While Obama took the Democrat Party further Leftward, Bernie Sanders succeeded in moving many party members towards Socialism. His latest proposal is not only to guarantee $15.00 an hour to everyone who works, and not only to guarantee healthcare for everyone, but to also provide a job for every American "who wants or needs one." The jobs will be in things like infrastructure, care giving, the environment and education. All worthy objectives, no doubt. But, does somebody have to pay for all this guaranteed stuff?
NJ Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat and likely presidential candidate in 2020, is proposing a "Federal Jobs Guarantee Development Act." Under his proposal, 15 areas in the country will be selected by the Department of Labor as a sort of test run. The jobs will guarantee payment of at least $15.00 per hour. Booker: "Creating an employment guarantee would give all Americans a shot at a day's work and, by introducing competition into the labor market, raise wages and improve benefits for all workers." Introducing competition? How is that? I can work for a private employer who will have certain expectations regarding my job performance, and may pay under $15.00 per hour, or I can get a guaranteed government job? If I cannot lose that government job, and I get $15.00 an hour even if I flake off...hmmm. I wonder which one many people at the lower end of the wage scale will choose.
My favorite line from one of the Left-wing progressives comes from Ro Khanna, a Congressman from California. Khanna: "The progressive wing of the party should not be afraid to lay out their vision of where do they want to take the country and what would an ideal society look like." An "ideal society." The very thought scares me - as it should all of us. How many times in history did some group or individual announce their "ideal society?" The Communists thought they had it, although a 100 million deaths later suggests most would not now consider it to have been ideal.
From a progressive Democrat entrepreneur comes the idea of guaranteeing a basic universal income - $1000.00 per month for every citizen between 18 and 64 years old. What's a couple trillion dollars a year between friends, anyway? Of course, a number of these progressives still want to see reparations paid, presumably to blacks. Would that be all blacks? Would it be to blacks who were slaves, as those people have long since passed on. Or to millions of the original slaves' descendants. If we are giving away trillions already, why not? But don't forget Native Americans.
Everyone needs to get on board with the proposal by the Democracy Alliance: "It's 2022 and we are celebrating policy victories across the nation: Medicare for All, Free College, and next on the agenda is Reparations." I think these people are leaving out "free" food and "free" housing. Oh yeah, "free" clothing too, please.
And to make sure that everyone is included and that absolutely no one is left out, we need to overhaul ICE. Brian Fallon, a Democratic consultant and former Clinton spokesperson, said this: "ICE operates as an unaccountable deportation force. Democrats running in 2020 should campaign on ending the agency in its current form." By all means, let's do away with ICE so we can make sure anyone in the world who wants all this free stuff can come and get it. I assume all those on board with these endless expenditures do not have any children who will be stuck with this monumental debt.
Sunday, April 29, 2018
The Culture Wars
Writing in the New Yorker Magazine, a Dan Piepenbring wrote an article entitled "Chick fil-A's creepy infiltration of New York City." Piepenbring: "Chick fil-A's arrival in New York City feels like an infiltration in no small part because of its pervasive Christian traditionalism." And, we are told that the company headquarters is "adorned with Bible verses and a statue of Jesus washing a disciple's feet." The horrors! I would be willing to bet that Mr. Piepenbring would never dare to express that Islam had a "creepy infiltration of New York City." No, the Left's attack on Christianity continues.
At he University of Southern California, one wall has a mural with these words: "Dismantle Whiteness and Misogyny on this campus." I will leave that one alone.
Penn State decided to eliminate their homecoming King and Queen. Instead, two students "regardless of their gender, gender identity, and/or gender expression" will be picked to be the "Guide State Forward Award" winners. Someone needs to tell the Royals in the U.K. about this. They still have a Queen, and in the not too distant future will have a King. The Queen is Elizabeth, a woman. The King will likely be William, a man. I know, the Left does not think there are men and women. An article in the USA Today discusses a study in which LGBT parents are coming up with parental names other than Mommy and Daddy. As the article states, the rationale is "undoing gender." Ironic that the Left says the Right ignores science. Are there not scientifically demonstrable differences between a "man" and a "woman"?
Fox reported on a new, yet to be distributed AP US History textbook entitled "By the People - A History of the United States." Here is a quote from the book: "Clinton supporters feared that the election had been determined by people who were afraid of a rapidly developing ethnic diversity of the country, discomfort with their candidate's gender, and nostalgia for an earlier time in the nation's history." Ethnic diversity is hardly the problem. Sure, there is tiny fringe group that hates anybody not like them.
However, the real problem is that the Democrats are mostly unaware that their party no longer consists of classical liberals. They are Leftists; and most could not tell you the difference. As for Clinton's gender, I heard the same nonsense about Obama not being able to win in 2008 because he was a black man. The Left, believing the worst of the American people - that they were racists - asserted that a black could never win. I would tell them that such a position was ridiculous. How about Clinton simply not being the right woman, and folding at the end of the campaign. That was the problem. If there was nostalgia, it was for a time when people had jobs - jobs which were lost under the Democratic Administration of Barack Obama.
Most of us have heard about the two black men arrested at a Philadelphia area Starbucks. Apparently, they were denied access to the restroom because they had not yet made a purchase. They indicated they were waiting for third man to arrive. The police were called and the men were arrested. A number of establishments have a similar policy about using a restroom prior to any purchase. I probably would have bought my coffee and then gone to the restroom. Nevertheless, the arrest of these two men seemed extreme, and if they refused to make a purchase even after the police arrived, the police could have simply asked them to leave. I am not aware if the police did so.
As a result of this incident, and apparent threats of a nationwide boycott, Starbucks will be closing all 8000 of its US stores on the afternoon of May 29 for the purpose of providing "racial-bias training." Participating in the training will be former AG Eric Holder, who referred to Americans as "essentially a nation of cowards" when it comes to matters of race. I have been in countless Starbucks in various locations. I have never witnessed any of the employees behave in anything but a polite manner. But when the Left threatens, the business world cowers. When the Left threatened Chick-fil-A with boycotts after the owner said he believed in the traditional definition of marriage, many Americans rallied around the company, helping sales soar.
To recap, in the culture wars we see an attack on Christianity, an attack on "whiteness," an attack on gender and science, the usual suggestion (a la Clinton) that the country is filled with racists and sexists, and the threat of Left-wing boycotts. Almost makes me nostalgic for a different time.
At he University of Southern California, one wall has a mural with these words: "Dismantle Whiteness and Misogyny on this campus." I will leave that one alone.
Penn State decided to eliminate their homecoming King and Queen. Instead, two students "regardless of their gender, gender identity, and/or gender expression" will be picked to be the "Guide State Forward Award" winners. Someone needs to tell the Royals in the U.K. about this. They still have a Queen, and in the not too distant future will have a King. The Queen is Elizabeth, a woman. The King will likely be William, a man. I know, the Left does not think there are men and women. An article in the USA Today discusses a study in which LGBT parents are coming up with parental names other than Mommy and Daddy. As the article states, the rationale is "undoing gender." Ironic that the Left says the Right ignores science. Are there not scientifically demonstrable differences between a "man" and a "woman"?
Fox reported on a new, yet to be distributed AP US History textbook entitled "By the People - A History of the United States." Here is a quote from the book: "Clinton supporters feared that the election had been determined by people who were afraid of a rapidly developing ethnic diversity of the country, discomfort with their candidate's gender, and nostalgia for an earlier time in the nation's history." Ethnic diversity is hardly the problem. Sure, there is tiny fringe group that hates anybody not like them.
However, the real problem is that the Democrats are mostly unaware that their party no longer consists of classical liberals. They are Leftists; and most could not tell you the difference. As for Clinton's gender, I heard the same nonsense about Obama not being able to win in 2008 because he was a black man. The Left, believing the worst of the American people - that they were racists - asserted that a black could never win. I would tell them that such a position was ridiculous. How about Clinton simply not being the right woman, and folding at the end of the campaign. That was the problem. If there was nostalgia, it was for a time when people had jobs - jobs which were lost under the Democratic Administration of Barack Obama.
Most of us have heard about the two black men arrested at a Philadelphia area Starbucks. Apparently, they were denied access to the restroom because they had not yet made a purchase. They indicated they were waiting for third man to arrive. The police were called and the men were arrested. A number of establishments have a similar policy about using a restroom prior to any purchase. I probably would have bought my coffee and then gone to the restroom. Nevertheless, the arrest of these two men seemed extreme, and if they refused to make a purchase even after the police arrived, the police could have simply asked them to leave. I am not aware if the police did so.
As a result of this incident, and apparent threats of a nationwide boycott, Starbucks will be closing all 8000 of its US stores on the afternoon of May 29 for the purpose of providing "racial-bias training." Participating in the training will be former AG Eric Holder, who referred to Americans as "essentially a nation of cowards" when it comes to matters of race. I have been in countless Starbucks in various locations. I have never witnessed any of the employees behave in anything but a polite manner. But when the Left threatens, the business world cowers. When the Left threatened Chick-fil-A with boycotts after the owner said he believed in the traditional definition of marriage, many Americans rallied around the company, helping sales soar.
To recap, in the culture wars we see an attack on Christianity, an attack on "whiteness," an attack on gender and science, the usual suggestion (a la Clinton) that the country is filled with racists and sexists, and the threat of Left-wing boycotts. Almost makes me nostalgic for a different time.
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