This is my philosophy on politics: it is not who is more right, but who grabs the most attractive position first, regardless of it's grounding in good evidence.

Don't get me wrong, abolishing slavery and woman's suffrage were good ideas, but what happens when subjects change and the 'progressive' wisdom doesn't seem as legitimate as it has been in previous years?  The same thing that happens with any group that gains power - it's preservation is fought for out of fear of losing that power. 

I've been thinking lately about the nature of power and the power of argumentation over rationale.  Because unfortunately fallacy can be a powerful persuader of the common man. 

Why is it that a black person can say "Nigger" and a white person can't?  Reverse racism, that's why!  How come gays can say "Fag" but it's homophobic when a straight person says it?  Because we are trying to protect the gays right to speech but smother dissention to that lifestyle!  But really - why?  Simple, because the terms have been laced with connotations that reach down much further than it being "simply a word."  So we try to stop ourselves there.  We try to prevent ourselves from stepping on the toes of the historically oppressed and we try to present ourselves as 'enlightened' and 'progressive', because the term 'Conservative' has become an insult in the minds of many.  So then we continue moving in our shroud of 'progressive' tendencies and develop a smug sense of self-satisfaction that keeps us warm at night in our blogosphere/don't have to really do much but 'imagine a world' to be considered forward-thinking... o-dome. 

I'm tired of forward thinking. I want forward doing.  And not only that, I want forward-doing that doesn't run the risk of becoming so 'enlightened' that it loses all grounding in reality simply because the premises of what has been makes you feel better than facing what exists now.  And furthermore, I want to meet the forward-thinker who denounces bigotry and actually means it.  The one who calls for questioning authority and truly means just that.

Because questioning authority isn't merely some concept that means listening to your music really loud and disrespecting "The Man!"  It is a calculated and self-reflective tool that relies not only on your ability to disagree with those in power, but also to agree with those in power if they are in the right by means of discriminating between sound and unsound arguments.

But we are all about fashion today.  Fashion sets off a visceral comfort that makes it so much easier to play make-believe than to actually make reality. 

I want to meet the person who wants to combat poverty, but not be ignorant to the fact that it isn't just the system that keeps people down, but sometimes the people themselves.  I want to meet the person who realizes that welfare checks aren't going to set people up to live a life of luxury and that maybe circumstances just force that position in some.  I want to meet the person who can acknowledge that feeding a family of 6 is not an easy thing to do, and that help should be implimented, but also that personal choice dicates where some of these people go and trying to address that isn't going to dis-enlighten you or make you an evil Republican.

So where are these people?

It's late, I'm going to sleep. I know there isn't enough written here to truly get at what I mean, maybe I'll elaborate when I have time and you feel like reading 500 pages of self-inflated bullsh*t.  Ta.