Friday, July 27, 2007

Mitt's Three-Legged Stool

Mr. Romney has long described his view of conservatism as a "three-legged stool," the legs being a strong military, a strong economy, and strong family values. If you take one of the legs away, the stool doesn't stand. He demonstrates in a video provided by the Times.

I know politicians tend to over-simplify things to sound appealing to voters, but this is simply absurd. To describe the proper approach to American government as a "three-legged stool" leaves a lot to be desired. Aren't there other things than military, economy, and "family values" required to make a strong country? How about good schools? Good healthcare? Fair voting practices? Protection against corruption? Hell, why not throw in respect for the Constitution? But, if we admit this, removing the "family values" leg would not make the stool collapse, as the other legs would be sufficient, Mitt Romney's oh-so-effective stump speech would be ruined, and rationality would reign over us all.

If only.

It seems pretty clear to me that abandoning government enforcement of "family values" (which I read as bigotry) would not ruin America. After all, respect for Constitution should allow everyone to pursue their own notions of family values. But that's not adequate, apparently. We all need to have Mitt's family values.

1 comment:

Ashley said...

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