Obama science czar: Redistributionism as the cure for American exceptionalism
posted at 2:19 pm on September 9, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
With more focus getting applied to Barack Obama’s czars, the first to receive scrutiny should be John Holdren, Obama’s science czar. Michelle has outlined Holdren’s odd views from the past, including statements in books published in the 1970s that suggested forced sterilizations and social pressure for abortions, among other things. The College Politico finds something a little more recent in this interview in 2007, conducted in the virtual-reality environment of Second Life, in which Holdren discusses his views on science and economics:
HOLDREN: There has been a strain of what many people call “US exceptionalism” in the United States, the notion that the United States is so big, so important, so powerful, so technologically advanced that it can and should do what it wants. I think this strain is misguided.
Q: Will Americans need to reduce their living standards? Is that politically viable, or will technology [unintelligible] do it?
H: I think ultimately that the rate of growth of material consumption is going to have to come down, and there’s going to have to be a degree of redistribution of how much we consume, in terms of energy and material resources, in order to leave room for people who are poor to become more prosperous.
Consider that a foreshadowing of Barack Obama’s Joe the Plumber moment.
First, Holdren doesn’t know what “American exceptionalism” means. He can’t even get the term right. American exceptionalism has nothing to do with our size or our technological prowess, except in tertiary terms. Exceptionalism springs from the unique nature of our nation’s birth, the historical leadership in personal freedom that America has shown (with very notable failures, such as slavery and post-Civil War Jim Crow), and especially the role America inherited in the 20th century as the guarantor of Western security and international shipping.
This is no philosophical quibble, either. Part of the reason America consumes more relative to other nations on a per-capita basis is because we produce more for the consumption of others, and out of necessity for our role as global cop. That is a large part of the reason that our defense spending outstrips those of other Western nations, as they do not contribute nearly as much to that role. Seeing as how Holdren can’t figure out what he opposes, it comes as no surprise that he doesn’t see the connection between that role and consumption of resources, either.
One can oppose America’s role on the world stage from either the Right or the Left, and challenge the notion of American exceptionalism itself — but it helps to start off by knowing what it is. Holdren should get bounced for his ignorance as well as opposed for his radical, redistributionist views. This interview strongly suggests that Obama’s science czar got picked not for his dedication to science but for his redistributionist views under the cloak of climate change.
Blowback
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Forget that. We have Friedman’s column, today, where he praises Chinese governance, which supports tons of slavery (reserved for political dissidents, for the most part) and forced organ “donation” from prisoners (not too much different from Sunstein’s idea to assume all organs are for the taking, in lieu of written orders against). We also have that moron Naomi Wolf’s praise of the burkha and islamic enslavement of women. Further, we have a bunch of totalitarian morons who wish to enslave our entire population (save the small political class). The US is very, very pro-slavery these days, as liberals always are. Top collectivists, there are no individual rights, to speak of, and slavery is always just around the corner.
progressoverpeace on September 9, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Just to be clear, Mark, I have Bastiat’s position:
“Socialism, like the ancient political ideology from which it emanates, confuses government with society.”
Don’t confuse the two. America is a people with a government, not the other way around . (Ronald Reagan)
JohnJ on September 9, 2009 at 3:37 PM
He argues about what nations abolished slavery in what order.
Akzed on September 9, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Isn’t this the same yutz who said that a baby isn’t human until it’s 2 years old?
kingsjester on September 9, 2009 at 3:39 PM
Like Van Jones was a “controversial environmentalist” Holdren is a “controversial technologist”. We will never hear the MSM spreading this news. It’s up to us to spread these “fear mongering” facts.
The sad truth: Obama’s wackjobs are so wacked-out telling others about them make you sound wacky.
I’d rather think we really landed on the moon./sarc
shick on September 9, 2009 at 3:39 PM
basically as christianity wanes slavery, either socialist, or islamic, moves in….
as in Africa, the countries that practice slavery, like mauritania, sudan, etc…are all muslim….
right4life on September 9, 2009 at 3:40 PM
“If you think Jim Crow laws are bad, you should have a problem with how the Catholic Church treats other Christians TODAY.”
Interesting viewpoint. So in your mind the Catholic Church should work however you think, and not according to their own doctrine? Self absorbed much?
WitchDoctor on September 9, 2009 at 3:40 PM
I never denied that there were Americans involved in the absolutionist movement. I said that America wasn’t. I’m sorry that you can’t understand the difference.
Where you get the notion that just because I object to your elevating the US involvement in this movement beyond what history supports translates into a belief that I don’t think there is anything worthwhile about the US is beyond me.
Some people can’t deal with a world in which the US is not the center of everything.
I remember one person on this site actually told me that everything good that has happened in the world since 1776, was the direct result of America existing, and wouldn’t have happened had the US lost the Revolutionary war.
MarkTheGreat on September 9, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Lourdes ignores extensive speeches (including the Lincoln-Douglas debates) and writings of Lincoln on the subject of slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation was done because Lincoln was Constitutionally able to do it; it was the one act he could do against slavery under a Constitution which endorsed slavery and a Supreme Court which supported it.
Lincoln definitely had in mind that the country must remain united, and must evolve into a society without slavery. His feelings on the matter were well known, and were certainly a motivation for South Carolina’s actions immediately after his election as President. Had South Carolina (and ultimately the rest of the South) not attempted secession, the Taney Court would have successfully extended slavery into the North.
The one States’ Right that the South fought this war over was Slavery. Anyone who refuses to admit that is a Lost Cause.
unclesmrgol on September 9, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Who are these dopes and how did they take over my America?
FireBlogger on September 9, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Do you guys realized how you have completely killed this thread? Thank God Ace posted it too.
Rocks on September 9, 2009 at 3:42 PM
You are the one who is confusing individual with govt.
You are the one who has made the claim that since there were individual Americans who were involved with the Abolitionist movement, that therefore “America” was involved in it.
I was just trying to point out your confusion.
MarkTheGreat on September 9, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Slavery was not the original cause or goal of the civil war. However, after the battle of Antietam, Lincoln realized that bigger issues were at stake. About 5 days after the battle of Antietam (the largest number of American deaths in a single day until 9/11/2001) LIncoln announced to his cabinet that because of the terrible number of deaths and destruction involved, emancipation was now the reason for the fight and the need to win, and he asked them to come up with a solution. (Read Lincoln’s Second inaugural address.) By giving the emancipation solution to his cabinet he ended up with a ‘political’ solution that was not complete. Ironically, that stand may have led to his assassination, which in turn probably led to a less than complete ending to slavery during his shortened presidency.
jerseyman on September 9, 2009 at 3:43 PM
Interesting word choice: strain. It’s as though he’s referring to a disease. But perhaps it’s not surprising once you remember his mentor Harrison Brown referred to human beings as a “pulsating mass of maggots”.
ya2daup on September 9, 2009 at 3:44 PM
Anyone who’s not aware that this philosophy is alive and kicking in the minds of our youth has been asleep at the wheel. I find it hard to believe you’re breaking news will take anyone here by surprise. If it does, professer, thanks for giving the inside scoop.
Gang-of-One on September 9, 2009 at 3:44 PM
Guess what! China has four times our population, and holds most of our Treasury debt, and it is “so big, so important, so powerful” that it can do what it wants, REGARDLESS of what the United States does. Including emit more CO2 than we do with absolute impunity–what are we going to do about it, Mr. Holdren? REALLY!!!
We are more technologically advanced than China FOR NOW, but China is catching up fast.
So if China will do what it d@mn well pleases regardless of what we do, SO SHOULD WE–why should we tax our relatively efficient energy producers and squander our technological advantage, and let China dominate the world? If the United States is not exceptional, another nation will be!!! Should we trust ourselves with world domination, or the Chinese?
Steve Z on September 9, 2009 at 3:45 PM
Yep. I’m not Christian, but I totally agree with Ann Coulter’s view of how to take care of much of the threat coming out of the arab/persian/muslim world. The more they convert to Christianity, the better chance there is of them turning into reasonable people.
To me, it is all about individualism, and Judeo-Christian culture is individualistic – addressing each individual as to what he is personally responsible for and how he must act, as an individual. Collectivism (as is the islamic culture, with the individual being a totally worthless piece) always leads to slavery, and worse – as we see.
progressoverpeace on September 9, 2009 at 3:47 PM
The federal government wasn’t even one of the last. Your statement had absolutely no basis in reality. Half the states had abolished slavery before the Civil War. The British did not end slavery throughout the world. The abolition of slavery has only been a gradual process, and there are still a few that have it. It’s a movement supported by people, many of whom are great Americans, both now and through recent history.
JohnJ on September 9, 2009 at 3:47 PM
Physician, heal thyself.
JohnJ on September 9, 2009 at 3:49 PM
Well, beyond “Holgren sucks and so does his boss” what’s to say?
Although if we got Holgren on camera and demanded he come down on whether America was early or late to global abolition, it would make compelling television.
Chris_Balsz on September 9, 2009 at 3:49 PM
What’s this I hear about a Democrat being a socialist? Is this news?
JohnJ on September 9, 2009 at 3:51 PM
You might want to check your casualty statistics. There were probably more American deaths in a single day during the American invasions of Normandy and Iwo Jima, or the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, than either Antietam or 9/11/2001.
Steve Z on September 9, 2009 at 3:52 PM
For the love of all that’s holy…..enough with the damn slavery bit…..WHO THE F*CK CARES? I can hear Jesse Jackson banging his wang against the wall, screeching about all the money he’s gonna make under the obama era.
Let’s talk about getting these bozos out of office! Leave the past in the past.
HornetSting on September 9, 2009 at 3:55 PM
Wait! This could be a new game during Obama speeches!
.
.
.
Nawwww….the drinking game is more fun…
ladyingray on September 9, 2009 at 3:57 PM
Great point. The secular humanism that made the French revolution so bloody is here with us today.
shick on September 9, 2009 at 3:58 PM
very true…but I’m afraid in the short run islam wins….
right4life on September 9, 2009 at 4:00 PM
John, the problem with your position is that you don’t give credit to the British, who were certainly the center of the abolitionist movement right up until the mid 1830′s Look at Wilberforce and the British Acts abolishing slavery.
An even more interesting tidbit of history resides in the third stanza of our National Anthem:
Why, in the War of 1812, did at least 300 slaves defect to the British and then serve in the British armed forces? Personally, I can’t consider these slaves to be traitors in the way that Frances Scott Key did. They were promised freedom by the British, and enlisted and served based on that promise — a promise of something which motivates the most patriotic among us. Lest the Brits among us become too puffed up, a substantial minority of these blacks were sent at the end of the war into slavery in the West Indies (in abject repudiation of the British promise of freedom), but the majority were resettled as freemen in Canada, and given lands in the Maritime Provinces.
It was only after the British abolished slavery that the abolitionist movement centered in the United States. The British were merciless to the slave trade on the high seas thereafter; if they caught a slaver, the slaves went free and the ship was sunk and its crew tried for slavery. We wouldn’t begin doing the same until over thirty years later.
unclesmrgol on September 9, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Individual rights and liberties to do what? Speak? Speak about what? Bear arms? To what end? Own property? For what purpose? Whatever you feel like? Because that’s your unalienable right?
Why is it unalienable? It is thus because God made you that way. Your rights depend on God and no other. Are you then given free reign by God to do with your rights whatever you feel like? I don’t think so.
Liberty without a motive force of virtue is license and leads inevitably to tyranny.
spmat on September 9, 2009 at 4:01 PM
I might add that one of the first posts on this thread is one by me, defending the notion of US exceptionalism. So the claim that I don’t believe the US can do anything right is a bit unusual.
MarkTheGreat on September 9, 2009 at 4:02 PM
Just want to keep this quote on every page of this thread just to remind everyone else what kind of person Decider is.
Also, to everyone else who doesn’t know: this isn’t the first time Hot Air has covered this tool. In fact, he was covered before Van Jones was covered. But obviously some people only see race and project their racism onto others out of ignorance or malice (I don’t care which).
Esthier on September 9, 2009 at 4:06 PM
I’m not understanding why we can’t smack each other and drink at the same time.
Diane on September 9, 2009 at 4:07 PM
Apparently, something to do with slavery.
riverrat10k on September 9, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Glenn Beck is swimming in a target rich environment.
Fletch54 on September 9, 2009 at 4:12 PM
given this science czar is a big believer in eugenics…which dehumanizes groups as being less than human, in the same manner as slavery….hmmmm…
right4life on September 9, 2009 at 4:13 PM
instead of ‘groups’ I should have said ‘non-white groups of people’
right4life on September 9, 2009 at 4:13 PM
Just unfreakingbelievable how these morons think that the solution to poverty is wealth redistribution and not capitalism, ie allowing these people to create their own wealth. Their motive is not the end of world poverty, its to enslave one group of people to another and to keep the poor forever dependant on their power. I loathe and detest them with every molecule of my body – they are pure evil.
Sharke on September 9, 2009 at 4:14 PM
People have historically always asked: what is the best way to protect my life, what I have, and my future (read family)? The result is either government as in emperors/kings/lords etc. protect me (and take what THEY want) or a system of mutual understanding and respect (ie. the rule of law). In general, the West (ancient Israel, Greece, Rome, England, US) have led the way in freedom and liberty BECAUSE the rule of law was above the unchecked rule by individuals who represented government.
jerseyman on September 9, 2009 at 4:14 PM
Decider is a simple minded twat. This guy, this Holdren POS, calling my country’s strive for excellence a strain, as if it were a disease, is FAR WORSE than that “ebonical” jones dude & his schtick.
These lib freaks always talk about helping the poor prosper, but never quite make it to the question, why are the poor people poor to begin with (here in America)? Why should someone working 80-90 hours a week, full of ingenuity and moxie, be forced to subsidize someone who won’t get out of bed in the morning at all?
Ris4victory on September 9, 2009 at 4:16 PM
Whatever he wants (within Lord Bama’s will) because he neither went through a congressional vetting and is not held accountable by the people.
shick on September 9, 2009 at 4:17 PM
That post just screams for blatantblue…
ladyingray on September 9, 2009 at 4:19 PM
The reason why liberals believe that redistribution is the solution to poverty is because they do not believe that people are responsible for their own decisions. People don’t make their own choices; they’re victims of greed. The reasoning is that people wouldn’t be greedy if they all had the same amount. And the people who’ve amassed a great amount of wealth are responsible for the greed of those with less.
JohnJ on September 9, 2009 at 4:20 PM
What an ignorant (and dangerous) jackass. And to think Sarah Palin was ridiculed for not knowing what Charlie Gibson meant when he asked her about the “Bush Doctrine”.
Buy Danish on September 9, 2009 at 4:20 PM
Yeahhh! and he should have an even bigger problem with all the wicked hot ladies who don’t fall for my pick-up lines! Surely, if ever there was a travesty of justice on a par with slavery…
Wow, I’ve heard some silly sh!t before, but you’re now right at the top of the list. As a non-believer with 12 years of Catholic school education, and who comes from a long, long, line of Irish and French Catholics, just let me say: Fool, STFU and go to your own church.
Gang-of-One on September 9, 2009 at 4:29 PM
So in effect, American Exceptionlism should act as the antidote for Obama, Michelle and Holdren?
It would appear the number one attribute to get a high paying czar job is hating the United States and using your given powers to destroy its proven system of success.
Hening on September 9, 2009 at 4:32 PM
Just FYI,
total casulties among all allied forces on D-Day only: about 10,000+. Good data is hard to come by for various reasons and this figure is being slowly moved upward with research.
One day at Antietam: between 22,000 and 26,000, north and south included.
Gettysburg over three days: between 43,000 and 51,000, n and s included.
Casulties are dead, wounded, and missing.
riverrat10k on September 9, 2009 at 4:33 PM
It has been a standard practice for two thousand years of Christianity to attend classes and receive an education before partaking in the Eucharist. That is based on the protection of the person receiving the sacrament. There needs to be an agreement of what the Eucharist is before it is administered in the Orthodox, Roman Catholic and until recently, the Episcopal Churches.
If someone simply believes it is a memorial service with grape juice and bread, they should not even venture to participate in the Eucharist since they deny what the church is offering in the first place.
How that relates to Jim Crow laws is beyond me.
Hening on September 9, 2009 at 4:40 PM
Back to Sunstein for a moment: he supports the Fairness Doctrine. That’s reason enough to oppose his confirmation.
Lourdes on September 9, 2009 at 4:40 PM
I have not read previous posts, so sorry if this repeats.
Ed mentions “first” about American Exceptionalism…
…but no second follows.
Let me add one:
SECOND, when Holdren refers to, “redistribution of how much we consume” (which is what the title to this thread mentions…), I think we have a perfect recipe for totalitarian gumbo from Mr. Holdren.
Redistribution of “wealth.” Well, well…that’s all nice and abstract (well…except for my own bank account and all…heh).
But: redistribution of how much we consume?!?
Remember how he fills out that phrase: “…in terms of energy and material resources, in order to leave room for people who are poor to become more prosperous.”
Quote F*cking Unquote.
What power does it require of a government to “leave room” for poor people by controlling “energy and material resources”?!
TIP: This requires well beyond making the trains run on time.
Please, someone tell me that you cannot be thrown out of a Czar post only if you are a “truther.”
Lockstein13 on September 9, 2009 at 4:45 PM
Don’t be misled: bad company corrupts good character.
How can we not know who our president is by looking at the people he purposefully surrounds himself with, i.e. the czars? You hear all these liberals complain how Obama suffers from centrism and that he’s destroying the base with his inaction, but could he have chosen a more fringe ring of people to set policy with (Jones, Holdren, Sunstein, et al)? These people do not envision America with any sense of normalcy. For all their degrees and books and organizations, they have a fundamental misunderstanding of liberty and human nature and how they work together within our constitution. But that’s not the craziest part. Aside from a club of unemployed social activists, a goofy blog or a random afternoon on a college quadrangle, you just don’t see such uninformed wacko views like this collect in one place for any extended period of time. It’s too much concentrated absurdity. To get these kinds of nutso views together in adult society you really have to go out of your way to find them and force them together into one creation, otherwise known as the Obama Administration. And it’s so bizarre to watch the media close ranks around these people, like they’re a sacred society building an ark to save humanity, instead of a cobbled together group of obscuro kooks.
Mr. President: who are you, and what do you want with our country?
somewhatconcerned on September 9, 2009 at 4:45 PM
Lourdes:
And, of course, these crooks running the show will attempt to implement the “fairness doctrine” (another false label) administratively to make it difficult to attack in the courts, and they will call it “diversity” or “localism” or some other name to throw people off track.
GaltBlvnAtty on September 9, 2009 at 4:48 PM
Uh, the grapes of wrath?
unclesmrgol on September 9, 2009 at 4:49 PM
I’m looking forward to Holdren stepping down and giving his czar job (including salary/benefits) to the first homeless person he finds.
TN Mom on September 9, 2009 at 4:55 PM
Slavery reparations and redistribution of wealth fueled by the religion of environmentalism.
Well, now that we know Obama’s true agenda, how’s that “Hope and Change” thingy working out for ‘ya…?
Seven Percent Solution on September 9, 2009 at 4:56 PM
This is why America’s founders wanted limited government. There is no end to the number of pseudo smart people who can rationalize themselves into LORDING over everybody else.
Mark30339 on September 9, 2009 at 4:57 PM
I take exception to this in the strongest of terms, mainly because it’s outright wrong but also because it’s just so damn offensive to those of us who don’t believe in God but who nonetheless understand the importance of both morality and freedom.
If you would like to make the claim that morality is not possible without religion – and hence that I cannot possibly be a moral person – then bring it on, state your case.
The truth of the matter is that I don’t think you fully understand what freedom is, nor why its concept was and is fully instrumental in America’s exceptionalism. I suspect you have freedom confused with anarchy. Anarchy is not freedom, since you cannot possibly be “free” if you are at the mercy of whichever marauding gang wishes to enslave or beat or rob or kill you. Freedom involves the protection of a rational rule of law and a rational state to enforce it. Liberty is the freedom to go about ones business without the physical coersion of others. Freedom is the protection of ones rights and the responsibility to refrain from abrogating the rights of others.
It is this kind of freedom which defines America. The concept is very much a product of the Enlightenment, a fundamental shift in thinking from the philosophies of the Old World which kept mankind in chains and serfdom for centuries.
That concept of freedom does not depend on religion, but it encompasses the freedom to practice religion (so long as you don’t interfere with anyone elses freedom in the process.)
You blame a lack of religion for savagery which has nothing whatsoever to do with secularism and more to do with the complete and utter disrespect of individual rights and liberty. Freedom does not involve the right to lob off the head of your enemy, except in self defence. Freedom does not give you the right to force religion on anybody. Observe history – atrocities have been carried out by both Christians and atheists. What all perpetrators have had in common has been a complete lack of respect for the freedom and liberty of their fellow man. Christianity is fully compatible with freedom but it is not its cause. Judeo-Christian values are valuable to society but those same values can be derived, in general, by objective reason. Freedom is th glue that holds America together. Take God out of the Constitution and it’s still the greatest political document in human history.
Sharke on September 9, 2009 at 4:58 PM
At this point, the only thing Obama could say tonight that would change my mind would be that he is redirecting all stimulus funds to Nasa.
That he is going to build a giant rocket, and send himself and his entire administration into the sun.
jhffmn on September 9, 2009 at 5:04 PM
I am rereading G.K.Chesterton’s Orthodoxy. You may find the first three chapters (at the least) interesting.
daesleeper on September 9, 2009 at 5:11 PM
Are there any members of Herr Obama’s administration that aren’t either morons or psychopaths or both?
MB4 on September 9, 2009 at 5:12 PM
This guy would not know science if it…well, you get the idea.
percysunshine on September 9, 2009 at 5:20 PM
If Gillian Gibbons, the British schoolteacher, was not incarcerated somewhere in Sudan, the whole Teddy Bear called Mohamed incident would be comical. But it serves to remind us once again that fundamentalist religion and Western values do not sit together. And it rubs in that we should spend more time promoting secularism around the world and worry less about spreading democracy.
The rise of the West had much less to do with democracy than with the rise of secularism. The West’s advance was chiefly related to the decline in the influence of religion that sought the truth by “looking in” to see what God [or Allah] had to say, and its replacement by looking out, deriving authority from observation, experimentation and exploration.
The original figures to draw attention to this were Bishop Robert Grosseteste, early in the 13th century, the first person to imagine the experiment, and his contemporary, St Thomas Aquinas, the first man to imagine a secular world, a world without God directing everything. Secularism is not the same as atheism, of course, both Grosseteste and Aquinas were priests. But they helped us to escape from the overbearing medieval view that the world has meaning and pattern only in relation to God [or Allah].
The inconvenient truth is that the West should be exporting secularism around the world before it exports democracy. Democracy implies not just one person one vote, but no less important, that the political process proceeds by rational means, by argument, by persuasion, and is based on knowledge that is as objective, as scientific, as one can make it. The objective knowledge has to come first.
- Peter Watson
MB4 on September 9, 2009 at 5:21 PM
Hey Holdren, call Obama over here, I have something to teach you both.
This is sh1t.
This is Shinola.
There will be a quiz a the end of the week.
Daggett on September 9, 2009 at 5:23 PM
Right, there will never be more resources, or money, or goods than there is today; or than there was on the 1200′s by comparison. Which is why although America is better off than say the average serf in Medieval times; the rest of the world is… also better off.
Wait, also better off? Where did the extra resources come from? Somehow goods and resources got magically created at some point in the past.. but it can never happen again. Even though we can see that it has to have happened many many times in the past, from Neanderthal and whatever pseudo-economies they had, right up until the last century. This can and will never ever happen again.
I guess. I’ll admit I have a lot of trouble following this train of thought; I guess because I’m not smart enough to understand the concept of a global economy that never changes in size.
I also have issues trying to understand the flat earthers, those that believe the moon is made of cheese, and people who think time is three dimensional (no really).
Ok, for those who might question the third claim… I didn’t make it up.
http://www.specularium.org/
Sadly, that is still more plausible than the never changing global economic structure.
gekkobear on September 9, 2009 at 5:32 PM
It looks like Obama is making every crazy in the country a “czar.”
GFW on September 9, 2009 at 5:38 PM
He should start by redistributing everything he owns, as well as everything in his bank account.
If he did that, I still wouldn’t accept his beliefs, but I wouldn’t accuse him of hypocrisy.
JellyToast on September 9, 2009 at 5:46 PM
The war was fought because of secession; howver if you want to know why the South seceded, all you have to do is look at their proclamations of secession to learn the real reasons that they stated at the time.
Georgia: “The people of Georgia having dissolved their political connection with the Government of the United States of America …For the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our non-slave-holding confederate States with reference to the subject of African slavery. ”
Mississippi: “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery– the greatest material interest of the world.”
South Carolina: “…an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution.”
Texas: “[Texas] was received into the confederacy with her own constitution, under the guarantee of the federal constitution and the compact of annexation, that she should enjoy these blessings. She was received as a commonwealth holding, maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slavery– the servitude of the African to the white race within her limits– a relation that had existed from the first settlement of her wilderness by the white race, and which her people intended should exist in all future time.”
So kindly take your revisionist “slavery had nothing to do with the Civil War” nonsense somewhere else.
PackerBronco on September 9, 2009 at 5:47 PM
jerseyman on September 9, 2009 at 5:47 PM
I have Bastiat’s position
JohnJ on September 9, 2009 at 3:37 PM
WELCOME!
maverick muse on September 9, 2009 at 5:49 PM
I’m in agreement with that. I lean more towards individualism, as the main thrust, but secularism clearly follows from that. You know that I’m not a big fan of “democracy-mongers” who think that voting is everything. They make me want to scream, frankly. Bush used to drive me absolutely NUTS when he kept repeating that tired and stupid old line of “democracy”. Honduras is showing people (those who are paying attention, at least) what the difference is between democracy and constitutionality. We can only hope that some learn.
progressoverpeace on September 9, 2009 at 5:53 PM
The inconvenient truth is that the West
should be[HAS BEEN] exporting secularism around the world before it exports democracy. Democracy implies not just one person one vote, but no less important, that the political process proceeds by rational means, by argument, by persuasion, and is based on knowledge that is as objective, as scientific, as one can make it. The objective knowledge has to come first.- Peter Watson
MB4,
The fact is that Western Civilization has been exporting secularism since the 20th Century. Pop culture IS secularism. And it is Western secularism that Islam repudiates. They forgive their own males of secularism, turning a blind eye so long as pockets are lined, but never for someone from Europe, North America or Australia, or their own Muslim females.
maverick muse on September 9, 2009 at 5:57 PM
Honduras is showing people (those who are paying attention, at least) what the difference is between democracy and constitutionality. We can only hope that some learn.
progressoverpeace on September 9, 2009 at 5:53 PM
Yet the Hondurans do have their vote. The vote is the voice that enacted their Constitution, just as in the founding of the US. They still have the pelotas to enforce their Constitutional law. US progressives have gone wee weed over upholding our Constitution. You and I agree over Article II. Too many are too lazy and just don’t care enough to do any more than smear those who yet care. But given an illegitimate foundation, everything built upon it will be corrupt.
maverick muse on September 9, 2009 at 6:01 PM
All about Bastiat today. Wow.
I need to read more of him. I have only a superficial understanding of his philosophy. I feel really, really behind the curve.
Diane on September 9, 2009 at 6:02 PM
Regarding more resources, other world powers believe they exist and are going to drill in our pond to extract them. Our glorious radical government is going to prevent our obtaining additional real resources that are available and productive while forcing us to spend hundreds of billions chasing alternatives that may possibly some day make some sense. In the meantime others take what is there. This is another form of redistribution that is being unilaterally imposed by our government.
GaltBlvnAtty on September 9, 2009 at 6:02 PM
Translation:
Crackpot, quasi-fascistic “science” czar says AmeriKKKa must be dismantled and humbled and reduced to a craptastic mess like every other failed socialistic experment on Earth in order to satisfy the delusional Utopian wetdreams of the addled, coddled cranks and anarchistically-fixated fools gnawing away at the vitals of the greatest country to every fight for human freedom and dignity in history.
Holdren must be retired to a safe university cul de sac where he can flog his ‘intellectual’ lizard in peace.
profitsbeard on September 9, 2009 at 6:03 PM
Yep. A judicial use of democratic processes is important, but without constitutional limits reigning them in, the same as any governmental power, they are destined to bring tyranny. Unfortunately, as our Founders were all too aware, it’s always much easier to flow with the popular whim at the expense of law. Constitutionality requires constant vigilance and a great deal of courage – qualities that modern liberalism stands in direct opposition to.
progressoverpeace on September 9, 2009 at 6:17 PM
This “aging liberal hippy douche” doesn’t even know what exceptional means.
We all know what these progressive turds want, I just hope more and more of them let the mask slip and some of the independents and ‘blue dogs’ get the message.
reaganaut on September 9, 2009 at 6:26 PM
We need to redistribute every person in this sham administration-right back under whatever rocks they slithered out from under.
Dave R. on September 9, 2009 at 6:37 PM
Not much different than Van Jones. Find whatever cause will allow redistribution of wealth under the radar.
aikidoka on September 9, 2009 at 6:57 PM
Tweaked a wee bit. Otherwise, excellent idea. :o)
Diane on September 9, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Suskind passed closure in the Senate…
We will now have a LOON in charge of the Regulatory apparatus of the US… just when the EPA is about to force regulation of the very air we breathe by declaring CO2 a pollutant…
Romeo13 on September 9, 2009 at 7:35 PM
HOLDREN:
Another communist A-hole. Yet another clear example of Chancellor Bozo’s belief system. he hires those who think like he does.
If it waddles and quacks etc…
dogsoldier on September 9, 2009 at 7:54 PM
No, it’s a crisis.
Dr. ZhivBlago on September 9, 2009 at 8:51 PM
Send a message to Glenn Beck that Czar Holdren has to go, too.
Phil Byler on September 9, 2009 at 9:36 PM
Is it me or does this guy look like the little muppet whose president of Iran without the dark hair?
chickasaw42 on September 9, 2009 at 10:58 PM
Will Glenn Beck be the ONLY one to take this fascist on or will Levin, Hannity and the rest finally grow some balls, put aside their egos and unite with Beck and Limbaugh?
nelsonknows on September 9, 2009 at 11:02 PM
I am already so tired of these new discoveries of past comments.
We know where they stand. We know what they think.
You cannot rationally debate or have civil discussions with people who want to undo the constitution and do not believe in the founding principles. Who don’t understand the terms they use because they have corrupted them to advance their cause. Who believe in imaginary problems, created to advance their cause.
How can we believe in people who are ready to negotiate with out preconditions with a fascist totalitarian theocracy but they will not offer that same courtesy to their own people on a matter as critical as their own health.
If healthcare passes, what next? Where is the line drawn.
Do we draw a line at cap and trade, gun control, localism, national service?
We are heading down a dangerous path.
WichoFawkes on September 9, 2009 at 11:05 PM
This fanatic is “Mr Nice Guy” compared to Regulatory Czar Cass (animals should sue people) Sunstein. Wait until Cass-Hole starts regulating. Producing food will be so costly, you will need a bank loan (if you can get one) to buy a slice of pizza.
What a bummer. Returning home with no food in the fridge only to discover you’re being hauled into court by your pet poodle.Best solution to both problems-Roast Vietnamese Poodle Au Jus.
MaiDee on September 9, 2009 at 11:15 PM
Marxism is the disease that needs to be killed. Start with the czars, don’t stop there. Get the marxists out of government, the Alinsky way. Vote them out in 2010, and impeach Obama in 2011.
BottomLine5 on September 9, 2009 at 11:28 PM
spot on
and MaiDee on September 9, 2009 at 11:15 PM
um, no. Holdren’s worse than Sunstein, by far. And Sunstein’s much smarter and slicker, and less of a threat to boot.
funky chicken on September 9, 2009 at 11:55 PM
No doubt, the old red is the new green.
tarpon on September 10, 2009 at 9:39 AM
Freedom and Equality can have subtle interpretations with major differences in resulting behavior.
In general, the French have perceived equality as no one is inherently better than me. Americans see equality as I am not inherently better than anyone else. Europeans are amazed when Americans patiently wait in line for their turn while the French will push ahead in a mad rush to be first. The net result can be seen in the different outcomes of the American and French revolutions. The American perspective has a basic understanding that there is something greater than me (God) but when individuals see themselves as the center of the universe (secular view – no God) there is nothing left to hold them in check because ‘no one is better than them’. With respect and reverence for a higher being, individuals can then operate based on a morality that is not self-centered but other-centered (I am no better than any one else.) If we lose this viewpoint and fail to export it, freedom and democracy have no foundation or ‘glue’ to hold it together.
jerseyman on September 10, 2009 at 11:05 AM
The whole Czar appointment thing is uncosititutional and should be outlawed and Obama should be impeached over it.
TrickyDick on September 10, 2009 at 1:52 PM
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