Some Chicago Boyz know each other from student days at the University of Chicago. Others are Chicago boys in spirit. The blog name is also intended as a good-humored gesture of admiration for distinguished Chicago School economists and fellow travelers.
I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities.
Obama (apparently from a very early stage in his career) has left little paper trail. Decision making means taking risks – of criticism, of results. I don’t see risk-taking but the kind of assurance that comes from not having to live with consequences.
The Assistant Village Idiot observes that Democratic politicians tend to say “I’ll fight for you,” whereas Republican politicians tend to say “I’ll work for you.” His explanation:
Republicans run for office telling you they’re going to work for you, because that’s how they perceive progress happening: someone works for it. Democrats run telling you they’re going to fight for you, because they believe that’s how improvement comes: someone has to wrest good stuff away from others.
I think it’s generally true that Republicans have tended to say “work” and Democrats have tended to say “fight”, although I did notice that McCain used the F-word several times during his announcement of Gov Pailin’s candidacy.
Neptunus Lex had some related thoughts:
The innate character flaw of the political right, with its thrumming appeals to the logic of blood and soil, is its lamentable tendency to go in search of enemies abroad. The left, on the other hand, with its own appeals to the politics of envy and class warfare, is content to find mortal enemies closer to hand.
To me, it seems pretty clear that today’s Democrats view society basically as a neo-Hobbesian war of group against group…hence, their preference for the “fight” formulation–with the fighting, of course, to be done against fellow Americans–is a natural one.
An amusing little bit of religious ignorance from Huffington Post:
“Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God,” she exhorted the congregants. “That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan.”
In other words: “Pray that we’re doing the right thing.” Wow, I can really see how that is controversial. Clearly, Palin comes from a nest of religious fanatics.
Thanks, Shannon for your blogging, which has provided a smorgasbord.
In the comments to his “Identity-Politics Insanity” post, Helen’s observation reminds us of a truth about American politics but more importantly about human nature. For instance, a balanced ticket is attractive, because we assume more ideas are in play and more people feel an identity with their leaders. On the other hand, Shannon is right: identity politics encourages a tribalism whose restraint has been the great triumph of western civilization and a prerequisite for a diverse nation ruled by predictable, equitable laws. We rightly fear identities that trump law & duty, but we also fear ideologies which encourage children to betray their parents and wives their husbands. We ignore such passions natural to our species at our own peril: unacknowledged they threaten chaos; diminished, we lack a glue that holds communities and even identities together.
Megan McArdle [h/t Instapundit] writes:
There’s a lot of optimism on both the center-left and the right that all we really need to do to tackle the problem of global warming/peak oil is throw a hell of a lot of money at the problem, and presto!…Yes, we found petroleum to replace whale oil. This does not therefore mean, as night follows day, that we will find something to replace petroleum. We will find something to replace petroleum if there is something that can replace petroleum. There might not be.
Well, actually, there is always a new source of energy to replace any old energy source. It just might not be the energy source we fantasize about.