Emotion vs. Logic

I am not in this post, for once I admit, going to attack the Left and their looney ideas...oops, just can’t help myself I guess. Instead, I intend to look at certain issues and point out the two major reactions to each. These reactions will be labeled as: 1) Emotional, and 2) Logical.
If you are a Leftist Commie or a Progressive Socialist and you, for whatever reason, see yourself or your views in the Emotional reaction, please believe no insult is intended. It is, of course, in actuality intended, but please at least believe it is not.
So here we go...
The issue of terrorism has once again exploded to the forefront of international dialogue. Terrorism is the great evil, the Olympian struggle, of our time. Even most Lefties will not argue this. Well, some may argue that it is in actuality America herself that poses the greatest danger. But let us, for the moment at least, act as if this is not their true belief.
So what to do about terrorism?
How are we to face the fear that is the threat of terrorism?
Well, we could face it Emotionally, and thus allow it to succeed. We could live our lives in fear. Hide from the reality of the threat.
We could attempt to appease and pacify our enemies, feeling our concessions would surely end the fight. Relieving our fears in the present and naively hoping for a more peaceful future. We could do these things, we could ask how we feel.
Or we could act Logically.
We could face the truth of the enemy we fight. Understand that it is our culture and the fact that we will not walk lock step to Islam that is the root of their hatred. Not Guantanamo, not Iraq, but ourselves. Understand our choices are to become Muslim, fight, or die.
And understand one must face terror with anger, steadfastness, and an unwavering will.
Terrorism does not end with appeasement, it thrives on it. It feeds on weakness. Inaction is weakness. Concessions, weakness. Hiding our heads on the sand, weakness. Terrorists rely on weakness and are emboldened by it.
If a bully is not faced, he does not quit bullying. If given a quarter, he remembers his prey. This day and the next.
The logical mind knows these things. It learns from experience. And it remembers to ask, ‘What is my experience?’
So what is next in our investigation? How about poverty?
The Emotional response to poverty, again is to ask, ‘How does poverty make me feel?’ Of course, the answer is, ‘Bad’. And how do I feel better?
By throwing money at the problem. By statements such as...‘That man is poor, he just needs more money’. ‘We need more government programs to cure this terrible problem’. ‘Only Mother Government can save those poor souls’. “We will throw a concert, mount a protest!’
Of course, after the hysterics and the tax hikes the Emotional person feels better...personally.
But the Logical response to poverty is to look to history. To look at experience.
The welfare state has been around for decades. Yet poverty remains. Does it make sense, then, to keep trying to fix the problem with more money?
The Logical mind sees money is not the solution. To give a poor man money without changing the very thing that keeps him poor in the first places give you what? The same poor man, broke again at the end of the week.
The cure is personal change. A lust for knowledge. Individual drive. The power of will. Ceasing those actions that keep one poor. Doing those things that bring one wealth. Can government dictate any of these things? No. But that person can.
This is the Logical response.
Next, let us look at the embarrassing state of government schools. You know, that money hole of ever declining test scores.
The Emotional reaction is to ask, ‘What do I feel?’ ‘We need to pump more money in, of course’. ‘There just aren’t enough teachers’. ‘Classes are too large’. ‘A computer for every student, that will do it!’ ‘Or college-like sprawling campuses’. ‘Our children are not lazy, George Bush is starving their intellectual hunger!’
Now the Logical reaction. Why are the scores so low? How can we do better? Is money the only solution?
What is my experience?
Let’s see, what is it that most causes progress? Hmmm...In corporate , defense, and technical fields it often times is competition. Competition, could it work in schools? Well, government schools surely are a monopoly, and monopolies often breed stagnation. But competition, in contrast, brings with it innovation, evolution, cost-cutting. So maybe competition is just the thing. Maybe school vouchers?
Lastly, let us look at the issue of Social Security. How do we fix it? Should we fix it? Is it even broken?
The Emotional reaction, as always 'What do I feel?' And the answer as it often is, is Fear. ‘I am afraid I will lose my retirement security’. ‘I am afraid to take personal responsibility for my own retirement’. ‘I am afraid of the markets’. ‘I fear George Bush and his cronies on Wall Street will steal my money’. “I am afraid of life’.
And thus it is fear that causes the denial of the problem that is Social Security as it is now constructed. The denial of it’s present predicament, it’s future disaster. The denial that the program has really been doomed from it's very onset. Fear causes denial, denial promises safety, until...disaster.
And the Logical reaction-What is my experience?
‘I want my money to be there when I retire. The present system promises me nothing. How do I assure my money will be there?’
By looking at the facts.
By admitting there is a problem. It does no good to ignore problems. They rarely improve by ignoring them.
And then, of course, by action.
It is Logical to deem that Mother Government can not spend(or save for that matter) our money better than we, ourselves. Experience has shown us this. Then why should we allow her to snatch our money under the behest of keeping it safe for us for our retirements, when we can do much better ourselves? We shouldn’t. And I know if I had the power, I wouldn’t. It is illogical.
And since I do not indeed possess such power. The power to protect my own paycheck, what else can I really do?
Well, I can at least get an account with my actual name on it. An account that is mine and cannot be pilfered by some unnamed politician, for a statue... of a walrus... in Nome. Or some other such petty tripe. At least cede me this.
So there we have it...
What do I feel? What is my experience? The Right or the Left. Conservative or Progressive. Emotion or Logic. The choices are there, the answers are yours.

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes