Master CraftsMon - Aired Monday, January 9, 2006 at about 11pm CST - Segment 3
Master CraftsMon - Aired Monday, January 9, 2006 at about 11pm CST - Segment 3
This song has little to do with this next segment, but I want to play it anyway.
That was In your Wildest Dreams by The Moody Blues.
The man in the song is looking back to a time when he was young and idealistic and things seemed so much clearer to him.
A while back, the Dixie Chicks, a country and western group, made a comment about George Bush that landed them in hot water. They cried that they were being censored, but what was really happening was that they were being called to debate their position. They were offended that anyone would question their beliefs AND they were offended that anyone would ask them to back up their statements with facts or something other than feelings. After all, all artists are into expressing their feelings.
The big problem with saying that they and other Liberals have been censored is that there are so MANY outlets for Liberal ideas and ideals. If you are going to say that you have been silenced by your fear of speaking out, then you have to say that you fear debate. It means to me that the Left is so insecure in their beliefs that they must have no dissent to have their beliefs heard. Any disagreement is a form of censorship. I find it kind of fascinating that listening to people come on radio shows and say that they fear expressing their Leftist ideals, because they will be criticized. Why is that wrong? Why is it wrong to ask someone to back up their beliefs with something like facts?
Debate has broken out. Topics that were settled are being revisited. You see the thing is that debate is the only way to reach consensus. At this moment the Left excluding Blacks makes up about 27% of the people in this country and falling. Abortion has that effect on the Left. What is interesting is that the Left is convinced that their ideas and ideals are still fresh and still filled with vigor. So much so, that they cannot bring themselves to debate the settled topics of the day. In short, the Left has become reactionary which I find absolutely hilarious, because the Left has always had the self-image of being radicals and open to new ideas. No more. The new ideas are on the Right, Yet... these new ideas are being met with outright rejection without debate on their merits.
The last few years, the Right has been attempting to reopen debate on settled issues. During most of the 20th century it was accepted that the government could and should be the source for positive social change. It was accepted that we as a society must take care of the less fortunate and the government was the tool for doing that... Except it didn't work. Communism, Socialism and Liberalism failed in their goal of raising the standard of living of the poor. Saying anything else is just silliness.
Now that assumes that the people pushing the Liberal agenda are saying what they truly believe. The Right has always said that the Left wants to implement an agenda where everyone is poor, so that instead of some people being in misery, everyone is in misery. I never have quite gone for that, but the Leftist agenda sure has that effect.
Most people on the Left like to point to Cuba as a shining example of Communism as it should be. Why? I never could figure that out. A good portion of the people in Cuba do not have enough food, clothing nor shelter to get by, but the thinking on the Left is that they are better off than the poor in our country.
Venezuela has a guy named Hugo Chavez who as President has moved the country to the far left. His perception is that Capitalism has failed to lift his country out of poverty, so obviously socialism and Communism will do a better job. The oil money pouring into his country has masked the fact that nothing is getting better.
Bolivia just had an Presidential election where the far left candidate won. Evo Morales has determined that Capitalism has failed to lift his country out of poverty, so he too will be pushing socialism as a means of making things better. Bolivia is a weird case, because they could have money pouring in for their natural gas. The people have determined that selling the natural gas to foreigners is a form of exploitation, so they have decided not to sell. What do they expect to happen when they cut off trade?
In short, I have listed the evidence that I have that Communism, Socialism and Liberalism does not work. Why am I mistaken? Can you debate me on the issues? Why should you? You are more moral than I am because I am not a Liberal. Plus I have not much of a case.
Now, I started this segment talking about censorship as it is seen by the Left. What I was trying to say was that censorship can only occur when there is no chance that your ideas or ideals can be aired. That is not the case today. Shutting people up in this country to such an extent that they cannot speak is almost impossible. What you are seeing are people hurt that someone would dare to question their ideas and ideals. After all, every idea and ideal the Left espouses has been debated for seventy years. Why revisit settled consensus? The problem is that some things in a democracy are never final.
There's this communications specialist out in California who claims that if the Left just reframes its arguments, then the Democrats will be back in power before you know it. I doubt it, because too many people are questioning the wisdom of central control. If you believe in central control, I have to doubt your sanity.
So here we are. On one side are the Liberals saying that their way is so moral, so correct, that no one can call their motives or methods into question without being an incarnation of Joseph McCarthy. On the Right you have a set of people saying that the positions of the Left have stopped making sense. I want to think about that. How can you have a real debate when the two sides do not accept that the other side is living in the same Reality?
This song has little to do with this next segment, but I want to play it anyway.
That was In your Wildest Dreams by The Moody Blues.
The man in the song is looking back to a time when he was young and idealistic and things seemed so much clearer to him.
A while back, the Dixie Chicks, a country and western group, made a comment about George Bush that landed them in hot water. They cried that they were being censored, but what was really happening was that they were being called to debate their position. They were offended that anyone would question their beliefs AND they were offended that anyone would ask them to back up their statements with facts or something other than feelings. After all, all artists are into expressing their feelings.
The big problem with saying that they and other Liberals have been censored is that there are so MANY outlets for Liberal ideas and ideals. If you are going to say that you have been silenced by your fear of speaking out, then you have to say that you fear debate. It means to me that the Left is so insecure in their beliefs that they must have no dissent to have their beliefs heard. Any disagreement is a form of censorship. I find it kind of fascinating that listening to people come on radio shows and say that they fear expressing their Leftist ideals, because they will be criticized. Why is that wrong? Why is it wrong to ask someone to back up their beliefs with something like facts?
Debate has broken out. Topics that were settled are being revisited. You see the thing is that debate is the only way to reach consensus. At this moment the Left excluding Blacks makes up about 27% of the people in this country and falling. Abortion has that effect on the Left. What is interesting is that the Left is convinced that their ideas and ideals are still fresh and still filled with vigor. So much so, that they cannot bring themselves to debate the settled topics of the day. In short, the Left has become reactionary which I find absolutely hilarious, because the Left has always had the self-image of being radicals and open to new ideas. No more. The new ideas are on the Right, Yet... these new ideas are being met with outright rejection without debate on their merits.
The last few years, the Right has been attempting to reopen debate on settled issues. During most of the 20th century it was accepted that the government could and should be the source for positive social change. It was accepted that we as a society must take care of the less fortunate and the government was the tool for doing that... Except it didn't work. Communism, Socialism and Liberalism failed in their goal of raising the standard of living of the poor. Saying anything else is just silliness.
Now that assumes that the people pushing the Liberal agenda are saying what they truly believe. The Right has always said that the Left wants to implement an agenda where everyone is poor, so that instead of some people being in misery, everyone is in misery. I never have quite gone for that, but the Leftist agenda sure has that effect.
Most people on the Left like to point to Cuba as a shining example of Communism as it should be. Why? I never could figure that out. A good portion of the people in Cuba do not have enough food, clothing nor shelter to get by, but the thinking on the Left is that they are better off than the poor in our country.
Venezuela has a guy named Hugo Chavez who as President has moved the country to the far left. His perception is that Capitalism has failed to lift his country out of poverty, so obviously socialism and Communism will do a better job. The oil money pouring into his country has masked the fact that nothing is getting better.
Bolivia just had an Presidential election where the far left candidate won. Evo Morales has determined that Capitalism has failed to lift his country out of poverty, so he too will be pushing socialism as a means of making things better. Bolivia is a weird case, because they could have money pouring in for their natural gas. The people have determined that selling the natural gas to foreigners is a form of exploitation, so they have decided not to sell. What do they expect to happen when they cut off trade?
In short, I have listed the evidence that I have that Communism, Socialism and Liberalism does not work. Why am I mistaken? Can you debate me on the issues? Why should you? You are more moral than I am because I am not a Liberal. Plus I have not much of a case.
Now, I started this segment talking about censorship as it is seen by the Left. What I was trying to say was that censorship can only occur when there is no chance that your ideas or ideals can be aired. That is not the case today. Shutting people up in this country to such an extent that they cannot speak is almost impossible. What you are seeing are people hurt that someone would dare to question their ideas and ideals. After all, every idea and ideal the Left espouses has been debated for seventy years. Why revisit settled consensus? The problem is that some things in a democracy are never final.
There's this communications specialist out in California who claims that if the Left just reframes its arguments, then the Democrats will be back in power before you know it. I doubt it, because too many people are questioning the wisdom of central control. If you believe in central control, I have to doubt your sanity.
So here we are. On one side are the Liberals saying that their way is so moral, so correct, that no one can call their motives or methods into question without being an incarnation of Joseph McCarthy. On the Right you have a set of people saying that the positions of the Left have stopped making sense. I want to think about that. How can you have a real debate when the two sides do not accept that the other side is living in the same Reality?
posted by aRandomTexan at
2:30 PM
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