The Eff Word
posted at 12:51 am on September 7, 2009 by Doctor Zero
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Fascism.
It’s the ultimate political epithet, the atomic blast that ends calm and measured debate. This makes those who seek to be reasonable and persuasive understandably reluctant to use the word… and those who aren’t interested in either reason or persuasion eager to hurl it at their opponents. There is nothing surprising about the visceral emotions conjured by the mention of its name. The history of fascism is written in the blood of innocents, on a scale that challenges the limits of human imagination.
Our natural repulsion from the concept of fascism, coupled with the way it has been cheapened by decades of use as a casual insult by the Left, makes it difficult for us to study it dispassionately. It is important to make that study, because fascism was not a mystical phenomenon, a curse inflicted on the Axis nations through the supernatural charisma of Mussolini and Hitler. Too many people recall the garish and horrifying trappings of Nazi Germany, and think “it couldn’t happen here.” It has happened here. It’s happening again now. We do ourselves no favors by refusing to see it, any more than we would be helping ourselves by throwing around baseless accusations of fascism where it does not exist.
Fascism, like communism and socialism, is a form of collectivist politics. As the great author H.P. Lovecraft put it, when describing the dark gods of his horror stories: “Many names, one nightmare.” These philosophies share a belief in the supreme power and virtue of the central State. Under communism, government owns the means of production – there is no private industry. In a socialist system, the State is nominally separate from private industry, but it siphons large amounts of money from the private sector to fund the socialist agenda. Fascism maintains private industry, but places it under the direct control of the government. Private industry still exists, but the State sets production goals, directly controls economic activity, and dominates the management of corporations. Industry becomes enslaved to political goals.
Modern audiences, raised on a steady diet of movies about World War II, think of fascism as either inhumanly horrifying, or completely absurd, and wonder how anyone in their right minds could have fallen for the fascist sales pitch. In fact, fascism did not seem absurd at all to the intellectuals of the early twentieth century. They thought a wise and all-powerful State, run by the most brilliant minds, would be able to engineer a more advanced society, much as engineers were designing increasingly advanced scientific marvels. The pioneering author of modern science fiction, H.G. Wells, was an outspoken advocate of authoritarian control by a benevolent government of geniuses and academics. His novel The Shape of Things to Come envisions such a government seizing control of the entire world to create a global utopia, called “The Dictatorship of the Air” because the government controls the technology of air travel – which it occasionally uses to drop bombs on those who resist. Here are some excerpts from a famous speech Wells gave to the British Young Liberals Society at Oxford in 1932, reprinted in Jonah Goldberg’s indispensable Liberal Fascism – a phrase Wells actually coins in the speech:
We have seen the Fascisti in Italy and a number of clumsy imitations elsewhere, and we have seen the Russian Communist Party coming into existence to reinforce this idea… I am asking for a Liberal Fascisti, for enlightened Nazis… And do not let me leave you in the slightest doubt as to the scope and ambition of what I am putting before you… These new organizations are not merely organizations for the spread of defined opinions… the days of that sort of amateurism are over-they are organizations to replace the dilatory indecisiveness of democracy. The world is sick of parliamentary politics…
The world is sick of parliamentary politics. This is an idea that occurs in every strand of collectivist thought. Collectivists only revere democracy until it has voted them sufficient power… then democracy becomes a cumbersome inconvenience that allows selfish, ignorant fools and corporate shills to interfere with the brilliant work of great men. The Democrats fleeing from town hall meetings are also sick of parliamentary politics, as is the President who defiles American government with dozens of unelected, unconfirmed, unaccountable “czars.” Parliamentary politics proved very inconvenient for the President’s health-care takeover and cap-and-trade bills, and have been driving global-warming cultists mad with frustration for years.
Why is fascism bad? It seems like a ridiculously understated question, similar to asking why cancer is bad, but the answer is important. The grisly ornaments fascism has worn in the past should not distract from the deeper reality of what it is, and why it fails. The essential flaw of fascism is that it elevates the State to control of its citizens, because controlling the economy requires control of the people. A corporation is a voluntary association of people, not an inanimate machine that can be reprogrammed painlessly by wise government advisers. The people who comprise corporations must be kept alienated from the government’s supporters – fascism requires enemies, and turns feral quickly. The government does not require a majority of the people to support it, in order to maintain power. It can make do with much less than fifty per cent, if they are sufficiently motivated and obedient. In fact, maintaining control through an energized minority is much easier than keeping the majority of the population on board, especially in a large country.
The proposition that enlightened government officials should control the economy sounds appealing to those who feel capitalism has not treated them well. No matter what name it operates under, fascism never works. It can’t work. Fascist control might produce short-term gains for its favored constituencies, and the sense of organization it brings might benefit a highly disorganized or demoralized population, such as prewar Germany, for a while. In the long run, fascism falls apart because political control is always less flexible and innovative than free-market competition. The political masters of the economy have a list of alternatives they will not consider, mistakes they will not admit to making, and explanations that simply cannot be true. Since they see the free market as inferior to their intellect and moral judgment, they never study it carefully enough to understand how it really works. They become highly adept at killing the geese that lay golden eggs.
Government is a terrible senior partner for any industry, because it has only one thing to bring to the partnership, and that is compulsive force. Everything government does is an expression of force: it collects taxes under the threat of imprisonment or death, blocks access to markets through licensing, and changes the rules of market competition through regulation. A well-run government uses force to protect its citizens, from external threats and internal lawbreakers. As the size of government swells, so does the amount of force deployed to enforce its will. This is inevitable, because force is what a government is. The fascist views private industry as a work horse, yoked to the will of the State… and when the State has exhausted its minimal patience trying to talk the horse into moving faster, there remains only the lash. Political control of the economy never produces the results that would be needed to keep the vital constituencies of the politicians happy, and the only method they can imagine to make their industrial horses work harder is to swing the whip, with increasing anger.
The fascist impulse expresses itself differently in different societies. In America, it was first embraced by President Wilson and the Progressives, because it made sense to them, and everyone else in the industrialized world was already doing it – if you’re unfamiliar with the intellectual literature of the Thirties, you would be surprised how often British and American academics fretted about “falling behind” marvelous, fascist Italy and Germany. Fascism’s second life in America began because socialism failed. The system of providing social benefits to an increasingly large dependency class, by taxing a dwindling group of productive citizens, went utterly bankrupt. This is dramatically illustrated by the failure of Obama’s health care plan, which even the most politically disinterested Americans can see we clearly don’t have the money to pay for, with trillions of dollars in debt towering over us. Exit the tax collector… enter the “czar.” When the American Left saw that it could no longer extract enough tax money from an increasingly grumpy, overtaxed electorate, it became logically necessary to compel industry to provide what the Left desires. Wrapping this strategy in high-minded language like “green jobs” does not change its essential nature.
The grim pathologies we associate with fascism come as consequences of its original sin, the assertion of direct State control over the economy. The cult of personality forms because the mighty politicians who command the economy must be brilliant supermen – how else could they handle the enormous task they have set for themselves? To support Obama’s domestic policies, you must believe he understands medicine better than doctors and insurance companies, knows more about monetary policy than all the banks he has asserted control over, and has a greater mastery of energy production than the industries he plans to destroy with the cap-and-trade bill. He even knows more about making cars than General Motors… and all of the other auto-makers combined, since the automobile market wanted GM to die, and Obama commuted the death sentence to community service. No wonder the media loves to photograph the man with a halo, and Hollywood celebrities pledge their obedience to him on their knees!
Fascism acquires militaristic aspects because a society organized for war is easier to control, and opponents of the State are more easily dismissed as traitors. The American fascists, evolved from socialists and liberals, dislike aggressive wars of military conquest, so they co-opt the language of warfare for domestic policy issues, declaring their policy preferences to be the “moral equivalent of war.” Fascism becomes violent because its supporters develop a tribal hostility to their domestic enemies, which eventually leads them to beat those enemies, and maybe bite off a finger or two. Fascism incubates racism because racial animosity is a powerful glue for holding constituent groups together, and milking them for political support.
Is America sliding into fascism? Not completely, or quickly… but it’s a potent venom, deadly in small doses. We should not dismiss the menace of fascism by reasoning that it always comes dressed in black uniforms and jackboots, patrolling the perimeter of concentration camps – so we’re in good shape as long as those horrors are not in evidence. We shouldn’t be fooling around with such a toxic ideology at all. No matter how noble the stated goals at the beginning of the collectivist journey, it always ends at the same destination. Promoting his latest propaganda film, Michael Moore said that “capitalism is evil, and you cannot regulate evil. You have to replace it with something that is good for all people, and that something is democracy.” This is more than just laughable hypocrisy from a millionaire leftist. Capitalism is the exchange of goods and services between free men and women. In the end, there is only one alternative to it, and it is not “democracy.”
Many names, one nightmare.
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It has been said many many times, but it is repeated again and again, if only the “correct” people were in charge, then we can build a utopia, or a better communism, or a more fair socialism, or a fascism with a heart…
The proponents of all these ideas forget the one fundamental…there is no utopia, there will never be such a utopia.
Why?
Does Michael Moore, for example, really believe that in any other society, under any other form of governance, he would be able to ply his trade freely? If he does, he is a fool of the worst kind. if he does not believe it, he is a liar and coward of the worst kind.
We will never ever find the “correct” people, the right people, to run such a system…as power corrupts, and building such a society demands that a large segment of the population be oppressed. And such a utopia where the citizen are forced to surrender their choices, their Rights, their innate desires for success, happiness, the accumulation of goods, or their being able to express themselves freely, that utopia shatters given two choices; the first, allow dissent, allow free thinking, allow freedom of choices, and doing so will destroy that utopian dream from the start. Or, they can stiffle dissent, make free thinking, freedom of choices illegal, and become just another dictatorship, like all the other dictatorships that have come and gone in our history, there is no utopia as dictatorship is not utopian.
The freedom of people to associate freely, express themselves freely, to make personal choices as to how they spend their time and talents, how they freely trade their goods, their talents, their ability in barter or in exchange for capital, that freedom is innate in all of us to use as we see fit, and government is by the consent of the governed, and that governance is controlled by the people directly or through properly elected representatives.
For anyone in this year, 2009, to believe that if only the correct people were in charge that everything would be wonderful and good is to ignore thousands of years of human experimentation in governance.
Frankly, despite all its foibles and missteps, I prefer the form of governance we have built since our Founding. Right now, and for the past few decades, as the liberals move steadily toward the refinement of liberalism into fascism, I find our present form of governance imperiled.
For this reason alone, I will do my damndest to prevent the liberals, the Left, from trying to impose their beliefs on me, my children, and those around me.
The best way to fight fascism is to prevent it from taking hold in the first place.
Bad governance, just as bad law, developed for all the right reasons is still bad governance and bad law.
Ignore it at your own peril.
coldwarrior on September 7, 2009 at 1:37 AM
Another gem. Thank you Dr.
And for any who wish a taste of what it feels like to live under a collectivist regime, with all the nasty ways it twists personal relationships, I recommend a singular piece of literature: We the Living. It is a visceral work, written by Ayn Rand to explain the horror of the Soviet system from which she escaped to America. It haunts me still, and I read it decades ago. What haunts me now is that the President of the United States of America wants to institute something that would inevitably, despite his best intentions, turn us in that horrifying direction.
Myno on September 7, 2009 at 4:18 AM
Dear Doc,
I just realized I used similar language as yours, even down to the word “siphon” in the Michael Moore thread prior to reading this excellent article. Feeling embarrassed. Please know I wasn’t ripping you off. I would say something about “great minds,” but, that would be presumptuous.
Just clarifying.
Love, Diane
Mommypundit on September 7, 2009 at 5:40 AM
Great post & great early comments.
When you get right down to it, all forms of collectivism require humans to live in ways that run counter to the sum total of human evolution, encoded (for good reason) in our DNA.
We are only here as life forms due to our ability and drive to accumulate wealth, start families, master the elements, solve problems that require ingenuity to solve, fight to protect ourselves and our own, treat the world at large differently (and with more suspicion) than we treat our own family & kin, and so on.
Collectivism requires that we deny this legacy as if it is something to be wished away. Collectivism requires that we stop behaving in a way that evolution has indicated (by the simple fact of us having made it this far) that we need to do in order to prosper. It requires us to do that, and do all sorts of other counter-intuitive things like treat the State as our wiser, smarter family member — the one we trust with the proverbial family bank account — when reason & logic tells us it is wrong and will lead to a bad end. And it demands that we live these fictions and behave as if they’re real, when we know they’re not.
And it does so when we know that the trust we place in the State will be violated once it begins to make decisions on our behalf that no trusted family member would ever make under the same circumstances. But the State insists on making those decisions, and does so fully expecting us to pretend that is how we would have acted, and behave accordingly — with any outward sign of discomfort (at such utter, final dispossession of our own humanity) considered treason, or worse.
Collectivism jeapordizes our very survival as a species by the degree to it forces individual humans to surrender their God-given / DNA-evolved abilities to generate & keep wealth for a rainy day. If that rainy day ever comes, whether through flood, pestilence or famine, and the State fails to cope with the emergency and leaves us high & dry, we will then have nothing to fall back on, no Plan B, at the very time when we would have needed the fruits of our evolutionary legacy the most. Such legacy will have been “voluntarily” surrendered to the now-defunct State, with nowhere to turn for redress, no one to bail us out.
And who will be to blame then? Ourselves (as expressed in our DNA perhaps), for letting ourselves be talked into the faux religion of State worship? (”After all modern science is fond of telling us we may have a genetic predisposition to believe in religion, whatever form it happens to take…”)
I’m sure when the moment of doom arrives, the last collectivist alive will blame everyone else still kicking, for their stubborn refusal to live and act like ants, for their inability to recode their DNA spontaneously to mold themselves a little more closely to the State’s best intentions for them. It will, of course, be their fault — no matter what happened to destroy civilization be it war, flood, a meteor from outer space, or whatever.
It will have been “our fault” unless, that is, the new generation’s Mengeles don’t get to us first with their compulsory gene therapy designed to turn us all into docile, obedient little beings, walking ants designed for the Perfect Society who may be great at accepting direction from their betters but utterly useless when that society breaks down and we, once again, have to fend for ourselves.
RD on September 7, 2009 at 6:52 AM
Er, collectivism jeapordizes our very survival as a species by the degree to which it forces…
RD on September 7, 2009 at 6:56 AM
Excellent article and responses.
Though it’s nearly impossible to debate these points with the old-guard liberals, many younger leftists see themselves as the champions of freedom. The historical track record of collectivist ideology has ever been my best tool for levering them back to reality, and they are often still reachable, if you can find the proper approach.
Personally, my favorite quips have been to Che t-shirt wanna be hippies and pointing out that they aren’t fighting the system, they ARE the system.
Gray on September 7, 2009 at 7:29 AM
Fascism is just the other side of the coin from communism/marxism/bolshevikism/maoism/statism. The only reason fascism has been smeared is the fascists/Nazi’s turned on the Soviets. When Stalin was buddies with Hitler, the media and US lefties liked him just fine, including the despicable FDR.
We got into the fight to save the noble experiment that was the Soviet Union and then gave them the same Eastern Europe we had just saved from Hitler. Not a very good bargain as millions died and more millions lived in poverty and enslavement for a couple more generations.
Reagan saved them, but where is our Reagan now to save us.
erp on September 7, 2009 at 7:40 AM
Or, as our completely impartial news media likes to call it “partisan gridlock.” How are we supposed to achieve Utopia if not everyone agrees with us?
Jim Treacher on September 7, 2009 at 7:49 AM
CW; I hope you come back and read the comments below yours, for this reason.
On another thread (A Labor Day Salute to the Troops) our service men and women are being thanked. Reading your post reminded me that we also owe you our thanks, for your time in the service of our freedom.
Thanks.
massrighty on September 7, 2009 at 9:32 AM
A great primer – essay, Doctor Zero.
Here’s an adjunct piece, “Why is Capitalism So Unpopular?“, that you might find interesting.
Serr8d on September 7, 2009 at 9:47 AM
I thought it was because th fascists acknowledged nationalism as opposed to class warfare that they were called “the right” – by the commies.
disa on September 7, 2009 at 10:07 AM
Alas, Doctor, the word “fascist” is an insult hurled ignorantly by many because we have been taught social studies–not history–in our schools.
publiuspen on September 7, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Summary: “Communism sucks”
faraway on September 7, 2009 at 11:07 AM
Excellent, Doc.
BCrago66 on September 7, 2009 at 11:11 AM
The truth shall set you free…..Great work once again, Doc.
HornetSting on September 7, 2009 at 11:20 AM
Brilliantly written and illuminating.
All of the collectivist ideologies are diametrically opposed to the foundation of America-Individual Liberty. Those who seek “Social Justice” must use force against those who do not acquiesce to whatever today’s whims of political correctness happen to be, and they will feel completely justified in the use of that force. The zealousness and self righteousness embodied in the left rivals or even exceeds that of the worst religous fanatics, and they are equally inured to reason.
trubble on September 7, 2009 at 11:21 AM
Bravo! Well done. Who could have imagined we’d be revisiting the progressive-fascist juggernaut after it was so thoroughly discredited in the last century.
Had the left been intellectually honest as to the leftist origins of fascism (instead of insinuating it is only a product of the right) perhaps they’d been more able to see it creeping in their midst.
R Square on September 7, 2009 at 11:28 AM
Excellent essay Doctor.
It happens quietly, slowly but surely to an unsuspecting or ignorant citizenry. God forbid that would be us….
This is a war for our way of life methinks.
highninside on September 7, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Thank you for another excellent piece, DZ.
I strongly recommend (beg) everyone to read “The Road to Serfdom” by von Hayek. You recognize the planners that are the subject matter of the book as the culprits behind Fascism.
Humans will be forever tinkering with things (monkeys that we are.) The challenge is to keep them from fiddling with things that do not belong to them.
Peri Winkle on September 7, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Excellent essay, Dr Zero.
Really good stuff.
peski on September 7, 2009 at 11:31 AM
Yer still way to damned long winded Doc. You might as well go sit on a dusty library shelf if you cant shorten your posts, because only a small handful of people are wading through all that you have to say.
I’m not saying what you have to say is bad, I think what you say is very important, far to important for it to get lost in a vast wasteland of excessive verbiage.
doriangrey on September 7, 2009 at 11:39 AM
For all commentators here, does it get any better than Dr Zero?
nater1976 on September 7, 2009 at 11:40 AM
“Political control of the economy never produces the results that would be needed to keep the vital constituencies of the politicians happy, and the only method they can imagine to make their industrial horses work harder is to swing the whip, with increasing anger.”
Dr. Zero
Doesn’t this suggest that fascist experimentation is bound to fail and, having failed, must devolve into socialist control/takeover of private industry? It cannot evolve into capitalism because the base instinct of fascists is control, not freedom. Once fascism takes hold, regaining freedom is not likely through nonviolent means. We still have the power to reject Obama style fascism but we are peering over the edge and the fall could be fatal.
SKYFOX on September 7, 2009 at 11:44 AM
Yep Mikey, capitalism sure is evil (Torch Lake is one of the most desirable locations for homes in northern Michigan – Mikey likes to call Traverse City his “adopted home town” or else says he lives in Bellaire, like he has some kind of Hemingwayesque cabin in the woods – nope a big house on a lake where almost all his neighbors are very wealthy. I have friends whose family has a “cottage” on Torch Lake that’s larger than my home.)
Jurisdiction: Forest Home Twp
Owner Name(s): MOORE MICHAEL & GLYNN KATHLEEN
Property Address:
[redacted to protect Mikey's privacy] TORCH LAKE DR
CENTRAL LAKE, MI 49622
Mailing Address:
200 PARK AVE S – 8TH FLR
NEW YORK, NY 10003
Property Information
Current Taxable Value: $390,976
School District: Bellaire
Current Assessment: $647,200
Current Homestead: 100%
Current Property Class: 40 – Residential
Last Year’s Assessment: $647,200
Last Year’s Homestead: 100%
Last Year’s Property Class: 40 – Residential
Lake Frontage: Torch Lake
Waterfront Footage: 150.48 ft.
rokemronnie on September 7, 2009 at 12:01 PM
Dr. Zero,
Well I can see that by reading some of my posts you have managed to imitate my writing style and my very thought patterns as well.
Keep up the work. I will try to post more often so that I might be a continual source of inspiration for you in the future as you attempt to find your stride. /sarc
Seriously, you have no rivals. I am in awe.
Geochelone on September 7, 2009 at 12:04 PM
Pay attention everyone. We are witness to a great mind at work. Dr. Zero is an artist extraordinaire.
Geochelone on September 7, 2009 at 12:06 PM
with no disrespect to Ayn Rand but my question is not “Who is John Galt?” but rather “Where is John Galt?”
But once again Dr. Zero you show how incredible a writer you truly are.
JKotthoff on September 7, 2009 at 12:13 PM
Bingo…exactly what is happening now…I keep saying the way that the Democrats are acting now is how a group who has no intention if giving up power acts…and is the reason gun sales are through the roof…we’re not all brain dead idiots…
CCRWM on September 7, 2009 at 12:18 PM
Well, lets settle for impressive intellect. When the good doctor learns the art and value of not speaking longer than his students butts can endure, then he just might develop into a genuinely great mind.
Hey Doc, don’t put your audience into a coma dazzling them with your brilliance. You are not delivering a dissertation on polynomial applications in the formulation of algorithms. What you are talking about is important stuff, boil it down to its simplest components and gain a wider audience.
doriangrey on September 7, 2009 at 12:23 PM
I believe Mr. Galt quit GM motors sometime earlier this year actually. Pity…
blankminde on September 7, 2009 at 12:29 PM
Doctor Zero and the comments here prompted me to think of the Apple super bowl commercial and the movie Antz. The opening scenes too accurately depict the current statis agendas in D.C.
We need a “Z” to throw a sledge hammer through the facade erected by collective represent by Obama and the leftists.
RealityCheck4 on September 7, 2009 at 12:29 PM
I prefer Dr. Z’s expounding on collectivism and its evils over simplifying it. It is too easy to say collectivism is bad…don’t do it. It is a lot harder, but much more important, to explain how it can be incrementally dangerous and why we should avoid it.
blankminde on September 7, 2009 at 12:31 PM
This implies that the Hill must be complicit in this and embrace the mechanisms to put it in place. The surest way to guarantee that this will not happen is to vote the collectivists out and put the patriots in. Let’s begin with Nancy? Obama and co. might wish it, but can’t do it alone even with an army of so called czars. This is one possible(but not probable)scenario which a vigilant population can prevent.
jeanie on September 7, 2009 at 12:41 PM
The good Doctor deserves another standing “O”, but I agree shorter would be better!
amex on September 7, 2009 at 12:45 PM
Then the Good Doctor should follow Michelle Malkins example, keep his “BLOG” post short and to the point so that he doesn’t bog his readers down, (remember people on the internet have an incredibly short attention span, approximately 10 seconds, people visiting HotAir are no exception) and write books on the subjects that need exponentially greater clarification. This is after all still a blog and not a dusty academic lectrum.
doriangrey on September 7, 2009 at 12:47 PM
chomp chomp chomp eeee whats up doc!
sonnyspats1 on September 7, 2009 at 12:50 PM
dorian…you’re tiresome! You think that was long? I wish it had gone longer…every word is a gold nugget…
Seriously if you want to be a politician give it up now. How will you read a 1000 page bill if you can’t read a few paragraphs?
CCRWM on September 7, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Doctor, America has a fever and the way to cure it is for you to write books for high school and college levels. You not only do the research but are a brilliant writer.
Thanks for sharing.
tim c on September 7, 2009 at 1:03 PM
This is of course bullsh*t. Doctor Zero doesn’t know what he’s talking about. How do you explain the existence of slavery, child labor and the oppression of women and minorities in a capitalist society like America? If it weren’t for government, these things would still be in America today.
Bless you Michael Moore for all the good work you do.
Norman Blizter on September 7, 2009 at 1:06 PM
ROTFLMAO…. Even my fellow Californians aren’t crazy enough to elect me to office… Seriously those of us with short attention spans are the vast majority and what doc is saying is far to important to not get read because of its excessive length.
doriangrey on September 7, 2009 at 1:07 PM
Another good one, DocZ.
Bob's Kid on September 7, 2009 at 1:09 PM
QED: The dumbing down of America.
publiuspen on September 7, 2009 at 1:10 PM
doriangrey on September 7, 2009 at 12:47 PM
Hey lighten up. Lets just call it Doc Z’s political primer 101. I don’t know a facist from face lift so this is invaluable information that defines the opposition for me. There are alot of us self made entreprenuer types who didn’t get a college education that need this kind of information. You need to realize that being an intelectual can no longer be a prerequesite to the conservative philosophy. Besides millions of peolpe are reading this blog.
sonnyspats1 on September 7, 2009 at 1:15 PM
intellectual* ha ha ha so sue me!
sonnyspats1 on September 7, 2009 at 1:16 PM
I am very aware of that, which is why I am attempting to encourage Doc to brevity, I assure you the length of his articles is discouraging many many people from reading the very important things he has to say.
doriangrey on September 7, 2009 at 1:23 PM
Has anyone heard of the The Jaycee’s This is a one of the only grassroot organizations where you can learn leadership skills outside of the structured educational system we have today. This is worth a second look really.
sonnyspats1 on September 7, 2009 at 1:25 PM
Juat ’cause you’re lazy … .
davidk on September 7, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Still I found it riveting. (Sorry for all the misspelled words I am just being lazy today I guess. I will make a more
earnest attempt in the future.)
sonnyspats1 on September 7, 2009 at 1:30 PM
There was a time when people were a commodity, not just here but throughout the world. If capitalism never took root in America you can bet that it would still be so. Do you suppose some collectivist ideology would have set them free as equals? “If it weren’t for government, these things would still be in America today.” Really? Government fought equality for race and gender alike – people won it. Do you suppose the people would have had a chance of wresting “equality” from the maw of socialism? Fascism? All hail government! The cause, and solution for all of our problems…
blankminde on September 7, 2009 at 1:31 PM
HAHAHAHA! I hope you’re going for sarcasm. Michael Moore? A morbidly obese multimillionaire who charges money for people to listen to him rail against the excesses Capitalism? If you believe what you say and you’ve paid a penny for anything he’s ever done, you are a complete moron and likely a danger to yourself and others.
trubble on September 7, 2009 at 1:31 PM
Nope, just to many other things to read. So much information so little time to absorb it all.
doriangrey on September 7, 2009 at 1:32 PM
We read your complaint – now leave it be so we can enjoy Doctor Zero’s exposition. If you regard his posts as part of a series, much like the Federalist Papers, you will see that they have a theme and a thread.
You have read the Federalist Papers, haven’t you?
Stop acting like the expert you’re NOT! (Unless you want to to use the Zig Ziglar definition for your expertise, stop the whining comments and the controlling behavior!)
ExpressoBold on September 7, 2009 at 1:33 PM
Riveting yes, but shorter would mean exponentially more people would read it. And we really need more people reading and thinking about the issues Doc brings up.
doriangrey on September 7, 2009 at 1:34 PM
And today we have Obama praising his creation of a new manufacturing czar!
The purpose of the czar is to work with labor and government to create a new manufacturing base in the USA! Operated by the labor bosses, owned and controlled by the federal government. What could go wrong?
Even if this seems to create ‘jobs’, it is yet one more terrible step into the abyss ….
Freddy on September 7, 2009 at 1:34 PM
When this becomes your blog you can pull as big a Charles Johnston as you want, until then, dont presume to tell anyone what to do or where to do it.
doriangrey on September 7, 2009 at 1:36 PM
That was MUCH better than my response, which was: Democrats.
ExpressoBold on September 7, 2009 at 1:38 PM
You, too, {expletive deleted}!
ExpressoBold on September 7, 2009 at 1:39 PM
I’m asking, not telling, a difference that seems to be lost on you.
doriangrey on September 7, 2009 at 1:40 PM
I think you might have written more complaining about the length of Doctor Zero’s piece than he wrote in the first place. Your arguments could seriously benefit from some brevity…
blankminde on September 7, 2009 at 1:43 PM
Go back and read your OWN posts, starting with the one that I quoted and find the request in THAT statement, please!
ExpressoBold on September 7, 2009 at 1:45 PM
Great work Doc. This is indeed scarey times. Let everyone of us make alternate plans according to the severity inwhich the facists actually get a foothold. If it is just more taxes, save more, it is control of your job, study more for a different one, if they come for your property, bury more of it, if they come for your children. Well, bury them.
moyeti on September 7, 2009 at 1:49 PM
We explain these things as prior bad behavior, by a people not as enlightened as we are today.
All of the examples you cite were ended by a concerned citizenry, which had the freedom to act against the status quo.
In large measure, their political freedom came from living in our representative republic.
But the economic freedom that they enjoyed, (freedom from want, and the financial ability to work at convincing others of the rightness of their cause) came from capitalism.
Government, at least in this country, only moves when the citizens move.
massrighty on September 7, 2009 at 1:51 PM
Knowledge is power. Thanks Doc for the “shot.” Glad to see there is still a doctor who makes house calls!
Mr_Magoo on September 7, 2009 at 1:55 PM
Back to the topic — brilliant lesson here, Doctor Zero. Thank you.
publiuspen on September 7, 2009 at 1:57 PM
Wrong.
Mr_Magoo on September 7, 2009 at 1:58 PM
People were a commodity because of capitalism. Capitalism had and has nothing to do with human rights. What human right has ever been acquired because of capitalism? Minimum wage? Equal pay for equal work regardless of sex and race?
The Civil War? The 1964 Civil Rights Act?
Norman Blizter on September 7, 2009 at 2:00 PM
You’re only fooling yourself.
Norman Blizter on September 7, 2009 at 2:02 PM
And we are enlightened today thanks to Karl Marx.
Norman Blizter on September 7, 2009 at 2:03 PM
You mean like what you are doing with your posts?
Mr_Magoo on September 7, 2009 at 2:04 PM
This is awesome….the Dr. quickly has become my fave on HA…
CinnamongirlUF on September 7, 2009 at 2:05 PM
Presumably, you’re using the “communism is the better system, even though it’s never worked, anywhere” defense.
This is not as convincing as you might think.
massrighty on September 7, 2009 at 2:09 PM
You are acting like a sycophant, based on the obvious intellectual prowess displayed by Doc, he doesn’t have any need of such vicarious narcissistic ego satiation.
Unlike you the good doctor is incontrovertibly capable of discerning the difference between genuine concerned constructive criticism and emotionally charged ad hominem attacks.
I haven’t said one single disparaging, derogatory or insulting thing about Doctor Zero or anything he has written, he doesn’t need you to come charging to his defense he isnt under attack.
You seriously need to reexamine your position and back off.
doriangrey on September 7, 2009 at 2:09 PM
Your opinion, totally unsupported by fact.
Again, totally unsupported by the facts.
doriangrey on September 7, 2009 at 2:11 PM
Your rebuttal does nothing to refute my point. You offer no proof that my point is incorrect.
It’s just gainsaying – you’re using the “are too/are not” construct of a 6 year old.
You defame this thread with this kind of weak argument.
massrighty on September 7, 2009 at 2:12 PM
For those that want it simply summed up just recall the elected president saying : ” Those that caused the problem should shut up, get out of the way and let us fix it!” He is about a total takeover of this country as we have known it! Fascist or Communist, either way he is the enemy of the U.S.!
Marco on September 7, 2009 at 2:14 PM
I already rebutted your point in my previous post to blankminde:
“What human right has ever been acquired because of capitalism? Minimum wage? Equal pay for equal work regardless of sex and race?”
I though you were smart enough to put two and two together. I was wrong.
Norman Blizter on September 7, 2009 at 2:18 PM
Have you read the US Constitution???
doriangrey on September 7, 2009 at 2:21 PM
Both instances of the Republican party.
Those aren’t human rights.
Every day, hour, minute or second that you pay taxes to the government is a moment spent in indentured servitude. It’s just well-disguised slavery. And you want more of this, of course.
John the Libertarian on September 7, 2009 at 2:22 PM
Okay, I’ll try again;
The freedom to work for the “human rights” you describe springs directly from the fact that capitalism allows some to have both freedom from immediate want, and the time and money to work for social change.
Don’t impugn my intelligence. You have not formed a cogent rebuttal.
Your last post used the “Oh, Yeah!” construct.
What’s next – neener neener?
massrighty on September 7, 2009 at 2:24 PM
Natan Sharansky lists four questions in his book The Case for Democracy to “determine whether or not human rights were beeing generally upheld in a particular country”:
- Could people in that country speak their minds?
- Could they publish their opinions?
- Could they practice their faith?
- Could they learn the history and culture of their people?
Individuals – free to speak their minds and publish their opinions – stand up for human rights, not the government. Seems to me the government comes late to the game if enough people make enough noise. They never actually start the process.
Mr_Magoo on September 7, 2009 at 2:30 PM
I like your style.
massrighty on September 7, 2009 at 2:31 PM
Instead of mindless blather, why don’t you give me an example when this has actually happened?
Norman Blizter on September 7, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Please support your “fact” that people visiting HotAir have an attention span of approximately 10 seconds. You’ve done a study of course.
Mr_Magoo on September 7, 2009 at 2:35 PM
Most of the Abolititionist movement, and nearly all of the Women’s suffrage movement, was carried out, and funded by, people who had the two elements I describe; (the freedom from immediate want, and the time and money to work for social change.)
Given my posts, you couldn’t see this on your own?
Only one of us is blathering.
Put another way; we both have reputations on this site, based on our posts.
I’ll keep mine, thanks.
massrighty on September 7, 2009 at 2:37 PM
So you are NOT telling the good doctor to make his articles shorter because we have short attention spans?
Mr_Magoo on September 7, 2009 at 2:39 PM
Hey Norman,
take a look at this and get back to us: Bill Whittle on the Liberal Doctrine
John the Libertarian on September 7, 2009 at 2:39 PM
Oprah Winfrey
Mr_Magoo on September 7, 2009 at 2:40 PM
Thanks again DZ for another great piece of writing.
ny59giants on September 7, 2009 at 2:42 PM
Another good example.
Or, should I just say “Oh, Magoo…”
massrighty on September 7, 2009 at 2:42 PM
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie (they do more than just adopt children)
Princess Diana
Mr_Magoo on September 7, 2009 at 2:45 PM
Nyak nyak nyak! I’ve already lost interest and it took me much longer 10 seconds.
Your attitude hasn’t received any support here and your blustering about with what amounts to sesquipedalian vocabulary taken out of context and thrown about just for effect is droll, to say the least. In fact, it smacks of elitism and you should be aware of what disregard that pitard has in today’s milieu lest you be hoist upon it yourself.
Big words are no substitute for erudition, in case you were digging for your dictionary.
Here endeth the lesson except to say, you sure are laughable. I now flush you into the sewer to which you belong.
ExpressoBold on September 7, 2009 at 2:46 PM
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Mr_Magoo on September 7, 2009 at 2:48 PM
Ol’ Norman got mighty quiet, after we started smacking him with logic.
massrighty on September 7, 2009 at 2:51 PM
There you go again, “presuming to tell anyone what to do or where to do it.”
Mr_Magoo on September 7, 2009 at 2:51 PM
Nice work again, Doctor.
I just finished researching the origin of the “Lazy Susan” for my blog. Many credit its invention to the Oneida Community in upstate New York (near Syracuse).
That 19th century communal peace and love society disintegrated–becoming a capitalist community and making better mousetraps!
barrypopik on September 7, 2009 at 2:53 PM
Well, I really don’t see where any government has initiated a human rights issue unless “the people” have brought it to there attention. Which is why, human rights is ignored in “fear societies.” Governments can freely ignore human rights issues because no one is allowed to speak up. God knows I’m not the brightest bulb in the ocean, but it seems fairly academic to me even with my short attention span of 10 seconds.
Mr_Magoo on September 7, 2009 at 2:55 PM
Huh?
Mr_Magoo on September 7, 2009 at 3:01 PM
Norman’s problem (besides not knowing how to argue effectively) is that he sees “Government” as some sort of living entity, capable of acting under it’s own direction, apparently.
So, one day, the Government decided to end slavery? And acted on that decision?
You, I and others know; that’s not how it works.
massrighty on September 7, 2009 at 3:09 PM
While I too struggle with expressing myself pithily, and must ruthlessly edit my work down to keep it readable, it appears to me that the discussion of how long this post is has exceeded the length of the post itself.
The Monster on September 7, 2009 at 3:13 PM
There’s something wrong here. This comment was made in response ot DZ’s
How do you explain “the existence of slavery, child labor and the oppression of women and minorities” in a democratic society like that of ancient Greece. Democracy was abandoned there and the Roman Republic offered the best alternative to GOVERNING. CAPITALISM is an economic system. It exists under monarchies, religiously ruled societies, like Islamic states, and authoritarian societies like “one child” China.
Rights obtained from CAPITALISM include the right to private property, the right to transfer that property (now extended to intellectual property), and right to keep the gain from the use of the property.
I see no people risking their lives to cross the Caribbean to get TO socialist Cuba on a raft or a tire tube but plenty coming our way from the Cuban island of Castro’s hegemonic homeland. What can people own in Cuba?
Question: did Obama take a page from H. Chavez in his effort to nationalize the two auto companies? Chavez nationalized corporately owned oil companies to serve the state, more specifically, the objectives of Chavez. What did Chavez pay for these oil companies? Nada. Zip. Nothing. Government takes away rights, does not grant them.
ExpressoBold on September 7, 2009 at 3:16 PM
I’ll probably be accused of being syncophantic, Doctor Zero, but here’s my chance to use a different kind of “Eff word.”
Write what you want.
Eff ‘em if they don’t like it.
massrighty on September 7, 2009 at 3:16 PM
I agree completely! I always find a lot to consider and think about after reading Doctor Zero’s posts. Top shelf!
ExpressoBold on September 7, 2009 at 3:20 PM
The Coca-Cola company has no police force to arrest me for drinking Pepsi. KFC does not get my money by threatening to imprison me if I eat Popeye’s or Church’s. Oklahoma Joe’s can’t fine me for eating Rosedale BBQ or Jack Stack. Leftists desperately want people to fail to appreciate this distinction, because they cannot push their agenda so long as we grasp it.
Underneath every “there ought to be a law” campaign is the reality that what is actually proposed is the threat that those who do not behave as the law demands will be compelled to give up some portion of their lives, liberties, and/or property, by armed state agents. So the question you have to ask yourself is “Am I willing to have people who won’t obey this command subjected to confiscation of property, incarceration, and beating or killing those who resist such encroachments upon their liberties?”
Put that way, how can anyone support Cap-n-tax(-n-tax-n-tax…) or ObamaScare?
The Monster on September 7, 2009 at 3:23 PM
Obama’s approach to the Auto Companies (which has been control, not really nationalization/seizure) is more in the model of facism than of Chavez-style socialism.
I’ll quote from Doctor Zero above, here:
Sounds exactly like the GM and Chrysler thing, no?
Plus, Obama did substantially whatever he wanted to with those companies (firing management, setting up deals that changed the ownership of the companies, etc..) all the while maintaining that he “didn’t want to” run the car companies.
If you haven’t yet – check out Jonah Goldberg’s “Liberal Facism.” He calls this kind of thing “Smiley Face” Facism.
massrighty on September 7, 2009 at 3:29 PM
Man are you thick. The Abolitionist movement did not free slaves nor bring social change on its own. It finally took the government (i.e., Lincoln and the new formed Republican party) to do it. And it was the government that finally brought an end to institutional racism. I even mentioned the Civil War and the 1964 Civil Rights Act and you still make an ass out of yourself.
The only thing you smacked me around with is your stupidity. I had to leave to get some fresh air. I’m not on the computer every minute like you and your ilk are.
Norman Blizter on September 7, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Thanks for reminding me!
My main point, that I wanted to emphasize, was that capitalism as an economic system can exist apart from a form of government. Expressing ideas in a pure form is quite different from practice.
Thus, “Capitalism is the exchange of goods and services between free men and women” expressed as an unencumbered idea, is an ideal but probably unreachable in practice – there must be some government regulation to maintain a fair market of resources and capital.
ExpressoBold on September 7, 2009 at 3:43 PM
this and your ‘Marx enlightenment’ post are probably the two dumbest posts I’ve ever seen on the internet. Kudos, Norman.
Slavery was created and maintained by government; if you took the time to read a book, you’d know about the lengthy ‘Slave Codes’ of the Southern states, where the power of government was used to enforce this system. Slavery is a pre-capitalist proto-fascist remnant that survived into the 19th Century in the West because ruling elites controlled some state and British Caribbean governments.
Marx understood the inherent brutality of UNREGULATED capitalism and barely-regulated capitalism ( which existed in the early years of the Industrial Revolution ) but he was wrong in every aspect of his predictions and wrong about the role of the middle class–a group which he dismissed as tools of the rich.
There’s too much to contest here: Everything you say is Crap. Take a pill; read a book; think; clean the Scheiss out of your head…….
Janos Hunyadi on September 7, 2009 at 3:49 PM
“Industry becomes enslaved to political goals.” = Enviornmental Justice.
You can make it up as you go along…
… What could go wrong?
Excellent post, Doc!
Seven Percent Solution on September 7, 2009 at 3:51 PM
More mindless blather from an idiot. Who owned the slaves: the government or the plantation owners?
What other country had a civil war to abolish slavery?
Norman Blizter on September 7, 2009 at 4:37 PM
BTW, the mindless blather from an idiot is you Janos.
Norman Blizter on September 7, 2009 at 4:37 PM
Wonderful work here, Doc. I appreciate your quality as well as your quantity. HotAir isn’t Twitter, after all. Stay with us, please, and continue your mission to educate, we aren’t all ingrates here!
Maquis on September 7, 2009 at 4:44 PM
Nice try, Norm. A Marxist like you knows that in a pre-capitalist system like the South, the government is a apparatus of the ruling class. You ‘argued’ that government came along AFTER slavery; my point was that government CREATED slavery because that institution suited the interests of the ruling elites in the Southern colonies.
They tried indentured servitude, which worked in Britain to suit their need for cheap labor, but that failed miserably in the colonies. As a last resort, they turned to slavery.
Your odd rancid statements don’t make enough sense to refute–you apparently hink that’s a clever strategy, but you look ridiculous.
You’re in far over your head here: Your comments to DocZ are pigmy shouts to a far superior intellect.
Janos Hunyadi on September 7, 2009 at 5:50 PM
Thanks again for another thoughtful post. I am so glad that you are posting on hotair. You are providing a great service – education. I believe the best defense of our republic and individual liberty is a well informed populace. Your posts continue to inform and educate me so that I can better understand what is happening to our country.
frank58 on September 7, 2009 at 5:50 PM
So, now I’m “thick” and “stupid.”
Here it is, the troll trifecta.
You started with simple, mindless gainsaying – “Am Not/Are To” argument.
You went to “Oh, Yeah?”
And finally, with the namecalling, you’ve sunk to “Neener, Neener.”
No logic. No refutation, with citatations.
Nice job, skippy!
massrighty on September 7, 2009 at 6:40 PM
Then you are freakin’ illiterate.
I’ve rebutted all your points with questions you are unable to answer.I am intellectually light years ahead of you Janos.
As for DocZ, DocZ’s bullsh*t doesn’t address the fact that America had capitalism and slaves, and that capitalism didn’t free them or stop discrimination, government did!
Norman Blizter on September 7, 2009 at 9:03 PM
You claim superiority, without proofs.
We demolish you, with facts and logic.
You call names, and assert (again, without proofs,) that you are superior.
You’re too lazy to even bring a knife to a gunfight.
Off you go now; this here’s the big leagues.
massrighty on September 7, 2009 at 9:13 PM
In case any of you were wondering: no, this guy is not some sock puppet I created just to make myself look good. There really are people like this in the world.
You’ve got a compelling argument there, Comrade Blitzer. Because governments played a role in abolishing slavery, we owe fascist and totalitarian governments unquestioning loyalty forever? And you even threw in some cuss words with the good parts asterisked out. That always makes you look like less of a moron.
You know those virtuous governments you keep prattling on about? None of them were fascist, totalitarian, or communist governments.
And while we’re on that subject, let me remind you of one other evil the American government defeated: communism. It held more slaves than any of the “capitalist” societies that haunt your fever dreams. It killed more people than any religious crusade, imperialist government, or fascist power. It died at the hands of the United States of America. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Now, why don’t you run along to your cell or einsatzgruppen or whatever you belong to, go back to hugging your copy of Das Kaptial and weeping for the glory days, and hope that maybe Van Jones will slip down the chimney like Santa Claus and sign your portrait of Chairman Mao? You’ve done your bit for the glorious revolution here today, and you served a very useful purpose for me as well. You’ve earned a little reward.
Doctor Zero on September 7, 2009 at 10:16 PM
Out of curiousity, doriangrey, after catching Comrade Blitzer’s act on this comment thread, do you still think my original post was too long? Fair enough if you do, but I don’t think any part of this argument is redundant, or unnecessary to make.
Doctor Zero on September 7, 2009 at 10:21 PM
What facts? I totally abolished your contention that slavery was ended by abolitionists alone. Other than that, you’ve provided nothing.
You’ve been schooled my boy. Now go home and get some sleep so you can be alert when watching President Obama’s speech.
That goes for you too, Doctor Zero.
Norman Blizter on September 7, 2009 at 10:32 PM
I was wondering if that guy could possibly be real. How could anyone be truly that ignorant of actual history? And worship the greedy rich capitalist pig Michael Moore as the Oracle of Marx? Then again, has anyone checked if Obama’s been online for the last hour?
Good Lord, that’s a scary thought, isn’t it?
inmypajamas on September 7, 2009 at 10:48 PM
In your Mom’s basement, Norm, you ‘rebut’ arguments by asking questions–but not outside of the dank pit you dwell in ( figuratively and literally )
Your questions were non sequiturs, Norm, and you never actually rebutted anything I wrote. Capitalism began under feudalism and eroded it into insignificance; it existed under absolutist monarchies and aristocracies, also eroding their authority; capitalism continued on under several forms of democratic government structures, from elitist to the current welfare state bureaucracies.
Slavery has no causal relationship with slavery; until you comprehend that you’re still the Pygmy, dancing around the campfire with a rotting bone in your nose.
Slavery existed under Greek democracy and Roman republic and empires–and exists today in bits of Mother Africa under a weird blend of tribal-communal rule and militarized anarchy.
The gains in ‘freedoms’ you noted took place alongside capitalism–which again, to repeat, is an economic system compatible with many forms and structures of government–BUT NOT COMMUNAL TOTALITARIANISM like communism and…..fascism.
Capitalism doesn’t deny or negate personal freedom; on the contrary it strongly tends to create and maintain just those freedoms you say you’re so happy about.
You’re a mess, Norm: ignorant and excitable and poorly educated, with the typical Lefty simplistic views that fall apart as soon as they’re challenged.
=====
to you DocZ: il miglior fabbro
Janos Hunyadi on September 7, 2009 at 10:50 PM
I meant to write “slavery has no causal relationship with CAPITALISM” at the beginning of the 3rd paragraph of my Ode to Norm
Janos Hunyadi on September 7, 2009 at 10:52 PM
The fact that all the Dictatorships – I mean, Paradises – of the Proletariat that have followed dear old Marx’s grand ideas have had to put up fences with guards and dogs to keep all the happy, lucky enlightened souls from running away should be enough fact for anyone but the most delusional.
inmypajamas on September 7, 2009 at 10:56 PM
What freedoms for Blacks and women were created by capitalism?
Au contraire, the stupidity of the Right Wing is illuminated with your long winded posts and by my short but witty replies.
Norman Blizter on September 7, 2009 at 11:11 PM
Witty Norm, the self-bloated child. You have the attention span of an ADD teenager, so more than two sentences disorients you.
One last time, Norm: Capitalism and the marketplace provide choices; choices provide opportunity ( to succeed or fail ); opportunity erodes the power and authority of ruling elites.
Most of all, capitalism creates a middle class: It did that in the 13th Century to dislodge feudalism, and it was capitalism which created the 19th Century middle class that Marx somehow totally overlooked.
Were those paragraph too long for you, Norm? The words too long? Did the ideas perplex you?
Poor Norm……….
Freedoms for Blacks and women ( and everyone else ) come from several sources, including political action and having ruling parties in democracies adopt those freedoms as part of their platforms. Capitalism was the major force in creating the middle class where most of that political action took place, so capitalism should share the credit for the emergence of those freedoms.
Tinkers to Evers to Chance……..
Janos Hunyadi on September 7, 2009 at 11:38 PM
You don’t know what you are talking about. Just the reverse happened. The major forces at work like community organizations(e.g., unions) and government changed capitalism. That’s why we had the 1964 Civil Rights Act. People were being denied services and proper wages because of their race and gender.
Go to sleep Janos, your posts are just getting dumb and dumber.
Norman Blizter on September 8, 2009 at 12:06 AM
Would that it were true.
Jim Treacher on September 8, 2009 at 8:14 AM
…due to laws enacted by racist legislatures in the South. The railroads didn’t want to have separate cars for whites and blacks; they were quite willing to seat black passengers in whatever accomodations they wished to purchase. Segregating by race deprived them of the ability to maximize revenue.
Also note that the capitalist North defeated the feudal South in the war.
The Monster on September 8, 2009 at 8:36 AM
You know who else was big on the short and witty reply? Karl Marx. Reading Das Kapital is like browsing through a Twitter feed of pure enlightenment. Beneath all the empty bluster, childish insults, and dim-bulb defenses of totalitarianism, Comrade Blitzer channels the wit of that other noted Marx: Groucho.
By the way, Blitzie, the magic word today is “kulak.” Say the magic word, and a duck will come down from the top of the blog and give you a pile of worthless Communist propaganda, and the deed to a radioactive lighthouse.
…due to laws enacted by racist legislatures in the South.
An excellent point, although one that is likely to be drowned out by the Soviet anthem blaring through Comrade Blitzer’s head on endless loop. People like him rarely have the courage to put down Marx and pick up Thomas Sowell.
Even if we granted that governments had some crucial role to play in defeating slavery or racism, Comrade Blitzer’s defense of fascism is a weird non-sequitur. Fascist and communist governments played absolutely no role in these noble deeds – that is an indisputable historic fact. One of the noted features of such governments is the way slavery and racism flourish under them. The idea that we should embrace fascism to honor Abraham Lincoln would be a knee-slapper if it wasn’t such a disgusting insult.
Doctor Zero on September 8, 2009 at 8:58 AM
“The reverse”? None of your comments or questions make any sense. Norm. Noting you said ‘reverses’ my point: I said that one of the forces creating new rights ( and all entitlements ) was political action and democratic governments adopting ( co-opting ) the goals of political actors.
My point, which of course you ignored, is that capitalism was the major force in creating those groups. As as economic system, capitalism can flourish under any sort of democracy as well as under aristocratic rule. The slave-ridden South was mostly pre-capitalist, and in those areas where industry flourished ( Birmingham, Alabama and Petersburg, Virginia ) slaves were few and the factories were filled mostly with white workers.
Nearly all slaves were owned by the top 20%, and that 20% bitterly resisted capitalism because they knew what capitalism would bring: the end of slavery.
Janos Hunyadi on September 8, 2009 at 10:43 AM
Dr. Z congrats for the fine article and shout out from Jonah G at The Corner.
clorensen on September 8, 2009 at 11:01 AM
Never made the connection before between that and Heinlein’s The Long Watch. Heinlein’s Dahlquist — who appears by name in other stories as an unquestionable hero — single-handedly prevents the formation of a “Dictatorship of the Air”.
Crawford on September 8, 2009 at 11:53 AM
Well, except that minor little idea that what you earn is yours, and the liberty to exchange it for the goods and services you want, rather than what some central bureaucracy says you want.
Do you own the minutes of your life or not? Capitalism says you do — collectivism say you don’t.
None of those are human rights. Equal treatment by private individuals is a nice-to-have; the minimum wage is, in fact, a form of price-fixing that actually harms low-skill workers.
Crawford on September 8, 2009 at 12:06 PM
from Mark Steyn’s website, Sept 6th 2009
It took the workers’ tribunes a while to catch on: Even today, when your average union leader issues his annual Labour Day address, you can tell at heart he still thinks it’s 1926 and Metropolis is just around the corner. But the intellectual left has been scrambling for decades to come up with explanations as to why, if everything’s so bad, everything’s so good: Noam Chomsky’s theory of media manipulation – “manufactured consent” – can stand for an entire school of philosophers who believe a subtler breed of capitalist overlords are maintaining the workers in some sort of fools’ illusion of content.
But, inevitably, this was only going to be an intermediate stage, given that the shimmering mirage seems to be holding up pretty well. The new received wisdom – forcefully articulated by, among others, Maude Barlow’s Council of Canadians at the laugh-a-minute Johannesburg “Earth Summit” – is that the masses themselves are the problem. The oppressed masses refuse to stay oppressed. If they were down in the basement chained to the great turbines, all would be well. But, instead, they insist on moving out of their tenements, getting homes with non-communal bathrooms, giving up the trolley car, putting a deposit down on a Honda Civic and driving to the mall. When it was just medieval dukes swanking about like that, things were fine: That was “sustainable” prosperity. But now, everyone wants in. And, once you do that, there goes the global neighbourhood.
Janos Hunyadi on September 8, 2009 at 3:17 PM
Good Lord. Obama has really resurrected the dinosaurs. It’s like Jurassic Park.
ddrintn on September 8, 2009 at 3:56 PM
My take is Doc’s ‘essays’ are to themselves an upperclass study on American Government.
Doc, you just keep up the good work. Some days I’m in the mood for brevity, some days not. Most of the time, when I start reading one of your pieces, I can’t stop.
Maybe, you should collect them and sell them online as the “Capitalist Papers”?
Blacksmith8 on September 9, 2009 at 8:44 AM
The money quote:
Thank you Doctor Zero.
Blacksmith8 on September 9, 2009 at 8:46 AM
-Ludwig von Mises
N. O'Brain on September 9, 2009 at 7:39 PM
-Benito Mussolini
N. O'Brain on September 9, 2009 at 7:42 PM