When last we discussed the new Newsweek, there was general incredulity at the patent disingenuousness of its editor, Jon Meacham, describing the magazine as “not partisan.” Today, the magazine’s website features two pieces about the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. The magazine’s partners, the Washington Post and Slate, direct you to the site’s articles in a box that reads:
Newsweek
*The GOP’s Misguided Attack on Sotomayor
*The Cynical Attack on Sonia Sotomayor
Because, you know, not partisan at all…
Warren: Your brief is spot on accurate, unfortunately.
Let’s try to put up a fight, OK?
Agreed. The question is what will be most effective? Without reforming the educational system, we will just keep producing a brainwashed populace. Our school system today at all levels and both public and private is akin to the madrassahs we rail against in Islamic countries. Students are taught misinformation. How do we even begin to correct that in time?
“Thus, we will experience the democratic despotism Tocqueville discussed.”
Uh, no, we will not.
Which is not to imply that things will not get much worse, for they surely shall.
The problem with applying Tocqueville’s observation of self-imposed despotism to our present situation is that it fails to take into account facts, demographics and ‘cultural patriotism’.
By cultural patriotism I mean the American public’s almost universal love and allegiance to the the most basic of the foundational principles of this country: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not merely platitudes given lip service. Liberals as much as conservatives believe in those concepts, though they differ on how to achieve them.
On a visceral level, we ALL (95%) believe it to be our God-given right. Whether christian or atheist, jew, muslim, buddhist or agnostic, it is for all of us, a dogma grounded literally in faith. We believe it. And nobody is going to take it away from us without a fight to the death.
So no, once the ‘despotism’ rises to a high enough level… the American people will rise up and ‘throw the bums out’ and the greater the level of despotism, the more bums who shall be voted out of office. The dems are playing with fire and are but a few years away from reaping the whirlwind.
Then there are the demographics of the matter. There are simply not enough producers to support the entitlements demanded and, with each increase in prohibitive taxes, surcharges and fees imposed upon the producers to sustain and increase entitlements, the number of producers will decline. It’s an unsustainable ponzi scheme.
And finally, there are the facts. The rich themselves can only support so many. Even Buffet and Gates have their limits. 50% of New York city’s revenue is supplied by 40,000 of its 8 million residents… How much more shall they pay? At some point, it becomes a classic case of killing the golden goose. A case of killing the golden goose, not because the rich are more altruistic or morally superior than others but because of the inconvenient but factual truth that without a large, privately held pool of wealth available for investment, economic growth cannot occur robustly.
Another inconvenient but factual truth is that without American military support, Europe’s socialistic entitlements cannot stand. Obama is moving to reduce our military and the consequences for Europe and the US will not be good. Pacifism has it’s price and, the ‘price’ is slavery or national suicide. We either stand and fight or bow our heads, for the Hitler’s, Stalin’s and Ahmadinejad’s of the world, who are always with us, will allow no other outcome.
The cruelest truth of all for socialists is that it simply cannot work because it is an intellectual concept ‘at war’ with the outer reality within which it resides.
And in the end, reality always wins because it is, what is… not what we might wish were so.
What a bunch of pompous hooey. Sounds like an after dinner speech at Delmonico’s, circa 1890s.
Is not-so-many-books referring to The One’s telepromptoration at Mile-high Delphi? Or the Great Healing in Philly? Projection, projection, projection.
Warren, you nailed it. Nailed it down every corner. Libs always have a zero-sum focus on physical resources. They obsess about dividing up the pie, consumed by fear because they don’t have a clue how the pie gets made in the first place, and are jealous and fearful of the people that actually do. As it is, our country is awash in resources, much of it the amazing fruit of past generations’ skill, labor, and sacrifice. But our greatest national resource still has always been our national character. That is our greatest strength and our greatest vulnerability. With all our riches, resources, natural endowments, and infrastructure, America should be paradise. Why isn’t it? Why are some of our cities war zones? Why so much loserhood and misery among our perennial underclass? why so many lives wasted and lost to addictions, abuse, illegitimacy, gangs, violence, and various other forms of social pathology? Why? Human behavior. virtually all of our nation’s problems come down to human behavior. Imagine if all our citizens simply knew how to behave like adults. Centuries of priceless lessons of civilization can be lost in just a few generations, if we fail to teach our children and ourselves how to be decent human beings.. Decent grownup human beings who know how to work, be independent, and do unto others. It’s that simple. but we’ve forgotten. we grew so arrogant that we thought we were smarter than all the ages before us, that all the old wisdom was what was holding us back, when in fact it was all that old wisdom that had secured our advance. Oh but now we know better. We’re so modern and “progressive” now, how could we fail? We’ll the truth is, we’re throwing it all away as a nation. Raising generations of emotional dwarfs, utterly lacking the wisdom and character necessary for self government. A democratic republic, where ultimate sovereignty inheres in the citizenry, demands that those citizens have the strength of character worthy of their responsibilities, if that republic is to remain strong. Thus the eternal truth, whether of nation or individual:
GOVERN YOURSELF, or surely YOU WILL BE GOVERNED BY OTHERS.
The Brooks article is wistful thinking. Does Russia still produce great literature? For that matter great Ballet?
Is anyone really arguing that Britain’s character hasn’t changed?
No, I think that Murray is right. There is an interaction between systems and people. Urban decay is suffered by those who vote for the same one party rule system that provides slogans and graft instead of progress.
Alas, I don’t think we’re that exceptional. But hopefully, I’m wrong.