Flip-flopping

Much political hay is made of the fact that John Kerry has periodically changed his position on various issues. His opponents call this “flip-flopping” and accuse him of lacking the steadfast conviction that supposedly characterizes a true leader. Setting aside the instances in which Kerry has waffled for purely political reasons, I believe he is to be commended for having views that evolve. It strikes me as the mark of a thoughtful person that he or she can take in new information and form fresh opinions. I used to believe, for instance, that I could learn to breathe underwater; where would I be today—drowned—if I hadn’t changed my mind?

I’ve modified my beliefs about all sorts of things and I’m not ashamed to say so. Or maybe I am. No, I’m not. Anyway, you see my point. Or perhaps you don’t.

Back in the day, I believed that humanity’s highest achievement in the musical realm was Led Zepplin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” Subsequent to that I worshipped King Crimson’s “Larks Tongues in Aspic.” Am I flip-flopper because now I maintain that neither of those artists are fit to carry Mahler’s metronome case?

As a teenager, I was a resolute devotee of Ayn Rand. I argued vociferously for the “virtue” of selfishness and fancied myself cut from the same cloth as Rand’s Howard Roark. Nowadays, I’m far more aligned with the Utilitarian philosopher, Peter Singer, who claims that if we can stop something bad from happening without sacrificing something comparable moral worth, we should. This would imply that selfishness is NOT the highest good. And I’m supposed to be chastised as a waffler for no longer believing that?

F. Scott Fitzgerald said that the mark of intelligence is the ability to hold two contrasting ideas in the mind simultaneously; perhaps that it too much to ask of our political leaders. It would be great though, to have a President who could at least hold contrasting views consecutively.