Funmurphys: the Blog

Decent, Honorable Men Can Disagree

Walt Harrington writes about the Bushes, father and son, he knows in a particuarly good op-ed in the Saint Louis Post Dispatch.

"What I've never mentioned is that I didn't vote for George W. I disagree with him on the Supreme Court, environment, abortion, the death penalty and affirmative action. So I voted against this good and decent man. It pained me to do it. As an anointed liberal columnist for The New York Times, Maureen Dowd is paid to have strong opinions, to argue that if George W. Bush opposes affirmative action it's because he's an insensitive wealthy white man, one of the last acceptable slurs in our society. Well, I support affirmative action but there are good arguments against it. I support a woman's right to choose but there are good arguments against it. I oppose the death penalty but there are good arguments for it. Even as President Bush seems to be moving the country inexorably toward war, I can't fall back on the easy explanations of his critics: He's trying to prop up his sagging popularity, or avenge his father's failure to oust Saddam, or save the world for Big Oil. I believe George W. Bush believes Iraq is a deadly threat to the U.S.

It baffles me that grown people must convince themselves that those with whom they disagree are stupid or malevolent. It's a poison that creates uncivil debate and self-righteous political correctness. Yet, truth is, I didn't always think so open-mindedly. I used to be quite a self-righteous twit in my youth. Coming to know the Presidents Bush and Bush changed me, helped me learn that no class — rich or poor —has cornered the market on decency or wisdom."

Some of us have outgrown the self-righteous twit stage, some of us seem to be perpetually stuck in it, and some of us waver back and forth.