I'm Not a Hunter(But I Play One on TV)

First this article

Fewer hunters today, but too late for one goose
By BONNIE ERBE
Scripps Howard News Service
23-JAN-06
The scene would have pulled the heartstrings even of those who have none.
She (or he) sat bleeding profusely into the waters of South Creek, off the West River in Churchton, Md. She was clearly dying. A bullet had entered one side of her torso and exited the other. She held up her wing, broken in two. Her neck was elegantly arched and her black eyes looked against her black feathers as if she were trying not to cry.
She was a Canada Goose. She was sitting silently under a Weeping Willow (weeping for her, I believed) just off the beach of a marshy cove, when I walked by with my dog and two acquaintances. We didn't own the property, but we had the owners' permission to be there. The hunter did not.
Whoever it was had taken a bad shot at the goose and wounded her fatally, but she had yet to die. I steadied my sickening stomach at the sight of this poor creature and tried to figure out what to do.
If we left her, certainly she'd die slowly of blood loss or be eaten alive. I'd taken other animals in near-death shape to my veterinarian (rabbits, turtles I found half-crushed in the road) only to find it a hopeless cause and to have my kind vet "put them to sleep" as the most humane course.
Recently I'd had one success. An 8-month old peacock who lives with about 15 others on the farm where I board my horses was mauled by a fox or a hawk (we think). She got away, but with an injured wing and a gimpy leg. My vet X-rayed her leg and found a bone infection. We put her on antibiotics and the bird is almost ready for freedom from her protective coop.
But not this goose. She was much more badly damaged. One of my companions said, "I grew up on a farm and killed chickens. I'll break her neck to put her out of her misery." We fussed and cried and tried to write happier endings. We finally concurred it was the best we could do.
She picked up part of a tree limb. I and the other woman turned away. Bash, bash, we heard. "Is she breathing?" I asked. "I don't think so," the angel of mercy replied. We started walking away. We heard something. The goose, head down, was flapping its wings. The angel ran back. Again, bash, bash. This time it took.
We were crying. Hysterical. The scene decorated my nightmares over and over and for days and days afterward. The memory was _ and remains _ awful.
Some insensitive human viewed that bird as no more than target practice. We saw her as a courageous individual. On the way out, we spotted an illegal blind placed by trespassers. Fueled by our angst, we ripped it to shreds.
Hunting is a dying sport in America. No, a dying hobby, or occupation. There's little sport in the destruction of wildlife with high-tech weaponry. This bird was shot by a trespasser in a suburban cove in view of 15 houses. Hardly a rural marshland. No cover in which the bird could hide. Like skeet shooting with a bloodlust. About as manly as wearing diapers.
The Christian Science Monitor reports, "A new US Fish and Wildlife survey shows ... the number of hunters has declined by 7 percent, to 13 million, in the past 5 years. While a few states like Alaska and Minnesota have seen slight increases ... officials in Georgia predict a 50 percent decline .... by 2026."
Hunting groups are so desperate for new blood they're lobbying some states to reduce the legal hunting age to 8. But urbanization and technology are doing what conscience never could: convincing more Americans not to hunt. Today's man is too busy, open land isn't easily accessible, and rural passions of a less educated America are giving way to urban and suburban sophistication.
It's too late for that goose. But it's not to late for the men (yes, mainly men) who continue to hunt, to find true manliness. It's not about extermination: it's about empire-building. It's not about physical, but intellectual prowess. Cruelty isn't sexy. It's a turn-off. Heartstrings rule.
(Bonnie Erbe is a TV host and writes this column for Scripps Howard News Service. E-mail bonnieerbe(at)CompuServe.com.)

And now my reply.

As Many Hunters As Need Be

Reading Ms. Erbe’s pompous piece Few Hunters Still Too Many in a recent edition of The Beacon News brought tears to my eyes. Not for the unfortunate she-goose Ms Erbe so passionately describes(although in such an instance I would have acted in much the same way), but for her somewhat skewed view of reality.
I would begin by wondering how she knew that the goose had, in fact, been shot. Was there an autopsy performed on the animal? The injuries she described, it seems to me, could have just as easily been caused by a coyote or a racoon. Would she that we got rid of these creatures in order to protect her delicate psyche from offense?
You see, this is a problem with many who consider themselves lovers of animals and of nature. They eagerly adore the beauty that is nature without accepting its horror as well. She frets that the goose may ‘die slowly of blood loss or be eaten alive’, even though, in reality, that is a most natural way for any animal in the wild to meet its maker. What she sees in nature is not the reality of it, but an ‘urban or suburban’ sophisticated Disney view of it.
She rails against hunters in much the same unrealistic way. She either refuses to acknowledge or is simply ignorant of the benefit that hunters have on our environment.
From the U.S. Dept. Of Interior,

“State fish and wildlife agencies will share more than $464 million in excise taxes paid by America's hunters, anglers and boaters to support fish and wildlife conservation and education programs..."Hunting and fishing are rich parts of our nation’s heritage,” said Steve Williams, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Anglers and hunters have been the leading force for conservation in America. By supporting these excise taxes, they are contributing critical funds – $9 billion over the past 67 years – for maintaining and restoring our fish and wildlife resources."”.

And from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,

“The sale of hunting licenses, tags, and stamps is a major source of funding for State wildlife conservation efforts...Each year, nearly $200 million in hunters' federal excise taxes are distributed to State agencies to support wildlife management programs, the purchase of lands open to hunters, and hunter education and safety classes. Proceeds from the Federal Duck Stamp, a required purchase for migratory waterfowl hunters, have purchased more than five million acres of habitat for the refuge system lands that support waterfowl and many other wildlife species, and are often open to hunting.”

Hunting clubs do their part, as well. Since its inception in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 9.4 million acres of waterfowl habitat throughout North America. DU supporters have raised nearly $1.6 billion for conservation since 1937. And Pheasants Forever has spent almost $10 million purchasing 65,000 acres of land totaling 600 sites as permanent features on the landscape. An amazing accomplishment, and these are only two of a great many clubs that pepper this great land.
Her article is awash in elitism. She sees those who hunt as conscienceless oafs who must be drug, surely kicking and screaming, into the 21st century through ‘urbanization and technology’. She claims to speak for all men as just ‘too busy’ to follow their own interests, as if all men strive to be the effeminate suburban definition of ‘manliness’ she so obviously wishes them to be. Her hope that those ‘rural passions of a less educated America’ give way, seems to me to be a death knell for many migratory birds and their habitat.
I, personally am not a hunter, but I am a realist. I understand it is in many a man’s soul to long for the connection with nature that hunting provides. I understand the agelong history of hunting that we as a species share with our ancestors. I understand that it is largely hunters themselves who protect the environment for the species they pursue. I understand that my choice not to hunt in no way should affect any choices another man should make. I understand nature is both magnificent and appalling and any offense I take in the latter is less than meaningless.
In closing, I find it rather sad that Ms. Erbe missed the most important lessons her experience could have taught her. Sad that she seems to believe her feelings somehow trump stark reality. Sad that she would use an attack on hunters to veil her obvious distaste for the masculine.

The Long Haul

OK, this needs to be said. The death of Osama bin Laden will not end terrorism. He is an evil man and should be worm food sooner rather than later, but he is not the sole voice of terror throughout the world. He does not run Ansar al-Islam, Abu Nidal Organization, Abu Sayyaf Group, Armed Islamic Group, Asbat al-Ansar, or Aum Shinrikyo...and that’s just the ‘A’s’
'Well, that is just common sense. Any moron understands that’ you say? Odd then, that John F. Kerry and his ilk seem to miss this simple point completely.

Osama bin Laden is gonna die of kidney failure before he's killed by Karl Rove and his crowd and all he does is divide America over this issue and exploit it. And what he's trying to pretend is that somehow Democrats don't want to eavesdrop appropriately to protect the country. That's a lie. We're prepared to eavesdrop wherever and whenever necessary in order to make America safer, but we put a procedure in place to protect the constitutional rights of Americans and what I believe, George, and I believe it deeply, is you can protect the United States of America without devoiding(sic), without ignoring the constitution of the country.

OK, I will state this in terms even simple enough for the ‘reality based community’ to understand.
Bin Laden is just one battle in the war on terror. As are the insurgents in Iraq. The mullahs in Iran. HAMAS and every other fundamental Islamist group. When one is destroyed, others will surely arise. This is not and will not be a short war. I know that is a painful thought, but reality often is less than pleasant. Deal with it, buck up, and hunker down. Let those who are willing to fight the enemy do so. Do not tie their hands in a partisan lust for power. And if you are afraid, shut your mouth and just get the hell out of the way.
I know, I know little lambs, it is a big scary world. But ignoring the danger and attacking your protectors does not make you safer. Bush is not the enemy, people who want you dead or Islamic are. The NSA is not the enemy, a Mullah contacting his mole with a time and date is. CIA prisons in foreign nations are not the enemy, those who these prisons house are. Racial profiling is not the enemy, Middle Eastern Islamo-fascist men aged 18-29 are. Pentagon secret plans are not the enemy, timetables of troop withdrawal and the release of top secret information are.
So enough of this ‘I’d leave Iraq and go back and finish the job in Afghanistan’ business. And enough of partisan politics standing in the way of the future safety of our families and neighbors. We need to all agree and understand that we’re in this for the long haul. And if we catch Bin Laden tomorrow, or never at all for that matter, the war against murderous psychopathic religious killers must wage on until won.

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes

The Ever Expanding Bill of Rights

OK, I get it.
We have a right to health care. We have a right to higher education. We have a right to a decent job. We have a right to a living wage. We have a right to abortion. We have a right to government sponsored HDTV. We have a right not to feel offended. Etc., etc., etc.
If one does not believe the above are basic American rights, either openly stated or merely hinted at in our shared Constitution, one need only find the nearest Liberal and simply ask ‘em. He or she will quickly set you straight(did I say straight? Whoops, that was very heterocentrist of me.).
So with the above in mind, I have decided to do my part and save the Social Security system.
‘What the hell are you talking about?’ you ask. ‘What on God’s green Earth does one thing have to do with the other?’
Well sit back, put American Idol on mute, scratch what itches, and I will gladly explain.
You see, if we agree that these rights are inherent to every American, and I am sure that we do, then we are forced to face this simple fact...That these rights did not begin the moment we were born (sorry Leftie narcissists the Earth does instead revolve around the Sun). That these rights have existed since the writing of the constitution. Therefore, our parents and their parents before them possessed these rights as well.
With this in mind, can we not see that our forefathers have been cruelly and most unusually denied their very birthrights? Denied the advantages of the rights we as Progressive Americans have been privy to? Well, I would aver, most assuredly so!
So what should we as fair Americans do to redress this grave injustice?
Reparations, of course. Reparations. Financial redress. To every baby boomer. To every senior citizen. To every octogenarian.
Huge, fat checks befitting the wrongs our elders have had to endure.
So here we have it. No more need for Social Security checks for our nation’s elderly, just a massive one time retribution payment for rights not granted.
Paid for, of course, by those Americans lucky enough to be living productive, profitable lives...Hang on, that’s who’s paying now. Oh, just never mind then.

Racism? Where?

Let’s play a game.
It’s called “Spot the Racism”. Good luck.
Here is a little hint for you NPR listeners...the answers are b & c.

a.

"I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man," he says. "I know you as Mike Wallace. You know me as Morgan Freeman. You wouldn't say, 'Well, I know this white guy named Mike Wallace.' You know what I'm saying?"
The actor also criticizes Black History Month, saying setting aside a special month actually segregates black history from American history. Calling the idea "ridiculous," Freeman notes there's no "white history month."
"You're going to relegate my history to a month?" Freeman asks Wallace. "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history," he says.

b.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said the following... It's time for us to rebuild New Orleans -- the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. This city will be a majority-African American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans no other way.

c.

“When you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation, and you know what I'm talking about,"Clinton (D-N.Y.) told an audience at the Canaan Baptist Church of Christ during an event sponsored by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network.

Well, how’d you do? Better than the MainStream Media, I bet.

The Copperheads

THOSE

The Copperheads were a faction of Democrats in the North who opposed the American Civil War, wanting an immediate peace settlement with the Confederates. They were also called Peace Democrats.

WHO

A majority of Peace Democrats supported war to save the Union, but a strong and active minority asserted that the Republicans had provoked the South into secession; that the Republicans were waging the war in order to establish their own domination, suppress civil and states rights, and impose "racial equality"; and that military means had failed and would never restore the Union.

DO

Copperheads were opposed to the emancipation of the slaves

NOT

the Peace Democrats...publicly criticized Lincoln's belief that violating the U.S. Constitution was required to save it as a whole. ...Lincoln assumed all powers not delegated in the Constitution, including the power to suspend habeas corpus.

LEARN

During Lincoln's presidency, he was criticized for taking what were considered "extra-constitutional measures." But in the end, the verdict of history is that Lincoln's use of power did not constitute abuse since every survey of historians ranks Lincoln as number one among the great presidents.

FROM

Peace Democrats. Many Democrats within this group hoped that the Union could be salvaged, but felt that military means were not justified. This faction asserted the following:
The North was responsible for pushing the South into secession
The Republicans were committed to establishing racial equality, a prospect opposed by many working class immigrants who wanted to protect their low-paying jobs and by racists
Lincoln had become a tyrant and was bent upon destroying civil liberties
The war was a national tragedy and must be ended, even if that meant granting independence to the Confederacy.

HISTORY

Their views struck a responsive chord among like-minded Democrats in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio in the period 1862 to 1864, while their Republican opponents considered their ideas and alleged actions as nothing less than treason.

ARE

One of the initial reasons for why the Peace Democrats did not support the Northern war effort was that a sizable number of white Ohioans, especially those living along the Ohio River, had migrated to the state from slaveholding states...Some Peace Democrats also feared that President Abraham Lincoln intended to free the slaves. White Ohioans who objected to slavery's end, usually on racist grounds, feared that African Americans would flood the North looking for jobs if they were given their freedom. These white Ohioans did not want to compete with African Americans for employment.

DOOMED

The most prominent Copperhead leader was Clement L. Valladigham of Ohio, who headed the secret antiwar organization known as the Sons of Liberty. At the Democratic convention of 1864, where the influence of Peace Democrats reached its high point, Vallandigham persuaded the party to adopt a platform branding the war a failure

TO

they said, "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight."

REPEAT

With the conclusion of the war in 1865 the Peace Democrats were thoroughly discredited. Most Northerners believed, not without reason, that Peace Democrats had prolonged war by encouraging the South to continue fighting in the hope that the North would abandon the struggle

IT

...it was not until years after the Civil War that the Democratic party succeeded in living down the association

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes

My 'Liberal Fear Factor'

In the interest of true understanding, I have decided to put together a Maslowian number line of Liberal fears. What I like to call the 'Liberal Fear Factor'. Beginning with that which the Liberal fears least to that which he/she fears the most.
No need to thank me, it is the least I can do.

1) Terrorists and terrorism. Including but not limited to Al Qaeda, Ansar al-Islam, HAMAS, and any other Islamic based terrorist networks intent upon murdering you and yours. I.E. those who believe that any human so ignorant as to believe in any God but Allah are subhuman and worthy of dismemberment and death.
They’re just poor souls living under the threat of American imperialism. You’d blow yourself up too, if you had to live under the threat of being drug kicking and screaming into the 21st century and the modern world.
Liberal fear factor: 0
2) Emboldening the enemy.
a)The act of appeasement for horrible crimes or attacks which cause the enemy to see America or the West as paper tigers, and thus ensuring future and more horrific assaults. Completely ignoring acts of war or at the very least treating them as a ‘law enforcement’ issue.
b) Smearing the military and its leaders in a time of war. Exposing classified information in a time of war.
c) Giving the enemy war plans. I.E. withdrawal dates and troop numbers.
Sure they’ll be emboldened and much more likely to cause death, disaster, and strife. But we deserve it. Due to, of course, our many crimes and misdeeds committed throughout our checkered history.
Liberal fear factor: 0.5
3) Illegal Immigration. So what if millions of unknowns are swarming across our Southern border. We were all immigrants once, after all. It’s racist not to assume that 100% of these gentle beings have nothing but good intentions. Hell, everybody needs a decent gardener.
Liberal fear factor: 1.0
4) Civil rights violations that actually affect a law abiding citizen on a daily basis. Such things as smoking bans, seat belt laws, forced insurance premiums, affirmative action, theft of our Social Security ‘insurance’, eminent domain violations, anti-gun laws, and the thousands of other nanny state laws and ordinances that make criminals of decent moral Americans.
These are all for the ‘common’ good. As long as one considers ‘common’ to mean the same as Progressive.
Liberal fear factor: 1.5
5) The unlimited patience of the productive. Just keep on adding higher and more excessive taxation and burdens to the employers, productive, and businesses in this country. Their cash and patience is a bottomless pit, is it not? There is a limitless amount of insult they will abide. Forcefully taking the hard earned money from the likes of these people and giving it to homeless alcoholic drug addicted slobs who have burned every bridge ever offered to them surely makes those who have earned it feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Liberal fear factor: 2.0
6) Wal-Mart. If Hitler and Attila the Hun were alive today they surely would own a Wal-Mart. That most evil of all corporations offering jobs to the elderly, those in need of part time work, those with little work experience, and high school and college students. That vile money grubbing entity that brings decent merchandise at low prices to areas where the citizenry can surely benefit from it. That Capitalistic bourgeoisie institution that daily reminds us of the evil that is free enterprise and consumerism. Why don’t they just get it over with and sell Hummers in the parking lot?
Liberal fear factor: 9.8
7) Digging in ANWR. So what if America’s dependence on foreign oil is one of the main causes of its foreign policy strife. So what if that dependence puts her at a disadvantage in case of a full scale war. So what if that dependence leaves her at the whim of Middle Eastern tyrants. So what if gas prices go through the roof(heck, there’s always GW to blame for that). We will be damned if a caribou has to walk an extra half mile to get from one side of that lifeless tundra to the other. Hell, it’s cold up there...that poor beast has got to be freezing! Have a little compassion.
Liberal fear factor: 9.89
8) Christians. Those evil, scheming, conniving bible pushers who blow themselves up in schools and malls, decapitate newsmen, kill innocent women and children, engage in female genital mutilation, fly jets into civilian buildings...hey wait a second, that ‘s not the Christians! Well, they’re evil anyway.
Liberal fear factor: 9.9
9) The viewing of one’s library record. This is no less an attack on one’s civil rights and no less a threat to life and liberty than a train ride to Auschwitz or a week without Cindy Sheehan.
Liberal fear factor: 9.99
10) NSA wiretapping of terrorist suspects and their contacts. How can we sit idly by and let a government institution actually do the job that it was set up to do. And efficiently at that. This can not stand!
Liberal fear factor: 9.999
11) George Bush and his cronies.
a) Those Machiavellian bastards who have not allowed an attack on our soil since 2001, have the economy strong and headed in the right direction, brought freedom to Iraq and Afghanistan, moderated Syria and Lybia, and enacted a National Energy Plan are damn well going to be the end of us all.
b) Their racist/sexist hiring practices should be an embarrassment to us all. Sure there is the first female Secretary of State and a minority as well, but she’s just another aunt Tom. And there was Colin Powell...an uncle Tom. And HUD Secretary, Alphonso Jackson... uncle Tom. And Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao...aunt Tom-sun. And Attorney General, Alberto Gonzalez...tio Thomas. And Gale Norton Secretary of Interior and Margaret Spellings Secretary of Education both female, sure, but white as the driven snow. Well, Ok there may be some diversity here, but as we all know, it’s only for show.
c) It should be obvious to us all that they are going to institute a Christian fascist regime where we will be forced to go about our lives with little intrusion from the government, lower taxation, and the onus of taking personal responsibility for our own lives. They must not be allowed to get away with this in our Progressive 21st century America!
Liberal fear factor: 10.0
So there you have it. My 'Liberal Fear Factor'. Sure it doesn’t rate with eating cockroaches or drinking nightcrawler shakes, but really what ever does? Hang on, look what’s on Jerry Springer this afternoon...

A Little Wal-Mart Logic

Maryland's Senate voted Thursday to enact a first-in-the-nation requirement that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spend more on employee health care despite the governor's veto of the legislation. The measure, touted as a money-saver for the state-supported Medicaid program, now goes to the House for a vote.

Labor unions have said they are seeking similar legislation this year in at least 30 states.

The Democratic-controlled Senate voted 30-17 to overturn a veto of the so-called Wal-Mart bill last summer by Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich. The measure now heads to the House, where the prospect of passing was less certain, though Democrats control that chamber as well.

Supporters of the bill said Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, unfairly costs taxpayers money by spending less than 8 percent of payroll on health care. The bill requires all companies with more than 10,000 employees to spend that much or give the state the difference. Currently, only Wal-Mart would meet the criteria in Maryland.

Critics of the legislation called it a dangerous precedent that ultimately would cost Maryland jobs.

OK. Besides being a fascist(and I do not use that word easily...search my blog for proof)economic attack on business, just what does the great state of Maryland feel they will accomplish here? Do they truly believe Wal-Mart will pay this extortion? Anybody ever read Atlas Shrugged?
One of three things is going to happen here...1) Wal-Mart will simply close up shop and move to a less Soviet style arena as it did recently in Quebec when unionization was threatened, 2) Wal-Mart will add to the state’s unemployment lines by lowering its total employment to 9,999, or 3) it will raise prices in order to recoup its losses, thereby moving the cost of its employees health care to the citizens of the great state of Maryland(who of course, are paying for the same now only under a different name...Medicaid)
You see, business is not really that complicated. And it is made less so with a little empathy. Imagine, if you will, that you personally own a Wal-Mart store in the People’s Republic of Maryland. If you are a Liberal, forget for a moment that you only have the mental ability to win a job as a greeter, but suppose you actually own the store. If you are a Conservative...oh, never mind, you already understand.
Ok, so you have a store.
You offer decent products at fair prices to your customers.
You employ a good number of people from the surrounding area. Mothers who need part-time work. Retirees and the elderly who want a few extra dollars in their pockets. High school and college age kids working to pay for their forced auto insurance premiums.
Most of the jobs you offer are not meant to be career employment. In fact, if an employee is looking to make a career out of his job with you, he has taken a wrong path somewhere along the way.
Anyway, you are going along fine...offering decently priced items, making a mere profit of 3.5%(yes, that is correct, 3.5%),
and employing a few people as well. Seems to be a win-win-win situation.
UNTIL...until bleeding hearts and Liberals rear their somewhat less than attractive heads.
They say you are not paying your employees enough. They say the working conditions are deplorable. They say your employees are not receiving the benefits they so rightly deserve. They say you are closing down the ‘mom and pop shops’. They say you need to pay for the health care of your employees...NOW!
What would you do? Would you personally take the hit to your already below average profit?
I know what I would do, and I’m pretty sure any intellectually honest person would do the same. I would say screw the government.
Again here are my choices...
Close my store. Look at the great benefits my former employees have now. They get exercise walking to the Unemployment Office. That’s good for their cardiovascular system. They could get a good mental work out stressing about where there next great job will come from...hell, they can go back to school and get their GED.
Cut my workforce to below the statute required number. Heck, why not, those old foagies, should be at home watching reruns of Jeopardy anyways. They don’t really need jobs, just ask them. And if we let go of a couple single mothers, who’ll even miss ‘em. Shoot, they could pop out a couple more bastards thus increasing their Welfare benefits. A win-win situation the way I see it.
Raise prices. You see, much like corporations do not pay tax...they simply move the cost to the consumers, I would simply raise my prices to cover any loss I was to incur. Guess who’s paying for my employees health care now. You in the back...’the consumer’, you say? You win the prize.

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes

Achieving Mediocrity

One of my main beefs with Liberal/Progressive ideology is that in its practice it does not reward achievement. From socialism’s redistribution of wealth to the dumbing down of our schools through inane self esteem programs, this odd mantra dominates much of what the modern day Liberal espouses.
To the Left, the wealthy are all evil greedy bean counters only made rich off the toil of the poor and the luck of a fortunate fate. Their sacrifice, stress, and hard work are either completely denied or at least mostly ignored. A quick glance at the Liberal’s list of whipping boys shows this point all too clearly...Wal-Mart, Big Oil, Microsoft, Halliburton, ‘Fat Cat CEOs’, the ‘top 1% of wage earners’, and so on.
But it would seem to the logical mind that when one tears down the great, one does not create more of the great just more of the average, or worse, more of the poor. As Thomas Sowell puts it succinctly in a recent TownHall column on the upsurge in wealth in neo-capitalist China versus less successful programs elsewhere,
in “...Zimbabwe today, attempts at a redistribution of wealth have turned out to be a redistribution of poverty...”
The main tenets of Socialism, and yes Communism, have this at their very core. That there must be no greatness. That all men are not merely created equal, but doomed to be so. That those humans of greatness must be torn from their height to sit with the lazy and the bored. How does this make Humanity better? How do we as a species look to an outside observer when we tear down the great and exalt the average? How does this help us to evolve?
Part of the Left’s hatred of Capitalism springs from Capitalism’s proof that competition causes evolution. It is odd that the theory they so cherish and protect in the public schools, frightens them so much when seen in the economic world. Odd yes, but understandable as well. Competition leads most always to a win-lose scenario. To a winner and a loser. To one man or idea being greater than another. To an achievement. And to the mind of the Leftist, this can not stand.
Surely this is why they fight so hard against school vouchers. It is the hatred and fear of competition. Fear that competition will make for better schools, churning out more intelligent and qualified students. Students public school children would have a disadvantage in competing against. The recent Florida Supreme court decision is a prime example of this thinking. Andrew Coulson in a recent Cato Institute article put it this way,
“If you think kids are all the same, and that monopolies are the key to quality and efficiency, consider moving to Florida. As of this week, a uniform government bureaucracy is the only legal approach to public education in the Sunshine State.”
Why on Earth should we even try another method when the NEA, who currently teach our children so very well, are so dead set against it? And surely the NAACP has the future of the young black student in mind when it too denounces school vouchers.
But if these examples were all there were to the Liberal world view that attacked greatness and achievement they could be dismissed as aberrations. But alas, they are not.
There is also the Left’s simmering hatred of all things America. Some may say despite of, but could it not be rather because of her greatness and achievement? ‘How could such a great and powerful country rise from something as unjust as Capitalism’, they ask.
And we also have their tax programs that almost universally hit the productive and the achievers most hard. The hatred of the top 10% of wage earners. Their lust for the estate tax. The politics of envy.
Along these same lines we have their profound hatred for profit, whether record or otherwise. The attacks on Wal-Mart and Big Oil prove this out.
So what is it, then, in the Leftist mind set that causes one to so despise achievement? Well, I believe it is fear. Fear of failure. Fear of struggle. Fear of loss. Fear of sacrifice. And this would be fine if their fear were kept at the personal level. But as we see all around us, it is not. It is repackaged, politicized, and sold to a waiting audience. It is wrapped in entitlement claims and victim status. It is boxed as the politics of envy and the loathing of the rich. And sent to us then with a guarantee that we just may all achieve sublime mediocrity.