Three Questions

For all the noise they make extolling small town America and Main Street as the epitome of American values and the touchstone of morality, conservatism's world view is much closer to that voiced by Phil Gramm, who once called Wall Street a "holy place" — because of all it has "done for the working people of America." Little more than two years after Gramm uttered those words it seems righteousness of a deregulated financial sector comes not what it has allegedly done "for" working Americans, but what it has done to them.

That is, if you're a conservative — because, then, we are not in the middle of a crisis, but rather a correction.

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Read the rest of the series here.

In the previous post in this series, I wrote:

To progressives, it seems a given that of course we must do something to alleviate the suffering that the financial collapse and economic downturn have the inflicted on millions of Americans. That's the moral response to human suffering: Do something about it. Most of our complaints about the current state of our politics is that too little has been done in this regard.

Yet, the moral response to suffering and the circumstances — whether a crisis or unfortunate circumstance — depends on your point of view.

"Do something" and "Do nothing," are statements that both reflect and answer the question, "Should we?."

Both raise questions that demand justification: "Why?" and "Why not?"

Recent headlines underscore the difference between doing something and doing nothing, and why progressive and conservative answers the second question — "Should we" — are so starkly different.

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Last week, I wrote this:

The fundamental differences between the left and the right — between conservatives and progressives — comes down to how we answer three simple questions: "Can we?," "Should we?" and  "What do we mean, 'We'?"

Apply them to any challenge we face as a country — Can we make health care available to all? Can we reign in Wall Street? Can we build an economy that works for the other 99% of us? Can we keep teachers, police officers, and fire fighters working in our communities? Can we reduce our contribution to climate change? — and our answers reveal who we are and where we're headed.

This week, an exchange between two political leaders illustrates that point, and then some.

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The fundamental differences between the left and the right — between conservatives and progressives — comes down to how we answer three simple questions: "Can we?," "Should we?" and  "What do we mean, 'We'?"

Apply them to any challenge we face as a country — Can we make health care available to all? Can we reign in Wall Street? Can we build an economy that works for the other 99% of us? Can we keep teachers, police officers, and fire fighters working in our communities? Can we reduce our contribution to climate change? — and our answers reveal who we are and where we're headed.

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