Live Free or Die ... Mark Steyn

Hillsdale College ^ | April 2009 | Mark Steyn

[who knows what evil?]

Former Governor John Sununu just stated on local radio that, for the first time in FORTY years; more people are moving AWAY from New Hampshire than are moving in. He blames it on the power grab by out of state radical Democrat/Progressives and the coward Governor John Lynch.

[Gemsbok]

‘Dutch Gay Humanist” = trifecta of Eurocool”

I love when he gets snarkey.

[Aquinasfan]

Mark Steyn didn't graduate from college. Neither did Rush Limbaugh.

There's a reason why the Left wants to force children into schools.

[Scotswife]

Mark Steyn is a hottie.

[kickonly88]

I received my Imprimus on Saturday,read it and then gave it to my neighbor to read. Excellent article by someone who is fast becoming one of my favorite commentators. Oh yeah, my neighbor loved the piece as well.

[Crolis]

I’ll have to check my mail for this. This is definitely one to keep and pass around.

[RoadTest]

“Outstanding piece by Mark!”

You said that right! I wanted to skip the article because my time is limited. I was drawn to it anyway and read most all of it in spite of myself.

GREAT EXPOSITION OF THE PROBLEM!

Best thing I’ve read since Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s article pointing out that America’s rule of law, instead of working, is being used to destroy us, and that law is not the way, but morality is, and we passed that by.

Indolence!

[Actually_in_Tokyo]

BBL

[narses]

+

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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment

Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”

[redhead]

"Mark Steyn is a hottie."

Yup, just thinkin' the same thing, myself...

[RJR_fan]

ping

[Tolik]

Mark Steyn:

... But forget the money, the deficit, the debt, the big numbers with the 12 zeroes on the end of them. So-called fiscal conservatives often miss the point. The problem isn't the cost. These programs would still be wrong even if Bill Gates wrote a check to cover them each month. They're wrong because they deform the relationship between the citizen and the state. Even if there were no financial consequences, the moral and even spiritual consequences would still be fatal. That's the stage where Europe is ...

... The story of the Western world since 1945 is that, invited to choose between freedom and government "security," large numbers of people vote to dump freedom every time — the freedom to make your own decisions about health care, education, property rights, and a ton of other stuff. It's ridiculous for grown men and women to say: I want to be able to choose from hundreds of cereals at the supermarket, thousands of movies from Netflix, millions of songs to play on my iPod — but I want the government to choose for me when it comes to my health care. A nation that demands the government take care of all the grown-up stuff is a nation turning into the world's wrinkliest adolescent, free only to choose its record collection.

And don't be too sure you'll get to choose your record collection in the end. That's Stage Three: When the populace has agreed to become wards of the state, it's a mere difference of degree to start regulating their thoughts. ...

... "Give people plenty and security, and they will fall into spiritual torpor," wrote Charles Murray in In Our Hands. "When life becomes an extended picnic, with nothing of importance to do, ideas of greatness become an irritant. Such is the nature of the Europe syndrome."

The key word here is "give." When the state "gives" you plenty — when it takes care of your health, takes cares of your kids, takes care of your elderly parents, takes care of every primary responsibility of adulthood — it's not surprising that the citizenry cease to function as adults: Life becomes a kind of extended adolescence — literally so for those Germans who've mastered the knack of staying in education till they're 34 and taking early retirement at 42. ...

Genteel decline can be very agreeable — initially: You still have terrific restaurants, beautiful buildings, a great opera house. And once the pressure's off it's nice to linger at the sidewalk table, have a second café au lait and a pain au chocolat, and watch the world go by. At the Munich Security Conference in February, President Sarkozy demanded of his fellow Continentals, "Does Europe want peace, or do we want to be left in peace?" To pose the question is to answer it. Alas, it only works for a generation or two. And it's hard to come up with a wake-up call for a society as dedicated as latterday Europe to the belief that life is about sleeping in.

... Conservatives often talk about "small government," which, in a sense, is framing the issue in leftist terms: they're for big government. But small government gives you big freedoms — and big government leaves you with very little freedom. The bailout and the stimulus and the budget and the trillion-dollar deficits are not merely massive transfers from the most dynamic and productive sector to the least dynamic and productive. When governments annex a huge chunk of the economy, they also annex a huge chunk of individual liberty. You fundamentally change the relationship between the citizen and the state into something closer to that of junkie and pusher — and you make it very difficult ever to change back. Americans face a choice: They can rediscover the animating principles of the American idea — of limited government, a self-reliant citizenry, and the opportunities to exploit your talents to the fullest — or they can join most of the rest of the Western world in terminal decline. To rekindle the spark of liberty once it dies is very difficult. The inertia, the ennui, the fatalism is more pathetic than the demographic decline and fiscal profligacy of the social democratic state, because it's subtler and less tangible. But once in a while it swims into very sharp focus. Here is the writer Oscar van den Boogaard from an interview with the Belgian paper De Standaard. Mr. van den Boogaard, a Dutch gay "humanist" (which is pretty much the trifecta of Eurocool), was reflecting on the accelerating Islamification of the Continent and concluding that the jig was up for the Europe he loved. "I am not a warrior, but who is?" he shrugged. "I have never learned to fight for my freedom. I was only good at enjoying it." In the famous Kubler-Ross five stages of grief, Mr. van den Boogard is past denial, anger, bargaining and depression, and has arrived at a kind of acceptance.

"I have never learned to fight for my freedom. I was only good at enjoying it." Sorry, doesn't work — not for long. Back in New Hampshire, General Stark knew that. Mr. van den Boogard's words are an epitaph for Europe. Whereas New Hampshire's motto — "Live free or die!" — is still the greatest rallying cry for this state or any other. About a year ago, there was a picture in the papers of Iranian students demonstrating in Tehran and waving placards. And what they'd written on those placards was: "Live free or die!" They understand the power of those words; so should we

Nailed It!
Moral Clarity BUMP !

This ping list is not author-specific for articles I'd like to share. Some for the perfect moral clarity, some for provocative thoughts; or simply interesting articles I'd hate to miss myself. (I don't have to agree with the author all 100% to feel the need to share an article.)

I will try not to abuse the ping list and not to annoy you too much, but on some days there is more of the good stuff that is worthy of attention.

You are welcome to browse the list of truly exceptional articles I pinged to lately. Updated on April 1, 2009.  on  my page.
You are welcome in or out, just freepmail me (and note which PING list you are talking about).

Besides this one, I keep 2 separate PING lists for my favorite authors Victor Davis Hanson and Orson Scott Card.  

[GOPJ]

The problem isn't the cost. These programs would still be wrong even if Bill Gates wrote a check to cover them each month. They're wrong because they deform the relationship between the citizen and the state. Even if there were no financial consequences, the moral and even spiritual consequences would still be fatal.

PING!

[sickoflibs]

RE :”Even if there were no financial consequences, the moral and even spiritual consequences would still be fatal.’

I agree with this 100%,it corrupts the soul. But “How to convince voters of this?” is the problem. Obama realized many Republican voters were not conservative/libertarians that believed this, instead they voted Republican because they saw democrats taking ‘their’ money and giving it to others(those other racial groups, the poor, deadbeat Dad's kids.) . Elected Republicans like GWB and others in turn gave them more programs for ‘their’ hard earned tax money. Obama and democrats co-opted this with “Republicans give to the rich, we will take care of you”.

I will add that trying to convince voters that the federal government rebuilding Iraq is good for national security , but rebuilding their schools etc is bad for the reasons above will always lead to Democrats winning elections. That is why few Republicans opposed spending under GWB.

[GOPJ]

To a penniless immigrant called Arnold Schwarzenegger, California was a land of plenty. Now Arnold is an immigrant of plenty in a penniless land...

Classic Steynism...

[knews_hound]

Pinging the Mark Steyn Ping List.

Welcome to the newest members of this ever expanding  list.



I must apologize for my tardiness in pinging the list.  I have been consumed by deadlines trying to get several projects completed and I have, I am sad to say, zero time for the internet.

I have reached a point where things have settled down a little and I will try to be more promt in the future to ensure you get your dose of Steyn.!

Previous articles from Steyn can be found here;

Mark Steyn: Fun with Dick and Nancy ( Cheney vs. Pelosi )

Pelosi's tortured press performance ... Mark Steyn

Live Free or Die ... Mark Steyn

Superheroes are starting to bug me

STEYN: Is conservatism over?

On or off the Mark Steyn Ping List (MSPL), please FReepmail me.

Cheers,

knewshound

knewshounds blog

[Lurker]

I hope you’re well my home brewing friend.

[TChris]

Fantastic. ...as always.

Steyn is a blessing.

[knews_hound]

Doing well but just too darn busy !

I suppose under the circumstances, I shouldn’t complain eh?

Cheers!

knewshound

[alrea]

Succession of a few states and a freedom alliance without bureaucracy might be the only way to save the spark.