Jim Taylor’s Weblog

Steve Roney was a little kinder: “Your argument, of course, is not new, Jim. It is the classic argument for aristocracy, and it carried the day in most parts of the word for many centuries. The premise was and is that the average person simply isn\’t competent to make decisions regarding government and the welfare of the state.
        “It still makes some sense. The classic objections to aristocracy, though, are also familiar:
1. If all people are created equal, all have an equal right to control their own destiny, in moral terms, regardless of how well others feel they choose.
2. Limiting the vote by class inevitably perpetuates the class system, and therefore keeps the poor poor and the powerless powerless.
3. Once you restrict the vote to only one class, that class has an incentive to govern only in their own interests, rather than in the interests of the whole, and no outside check against that tendency.
3. Historically, regardless of theory, democracies seem to be more efficient and successful than aristocracies in the competion among nations, automatically disproving the aristocracies\’ own stated raison d\’etre.”

Finally, then, a letter from Dale Perkins: “As always you bring in helpful and valid observations and comments. I don\’t disagree with any of the questions raised or the ethical quandaries you present. There are no easy answers, simply answers that come through engagement.
        “I realize my conviction is that upholding rights is too often a shorthanded way of excusing us from making decisions… If rights and responsibilities are enshrined (and I expect all of us need that to exist as a society) then decision-making is softened or eliminated as a necessary process each of us is required to undergo. Your examples: if voting is considered a responsibility and a right then do we enshrine both into law? That both makes it easier to comply, but takes away freedom to decide for ourselves. Driving a car — lots of responsibilities there as well as rights — however driving always requires decision-making. If we aren\’t able to decide we\’re dangerous. What are the song-lyrics – \’freedom\’s just another word for nothing left to lose\’?
        “Same for having children/parenting. And what about advertising and promoting? \’Free marketeers\’ hate it when people make decisions on their own, without being influenced by the messages pumped out constantly by that industry. Corporate bosses hate democracy for the same reason — they don\’t want people to be actively engaged in making decisions themselves (using their values, convictions, beliefs as determinants) — they want consumers only, operating from a shallow level of wants and demands…
        “For voting, the more the actors in this field operate according to the same dictums, then that process degenerates as well. That, I think, is the root of the current malaise — we\’ve allowed politics and the political process to degenerate into opinion polls, and contests for brand loyalty and spin.
        “I think that\’s all we really can offer ourselves and one another — the capacity to make decisions all the time. When we chose to exercise it then the possibility of life is enhanced.
        “Oh, the human condition is a marvellous thing!”

Doug Pickett indulged in a small rant, prompted by Bryan St. George\’s letter last week that claimed that only evangelical Christians were true Christians.
        “I\’d like to ask Mr. St. George for his definition of \’Canadian,\’ Doug write, in part. “Is there only one kind of \’true Canadian?\’
        “Categorization is a cognitive tool that is enormously useful to our understanding of our life and world. It is a major device of the scientific method. But it can be very much like the proverbial double-edged sword. While it can advance our knowledge — and our wisdom — it can also stop that advance in its tracks.”

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About My Paraphrases



Occasionally, I get frustrated by the Bible. Not usually by the message, which is timeless, but by the language and metaphor. Contemporary translations update the language, but not the metaphor, so the text still expects us to respond to images of deserts and tents, camels and droughts, kings and concubines. What we\’ve learned since the Bible was written — about psychology and evolution, about quantum physics and astronomy, computers and fossil fuels – is simply left out.
        At such times, I start paraphrasing. I don\’t pretend that these paraphrases rely on new translations of original texts. They are, rather, my way of writing what I think the original writers might have said IF they lived today. Sometimes I stick close to the traditional versification; sometimes I take liberties.
        My paraphrase of Paul\’s letter to the Romans attempts to put Paul\’s sometimes convoluted words — and argument — into a contemporary setting. If Paul were writing today, to the Christian church, I\’m not sure he\’d worry as much about the failure of the Jews to follow Christ as about the failure of Christians to follow Christ, so I have rephrased in those terms. I suspect he would also make use of quotations from the Gospels — which of course didn\’t exist when he wrote his letters — rather than using quotations from the only scriptures he had available, which we call the Old Testament.
        About 200 people have requested the paraphrase of Romans, as an electronic file.
        I now have two new paraphrases available, for Ecclesiastes and Job. Ecclesiastes sticks pretty much to the biblical flow of verses – though with, I hope, some sense of humour. Job cuts 42 chapters down to about three pages. I found the speeches in Job interminable; the only way I could make sense of the various characters\’ verbal meanderings was to turn them into television sound-bites.
        I\’m making these available the same way as Romans – on the honor system. You send me an e-mail and request the file you want. I\’ll send it. If you like it, and want to keep it, you send me a cheque for $5 by snail mail. If you don\’t like it, simply erase it from your hard disk and send nothing.