Saturday, September 20, 2008

Bring It

If I knew of a Ron Paul video somehow equivalent to this (in the sense that it seems to have been directed by David Lynch), I would happily post it alongside this one. This is me wishing the two men would appear on television to talk thru the events of the last few days. I'm currently tuning in to Robert Scheer, Amy Goodman, and William Greider. I'm wanting everyone who considers themselves "conservative" to explain their use of the word in correlation with the film _Children of Men_ and the work of Wendell Berry. Any suggested reading, viewing, or listening on the subject of economy ecumenically considered?

12 comments:

Unknown said...

well, i am utterly speechless. how on earth did you stumble on such a thing?

i applaud your constant re-appropriation of the word 'conservative.' especially in the case of economics, i wonder what the 'conservative' brand conserves. how can we conserve our economy, our nation, our moral footing, human life, etc?

is nader radical enough to be truly called conservative? i dare say so. his radical defense of the air we breathe could only be called pro-life.

Angela Hart said...

David - WHERE THE FREAK ARE YOU? Thats sweet smack talk for, "I miss you guys!" ;)

I love this post. And I love the brand of conservatism of which you speak. Berry for President. Oh, wait.

mrs metaphor said...

"his radical defense of the air we breathe could only be called pro-life"

I love this thought. I do. Well done, Nard.

And yes, this is the weirdest thing I ever watched in relation to an election. I kind of like it for that very reason.

jdaviddark said...

nard,
i thank you for the applause. i'm going to keep at it (still holding out for the word "evangelical" too, as you know). i'd like to think tracking these things down and foisting them upon kind people like yourself is an instance of redemptively harnessing my obsessive compulsions.
angela,
the missing is mutual. and we enjoyed having your surrogate (rebecca) around for a little while the other night. we've just been awash in deadlines and out-of-town family and such. hope it isn't too long before we're back in a season of frequent hangage.
mrs. metaphor, i believe dory might be at your abode as you read this.
here's greider telling it straight:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081006/greider
my anxieties over bailouts thicken when i hear of stratagems afoot to keep people away from the voting booth for fear of having their voting rights contested due to returned mail on account of foreclosures on their homes. the word is "yuck."

Scot said...

Hey David,
I look forward to engaging you at Trinity Church again. I'd say Wendell Berry is conservative in that he wants to conserve traditions, small towns, family farms, agrarianism, unborn human life, elderly people with failing health, and so on against the so-called Conservatives of the Republican Party (as if the Dems were categorically different).
Economic Books? Try Small Is Beautiful by Schumacher, Small is Still Beautiful by Joseph Pearce, Third Ways by Allan C. Carlson, and Ecological Economics by Daly and Farley.
See you in October.

Anonymous said...

I'm wondering what will happen next. There's a weird sort of cycle, and a sort of nebulous bank-world with no persons responsible, though the world's economy has certainly been harmed...I don't think our bailout is going to be extended to 3rd world entities...

Thanks for this-how'd you find it? Viewed first-time immediately before seeing mrs metaphor's Craig Ferguson bit was a drink of water.

J. Andrew Camp said...

Hey David,

Sorry about how random the following comment will be, I couldn't find a better spot to ask you.

I was at The Art House when you spoke at the Artist retreat (I read "everyday apocalypse" my senior year of high school, so it was naturally a great experience) and you brought up a quote from "Foregone Conclusions" by David Bazan. (actually, Pedro)

I was curious if you've gotten to see any footage, etc. of his upcoming DVD. And, how pumped are you??

-Andrew

Anonymous said...

Nader's new political strategy banks on talking animals, track down his follow-up interview with Triumph the Wonder Dog the other night (which is both horrifying and refreshing). I like how he has deconstructed the talking head convention by only meeting "heads" of other species. His failure to limit his candidacy to the "children of men" is a brilliant chess move. May he finally gain his adjective: Naderian.

As far as the word "conservative" is concerned, I have been pretty taken lately with the way both O'Connor and Percy would think of themselves as liberals, but decried the way liberalism had economically divested the word "charity" of its Christian moorings. There is a conservatism in their critique worthy of aspiration.

Milbank has been giving "liberal" a run for its money with this essay over the last few years (http://www.theologyphilosophycentre.co.uk/papers/Milbank_Liberality.pdf). It is a hefty, prophetic critique of bailout theology. (Which is a term I just made up, but I hope becomes the next emergent meme.)

Anonymous said...

paul and nader together

capnwatsisname said...

That is so Lynch. I can't wait for the feature length film.

Anonymous said...

First, I would say read the A section of today’s Washington Post. Secondly, wagging the finger at conservatism or liberalism is exactly what our elected officials want us to do, because it distracts from the main point of this financial crisis. Populism is what drove this meltdown, because we the people elected officials who told us what we wanted to hear. People are misguided into believing that the candidates they elect will look out for them. Wrong. We vote these guys into office to do exactly what we tell them. Clinton, Bush and Congress encouraged this type of lending because a lot of people got rich, made the economy look good and helped get them re-elected. It created jobs in construction and real estate. It drove up stocks. It made poor people look less poor, because they were in their own homes. They did exactly what they were told, because the people didn’t speak up and instead let corporate interest call the shots. The fox was guarding the hen house. Take Fannie Mae, who donated large sums to elected officials – Dodd (who currently chairs Banking Committee) and Obama receiving the greatest portion. The GOP is just as guilty, and McCain is just as comfy with lobbyists. Now, Greider advocates for more gov't control in something close to New Deal policies, despite the fact that gov't has proven itself incompetent to prevent this financial crisis in the first place, Congress feigns hand-wringing as if they were broadsided. Yes, this bailout is a form of corporate welfare, but if the Fed. gov’t takes over lending, taxpayers will be paying just as much in gov’t inefficiency and corruption. As long as we sit out, our money will be wasted either way. If we don’t keep these guys afloat, the market will get worse. Look at the fleecing of Medicare and Medicaid or the complete exercise in futility that is the House drilling bill. Yes, predatory lending is wrong, but that didn’t stop Biden from taking $200,000 in campaign funding from the largest credit card company, MBNA. Those CEO's who walked away from failing institutions with millions, now advise presidential candidates. Sure we need a third party to cut through the corruption, so vote for them if you wish. Nader is being suppressed because he takes votes from Obama. Paul takes votes from McCain. When we point the finger at someone, there are three pointing back at us. Let me ask this...Do you know how your US Congressman or Senator voted on recent bills? Have you ever written to them? http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/?nid=roll_housesenvote
How about state legislators? How about your mayor or council members, ever written to them? Since film was mentioned, the TV/film industry is only 2nd behind the petroleum industry in air pollution. http://www.knbc.com/news/10315943/detail.html What does Mr. Berry think of this? We need to live simpler lives. We need to use our money responsibly. We need consumer protection, good education and help for the less fortunate, and we need to make ourselves more accountable by being more active in our democracy. We need to stay on top of our representatives and force them to vote for us and not corporate interests or unions. This election is about Democrat platform v. Republican platform. Don’t buy the biographical, warm-fuzzy historic hype. Don’t get distracted by 30 second spots. Point the finger where it belongs. We must be our own advocates. Sorry for the rant.

jdaviddark said...

Yes.