Just a Thought

So, it's been awhile.  I've just spent two months in Morocco, and am still a tad out of it with regard to American politics.  I have been thinking, though.  When you travel around Morocco, you run into a lot of poverty, deprivation, and hopelessness.  In Tangier, a mute boy was basically forced to become a hustler because there's not that much there for the handicapped.  At the link, I discuss some serious problems found in Casablanca and Fez, two cities I spent time in.
 
What occurs to me in all this is how lucky we are as Americans to live in a country that is set up to give everyone an opportunity.  In Morocco, only relatively well-off families can usually afford to send their kids somewhere to learn English, for example, with all the career opportunities that opens up.  We have programs like social security and medicaid that are designed to give basic survival resources to people who need them.
 
Is it all perfect?  Of course not, which is why we continue to have fights over issues like health care.  However, one thing I noticed about all this is the role of the government as the expression of the American community trying to solve problems.  Over the years, Americans have decided we needed things like welfare and medicare and Stafford loans so as to make our communities stronger.  They are government programs, but modern examples of Abraham Lincoln's government of the people, by the people, and for the people. 
 
And this perhaps is a key difference between liberalism and conservatism - to a conservative, the key idea is freedom, and what we want is for everyone to basically leave each other alone (economically) in the theory that individuals can best survive on their own.  There are certainly times when that is good - I am a capitalist who doesn't like government regulation unless there is a clear need.  However, Morocco to me helped show that we do need each other, that we need to look out for each other and lift each other up because that's what helps keep America strong and full of hope.  And as we enter into the campaign season and try to articulate what we stand for other than opposition to President Bush, that's definitely something to keep in mind.