Chekhov's Mistress

Where I’m Coming From

by Bud Parr

In writing this blog, I am forced to confront my own opinions in a serious manner. Ever since I gave any thought to politics, my views have been informed by a strong sense of pragmatism and an equally strong desire not to succumb to any ideology that would, I feared, substitute for independent thinking. In fact, I have, over time, flirted with different views along the spectrum in sort of an agnostically open-minded manner. But, when one takes to writing down their views, we are forced to take sides.



Despite my disdain for labels, I suppose you could call me a “liberaltarian.” Now, I don’t mean that in the “vege-tarian” sense – it doesn’t mean that I only eat liberals. But it does mean that if you stacked up my hopes and desires for our society, they are liberal, but if you stacked up my solutions to real problems, they would be rather moderate. At the risk of oversimplification, I find liberal and libertarian ideas attractive, but I don’t think that either the liberals or libertarians (who are something like classical liberals anyway) in the U.S. provide practical answers to complex problems. I reject conservatism and the Republicans, particularly the religious-right Republicans, even though I used to feel that they, the Republican Party, at least were aligned with my ideal world of limited government and fiscal responsibility. That, in practice, was clearly wrong, even to the point of hypocrisy.



It seems that political parties in this country stand for little more than a place to hang ones hat, so I don’tmind not really fitting into any of them. I do share the concerns of those we call democrats, and having to choose one of the two major parties, I fit in mostly with the donkeys. To that end, I voted for the winner of the last Presidential election, Al Gore (oh so revealing!).



Now that I’m standing here naked, I can say that, despite sharing the concerns of those we call Democrats, I distrust the government’s efficacy, that is, the ability to actually get anything positive done (they sure are good at wrecking things though), and I question the right of the government to redistribute income (Whoa Nelly, drop the phone!). That admittedly puts me in some uncomfortable territory and I don’t honestly know how to reconcile all of my views. However, the basis for them, again, at the risk of oversimplifying, is this: I believe that deep down, this country’s defining characteristic is its unwavering demand for individual rights and its acceptance of the responsibility that accompanies those rights. I say deep down, because I think the see has sawed more toward the side of rights while responsibilities have been left aside. So here’s a  paradox for the pile, I think that the only way to even things out is with strong leadership. Leadership’s primary responsibility should be to foster the idea of taking responsibility for our actions, our selves, our families and our communities – all of which embody my concept of individualism – that we teach each other to (proverbially) fish, that we lend a hand to those around us and we act as good citizens. I would like to think that if we did that, to some extent, inequities would be wrought out of the system. “Gee, why the dreamy rhetoric”, you say. “Weren’t you just talking about practical solutions?” Yes, but I’m trying to reconcile solutions with ideals here and I’m trying to clarify what I said about government redistribution. Practically speaking, I think that really high taxes are counterproductive, and I think that those on the top of the scale always get around paying anyway. So, I think we should have a relatively flat tax rate with extremely limited deductions, which would be used to pay for only truly public goods (in the economic sense) and we should have a host of end-user or value-added taxes. The idea is that you pay for what you get and get what you pay for. This idea is most equitable if, we as individuals, corporate and personal, were willing to take more responsibility for the world around us – that is, take the stark inequities in the world and do something about it ourselves.



Moving on, I also question our role in the world or, more directly, the way we as a country and our elected leaders behave as global citizens. As a perusal of this blog will show, I adamantly oppose the Bush administration (and an adamantine wall it is, opposing these power mongers!) and the severe right turn that they are taking this country. I have believed from the start that their reasons for invading Iraq were spurious and I oppose our unilateralism militarily and with the U.N., the International Criminal Court and the Kyoto Treaty. (I feel better now, having said that because those views lean more democratic than libertarian, again though, for more practical reasons than anything). I think that we should bring our troops home, and use our might only for humanitarian and defense purposes (defense in my book does not mean invading a country because its leader tried to kill your daddy).



Finally for now, I do believe in free markets and free trade, but unfortunately, in the real world, those things don’t exist, mostly because of selfishness on the part of individuals and states. So again, ideal is tempered by reality and I don’t for a second pretend to know how to make them work. In that same department, my dislike for labor unions comes from the same problem. Conceptually, I think that individuals should band together to counter the power of large corporations. Practically though, the labor unions I have observed used arcane rules only to perpetuate their existence and not to actually get any work done. I know that’s not fair to all of the unions out there, but my personal experience was appalling and it has stuck in my brain since.



Summarily, you can probably tell by this mess I’ve made for myself, I don’t believe that having philosophical underpinnings for your views will get you too far in a complicated world, they are only there for grounding. And I see the solution to most problems as, not, black or white, but some shade of gray. I am not only comfortable with that concept, but I thrive on it. In my view, most ideologies are a square peg, and the world is a polygonal hole.



But, it is quite difficult to put out one’s views lucidly on a piece of paper, particularly without rambling on for thousands upon thousands of words or taking much more time than I can devote to it, so I reserve the right to modify what I think and write here. And perhaps, since this indulgent little blog serves primarily my own pleasure of thinking out loud to no one in particular, if time permits, it will be a fun exercise to continue with “Where I’m Coming From” in order to muse over these problems. That’s probably more than our current POTUS can claim to have ever done.

posted September 19, 2003

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