The Role of Government

 

This begs a second question, since when is young boys taking a picture of a rape of a 15-year-old girl and then distributing it considered an issue for the community to handle?

 

Call me naive, but isn't the role of a democratically elected government to represent the voice of the community - and ensure every voice gets reflected in decision making?  Through justice services, aren't governments supposed to put a floor on acceptable behaviour and provide mechanisms for restoration, reconciliation and rehabilitation?

 

We have a consumer-based culture that's all about individual rights, individual access, etc - but we've left out the social accountability piece.

 

We need the social accountability piece.

 

Ayn Rand was wrong, folks - society is a system of which we're all a part.  When we work against each other, constantly, ignoring things we don't think matter, problems arise that impact all parts of the whole, like an illness.  The role of government is to serve as brain, responding to the needs of the parts and coordinating operation against them. 

 

Oh - and when the elected mechanism of government fails to do its job, others step up to fill that space that aren't accountable to the public.  That's how revolutions happen.

 

It's time the institutions we're meant to rely on step up to the plate.

 

 

Is Aikin the straw that will break the GOP's back?

"Well, you know, since, as you’ve said, we’ve had some time for this to be giving some very serious thought to that, my sense is that I’m kind of back where we started in the primary and over the last day or two I’ve had good friends — they are as close as brothers, Sean — and as I’ve talked to them I realized there are many other brave hearts who don’t quite fit into the political parties and where the parties are right now."

The rift has been there for some time - the political right is a hodge-podge of free marketers, social conservatives and libertarians who are primarily united by their contempt/fear of the other guys.  It's more surprising than not, really, that the GOP hasn't fragmented significantly before now.

Aikin might not be the spark for the carving off of a third Party.  But it's not impossible.

Todd Akin, Please Read This

It's very easy to pontificate on issues that will never impact you directly.  When your words carry weight, however, you don't get the privilege of speaking from willful ignorance or half-understood truths.

If you want to represent people, you must speak for all of them.

Dear Todd Akin,

I am writing to you tonight about rape. It is 2 AM and I am unable to sleep here in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I am in Bukavu at the City of Joy to serve and support and work with hundreds, thousands of women who have been raped and violated and tortured from this ceaseless war for minerals fought on their bodies.