Thursday, June 28, 2007
Kennedy: Hopes V. Fears [Jonah Goldberg]
Sen Kennedy just shouted that the choice before the Senate on the immigration bill is between "voting for our hopes, or voting for our fears!"
I don't quite understand why voting your fear is obviously wrong or why voting for your hopes is necessarily right. Fear is often quite reasonable. I have a reasonable fear of alligators. Hopes, meanwhile, are often irrational and goofy. I hope eating lots of cashews will give me laser-vision and super-strength.
In other words, and more seriously, some of our most important public policies are based on fear more than hope (though it's usually a mixture of both). Our military exists largely because of our fears. That doesn't mean Senators are in error to vote in favor of funding it. In the case of immigration, voting for hope hasn't panned out to well in recent years, so maybe voting on fear isn't so crazy?
06/28 10:45 AM
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