Dear Prof. Stanley Kurtz,
I am hoping that you are fine. I am writing to you in response to your article in Forbes Magazine and perhaps a book with the title: “How Obama is robbing suburbs to pay for the cities” (link included below). I read this article with much pain in my heart. I am not intending to drum sentimentalism here but to share with you my honest feelings about the so-called Conservative values espoused in this article, considering how skillfully you presented your case/ observation.
I am not an American
but I may qualify as a global citizen. I find glaring and widespread social
inequalities and inequities in most of the communities where I have visited and
worked in public life. I suppose that most of these inequalities are socially
and historically entrenched and in your country, it is even etched in America’s
over 400 years of brutal history. I have seen the poor people and I have failed
to understand how the right wing American Conservatives, somehow, constantly
blame these wretched of the earth, for their predicament.
I think as a Health
Promoter and someone who is neither democrat, conservative nor liberal, I find
that the main cause of insecurity in the world is desperation as a consequence
of deprivation (unequal distribution and access to resources). And we know that
our society is one that is not a perfect one, it is that made of balanced acts
in life (the poor, very poor, the rich, wealthy, middle class, thieves,
scoundrels, jesters etc). This variation is in itself the reality of the
inequalities that humanity endures. There is no utopia or exception anywhere on
earth. So, the conservatives should face this reality with much courage!
Now, from your
article, you make it obvious that there are no poor in suburban America. I
would like to contest this misleading attitude. Most Conservatives make it
sounds as though by the order of providence, only the middle class and the 1%
occupy American suburbs, such that any attempts to alleviate the social
conditions of the urbanites (read the poor) constitute a major violation of the
conservative conscience.
I read that you are
interested in ethics and position of religion in modern society. I wonder how
you would interpret Kantian ethics, due diligence or utilitarian ethics for me
as someone who is passionate about uplifting and alleviating humans from the
humiliating poverty and destitution in which they are ensnared - a fate that
they may not have willingly chosen. Are there Conservative thinkers who really
believe in the principles of Health Promotion in America?
I think and I believe
that you will be enticed to rethink, that whatever the actions taken by those
community mobilizers in Chicago, including Barack Obama, were noble causes – a
compassionate cause to reduce, arrest, revert or deter the institutional
perpetuation of inequalities - for those people who are already powerless
(lacked the means to access education, legal representation, property rights,
justice etc). I contend that the reason why most of you so-called middle class
people are ensconced in surburbia is the paranoia of the destitute. It is also
that strange greed (sense of utter entitlement), where those who have are
afraid to share openly and honestly with those who don’t. But how do people
like you accrue so much wealth, control so much resources and wield so much
power without exploitation of workers and those consumers in the abyss of
society? In other words, most of the entrepreneurs reach out to the
impoverished to procure their labour and/or compromise their virtues.
It is also strange
but true that the typical right wing Conservative is obsessed with Christian
and family values and yet, ironically, they do not walk the Christian talk. So,
when I hear John McCain, Paul Ryan, Sarah Palin, Limbaugh and all the right
wing Conservatives disparage and make mockery of the poor, I feel the strange
wiggling of the Christ in utter protest.
I think that the
Obama administration has performed remarkably well in light of the government
they inherited from the Republicans. In as far as reducing the loopholes that
permit exploitation, especially on Wall Street and in small alleys, they have
done remarkably well. They have reversed to some significant extent the threat
of foreclosures. But you cannot blame the Obama administration for outsourcing
of American jobs overseas that created the foray of joblessness either. Neither
can you blame him for being a modern day Robinhood simply for helping in
alleviating urban destitution.
Otherwise, I enjoyed
reading your well articulated article. I only felt that you were not being
intellectually honest and socially compassionate for blaming Obama for his role
as community mobilizer. I hope this piece will be received in good faith. I
must state that I have been humbled in composing this email to you and it
represents my very honest opinion
END
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