Category Archives: government, law, and politics

Help Set MoveOn’s Agenda

Anyone who’s followed internet news through the last two presidential elections is probably familiar with MoveOn.org. For those who are not, here is a snippet from their About page.

"MoveOn is working to bring ordinary people back into politics. With a system that today revolves around big money and big media, most citizens are left out. When it becomes clear that our "representatives" don’t represent the public, the foundations of democracy are in peril. MoveOn is a catalyst for a new kind of grassroots involvement, supporting busy but concerned citizens in finding their political voice. Our nationwide network of more than 2,000,000 online activists is one of the most effective and responsive outlets for democratic participation available today."

Though they tend to support liberal causes and generally supportive of the Democratic Party, I could find nothing explicitly partisan in their self-description.

MoveOn is currently soliciting opinions for their agenda for the next four years. It is highly likely that their "Action Forum" will become an echo chamber of Democrat propaganda and ranting. I would like to strongly encourage Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, Consitutionalists, and members of any other groups – left, middle, right, or orthogonal – that are poorly represented at MoveOn to vote on submitted suggestions and add suggestions of their own. Furthermore, I urge you to spread this idea to as many folks as possible.

"When there is a disconnect between broad public opinion and legislative action, MoveOn builds electronic advocacy groups."

Let’s make them put their money where their mouths are

Consistent Life Ethic

9 Replies

On Friday, CNN published a brief article describing the differences between John F. Kennedy and John F. Kerry in the eyes of Catholic voters. The moral of the story is pretty obvious at this point. Namely, more observant Catholics favored Bush by 13 points because of his conservative stances on social issues like abortion. What hasn't been so obvious is this.

"Only 29 percent of churchgoing Catholics favor the death penalty for murder. Among less observant Catholics, nearly two-thirds support the death penalty."

This took me very much by surprise and should have surprised the author as well. I had to re-read it a couple times for it to sink in. Opposition to the death penalty is something more often associated with the left side of the spectrum, with the occasional moderate exception, such as myself. There's a known correlation, which the article mentions, between regular church attendance and support for conservative causes. Why, then, do so many wishy-washy Catholics support the death penalty?

I think the author wrote the wrong story – the less interesting one.

Thoughts? Comments?

Black Gold

11 Replies

Kenworth Pilgrimage I wish people would stop whining about the cost of gasoline. Instead of complaining, we should stop buying gas-guzzling SUVs and other tank-like monstrosities, use public transportation more, and put pressure on auto manufacturers to make more fuel-efficient cars. The current price spike is very different from the 70s crisis. Back then, Americans used innovation – gasohol and fuel-efficient compacts – to break OPEC’s spirit. Today, people are buying SUVs and the like at high rates. It’s obvious that the high prices haven’t really hit people where it hurts. When people start trading in gas-guzzlers for efficient vehicles, I’ll believe that prices are high enough to worry about. Even then I’ll have little sympathy for drivers until they start pressuring Detroit to produce more efficient cars. So long as there’s demand for inefficient vehicles, auto makers will keep supplying them. Innovation is expensive and it won’t happen if there’s no demand for its fruits.

Out of Left Field or Out of Touch With Reality?

33 Replies

I’m less enthused about Jesse Jackson’s public support of Terri Schiavo than Jerry is. The reverend is, in my opinion, a media whore and skipper of the "rent a mob" crew and Al Sharpton is his first mate. Want to present a lot of angry faces and voices for the cameras? Need someone to yell "Oppression!" with you? Is your bombast not bombastic enough? If you’re not concerned about nitty-gritty details like respectability, credibility, and sincerity, they’re your men. If I found out either of those clowns supported a cause dear to me, I’d ask God to grant them the good sense to keep their mouths shut, at least when reporters are present.

Right Out of Left Field

4 Replies

Some folks have wondered what the Terri Schiavo case will mean for the conservative
cause, including Ales Rarus regular, DLW
(see March 28, 2005); perhaps we should pay a little more attention to leftists
like the Rev.
Jesse Jackson and Nat
Hentoff before labeling Terri’s cause a right-wing one. Or even those disability
activists that get mentioned from time to time, but have largely been ignored in
media coverage. (Maybe they don’t fit in with this left-versus-right template that
the media chose?)