Category Archives: Politics

Elizabeth Warren’s pitch for class warfare

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I saw an interesting video recently (h/t jerrypournelle.com), with a short pitch by Elizabeth Warren in support of class warfare and the overall Left / Progressive agenda:

First, here are her words:

You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did.

Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.

Now let’s take a closer look at what she said.
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An alternative to Left vs. Right in politics

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The perennial Left vs. Right model in politics is terribly misleading. It presents a false dichotomy, and therefore a false choice. I thought it would be interesting to come up with a diagram that more accurately expresses the spectrum of political choices:

The X axis is the traditional Left vs. Right model. The Y axis shows the degree of sacrifice that’s required from a particular political party or system. The political parties are shown in green, political systems are black, and the targets of sacrifice are red.

What I’m trying to show here is that the fundamental difference between the Left and the Right today is not, say, the support of individual rights vs. collectivism. Rather, they both advocate sacrifice, just to different targets. The Democrats want us to sacrifice ourselves to our neighbors, so they support egalitarianism, welfare programs of all kinds, and uses of taxation for both purposes. They are also strong supporters of various racist agendas, such as “equal opportunity” (a misnomer if there ever was one) and multiculturalism. The Republicans want us to sacrifice to corporations and the country (endless wars), and they have a strong religious agenda too.

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Propaganda techniques used by Fox News

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Reposted from: http://www.truth-out.org/print/3753

Fourteen Propaganda Techniques Fox “News” Uses to Brainwash Americans

There is nothing more sacred to the maintenance of democracy than a free press. Access to comprehensive, accurate and quality information is essential to the manifestation of Socratic citizenship – the society characterized by a civically engaged, well-informed and socially invested populace. Thus, to the degree that access to quality information is willfully or unintentionally obstructed, democracy itself is degraded.

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Tea Party mission statement

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I would like to suggest adoption of a Mission Statement for the Tea Party. The idea is that actions taken on behalf of Tea Party candidates, such as developing a platform, composing advertising or position statements, etc, should be measured against the Mission Statement prior to public distribution. It could also be an easy way to introduce new people to the campaign and the larger movement.

The following draft was given to me by someone from the Florida Tea Party. They have adopted it as their own. I really like it, and would like to hear what others think.

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Socratic questions: social, economic, political or ethical

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I thought it might be interesting to put together a list of Socratic questions that highlight a contradiction in popular social, economic, political or ethical thinking, in such a way that it helps people think about complex issues.

Here are a few that I came up with. If you can think of any to add to the list, I would love to see them.

  1. Why do labor unions insist that their employers “share the wealth,” while they refuse to share in any of the losses?
  2. If education should be free, why do teachers and their unions demand (and receive) such high salaries?
  3. Why are the politicians who preach economic egalitarianism so strongly against a system with true political equality?
  4. Why are parents chastised for not spending enough time with their children, while also being forced to send their kids away to public schools all day?
  5. Since initiating force against another person is immoral, how can you justify legislating morality, since it requires force?
  6. If people making over $200,000/yr are considered rich and evil capitalists, why are the public and union employees who make that much considered “deserving”?
  7. Why does government expect us to obey the laws they pass, when they exempt themselves from many of them, and when they refuse to follow the Constitution?
  8. How can government protect my freedom by violating my rights?
  9. If more legislation is the answer, how much will be enough?
  10. If money (or the love of money) is evil, why do you use it?
  11. How many poor people have you ever worked for?
  12. Why do so many Black Americans embrace Christianity, a religion which was imposed by force on their slave ancestors?
  13. Why does getting elected to public office entitle elected officials to spend public tax money for their own personal holidays?
  14. If equal pay for equal work is a good thing, why isn’t it OK for someone not to be paid for doing nothing?

Out of control state occupational licensing

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According to a Feb 7 article in the Wall Street Journal, more than 1,100 occupations in the US now require state licensing; everything from florists to barbers to people giving massages. In 2008, an astounding 23% of US workers required state licensing and approval to perform their jobs, up from 5% in 1950.

The article points out that “licensing mostly serves as a form of protectionism, allowing veterans of the trade to box out competitors who might undercut them on price or offer new services.” It also quotes a labor professor from the Univ. of Minnesota, “Occupations prefer to be licensed because they can restrict competition and obtain higher wages,” and “If you go to any statehouse, you’ll see a line of occupations out the door wanting to be licensed.”

In other words, using the force of government to limit competition and keep prices artificially high – another flavor of the same problem that has corrupted labor unions and many industries.

I’d like to suggest two straightforward and principled ways to address the high unemployment rate: abolish all occupational licensing requirements, and eliminate the minimum wage. Not only would more people be employed, but prices for those of us who use such services would decline, and the overall quality would likely improve as service providers became more competitive.

Social Security EFICA reporting

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We won’t reach the goal of sunsetting Social Security without substantial public support. Although the moral arguments are strongest, they can also take a while to be broadly accepted. In the short term, one step in generating additional support could be to increase awareness of the fact that we are actually taxed at twice the rate shown on our paystubs; something that I don’t think is widely understood.

In addition to the FICA deduction, your employer pays the same amount again on your behalf, as EFICA. However, the way the law is now, employers are forbidden from showing EFICA on your paystub. Such an implementation of the tax was clearly chosen as a way of hiding its magnitude from those who pay it.

I’d love to see that law expunged, and to have employers report not just EFICA on your paystub, but all other fees that they pay for you. Even better would be to abolish the EFICA deception all together; but that’s a much bigger step than a simple change in reporting. The message would be clear, and the motivation for change selfish: if your employer didn’t have to pay EFICA, your take-home pay could be higher.

Morally, forbidding companies from showing EFICA requires them to commit a form of fraud; companies are being forced to deceive their employees about the true nature of their wages and the related deductions.

Even if such a law change wasn’t passed, the debate alone has the potential of generating substantial public awareness by exposing the deception.

Hypothetical speech in Congress

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For those who hope for an honest Congress, the result might not be as you expect. Here’s a hypothetical speech showing what we might hear today:

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Fellow members, I rise to ask your support for a new bill. After 30 years in Congress, my approach today will be completely new.

Like the rest of you, I’m a habitual liar; I’ve always considered it to be part of the game of politics. The press and the public seem to know I’m lying, but they never say anything or call me on it. Frankly, even though I don’t see anything wrong with lying, I’m tired of it. It takes way too much work, and the public’s memory is so short that I can screw up in the most horrible ways outside of election season, and still get re-elected if I play my cards right. So, I have decided to use a different approach. I am going to stop lying while I’m on the floor of the House, except during the 90 days before an election, when the voters in my district will believe anything that I say, as long as I act sincere enough.

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Americans, I have some bad news for you

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Reposted from Life After the Oil Crash:

Americans, I have some bad news for you:

You have the worst quality of life in the developed world — by a wide margin.

If you had any idea of how people really lived in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many parts of Asia, you’d be rioting in the streets calling for a better life. In fact, the average Australian or Singaporean taxi driver has a much better standard of living than the typical American white-collar worker.

I know this because I am an American, and I escaped from the prison you call home.

I have lived all around the world, in wealthy countries and poor ones, and there is only one country I would never consider living in again: The United States of America. The mere thought of it fills me with dread.

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Anti-nuclear protests in Germany

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Reposted from Axis of Logic:

German people in unprecedented rebellion against government: 1000 injured in protests in nuclear protests: police at breaking point

Like the Roman legions vanquished in the Teutoburger Wald in Lower Saxony in 9 AD, the 17,000 police officers that marched into the woods around the nuclear storage facility in Gorleben in northern Germany on Sunday morning looked invincible. Police personnel from France, Croatia and Poland had joined in the biggest security operation ever mounted against protestors against the a train carrying nuclear waste to an depot in an isolated part of Lower Saxony’s countryside. Helicopters, water canons and police vehicles, including an armoured surveillance truck, accompanied an endless column of anti-riot police mounted on horses and also marching down the railway tracks into the dense woods. Tens of thousands of anti riot police clattered along the tracks, their helmets and visors gleaming in the morning sun, and wearing body armour, leg guards and carrying batons.

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