Most of me has been rejoicing over President Obama: his campaign and his election and his beautiful beautiful speeches. I have been body surfing on this wave of hope and it's been really nice. Hawaii native and all.
But.
That conservative portion of me, that Ayn Rand-tolerant fan of capitalism that has been poking less and less frequently at my heart and soul over the last several years, is starting to play with my adrenal glands. Whispers of "Nationalization," of "Redistribution of Wealth," of 700, 000, 000, 000 send me reeling briefly into panic.
Maybe it will work? What have we done?
Monday, February 2, 2009
A ke Divided
Posted by Kjerstin Evans Ballard at 2:19 PM
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4 comments:
We've taken a chance.
I think SOME of his plans are good, but what makes me... um... cautious (?) is the superstar-savior-idol worshipping that has surrounded him. I think Obama is a good man, and I think he will do his best, and we'll see how it works out. I'm not a fan of the VERY LARGE numbers either (though I admit I'm TICKED at the Republican party for it's boo-hooing about money for the arts. Kills me!)
So I keep seeing the title of this post and thinking "An Ike Divided?" And then I spend half a second wondering what General Eisenhower could be so divided over and why you'd be discussing it on your blog, but then my eyes come into focus and I see that it's not Ike; it's ke. That's you.
As an (ex?-)fiscal conservative, I am having a hard time taking the Republicans seriously as they boo-hoo the expansion of the government after the lack of restraint they had when they were the majority. I published long and loud that I voted for the fiscally conservative candidate in 2004--John Kerry.
The more I study it, I think that nationalization might actually be the better option, given the situation we're in. Since it doesn't really matter what I think anyway, there's not much risk in my throwing my support behind Obama. At the end of the day, I guess I'm willing to support Keynesianism, despite my qualms, since the path we've been taking has failed so miserably.
In any case, even if Obama's trillion is wasted, it will still be cheaper than the bill for the Iraq war will end up being. I would rather have spent all that money on education and construction than to have invaded a country (even if it made us safer. I think I'd trade another terrorist attack for all of our money, troops, and innocent Iraqis back).
Daine--
I'm with you on the Republican's obscene spending habits. I'm not suggesting that Bush did any better or that McCain would've done better. Just that the mention of so much money makes me a little queasy. (Also makes me want to find a hideaway kept from sight by holographic projection where I can make scrambled eggs for misogynistic and ambitious men wearing very scant and structural negligee and thus reach my own personal best? A little.)
And I like the idea of universal health care, but think the government is big and slow and inefficient and dumb.
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