I'm taking heart from the commenters lately. There was a damn fool on Big Gov.com, who argued for electing candidates with an "R" after their names ("A RINO is better than no R at all."), and the commenter's rejected his message and ripped him to shreds.Sometimes I can't tell which one of (all of) us is talking. We are DEFINITELY on the same page!
People are slowly getting it.
I put up a post today, that quotes from a speech that de Tocqueville made in the French parliament, when he was trying to wake them from the socialist sleep they were blindly heading for. A few key lines of his speech identifying what socialism means, are,
"... an incessant, vigorous and extreme appeal to the material passions of man..."
"...always present, is an attack, either direct or indirect, on the principle of private property..."
"Now, a third and final trait, one which, in my eyes, best describes socialists of all schools and shades, is a profound opposition to personal liberty and scorn for individual reason, a complete contempt for the individual.
"...They call, in fact, for the forfeiture, to a greater or less degree, of human liberty, [Further signs of assent.] to the point where, were I to attempt to sum up what socialism is, I would say that it was simply a new system of serfdom."
We need to turn our attention to the Senate, and attempt to stop this monstrosity there - but if it does pass, we'll need to turn our attention to 2010, and turn our attention NOT to jabbering about how socialized medicine will hurt, ruin or destroy healthcare or even the economy - it will, but that is playing on the leftist's turf.
In a battle between our pointing out hard facts, and their offering up a free pass to sugar candy mountain, the sweet tooth will always win over a people who don't understand the deeper risks.
The real job before us is to Educate our friends and relatives to what de Tocqueville understood about all variations of socialism. And, as in a comment I tried to leave on a Bad Bad JuJu (wouldn't go through from some reason) post you linked to the other day,
"...What we've got to do, in the next two years, is Educate the core of the American people, to what has been de-educated out of them. The meaning of the ideas which lay behind the Constitution, and why it was written in the way it was - and to take vocal political action to restore to this land, a nation of Laws, not men.
Here's a good place to start.
It's not going to be easy... but it'll be fun to tell the grandkids about!..."
France has nearly passed away into history, and we are heading in that direction as well, but we can still change course if we shake ourselves and our neighbors awake. Freedom and Liberty demand conscious attention, they will not linger with those who take them for granted.
The Gunslinger, EOTIS
Para Bellum
GREAT post! Thanks for sharing "Van"s post,Gunny.One of your best traits,besides your own commentaries,of course,is your passing on other's posts.(No diva-ego,there!).The deToqueville "material passions...contempt for the individual" passage is the same as my own angle of argument to so-called "liberal" friends.In more contemporary slang,of course. It pushes the discussion into a more productive light. In the heart of most "liberals" is a commendable humanitarian motive.But they don't tend to think 2 or 3 steps ahead as to the consequences of their proposals (prudence is the key to mature,adult adjustment to Life and it's sticky questions). Arrested development,as it were...Sounds condescending,but it's like trying to help a "special child"...they are God's Creatures,with sometimes-amazing brilliance in some areas,yet frustrating mis-judgements in other areas. Ooops,forgot the RAMBLE ALERT!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteTjones said "But they don't tend to think 2 or 3 steps ahead as to the consequences of their proposals"
One of the truthiest understatements ever!
Good post. What is your advise, gunny et al, for family and friends who are still burying their heads in the sand?
ReplyDeleteI try to post eg information on Facebook and blog, but many are still just sheep. Don't know what else I should do... I'm living outside USA currently so can't face to face.
Advise would be appreciated? I know lots of liberals and I'm at my wits end. They are still in la la land...
That is a GREAT post.
ReplyDeleteI'm telling you...Van is the Man.
"One of the truthiest understatements ever!"...is
Classic!
We're in a BIG game of chess, and the further we can look ahead, the more likely we can win. Chess is the only game I know, where is no luck involved...no draw of cards, no rolling of dice, etc...
I'm just sayin'
I call it "not thinking things through".
ReplyDeleteThat's the hallmark of the child and the Liberal.
The answer...
ReplyDelete"Sis libertas para bellum"
"Si vis pacem, para bellum
ReplyDeleteSo true...
Lisa G in NZ said "What is your advise, gunny et al, for family and friends who are still burying their heads in the sand?"
ReplyDeleteWell... what ya can't do, is argue on their own turf... forget statistics, tax burdens, or that govt has no right... argue only on principles of individual rights and property rights, or end up another John McCain.
First, you've got to shake the self satisfied grip of pride they've staked in leftist positions.
Incidental leftists (and this will only work on them, not the hardcore believers – they’re gone), are so because of some lazy assumptions they've made... one, that the bright packaging of benevolences they support are true in motive and result, two, that they are the smart things to think, and three, that they are daringly free thinkers and brave defenders of 'peoples right to choose!'
Burst those bubbles, and their loyalties and convictions, such as they are, will collapse as well... or at the very least implant some painful doubts in them.
The best pins for popping intellectual puffery, are humor (at their expense), and truth.
The important thing to keep in mind and apply to what your friends support, is that any form of leftist, statist, socialist top down thinking is nothing but enforced stupidity... what else do you call a decision that's made without knowing the facts?
Has anyone that’s worked in a large org’s not seen one of those mgmt wiz bang orders come down, and not seen they were - stupid? And what peon tells his mgmt they’re stupid? Instead of testing and trying something, and seeking opinions & quick reports about it first, the order is given, and the info dies there with the peon and a shake of the head.
Statism is that on steroids.
(Break for Blogspot to persecute the longwinded)
(cont)
ReplyDeleteSuch top down decision making prevents the flow of info not only upwards, but outwards, of correct information, the communication of which (rarely fully recognized as such even by those involved in the information flow, see Leonard Reed's "I Pencil") is the true life blood of the free market, capital is only what registers information's passing.
Think through the foul-up's caused by a regulations, a price limit, a salary cap, find the unintended consequences and failures, show how stupid the very notion of them is. Drive it home to your friends a few times, how absolutely stupid, leftist policies and theories are, and they’ll lose that “aren’t I smart” glow, and the more they think about it, and your zings (with a friendly smile, never in a nasty sneering fashion), the more embarrassed they’ll feel about them.
Apply that to the cause they feel warmest towards... the poor, the homeless, the children... the examples that their policies don't work, and are done anyway because the politico’s feel good about 'intending' to do good, ignoring those screwed and made worse off because of it... and they'll not feel too good about their fine intentions.
Point out that govt 'giving' you 'choice and competition'... fixed by bureaucratic regulations that prevent any offer you might prefer, and would prevent you choosing what you might like better, which would put you in JAIL for not 'choosing' what THEY’VE decided you should want... see if they see that as a 'choice' or a right or any sort of free thinking at all.
One good example can expose all three points of pride, and can pop all three bubbles at once.
Bastiat did an excellent job of zinging them in his day (His "Petition of the candlemakers and their allied industries for protection against the unfair competition of the sun", it was a beaut, called "...devastating. It is a flash of pure genius, a reductio ad absurdum that can never be exceeded, sufficient in itself to assure Bastiat immortal fame among economists."), and Thomas Sowell & Walter E. Williams do it well today, their books and columns packed with good examples.
Happy hunting!