Any thoughts on the 2012 Election?

The GOP bench is looking weaker by the day.

Thoughts on my lack of ideology.

I'm watching Meet the Press and enjoying some coffee but my mind isn't really with Newt or the round table commentators. I'm thinking about why I rarely win arguments anymore.

In high school I developed a bit of a big head. Participating on the school's debate team made me a skilled arguer. I knew more about important political and economic issues than most of my peers and I had practiced speaking and arguing so much that it became second nature. I know now that it was mostly rhetoric - I knew how to please judges, teachers, and peers and I used it to my advantage.

The big factor that's changed in my life is a lack of ideology. It is easy to have an opinion and to make an argument when any fact fits neatly into a box. Employment weak? Clearly, we need to cut taxes and let business thrive.

These days, I don't have much of an ideology; instead, I have a series of inclinations. These seem almost more emotional than logical. A good example is my opposition to intervention in Libya. I have every logical reason to support intervening on behalf of the populace rebelling against a clearly mad dicataor. Yet, after two mid-east wars, years of not intervening in conflicts in Africa, Iran, Myanmar, and elsewhere, and a general weakening of US military power, I couldn't bring myself to support the war. David rightly pointed out that choosing not to intervene in, say, Darfur, doesn't change the morality of intervening in Libya. Logic says, if we value the lives of Libyans, we should act to protect them. We've seen what happened since the US pulled support, a bloody stalemate with potentially more lives being lost.

I lost that argument and I couldn't even give a reason for my opposition beyond "I don't like it."

I've known about my ideological shortcomings for a few years. The economic crisis and growth of an un-serious, cynical, and intellectually bankrupt GOP destroyed my last bit of libertarianism and neoconservatism. I haven't replaced it yet - even if it means I keep losing arguments. I find myself unable to agree entirely with anything.

It wouldn't be so bad, but I'm having trouble making decisions. I'm finding myself paralyzed because I can think of reasons why I'm wrong that seem to have equal footing with the reasons I'm right.

Looking back at my March-April posts on education, I can see that I don't give much in the way of solutions. It's genuinely because I don't know what to do. There are times where teacher and school accountability are good. There are times where standardized tests are very useful. There are times when merit pay will encourage better performance. The current system just isn't doing it right - even if I don't know what right is.

I don't think I can keep thinking long and hard about important issues without reaching conclusions. I think it's driving me a little insane. I love this blog and the discussions I have via Google reader with Laura and David, but I don't think I can keep posting without finding a way to take concrete stances. I quoted an author a while back (I forget who) who said: I write to find out what I think. For some reason that methodology seems to be failing for me. I feel somewhat lost, uncentered, stuck.

The Reagan Revolution

As retold by Mike Huckabee's PR/Children's cartoon office:



source

Education in Finland