The Liberal Mind – It afflicts all levels

George Rebane

The guiles of socialism should never be discounted or ascribed to only this class/intellect or that.  As many others since then, the Bolshevik Revolution probably ate many of its own children when it applied overly simple rules for liquidating classes that were the designated enemies of the people.  For example, during the Russian Civil War (1918-1923) marauding communist partisans stopped trains to examine the hands of passengers who were lined up along the tracks.  Those with ‘soft hands’ were summarily executed on the spot.

We received a non-Christmas card from friends (actually friends of one of our daughters) that contained the obligatory annual family news summary.  These friends are about fifty, and both are highly educated and accomplished technology professionals.  They are also what I would call members of the 'soft hands' far Left intelligentsia - well to do, having benefitted immensely, and continuing to benefit from the free market capitalist system.   And yet all their non-professional energies go towards a fundamental transformation of our country’s economy and social order.  Their college age kids have been carefully taught, and are now sources of great pride to the parents.

The following excerpt is from their news letter (names changed).

… Bob’s big claim to fame this year was getting himself arrested (on purpose) in Washington DC by protesting the Tar Sands pipeline construction.  Here he is in front of the White House on August 30th (behind Daryl Hannah).  He returned to Washington in November to join the 12,000 people who circled the White House in protest of the pipeline.  The demonstrations seem to have worked, at least delaying approval for the pipeline.

Elaine has always been interested in social equity, so it was no surprise when she joined the Occupy movement representing the 99%.  She spent a month living in a tent at Occupy Oakland and participating in protests.  The tent community that was set up in front of city hall (shown here) was quite impressive with kitchen, library, first aid, child care, yoga classes, and nightly general assemblies.  It has been a real education in self-governance and non-violent protest for all of us.

The 2011 Time Magazine person of the year is “the protestor” and we’re very proud to have two of them in our family.

Comments

[Douglas Keachie]

If you aren't protesting, then you must have a Happy Meal vision of the future. http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/01/06/after-2011s-grocery-price-surge-is-cooking-at-home-still-a-bar/?a_dgi=aolshare_twitter

Nota Bene in particular the price increases on the previously low end of the grocery scale, hamburger, etc., caused by more and more people trying to eat inexpensively. Only plus is that occasionally, SPD has New York steaks on sale at a good price.

[George Rebane]

DougK 219pm - Good link Doug, thanks. Re protesting - why would protesting the supply/demand curve be something that should be promoted?

[Douglas Keachie]

Not protesting supply demand curve, protesting the system's current financial/political feedback loops that are turning this country into a nation of serf and nobles, and nothing in between. Eventually the rich rich will be avoiding their guilt, fleeing the USA, and really turning it over to the neuveau riches from abroad. The founder of Autodesk, John Walker, did this many years ago. Don't know if he is Swiss yet, but he was on his way. You might enjoy his tax code section, here: http://www.fourmilab.ch/

[George Rebane]

DougK 305pm - I love your sense of humor - "... you might enjoy ...". Perusing the US Tax Code is beyond purgatory.

[billy T]

Expanding the protests to Europe, I now realize I have been most naive and ignorant. I watch Bloomberg TV in the dead of night a couple times a week. They keep talking about the "Debt crisis" in Euroland. I thought they were talking about their high levels of debt. Silly me, the "crisis" is they are having problems piling a mountain of MORE debt. The Euroland countries can't get enough of that sweet blessed debt and that is creating a crisis. Seems some evil banks and bond funds are afraid they won't get paid back. Oh my. Guess after you take out a second and third mortgage on your home, the obvious solution is to take out a 4th, 5th, and 6th loan on the house. That will fix everything and keep them protesters at bay. Suddenly I like Norway. First, they are not part of Euro-land. They bring in more money than they spend, in this progressive day and age! On purpose and by design!! They are saving today for the social security of their future elderly and are tight on spending, very tight. Must tweak the heads of every semiconscious progressive out there. They would eat their children to get hold of some of that mula and spent it in a heartbeat. There should be a law forbidding taking in more than you spend. They raised taxes in Ireland and progressive hero Bono and U-2 moved to the Netherlands. The Rolling Stones put their corporate headquarters outside of the Crown's reach. Protest now! Protest Norway! Protest Bono!

[George Rebane]

billyT 825pm - A sage assessment indeed. But even Norway lives on borrowed time, or should we say borrowed oil. Their young and enterprising are finding warmer shores, and their demographics are more than a bit off kilter. Has anyone heard of their Plan B when the oil runs out?

[Douglas Keachie]

His tax code has been hyper-linked up by programming, which he admits is not always perfect. Printouts make good fire starters. How come Norway's going to run out of oil and we aren't?

[George Rebane]

DougK 1152pm - No one has said America won't run out of oil; it will, only much later. Compare the potential 'oil areas' available to both countries, and how both treat oil as an economic commodity. Norway not only consumes its oil, but uses it as a state revenue source to fund its socialist programs (so does Denmark). Fun while it lasts.

[Account Deleted]

When the TP protests were going, was Dougie cheering them on? We have been protesting, Doug. Once again, the conservatives are way ahead of the libs. In fact, the OWS deal was all planned out in advance as a response to the TP movement. But we were called dishonest names because the libs had no honest reply. The conservatives in this country have a very realistic idea of what is happening in this country and are sick of the criminal activity that enriches the wealthy at the expense of the rest. It involves the govt at every turn since private companies can't take a dime from a private citizen without the actions of the govt. The OWS crowd wants to increase the flow of money from the middle class to the wealthy - are you with them?

[billy T]

The 2011 Time Magazine person of the year is “the protestor” and we’re very proud to have two of them in our family......Yeah, right. The Time Man of the Year should have been a protester alright, but they chose the wrong man. They should have picked that man in Tunisia who set himself on fire to protest the corrupt and restrictive conditions put on him by the government. His solitary act burst forth as the Arab Spring which brought down the governments from Libya to Egypt and the on going struggle in Syria. This man who name escapes me and millions others deserves to be Man of the Year. By the time he was ten years old, he had to support his entire family. He peddled stuff on corners and supported his brothers, sisters, and parents. When the government seized his vending booth with all its possessions, they completely destroyed this young man. His only means of livelihood and everything he owned was snatched from him by a over bearing government. His life and hopes and dreams and the survival chances of his family vanished in a second. He set himself on fire, a spark that burned across North Africa and the Middle East. Comparing a Starbucks sipping, I-Pod carrying Wall Street protester who is demanding that somebody pay off her student loans and give her a high paying job to our hard working self sufficient young man in Tunisia is the most grotesque distortion of reality imaginable. One wanted nothing from nobody, just to be left alone and free to improve himself. The Time Magazine cover is dedicated to those who demand something for nothing, and are not happy that their beggars cup is only 3/4 full.

[Douglas Keachie]

"The OWS crowd wants to increase the flow of money from the middle class to the wealthy - are you with them?"

Yes I am with them and I completely and totally disagree with the state you made leading up to the question.

That's a fine example of attempting to put words in other peoples mouths, as in:

"And when did you stop beating your wife?"

[Account Deleted]

Well Doug, I asked a question. I wasn't putting anything in your mouth. You can disagree all you want, it's your right. The OWS bunch do want to increase money to the govt and the then hand it to folks that make more than you or I. The fact remains that the TP WAS protesting dishonest govt and corp coziness - did you support them or not?

[billy T]

Protest, protest. According to Congressman Mike Kelly (R-PA), the average Chevy Volt buyer makes $175,000.00/year, excluding fleet sales to the government. Sounds like they are selling to the nearly 1%ers who are not paying their fair share. A rich man's toy for sure. Considering that these evil rich people who drive around with nose bleeds looking down on us gross polluters get an $7,500 Obama tax break, I am ready to protest myself. The greedy SOBs are getting a tax break for their electric go carts. Well, next time one of them is stuck in a traffic jam on a cold morning, I hope they use up all their juice keeping the defrost/heater going. Meanwhile, Chrysler is adding 1,100 new jobs to keep up the demand for the air polluting Durangos. Stupid unwashed masses love their big vehicles

[Douglas Keachie]

The OWS wants to take money those that make more than you and I, and invest it in job producing infrastructure projects that employ the likes of you and I. If you're making over $250,000, you are way ahead of the middle class.

Where does Mike Kelly get his information? How many have been sold so far? All it takes is a couple of millionaires buying the cars to totally SKEW the statistic way up the curve. Without knowing the median buyer's salary and the modes, you cannot prove anything about "who" is buying the cars, that has meaning in the real world.

"How to Lie with Statistics" was written the year I was born in 1945. I was one of the books in use when I took Stat 1A in 1965, and I went into the ASUC Bookstore just the other day. It is STILL in use today, and other than dictionaries, I doubt there's another book with that track record. Buy a copy and grow.

[Douglas Keachie]

I might also add that the buyer is not necessarily the end user. I can see some dude making 10 million per year, buying a number of them, to shower on his nieces and nephews and sons and daughters and grandchildren, to show how "with it" he is. I also note that he carefully mentions gov fleet buys as excluded. What about private companies like say Riebes, that might buy a bunch for the BART service delivery fleet, or medical courier fleets, privately owned? And you are supporting no liars in DC/ How well does your source stack up on these points?

[Douglas Keachie]

Lying by omission is a fine art in Washington DC, and is practiced by members from both sides of the aisle.

[Douglas Keachie]

Here's a nother fun place to look at the quality of life in the right to work states:

http://www.measureofamerica.org/maps/?gclid=CIaWktOjwa0CFWgaQgodYCQv_w

[billy T]

LOL. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150422574527734&set=a.98301942733.92939.541152733&type=1&theater

[George Rebane]

billyT 515pm - on the mark again with another beautiful example of the Peter/Paul Principle.

[Douglas Keachie]

BLT at 5:15, of course the prof could control what was on the test, to achieve his desired outcome.

[George Rebane]

DougK 618pm - you may be missing the point. The prof did not control how many studied and how many skated that made up the populations over which the average was computed.

[Douglas Keachie]

Since all failed and all would then have to repeat the course, how would the second go round turn out? I rather suspect that the initial glee of little work by many would have evaporated, and a more studied approach would occur. Every soldier in a patrol has the option of "letting George do it," but most realize that they all have to put in as much as they can, for survivals sake.

[Douglas Keachie]

The prof could have made each successive test a level or two harder than the first, and/or adjusted the scoring procedures,to affect the outcome. At Lowell, I had a very firm policy of 50% "A's" and nearly 50% "B's" and the possibility of an "F." The kids worked quite hard for me, nobody wanted a "B."

[George Rebane]

DougK 713pm - unfortunately as history and Garrett Hardin's 'Tragedy of the Commons' has repeatedly shown, the intellectual understanding of what it takes to 'survive' is not sufficient to avert disaster. A good current example is the developing tragedy of the socialist states of Europe. All were well aware of Margaret Thatcher's dictum.

[billy T]

Dr. Rebane, perhaps you can reply to your friends lovely non Christmas Card with the usual niceties and polite responses of how proud your dear friends must be of their children. Perhaps you could wish them Happy New Year with a little news story from last night. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-protest-oaklandtre8070r6-20120108,0,4504702.story