Things I have learned reading daBN:
Democracy in action: daR Congress agrees with daD Pres; daR Pres agrees with daD Congress; daD Pres vetoes what daR Congress passed; daD Congress disagrees with daR Pres; daD Pres signs into law what daD Congress passes; daR Pres vetoes what daR Congress passed
Obstructionism: daR Pres vetoes what daD Congress passed; daR Congress disagrees with daD Pres; daR Pres signs into law what daR Congress passed
Wait, what about if daD Pres vetoes what daD Congress passed?
That's not a serious question! Never happens!
What about those crazy C guys, like TEA Party and stuff?
Simple - drawn, quartered and hung from the nearest lamp post!
Knowing the above facts earned me a PHD in Jurinalism and I am now an editor!
Decoder: R=Republican D=Democrat C=Conservative
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Saturday, October 31, 2015
You invited them, you deal with them
Sweden's
government is
going to collapse and
the other EU member states are not going to prevent it:
The
Swedish Foreign Minister has claimed her country is facing collapse due to the
mass influx of refugees as the migrant crisis deepens. Margot Wallstrom has
said that Sweden cannot cope with taking in refugees at its current level,
without it affecting services.
She says that Stockholm will now have to pressure the European Union in a bid to force other member states to share the burden of those coming from the Middle East, mainly Syria.
It is expected that Sweden will take in around 190,000 migrants by the end of 2015. In the first nine months of the year, more than 73,000 people applied for asylum in Sweden.
And Mrs Wallstrom said in an interview: 'I think most people feel that we cannot maintain a system where perhaps 190,000 people will arrive every year - in the long run, our system will collapse. And that welcome is not going to receive popular support. I have to admit that there have been moments recently of very great disappointment. I have heard statements from member states that have been completely astonishing and very discouraging.'
The Foreign Minister's comments come after arsonists attacked housing for asylum seekers in the small town of Munkedal, in the south of the country. No one was seriously injured, although some of the 14 migrants living there suffered slight smoke inhalation. They were swiftly rehoused.
She says that Stockholm will now have to pressure the European Union in a bid to force other member states to share the burden of those coming from the Middle East, mainly Syria.
It is expected that Sweden will take in around 190,000 migrants by the end of 2015. In the first nine months of the year, more than 73,000 people applied for asylum in Sweden.
And Mrs Wallstrom said in an interview: 'I think most people feel that we cannot maintain a system where perhaps 190,000 people will arrive every year - in the long run, our system will collapse. And that welcome is not going to receive popular support. I have to admit that there have been moments recently of very great disappointment. I have heard statements from member states that have been completely astonishing and very discouraging.'
The Foreign Minister's comments come after arsonists attacked housing for asylum seekers in the small town of Munkedal, in the south of the country. No one was seriously injured, although some of the 14 migrants living there suffered slight smoke inhalation. They were swiftly rehoused.
It's remarkable to see
idiot female politicians like Merkel and Wallstrom whining and crying about the
fact that no one will fix the problem that they caused. They ought to own up to
the consequences of their failures and resign immediately. The other member
states aren't going to let them off the hook. The Swedes should let the Swedish
Democrats deal with it. They will have a robust means of dealing with these
unwelcome migrants. If it happens soon enough, they will simply repatriate them
with a minimum of fuss and bother.
Otherwise, history clearly dictates that there are three alternatives. One, the invaders conquer the natives and rule over them. Two, the invaders excise territory from the natives and establish a new country; Israel and Bosnia-Herzogovina being two such examples. Three, the natives kill all the invaders.
The pipe dreams of the multicultis notwithstanding, peaceful integration is not a credible scenario.
I've been editing the excellent essay on migration that Martin van Creveld wrote, originally for Riding the Red Horse Vol. 2, and it is very clear that, statistically speaking, the world is overdue for another of its periodic ethnic cleansings. Assuming it happens in the next five years, the next European one won't even be particularly large by continental standards.
Otherwise, history clearly dictates that there are three alternatives. One, the invaders conquer the natives and rule over them. Two, the invaders excise territory from the natives and establish a new country; Israel and Bosnia-Herzogovina being two such examples. Three, the natives kill all the invaders.
The pipe dreams of the multicultis notwithstanding, peaceful integration is not a credible scenario.
I've been editing the excellent essay on migration that Martin van Creveld wrote, originally for Riding the Red Horse Vol. 2, and it is very clear that, statistically speaking, the world is overdue for another of its periodic ethnic cleansings. Assuming it happens in the next five years, the next European one won't even be particularly large by continental standards.
Friday, October 30, 2015
How many angels can stand on the head of a pin?
Today I posted a comment on the article linked here:
http://thefederalist.com/2015/10/30/how-denying-christs-body-and-blood-leads-to-progressive-politics/
"Without evaluating the merits of the various arguments in the article and/or the comments, this entire presentation illustrates why the Christian church has lost its moorings. Not only that, the number of comments on this ethereal subject indicates to me that we're more interested in 'being so spiritual that we're no earthly good'.
I have often compared today's Christians to the crew of the Titanic - who, after the ship has hit a major iceberg - are gathered in the ballroom, arguing about 'how many angels can stand on the head of a pin'. What about the lifeboats? Oh, don't worry, 'this just proves we're in daEnd times and Jesus will save us'!
What did Jesus say, just before His ascension? " All authority has been given me in heaven and earth, so go and make disciples of all NATIONS, etc etc." (Matt. 28:18-20)
What does making disciples mean? It does NOT mean conversion - we can't convert anyone!
I'll tell you who has, is and continues to make disciples - the disciples (now mentors) for Old Scratch, who has convinced most Christians to leave the cultural battlefield to him. How's he doing?
How are we doing?
Name one institution that is not controlled by OS now? Furthermore, judging by a recent poll of American pastors equating Islam with Christianity, it looks like he's got half the church as well.
Before I go off the rails here, if you want more on this, go to my website and blog - " - CL
http://thefederalist.com/2015/10/30/how-denying-christs-body-and-blood-leads-to-progressive-politics/
"Without evaluating the merits of the various arguments in the article and/or the comments, this entire presentation illustrates why the Christian church has lost its moorings. Not only that, the number of comments on this ethereal subject indicates to me that we're more interested in 'being so spiritual that we're no earthly good'.
I have often compared today's Christians to the crew of the Titanic - who, after the ship has hit a major iceberg - are gathered in the ballroom, arguing about 'how many angels can stand on the head of a pin'. What about the lifeboats? Oh, don't worry, 'this just proves we're in daEnd times and Jesus will save us'!
What did Jesus say, just before His ascension? " All authority has been given me in heaven and earth, so go and make disciples of all NATIONS, etc etc." (Matt. 28:18-20)
What does making disciples mean? It does NOT mean conversion - we can't convert anyone!
I'll tell you who has, is and continues to make disciples - the disciples (now mentors) for Old Scratch, who has convinced most Christians to leave the cultural battlefield to him. How's he doing?
How are we doing?
Name one institution that is not controlled by OS now? Furthermore, judging by a recent poll of American pastors equating Islam with Christianity, it looks like he's got half the church as well.
Before I go off the rails here, if you want more on this, go to my website and blog - " - CL
No, people and cultures are not all the same
Utilitarianism is a
political philosophy that aims at the greatest happiness for the greatest
number of people. Culturism is the philosophy that works to protect and
promote traditional majority cultures. Utilitarianism ignores the very
realities of cultural diversity and geo-political competition that culturism
rests upon………….
Because cultural diversity is real and competition exists, we need
culturist policies. We need to create the greatest safety for the
greatest number of Western people. Western nations need laws that uphold
the values with which Western people are comfortable. We need to
acknowledge the faults of non-Western cultures and take pride in our own.
We need culturism, not utilitarianism.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/10/no_people_and_cultures_are_not_all_the_same.html#ixzz3q4bfsf2W
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/10/no_people_and_cultures_are_not_all_the_same.html#ixzz3q4bfsf2W
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
The anti-nationalist enemy
Even the mainstream Right is beginning to recognize that things have
irretrievably changed and there is no going back to a sane and
reasonably unified America:
A globalized faux cosmopolitanism —
simultaneously tribalist and anti-national — seems to have taken much greater
hold in the current administration (and perhaps even among some of its supposed
political opponents). Yet the Left’s allegiance to the comfortable pieties of
the Sixties seems part of the reason for its many failures.
This worldview sees a rural good ol’ boy clinging to his guns and his religion as the greatest foe of “progress.” Thus, it is woefully unprepared to confront the reality of black-robed fanatics beheading religious minorities, enslaving villages, and setting fire to the Middle East. Because of its limited moral imagination, it also struggles to persuade a heterogeneous body politic. Early proponents of Great Society welfare policies might not have foreseen how, too often, well-intentioned government dictates could destroy communities, tear apart families, and destroy the foundation of economic opportunity. Experience has — or should have — disabused us of this naïveté. And say what you will about the dangers of central planning, the technocrats of the past were at least able to do things like put a man on the Moon. The mandarins of today struggle to get a health-care website up and running. Outside the narrowly political realm, as the Far Left claims a resurgent voice in cultural affairs, we have increasingly seen how radical progressive politics are a cultural dead end: Rather than a spirit of creativity, exploration, and accomplishment, radical leftism gives us only the petty tyranny of a Maoist struggle session.
This worldview sees a rural good ol’ boy clinging to his guns and his religion as the greatest foe of “progress.” Thus, it is woefully unprepared to confront the reality of black-robed fanatics beheading religious minorities, enslaving villages, and setting fire to the Middle East. Because of its limited moral imagination, it also struggles to persuade a heterogeneous body politic. Early proponents of Great Society welfare policies might not have foreseen how, too often, well-intentioned government dictates could destroy communities, tear apart families, and destroy the foundation of economic opportunity. Experience has — or should have — disabused us of this naïveté. And say what you will about the dangers of central planning, the technocrats of the past were at least able to do things like put a man on the Moon. The mandarins of today struggle to get a health-care website up and running. Outside the narrowly political realm, as the Far Left claims a resurgent voice in cultural affairs, we have increasingly seen how radical progressive politics are a cultural dead end: Rather than a spirit of creativity, exploration, and accomplishment, radical leftism gives us only the petty tyranny of a Maoist struggle session.
The fact that the globalist Left fails to understand its enemy is a
feature, not a bug. We know them. They don't know us. That means we will
win, but only if we show up everywhere they are and refuse to continue to
concede any ground, intellectual or otherwise.
That means NOT adopting their social justice ideals or their rhetoric. And that may be the hardest thing for many of us, conditioned as we are to avoid speaking our true thoughts and expressing our true feelings out of a misguided sense of imposed decency.
For the love of all that is good, and holy, and true, if we lose, we lose, but let us at least not lose due to a foolish sense of etiquette.
That means NOT adopting their social justice ideals or their rhetoric. And that may be the hardest thing for many of us, conditioned as we are to avoid speaking our true thoughts and expressing our true feelings out of a misguided sense of imposed decency.
For the love of all that is good, and holy, and true, if we lose, we lose, but let us at least not lose due to a foolish sense of etiquette.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
13 reasons why we should not admit Muslim 'refugees'
President Obama wants to flood this country with “Syrian
refugees.” As most AT readers know, we should not admit a single one.
Unfortunately, a lot of folks are in the dark about what’s going on and/or are
so brainwashed by politically correct thinking they dare not acknowledge the
truth. We need to keep chipping away at this gargantuan problem of Americans
choosing stupidity over survival.
Any one of the reasons noted
below should be sufficient to make the case as to why we must close our doors
to Muslims pouring out of Islamic countries heading points West. But in case you
encounter someone who is truly thick (and there are a lot of them out there),
it’s always best to have several facts on hand.
- They are not
“refugees.” They are invaders; soldiers of Allah: What is
unfolding is hijra, otherwise known as immigration jihad. It is written in
the Quran and is a powerful strategy the Islamic world has used for many
centuries to overwhelm nations and assert dominance. We must not allow our
culture to be undermined and destroyed by increasing the population of
Muslims in the United States. (See here,
here,
here,
and here.
See here
for a book on the topic by Ann Corcoran.)
- The vast
majority of Muslims flooding into the West are young men: We are being
invaded by an army of young fighting-age men from across the Islamic world.
Muslim males often wreak havoc wherever they go, including
disproportionately high levels of involvement with criminal activity,
rape, threats against others, terrorism, and everything in between. We
should not be importing a demographic of people who have a propensity
toward violence. (See here,
here, here,
and here.)
Classical studies and societies built on sand
This carries two important features not widely discussed by
experts, but vital to our understanding of what goes on around us as we speak. First, the social collapse does
not primarily originate with politics, economics, government, etc. Failure in
these areas arises merely as a symptom of the real problem. Social collapse
begins with a failure of ethics. Jesus says it pertains to “everyone
who hears these words of mine and does not do them.” Ethics first, then
politics. Secondly, while social collapse can indeed come suddenly and from
unexpected or unforeseen triggers, it does not come randomly, nor do we have to
live constantly on the “edge of chaos,” as Ferguson suggests, in constant fear
of some minute “trigger” of social catastrophe. Rather, as Christ says, the collapse comes due to a
recognizable event—a storm, a flood—and only happens because the seeds of
collapse existed from day one of the structure. Collapse loomed inevitable
because of a faulty foundation in sand. A society established by ignoring God’s
commandments will inevitably and predictably collapse at some point. It will
happen; it is a law of the universe, of the Word of God…………
It took some time, but that
society that collapsed had the seeds of its own collapse within it from day
one: false religion, fear, lust, envy, war, fraud. It was a society built on
sand. What Christ had talked about in Matthew 7, grew directly out of his exposition
of the second table of the law in Matthew 5: don’t murder,
don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, and don’t covet. Social collapse stems from
breaking these simple commandments. Social strength and freedom appear only in
keeping them. Those who wish to save our civilization need to start here. All
else will fall, and great will be the fall of it.
Atheists embarrassed: study proves atheism uses less brain function
Despite the clear correlation between disabled reasoning and
atheism, the scientists demurred from drawing that conclusion. Instead, these
secularists found a way to spin the results against
religion:……….
The
problem is, this laughably transparent attempt to exalt evolution and downplay
the existence of God has one major flaw: it proves that the best way to
get there is to turn off reasoning and logic—the very part of the brain that
does the very tasks they wish to exalt.
You can’t have it both ways,
atheists. Reason and logic exist because the God of the Bible exists. What
this study proves is not that any hijacking took place, but that a tremendous
suppression is taking place: of that which must be presupposed. Without the
God of the Bible, reasoning would be impossible. Thank you to Izuma and
Holbrook for showing us this strong relationship between the two. Christians
can further rest content understanding what we’ve believe all along: the
existence of God and the use of logic and reasoning are hard-wired and
inseparably intertwined in the brains of every human being.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Let’s Think Outside Conventional Political Boxes
- (I sense at least a slight smell of 'compassionate conservatism' in this piece and that leaves me wary of 'good intentions', because they often have bad consequences. The idea of changing the Electoral College to me seems like putting the cart before the horse - although I admit that is thinking outside daBox!:)
I fully agree and double down on the authors' general concept of conservatives needing to go into the neighborhoods and engage our neighbors. In fact, we need a 'fundamental transformation' in how we address our culture.
Culture forms our politics, not vice versa. But how exactly do we do that?
It's called mentoring - and it is with that purpose I started this website and blog.
Let me also caution you to not expect quick fixes - there ain't any. We all have to go to work - how's that for thinking outside daBox, eh?)
Reviving civic engagement
and trust and reconnecting the Washington political establishment to the
aspirations and concerns of base voters who feel unrepresented is a
prerequisite to winning elections. To regain the influence we have lost on the
direction of our culture and political life, we must obtain a purchase on the
moral imagination of our fellow citizens who desire to be included in the
American story, not shunted to the margins of society. We need a new vision
that seeks to revive the American Dream for all, not just the well-connected
and well-heeled.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
“I want a nation of workers, not thinkers.” - The Truth About The School System In A Two Minute Video
Prior to
the late 1800’s, education was a private practice which took place in
private institutions or through home schooling. That all changed in
1902 when John D. Rockefeller created the general education board in
conjunction with Frederick T. Gates, Rockefeller’s business and personal
adviser and good friend. The general education board was responsible for
funding the American public school system, and provided over one hundred
million dollars in 1902; they continued their support in a lesser capacity
beyond that date. The board was responsible for the creation of the American
public school system and has been used as a model globally for more than a
century.
Confessions of a Public Servant
You’re
looking for a job. You want to get paid several times your worth, come and go
when you please, work only when you feel like it, take as long a lunch as you
want, and get ten paid holidays per year and six weeks paid vacation per year.
There’s only one way to go: work for the federal government.
Few
Americans, I’m afraid, have any idea, what it’s like. If they did, there would
be a political earthquake. As a member of the Parasitic Class for 15 years, I
have witnessed and participated in this corrupt and grotesquely unfair system
first hand. I am both qualified and morally obligated to expose it.
You
could, of course, call me a hypocrite. I have prospered financially beyond my
wildest dreams. Given my talents and work, my standard of living is higher than
anything I could earn in the private sector.
But by
reading the right books, and talking at length with my wife (a private-sector
employee) and our friends in the private sector, I have come to see this
repugnant system for what it’s worth.
Forced Conversion of Christians in America
Dispense with freedom of
religion; accept the State’s power to force its religion on you and your
children, and you will get the results you are seeing in America today. You
will see the end of the Republic.
But while there is still a window
of opportunity, Christians do not have to passively accept exile, be it
self-imposed, as it often and lamentably has been in the past, or forcibly
imposed on them by a rival State religion that brooks no opposition.
There are still tools
available to Christians who wish to preserve their religious freedom, civil
disobedience being among them.
Forming strategic alliances
among likeminded denominations to resist legal pressure from the State; refusal
to pay taxes and fines for not capitulating to State doctrinal demands;
resisting pressure to water down Christian doctrines in order to avoid confrontation
from the State -- all such strategies must be employed.
In the meantime, while current
front line battles will continue to occupy much of the energy of the Church,
she must also do the hard work of establishing or re-establishing Christian
institutions such as schools and universities.
Lastly she must articulate once
again a Christian world view encompassing all of society, a project she has
largely neglected for so many decades.
She can and must do all these
things if she is to remain the Church of Jesus Christ in the fullest sense of
that term.
Out of date and out of touch -(GOPe)
For once, the Washington
Post is correct about the complete
cluelessness of the Republican establishment:
The dirty little secret in Republican politics these days is
that the longtime pillars of the party — politicians and ex-politicians, major
donors and the consultant class — are further removed from the views of the GOP
base than at any time in modern memory. They simply do not understand what the
heck is happening within and to their party.
John Sununu, a former New Hampshire governor and longtime GOP hand, is one of the few who is willing to admit just how clueless he is about, among other things, the rise of Donald Trump and Ben Carson. Here's what Sununu told the New York Times's Jonathan Martin:
I have no feeling for the electorate anymore. It is not responding the way it used to. Their priorities are so different that if I tried to analyze it I’d be making it up.
Sununu is far from alone in GOP ranks. Think about how most establishment Republicans saw this race playing out: Jeb Bush gets in, raises a ton of money and blows everyone else out of the water. By this point in the year, most of the consultant class would have predicted that Bush would be solidly in first place in most of the early states and simply polishing his policy résumé for the general-election fight to come.
But the truth that Martin exposes via Sununu is that the old ways of doing things in the Republican Party have changed significantly since even George W. Bush was elected in 2000 — running, it's worth noting, essentially the same campaign his younger brother is right now. Strategies — get big (in terms of organization), tout electability and inevitability, keep yourself close enough to the center that you can be viable in a general election — that once were fail-safe just don't work in this electoral environment where the dominant sentiment of voters is anger about everything.
John Sununu, a former New Hampshire governor and longtime GOP hand, is one of the few who is willing to admit just how clueless he is about, among other things, the rise of Donald Trump and Ben Carson. Here's what Sununu told the New York Times's Jonathan Martin:
I have no feeling for the electorate anymore. It is not responding the way it used to. Their priorities are so different that if I tried to analyze it I’d be making it up.
Sununu is far from alone in GOP ranks. Think about how most establishment Republicans saw this race playing out: Jeb Bush gets in, raises a ton of money and blows everyone else out of the water. By this point in the year, most of the consultant class would have predicted that Bush would be solidly in first place in most of the early states and simply polishing his policy résumé for the general-election fight to come.
But the truth that Martin exposes via Sununu is that the old ways of doing things in the Republican Party have changed significantly since even George W. Bush was elected in 2000 — running, it's worth noting, essentially the same campaign his younger brother is right now. Strategies — get big (in terms of organization), tout electability and inevitability, keep yourself close enough to the center that you can be viable in a general election — that once were fail-safe just don't work in this electoral environment where the dominant sentiment of voters is anger about everything.
The social mood has shifted. What works when the voters are
generally optimistic does not work when they are increasingly fearful, angry,
and desperate. It's fun to
speak knowledgeably of Ricardo and wax eloquent about how immigrants are
enriching the economy when you're pulling down six digits at the office, but
the cruel realities of supply and demand are a little more likely to strike
home when you've been out of work for 18 months and haven't had an interview in
your last ten job applications.
What we're seeing is an establishment that is out of sync with reality because they believe the false media narrative about the state of the union, whereas the grass roots has been forced to confront it.
What we're seeing is an establishment that is out of sync with reality because they believe the false media narrative about the state of the union, whereas the grass roots has been forced to confront it.
Monday, October 26, 2015
Migrants and the Fall of European Civilization - A History Lesson
However,
today it is Muslim migrants with the strong monotheistic system and settled
European populations who lack one. Europe is in the thrall of a kind of vague, loosely held,
atheistic social humanism, which is probably incapable of resisting the
adherents of the strictest, most doctrinaire monotheistic system ever devised,
Islam, which literally means “submission.” Whereas the ancient migrating
Germans, beginning with their elites, universally converted to the existing monotheistic
system, in Europe today it is working in the opposite way.
It is the migrants with the stronger and
more unyielding belief system. Muslim migrants to Europe tend not
to assimilate, and if anything, they become more doctrinaire as way of
self-identifying and distinguishing themselves from existing populations they
see as inferior. Already in Europe a conversion process in underway,
which not only includes disgruntled
youth, but also educated
elites. These converts lack moral underpinnings and find little
objection to adopting the path of least resistance. Like the
existentialist philosopher Martin Heidegger who had no problem joining the
Nazis, European elites are likely to increasingly adopt Islam. Their
ready, even enthusiastic adoption of Muslim positions with respect to Israel,
and to a lesser extent the United States, are a sign of worse things to come.
The key historical point to recognize
is that focusing on demographics, while important, ignores the fact that
relative population size is not decisive. If current trends continue,
Islamic politics and culture will dominate Europe long before Muslims reach a
demographic majority, just as the German migrants dominated Romanized Western
Europe while never constituting a majority of the population. The
process is already well underway.
Sunday, October 25, 2015
The Ultra-Reactionary Left
The big power gap, of course, is the
theft of the power of individuals into the behemoth institutions of
leftism. So allow each parent to withdraw the tax dollars used to
"educate" his child and instead allow that parent to use whatever
means is effective in education, using regular standardized tests to prove
success. Allow each citizen a "slice" of the broadcast
bandwidth, which he can give to whichever association he feels best represents
his moral, cultural, and political values – allowing these "unions"
of ordinary citizens to reach beyond the monolith of established media and
entertainment.
Empower
those genuinely disempowered individuals – the oppressed colonies we call
"states," those harassed religions and beliefs squeezed out and
bullied by doctrinaire state atheism, the victims of federal bureaucratic and
judicial activism who cannot survive the crushing weight of statist power.
This is what true
revolutionaries, genuine champions of the people, and actual radicals who see
how ghastly life has become for many Americans would demand. This is what
the ultra-reactionary left, which is the nearest we have to medieval barons and
bishops, would want, if it wanted anything at all, really, but power.
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Why new readers don't read old authors
We are in the Dark Ages, and the darkness
influences all things in society, including speculative literature. I mean the
term not as an exaggeration or a metaphor: the technological products of our
enlightened forefathers spring from the worldview which says science is a
proper way to discover the mind of God by studying His works. Eliminating that
God from one’s worldview eventually eliminates the respect for human life, free
thought, and reason in law and custom which are necessary precursors to
scientific endeavors, and eliminating science eliminates technology. Once the
lamps go out, the darkness is everywhere, even in the little corners of society
where children read books about spacerockets or elves.
The moderns have been taught to hate and loath their own country, their ancestors, their parents, and been told everything written before the current day is racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, transcismophobic, and pure evil. These nutbags think that their own standard bearers of the Progressive movement, the founders of their genre, were not Progressives like themselves.
One need only hear sexual libertarian and radical egalitarian nut Bob Heinlein being excoriated as a member of the misogynist phallocratic patriarchy to realize how far off the edge of the world the lunatics have sailed the ship of fools.
This is not some lunatic fringe belief. It is lunacy, of course, but not fringe. It is mainstream. The core institutions and standard bearers of Science Fiction, the largest publishers, the most prestigious awards, our once-respected guild the SFWA, the oldest and most famous magazine: they all buy into the narrative and all support the narrative with a singleminded fury that is Bolshevik in its vehemence, patience, and pettiness.
Progressives hate the past and seek forever to blacken, demean, and obliterate it. Anyone reading the older books would see immediately that the modern works are only merely equal, not as innovative, and that the modern award-winning works are notably inferior.
The notion of progress is the notion that the past is bad and the present is better and the future will be better yet. If you read old books and find that they are either slightly better or remarkably better than modern offerings, you see a decline, not a progress, and the foundation of progressivism, is overthrown.
The moderns have been taught to hate and loath their own country, their ancestors, their parents, and been told everything written before the current day is racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, transcismophobic, and pure evil. These nutbags think that their own standard bearers of the Progressive movement, the founders of their genre, were not Progressives like themselves.
One need only hear sexual libertarian and radical egalitarian nut Bob Heinlein being excoriated as a member of the misogynist phallocratic patriarchy to realize how far off the edge of the world the lunatics have sailed the ship of fools.
This is not some lunatic fringe belief. It is lunacy, of course, but not fringe. It is mainstream. The core institutions and standard bearers of Science Fiction, the largest publishers, the most prestigious awards, our once-respected guild the SFWA, the oldest and most famous magazine: they all buy into the narrative and all support the narrative with a singleminded fury that is Bolshevik in its vehemence, patience, and pettiness.
Progressives hate the past and seek forever to blacken, demean, and obliterate it. Anyone reading the older books would see immediately that the modern works are only merely equal, not as innovative, and that the modern award-winning works are notably inferior.
The notion of progress is the notion that the past is bad and the present is better and the future will be better yet. If you read old books and find that they are either slightly better or remarkably better than modern offerings, you see a decline, not a progress, and the foundation of progressivism, is overthrown.
The reader will probably recognize that while
the elves of Selenoth are a blend of Tolkienian and Longaevian, the Faeries of
the Eternal Warriors trilogy are explicitly Longaevian.
Anatomy Of A Political Suicide: Lessons for the Right from Canada
Canada's
voters taught the political pragmatists the same lesson I've been telling
Republicans for over a decade: pragmatism in politics is ultimately self-defeating:
Unless
the culture (of the Conservative party) changes, it should not count on being returned
to power any time soon. We should be clear where the roots of that culture lie.
The nastiness of Tory politics under Harper, the mindless partisanship, the
throttling of backbench MPs, are not outgrowths of conservatism. They were
born, rather, of its repudiation: of the decision to sterilize the new party of
any ideological convictions, the better (it was supposed) to remove any
obstacle to its electability.
Politics fills a vacuum: in the absence of substantive differences with your opponents, partisanship takes its place. If, what is more, a party no longer stands for much as a party, then its policies will default to whatever the leader decides. And the leader, having been given that power and that assignment — win at all costs — can tolerate no deviations from MPs still under the impression that the party harbors some lingering principles.
There has been much talk of how Red Tories were made to feel unwelcome in the party. But the truth is no sort of conservative could really feel the Harper government represented them: not fiscal conservatives, $150 billion in debt later; not social conservatives, forbidden even to say the word “abortion”; certainly not old-time Reformers, the sort of people who went into politics to make governments and leaders more accountable, not less.
The only party faction that was really served was the yahoo faction, the “toxic Tories” as a friend calls them, to whom this government truckled and whose loyalty was rewarded in turn. MPs who were willing to say the opposite of what they believed, or believe the opposite of the facts, were promoted; those who were not found themselves out of cabinet, or indeed out of the party.
The people around Harper, always convinced of their own cleverness, grew drunk on their own cynicism. Having made the initial compromise with their principles — on policy — they found the next much easier, and the next, until they became contemptuous of anything resembling a principle, or anyone still able to discern a line — political, personal, ethical — he would not cross.
Politics fills a vacuum: in the absence of substantive differences with your opponents, partisanship takes its place. If, what is more, a party no longer stands for much as a party, then its policies will default to whatever the leader decides. And the leader, having been given that power and that assignment — win at all costs — can tolerate no deviations from MPs still under the impression that the party harbors some lingering principles.
There has been much talk of how Red Tories were made to feel unwelcome in the party. But the truth is no sort of conservative could really feel the Harper government represented them: not fiscal conservatives, $150 billion in debt later; not social conservatives, forbidden even to say the word “abortion”; certainly not old-time Reformers, the sort of people who went into politics to make governments and leaders more accountable, not less.
The only party faction that was really served was the yahoo faction, the “toxic Tories” as a friend calls them, to whom this government truckled and whose loyalty was rewarded in turn. MPs who were willing to say the opposite of what they believed, or believe the opposite of the facts, were promoted; those who were not found themselves out of cabinet, or indeed out of the party.
The people around Harper, always convinced of their own cleverness, grew drunk on their own cynicism. Having made the initial compromise with their principles — on policy — they found the next much easier, and the next, until they became contemptuous of anything resembling a principle, or anyone still able to discern a line — political, personal, ethical — he would not cross.
Ideological principle is the lifeblood
of a political party. The more a party focuses on "electability" and
"pragmatism", the more it cuts its own wrists and drains its own
blood. Eventually, the point is reached that the party exists for no reason
but to profit the party elite, which is understandably not of interest to
anyone outside that elite.
What do the Republicans stand for today?
Pragmatism in politics is like cocaine. A little bit goes a long ways. You not only win, but you feel like an all-conquering tiger. But gradually, you start needing more and more to achieve the same affect, until finally, you overdose and your heart stops.
What do the Republicans stand for today?
Pragmatism in politics is like cocaine. A little bit goes a long ways. You not only win, but you feel like an all-conquering tiger. But gradually, you start needing more and more to achieve the same affect, until finally, you overdose and your heart stops.
Friday, October 23, 2015
Mama Merkel and the Immigration Invasion of Germany
Merkel is further evidence of the continuing
validity of 17th century statesman Axel Oxenstierna’s admonition to his
son Johan: “Learn my son
with what little wisdom the world is governed.”
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/10/mama_merkel_and_the_immigration_invasion_of_germany.html#ixzz3pQ35trji
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Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/10/mama_merkel_and_the_immigration_invasion_of_germany.html#ixzz3pQ35trji
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
Obama and the TPP - Shilling for the NWO.
Democrats vs. Republicans.
Free market vs. socialism. Free trade vs. protectionism. It's all kabuki
theater. It goes back to 1912: Roosevelt/Rockefeller vs. Wilson/Morgan, with
Taft/Skull & Bones as the third option. Americans had a choice of which New
York bank they wanted to have setting policy.
[Note: if I were writing a Ph.D.
dissertation, I would choose to study George Cortelyou, who served under Cleveland
(Democrat) and McKinley/Roosevelt (Republicans). He was Teddy's press
secretary, and Teddy appointed him Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of the
Treasury. He was a Rockefeller agent. He was the inside man in the government
in 1907 in creating the Federal Reserve System. He is virtually forgotten.]
Democracy sounds good. It's good political cover. It lets the
Old Boy Network do its thing at the expense of the taxpayers.
That's why this year is unique:
Trump/Carson/Fiorina. There is not an elected official among them.
I think of the Republicans' slogan in the 1946 Congressional
election: "Had enough?" I know I have.
Immigrants don't share American values
The Magic Dirt
Theory is clearly not working as advertised. Immigrants are heavily anti-gun rights:
The
millions of foreigners the U.S. government voluntarily imports each year can be
counted on to vote en-masse in favor of unconstitutional restrictions on the
right to keep and bear arms, Winkler explains:
Polls show that whites tend to favor gun rights over gun control by a significant margin (57 percent to 40 percent). Yet whites, who comprise 63 percent of the population today, won’t be in the majority for long. Racial minorities are soon to be a majority, and they are the nation’s strongest supporters of strict gun laws.
The fastest-growing minority group in America is Latinos. Between 2000 and 2010, the nation’s Latino population grew by 43 percent. Hispanics, which make up 17 percent of the population today, are expected to grow to 30 percent of the population in the coming decades.
Gun control is extremely popular among Hispanics, with 75 percent favoring gun safety over gun rights.
Asian Americans also represent a growing anti-gun demographic. Although only about 5 percent of the population today, the Asian American population is predicted to triple over the next few decades. A recent poll of Asian American registered voters found that 80 percent supported stricter gun laws.
Polls show that whites tend to favor gun rights over gun control by a significant margin (57 percent to 40 percent). Yet whites, who comprise 63 percent of the population today, won’t be in the majority for long. Racial minorities are soon to be a majority, and they are the nation’s strongest supporters of strict gun laws.
The fastest-growing minority group in America is Latinos. Between 2000 and 2010, the nation’s Latino population grew by 43 percent. Hispanics, which make up 17 percent of the population today, are expected to grow to 30 percent of the population in the coming decades.
Gun control is extremely popular among Hispanics, with 75 percent favoring gun safety over gun rights.
Asian Americans also represent a growing anti-gun demographic. Although only about 5 percent of the population today, the Asian American population is predicted to triple over the next few decades. A recent poll of Asian American registered voters found that 80 percent supported stricter gun laws.
I find it remarkable, although not exactly
surprising, that so many people are so determined to defend their idiotic
theory that all immigrants will magically become Real Americans, real life
nephews of their Uncle Sam, reborn on the Fourth of July by virtue of
geographical relocation, thereby instantly negating of all of their racial,
ethnic, religious, political, and cultural traditions.
How very shocking to discover that immigrants place no value on "rights" that don't exist, and have never existed, in their alien cultures. As I have repeatedly pointed out, immigrants have no understanding of limited government nor do they harbor any love for it. None. Let's face it, even after generations in the USA, many descendants of the previous waves of European immigration still don't grasp the basic concept.
It's bad enough that the Magic Dirt theory is absurdly stupid; logical criticism should be sufficient to convince those who subscribe to it to abandon it entirely. But when they first reject the logic and then continue to cling to their theory in the face of actual evidence of the sort cited above, well, at that point we might as well just call them fat, ugly, and out-of-date. That sort of rhetoric will be more likely to persuade them that they are wrong, because it is obvious that neither facts nor reason are enough to do the trick.
How very shocking to discover that immigrants place no value on "rights" that don't exist, and have never existed, in their alien cultures. As I have repeatedly pointed out, immigrants have no understanding of limited government nor do they harbor any love for it. None. Let's face it, even after generations in the USA, many descendants of the previous waves of European immigration still don't grasp the basic concept.
It's bad enough that the Magic Dirt theory is absurdly stupid; logical criticism should be sufficient to convince those who subscribe to it to abandon it entirely. But when they first reject the logic and then continue to cling to their theory in the face of actual evidence of the sort cited above, well, at that point we might as well just call them fat, ugly, and out-of-date. That sort of rhetoric will be more likely to persuade them that they are wrong, because it is obvious that neither facts nor reason are enough to do the trick.
Arranging American Gun Confiscation
Let
us consider aloud a matter that progressives might prefer to reserve for
private cocktail party conversations, namely what sort of "arrangements"
would be required to make a national gun confiscation viable in the United
States.
First of all, since the practical
obstacle to such a program is the existence of patriotic gun owners, such
people must be marginalized with propaganda, and targeted for mockery and
suspicion. The process begins in childhood. Mass compulsory schooling
is first and foremost a tool for promoting government-friendly attitudes of
various sorts; increased nationalization of school curricula, goals, and
methods makes the classroom an increasingly effective arena for the undermining
of constitutionalist feelings in general, and the promotion of anti-gun
sentiments in particular -- two aims which go hand in hand, as young people
dissuaded from respecting their nation's history and heroes will find little
merit, as adults, in attempts to invoke the Second Amendment (a point which the
Supreme Court could render obsolete soon
enough). After all, the Constitution was written in the pretechnological era
by slave owners, racists, sexists, and capitalist exploiters; how could such a
document be useful, let alone decisive, in a modern political debate?
Secondly, as younger generations are
increasingly detached from the constitutional and philosophical heritage that
spawned America's arms-bearing tradition, the problem demographic may be
presumed to be aging, i.e., dying. Therefore, the shrinkage of the principled
resistance may be pursued through a combination of attrition and gradual
desensitization to "gun control" talk. This fits neatly within the
generalprogressive
effort to isolate (and intimidate) "conservatives" as a
cranky cadre of old rural white men, and progressives as an educated,
multicultural, multisexual kaleidoscope of global urban youth.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
How to Save a Dying City in Four Steps... Or Maybe Five
Something like this scenario is
going to happen over the next three or four decades. The voters will fight it
initially. So will the municipal unions. But the Great Default is coming. The
welfare checks for the elderly will stop coming from Washington. These families
will sell their homes to younger families to get money. They will move in with
children. This is how families have dealt with old age from the beginning. We
live in anomalous times. Voters will decide that it is time to cut local
property taxes.
We know what the future of
education is: video-based online education. The Khan Academy is proof. So is
the Ron Paul Curriculum.
Public schools will
eventually be forced by finances to adopt online, video-based education. Some
states have begun the transition. For a list of online distance learning
programs, state by state, click here. The stigma of distance learning is over.
Instead of vouchers,
districts will offer a cheap Chromebook for each child and free high speed
Internet hookups to inner city families that cannot afford this. The cost per
home school student will drop to maybe $500 a year. This will replace
today's $12,400 per student -- higher in large
cities.
In 20 years, millions of middle class families will educate their
children at home online. It will be a mark of social failure to have your
children in the public schools -- anyway, non-charter schools.
Voters will still want free babysitting
at taxpayers' expense. There will still be charter schools. Charter schools
will use YouTube videos in classes with student-teacher ratios of 40 or 50 to
one, above grade three. Students will sit in carrels. They will wear
headphones. Discipline problems will be dealt with by expulsion. "Educate
your child at home. Discipline him." The public schools will finally start
providing safe environments. Headphones will reduce discipline problems to a
minimum. A high student-teacher ratio will cut expenses.
The teachers above the 5th
grade will be coaches. The voters want free sports. Give the coaches something
useful to do: keep order.
Then 80% of all school
administrators will be fired. Who will need them?
There will be middle-class
flight out of the schools in any district that refuses to adopt YouTube-based
education in the classrooms. The voters will then be ready to shrink the school
budgets.
Surplus public school campuses
can be sold to private schools that use YouTube-based education.
Then what of the teachers'
unions? Gone with the wind.
How Pandering To Iowa’s Ethanol Lobby Hurts America
Ten years ago this
month, President George W. Bush signed the Renewable Fuel Standard into law,
implementing regulations that require companies to blend specific amounts of
renewable fuels into gasoline. No state benefits more from the RFS than Iowa,
and with the Iowa caucuses six months away, presidential candidates are already
pandering, flip flopping, or avoiding the issue altogether as they attempt to
woo voters…………
While the RFS may be a boon to Iowa corn farmers, it’s essentially a tax on the poor, who are suffering from higher prices because of it. Plus, it’s a net negative for the environment. It’s time for presidential candidates, particularly Republicans, to stop pandering to voters in Iowa and promise to repeal the harmful Renewable Fuel Standard.
While the RFS may be a boon to Iowa corn farmers, it’s essentially a tax on the poor, who are suffering from higher prices because of it. Plus, it’s a net negative for the environment. It’s time for presidential candidates, particularly Republicans, to stop pandering to voters in Iowa and promise to repeal the harmful Renewable Fuel Standard.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Fredrik de Boer takes a few faltering first steps towards understanding the media:
See, that's just it.
They're not "bright, committed, decent people". They're narcissistic,
solipsistic, maleducated, and of barely above-average intelligence. They're
also snobbish, tribal, clueless about any subculture but their own, and possess
less self-awareness than the average rock.
Spacebunny and I once had dinner with a pair of legitimately famous journalists. I mean, one name you would recognize and the other is on a first-name basis with Hollywood's A-list. After dinner, she commented that she couldn't believe how shallow their knowledge was. And that's the dirty little secret of the media: they have a surface knowledge of many things and that knowledge barely scratches the surface.
Spacebunny and I once had dinner with a pair of legitimately famous journalists. I mean, one name you would recognize and the other is on a first-name basis with Hollywood's A-list. After dinner, she commented that she couldn't believe how shallow their knowledge was. And that's the dirty little secret of the media: they have a surface knowledge of many things and that knowledge barely scratches the surface.
Strangling the golden goose
Western values only exist for Westerners.
They are not universal and merely claiming them to be does not make them so. Physical relocation to the land
of magic dirt doesn't convert non-Westerners into Westerners just as moving to
the New World didn't transform the Puritans into Indians. It's a simple and
straightforward numbers game. It should not be a surprise, either, as ever
since the Baby Boom was born, an increasing number of parents have been failing
to raise their children as members of the civilized West.
The current invaders aren't coming to America and Western Europe for freedom, democracy, or whatever other fiction the media is attempting to spin, they are coming to grab a share of the societal wealth that has been built up over the centuries. And by permitting them entry, the golden goose of the West is being gradually strangled.
To begin restoring the West, straightforward steps are needed:
The current invaders aren't coming to America and Western Europe for freedom, democracy, or whatever other fiction the media is attempting to spin, they are coming to grab a share of the societal wealth that has been built up over the centuries. And by permitting them entry, the golden goose of the West is being gradually strangled.
To begin restoring the West, straightforward steps are needed:
Monday, October 19, 2015
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton tells Minnesotans who prefer the real Minnesota to leave the state.
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton tells
Minnesotans who prefer the real Minnesota to leave the state if they don't like
living next door to squalid third-world Africans:
Governor
Mark Dayton was one of the speakers at the NAACP Community Conversation, hosted
in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
For several years now, St. Cloud has been one of the locations specifically targeted for “refugee resettlement”. The large influx of East African immigrants has caused racial tension between the White St. Cloud residents, and the East African immigrants.
“Look around you. This is Minnesota,” he said. “Minnesota is not like it was 30, 50 years ago. … This is Minnesota and you [Africans] have every right to be here. And anybody who cannot accept your right to be here, and this is Minnesota, should find another state.”
He described alternative views to his own as “unacceptable, un-Minnesotan, illegal and immoral”.
“If you are that intolerant, if you are that much of a racist or a bigot, then find another state.” said Dayton. “Find a state where the minority population is 1 percent or whatever. It’s not that in Minnesota. It’s not going to be again. It’s not going to be that in St. Cloud, or Rochester or Worthington.”
For several years now, St. Cloud has been one of the locations specifically targeted for “refugee resettlement”. The large influx of East African immigrants has caused racial tension between the White St. Cloud residents, and the East African immigrants.
“Look around you. This is Minnesota,” he said. “Minnesota is not like it was 30, 50 years ago. … This is Minnesota and you [Africans] have every right to be here. And anybody who cannot accept your right to be here, and this is Minnesota, should find another state.”
He described alternative views to his own as “unacceptable, un-Minnesotan, illegal and immoral”.
“If you are that intolerant, if you are that much of a racist or a bigot, then find another state.” said Dayton. “Find a state where the minority population is 1 percent or whatever. It’s not that in Minnesota. It’s not going to be again. It’s not going to be that in St. Cloud, or Rochester or Worthington.”
Where are they going to go? What would
be the point? When I grew up in Minnesota, it was one of the whitest states in
the country: 96.1 percent in 1980. First, aside from California or possibly
Texas, there isn't a state that can hold 100 million white Americans, which is
about how many people would move to a state that was guaranteed to be Asian,
Hispanic, and African-free. Second, even if a state is completely white, what
is to prevent it from being invaded just like Minnesota and Germany have been
invaded? Third, it is outrageous to state that alien invaders have the same
right to be there as native citizens. They simply don't, by any legal or moral
standard.
History strongly suggests that Dayton is wrong. I can safely predict that the land presently called "Minnesota" will again feature a strong majority population with a minority population below five percent at some point in the future. After all, it already has twice within the past 165 years. All this imposed "refugee resettlement" means is that a lot of people are going to die and a lot of people are going to be forcibly expelled from the land. Whoever is willing to fight for it will hold it.
Where does Dayton think these homogeneous populations that he hates so much come from in the first place? Except in some extreme circumstances they don't occur due to geography; mass migrations have taken place for millennia. They arise out of invasions, ethnic cleansings, and wars of the sort that are taking place right now everywhere from Myanmar to the Crimea. Of course, speaking as an American Indian from a tribe that bravely and repeatedly, and in the end, unsuccessfully battled the immigrants invading their land, I can also state with some authority that there is no guarantee the majority population that ends up living in that territory mostly unsullied by minorities will be of European descent.
For decades, Americans have assumed that all the terrible things that happened in Bangladesh and the Congo and China could not happen in the USA. And that assumption was true, mostly due to the halt in immigration in the 1920s. Now, thanks to diversity, labor mobility, the 1965 Immigration Reform Act, and the European Union, both the USA and Europe are going to see an insane amount of violence that will probably surpass the Holocaust and the Holodomor over the next three decades.
The lesson of history is very clear. The killing season is coming. And those with the eyes to see are well aware of it.
History strongly suggests that Dayton is wrong. I can safely predict that the land presently called "Minnesota" will again feature a strong majority population with a minority population below five percent at some point in the future. After all, it already has twice within the past 165 years. All this imposed "refugee resettlement" means is that a lot of people are going to die and a lot of people are going to be forcibly expelled from the land. Whoever is willing to fight for it will hold it.
Where does Dayton think these homogeneous populations that he hates so much come from in the first place? Except in some extreme circumstances they don't occur due to geography; mass migrations have taken place for millennia. They arise out of invasions, ethnic cleansings, and wars of the sort that are taking place right now everywhere from Myanmar to the Crimea. Of course, speaking as an American Indian from a tribe that bravely and repeatedly, and in the end, unsuccessfully battled the immigrants invading their land, I can also state with some authority that there is no guarantee the majority population that ends up living in that territory mostly unsullied by minorities will be of European descent.
For decades, Americans have assumed that all the terrible things that happened in Bangladesh and the Congo and China could not happen in the USA. And that assumption was true, mostly due to the halt in immigration in the 1920s. Now, thanks to diversity, labor mobility, the 1965 Immigration Reform Act, and the European Union, both the USA and Europe are going to see an insane amount of violence that will probably surpass the Holocaust and the Holodomor over the next three decades.
The lesson of history is very clear. The killing season is coming. And those with the eyes to see are well aware of it.
I
am saying that all the ingredients are there for complete breakdown and
large-scale deaths given the right initiating incident. I am saying that
volatility is baked into the cake – even into the cake of what today looks and
feels normal. I am saying that while it may be possible to keep loading box
upon box of societal Semtex into the truck, given the right detonator the
collapse will be swift, unstoppable and devastating.
And when it comes, as it always does sooner
or later, don't think that the explosives or the truck were responsible. The
blame lies with those who loaded it.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
GREENPEACE FOUNDER: LET’S CELEBRATE CO2
Following his interview with Breitbart
London, Greenpeace founder Dr. Patrick Moore addressed the Global Warming
Policy Foundation in London last night, telling them why he left the
environmentalist group and became sceptical of man-made global warming.
Here is his speech:
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/10/15/greenpeace-founder-lets-celebrate-co2/Changing the Game To Defeat Progressivism - (And comes with a game plan as well - just excellent!)
(I have been on this quest for almost 10 years now, and every once in a while a piece of writing comes along which confirms everything about what this fight is all about - and this by Mr. Amatetti does it in spades. It's time to 'git-er-done', eh! - CL)
Last but certainly not least is Approach #3
– ending, or neutralizing, public funding of progressive institutions – which
aims at the most insidious advantage progressives have in shaping public
opinion. Every year government collects taxes, and when that is not enough
it prints money, to fund thousands of progressive causes and political groups
fighting the war for public opinion, and to subsidize a smorgasbord of
wasteful, ineffective progressive agendas such as wind turbines, global warming
“research,” and failing government-run schools. Every year conservatives pay
their taxes with barely a whimper to fund the causes and ideas they fight
against. Every single initiative forced upon our country by progressives
requires conservatives’ money -- in essence, our consent. It is
ironic that the colonists’ refusal to pay a simple stamp tax ignited mankind’s
greatest revolution.
Power
and privilege never relinquish without a fight. Ultimately, we may need to hold
back our tax money. We can begin slowly, perhaps picking a day when
everyone stays home from work in protest -- then a 5-day period. We can
collectively minimize withholding from our paychecks. A huge trust fund could
be established where protesters can send their money for release only after the
government begins to act more in accordance with Article I, Section 8 of the
Constitution. The
movement could be called “Going Section 8.” The movement’s intentions could be
announced ahead of time to demonstrate that we are not cheating or hiding -- we
are fighting.
What is suggested here is trifling compared
with what others made for the cause of freedom. Remember Hume’s maxim “Force is
always on the side of the governed.” In other words, we have all the power, if
we would just exercise it.
Friday, October 16, 2015
It’s Time To Be Doers Of Conservatism And Not Just Hearers
Bob Lupton may
not be a conservative, but he has been a practitioner of poverty alleviation
for decades. He moved with
his family to a low-income neighborhood in Atlanta and has since helped rebuild
one neighborhood after another. Along the way, he has seen what works and what
fails across the United States and in numerous developing countries around the world.
Part of poverty is the feeling that one does not contribute to the
surrounding community.
He explained in “Toxic Charity,” published in 2011, that
much of what has been tried not only does not work, but poisons the giver and
the recipient, creating resentment and dependency. Together with Brian
Fikkert’s “When Helping Hurts,” published two years earlier, “Toxic Charity”
challenged the assumption of most Christian churches and charities (not to
mention secular charities and government programs) that giving without
expectation of getting anything in return is effective charity.
“Nobody
has ever been served out of poverty,” Lupton writes. Part of poverty is the
feeling that one does not contribute to the surrounding community. But
receiving goods and services with nothing in exchange can leave one feeling he
has nothing of value to contribute. If Uncle Ben’s lesson to Peter Parker was,
“with great power comes great responsibility,” then it is little wonder charity
feels disempowering—it asks the recipient to take no responsibility, so what
power can he have? At the same time, generous benefactors may look to Jesus’
words and demand much of those to whom they have given much.
Value is only created through reciprocal
exchange. That is why business owners create wealth and redistribute it through
government or philanthropy, and why we should look to the potential of
for-profit ministry. Social enterprise takes on a deeper meaning in the
organizations Lupton profiles than in many benefit corporations, or B Corps,
which are intended to balance the interests of owners with benefits to the
environment and society but more often provide a veneer of conspicuous
compassion to otherwise ordinary consumer purchases.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Declining Student Resilience: A Serious Problem for Colleges (We are reaping the results of 'everyone gets a trophy'!)
…We have raised a generation of young people who have not been
given the opportunity to learn how to solve their own problems. They have not
been given the opportunity to get into trouble and find their own way out, to
experience failure and realize they can survive it….
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