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| We want free stuff! |
Socialism is as natural as crapping on a police car...
Many of us on the right are shocked and saddened at the resurgence of bald-faced socialism, which we believed had been eternally banished from our shores. It shouldn't be such a shock, really.
Something for Nothing Gimmee-ism and a Desire for The Strong Man forever lurk within the human heart. Especially among those who eschew fundamental concepts like human nature, natural law, free markets,and personal liberties.
The thing that strikes me about the Occupy Wall Street crowd and their demands is how timeless they are.
We lazily think of socialism as something that came up with the Industrial Revolution. In fact, as Eric Voegelin, Igor Shafarevich, and many others have explained, it is a universal human tendency. (John Derbyshire – Everybody will have everything)That Derbyshire quote reminded me of Michael Medved’s commentary on liberalism that was spurred by a Helen Thomas quote. You know Helen Thomas, the incredibly old and incredibly liberal White House reporter. Well, she was asked in an interview to explain her liberalism, and she replied that, "well, we're all born liberal."
Michael Medved had a wonderful riposte. I'm paraphrasing from memory, and probably embellishing, so my apologies to Mr. Medved:
Of course we’re all born liberal! As babies we expect someone to pick us up and suckle us when we cry. Eating, like every other pleasure, comes with no effort. Babies don't have to earn anything, they pay for nothing, but they deserve everything. Babies pee, poop, drool and spill wherever they want because someone else cleans up the mess.Yes, liberals and babies have a lot in common, and all the adults can do is clean up the mess and help the squalling brats grow into responsible men and women.
Puke down the front of your shirt, pee your pants, poop on the carpet; no responsibility, just gimme, gimme, gimme! It's a fantasy world of padded guard rails, warm swaddling, and adults sacrificing mightily for your comfort and safety. A liberal paradise.
Medved nails it here, doesn't he.
ReplyDelete"Socialism is as natural as crapping on a police car..." SF, is that yours or are you quoting someone? It's perfect!
Perhaps our schools grew us up past the liberal 'gimme gimme gimme' we were born with... because most of us learned, as kids, to love America, learn the evils of socialism, learn what made this country great, that hard work was the key, etc.........and now our kids don't. Because of the huge preponderance of liberal teachers. How can we turn THAT around?
I'm off to teach my Wee Americans class I started at a local preschool where I teach about famous Americans, teach the Pledge of Allegiance, talk about how great and beautiful America is! That's this morning. They love it and I adore seeing their enthusiasm!
"preponderance of liberal teachers" Z, not easy turning that around. Best advice I can give is if your still raising kids, be very engaged in their schooling. I found, raising two, that most teachers throw in liberalism in to doing their job of teaching our kids. And many times I have found that I have had to undo some of what my kids were taught because of that.
ReplyDeleteNice post, Silver. As usual, you're 'right' on.
The picture of the guy crapping on the police car said it all. God Bless America, I pray we get through this.
ReplyDeleteYou might enjoy this article
ReplyDeleteI thought I'd pot the article because it is on of the most focused discussions I've read recently.
As for the demonstrations, I notice you lead with the "crap on the cop car" bit. Just as has been asked at the fringe right blog where I first saw the photo, "How do you know it was taken at the occupation?" If you can prove it, I'll tip my cap and grab some bench. My guess is you can't.
C'mon Ducky, you understand that it's not the truth, but the meta-truth, the narrative!
ReplyDeleteThat picture is the emblem of the Occupy Wall Street human bowel movement.
tea partiers are all racists and the lefties protesting capitalism are defecating dummies demanding free stuff.
Z: "Socialism is as natural as crapping on a police car..."
ReplyDeleteThat's mine!
I source all my quotes, so if you don't see a reference after it, it's mine!
Ducky:
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. That was an interesting article. I appreciate the author's intellectual honesty, and I enjoy reading stuff like that from "the other side" that is not ranty or skewed. Geoghegan did a nice job breaking it down.
This is key
"We have to get the rich to invest. Specifically, we have to get the rich to invest “by employing labor on the construction of durable assets.”
And I agree with this conclusion:
We have to get the rich to invest. Specifically, we have to get the rich to invest “by employing labor on the construction of durable assets.”
Putting banking and financing back in its proper place, as Professor Kolitkoff suggests, and ending government incentives for financial recklessness would get us most of the way there.
I do not agree with him that we need adopt the German model. It runs against our national character, and has problems of its own.
Also, Germany is engaged it a subtle "beggar thy neighbor" mercantilism, which is why it is recapitalizing banks and bailing out poor neighbors. Germany is Europe's company store, saving them the cost of exporting goods half-way around the world.
Please tune in tomorrow. I have a post written about Keynes and Hayek, who actually had more in common philosophically than people think. I also defend Sir Maynard, since I do not believe he deserves the demonization he is receiving at the hands of conservatives.
I do side with Hayek, in believing that Keynes' key mistake was not in economic theory, but in his "fatal conceit" of believing that a body of smart people could actually read all the myriad market signals and push all the buttons and pull all the economic levers to keep it all on an even keel. It's an impossible task.
Thanks again for the link, Ducky. It gave me a lot to think about.
...But I'm still a rotten capitalist! ;)
Portraying the Socialist Fantasy as Infantilism Run Amok is the perfect analogy.
ReplyDeleteHelen Thomas, the ancient Toad in a Dress, who disgraced the White House Press corpse for decades, was right, but I doubt if she knew how and why.
Most of us would enjoy being loved and cared for unconditionally while we continue to live free of responsibility and consequences for our misdeeds.
Fortunately, most of us learn very soon that this is not only impossible but completely undesirable.
George Bernard-Shaw said it exceedingly well:
"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you're thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."
Shaw has been hideously defamed by the latter day zealot, reformed dipsomaniac and distorter of doctrines, Glenn Beck, who may or may not be well-motivated in his deranged attempts to return the nation to sanity. Yes, Shaw was a Fabian, but to claim this fatally impugns his character as a man and obviates the marvels of his work both as a dramatist and serious music critic is puerile and simplistic, indeed.
For adults it's impossible to reduce complex social problems to telegramatic slogans such as CAPITALISM GOOD. SOCIALISM BAD. The language of Tarzan and Jane is insufficient for communication outside the charming fantasy jungle dreamt up by Edgar Rich Burroughs.
~ FreeThinke
I'm old enough to remember the 1960's hippies misbehaving at protests, burning flags, and disrupting businesses. It didn't work then (Nixon was elected - twice), and it won't work now.
ReplyDeleteTax payers actually watch these cretins on TV and get annoyed. These stupid hippies are a vast, VAST minority, and will get these butts handed to them on election day.
Take that to the bank (assuming you can wade through the human filth in your way to enter the lobby...)
Edgar R-I-C-E Burroughs.
ReplyDeleteSorry!
~ FT
I dunno, Fredd. Look what the Megamedia did to Richard Nixon.
ReplyDeleteDidn't we learn from Watergate that the Fourth Estate is in actual fact more powerful than the legislative, executive and judiciary combined?
Bob Woodward still walks among us lauded and applauded by the Establishment wherever he goes.
The fiends still thrive -- and so many of the prime movers among them remain totally unknown to the electorate -- or brilliantly disguised as something benign.
~ FreeThinke
Good for you, Z, but I hope you're not still teaching them the spurious legends and fairy tales about George Washington popularized by Mason Locke Weems?
ReplyDeleteThe realities of Washington's life speak well enough for themselves without embellishment -- however well-meaning.
I would never suggest denigrating Parson Weems. I'd just like to see nonsensical fabulation quietly phased out of the culture without fanfare or regret.
~ FreeThinke
"... and help the squalling brats grow into responsible men and women. "
ReplyDeleteWe didn't do such a good job, did we? We let the babies take over our education system, the media and, Hollywood. Now we have babies teaching babies how to be babies for life.
Fredd, I saw a black commenter this morning on the "oh so smug" hit job CNN was doing on the Bloomberg debate last night and Herman Cain, especially...the man said he thought more and more voters are going to turn into Reagan Republicans as they watch these Wall St protests.
ReplyDeleteEveryone knows Wall St could use some straightening out, but not many want our way of life uprooted; to be reminded of the Hippie protests.
My favorite lines of the week are Cornell West saying that Blacks don't vote monolithically as H. Cain suggests...and another black man arguing with him reminding him 90% DO vote Democrat... yet West sticks to his guns. That's an American academician for you! :-)
On the crapping on the cop car photo: "How do you know it was taken at the occupation?"
ReplyDeleteWell, we have the word of the photographer who actually took the picture, Stefan Jeremiah.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2046586/Occupy-Wall-Street-Shocking-photos-protester-defecating-POLICE-CAR.html
Medved is such a little child.
ReplyDeleteOf course, what Thomas meant by "we're all born liberal" is that liberalism is humanistic tendency, bred out of us as we age and look for ways, as Galbraith once said, to morally justify our greed.
JMJ
Puke, pee and poop. That about sums up Occupy Wall Street.
ReplyDeleteI hope the city sends Zuccoti park the bill for the cleanup.
I still can't believe how vile these miscreants are. They are destroying property and are so disrespectful.
ReplyDeleteUtterly shocking behavior, I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised.
Zuccotti Park, serene and green,
ReplyDeleteHas been turned into a latrine.
The public's green refreshing view
Has been besmirched, It's smeared with pooh.
The air once clean and fresh and pure
Has been befouled by manure.
Each protester should don a diaper
Sad they'll never pay the piper.
Who'll pick up the excrement
Deposited on urban cement?
You, the taxpayer, of course,
Because officials won't use force
To rid the scene of noxious rabble.
Instead, they talk in psychobabble.
Help us please, Almighty God
Smite these children with Thy rod.
~ FreeThinke
The right does nothing but serve as lapdogs for the GOP, Fox News and the wealthy who are out to screw them. They skew and make up their our own facts and try to demonize a whole movement whose goal is to help the middle class. THAT'S YOU, YOU IDIOT!
ReplyDeleteAlack, Alas! the Middle Classes
ReplyDeleteNeed no "help" from horses' asses.
~ FreeThinke
May "Lapdogs of the GOP"
ReplyDeleteUnite and pee on our Bd!
~ FT
@ Fredd -- vast, VAST minority
ReplyDelete-------------
?
I always love that little whiny bait n' switch argument about littering! You cons just say the same things over and over again.
ReplyDelete"Weeee're groooown-ups, so we don't urinate and fuck and shit and do all the other things every other fucking thing does!"
Yeah. Great argument.
Care to stay on topic?
Are you a big fan of Wall Street these days?
JMJ
"He who is not a liberal when young has no heart.
ReplyDeleteHe who is still a liberal when mature has no head."
PERIOD! ;-)
Hey! Who SAID that first? I think he was really on to something.
~ FreeThinke
Liberalism is a persistent unwillingness or inability to deal with reality. It's as simple as that.
ReplyDeleteThe fiends who dreamt it up, codified it, and promoted, however, are not unaware of reality. They merely EXPLOIT reality in order to gain control of the levers of power.
Liberals are born DICTATORS. They're very like a gaggle of living caricatures of the Stereotypical Jewish Mother but far more deadly.
Many of them do mean well, and that is what makes it so tragically complicated. Hundreds of millions have perished following this pseudo-benevolent philosophy.
~ FreeThinke
~ FreeThinke
Jersey,
ReplyDeleteFor all its faults Wall Street is still providing me a tidy living in my retirement. Thank God I've been able to steal tons of dough from widows, orphans, street people, invalids, migrant workers, illegal immigrants, and all those poor wretched souls trapped in decaying trailer parks, or I might still be busting my chops working for The Man -- at age 71.
Because Wall Street is now unfortunately wedded to Big Government my future -- and that of millions of other retirees who spent forty years scheming and sweating in an effort to steal their rightful heritage from poor minorities -- probably is in jeopardy.
There's no such thing as a sure thing, but the money we greedy capitalist pigs forcibly extract from all those subhuman creatures who are unemployed or work at low-paying tasks provides a helluva lot better lifestyle than handouts from Uncle Stinkpot.
Don't try to beat us -- JOIN US. We don't live in an atmosphere redolent of shit piss and vomit. Why should you?
~ FreeThinke
The Most Reverend is citing Michael Savage and he comment on liberals state of mind?
ReplyDeleteFreethinker, tie a can on it.
ReplyDeleteNobody is trying to deny anyone a decent retirement. Well, nobody but ass nuggets like The Pizza Man who wants to cut Social Security and charge the poor a 9% tax on food.
Now I don't know if you support that ass hat or not but in that case you would be raping the poor.
.000032% protesting the 1% as if the other 98.999968 of give a shit that they picked 6th century Lithuanian Literature as their major and can't figure out why they can't get a job anywhere but Starbucks.
ReplyDelete53 protest at Freedom Plaza in DC.
53? 53? OMG we're doomed!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dcs-occupy-protest-attracting-only-the-usual-suspects/2011/10/11/gIQAVgYPdL_story.html
At the Hart Senate Office Building “There are people who are wanting to go into the elevators and fill them and not get out and push all the buttons,”
NoooooO! Not the elevators dammit.
"...it's a terrific jam ladies and gentlemen. It's lit up buttons, doors opening and closing, now it's stopping at this floor, almost at the floor, it's just hanging there two inches askew. Oh, the humanity and all the passengers screaming around here. I told you, I can't even talk to people whose friends are on there. Ah! It's-it's-its-...o-ohhh! I-I can't talk ladies and gentlemen. It's just hanging there, a mass of unshowered protesters. Ah! And everbody can hardly breathe and talk, and the screaming. Lady, I-I'm sorry. Honest I-I can hardly breathe. I-I'm going to step outside whre I cannot see it. Charlie, that's terrible. Ah, ah -I can't. I, listen, folks, I-I'm gonna have to stop for a minute because I've lost my voice. This is the worst thing I've ever witnessed."
Oh wait, that was the Hindenburg, never mind.
ROFLMAO
Careful what you say about my Uncle Michael.
ReplyDeleteHe may be rude, he may be crude,
But he's from my old neighborhood.
He tells the truth. It's hard to take,
But why should he give fiends a break?
He tells it as it really is --
More potent than a Sloe Gin Fizz.
Rather than live in Dunkelheit
I'd prefer to hear uncle say what's right.
~ FreeThinke
FreeThinke, I'm glad for you that you live on the largess of other people's work. The system is working for you, huh?
ReplyDeleteFinntann, why would you laugh about that?
JMJ
Laugh about what? I'm not laughing about the Hindenberg, I'm laughing at 53 people showing up for a protest and since they can't "take over the building" they contemplate taking over the elevators.
ReplyDeleteOMG...we have to use the stairs!
I agree with the Veterans for Peace rep: “Let’s face it, our numbers are not enough to shut this building down,” said the representative from Veterans for Peace. “I think pushing elevator buttons is stupid.”
The media may make a big stink about it, but face it, the numbers just aren't there. Instead of appearing as a populist movement, they come off as petulant children.
We are just waiting for the showdown between the few people camping in Acacia Park and the PD, since camping is illegal on public property with city limits:
The ordinances in question are 4.2.102, which details that park hours are from 5:00 a.m. through 11:00 p.m. from May through October; 9.6.110, which prohibits camping on public property; and 9.9.404 which also prohibits camping on any park property.
Me, I say let them camp... they'll leave as soon as the weather turns cold. But I was also for keeping Hooverville (homeless camp) along Fountain Creek.
Cheers!
Bd:
ReplyDeleteThe left does nothing but serve as lapdogs for the Democrat Socialist Party, MSNBC and the wealthy who fund their campaigns. They skew and make up their our own facts and try to demonize a whole movement (The tea parties)whose goal is to help the middle class. THAT'S YOU, YOU IDIOT!
See how easy that is?
Try thinking before posting for once.
Liberals persistently display a marked determination to take everything literally. This indicates a lack of sophistication, the lack of any sense of irony, a lack of modesty, a tremendous lack of depth, and no sense of humor whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteTo a liberal everything is nothing more -- or less -- than a game of GOTCHA! They will take any remark made by anyone opposed to their tyrannical impulses to "do good," and twist it any way they can to portray their opposition in the most unfavorable light possible. Truth is of no concern to them whatsoever -- only winning at all costs and at all the times.
Liberals love to imagine themselves righteous, morally superior and far more humane than their counterparts, when in fact they routinely act the part of unprincipled bullies who won't hesitate to steamroll anyone who might possibly get in their way -- even respectable colleagues and dear old friends.
Insolence, mockery, absolute intransigence, and the ever present threat of violent reprisal are the stock-in-trade of liberals. They are forever on the attack, and determined to see no merit and give no quarter to anyone or anything that refuses to bow before them in an abject, contrite, obsequious, supplicatory posture.
When confronted with positive proof of their own foolishness and inadequacy, they withdraw even the most superficial and perfunctory semblance of civility and become downright feral.
Liberals cannot tolerate being opposed or exposed. Despite the presence of horns, pointed ears, exaggerated canine teeth, a perpetually beetle-browed expression, a greenish tint to their complexion, frequent jets of flame spurting from their nostrils and puffs of smoke issuing from their ears, the only image a liberal can see when confronted with a looking glass is that of a saint or an angel. The worst of them fancy they see God.
And of course they think the same of us.
~ FreeThinke
I've been having a blast on some of their Facebook pages. Most of them really have no idea what the movement is about, they just feel it's historical. They are the useful idiots Lenin enjoyed.
ReplyDeleteYes they are, Trestin.
ReplyDeleteI hear them call in on talk shows, and my favorite line is "The revolution is here."
It's really funny when the host asks them to explain and they can't.
"Yes, liberals and babies have a lot in common, and all the adults can do is clean up the mess and help the squalling brats grow into responsible men and women. "
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to children, most of them can be helped [though i prefer to use the term - pushed] into adulthood. With liberals, even that is difficult.
The only thing that works with liberals is to leave them in their filth, some will learn and change, others will not and then you need to get a stick. Preferably one with a bit of flexibility to it, i have it on good authority that those are more painful and last longer.
I will have more respect for the Fleabaggers when they see fit to occupy a shower.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are idiots not to see these protestors are not that dissimilar in their intent as the tea party with regard to government involvement, but in the financial industry's looting of the middle class. But minus the racist signs and firearms. Go ahead, disparage and demonize them. And then bend over.
ReplyDeleteBd: If you knew how to read, you would have seen that we've already agreed that we pretty much agree on what the problem is, we part company when it comes to the remedies.
ReplyDeleteSocialism is never the answer. So go have your fleabagger fun, but leave the tea parties out of it.
If you insist on casting socialism in the mold of the parent-infant relationship (which is a poor approximation -- socialism often arises from a rejection of paternalism), how come you never let a socialist play the parent's role? Have you honestly never met a wealthy socialist?
ReplyDeleteMedved's riposte is mere insult, it doesn't convey any real insight and is therefore unsatisfying.
I was pretty satisfied by it...
ReplyDelete