The story we see in this chapter is the interview of a woman named Janice who tells us a lot of her political views. She explains her beliefs about how individuals should have more autonomy when it comes to their own lives but how the federal government is too invested in things that she believes shouldn’t be their jurisdiction. As she puts it “we live in a free country, but not that free.” We can also see where she gets her feelings of loyalty to capitalism as she opens the chapter talking about how we already have a fair minimum wage despite democrat complaints about it, she feels this way because she was able to climb the ladder of capitalism and they could to if they worked hard enough. Janice essentially shows us where the classic republican opinions seem to come from.
The belief that popped out to me most was her opinion on gun control, that there shouldn’t be any. She believes everyone should own a gun and ammunition and unlike the typical reasoning that private citizens must be able to stand against a tyrannical government she feels guns would help people solve their own problems without a need to involve the government. This has a certain”frontier” logic to it where it would be best if we could all solve our own problems with other citizens, my only question would be what do you do when someone starts shooting rather than talking. She also believes that if people refuse to work then they should be allowed to starve and go homeless, odd that this opinion came right after their visit to the church. I wouldn’t contest the opinion of her’s so much if not for the fact that I am, unsure who she would define as refusing to work vs who you might define as unable to. However, I do see her point as people should do their best to put as much into the system they can especially when they plan to take out of it later. Her last opinion that got to me was her opinion that if someone is gay she doesn’t care so long as they don’t “push it” on her. What pushing it on her means is that they shouldn’t be expressing herself, they should keep their personal life private. I found it ironic how she wants others to staunch their own first amendment rights after the all the defense for personal freedoms and you’re only owed what you make.
I think the most compelling part of the story was when we saw why she had such a loyalty to capitalism and an aversion to social programs. The two things aren’t black and white, there have been a great deal of good from capitalism. A lot of people have benefitted from the laissez-faire system that allowed them to build their own wealth. I can see why they want everyone to be smart enough to do well in their system and make a pretty enough penny that they do not need to pay such high taxes. After all, taxes kinda suck.
Hollow_Archeology 