Have you seen today's Boston Globe?...

[Richard Chonak]

A. Joseph Ross wrote:
> On 15 Nov 2008 Richard Chonak wrote:
> 
>> A good point.  If I may say so, your views and Dan's on the matter are
>> libertarian, rather than conservative _per se_.
> 
> Again, labels.

That's right.   Wasn't Scott making a point about the acceptance of 
certain policies (opposition to censorship of sexual content in 
broadcasting) by people who carry contrasting political labels?

>> Conservatism as such aims to _conserve_ Western culture and the good
>> things about it, and seeks to be guided by history and experience,
>> rather than by a rigorous application of ideological principles (with
>> the chips falling where they may).
> 
> If that were so, conservatives would be more interested in regulating 
> business behavior.

We should be.   Alas, many people who hold libertarian opinions but call 
themselves "conservative" don't get this.


>> So conservatives, due to experience, are skeptical about what
>> government can do to remake man (as in the Communist ideal) or heal
>> the planet (whatever), but they are willing to use modest,
>> non-draconian sanctions to accomplish modest goods, such as to keep
>> what is obscene ob-scene: that is, "off-stage" (as the Greek
>> dramatists put it).
> 
> And to have the federal government intrude into personal and medical 
> decisions on when to pull the plug on a person on life support.

Wow.  That's a drastic change of subject, counselor, so you can forgive 
me for not pursuing it.


>> It's amazing that public opposition to obscenity in public speech,
>> broadcasting, film, novels, and periodicals has evaporated in 50 years
>> -- but maybe I shouldn't assume that public opposition is altogether
>> gone.  After all, who studies public opinion on such questions as
>> censorship these days?
> 
> I don't know that it has.  What's changed is what is considered 
> obscene.  

That's an aspect worth studying too: people who still draw the line 
somewhere, and people who drop all willingness to censor obscene 
(sexual/violent) material.

--RC