Street Corner Society

Oliver Willis:

Liberals … are so convinced of the rightness of their cause they refuse to try and sell it to anyone. They (and by they I strongly include me) think that essentially saying “SEEEE??” will provoke a moment of enlightment in the subject and they’ll come around to it. It just doesn’t work that way. Cons sell their ideology as what will cure what ails you, even if the ailments are invented. Liberalism has the advantage of being an actual solution to problems, it only needs to actually be sold.

Anyone else see parallels to “unprogrammed” Quakers and our Evangelical cousins?

Willis finishes his commentary with a jab at protest politics.

… instead of simply pointing out something bad, one would illustrate the conservative failure and the liberal solution. This cannot be done by holding up signs and puppets, no matter how much work you put into it.

So, bread and puppets, anyone?

But if we take the point, what solution do Friends offer? What is the actual problem to be solved? Or do we finesse these questions by taking out the middleman — whether liberal or conservative? George Fox, after seeking reassurance and direction from the religious liberals of his day, heard a voice which said,

“There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition.“

Early Friends began with that insight, but studies of the early Quaker movement do show a concerted campaign followed, coordinated locally, regionally, and nationally, with ailments to the body politic often given as reasons for taking the initiative. The article Willis cites as a case-in-point for his comparison is a study of Republican campaign tactics in Ohio, 2004.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 10th, 2006 at 4:41 pm and is filed under love & unity, religion & politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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