I frequently post on a comment board on my local newspaper’s online edition. Although I try to post what are primarily information comments. Some of which later show up here. The responses I receive are generally respectful even in disagreement. There are a few however, who can’t or won’t so limit their responses. Such terms as “hack,” “tin-foil hat wearer,” “libertarian worshiper” and worse frequently appear. Such pejoratives are used as blanket condemnations of me on a personal level, without either explanation of why such conclusions are reached or even the most basic attempt to counter or refute the position I took that elicited the reaction. So a couple of days ago I posted the below comments directed towards this group, that I in general refer to the “usual suspects”:
“I worship no one but my lord and savior Jesus Christ. (A practice you so frequently denigrate) I post no Republican "talking points." When they are right they are right, when they are wrong they are wrong. I call them as I see them. The same applies to the Democrats. But then, I do post points of substance, and that is exactly what you can't stand. The thought that others may apply their own critical thinking and reach conclusions different than yours it what you find so frightening. Such fear leads you to try and project you very own deficiencies onto me. The left’s drunken delusions of liberal utopia that they thought that simply electing Obama would bring to fruition have turned to chimera it but a flash of time and it enrages you. So go ahead and attack me all you want, vent your spleen until you are bled white for all I care. I have all the confidence I need that the political turmoil and financial manipulations of which I have complained and results of which I have predicted are about to merge into the breaking point of an exponential curve (there’s that pesky combination of engineering and history stuff again) that will accelerate out of control very quickly. When exactly? I can’t and won’t predict. But I do feel the winds of the flapping wings of a Black Swan, where and when it will land is anybody’s guess.”
This, predictably, brought forth the usual vituperations, accusations of arrogance and projection those of us on the conservative side of things have come to expect.
We must stand fast with the courage of our convictions and understand that there will always be people who are incapable of critical thinking, who are locked into a myopic partisan mindset that can only be defended by mindless regurgitation of what they have been taught. It is this shallow intellectual structure of learning “what to think” as opposed to learning “how to think” that renders them unwilling, if not incapable, of considering new information or different perspective. For them anything that demonstrates that what they have been taught to be true is no longer valid must be viciously condemned and rejected out of hand, as unworthy of even consideration. Remember the very last thing they want is for others to think for themselves, to examine both sides of an argument and reach their own conclusions.
Such resistance structures of pathological rigid thinking can only stand for so long. Although as viewed from the inside its walls may appear to stand strong, especially to those who dwell solely within them, they are blind to the erosion of the foundation from outside currents, events and facts that will inevitably lead to their collapse. Sadly many of the inhabitants inside such structures, will, even after its collapse, insist that the disaster was not because it was built on unstable ground or was eroded by changing events and new revelations, but because so many others refused to dwell within its walls.
And this is when we must be most guardred, because when such foundations of thought are torn away it can lead to an instability that feels justified in resorting to violence.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
On Wisconsin!
It’s fitting if not ironic that Wisconsin, the birthplace of the public employee union may well become its burial ground as well. Maybe we should call what is unfolding there the “Nightshade Revolution,” as they seem to be poisoning themselves by the consumption of the fruits of their own corruption.
So then I have a few questions for our liberal and union friends that are in need of answers.
1. How is it not corrupt, if not morally incestuous, for public employee unions to use the state to forcefully expropriate dues from its compulsory members and then use those dues to elect the very politicians with whom they negotiate their contracts?
2. Is it simply beyond the intellectual capabilities of the left to see the hypocrisy of chanting for freedom and democracy while attempting to block a vote by duly elected representatives? Or that Democrat State Senators have fled from the democratic process because they know they will lose that vote?
3. Are these same Democrats that so loudly protested Republican efforts to use the established rules of the US Senate to block President Obama’s Agenda now celebrating an abrogation of the rules of the Wisconsin Senate?
4. When President Obama said “Elections have consequences,” and “We won,” did he mean that they only have consequences for his opponents, and his friends in organized labor should be exempt from the consequences of elections or their own corruption?
I for one welcome the public employee unions taking the hard line in Wisconsin. The sooner they self expose their attitude that the State’s purpose is to serve their employees and line the coffers of the unions, over and above the needs and concerns of the public they are supposed to be serving, the sooner this monster can be slain and shoved into the grave of history it so justly deserves. That the union bosses would sooner risk the jobs of their members rather than their corrupt power structure should be telling to anyone who takes the time to do any critical thinking about what is going on here, as to just who they are really looking out for.
So then I have a few questions for our liberal and union friends that are in need of answers.
1. How is it not corrupt, if not morally incestuous, for public employee unions to use the state to forcefully expropriate dues from its compulsory members and then use those dues to elect the very politicians with whom they negotiate their contracts?
2. Is it simply beyond the intellectual capabilities of the left to see the hypocrisy of chanting for freedom and democracy while attempting to block a vote by duly elected representatives? Or that Democrat State Senators have fled from the democratic process because they know they will lose that vote?
3. Are these same Democrats that so loudly protested Republican efforts to use the established rules of the US Senate to block President Obama’s Agenda now celebrating an abrogation of the rules of the Wisconsin Senate?
4. When President Obama said “Elections have consequences,” and “We won,” did he mean that they only have consequences for his opponents, and his friends in organized labor should be exempt from the consequences of elections or their own corruption?
I for one welcome the public employee unions taking the hard line in Wisconsin. The sooner they self expose their attitude that the State’s purpose is to serve their employees and line the coffers of the unions, over and above the needs and concerns of the public they are supposed to be serving, the sooner this monster can be slain and shoved into the grave of history it so justly deserves. That the union bosses would sooner risk the jobs of their members rather than their corrupt power structure should be telling to anyone who takes the time to do any critical thinking about what is going on here, as to just who they are really looking out for.
Friday, February 4, 2011
On so-called Social Justice.
Once again our leftist friends fail to understand the differences between the success of the American Revolution and the failure of the French Revolution and how it pertains to the current (dis)order of things. It comes down to the fundamental fact that in order for the seeds of individual liberty to grow into a healthy tree of sovereign self-government it requires the fertile soil of personal responsibility.
The American Revolution and the system of government that grew out of it was successful because we already had a long history of self-government that evolved from the conditions of the 18th century wherein the distance to Europe was great and communications were slow. These conditions necessitated the creation of systems of self-government. They flourished and grew in spite of the economic restrictions placed upon the colonies that we solely in place for the advantage of the financial and royal elites of Britain. When the restrictions became more onerous and disadvantageous to the colonists the seeds of rebellion began to grow. Our Revolution, like all revolutions, grew more out of economic conditions than social ones. The Founders recognized that our economic success grew from individual liberty not some vague notion of social equality.
By contrast the French Revolution was a failure, not because of any lack of inspiration created by the American success, but because it quickly devolved into these vague notions of social equality rather than individual liberty and personal responsibility. Quite simply, what the French lacked was any history of self-government. So among the seeds of the tree of liberty were sown the the weeds of egalitarianism. Unfortunately these weeds flourished on the wonton bloodlust of the Jacobins. They produced the pretty but inedible flowers of emotionally appealing rhetoric but not the delicious fruits of a sustainable political economy. In the end, after all the chaos and carnage all they were left with was another tyrant who mouthed the words of liberty and made of himself an Emperor and an empire that resulted in nearly two decades of war and uncounted deaths. Then after Napoleon was gone, and the continent had been bleed of money and lives, the very same institutions and families that the revolution had sought to over throw were back in power. The great hopes of Goethe, Schiller, Von Humboldt and Beethoven for a German Constitutional Republic based on the American model were crushed at the Congress of Vienna and Russia was the dominant power on the European Continent.
Egalitarianism, such is the breeding ground of tyranny and the demagogue, be they 18th century Jacobins, 20th century fascists or our 21st century advocates of “social justice” and jihadists. The notion that the chaos in Egypt can be channeled into the emergence of secular populist state is dubious at best. Like the French, the Egyptians, and the entire Arab world lacks any historical foundations of self-government. Why then should we expect anything but the seeds of tyranny to grow? “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” I am not saying that there is not an underlying desire for human freedom, just that the initiating factor is economic, in this case rising food prices. When you have large segments of any society surviving on a minimal income and food prices start to go up at double digit rates every month it’s not reasonable to expect anything else but chaos.
The pundits that would have us believe that the unfolding events across North Africa were unforeseen and unpredictable are lying through their teeth. They are the natural outgrowth of Keynesian economic policy. So a hearty thanks to Helicopter Ben and the Federal Reserve Bank. Their policy of unlimited printing and unlimited sovereign debt has revived the DJIA in the short term. Only problem is that now our greatest export is inflation. Yes we might complain at the gas pump or the grocery store, but then we’re not trying to live and eat on the equivalent of two or three dollars a day now are we? Well not yet at least.
The American Revolution and the system of government that grew out of it was successful because we already had a long history of self-government that evolved from the conditions of the 18th century wherein the distance to Europe was great and communications were slow. These conditions necessitated the creation of systems of self-government. They flourished and grew in spite of the economic restrictions placed upon the colonies that we solely in place for the advantage of the financial and royal elites of Britain. When the restrictions became more onerous and disadvantageous to the colonists the seeds of rebellion began to grow. Our Revolution, like all revolutions, grew more out of economic conditions than social ones. The Founders recognized that our economic success grew from individual liberty not some vague notion of social equality.
By contrast the French Revolution was a failure, not because of any lack of inspiration created by the American success, but because it quickly devolved into these vague notions of social equality rather than individual liberty and personal responsibility. Quite simply, what the French lacked was any history of self-government. So among the seeds of the tree of liberty were sown the the weeds of egalitarianism. Unfortunately these weeds flourished on the wonton bloodlust of the Jacobins. They produced the pretty but inedible flowers of emotionally appealing rhetoric but not the delicious fruits of a sustainable political economy. In the end, after all the chaos and carnage all they were left with was another tyrant who mouthed the words of liberty and made of himself an Emperor and an empire that resulted in nearly two decades of war and uncounted deaths. Then after Napoleon was gone, and the continent had been bleed of money and lives, the very same institutions and families that the revolution had sought to over throw were back in power. The great hopes of Goethe, Schiller, Von Humboldt and Beethoven for a German Constitutional Republic based on the American model were crushed at the Congress of Vienna and Russia was the dominant power on the European Continent.
Egalitarianism, such is the breeding ground of tyranny and the demagogue, be they 18th century Jacobins, 20th century fascists or our 21st century advocates of “social justice” and jihadists. The notion that the chaos in Egypt can be channeled into the emergence of secular populist state is dubious at best. Like the French, the Egyptians, and the entire Arab world lacks any historical foundations of self-government. Why then should we expect anything but the seeds of tyranny to grow? “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” I am not saying that there is not an underlying desire for human freedom, just that the initiating factor is economic, in this case rising food prices. When you have large segments of any society surviving on a minimal income and food prices start to go up at double digit rates every month it’s not reasonable to expect anything else but chaos.
The pundits that would have us believe that the unfolding events across North Africa were unforeseen and unpredictable are lying through their teeth. They are the natural outgrowth of Keynesian economic policy. So a hearty thanks to Helicopter Ben and the Federal Reserve Bank. Their policy of unlimited printing and unlimited sovereign debt has revived the DJIA in the short term. Only problem is that now our greatest export is inflation. Yes we might complain at the gas pump or the grocery store, but then we’re not trying to live and eat on the equivalent of two or three dollars a day now are we? Well not yet at least.
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