Sunday, May 8, 2016

The Undoing of America

In my 8/2/12 post ("Why I Am No Longer a Democrat") I discussed how the left wanted to destroy Chick-Fil-A after the owner expressed his personal view that marriage should be defined as being between a man and a woman. Mayors and city council members from across the country (Boston, D.C., Chicago and San Francisco) expressed their desire to keep Chick-Fil-A from doing business in their cities.

Now, with Chick-Fil-A having opened in New York City, the socialist mayor there piled on. Said Mayor Bill de Blasio: "I'm certainly not going to patronize them (Chick-Fil-A) and I wouldn't urge any other New Yorker to patronize them." Added City Councilman Daniel Dromm, Chick-Fil-A has a "message of hate." De Blasio: "What the ownership of Chick-Fil-A has said is wrong." Well, that's de Blasio's opinion. And while gay marriage is legal, I thought in America people are still entitled to their personal religious beliefs.

Perhaps de Blasio and the other critical mayors could open up a Department of Political Correctness. Then, before any business is granted a license to do business in the city they could ask questions. They could ask all the left-wing talking points. Do you believe in marriage equality? Do you believe in a woman's right to choose? Do you believe in open borders? Do you support the Palestinians, or Israel? And on and on.

Am I just kidding? Of course. But these mayors and city council members are not. How did they come to believe that in America either you agree with us or we don't want your business in our city? All the above-referenced mayors and council members are Democrats. They are elected officials who do not believe in our Constitution. They do not believe in freedom.

A group of state attorneys general have joined forces - calling themselves "AGs United for Clean Power." The AGs are from 15 states (California, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington State) and Washington, D.C. and the Virgin Islands. Not surprisingly, all are Democrats, except for the Virgin Islands A.G. who is an independent.

These AGs are looking into legal action against companies that deny climate change. Even the US AG, Loretta Lynch, is looking into it. Said New York AG Eric Schneiderman: "The bottom line is simple: climate change is real." So, not only must a business agree with the left-wing agenda, if they do not step in line they risk legal action. Will the AGs file civil actions, seeking nonetary damages? Will they criminally prosecute, seeking imprisonment of those who disagree? Or, will they set up "reprogramming camps" where offenders can be taught the error of their beliefs? Who is the main target? Exxon Mobil. The left is not only willing to upend our Constitution and have companies punished for speech on an issue that is NOT settled; they also want to entirely eliminate the fossil fuel industry. Hillary told us that she would put an end to the coal industry. Oil and gas will be next.

I have to say, I get rather annoyed when people give me the left-wing/mainstream media talking point about how "extreme" the Republican Party has become. You want extreme? It's all the above-mentioned Democrats with their totally un-American ideas. It's an open and avowed Socialist running for the highest office in the land - as a Democrat. And it's the idea that our founding governing document, the Constitution, is deemed too outdated, too racist, too sexist. Not only do many of my friends on the left not see what is coming their way, but by the time they do (if they ever do) it may be too late.

You Can Fool Many People All of the Time

Take Obamacare. We were going to insure tens of millions of more people - at no additional cost. Remember "if you like your insurance you can keep your insurance?" And "if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor?" Then we heard the truth when video surfaced of comments by Jonathan Gruber. Gruber was a main architect of the deceptively named Affordable Care Act.

Gruber told us that the ACA passed because of its lack of transparency, and because of the "stupidity of the American voter." Gruber also told us how to really control costs - deny treatment. Gruber: "The real substance of cost control is all about a single thing: telling patients they can't have something they want." But, "you can have whatever you want, you just have to pay for it."

Or take global warming/climate change. You know, "it's settled." Like science is ever supposed to be settled. The White House loved telling us "97% of scientists agree." Except, it's not true. A 10/8/15 article in the National Review referred to a 2012 survey of 1862 people in the climate field. The American Meteorological Society conducted the survey and found that 51% of those surveyed agreed that human activity is the main cause of global warming. That is hardly 97%. But 23% said there was insufficient data to reach a conclusion, and 11% concluded warming was equally from natural causes as from human activity.

The article also told of a 2015 survey of 1868 scientists in the climate field. 30% said that less than half of global warming since 1951 is attributable to human activity or is of unknown causes. 97% agree? Not hardly. Or, how about the 1975 Newsweek article describing the possible beginning of a mini ice-age. The article described "a drop of half a degree in average ground temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere between 1945 and 1968." Reference was also made to the "bitter winters (in) much of Europe and northern America between 1600 and 1900."

I was just asked why we Republicans have to make everything political, such as global warming. Really? Because it is political. Because many of those pushing the fear of global warming do, in fact, have an agenda. One professor at Cal State University, Northridge has an ebook entitled "Capitalism and Climate Change, the Science and Politics of Global Warming." The online introductory comments tell us that "the climate crisis is the greatest threat humanity has ever faced." But then we get the real agenda - the political agenda - "clear evidence and compelling arguments are presented to demonstrate the impossibility of adequately addressing the climate crisis within the framework of capitalism." How's that for a political take on global warming - it's all about getting rid of capitalism!

You see, for the left it's always about economics and politics. Gruber told us that we'd have to take money from the wealthier people to cover poorer people. Of course that is political - how do we redistribute goods and services in society? Some global warming advocates have openly told us that their goal is to redistribute wealth from wealthier countries to poorer countries. And the Cal State professor tells us we need to get rid of capitalism.

So, what's the latest? Ben Rhodes is the Deputy National Security Adviser in the Obama White House. In an interview with the New York Times, Rhodes said "we created an echo chamber." He explained that with regards to the Iran nuke deal, the Administration used/manipulated "experts" so that "they were saying things that validated what we had given them to say." We were also told that after a so-called moderate was elected President of Iran, Obama saw an opening that might make a deal possible. Except, it turns out that the negotiations actually began when the hardliner was still in office.

We know the mainstream media is overwhelmingly left-wing. As such, they have already been predisposed to simply write whatever the Obama Administration tells them. In addition, Rhodes tells us how easily he believes the press can be manipulated. "Most of the outlets are reporting on world events from Washington. The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. That's a sea change. They literally know nothing."

The real issue is not that Republicans make scientific issues political. Democrats clearly do the same. The real issue is how so many people accept whatever this President and this Administration tells them, even though time after time it has been shown that so many things that they told us were simply not true. As Obama, Gruber, Rhodes and the rest have figured out - you can fool many people all of the time.