--- Davd Brin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >Containing communism
Dr. Brin, you think the GOP opposed this? You remember the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan said "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." While your favored party imitated Neville Chamberlain? > > >public universities This? > > >medical research How much has the NIH budget gone up under Bush? > > >exploring space Who founded NASA? > > >saving the bald eagle and other endangered > species The Endangered Species Act was passed under which President? > > >increasing basic literacy from 15% to 95% and > > college > > >attendance from 2% to nearly 50% Literacy rates in the US were well over fifty percent before American independence. The Republican Party was founded in 1856. The GI Bill was passed by a Congress dominated by which party? > > >opposing fascism and defeating Hitler You think the GOP opposed these things? Again, history. Why was foreign policy not an issue in the election of 1940? It was the only way that Republicans could have won - the people were really, really opposed to getting into another European war. Why wasn't it an issue? It wasn't an issue because the Republicans _agreed_ - they wanted to do something about Hitler as well. And at least we're consistent. Republicans still oppose Fascism in Iraq, and were willing to do something about it. > > >promoting democracy overseas > > >antitrust rules to encourage market competition You know, like in Iraq? That doesn't seem to have been a democratic party initiative. Sherman (of the anti-trust act) was a member of which party? > > >supporting Israel Clearly, it's the _Democratic Party_, that supports Israel more. It was a Democratic President whom the Israeli government has called one of the best friends Israel has ever had. No, that was George W. Bush. Who are the most important supporters of Israel in the United States? Evangelical Christians. And we all know they vote Democratic. > > >civil rights Opposed by the Republican Party? Ted Bilbo was in which party? George Wallace was in which party? Have you ever even heard of Rockefeller Republicans? Which President first implemented Affirmative Action? Which party provided more votes in the Senate for the Civil Rights Act? > > >bringing women into echelons of power Wait, when was the 19th Amendment passed? Supported largely by which party? > > >resisting Japanese imperial ambitions before & > > during > > >WWII Actually, that would be the Republicans far more than the Democrats. FDR was interested in _Europe_, the GOP was more interested in Asia. It's only the ethnocentrism of the left (white guys like you, Dr. Brin) who think that the whole world is Europe, so if you're more interested in other parts, you're an "isolationist". > > >Yup. Those were pretty lame things... because > > every > > >single one of them arose out of Democratic > > >administrations. Dr. Brin, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not everyone is entitled to their own facts. You might be able to intimidate some people with lists like that, but not me. I would also point out, by the way, that the very nature of your list reveals a biased conception of government. Not all ideas are good ones. The _purpose_ of a conservative party is not to generate ideas. Rather extraordinarily, the American conservative party (the Republicans now, the Democrats before 1912) has been intellectually prolific. But the purpose of conservatives is to preserve and defend _old_ ideas, good ideas, the ones that make the United States what it is. The idea that democracy was better than dictatorship? That's an old idea, but it wasn't conservatives who talked about the moral equivalence of the superpowers. That free markets are better that socialist planning? That's an old idea too - but when Ronald Reagan took office, people talked about "two roads to development." A smooth socialist one and a bumpy capitalist one. It took a conservative - Reagan - to defend the truth of the old idea. There's only one road to development, and free markets are that road. If it hadn't been for your despised Republicans and conservatives, Dr. Brin, that old and good idea would have long been forgotten. And God knows how many hundreds of millions who have been lifted out of poverty by the power of that idea would still be mired in the swamps of central planning. Even if your history was correct - which it is not - that would have no relevance in judging the two parties. Conservatives and liberals have different functions in politics. Your rejection of the purpose of the first has a long precedent. Its most famous incidence was 1789 - which ended in the Reign of Terror, and Napoleonic Rule. It's that which conservatives protect you from, and have for all of American history. Not all ideas are good ones. Not all change is for the better. Not all old things are archaic. Not all new things are progress. I appreciate your apology from earlier, Dr. Brin, but I'm not sure why you felt it necessary to make it. It seems to me that you're just as harsh now as you were last night. I'm not offended, because in a list with Tom and The Fool, I'd have left long ago if I was likely to be offended by people who think that everyone who disagrees with them is tricked, dumb, or evil. But I'm not intimidated by you, or them, and I'm not going to pretend that I find these rants reasonable. You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts. ===== Gautam Mukunda [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Freedom is not free" http://www.mukunda.blogspot.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it! http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
