Screw Purity

[koshersalaami]

I've had a conversation with another blogger over a long period of time and over multiple posts, and we have never reached agreement. It has to do with two views of morality. I devoted a pair of posts to this issue on Open Salon, one entitled Dirty Hands and the other entitled The Gift. Basically, it comes down to efficacy vs. purity. This other blogger is of the opinion that one should never vote against one's views on any issue under any circumstances, even as a legislator. I am of the opinion that the purpose of the legislator, that for which he/she was hired, is to accomplish things for constituents and for whatever overall entity the legislature serves (in the case of Congress, the United States) or, more simply put, to actually help people. In other words, we are on opposite sides of whether compromise ever makes sense.

As you can imagine, I sometimes had my morality impugned during the course of this conversation. One could get the impression that I simply favor expedience.

I don't. The best way I can think of to put it is a way I put it in a comment on my most recent post on OS. Here is the text of that comment.

Thank you.

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What do you think of Ted Kennedy? He was a successful senator for a long time and he horse-traded all over the place, probably voted for a bloody fortune in pork barrel over his legislative career.

What this meant was that when there was something he really wanted to accomplish, he had the poltical capital to do it. One of the things he spent that capital on was ADA, the Americans for Disabilities Act.

I spent nearly eighteen years raising and caring for a son with a severe disability. When you're in a wheelchair, particularly a power wheelchair, a curb might as well be a cliff. Those stupid curb cuts made all the difference in the world. When you're loading and unloading a 100 lb. kid from a car in the rain (which in my case meant lifting him - we didn't have a lift van - and physically positioning him in and out of his wheelchair), handicapped parking meant a lot. The fact that schools had to cope with his disability meant that his life was closer to normal rather than just institutionalized, which is what it would have had to have been years earlier because there's no way he could have gone to school without a PCA (personal care assistant).

I thank God for Ted Kennedy's dirty hands. You'd have said that he should have refused to compromise on any vote about anything.

I'm glad you can afford to think like that. Congratulations. Some of us can't.

And the idea that it was immoral of Ted Kennedy to do what had to be done to help people like my son is outside of my comprehension, where it will remain.

Morality doesn't exist in a vacuum. If purity keeps you from helping people,

Screw purity.

And that, for me, is a deeply felt moral position, and I do mean moral position

[Arthur James]

`

Purity. huh?

Pure Intentions.

`

Thich Nhat Hanh gave me a Sanskrit name.

I asked him to change the name he Gave.

`

Tai

`(Teacher)

` (Venerable)

?

Call me this?

`

Depraved.

Defiled.

Wastrel.

Perdition.

Putrid hick.

Contaminated.

`

Psychic` idiot.

Sage` Stupid.

Thanks` Tai.

`

He makes me?

`

Giggle. Bow.

(not Hubris)

`

I be busy too.

Folk die today.

I hear sad news.

`

Good News Too.

(Gospel News)

Gospel is Good.

`

No be defiled.

`

Thanks. 

[Arthur James]

`

Pure Intention

` 

[koshersalaami]

Wait,
You asked him to change from which to which? Did he call you teacher and you didn't think you deserved it, or did he call you something highly uncomplimentary and you didn't think you deserved that?

Sorry for the request for translation. I want to understand the story.

[L in the Southeast]

Who are the office holders in the U.S. government?  Politicians.  What is a politician?  A person who negotiates, makes deals, makes trade-offs  and compromises in order to accomplish the tops of his/her prioritized objectives.  If this person wants to see what happens when a member of Congress refuses to at least modify his moral principles, take a look at the House of Representatives' Tea Party.  It is impossible to run a government with an inflexible set of moral imperatives.

[koshersalaami]

The person with whom I was having that discussion today told me that they (gramatically incorrect but I need a gender neutral pronoun to maintain the facade of anonymity) intend to steer clear of my blog and request that I do the same. I intend to comply. Given that I have been given copious amounts of advice to do exactly that (and have actually given out similar advice to others), I don't expect to find this difficult.

[L in the Southeast]

I know.  I've been following along.

[Arthur James]

`

Some Experiences have no verbiage.

Thanks. I'll be pondering the inquire.

I hear a doleful bird sound. Raven?

`

I spent the morn in great grief` gin.

I heard an old associate passed away.

A LT in Vietnam. He self-murdered.

`

He use to be a government clerk,

carpenter, and frugal human being.

He' use my 18- in. wood-shop planner.

The Planner planes board so smooth.

I hadn't seen Harold M. for awhile.

He shot his ` Self in the Skull.

In Vietnam he shot his foot.

He wished ` Out of War.

`

I helped as best I could.

Harold Muma felt Guilty. 

I heard he killed` Self.

`

He had a Beautiful Spouse.

He helped his Son Build a Hut.

Harsh Storm Winds (Life) Swept.

I'll not Share his Great Griefs.

`

We pass via Morning. Yes.

Today I viewed Snow Squalls.

Brown Leafs Swirled in Woods.

`

Thanks. Good. Dark Evils Too.

Sometimes mere Words obstruct.

I visited my Son and Grandson.

` Think Upon Beauty, Good,

and Dwell on Wondrousness.

[koshersalaami]

Arthur (the name, incidentally, of my grandfather, whom I take after),
My condolences.
You appear to have a healthy approach to this. What you have.

[James Mark Emmerling]

Look what it is is.. Niccolò Machiavelli…

 

In judging policies we should consider the results that have been achieved through them rather than the means by which they have been executed.

 

The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people.

~

Prince Ted was the only one who survived, from that , uh, royal family. We all forgave him all the personal shit, and admired him in his wheeling/dealing.

~

Could this be a clue?

• “Love is not an easy feeling to put into words. Nor is loyalty, or trust, or joy. But he was all of these. He loved life completely and he lived it intensely.
  • Eulogy for Robert F. Kennedy, by Ted .

~

Plus he said this only four yrs ago! In 08:

“For me this is a season of hope -- new hope for a justice and fair prosperity for the many, and not just for the few — new hope.
And this is the cause of my life — new hope that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American — north, south, east, west, young, old — will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege.

[koshersalaami]

James,
"We all?" You and I, yes, though I certainly can't speak for the Kopechne family. Still, this isn't about the personal stuff so much as it is about the business stuff. Are there people, and I don't mean those on the Right, who think he was fundamentally immoral as a legislator?

He had strong ties across the aisle. One of his best personal friends in the Senate was Orrin Hatch, Republican Senator from Utah. Things got done, and that's one of the reasons why. Incidentally, one of the other Senators who developed bipartisan respect when she was in office was Hillary Clinton, who had the respect of, among others, Newt Gingrich.

My point is that if you want to help people, that's what it takes. There are some who think that sticking to your principles on a vote by vote basis rather than in the aggregate is a more moral way to be. I think it's actually a less moral way to be.