Category: No More Bullshit!

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Whither Now, Conservative?

A Few Shiny Pebbles notes the serious problem of articulating conservative first principles. That’s nothing new. I could wish that American Conservatism did not conform to the model that R.L. Dabney noted in the 19th Century, but wishes alone ain’t gonna wash the dog…

“Conservatism’s history has been that it demurs to each aggression of the progressive party, and aims to save its credit by a respectable amount of growling, but always acquiesces at last in the innovation. What was the resisted novelty of yesterday is today one of the accepted principles of conservatism; it is now conservative only in affecting to resist the next innovation, which will tomorrow be forced upon its timidity and will be succeeded by some third revolution, to be denounced and then adopted in its turn. American conservatism is merely the shadow that follows Radicalism as it moves forward to perdition. It remains behind it, but never retards it, and always advances near its leader. This pretended salt hath utterly lost its savor: wherewith shall it be salted? Its impotency is not hard to explain. It is worthless because it is the conservatism of expediency only, and not of sturdy principle. It tends to risk nothing serious for the sake of truth.”

As I said much earlier (January 21, 2008) in this election cycle regarding the choices being offered us for the presidential race (choices that by and large reflect the choices also offered us in other races),

Folks, the only difference of opinion that bears on elections of late is this: do you or do you not favor scrapping America in order to make it over into a fledgling third world country, as France, et al are attempting to do in Europe? Each and every one of the potential candidates [running for office as Dhims, and most who are running as Repubs *sigh*] are in favor of policies that would Frenchify America even further. It is still possible that the Republican’ts may come up with a candidate who is willing to at least drag his feet in approaching the ultimate goal of pulling America down to the level of Mexico or Saudi Arabia or Iran or even *shudder* France.

Remember: modern “liberalism” (which is not liberal in any rational sense of the word) has as its ultimate goal is to destroy the America the Founders left us. Nothing else will satisfy the left’s cravings for multiculturalist, divisive victim identity, statist anarcho-tyranny politics.

And, looking at most Repugnican’t candidates for federal offices, how much less do they advocate multiculturalist, divisive victim identity, statist anarcho-tyranny politics?

About 1/2 ounce less.

Want to clarify conservatism? Start with this–but unlike the current crop of politicians *spit* you must MEAN it–with every fiber of your being proclaim:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

(Yes, I added emphasis to a portion not usually cited.)

THEN, read through the “long train of abuses” and ask yourself: Would the Founders long endure the “long train of abuses” of life, liberty and property our current government regularly inflicts upon The People today?

Kelo
Government sponsored baby killing
TSA
Ruby Ridge, Waco
Martha Stewart, Ramos and Compean, et-oh-so-many-al
Promotion of the Cult of Hate and persecution of the religion that teaches, “Love your enemy”
Punitive taxation of the productive and subsidy of the slackers
Punishment of citizens in order to reward outlaws (the Bush-McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill for ILLEGAL aliens comes readily to mind here)

Failure at every level to protect citizens from its own abuses is becoming the hallmark of our own Federal government.

Is it time for a rearticulation of the Declaration of Independence? Maybe, but do note the header quote for this blog:

“In a democracy (“rule by mob”), those who refuse to learn from history are usually in the majority and dictate that everyone else suffer for their ignorance.”-third world county’s corollary of Santayana’s Axiom

Makes one wish for an electorate that matched the Founders’ model more closely, eh?

Any political conservatism that does not focus on protecting The People’s life, liberty and property is not conservatism at all, but something very like Dabney’s description. Any political aims that threaten The People’s lives, liberties or property must be eliminated from so-called conservatives’ lexicon of political aims. Still, one must work with what one has, unless another Revolution is forced upon the few remaining conservatives in this nation (and I do not doubt that there are far too few who possess the Founders’ conservative values for such a thing to ever come to pass), and so, even though some of the suggestions below make use of Federal usurpation of People’s and States’ rights and responsibilities, let’s start with what we have:

Given: that the Federal government has far too much influence on “energy policy”; it ought at least to focus that policy on protecting its citizens from foreign limitations on their “pursuit of happiness” instead of playing footsie with such as the Saudis who export not only overpriced oil but jihadism.

Energy policy: allow the exploitation of ALL known oil deposits; remove artificial Federal barriers to atomic energy production; remove artificial Federal barriers to building new refineries; remove artificial (and, frankly, harmful) barriers to oil manufacture via small TDP plants, etc.; scrap NASA and in its place offer “X Prizes” for space ventures focused on energy production (and resource enhancement–see Pournelle’s “A Step Farther Out” for examples): these would be a start.

Given: the Federal tax structure is not only a mess, it penalizes productivity and thrift and is exactly the kind of taxation the Founders saw as abusive. The Fair tax would return our Federal government to something more like the Founders envisioned, while still affording a realistic nod to current Federal excesses of non-constitutional (and thus illegitimate) authority by continuing the current funding levels. I have read all the critiques of The Fair Tax I can get my hands on and have reluctantly concluded that almost all the critics (all of the critics I’ve seen in Mass Media Podpeople bloviations) I have read are either idiots or liars. Get the facts. No, the real facts.

Given: the Federal government is doing damn all to protect its citizens from foreign invaders. 20,000,000 or more illegal aliens; at least 80% of them Mexicans entering through our southern border. And what do our federales want to do? Roll over on their backs and pee themselves like submissive puppies, lapdogs to successive Mexican regimes. Close the damned borders. Close them and allow people through ONLY at official gateways and ONLY according to already established law. Prosecute to the fullest extent of the law each and every employer of illegal aliens. Deny ALL Federal funding to ALL agencies, municipalities, states that provide social services to illegal aliens (yes, I mean schools and hospitals as well). Recognize and effect policy to reflect the FACT that by entering our country in defiance of our laws, illegal aliens have asserted that they are NOT under our jurisdiction and so they are NOT under legal protection, either. Make our country so very harshly inimical to ILLEGAL aliens (and warmly friendly to LEGAL aliens) that the masses of alien invaders will seek to return to their own lands.

There’s more, of course, but you get the drift: protection of CITIZENS’ lives, liberties and property is the legitimate function of our government. Anything else is just cause for rebellion. And that’s exactly what we need at the polls: rebellion. Mass write-ins. We need, as well, to harass–yes, harass–any congresscritter who allows or encourages abuse of citizens to continue. We can do it nicely for a while, perhaps, but if such abuse continues, then a genuine “fairness doctrine” would assert that those who encourage or allow such abuses to continue ought to be themselves abused. Excoriation in print, in person, via phone; campaigns for removal from office; continual denunciations to each and every person of our acquaintance: these and more are the just due of any politician who does not FIRST seek to PROTECT the lives, liberties and property of his constituents, whether from outlaws or from an outlaw government that simply legislates outlawry. (Yeh, the perfect definition of anarcho-tyranny: when government becomes THE Outlaw Gang.)

Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, Allie is Wired, McCain Blogs, Right Truth, DragonLady’s World, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, Conservative Cat, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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What Politicians (ALL of Them) Do Not Want You to Think About

There is one dirty little fact of life that no politician (well, vanishingly few, OK?) wants you to think on:

Consider the fundamental fact that a statement cannot be literally ‘taken back’. Once said, it’s there. More so, of course, if it has been recorded, less if it is just quoted by some journalist. The idea that a statement can be ‘retracted’ is largely rubbish. Statements can be admitted to be wrong, regretted, abandoned or contradicted, but it cannot be retracted. It just exists on record, and, if not contradicted, will continue to have some kind of validity, and can be returned to at a latter opportunity if so desired.

To truly and effectively annul a political statement, the person who made the statement needs to admit that it was wrong, have sincere regret for his mistake, abstain from making similar remarks in the future, and actively work for the opposite point of view.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s Obama’s Philadelphia Racist Speech or Juan MexiCain’s “It’s not an amnesty bill!” lie speech on the floor of the Senate, once it’s said, it’s in the record, and unless the politician is willing to “…admit that it was wrong, have sincere regret for his mistake, abstain from making similar remarks in the future, and actively work for the opposite point of view,” it will forever after qualify any remarks on the topic by said politician.

Obama’s “denunciation” of the man he defended in his last seech on the topic? Well, obviously, either his Philadelphia speech or his most recent denunciation (or both) are filled with outright lies. Juan MexiCain’s recent weak sister pronouncements that we ought to defend our borders before offering amnesty (though he doesn’t use the word, just the same weasel words he did before)? Absent admitting he was outright lying before about offering amnesty BEFORE taking any steps to secure our borders, any pledges or comments now can be taken with a grain of salt. If that much.

Politicians really, really do not want you recalling their past words and deeds and holding them accountable, which is all the more reason why we ought to.

Oh, the quoted material above? It’s from a piece at Jihad Watch that is well worth reading, dealing with a situation in Turkey.

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THE Cure for “Global Warming” Supposedly Caused by Human CO2 Emissions

It’s simple, really. If it is really the problem believers in Anthropogenic Global Warming insist it is, and IF they are sincere in their alarm, then they can easily reduce CO2 greenhouse emissions by one simple step: stop exhaling.

That ought to cut off a lot of hot air.

This solution to a vexing world problem has been brought to you by the world class research group (me, myself and I) of third world county central.

Donations to support our think tank gratefully accepted.

Trackposted to Right Truth, The World According to Carl, The Pink Flamingo, Big Dog’s Weblog, Cao’s Blog, The Amboy Times, Democrat=Socialist, and Stageleft, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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Barry Hussein Obama-Winfrey and the Oh So Wrong Rev. Wright

(I hated putting that “Rev.” next to the debil Jeremiah Wright’s name, I did… )

Visiting with Hugh Hewitt the other day, Mark Steyn pegged the Obama-Wright issue to the wall:

Jeremiah Wright, to his credit, has more integrity than Barack Obama. He says sure, sure I said God damn America, and sure I talked about the AIDS conspiracy, and sure I went to see Colonel Qaddafi. I’m not ashamed about it. You want me to tell you more about that? I’ll do you another forty minute riff on it. In his own perverse way, he has a kind of integrity. The man who doesn’t is the man who spent twenty years in this man’s company, and now claims to be stunned, stunned that he didn’t know this guy at all.

Oh, Bomama, that’s gonna leave a mark!

*heh*

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Those who do not learn from history…

…are doomed to repeat it.

Sadly, this is not necessarily true. I’ll get out the “splainsit stick” in a bit to expound on that.

/curmudgeon’s rant: on

George Washington was not the first president of the United States. Seriously. Now, I know many would deride such a comment as silly, even those who already know, as any student of American history knows, that John Hanson was the first president of the United States of America under the Articles of Confederacy, because some do not believe the United States existed before the Constitution of 1787-1789.

Pish-tosh. If the United States of America did not exist before then, then what entity was it that foreign governments treated with under that name? What authority paid troops, what authority issued the Great Seal of the United States in 1782, if the United States did not exist until the Constitution of 1787 was ratified?

Why is it important that we acknowledge that there were seven presidents before George Washington, despite the naysayers who wrongly assert there was no United States until the 1789 ratification of the 1787 Constitution? Because the Articles of Confederacy form the backbone of the fleshed-out Constitution, just as the Declaration of Independence describes the blood that flows through its veins.

Oh, dear me! Did I just make an allusion to a “living document”? Continue reading “Those who do not learn from history…”

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Black Racism as an Employment Opportunity

[See Update below!]

This quote, leading off a post at The American Thinker Digest** is telling, in light of that elite class of professional black racists such as that ole devil Jeremiah Wright:

There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do do not want to lose their jobs. – Booker T. Washington

[h.t. Chaos Manor Mail]

But lest we be too easily sidetracked, professional black racists aren’t the only “shattering class” intent on Balkanizing American society. Hyper-angry homosexual activists (falsely claiming to be “gay”) with permanent chips on their shoulders; shrill harridans masquerading as seeking to level the playinmg field for women… while doing a poor job of hiding the fact that their real intent is simply to emasculate men; these and others have as their genuine goals to leech off society while dragging it down to their levels.

And all these professional whiners and gripers and bigots “contribute” to society is the obfuscation of genuine issues facing our country, issues they all love and want to become worse in order to capitalize on the difficulties of others:

a genuine education crisis resulting from an ever more stupid (or evil?) application of the “Lake Wobegon Principle”

an economic/business model ever more designed to create an atmosphere that will lead to a class of elite lording over peasants

burgeoning government interference in genuinely private matters that are none of ANY government’s business

the erasure of our country’s borders, its identity as a representative democratic republic (based on an uniquely English body of law leading to the greatest freedom from tyranny any people in history have had), and its culture as a bastion of Western Civilization

These and more are genuine issues facing our nation, genuine issues that are being buried under an onslaught of political, social and cultural Balkanization.

Enough is more than enough of this B.S.

The next time you hear someone put forth a candidate for a job, a political office or even for hearing out in argument because of their race, sex, or other divisive and irrelevant characteristic as part of a particular tribe of grievance whiners, just say, “Bullshit!”

After the shock dies down (and quickly, before the charges of “Racist!” or “Misogynist!”–Oops. Forgot that nearly all pseudo-feminist prefessional or semi-professional whiners are too subliterate to use such a word. Instead, they’d likely (still, again) misuse “chauvinist*” in some way–or whatever other bigotted slur) quickly enumerate your reasons for despising the bigotry inherent in “special groups need/deserve special attention” meme.

UPDATE: This, from a recent column by Thomas Sowell:

There is no reason why someone as arrogant, foolishly clever and ultimately dangerous as Barack Obama should become president — especially not at a time when the threat of international terrorists with nuclear weapons looms over 300 million Americans.

Many people seem to regard elections as occasions for venting emotions, like cheering for your favorite team or choosing a Homecoming Queen.

The three leading candidates for their party’s nomination are being discussed in terms of their demographics — race, sex and age — as if that is what the job is about.

Indeed. Pretty much my take. My short form interpretation of Sowell’s comment: Why elect an “affirmative action” president whose qualifications are sub-par?

[*Yeh, I am aware that nearly 38 years of misappropriation, particularly by faux feminists, has degraded the sense of the word from that describing the hyper-patriotic views of the apocryphal Nicholas Chauvin. And I am aware of the intellectual dishonesty of those who so misused the word. ]

**Update: Observant readers will note that vanderleun corrected my misidentification of the opening quote source. Although, I must note for the record that my mistake was entirely natural, since the site does show some thoughtful reasoning. Regardless what’s being digested over there, the writing is certainly evidence that at least one American is thinking. 🙂

Trackposted to The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Faultline USA, Right Truth, The World According to Carl, The Pink Flamingo, Cao’s Blog, Conservative Cat, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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Prescription for What Ails US: Hope and Change

Yes, both “us” and “US”. This will be short (relatively), and I will provide zero supporting elements. Any comments resulting from readers doing their own homework on the elements below are welcome. Comments that demonstrate absolutely no knowledge of the elements below will be mocked. Do your own homework. I will NOT provide links here. You can type “google.com” as easily as I can.

Barry Hussein Obama-Winfrey floats a lot of hot air about “hope” and “change” (yeh, he hopes to change the US into a completely socialist society filled with grievance groups of “victims” leeching off producers–and he has a good chance of success). Well, unless we, as an electorate, take steps to knock a few politicians *spit*, bureaucraps and assorted other leeches on the head (metaphorically, you understand) in order to change the direction our coutry is headed, I hold out little hope for a future U.S. with any resemblance to the City Set on a Hill envisioned by the Founders.

What must be done (apart from throwing the bums out of office–darned near every elected official we can find)? Several things would stem the tide–perhaps even roll it back.

1. Don’t take this lightly. Every person I’ve presented this to so far (and I’ve been talking this up in the RW for years *sigh* so far w/o much movement) has expressed a positive response–even those who view themselves as “lefties”:

Each State of the Union needs an amendment to its State constitution providing that
a. every elective position on each ballot include “none of the
above” as a choice on the ballot
b. if “none of the above” recieves a plurality of votes, then ALL
candidates listed for that ballot position are disqualified from
seeking that office in the future and
c. a new election must be held for that position with new
candidates.

Frankly, I could see “none of the above” winning in a landslide in the upcoming presidential election…

2. Get the feds OUT of public education, at ALL levels. Out. No influence, no monies, no diktats. Nada, zilch, a big zero with the rim kicked off. Then work on reducing State influence on local schools. Make local school boards and parents completely responsible for their children’s education. With around 2/3 of recent college graduates functional illiterates, largely as a result of early intervention by “feddle gummint” busybodies’ stupid policies, we need to get the fedgov out of education.

It’d be a start.

3. Do some commonsense things to get our economy back on track. No, I’m not talking here about the recent Chicken Little wails about recession. I’m talking here about the fact that we’ve been strongly encouraged (in large part by stupid fedgov meddling) to become a nation of consumers surrendering more and more of our nation’s producing capabilities. “Line jobs”–factory work, even low-to-medium skill work–is dropping off, and this suits socialists just fine (more dependents for government handouts) but does nothing for a republic of free folk. Look, by definition, half our population is “below average” in intellectual potential. What are you going to do for productive, meaningful work for thse folks as more and more real goods manufacturing is moved offshore? Put ’em all in call centers making telemarketing annoyances of themselves?

Or maybe they can all go to work for McDonalds. Ya want fries with that?

To stem the tide of manufacturing jobs bleeding from our society (mixing metaphors is what metas are for, IMO :-)), two simple things would make a huge difference. (Do remember Clausewitz’s admonition that “everything in war is simple, but the simplest thing is difficult” and remember that we The People must recognize that we are in a sort of war with our political buffoons *cough* leaders.)

a. despite the opposition of politicians who do NOT want to
reliquish the power over your life that the IRS and the income
tax gives them, we must press for The Fair Tax.

Do your own homework. I’ve posted enough FACTS here at twc in the past to demolish most of the disingenuous arguments against the plan, so any comments demonstrating you have not done your homewoprk will be roundly raspberried. Rational argument demonstrating you’ve done your homework will be welcome, though. (*crickets chirping*)

b. a 10% accross-the-board tarrif on ALL imports from
EVERYWHERE, no exceptions whatsoever. Period.

These two things alone would do much to restore America’s competitiveness in manufacturing, create more jobs for the average joe (and josephine :-)), strengthen the dollar and encourage thrift (more investment capital–of the right kind).

4. Get a handle on illegal immigrants who are stealing American jobs, stressing American health and social services, Close our borders. Period. Make sure we facilitate LEGAL immigration, but close our borders, seriously police them–like Mexico does its Southern border (complete with shoot to kill orders, exactly as Mexico does). And aggressively go after ALL employers of illegal aliens (are you listening, Tyson?). Shut down the jobs and social services (all social services except for legitimate health emergencies–provide emergency health care and then a free ride to the border) and watch the flood of illegals make their way to the borders. And make no mistake, of the 20,000,000 or more ilegals in this country, much more than 75% of them will head south… Eisenhower accomplished similar results in the 1950s, and what man has done, man can aspire to do… It ain’t rocket science.

Reminder: any arguments with assertions made above should show you’ve done your homework.

5. Make some commonsense decisions about energy policy. Right now, energy policy is being made by stupid, short-sighted politicians who’re either afraid of their shadows (eco-whackos) or bought and paid for lackeys of oil companies, OR by greedy, short-sighted energy company execs who just want to cash in now without serious thought for the future.

a. eliminate our need for fossil fuels for electricity production.
E-lim-in-ate.

MIT has put plans for a modular pebble bed reactor in the public domain. China likes it. Although China is now leading the world in oil imports (actually, energy imports of all kinds), it plans on being a net exporter of energy within the next decade, relying largely on pebble bed reactors. Now, admittedly, PBRs are not the most technically advanced possibilities for nuclear energy production, but the technology is here, now, and is safer than any other energy production method, save possibly hydro-generation, that can approach its ability to provide large-scale electricity production. Safe. (Do your homework. Oh, and include readings on radioactivity, hormesis and what actually happens when Cobalt60 is accidentally introduced into the building materials for a large apartment complex… yeh, you get one link from me to start you off. It’s a PDF file. :-).) And please, no cries of “What to do with nuclear waste?” That problem’s been solved, solved and solved again. Take your pick of safe, eficient and easy methods. It’s 19th Century engineering.

But oil for other uses? Why the heck is the U.S. importing oil at all? We already have enough reserves for short-to-medium term oil production. If the fedgov would get out of the way, that is. And technologies like thermal depolymnerization manufacturing of oil are proven technologies. Heck, if every lil burg simply contracted with a TDP company to process its raw sewage, the lil burgs would have their clean water as a “by-product” and the contracting company could sell the oil. Everybody wins. And the odor some folks complain about from TDP plants? Not any worse than raw sewage, my friends, and the odor from TDP plants has this advantage: it smells like money. Talk about win-win-win-win: lower costs could be assessed on citizens for water treatment, city has a new business to tax (*feh*), the Saudis and Hugo Chavez take it on the chin, and the TDP business makes money.

And nuclear energy, available proven reserves and TDP plants are just three of many things we could be doing right now to wean ourselves of foreign oil. No pie in the sky technology leaps necessary, just political will.

There you have it: the twc five-point plan. It’s not exhaustive (I’ve not mentioned, for example, annual meetings of Mass Media Podpeople with Dr. Tarr and Mr. Fether or many of the other things that would benefit our society), but you get the picture.

Argument welcome, but remember the warning above: comments that demonstrate the commenter hasn’t bothered to do his/her homework will be mocked.

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Trackposted to McCain Blogs, DragonLady’s World, Maggie’s Notebook, The World According to Carl, Shadowscope, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Cao’s Blog, Big Dog’s Weblog, Conservative Cat, Right Voices, D equals S, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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Nanny State=Anarcho-Tyranny

Peple who know me in the “real world” have long known that it’s easy to get a rant out of me: just present me with another instance of “gummint” knowing what’s good for me… and punishing me if I disagree.

Take the national “Click It or Ticket” campaign that’s been going on for a couple of years now as but one example of many intrusive “gummint” policies. What a piece of bullshit! (Nope. Not getting a bowdlerized euphemism out of me on that one.) Stealing from–and modifying–the Chesterton quote in my right sidebar,

“Though not using a seat belt may be dangerous, it is a danger that cannot be forbidden to a citizen, but can be forbidden to a slave.”

Or, as The American Spectator put it a couple of years ago when the “Click It” bullshit began,

The late conservative intellectual Sam Francis came up with an excellent term for all of this stuff — “anarcho-tyranny.” In brief, he meant a situation in which the truly lawless (violent criminals, big-time crooks) are increasingly treated with kid gloves while at the same time, ordinary schlubs who never commit serious personal or property crimes are increasingly hassled over Pecksniffy technical fouls and “lifestyle violations” such as failing to wear their seat belts.

Invariably, the punishment involves money.

Anarcho-tyranny has another dark side beyond the simple harrassment of citizens with ever more restrictive laws and regulations along with the encouragement of dangerous outlaws: the infantilization of America. Big Brother will force you to either give up what “he” considers bad habits or pay an ever-increasing price. You are no longer responsible to yourself, your family, your neighbors and community for the effects of your behavior, because now you are responsible directly to Big Brother for your behavior (and soon thoughts–that’s what “hate crime” legislation is about, after all) regardless the results.

“When will politicians realise that George Orwell’s 1984 was a warning, not an instruction manual?”–Derek Clark, Member, European Parliament

So, don’t wear your seat belt, drive safely to your destination and start home–still safe–until Big Brother’s thugs decide you’ll be an easy, safe way to fill a ticket quota. Your safety is NOT the issue: compliance with authority is the issue.

As this slide into infantilization of the American public continues, expect ever more interference in your life. After all, you asked for it, didn’t you, when you voted for Any of the Above instead of None of the Above every time you went to vote for the last couple of decades?

That said, do I wear my seat belt? Usually. Have I ever been ticketed for not wearing my seat belt? No. Does it matter that I have not been ticketed? No. The law restricting my freedom to make my own decisions about my own safety is reprehensible. As are all other laws that presume to dictate my actions supposedly for my safety.

Note also:

“A nation of sheep will surely beget a government of wolves.” -Henry de Jouvenel

Trackposted to DragonLady’s World, Adam’s Blog, Pirate’s Cove, Celebrity Smack, The Pink Flamingo, Wolf Pangloss, , Conservative Cat, Right Voices, D equals S, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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Greed

Last Monday I posted a lil piece excoriating the growing intellectual sloth of what was once a democratic representative republic (the USA) using the sloth of an electorate that simply will not be bothered to learn to read and do its own homework to be able to vote intelligently. ANd I pointed out that such sloth is one of a few critical moral issues killing what was once a democratic representative republic.

Today: greed. But not only as you may think of the moral failing we call by that name. Yes, the greed (and sloth) of both “Big Bidness” (including especially the big business of so-called labor unions) and workers alike are pointing the way to the ruin of our economy, and thus the ideal of a democratic representative republic.

Huh? How’s that? A few simple facts of life and a few trends: essential to a democratic representative republic is a working class, if you will. As many people working at jobs that contribute to the overall health of the economy and republic as possible. And that must include many manual labor jobs for a very simple reason: we are not Lake Wobegon where “all the children are above average”. By definition, half the population is below average. What happens when the jobs they are suited to be successful in are shipped overseas by stupid trade policy or by simply greedy, short-sighted number-crunchers is that the ability of the lefthand side of the bell curve (anyone objecting to my use of such imagery had better be really careful to be solid in argument, cos I’ll rip you a new one if you advance some stupid lefty argument without basis in fact) to hold productive jobs essential to the survival of a republic is greatly reduced… and, long-term, the progeny of those who make such bad policy or make such stupid, short-sighted, greedy offshoring decisions will curse their progenitors.

But that’s just one aspect of the greedy behavior that’s driving this country to ruin–although that alone would be enough to accomplish our ruin. Consider also the individuals, parents, children whose greed demands more, more, more material goods but who have no desire to actually PAY for those goods. Nope. “Put it on the card.” Mortgaging ones own future for a new toy is stupid. An unwillingness to save, defer purchasing a luxury item until one can actually, well, PAY for it is evidence of a measure of childish greediness that is driving this nation of debtors to become slaves to mere stuff.

And politicians who know their constituencies well know how to play to this greed: play class against class (in what was once envisioned as a near classless society–or at least one where “class” was fluid, determined by personal, responsible behavior); rob Producer to pay Sloth; rob the Future to pay Now (Social Security=”Put it on the card” on a gargantuan level).

But perhaps the most insidious manifestation of greed is in those who covet what is yours to pay for their agendas often without directly benefitting themselves (except as such aggrandisement strokes and inflates their egos–yes, I intended that image). Of course, “often without directly benefitting themselves” doesn’t apply to such as Algore who, while lying through his teeth about Anthropogenic Global Warming, did so both for the ego strokes and to line his own pockets. But that’s pretty much political B.S. for you in a nutshell: double-sided greed for ego strokes and money.

These are just a few aspects of greed and how it detrimentally affects our society. You can list many, many more just off the top of your head, I’m sure.

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Words to Avoid Using

Following on my mini-rant against the sub-literate use of the word “liberal” (Liberals? Not) to refer to reactionary pseudo-communist/socialist tyrannical statist control freaks, here is a short list of terms that should be avoided, or used only with great care, by any rational person:

conservative–when used by or to refer to any reactionary pseudo-communist/socialist tyrannical statist control freak who does not actively practice the ethos of “the government that governs least, governs best” by seeking to reduce the scope and power of government, reduce the enormous burdens of taxation upon citizens, guard our borders, our rights (including our property rights), etc. IOW, about 99% of the current crop of lying, self-styled “conservative” politicians–aren’t. Don’t call such folks “conservatives”; call ’em liars.

gay–when used to refer to angry, neurotic, deeply troubled homosexual self-styled “victims”. Use the word to refer to happy, carefree people, instead.

black–when used to refer to a person (unless you are talking about a black-hearted villain of some sort). I have yet to meet ANY so-called “black” person who is black, even guys from Nigeria I knew in college.

Afro-American–another B.S. term. Also, ban any other hyphenated-American term. What? Am I a hyphenated-American because a couple of hundred years ago my ancestors came from elsewhere? By that measure, Eskimos, Cree, Sioux and all the other so-called “native Americans” ought to be called “Asian-Americans” cos that’s where they came from. We’re either Americans or something else entirely.

Update: I thought it good to include the following from a comment made by Theodore Roosevelt in 1915:

“There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. … The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans… There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.”

green–used to refer to eco-prop (ecological propagandist), an eco-propagandist or a supposedly “eco-friendly” technology. It’s become either a nearly meaningless shiboleth for leftist goons to use to ostracize people who simply want to live civilized existences or else a stupid-happy brainwashing tool. Use “green” to refer to the color, OK?

global warming–the proper term is “anthropogenic global warming hogwash”. Get it right, folks.

climate change–when used as an escape for AGW loonies, liars, fellow travelers and useful idiots who are confronted with inescapable proof that their AGW hypothesis is hogwash. When used in the context of, “Climate change? Sure, that’s the nature of climate; it changes all the time, whether we do anything about it or not,” it’s a perfectly good term. Just be careful how you use it, or you may be (justly) lumped in with the AGW loonies, liars, fellow travelers and useful idiots who use it improperly.

There, that’s a short list. Add to it in comments.

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