Paternalism
MANIFESTO
Apparently, GQ has an interview with St. McCain in its latest issue wherein this gem can be found:GQ: Then how can you support sending the military on a mission that the American people don’t support?So much for the notion of a public servant.
MCCAIN: Because I know what’s best for the security of this nation. And if we don’t show signs of success, the American public will force us to pull out.
If the senior senator from Arizona never says another word, this will be enough for me to feel that he's a real danger. The US has had too many autocrats who felt they knew what's best for the country, and in virtually every single instance, the results have been catastrophic.
I am sick unto death of these know-it-alls and their public-be-damned philosophies. They forget too easily, as McCain has done, that in the American system it's the public who's in charge. McCain isn't only proposing a policy; he's proposing a dictatorship.
posted by monocle at 4/17/2007 09:13:00 PM
3 Comments:
McCain would ostensibly argue that he is being a "leader" and is taking an unpopular opinion because it is right. Such an argument only works, however, when the position has always been unpopular solely because people are uninformed or misinformed, i.e. global warming, civil rights, etc. Sadly, McCain is simply trying to hold on the glory that formerly was the Iraq war.
McCain makes the case against his argument by his own words. On the one hand he says he wants to stay in Iraq "[B}ecause he knows what's best", but on the other hand he says that, at some point, "the American public will force us to pull out." Isn't that point now? 70% of people favor a spending bill setting a timeline for withdrawal. The fact of the matter is that the remaining 30% will never support a withdrawal until somebody in the Republican leadership stands up and says "enough is enough." If McCain wanted to be a leader that would be his play. Actually, that would just make him a follower of 70% of the country but the point still stands.
McCain: I'm the decider.
-O
It used to be the Republican battle cry that liberals were bad, b/c people should be able to choose for themselves and shouldn't be restrained by burdensome regulations... I guess unless you are gay, want an abortion, or don't feel like fighting in the Iraq war.
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