It's My Party and I'll Wear My Heels if I Want To

First of all, I would like to begin this blob post by sending virtual smooches to all of Moi’s liberal and conservative homies for playing nice AND for so thoroughly articulating your beliefs. While I may disagree with many of them, I sure do respect the heck out of all y'all for at least having them. It takes a certain class of human being to give serious thought to the proper nature of government and I’ll give props to anyone who puts in the time to formulate a set of ideals and back them up.

But, being who I am, I oh so do want to have the last word. Because, if I'm reading our parties correctly, it seems to me that they have BOTH got it wrong.

The Democratic party as it currently exists seems to me to operate from the idea that human beings are nothing more than hapless victims for whom life is terribly, terribly hard and unfair. Thus, say the Democrats, it is the proper role of government to take by force the property of those who thrive and reapportion it to those who have not earned it. In the process we are all robbed of our dignity, purpose, and self respect.

The Republican party as it currently exists seems to me to operate from the idea that human beings are nothing more than criminals for whom life is one big cesspool of temptation. The proper role of government therefore is to propagate feelings of shame and fear in order to make us behave. In the process, we are all robbed of joy, courage, and the justifiable moral outrage needed to fight the real evils of this world.

I subscribe to neither view. As a friend of mine said to me recently, “We need a new box.” Well, yes.

And, also, no.

It’s like my chocolate cake. For years, not content with what had proven to be a perfectly delicious recipe, I spent a tremendous amount of energy searching for something even better. But in the end, I realized, I couldn’t get much better than the recipe on the back of the Hershey’s Cocoa box. It is moist without being fudgey, with a well-defined grain that holds up to just about every frosting/butter cream/coating you can throw at it. You can sheet it, layer it, cupcake it, or Bundt it. You can dress it up or down. But it essentially remains one of the best, most serviceable chocolate cake recipes around.

Our government is like that. We don’t need a new cake recipe. We need to dust off and polish the one we already have. Sorry, those are some really weirdly mixed metaphors, but I think you get my point.

Certainly, there are many people in this country who DO desire a new government, one based on either or both of the philosophies I outlined above. Have at it, I say. They won’t be the first people in history eager to wield power and control. And they certainly have many fine examples of tyranny throughout the ages from which to draw.

But they need to do it outside of Moi’s sandbox.

So, that's my last word. You can leave yours here in the comment box, but continue to play nice, por favor.

Tomorrow, inspired by the assistance I was able to give my lovely amiga Da Pirate regarding a Frye Boot fashion dilemma, I will be back with a SHOE POST. Yes, Czar, I do wear the stuff in the house . . .