Some thoughts on recent campaign developments

Some observations and thoughts shared with me by my cousin Steve, which he posted today from his home in California:
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14 September 2008
evil

The cleric separately asked Obama and McCain: "Does evil exist?"

I thought what a stupid question! Then I thought if I were a candidate how would I respond.
I would have liked to have said:

"I think that most people have impulses both to do good things and to do bad things (evil). As a clergyman, you use moral teachings to help people distinguish between their good and their bad impulses. And teachings about lifestyles which increase the good impulses and reduce the bad. And teachings about faith for help in acting upon good impulses and in resisting acting upon the bad."

"I think similar principles apply in the political world: encourage good and discourage bad -- and seek to establish an environment which makes good easier and bad more unthinkable."


Palin's acceptance speech

I listened to Sarah Palin's speech in acceptance of the Vice Presidential nomination.

She is a very good speaker -- lots of energy, some clever turns of phrase. But something made me uncomfortable. Something wasn't right. It was with the boos in the crowd upon descriptions of the opposition that it became clear.

The tone and dynamic was exactly the same as a scene in the film Europa Europa ("Hitlerjunge Salomon" in Europe).

In that film, a Jewish boy (hiding his Jewish identity) inadvertently becomes a hero and is sent to an elite Hitler Youth school. A teacher in one class describes "the Jew" -- with the same tones as Palin in her speech, and gets the same boos in response.

When Palin asserted her beliefs, and her intolerance of other positions, she sounded just like the Fascists of two generations earlier. And the crowd responded similarly.

This is frightening.

appeal to what

Then it hit me. The major distinction between the Obama campaign and the McCain campaign.

McCain -- and Palin -- appeal to people's lower impulses: selfishness, greed, use of force to get one's way. Talk about tax in a way that encourages people to act in their own self-interest, talk about military power in a way that encourages people to vent their impulses to revenge.

While Obama appeals to people's better impulses: generosity, understanding, cooperation, sharing. And hope.

This is what the real choice in this election is.