The Sun Does Political Philosophy
In today’s number one soaraway Sun:
SIXTEEN Page 3 Girls in all their glory represent the very image of freedom in this country.
But if Labour or the Lib Dems win the election, this could be the last time they are allowed to pose together.
MPs Harriet Harman and Lynne Featherstone will move swiftly to change the law and ban Page 3 forever.
Our national treasures – who even enjoy the Royal seal of approval from our future King Prince Charles – will be no more.
And at a stroke the very liberties that put the Great into Great Britain will be torn asunder.
The radical ideas of the 17th-century philosopher John Locke helped shape our freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights and, later, America’s Constitution.
Lib Dem frontbencher Featherstone was cheered by women’s rights activists when she declared she would “love to take on Page 3″.
But our Poppy said: “The basis of Lockean thought is his theory of the Contract of Government, under which all political power is a trust for the benefit of the people.
“His thinking underpins our ideas of national identity and society. Please don’t let those who seek to ban our beauty win. Vote to save Page 3!”
Poppy isn’t the only page three lovely who has immersed herself in the classics of modern Anglophone political thought.
Katie has opined that, “As the sixth US president John Quincy Adams said, ‘Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.’ My thoughts entirely.”
And Hollie “thinks Gordon Brown’s hated NI rise shatters the three basic laws of economics”. She said: “As guru Adam Smith wrote in his seminal The Wealth of Nations, they are: a free economy, free marketing and laissez-faire government. That means Hands Off, Gordy.” [via WJ]
Ah, but has “Hollie” read the Theory of the Moral Sentiments?
↓ Quote | Posted 5 May, 2010, 5:04 pm(And also — given the principle enunciated, one would think “Katie” more likely to vote Green than Tory?)
Otherwise, though, that makes sense — I can see how one could get directly from the Lockean notion of government-as-trust to defending the great British institution of having a bit of totty on p. 3.
It’s also nice to see that the Sun and its erudite models also cover Comparative Politics:
↓ Quote | Posted 5 May, 2010, 5:06 pm‘BECKY is concerned by the prospect of electoral reform in a hung parliament. She said: “In legislatures with proportional representation, minority or coalition government is often the norm. I’d hate to live in a country like Italy that has had 61 governments in 65 years – even if I do love Italian food.”‘
Yes, Becky started the trend, I think. You can see a scan of the 27 April paper over here.
↓ Quote | Posted 5 May, 2010, 5:09 pmIt does have the virtue of making very clear that what the Sun is basically interested in is free markets, free markets and free markets.
↓ Quote | Posted 5 May, 2010, 7:25 pmAnd tits.
↓ Quote | Posted 5 May, 2010, 8:49 pmI was actually going to add “even the tits come second” but I thought “no, this is a classier blog than that…”
↓ Quote | Posted 6 May, 2010, 7:39 am