Humble Pie
I think that I caught the Portland Doc Review curse. I believe
that it started last week when another associate picked up body lice
from a cloth armchair at the coffee shop next to the hotel. It
hit me tonight when I absentmindedly left my laptop bag in the back of
my cab on the way home from the airport. I must accept my own
negligence, since my forgetfulness plays a part in the missing
laptop. Tomorrow, I must go into the office and eat humble pie
for losing work equipment. Yikes!
**
As for the election, my candidate did not win. This is
lamentable, but not a reason to give up hope, or to threaten to
renounce one’s citizenship. Oddly, I think that Bush is
succeeding in his way of calling for “personal responsibility.” I
think that when we look back at his administration in 40+ years, the
biggest stamp will be smaller government and less action on behalf of
the public, whether it be selling off public spaces, privatizing social
security, or reducing governmental services. This will force me
into taking “personal responsibility” out of a sense that I have to
save my money, so that I can buy the public goods (i.e. public
transportation, good schools) that the government used to
provide. This is nothing new of course, its just a magnification
of the current trend towards privatization.
billy breakfast
November 4, 2004 @ 1:59 pm
This shift toward privitization is what the Libertarians have been hoping to achieve all along. We’re certainly not going to get there with a Democrat (i.e. Socialist) in office.
echan8
November 4, 2004 @ 2:53 pm
I agree that privization is what America wants, and that Bush will try to shrink government down to the size where his successors can drown it in a bathtub. However, Bush’s approach towards libertarianism in the fiscal sense may erode libertarianism in the social sense. Many commentators have scratched their heads about why the GOP’s ability to wed social conservatives to fiscal conservatives has been successful. In the current election, people were trying to assess why the working poor were willing to vote against their pocketbooks in favor of their values. I believe that the answer is simple, as the public erodes, people turn to private organizations, i.e. their churches, their gated communities, for solace and community. This produces a more socially conservative populace that will try to impose their values on others.