Saturday, October 14, 2006
It's the hypocrisy, stupid!
The Swedish pack-hunt scandal over the cabinet members who haven't paid their TV license fee is still moving. (Yes, they tax tv sets in Sweden - and this in the OECD country with the highest taxes already!)
(Here is a quick intro for the foreign visitors who are not up-to-date with the story.)
Now, a Swedish professor in Political Science - Ulf Bjereld (a former member of the Swedish "Communist Marxist-Leninist Revolutionary Party" and nowadays a "reformed" member of the Swedish Labor Party) has vehemently attacked the cabinet members over their supposed hypocrisy. In national newspapers and in his recent blog posts ("It's the hypocrisy that angors", in Swedish) he practises mudslinging on the highest level by trying to depict them as political villains, petty-thieves only interested in getting away with tax evasion and lowering taxes for their own benefit at the same time.
But the shit has certainly hit the fan, and ... blown it back in his face. We can think what we want about the license fee and taxes. Bjereld apparently favors high taxation. I don't. We certainly come from very different ideological backgrounds. And that's just fine too. We can debate eachother all we want. But it is sad, downright stupid, when a professor in Pol Sci is getting up on the high piedestal of morals and throws out judgements on a political party he personally opposes. That is simply to play silly politics with science.
And - about the shit blowing back in his face. Since Bjereld is a faithful, organised Christian (funny thing, so am I!) he should know about the passage in John 8:7 - let the one without guilt throw the first stone. 'Cause now it also appears that the three Moderate right-wing cabinet members are in good company. Fifty (51!) MP's from the Labor party (Social democrats) have not paid their tv license fees! (Do they all live without a tv, I wonder? Is it reasonable to assume that you can be a politician in 2006 and not own a single tv-set?)
I must admit, I haven't read too many of Bjereld's books. But I can bet my sweet little behind that he agrees with most political scientists in the idea that civil disobedience has strong backing from a wide range of political theorists (in order - left to right) : Poulantzas, Dworkin, Rawls, Nozick. So why is it such a bad thing if non-socialist politicians get in on the disobedience action? Is it because they are just that - non-socialists?
From my vantage point, two Swedish bloggers have covered this issue in a much more analytical way than the Pol Sci-professor. Gudmundson points out that the reluctance to pay amongst members of the Moderate party in fact is a part of a civil disobedience approach to the whole issue of Public Service. His conclusion is also very straight-forward: The cabinet members should address this issue - and acknowledge that they find it immoral to pay, or simply resign. Johan Norberg has written down a nice argument for exactly why it is morally dubious to accept paying a license for a tv-set. I couldn't agree more.
So - for all foreigners who don't know why Public Service is just another word for government sponsored propaganda you might want to read a few articles. I've written about it here, here, here, here, here and here (and also here, and here).
(Here is a quick intro for the foreign visitors who are not up-to-date with the story.)
Now, a Swedish professor in Political Science - Ulf Bjereld (a former member of the Swedish "Communist Marxist-Leninist Revolutionary Party" and nowadays a "reformed" member of the Swedish Labor Party) has vehemently attacked the cabinet members over their supposed hypocrisy. In national newspapers and in his recent blog posts ("It's the hypocrisy that angors", in Swedish) he practises mudslinging on the highest level by trying to depict them as political villains, petty-thieves only interested in getting away with tax evasion and lowering taxes for their own benefit at the same time.
But the shit has certainly hit the fan, and ... blown it back in his face. We can think what we want about the license fee and taxes. Bjereld apparently favors high taxation. I don't. We certainly come from very different ideological backgrounds. And that's just fine too. We can debate eachother all we want. But it is sad, downright stupid, when a professor in Pol Sci is getting up on the high piedestal of morals and throws out judgements on a political party he personally opposes. That is simply to play silly politics with science.
And - about the shit blowing back in his face. Since Bjereld is a faithful, organised Christian (funny thing, so am I!) he should know about the passage in John 8:7 - let the one without guilt throw the first stone. 'Cause now it also appears that the three Moderate right-wing cabinet members are in good company. Fifty (51!) MP's from the Labor party (Social democrats) have not paid their tv license fees! (Do they all live without a tv, I wonder? Is it reasonable to assume that you can be a politician in 2006 and not own a single tv-set?)
I must admit, I haven't read too many of Bjereld's books. But I can bet my sweet little behind that he agrees with most political scientists in the idea that civil disobedience has strong backing from a wide range of political theorists (in order - left to right) : Poulantzas, Dworkin, Rawls, Nozick. So why is it such a bad thing if non-socialist politicians get in on the disobedience action? Is it because they are just that - non-socialists?
From my vantage point, two Swedish bloggers have covered this issue in a much more analytical way than the Pol Sci-professor. Gudmundson points out that the reluctance to pay amongst members of the Moderate party in fact is a part of a civil disobedience approach to the whole issue of Public Service. His conclusion is also very straight-forward: The cabinet members should address this issue - and acknowledge that they find it immoral to pay, or simply resign. Johan Norberg has written down a nice argument for exactly why it is morally dubious to accept paying a license for a tv-set. I couldn't agree more.
So - for all foreigners who don't know why Public Service is just another word for government sponsored propaganda you might want to read a few articles. I've written about it here, here, here, here, here and here (and also here, and here).
