Don’t Soul Out

(Over a loudspeaker) “Professor Smith, you’ve been brought to this college auditorium, not to deliver the lecture you’ve prepared, but to stand before the student body, your colleagues, alumni and the governing board to answer for your lack of unity with the people sitting in this room.

“Professor Smith, you would not be here if you were not guilty of something. We wouldn’t go after an innocent man. Face it. We know everything about you. But for every problem there is a solution, Professor Smith. I’m sure you can discover a solution!

“We are here to help you resolve the tension you now face. It’s up to you to explain yourself. If you confess you will be treated with respect.

“Professor Smith, we believe in the rule of many voices. One of your students, Mary, will read your crimes against the people in this auditorium. (Thunderous applause.)

(Mary, over the loudspeaker) “Professor Smith, you’ve liked tweets critical of coronavirus vaccines, gender-affirmation surgery and college diversity, equity and inclusion offices. (Loud Boos!)

“You’ve spoken in public forums against Critical Race Theory, diversity, equity and inclusion, environmental, social, and corporate governance, and LGBTQ+ books and drag shows in school libraries. (Loud Boos!)

“You’ve ridiculed the 1619 Project in opinion pieces. (Loud Boos!)

“On your Substack you have consistently denied that there is a climate change crisis. (Loud Boos!)

“You continue to question the validity of the 2020 election when speaking with your colleagues. (Loud Boos!)

“You are not one of us!” (The assembly, “NOT ONE OF US! NOT ONE OF US!”)

(Over the loudspeaker) “Thank you, student Mary. Now Smith, look at all those faces before you. Don’t you see that we are all in this together? Don’t you want unity?”

“I . . .I . . . I”

(Over the loudspeaker) “Every time you open your mouth, little man, nothing good comes out!”

(The assembly “SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! SHUT UP LITTLE MAN!”)

(Over the loudspeaker) “We are respectable people Smith, but you . . . you are a reactionary, an extremist and deplorable.

“Understand this Smith. Your position and privileges will be taken away unless you renounce your wrong thoughts and come around to the correct way of thinking. Confess your thoughtcrimes and you will be respectable. You want to be respectable, don’t you Smith?”

“I . . .I . . . I”

(The assembly “SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! SHUT UP LITTLE MAN!”)

(Over the loudspeaker) “Don’t you want to be respectable like doctors Collins and Fauci and like climate scientist Michael Mann?

“Don’t you want to be respectable like David French, Mike Pence, and Mitt Romney?

“Don’t you want to be respectable like everyone on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News? You could be respectable just like them. (Someone shouts “RESPECTABLE PEOPLE BUILD CONSESNSUS!)

“You hear that Smith? Why do you spread lies and toxic words that are contrary to what everyone here knows? (Loud Boos!) You want to fit in, don’t you Smith?”

“I’ve taught here over 40 years.”

(Over a loudspeaker) “Student Mary has told you that you do not fit in Smith. Let’s find out if you can.

“Do you accept that Joe Biden won the 2020 election?”

“There were irregularities.” (Loud Boos!)

(Over a loudspeaker) Do you still hold to the conspiracy theory that the election was stolen?

“Well . . . “

(The assembly “SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! SHUT UP LITTLE MAN!”)

(Over a loudspeaker) Let Smith answer.

“Molly Ball said . . .”

“Words, Smith, just words. Don’t you care about our democracy!Your words don’t protect our democracy! (The assembly “PROTECT OUR DEMOCRACY! “PROTECT OUR DEMOCRACY!)

“We have a surprise for you little man. Bring out Lousie.” (Thunderous applause.)

“My neighbor?”

(The crowd shouts “SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! SHUT UP LITTLE MAN!”)

(Over a loudspeaker) “Your neighbor Louise is respectable little man. She harbors no thoughtcrimes. Even better. She told us about conversations she had with your son.”

“My son? Louise? Why?”

(The assembly “SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! SHUT UP LITTLE MAN!”)

(Louise, from a dark corner of the platform) “Professor your heart is not in the right place. We want to save you from yourself. This is as much for your family’s sake as anyone else’s. (Thunderous applause.) You don’t want to lose everything for the sake of some odd reactionary ideas, do you?”

(Over a loudspeaker) “We have another surprise for you Smith. Sitting in the audience is your banker Mr. Barrows. He’s a respectable man. He wants to do business only with respectable people. Will you join us in being respectable Smith?

(How did it come to this? If I resist, I will lose my position and even my bank accounts. I will lose everything I’ve built up over the years. My reputation! –what will happen if I resist? But if I confess and renounce everything I believe to be true then I can live to fight another day. Just not today. But if I do that, I put my life into their hands. Do I give them power and authority over my life for me to be called “respectable”? What would I become? Are my words just words? Oh God, what should I do?)

~~~~~

Struggle session example #1 – disseminating wrongthink:

Thoughtcrime per Thought Police:

The 70-year-old university president, a molecular immunologist, made the mistake of liking tweets critical of coronavirus vaccines, gender-affirmation surgery and college diversity, equity and inclusion offices.

Thomas Jefferson University President Steps Down After Liking Tweets Critical of COVID Vaccines and Gender-Affirming Surgeries | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hoft

Critics told the newspaper that the president’s likes sent “an anti–public health message.” [President] Tykocinski, a molecular immunologist, also serves as dean of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College. (Emphasis mine.)

President apologizes for Twitter likes (insidehighered.com)

Renouncing “Thoughtcrime” with self-abasement:

Thomas Jefferson University president Mark Tykocinski has apologized after coming under fire for liking tweets critical of coronavirus vaccines, gender-confirmation surgery and college diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported last week.

Gutfeld: This college president got slammed for his Twitter likes – YouTube

Struggle session example #2 – lacking awareness of wrongthink:

Thoughtcrime per Thought Police:

“New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees said Wednesday during an interview with Yahoo Finance that he “will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country” 

Drew Brees facing intense criticism for comments on flag disrespect

Renouncing “Thoughtcrime” with self-abasement:

“In an attempt to talk about respect, unity, and solidarity centered around the American flag and the national anthem, I made comments that were insensitive and completely missed the mark on the issues we are facing right now as a country,” he said. “They lacked awareness and any type of compassion or empathy. Instead, those words have become divisive and hurtful and have misled people into believing that somehow I am an enemy. This could not be further from the truth, and is not an accurate reflection of my heart or my character.”

Drew Brees apologizes for “insensitive” comments on kneeling protests – CBS News

Drew Brees and the New “Struggle Sessions” | Opinion (newsweek.com)

Struggle session example #3 – disseminating wrongthink:

Thoughtcrime per Thought Police:

 “Special counsel Jack Smith revealed four felony charges against Trump on Tuesday, including three conspiracies and one count of obstructing or attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. Prosecutors allege Trump continued to peddle lies about the outcome of the 2020 election despite knowing that he lost.

“These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false,” the 45-page indictment read. “But the defendant repeatedly and widely disseminated them anyway—to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election.”

Donald Trump indicted: Jack Smith tests limits of First Amendment in Jan. 6 prosecution (msn.com)

Renouncing “wrong think” with self-abasement:

Prosecution offering Trump a plea deal that he agree not to run for president?

Not going to happen. And, per Constitution legal scholar Jonathon Turley:

“Trump followed the advice of a second, albeit smaller, set of lawyers who told him there was a basis for challenging the election.

“That is not a crime. It is, in my view, protected political speech. Presidents routinely lie on matters great and small. Many of those lies cost citizens dearly, from “keeping your doctor” under ObamaCare to losing your life in Vietnam. Criminalizing lies in campaigns because of the spread of disinformation or disorder is a slippery slope that vests unprecedented power in the Justice Department.”

How Donald Trump’s Indictment Could Backfire on Joe Biden – JONATHAN TURLEY

Struggle session example #4 – disseminating wrongthink:

Thoughtcrime per Thought Police:

“During a Sunday prayer, the priest asked God to “work a miracle and bring these great peoples together: Ukraine and Russia.” He also beseeched the Lord to make Russians and Ukrainians “stop exterminating and killing each other” and help them “build the kingdom of heaven here, on Earth” to eventually “ascend to the skies together.”

“These words did not sit well with local journalist Darya Sipigina, who was the first to publish videos from the sermon, along with a Facebook post in which she blasted Kurach’s words as “shocking.” “How is this even possible a year and a half [into the conflict]?” she asked in her post, while accusing the Uzhhorod Greek-Catholic Church of a lack of “respect for those who defend the Ukrainian land and die for it.”

Ukrainian activists force priest to apologize after call for peace — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

Renouncing “wrong think” with self-abasement:

“A call for peace between Russians and Ukrainians has landed a Ukrainian priest in hot water. Roman Kurach, who serves with the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, has had to apologize publicly after his words prompted an intervention by some Ukrainian journalists and sparked what the local media called a “massive scandal.””

~~~~~

Struggle sessions and re-education camps.

Is the following happening where you work? Are you told, under threat of dismissal, to believe lies? Are you forced to do DEI and CRT Training – told to believe harmful nonsense under threat of dismissal?

“Possibly the most insane example of a Clown World struggle session was that inflicted on the staff of Sandia National Laboratories, a contractor involved in constructing America’s arsenal of nuclear weapons.

“These workers were subjected to a struggle session in the guise of diversity training, during which the white males on the staff were made to apologise for their white privilege. They were also made to acknowledge a connection between white male culture and mass killings. This closely mirrors how educated people were made to apologize for all the ills of the world during the Maoist struggle sessions.”

Clown World Chronicles: What Is A ‘Struggle Session’? – VJMP (vjmpublishing.nz)

Leaked Docs Show US Gov Nuclear Facility Held ‘3-Day Reeducation Camps’ For White Men | The Daily Caller

~~~~~

The Red Violin – Struggle Session – YouTube

Need more information about struggle sessions and the joys of communism before it comes to your door?

Enemies of the People: The Ordeal of Intellectuals in China’s Great Cultural Revolution. By Anne F. Thurston. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987. xxiv, 323 pp. $19.95. | The Journal of Asian Studies | Cambridge Core

~~~~~

Mom, Who Comes From A Communist Country, DROPS THE MIC On School Board – YouTube

~~~~~

“One specific kind of public humiliation is what’s called “The Struggle Session.” It was a punishment reserved for people who committed wrong-think. The point was to publicly degrade the person until they swore allegiance to the Communist Party. Their focus is on the elimination of the power base and/or class position of enemy classes or groups. It was also a warning to everyone watching: If you don’t bend your knee to communism, you will be destroyed.”

Critical race theory: Struggle sessions – Glenn Beck

A Modern, Americanized Version of a Maoist Struggle Session (dailysignal.com)

Clown World Chronicles: What Is A ‘Struggle Session’? – VJMP (vjmpublishing.nz)

~~~~~

Struggle session in focus:

Mao’s formula for transforming society- unity, criticism, unity- underlies DEI, social emotional learning and more.

“They start from a desire for unity, and they are taught a contrived notion of right and wrong through criticism and struggle so that we can arrive at a new, contrived unity on a new, contrived basis. Everyone outside of the desire for unity is an enemy of the people.”
~Mao.

Mao, Criticism, and Unity – YouTube

Surviving a Modern Struggle Session – New Discourses

~~~~~

Surviving the struggle session.

“Richard Wurmbrand was imprisoned and tortured for 14 long years in a Communist Romanian prison. . .

“Not only did Richard undergo physical torture, but also brainwashing. According to Richard the brainwashing went like this, “Communism is good! Communism is good! Communism is good! Christianity is stupid! Christianity is stupid! Christianity is stupid! Give up! Give up! Give up!” For 17 hours a day, Rev. Richard went through this brainwashing with his faith intact.” 

Rev. Richard Wurmbrand: Voice for the Persecuted – Missions Box

Rev. Richard Wurmbrand, Voice of the Martyrs (nypress.com)

Tortured for Christ | Reverend Richard Wurmbrand – YouTube

Tortured for Christ (2018) | Full Movie | Emil Mandanac | Raluca Botez | Eduard Adam – YouTube

Tortured for Christ : Wurmbrand, Richard : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

~~~~~

Celebrity Bravely Criticizes Woke Activists Moments Before Apologizing To Them | Babylon Bee

Get Ready for the Struggle Session – WSJ

A New History of the Cultural Revolution, Reviewed | The New Yorker

Struggle sessions or denunciation rallies were violent public spectacles in Maoist China where people accused of being “class enemies” were publicly humiliated, accused, beaten and tortured by people with whom they were close. Usually conducted at the workplace, classrooms and auditoriums, “students were pitted against their teachers, friends and spouses were pressured to betray one another, [and] children were manipulated into exposing their parents”.

Struggle session – Wikipedia

At what point, exactly, does one risk one’s comfort, one’s career, one’s safety, and even one’s soul, for a matter of principle?

~~~~~

Remember the two years of the COVID struggle session? The globalist overlords and are planning another pandemic/struggle session. And the Biden regime is going to soon announce a climate emergency – another struggle session.

A struggle session uses fear (fear of isolation is used among other tactics) to tear down perceived systems of power, e.g., whiteness, maleness, Christianity, tradition, science, so that only ideology and those in power remain. Power, not truth, is sought after these days. For, it is believed that power can decide what is true.

Acton Institute: Bishop Robert Barron speaking on “The Philosophical Roots of Wokeism.”

“I will argue in my presentation that “wokeism” is a popularization of critical theory, a farrago of ideas coming out of the French and German academies in the mid-twentieth century. Until we understand its origins in the thinking of Adorno, Horkheimer, Derrida, Marcuse, and Foucault, we will not know how critically to engage this dangerous philosophy.”

The Philosophical Roots of Wokeism Bishop Robert Barron s

The Philosophical Roots of Wokeism | Acton Institute

~~~~~

The following quotes are from Hypocrite hector by Anthony Daniels | The New Criterion

A review of White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo & How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi.

“DiAngelo has apparently made a career of anti-racist struggle sessions in which ordinary employees of various organizations must confess publicly to their racism however hidden it might be, as university professors, primary school teachers, doctors working in slums, etc., had once in China to confess to bourgeois propensities and counter-revolutionary ideas. They may never have uttered a racist sentiment, they may never have been rude to a person of another race, let alone violent towards one, they may have friends of other races or even be married to a person of another race, but they carry racism deep within them like Original Sin, with this difference: there can be no redemption from it even after having read DiAngelo’s book and attended her struggle sessions.”

“One is reminded of the type of psychoanalysis which after thirty years of hourly sessions four times a week fails to get to the root of the analysand’s problem, let alone solve it, because it doesn’t even know what the problem is. But failure is also an opportunity, because, like psychoanalysis, the more anti-racist training fails, the more it is needed.” 

“By demonstrating how bad a person she is, DiAngelo demonstrates how good a person she is. A story that she relates towards the end of her book illustrates to perfection her self-satisfaction and moral grandiosity that masquerade as confession of sin.”

~~~~~

“Apart from the massacres, deaths and famines for which communism was responsible, the worst thing about the system was the official lying: that is to say the lying in which everyone was forced to take part, by repetition, assent or failure to contradict. I came to the conclusion that the purpose of propaganda in communist countries was not to persuade, much less to inform, but to humiliate and emasculate.”

― Anthony Daniels, The Wilder Shores Of Marx: Journeys In A Vanishing World

~~~~~

No struggle session here. They’ve gone straight to the slaughter. Coming to a neighborhood near you?

~~~~~~

Informed Dissent:

“In almost every death certificate that identifies a covid vaccine as a cause of death, the CDC committed data fraud by not assigning the ICD 10 code for vaccine side effects to the causes of death listed on the death certificate.”

CDC Altered Minnesota Death Certificates that List a Covid Vaccine as a Cause of Death ⋆ Brownstone Institute

MUST SEE VIDEO… Naomi Wolf: “We Know from the Pfizer Docs that it Murders Babies in the Womb” | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hoft

“Turns out that when people have tested the mRNA in the shots, there is mRNA there that is not supposed to be there!”

BOMBSHELL: Unknown contaminants in mRNA shots (substack.com)

Kids Almost Never Transmitted COVID In Schools; Major New Study Finds | ZeroHedge

Pfizer buckles under pressure during heated hearing, admits the unthinkable about the jab… – Revolver News

Vaccine Passports Aren’t About Vaccines: Interview with Alison McDowell (standforhealthfreedom.com)

From “Deadly Virus” to mild illness:

~~~~~

“The TIME article’s writer, Molly Ball, gleefully makes claims that a secret cabal joined forces across the country to stop Donald Trump from winning re-election, using methods such as manipulating legacy and social media coverage, getting elected officials to change election laws, and using a network of big business and union workers to manipulate voting machines, vote counts, and to push back against anyone questioning the integrity of the vote. (Emphasis mine.)

Is It All Unraveling After the TIME Magazine Secret Cabal Piece? – RedState

Molly Ball >>>>>The Secret Bipartisan Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election | Time

~~~~~

Coming to America:

“For peaceably assembling to petition his government for one day last year, Ristau says, he was threatened with the removal of his security clearance and government confiscation of his retirement nest egg, kids’ college funds, and other life savings. Ristau says he’s also experienced serious damage to his reputation, career, and friendships after the government used anti-terrorism measures against peaceful protesters.”

12ft | Pastor ‘Exiles’ Family To Kenya To Escape Canadian Persecution

~~~~~

Climate Change Struggle Session:

Biden will soon be declaring a “Climate Emergency” so the government can have its way with us.

THERE IS NO CLIMATE CRISIS.

Climate Emergency Declaration? Here Come Climate Lockdowns – Climate Change Roundtable #75 – The Heartland Institute

“Overwhelming Consensus” on Climate Change Crisis is “Manufactured,” Says Climate Scientist | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hᴏft

Turns out solar panels are actually killing the planet, and the ones made in China are the most “deadly”… – Revolver News

Why doesn’t Bill Gates fund Nuclear Power Plants?

And the propaganda to match:

THERE IS NO CLIMATE CRISIS. There is wealth redistribution based on the climate crisis scam.

Leftists/Globalists hate humans and human flourishing. They love degrowth and population control:

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:

He’s Been Faithful – Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir – YouTube

Par For My Course

For fifteen years I was one of three partners in a manufacturing business, a business that I helped start from scratch, a business that when I left had sales revenues close to twenty million dollars. 

 Before starting the company I met with two friends.  Each of them wanted to leave the company we were all working for.  The three of us knew that the company we were at would soon fold.  The owner had mismanaged the company into the ground, causing many to be fired.  Soon the owner would take the assets out of this failed company and go start another business.  We saw what was coming and so we decided it was time for us to set our sights higher and take care of our futures.

 In the failed company the three of us soon-to-be partners were the three people who knew how to make the equipment being sold.  And, though only one of us had a BS degree there were plenty years of experience between the other two partners. Each of us had met with customers and we knew manufacturing.  We didn’t know all there was to know about running a business but we did want to find out for ourselves. 

 My own experience developed from many years of electrical engineering and design in the manufacturing sector. Over time I managed groups of designers and electricians.  There were also many times when I was a welder, a fabricator, an electrician.  I taught myself how to use AutoCAD and Microstation CAD design software.  I taught myself how to program PLCs and computers.  I went to night school to learn accounting, economics and business.  I took math course, physics and welding. In order to commission equipment I traveled thousands of miles to customer sites across America, Mexico, Canada, and as far as Korea, Poland, Saudi Arabia and Brazil. I learned by applying myself to the task, by learning what I needed and simply by doing.

 After several after-hours discussions at a local bar the three of us decided which day we would leave the troubled company to start our own business.  Being integral to the functioning of the business our concurrent departures would mean that the company would rapidly fold. The company did close within a year.  We went off on our own with no nets beneath us and just our own will to make things happen.

 We began our business in a basement. We invested $3000.00 in start-up capital. We each claimed a share of equity in the new firm, incorporated as a Delaware corporation.

 Now I have to tell you, starting a business with nothing but sheer determination is not easy.  The risk of no immediate sales and therefore no paychecks for weeks and months is ever before you. With this in mind we began to solicit business by sending out business letters telling a broad spectrum of customers about our new venture. We even begged for business, often drastically discounting the sale just to get our foot in the door and to keep it there.

 While we advertised I also set up the computers and the accounting system using what I learned at night school.  I set up the accounts:  Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Assets, Revenue,  W-4s, etc.   

 Over time (almost a year after starting) we received our first purchase order.  I had developed a small position indicating device that could be readily used in the plastics industry to control plastic sheet gauge – a necessary requirement for thermoforming companies. We sold one and then two. I was then sent to California to install the later-to-be patented device. I had to make sure that our product did what we promised it would.  Once it was proven we invoiced our first receivable.

 We slowly gained sales momentum from customers who knew our reputations and knew of our capabilities.  We sometimes over sold ourselves just to get in the door.  There were many quiet anxious days along the way waiting for something bigger to break.  When things did start happening we rented a small industrial building and set up what little we had. As orders came in and invoices went out we were then able to buy computers, software, drafting tables, welders, paint equipment, hand tools and a truck with our company name.

We soon hired staff:  a fabricator. As business continued to grow over a time , a seeming eternity for us with our shoe string budget, we added more and more people.  When I left the company there was over fifty employees on the payroll.  This company, currently housed in a 325,000 sq. ft. building with large overhead cranes, is now doubling it size, building an expansion on the same site.

 The reason I left the business and cashed out was simply the fact that the work of starting a new business is a 24/7 job.  This intensive venture took a toll on me and my family.  There were many nights away from my family.  There were many intensive phone calls with clients.  As the Vice president of Engineering I spent many hours trouble shooting customer problems in person or over the phone from home.  I spent a lot of time interviewing people and then hiring and firing as needed.  I supervised design work and managed over a dozen people, all engineers. I was on call constantly.

 In the early days of our company I multitasked.  There were only three of us and one of us had to go on the road to do the cold calling.  I stayed with my other partner and we did what was needed.  As an order came in I would create the electrical schematics on a drafting board, I would then order the parts. I would receive the parts, sort out the paper work, input accounts payable, print out checks on a line printer and then send out the checks to vendors. I would assemble the large-scale equipment by hand:  I welded half-inch plates of carbon steel to create structural frames; I assembled control panels and wired the instrumentation.  I also spray painted the finished products.  Before that I would power up and test the equipment.  I was front office, plant, truck driver, assembler, engineer and tired but excited.  I was working for myself and creating growing equity.  My piece of the pie was growing.

 Until you’ve done something like start a business from scratch you would have no idea how intense, exhausting, scary and pleasurable it is to make your way in this world with just the work of your own hands.  But the excitement doesn’t stop there.

 As the company grows you hire people.  But it is a scary proposition.  You know you need more help but you don’t know where or when the next order is coming from.  You bite your nails and finally say “OK, we need someone. Place the ad.”

 When you hire someone and train them you’ve given them hope.  At the same time your own stomach is wrenching with the fear that someday you may have to lay that person off if business drops off.  It is all risk, calculated risk and that is what entrepreneurs do best:  find a venture and put themselves and their money at risk in order to create something successful and to gain a return on their investment – an investment of dollars and tons of sweat equity.  Obama knows nothing about what I talking about.

 Obama risks nothing.  He finds safety in numbers, in government. He is the child of safety nets. His absent father gave him no guidance whatsoever about business. It is apparent from Obama’s biographies that Obama learned to hate anything which might smack of colonialism.  And Obama has wrongly conflated capitalism with colonialism.   Obama’s only claim to success is his community organizing.  We can see now that his organizing is nothing more than organizing taxpayer money to the benefit of his political gain.

 No government built our business.  Government with its ever-present paper work and regulations was ever the impedance to growing our business and hiring more people.  Government now, in effect, hinders human flourishing. And I don’t have to tell you that Barrack Obama wants more government and less independent success.  You’ll have to ask him why he hates business and demonizes success.

 Sweat equity built our successful business not government.  And it was not Obama, not Elizabeth Warren, not roads and bridges, not the IRS, not organized labor and not the three thousand dollars of start-up capital back in 1988. We built it with our own hands while paying corporate taxes up to 30%! Obama can kiss my sweaty ass!

 Listen Obama (I know I am speaking to deaf ears) – There is no sweat equity in golfing.”

******

Running On Empty

No, I am not talking about Obama’s campaign war chest.  The “class warrior” who recently made a jab at Mitt Romney with a silver spoon reference regularly charges “regular folks $1000 for a handshake at fundraisers” (see the Sunday April 22, 2012 Chicago Tribune column by John Kass linked in blue below). Class warfare depends on the treasure of the rich in so many ways!

 From Kass’s Sunday Trib column, Obama Ladles Up Hot Bowls of Class Warfare:

And, Obama is of the people, so please forget that presidential media guru David Axelrod just dropped $1.7 million on a gorgeous Chicago condo.

In America, only snobs and fools look down upon someone born poor.  It’s un-American.  But if your father’s poverty isn’t your fault, then, why should your father’s wealth be a sin?

The opportunity to seek wealth is why our people (Kass is Greek) came here, why they left their villages overseas to ride in steerage, seasick, eating black bread and spooning out the stew with wooden spoons, just on the chance that their grandchildren might hold a silver spoon someday…

Romney, of course, took great umbrage at Obama’s silver spoon crack, saying it was aimed at his father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, a former president of American Motors.

“The president likes to attack fellow Americans,” said Romney on Fox News.  “He’s always looking for a scapegoat, particularly (those who) have been successful like my dad, and I’m not going to rise to that.”

I find both of them flawed.  Romney as the ring bearer for all that’s wrong with the corporatist Republican smothering of the conservative spirit, Obama as the keeper of the federal leviathan, feeding it as it grows larger, squeezing the life out of entrepreneurship.”

 There are two kinds of politicians:  those without personal wealth, and those with personal wealth.  Those with money don’t need politics to make more.  Those without money need friends as they climb the ladder of public service.”

Michelle Obama had such friends…

And the President had such friends.  One is named Tony Rezko.  He’s rotting in a federal prison, although it was Rezko and his wife who put together the strange deal that helped Barack and Michelle buy their dream house in Kenwood that they never seem to visit anymore.

In prison, Tony Rezko doesn’t use a silver spoon.  He uses a plastic fork.”

 Obama, via his constant “fair share” campaign speeches, relates opportunity directly to having money and not to liberty and self-determination.  How strange and how short-sighted this is. 

What Obama is really telling inner-city people is that they are not going to make it, they will not have opportunity until and unless they other people’s money in their pockets. This is “in your face” class warfare, blatant materialism and an obvious trashing of the human spirit.

Underlying Johnny-one-note-Obama’s fair share speeches is the same inane logic of the Left:  if someone has more that means that there must be less for you. But, life is not a zero-sum proposition.  Everyone can benefit from hard work and self-determination and not just those who already have done so and have earned money. 

It is those on the Left who spend all of their time trying to slice the current pie into exactly equal “fair share” pieces.  It is those on the Right who want to make a bigger pie so that everyone can have a big slice of it and can eat it in peace, free from the tyranny of big government.

 Obama’s implied message:  Forget contentment, you must have what others have or you are missing out, otherwise your treasure chest is empty.

 Now with White House silverware in hand, Obama spoons out the parasite-laden bread pudding of class warfare to those standing in the food lines willing to pay a $1000.00 a plate. He lectures to those anxious for any crumbs that may fall from the table of the Dear Leader and to those of the liberal media anxiously waiting another feeding frenzy.

I ask God for my daily bread and He provides.

Minimum Wage Or The Price We Pay For Stupid

I have noticed a definite pattern emerging ever since before the 2008 election of BHO:  many voters have given up thinking and have decided to vote for the popular shills of humanism, otherwise known as the educated elite.

 BHO, the POTUS, is surrounded by Harvard grads, each of whom has been steeped in liberal mores taught by educators who have risen to the level of their incompetence (the Peter Principle).  I like what Tomas Sowell, economist, said about these professors:

 “Too often what are called “educated” people are simply people who have been sheltered from reality for years in ivy-covered buildings.  Those whose whole careers have been spent in ivy-covered buildings, insulated by tenure, can remain adolescents on into their golden retirement years.”[1]

And, Walter E. Williams:

“People who denounce the free market and voluntary exchange, and are for control and coercion, believe they have more intelligence and superior wisdom to the masses. What’s more, they believe they’ve been ordained to forcibly impose that wisdom on the rest of us. Of course, they have what they consider good reasons for doing so, but every tyrant that has ever existed has had what he believed were good reasons for restricting the liberty of others.”

In my estimation the American voter, though often degreed, has become less educated and intellectually apathetic. This voter has become a stage-one thinker – someone who finds some humanist value in a policy, votes for the person promoting it and doesn’t want to think any further about it, believing that they have done their good deed for the day.  Yet, the policy does not operate in isolation and, typically, havoc and damage control ensues when the policy is implemented. Our nation is left ever more crippled.  The Minimum Wage Law (MWL) is one prime example of this stage one thinking implemented and voted for by people who let others do their thinking.

Thomas Sowell in his excellent book the Thomas Sowell Reader, a compendium of his many newspaper articles and essays, wrote an article titled Minimum Wage Laws. Here are some of his thoughts from that article to ponder deeply before the next election:

 “By the simplest and most basic economics, a price artificially raised tends to cause more to be supplied and less to be demanded than when process are left to be determined by supply and demand in a free market.”[2]

 “The unemployed are made idle by wage rates artificially set above the level of their productivity.  Those who are idled in their youth are of course delayed in acquiring the job skills and experience which could make them more productive – therefore higher earner – later on.”[3]

 “Although most industrial societies have minimum wage laws, not all do.  Switzerland and Hong Kong have been among the exceptions – and both have had very low unemployment rates.”[4]

 “Higher costs for a given quantity and quality of labor tend to produce less employment, just as higher prices for other things tend to produce fewer sales. Moreover, higher costs in the form of mandated benefits have the same economic effect as higher costs in the form of minimum wage laws.  The explicit minimum wage rate understates the labor costs imposed by European governments, which also mandates various employer contributions to pension plans and health benefits, among other things.  Europe’s unemployment rates shot up when such government-mandated benefits to be for by employers grew sharply during the 1980 and 1990s.”[5]

 Average hourly compensation in Europe of manufacturing employees in the European Union countries in general is higher than in the United States or Japan.  So is unemployment.”[6]

 “Labor unions also benefit from minimum wage laws, are among the strongest proponents of such laws, even though their members typically make much more than minimum wage rate.”[7]

 “Just as businesses seek to have government impose tariffs on imported goods that compete with their products, so labor unions use minimum wage laws as tariffs to force up the price of non-union labor that competes with their members for jobs.”[8]

 “…when all is said and done, most empirical studies indicate that minimum wage laws reduce employment in general, and especially the employment of younger less skilled, and minority workers.”[9] (emphasis mine)

Thomas Sowell’s article is chock full of empirical information and common sense economics.  I could continue to quote many of his insightful words.  I’ll provide one more series of quotes about minorities and the implementation of MWLs the past century:

 “Again, it is necessary to note how price is a factor even in racial discrimination…It was only after a series of minimum wage escalations began that black male teenage unemployment not only skyrocketed but became more than double the unemployment rates among white male teenagers.[10] (emphasis mine)

 Stage-one voting creates unemployment.  Obama, the educated One, Jesse Jackson and the Congressional Black Caucus should know the facts.   But in ignoring the economic data they choose “navel-gazing, hand-wringing or self-dramatization” to preach a Liberal Utopia that will never arrive on this earth. MWLs produce the opposite effect, in fact!

 Don’t ignore the data. Read. Understand. Think beyond stage-one.  Uncle Sam needs You more than ever.

Again, Thomas Sowell:

 “People who cannot be bothered to learn both sides of the issues should not bother to vote.”[11]

 


[1] Thomas Sowell, The Thomas Sowell Reader, p. 401

[2] Ibid., p. 108

[3] Ibid., p. 108

[4] Ibid., p. 109

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid., p.110

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid., p.111

[10] Ibid., p. 115 & 117

[11] Ibid., p.397

Note:  Mitt Romney has come out in favor of auto-increasing the MWL.  I am voting Newt Gingrich in the Illinois GOP primary.

Update:  In a 02/07/2012 RCP article regarding Mitt Romney’s faux conservatism, Thomas Sowell said:

“Nor are such consequences of minimum wage laws peculiar to blacks or to the United States. In Western European countries whose social policies liberals consider more “advanced” than our own, including more generous minimum wage laws and other employer-mandated benefits, it has been common in even prosperous years for unemployment rates among young people to be 20 percent or higher.

The economic reason is not complicated. When you set minimum wage levels higher than many inexperienced young people are worth, they don’t get hired. It is not rocket science.

Milton Friedman explained all this, half a century ago, in his popular little book for non-economists, “Capitalism and Freedom.” So have many other people. If a presidential candidate who calls himself “conservative” has still not heard of these facts, that simply shows that you can call yourself anything you want to. “

Thoughts from Uncle Miltie:

The SuperPacked Candidate Will Stop Dragging My Heart Around

While the talking and tweeting heads split hairs over differences in GOP candidates I thought I might throw together the perfect Amalgamated Candidate, a conservative lingua franca Candidate made up of the salutary features of the current nominee field and a personally favored write-in.  The Amalgamated Candidate, synthesized with the DNA of Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan, categorically rejects Obamic progressivism, Carter Malaise-ism, Soros Europeanization-ism, the Left’s Holier-than-thou-ism, etc. and has…

 …the looks and hair of Mitt Romney (this Mad Men ad model coupled with George W. Bush–ian business experience are the “electabilty factors so desirable to a Washington insider and puppeteer like Karl Rove);

 …Newt Gingrich’s intellectual prowess, his track record which is proven and his savvy in the political realm;

 …Rick Santorum’s heart for family values;

 …Jon Huntsman’s knowledge of the Chinese born of his ambassadorship and his ability to speak Chinese;

 …Ron Paul’s unequivocal passion for the Constitution and for smaller unobtrusive government;

 …Rick Perry’s devotion to God and to civic duty.

 All of the above embodied with Sarah Palin’s moxy and love for America.

Am I missing anyone/anything?