Same Old Swedish Song and Dance

I woke up this morning to news that Al Gore had won the Nobel Peace Prize. Immediately I knew what Jack Woltz felt when he found Khartoum’s bloody severed head at his side. Not shock, exactly — because when you’re dealing with the Corleones, you have to know they’re capable of most anything. And, surely, the same goes for people who awarded a prize for peace to Jimmy Carter and Yasser Arafat.

But it’s different thinking that they’re capable of it, from them actually going and doing it.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus said, “The relationship between his activities and world peace is unclear and indistinct.” Which is being polite, at best. “WTF?” is the shorter and more appropriate response. Of course, your next response is, “Oh, yeah — this is the Nobel we’re talking about. So, OK.”

But Klaus is right: Gore hasn’t done a darn thing to bring peace anywhere. So why is Gore getting a million-plus bucks and a “#1 Peace Dude” coffee mug?

The answer is simple. Gore hasn’t brought us peace, but he’s sure waging a fine war against capitalism. And if there’s one thing a bunch of herring-stuffed Nordic socialists love, it’s anybody who makes millions by attacking free markets.

The Left’s inconvenient truth is, government controls, and lots of them, are the secret to solving… everything.

Government-created deflationary Great Depression? Bring on more government. Government created inflationary recession? Bring on government wage and price controls. Some people have too much money? Tax them to death. The weather is changing? Bring on global-growth rationing, starting with that capitalist hyperpower, the United States.

It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always the same: Government, government, government, and finally, more government. Gore is just the latest example of a trend going back more than a century. So it’s no surprise he’s being honored for it.

But whatever you do, don’t go back to sleep. Gore could carry his new prize all the way to the White House.

CORRECTION: I’m told by my sources that the Nobel Prize for Peace does not include a coffee mug. Instead, there is a great big shiny belt.