The Death of the American Idea (Mark Steyn)

NRO ^ | 10/10/2009 | Mark Steyn

[Drawsing]

1776 - "Live free or die!" 2008 - "We want Pie!"

A concise, pithy, and frightening summation.

[JusPasenThru]

I’m no noob or DU infiltrator, as you can see.

I’m late 50’s. The way I see it, all those hip youngsters just voted to give up a big chunk of their futures to pay for my entitlements.

I say we adopt a European lifestyle, retire early, live on the dole, and sit at a cafe and sip capuccinos all day.

And I’m supposed to feel bad about doing this?

/donning asbestos underwear

[Nonperson]

most of the beleaguered band of American capitalists do not warehouse their wealth in McDuck fashion. It's not a choice between hoarding and spreading, but a choice between who spreads it best: an individual free to make his own decisions about investment and spending, or Barney Frank.

And who knows where Barney's fingers have been!

[sarasota]

ping

[Twinkie]

The electorate has found that they can vote themselves largesse from the public coffers. The “representatives” have found out the same thing. Too bad it didn’t remain a republic very long.

[Twinkie]

Ugh. Nope, thanks. I’m no Onslow. - Now, I’ll work just barely enough to make a pittance and not have to pay taxes. I declare myself a citizen of The Kingdom of God.

[ChessExpert]

Here’s a quote that someone else posted on FreeRepublic. I saved it. It is pretty much along the same line as Steyn’s excellent article.

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years.

Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage.” - Sir Alex Fraser Tytler (1714-1778)

[A_perfect_lady]

I was trying to explain to a "friend" that the difference between a liberal and a conservative is this: a conservative sees a guy with a nice car and he might think, "I want one like his."

The liberal will think, "I want HIS."

[MrB]

“Live for Free Pie!”

[Bombshell]

How do we fight against the 20million+ illegals (plus their families)that will soon be given citizenship?

We are too outnumbered.

[liberalism is suicide]

Ignorance in action is a dangerous thing.

[Deo volente]

The Nanny Train may be picking up momentum, but it's soon going to run smack into a $70 trillion mountain of unfunded Social Security and Medicare liabilities.

The resulting crash will be absolutely dreadful.

[Cacique]

last November 4, was the last nail in the coffin that is America. We never exported our ideal to the rest of the world. Instead we imported every crappy idea from other lands.

[Ann Archy]

LOL! Gimme...Gimme....Gimme is INDEED what we have become.

[JasonC]

You are supposed to feel bad after it results in death and tyranny sweeping the globe.

[MaggieCarta]

Thanks for posting.

Ping for the Steyn list?

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Never mind Obama, it's John McCain. He encroached on our liberties with the constitutional abomination of McCain-Feingold. Well-meaning but without understanding, he proposed that the federal government buy up all these junk mortgages so that people would be able to stay in “their” homes. And this is the “center-right” candidate? It's hard for Republicans to hammer Obama as a socialist when their own party's nationalizing the banks and its presidential nominee is denouncing the private sector for putting profits before patriotism.

Steyn, as always, "gets" it.

[Teacher317]

How do we fight against the 20million+ illegals (plus their families)that will soon be given citizenship? We are too outnumbered.

A Russian immigrant with almost no experience living in a capitalist nation wrote a book that described with alarming accuracy everything that has happened, and is likely to happen in the Obama-Pelosi-Reid-Frank era.

Many FReepers nay-say the book because the author takes a swipe at religion, FYI. Just ignore them, bulldoze your way through the first 75 pages (a little confusing and boring, and there's 900 pages left), skip the 60-page soliloquy (not kidding, it's 60 pages, in small font), and skip the romance scenes, and the book is incredibly revealing. It's usually named among the most influential books in the history of print.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Does this book have a name, perhaps...? ;)

[NathanR]

Is this book “Atlas Shrugged”? It sounds like it.