Communist Leader Castro Applauds Obamacare: Oh Gee, What a Surprise!

Fidel Castro is a very happy man.  The Communist revolutionary leader of Cuba declared the passage of healthcare reform in America as “a miracle” and a major victory for President Obama.  However, he went on to say that something this basic was really way overdue.  In a statement, Castro said, “It is really incredible that 234 years after the Declaration of Independence…  the government of that country has approved medical attention for the majority of its citizens, something that Cuba was able to do half a century ago.” (Emphasis added.)  Indeed, it took the Communist Castro government about ten minutes after they assumed power in Cuba to “approve” healthcare along with other “rights” for their fellow comrades. 1

The key words in Castro’s statement are “government” and “approve.”  Government decides when and what rights to approve or grant its citizenry.  As I explain in a prior post our rights in America do not derive from the government but from our own individual humanity, and they are guaranteed to us under the United States Constitution.

See: https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/why-you-don%e2%80%99t-have-a-right-to-healthcare/

Therefore, universal healthcare is not a right.  Or at least that was the case up until now.  According to the Communist-Socialist-Progressive way, your rights do in fact emanate from the government – in particular from elites within the government who know what’s best for the country and for you.  In their philosophy, the government is the mechanism through which all societal ills and problems are solved and all wrongs are righted, and thereby “social justice” is accomplished.  Under their rule, government goes from the protector of our rights under the Constitution, to the provider of rights independent of the Constitution.  Government goes from guardian to grantor, and that which the government giveth, it can also taketh away.

But this Progressive victory notwithstanding, the Cuban leader wasn’t all sunshine and kisses for Mr. Obama.  He criticized the President for his lack of leadership in other areas like immigration reform and climate change.

Oh, don’t you worry Fidel, those things are coming soon.  Let’s take it one right at a time.

_________________________________

Fn. 1: Among these “rights” were also the right of the government to expropriate private property, do away with a free press, and imprison, torture and execute any and all dissenters.

For more on this topic, click to the links below:

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/the-arrogance-of-hope-change-%e2%80%a6-or-else/

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/fortune-favors-the-brave/

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/why-you-don%e2%80%99t-have-a-right-to-healthcare/

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/america-r-i-p/

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/inconvenient-history-3/

Gem of the Week: Oh Canada, What A-Houles You Are!

University of Ottawa's Francois Houle

Conservative columnist and best-selling author, Ann Coulter is visiting Canada this week where she is scheduled to speak at three universities. (Boy, I hope they’re paying her a lot of money for that!)  However, before she even got off the plane, a senior University of Ottawa administrator warned her to use “restraint, respect and consideration” when speaking at the school.  In an email to Ann, Academic provost and all-around douche-bag, Francois Houle, wrote:  “Our domestic laws, both provincial and federal, delineate freedom of expression (or ‘free speech’) in a manner that is somewhat different than the approach taken in the United States. I therefore encourage you to educate yourself, if need be, as to what is acceptable in Canada and to do so before your planned visit here… Promoting hatred against any identifiable group would not only be considered inappropriate, but could in fact lead to criminal charges… I therefore ask you, while you are a guest on our campus, to weigh your words with respect and civility in mind.”  He said some other things too, but I don’t want to offend the sensibilities of average Americans.  By the way, I wonder to how many Jihad-chanting Muslim speakers he sent that kind of an email before they arrived on campus to speak.

Anyway, it’s all good because Ann, being smarter than your average college guest-speaker and infinitely smarter than the liberal provost of some third-rate Canadian university, has turned the tables and is claiming that the provost, by his email, targeted her as a member of an identifiable group, namely conservatives, and as such she will be filing a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission alleging that she is now the victim of hate speech.  Go Ann!

When jackasses like the University of Ottawa provost are able to wield a criminal statute like a martinet school master would a yardstick, any kind of insanity can ensue.  But should we expect anything less from a university administrator in the age of political correctness?  In addition to the liberal bias that is rampant across college campuses in the U.S. and Canada, this incident points out the utter absurdity of the Canadian “hate speech” law, and, for that matter, any laws that would attempt to criminalize speech.  And yet, this Kafkaesque theater of the absurd is precisely what Liberal-Progressive ideas about how to create a politically correct society inevitably lead to.

Well, thank God the Progressives in America have yet to accomplish this item on their agenda (though given the swift and corrupt process by which they rammed healthcare into law anything could happen!)  Until then, I will continue to exercise my right to free speech and, to prove the point, with all due restraint and respect, I cordially invite the University of Ottawa provost and every other French-speaking Canadian to suck frozen moose cock.

For related posts on this topic, link to:

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/why-i-love-ann-coulter/

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/gem-of-the-week-2/

Inconvenient History

Last night’s vote was historic.  That’s what they kept telling us.  With universal healthcare enacted into law, a sweeping transformation of one-sixth of our nation’s economy and, therefore too our society and culture, would ensue.  Historic indeed!  Together with the vast network of medical bureaucracies and numerous apparatchiks that will inevitably be created in order to bring this monstrosity to life, casual decisions by government regulators and mini-health czars will bring about life-altering consequences for ordinary Americans.  Moreover, fundamental controls, previously reserved for the legislative branch will be transferred over to the executive branch giving it the authority to fashion new policy and reshape the healthcare system as it sees fit.  Thus all this will enable and invest the executive branch, under President Obama, with the authority to exercise virtually boundless powers in healthcare and other areas. 

Aaaaaa-Hahahahahaha... Aaaaaa-Hahahahahaha!!

In such circumstances, it will be allowed that Nancy Pelosi, by going to the great lengths she has to bring this all about, has become the President’s great enabler; she and the so-called pro-life Democrats led by Bart Stupak, who at the eleventh hour cut a deal with the President by accepting the latter’s pledge in the form of an Executive Order prohibiting federal funding for abortions.

Well, history has a way of repeating itself.

On March, 23, 1933, almost 77 years to the day, Adolf Hitler passed his own Enabling Act.  Before the Reichstag (the German legislature) Hitler made a speech wherein he pledged that “the government will make use of these powers only insofar as they are essential for carrying out vitally necessary measures … The number of cases in which an internal necessity exists for having recourse to such a law is in itself a limited one.” 

As the new law would alter the German constitution, a two-thirds majority was required which meant that Hitler needed 31 non-Nazi votes to get it passed.  He got those votes from the German centrist party after making a false promise to restore certain rights previously taken away by decree.  By this vote, Germany’s elected officials paved the way for the end of democratic government in Germany and the establishment, legally, of the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. 

The rest, as they say, is history.

For more on this topic, link to:

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/inconvenient-history/

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/america-r-i-p/

America, R.I.P.

Did you hear that? Just now. It was barely audible, no more than a gasp, not even a faint cry. If you really strained your ears and listened you might just have heard it. It was the dying breath of America as we knew her. She passed tonight but you could hardly hear above all the din and commotion. You would hardly know amid the spectacle of paunchy legislators, smiling fatuously, and the Queen of all legislators, grinning like Skeletor himself. Amid talk of evil insurance companies and unfinished business, of reform, fairness and social justice, America quietly died tonight and barely anyone noticed. She went out, not with a bang, but a whimper …

But, you say, the sun will still rise tomorrow. Yes, it will. And life must go on. Yes, it must, but with a difference. Even if this imminent law does not result in all the wild things we crazy right wingers have been saying — to wit: rationing of healthcare services to cover thirty million uninsured; cuts in Medicare resulting in tens of thousands of doctors, hospitals and outpatient clinics refusing to treat Medicare patients, having disastrous consequences for the elderly; virtual God-like control by government healthcare planners (i.e., bureaucrats) who will deny treatments and limit drug availability; all while adding hundreds of billions to the deficit when it becomes clear that the Democrats’ gerrymandering of the numbers to achieve so-called cost-containment is exposed for the fraud that it is — even if by some fantastic fairy-tale magic none of these things ever come to pass and we are all holding hands and skipping down the flower-strewn path to good health, this soon-to-be tragedy called universal healthcare will have ripped the very heart and soul out of this country.

And why is that, you ask? Because we have just entered the Age of Dependence: a time when we no longer possess our individual rights independent of the government, but instead beholden to the government. Government has gone from protector to provider, from neutral referee to biased participant. The government, it must be allowed, has now given us something, for a price. The price is liberty. We owe them now. And that which is given, can always be taken away. A passage of uncertain origin, but generally attributed to Scottish-born writer and lawyer Alexander Tytler, is of relevance here:

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years… Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage.

If Mr. Tytler is anywhere near as prescient as he seems, we have only one more age to go, and tonight we’ve just paved the way there very nicely.

America died tonight. And if you still haven’t an inkling as to what I am talking about, then I’ll never be able to explain it to you.  You’ll just have to listen better.

For more on this topic, link to:

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/why-you-don%e2%80%99t-have-a-right-to-healthcare/

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/fortune-favors-the-brave/

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/the-arrogance-of-hope-change-%e2%80%a6-or-else/

Why You Don’t Have a Right to Healthcare

 

 

 

I.  What is a Right?

Healthcare in America is not a right and cannot be a right so long as we live in a country that still recognizes the United States Constitution as the law of the land.  Our rights are embedded in Natural Law.  They do not come from a king, they do not come from the President or any other politician, they do not come from Congress, nor do they come from the government as a whole or from some special group of policy makers within the government.  They do not even come from the Constitution itself.  Our rights emanate from the fundamental nature of our humanity or, if you will, from God.  As individuals, we are born with them.  The Constitution is the document under which our rights are protected.  Protected from what or whom? Why, from the government of course.  Or more to the point, the government’s inherent desire for ever more encroaching power and control over our lives.

Because our rights derive from our own individual humanity, healthcare, whether provided by the government or somebody else, cannot, by definition, be a human right.  And why is this?  Because if it were a right, we would be able to require of another person that he or she provide it to us, which would then infringe on that person’s rights.  In other words, if a so-called right requires someone else to do something for you or give something to you (i.e., guaranteed care whenever you are sick) then it is not a right.  So if healthcare is not a right, what is it?  It is a good.  A good is something we want or need, as opposed to something we naturally possess from birth.  So healthcare is no more a right than is food, clothing, housing, high-speed Internet access, or a double mocha latte from Starbucks. 

What are some examples of rights?  We have a right to life, to speech, to worship, to travel, to due process (or fairness); we also have the right to be left alone.  These basic rights and others are to be found among the first ten amendments to the Constitution, otherwise known as the Bill of Rights.  But when you think about it, they are not really rights at all. There is nothing there that is being given to Americans that they do not already naturally possess.  They are more like prohibitions – prohibitions placed upon the government; things that the government shall not do to infringe upon the rights of the individual.  “Congress shall make no law…” this right “shall not be infringed…” this other right “shall not be violated,” the Bill of Rights is replete with such language.  So if we already possess these rights, why were they even added to the Constitution?  Because the people were, understandably, suspicious of government and in fact feared a government that would not only fail to secure their rights but actually, in the words of the Declaration of Independence, become “destructive of these ends.” 

 

 

II. The Progressive View 

Of course none of this squares at all with what Progressive politicians are saying.  Those great liberal luminaries, Dennis Kucinich, Tom Harkin, Nancy Pelosi and even Barrack Obama, have all argued that healthcare either is or should be a right in this country.  If they think it is already a right, then they either are unable or unwilling to comprehend the above analysis.  On the other hand, believing it should be a right is even more troubling because that implies that they —the officials of the government — actually think they have the power to grant it as a right.  Well, they who have the power to give, also have the power to take away.

But all this begs the question, why are these deep-thinking Progressives so hot to make only healthcare a right?  What about food? What good is it being healthy if you don’t have anything to eat?  What about housing? You need a place to sleep don’t you? What about a job?  How about a car to get to the job?  How about a place to rest when you go on vacation from your job?  Sound good?

Well, believe it or not, these things can all be yours.  Just one little catch: you have to leave the country.  Yes, the governments of other fine nations, both existing and defunct, have provided in their constitutions for all of the above, including healthcare.  Regarding the healthcare “right,” here is just a brief sampling: 

Article 42.  Citizens … have the right to health protection.This right is ensured by free, qualified medical care provided by state health institutions; by extension of the network of therapeutic and health-building institutions; by the development and improvement of safety and hygiene in industry; by carrying out broad prophylactic measures; by measures to improve the environment; by special care for the health of the rising generation, including prohibition of child labor, excluding the work done by children as part of the school curriculum; and by developing research to prevent and reduce the incidence of disease and ensure citizens a long and active life.

This comes from the U.S.S.R.’s Constitution of Fundamental Rights, as amended in 1977.

Here is the right to healthcare from the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (as adopted in 1982): 

Article 45. Citizens of the People’s Republic of China have the right to material assistance from the state and society when they are old, ill or disabled. The state develops the social insurance, social relief and medical and health services that are required to enable citizens to enjoy this right. The state and society ensure the livelihood of disabled members of the armed forces, provide pensions to the families of martyrs and give preferential treatment to the families of military personnel. The state and society help make arrangements for the work, livelihood and education of the blind, deaf-mute and other handicapped citizens

And to satisfy the Michael Moore crowd, the Cuban Constitution (as amended in 2002) also gives everyone the right to healthcare:

Article 50: Everyone has the right to health protection and care. The state guarantees this right; by providing free medical and hospital care by means of the installations of the rural medical service network, polyclinics, hospitals, preventative and specialized treatment centers; by providing free dental care; by promoting the health publicity campaigns, health education, regular medical examinations, general vaccinations and other measures to prevent the outbreak of disease. All the population cooperates in these activities and plans through the social and mass organizations.

Finally, there’s this one:

… Healthcare is a basic right … to be provided through a not-for-profit plan.  We … include coverage for those excluded… We … free the states. We … have control over private insurance companies and the cost their very existence imposes on [our] families.  We … provide a significant place for alternative and complementary medicine, religious health science practice, and the personal responsibility aspects of health care which include diet, nutrition, and exercise.

Actually, those are the words of Congressman Dennis Kucinich in a speech he gave just last Wednesday regarding his plans to vote on the upcoming bill for government managed healthcare in this country.  Sound familiar?

 

 

 

III. America the Exceptional

I often get this from liberals: “Most of the industrialized world thinks that healthcare is a human right, why not the United States?” Well most of the world, industrialized or not, thinks a lot of things that are decidedly un-American, including the government’s power to bestow healthcare (and other things) as a right.  One has to ask, how did America get to be America?  By becoming like the rest of the world?  By giving things away for free? Heck no!  What makes us still today the shining beacon to the rest of the world is that we are different from the rest of the world.  We are exceptional.  And what allows us to be exceptional is the recognition that our rights and liberties are intrinsic to the individual and not derived from government.  Where over the course of human history through to this day, governments of other nations have handed down rights to the peoples they’ve governed and have, in the name of those very rights, meddled, restrained and enslaved, in America the individual rights and liberties of our people have freed us to create, innovate, invest, build, grow and pursue success and happiness in every conceivable way, including giving it all away if that is an individual’s choice.

So really the question is not so much whether healthcare is or is not a right, because in America it is not.  Rather the question is what kind of country we want to be. 

For more on the healthcare debate, link to:

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/fortune-favors-the-brave/

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/the-arrogance-of-hope-change-%e2%80%a6-or-else/

Fortune Favors the Brave

There is a phrase in Latin that the ancient Romans were fond of saying: Aduentes Fortuna Juvat.  Roughly translated, it means “fortune favors the brave.” 

Earlier this week, as a part of his final push for universal healthcare and the fundamental transformation of American culture and society, President Barrack Obama staged a rally in Ohio attended by scores of his hardcore supporters and, notably, Congressman Dennis Kucinich.  Obama concluded his speech by saying, “We need courage, that’s what we need…  I want some courage!”  He then jetted back to Washington, D.C.  The next day, Congressman Kucinich, who had been treated by the President to a ride on Air Force One, announced he was changing his “No” vote on healthcare to “Yes.”  In a speech Kucinich declared, among other things, that healthcare is a “basic right.”  Time will tell whether or not fortune smiles upon Mr. Kucinich.

Well, with all this talk by politicians about being courageous, I thought it would be appropriate to take a moment to look at an American leader with real courage: George Washington.  Now, I am quite sure most of us all know at least a few generalities about the following story from our high school history.  Unless of course you are a student in high school today, in which case you are busy learning about much more important things like: The Influence of Hip-Hop on American Culture; The Proper Way to Use a Condom; and Why You Don’t Need a Daddy to Have a Family.  But be that as it may, here goes…

It was winter of the year 1776.  The new American nation had declared its independence from Great Britain the previous July and all-out war with the British was underway.  The American Continental Army, led by General George Washington, had been beaten and chased out of New York by the British forces and was in a desperate retreat.  British General Lord Cornwallis had pursued Washington’s diminishing army through New Jersey, until the Americans withdrew across the Delaware River and took refuge in Pennsylvania in early December.  Although General Washington’s skillful retreat had prevented the British from completely crushing the dwindling American force, the outlook for the Continental Army, and American prospects for winning the war, was very bleak indeed. 

George Washington had fewer than 5,000 men in his army, whose morale was now at its lowest.  The Congress, ever pessimistic, had turned tail from Philadelphia and fled to Baltimore.  There was no money left to finance the army.  Provisions were scarce and Washington’s men were starving and cold.  “These are the times that try men’s souls,” wrote Thomas Paine, who was actually with the army at the time.  Virtually everyone considered the American cause lost.  That is, everyone except George Washington.  At this dire hour, faced with these demoralizing circumstances, George Washington, a man of deep faith and courage, decided to go on the offensive.  He knew that, despite the forces arrayed against him, he had two things in his favor. First, the popular mood among the people against the British remained strong, and, second, he had the element of surprise on his side.  So rallying his men before dawn on December 26^th, he secretly led them back across the Delaware River, over land to Trenton, New Jersey where a force of some one thousand Hessian troops (German mercenaries engaged by the British) were quartered. Washington and his men took the Hessians by complete surprise and, after a brief engagement, defeated the entire force with negligible losses to their own side.  So overconfident were the Hessians that they were caught sleeping off the effects of their Christmas revelry from the night before.  As the story goes, after the battle the Hessian Colonel was found dead with a dispatch letter in his coat pocket warning him of the American sneak attack.  The letter was unopened.

Aduentes Fortuna Juvat!

After this victory, the American war effort was galvanized, the Congress found renewed confidence in General Washington, and enlistments in the Continental Army increased dramatically.  Eventually, the British were forced to retreat to their base in New York City.  Many consider this battle to be the turning point in the American Revolutionary War.  In later years, George Washington himself became convinced that America was guided by Divine Providence.  Fortune favors the brave.

In this the current battle over universal healthcare, we all of us are called once more unto the breach to defend what George Washington and his brave men risked so much to obtain.  On one side are the Republicans in Congress, some Democrats, and the vast majority of the American people whose mood against the proposed legislation remains strong.  On the other side are Mr. Obama and most Congressional Democrats.  In this process, we have seen secret deals made and Senators bribed, all manner of legislative chicanery used, deception and outright lies told by politicians at the highest levels, and a President who on the one hand expresses his ambivalence as to how his legislation is passed into law — as long as it is passed into law — while on the other hand talks about courage.  Courage?  Just what sort of courage do you mean Mr. President?

__________________________________

For more on the healthcare debate, link to:

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/why-you-don%e2%80%99t-have-a-right-to-healthcare/

https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/the-arrogance-of-hope-change-%e2%80%a6-or-else/

Gem of the Week: Sean Penn Unplugged

Poor Sean Penn has been having a tough time of it lately. 

A few weeks ago the actor was charged with battery and vandalism in connection with (an alleged) attack on a photographer last fall.  It could land him up to eighteen months in jail!  Ouch!

Then there’s all the criticism he’s been receiving for those untoward comments he made about journalists needing to be jailed for calling his good buddy, Venezuelan Dictator Hugo Chavez, a dictator.

Then just a few days ago, he had a dust up with a journalist over what he considered to be an inappropriate question.  Her question concerned an earlier statement Penn had made that critics cynical about his do-good works as a celebrity should “die screaming of rectal cancer.”  She was scolded by Penn and his publicist and escorted from the room.

Poor, poor Sean Penn.  Was ever a man more misunderstood?  Well, this is only a suggestion, but maybe Mr. Penn would be better off if he moved to Venezuela.  There, he wouldn’t have to worry about anyone calling Mr. Chavez a dictator, and he wouldn’t ever have to worry about being bothered with pesky questions from journalists or having his picture taken ever again.  And neither would we.

The Shallowest Generation

So, did everybody watch the Oscars on Sunday?  That’s what I thought.  Well for those of us that did, wasn’t it just great to see that wonderfully talented ingénue, Mo’Nique, accept the Oscar for best performance by an actress in a supporting role?  (Wow, that’s a lot of words for one award!)  And did you catch how fellow directors and former romantic partners (it’s not PC to say husband and wife anymore) James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow were seated right next to each other!  Scandalous!  And did you notice how many times they cut away to George Clooney? (I counted 78).  And what about Miley’s dress? OMG!  Anyway, it goes without saying we’ll all always remember where we were and what we were doing during these precious moments: sitting on the couch watching TV.

Currently, there are some fifty separate annual awards shows involving more or less the same few hundred people.  Here is just a partial list:

The Academy Awards (The Oscars)

The Golden Globe Awards

The SAG Awards

The Daytime Emmy Awards

The Primetime Emmy Awards

The Grammys Awards

The Tony Awards

The MTV Movie Awards

The MTV Video Awards

The BET Awards

The ALMA Awards

The AMA Awards

The Bravo A-List Awards

The Critic’s Choice Awards

The People’s Choice Awards

The Teen’s Choice Awards

The Kid’s Choice Awards

And the list goes on.  By the time all of these awards shows are finally done with, it’s time to start them back up again!  Moreover, just about every participant receives some kind of an award, thus fulfilling the liberal maxim: “everybody gets a trophy.”  It has reached the point now where the awards manufacturing industry is the greatest contributor to national GDP!

Clearly, the professional self-admirers (the actors, directors, editors, wardrobe designers, make-up artists, etc.) who attend these countless awards ceremonies, and the media that adores them, are all in desperate need of a little perspective.  Their job is to entertain.  And yes, some of them do that job well. But they’re not curing cancer, or winning wars, or flying airplanes.  They are in the business — the very lucrative business — of entertainment. Whether or not they ever actually understand that is, frankly, not important to me.  What is sad, however, is that the culture of modern America has come to be defined by these nattering nabobs of narcissism. Having these self-absorbed glitterati play the role of cultural court jesters in America is one thing, but handing the entire kingdom over to them is quite another.  Our culture, when you think about it, is all that we have.  It is everything that we are about.  It defines us.  If we lose our culture, or if it becomes so base and worthless that it is as good as lost, then we are really nothing.  It is a troubling thought that another age a thousand years from now may be bound to look back upon our own and describe it thus: “Never throughout mankind’s history have such a self-centered people congratulated themselves so much for so very little.”

And so to put things in their proper perspective, I rank as the greatest moment in Oscar history to be when Marlon Brando, having won the best actor award for his Godfather performance, turned it down by boycotting the ceremony and sending instead American Indian activist Sacheen Littlefeather, in full Apache dress.  One might say this was the first of the tedious political statements by another self-righteous actor, but Brando wasn’t like that.  Quite obviously he was poking a big fat finger right into the twinkling eye of Hollywood and enjoying every minute of it.  Now that’s entertainment!

 

Lately, I have been getting a little more than the usual static from the luminaries of the liberal left on the economy and from whence our current economic woes have come.  To set the record straight, here is a little clarity on three points:

I.  Liberal Canard Number One: The Bush tax cuts were bad for America

First, only a liberal, or a deranged person, would argue that cutting taxes somehow hurts Americans.  The misconception spread by leftists that the Bush tax cuts caused the federal deficit problems of today (as opposed to wanton government spending) is a prevarication that only the mind of Nancy Pelosi could invent.  In point of fact, the Bush tax cuts actually increased government revenue.  It is established fiscal science that tax revenues depend not only on the tax rate, but on the tax base.  If the tax base is shrinking, then it doesn’t matter what the tax rate is; tax revenue will be anemic.  The tax base expands only when taxable behavior is encouraged (as opposed to discouraged.)   Raising tax rates discourages taxable behavior and therefore shrinks the tax base, offsetting whatever revenue gains might occur by raising rates.  On the other hand, lowering tax rates encourages taxable behavior and expands the tax base, offsetting any revenue losses as a result of the lower rates.  Of course, I wouldn’t expect a liberal to understand this because it is all common sense.  But don’t take my word for it, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) tax revenues in 2006 (after the Bush tax cuts had taken effect) were actually $47 billion above what the CBO had projected before the tax cuts were implemented. Clearly, common sense works in the real world as well.  For more, see: 

www.americanthinker.com/2010/03/lying_about_bushs_tax_cuts.html

II. Liberal Canard Number Two:  Bush is to blame for the current size of the federal budget deficit

Liberals like to refer to the 2008 Bush-Paulson bailout of Wall Street banks when they really should be talking about the Bush-Paulson-Obama-Geithner bailout of 2008. As we will recall, Obama gave his full throated support for the bailout during the campaign, and tax cheat Tim Geithner was actually instrumental in crafting that bailout in his role as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.  And now, it seems, he and Obama can’t wait to do more.  And by more, I mean add another one trillion onto Bush’s $700 billion (and this doesn’t even include what he wants to spend on healthcare!)  Again, don’t take my word for it, click on the link below for a full exposition of the Bush vs. Obama deficit comparison. 

http://blog.heritage.org/2009/03/24/bush-deficit-vs-obama-deficit-in-pictures/

III. Liberal Canard Number Three:  Bush and his failed Iraq War policies are the cause of all our present econoomic woes

With regard to Iraq, after the attacks of 9-11 America found herself at war and we are still at war today.  One would think this to be self-evident, but with liberals you never know.  Wars cost money (another axiom), but further, this was (and is) a first-of-its-kind war to be waged on many fronts.  While it can be argued whether invading Iraq when we did was truly a necessary component of the war, it cannot be denied that Bush kept the country safe for eight years.

Finally, liberals need to stop obsessively blaming Bush for everything under the sun, moon and stars.  The problems of present-day America belong to the present administration under the jurisdiction of Mr. Obama.  In the psychobabble that liberals are so fond of, he needs to start owning them.  You can’t begin to fix a problem until you first admit you have one.

Inconvenient History

Recently, a piece of tripe appeared on the New York Times editorial page (shocking!) about what wonderful shape the United States is in.  It was written by some English wanker by the name of Piers Brendon who fancies himself a student of history.

Anyway, I won’t dwell on the turgid prose of Mr. Brendon other than to say that the article attempts to debunk comparisons between the decline of ancient Rome and the precarious position that America finds itself in today.  In support of his argument, Brendon actually cites that great intellectual luminary and current Vice-President, Joe Biden!  If you’re still intrigued, you can link to the article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/opinion/25brendon.html?pagewanted=1

Whether or not there are any parallels between ancient Rome and present day America, may be a matter of wide open debate.  But one thing is for sure, the New York Times has written enough Pollyanna pieces on the present state of American culture and global standing under the rule of Obama to make even Neville Chamberlain look like an alarmist.  Of course, I wouldn’t describe anything in the New York Times as fit to print, whether it be news or the Sunday Style Section.  But when it comes to philosophizing about history, the old Grey Lady is begging to be ridiculed.  At any rate, I would much rather trust a real historian:

The study of history is the best medicine for a sick mind; for in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see: and in that record you can find for yourself and your country both examples and warnings: fine things to take as models, base things, rotten through and through, to avoid.  I hope my passion for [my country’s] past has not impaired my judgment; for I do honestly believe that no country has ever been greater and purer than ours or richer in good citizens and noble deeds; none has been free for so many generations from the vices of avarice and luxury; nowhere have thrift and plain living been for so long held in such esteem.  Indeed, poverty with us went hand in hand with contentment.  Of late years wealth has made us greedy, and self-indulgence has brought us, through every form of sensual excess, to be, if I may so put it, in love with death both individual and collective.

– Titus Livius “Livy” (59 BC – AD 17), The Early History of Rome (Emphasis added.)

The Course of Empire: Destruction, by Thomas Cole (1836)