Category: Politics
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Are the Republicans Exploiting the Fiscal Crisis for Ideological Ends?
Many Democrats are arguing that the Republicans are using the current fiscal crisis to further their ideological agenda. The suggestion is that their stated fiscal concerns hide their real motivations which are ideological. This fiscal vs. ideological distinction is as bogus as John Kerry's war of necessity vs. war of choice distinction. Obviously no war…
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Big Government on the Brink
We are in deep trouble as Robert Samuelson ably documents in this troubling piece. So what does Nero Obama do? He fiddles while Rome burns and its legions get mired in Libyan sand and other sinkholes of the benighted and backward. Even if Obama the Irresponsible and every worthless Democrat were sent packing we'd still be…
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Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) Caught Lying
Here at 3:40: The Tea Party "has an ideology to get rid of all government." That's a blatant lie. A lie is not the same as a false statement. Every lie is a false statement, but not every false statement is a lie. A further condition is necessary: one must make the false statement with…
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The Bigger the Government, the More to Fight Over: The NPR Case
An excellent illustration of this truth is the current brouhaha over the defunding of National Public Radio (NPR). Why is time and money being wasted debating this? The short answer is that government has assumed a function that is obviously inessential to it and arguably illegitimate. If government stuck to its essential tasks, one of…
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National Public Radio Needs Your Support!
If you like NPR programming, as I like some of it, write them a check! Just don't demand that they receive taxpayer support. At least not now. We are in fiscal crisis, and budgetary cuts must be made. If such inessentials as NPR, PBS, NEH and NEA cannot be defunded, where will the cuts be…
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Taxation: A Liberty Issue
Despite their name, liberals seem uninterested or insufficiently interested in the 'real' liberties, those pertaining to property, money, and guns, as opposed to the 'ideal' liberties, those pertaining to freedom of expression. A liberal will go to any extreme when it comes to defending the right to express his precious self no matter how inane…
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Who Benefits From Public-Sector Unions?
An excellent piece by Michael Barone. Excerpt: The money in this case comes from taxpayers, present and future, who are the source of every penny of dues paid to public employee unions, who in turn spend much of that money on politics, almost all of it for Democrats. In effect, public employee unions are a…
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On Civility and the Recent Civility Initiatives
Civility is a good old conservative virtue and I'm all for it. But like toleration, civility has limits. If you call me a racist because I argue against Obamacare, then not only do I have no reason to be civil in my response to you, I morally ought not be civil to you. For by being…
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Puellafication
An old friend wrote to say that he had had the same thought as I express in Obamacare and Wussification. He suggested 'puerification' for the unmanning that the nanny-staters apparently intend. But I'll go old Tom one better: 'puellafication.' From the Latin puella, puellae, it means 'girl.' That ties in nicely with the complaints of Christina…
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Obamacare and Wussification
An ugly word for an ugly thing. Either one. The Obamacare provision which allows children to remain covered by their parents' health care insurance until the age of 26 promotes wussification. Do I need to explain this? Not to a conservative, for whom the old virtue of self-reliance is indeed a virtue and therefore something…
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Are You a Liberal? Take This Test
The following statements in boldface are taken verbatim from Dennis Prager's Are You a Liberal? I comment briefly on each in turn. Mirabile dictu, it turns out I am not a liberal! I could make of each of these items a separate post. (And you hope I won't.) I don't want to hear anyone complain that…
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Ockhamite Advice for Leftists
Do not multiply enemies beyond necessity! By libeling those who disagree with you, for example. Making enemies for no good reason is generally foolish. It can come back to bite you.
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No Labels? Label We Must!
This is silly. "Not Right. Not Left. Forward." There are are real differences between Right and Left that cannot be ignored. The positions must be carefully defined — and appropriately labeled. 'No labels' is itself a label — an inept one. Label we must. So we ought to do it carefully and thoughtfully. I now…
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Pelosi’s Theme Song
Not Fade Away. The dingbat won't slink off into the sidelines. Pretty face, though. Too bad there's nothing behind it. The late Ted Kennedy's favorite song actually was The Impossible Dream. Figures. It sums up the Left so well: the pursuit by any means of impossible mirage-ideals without regard for consequences. "To be willing to march into…