It's an erection year

[digitaldiscipline]

I'm going to put this out there and irritate the right-leaning folks who still bother to come around, because I've had two iterations of the same argument already today, and it's struck me how insidious this particular rhetorical fillip has gotten.

1. I say something critical about the GOP in general, or a Republican politician in particular, on the subject of their penchant for lying.
2. Someone who disagrees (rightly!) points out that all politicians lie, and that Democrats aren't lily-white bastions of moral purity.
3. We mutually condemn politicians for, more or less universally, being assholes.

However, somewhere in item 2, the moral equivalency argument gets made, and it is with that where my hackles have raised.

It's not news that Dems lie, however, neither is it news that they lie with neither the frequency, intensity, or bald impunity that Republicans do.

It's the difference between jaywalking and mugging. Sure, both are against the law, but one's a hell of a lot more egregious and harmful to other people.

---

I'm sure part of my short fuse today is because my town is infested with the creme de la creme of the GOP for yet another debate tonight. NO, you won't see me on the news afterward, sheesh.

Comments

[sskipstress.livejournal.com]

Is it my imagination or are there more debates this year than ever before?

[etcet.livejournal.com]

They're certainly getting a lot of attention.

"Bread and circuses" is probably no small measure of why.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

someone put something in the water i think...

i was having a reasonable polite discussion about govt spending and waste and taxes and suggested "hey, how about lowering the taxes and making the govt more accountable for waste? you know, as in: you can't spend more than you have, print it, and stop bailing out GM ???"

and got THE EVIL HAIRY EYE...

"how dare i suggest we stop funding schools, police, fire, roads"

uhm, what?

yeah, the water.

#

[etcet.livejournal.com]

That's exactly the thing - especially the rabid anti-gov faction - forgets that the purpose of government is not to be in the business of making money, it's role is to do the things that private enterprise cannot or will not do, or will completely fuck up.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

the gamut seems to run:

"lower taxes" -- "frak you!"

"okay, fine, let's raise them" -- "frak you"

"fine, let's do nothing" -- "frak you"

"mmm kay, what do you suggest then?" -- "frak off"

#

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I have lost a lot of patience for people who complain without offering suggestions.