From my earliest curiosities concerning politics, I had an overriding concern that I believed everyone shared: What is the social, political, and economic system that is consistent with human flourishing, justice, and morality? After a long intellectual struggle, the answer has become quite focused: Society tends to thrive under freedom -- economic, cultural and political freedom.
When I see countries that are slowly leaving inhumane despotism behind and embracing freedom, how can I but rejoice? In China, Indonesia, India and Latin America, where there was poverty, dictatorship and death, there is now rising prosperity, hope and life.
Strangely, the political left does not share this joy. They bad-mouth and disparage it. Reading over course curricula, journals, magazines and blogs, one finds a return to the same points again and again: The environment is being abused. There are too many cars. The population is rising too fast. The distribution of wealth is unequal. Traditions are being lost.
Some concerns have legitimacy, but others are absurd, such as about population. Why regret that more people are living longer through better medical care and nutrition? Why regret the loss of the coercive regime that mandated only one child per family? Why regret the presence of the greatest economic resource of all: namely, people? Mao Zedong slaughtered millions. "Capitalist" China is allowing millions to live....
The perverse consequence is that liberals and socialists regret prosperity and strain gnats to find flaws in social progress.
More here
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ELSEWHERE
Iraq in bed with Iran! "Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki-who spent years in Iran during his exile from the Saddam Hussein regime-made his first official visit to Iran Tuesday, September 12, 2006 -five years and a day after the cataclysmic jihad terrorist attacks of 9/11/01. Mr. al-Maliki was greeted warmly by Iranian President Ahmadinejad. The meeting reflected growing economic ties between Iraq's Shi'ite-led government and the Shi'ite theocracy of neighboring Iran. Last month Baghdad finalized deals for Tehran to provide it with gasoline, kerosene and cooking fuel amid a shortage in Iraq. Immediately prior to al-Maliki's visit, a separate Iraqi delegation discussed additional petroleum deals, including possible Iranian investment in Iraq's fuel sector. Accompanied by mutual expressions of "brotherhood", the two Shi'ite leaders-al-Maliki and Ahmadinejad-pledged continued cooperation."
The Pope gets it: "The Pope has hit out at Islam and its concept of holy war during one of the last public appearances of his six-day visit to his Bavarian homeland. The thinly veiled attack by Benedict XVI on extremist Islam's justification for suicide bombings and other forms of terrorism came in a complex theological lecture to staff and students at the University of Regensburg, where the former Joseph Ratzinger taught theology in the 1970s. Using the words "jihad" and "holy war" in his lecture, the Pope quoted criticisms of the Prophet Mohammed by a 14th-century Byzantine Christian emperor, Manuel II Paleologos, in a contemporary debate with a learned Persian. "The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the Pope said. "He said, I quote: 'Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."'
Australia says: "Speak English" "All new Australian citizens would have to pass English tests under a plan to be announced soon by the Howard Government within weeks. Thousands of migrants are refusing to take part in taxpayer-funded English courses each year and those applying for citizenship only need to show they understand the questions they are asked for citizenship to be granted. A decision on mandatory English tests for citizenship is to be announced soon by Andrew Robb, parliamentary secretary for immigration and multicultural affairs. "If these people want to reside here and take citizenship, they should have a functional grasp of English, that is why I have been canvassing the idea of a compulsory citizenship test with an English test component," Mr Robb told the Herald Sun. All new non-English speaking migrants would also be encouraged to have English lessons to help them integrate into Australian society. "We already have a compulsory test for skilled migrants"
Gas falls nearly 11 cents a gallon in a week: "The average U.S. retail price of gasoline fell by almost 11 cents last week to $2.62 a gallon -- the lowest it has been in more than five months. The federal Energy Information Administration said Monday that U.S. motorists paid $2.618 a gallon on average for regular grade last week, a decrease of 10.9 cents from the previous week."
AZ: Judge won't block voter ID law: "A federal judge on Monday refused to block a law that requires Arizona voters to present identification before casting a ballot. U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver's order came a day before Tuesday's primary, the first statewide election for which voters will be required to show identification. The law has already been used in some municipal elections. The 2004 law requires that voters at polling places produce government-issued picture ID or two pieces of other non-photo identification specified by the law. It also requires proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Parts of the law were aimed chiefly at illegal immigrants."
5 lessons from the first 5 years of war -- from Newt Gingrich: "Five years after 9/11, the thing we have most to be grateful for is the fact that we have not suffered another terrorist attack. This is largely because of the courage and determination of one man, President George W. Bush. Faced with the deliberate and horrific attacks on 9/11, President Bush instinctively understood that this was a war. He demonstrated his courage by taking that war to al Qaeda to protect the American people. That decision was the decisive break with the terrorism-as-a-criminal-act strategy and in direct contrast to the terrorism-as-a-nuisance mindset held by many."
Jihad? Purloined pig meat spoils fundraiser: "A thief with a taste for pork put a damper on a fundraiser for scholarships by making off with nearly 350 pounds of porkburgers and hog dogs, police said. Cromwell Town Marshal Rich Snyder said the 300 pounds of porkburgers and 48 pounds of hot dogs were taken either late Saturday or early Sunday from the Cromwell Community Center's walk-in freezer in the town about 35 miles northwest of Fort Wayne. The theft was discovered Sunday morning when members of the Cromwell-Kimmell Lions Club went to pick up the meat. The group had planned to sell porkburgers and hot dogs Sunday at the Stone's Trace festival to raise money for scholarships for West Noble High School students. Snyder said an investigation is under way into the burglary."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC and AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
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