No doubt, the ever-growing number of socialists and Obama-backers among us will hate Hitchens for even suggesting that the hardworking, non-union waiter be chastised for being bad at his job, but when Lee-Jones opines in No Country For Old Men, that the demise of society isn't due to any one thing, likewise, every time you allow a car next to you to blast their music so loud it melts your brain, and every time you cut someone off at a red light, just to be the first in line (no one used to do that), and every time you allow your kid to infringe on the privacy of others, be it in a restaurant, or at the mall, by running around screaming, you are contributing, and complicit in the decline of this once-great civilization of ours. Rudy Giuliani cleaned up New York by enforcing the small, lifestyle laws, such as jaywalking and turnstile jumping, and the result was monumental. The big crimes were less likely to happen. It's not too late for us to save this country, but we must take it back one interaction at a time. You are not being tolerant when you allow others to misbehave. The life you save may be your own.

okaaay...is this just your laundry list of societal complaints in general? Because I'm not following the connections between ANY of the things you're ranting about. And oh, yes, everybody knows Obama-backers HATE getting good service at restaurants. Obviously.

And i'd love to know how you deal with people who play loud music in their car next to you. So you don't "allow" it? What do you do, threaten them with violence? Call the cops on the spot? I'm all ears.

As a secular agnostic I'm also goint not allow those damm Christians to control my life! I'm just not going to allow it!

As you understand the key is how to handle situations like someone playing their music too loud.

You hit the nail on the head. It comes down to whether we value the well-being of other people, and it's reflected in every little thing that we do.

What? Does this imply when my servers do not do their job a baby will be saved? Bad, bad servers.

Um...I'm confused
When did socialism or Obama backers come into this?

I thought it was about a crotchety old dude who didn't like his waiter because he thought he was being subtly chiseled by what he thinks is a crooked way to sell more wine disguised as etiquette.
Dude.
I know it is a prezzy election year, but these idées fixes of yours just kind of undermine your whole (really nice) Golden Rule thing with whiny paranoid right-wing assjackery. That stuff is just getting more boring by the day.
Take of your politico goggles for ten minutes willlya? Makes you sound nutty.
Just relax. Have a glass of wine. Let someone else pour it for you. It's nice, you know. I had this wine the other day — Green Wine they called it. With strawberries. Extremely life-affirming.
Cheers.

To some degree I agree with Mr. Hitchens. If it is obvious the waiter's motivation in pouring wine is to hurry one out the door, that is not good service.
I fail to see, however, how politics or union affiliation enters the equation.
Sicily9 reminds me of a pair of elder gentlemen at my workplace. They're always looking for any happening, non happening, statement or mood to inflict their political and religious views into the mix. As a result their work suffers and they come off as paranoid old geezers without a lick of sense.
Sicily9, how do you prevent a car next to you from blasting its music at mind-melting levels?
To a degree I also find some value in some of what you had to say, Sicily. Where we can reasonably do so, we are responsible for maintaining societal mores.
Misbehaving can be in the eye of the beholder, though. Suggesting people who support Mr. Obama are somehow responsible for the ruination of our society can be construed as bad behavior. As a responsible member of said society, I insist you either rethink your rude remarks or keep them to yourself.

Since you decided to start your post with the sort of name calling that we used to regard as rude here, I'd say you're as much a part of the problem as the anonymous guy blasing his music out of his car window.

I know Rush and his ilk have taken to calling Obama a socialist or a commie but I have yet to hear any of them backing up their name calling with facts. You have continued the dumbing down of America. If you consider someone a socialist when they are in favor of universal health care (like the rest of the idustrialized world) then sign me up.

Peace

j