scaledown » Artsies, lefties and righties

Artsies, lefties and righties

By Mark | November 11, 2010 |

Recently I posted a quote of a story I lifted from a columnist in the Toronto Sun. I posted what I thought was a harmless quote on my facebook site. (my new alternative outlet for my more contentious views, this not being one of them)

The stories goes that during the height of the War, the Finance Minister asked Winston Churchill to cut arts funding and Churchill responded “then what are we fighting for”

I incited a firestorm of posts calling out the quote as fake, “non sequitor” etc. etc. A RECORD 44 FACEBOOK COMMENTS RESULTED

So I looked into it. This is an extremely often repeated story that does in fact have NO source attributed to it.

But you know me, I couldn’t just let it die so I did find a Churchill quote that would support this type of view

What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone? How else can we put ourselves in harmonious relation with the great verities and consolations of the infinite and the eternal? And I avow my faith that we are marching towards better days. Humanity will not be cast down. We are going on swinging bravely forward along the grand high road and already behind the distant mountains is the promise of the sun.
Speech at Kinnaird Hall, Dundee, Scotland (”Unemployment”), October 10, 1908, in Liberalism and the Social Problem (1909), Churchill, Echo Library (2007),

Yet this was insufficient to appease my debate challenger who agreed that his position on the political spectrum was far right of Atilla the Hun.

He insisted that the policies of the left were proven failures and that the way to societal prosperity was obviously only on the right

Now, here, I think I hold probably the most fiscally conservative views on scaledown. I consider myself fiscally conservative, socially liberal but I’ve found my views very diverse depending the issue.

So I asked my decidely conservative friend, Where is this Conservative Utopia that displays this proven path to prosperety?

When it comes to the best places to live. Monocle Magazine who does the worlds most extensive research on the subject listed the top 5 as

Munich
Copenhagen
Zurich
Stockholm
Paris
Helsinki

My friend dismissed these as products of a bankrupt European economy, places that mortgage their economies to put on a good show.

However, the facts don’t support this view. I get the whole economic situation of the European Union, but the problems are the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain), they are hardly the problems of economic successes of Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and Sweden.

This is not to say that we should spend recklessly on social programs, we need to provide value for money. The U.S. actually spends more on health care than most of us but it is wasted money. The U.S. doesn’t include Prison as a social spending but when you house, feed and cloth that high of your population, how else should you view it?

I have yet to win my friend over to my belief that you cannot look through the left right paradigm anymore to decide where to sit.

I challenge anyone who disagrees to name that paragon of conservative values that can be held up as an example of a success story we should emulate

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