{"id":537,"date":"2008-11-01T21:48:27","date_gmt":"2008-11-02T04:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hwireroad.org\/2008\/?p=537"},"modified":"2008-11-02T07:16:31","modified_gmt":"2008-11-02T14:16:31","slug":"dc-and-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hwireroad.org\/2008\/?p=537","title":{"rendered":"DC and me"},"content":{"rendered":"

And so my flag and I have arrived.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We\u00a0spent this day at the National Mall surrounded by its memorials, monuments, and the\u00a0sanctums to\u00a0our three branches of government, each standing as testament to our greatest hopes and aspirations.\u00a0\u00a0It was one of the most extraordinary days of my life and, concurrently, touched by the\u00a0sadness that marks the end of\u00a0a journey.\u00a0 Worse, it meant attempting\u00a0to\u00a0comment on what it all meant to me.\u00a0 I am a little scared.<\/p>\n

Here goes,<\/p>\n

Last March I read an article in the Village Voice written by David Mamet.\u00a0 Not only am I a fan of his plays, but I also admire him as a highly ordered thinker.\u00a0 You can imagine my consternation when I read the title ‘Why I am no longer a brain dead liberal’<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr. Mamet posits many things, but chief among them are,<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. That our constitution in its very construct recognizes that man in inherently evil<\/li>\n
  2. That corporations and the military complex can and do operate for the public good, and<\/li>\n
  3. That larger government is always bad<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    And with these revelations, Mr. Mamet rejects his former liberalism.<\/p>\n

    Further, he cites the work of Thomas Sowell who, in his book\u00a0\u00a0A Conflict of Visions<\/em>,\u00a0highlights two competing worldviews.\u00a0 The first,\u00a0the ‘constrained vision’ sees humans as flawed or fallen, and that they, operating within that ‘constraint’, will work to make the best of it.\u00a0 The second, the\u00a0\u00a0‘unconstrained vision’\u00a0puts no limits on the\u00a0abilities of\u00a0humans to improve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    Both of these incredible thinkers put forth the conservative movement as representative of the “constrained vision” and progressives as “unconstrained” (and, in their view, unrealistic).\u00a0<\/p>\n

    But when I attempt to\u00a0square my experiences of this last month with the above constructs, certain issues arise.\u00a0 As I talked with people it slowly emerges that\u00a0they are either acting in response to a perceived threat, or from the desire for things to be different.\u00a0 But both occur on\u00a0each end of the political spectrum.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    So it seems that it may be less about an artificially defined ‘nature’ than it is about what motivates and informs our actions.\u00a0 What was most significant for me was that there seems to be a direct correlation between the strength of the perceived threats and a willingness to accept, without question,\u00a0party doctrine.\u00a0 Even when that doctrine is on opposition to their self-interests.<\/p>\n

    So what does it all mean?\u00a0 At the risk of exposing myself for the unrepentant liberal that I am,\u00a0this experience has shown me that, more than ever before, people are ready to move past the disproportionate fears that have enabled the policies of the last eight years (I\u00a0submit the\u00a0electorate’s response to the 2008\u00a0campaign tactics as a proof point). And yes, that the whole of the human condition can be better.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    And so, in closing, I offer my final interview with thanks and deep appreciation.<\/p>\n

    <\/object>
    Julie McDonald<\/a><\/p>\n

    Oh, and for my friends in California, please vote NO on Prop 8!\u00a0 With love from the road, Julie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    And so my flag and I have arrived. \u00a0 We\u00a0spent this day at the National Mall surrounded by its memorials, monuments, and the\u00a0sanctums to\u00a0our three branches of government, each standing as testament to our greatest hopes and aspirations.\u00a0\u00a0It was one of the most extraordinary days of my life and, concurrently, touched by the\u00a0sadness that marks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hwireroad.org\/2008\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hwireroad.org\/2008\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hwireroad.org\/2008\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hwireroad.org\/2008\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hwireroad.org\/2008\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=537"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.hwireroad.org\/2008\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":550,"href":"https:\/\/www.hwireroad.org\/2008\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537\/revisions\/550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hwireroad.org\/2008\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hwireroad.org\/2008\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hwireroad.org\/2008\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}