Recently in Disloyal Opposition Category
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By Jeffrey Lord |
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A White House/gay
boycott and the abolition of marriage: Will Jill Biden go out with me? |
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It was December of 1992. And the New York
Times was furious. In the November election that had occurred a month earlier,
while most Americans were fixated on the presidential race between President
George H.W. Bush, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton and businessman Ross Perot,
in Colorado something else was going on. That something else was known as Amendment 2. On election day, by a margin of 100,000 votes, Coloradans, in
the words of the Chicago Tribune: "amended their constitution to outlaw
ordinances in Denver, Boulder and Aspen that banned discrimination in hiring and
housing on the basis of sexual orientation." Gay rights groups were apoplectic... |
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![cartoon_050812_A[1].jpg](http://hardstarboardblog.com/cartoon_050812_A%5B1%5D.jpg)
A Review of Jonah Goldberg's The Tyranny of Clichés by Jacqueline Otto.
Always one for a good rant, Greg Gutfeld on Fox News' late
afternoon show The Five has recently had a series of "banned words."
He argues that certain words and phrases such as "narrative" and
"slippery slope" have been over used and therefore shouldn't be used
until people learn what they actually mean. It's almost as if Gutfeld has been
reading from a copy of Jonah Goldberg's new book, The
Tyranny of Clichés: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas.
This is a book
about Goldberg's pet peeves. It is about all of the debates, arguments and
lectures for which he laboriously prepared and was countered with a lack-luster
cop-out of a response. It is about those times that he dumbfoundedly stared as
someone, and in his best Inigo Montoya voice said, "You keep using that
word. I do not think it means what you think it means." In his own
introduction to the book
Goldberg says, "there's a kind of argument-that-isn't-an-argument"
and he was going to stand for it no longer.
Certain words and phrases have so much power in our political discussion that
invoking one acts as a conversation-stopper. This is the tyranny that Goldberg
argues serves no justice to the advancement of ideas.
In most cases, these clichés are relied upon as crutches for those too ignorant
to realize that they don't actually have an argument. What really vexed
Goldberg is that liberals have a way of using them intentionally.
Have you ever wondered what liberals really mean when they said things such as
"well you are just an ideologue..." as if they are not? Or they
appeal to "social justice" as if we should all intuitively understand
what that means. What about people who instinctively say that conservative
policies hurt the middle class? Or they say that Republicans are all just
"social Darwinists" who deny "science"?
While Goldberg is certainly not the first conservative pundit to point out the
brevity and inadequacy of these kinds of liberal arguments, his book takes
painstaking efforts to actually work through every tacky cliché. While these
represent his personal pet peeves, they certainly ring true for most readers.
What I most enjoyed about this book, is the subtle subplot he builds, slowly
attacking the pseudo-moral-superiority that liberals enjoy in their ephemeral
insipidity. Liberals generally have little use for religion in public life,
hence the "separation of church and state" cliché. But when they need
moral-sounding arguments for their pet projects they trot out all manner of
sentiments and scriptures. We ought to care for the poor, therefore we
obviously need this agency, and so on. "I'm unaware of any passages in the
Hebrew or Christian bibles," Goldberg points out, "where God says
that doing good to others means supporting bloated, inefficient, and often
counterproductive government programs."
In discussing how liberals dismiss capitalism as pure evil, he points out that
capitalism actually had a founding in very moral sentiments.
"[Adam]
Smith believed that the free market and, more broadly, the free society,
directs men's vanity towards its proper objects, the virtues of prudence,
restraint, industry, frugality, sobriety, honesty, civility, and reliability.
Freedom teaches the virtue of 'self-command' which, he writes, 'is not only
itself a great virtue, but from it all the other virtues seem to derive their
principal luster.' And this is the great and tragic irony. The hurly-burly of
America's cultural politics, while important, even vital, can never unravel the
implicit social contract of capitalism which says that if you follow the
virtues Adam Smith laid out, you will do just fine. If you teach those values
to your kids, they will do better than you."
This is a discussion often omitted from the debates. Liberals wholly believe in
their moral superiority because of their cliché of "social justice."
They seek justice from the government and from corporations, but as they
correctly point out, time and time again, neither the government nor
corporations are people. Morality must come from individuals. As a system, free
markets and limited government treats individuals with more dignity, provides
them with more opportunity, and deputizes them to be the moral agents in their
community. The moral superiority of freedom is that it is balanced with the
increased moral responsibility of individuals.
Liberals, most recently seen occupying Wall Street, expend great energy
condemning caricatures of Gordon Gekko. In reality they are just a mob. And as
Goldberg points out, "That is not the American political tradition or
creed. In America the hero is not the mob. It is the man - or woman- who stands
up to the mob..."
Ultimately though, the liberals are demonstrating not only their improper
knowledge of freedom and free markets, but their misconstruction of the very
morality to which their clichés appeal.
Political analyst Yuval Levin, one of Goldberg's multitude of sources for the book,
once said,
Properly
understood, the case for capitalism is not a case for license or for laissez
faire... It is a case for the moderate virtues, encouraged by market pressures
but finally drawn from deeper wells--from the wisdom of tradition, the love of
the family, and the divine and mysterious tug of a love beyond love, all of
which must in turn be supported, encouraged, and strengthened.
Well-being and prosperity encompass more than material goods. They concern the condition of our character. Freedom is a well-spring of virtue for the well-being of our souls. Its product is the prosperity of our hearts.
This argument requires a fully-developed vocabulary to discuss, a well-honed sense of logic to debate, and a soften heart to understand. It cannot be captured nor countered by mere clichés. And that we cannot have the argument, because liberals lack or refuse to employ the capacity, is what Goldberg calls the tyranny.
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Headlines
(Scroll down for complete stories): 1. Rick Perry Eyeing White House Run in 2016 Texas Gov. Rick Perry's disclosure that
he's "really interested" in running for president again in 2016 has some
observers wondering if he thinks Mitt Romney won't unseat President Barack
Obama in November. In a recent interview with CBS 11 News in
Dallas-Fort Worth, Perry said: "2016 is way down the road, but I'll assure
you one thing -- if I decide to run for the presidency in 2016, I'll be in way
before the summer of 2016, 2015 even." Reporter Jack Fink asked: "It sounds like
you're really interested?" Perry responded: "Yeah, I am. I love this
country. As long as my health stays good, as it is, and my family is
supportive, I'm certainly going to give it a good examination." Perry announced in August 2011 that he
would run for president in 2012, but dropped out of the race on Jan. 9 and
endorsed Newt Gingrich. Commenting on his talk of another run in
2016, the Houston Chronicle observed: "Statements like that don't make it
seem like Perry has much faith in a Republican winning the presidential
election this November. And if he does [win], it doesn't seem like he has
much faith in Romney being a very good president." Another Romney rival for the 2012 GOP
nomination, Rick Santorum, has also suggested he is considering a run in
2016, telling Fox News: "I feel like a young man, and hopefully I feel like a
young man four years from now." As for whether Perry will run for
re-election for governor in 2014, Perry told CBS: "I'm certainly going to
give that the appropriate consideration. My instincts are very positive
towards it right now." 2. Climate Change Alarmist Recants:
'I Made a Mistake' British environmental expert James Lovelock
now admits he was an "alarmist" regarding global warming -- and says Al Gore
was too. Lovelock previously worked for NASA and
became a guru to the environmental movement with his "Gaia" theory of the
Earth as a single organism. In 2007 Time magazine named Lovelock one of its
"Heroes of the Environment," and he won the Geological Society of London's
Wollaston Medal in 2006 for his writings on the Gaia theory. That year he wrote an article in a British
newspaper asserting that "before this century is over billions of us will die
and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where
the climate remains tolerable." But in an interview this week with MSNBC,
Lovelock said a book he is now writing will reflect his new opinion that
global warming has not occurred as he had expected. "The problem is we don't know what the
climate is doing," he said. "We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to
some alarmist books -- mine included -- because it looked clear-cut, but it
hasn't happened. "The climate is doing its usual tricks.
There's nothing much really happening yet. We were supposed to be halfway
toward a frying world now. "The world has not warmed up very much
since the millennium. Twelve years is a reasonable time. [The temperature]
has stayed almost constant, whereas it should have been rising. Carbon
dioxide is rising, no question about that. "We will have global warming, but it's been
deferred a bit." MSNBC reported: "He pointed to Gore's 'An
Inconvenient Truth' and Tim Flannery's 'The Weather Makers' as other examples
of 'alarmist' forecasts of the future." Lovelock also declared in the interview
that "as an independent and a loner," he did not mind saying, "All right, I
made a mistake," adding that university or government scientists might fear
that admission of such a mistake could jeopardize their funding. In response to Lovelock's interview, the
Climate Depot website stated: "MSNBC, perhaps the most unlikely of news
sources, reports on what may be seen as the official end of the manmade
global warming fear movement." 3. China Hacked Blueprints for U.S.
Fighter Jets Chinese hackers stole the blueprints for
America's new Joint Strike Fighter planes, the F-35 and F-22 -- an example of
cyberattacks that can "devastate our nation," a leading congressman
disclosed. "I think it's important that the American
people have a better idea of what is at risk," Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas,
chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight,
Investigations and Management, said at a subcommittee hearing on Tuesday. "When I look at the theft of intellectual
property to the tune of $1 trillion, that's a serious economic issue for the
United States. "When I look at countries like China,
who have stolen our Joint Strike Fighters, F-35 and F-22s, stolen those
blueprints so they can manufacture those planes and then guard against those
planes. "Make no mistake, America is under attack
by digital bombs. There are several things the American public should
understand about these attacks. They are real, stealthy and persistent and
can devastate our nation. "China's cyber warfare capabilities and the
espionage campaigns they have undertaken are the most prevalent of any nation
state actor. China has created citizen hacker groups, engaged in
cyberespionage, established cyberwar military units." In addition to stealing vital information
on America's weapons programs and security, he warned that cyberattacks could
also blow up natural gas pipelines, derail trains, hack financial systems,
and cause chemical plants to leak toxins, The Hill reported. Larry Wortzel, a member of the United
States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, told the House Foreign
Affairs Committee at a March 28 hearing that the People's Liberation Army of
China has made cyberattacks a "cornerstone" of its operations. A commission report noted that Lockheed
Martin, Northrop Grumman, and British Aerospace and Engineering have
reportedly experienced penetrations from China-based hackers in the past
three years. Newsmax reported last August that the
Internet security firm McAfee had uncovered the largest series of
cyberattacks ever -- for five years hackers infiltrated 72 organizations
including defense firms and the American government -- and security experts
pointed to China as the culprit. At Tuesday's subcommittee hearing, security
experts told the panel that Russia, Iran and North Korea are also
experimenting with cyberattacks, Voice of America News reported. They said threats to the U.S. electric
power grid and mass transportation systems could come from foreign
intelligence services, anti-American computer hackers and terrorists. 4. Obama Spends $8.3 Billion to
Hide Medicare Cuts The Obama administration is spending $8.3
billion to hide a key provision of Obamacare -- deep cuts in Medicare
Advantage -- until after the November election. Medicare Advantage offers seniors the
option of choosing private insurance companies as an alternative to the
government-run Medicare insurance program. So far 12 million seniors have
enrolled in the program. But President Obama has attacked the
program, stating in a 2009 speech that it offers "unwarranted subsidies" that
"do everything to pad [insurance companies'] profits and nothing to improve
your care." So it came as no surprise when Obama's
healthcare reform plan sliced $145 billion from Medicare Advantage over the
next 10 years. Medicare's own actuary reported that Obamacare would force
more than 7 million seniors off their private plans and back into traditional
Medicare as insurers flee the market, according to Investor's Business Daily
(IBD). To hide the cuts from seniors who would
face losing Medicare Advantage just before the November election, the
administration pumped $8.3 billion back into the program through "bonuses" to
Medicare Advantage plans. Those "bonuses" will make up for more than
70 percent of Obamacare's scheduled Medicare Advantage cuts, and keep the
program running through the election. The plan is so "transparently political"
that the Government Accountability Office has urged the Health and Human Services
Department to cancel it altogether, IBD reported, adding: "Canceling is just
the beginning. "The bigger question lawmakers must answer
is this: Can it really be legal for a Cabinet agency to spend $8.3 billion in
taxpayer money simply to help Obama get re-elected?" 5. U.S., Europe Gird for 'Carbon
Trade War' The European Union is setting off a
confrontation with outside nations -- including the United States -- by
demanding that all airlines pay a carbon tax when crossing EU airspace and
landing at EU airports. "The new EU system is portentous. It is an
extension of the continent's cap-and-trade system from domestic sources to
the international arena," according to Claude Barfield, resident scholar at
the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). "Though other nations protested as the
rules were being formulated, the new legislation went into effect on January
1, 2012" and the tax will start being collected in 2013. Significantly, the tax based on carbon
emissions will be levied not just on the miles flown in EU airspace, but for
the entire length of an aircraft's flight, Barfield reveals in an article
headlined "The First Carbon Trade War?" in The American, the journal of the
AEI. That means a Korean Air jet, for instance,
will have to pay a tax based not on the few hundred miles it flies over the
EU but over the entire trip of several thousand miles from Korea to Europe. The 27-member EU's action has produced
threats of retaliation. More than 20 nations, including the United States,
China, Russia, India, Brazil, and South Africa, have met twice to discuss
responses. The countries cited potential retaliatory actions including
banning airlines from paying the tax and imposing commensurate levies on EU
airlines flying in their airspace. China and India have already banned their
airlines from paying the tax, Russia has threatened to cancel air rights for
EU airlines flying over Siberia, and China has delayed and possibly will
cancel aircraft contracts with the European aerospace company Airbus worth
$12 billion. On the other hand, "the United States has
equivocated," Barfield disclosed. "The House passed a bill making it illegal
for U.S. airlines to comply with the EU scheme. But the State Department has
thus far resisted efforts to bring the matter before the international body
that sets rules for international airspace, the U.N.'s International Civil
Aviation Organization. "The Obama administration can drag its
heels only so long before pressure from U.S. airlines and their supporters in
Congress (particularly in an election year) becomes politically dangerous." The Wall Street Journal observed: "Europe
can help spark a global trade war nobody can afford over a tax nobody needs
in furtherance of an anticarbon nirvana that never will come to pass." 6. Germany to Publish 'Mein Kampf'
Again Germany will officially publish Adolf
Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" for the first time since the end of World War II. Hitler wrote the first part of "Mein Kampf"
("My Struggle") in 1923, while he was serving a prison sentence for
attempting to overthrow the government. The second part was written a year
later, after his release. When the war ended, the rights to the
anti-Semitic book became the property of the Bavarian state government, which
nationalized the Nazi publication house and prohibited further publication of
the work. That prohibition remains in place today.
But the rights to the book are scheduled to expire in 2015, 70 years after
Hitler's death, and there are concerns that neo-Nazi groups will begin
publishing and distributing copies of the work to advance anti-Semitic
agendas, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports. To counter that, the government will
publish an annotated edition of the book, containing warnings to readers
about the dangers of Hitler's racist doctrine. The government will also publish a special
version of the book for schools, which will emphasize the "worldwide
catastrophe brought about by this way of thinking," according to Bavarian
Finance Minister Markus Soeder. An English translation will be available as
well. Bavaria will ask publishers and bookstores
not to print or sell other versions of the book beside the annotated version,
according to Haaretz. Much of Hitler's 720-page book deals with the "struggle between races" and "the Jewish problem" in Germany and the rest of the world. It was originally titled "Four and a Half Years of Struggle Against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice." |
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