What we're up against
While I have written several times recently about new polls showing measurable changes in sentiment against Democratic policies (more than against actual Democrats), several comments and online discussions I’ve had in recent days have served to remind me that we’re far from all being well with our Republic.
My most rabidly leftist commenter, over at the Denver Post “Gang of Four” blog, a guy who goes by the name of RyeCatcher (who can’t spell and proudly proclaims that he doesn’t have a cell phone, but who claims to have served in the military for which I have thanked him), offered this comment on Tuesday:
“Its going to be fun watching RGK self-destruct as the Congress eventually will be forced to raise taxes and end tax evasion privledges [sic] for the wealthy.”
What I find interesting about this is both how the guy takes pleasure in the thought of someone he disagrees with being attacked by the government as well as his obvious (and repeated) total lack of understanding of the implications for him when the economy tanks because of the left’s “soak the rich” policies. Actually, this guy has repeatedly made comments along the lines of how he’s looking forward to bad things (politically and financially) happening to me, betraying the liberal ignorance of how an economy really works.
The above statement by Ryecatcher was in a comment in response to a note I posted about the current health care “reform” debate. Another of his gems was in the same comment: “Isn’t the government allowed to compete. [sic]” Again, a typical and willful leftist ignorance of what government really is and really does.
And while this guy is extreme in his partisanship, I don’t think he’s alone (though I’m sure he doesn’t have as much company as he believes.) He certainly represents a substantial section of urban population (in this case Denver), in particular people of modest educational achievement. (I do not say that as an insult. If he served in the military coming out of high school, that’s a very high calling. And this nation is too obsessed with people going to college.)
Ryecatcher shows that ignorance can be impenetrable and that Obama’s cult of personality will hold up longer than one might expect in these economic conditions.
Next, over at FreedomWorks, there’s a commenter named Sickle who, while quite liberal, is (at least lately) far more civil than Ryecatcher and actually engages in a real discussion from time to time.
In response to a note about Obama’s economic fascism, which I defined as “the apparent continuation of private property as opposed to outright government ownership (thought obviously even that is an incorrect assumption in GM) but with government substantially dictating the terms under which those companies must operate, generally ‘in the service of the nation’ or at least in the service of the whims of the ruling elite,’ Sickle said he didn’t see any. I gave him examples of the government telling GM not to close certain facilities or dealerships as well as their forcing GM to make certain kinds of cars, but his response was that “pushing them in the green cars direction makes sound business sense” and “Where’s the fascism, Ross?”
Sickle represents the degree to which more intelligent liberals are willing to ignore clear evidence because it conflicts with their views that (1) doing something is better than doing nothing, and (2) it’s intentions, not results, which really matter.
Again, I believe Sickle represents many Democrats and while he’s more able (or at least more willing) to have a rational conversation than people like Ryecatcher, he consistently represents the liberal view that actions should be judged by their intentions rather than their outcomes. And of course, that is EXACTLY what Barack Obama wants people to think.
Also over at FreedomWorks, I got a comment from “ProudLiberal” who said “not every good or service should be provided by a free market system and health care is one that should not. I think most Americans will agree that what we seek as a people is a system in which consequences are the prime goal. Health care should be provided first to the people who need it most without the condition of paying for it.”
This statement is so perfect, I’m tempted not to comment on it, but being me I have to. First, the idea that some things should be provided in a free market and other things not is strange. Second, it begs the question of who gets to decide. Third, it implies that the consequences of socialist policies are superior to free market outcomes even though history shows that to be entirely false. And fourth, it shows the usual lack of understanding that creating a right for one person (that is a right to something that is not free) is creating a responsibility for someone else.
What’s probably most interesting about this comment is that the commenter is explicitly “proud” of holding these views and, as is typical of progressives, clearly believes he or his anointed leaders are smarter than the collective wisdom of free people making free choices. It is, as Hayek said, “the fatal conceit.”
So, the point of this somewhat rambling note? It’s that we lovers of political and economic liberty must never forget that the opposition, loyal or angry and bitter, cares little for liberty – indeed, they probably don’t even truly understand the word. They care little for the principles of the American founding. They are by turns jealous, closed-minded, brain-washed, or determined to be judged for wanting lovely things to happen even if their policy choices cause poverty and death.
It’s that we have an extremely difficult battle for hearts and minds our hands and, to be frank, I don’t think we can win it until the economy has collapsed around these people and they have no choice but to listen to capitalists again, just as Ayn Rand predicted 50 years ago.
And while part of me wants to say that we could make real headway in convincing the youngest third of the American population that freedom is indeed an end in itself if only we had more truly American politicians and activists trying to educate the citizenry, the truth is that much of the citizenry just doesn’t want to hear it. After all, they’ve been part of history, electing the first cool black president. Who cares if he’s dangerous in almost every way, whether to our economy, our national security, our health, or our basic American freedoms? No, the only way we win this is for people to learn that OUTCOMES matter more than intentions and the only way they’ll learn it is to suffer through some truly terrible outcomes.
Therefore, I take an even stronger stand than Rush Limbaugh when I say I want Obama to fail. I want him to fail so spectacularly that, at least for a while, people wonder if the nation is going to fail. Only then will people like Ryecatcher, Sickle, and ProudLiberal realize that the path to hell was paved with their good intentions.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Rossputin on 06/26/09 at 01:25:16 am . Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. |
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06/26/09 @ 06:37:25 am
Im not sure why you scare me Ross. Its either because you are so right winged, have a talent in writing, and are obsessed with annihilation of the liberal policies of this administration... OR that you are right on all points...
Either way, It scares the shit out of me!!!
Speaking from the Artistic liberal middle... I don't want anyone to fail. I didn't want GM to fail. I didn't want the housing market to fail(point all the conservative fingers you want) I don't want the Healthcare system to fail...
Not that I am an advocate for restrictions and limitations across the board.. but certainly some regulations to monitor greed and avarice? How can we do that? That's what I am interested in. Someone decided Derivatives were a good idea... who? How did that happen?
Someone allowed Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae(some say pushed) to offer no qualify loans to people who should have never owned homes in the first place.. a few small obvious bullet points...
Ross, how do we fix this? Is it really by wishing Obama would fail?? Really? really?
The only reason that I can see anyone truly wishing Obama to fail would be to PROVE that his policy decisions and initiatives create bad outcomes?
It really is a complicated situation, isn't it? I try to find arguments for my position, or YOUR position and there are 50 counterpoints to any argument. All I know is I want it easy.
Can you make it easy for me Ross?
Thats all anyone really wants. a tasty mojito and a naked partner in front of them ready to go...
wow did I just say that?
06/26/09 @ 08:43:50 am
If their policy agenda is socialism (collectivism, fascism, communism, serfdom, or whatever you want to call it), then yeah I too hope that Obama and Washington (both Ds and Rs, yeah Rs - don't forget which administration started all of this stimulus and bailout nonsense) fail. And fail soon so their irresponsible rampage of destruction ends before the damage is irreversible.
Ross, you're spot on. Americans are not going to pay attention to the virtues of liberty and capitalism until they fully feel the pain from the wickedness of egalitarianism. It's sad really. You can tell a 6 year-old child not to touch a hot stove, but since they’re so much smarter than you, they'll only learn the lesson after they've burnt their hand.
I just hope the star-struck, reasonable Americans learn their lesson before these Progressive tyrants burn our Republic to the ground.
06/26/09 @ 08:58:17 am
Hi Ross,
A couple of points;
The problem with collapse and failure in some Randian scenario is that I do not believe the ultimate conclusion of returning to capitalism will come of it.
I am far more fearful of the time frame and process of that collapse leading instead to a more Orwellian future like that envisioned in 1984.
The problem is twofold, power and control gained is never relinquished, those who control the message deliver the cause and remedies of collapse/failure to a simple minded population looking for easy answers and assignment of blame.
I think it serves in the end to strengthen their position, power, control not weaken it or lead to some catharsis based revolution.
Secondly, dependency and entitlement (D&E) once created/granted is likewise not relinquished, the broader and deeper D&E goes the more people tend to think of the government (Big Brother)as the source and indeed, obligate provider.
In a relatively short period of time people know no other way, they stand like cows in a paddock waiting for the farmer to fill the trough with the days ration and it is whatever he says it is. They are thankful to receive from the source.
I think we are seeing the beginnings of a truly frightful future, I take comfort only in knowing that I have no children and that I likely won't live quite long enough to see the terrible outcome of the seeds being sown.
If Obama fails, it must be that he fails to get his plans passed, that he meets enough resistance SOMEWHERE before it is too late.
If the plans are passed and the inevitable failures ensue the remedies will not take on an opposite character as history shows. The spectacular failures of the many social programs we live with today are causing exactly this kind of deepening and widening of those programs with the consequent loss of liberty and freedom. In fact, we are essentially being told that it is the liberties and freedoms that have caused these failures, we must sacrifice, we must contribute, we must do with less so that others have enough.
The plight of the "needy" is exaggerated and the need to sacrifice in order to remedy this plight is made a moral imperative , all who stand against are greedy, morally suspect and of course the source of the problem. Once this demonization occurs, once this blame is placed, once the mind and will of the populace is so corrupted they demand that the state remedy the problem. The State is all to happy to comply.
Your rabidly left nemesis mentioned above is becoming more and more the mainstream.
Orwell's "Two Minutes of Hate" is already taking place, the path of indoctrination is entered upon and we are, I fear, already F'd.
Language is power, note the CHANGE in the language
already.
>As a side note to Scott above, derivatives and their creators are not the problem any more than a machine gun is a problem. With the proper supervision and use they are both excellent tools. I believe you will easily understand the implied corollary...
06/29/09 @ 01:28:41 pm
I agree completely Ross, except for the part that spectacularly failing will work. I wish I could be as optimistic as you and Ayn Rand. Spectacularly failing has not worked in the nations K-12 school systems, it has not worked in countless large cities in our country, it did not work in the breadbasket of Africa, Rhodesia (now renamed the starving and refugee fleeing Zimbawe), it has mostly not worked in the whole continent of Africa, it has not worked in Cuba and in did not work here in the Great Depression.
I grant it worked a little in Russia and China, but hey, that took the deaths of 50 million of their citizens and 50 plus years of spectacular failure. I am not sure Russia's slightly fewer million deaths was enough, since they seem to be reverting a bit to the old ways. Maybe another 20 years would have done the trick for them had they not been interrupted by the optimistic Ronald Reagan.
A decade of the Great Depression in this country taught most of the greatness and goodness of government solutions to problems and the wonderfulness of FDR. Even Reagan agreed with the latter. Yes, there are a few of us that know the truth thanks to scholars like Higgins and reporters like Shlaes, but what does it matter. Our ideas, or Hayeks,or Friedman's or Ayn Rand's are generally not taught in the schools or universities nor did most of the current generation learn them
I live in St. Louis, MO, and the population has gone from 1 million in the 1940's to 200,000 now and the policies that would reverse such a decline are still getting farther from Hayek, not closer. So far 70 years of fleeing people and decaying infrastructure has not been enough to change a majority of the remaining population's understanding or appreciation of how wealth maintained and created. There are many other similar cities in our country. Now whole states like California and New Jersey are quickly following in their steps.
In my own family, I have two step-children who are both mind closed left wing Obama supporting robots. They are the products of an academic father, a knee jerk liberal mother and the public school system in an academic community. IQ wise they are at the top of the charts. The oldest starts Stanford in the fall. They no nothing of economics and have no appreciation of our country's founding principal and are not interested in knowing. They are hostile to any ideas contrary to their own decade long school system and family indoctrination. I think they are more the rule (or at least the majority) than the exception of the future generation. Note: I thankfully have a USC educated libertarian daughter as balance.
Without a massive economics and liberty reeducation program I am not sure we as a society or even a majority of our society are going to learn form an economic calamity?
The currently debated energy bill is an economic calamity in itself and the mere fact that it is being seriously considered is mind blowing to me, but yet there it is. How far is that from the Zimbabweans literally killing the white farmers that grow their food or more importantly possess the knowledge to grow it?
Now that I have got my depressing side out for the day, I suppose the real outcome of the pendulum swing will be somewhere pretty far to this side of the Zimbabwe example. However, the pendulum sure is swinging far left this time and I really don't see many optimistic signs, even if it does momentarily swing back, of reversing things for the long run in this country. Most worrisome to me is the mis-educated future generation and thus my doubts about your belief that a majority here will learn from a big failure, but instead may very well clamor for more of the same. They sure didn't learn from the success in the 80's and 90's. Such has been the outcome in many places, especially in those places dominated by charismatic bad guys. Combine that with the liberal lock on the entire education system in the country and I think it is truly a recipe for disaster.
The last time I felt this way, 3 months ago, the stock market hit a new low. I sold and lost a lot of money in the following rally. Perhaps I should buy stocks today.
Note: I wrote this a few says ago and then did not send it, thus my out of date comment on the energy bill. Good counterpoint to Scott, Ross. I though am mostly with MikeR. I hope we are wrong. I did not buy stocks and the market is up today.