Someone asked me a big long political question on my Facebook page today and I gave him a big long political answer. If you’re into that stuff, read on:
ISAAC GILPIN
“Hello mr. Brentalfloss, as an american citizen struggling with the hardships mentioned in topic that i am about to post on your wall, i would appreciate your attention for a second and hope you would stop and think about, and mabye even do a blog or possibly a video apon this touchy subject that involes the american people and how we are being robbed of our every day rights, along with being told what we are supposed to be focusing on, rather than the real problem at hand, meaning “our horrid economy and the twisted politics by jack booted thugs that created it” give focusing on them a try, and maybe you and the rest of our nation will see that ron paul is the only candidate who means something in this god-forsaken country, see what you can do with it. get our minds focused back on the important issues such as: “why our jobs are over seas” and “why is our economy in such a dramatic state” as well as “why is america subject to corporate control” my thanks for your possible cooperation and reply.
sincerly,
Isaac Gilpin”
ME:
“First, there are a few reasons “our jobs” are overseas, Isaac. Our young people are getting less disciplined in terms of education. As a nation, we don’t read, write or think critically as well as we used to. This lessens our ability to excel at service industry jobs (which are one of the biggest if not THE biggest part of our economy) and it also hurts our ability to export our culture, which is still our greatest resource.
Also, it’s not exactly a matter of other countries “taking our jobs,” as much as it is the fact that our nation’s workers are a bit spoiled when compared to other average salaries worldwide. The political right often praises a free market economy, but on a worldwide scale, free market principles dictate that when someone in India or China will manufacture a product for a lower wage, they will get the job over a comparatively expensive American worker. This is not to say that I am anti-union or that I think Americans should be paid lower wages. It’s just a problem inherent to the world right now. Again, one thing no one else can manufacture is American culture, but if we raise a generation of entitled, illiterate children, we can’t expect to have much of a culture to export to the rest of the world.
That said, Ron Paul is a lot of things, but he is not as perfect as his biggest fans think he is. He truly seems to believe what he says (which is a refreshing virtue in this world of bullshit focus group sound bite 24-hour news cycle politics) but many of the changes he would propose as president are impractical and would have major unintended side effects. Libertarianism is a cool idea, but it doesn’t work unless EVERYONE agrees that EVERYONE is free in pretty much EVERY way. You can’t claim to be for “small, unobtrusive government” and also want the law to get in between a woman and her doctor or in between a man and another man who love each other.
As for the state of our economy: The economy is never in such an “awful state” as it is when the party opposing the current administration is describing it during an election year 🙂
So here’s my opinion in a nutshell: A lot of people are quick to tout America as “The Greatest Country In The World.” But countries are made of people. If we want to be the greatest country in the world, we have to earn it by BEING the greatest country in the world.
The end.”
…thoughts?
brentalBlog 