What kind of truce?
There has been a good bit of coverage over Indiana Governor (and potential Presidential candidate) Mitch Daniels' call for a "truce" on some of the social issues in order to resolve the economic ones. Here is the original quotation as part of a very good Weekly Standard profile of Daniels:
"And then, he says, the next president, whoever he is, 'would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues. We’re going to just have to agree to get along for a little while,' until the economic issues are resolved. Daniels is pro-life himself, and he gets high marks from conservative religious groups in his state. He serves as an elder at the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church, in inner-city Indianapolis, which he’s attended for 50 years. In 1998, with a few other couples from Tabernacle and a nearby Baptist congregation, he and his wife founded a“Christ-centered” school, The Oaks Academy, in a downtown neighborhood the local cops called “Dodge City.” It’s flourishing now with 315 mostly poor kids who pursue a classical education: Latin from third grade on,logic in middle school, rhetoric in eighth grade, an emphasis throughout on the treasures of Western Civilization. “It’s the most important thing I’ve ever been involved in,” he told me. His social-conservative credentials are solid."
Most of the criticism of Daniels' remarks were transparently political. Mike Huckabee and other would-be candidates over-hyped the implications of his comments in a move to harm Daniels.
But James Poulos, at Ricochet, offers an valid point for consideration in the discussion :
"Alas, the cultural conflict is already blazing. Some people think a federal tax on tanning is a legitimate tool of economic policy. Some don't. Some think the President is entitled to bestow a $400 million guaranteed loan on a single company because he favors their product. Some don't. Disagreements like these are not the result of idle preferences. Whole worldviews are at stake. A whole worldview is revealed in the idea that taxing and spending should be freed from the burden of the equal protection of the law, on the theory that taxing and spending are the primary tools a government may use to shape, sculpt, promote, and punish behavior."
Daniels has since clarified his position but I would argue that the culture war is pervasive. It touches our children in school, at home, in the community. It touches even our businesses as we qualify for tax-breaks for doing "the right things". It is a full-on assault. And that is a tough time to call a truce.
"And then, he says, the next president, whoever he is, 'would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues. We’re going to just have to agree to get along for a little while,' until the economic issues are resolved. Daniels is pro-life himself, and he gets high marks from conservative religious groups in his state. He serves as an elder at the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church, in inner-city Indianapolis, which he’s attended for 50 years. In 1998, with a few other couples from Tabernacle and a nearby Baptist congregation, he and his wife founded a“Christ-centered” school, The Oaks Academy, in a downtown neighborhood the local cops called “Dodge City.” It’s flourishing now with 315 mostly poor kids who pursue a classical education: Latin from third grade on,logic in middle school, rhetoric in eighth grade, an emphasis throughout on the treasures of Western Civilization. “It’s the most important thing I’ve ever been involved in,” he told me. His social-conservative credentials are solid."
Most of the criticism of Daniels' remarks were transparently political. Mike Huckabee and other would-be candidates over-hyped the implications of his comments in a move to harm Daniels.
But James Poulos, at Ricochet, offers an valid point for consideration in the discussion :
"Alas, the cultural conflict is already blazing. Some people think a federal tax on tanning is a legitimate tool of economic policy. Some don't. Some think the President is entitled to bestow a $400 million guaranteed loan on a single company because he favors their product. Some don't. Disagreements like these are not the result of idle preferences. Whole worldviews are at stake. A whole worldview is revealed in the idea that taxing and spending should be freed from the burden of the equal protection of the law, on the theory that taxing and spending are the primary tools a government may use to shape, sculpt, promote, and punish behavior."
Daniels has since clarified his position but I would argue that the culture war is pervasive. It touches our children in school, at home, in the community. It touches even our businesses as we qualify for tax-breaks for doing "the right things". It is a full-on assault. And that is a tough time to call a truce.
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