Pax on both houses: Eric Holder: "Self-Contradiction Is Commonly The Price Of Progress"

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Eric Holder: "Self-Contradiction Is Commonly The Price Of Progress"

"Bomb 'em back to The Stone Age!"
(The only reason neo-paleolithic bombing is not working in The Middle East is because Uncle Sam is too wimpy to drop The Big One.)

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Alan: Taxonomized philosophically, Americans are "Utilitarians." As such, we are committed to "common sense" under whose banner we ignore paradox, irony and "uncommon sense," considering them weeds in the "garden of simplicity." Often - and routinely in times of crisis - common sense (and its its goose-stepping companion, "consistency") project simple-minded opinions (typically formed in youth) in order to avoid confounding complexities that require energetic, "out of the box" thinking and learning if, indeed, we value progress over regression.

"The Case for Liberalism: A Defense of The Future Against The Past"

George McGovernhttp://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/01/george-mcgovern-case-for-liberalism.html

Examples of ill-advised common sense include thoughtless belligerence such as the Vietnam and Iraq wars; the presumed advisability of slavery; ever lower taxes; pay-to-play capitalism; "this winter's blizzard disproves global warming"; the twin "values" of vengeance and vindictiveness; capital punishment, solitary confinement; depriving insane people of state-sponsored asylum-hospitals; and economic austerity in circumstances calling for Keynesian investment.

Holder and the next protest movement. "Self-contradiction is commonly the price of achieving progress — Holder is not unique in this regard — yet the ultimate implications are troubling. If history is any indicator, the line between national security and suppression of dissent grows hazy in times of conflict. The final irony here is that Holder’s unimpeachable accomplishment has been to safeguard the legacy of one protest movement while upholding policies that will make it that much more difficult for a movement like it to take root in the future." Jelani Cobb in The New Yorker.