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I think they're waiting to see when it'll all hit bottom (kinda like the real estate market now)! Every so often one of them pops up as a voice for moderation, but they seem to immediately get beat down by the "base", as self-described "moderate conservative" David Brooks recently was: American Thinker: NYT's David Brooks and 'Moderate Conservative' Journalism,
where he and his kind are described as "passionless", "self-adoring" and "navel gazing", and (not surprisingly) they even quote Revelations 3.16, ""Since you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit you out of my mouth."!
Traditional conservative and sci-fi author David Brin has posed the same question you have, and his conclusion is not very encouraging either. Although he seems to lay much of the blame on Rupert Murdoch, neocon "think tanks", and Cato Institute "Libertarians", along with the nature of congressional elections, which only seems to increase GOP radicalism.
mateo45, thanks for the pleasant surprise -- I'm eager to read the Brin article.
Ive tried to find a definitive appellation for this version of conservative Republican. I've seen "traditional conservative" and "Eisenhower conservative"; Rush Limbaugh refers to "the country club blue-blood moderate Republicans," scorned in favor of "firebrand conservatives." I can see where David Brooks's "moderate conservative" is just asking for it from the firebrand boys.
Cato Inst. libertarians -- brings to mind PJ O'Rourke. Maybe pretty close, for the modern day....
Bachelors degrees are worthless now a days. Unless you have a masters or doctorate, you're better off working right out of high school, unless you're on a scholly.
um what?? They are useless if you screw around all throughout your schooling and get nearly passing grades, lol, seriously though. Yes, there are still businesses that will hire you in and promote within the company, but they are few and far between. Of the friends i had from highschool, the only ones really having any successes with life are those that are about to get their 4 year degrees. My best friend got a job before he even graduated, i have another friend who is in school, not even working towards any certain degree (going to a community college) and he got hired over like 20 other applicants because he has college credits under his belt. I also know a person with a 2 year IT degree and had to turn down two offers because he had something better lined up, (better offer). In todays market place its difficult to say the least to try to even get your foot in the door without some kind of schooling. Really, i love school, i love class, i love learning, i like listening to some lectures, and being in a classroom is generally a good time. There are fiscally responsible ways to go to college, its just many to choose them. Does college make you smart, no, but you should learn a crap ton
So many people seem to equate education with intelligence. I have advanced degrees but that does not necessarily make me more intelligent than someone who just graduated from high school. It only shows that I was intelligent enough to get an advanced degree.
The people that I have a problem with are the people that know absolutely nothing but state with such certainity that they know everything for a fact.
"I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing." Socrates.
Never mind what I said about going to college. You probably would have learned the above quote if you had gone and would be a lot better off for having learned it.
Bachelors degrees are worthless now a days. Unless you have a masters or doctorate, you're better off working right out of high school, unless you're on a scholly.
I disagree. Bachelors degrees can open many doors plus the process of getting one can open many minds. It's win-win.
Someone said that a Bachelor's degree is useless these days... this is absolutely not true... Many hiring Mananager's in the know realize that the ability to problem solve and think critically are enhanced by a Liberal Arts degree. It is called transferable skills, the ability to think independantly and with little direction. Technical skills are much easier taught!
If you want to become specialized in a field such as Medicine, Law and Engineering etc than yes -post graduate specializing is required but there are a plethora of jobs where a Bachelor's degree does just fine!
So many people seem to equate education with intelligence. I have advanced degrees but that does not necessarily make me more intelligent than someone who just graduated from high school. It only shows that I was intelligent enough to get an advanced degree.
The people that I have a problem with are the people that know absolutely nothing but state with such certainity that they know everything for a fact.
"I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing." Socrates.
Never mind what I said about going to college. You probably would have learned the above quote if you had gone and would be a lot better off for having learned it.
I am intelligent enough to know that intelligence and education aren't the same thing. However, I work with a group of RNs and CNAs (certified nursing assistants) and I can assure you the RNs know more, even though the CNAs may be just as intelligent.
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
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Originally Posted by jfre81
You didn't see the point well enough, or at least I was interpreting this to be on an island without modern amenities. This wasn't about who'd do better if they were airlifted into Los Angeles.
There are places in the world where real life today isn't much different from what it was 100 or 200 years ago.
But that's the difference between life hundreds of years ago and the modern world. Everything now requires much more than "Survivor"-style, wilderness survival skills... it requires constant learning. That may be college, it may be online training, it might be trade schools.... but it's still "education".
And these days, doing anything less pretty much relegates you to the underclass... socially, financially, and politically. Which is why "red" states and counties are not only the poorest, they're also the least educated, lowest-skilled, and the largest consumers of welfare & social services. They used to be able to get by when there was still alot of manufacturing in this country, but not anymore. And since that's been replaced by a low-wage service economy, they're competing with cheap immigrant labor now, so you'll also hear alot of the "damn illegals" sentiment coming from those folks. But that's another thread....
I could see your point, if we were only 5 guys, and stuck on an island. But obviously real life today ain't like that (unless your computer was made by "a hunter with a 3rd grade education" or "a mechanic with rudimentary engineering skills").
Sure it is, I brought a similar discussion up once on another forum and you'd be surprised how many people do not have simple basic life skills. Without these people the world will fall apart, certainly many people with education could learn these skills but they are still won't be able to replace those that already have them.
I've seen both ends of it so I think I have pretty good perspective. I've been swinging a hammer since I was about 3 <not an exaggeration> but can also make my away around PHP programming, MySQL, HTML etc.
I had a guy that lived next to me with absolutely no mechanical skills at all that was very educated and if all these people stopped doing the things that supported him quite frankly I think he'd die. Truthfully I don't think he had the mental capacity to even begin to acquire these skills because his brain just didn't work that way. I helped him fix a lot a minor things and he didn't learn anything...
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
8,852 posts, read 10,462,476 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thecoalman
Sure it is, I brought a similar discussion up once on another forum and you'd be surprised how many people do not have simple basic life skills. ...I helped him fix a lot a minor things and he didn't learn anything...
BTW, I agree with you there. I'm appalled too at the number of folks, especially younger men (!), who don't have even the most rudimentary mechanical skills or even the inclination to learn! Am assuming it comes from living in a disposable culture.
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That's 100% true.
