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CONSERVATIVE AMERICA
WHAT'S GOING ON?

 

 

 

 

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The Idea Emporium

Here's an argument I've come across a number of times from conservative America:

BIG GOVERNMENT IS BAD. WHY? OBAMA IS RUINING US ALL, WITH HORRORS STRETCHING FROM HIS MASSIVE DEBT CREATION TO HIS PLAN FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE.

What's my response?

Mixing apples and giraffes and ending up with conclusions about bananas - long necks like giraffes, right?

That's what I see in these conservative right wing arguments.

Apples: the horrific American mess in the banking system, and the perhaps disastrous attempt at a remedy (time will tell), namely, the monstrously massive debt creation to bail out the banks.

Giraffes: big government involvement, as with universal health care and university education (European socialist style - usually presented as if this would surely make me froth at the mouth).

The banana conclusion: big government is bad, a disaster.

****

Even if it turns out that the attempted US government remedy is a disaster, it doesn't logically follow that all government involvement is disastrous - or even that massive government involvement in many areas of life is usually a disaster.

In other words,
bad argument, flawed argument,
illogical and therefore invalid.

In fact, rather than concluding that big government is the problem, it might make much more sense to look to see if there are any examples that refute that conclusion - such as Canada.

Canada so far has emerged relatively unscathed in the banking fiascos and has huge government involvement - universal health care and heavily subsidized education all the way through university.

What has saved Canada? Government involvement in the banks - way before the crisis. The Canadian financial institutions have to follow much more rigid guidelines than the American precisely because of the Canadian government - there were laws in place, laws missing elsewhere. (A few institutions did not rigidly follow the laws, and got burned, including a huge government pension plan, which lost one-quarter of its assets. However, that does not mean that having good laws is a bad thing.)

What saved the Canadian banking institutions (relatively, so far)? Once again, not less government, but more.

****

Another lack of logic, lack of good thinking in the right wing conservative news media: mixing Obama's specific financial interventions at this time with the value (or lack of value) of universal health care.

Health care - that is just plain another issue.

Common conservative right wing poor thinking: to argue that one bad thing (and let's presume that Obama's attempted remedy will not work) means all things that fit within that category (major government intervention) are bad. That's the same thing as saying, I've met a horrible black or white or American or Canadian; that proves all humans are horrible.

If one has met one horrible black or white or American or Canadian, one can't even conclude that all people who fit the category are horrible. Everyone knows that would be stereotyping, and stereotyping is bad.

So even if the massive debt creation proves disastrous, it just proves that big government intervention can be disastrous - though not creating the debt seemed as much of an evil - it seemed a case of choosing between frying pan and fire.

But to get back to the main point: the underlying premise hasn't been established - that major government intervention is necessarily or even usually a bad thing. Until that's been done, one can only look at the instances and not draw general conclusions.

****

My suggestion: before jumping to that conclusion, start by looking to see if there is good evidence against the position. Or even just look at what has worked, and then see the most likely reasons why this has worked. For example, Canada - (which I'm clearly partial to, but I'd say with good reason, beyond the fact that I'm living here and by and large loving it).

Then, having established that more government intervention need not be a bad thing, one can look at the pros and cons universal health care.

Personally, I'm delighted to be living in a place with universal health care.

But that proves nothing.

Re universal health care, Winston Churchill comes to mind. Here's his comment on democracy (my paraphrasing):

"Democracy - a horrible system -
until you consider the alternatives."

That's what I think of universal health care systems - flawed, imperfect. But when I consider the alternatives, I'm fully in favor.

Elsa
June 19, 2009
copyright © Elsa Schieder, 2009, 2011, all rights reserved

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Conservative America: Bad Thinking? Yes.
Right Wing Conservative Logical Fallacy.
Conservative Media, Republican Right Wing
Bad Argument, Fallacy.

 

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GOOD THINKING, CRITICAL THINKING
* on BAD ARGUMENTS COMING FROM
RIGHT WING CONSERVATIVE AMERICA,
*on CONSERVATIVE MEDIA BAD THINKING,
* on CONSERVATIVE POLITICS and their LOGICAL FALLACIES
RIGHT WING CONSERVATIVE AMERICA and COMMON LACK OF GOOD ETHICS,
on CONSERVATIVE NEWS APPRAOCHES and INTOLERANCE,
on REPUBLICAN RIGHT WING BAD THINKING

THE IDEA EMPORIUM looks at ... CONSERVATIVE AMERICA

The Idea Emporium - why and what

The Idea Emporium ... good thinking, or at any rate
an attempt at good thinking, is at the core.

So I'm not trying to be for or against conservative America,
right wing conservative politics ...
unless they violate the rules of good thinking,
or unless they violate good ethics
(liberty until harm - courtesy of John Stuart Mills).

Nor do i stand up for liberal positions,
especially not if they get caught in rigid political correctness
that violates basic good thinking.

Anyway, three cheers for good thinking -
no cheers for people who don't use it.

Here, finally, I've put together my conclusions and speculations.

Elsa
thinking pro

copyright © Elsa Schieder 2009, 2011 - all rights reserved
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