Doing Their Roots

Now, as a defense against calls for an immediate cease fire, conservatives--at least the Administration variety--embrace the addressing of "root causes".
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

"We want to address the root causes of violence in the area", President Bush said of the Mideast today (Tuesday). Interesting. It's not so long ago that "root causes" was a sneer-phrase aimed by conservatives at liberals who shunned the Right's anti-crime measures (tougher sentences, limits on parole, etc) because the liberals (snicker) wanted to attack the "root causes" of delinquent behavior. Now, as a defense against calls for an immediate cease fire, conservatives--at least the Administration variety--embrace the addressing of "root causes". Another lesson in how each side of the political debate seizes on or rejects approaches and theories as their needs dictate, not with any sense of logical consistency (the hobgoblin of small minds, of course).

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot