Assuming this is true, who cares? I’m tired of Evangelicals. I’m tired of the way they close their eyes during Christian rock concerts, tired of their embroidered pillows with pithy heaven-y messages. But mostly I’m tired of politicians catering to and respecting (or pretending to) enthusiasts of magic and hocus-pocus.
The only reason we should tolerate evangelicals is if 1) they are actually progressive and 2) they got lots of dough. This whole Prop 8 situation certainly was a fundamentalist coup—just imagine if we had that kind of power on our side? Unfortunately that’s just more fairy tale hopefullery. It won’t happen.
When have evangelicals come out (with that frightening force and organization) for something positive? They only seem to come out against. The rule of thumb is that culture war issues are the only ones that will galvanize the crazy people. That’s why the clever Repubs constantly inflame them. You think environmental issues will jazz up armies of the righteously angry? Gross.
I can handle Evangelicals when they are angry and strange, hoisting Jesus to condemn minority groups—that's just standard stuff. But imagine if they wielded that same creepy smug God-love towards something positive? Cities would buckle under the sheer weight of their schmaltz.
-- Jonah H. Green
"We must patiently explain why taxing or regulating noble things (like work, saving, and entrepreneurial risk-taking) means you’ll get less of what makes America great and why subsidizing other things (like idleness and single parenthood) means you’ll get more of the destructive behaviors that ultimately will drag us down."
— An excerpt from a piece in the National Review by the vice president of government relations for the Heritage Foundation.
Huh. So should we flip it around? Tax single parenting and idleness? That doesn’t seem like it would yield much. If watching tv made me money, I’d be a wealthy man. And how does one tax idleness, anyway? Monetarily quantifying an intangible thing—how do I love thee? Let me count the ways in Euro, or Yen. Whichever currency has more festive, lovey-dovey colors.
We tax cigarettes, isn’t that a step in the right direction? If we legalized prostitution we could tax that, too. Ah, though I suppose that falls in the entrepreneurial side of things. And also, if we follow the logic of the quote above, taxation curbs behavior, and we don’t want to curb sex (not us liberals, that is!).
Perhaps we should tax moral platitudes—the US would make a fortune out of smarmy right-wing commentators making idiotic statements, par example:
Glen Beck: “Al Gore's not going to be rounding up Jews and exterminating them. It is the same tactic, however.” Snap!
Rush Limbaugh: "The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies." Sound of cash register opening.
-- Jonah H. Green
Last week a team of scientists successfully grafted a windpipe fabricated from a woman’s own stem cells. This is big news if you have diabetes.
For years researchers have made promising strides in treating diabetes, and those in the field are constantly extolling the virtues of their studies, promising a cure within our lifetime. But being told a cure is around the corner is no solace for someone who is living daily with the disease. Though because of the progress made recently and advances in stem cell research lurking around the corner, I think our fantasy $5 billion will really be used well in this field. Some mandates can wait, others cannot.
Obama says he’ll reverse a bunch of the dumb-shit Bush laws. Thank god. Bush's veto of expanding stem cell research based on religious convictions is costing lives. Treating this disease now and in early stages in a person’s life is a good preventative measure, both for the spleen and for the economy. After all, managing and fighting this disease is costing Americans over $200 billion annually.
If you live in New York, you’ll find couched next to ‘benefits of sleep’ stories in the paper too often an "everyone is getting diabetes" story. In New York, one in eight adults have the disease and the rate of new cases is increasing. These are staggering numbers. If we threw some cash at this problem and lifted the ban on embryonic stem cell research, we could actually make a difference.
Huh. Now that I’ve spent my fantasy money, I feel sort of... sad. I miss it, I suppose. I feel like I want to throw it at a million other issues, but there are rules to this fantasy. No hard feelings, sustainable energy.
-- Jonah H. Green
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