Do you still believe in government? 

According to David Brooks, as reported on Bill Moyers April 22 telecast, most Americans don't.  Only 10% of people trust the government.

But if we are a government OF, BY and FOR the people, we don't trust ourselves. Right?

Conservatives are consistent in trying to downsize (eliminate?) government, forgetting that the infrastructure of our nation, the roads, bridges, and regulations have made it possible for business and individuals to grow as they have.

Liberals, according to Eric Alterman, author of THE CAUSE, have taken their eye off the ball, fighting among themselves and playing defense.  Because they see problems as complex, they donn't always agree on what should be done.

Liberalism is belief in reason, acting rationally in the interests of fairness, according to Alterman.

Today's episode of Moyers and Company (May 6, 2012) featured Luis Albert Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway.  He had some interesting stories to tell as a child of a Mexican father and a Virginian mother, who was born in Mexico and lived in the U. S. from the time he was in fifth grade.  He said:

In America, we forget we need to love each other.

There is no them.

There is only us.

Urrea, who spent some time with a mission group in Tucson, asks Christians to look through their Bibles and find scripture that tells us to punish and humiliate and hurt the poor among us. Find very many of those?

I believe governemnt is important, and we need to work and vote to be sure it is serving all of us. What do you think?  I welcome your comments.

Moral Psychology

I do not expect to blog every day, but a discussion at lunch today led me to post this comment about  Jonathon Haidt , the social psychologist who spoke with Bill Moyers on Sunday.

Haidt noted that in deciding whether something (an act or an idea) is right or wrong, there are many dimensions one might consider.  He listed:

• care/harm done
• fairness/reciprocity
• loyalty/ingroup
• authority/respect
• purity/sanctity

Studies have shown that conservatives tend to give equal weight to all these dimensions.  Liberals, on the other hand, tend to give most of the weight to care/harm done and fairness/reciprocity.

If we are able to understand that "the other side" is coming from a different point-of-view, maybe we can quit thinking of them as EVIL and try to listen to what they are trying to say.

Let us all be honest and kind.  We deserve it and so do our opponents.

Second post

So here is a public diary, set up for all the world to see.

What do I want to accomplish here? Share ideas about language and about civil discourse, about how we might improve both of these.

Watching Moyers and Company yesterday with Jonathon Haidt as the guest.  I was fascinated by Haidt's comments about "The Righteous Mind" and his plea that political discussion be more civil.  If we could agree that someone who disagrees with us is NOT a demon out to destroy us, but someone whose culture and belief system lead them to think differently from us.  We can learn from each other.

I expect I will have more to say about this in future posts.  Check out Bill Moyers at http://www.billmoyers.com/ and look for his conversation with Jonathon Haidt.

Instead of "drafting our press release" let us try to listen to one another.  I welcome your comments.