Would we still be able to be a world power with a smaller government?
Ping. Thanks for the email!
Crybaby Alert! Crybaby Alert! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
It could be done. But there must be reform and cutbacks in the beaucracy, which is highly resistant to either.
Wow I don't think we have a thing to worry about do we?
I agree then government is bloated. The left too are Fascist.
Why is Asia Times posting this kind of cr*p?
The US was in far more danger of falling into fascism under clinton than under Bush. There were numerous signs of it.
Bush hasn't done much to undo the damage. But fascism is NOT a reflection of conservative values. It is a reflection of national socialism and greed for power.
I haven't noticed Ashcroft sending around any jack-booted thugs. Janet Reno did so frequently.
This is a description of today's RAT party, is it not?
Yawn.
Everybody now!
We are the world,
We are the children.
This article is about the best description of liberal
leftism and the Democrat Party I've seen in a while.
Absolute power? They had it for forty years, and it
has corrupted them ABSOLUTELY, and with no solving of
the problems of the "minorities" they have come to
parasite upon. Smaller government? Forty years of
Democrat rule has resulted in the biggest government
bureaucracy in the history of the world.
This is a rich solution. If YOU'RE the dirty party,
define yourself; then call it the opposite party.
http://www.brothersjudd.com/blog/archives/016896.html
I googled the author(He is a proponent of bike riding) and found this blog..with good comments on this diatribe!
snip
"Goebbels was attacking Roosevelt with the same fascistic language and imagery that Risemberg is using to condemn Bush. Who is the real fascist here, Bush or Risemberg?"
Posted by: at October 18, 2004 11:56 AM
It isn't the Republicans or any fictional Neocon Cabal who are shooting into opposition campaign headquarters, tearing placards from three-year-olds, systematically stealing opponents' signs and literature, and suppressing their opponents by shouting them down and threatening violence to shut down their films, it's the true American fascists, the Democrats.
Most of the expansion in US government since the 1790's has involved the creation and expansion of administrative agencies, most of which have their authority limited to the lands, waterways, activities and persons within the US. I think that most on this forum would agree that we could eliminate most of these acronymed bureaucracies, and certainly remain a world power.
This guy who says, "Beware those who would bring efficiency to government," sounds like a nut.
The appeal of fascism is, or course, my quick wit and sense of humor. Thanks for asking.
Like so many writers, Rosenberg fumbles throughout because he doesn't precisely identify the primary function of government.
The primary focus of government is to protect individual rights to life, property and free-association contracts.
Beware those who would bring efficiency to government. A government that's run like a business is a dictatorship.
Anchored to the primary purpose of government there is every reason to pursue government efficiency and nothing to fear. It becomes impossible for government to become a tyrant or dictatorship.
A Frenchmen one-hundred-fifty years ago wrote eloquently, hitting the mark with two-hundred words what Rosenberg bumbles through -- while missing the mark -- in a thousand.
"The oppressor no longer acts directly and with his own powers upon his victim. No, our conscience has become too sensitive for that. The tyrant and his victim are still present, but there is an intermediate person between them, which is the Government - that is, the Law itself. What can be better calculated to silence our scruples, and, which is perhaps better appreciated, to overcome all resistance? We all therefore, put in our claim, under some pretext or other, and apply to Government. We say to it, " I am dissatisfied at the proportion between my labor and my enjoyments. I should like, for the sake of restoring the desired equilibrium, to take a part of the possessions of others. But this would be dangerous. Could not you facilitate the thing for me? Could you not find me a good place? or check the industry of my competitors? or, perhaps, lend me gratuitously some capital which, you may take from its possessor? Could you not bring up my children at the public expense? or grant me some prizes? or secure me a competence when I have attained my fiftieth year? By this mean I shall gain my end with an easy conscience, for the law will have acted for me, and I shall have all the advantages of plunder, without its risk or its disgrace!" - Frederic Bastiat
This is but a snapshot of our country if Kerry is put into place as President
The Asia Times has alwasy been a bit left leaning. I'm sorry to see it's gone off the deep end.
Ahhh! The good old "fascism" boogieman! Where would the left be without it? Let's see: what was it the commies of East Germany said when they erected the Berlin Wall? Oh yes! It was too keep the fascist out! Nothing new here!
The REAL left-wing Trojan horse for fascism is the eco-Nazi religion - described as follows:
ECO–TOTALITARIANISM
“What has always made the state a hell on earth has been precisely that man has tried to make it his heaven.”
The cruelest and most oppressive regimes throughout history have merged manmade religion with the power of the state. The high priests of Judea, Annas and Caiaphas, were instrumental in manipulating Pontius Pilate, a Roman ruler, to accomplish the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In this century, communism and Nazism have been hallmarks of oppression and untold suffering. These governments used a pseudo–science to give a veneer of respectability to ideological beliefs and provide a ‘rational’ basis for their acceptance. The Nazis (National Socialists) claimed that the science of genetics proved the Aryan race to have superior abilities. The communists claimed that “scientific socialism” (Marxism–Leninism) would end poverty and exploitation of man by his fellow man. The state religion in each case offered an escape from the manufactured ‘enemy’ by establishing a counterfeit moral ideal upon which tyrannical actions could be based. This counterfeit moral basis conceals the real evil about to be committed. These historical examples recall the philosopher George Santayana's maxim, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Communism
The communists essentially said, “Poverty is bad. We are opposed to poverty and want to eliminate it. To do this, we must be given the power to violate your individual rights. We are practicing the moral ideal by helping others. Trust us.”
Nazism
The Nazis’ message was only slightly different. They said, “The destruction of Germany is bad. We are opposed to this destruction and wish to stop it. To do this, we must be given the power to violate your individual rights. We are practicing the moral ideal by helping others. Trust us.”
These state religions had common characteristics:
1. A position is taken that nobody will disagree with, i.e., poverty is bad or national destruction is bad. There is absolutely no political risk in taking these positions, they are uncontroversial and require no change in opinion by the people.
2. A solution to the uncontroversial problem is offered, if only the public will grant the group coming to power the authority to violate individual rights.
3. Each predicted some kind of apocalyptic scenario would occur if the people did not listen to them. The Nazis predicted that a wealthy Jewish elite would destroy the purity of the German race and nation. The communists said that the forces of American imperialism would overrun mother Russia. In each instance, these state religions fostered an intense hatred toward the perceived enemy of the state.
4. Each movement justifies the violation of individual rights on the morality of altruism, i.e., doing ‘good’ (as the state defines ‘good’) to others is the only standard for correct behavior. Contrast this with the standard for right behavior in Matthew 22:37–38, “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” Making ‘doing good’ to someone or something the only standard for correctness enabled these tyrannies, and the environmental party, to come to power. The people must be persuaded (via the media) to recognize this counterfeit moral ideal. If they do not, they may object to the intrusion of the state because of higher principles—for example, their Constitutional rights.
Altruism as a moral ideal means that you can deny the self–interest (individual rights) of yourself or of others in the name of ‘doing good.’ Thus, those who claim that they were harmed by the communists or the Nazis can be labeled as selfish and opposing the moral ideal (‘doing good’) of the state. The state can thus treat them without regard to their individual rights (as indeed they were). It is the motivation that must be ascertained. Service to others out of love and a genuine concern for human welfare is honorable. ‘Doing good’ to animals and plants at the expense of human welfare is devilish.
5. Each ideology resulted in millions of deaths and the enslavement of millions more (World War II, Stalinist purges, etc.)
These ideologies worked by using a bit of truth, a ‘good cause,’ to which is attached an evil and devilish ideology. This is similar to a worm on a hook. Those who swallowed the communist and Nazi ‘worm on a hook’ experienced great suffering and often death.
Environmentalism
Now compare the above description of communism and Nazism to environmentalism. The message of the environmental party is very similar: “Pollution is bad. We are opposed to pollution and want to eliminate it. To do this, we must be given the power to violate your individual rights. We are practicing the moral ideal by helping others. Trust us, we’ll do it right this time.”
The moral ideal of ‘doing good’ is now directed at animals, insects, trees, and plants rather than people. Under communism and Nazism they were directed at a specific group of people (the working class and the German race, respectively). The familiar apocalyptic predictions are now framed so that the entire biosphere is up for grabs, i.e., unless we adopt the socialist solutions proposed by the eco-religion the very future of the earth is ‘in the balance.’ The state–sponsored hatred used by the communist and Nazi regimes is now directed at all humans. For example, many members of the Green Church want to control human population by state coercion (as Communist China now practices). Environmentalism is an ideological sister to the tyrannies of Hitler and of communism. However, the human tragedy will be far worse if we allow the environmental party to reach its goal of control over the use of all natural resources.
The devil is an expert in using counterfeit causes to conceal his motives and actions. He routinely adapts his methods to the times and conditions to be most effective in drawing people away from the true God. The conditions found at various times in history have been exploited by the god of this world to set up ‘red,’ ‘brown,’ and ‘green’ tyrannies. Each tyranny also required a ‘sacred’ text that often launched it. Many consider the publication of Silent Spring in 1962 by Rachel Carson to be the birth of today’s environmental movement, with the Earth Day of 1970 its initial rise to power.
A similar comparison is made by the late Dr. Petr Beckmann, an immigrant to the United States from Czechoslovakia with first hand familiarity of the deception by which Marxism–Leninism was sold to the masses. The following account is from a visit he made to Russia and related in his newsletter Access to Energy in November 1991.
From Sept. 15 to 21 [1991], I was in St. Petersburg, Russia, to co–chair an international conference on non–Einsteinian space–time. I speak Russian with a thick foreign accent, but fluently, and spoke to many people, though mostly scientists. . . . Last time I was in Leningrad was in the summer of 1960, 31 years ago. . . .
I am interviewed by Smena (Shift), a newspaper for the young. It is “independent,” meaning without government subsidies, financed by shareholders, income mostly from advertising. The reporter is 17 years old, but highly intelligent. . . . He came to interview me about Einstein, but he does not know much physics, and talk about the journal I publish, Galilean Electrodynamics, turns to Access to Energy, which fascinates him. I explain about defending science against the Luddites, about the Greens and their real agenda.
“But what’s wrong with clean air and fresh water?” he objects.
“Nothing," I answer. “And what is wrong with world peace, brotherhood among the nations, and ending exploitation of man by his fellow man?”
He looks at me and now his jaw drops. Then I feel something click in this 17–year old brain. . . .
Now here's an article in need of a run through the "Liberalese" to "American English" translator!