Random Thoughts
Random thoughts
on the passing scene:
Many people
take pride in defying the conventions of society. Those conventions of society
are also known as civilization. Defying them wholesale means going back to
barbarism. Barbarians with electronic devices are still barbarians.
After the
government shutdown crisis, the one thing that Congressional Democrats and
Republicans finally agreed on was to kick the can down the road a few more
months, so that we can go through all this again -- and perhaps again after
that.
One of the best
peace speeches I ever read was one delivered back in the 1930s -- by Adolf
Hitler! He knew that peace speeches would keep the Western democracies from
matching his military buildup with their own, or attacking him to prevent his
buildup from continuing. Peace speeches by Iran today serve the same purpose of
buying time -- until they can create a nuclear bomb.
President Obama
really has a way with words, such as calling the problems that millions of
people have had trying to sign up for ObamaCare "glitches." When the
Titanic sank, was that a "glitch"?
Among the
painful signs of our time are TV programs built around paternity tests.
Apparently the way these women live, it is anybody's guess who their child's
father might be.
Don't you love
it when a politicians says, "I take full responsibility"? Translated
into plain English, that says, "Now that I have admitted it, there is
nothing more for me to do (such as resign) and nothing for anyone else to do
(such as fire me)." Saying "I take full responsibility" is like
a get-out-of-jail-free card in the Monopoly game.
No one seems as
certain that they know what the Republicans need to do to win presidential
elections as those Republicans who have lost presidential elections, such as
Mitt Romney, John McCain and Bob Dole. Moreover, people take them seriously,
and seem not to notice that what the losers advocate is the opposite of what
won Ronald Reagan two landslide election victories.
If you believe
in equal rights, then what do "women's rights," "gay
rights," etc., mean? Either they are redundant or they are violations of
the principle of equal rights for all.
One of the
painfully sobering realizations that come from reading history is the utter
incompetence that is possible among leaders of whole nations and empires -- and
the blind faith that such leaders can nevertheless inspire among the people who
are enthralled by their words or their posturing.
The one thing
that the national debt ceiling does not do is put a ceiling on the national
debt. It just provides political melodrama when the existing ceiling is
repeatedly raised to accommodate ever higher spending.
Those who want
to "spread the wealth" almost invariably seek to concentrate the
power. It happens too often, and in too many different countries around the
world, to be a coincidence. Which is more dangerous, inequalities of wealth or
concentrations of power?
President Obama
said to the world that Bashar Assad's days as ruler of Syria are numbered. All
our days are numbered but Assad will probably still be ruling Syria on Obama's
last day in the White House.
Parole is just
another way of lying to the public -- in this case, lying about the time that
convicted criminals will spend behind bars. Suspended sentences are another
form of make-believe punishment to mollify the public.
Writing about
the Habsburg Empire, distinguished British historian Paul Johnson said,
"Every reform created more problems than it solved." That was not
peculiar to the Habsburg Empire. The same could be said of modern welfare
states, and especially our own ObamaCare.
Because many of
us make mistakes that can have bad consequences, some intellectuals believe
that it is the role of government to intervene and make some of our decisions
for us. From what galaxy government is going to hire creatures who do not make
mistakes is a question they leave unanswered.
One of the
reasons it has taken so long for some people to finally see through Barack
Obama is that people do not like to admit, even to themselves, that they have
been played for fools by a slick-talking politician.
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