it, and trumpeting the false pretenses under which we inserted ourselves (but we’ve been over this before–no need to go there again). The Left is generally unconcerned with issues of win/lose, one-up/one-down hierarchies. We are the World (and I do appreciate the flaws in the sort of group-hug world-view–altruists get eaten first. Tit-for-tat game theory says that anti-altruists don’t do any better.)
Phillip that was good. Very good. Not sure I can add anything.