The Flag of the World

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When David Kelter started his internship at Seattle’s Grace Baptist Church, he thought it would be a fairly useful experience, if not very exciting. He would get the credits he needs to finish up his senior year at Seattle Pacific University, he’d have a chance to gauge his interest in pastoral ministry, and maybe—just maybe—he’d meet some girls.

But when David stumbles upon the body of a troubled parishoner after the service one Sunday, things change. Now he finds that his internship duties include things like catching a killer, saving the church–and staying alive.

Learn more at the book’s website www.gracebaptistseattle.com.

I’ve been keeping track of this story about Dartmouth’s sadly beleaguered Priya Venkatesan because it reminds me so strongly of some of the professors I encountered at the University of Washington.

One class, in particular, taught by a Swiss-Sri Lankan doctoral student to us lowly M.Ed candidates, featured reams of articles designed to teach us that a) We were responsible for most of the world’s ills, and B) Our views about truth, ourselves, and other people were wrong. Everything in the course was relative, except for the idea that we privileged whites were mad, bad, and dangerous to know.

Eventually, I escaped the class (with an A, make whatever you want of that), and moved on. But every time I think of it, I am reminded of a quote from the estimable Pushing Dasies “The truth ain’t like puppies, a bunch of them running around, you pick your favorite.”

This view of mine that truth is truth caused a lot of trouble at UW, both with professors and my fellow students. I’m glad the Dartmouth students did what they did to Venkatesan, and that it’s getting some press. Postmodernism is particularly dangerous in the Academy, because it makes the very idea of education meaningless. If there’s no truth, why teach anyone anything at all?

Today’s speech by Rev. Jeremiah Wright is a perfect example the kind of benevolent, back-handed bigotry I fought against all through my M.Ed. program at the University of Washington.

In the speech, Wright claimed that white kids and black kids are wired so differently that they can’t be taught in the same ways. White kids are left-brained (which is why there are no white musicians or artists) and black kids are right-brained (which is why there are no black doctors or lawyers), and so they have to be taught using different methods. This notion was expounded in class after class at the UW, and seems to have been bought wholesale by Dr. Wright and the Left.

How can a person (or a nation) venerate Brown v. Board, when, in the same breath, he asks for Plessy v. Ferguson?

My professors at the UW were incensed when I pointed out the opportunity-sucking racism of this proposition. Incensed at me. My classmates were actively hostile–and these weren’t undergrads–they were graduate students, nearly all of us professional educators with some years’ experience in the classroom. One middle-aged white woman made a sobbing speech in support of segregation. Segregation! I never heard such paternalistic nonsense as came out of the mouths of these teachers at the University of Washington.

Well, here in Brazil, I teach classes of students that are positively motley compared to American classrooms. If Dr. Wright’s proposition is true, my classes should never succeed, because I teach them all, no matter what color or blend, the same way.

Another common conceit of liberal educators is that I shouldn’t be able to teach non-white children anything at all, because I have no grounds on which to relate to them. This article was assigned in three separate classes at the UW, which explains just how blind I am. It’s a favorite among white educators–I suggest you read it if you haven’t yet been forced to.

Both of these claims–that black and white children must be taught differently, that white teachers can’t relate–come from the same poisoned root. It is the Marxist idea that people in America function as groups (racial, economic, etc.), and not as individuals. It is the controversion of Jefferson’s claim of individual rights and freedoms as the basis for good government. It is the same root that fosters Barack Obama’s claims that poor Pennsylvanians cling (in herds) to God and guns.

Now, Chester Finn says that all this doesn’t matter–that these ideas are popular among educators, but psychologists deny them. That may be true, but it is immaterial. Psychologists aren’t in classrooms, shaping the next generation of politicians, doctors, and artists. Teachers are.

I’ve been meaning to write a post detailing how the 2008 primary has essentially proved my (admittedly not particularly controversial) thesis from 2004 that the Democratic Party is basically broken down into three groups–the Progressives, the Moderates and the Opportunists.

Not everything I wrote 4 years was entirely accurate. For example, I predicted we’d see the three-way split start to damage the party “in the next year or so”. I forgot that the GOP is the stupid party, not the Democrats. Thanks largely to the “management strategy”, the three wings managed a truce, and had significant success (electorally, not policy-wise)

They did this not by attacking Republican policies, but by attacking Republican competence. Partly, this is because the policies themselves are actually fairly popular (minus the war). Partly, this is because there’s now way the Democrats can make policy their centerpoint, because the three wings won’t agree on it (hence the spectacular failure of the current Dem majority). And partly, alas, this is because the GOP has had some pretty incompetent moments.

But here we are in 2008, and the Democrat War is in full swing, in the form of the presidential primary between Obama, backed, in general, by the Progressives, and Hillary, backed generally by the Moderates. And the really good news is that I don’t have to write about it, because Jim Geraghty pretty much already did.

A few other notes about the split, though:

• The chief Moderate from 2004, Joe Lieberman, after winning his own skirmish in the Democrat Wars against the Progressives & Ned Lamont, has thoroughly jumped ship and is campaigning for John McCain. Regardless of who wins the Dem primary, there will be many more like him.
• Though Clinton’s only hope in the primary is her newfound base of Moderates, she is certainly not one of them. She’s the Queen of the Opportunists, and is doing what Opportunists do–grabbing support where she can. Remember when her big contrast with Obama was that her health care plan was more socialist than his? Yeah, she doesn’t really seem to mention that much anymore.
• Speaking of Opportunists, back in 2004 I called John Edwards their best example from that cycle, and I’ll be darned if I wasn’t spot on. How much of an Opportunist is he? The man still hasn’t made an endorsement for president.
• Back in 2004, I noted that “Barak” Obama (man, that was a long time ago) had the “potential to succeed in any of the three camps”. And he did, to an extent. But the fact is, he’s a dyed-in-the-wool Progressive, and there’s nothing he can do about it. Heaven knows he tried. He positioned himself early on as the one who could transcend, not just his party’s divisions, but the nation’s. But culturally, he’s as Progressive as they come. He can ignore & cover up his voting record, but he can’t disown his nature, any more than he could disown Jeremiah Wright. And thus he quickly rallied the Progressives to his cause. As John Judis writes in The New Republic:
  

  Whereas in the first primaries and caucuses, Obama benefited from being seen as middle-of-the-road or even conservative, he is now receiving his strongest support from voters who see themselves as “very liberal.” … There is nothing wrong with winning over voters who are very liberal and who never attend religious services [Riiight-ed]; but if they begin to become Obama’s most fervent base of support, he will have trouble (to say the least) in November.

Where will all this feuding leave the Democrats in November? Aside from grumbling about President Elect McCain, I mean? Hard to say. Largely, that will depend on how well they do in stitching the gaping wound this primary is going to leave in their party.

The important thing to remember is that the Progressive/Moderate clash in this primary has been almost entirely cultural. There are a whole host of actual policy disputes within the party that still haven’t come to the surface. Should we ever see a bitter fight between Democrats that is both cultural and policy-based… well, let’s just say Lieberman may get a lot less lonely.

So Clinton is busy whooping up on Obama tonight in Pennsylvania. It looks like she’s going to have a victory of somewhere between 8 & 10 points–just big enough to keep this circus going.

And really, I can see her point. Obama likes to point out that he’s won more delegates, states and votes than Hillary, which is totally true. Buuuuttt… that’s not how we vote come November. We’ve got this thing called the Electoral College, and if you look at Hillary & Obama’s victories through that lens, Hillary is far and away the victor.

Even assuming Obama wins all the rest of the states except for West Virginia & Kentucky (Clinton may well do better than that, but we’ll go with it), Clinton comes out with a 297 to 241 victory, almost exactly the victory of Carter over Ford, for historical perspective. That margin shrinks significantly if you take out Florida & Michigan, but it doesn’t disappear.

Though that doesn’t really give us a good picture, because a lot of these states are ones that the Democrats shouldn’t have to work for, or won’t win regardless. Taking out all of these solidly red or solidly blue states, Obama ends up with only half of these “purplish” states–which I’m defining as CO, FL, IA, MN, MI, NH, NM, OH, NV, PA & VA. You can certainly quibble on some of these, but the fact is that Hillary has done much better in the states Democrats need to win in November.

And if you consider the fact that Massachusetts suddenly becomes a purple state if Obama is the nominee, well… Let me just say that if I were a Democrat who actually wanted a shot to win this fall, I know what I’d be begging all my superdelegate friends to do.

As an aside, this little exercise has brought home to me just how spectacularly stupid it was of the Democrats to block the delegates of Florida & Michigan. Between the two of them, those states have 44 electoral votes, more than any single state except for California. They’re also states that could go either way in November. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

One year and three months ago, I finished up what really was a wonderful time serving as Mike McGavick’s New Media Director in spectacularly disappointing fashion. In the days and weeks that followed, I was inordinately frustrated with the terrible analyis of the nationwide 2006 debacle, but too drained by the whole experience to craft any response. I took a break from blogging and politics in general.

Then I got a great opportunity to go overseas, which extended this break longer than I had anticipated. (Finally getting overseas took more time than I had expected, too, but that’s another story.) But now I’m rested, refreshed, and ready to enter the fray once more, to some extent (even if I am in Rio de Janeiro).

But I must say, I feel terrible. By not writing, I removed one of the very few pro-McCain voices from the Puget Sound blogosphere. And now here we are–it’s a day before the Washington caucus, and McCain is the presumptive nominee (as I’ve been fully expecting even when his campaign was pronounced dead), and no one seems to have been ready for it. This is a sad example of when people who don’t read blogs are much more prepared for reality than those who do.

We’ve seen it happen on the Democrat side often enough, and here it’s happened on the Republican side as well. Sound Politics, Hugh Hewitt, NRO and countless others were happily preaching to the choir, while the congregation up and elected their pastor without them. It’s called cocooning, and I blame myself entirely for absenting myself from the conversation. Sorry about that.

But here we are, as I said, the day before the caucus. And a lot of you are going to go out and refuse to vote for McCain. Either because you’ve been listening too closely to Don’s adorable assertion that Huckabee has a chance, or because you just can’t stand the guy, or because you’ve somehow convinced yourself he’s a liberal, you’re going to try to make sure McCain loses the first contest since his coronation.

You could do it, too. I know the people who go to caucuses–I’m one of them, and so are many dear friends. And so I know that the majority of them really, really don’t like McCain. And McCain doesn’t do well in caucuses in general–if he wins tomorrow, it will be his first such victory. Between evangelical Christians (note: I am one), local party activists (note: I am one) and talk radio listeners (note: I occasionally am one, but not while I’m in Brazil), Huckabee could very easily take the caucus. And a lot of you reading this plan to make that happen.

But I’m here to ask–please don’t. And, going along with my pastoral metaphor three paragraphs previous, I’ve got a three-point sermon as to why (eat your heart out, Rev. Huckabee).

Point one–A McCain loss will waste resources

Losing Washington’s caucuses will do nothing to change the basic math behind McCain’s impending victory. What it will do, though, is force him to spend a bit more money to wrap things up. It will also send more money into Huckabee’s coffers. Every dollar McCain spends or Huckabee raises in response to a McCan loss tomorrow is money that should be spent in defeating Hillary or Obama this fall. The same is true for the time and effort of the staff and volunteers in both campaigns, as well as the many other, less tangible resources that go into a nationwide campaign.

Point two–A McCain loss will embarass the Washington State Republican Party

Particularly when McCain coasts to an easy victory in the primary on the 19th. It will demonstrate that the local party activists and caucus-goers are woefully out of touch with the Washington State Republicans who actually supply the votes. Remember those? They’re important. Now, it may be true that we activists are out of touch, and if it is, we need to figure out how we can rectify that situation. But personally, I’d rather it were not pointed out in such blatant fashion.

Because of the timing of our caucus and primary, and that of recent political events, we’re a party uniquely positioned to embarrass itself. That’s one opportunity I sincerely hope to avoid taking. Our party needs to gain influence over the voters of this state, both friendly and otherwise, and caucusing for Huckabee will diminish it, instead.

Point three–it will be good practice for November

For one brief, fleeting moment, let us face reality. If you want what’s best for the party, state and nation, you are going to be voting for John McCain this November. If you currently believe otherwise, you are being unreasonable. Hopefully, this is a passing thing, and if so, I entirely understand. If recent events have made you momentarily too furious at your situation to be reasonable, please check back once it has passed. If it is a more permanent unreasonableness, then please do join the Democrats, and they are welcome to you.

Regardless of what category you fall into (reasonable, temporarily unreasonable, or permanently so), tomorrow will be a good opportunity to see what it feels like to vote for John McCain. If you can do it without breaking into a cold sweat, passing out, or breaking into uncontrollable shrieking, then you’re doing well–otherwise, at least you got it out of your system. Perhaps your vote for him in the primary will only come with a little twitching and cursing. By November, you should be able pull the (sadly) metaphorical lever for McCain with only a nagging sense of ideological impurity at the back of your mind.

Alas, I can’t vote in the caucus tomorrow (though I already voted in the primary. But you probably can, and so I ask you to do what I would do. For the sake of your party, your state, your nation, and your own psychological health, vote for John McCain tomorrow. You don’t have to do it proudly (we’ll work up to that), but as long as you do it, we’ll be on our way to victory over whichever remarkably unqualified candidate the Dems decide to throw our way in November.

Cross posted at the Sound Politics Public Blog.

A Christmas gift to the world: Kofi Annan is finally gone! Ban Ki Moon may be no better, but I doubt he could be worse. What do I have against Annan? Darfur.

I spent last night at the McGavick-Reichert election night party in Bellevue. It was pretty subdued, especially after the AP called the race for Cantwell at 8 PM. The highlight of my evening was getting myself indirectly referenced in the Times by expressing disbelief at this in Postman’s earshot.

One of the interesting things about my job is that I come into contact with a lot of very conservative, Christian voters on a daily basis. This morning when I came into work, I was accosted by several who expressed their fears that last night’s election results would result in sweeping liberal reforms and a national moral crisis.

Never fear, Republican voter. The ghost of James Madison will protect you. The fact that the evil party has the House does not mean that Nancy Pelosi has the power to send her flying monkeys out at will. Rather, this means gridlock all the way for the next two years. A Democrat House, a Republican President, and a virtually-tied Senate (regardless of which way Virginia and Montana go) can’t do anything but piddle, twiddle and resolve.

So right now my reaction to last night’s election is a resounding “meh.” It would have been nice to retain the Republican majority. It would have been REALLY nice to see McGavick in the Senate (and not just because Tim works for him, but because I do think he could have gotten some things done). But the upshot of all this is that little will change. And in two years, we do it all again. We’ve had a hundred and nine Congresses before. Some better and some worse than this one. And we’ve survived them all.

Well, duh.

The same fate awaits SAM’s new Olympic Sculpture Park. Until the city of Seattle decides to crack down on vagrants and drug dealers, there is no point whatsoever in putting money into free public facilities downtown.

Does anyone else find it strange that Muslim ire takes a while to build up after a so-called insult occurs? Of course, while I say I find it strange, I still have a pretty good handle on why it takes so long. It’s not like the Muslim mob-in-the-street watches a lot of news or reads Danish newspapers. They have to be told when to riot.

What I want to find out in all of this is what Benedict is trying to accomplish. Joseph Ratzinger is one sharp cookie, and I seriously doubt he woke up one morning saying “Hm….I’m giving a speech in a couple of days. I need an example about religious violence….I know! I can use the Muslims as an example! That won’t offend anybody! That’s a perfectly safe bet.”

The Vatican is up to something. This incident is a clear indication of support for the war on terror, at least in the abstract. I will be very interested to watch the firestorm build over the weekend.

After a very eventful summer that included going to Korea for a month, the school year is back in full swing, so I figured it was high time to update Tim’s blog. We’ll be pretty busy this upcoming election season, but things should return to normal around mid-November. Assuming there isn’t a recount.

Since it has been brought to my attention that I should hurry it up a little, today we have a triple-header. Amendments six, seven, and eight all deal with courts and trials and such, so they fit together nicely.

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

I think we often forget, here in our free society, how much of a blessing it is to have a functioning, checked-and-balanced justice system. Having a public trial with witnesses both for and against, as well as having a defense attorney, puts accused persons well on their way toward justice from the get-go. China, for instance, is well known for its secret trials, against which there is very little recourse.

Amendment VII

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Trial by jury is important, because it removes the element of bias from a governmental proceeding. It does, however, retain the biases of the society from which the jurors come. One hopes that that society values truth and justice enough to provide a fair trial.

This amendment always reminds me of To Kill a Mockingbird, which I read in 8th grade. I never read it again, but one quotation has remained with me to this day. Atticus says that we rarely get the jury we want, but usually get the jury we deserve. Our unwillingness to put forth the effort to create a just society means that when the time comes, there will be no justice for us. In some ways, that lesson in 8th grade made more of an impression on me than any other thing I learned in school.

Amendment VIII

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

So is waterboarding cruel and unusual? It seems unusual, at least, but not particularly cruel. But I’m all for unusual punishments. Let the punishment fit the crime. Especially for juvenile offenders. I’d rather see underage drinkers swabbing vomit off the floors of rehab clinics than paying fines or cooling their heels in jail. I’d also rather have murderers hanged immediately upon sentencing.