| Subject: Finishing up |
Author:
Ben
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Date Posted: 10/ 4/04 7:14pm
In reply to:
Duane
's message, "Weird. It didn't post my whole post... Well, I'm going to finish up now." on 10/ 2/04 4:19am
>...continued...
>
>Actually, not continued. I think it's important to
>clear something up first.
>
>First, you argue that "the common man" doesn't
>understand international politics. Yet you then argue
>that Bush's plan is wrong and Kerry's is right.
>
>But I thought we couldn't understand the intricacies
>of international relations...
Well, this is very simple. It’s the same reason I trust Nobel scientists rather than creation scientists. I do not have the scientific background to truly understand the intricacies of the things under discussion, but I am smart enough to know which people and which process to trust. I understand the evolutionary theory on some level, but certainly not to the degree that an evolutionary biologist does. I am the “common man” when it comes to this, but that does not mean I can’t tell who is a better person to place my trust in. In the same sense, I feel confident based on what I have seen and read, and –I’ll admit it—especially what I saw when they were both in a live debate… that I am trusting a candidate who understands the complex world of politics more than Bush does.
>It seems like you're trying to argue that anyone who
>supports Bush's actions in Iraq only do so because
>they can't understand the intricacies of international
>relations, but that the supporters of Kerry have a
>sufficient understanding of international politics to
>assess that Bush is wrong and Kerry is right?
This is a misrepresentation of my point. My guess would be that many people support Bush because:
a) they are Republicans
b) they are Christians
Sure, there may be some who have really thought it through like you have, but I think many of them certainly do not support Bush because they understand international politics.
A Christian could make the same point with me… he could say, “Oh, I see… people only believe in creationism because they don’t understand science enough to see that the evolutionary theory is correct, but anyone who does support it must understand evolutionary biology.” Of course this isn’t correct. I’m sure many people support the evolutionary theory as blindly as creationists support creationism. They just happen to be right. In the same way, I’m sure many support Kerry who do so for the wrong reasons, but I still think they happen to be right.
And my real point is that the people who support Kerry (like me) aren’t necessarily doing so because they understand international politics… many (like me) support him because we feel confident that +he does+.
>You and I (and everyone, it seems) understands well
>enough to either choose to think that Bush's plan is
>better, or Kerry's plan is better.
It isn’t even their plan for me as much as it is who they are. I don’t trust Bush to run my country. After seeing Kerry talk, I feel I could trust him.
>Now, I've been saying that Kerry doesn't seem to "get"
>how international relations work. So I guess I've
>been guilty of it too. But my problem is that Kerry
>seems to say that we'll solve the problem by making
>friends and influencing people, and based on my
>understanding of the way that, not only individuals,
>but nations interact, that's an inferior plan than the
>one we're already executing.
Is it really? I think that’s a vast oversimplification of what Kerry intends to do. All candidates make broad, sweeping promises about things because, for one thing, most people don’t care to hear the details. And when you really break it down, they are trying to reach the most people so that they can get into office and actually implement whatever it is they have in mind. I feel confident that Kerry is intelligent enough not to get in office and implement the “make friends and influence people” plan for Iraq. This is just a simple way of telling us the things that he values, one of which is obviously international relationships. Maybe he could be Jimmy Carter with balls.
>How will he make it better? He hasn't said.
Well, Bush has shown me how he will make it worse, so I’m at least open to giving someone else a chance. And after seeing Kerry in action, I feel he truly can do a better job.
Ben
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