Political Observation

(Health update: tough weekend. Upper-body now aches about as much as lower, especially when stretched. Got my first abdominal cramp... wasn't that painful, but it has me worried about the "spread" of the cramping. I spent the majority of my time resting as a result. Still nothing major to report, though: it's just pain, and it's still managed.)

I often fume about Politics in the shower.

It is, perhaps, a particuarly bad habit: a nasty way to start the day (mad), and I often wonder how much of a "right" I have to a political opinion, really. But that's an observation for another day. At the moment, I just want to point out one "conclusion" I came to.

A prevailing attitude on the right, it seems to me, is If we don't do it, someone else will. ...The implication being, for example, if we raise minimum wages, then other countries will have an unfair advantage and they'll do better than we in the market. Put another way, if we don't pay shit for shit jobs, some other country will, and we lose.

The analogous attitude on the left, it seems to me, is no one else is going to do it, so we have to. The exmple here being, to use the above case, market forces won't give shit jobs living wages, so we have to accomodate.

My personal opinion? ...Well, of course, you all know me well enough that I don't have to say "the latter", and it's true, that's where my heart lies. But, deeper than that, I think the "right" answer is actually--and it pains me to say this--both.

I--personally--am a liberal. But I also believe that we have to make room for and find ways to reconcile the folks on the right to do the nasty things they do. They keep us moving forward, and we clean up the mess. It isn't easy, it isn't pleasant... but I think that's the only way that society as a whole can progress, ugly as it may be.

Man, do I hate saying that. The answer should be, take care of one another, not every man for himself. Sadly, it seems to be nature's way that either path leads to a dead end. Only both leads forward.

[sigh]