liberalism

Conservatism vs. Liberalism

Calvin Freiburger blogosphere, Boots and Sabers, conservatism, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Left, liberalism, politics, responsibility, Scott Feldstein, Wisconsin

In the continuing battle over Scott Feldstein’s political character assassination masquerading as thought, Boots & Sabers commenter A Son of Liberty has provided this effective summary of liberalism’s folly, and how conservatism answers it:

Liberals have politics that are often based on feeling while conservatives base their beliefs on the reality of the situation. If you are naive in regard to the results of the policies you support, then of course you feel that the folks who point out the problems will seem mean to you.

Welfare, food stamps, public housing, free health care… all programs that are the backbone of the modern liberal social net. It just feels good to vote for them and then sit back with a smug feeling that you have helped the poor… you’ve made things better and punished those bad rich people at the same time. After all, they don’t deserve the wealth… the poor gave it to them… you are just doing what is right. Yay.

The problem there is that the cradle to grave care that you so generously offer from the pockets of others has turned into a new king of slavery… slavery of the spirit. People have the basics of life… but there is no way to climb out of the nest. Get a job and we cut you off…. why work for the same pay that you get for free? That system has resulted in millions of citizens who have no connection to the concept of self sufficiency and the pride that comes from paying your own way and working to better yourself. Families were also attacked through the liberal application of policies that penalized families with two parents. Ridiculous? Yes, but it was all done with the best intentions.

Modern slavery put people in a position that they see no hope of working their way out of. Politicians, teachers, media, neighbors… everyone points out that they can never get ahead… so they don’t. Some of our inner city kids actually believe that education is a bad thing…. it marks you as one of “them” … it’s actually looked down upon by some groups. Ridiculous? Yes, but it’s a natural human instinct to justify your actions… and so they do. I can’t get ahead because “they” won’t let me. I’m poor, black, Hispanic, female, a single mom… insert whatever class of victim you like into the excuse matrix…. the result is the same. Generational slavery on the governments farm… at the hands of people who claim to want to help you.

Learned helplessness legislated and enforced by the state.

Yeah, that is what being naive got us…. and then, to protect the system, the power brokers have labeled the realists as uncaring, hateful, racist, sexist, bigoted … whatever works to maintain the system.

That is where Scott’s original definition of conservative traces it’s etymology… and that is why we are so offended by the malicious character assassination contained within. No more dancing around the truth.

Lawless Congress

Calvin Freiburger Congress, Constitution, Democrats, Left, liberalism, limited government, Pete Stark, progressivism

Via Hot Air, here’s Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) claiming that there are virtually no limits on Congress’s power:

Ed Morrissey says that “Republicans in every district should play this clip and demand an answer from incumbent Democrats who voted for ObamaCare.” Indeed. Pete Stark’s understanding of government is nothing short of despotic, and he’s not the only one. Every member of his party needs to be challenged on their how they expect to preserve liberty in a nation without limits on government…or if they even care.

Calling Barack Obama a Socialist Is More Accurate Than Calling David Frum a Conservative

Calvin Freiburger David Frum, Eugene V. Debs, FrumForum, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Left, liberalism, National Review, socialism, Stanley Kurtz

National Review’s Stanley Kurtz is debating FrumForum contributor “Eugene Debs” on whether or not Barack Obama reasonably fits the definition of “socialist.” Kurtz lays it out nicely here, to which Debs responds with a “point” that can only be described as infantile. In a nutshell: Obama can’t be a socialist because various high-ranking Obama appointees aren’t socialists and/or don’t come from socialist circles.

Of course, there are all sorts of practical reasons his particular examples don’t matter all that much. Robert Gates, for instance, was already Defense Secretary before Obama took over, and he deals with military policy rather than economic anyway. There’s the little matter of looking at the rest of Obama’s czars and appointments. As one of FrumForum’s brighter commenters points out, presidents have a publicized confirmation process to deal with, too. Overall, Debs’ is essentially saying that in order to qualify as a socialist, one’s appointment-making process has to be virtually all ideology and no practical or strategic considerations.

Speaking of socialism, how does a guy who names himself after one of America’s leading self-proclaimed socialists expect to be taken seriously defending leftists from charges of socialism, again?

Oh, that’s right: because David Frum takes him seriously. Somehow, in free-market Frum’s mission to forge a rational, responsible “conservatism that can win again,” a Democratic activist who takes the moniker of a socialist icon managed to get a platform on Frum’s website.

Huh. I wonder how that happened…

Daily Caller vs. Journolist: Guess Which Side David Frum Is On?

Calvin Freiburger Andrew Sullivan, Daily Caller, David Frum, dishonesty, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Journolist, Left, liberalism, mainstream media, moderates, propaganda, resercons, RINOs, Sarah Palin, Trig Palin, Trig Trutherism

David Scum thinks it’s somehow significant that one of the Daily Caller’s own reporters was a member of Journolist for a while, because it shows that the group wasn’t the left-wing monolith it’s supposedly been made out to be.

But 1.) the piece has Sam Stein quoting Gautham Nagesh as saying it was, on balance, a collection of predominantly left-of-center figures, and 2.) just how many people on there thought what really isn’t the story. The scandal is that certain journalists have been caught conspiring to kill coverage of political scandals, slander people as racists, speculating about using government to shut down media outlets, and enjoying the heart attacks of political opponents.

Not that we should expect Scum to care. Any excuse to present himself as the Last Principled “Conservative” in America TM is good enough to run with. He routinely allows his website to run badly-sourced, inflammatory misquotes, ugly and ill-founded insinuations of racism, and condemnations of pro-lifers generally for a crime committed by one. Scum’s faux zeal for responsibility doesn’t apply to Trig Trutherism crusaders, either. The real scandal is that this fraud still finds anyone willing to pretend he’s anything more than the miserable creature he is.

Speaking of Ignoring the American Founding…

Calvin Freiburger abortion, blogosphere, conservatism, David Swindle, drugs, Founding Fathers, liberalism, libertarianism, NewsReal

Concluding NRB’s recent drug legalization debate is a post entitled, “This is What Happens When the Founders’ Philosophy of Government Is Ignored.”  Setting aside the fact that just how the Founders would have treated drugs remains very much an open question, it seems to me that, given another recent NRB debate, a reminder of what else can happen when America’s founding principles are disregarded is in order. (Content Warning) Continue reading →

Conservatism Can’t Survive Without the Pro-Life Movement, Part II

Calvin Freiburger 2010, 2012, abortion, blogosphere, capitalism, conservatism, Constitution, David Swindle, foreign policy, Founding Fathers, Islamofascism, Israel, judicial branch, liberalism, libertarianism, liberty, NewsReal, Republican Party, resercons, War on Terror

In Part I, I argue that it would be politically foolish for the Right to further backpedal or abandon the pro-life cause. Here I want to make the case that the right to life truly is inseparable both from core conservatism and from any meaningful effort to advance conservative ideas—that, in fact, pro-abortion tendencies actually endanger the prospects of those who value limited government, the free market, and strong national defense.

As I explained on June 15, abortion is an affront to the Declaration of Independence. As the unjust taking of a human life, it is wrong for the same reason slavery, theft, assault, honor killings, rape, eminent domain abuse, and individual health insurance mandates are wrong: they are all violations of human liberty and natural rights.  Accordingly, society justly protects its citizens from them via law for the same reason.  As long as conservatism still “holds these truths to be self-evident” that all men have “certain unalienable rights” to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” and as long as conservatism still accepts that “governments are instituted among men” for the purpose of “secur[ing] these rights,” then philosophically-consistent conservatives have no choice but to oppose legalized abortion. Nobody can support abortion in good conscience without either honestly confronting this conundrum head-on, or asking himself what definition of “conservatism” he’s been operating under all this time.

That pro-choice views are an egregious exception to conservatives’ and libertarians’ pro-liberty rhetoric should be obvious. What may be less obvious—but is no less true—is that such dubious thinking cannot help but undermine other core conservative principles and efforts. Continue reading →

Conservatism Can’t Survive Without the Pro-Life Movement, Part I (Updated)

Calvin Freiburger 2010, 2012, abortion, blogosphere, conservatism, David Frum, David Swindle, Democrats, liberalism, Republican Party, resercons, strategy

The more I reflect on The Great NewsReal Abortion Debate, the more convinced I am that I made a critical error.

I want to revisit the issue of whether or not the pro-life cause is central or peripheral to the conservative movement.  I made clear where I stood on that question—as an egregious deprivation of human rights, abortion should be opposed by every lover of liberty with every fiber of his or her being—but I fear I didn’t go nearly far enough in explaining the implications of the answer.  This essay will explore the practical aspects of the matter; my next one will address the moral and philosophical.

I conceded that I could “basically support” the kind of ‘truce’ David Swindle was talking about, i.e. candidates centering their campaigns on the “two unifying issues” of the free market and defeating Islamofascism. That’s more or less how wartime Republican presidents since Ronald Reagan have run for office anyway (in Reagan’s case swapping out Islamofascism for the Soviet Union), and that’s okay.  I don’t have a problem with our candidates emphasizing some issues more than others to put voters’ most immediate concerns front and center, or to address crises that demand immediate resolution.

However, that doesn’t exempt a candidate from talking about the right to life at all, or from being pro-life.  I have already argued that pro-life principles are inseparable from core conservatism, and that abortion cannot be regarded as merely one issue among many, and I’ll elaborate more on those points in the next post.  But it’s also important because whether or not one is capable of recognizing abortion for the evil that it is, and is willing to do something about it, tells us something about what he or she is made of. I know there are exceptions (Ron Paul is pro-life but deranged, Joe Lieberman is radically pro-abortion, but firm on the war), but I truly believe that strongly pro-life candidates will tend to be of a higher caliber than pro-choice candidates in several qualities that will benefit public servants, and the American people, in all areas: Continue reading →

This is What Losing an Argument Looks Like

Calvin Freiburger abortion, blogosphere, dishonesty, extremism, liberalism, me, moonbats

Even if you aren’t violent, you are fanning the flames, inciting those that may be on the edge. There is more at stake here than whether someone is for or against the issue. There is the rule of law. This misogynistic thinking imitates Sharia law. This is America.

Blogosphere Tip of the Day: if your opponent can’t respond to your arguments with anything other than lying, hysterical hatred, you’re allowed to declare victory, and there’s probably nothing to be gained from a continued dialogue with said sore loser.

How the Teachers’ Unions and Democrats Scam Taxpayers

Calvin Freiburger bureaucracy, Democrats, dishonesty, education, liberalism, propaganda

Charles Lane, in the Washington Post:

By now, you’ve probably heard about the urgent teacher layoff crisis that threatens public education across America. Due to shrinking state and local budgets, up to 300,000 teachers could be laid off, with devastating educational consequences for our children, such as burgeoning class sizes. The only cure is $23 billion in fresh federal deficit spending, rushed through Congress as part of a bill to fund U.S. overseas military operations. “The urgency is high,” President Obama warned congressional leaders in a June 12 letter.

Don’t believe the hype.

Start with that scary number of 300,000 teacher layoffs, which has been bandied about in numerous newspaper articles. The sources for it are interested parties: teachers unions and school administrators, whose national organizations counted layoff warning notices that have already been sent out this spring and extrapolated from there. Notably, however, even these sources usually describe the threatened positions as “education jobs” – not teachers. That’s because the figures actually include not only kindergarten through 12th grade classroom instructors, but also support staff (bus drivers, custodians, et al.) and even community college faculty. And 300,000 is the upper end of a range that could be as low as 100,000. Nationwide, there are about 3.2 million K-12 public school teachers.

Moreover, springtime layoff notices are a notoriously unreliable guide to actual job cuts in the fall, because rules and regulations in many public school systems require administrators to notify every person who might conceivably be laid off — whether they actually expect to fire them or not. As the New York Times recently reported: “Everywhere, school officials tend to overestimate the potential for layoffs at this time of year, to ensure that every employee they might have to dismiss receives the required notifications.”

Given these facts, it’s unclear how the bill’s supporters came up with its $23 billion price tag. It works out to about $77,000 per job saved in the 300,000-layoff scenario, but $230,000 per job if only 100,000 jobs are at risk. Maybe that’s why the bill’s fine print allows states to spend any excess funds left over from education hiring on other state employees. By the way, the bill distributes funds to states according to how many residents they have, not how many threatened layoffs.

Read the rest here.

Helen Thomas is Helen Thomas. Film at Eleven.

Calvin Freiburger anti-Semitism, bigotry, foreign policy, Hamas, Helen Thomas, Islamofascism, Israel, liberalism, media, scandal

Yep, Helen Thomas has been saying ugly things about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  I’m with Johan Goldberg:

But beyond that, can we do away with all of the shock and dismay at Thomas’ statement? Spare me Lanny Davis’s wounded outrage. Everyone knows she is a nasty piece of work and has been a nasty piece of work for decades.

And when I say a nasty piece of work, I don’t simply mean her opinions on Israel. She’s been full-spectrum awful. I’ve known a few people who knew her 40 years ago, and she was slimy then too. One small example can be found in James Rosen’s excellent book on John Mitchell, The Strong Man. Mitchell’s wife Martha was a mentally unstable alcoholic who would call reporters to vent sad, paranoid, fact-free theories and diatribes. At first, many reporters were eager to hear her out, but over time it became obvious that Martha Mitchell was not well and it was cruel to exploit her. Obvious, that is, to nearly everyone butHelen Thomas who continued to milk Martha Mitchell for damning quotes and nonsense

[…]

All of these condemnations, equivocations, repudiations, and protestations are all fundamentally silly because they are part of a D.C. Kabuki that treats the last straw as if it was wholly different than the million other straws everyone was happy to carry.

Yawn.