Philosophy
Watching Dick Cheney, the outgoing President in charge of Vice, yesterday, I thought of the story "The Monkey's Paw." You do have to be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.
Cheney is a legitimate ideologue. He is not someone whose beliefs change to suit his party's interest in the situation. As chair of the Vice Presidential search committee, he selected himself for one reason. Going back to his service for Richard Nixon, he was entirely convinced that the Founders' notion of the balance of powers had become unbalanced. He thought that the Presidency had become unconstitutionally weakened and he chose himself for the job not to be the most powerful veep, but to re-empower the Presidency.
And he did.
Bush was elected in 2000 in large part because the general sense was that there was no difference between the parties, the government was just running on auto-pilot, and it didn't matter who was the POTUS. Instead of a coin-flip between the frat boy/cowboy and the policy wonk, let's use the "who would I rather have a beer with" test. His regular vacations seemed no big deal because we elected him president not PRESIDENT.
But as a result of eight years of Cheney, the country had no doubt that it matters who is PRESIDENT. We wanted not only the new guy, we wanted the smart guy. We all know, without a doubt that we need a PRESIDENT.
Cheney tried to increase the strength of the Presidency through manufactured legal opinions and sleazy power grabs. And with that ill-gotten power they wrecked the joint. Now the country demand action and as a result of the will of the governed, the Presidency is stronger than it has been in decades.
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Dear George Lucas, While watching your film Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith in my comparative philosophy and religion class I came to many new and different conclusions. I watched this film with a new perspective on it. When I had first watched Episode...
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Philosophy
Be Careful What You Ask For
Watching Dick Cheney, the outgoing President in charge of Vice, yesterday, I thought of the story "The Monkey's Paw." You do have to be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.
Cheney is a legitimate ideologue. He is not someone whose beliefs change to suit his party's interest in the situation. As chair of the Vice Presidential search committee, he selected himself for one reason. Going back to his service for Richard Nixon, he was entirely convinced that the Founders' notion of the balance of powers had become unbalanced. He thought that the Presidency had become unconstitutionally weakened and he chose himself for the job not to be the most powerful veep, but to re-empower the Presidency.
And he did.
Bush was elected in 2000 in large part because the general sense was that there was no difference between the parties, the government was just running on auto-pilot, and it didn't matter who was the POTUS. Instead of a coin-flip between the frat boy/cowboy and the policy wonk, let's use the "who would I rather have a beer with" test. His regular vacations seemed no big deal because we elected him president not PRESIDENT.
But as a result of eight years of Cheney, the country had no doubt that it matters who is PRESIDENT. We wanted not only the new guy, we wanted the smart guy. We all know, without a doubt that we need a PRESIDENT.
Cheney tried to increase the strength of the Presidency through manufactured legal opinions and sleazy power grabs. And with that ill-gotten power they wrecked the joint. Now the country demand action and as a result of the will of the governed, the Presidency is stronger than it has been in decades.
- How Difficult A Job Is President Of The United States?
A few days ago I told TheWife that I wanted to make a bumper sticker that read, "This time could we please elect the smart one?" Then yesterday, Carly Fiorina, a McCain surrogate and major economic policy adviser said that Sarah Palin was not qualified...
- Bush's State Of The Legacy Speech
Reading the State of the Union speech from last night, I couldn't help but think of that line from the Rich Little interview from last week, "They don't want anyone knocking the president. He's really over the coals right now, and he's...
- Hilary = Yoko
Last week Aspazia had a couple of posts wondering whether the Hilary hatred was rooted in more than sexism. I believe so, but have been struggling to clearly enunciate what it is. Madeline Albright and Condoleeza Rice are both very smart, serious women,...
- Letter To George Lucas
Dear George Lucas, While watching your film Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith in my comparative philosophy and religion class I came to many new and different conclusions. I watched this film with a new perspective on it. When I had first watched Episode...
- Bad Biden And The Philosophy Of Language
What's the problem with languages not using the words for what they really stand for? Throughout my youth I was discouraged from uttering certain words but it was "okay" to use substitutions that were kinder, gentler, and highly euphemistic. But...