After digesting the latest State of the Union address, it appears to me that Obama's lifetime goal just very well might be to be perceived as the most caring and morally indignant President in history irrespective of any and all lasting damage his policies might incur to the country's economic health and long term fiscal viability. For him I believe it's always all about fairness and never effectiveness. His is, methinks, almost solely a moral crusade. What prudent, practical and rational person could believe that raising minimum wage won't destroy jobs and reduce employment opportunity? That national Head-Start will actually improve long-term educational performance? That fighting Quixotic global warming won't raise energy costs and undermine economic recovery? That imposing more taxes on top producers won't deter business investment? That extending state-subsidized health care to the uninsured and those with pre-existing conditions won't raise costs? I contend that the President and his acolytes couldn't possibly be so stupid as to believe these programs can deliver as sold, but, in fact, they just can't bring themselves to stand by passively in a world, they perceive, whose wholesale inequities so deeply offend their delicate and refined supra-egalitarian sensibilities.* There appears to be no limit to neither their shotgun social solutions nor their willingness to print money. Obama is, to date, among Presidents, perhaps our nation's boldest and most disconnected embodiment of morally intolerant liberalism run amok. It's difficult not to arrive at the conclusion that the more his policies fail, the more ardently he believes in them and the more of the same he advocates. We're, in effect, doubling and tripling down on failure. And that, by any sane measure, is the very definition of ... fanaticism.
The Crux of the Biscuit is that we as a nation have tacitly and perhaps unconsciously collectively agreed to the idea that it's OK for government to instigate unproven, potentially economically disastrous and ill-conceived social experiments in the name of fairness and compassion: that our system is so malevolent and effete that at worst, radical measures are required and at best, acceptable. What beats the hell out of me is why anyone running around spending someone else's money while simultaneously getting rich themselves meets our standards for a Nobel prize or a distinguished seat in our nation's Pantheon. But, then again, our standards are the most vital issue of all now ... aren't they?.
Why people with high levels of mental skills and rhetorical talents would tie themselves into knots with such reasoning is a mystery. Perhaps it is just that they cannot give up a social vision that is so flattering to themselves, despite how detrimental it may be to the people they claim to be helping. Thomas Sowell
M.D.T.
The Crux of the Biscuit is that we as a nation have tacitly and perhaps unconsciously collectively agreed to the idea that it's OK for government to instigate unproven, potentially economically disastrous and ill-conceived social experiments in the name of fairness and compassion: that our system is so malevolent and effete that at worst, radical measures are required and at best, acceptable. What beats the hell out of me is why anyone running around spending someone else's money while simultaneously getting rich themselves meets our standards for a Nobel prize or a distinguished seat in our nation's Pantheon. But, then again, our standards are the most vital issue of all now ... aren't they?.
Why people with high levels of mental skills and rhetorical talents would tie themselves into knots with such reasoning is a mystery. Perhaps it is just that they cannot give up a social vision that is so flattering to themselves, despite how detrimental it may be to the people they claim to be helping. Thomas Sowell
M.D.T.
I often think back on a different America - the one I grew up in. The decades of social engineering I have witnessed from the 1960's onward has deconstructed a world of self-reliance and individualism and has fostered a culture of dependency, group-think and resentment towards others who have more than you. This is not a better world. It is world of burgeoning decay, laced with drugs and gang violence, sexual perversion and self-deception. I lay the responsibility directly at the door of Government and that statement is not extreme in the least and is easily proven. Welfare kills and creates concentration camps of crime. It has bred entire cultures of complacent misery where people willingly trade upward mobility for a minimal stipend the covers their basic necessities, giving them free time to engage in aberrant behavior, ruin their lives and the lives of others. It is the platform of crime and the anti-future of downward mobility. Do I speak in generalities? No, not at all. I have met these people time and again, and I do not look from a Tower out over society, but my boots are on the ground with these Government manufactured zombies. Welfare, whether you call it, DHHS, DSHS, ACSES, DFD, FAMIS, RA, RSDI, TANF or any other alphabet soup acronym -- destroys. Communism does not work in any form - except within the nuclear love of a real family. Government is not in the love business by the way - it is plainly in the hate business. ("Voting is the best revenge" - Obama, 2012). I willingly concede that there has never been a "golden age" of human perfection and I know the world I grew up in clearly had problems - as in any age and time. But all worlds need be compared to others -- and what we have now, compared to what we had, is plainly a net negative. I hate discrimination, sexism and inhumane attitudes. My wife and I raised two girls who I want to have the same opportunity as men. I want every black child, every Native American, Hispanic and minority to have the same opportunities as whites. But the only way to have that occur is to recapture American Meritocracy and encourage and nurture the individual. How? By leaving us alone -- by stopping the free stuff in every shape and form whatsoever - whether a cell phone or a grant to study the sex habits of monkeys (a real Government grant). By teaching the parable of the grasshopper and the ant -- by fostering individualism - the only thing that will ever count. Alas, I truly think it is too late. I have been catching myself too often saying "It's over." After the last election, I am now convinced that there are more of "them" than "us." More takers than givers and more who have thrown their lot in with big Government than those who put their pants on in the morning and encounter the world with optimism and effort who want to build a better world for everyone by building a better world for themselves. Yes, by the way -- that is the definition of progress and the foundation of every moral social value. Just leave us alone and we will take care of ourselves and each other. Adam Smith's "Theory of Moral Sentiments" (which almost no one living today has read) is as applicable today as it was in the 18th Century. Nature and human life have their own logic that Government can only disturb, not exalt. As my father -- who knows everything -- once said, "If you want more pigeons, then throw out more pigeon food." Well, we are pigeons aplenty nowadays.
ReplyDelete'It has bred entire cultures of complacent misery where people willingly trade upward mobility for a minimal stipend the covers their basic necessities, giving them free time to engage in aberrant behavior, ruin their lives and the lives of others. It is the platform of crime and the anti-future of downward mobility.'
ReplyDeleteExtremely well said. You've effectively tied aberrant behavior to dependency and the self-perception of victimization rather than the common notions of lack of opportunity and discrimination. And I couldn't agree with you more that the present malaise is at heart the battle between individualism and collectivism and their accompanying value systems. ( Anyone listen to Sammy Davis Junior anymore singing "I did it my way"? )
On the note of a generation singing (or doing) it "My Way"; sadly the youth of today has fallen to the lowest standard of values, productivity and work ethics in American history. No longer are young people striving to be "the best" they can be but rather content and even proud of getting by with a "that's good enough" attitude. As a byproduct of our Greatest Generation I realize what a legacy I was handed and how I (and many other Americans) let our children down by thinking we were doing them a favor by giving them too much, helping them too much and demanding or expecting too little in return. All with the increasingly "politically correct" America where no one is a looser, everyone is a winner and even teams that loose get trophy's (what the?).... Truth and fact is, there will always be winners and losers - get over it. The point of winning is to prove your skills, talents, efforts and sacrifices that got you there. Learning how to be a "good looser" is an important lesson in humility and fortitude and should be a catalyst for improvement and applying ones-self, NOT accepting an award for loosing that is placed on a shelf with any sense of pride, satisfaction or glimmer of accomplishment. We have managed to groom a generation of weak, lazy, fat kids who think scoring high points on a video game or texting more than their peers is something of value. How can young people today sing (or say) they I Did It "My Way" when they are playing Guitar Hero, Air Guitar, Lip Syncing and/or Scratching their parents records. We live in a "virtual world" and our kids are virtually useless.
ReplyDeleteCorrect Bobby - very spot on. Here is the "upside" of losing; it is a self-correcting process. Letting losers lose is the best way to ultimately allow them to win - if they want to. That is why crony capitalism can't work - and why bad businesses going out of business is always a good thing. Losing is part of the equation of progress. Supporting losing only means more losing - allowing losers to lose is the best educational experience that exists for the loser. Everyone can't be a winner all the time - and trying to make everyone feel "good" about all of their inadequacies and failures is a sure-fire remedy for mediocrity minus, rather than the meritocracy plus that society should strive for. Self-analysis is always the best analysis? Why did I lose? How can I do better next time? These are personal questions that society cannot answer - only the individual. Truly.
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