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The principles that rule this blog

Principles that will govern my thoughts as I express them here (from my opening statement):


  • Freedom of the individual should be as total as possible, limited only by the fact that nobody should be free to cause physical injury to another, or to deprive another person of his freedoms.
  • Government is necessary primarily to provide those services that private enterprise won't, or won't at a price that people can afford.
  • No person has a right to have his own beliefs on religious, moral, political, or other controversial issues imposed on others who do not share those beliefs.

I believe that Abraham Lincoln expressed it very well:

“The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do, at all, or cannot
so well do, for themselves — in their separate, individual capacities.”


Comments will be invited, and I will attempt to reply to any comments that are offered in a serious and non-abusive manner. However, I will not tolerate abusive or profane language (my reasoning is that this is my blog, and so I can control it; I wouldn't interfere with your using such language on your own!)

If anyone finds an opinion that I express to be contrary to my principles, they are welcome to point this out. I hope that I can make a rational case for my comments. Because, in fact, one label I'll happily accept is rationalist.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Obama is for principle -- except when it hurts his cause!

I hope that the people who have been thinking that Barack Obama is any more principled than the average politician have really studied his record in this campaign. He felt that he could not disavow Jeremiah Wright — until he realized that unless he did so, he'd lose a lot of votes who were turned away by Wright's bigotry. He embraced public financing — until he realized that he was bringing in more cash privately than he could publically. Similarly, he favored denial of immunity to ISPs in those surveillance cases — until he realized that there was political risk in doing so, and abandoned his position when it actually came to a Senate vote. So much for principle!
Posted by Opinionator at 10:11 AM Labels: , , ,

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