I have a best friend from childhood that I respect and love—and sometimes, she votes Republican. GASP! It’s true.
Look…I am a Democrat in full force. But I am middle aged and I am moderate. So I can listen to the other side. I understand.
My point? I love personal responsibility. I am SO INTO personal responsibility. And I can even forgive the Republicans for their black and white thinking because I agree with self discipline and hard work. Shit, I even think in black and white terms sometimes: “She’s bad, She’s good. Clams, yes. Scallops, no.”
So, I get the whole specific TAKING A LOOK at the individual and putting it all on the individual’s shoulder thing and being really sharp and clear.
But friends---I think a little collective caring is so COOL AND JOYFUL. Just do it. It rises above all that. It takes the edge off. It makes life better.
It simply does.
Peace and Love and prosperity,
Don
3 comments:
But I find it isn't really about personal responsibility... it's about "I got mine, you go get yours" -- even if I got mine from generations of privilege or unscrupulous business practices.
I've known too many people who were bright and eager as children -- but they grew up in poverty, with no family life to speak of and ended up drug addicts, pregnant at 15, incarcerated or dead.
I told one Republican friend about this, and he said, "Well, I did well in school and got a job. Why can't they? We all have the same opportunities."
My friend grew up in Scarsdale.
Republicans argue that it isn't possible to level the playing field, so why bother wasting their precious money?
But as the Harlem Children Zone's Baby College has proven, this isn't the case. http://www.hcz.org/programs/the-hcz-project
We don't all have to be Jeffrey Canada to make a difference ... but when we extend our sense of personal responsibility to include others, we just may find that helping them helps us after all.
Thanks Tandava
Loved the Link, too!
Hey Don... Thought you might find this amusing:
http://tandavadance.blogspot.com/2009/09/great-healthcare-debate-facebook-style.html
Cheers! :-D
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