Being Wishy-Washy

[kent_allard_jr]

I admit I can't resist bashing Bush. (Hey, attacking Republicans is my job, OK?) That's why I quoted Michael Kinsley in my last post. But... I must say I'm not convinced, one way or another, on the whole War-in-Iraq thing. Just in case you were wondering.

Comments

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

Yes, but... I'm not willing to overthrow the government over this. :-)

Seriously, under a democracy, I feel you owe the government a certain amount of tacit support, at least in action (certainly not in words), unless it's doing something truly horrific. Otherwise there's nothing to keep the US from looking like Venezuela. So it really is a purely intellectual issue for me.

Re:

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

I think you're probably right, although I think I am more willing to use words, or at least legal forms of actions (civil disobedience, boycotts, words designed to crush all support the government may have) than you are. At the same time, I know they can sometimes work, so I try to be careful about my reasons. I haven't decided whether "this is a bad person, but he is doing something right and we can't get it doesn as effectively without him" constitutes reason to attempt seriously to destroy his reputation and therefore his functioning capacity, or reason to shut up and let the man work. This is independent of whether I *do* think he's doing something right or not.

[avram]

Sure, under a democracy. But...

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

I knew that would come up. :-)