Contradictions Abound

I ended by my internship the Friday before school started, flew back from Washington D.C. to CO on Saturday, hiked on Sunday, and then flew to school on Monday.

Throughout that whirlwind, I was reminiscing on how Washington D.C. is unlike any other place in the United States. No matter where you go, contradictions abound. In our nation's capitol where all of the federal money lies, it has one of the largest homeless populations in the country. In a city controlled by Republicans, they are surrounded by Democrats. DC doesn't get voting rights, yet it has a larger population than Wyoming. Even the weather contradicts the people with guys wearing suits in 90 deg./90% humidity weather.

Many conservatives proclaim that we should continually trust the government in protecting our lives. Giving it much money and enforcement power in defense policy but don't wish to give the same power to the government when it comes to environmental policy which also aims to protect lives. Is it only that we should trust the government with the power to launch missiles, sell guns, but we can't trust the government to regulate industries that are polluting our water, land, and the livelihood of American communities? Why can't we also trust the government to help those who are less fortunate, when we trust the government in bombing those who are less democratic? This point, however, does not just extend to Republicans. Indeed, Democrats face the same contradictions. How can the party of Truman not believe that parts of the market (esp. professional certification for teachers) could solve education or other services? I'm not advocating that we rid the Department of Education, but rather that we leave no stone unturned (especially using market forces) in providing the best education to our children. Additionally, how can the people of Kennedy, of science, be against a space program that can put a man on Mars?

It's odd. Isn't it? As Harry Frankfurt writes in his bestselling book On Bullshit:

The fact about himself that the bulls hitter hides, on the other hand, is that the truth-values of his statements are of no central interest to him; what we are not to understand is that his intention is neither to report truth nor to conceal it. (55)

Frankfurt describes best the use of contradiction to further personal gain without regard for the truth of the matter.

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