Monday, June 28, 2004

Monday Quizery

Partisan Politics

Christian Science Monitor has a brief quiz up.  Kinda fun.  Turns out I’m a “realist”, which I believe I copped to when I took polisci 110.  So I seem to be internally consistent.  So Monday wasn’t a total loss- I accomplished something.

Other, more detailed quizery here.  My score: Economic left/right: -1.75 (or slightly left of center)
Social libertarian/authoritarian: 1.13 (or a hair above center)

So I’m a touch authoritarian (shocking, I know) and a hair left on my economic ideas, but basically centrist on both axes.  Or roughly midway between Gerhard Schroeder and the current Pope.


Posted by on 06/28/04 at 05:59 PM
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Fahrenheit 9/11

Partisan Politics

Just a quick note: Saw it last night and wasn’t really all that impressed.  There just really wasn’t much information there.  There are a few nuggets—like the fact that out of 534 Members of Congress, exactly one has a child who is enlisted.  Bush’s seven perplexed minutes after being told about the World Trade Center are telling.  But beyond that, there just really isn’t a whole lot there.  It’s funny in a few places, and worth seeing for that.  But it’s just too...simple. 

I don’t think conservatives should get too upset about the film; it isn’t really all that serious.  For the same reason, I don’t think dems should raise it up to be something that it is not.

I make all the serious arguments right here.  Hah!  wink You don’t need Michael Moore.


Posted by Ross on 06/28/04 at 04:48 PM
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Faith in Supreme Court Mostly Restored

War

Thank God.  SCOTUSBlog has details, but the gist is that the Supreme Court has decided that the Executive Branch may not arbitrarily imprison citizens without trial or recourse.  It sounds like a no-brainer, and in my opinion it is.  What the hell were they thinking?

Under the government’s theory, George Bush could declare John Kerry to be an enemy combatant and imprison him, without recourse or trial.  Would they do that?  Of course not.  But they would have the right.  I can’t think of anything more anti-democratic, or anti-freedom.  It is inexplicable to me that they would even have attempted to assert this power.

The most powerful voice on the opinion is that of Scalia, who thinks that the majority didn’t go far enough in slapping down the government.  His dissent goes right to the first principles of democracy, and is required reading.


Posted by Ross on 06/28/04 at 04:19 PM
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