There’s a certain point past where it goes from simple political disagreement, which is healthy to a nation, to Benedict Arnold and the Civil War. Those weren’t just political disagreements, you know.

“When we would pursue virtues to their extremes on either side, vices present themselves, which insinuate themselves insensibly there, in their insensible journey towards the infinitely little; and vices present themselves in a crowd towards the infinitely great, so that we lose ourselves in them and no longer see virtues. We find fault with perfection itself. ” - Blaise Pascal.

Whether Democrats use it or not, doesn’t really matter since they don’t see people as having free will. Without free will, there can only be one kind of good and one kind of evil, given that individuals are no longer allowed to make judgements concerning real life situations occuring to real life people.

When a person sees an act of injustice, it is only through the exercise of his free will that he feels satisfaction or anger. Without it, who are we to decide that what Saddam did was evil and what Bush did was good? Might as well let somebody up top tell us what is good or not. And that’s exactly what fake liberals do, which also explains why their members can so easily shift from complaining about the inequality of women in Afghanistan pre 9/11 and then complaining about the Bush war machine in Afghanistan post 9/11.

Their judgements aren’t operating on their conscience or what they see. Their sense of right and wrong are given to them, not decisions they themselves make.

For the liberal of San Francisco and other places, evil is not personal, but institutional. Moreover, evil is the OTHER: the bad institutions, the rightwingnuts. They cannot even consider the possibility that THEY can do evil. ‘Tis impossible, for they are liberals. ‘Tis impossible, for evil comes from bad institutions, not from well-intentioned persons.

For those of us who are of a more conservative bent, evil and shortcomings are inherent to the human condition. While success is possible for the human condition, shortcomings are all too common, perhaps summed up as “Life is just one damned thing after another.” We therefore evaluate each personal and institutional act with the following question: to what degree may it make things better? To what degree may it make things worse? Humans and the institutions that humans create are a balance of good and evil, of success and of shortcomings. Liberals are more inclined to say good individual, bad institution, without considering: who was it that created the institutions?

Liberals are less aware of the successes of the present, and of the possible shortcomings of trying to “change” the present, than are conservatives.

Enough rambling.

Let us wear some flowers in our hair!

If you’re going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you’re going to San Francisco
You’re gonna meet some gentle people there

For those who come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there
In the streets of San Francisco
Gentle people with flowers in their hair

— Scott McKenzie

THE REALITY

“Puto grocero, tus chingoa de pelo nos soplan en la cocina!”

– William S. Burroughs