Obama Zombies Versus Countercultural Conservatives
College campuses have become the most intolerant environment for free speech in America over the last few decades, with conservative students, speakers, and ideas in the crosshairs of hostile leftist professors and administrators who use their resources to advance a radical political agenda while suppressing the opposition. For years this was treated as a problem that was isolated to the campus community, but during the 2008 presidential campaign, the country learned that this problem breached the campus wall without a single sandbag laid down to reinforce it. In Jason Mattera’s Obama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation, he demonstrates how comprehensively the Obama campaign hijacked an entire voter generation to win the election. The good news is that, by heeding Mattera’s advice, the Obama Zombies – and the country — can be saved.
In a hilarious but core-shaking manner, Jason outlines the strategy employed to convince — better, buy off — the “Millenials” to vote for the “cool” candidate. It had absolutely nothing to do with the issues and nothing to do with the candidates’ shadowy background, should-have-sunk-him associations, or thin experience. Young people were looking for a hero and a handout. They bought into promises “Their One” couldn’t possibly keep and didn’t much bother to think about how destructive to their own present liberty and future prosperity those false promises were in the first place.
As Mattera writes in Obama Zombies:
But perhaps one of the Team Obama’s best and most effective uses of rockers like Dave Matthews came in the form of a little something I like to call the “Dave Matthews Electoral Magnet” tactic. … As Clinton was speaking, B.H.O.’s minions began handing out free Dave Matthews tickets. You can imagine the viral marketing effect, with college kids burning up their texting keyboards and mad dialing on their iPhones to tell their soon-to-be-Zombified friends that, “Dude, Obama is hooking us up with free Dave Matthews tickets. Leave the Slick Willy speech and come get the free tickets, bro!”
What happened to John F. Kennedy’s “ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”? Instead college students showed the country that their blind allegiance could be bought for a measly concert ticket. The Millenials “sold their souls for rock ‘n roll.”
How retro.
This generation, of all voting blocs, should have been most skeptical of candidates that were going to make it harder for them to find a job after graduation, force them to pay more of their income in taxes, and not address the bankruptcy of the Social Security system. What of individualism? “It’s all about me” became “It’s all about B,” as mobs of fresh-faced, foul-mouthed post-Americans swarmed the polls, climbing over one another in a Pamplona bull-charge to surrender their liberty. For a logo. The same logo every other non-conformist imagined was his or her own.
Nominating a liberal candidate that look like a cadaver seems more like a ‘dive’ than a centerpiece of the “Republicans’ ‘Mistake Machine’”. It’s hard to call that a mistake, when it appears that the GOP tried to throw the election to the Ailinskyites.
Notice now, how that liberal candidate is playing ‘Mr. Conservative’ in the GOP primary in Arizona.
There is an old saying that, “A conservative is a liberal who has been mugged.” Regarding college students, “A conservative is liberal student from an expensive university who can’t find a job after graduation.” How’s that “Hope and Change” working out for you guys these days? That college degree worth all the money your parents paid for it? Hmmm, I’ll bet that under the economic policies adopted by this administration, people are just lining up on campuses to offer you a job, right? All glitter and no substance, that’s what Obama was and still is. Only now your generation is even deeper in debt and your generation will have constant unemployment and a high tax rate to look forward to for the rest of your lives. Elections DO matter, folks. So all of you out there between the ages of 18 and 29, you can still make a difference by supporting conservative candidates in 2010 and 2012 that may actually be able to clean this economic mess up. And please, let’s stop blaming Bush for everything. The economic policies of the socialist currently living in the White House makes Bush’s economic agenda look positively brilliant. So why not man up, as they say these days, and actually try to fix the damage that has already been done to the country? There is still time and a true conservative can still turn things around and improve the economy dramatically. It may seem like “ancient” history to you, but just ask anybody who lived under the Reagan administration whether or not it’s still possible to convert a horrible economy into a successful one. Believe it.
I always thought Dave Matthews was a putz, but then I have never been able to understand how musicians, actors and artists can live the opulent lifestyles their commercial success has earned and turn around and bash the free-market that provides their bread and butter. But to confuse young minds who are impressionable and unformed is pretty low. I work with an Ozombie and it is a sad sight to behold. There is no reasoning with someone who has been brainwashed.
Easy explanation. Actors and musicians spend their careers trying to please other people. This makes them some of the most insecure people imaginable as they are always seeking approval from others. Add to that gobs of money (which they feel guilty of having, therefore the support of government “do-gooding”), an isolated existence, and a tendency towards poor education, and you have the makings of dumb, rich, liberal guilt amplified by the megaphone of celebrity.
My wife has worked in the entertainment industry for years and I’ve met many. Monarch is right, they are people-pleasers who can be manipulated. Most singers/actors are also complete morons, so the manipulation is much easier
This generation is a sad state. They will never know the joy of self made success or failure!
Colleges do not teach responsibility or success anymore, now its all about sef aggrandizing and self esteem.
Let us hope we will have a great depression to reshape these youg minds back toward reality.
It seems that what is being called a “recession” for many in this country it really is a depression. I have been unemployed for a year and I can’t buy a job in my field, there is nothing going on. The company I worked for now only has about 30% of the workforce it had when I hired on, and repeated calls about updoming work are sent to voice mail and never a return call!
Very nice post. Better written at a young age than all but a handful of “old scholars” I read anymore. I will be setting your name to memory and expecting great things.
The irony with most parents today of my generation, who are aghast that their sweet high school students come home four years later as Romans, is that in sending their kids to Caesar, they should be surprised when four years later, the young men and women arrive home as Obama’s foot soldiers.
Most college professors are not concerned with teaching young minds filled with mush how to think. They are more interested in teaching young minds “what to think.” And in that regard, the “professors” have been very successful.
Great article! I will add one thing: DON’T BE AFRAID TO STAND UP FOR YOUR PRINCIPALS WHEN CHALLENGED! We live in a “co-dependent” society where people are afraid to offend. Don’t be afraid! Speak your mind clearly, unapologetically, and respectfully. Sometimes you may need to a bit rough. A case in point: I went into a coffee house wearing an anti-Che’ t-shirt (silly me) and a table of young 20-somethings (I’m 42) began telling me that I was “offensive” and “insensitive” for wearing such a shirt (talk about indoctrination). I calmly asked them if they were aware that Che’ personally ordered the execution of over 1600 fellow Cuban communist partisans and suppressed trade unionists. I received blank stares. One kid said, “well, I didn’t know that”. I had to get a bit tough with one young heavy set man when he remained unswayed and demanded that I “remove my shirt”, to which I responded, “why don’t you remove it fat boy?” He backed down instantly. The point here is not to promote violence, but to show that standing one’s ground, even in the face of intimidation, is more important now than ever.
Thank you for sharing your experience James. I live north of San Francisco. For over a year now, I have been driving around with a Ron Paul 2012 sticker (I made because I was fuming about the Stimulus bill that passed). Although I have never been confronted over my bumper sticker, I have gotten a lot of dirty looks and double takes. This is the way I figure it, you have to stand out and stand up – I think it gets people thinking (whether or not they agree with you). So congratulations on your brazenous – it’s a good thing for this country.
I doubt if Dave Matthews had much to do with Obama’s victory. The previous Republican administration had just driven the country over a cliff: it would have been rather surprising if their candidate had won.
The notion that evil college professors brainwash virtuous high school students is the zillionth example of right-wing projection. Conservatism of all kinds depends upon indoctrination as thoughtful conservatives have long acknowledged. Unsophisticated conservatives simply don’t want to think of it as indoctrination when it is conducted by churches and families. Meanwhile, the real problem with colleges and universities is not that some comp lit prof is going to corrupt little Eddie with decontructionism or whatever, but that little Eddie is going to encounter a whole bunch of ideas and is likely to be impressed with them, whether they involve Marx or Ayn Rand. When I used to teach Philosophy 101, the kids would decide they were Platonists, Cartesians, Humeans, Kantians, Utilitarians, or positivists depending on what part of the syllabus we were covering that week. What seems to threaten the conservatives one encounters in these parts, though certainly not all conservatives, is the prospect that the Chamber-of-Commerce lecture that passes for thought in your circles really isn’t very competitive in an arena where other options are allowed their say instead of being instantly vilified as anti-American or somehow supportive of Pol Pot.
Perhaps there is some measure of indoctrination in the modern conservative movement. But don’t fool yourself, liberal indoctrination is alive and well. The difference is that the modern liberal mindset is based in reactive emotional response. It is that which leads people to believe that government is inherently more trustworthy, efficient, and benevolent than the free market. It’s that thinking that leads people to believe that just because someone requires some kind of good or service, that it should be provided at the expense of others, without their consent. It is that thinking that leads one to believe that if we are the first to disarm, that more aggressive nations will follow suit.
The free-market thinker, however, must consider the realistic outcomes of such actions. He thinks logically to arrive at his conclusions. He concludes that societies and economies cannot be centrally planned. The free market thinker realizes that a distant Washington bureaucracy cannot possibly attend to all the needs of its citizens and must therefore be limited in scope, because he knows that too much power concentrated in one place leads to tyranny. He sees that well-intentioned government intervention in the market leads to higher prices, lower wages, and lessened competition.
What I see isn’t indoctrination. I see people waking up to the truth, that Washington has become too powerful, has unnecessarily confiscated too much wealth on wasteful things, willfully violates Constitutional Law, and interferes in vital commerce.
“The notion that…”…well now, who have I heard using that phrase so often…like everytime he speaks!
And then you continue…just like the master orator himself twisting words and false example to make a point…
So conservatism of “all types” depends on indoctrination…but little Eddie is just learning a “whole bunch of ideas” while at college…except if he stumbles into a Chamber-of-Commerce-type lecture where “other options” are “instantly vilified”…
Wow.
Just amazing in its “alinsky-inspired” simplicity….
I see your university education has done its job well on you.
Orit,
When leftist pretense is glaringly exposed, it is important to highlight as much. I give you that status quo residing on the college campus, liberals arts emeritus, with far leftist bent – the prototypical philosophy instructor. I tell you, I’m shocked!
As predictable in opinion as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.
And the perfect example of what little Eddie is spoon fed to the tune of $35K a year; unemployable as walking zombie in our midst singing hymns of “We are the ones…” and “Yes, We Can!”
Apparently you are in favor of intellectual openness so long as it doesn’t include Plato, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Mill, etc. I guess you have a rather short list of approved thinkers. Indeed, anybody who disagrees with you has a “far leftist bent.” Far left here apparently means something different than it does outside of a conservative ghetto like Pajamas Media. In these parts a garden-variety Democrat or, for that matter, an Eisenhower Republican probably counts as a leftist. They’re all out to get you, eh? Paranoia strikes deep. It’s not for nothing that conservatives are nervous around psychiatrists.
Heaven forbid that Eddie’s intellectual stimulation might come from Jesus, mom or dad…religious and traditional family bigot. CHECK
University moral platitudes and elitism. CHECK
Deluded mental health “expert” with delusions of grandeur. CHECK
Jim, as a professor, you should know that you make your strongest case when you take on your opponent’s strongest case, not his weakest. There are plenty of conservatives here who can match any progressive or liberal arts professor you can produce in terms of intellectual openness and the courage to wrestle with different ideas. The intellectual dissidents from my college years (1978-82) were all against the Left, and some of them have become famous for struggling against liberal orthodoxy. By contrast, the dullest and most intellectually conventional remained liberal to progressive, and some still identify themselves as socialists to this day.
But you give away the game when you talk about the indoctrination from families and churches. The dull, conventional progressive students had received every bit as much indoctrination from their families and churches and temples (that is, if they had any religious instruction at all). These progressive students were very poorly served by progressive professors who never challenged their thinking, but only reinforced their biases, prejudices, and preconceptions.
There are certainly well read, thoughtful conservatives. I don’t notice many of ‘em on this site, however. What one encounters instead is resentment on the part of people whose feeling have been hurt by what are often, but not always imagined slights. Where would the American right be without low self esteem?
Whether conservative, moderate, liberal, or radical, educated people treat religion with irony. That’s just a fact as I expect at least some of you know. The neocons are as atheistical as anybody else who has been paying attention, though many of them believe that superstition is socially useful. The thing about religion, which at a first approximation is the systematic promotion of obviously false propositions, is that it absolutely requires indoctrination in order to flourish. Unless the believers can be kept in an ideological vacuum bottle like Liberty University, they are going to notice that what they have been taught is simply hogwash if interpreted in any literal sense. Hence the hostility of cultural conservatives to open education.
Incidentally, I haven’t been a college professor for many years. I’ve been in business for many decades now
Feelings hurt? Don’t flatter yourself – I, for one, am laughing at your imagined self-importance. The perfect caricature of my first post. You fit it like a glove, from the atheistic nonsense, to your rhetoric, to your fragile ego.
And what business did your philosophy classes sweep you into professor? Bookstore, Starbucks, or “social justice” counselor.
Jim, perhaps it is for the best that you aren’t teaching anymore. It seems that for you the central sticking point is religion, which makes you a Culture Warrior of sorts. My recommendation is that you try a little tolerance for people’s religious beliefs. In particular, I advise you not to seek out religious people whose beliefs or behavior offend you. You’ll be happier and more productive.
‘Yes we can!’
Did anyone else notice that phrase is a tag line from a CHILDREN’S show?
Dave Matthews? Seriously?
Dave Matthews Band was playing clubs in Charlottesville when I was in college and that was 30 years ago. I was a fan during the eighties. Freaking over free Dave Matthews’ tickets in 2008 is roughly the equivalent of me losing it over free Sinatra tickets at a Reagan campaign event. Are these kids just a bunch of doofuses [doofi?]?
I was not so surprised by many of my so called “enlightened pepsi generation” attitude(s) toward the Obama nomination. We were so naive in the sixties and the seventies. By the twentyfirst century we were free loved out, one might say and burned out to the max. But young people, on both sides of the spectrum have such ferocious energy. Its refreshing and yet, quite scary at times. Im much older so I even get more frightended at some of the female leadership out there these days; you can almost see the hate in their eyes. There is little time for friendly, caring and nice these days. However, they are young and have that certain passion that older people lose, so good luck to the next Generation !
You are so brainwashed you think Osama Bin Laden is “religious”.
Bin Laden (Achmatjihad Iran) is a mercenary marketing director for various government own weapons manufacturers parading as a “religious person” which he, by “English” definition, could not be: no definition of “religious” could include flying planes into buildings…
You are so brain dead; you could not see Obama for what he was even with people screaming it at you!
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that you haven’t read the Koran, because if you did, you would understand that Islam is a death cult that teaches exactly what you believe no real religion could possibly teach.
I attend one of the UC campuses here in California. We basically don’t have conservative students because they simply know better. Students know who butters their bread and it isn’t the Republican Party or conservative ideology in particular. For instance, many students can now stay on their parents health care policy until 26, whereas the conservatives would have just let us all die if we got some tragic illness. That would be our tough luck they would say. Obama has also made education more affordable by centralizing the student loan origination process. Private entities, who have to turn a profit, will have to look elsewhere besides skimming off the backs of hard working students (many who have 2 and 3 jobs besides their studies!). These are tangibles that translate into money in our pocket. The conservative alternative takes it away. I vote for those who make my future brighter and more hopeful. Conservatism doesn’t offer that. It is an inherently negative ideology.
The problem for conservatives is that they keep trying to put lipstick of the same old pig. We have sarah Palin (speaking of lipstick on a pig) out there regurgitating the same old GOP swill. Young people don’t buy it. Essentially the conservatives have lost an entire generation. Electorally, as old white teabaggers die off, they are systematically replaced by a new demographic.
“many students can now stay on their parents health care policy until 26, whereas the conservatives would have just let us all die if we got some tragic illness.” Grow up and take responsibility for yourself, be an individual that can take care things on their own without being on mommy or daddy’s policy. You can get full coverage insurance for about $59 a month. The same price as four large pizzas, four twelve packs of beer, or a single night getting your groove on! You should be able to afford that flipping burgers if you weren’t so busy with the college binge drinking or spring break pot fest!
@Praetorian,
First off, Palin-bashing is old and by participating in it you reveal yourself as yet another media-addled, mindless robot who only adopts the popular viewpoint. Yes yes…Palin is a hick governor of a hick state. We didn’t seem to have a problem electing one to the Presidency in ’92 and ’96, did we? Then again, you were most likely in preschool at the time, so I won’t judge you too harshly.
Secondly, the idea that “conservatives would have just let us all die” is childish. Grow up. Should we all pay for your meals as well, your nourishment being a more pressing need than medical care? Did the bank force that evil student loan down your throat, or did you find it easier than actually earning the money for your education? Do you really think a distant government bureaucracy who has unlimited access to your earnings is somehow more trustworthy than an evil bank who only cares about profit? Are you personally willing to forgo any kind of wealth or financial security for your beliefs? If so, donate every last cent you earn to charity. After, of course, Washington and Sacramento have taken their generous cuts.
C.S. Lewis (a brilliant author who you will probably never get to read, because you attend a state university) wrote that those who rule you out of moral obligation are inherently worse than any robber baron, because they torment you with the approval of their own conscience. This is the Obama way, although I suspect he cares more about control than your well-being.
Finally, you don’t see conservative students because they are either hiding in plain sight, slowly coming to the conclusion that the liberal mindset is emotional swill and poison, or simply too young and inexperienced to get past your childish mindset. You are in dire need of a little maturity, and I doubt the university environment will foster that.
You say conservatism is an inherently negative ideology. Tell me exactly what is negative about requiring people to earn their way, because that’s the conservative movement in a nutshell. Do you really want everything handed to you? The way you espouse is the way of slavery, where a distant bureaucracy (where you have no representation) controls your access to everything from education to medical care.
Right! And then there’s this little admission of self-interest and irony:
“These are tangibles that translate into money in our pocket. The conservative alternative takes it away.”
Obviously, real world life decisions like FINDING EMPLOYMENT from a FOR-PROFIT CORPORATION and that involve EARNING a living from a JOB (other than in academia or government!) are beyond Praetoria’s life experience right now. I guess it’s no surprise the naive and gullible fall for the One’s promises…
Funny how those liberal “notions” (there I said it!) seem to fade for most as they actually get down to the BUSINESS of life… self-employed or otherwise. Sure, there’s exceptions…but it’s a FACT you see
more people becoming conservative as they grow older and actually leave the “cocoon” of college life.
All I will say about your comment regarding the new rules on student loan origination is that the money that was being skimmed by private entities in terms of profit (off the backs of students) is now going to be plowed back into the system in terms of lower interest rates and favorable repayment plans, not to mention increased Pell Grants. I don’t need my tax dollars subsidizing another spa vacation for a CEO. I guess I’m one of those silly people who would rather see the money go directly into education.
Your, “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” mantra is garbage. If there is anything our government should be investing in it is the education of it’s citizens. We ALL benefit from a better educated society but your too busy bean counting what is yours to see that. Where was your voice during the Bush years when we were throwing all those billions (not to mention lives) down the rathole called Iraq? I guess giving preferential contracts to Haliburton is better than investing in education. Sad, really.
The bottom line is that conservatives only use the “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” line when their constituencies aren’t getting the handouts (and I don’t consider a student loan a handout because you have to pay it back). Welfare for Haliburton is fine. Pell Grants are Bad. Again, you know who butters your bread and I know who butters mine. I remember who butters my bread when I vote. All we have to do is outnumber you.
And conservatism by nature is negative. Read Leviathan by Hobbes. You sound just like him.
“If there is anything our government should be investing in it is the education of it’s citizens.”
Praetorian is not getting his education tax dollars worth if he doesn’t know that “it’s” is a contraction of “it is”, and that the possessive of “it” is “its”. But I guess that depends on what your definition of “is” is. Anyway, perhaps in a few years, when there are no jobs except government jobs, the dollar is worthless, health care is rationed, and the U.S. is threatened by terrorists with nukes, he will have learned this conservative lesson.
Umm…no one “butters my bread” except me. I don’t view government as a distributor of goodies.
And kudos for dragging out the old Halliburton line again. So unoriginal and tired, and in all likelihood you have no idea what Halliburton is or what they do. Guess what, government shouldn’t be handing out money to anyone. And that especially goes for “investing in the education of its citizens”. Do you realize how creepy and ominous that phrase sounds?
Answer me this…who are these angels in government that will invest in the well-being of anything but its own security and power in perpetuity? Do you actually expect them to organize society for us in a way that promotes liberty? Do you really think that people with access to that much power have your interests at heart? It scares me to see your generation so willing to accept tyranny.
Praetorian, Mr. Park at #13 has spanked you hard enough; but you also need to know that it you believe that the government can butter your bread and the bread of everyone else for your entire life, you have no future and nothing to hope for. It is a sad commentary on the failure of your education so far that you understand so little about conservative thought. But you are young, and we can hope that you will learn from your mistakes.
Your, “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” mantra is garbage.
Spoken like someone who can’t do it.
Where to begin with you, P-man. Once you have real-world, non-academic, non-governmental life experience you will understand why conservatives believe in minimal government. We believe that giving it less opportunity to screw things up is a good thing and that its only legitimate functions are defined in the Constitution. Government isn’t interested in doing things cheaper, better, and faster. For example, a businessman would deal with the high cost of education by trying to find ways to cut costs. How does the government deal with it? By making it easier for you to borrow the money. In addition to being a really lousy job of root cause analysis, that approach does nothing to help you save the money for the down payment on that first house. (BTW, notice how much your professors feel your pain.)
Praetorian
Still standing guard for the decadent Emperors, aren’t you?
It is interesting that you cite the demographics as working in the Leftists favor, considering that it is the conservatives that are having the babies. With any luck for the rest of us, you guys will die off like Shakers.
No wonder the Left is in such a frenzy these days. They realize that the current generation is their last chance to win.
You write like UC student and you whine like a liberal narcissist (redundant term). Money isn’t free, not that you would learn that at UC. Taxpayers provide those funds that are lent out, not 0bama.
The American Republic will exist up until the time the congress discovers it can bribe the citizens with the citizen’s money. You probably will not hear this thinking in UC.
Grow up.
@Praetorian
Well, I am a member of the flagship campus of the UC system, and there are plenty of conservatives in UCs (I am one and I know many)—they just happen to be in useful disciplines like engineering and physical sciences and don’t pay too much attention to useless politicking and meaningless protests.
Having said that, liberals do outnumber conservatives on college campuses, but I think it can be explained mainly through two reasons: myopia and self-interest. You have covered self-interest fairly well for the students (free education for me; let the *society* pay for it), and there is similar self-interest on the part of professors as well for supporting liberal statism: government research grants.
And myopia is really obvious: practically everyone on college campuses (or at least as many as there are liberals on college campuses) eschewed dealing with the real world (professors) or haven’t been alive long enough to deal with the real world (students). All they see is the immediate benefit (free money for education/research!) and they fail to follow through on the necessary chain of consequences that occur in the real world (in particular oversupply of education, labor withheld from the labor force, and burden on the society at large).
Thankfully, conservatism—especially fiscal conservatism—is on the rise among the young people (for one, most of Ron Paul supporters and also contributors to Pajamas Media). There is a hope that, if the last century was the century lost to the evils of progressivism, our generation will be the one that wins it back.
Orit:
Don’t embarrass yourself and your point of view with ignorant statements like “This is not a natural reaction or behavior at the sight of a mere mortal. Obama was placed on a pedestal that is reserved for no mere mortal.”
Humanity, its natural state, is given to worshipping many things, from bugs to crocodiles and bulls and cows and monkeys to emperors and party leaders to fountainwells and trees and mountains and meteorites. Saints are mere mortals, too, aren’t they, that are bestowed a promotion into immortality by mere mortals.
Look, the lenders had every right to profit off of the loans they so generously give to students. If it weren’t for them, those students wouldn’t have been able to go to school at all, especially if we’re to believe that the three jobs these students allegedly have isn’t bringing in enough money to pay tuition. That, by the way, is ridiculous. If someone has three jobs, then I am sure they can afford tuition. Oh, but they most likely want to pay for a bunch of other frivolous crap they don’t need.
Nothing in life is free. Health care isn’t free, college isn’t free – nothing is free. Someone else is paying for it.
Praetorian does have a legitimate point about the government insuring and subsidizing loans made by private lenders, such that the government assumed all the risk while the banks reaped a profit. That system just gets bankers rich on the backs of students and taxpayers. Bankers ought to make money by putting their own capital at risk, not the taxpayers’.
“Praetorian does have a legitimate point about the government insuring and subsidizing loans made by private lenders, such that the government assumed all the risk while the banks reaped a profit. That system just gets bankers rich on the backs of students and taxpayers. Bankers ought to make money by putting their own capital at risk, not the taxpayers’”
Not one of them were able to address this valid point. Which underscores the hypocrisy of the conservative mindset. For them taxpayer funded welfare to private bankers amounts to freedom and liberty. Liberty for them is simply a mental construct that sounds nice on a bumper sticker. Imagine the gall of the government taking over a government program! However, when the government gives a hand up (not a hand out) to, say, a single working mom, that’s socialism (meanwhile they enjoy their Social Security and Medicare benefits). It’s sickening to see these useful idiots bash the very system they often benefit from themselves. I wonder how many of them went to school on the GI bill? I wonder how many get veterans benefits? If there ever was an example of socialized medicine it would be that. But these are all people who “pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps” right?
meanwhile they enjoy their Social Security and Medicare benefits
I’ve never understood the “logic” behind this allegation of hypocrisy. I am FORCED to pay into Social Security and Medicare, yet, somehow I’m supposed to simply forgo the benefits when the time comes to get them?
The ONLY way one could logically be accused of hypocrisy is if one says these programs are socialism, yet doesn’t opt-out of them if given the option.
Any other accusation of hypocrisy on this topic is completely illogical and absurd.
Which, of course, is just par for the course from the Left, so I don’t expect the “But, you cash your Social Security checks, therefore you can’t condemn socialism!” charges to stop any time soon.
No the hypocrisy label fits quite well, and in so many ways. I’m sure that you are one of those self made types, huh? At least that’s what you conservatives think. NOT! I think John Gray’s “Day in the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican” sums up you people pretty good.
“Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some evil socialist liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some evil socialist liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.
All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some evil socialist liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some evil socialist liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some evil socialist liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging evil socialist liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some evil socialist liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some evil socialist liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some evil socialist liberal didn’t think he should loose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
Its noon time, Joe needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FDIC because some evil socialist liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid evil socialist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.
Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some evil socialist liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government evil socialist liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republican’s would still be sitting in the dark)
He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some evil socialist liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.
He turns on a radio talk show, the host’s keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day) Joe agrees, “We don’t need those big government evil socialist liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have”.”
Praetorian doesn’t have a point at all. The rate at which a bank is willing to lend is a function of its cost of borrowing AND the expected default rate AND its required profit margin. New graduates are notorious for defaulting: see this report from Inside Higher Ed from 2007, BEFORE the financial crisis started. At the top of the mid-decade bull market, students were defaulting on student loans at the rate of 5% IN THE FIRST YEAR.
If it were not for the government guarantee, you would not see private rates anywhere near as low as you do. This is not a subsidy to the banks; it’s actually a subsidy for the students and the universities.
I take it that Praetorian is not an econ student.
Actually I did address your point. I don’t approve of government handing out money to anyone, and that includes subsidizing banks. And who, pray tell, did exactly that in the past two years? A Democratic Congress with a RINO president, followed by a Democratic Congress with a dyed-in-the-wool Marxist president!
Campus Watch Research
Model Middle East Indoctrination
by Stephen Schwartz
American Thinker
January 31, 2010
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/01/model_middle_east_indoctrinati.html
Most Americans, even many of those concerned with the problems of academic Middle East Studies, have probably never heard of the Model Arab League (MAL), an American exercise similar to the better-known Model United Nations. The stated aim of such efforts is to expand awareness of world affairs among high school and college students. Participants compete in regional role-playing sessions as representatives of constituent countries in the corresponding world bodies and receive awards for their performance. They are then sent to contend at “nationals” held in Washington, D.C. and similar to matches sponsored by many other student societies and sports associations.
But the Model Arab League could be described better as a propaganda network for Arab nationalism, including promotion of the Arab states’ hostile postures toward Israel, than as a contributor to excellence in international studies or debate.
The Model Arab League was created in 1983 at Georgetown University by the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations (NCUSAR), which came into existence that same year, and the website of which prominently features MAL activities. NCUSAR’s president and chief executive officer is an indefatigable Saudi apologist named John Duke Anthony. In May 2009, Anthony was appointed by the Obama administration to the U.S. State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy. He has been an adjunct professor at the Georgetown Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) since 2006.
Saudi prince Turki al-Faisal, the former head of the Saudi General Intelligence Directorate who served briefly as Saudi ambassador to the U.S. in 2005-06, joined Anthony at CCAS in fall 2008. Al-Faisal has admitted dealing with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, allegedly in the 1980s during the anti-Soviet resistance war, and in the 1990s with Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban.
The original Arab League, known formally as the League of Arab States, was conceived in 1944 and comprises 22 Arab and African nations, including the Palestinian Authority (P.A.). The following year, the League promulgated a pan-Arab boycott on the purchase of products from “Zionist” enterprises in Palestine. This was followed by a full embargo against commercial relations with Israel after the latter proclaimed its independence in 1948. The League has extended the embargo to a secondary ban on any individual, enterprise, or agency operating in any of the Arab League member countries that does business in Israel. Individuals, companies, or public institutions maintaining relations with Israelis are placed on the League’s boycott blacklist. A tertiary boycott prohibits dealings with companies from America and elsewhere that have been blacklisted.
Yet the anti-Israel embargo is not the only topic on which the Arab League finds itself in conflict with U.S. policies and laws. In late 2009, Secretary-General Moussa held a joint press conference in Cairo with Iranian parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani at which Moussa announced the League’s support for Iran’s nuclear program.
Back in America, the Model Arab League will hold its college “nationals” at Georgetown in March. High school “regionals” are pending, with local sessions at Marist High School in Atlanta later this month and in Boston, where students will meet at Northeastern University in April. Separate high school “nationals” will take place at Georgetown on April 16-17.
College-level MALs are held at 10 campuses around the U.S. These include, aside from Georgetown: Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina; Texas A&M, Miami University of Ohio; the University of San Francisco; the University of Montana-Missoula; and several others.
Students and faculty at Montana-Missoula got a taste of who and what the NCUSAR, the MAL, and John Duke Anthony represent when the latter keynoted a seminar on “New Avenues for U.S. Middle East Policy” on March 4, 2009 at the University of Montana’s Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center’s Defense Critical Language/Culture Program. Anthony called on the Obama administration to begin a dialogue immediately with the Palestinian terrorist movement Hamas and otherwise spent his time on the Montana campus, according to student sources, assailing Israel as the sole perpetrator of problems in the Middle East.
While U.S. policy condemns the Arab League embargo against Israel and questions the goals of Iranian nuclear development, the Model Arab League indoctrinates American high school and college students into a radical Arab-Muslim paradigm. This is unsurprising in that the MAL is a creation of Anthony, one of Washington’s veteran servants of the Saudis, and has its focus at Georgetown, already well-known for its Saudi endowments, including the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, financed by a $20-million donation from the Saudi prince after whom it is named.
Anyone who doubts the orientation of the Model Arab League events need only examine the agenda for debate at its “nationals.” “Simulated” bodies include:
A “Joint Defense Council” discussing “protection of civilians in occupied territories” and “scrutinizing the role of foreign military assistance or presence in meeting regional security concerns, as both protection to territorial integrity and threat to national security.” The latter obviously denotes the presumptive security of the Arab League members, not the U.S.
A “Council on Palestinian Affairs” that would take up improvement of relations between the PA and Hamas as its first point, to wit:
1. Fostering dialogue and reconciliation between the Palestinian Authority and other Palestinian factions with the goal of strengthening the Palestinian state and legitimizing domestic political processes;
2. Developing an Arab League response mechanism to incursions into Palestinian territory, violations of Palestinian human rights, and destruction of Palestinian lives and property;
3. Assuring the flow to and from the West Bank and Gaza of capital goods, financial investment, and export products to foster economic development, protect territorial integrity, and establish Palestinian economic independence[.]
A “Council of Arab Economic Affairs Ministers” that would assess “the role of Islamic Finance,” a highly controversial concept developed by Islamist radicals and repudiated by moderates. Presumably, in preparation for both high school and college events, American students are instructed in “Islamic finance.”
Three “Councils of Ministers” dedicated to “Arab social affairs,” “political affairs,” and “Arab environmental affairs,” plus a “Special Committee on Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons,” and a fascinating “Arab Court of Justice” simulation for which no topics are listed. Would this be a model Shariah court involving U.S. high school and college students? Will students get a full dose of Saudi Wahhabi doctrines in Islamic finance and Shariah law, both of which are among the most retrograde interpretations in the Muslim world?
The Model Arab League is offered to the educational establishment — including high schools — as a teaching device for the betterment of young Americans’ knowledge of essential contemporary issues. In reality, its origins and content reveal it to be an intrusion of Saudi-financed ideology into American academic life, the appropriateness of which should be questioned, notwithstanding the limitation of its presence to fairly obscure institutions. In addition, the appointment of John Duke Anthony to an advisory economic position in the State Department, given his advocacy for Saudi interests (which do not coincide with U.S. economic needs) should be subject to public scrutiny.
Stephen Schwartz is executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism. He wrote this article for Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.
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What particularly amuses me is the exposure of the art propagandist Fairey as a plagiarist- the ultimate art conman / ripoff marketing the ultimate political conman / ripoff. They can smell their own kind.
I am a college prof (“adjunct”) and teach both PHIL 101 and Ethics. Generally speaking–there are always exceptions–conservatives write better papers, especially on ethical issues. They have to–they’ve been forced to think for themselves. Liberals just give the same old platitudes, but cannot explain why they hold those platitudes. They assume they are true, and by asserting them, are simply giving assent to what everyone “knows” is true, and will therefore be given credit (intellectual and scholastic) for reasserting them.
The problem with “intellectual openness” is that is gives no grounding for beliefs. In C. S. Lewis’ insightful formulation, if truth is always a window that one sees through, then one sees nothing at all.
And yes, I teach Plato/Socrates, Kant, Hume, Bentham, Mill. None of them can ground themselves. For their philosophies to be true, there must be some truth outside of their philosophies.
Therefore, Mr. Harrison has it backwards: if truth is to be had, then it is in religion (which has its ground in some form/expression of “revelation”), not philosophy (which is ungrounded–it cannot explain or demonstrate its own origin).
No kidding. I wrote a paper my first year in college that my instructor, an active duty Naval officer, said that if he didn’t know better, he would’ve thought I plagiarized it because one doesn’t logically associate engineering with being a good writer. As it is, I’m rather self-conscious about my writing even as I hold the title of best essayist in the University of Michigan College of Engineering two years running.
Wonderful piece! Le Bon’s “The Mob”; Victor Frankl’s “From Death Camp to Existentialism” Each describes the ability to make fools of people by appealing to their emotions. It is the world of thought that frees people, not emotional exhilaration.
What we are dealing with here is a person who has acquired the most powerful position in the world by stealth. Mr. Obama is a classic psychopath – see the work of Dr. Robert Hare on psychopathy. Mr Obama will destroy anything that stands in his way. He will buy them out or crowd them out. It makes me so angry and so sad at the same time that America has fallen for this person without a conscience. It is getting really crowded under the bus.
I’m not exactly surprised to hear about the concert tickets et al but try asking yourself this. What did the GOP do with the WH and Congress when they had it?
Please tell me if you can, anything, as in anything, McCain said that would have made anyone want to vote for him as opposed to a vote against BO? I held my nose and voted for him and I am delighted that he is running for senator here now so that I can vote ‘against’ him! I’ll vote for anyone but McCain and I mean if they stuck an air hose up Stalin’s embalmed butt and blew him up to the size of something from the NYC Macy’s parade he’d get my vote! I’m fed up with “vote for me… well, just because.”
What did the GOP offer as an alternative to the Healthcare bill? Was it, is it, impossible for them to think of any workable alternative. If it is then they need to get honest jobs outside of DC and actually ‘earn’ the money they take home.
What comprehensive conservative program is the GOP putting forward now as a viable alternative to the circus in DC? Look at who is being mentioned as possible GOP presidential candidates! I weep.
So here we are, a party of liars and thugs in office and a party out of office without a scintilla of a conservative idea or viable candidate playing a broken record over and over, “Oh, my ain’t those Democrats awful, ain’t they awful, ain’t they awful?”
Re comment 20 Peter 38a:
Here is an idea! By a Constitutional amendment, make health care the purview of the states, not the Federal Government; Make the Federal Government turn over the monies collected for Medicare and Social Security for the states to distribute. That would set the Federal Government on the road to honesty. They would no longer be able to raid the “lock box”. If a state cheats, the federal government can bring them to court. Barring “justice” in the courts, people could vote with their feet and change their residences.
Watch the Washington power elite squirm!
Jerry, I love the idea except I ‘think’ that it would require a Constutional convention if I have the right term and the idea of the Constitution being open to change with these people in power turns my blood to ice water.
McCain deliberately led a weak campaign, hoping an “African American” would win.
The Demoncrats and Repubicans are in it together folks, it’s all a sham. Now after the Repubicans did NOTHING conservative for a decade they make a big mouth about how conservative they are.
It’s the same by the way with “Labour” and “Conservatives” in Britain – there is no difference, they’re all Statists.
Voting for the “cool” candidate is absolutely right in the election of Obama.
During the campaign, I recall reading more than a few posts as to how his image was so attractive, svelte lines, looking good in a suit etc., juxtaposed to John McCain.
In our degraded public education setting in America and our shallow, rabid consumer culture, we’ve produced admirers of image, with little or no deeper understanding of anything about this country, its origins or anything else.
Jason Mattera (I’ve seen a couple of his confrontational interviews) managed to sneak through the cracks of all of that and appears to be a remarkable and cogent thinker. Not to mention fearless
Conservatism is Americanism.
There’s a straightforward idea that cuts to the chase and gets away from the endless arguments that Conservatism is simply a set of ideas which stands in opposition to another set of ideas called Liberalism/Progressivism.
Because Conservatism really is Americanism.
(the style and philosophy of liberals in general, and Barack Obama in particular, would be better suited to reign over some other type of country, modern France comes to mind)
Dave Matthews has always been a humorless pain in the ass. He plays acoustic guitar in sports arenas. What more evidence do you need that this putz is wholly clueless?
And the only people who listen to him are weepy co-eds and their castrated dates. Gotta hand it to Zippy though: he seems to know exactly how wasted and stupid his constituency is.
“He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some evil socialist liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some evil socialist liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.”
All functions that can be handled by the free market, if it were allowed to work. Ever hear of UL? Try to get an electronic product to market without their seal of approval. No respectable retailer would carry it. Just because the government has usurped a service from the market doesn’t mean it does it any better.
“All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some evil socialist liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some evil socialist liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.”
Employer-paid insurance was a byproduct of government interference in the labor market post-WWII, so that employers could make attractive offers to candidates without increasing their salaries. And I’m absolutely sure that without the watchful eye of Big Brother there would be an epidemic of meat-packers poisoning their customers…because that’s just dandy for business. Again, something the free market would handle without the wasteful cost increases that come with myopic government interference.
“He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some evil socialist liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.”
Yes, and while Joe pays what he thinks is an affordable price for his ticket, his local taxes, as well as those of his employer’s, go up because the ticket revenue doesn’t come close to making up for the cost inefficiencies that inevitably come with a government-run transportation system. When’s the last time Amtrak turned a profit? Again, typical statist mindset where immediate “cost savings” trump every cost-increasing effect it has across the board. Joe’s gonna need those ticket prices to stay cheap when his employer cuts his job due to a higher tax bill.
“Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some evil socialist liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some evil socialist liberal didn’t think he should loose his home because of his temporary misfortune.”
Ah yes, and his grocery store bill has doubled in ten years because the Grocers’ Union strikes every time management feebly insists that maybe they pay a bigger share of their medical insurance. And why do you think Joe worries about his mortgage? Perhaps the government taking half his check has prevented him from building up any kind of savings, or from putting a decent down payment on his home, leaving him too highly levered and at risk of losing his home were he to lose his only stream of income.
“Its noon time, Joe needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FDIC because some evil socialist liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.”
I guess Joe is too stupid to research the bank he uses to see if they take unacceptable risks with depositors’ money. He must have gone to a government-run public school.
Perhaps if banks didn’t get bailed out by Democrats every time they make stupid financial decisions they would run their business a bit more carefully.
“Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid evil socialist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.”
Ah, would this be the same Fannie-Mae underwritten loans that lets a janitor buy a half-million dollar house with 3% down and no proof of income? Or maybe the federal loan that hands out $50,000 in unsecured money to an 18-year old with no credit so he can enroll in the Women’s Studies program for four years before moving back in with his parents?
“Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some evil socialist liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government evil socialist liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republican’s would still be sitting in the dark)”
Again, I’m sure those auto manufactures love to see their customers go up in big fireballs on the road, that’s what’ll get people into the showroom! You know what Joe doesn’t like? Paying four dollars a gallon for gas because of increasing gas taxes and the government blocking off our own oil resources. Hey, we’ll let the Saudis worry about polluting their own backyard, and we won’t mind when some of those profits get shoved under the table to terrorist organizations who help keep the market nice and unstable.
Oh, and perhaps those bankers didn’t like to make rural loans because farmers tend to be poor as dirt and couldn’t pay the money back. But by your rationale, if you think you need money, you should get it! Worked wonders in the sub-prime market, didn’t it?
“He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some evil socialist liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.”
And Joe will just love it when the government inevitably means-tests, then takes away the Social Security he paid into because well, the government squandered all those surpluses they ran for so many years, leaving a huge smoking hole of IOUs in its wake. But hey, he didn’t have to have the “burden” of taking care of his own flesh and blood! And when Joe’s father’s pension goes up in smoke because of gross mismanagement, those wonderful folks in Congress will cut a big fat bailout check to the union! His dad’s pension will still be decimated but hey, those Democrats’ campaign coffers will be nice and fat, and the union bosses won’t have to forgo their tri-annual trip to Fiji!
“Joe agrees, “We don’t need those big government evil socialist liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have”.”
And Joe finally comes to the realization, the government has been bleeding him and generations before him dry, rendering his father hopelessly dependent on government handouts, and dooming himself to a life of zero savings and declining years filled with meager government handouts and rationed health care.
I must say it again. Grow up, kid.
Sorry gramps, the “free-market” isn’t the panacea you make it out to be but it is amusing to see your tortured attempt to protect bankers and such. That’s precisely what the Republicans are doing right now in opposing financial reform. Conservatives are protecting the money-changers as usual. The invisible hand doesn’t always work as much as you’d like it to. Quit bending over and taking it like a good serf. I must say again, take your meds gramps and quit trying to mess up the future of younger Americans who see their country in a different light and are not about to let some old teabagging coot change that. You shaped the nation as you saw fit during your generation and we are going to do the same. We will drag you into the future kicking and screaming. We will force you to be free.
You must have stayed up all night for that one!
You’re losing this argument, kid. And your last statement says it all:
“We will force you to be free.”
Spoken like a true university-attending skull full of mush.
Old, spent, and bitter. Clinging to an Amerikkka that never existed and never will. How sad.
Moreover, our exchange underscores two very different political ideologies and views on the future of our great nation. I have many, many years of voting ahead of me. How many do you have? Sounds like death rattles to me.
When finding yourself in a hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging.
Careful there, Praetorian. Acting like you will dance on someone’s grave is extremely bad for your karma.
Praetorian, I keep thinking you are actually a grown-up conservative posing as a co-ed intellectual & budding elite superior in order that you may give a big goose to the gang’s collective praetorian.
Your material is old and dated, as are the playground “you’re ugly & your mother dresses you funny” methods of debate, making it difficult to believe your progressiveness is authentic.
“I know who ‘butter’s my bread’ so I’m going to play suck up extraordinaire so I can get even more butter” is straight Gorgon Gecko “greed is good” thinking. It’s also lazy as puckering up does not require one to labor daily under a great work ethic. It is also risky as with each smooch applied, one gives up a little bit more of one’s freedom to choose as one wishes. All very sad really.
Surely, I say to myself, young Praetorian has experienced at least once during his tender years as a minor child the highly unequal injustice of the following “Parental Authoritarian Smack-Down” of choice:
>> “This is my house and as long as it’s my money paying for the roof over your head & the food in your belly you are going to live by my rules. You don’t like what my money provides you? You think the rules I make you live by in exchange for living under my roof for free are too unfair? TOO BAD TOO SAD! The day when it’s your own hard earned dollars keeping you sheltered & fed is the day you may do as you please, when you please. But know this, for as long as you remain living cost free under my roof YOU WILL DO AS I SAY & LIKE IT!” <<
Ah, the memories …. but I digress. As confident as I am young Master Praetorian is familiar with the inherent injustices instituted by the fascist imperialistic parental-controlled societal state, it continues to amazes me that, while poised to break free from those unjust childhood chains of oppressive familial authoritarianism, he instead brags the willing suspension of his self reliant freedom.
Point being is that the one who pays the money is the one who gets to make the rules. This holds true whether it's your parents or it's the government Praetorian is so eager to see seize control of America's private enterprises, and, ironically, just at that point in life where most young adults get their first sweet taste of total independence.
Praetorian is essentially desirous of going from having "Mommy" take care of him straight into Uncle Sam's wise and wonderful embrace, never having to sweat the responsibility of caring for himself. And he's arrogant about it! Think on it a moment – dude's proud he won't have to be a man, responsible for his own destiny.
This Millennial Boy Wonder thinks he's all of it ….. lord save us from cocky little children.
C.
It’s not enough to complain about liberal academia. We must do something about it.
Mattera’s book is a start. Smart writing such as what we find here, at The New Criterion, City Journal, etc. is another part of the solution.
Let me suggest another:
CampusReform.org
Bookmark it. Use it. Share it.
CampusReform.org