OBAMA THE ‘GENTLE NIHILIST’

OBAMA THE ‘GENTLE NIHILIST’ Leo Strauss: Liberalism and nihilism Strauss taught that liberalism in its modern form contained within it an intrinsic tendency towards extreme relativism, which in turn led to two types of nihilism:[22] The first was a “brutal” nihilism, expressed in Nazi and Marxist regimes. In On Tyranny, he wrote that these ideologies, both descendants of Enlightenment thought, tried to destroy all traditions, history, ethics, and moral standards and replace them by force under which nature and mankind are subjugated and conquered.[23] The second type – the "gentle" nihilism expressed in Western liberal democracies – was a kind of value-free aimlessness and a hedonistic "permissive egalitarianism", which he saw as permeating the fabric of contemporary American society.[24][25] In the belief that 20th century relativism, scientism, historicism, and nihilism were all implicated in the deterioration of modern society and philosophy, Strauss sought to uncover the philosophical pathways that had led to this situation. The resultant study led him to advocate a tentative return to classical political philosophy as a starting point for judging political action.

Force us all to be free to share the wealth - Obama

Alexander Hamilton said that: “Few men are capable of making a continual sacrifice of all views of private interest or advantage, to the common good...” So what should government do? Force us all to be free to share the wealth? Sound familiar? Americans sought to make George Washington king; full circle now, Americans have just chosen Barack Obama as their king of big government and income redistribution. Utopia on earth? It is almost regretful that the Biblical story of God’s final coming and humanity’s fulfillment has not yet come to pass. Oh well, another Christmas is nigh!

le of questionable competence, miserable judgment

AND YET WE RE-ELECT THEM: GENE HEALY ON WHAT SCANDALS REVEAL: We’re led by people of questionable competence, miserable judgment and a flexible relationship with the truth. Most Americans would agree, and yet they’ve fairly consistently given those same people more power. All the more reason for my public-servant post-government salary surtax proposal! Put that in your “fiscal cliff” tax increase package and watch the fun. . . .

Rolling Stones - No Satisfaction!

They got NO SATISFACTION and we’re in for it next. London: Rolling Stones concert. Tickets $200 and up. 2 ½ hrs of screaming noise. Why did they not play THE song? It was disallowed because of London’s “late night noise restriction.” If they can get away with that over there, over there, we’re in for it next over here!!!!!

Obama being Obama

UNEXPECTEDLY! Obama hits the links for post-Thanksgiving golf. GETTING IT FAST AND HARD: “The United States will now undergo a four-year stress test of American liberalism, as Obama will get his tax hike and ObamaCare will be implemented. Those who think Obama cared about people like them will now experience the full extent of his caring.”

INSTEAD OF ECONOMY, GOVERNMENT ‘PIVOTS’ TO NONSENSE

INSTEAD OF ECONOMY, GOVERNMENT ‘PIVOTS’ TO NONSENSE These are the time that try men’s souls. Doubt me? Our OSU Buckeye football fans have sent a petition to Obama to pardon them from the ban on post-season play. A pre-Xmas present to Americans reads: ‘From Spielberg To Gettysburg..’ Chris Christie, Gov. of New Jersey yucks it up on a national comedy show. Pop culture’s media and movie guru Spielberg will speak at the 150th memorial of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address this week. Justin Beiber receives the #1 pop music award. Perpetual adolescence triumphs with him. Trying to change our ‘slouching to Gomorrah’ is about as useless as putting a “windshield wiper on a cow’s butt” or hoping that Hooters changes its name to Pimples. (Taken from Earl Pitts, America’s foremost philosopher). By the way of the world too, the 2nd Twilight Saga film raked in over 100 million dollars for its debut. Obama’s rules; fantasy reigns!

Innovationism

Not until about 300 years ago, when bourgeois virtues and pursuits first came to be regarded as dignified rather than as contemptible, were markets and innovationism unleashed to work their wonders at dramatically raising living standards, even for the poorest. The problem today is precisely that the values of the liberal bourgeoisie are being displaced by those of an illiberal aristocracy of intellectually glib professors, pundits, politicians, and entertainment glitterati. These “Progressives” not only deeply misunderstand the origin, nature, and role of markets, but also naively – and illiberally – forget that centralized power created with good intentions too often produces bad results. Sincerely, Donald J. Boudreaux Professor of Economics

Oh No! Ho Ho & Twinkie got to go!

Oh No! Ho Ho & Twinkie got to go! Michelle is doing her waggle dance in the White House as middle America goes into a sugary food depression and mourning. Only 10 days after Obama’s re-election based upon a resurgent economy, Little Debbie, Ho-Ho and Twinkies enter bankruptcy because they can’t do business profitably anymore. Why? Union demands. A mad frenzy has started as middle Americans dash from store to store to lay in an eternal supply of Little Debbies, Ho-Ho’s & Twinkies. Soon there will be fisticuffs in the aisles over the last Twinkie. Oh the humanity of it! In our day, the rare Twinkie in your lunch bag meant you could ditch the dry sandwich and chuck the apple and just savor the Twinkie. I never knew anyone so low as to eat a Little Debbie or a Ho-Ho though - we were too classy.

Liberal Logic- "Highly Effective" Teachers= Failing School

LOWER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Failing School Has Every Teacher and Principal Rated ‘Highly Effective.’ Every teacher and principal in the Hazel Park School District’s four elementary schools, junior high and high school were given “highly effective” ratings in 2011-12 by administrators despite district-wide failing grades for student achievement. The state of Michigan gave Hazel Park High School an “F” for student achievement in 2011-12 in all four of the measured subjects — reading, science, social studies and math. Yet every teacher was given the highest rating in the new state-mandated evaluation of teachers. The really shocking thing is that this doesn’t come as a shock at all.

Sandy & Katrina

Sandy & Katrina Bloomburg & Cuomo ala Nagin & Blanco Unprepared & unprepared Liberal Democrats & liberal Democrats The predictable & predicted Same actions, same outcome = insanity. Duh!

Wake up to an America so depressing

Wake up in America and what do I find? The rich cheat, the government is run by fools, the CIA cheats, married men cheat, a monster murderer in prison since 1997 has still not been executed, football players sound like mumbling, growling nincompoops when interviewed, a local Amish farmer abused his 50 dogs, New York is so messed up that even truckloads of goods donated to victims of Sandy must be unloaded onto the sidewalks ( for the general taking) AND 20 states have already presented petitions to secede from the our USA. Wake up to an America so depressing - why wake up at all?

The night is departing

Sound familiar? “The night is departing, and the roseate and propitious dawn now breaking upon us promises a long day of peace and prosperity for our country. To secure this, all we of the North have to do is to permit our southern neighbors to manage their own domestic affairs, as they permit us to manage ours.” Just a few words in James Buchanan’s inaugural speech of 1857 could be substituted, ‘conservative’ for North and ‘liberal’ for southern because beginning in 2013 America is a seriously divided nation. I’m sure Pres. Obama will cover the ‘dawn’ and ‘promises’ in his acceptance speech for America’s transformed future.

SELF RELIANT AMERICA

SELF RELIANT AMERICA Latest figures: 70.5 million on Medicaid 1 in 5 Americans 47 million on Food Stamp 1 in 7 Americans and up 2.5 million in last couple months Also Los Angles votes to have Meatless Monday every week. Voluntary for businesses, schools and homes. But if you don’t ‘volunteer’ the government must be ready to take ‘action’. God bless Obama!

Poor have Lexus

ONLY IN AMERICA DO THE POOR & THUGS HAVE MERCEDES & LEXUS Oakland As Makovec was finishing her report, police said, five men rushed up and grabbed a $6,000 camera from the tripod. Viewers saw the live picture being jarred and turned sideways for about two seconds. One of the assailants punched Welk in the mouth before the group fled in a Mercedes-Benz, which apparently was accompanied by a Lexus, police said. Welk declined treatment by paramedics but saw his doctor.

It takes work to free our minds from our dependence on the state

It takes work to free our minds from our dependence on the state. Why do people have wealth? Charles Dunoyer, an early libertarian sociologist, explained that “there exist in the world only two great parties; that of those who prefer to live from the produce of their labor or of their property, and that of those who prefer to live on the labor or the property of others.” Simply put, makers produce wealth while takers appropriate it. …. The evolution of freedom has involved a long process of bringing power under law. The imposition of force has nonetheless left a powerful imprint on our minds. Alexander Rustow, a prominent sociologist and a father of the post-war revival of liberty in Germany, meditated on the origins of the state in violence and predation and its lingering imprint: “All of us, without exception, carry this inherited poison within us, in the most varied and unexpected places and in the most diverse forms, often defying perception. All of us, collectively and individually, are accessories to this great sin of all time, this real original sin, a hereditary fault that can be excised and erased only with great difficulty and slowly, by an insight into pathology, by a will to recover, by the active remorse of it all.” It takes work to free our minds from our dependence on the state. When meditating on what it means to live as free people we should never forget that the state doesn’t grant to us our identities or our rights. The American Declaration of Independence states, “That to secure these rights, Governments have been [sic] instituted among men.” We secure what is already ours. The state can add value when it helps us do that, but rights and society are prior to the state. It’s critical to remember that the next time someone says, “You didn’t build that.” Tom’s brilliant essay repays well a close reading.

Liberal or Libertarian

Liberal or Libertarian? Liberals just pick and choose whenever either/or fits their agenda (based on their ideology). For ex., gay marriage or Pot as a free choice, YES. Smoking or ‘great’ eats’ as a choice, NO. A prayer in public or God in the pledge, NO. Civil unrest violating the laws or obscene language, YES. A video is protected by free speech, YES/NO. You get the picture. Freedom good/ freedom bad. Government always good/wealth always bad unless a liberal IS wealthy. Re-elect Jesse Jackson; malign a decent Romney. I could go on and on and on and on.

WE MUST STAND UP TO BULLY LEFTIES

A GLOOMY TAKE ON THINGS FROM DAN GIFFORD: Romney lost because he refused to provide an alternative for fear of being labelled a warmonger, flint-heart or social reactionary. He refused to engage with any of the issues that made this Presidential election so truly momentous. Up against the bullying of the totalitarian left, he ran for cover. He played safe, and as a result only advertised his own weakness and dishonesty. Well, voters can smell inconsistency from a mile away; they call it untrustworthiness, and they are right … like Britain’s Conservative Party, the Republicans just don’t understand that America and the west are being consumed by a culture war. In their cowardice and moral confusion, they all attempt to appease the enemies within. And from without, the Islamic enemies of civilization stand poised to occupy the void. Well, I think we’ll get someone different next time.

Obama's 5th Column

Ungrateful Obama drops these thank you lines from speech: Obama’s victory speech: “On behalf of all Americans, I would like to thank Yahoo News, the NYT, the WaPo, the LA Times, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, for campaigning for me these last five years. There is no way any other candidate on Earth would have got this many breaks, and I couldn’t have done it without them.”.

LIVING UNDER OBAMAISM

From: RUSSELL ROBERTS, Economist at Geo. Mason University The lesson I learn is that we have work to do. It’s our job to speak up and educate and cajole others about what we lose when government gets bigger. It’s our job to help people understand that the civil society that emerges from the bottom up is better than the coercive dictates decreed from the top down. The better we do that, the higher the chance of a candidate out there who understands these ideas and who has a decent chance of winning. We, the people, help determine which candidates emerge and what they stand for. We have work to do. The Talmud, talking about the obligation of a Jew to improve the world and do what God expects of us, says that it is not up to you to finish the task, but neither are you free to walk away from it. You may or may not believe that liberty hastens the redemption of the world. But the Talmud’s insight is that small steps can eventually make a big difference. I can’t bring about liberty single-handedly. Neither can you. But all of us together make a difference. Which way should we choose? More bottom up or more top down? The American people just elected the king of top down, but it was close, and my claim above is that the result reflects a lot more than the appeal of “top down” policies. Let’s keep at the job and we’ll eventually have better candidates to choose from and better results. My other source of cheer is to remember that politics is not where life happens. Policies affect our lives, but we have much to do outside that world. Yesterday I helped my youngest son learn Python, learned some Talmud, played with my photographs on Lightroom, had dinner with my wife, and went shopping with my oldest son for his first nice blazer. Lots of satisfactions there. Nothing to do with politics. ........ Put Tuesday night behind you for a while. Remember what matters. Take a walk. Read to your kids. Go out for dinner with your spouse. Read more Adam Smith and less of the Drudge Report. And smile at your neighbor ....... So don’t despair. Get to work, instead. And along the way, make lots of time for the joys of life. Don’t let the resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue affect the sweetness of all those roses on whatever road we’re heading down.

After the Ballot Go the Guns:

After the Ballot Go the Guns: UNDER THE RADAR: The Hill: US helps advance UN arms treaty. “The U.S. Mission to the United Nations helped move a controversial arms trade treaty on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after President Obama won reelection.” After the election, he has more flexibility. From Instapundiit Nov. 8th

Liberty & Servitude

Liberty & Servitude “But how is this contradiction to be reconciled – that the protectionists and socialists, who call for intellectual liberty and political liberty, intend to make use of it to impose economic servitude? They affirm the fitness of every individual to influence the general direction of the country, to criticise, to judge every question, and at the same time, they deny his fitness to regulate his own affairs; the protectionists subject him to a fine if he wishes to buy this or that product or to devote himself to this or that industry, this or that trade, which does not suit them; the socialists of all descriptions intend, by means of so-called social laws and labour legislation, to substitute, for the individual’s will, his initiative, his judgment, his responsibility, the decisions of a government composed of individuals, as if power conferred infallibility on those who govern, and as if the governed were nothing but incompetents.” from the Journal des Economistes, of Gustave de Molinari

Politicians & Parsnips

Piece of wisdom from H.L. Mencken, who is here speaking of politicians: “The one aim of all such persons is to butter their own parsnips. They have no concept of the public good that can be differentiated from their concept of their own good. They get into office by making all sorts of fantastic promises, few of which they ever try to keep, and they maintain themselves there by fooling the people further. They are supported in their business by the factitious importance which goes with high public position. The great majority of folk are far too stupid to see through a politician’s tinsel. Because he is talked of in the newspapers all the time, and applauded when he appears in public, they mistake him for a really eminent man. But he is seldom anything of the sort.”** ** This quotation is on page 67 of the 1991 collection, edited by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers, The Impossible Mencken; specifically, it’s from Mencken’s August 19, 1935 Baltimore Evening Sun essay entitled “The Constitution.” If Romney wins, he will be no one’s – or no nation’s – savior. Nor will he be any great force of evil or destruction, at least when compared to the alternative. For if Obama wins, he, too, will be (like his challenger would have been) nothing better than a supremely successful politician – which is to say, a fraud who is a master at deluding people into mistaking his arrogance and power-lust for selflessness and ability to work miracles.

1% for Obama

1% for Obama! Need the 1% to draw crowd (sort of) for Obama Bill Clinton Bruce Springsteen Jay Z Gen. Powell They all represent the working class.

Self Interest vs. Greed

Self-interest is the price of progress. The misinformed like to call self-interest greed, but greed is abuse and misuse of self-interest rooted in the sole pursuit of money. A moral calling taken to immoral extremes. We all know that adventure festers in Type A personalities. The grand explorer, Capt. James Cook ( a contemporary of Benjamin Franklin) fits the bill when he said, “for an active mind like mine ... whether I can bring myself to like ease and retirement, time will shew.” Three incredible voyages of discovery later the world mourned Cook’s death. Regardless of his personal flaws, the price of progress for all was his self-interests. Here’s an startling example. A fellow traveler on Cook’s 3rd voyage, Wm Bligh ( yes of Bounty’s infamy) traded 2 beads for a pelt in Tahiti in 1778 and in China later received the equivalent of L15 ( 15 pounds) for each fur - a gross profit of about 500,000%. Wow! Smart self-interest makes the world go round.