Apt. 11D

Crisis in Faith

There's a really facinating discussion going around the conservative/libertarian blogs about the divisions with the Republican Party. It mirrors the divisions between liberals who want to remain true to the Great Society coalition and those who would actually like to win an election. The theme of religion and politics overlaps both discussions.

No time to add analysis or parallels right now. I'm working on another research paper today. Check out this post by Dan Drezner for all the relevant links. (Dan, Hobbes is a champion of big government liberalism???)

Question of the Day

Is it better to read the newspaper on line or is the real thing much nicer?

V.O. Key, Eggers, and Dante

John and Belle are sorting out their books and so are we.

We've got a crap load of books. I don't think that our collection numbers in the thousands like Jacob Levy's (see the comments on J&B), but it's big. Two dissertations will do that.

Steve owns like every Nazi and fascist book ever written. The CIA has probably been monitoring his activities ever since the New York Public Library notified them about his book reading habits. Hope we never have to buy fertilizer in bulk.

Back in New York City, we lined the hallway with bookshelves. Stuff just got tossed on the shelves for years. Sorting through them in that tight space was too much, so there has never been a decent purge of the dreck. The good and the bad came with us to New Jersey and only now do we have the space to sort through the mess.

As much fun as it would be to keep every book we've ever read as a trophy and to intimidate the neighbors, I think it's best to travel light. Never know when the CIA is gonna come a knockin' and we need to make a swift exit out the side door. We're putting the A list books on the four ten foot shelves in the dining room, the B list books on the attic shelves, and the pile to sell at the Strand in the basement.

Since Steve has no plans to return to academia, he's dumping a lot. Pretty much everything that he has no plans to reread for fun. Oddly, his collection of fun books still includes a large selection of books on fascism.

We're dumping old, fragile paperbooks even if they're classics. Good-bye Gulliver's Travels.

Passing stray interests in astrology and bonsai trees. So long.

Old textbooks and freebies from the publishers are gone.

And, yes, nice looking books have priority. Large art books are in, except if they were produced for Barnes and Nobles bargain section. Pretty covers make the A team. If the covers have a red accent and match the furniture, they're a sure thing.

Since I'm going back to academia in the fall, I'm keeping just about all of the political science books. Almost all the theory books are staying, because you never know when you're going to need the Leviathan. The books on the Presidency and Congress stay, because I'll definitely need them. I really want to dump the policy books, because they're almost all dated, poorly written, and too narrow in scope. The only good education books are written by historians, like Diane Ravitch and Tyack and Cuban. Ravitch is going on the A book shelves; everything else is going to the attic.

If I ever really close the door on academia, I would cut out 3/4rd of the pol. sci. books. So few are page turners. I would probably keep Machiavelli to Marx, V.O. Key's Southern Politics, maybe Richard Neustadt, and maybe 20 or 30 others. Things that I would be likely to reread even if wasn't scrounging for a footnote.

We're marching up and down the stairs with armfuls of books and tossing them up on the 10 feet Billy bookshelves. No categories or systems have been set up for the individual shelves. Books that would normally have no business next to each other are deep in conversation. Dave Eggers is talking religion with Dante, and Locke is learning about New York society from Edith Warton.

With all the sorting and chatting between the odd bedfellows, I'm rediscovering old favorites. Kristin Lavransdatter. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail. Empire Falls.

Speaking of Empire Falls, I learned from Maureen Ryan today that HBO is turning it into a mini-series. Excellent. Something to replace Carnevale. If you haven't read it yet, do it. But first read Straight Man, which is funnier and lighter. Russo somehow makes academic life in a small town in Pennsylvania sound warm and charming.

The Special Ed Crunch

OK. I'm running out of babysitting time minutes, but I just had to put up this link on the struggle between special ed parents and school districts.

Shaky Parties

I have seen a couple of interesting posts in the past few days critiquing the current party system.

Kevin Drum writes about the lack of a center in this country. The two parties have become too extreme. He quotes Joe Trippi who feels that the Internet could be the birth place of a new political party. Drum scoffs.

Quick: can you name any centrist blogs, for example, that get more than 10,000 hits a day? I mean genuinely centrist — moderate but clearly liberal or conservative sites like this one don't count. I can't think of a single one, which makes me wonder: if centrism has a future on the internet, where is it going to come from?

Cass Sunstein (I'll try to get a link up later today) writes that discussion on the Internet is actually death to centricism. The medium forces people to extremes.

I tilt left especially on economic issues, but I try to keep an open mind. I dislike political correctism. And I'm not shy about pointing out idiocy when I see it. But often I feel that this doesn't play well on the Internet where people like slogans and short cuts. I don't know. I'm going to keep doing what I do, but I've been thinking that Cass's argument has a lot of merit.

But that was a tangent. Drum was talking about a need for a new centrist party.

Dan Drezner also had a post which speaks of elitism of leaders in both parties.

If there is one thing that too many modern-day Democrat and Republican party elites share, it's a mild contempt for the average American. For Democrats, Americans are obese spendthrifts susceptible to faith-based argumentation at the expeense of logic and evidence. For Republicans, Americans are obese spendthrifts susceptible to the temptations of a debased popular culture at the expense of moral probity.

Is the time ripe for a new third party? What would it look like?

Politics on the Pulpit

Forgive me if posting is thin this week. Still not entirely well. Energy levels wax and wane.

Last week, I wrote a long screedy post about Catholicism and politics. I questioned whether some of recent attacks on the political and social views of Catholics were due to some lingering anti-Catholicism in America. Now that the antibiotics have kicked in, I'm a little more reasonable.

I do think that the charges that the pope is responsible for AIDs in Africa are wrong, as I explained in the comments. But some of the comments and posts by other bloggers are valid. Jay maintains that he should have a position on Catholic politics, because Catholics have a world view that they seek to impose on others.

The problem is that the church isn't just taking positions on these issues with regard to Catholics, but rather working to institute their positions in civil law and society. And that does affect me and is my business.

Exactly. This is true. Catholics have positions that affect their politics which can affect others, even non-Catholics. And non-Catholics should protest when they feel that their rights and freedoms will be limited by these policies.

Should Catholics and other religious groups be denied to the right to organize, because they are members of a religious group? Should we be at all shocked that when religious leaders talk politics at the pulpit?

No. That's what politics are about. Everybody is organized under some sort of organization. If not religious, then other interest oriented.

The NRA, the ACLU, the National Wildlife Organization, NOW are all groups of people seeking to turn their interest into policy. And all of them have counter groups that feel that their interests are going to be affected. The NRA feel that the gun regulation activists are limiting what they see as their God given rights to carry around AK47s. The loggers feel that the environmental activists are curtailing their rights to put food on the table for the family.

Politics is about the clashing of rights and interests. Politics is about people organizing to have their world-view made into law. It's about jockeying for the position to become a majority. It's about the minority adjusting its message to make itself into the majority in the next election.

Yes, we should watch and even protest political action by religious groups. But we shouldn't be surprised when they talk politics in church, and we shouldn't try to stifle them.

Bring it On, Baby!

Get ready for the next level in the blogosphere.

Arianna Huffington, the columnist and onetime candidate for governor of California, is about to move blogging from the realm of the anonymous individual to the realm of the celebrity collective.

She has lined up more than 250 of what she calls "the most creative minds" in the country to write a group blog that will range over topics from politics and entertainment to sports and religion. It is essentially a nonstop virtual talk show that will be part of a Web site that will also serve up breaking news around the clock. It is to be introduced May 9.

Henry at Crooked Timber has prognosticated before about the rise of the professional/blogger. Looks like it's happening.

I'm not sure why I'm fairly annoyed by this development. Maybe it's a turf thing. One of the great thing about blogging is that it gives a voice to those who have no other options. Those without experience, wealth, connections, or education can have their say. Nora Ephron, who is slated to be one of Huffington's bloggers, can publish whatever she likes without blogging. As bloggers compete for a finite readership, Huffington's venture is going to push out the novice bloggers.

Or maybe Huffington's blog will bring in a new wave of readers. All boats will float.

For later...

I have several long screedy, unwritten posts on religion and politics and Congress and maybe even Jane Fonda. This afternoon I'll probably be too busy to purge them, so it will have to wait until this evening. Cutting out Ian's afternoon is going to have a major impact on blogging. In the meantime, read this article on Frist and evangelical Christians.

Other stuff:
Should there be universities have an affirmative action program not only for students of color, but students from lower income families? Yes. Read more on this upcoming conference at Brookings.

Puddles on the Floor

It's all about pee and poop at 11D tonight. For those with a weak stomach, please move on and read a more genteel blog for the evening.

Ian turned three last weekend. A major milestone in a boy's life. That means the end of two hour nap in the middle of the afternoon, which has pros and cons for his parents. No more driving tours of the hills of New Jersey to put the little man to sleep. No more hour long crankiness after the nap as Mr. Ian gets his head together. But also no more two hours of silence. Pros and cons.

And it's also time to finally potty train the kid. He's been ready for months. He started using the little white potty during Naked Time back in September. For non-parents, an explanation. No, we're not some peace and love hippies. Naked Time is the hour before bath when the diaper is removed and the tushy gets a bit fresh air.

He's been ready for a while, but we held him back because he can't talk. How would he tell us that he had to go when we were out? We finally learned the sign for potty, a shaking fist, so we're cool.

All weekend, Ian's tushy peaked out from the bottom of his blue sweater. Kinda like Donald Sutherland in Animal House. He mostly got the idea. He runs to the bathroom when he has to go, puts a stool up the big potty, and aims like a pro into the water. All set to write his name in the snow.

Sullivan on Ratzinger

A couple of days ago, before the antibiotics kicked in, I got all screedy about non-Catholic attacks on the church and absurb conspiracy theory crap.

If you want to read some excellent critiques of the new Pope by a Catholic, read Andrew Sullivan this week. Here's one link and then scroll up.