The Liberal Mind – Hilary Hodge can’t connect the dots (updated 21apr16)

George Rebane

Liberals, in the footsteps of Bernie in this election year, have worked themselves into a white heat denigrating business, employers, profit, entrepreneurship, …, in short all the trappings of free market capitalism.  Our local outlets for such sentiments include the neighborhood progressives whose commentaries decorate The Union’s op-ed pages.  Among them is the recently added Ms Hilary Hodge who today writes ‘Working harder for less reward’.

Her lament opens with, “The idea of work has changed significantly in recent years. I think this is especially true for people living in California, where opportunities are waning and where wealth disparity can be especially stark.”  When I read that I automatically gave a little internal cheer – ‘Hold and develop that thought Hilary!’  But instead, she went on to cite some stats about how CA has the nation’s second highest underemployment rate (15.4% not fully employed) and that “more than 38% of households in Nevada County live below the self-sufficiency standard.”  With these we include the 40% of CA residents who are on some form of government assistance, and that, no matter its hokey calculation, the state enjoys an unemployment rate that’s 12% above the country’s average.

Moreover, according to longstanding surveys done by various universities and policy institutes our golden state occupies a very tarnished bottom-of-barrel place in the nation’s rankings of personal and economic freedoms.  For example, the Mercatus Center of George Mason University has us 49th overall with component rankings – fiscal 44th, personal 47th, regulatory 50th (here).  It is especially the latter that gives rise to the exodus of productive people and companies from the clutches of Sacramento’s entrenched socialism.  (And we have yet to feel the impact of the $15/hr minimum wage.) 

Ms Hodge then continues about how she and other mis-educated people have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet in an economy that has little use for the skillsets that she, her “wife”, and reported acquaintances have to offer in a niggardly job market that gives no sign of casting off the state’s stranglehold.  And there’s the point.

As a poster-child progressive, Hilary and her ilk cannot see the political forces they have unleashed and continue to bolster year after year.  As a class, she and hers are demonstrably blind to matters fiscal and economic, and labor under a jaundiced view of human nature that constantly vexes their elite central planners.  They cannot understand why a heavily regulated social order based on feel-good altruism cannot function – along with their eloquent spokesman Rodney King, they consternate, ‘Why can’t we all just get along?’

Nowhere in her column does she recognize that information-resistant popular sentiment, our longstanding dominant ideology, and inevitable government corruption have given rise to an economy that is destined for greater depths.  Instead she directs her lament towards the unfathomable heavens from whence the gods have decreed arbitrary punishments which we mortals must suffer, and can hope to alleviate only by continuing stubbornly on the same road that brought us here.

[Addendum – 15apr16]  It was recently brought to my attention by some liberal acquaintances claiming that the above post is a personal attack on Ms Hodge.  A bit of querying revealed that these folks were not familiar with political op-ed writing, or were simply pursuing another agenda.  For my purposes here it does not matter, since I want to go on record for other readers with similar backgrounds.

An objective of my piece was to introduce Ms Hodge to my readership as a new progressive voice that has recently entered our local public forum as a regular Union columnist.  She joins a retinue of fellow liberal columnist featured regularly in the newspaper.  In the main all of these columnists embrace versions of an ideology and through it purvey positions and interpretations of events, happenings, cultural evaluations, public policies, … that I as a conservetarian consider inimical to the beneficial future of our republic, and to western civilization in general.

An objective of blogs like RR is to counter such ideologies and diminish the credibility of their adherents in the public eye.  Of course, the favor is returned in spades by the Left motivated by a dedication that is no less than of those of us on the Right.  In the west such has been the contention in the arena of ideas since at least the French Enlightenment.  So the purpose of my piece was to criticize Ms Hodge’s ideological shortcomings and illustrate for the middle-road readers her inability to see the underlying causes for the societal problems she describes.  Hopefully, if I do this well enough, then the next time such readers will also be more critical readers of her future offerings.

So my assault on her political persona here is twofold – first to devalue her ideas, and second to convince the reader that she is more than a bit of a naif when she ventures into the arena of socio-political ideas.  None of this should be taken by mature readers as an attack on her as a human being and a member of our community.  I know Hilary Hodge and can attest that she is a good woman.

Now about her homosexuality and my quoting her use of the word “wife” to unambiguously communicate that sexual orientation as she refers to her spouse (a more neutral term).  She has purposely expressed that in previous writings.  IMHO, emphasizing her sexual orientation again was gratuitous and not needed to make her points.  Doing so reminds at least half of Americans that there is another agenda at work here having to do with the DOMA issue and the overall effort to revise our culture to embrace homosexual relations as not only normative pairing of humans in society, but also as pairings that are not to be differentiated from heterosexual pairings.

Now to a leftwing reader seeking to make more of this, the argument will be that she made no mention of homosexuality when she used “wife”.  This is a ludicrous assertion, on the face of it.  When a woman purposely talks about her “wife” instead of, say, her spouse, she is emphasizing her homosexuality.  And there is nothing more wrong with her doing that than is wrong with my pointing out how it was done.  To claim that Ms Hodge's statement is equivalent to a heterosexual saying the same thing about his wife is simply a confirmation of pushing the normative notion of undifferentiated pairings.  Without prejudice I choose not to hold such pairings to be equivalent, and I believe that viewpoint is shared by most of the country (world?).  See also my 27mar13 dissertation on 'garriage'. 

The Left’s broader agenda in this contest is to paint all conservatives as determined racists and homophobes, or at least predisposed in those directions.  In lieu of other evidence, that is a major element in their attempt to counter and denigrate commentary from the Right.  These pages provide ten years’ testimony to that observation.

Finally, how and when I use quotes and semi-quotes has been made clear on RR over the years.  Below are some examples of what I have explained to readers.  In sum, I hope this has shed light on the matter of Ms Hodge’s column – I stand by my original post.  Now we may hear from those ever-talented progressives who always claim to know what the other person really thinks.

13 June 2010 - I was taught that full or double quotes are used only when delimiting words that were actually spoken or written by a certain source.  So quoted material can always be attributed.  Semi-quotes are used to emphasize words to indicate an extended contextual meaning, or to approximate the general thrust, direction, or intent of something which originally was said or written but for which the actual quote is not available.  I strive to follow this standard on RR.

28 May 2014 - I come from a more exact school of written rhetoric about which I have expounded before. Semi-quotes are to be used for words and (para)phrases to which special attention needs to be drawn, to include indication that their meaning is to be taken in jest or cynicism. In expository writing full quotes are in the realm of 'holy of holies', they are NEVER to be used except to indicate the words that someone identifiable has actually said and/or written.

2 July 2015 - As I've clarified before, I try to use quotes and semi-quotes very carefully. Quotes only enclose what someone has said or written, and semi-quotes enclose emphasized or highlighted terms/phrases and non-verbatim quotes that attempt to paraphrase or duplicate an uncited assertion. In short, quotes are sacrosanct.

28 November 2015 - Quotes are used to denote something specific that was said or written; semi-quotes to highlight or emphasize a word, or include an indirect quote which approximates what someone said or wrote. Quotes are to be treated as the holy of holies in referencing or in citations - not to be trifled with.

[21apr16 update] Apropos to the points made above, Ms Hodge’s latest contribution in the (18apr16) Union can be added to Exhibit A.  The lady definitely appears to have an agenda.  Here is a discussion of the piece on another local blog (Sierra Dragon’s Breath).

Comments

[Todd Juvinall]

I also did a diddy on her today. What is interesting though is her laments for her personal life and income as well as her ilk. I thought these people liked living in caves and walking instead of driving. No TV or microwave oven. So I guess I was wrong. She wants those things just like me. Except she wants it as a free-be. Along with the latest from the commies in Sac regarding forcing a business to pay for my time off taking care of a friend. This should be a heaven on earth for her and her pals!

[Brad C.]

I feel Ms. Hodge's pain, but, if she is looking for work in a forest, she is going to find few jobs available. Traditionally, people moved off the farm and into the cities to look for work. If you are going to move back to "the farm" you need to lower your expectations, telecommute (or just plain commute), have education or experience in a field that is in demand up here, or identify a demand and start a business if you want to make a decent living.
It is nice up here but there are not many high paying jobs of the kind you might find in the Bay Area. We are not quite Third World up here, maybe more like 2.5 World.

[Bill Tozer]

Life is hard, then you die.

[Bonnie McGuire]

You're so right Brad. Lived here a long time, and what you say has always been the case. Unfortunately, common sense is an endangered element for those who live and think in the box. I've known dear people born and raised in the city who had no idea where everything they needed came from. They loved to visit and enjoy the beauty of our rural area and we enjoyed visiting their museums etc. It was a perfect example of the difference between the city and country mice. Evidently, even the government noticed and wanted to do something about the mental disconnect from reality. http://www.mcguiresplace.net/McFarland%20Ranch%20Project%20At%20Galt

[Gregory]

" A friend of mine recently admitted that she had been doing a really good job “masquerading as a middle class person” for the past several years. I feel like I have been doing the same thing and that most of my friends are giving similar performances."
-HH

Me too! A hint to my fellow masqueraders, owning an airplane makes it easy to fake people out.

[Brad C.]

Greg, yes, I own a classic sports car. It is very reliable and I never have to take it to the shop for repairs - because it just sits in the garage all the time!

[Account Deleted]

HH is not the only one to have this complaint. The left continues to spread the idea that one can pick any field of endeavor and move to any location and some how live a comfortable middle class existence. That is, of course, when they aren't slamming the whole idea of actually enjoying a middle class existence.
Poor child only has one car. I thought owning and operating a car was bad for the environment. I guess only when you don't support B Sanders.
Anyhoo - maybe flooding the country with a few million more illegal immigrants will solve the problem.
I have no answer for this poor child. She certainly wouldn't listen to me about any solution I would offer, so all I can do is hope that some how this country is once again populated by folks that understand the laws of nature. But I'm not holding my breath.

[rl crabb]

It's always been the case that if you want to live in Nevada County you need to bring a job with you.

[Russ]

One comment at the Union on HH's column:

Greg Zaller · California State University, Chico
Excellent article. Hillary makes a good case to vote for politicians who recognize and want to change the problem of the polarization of wealth.

Another liberal looking for a government solution.

[Michael R. Kesti]

rl crabb 12Apr16 06:30 PM

Really, Bob? The Grass Valley Group and other television technology companies have attracted many, myself included, to our community without bringing a job with them.

Anybody who sees this as an opportunity to again comment on my current employment situation can, uh... well, you know what you can do.

[Todd Juvinall]

LOL!

[Todd Juvinall]

Crabb is right though. Sure maybe a people created jobs here like I did but most came for the beauty and forgot about the fact there were no jobs here in Poetic Reading. They are serving burgers now.

[Brad C.]

Polarization of wealth, haves and have nots, etc. ? Hasn't there always been a "problem" of polarization of wealth in captialilst, monarchys, even in socialist or communist societies? The rich commies did not get that way by working for it though - they got it through sweetheart backroom deals made with other connected insiders in the good ol' commie boys club. Greed happens.

[jon smith]

In Hilary's mind the best way to soften the beach before a job interview is to climb up on a podium and let every employer in the community know you are a whiner. She has ensured she won't get a job, so she can continue her job, which is to write about her inability find a job. Then she'll blame it on the homophobes.

[Gregory]

"Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite."
-John Kenneth Galbraith

At least with capitalist exploiters, competence was demonstrated in the accrual of capital, real goods and services being created and managed. Socialists often get into power by raising the rabble and, all too often, killing many who didn't go along with it.

[Todd Juvinall]

Brad and Jon Smith are right on the mark. If you want to eat, you better find a way to figure it out. The caveman went out to hunt while the lazy ass caveman croaked of starvation by sitting in the cave whining about the furniture. And the reason she is always mentioning her sexual preference is to prepare for that inevitable lawsuit against the cake makers. Lawsuits are how we have decided to re-distribute the fantasy of walth inequality in America. Been going on for years. That is why the lawyers support the left.

[Bill Tozer]

Oh, Hilary isn't really whining or demanding stuff. Her story is old hat to us, heard it hundreds of times in countless rural areas. Maybe someone never heard it before and she was just stating the obvious in case there is one person out there that this "moving to the country" song has never been played for them. Wrong place to move if you are a major museum curator or need a weekly world class symphony/opera fix.
The new wrinkle we all have felt since around the time Obama was first elected. Layoffs, axing middle management, higher insurance premiums, and a nationwide feeling the country is heading in the wrong direction. Couple that with its getting harder to pop into a village and find good paying steady employment with great bennies and a generous retirement package until death do you part. And it's getting expensive. If gas was up around 4-5 bucks a gallon, then the struggling masses would hit bottom and then keep on falling as the floor gives way.

Here is a link that at first glance seems totally unrelated to the topic at hand. However, I saw a parallel. "I am from Berekley and I can have anything I desire, you hillbilly peasants." Well, that is true if you were flying in 1st Class, whether you are from Berekley, CA or not. When you move to economy class, you make sacrifices and you learn to skimp on peanuts. And learn some character, ingennuity and humility (hopefully). Hilary wasn't demanding so I will cut her some slack. Most urbanites in the crowded rat cages don't know the difference between a demand and a request.
http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2016/04/12/united-passenger-gets-very-angry-when-denied-extra-peanuts-on-flight.html?intcmp=hpffo&intcmp=obnetwork

[Brad C.]

Just saw a license plate holder on a car downtown that epitomizes the current mindset of many who will be in trouble when they reach retirement age,

"Life is too short for a full time job"

[Russ]

Working Overtime to Avoid the Truth Donald J. Boudreaux and Liya Palagashvili | The Wall Street Journal

Many salaried workers in the US may soon have to punch a time clock, thanks to the Labor Department's proposed regulation to qualify more workers for overtime pay. While more overtime pay sounds great, instead of paying more workers overtime, the rule would likely cause many companies to cut back workers' hours or lower their salaries.>

More liberal meddling!

[Walt]

GVG? Nothing of it's former glory exists anymore. It's been sliced and diced, and the pieces sold many times over.

[Jon]

Actually Walt, you don't know what you're talking about re: GVG. Yet again. A broken record.

[rl crabb]

GVG offshoot AJA is going strong. There are numerous other local businesses spawned by Doc Hare's brainchild.

[Jon]

Exactly RL. My best friend has been there for years.

[Todd Juvinall]

GVG spawned others companies but Walt is right. It was at 1500 employees at its height. Now I think the French own it and it has a skeleton crew. "jon" is wrong as usual.

[Bill Tozer]

D
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10209191145880838&set=a.1827534973240.104975.1386296009&type=3&theater

[Jon]

Todd, best to stick to issues in your little isolated world. You and Walt are really out of your league in your ignorance of the AJA, Belden/GV and Miranda operations and people in the area. RL Crabb is correct.

[Todd Juvinall]

"jon" you are out of your league here with information. I am totally aware of what is going on as you are not even close to correct. Try harder, you are embarrassing yourself. Oh and you should stick to your gardening.

[Jon]

OK, you know the people and the details about AJA and Belden/Miranda/GV, so tell us about their "shell" operation.. Would like to hear your spin on it :)

[Bill Tozer]

Connect the dots........ Conventional wisdom says never move to a place with vacationers' eyes. Sure, there are green sprouts in the local economy, the same green sprouts Obama has been taking about since before the White Hose cancelled Biden's Spring Recovery Tour after he put Biden in charge of the Stimulus "throw money at it" celebration. Nothing to see here.
Where are the jobs??? I am overqualified and underemployed. At least I have a great resume.

https://www.facebook.com/1671102699798325/photos/a.1671106203131308.1073741828.1671102699798325/1714019185506676/?type=3&theater

[Michael R. Kesti]

1959 - Dr. Donald Hare founds Grass Valley Group (GVG)
1974 - Tektronix acquires GVG which continued to operate as GVG
1989 - Bernie Dayton, a former GVG VP of Engineering, founds NVision
1999 - Terry Gooding, a private investor, acquires GVG
2002 - Thomson Multimedia of France acquires GVG to became Grass Valley (GV)
2010 - Fransisco Partners, a private equity firm, acquires GV
2012 - Miranda of Montreal acquires NVision and the combined companies continue as Miranda
2014 - Belden acquires both GV and Miranda and combines them as Grass Valley, a Belden Brand

[Gregory]

I guess solitary confinement at the FUE's blog got old... Jon's back here looking for fights.

While Todd is somewhat off the mark, it remains Nevada County's video empire is greatly reduced from the peak circa 1992... I recall at the time GVG's headcount being closer to 2000 at that time, and AJA, a fine company whose products have had a real impact, is about a tenth that, worldwide. The local Miranda/NVision/GV operation fits into one small building now. Telestream is also making an impact, but nothing like the old Group.

[Jon]

Thanks Michael. Obviously the point is that the existing operations are now stable and employee levels still fairly significant relative to anything else remotely considered high tech. Its far from a skeleton. Who knows what the future holds, but if the ERC can make progress on VR and such , this area can approach its former glory days.

[Jon]

"Now I think the French own it" Todd

If you mean French Canadians, you are correct. Otherwise you're more than a decade out of date. Nothing new there.

[Michael R. Kesti]

Gregory 14Apr16 at 01:15 PM

Note that the "one small building," previously NVision's facility, houses only a design facility. Manufacturing is done in Montreal which was previously Miranda's facility.

[Gregory]

All together, video companies in Western Nevada County are maybe 25% the size video was in GVG's heyday. That's skeletal.

The ERC effort smells like Cargo Cultism to me and it won't make up for our lousy schools, though if someone wants to move to the area they can attend high performing schools for free if they know where to get the information. Move within the boundaries of Alta Sierra Elementary and Magnolia Middle Schools and your child's K-8 should be solid (depending how much of the Common Core Cool Aid they've been forced to consumed) and then Ghiddoti for high school and they'll be ready to attend the college of their choice.

Anyone have a Bernie Bench for sale?

[Jon]

We're going to disagree on the term "skeletal" and that's fine. Several hundred employees in a single industry in Nevada County sounds more than skeletal. If you can find another decent paying industry with 500+ people employed, good for you.

Greg, how about that recent State award for Grass Valley Charter? I thought you were telling people it was a disaster?

[Gregory]

Kesti, it ain't in Nevada County and that's what we're talking aboot (O'Canada lingo). I remember in the '90's when much of the GVG production moved to Oregon. Most of our hires at US Robotics in our expansion circa '94 were GVG refugees desperate to get out.

[Gregory]

"Jon", when Hennessey School had half their 3rd grade testing in the bottom quartile in a nationally normed test, they had a fresh "Calfornia Distinguished School" award for fealty to the state directives. The latest star pinned to their chest is similar.

On the last STAR exam reports, the Grass Valley Charter was near the bottom of their Similar Schools list. Their test results weren't bad for an average school in California but 70% of the kids had parents who had either a Bachelors, a Masters or a doctorate. Way above average... the school is cherrypicking their kids, as have the Yuba River Charter which also was in a position of infamy... #100 of their last 100 Similar Schools list. Worst.

The disaster is ongoing. The Common Core math standard for how to teach math are virtually identical to those that resulted in the Hennessey meltdown, as it was written by the same guy who directed the drafting of the standard Hennessey was using in '95. The schools are repeating the past and expecting a different outcome.

[Jon]

Agree with you on Yuba River Charter and (in general) Common Core, what I have seen of it. Some very strange stuff in Common Core that even parents cannot decipher.

[George Rebane]

Gentlemen - Your spirited discussion on NC's economy, its history and related factors like education really belongs under 'Nevada County's economic development ...' to enable future access to your arguments and current relevance. Thank you.

[Gregory]

George, just one followup:

At the Fairgrounds' STEAM dog and pony show open to the public this past Saturday, Merry Biles-Daley of the Grass Valley Charter School, a recent teacher of the year for the Expeditionary Learning national group, presented an award or two to students in the award ceremony. This is the same Merry who in '95 was the master teacher at Hennessey in charge of both promoting and evaluating their new-new math program, who proudly showed me a page of simple arithmetic problems, proclaiming with a sweep of her finger that "If a child can do the first problem on the page it does them NO GOOD [her emphasis] to do the rest of them".

Failure is, once again, celebrated as success.

[George Rebane]

Gregory 300pm - Thank you for another revealing example of the progressives' redefinition of success as more of the country becomes terminally unemployable.

I missed that little extravaganza because from 9am-1pm a select group of NC high school students were taking this year's TechTest in the Science Lecture Hall of NUHS. TT2016 was the tenth test in this merit scholarship series. As with past TTs, being able to do the first, or any single problem on the test guarantees no success on the remainder of the problems; they each require a unique 'out of the box' approach to the solution. The times, they are a'changin'.

[Todd Juvinall]

Watching the two liberal dems running for class President. My GOD, America is toast!

[Chad]

George - can I ask why you used quotes when referring to HH's wife?

[George Rebane]

Chad 159pm - Excellent question, and one that has given rise to some consternation which I will address in the addendum to this post. The short answer is that I am directly quoting from her article to repeat a fact that she adamantly makes in her writings. It is apparently important to her to emphasize her homosexuality and have it be recognized, so I did in her own words.

[Jon]

She made no mention of homosexuality. She mentioned her wife in an article, so why is this something you found time to point out? I might make mention of my wife if I wrote something in the paper too. She's legally married, so am I.

Please describe the difference please. Thanks.

[Todd Juvinall]

"jon" is sure a dense sock [puppet.

[Jon]

Todd, what is your problem with someone having a wife? I assume that's a foreign concept to you.

...If I was you, I found think it best not to comment about wives and marriage...")

[Todd Juvinall]

"jon" are you drinking again? Where did I mention a wife? And I have been married three times and know all about wives.

[Bill Tozer]

I love all my ex wives except the last one. I will say the same thing when I meet my new ex. I love them all except the last one.

[Todd Juvinall]

BillT, that is me too. LOL!

[Bill Tozer]

Jon, you big dumbo. Hilary went out of her way to say she has a female partner known as her wife. What this tidbit of detail has to do with the price of tea in China is anyone's guess. Strike that. HH went out of her way on her economic editorial about how difficult it is to make ends meet in Quaintytown to say she is gay. A lesbian. A homosexual. Has nothing to do with economics as far as I can see, except there are two bread winners in that family unit so life should be easier if nothing else (financially speaking). Easier to pay the rent and crack other monthly bills including the Internet and pay TV with two that going solo. More disposable income.
If I were to stereotype (gasp!), gay men are pretty good in the making money department. Never seen a gay man begging for bread, have you? Maybe homosexual men are more apt at successful living than lesbians. I don't know. I do know that Ms. Hodge went out of her way to tell every Union reader she is a carpet muncher. Who cares? Who really cares except Ms. Hodge and her wife??

https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/828764333924272/?type=3&theater