By Eric Florack. Posted Thursday, May 7, 2009 at 1:57 pm Filed Under: BitsBlog, Capitalism, Conservatism, Cultural Values, Featured
Arthur Brooks, at The Wall Street Journal suggests that there’s a bit of a culture war going on about the future of capitalism. The headline suggests that “The Real Culture War Is Over Capitalism “
There is a major cultural schism developing in America. But it’s not over abortion, same-sex marriage or home schooling, as important as these issues are. The new divide centers on free enterprise — the principle at the core of American culture.
I dare suggest Brooks in this quote, has this exactly backward. He’s pointing at a symptom and labeling at the root cause. Not that I blame him, really. It’s been so long since we’ve dealt with things on the level of principle that even the more learned among us get it garbled in translation.
I agree with Arthur that this is a war that is cultural in its nature. However, the war over capitalism, as he calls it, is part of the war on culture because capitalism in its truest sense can only exist in a free society, which is a culturally generated condition. It is the product of a particular variety of culture that… (at least until recently)… we here in these United States have been blessed with. What I am suggesting is that the principle at the core of the American culture is in fact freedom, of which capitalism is a product.
While it is true that there are a few places in the communist world, China for example, where capitalism raises its head in some form, it is diluted in the extreme. It is in fact, capitalism in name only. Alas in the view of many, a goodly number of which were out on the front lines of the tea party protests last month, that kind of weak as dishwater capitalism, capitalism in name only, is the [...]
By Art Smith. Posted Sunday, Sep 14, 2008 at 10:28 pm Filed Under: 2008 Presidential Election, Abortion, Constitution, Courts, Earmarks, Faith, Featured, First Amendment, John McCain, Right To Life, SCOTUS, Sarah Palin, US Congress
I watched Friday’s John and Cindy McCain interview on The View. Below is part 1; parts 2 and 3 should be accessible from the video.
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I see several posts refering to this interview as “McCain Grilled On The View”, for instance this story at Huffpo, and this one at Century Of The Common Iowan.
A stretch to [...]
By Art Smith. Posted Saturday, Sep 13, 2008 at 9:25 pm Filed Under: 2008 Presidential Election, Abortion, Charles Gibson, John McCain, News Media, Republican Party, SCOTUS, Sarah Palin, Tim Russert
Sarah Palin had her first big interview (6 parts) this week since being selected as John McCain’s running mate. Paul F. Villareal made the video’s available at YouTube.
Of course, ABC played it for as much air time as they could… including repeating sections of the interview on 20/20 last night.
Let’s see, Thursday “World News”, Thursday [...]
By Art Smith. Posted Thursday, Sep 11, 2008 at 5:00 am Filed Under: 2008 Presidential Election, Abortion, Eugenics, Sarah Palin
I feel like I just got punched in the stomach.
Michael Gerson at Real Clear Politics provides an analysis of a piece of the political news of the day that may just break your heart. At the center of the excitement and controversy over Sarah Palin being thrust into the national limelight is the story of [...]
I finally got time to watch a recording of Saturday night’s Saddleback Church event with Obama and McCain. DJ made some excellent observations earlier in the week, which I thought I might supplement a bit. If you have not seen it yet, I strongly suggest that you view this event as I think it provides [...]