The Misspent Life

A Cry for Understanding

Last night, as I was sharing myself with God before retiring for the night, two pairs of phrases began forcing themselves more and more into my thoughts.  They captured my attention to such a degree that I decided that I must try to compose some thoughts and share them with you.  The words were: lebenskultur and todeskultur, and lebenskampf and todeskampf.  I do not think I need to tell you the subject that was tormenting me last night.

Today, I find that to a certain degree a portion of my thoughts were expressed by what some are calling a "hysterical screed" written by Peggy Noonan in today's WSJ.  You can find her piece here.  I ask that you read these two paragraphs, and that you to read the entire piece slowly and then read it again:

The pull-the-tube people say, "She must hate being brain-damaged." Well, yes, she must. (This line of argument presumes she is to some degree or in some way thinking or experiencing emotions.) Who wouldn't feel extreme sadness at being extremely disabled? I'd weep every day, wouldn't you? But consider your life. Are there not facets of it, or facts of it, that make you feel extremely sad, pained, frustrated, angry? But you're still glad you're alive, aren't you? Me too. No one enjoys a deathbed. Very few want to leave.  ...

Once you "know" that--that human life is not so special after all--then everything is possible, and none of it is good. When a society comes to believe that human life is not inherently worth living, it is a slippery slope to the gas chamber. You wind up on a low road that twists past Columbine and leads toward Auschwitz. Today that road runs through Pinellas Park, Fla.

I find it difficult to explain why thinking of this terrible situation causes me to feel a deep pain in my heart.  I do not find that Peggy's piece is hysterical or written by a wild-eyed extremist.  Rather, I hear my own yearning in her words.  I hear a plea for understanding in a world that suddenly seems so lost, so foreign.

Read It

Here.

Baby, What's Your Sign?

You know, things like this are making me want to visit Lebanon. Who is with me here?  These are the fruits of freedom!!

Crapline

So I broke a big rule that I have tonight.  First I watched American Idol, then I watched Goonies, then I watched a Frontline hit job on credit card companies.  Now, I've not enough work around financial companies to know that these aren't angels looking out for consumers, but this was ridiculous.

First off you had a bunch of earnest looking poor people complaining about not knowing that if they didn't pay their bills off quickly they'd be deeper in debt. Then they had Chris Dodd.  Then a bunch of earnest looking professors and what looked to me like jaded former executives.

But the thing that really got me was the stupid cut scenes of people walking that they used.  So the professor would start talking and then they'd cut to a picture of her walking her dog.  Walking her freaking dog.  Awww, isn't she a nice lady?  But what does Mr. Credit Card Lobbyist get?  Nothing?  Not even a picture of him beating poor people with fire hydrants?  It was just about that obvious.

PBS is quite often nothing but a joke.

The Case for Democracy

As the Iraqi people have turned the page of liberty and begun their journey to develop a free society it is a good time to pause and consider just what it takes to be free. It is one of the big questions of international politics and one that I am constantly wrestling with: what does it take to form a free society, is democracy enough? For the longest time I have been of the mind that democracy does not equal a free society, that a true democracy could only develop out of a society with organic liberal institutions like private property, the rule of law, equal opportunity, and freedom of expression. This is the standard view in the academy and one that I have begun to feel is more and more becoming obsolete.

Would You Like Hegel With Your Rice?

On a related note to yesterday’s article in the Weekly Standard, we have an article from The New Republic by Jeffery Herf, a professor of modern European history at the University of Maryland, on the alleged Hegelian thought of Condoleeza Rice. He condemns Rice for taking the view that “a decision cannot be judged at the moment but only retrospectively," and that it, "opens up a slippery slope of justification;” logic that relates to Hegel’s philosophy of history.  Now, I am not well enough versed in Hegel to take issue with whether Hegel's philosophy is relevant, or even justifiable, here or not, but I do detect a distinct overreach on Professor Herf’s part.

Bush the Thomist?

There was an excellent article from the January 31st edition of The Weekly Standard published on their website recently.  It describes how Bush may just be ushering in a new era of Natural Right in the US.  You should read it.  It's definitely made me want to brush off my Natural Right and History.

I Agree

Over in The Corner, Jonah Goldberg commemorates the 40th anniversary of Winston Churchill's death with the following statement:

Today is the 40th anniversary of his death. He was a hoss.

You cannot say it any better (OK, maybe one can).

We Are Strong

No one can tell us we're wrong.  Searching our hearts for so long.  Both of us knowing love is a battlefield.  For some reason that is what I think of when I read this.

(Of course it could be the influence of the song that I'm listening to right now...)

Lockean Analysis of Parking Spaces

Each year, after the first major snowfall, Chicago experiences the controversy over parking spaces.  When there is a major snowfall, you see, the city plows the streets and piles snow in ridges against the cars parked on the side of the streets.  These cars, being trapped by the snow from the street, the snow on top, and the snow pushed against their other side from the sidewalks are very difficult to remove.   Once they are removed however, a perfectly cleared parking space appears.