Friday, January 07, 2005
Response to Sowell
WSJ.com - Think Rushmore: "Whatever the short-term solution to the problems created by the Senate Judiciary Committee, a longer-term solution must put a stop to the practice of publicly savaging nominees to the courts. Vote against them if you don't like them, but do not make this a snake pit that high-quality people, who have many other options, will avoid."
Unfortunately, I think we are already in a place where good people avoid public life. My Dad and I talk about it all of the time. Most really good people I know have a healthy collection of skeletons locked away. Only the most boring and childhood dreamers of political power seem to fair well in this environment. This is much due to a very powerful opposition by the religious right against those whose life stories do not match what is being preached. Many good people take part in lust, ply themselves with wine, and have even dabbled in drugs as youths, yet this so often, in various forms, disallows them from positions where they could likely do a great deal of good.
Unfortunately, I think we are already in a place where good people avoid public life. My Dad and I talk about it all of the time. Most really good people I know have a healthy collection of skeletons locked away. Only the most boring and childhood dreamers of political power seem to fair well in this environment. This is much due to a very powerful opposition by the religious right against those whose life stories do not match what is being preached. Many good people take part in lust, ply themselves with wine, and have even dabbled in drugs as youths, yet this so often, in various forms, disallows them from positions where they could likely do a great deal of good.
