"The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. ”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
Another example of why non-competitive government rooted in the whims of a complaint majority will always lead to banality, venality and rule by, for and of the not Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman, but Moe, Larry and Curly. Those Three Stooges might actually be an improvement over Herenton, Richie Daley and the "liberals" who will find almost any reason to vote for them or write in the other as opposed to someone who might actually try to make government work by realizing that it doesn't. Maybe, as the Cracker used to deduce about many of us, nihilism is the only plausible way of understanding the futility of pursuing "good government." Maybe not, but it will take an honest, forthright look not simply at elected officials, but those whose policy "ideas" put them into office. That, I doubt, will ever happen as long as "liberals" such as the Cracker and his legions continue to believe that "liberalism" is somehow self-critical even as its advocates denounce, dismiss and denigrate any questions about its efficacy, premises and outcomes. Better, as Bill Buckley, Russell Kirk and Edmund Burke suggested, to chain ourselves in reality. Maybe still again, if the Cracker and his legions would ever read Reinhold Niebuhr, it might occur to them that the worst problems of the world are not caused by the cynics, but by those who claim to be doing the most good.
And how, sir, has liberalism failed YOU? I'm not going to engage in the mental masturbation which you eagerly await because I happen to have defined what I believe and why I believe it.
The idea that we can all run away from government and hide is foolish at best and destructive at worst.
As Ben Franklin pointed out, we must all hang together or we will surely hang separately.
Government has helped to create atmospheres of blame, castigation and condescending intolerance that, at your worst, you exemplify. Instead of opening avenues to the beloved mutually human community, government from the 1930s onward has led to a co-dependent relationship between citizens and the government as expressed through your Democratic party. Need I remind you that my Grandfather held THREE jobs during the Depression, each one of which the government counted toward the government's use of unemployment statistics? Need I remind you that since the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we as a society have poured billions into the public schools around the country and have produced students who show up at Chicago State, the University of Memphis and the City Colleges and are not capable of writing a complete English sentence? Need I remind you that instead of dealing with the inadequacies of government programs, we have now allowed for a series of never-ending, always evolving excuses on the part of this or that "group" or "culture" that demands benefits, but is only willing to endlessly criticize (all our problems are caused by "whiteanglosaxonprotestantheterosexualmales") good-faith efforts rooted in compassion and awareness of the Other's problems? Need I remind you that whenever you have been asked or confronted with these matters, you condescend, bully and do virtually anything possible to avoid answering the questions? If you can't answer the questions, don't advocate the position! To answer your question directly, government has failed me by creating circumstances in which I have to circumvent almost any desire to engage in intellectual give and take, explore modes of criticism that make sense to me in deference to those deigned "up to date" by authority figures who claim that all previous such inquiries are contextualized, but somehow as a human being limited by time, space, race, gender, sexuality, class and the oft-repeated categories, that theirs is beyond such context? Government failed me by creating funding mechanisms that drew Universities toward a never-ending cash cow that pays people to be the authoritarians you claim to despise. Government failed me by creating cultures of conformity rather than tolerance. Incidentally, by answering me in the manner you did, you have actually engaged in what you indicated you had avoided. You also have never fully defined what you believe and why you believe it. You have recited mantras from authority figures, statistics from self-satisfied observers and dictums from bloglines that righteously affirm what you claim to believe. Maybe if you ventured beyond those safe-havens of echo chamber repetition, you might begin to discover that human beings create systems and only human beings--with God's help--can change them.
3 comments:
Another example of why non-competitive government rooted in the whims of a complaint majority will always lead to banality, venality and rule by, for and of the not Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman, but Moe, Larry and Curly. Those Three Stooges might actually be an improvement over Herenton, Richie Daley and the "liberals" who will find almost any reason to vote for them or write in the other as opposed to someone who might actually try to make government work by realizing that it doesn't.
Maybe, as the Cracker used to deduce about many of us, nihilism is the only plausible way of understanding the futility of pursuing "good government." Maybe not, but it will take an honest, forthright look not simply at elected officials, but those whose policy "ideas" put them into office. That, I doubt, will ever happen as long as "liberals" such as the Cracker and his legions continue to believe that "liberalism" is somehow self-critical even as its advocates denounce, dismiss and denigrate any questions about its efficacy, premises and outcomes. Better, as Bill Buckley, Russell Kirk and Edmund Burke suggested, to chain ourselves in reality. Maybe still again, if the Cracker and his legions would ever read Reinhold Niebuhr, it might occur to them that the worst problems of the world are not caused by the cynics, but by those who claim to be doing the most good.
And how, sir, has liberalism failed YOU? I'm not going to engage in the mental masturbation which you eagerly await because I happen to have defined what I believe and why I believe it.
The idea that we can all run away from government and hide is foolish at best and destructive at worst.
As Ben Franklin pointed out, we must all hang together or we will surely hang separately.
Government has helped to create atmospheres of blame, castigation and condescending intolerance that, at your worst, you exemplify. Instead of opening avenues to the beloved mutually human community, government from the 1930s onward has led to a co-dependent relationship between citizens and the government as expressed through your Democratic party. Need I remind you that my Grandfather held THREE jobs during the Depression, each one of which the government counted toward the government's use of unemployment statistics? Need I remind you that since the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we as a society have poured billions into the public schools around the country and have produced students who show up at Chicago State, the University of Memphis and the City Colleges and are not capable of writing a complete English sentence? Need I remind you that instead of dealing with the inadequacies of government programs, we have now allowed for a series of never-ending, always evolving excuses on the part of this or that "group" or "culture" that demands benefits, but is only willing to endlessly criticize (all our problems are caused by "whiteanglosaxonprotestantheterosexualmales")
good-faith efforts rooted in compassion and awareness of the Other's problems? Need I remind you that whenever you have been asked or confronted with these matters, you condescend, bully and do virtually anything possible to avoid answering the questions? If you can't answer the questions, don't advocate the position!
To answer your question directly, government has failed me by creating circumstances in which I have to circumvent almost any desire to engage in intellectual give and take, explore modes of criticism that make sense to me in deference to those deigned "up to date" by authority figures who claim that all previous such inquiries are contextualized, but somehow as a human being limited by time, space, race, gender, sexuality, class and the oft-repeated categories, that theirs is beyond such context? Government failed me by creating funding mechanisms that drew Universities toward a never-ending cash cow that pays people to be the authoritarians you claim to despise. Government failed me by creating cultures of conformity rather than tolerance.
Incidentally, by answering me in the manner you did, you have actually engaged in what you indicated you had avoided. You also have never fully defined what you believe and why you believe it. You have recited mantras from authority figures, statistics from self-satisfied observers and dictums from bloglines that righteously affirm what you claim to believe. Maybe if you ventured beyond those safe-havens of echo chamber repetition, you might begin to discover that human beings create systems and only human beings--with God's help--can change them.
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