LocalCommentary.com
David Rodeback's Blog

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

My Favorite Democrat

That Ornery American makes a lot of sense on immigration and other topics.

Every so often, someone who ought to know better accuses me, against all evidence, of liking or disliking people solely on the basis of political party affiliation -- liking Republicans and disliking Democrats, that is. Never mind the many people I like and some I dislike without even knowing their party affiliation or any of their political views. Never mind that I admire Democrats Joseph Lieberman and Zell Miller for having spines and for putting national security above crass power-grabbing and fashionable personal hatred of a Republican president. Never mind that I dislike Republican John McCain for being a camera-hungry showhorse with soft principles and little regard for the First Amendment. Never mind that I spoke favorably of Democrat Jenny Wilson in the recent Salt Lake City mayoral primary, because she was the candidate who seemed to have the firmest grip on reality and therefore seemed most likely to temper ideology with common sense. Never mind my ongoing impatience with some Utah (and other) Republicans who cannot tell the difference between their religious beliefs and their political principles, and who think that anyone who disagrees with them in either realm is evil.

Uh, oops. Now I've done it. I've written favorably about some Democrats and unfavorably about some Republicans (not for the first time, to be sure). Thus I have tarnished my credibility, perhaps forever, with some conservatives and Republicans, for whom party affiliation is an easy shortcut to judging good and evil, friend and foe, truth and falsehood.

(How will I sleep tonight?)

And it's about to get worse. I'm about to suggest that you read some excellent writings by my very own favorite Democrat.

My favorite Democrat -- at least among those who are more or less prominent -- is a gentleman named Orson Scott Card (hereinafter OSC). He made his name as a writer, mostly of science fiction and fantasy, and in that world there is none better. But he is also a very interested, very thoughtful, very articulate observer of local and national politics. ("Local" for him means a certain piece of North Carolina, but some of the issues are universal.) You can find him at The Ornery American, a web site to which I have linked for years here at the blog, where he writes a more-or-less weekly column called World Watch.

Here are some superb, thoughtful, relatively recent OSC essays on significant issues. Some are long, and none is especially short. I suggest you start with the first. In that one, be ready for a "fuzzy-headed liberal" who really isn't fuzzy-headed, and for a look down one popular dogmatic road to the ugly place where certain arguments lead. There's a delightful kicker at the end, too.

• Immigration: "Ethnic Cleansing or 'Amnesty'?"
• What makes an admirable president?: "A Stand-Up President"
• What's wrong with (OSC's own) Democratic Party: "Who's Brave and Who's a Hypocrite?"
• How are things on the ground in Iraq?: "Word from a Soldier in Iraq"
• Islamamok: "Civilized Religion"
• Global Warming and Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize: "Al Gore Wins Peace Prize"

There's more where these came from. Enjoy.

Meanwhile, how will I sleep tonight? Just fine. Thanks for asking.

Copyright 2007 by David Rodeback.
All rights reserved.
Permission is given to publish this article elsewhere on the Web or via e-mail only under these conditions: The article is published intact and unchanged, and is properly credited to the author; and a visible link is included to the article's page at LocalCommentary.com.