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The Voight-Kampff Test of Gun Ownership
Nov. 7th, 2012 12:10 pmI'm not a Bruce Springsteen fan. I'm speaking literally here. No disrespect to The Boss. I didn't grow up around blue-collar easterners, and Bruce is one of those musical gaps I haven't gotten around to filling in yet. I don't even have a song of his on a mix CD. I'm not a fan.
Damned if I didn't tear up every time "We Take Care of Our Own" played at a campaign rally, although my ears usually turned the refrain to "we take care of them all" toward the end. It was a perfect, eloquent distillation of what it means to be a Democrat. (I am one of those people who doesn't vote for Democrats out of tradition or as the lesser of two evils; I agree with the platform. There is not a third party or foreign party I would rather vote for "if only." I'm genuinely a Democrat.) It's a stark contrast with ubiquitous Republican use of "Born in the USA." We could have replaced both campaigns with the question "which song appeals most to you?" and saved a lot of time and money.
I was moved by Mitt Romney's concession speech, because I actually like Mitt Romney and feel like we could have dinner together without it being awkward. I didn't want him to be president, and I really didn't want Paul Ryan to be vice president, and I think he's wrong about a lot of things in a way that is hurtful to a lot of people. But in the right circumstances, he could be a good guy, and I hope he gets that chance again, although not in elected office. I could say it this way: in the ways he tried to win, he was a stranger. When he lost, he seemed like me.
One thing in Obama's acceptance speech stood out. It happened toward the end.
It strikes me as a somewhat radical and certainly exciting restatement of the social contract: we, as a society, will allow you freedom only if you agree to love, and the more broadly you are willing and able to love, the more freedom we are safe in giving you. That's . . . not a bad way of running a government. Or a family. Or a life.
Damned if I didn't tear up every time "We Take Care of Our Own" played at a campaign rally, although my ears usually turned the refrain to "we take care of them all" toward the end. It was a perfect, eloquent distillation of what it means to be a Democrat. (I am one of those people who doesn't vote for Democrats out of tradition or as the lesser of two evils; I agree with the platform. There is not a third party or foreign party I would rather vote for "if only." I'm genuinely a Democrat.) It's a stark contrast with ubiquitous Republican use of "Born in the USA." We could have replaced both campaigns with the question "which song appeals most to you?" and saved a lot of time and money.
I was moved by Mitt Romney's concession speech, because I actually like Mitt Romney and feel like we could have dinner together without it being awkward. I didn't want him to be president, and I really didn't want Paul Ryan to be vice president, and I think he's wrong about a lot of things in a way that is hurtful to a lot of people. But in the right circumstances, he could be a good guy, and I hope he gets that chance again, although not in elected office. I could say it this way: in the ways he tried to win, he was a stranger. When he lost, he seemed like me.
One thing in Obama's acceptance speech stood out. It happened toward the end.
. . . that the freedom which so many Americans have fought for and died for comes with responsibilities as well as rights, and among those are love and charity and duty and patriotism.
It strikes me as a somewhat radical and certainly exciting restatement of the social contract: we, as a society, will allow you freedom only if you agree to love, and the more broadly you are willing and able to love, the more freedom we are safe in giving you. That's . . . not a bad way of running a government. Or a family. Or a life.
