Mark Steyn: The sovereign individual

The Spectator (U.K.) ^ | 04/16/05 | Mark Steyn

[Pokey78]

Steyn ping!

[KateUTWS]

"the anachronistic Big Humanitarian lobby"

They're BIG allright.

Thanks Mr. Steyn, splendid analysis as usual.

[secret garden]

Thanks Pokey! This is another good one by Mark. I love all his references to the pompous Norwegian.

[1john2 3and4]

Thanks Poke mon. Steyn has vision. Genius, imo.

[ride the whirlwind]

Bump

[tman73]

Steyn ping

...nothing beats coffee n Steyn in the morning!
Thanks Pokey!!

[rdb3]

During last year’s Thatcher jubilee, in among the huzzahs, I received a striking number of letters from self-described Conservatives bemoaning the way that, thanks to Maggie, Britain no longer ‘made’ anything. That may be so, but it’s not thanks to Maggie so much as the two decades pre-Maggie. Permanence is the illusion of every age, and the trade-union colossi who traipsed in and out of No. 10 throughout the Seventies were too dazzled by their own unlikely eminence to consider what the world might look like the day after tomorrow.

WHAM! Steyn put this perfectly.

[Lurker]

Another gem by the inestimable Mr. Stein.

L

[Taliesan]

Steyn says more in a paragraph than most say in a year. THE BEST.

[An Old Marine]

Pure genius.

[Tax-chick]

... you must actively embrace ignorance to be as impervious to reality as Europe’s ruling class is. High welfare costs, low birthrates, high taxes, and zero appeal to the world’s dynamic, ever more mobile wealth-creating class is a recipe for societal meltdown. But, as long as there’s always someone else to look down on, your own descent is less obvious.

Sounds kind of like what NC's state government is doing to us, doesn't it?

[DCPatriot]

IMO, Mark Steyn should be protected in a germ-free bubble and have his own personal taster.

God Bless him and keep him safe.

[maica]

A powerful article.

I have often thought about comparisons of the experiences of people born in the late nineteenth centrury - and their witness to the blossoming of the post-horse economy - to our own age -where we are just beginning to learn the effects and power of instant electronic worldwide communication.

The consequences are not even imaginable yet, but they are inevitably on the way.

[Rummyfan]

For the purposes of comparison, the UN has far more cash swilling about, and its global network predates Dell’s by half a century; yet, when the tsunami hit, it took not four days but four weeks for its staff to establish a presence at Banda Aceh. Dell’s ‘coalition’ is pretty eclectic — capitalist, Eurostatist, Chinese Communist, Chinese Nationalist, Latin, Anglophone, Jewish, Muslim — yet it functions harmoniously. Meanwhile, all that that pompous Norwegian who heads up the UN humanitarian bureaucracy could do was give press conferences in New York hectoring the developed world for its ‘stinginess’, so every Western government promptly dipped into its taxpayers’ pockets and threw more money at the pompous Norwegian than he can ever usefully spend, and the only result will be that, when the next tsunami hits, it’ll take ’em even longer to get to the scene, but the pompous Norwegian will be able to give even more hectoring press conferences, perhaps with lavish visual aids.

BIG BUMP! A Steyn Grand Slam.

Would that the Senate Democrats would get it and stop worshipping the decrepit UN.

[Mother Mary]

"Eurinal".... that's a keeper.

[You Dirty Rats]

So, in the Guardian last week, Christian Aid took out the following advertisement: ‘It’s not called slavery nowadays. It’s called free trade.’ Yeah, sure. I’d love to email to India the CAT-scan of whichever Christian Aid wallah thought that would work, even as overheated rhetoric.

Steyn might also want to e-mail the CAT-scans of the protectionists on Free Republic who are trying to fight globalization with pitchforks. Battling free trade in 2005 is like trying to stop the internet.

[eureka!]

marking

[Mr. Jeeves]

China has been Canada’s single biggest source of immigrants — accounting for 16 per cent of new permanent residents — but this fellow was saying he reckoned pretty soon more Chinese would be leaving Canada than coming to it.

A fascinating turn of events. Maybe if Mexico ever gets the capitalist religion...?

[McGavin999]

This guy is brilliant! Another thing Canada needs to worry about is the middle east becoming prosperous. They complain about all the Muslim immigrants, but what happens when all those immigrants decide that things are better at home? The only ones who will stay are the bad guys. All the doctors (who are driving taxi cabs) the PHDs who are bagging groceries, etc. will move on back to their own countries. Of course, the mal-contents and the terrorists will remain there where they get free health care, welfare payments, and other government hand outs.