Poor Alan Keyes

I'm sorry, this guy amuses me to no end. Liberal bloggers in general are having a field day with him, from his reverse on running for office out of state, his comparing to abortion votes to beign a slaveholder, etc (links to follow). He happily starts a discussion of jobs boosting programs with natural law. You can't make this stuff up.

And as an overly philosophical person, it occured to me where he's coming from. America is very guilty of claiming to lofty fundamental principles, that have nothing to do with our actual political decision making. Alan Keyes is like this poor little nerd who believes everything the teachers say. He goes to debate club and makes all these wonderful little points - but would never imagine why someone like George Bush is more convincing to the average American.

Yes we act like Thomas Jefferson's ideals in the Declaration of Independence are what drive us, and we our proud of famous documents from the Constitution to the Emancipation. But that's not us. Even most politically active people don't read Locke, let alone Rosseau or Hobbes or Aquinas. They're just lofty window dressing, used to defend points made in the modern world based on economic sectors, special interest groups, and campaign effectiveness.

But Keyes doesn't know this (and having taken the same Political Philosophy classes he did while he was at Harvard, I can see why). He really thinks America should be more swayed in the issue of property taxes by what Locke said regarding God's laws, than by their economic situation. I feel a deep empathy for him, as a geeky kid sitting at some lunch table while trying to make intelligent comments and defend himself from neanderthal insults - completely unaware of the actual social dynamic regarding humor and displays of confidence that is going on.

So if you see Alan Keyes today, hug him.