(Friday, 15 February 1985, Oregon State University Barometer)
There is an implication in Burt Merritt’s latest column (“Phony elections,” 13 February) to the effect that there was no difference between the bipartisan candidates in our last election. Surely there are zealous bipartisan supporters who would take issue with such a thesis. They may be right. The verity of the bipartisan position that there is a world of difference between the Republican caucus and the Democrat caucus rests upon the coherence of your values.
If you believe that every taxpayer has an obligation to provide free abortions to every American woman who needs one, there is a distinct difference.
If you believe that the federal government should spend more stolen money on national defense, and less on mass-transit, there is a distinct difference.
If you believe that young American adults have a duty to sacrifice two or three years of their lives (or face imprisonment) to serve their communities in the name of Universal Slavery ( — er — “Service”) there is a distinct difference.
If you believe that the Drug Enforcement Agency has a moral duty to break down the doors of peaceful pharmaceutical entrepreneurs, confiscate their property, and shoot them in the back as they attempt to preserve their liberty, then… Wait a minute, poor example, better scratch that one.
But I did come up with three distinct differences. How substantive these are is for you to decide. As George Harrison said, “It’s all in what you value.”
As Patrick Henry said…
update 180131: I’m still not going to finish that ellipsis…
(I’m leaving it as an exercise for advanced students.)
Burt Merritt is an alias for correspondent JM.
Like many the partisan Libertutionist, Constitarian, Commie, or Greeniac, I will invoke the Bane of the Bipartisan Blur over and over. On my 2002 campaign website I said: “It’s a mistake to claim that there are no differences between Republicans and Democrats. Of course there are. Just as there are differences between hanging and the firing squad. Between electrocution and lethal injection. Sometimes even as vast as the difference between cast iron handcuffs and the nickel plated variety. One set will chaff a little more than the other, but both will keep you securely bound.” There are lots of differences, great and small, and it probably helps our credibility to avoid using absolutes, even over partisan distinctions. Surely there are differences between Repucrats and Demoblicans. Strictly speaking, shit-on-rye and shit-on-whole-wheat are different sandwiches.