No, I can't get behind that...

I just received an e-mail from MoveOn. I subscribe to the list because I like to hear great ideas, regardless of the source. MoveOn is a very left-leaning, liberal group and so it comes as no surprise that I disagree with several of their ideals. For those who are unaware, I'm a moderate, and I find both polar regions to be far too chilly (left OR right).

But it's e-mails like these that make me wonder how we can ever get anything done. Here's a quote from the e-mail from Justin at MoveOn:

"Dreaming of a clean energy future? Dream on. Thanks to the energy companies, legislation being debated in the Senate right now would actually expand nukes, offshore drilling, and coal.

Want to make sure every job pays a living wage and that all workers can choose the protection of a union? Probably impossible, as long as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spends nearly $150 million per year on lobbying alone—not even counting campaign contributions.1

How 'bout closing the widening gap between the rich and the poor? How 'bout investing enough in education so every child gets a decent education and every family can afford college? How 'bout making workplaces really work for people with families, including paid sick leave and parental leave?

Right now these proposals would get you laughed out of the room in Washington. Because they all face overwhelming opposition from powerful, entrenched interests. "

What just kills me about this is the "My way or no-way" approach that both sides are shown to take. What's left out is the moderate voter -- me. And that chafes me a bit.

I dream of a clean energy future. Unfortunately, I also dream of space travel, being a rock star, and solving all world hunger. Like all of these dreams (with the exception of being a rock star), the best steps we take are the seemingly small ones. We can't eliminate oil and coal immediately. But we can implement a clean(er) and safe(r) nuclear program that allows us to generate electricity. It should be a short-term gap cover until we can find a better solution. We should be spending money on that medium and longer term solution now, but in the interim, we should be working toward a mutually agreeable middle ground -- nuclear seems to be the least of the possible evils at the moment -- but neither side is willing to get us there.

Do I want every job to pay a living wage? That's a tough question to answer. Should someone be able to make a living for flipping burgers? Should people be able to use unions to force a job to pay more than that job is worth (read: ALL jobs at the car companies, particularly on the production line)? Of course not! Unions have jacked the price of labor to the point where the work is being sent wherever they're not. Unions are self-fulfilling prophesies of doom and Seth Godin and numerous other brilliant people foretell an even more dire future for those who stake their livelihoods on these dying organizations. I won't get started on lobbying -- I think the entire practice should be banned, the offenders tried for treason, etc. I also think we should eliminate lawyers and journalists who are more interested in their ratings than the truth.

Do I want to close the widening gap between the rich and the poor? Again, tough question. I don't, if it means the rich just throwing money at the poor. This is not a good investment! If people don't earn their way, they won't appreciate it. The perfect example are rich kids -- they (for the most part) are smarmy, worthless little snots who take every bit of good fortune for granted -- and why shouldn't they? They don't know what it means to earn a living, and they can't appreciate what it means to do so. The same happens when you drop money on an unsuspecting poor person -- they don't know how to handle that situation. I can attest that as I've moved up the proverbial corporate and financial ladder, I've had my own foolishness exercised with newfound monies. I am still in more debt than I should be because of some of these decisions. I'm underwater on my house because of it. We would make the situation worse for many of these folks if we pulled this on them. Should we help them get better jobs? Sure! As long as they can provide value to those jobs and companies. Why wouldn't we give people a hand up? Again -- that's the middle ground: A hand up, not a hand out. Lefties want to give a hand out, righties want to keep it all for their greedy selves. I do totally agree with Justin on improving access to college -- but not on making it free for everyone. Who's going to foot the tab on that? Other nations have done it -- but they have way higher tax rates to make it happen (see: Norway). Is this a valid use of tax money? Sure! But what's going to make the education system as good as it is now? What kind of competition will there be? This all ties back to one of the main problems with socialism in any form -- barring intrinsic motivation (which has been proven unreliable in a general population) -- what motivates people when they have all their needs met and don't have to work to get anything they need? It's a riddle for the ages.

Should we force companies to provide benefits on the most basic of jobs? Maybe. But who's going to pay for that? The consumers? We're already talking about moving jobs out of the country (see unions above) -- if we increase the cost of items to offset the additional costs, we lose more jobs. This is actually very simple math. It is beyond the reach of most lefties, though. That or they want to paint over it and move on to "But it's better because everybody's equal!" The righties say "Bah, humbug" to the whole thing -- employees are cogs in the machine and nothing more. These are fallacious assumptions as well.

So when MoveOn (or anyone else on the fringe) asks if I can get behind them, vote their way, throw money at them, etc. -- no, I can't get behind at all. When you (and all the rest of the fringe) start to realize that concession and compromise are the language of the vast majority of the country, THEN we'll get behind you and start to follow and believe that this country is capable of working together and not pointless, petty bickering --- until then, NO.