Gettin' Whiggy Wit' It

Change. That’s what Barack Obama claims to bring to modern politics, but in reality his message is as old as the country itself. Obama has been compared to the likes of JFK, MLK, Ronald Reagan, and yes even Jesus. For the purposes of this discussion, I will be comparing him to Abraham Lincoln, The Great Emancipator. Lincoln began his political career as a member of the Whig party and remained faithful to its tenets until its demise. He was, for all practical purposes, the political progeny of Henry Clay and Alexander Hamilton. For three decades Lincoln, true to Whig party doctrine, advocated a strong, centralized government, subsidies for internal improvements, and a high protective tariff on foreign goods, just as Clay and Hamilton before him. Ironically, Obama, the standard bearer for change seems to have xeroxed Lincoln’s platform. After all, he wants to strengthen the federal government via universal healthcare and new regulations on Wall Street. Next, he aims to funnel untold billions into an ambiguous amelioration of “infrastructure.” Finally, he will be quick to hurt the American consumer as he dismantles NAFTA and stonewalls CAFTA. He’s tall. He’s skinny. He’s inexperienced. He’s from Illinois. Come to think of it, he’s The Great Imitator!

Necessary or Sufficient

I am in the midst of studying to take the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) and my brother is studying to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). Both tests have a type of problem designed to assess a candidate's ability to reason effectively. On the GMAT, the questions are called Critical Reasoning. On the LSAT, the questions are called Logical Reasoning. A critical step to success with these problems is the ability to differentiate between a necessary condition and a sufficient condition. For example, in order for it to snow, it is necessary that it be cold. It will not snow if the weather is warm. Be that as it may, cold weather is not a sufficient condition, because there are many cold days on which it does not snow. So, the fact of the matter is cold weather does not by itself tell us whether snow will fall. Conversely, if we know that snow fell we can rest assured that it was cold. This brings me to the crux of the article namely individual and collective rights. Ultimately, there exist only two groups of people in this debate. There are those who believe in individual rights and those who believe in collective rights. I fall in the former category. I stand firmly within the individualist category because individual rights are a sufficient condition to bring about collective rights. Try me on this. In a society where only the individual rights of each person are respected and protected, would it be possible for the rights of any minority group to go unprotected? It's just not possible. By contrast, in a society which respects and protects only the rights of groups, is it possible for individual rights to go unprotected? Absolutely! Therefore, all arguments for collective rights are in effect moot. In the end, with regard to ourselves we all want individual rights protected. Once that aim is achieved, ipso facto, collective rights will also be safe.

Support the Troops

Since September 11, 2001 Democrats have been on the defensive with regard to national security. The Republicans ran away with public support in the wake of terrorist attacks. The only thing Democrats could think to do was recreate the anti-war machine of the 1960’s. Unfortunately, that wasn’t working. So, as a devout liberal, how do you co-opt the national security credibility of the Republicans while doing what you do best, namely, grow government? Recently, that question has been answered. Democrats are now advocating the enlargement of benefits for troops and their families. This is just the latest in a long line of rhetoric such as “Support the troops, not the war.” They have pinned their bleeding hearts to their lapels where they can display them proudly as purple hearts. I must admit, it is a devilishly clever machination. More funding for the G.I. bill. More funding for VA hospitals. More funding for VA loan programs which protect veterans from foreclosure. Don’t you be fooled. It’s the same old hungry wolf in a sheep’s uniform.

Grocery Shopping

Imagine if you will that you just entered your local supermarket to pick up some essentials. You have your list in hand. Milk, juice for the kids, sandwich meat, paper towels, you get the picture. You walk into the store, grab a cart, and start perusing. Out of nowhere a masked man puts a gun to your head. He orders you to continue shopping. You stop and get the milk. You continue on to the deli when he orders you to pick up some potato chips and beer. You consider protesting, but think the better of it. Then he insists on getting magazines, beef jerky, and frozen pizza. While he demanded you purchase his items, he did allow you to also purchase whatever you desired. Even so, you only had so much money so you had to pass up some necessities to buy things for him you didn’t even want. When it was all said and done, you went to the register and paid for everything. To your astonishment, his purchases accounted for almost half of the total bill. Be that as it may, he took his items and let you leave the store to go on your merry way. If you knew that he would repeat this scenario each time you returned, how often would you go back? Never. That’s what I thought. But what if you didn’t have a choice? What if you were born in that store and lived in that store? What if that store was the only world you knew? Don’t you see my friend? If you live in America, that’s the store you’re living in now!

Thanks for nothing

For arguments sake, assume I plan to take a vacation with my family and I make arrangements for my friend to housesit for me. I come back two weeks later only to find my big screen television gone. Also, my stereo, bed, car, and microwave are all gone. Thousands of dollars of merchandise gone! My friend has no plausible explanation and grovels for my forgiveness. A year later, it’s vacation time again and to my surprise this same friend offers his housesitting services. What would you do? Well that is exactly what our government has done with regard to Social Security to the tune of billions of dollars. They told us they would put our money aside for a rainy day, but in actuality they spent it on profligate projects. Now they return with hat in hand and ask us to let them fix the problem. I don’t think so.