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The Left [1] doesn't like the Tea Party; not one little bit. No sirree bob! They're, by God, extreme ultra right-wing fascists; violence waiting to happen. They're a hate group. And racists to boot.
The list goes on. [2]
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Tea Party Metaphor and the Clueless Left
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The Left [1] doesn't like the Tea Party; not one little bit. No sirree bob! They're, by God, extreme ultra right-wing fascists; violence waiting to happen. They're a hate group. And racists to boot.
The list goes on. [2]
The Left [1] doesn't like the Tea Party; not one little bit. No sirree bob! They're, by God, extreme ultra right-wing fascists; violence waiting to happen. They're a hate group. And racists to boot.
The list goes on. [2]
Friday, August 19, 2011
APS Cheating Scandal: In No Way Excusable; In Every Way Predictable
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The Atlanta Public School (-teacher) cheating scandal, and similar reflections in other cities, points to the systemic corruption of the K-12 educational establishment. That corruption is especially prevalent in major metropolitan areas where affirmative action priorities [1] have reduced the level of competence and judgment of "educators" [2]. Crony Socialism (a redundant phrase) invites collusion between city bureaucracies with oversight and those overseen. To offer cash incentives for teaching and administrative performance within a system where incompetence has become the accepted standard, is to ask for trouble. Moral hazards and predictable outcomes.
The Atlanta Public School (-teacher) cheating scandal, and similar reflections in other cities, points to the systemic corruption of the K-12 educational establishment. That corruption is especially prevalent in major metropolitan areas where affirmative action priorities [1] have reduced the level of competence and judgment of "educators" [2]. Crony Socialism (a redundant phrase) invites collusion between city bureaucracies with oversight and those overseen. To offer cash incentives for teaching and administrative performance within a system where incompetence has become the accepted standard, is to ask for trouble. Moral hazards and predictable outcomes.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
What is the Vital Nexus Between Progressives and Islam?
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After puzzling for some time about the strong affinity between the Left and Muslims, [1] I think I have finally sorted it out.
The answer to the title question is a brief one, and for that reason, this promises to be a short essay. It is simply this: the two groups share a culture of entitlement and a conviction of their own innate superiority, on the one hand, and of right of dominion on the other. In a word, Progressives and Muslims have much in common.
After puzzling for some time about the strong affinity between the Left and Muslims, [1] I think I have finally sorted it out.
The answer to the title question is a brief one, and for that reason, this promises to be a short essay. It is simply this: the two groups share a culture of entitlement and a conviction of their own innate superiority, on the one hand, and of right of dominion on the other. In a word, Progressives and Muslims have much in common.Wednesday, August 17, 2011
European Riots and the Vision of Thomas Hobbes
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The rioting we have recently seen in Great Britain, Greece, Sweden, France and parts of Germany (not to mention the emergence of American "flash mobs") gives us a window into the future. A future that will surely come if the West persists in its determination to commit cultural suicide. The violence of mobs also invites us to look at the past, and, indeed at most of the world around us today.
Of the several points to be covered here I want to place special emphasis on this one: most of us in the West have lived so well for so long that we do not appreciate how fortunate we are. And we don't recognize than we are a tiny island in a vast sea of human predators who understand only existential conflict and brutality. They exist in established states which attempt to conceal murders, starvation, slave prisons and the near-total loss of liberty, and they exist openly in the killing fields of Rwanda and other African states. What good people know in these places we do not -- what it means to live in constant fear of other human beings.
The rioting we have recently seen in Great Britain, Greece, Sweden, France and parts of Germany (not to mention the emergence of American "flash mobs") gives us a window into the future. A future that will surely come if the West persists in its determination to commit cultural suicide. The violence of mobs also invites us to look at the past, and, indeed at most of the world around us today.
Of the several points to be covered here I want to place special emphasis on this one: most of us in the West have lived so well for so long that we do not appreciate how fortunate we are. And we don't recognize than we are a tiny island in a vast sea of human predators who understand only existential conflict and brutality. They exist in established states which attempt to conceal murders, starvation, slave prisons and the near-total loss of liberty, and they exist openly in the killing fields of Rwanda and other African states. What good people know in these places we do not -- what it means to live in constant fear of other human beings.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wanted: Strong, Artilculate Men Of Principle
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In the current political war over the US debt ceiling and reductions in spending, I find myself more than slightly annoyed by the want of a certain kind of courage on the part of establishment Republicans. John Boehner, Speaker of the House comes to mind [1]. Like others of his experience in politics, he is foremost a pragmatic man. He weighs his options and carefully considers their political consequences. Pragmatic men are precisely the kind who are needed to conduct the day-to-day business of government, but only so long as two conditions are met. The first is that their political opponents act in good faith, and second, is that there not be an issue of such magnitude that the future of the nation is in peril. Neither condition is currently satisfied by the current administration and the Democrat members of congress. It is no longer the time for leadership to remain in the hands of moderate pragmatists. Sorely needed are men of principle with the political will and courage to stand fast by their values and those of the American people.
In the current political war over the US debt ceiling and reductions in spending, I find myself more than slightly annoyed by the want of a certain kind of courage on the part of establishment Republicans. John Boehner, Speaker of the House comes to mind [1]. Like others of his experience in politics, he is foremost a pragmatic man. He weighs his options and carefully considers their political consequences. Pragmatic men are precisely the kind who are needed to conduct the day-to-day business of government, but only so long as two conditions are met. The first is that their political opponents act in good faith, and second, is that there not be an issue of such magnitude that the future of the nation is in peril. Neither condition is currently satisfied by the current administration and the Democrat members of congress. It is no longer the time for leadership to remain in the hands of moderate pragmatists. Sorely needed are men of principle with the political will and courage to stand fast by their values and those of the American people.Friday, July 22, 2011
What the Debt Battle Really Means to America
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The outcome of the pitched battle now underway in Congress will be of enormous importance to America's future. Though nominally concerned with fiscal and economic matters, it is much, much more than that. At issue is nothing less than the peoples' sovereignty.
In earlier essays (notably here) I have remarked that the behavior of the current president, his leaders in the house and senate and his allies in the Executive branch is stunning for its arrogance -- its contempt for the majority of Americans. Add to that, and in concert, the same arrogance of the legacy media [1], K12 and academe, Hollywood, labor unions, the "permanent government" bureaucracies and many of the nation's courts, and we have to ask ourselves if they know something we don't. What might that be?
The outcome of the pitched battle now underway in Congress will be of enormous importance to America's future. Though nominally concerned with fiscal and economic matters, it is much, much more than that. At issue is nothing less than the peoples' sovereignty.
In earlier essays (notably here) I have remarked that the behavior of the current president, his leaders in the house and senate and his allies in the Executive branch is stunning for its arrogance -- its contempt for the majority of Americans. Add to that, and in concert, the same arrogance of the legacy media [1], K12 and academe, Hollywood, labor unions, the "permanent government" bureaucracies and many of the nation's courts, and we have to ask ourselves if they know something we don't. What might that be?
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
The Left Deals in Good Faith: A Dangerous Assumption
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There is an on-going argument among conservatives that Obama and the Progressives are simply misguided and ignorant, on the one hand, or that they are deliberately bent on America's destruction on the other. That argument is perhaps best exemplified by the thinking of Michael Medved in the first case and that of Rush Limbaugh in the second. I believe Limbaugh is correct.
Both men are deeply rooted in the Western Tradition's norms of civil society, and that is a good thing. Limbaugh, however, is canny enough to recognize that Progressives, while careful to appear otherwise, entertain no such notions. They are deconstructionists whose sole motivation is the will to power, and they well understand that their ends can only be achieved by the calculated and deliberate dissolution of American society and its roots in the heritage of the West.
Mr. Medved, like other "moderate" conservatives, naively -- and dangerously -- assumes that the Hard Left upholds the same values and plays by the same rules honored by the Right. He fails to see that Progressives have launched upon a course of triangulation in aid of division and conquest: the fascist "third way" [1].
There is an on-going argument among conservatives that Obama and the Progressives are simply misguided and ignorant, on the one hand, or that they are deliberately bent on America's destruction on the other. That argument is perhaps best exemplified by the thinking of Michael Medved in the first case and that of Rush Limbaugh in the second. I believe Limbaugh is correct.
Both men are deeply rooted in the Western Tradition's norms of civil society, and that is a good thing. Limbaugh, however, is canny enough to recognize that Progressives, while careful to appear otherwise, entertain no such notions. They are deconstructionists whose sole motivation is the will to power, and they well understand that their ends can only be achieved by the calculated and deliberate dissolution of American society and its roots in the heritage of the West.
Mr. Medved, like other "moderate" conservatives, naively -- and dangerously -- assumes that the Hard Left upholds the same values and plays by the same rules honored by the Right. He fails to see that Progressives have launched upon a course of triangulation in aid of division and conquest: the fascist "third way" [1].
Friday, July 1, 2011
The Institutional American Left, Conservatives and the Debt Ceiling Battle
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Our politicians are engaged -- not in debate but in ideological war over the conditions for raising America's debt ceiling. A game of brinkmanship is being played out as the deadline (variously defined) approaches. Both sides agree that the US credit rating hangs in the balance and that the ceiling must be raised. At issue are government spending and taxes. The Right is intent on reductions as a quid pro quo for an affirmative vote, and it has offered numerous good faith proposals, while the Left is equally intent on the continuation of deficit spending and raising taxes. On the one hand, there is concern for putting the nation's fiscal house in order and on the other there is a real fear that the continuation of political power is at stake.
Our politicians are engaged -- not in debate but in ideological war over the conditions for raising America's debt ceiling. A game of brinkmanship is being played out as the deadline (variously defined) approaches. Both sides agree that the US credit rating hangs in the balance and that the ceiling must be raised. At issue are government spending and taxes. The Right is intent on reductions as a quid pro quo for an affirmative vote, and it has offered numerous good faith proposals, while the Left is equally intent on the continuation of deficit spending and raising taxes. On the one hand, there is concern for putting the nation's fiscal house in order and on the other there is a real fear that the continuation of political power is at stake.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Making News, Making History
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The sorry state of journalism is often portrayed -- in particular by media elitists, to the extent they acknowledge it -- as a recent development; one that calls into contrast the current state of affairs with some imaginary 'golden age' of purely objective reportage. My own suspicion, however, is that good journalism [1] has always been a rare thing. Journalists, and more especially those who have employed them, have yoked the facts of human events to existing dogma -- to prevailing orthodoxy -- and to liberal political agendas.
Are things worse now than in earlier times? I cannot say with certainty, but it seems to me that institutional media have, in the last decade, abandoned all pretense to objective reporting even at considerable costs to market share -- perhaps with the expectation that the liberal establishment will save their financial bacon.
The sorry state of journalism is often portrayed -- in particular by media elitists, to the extent they acknowledge it -- as a recent development; one that calls into contrast the current state of affairs with some imaginary 'golden age' of purely objective reportage. My own suspicion, however, is that good journalism [1] has always been a rare thing. Journalists, and more especially those who have employed them, have yoked the facts of human events to existing dogma -- to prevailing orthodoxy -- and to liberal political agendas.
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