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Tomorrow being Thanksgiving Day, I’ll likely be away from the computer, so here’s a double helping of detritus from my “Future Columns” folder to tide you over.
1. The American Credo: A Bitter Observation.
Where else would one look for the essentials of Americanism than to the sole true genius among the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson?
“Liberty is unobstructed action according to our will; but rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will, within the limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others.”
Steven Greenhut at the Orange County Register uses that quote as the introduction to his fine column. A teaser:
Americans are supposed to be free to live as we choose—unobstructed by government and limited solely by others' right to exercise their free will. Jefferson's words can be summarized by that old cliché: Your right to swing your fist ends at the beginning of my nose. Obviously, our nation's founding was fraught with hypocrisy given that a large portion of the population wasn't free at all, but that doesn't mean that the country's ideals aren't worth pondering today....The second part of that Jefferson quotation is as important as the first part. Just because the government has passed laws, through its established process of legislating and regulating, doesn't mean that such rules are worthy of blind obedience. Many are legitimate, but others merely are the "tyrant's will"—an effort by one group to impose its preferences on other people. We've got plenty of laws against murder and mayhem, so most lawmaking now is devoted to these other meddlesome things, which is what Jefferson warned against.
Our country has strayed so far from those concepts that we've morphed into society where we constantly need permission from the government to proceed. Whereas government previously needed a compelling reason to restrict our actions, it now demands a host of permits, fees, pre-approvals and justifications. This "Mother, may I?" situation has turned the notion of a free society on its head.
And if you cock an ear and listen ever so briefly, you’ll hear the chorus of justification, shouted by persons on Left and Right alike:
I trust Greenhut’s point makes itself. But please do read the whole thing.
2. Californian Fascism: A Glimpse Of America’s Future?
In citing a CoyoteBlog article about the advance of fascism in California, Mark “Mad Dog” Sherman makes an important observation about the utility of corporatism to the Left:
It is clear that the modern American left wants to only deal with enormous companies that will bow to their will. Small companies, independent contractors, sole proprietorships, all of them are the enemy.They WANT centrally controlled government controlling big companies and all the "little people" out of the way.
They could care less about "the workers", they just want all the workers under control of large companies only."
[The Left wants] the companies to do the hard work of dealing with the workers, but they want all companies, entrepreneurs, small businesses and employees under the direct thumb of the federal government. The politicians want the bureaucracy to enlist the help of the Academe to establish procedures and regulations which will control all, and in the end, make humans perfect. All it takes is a few laws, a smattering of regulations, and a good police force to ensure it works.
When it doesn't, it never does, the academics will blame the people, and new, more draconian laws will come down to control the people more precisely with more threats, and violence. Lather, rinse, repeat sufficiently to get us to the Holodomor, and the mass murder, which is the end game.
This is a very important insight. As I wrote some time ago, Big Government is inherently well-disposed toward Big Business. The reasons are sevreal:
- Large corporations are the easiest of all organizations for governments to control.
- Government can “subcontract” the regimentation of the populace to large corporations.
- As an intermediating factor, large corporations spare the government a lot of work and odium.
Remember that for the next time you hear some Leftist prattle that the Right is “in Big Business’s pocket.”
3. Victor Davis Hanson on Trump Hatred.
The great classics’ historian and sociopolitical commentator provides his take on the impeachment farce. First, from the NeverTrump pseudo-Right:
Apparently, Trump’s perceived checkered personal history, supposed outrageous behavior, and occasional unorthodox take on issues such as Chinese policy and tariffs all justify his removal from office. Thus, his personal flaws and apostasy from free-market orthodoxy are so egregious that they nullify any good that has come about from Trump’s successful implementation of many conservative policies for which such critics otherwise had fought long and hard in the past.NeverTrumpers also believe that Trump’s very appearance, his outrageous orange tan, dyed comb-over, odd ties, Queens accent, reality TV background, and vernacular and occasionally vulgar speech certainly are disqualifying traits. He does not present the sober, judicious, and restrained image that past Republican banner-carriers such as George H.W. Bush or Mitt Romney conveyed.
Whereas most past Republican grandees married into or inherited substantial money, none showed the visible scars and scabs of a lifetime’s frantic effort to expand their legacies by rough-and-tumble, wheeler-dealer, boom-or-bust frenzied business.
In other words, Trump “isn’t one of our set.” True enough, though utterly irrelevant to his superb performance as president. Now from the Left:
[A]ccording to a variety of barometers, the Left considers Trump to be the most conservative, and thus the most threatening, president since Ronald Reagan. He has not just sought to undo Barack Obama’s political legacy, in many cases he has been successful—on illegal immigration, energy policy, abortion, taxes, foreign policy, and a host of cultural and social issues.Trump also adds insult to injury in that he also has used many of Obama’s own methods to enact what self-styled progressives regard as regressive policies, especially free and unfettered use of executive orders and a similar masterful use of the bully pulpit.
If ex-reality TV star Trump lacks the teleprompted cadences of Obama, his sharp repartee and rally rhetoric are as or often more effective. Obama sometimes baited enemies like Fox News host Sean Hannity and had the government surveille Associated Press reporters; Trump matches such combativeness instead with ad hominem references to his media critics.
The Left also differs again from the NeverTrump Right on the perceived dangers posed by Trump’s unorthodox behavior. The Left fears and hates Trump’s character and persona for a variety of reasons, including the fact that his earthiness earns a large audience of middle Americans—many of them formerly blue-collar Democratic voters in critical swing districts and states.
Two perfect bull’s-eyes. Bravo, Dr. Hanson.
4. Some Second Amendment Stuff.
First, let’s have an illustrative image from 90 Miles From Tyranny:
Puts one in mind of the old saw that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” doesn’t it? And now, have a very illuminating article on the State’s notions about defensive gun use:
On Thursday night, 7 November, 2019 a little after 11 p.m., at the Motel 6 in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Greg Sapp was on the walkway outside of his and his wife, Vicki's motel room on the second floor. He was getting a smoke. He did not know he would be emptying his Kimber .45 into a charging black bear within seconds.
Read that carefully: Sapp was on the second floor of the motel. Here’s what happened:
He turned around, and looked. There, no more than 20 feet away, its feet on a tipped over trash can, was a huge black bear. The bear did not notice him immediately.But Greg's dog had come out, and peaked around the corner. It growled and emitted a bark, Grrrr..ru..ruff! The bear jumped over the downed trash can, landed with a Woof!, and charged directly at Greg.
Everything happened extremely fast, but Greg had moved into the psychological state of tachypsychia, where everything seems to slow down. This is a common effect when a human perceives a deadly threat. The effect also distorts distance, and can cause tunnel vision, focused on the threat.
Greg said: Oh f*ck! The .45 Kimber appeared in his hand and he was firing, with the bear taking up his whole field of vision. Greg told me:
“Everything went into like, time lapse.” “It seemed like it took forever!”
In Greg's heightened state of awareness, he could hear the first three bullets hit.
Then his ears were ringing. The bear dropped its head down as he fired the last three shots at extremely close range, Greg said it was three feet or less. The bear hit the railing of the walkway two feet from him, turned left, and went down the walkway away from Greg, who had the empty Kimber in his hand.
And here’s how the state of Tennessee, supposedly one of the more firearm-rights-friendly states of the Union, treated the incident:
When the police investigated, they followed the blood trail until it stopped. They did not find the bear. An officer asked why Greg had not retreated to the hotel room. Greg said there was no time to do so.Greg was not cited for shooting the bear. He was cited for reckless endangerment and unlawful discharge of a firearm. The police impounded his Kimber as evidence. The Kimber, with custom modifications, is worth about $1800.
The life and health of Greg Sapp, a retired veteran of Marine Force Recon, are apparently worth less to the Tennessee police than the slight nuisance of showing up at the scene and returning to the precinct without a crime and a “perp.”
While we’re on the subject of governmental hostility toward civilian ownership of firearms, Mike Hendrix has some info about recent uses of “red flag” laws. Meanwhile, David L. Burkhead lays a righteous smackdown on an anti-gunner propagating lies on Twitter. There’s also this Wes Rhinier piece about gun laws in South Africa, where he was born and raised:
South Africa’s laws have become so draconian. Law abiding citizens who wish to defend themselves have to apply for a license for a specific firearm. When purchasing ammunition, the license for the firearm in question has to be shown. The purchase is entered into a register and the amount of ammunition purchased and owned is also restricted. The quantity of firearms owned is restricted and although in certain instances, such as a sport shooter, additional licenses may be granted, the process is tedious and frustrating. I provide this trivia because, the criminals are not impacted and have access to whatever the black market can offer or whatever they can steal. ‘Common sense gun laws’ is intentionally a vague and open statement because those who despise liberty need to be able to move the goal lines so that the incremental erosion of our rights can continue.Anyone who talks about increasing gun laws in the name ‘gun safety, sensible gun ownership, saving the life of just one child’ is either ignorant or a tyrant. Criminals never ever obey any laws. Case closed. 2A does not grant ‘We the People’ a right to keep and bear arms. It ACKNOWLEDGES the right.
If your blood pressure has been feeling low lately, you might want to give those pieces your attention. I promise, you’ll be fully awake before you finish.
6. Red China And The Uighur Muslims.
PowerLine’s John Hinderaker thinks this is a humantiarian issue:
One of my daughters sent me this: “Data leak reveals how China ‘brainwashes’ Uighurs in prison camps.” Her question: “Why does literally no one care/talk about this?”The Chinese government has consistently claimed the camps in the far western Xinjiang region offer voluntary education and training. But official documents, seen by BBC Panorama, show how inmates are locked up, indoctrinated and punished.***
About a million people – mostly from the Muslim Uighur community – are thought to have been detained without trial.
The leaked Chinese government documents, which the ICIJ have labelled “The China Cables”, include a nine-page memo sent out in 2017 by Zhu Hailun, then deputy-secretary of Xinjiang’s Communist Party and the region’s top security official, to those who run the camps.
The memo that follows details a severe program of brainwashing, to which the detailed Uighur Muslims are subjected in the hope of breaking them. I have no idea whether it works, or how we in the West would find out. But I have as little concern for the detainees as the first of Hinderaker’s commenters:
The Chinese are correct in identifying Muslims as a threat to their nation and identity. Their efforts to indoctrinate them will fail. See: any Muslim minority group in any nation anywhere. The religion supersedes national identity by design, as it sees non-believers as enemies to be exterminated.
The commenter cited above is quite correct: Any Muslims anywhere, once Muslims are permitted to achieve a substantial presence in an otherwise non-Islamic nation – usually about three percent – become tools of Islamist activists who will agitate for special considerations and privileges for Muslims. The radicals in the Muslim populace will keep the “peaceable” ones in line with violence and intimidation. This is so well established that not even Islamist mouthpieces attempt to contradict it.
The rest is just Red China being Red China. If we’re going to throw down against them for some reason, let it be Hong Kong.
Hoefully, that will be enough to tide my Gentle Readers over the Feast of St. Gluttony Thanksgiving Day. I’ll be back on Friday without fail, as I have a book giveaway scheduled for that day. Until then, be well.
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