Political science, political art

In my continuing ruminations about the White Rez, I keep running into the word "reality." Now the reality of such a place ever existing is thin. But in my fantasy --and I am aware of the irony of this-- I think of it as a Republic of Reality.

Our current cultural and political regime is ruled by The Naked Emperor and The White Queen and their vast armies of bien-pensants warriors whose answer to everything is for "Equality For All!"





The more I see it unfold, the crazier it seems. (But, hey, I could be wrong.)

In the Republic of Reality, we would recognize real differences. The only relatively uncontested place left in the current King/Queendom for that seems to be age: 8 year olds can't vote. Yet*.

But in our Constitution --which would of unfortunate necessity be wordier and more self-explanatory than the terse four-pager our Founding Fathers left us-- we would embrace a form of equity rather than the level-flat notion of equality-as-sameness. One of equity's meanings is that reason requires us to treat sames in the same way and not-sames in not-same ways. In a form even Liberals can still understand, this means that you don't treat a 10 year old as you do a 35 year old. To do so would offend reason. And justice, too. Equitable treatment is not equal treatment.

In the fantasy Real Republic, it would enshrine certain fundamental differences in the real world of nature and culture that the law would be expected to recognize and honor: citizens vs non-citizens, men vs women, minors vs adults and, horror of horrors, the majorities vs the minorities. Marriage vs other domestic arrangements. Etc. And yes, it would recognize the difference between religions like Buddhism or Christianity and expansionist theocracies like Islam.

Without being obsessively stuck on abstract and eventually anti-real principles like the current notion of equality, you would deal with reality more flexibly, adaptively and reasonably. Would that make everyone happy? Of course not. What ever does? And would this version of political order not give rise to abuses? Of course. What ever doesn't? As grandma used to say, Pick yer poison.

In the Republic of Reality:

There would be no Title IX, making believe that women are as interested in sports as men are and making men pay for that fantasy.

In the aftermath of an attack like 9/11, rather than there being a 100% increase in Muslim immigration, there would be a net and negative outflow. 

There would be no judicial "disparate impact" nuttiness because Haitians are not as smart as Jews. Everyone would know that and shrug their shoulders and say, "So we should have a law to get more Jews into the NBA?"

There would be no "gay marriage" battles, because rather than transmogrifying a fundamental societal institution to make 1% of the population feel better about themselves we could provide a for-minority-only alternative like a domestic partnership  without pathetic cries of "Second Class Citizenship!"

There would be no outcry about Suppressing The Minority Vote because universal suffrage would be seen for the wackery that it is and everyone would know that voting was a privilege given to citizens who cared enough about it to fulfill the conditions for doing it. (Sorta like getting a driver's license.) 

There would be no alien invasion of tens of millions of Mexicans because the border would be well-marked and well-defended and if some Jose got shot while trying to cross in the middle of the night, the President's response would not be abject horror and sorrow but, "What's wrong with you, Jose? Can't you read the signs?"

There would be no Bloombergian bans on trans-fat or large sodas or visible packs of cigarettes because, well, it's none of his damn business and people like him would not be living there, much less in public office.

There would be no bans on public Christmas trees or crosses as national monuments or mentioning God on school grounds, which more than 85% of the population either loves, likes or is fine with, in order to satisfy the paranoia and vengefulness of a few secularized Jews or atheists.

The list in my head is longer...and much worse. But you get the idea.

I would take a little more reality and a little less insanity. But that's just me.
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*Justice Anthony Kennedy has suggested that same-sex-marriage bans are causing an identifiable harm right now. “On the other hand,” he continued, “there are some 40,000 children in California … that live with same-sex parents, and they want their parents to have full recognition and full status. The voice of those children is important in this case, don’t you think?” 

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