Iowa & Huckabee
I'm in Iowa, working as a front-line volunteer. It feels like "Private Wu reporting for duty--" in the sense of simply following orders as opposed to trying to decide anything. Its humbling and very cold. I'm surely not the first to say this but this is the most interesting election in years and its a thrill to get a first hand look. Today I went to a Huckabee event - I am fascinated by the man. He proceeded to give a speech that was almost exactly 50% left-wing and 50% right-wing by conventional terms, switching back and forth so quickly it was like watching a magician.
On the left-wing side, speaking of a poor 7-year old he had met while Governor, Huckabee, explained that we need to measure the progress of America by how the least well-off are doing.
"That boy," he explained, "needs better roads, better schools, and better health care... If he's doing okay then we can know the rest of us are doing fine."
I can't remember the last time I heard a Republican discuss the idea that we measure our progress by how we treat the worst off among us; despite the obvious fact that Christians are supposed to approach the world this way (seculars can rely on John Rawls for the same point).
But a minute later he was off on the sanctity of marriage, and the need to abolish the IRS. It was strange to watch. The appeal of Huckabee comes from the idea that has a set of beliefs that dictate his political views, as opposed to having political views that dictate his beliefs. That's also the appeal of Barack Obama and John McCain. And after 8 years during which supposed principles have been manipulated to achieve the grossest of political ends, its no surprise that these are the candidates that are flourishing, as opposed to the phonies.