ObamaCare is floundering and Margaret Carlson is one unhappy liberal, which happens to be my favorite kind.
"Crazies". I guess she means people like me -- people who don't always trust the government to do the right thing, whether through ignorance, incompetence or malice; people who believe, to quote another "crazy":
The "crazy" who said that, by the way, went by the name of George Washington, who just happens to be the fellow after whom liberalism's Mecca was named.
For that's what we're dealing with here: a religion. There is no god but liberalism, and Obama is its prophet. We are imbued in liberalism's moral precepts in the schools, battered incessantly with its presumptions in the popular media, and continually and coldly assessed by the keepers of its flame for any signs of heresy, unbelief, or rebellion. Suspend a student from school for wearing an NRA T-shirt, or for physically defending himself in a fight. Ostracize Chic-Fil-A and the Boy Scouts when they defend the traditional family. Smear Clarence Thomas and Herman Cain with rumors of sexual misconduct when they take the national stage espousing a heretical viewpoint, while ignoring Bill Clinton's and John Edwards' own sexual issues for as long as possible because they're true believers. When liberals speak of "crazies", what they really mean is infidels.
That makes liberalism, in Marxian terms, the opiate of the high and mighty classes. It is the religion of choice for the clueless cognoscenti, such as Ms. Carlson. "Heaven" is the Great Society, our goal, our eschaton -- a social paradise, perfectly just, perfectly managed, and based on our shared faith in man's reason, knowledge, and inherent gosh-darn goodness. Wicked resistance yet exists, but can be wholly blamed on the deprived childhoods and lack of (federally-funded) education of the benighted classes (that's us, by the way -- murderers, pimps, thieves, conservatives, and other species of "bitter clingers"). Society's institutions have failed to create a citizenry worthy of their vision. To create the Great Society requires tearing down our outmoded institutions and replacing them with newer, shinier ones. Not justice, but social justice. Not prison, but rehabilitation and re-education. Not the family, but the village. Not the church, but the progressive university. Not the Constitution that James Madison helped write, but the "living Constitution" that the Supreme Court gets to re-write -- it's life, Jim, but not as we know it.
The opposing viewpoint, espoused by "crazies" like George Washington and me, is that man is imperfect in knowledge and character -- a fallen creature whose motives are suspect even on those rare occasions when his competence is not; whose laziness and greed require an incentive structure like the free market to get him to lift so much as a finger for his fellow man; and whose depravity requires institutions like the family and the church just to get him to behave himself. You'll want to be very careful when dealing with such a creature. You'll want to empower him to improve his own lot in life, while still protecting everyone else's. Unfortunately, this also empowers him to ruin his own life. And while it's dangerous to trust the governed, it's catastrophic to trust their governors: you'll want to disperse political power and bind it with a constitution. Unfortunately, this also disempowers the government from doing all the things some think it should.
What you don't want is to collect too much political and economic power together under the hood of one mighty and unstoppable vehicle, and then hand over the keys to anyone who is not Jesus Christ. Contrary to what the breathless and gushing Evan Thomas thinks, Barack Obama is not Jesus. To judge by his recent spate of incompetencies, he's not even Pontius Pilate.
We had plenty of warning. The Bible advises us, put not your faith in man. Discretion tells us, don't fix what ain't broke. Experience should have told most of us that slick hucksters, whether they wear the loud houndstooth and leering grin of the used-car saleman, or the blue serge and ingratiating smile of the professional politician, are to be taken with a grain of salt.
But many of us bought it anyway. And now we have to suffer the consequences. Alleluia, amen.
Carlson: "The website failure gives credence to those who warn that government can’t be trusted to get big things right, and that the market, not bureaucrats, should fix health care. It’s not just the crazies who doubt government now. According to the Pew Research Center, the competence of officialdom is on shaky ground, with only 19 percent of Americans saying they trust in government 'just about always' or 'most of the time.'"
"Crazies". I guess she means people like me -- people who don't always trust the government to do the right thing, whether through ignorance, incompetence or malice; people who believe, to quote another "crazy":
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
The "crazy" who said that, by the way, went by the name of George Washington, who just happens to be the fellow after whom liberalism's Mecca was named.
For that's what we're dealing with here: a religion. There is no god but liberalism, and Obama is its prophet. We are imbued in liberalism's moral precepts in the schools, battered incessantly with its presumptions in the popular media, and continually and coldly assessed by the keepers of its flame for any signs of heresy, unbelief, or rebellion. Suspend a student from school for wearing an NRA T-shirt, or for physically defending himself in a fight. Ostracize Chic-Fil-A and the Boy Scouts when they defend the traditional family. Smear Clarence Thomas and Herman Cain with rumors of sexual misconduct when they take the national stage espousing a heretical viewpoint, while ignoring Bill Clinton's and John Edwards' own sexual issues for as long as possible because they're true believers. When liberals speak of "crazies", what they really mean is infidels.
That makes liberalism, in Marxian terms, the opiate of the high and mighty classes. It is the religion of choice for the clueless cognoscenti, such as Ms. Carlson. "Heaven" is the Great Society, our goal, our eschaton -- a social paradise, perfectly just, perfectly managed, and based on our shared faith in man's reason, knowledge, and inherent gosh-darn goodness. Wicked resistance yet exists, but can be wholly blamed on the deprived childhoods and lack of (federally-funded) education of the benighted classes (that's us, by the way -- murderers, pimps, thieves, conservatives, and other species of "bitter clingers"). Society's institutions have failed to create a citizenry worthy of their vision. To create the Great Society requires tearing down our outmoded institutions and replacing them with newer, shinier ones. Not justice, but social justice. Not prison, but rehabilitation and re-education. Not the family, but the village. Not the church, but the progressive university. Not the Constitution that James Madison helped write, but the "living Constitution" that the Supreme Court gets to re-write -- it's life, Jim, but not as we know it.
The opposing viewpoint, espoused by "crazies" like George Washington and me, is that man is imperfect in knowledge and character -- a fallen creature whose motives are suspect even on those rare occasions when his competence is not; whose laziness and greed require an incentive structure like the free market to get him to lift so much as a finger for his fellow man; and whose depravity requires institutions like the family and the church just to get him to behave himself. You'll want to be very careful when dealing with such a creature. You'll want to empower him to improve his own lot in life, while still protecting everyone else's. Unfortunately, this also empowers him to ruin his own life. And while it's dangerous to trust the governed, it's catastrophic to trust their governors: you'll want to disperse political power and bind it with a constitution. Unfortunately, this also disempowers the government from doing all the things some think it should.
What you don't want is to collect too much political and economic power together under the hood of one mighty and unstoppable vehicle, and then hand over the keys to anyone who is not Jesus Christ. Contrary to what the breathless and gushing Evan Thomas thinks, Barack Obama is not Jesus. To judge by his recent spate of incompetencies, he's not even Pontius Pilate.
We had plenty of warning. The Bible advises us, put not your faith in man. Discretion tells us, don't fix what ain't broke. Experience should have told most of us that slick hucksters, whether they wear the loud houndstooth and leering grin of the used-car saleman, or the blue serge and ingratiating smile of the professional politician, are to be taken with a grain of salt.
But many of us bought it anyway. And now we have to suffer the consequences. Alleluia, amen.
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1 comment:
Really great post Lee. Packs a punch -- lot of truth in just a few paragraphs.
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