Tuesday, October 31, 2006

A Glimpse Inside the Cocoon

Oh, joy! I got back to blogging in time for a John Kerry meltdown. Gosh, it’s just like the old days.

John Kerry said:

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
The Democrats, fighting close races to regain power in the House and Senate, really did not need John Kerry to say something this stupid at this time. There has been a firestorm of outrage on talk radio and on the internet. Kerry has fired up the Republican base and reminded independents that Democrats think little of the military. Karl Rove is chilling the champagne.

I find one thing interesting: John Kerry had no idea he was saying something controversial.

He thought he was just saying something everyone knew, that if you’re a dumb failure, you end up a grunt in the Army. After all, no one who was successful or smart would want to serve in the military, would he?

John Kerry did not stop to consider that some highly intelligent young people might volunteer to serve because they love America. Such a love of country is not common in the liberal cocoon where Kerry lives.

Let the Games Begin

Tonight my favorite sport begins a new season. The Lakers play the Phoenix Suns.

Oh, hell. I'd better buy some candy to pass out to the brats.

And what is your costume, kid? Nancy Pelosi? Damn, that IS scary. Here, have some sugar. Now get out of here so I can watch the Lakers.

My Inevitable Al Pacino Moment

Like Michael Corleone in Godfather II, I tried to get out, but they kept dragging me back in.

I stopped blogging because it was taking over my creative life. When events happened in the news, I found myself wanting to sound off, but I resisted because I did not want to commit to blogging again. I even wrote a post during the Israel-Hezbollah war and posted it, then I deleted it. (I think I will repost it in a few days. It’s old news now, but the principles I discuss are timeless.)

I will try blogging again, but I’m giving myself permission to ignore this blog for long stretches at a time. I need to do that so that my subconscious mind does not have a standing order to think of good blog posts every day. We’ll see how it works out.

During my hiatus I even started a Myspace page because so many of my fellow actors and family members had one. Ironically, I started blogging there on non-political things. Myspace is kind of silly – blogging for dummies, if you will. A friend of mine calls Myspace the devil. If so, then the devil is a probably a vapid teenager who spends his time inviting people to be his friend.

Who Is This Sexy Guy?




















It's Myrhaf!

More On Voting

In his voting statement, Leonard Peikoff wrote:

How you cast your vote in the coming election is important, even if the two parties are both rotten. In essence, the Democrats stand for socialism, or at least some ambling steps in its direction; the Republicans stand for religion, particularly evangelical Christianity, and are taking ambitious strides to give it political power.

Socialism—a fad of the last few centuries—has had its day; it has been almost universally rejected for decades. Leftists are no longer the passionate collectivists of the 30s, but usually avowed anti-ideologists, who bewail the futility of all systems. Religion, by contrast—the destroyer of man since time immemorial—is not fading; on the contrary, it is now the only philosophic movement rapidly and righteously rising to take over the government.

Today’s Democrats are socialists, but they are also New Leftists. The New Left encompasses various related ideologies in addition to socialism – multiculturalism, environmentalism, feminism, political correctness, animal rights and probably many other groups and causes. The New Left applies altruism, statism, egalitarianism and collectivism more broadly than does socialism, which is primarily an economic theory.

Contrary to being old and discredited, the New Left is only about 40 years old. In that time its ideologies have infiltrated every aspect of our culture. Our intellectual and artistic leaders are mostly New Leftists. Public education indoctrinates children with New Leftism. Multiculturalism and environmentalism are held up as unquestioned moral ideals. You have to read Objectivists to find vigorous attacks such as Return of the Primitive. The New Left is young and vital and not at all discredited.

We do not know how the New Left is changing the American sense of life, the heritage of individualism that crushed the Democrats in 1972. What horrors might the Democrats pull off now in the name of environmentalism and multiculturalism? How much have people changed since the McGovern defeat of 1972?

Religion is a real and growing threat, but it is not the only one. I would not dismiss the Democrats as relatively harmless because they are just socialists.

****

This argument of how to vote strikes me as a side issue at best. It matters some, but not a whole lot, which party is in power. American governement changes gradually, which frustrates those who want laissez-faire capitalism tomorrow, but also protects us from dictatorship tomorrow. Under Republicans or Democrats, we will probably continue our muddling, incremental way toward the abyss. As I have stated, I think the Democrats will ruin us faster.

I consider the money I donate to the Ayn Rand Institute as much, much more important, practically and morally, than any vote. Only the spread of Objectivism will save us from dictatorship. Instead of voting for the lesser of two evils, I contribute to the good. And that is important to the health and well being of my soul.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Wear A Gasmask And Vote Republican

Every two years I go through this agony. I ask myself, “Have the Republicans finally deteriorated so much that I should not vote for them? Should I withhold my vote? Should I finally vote for (shudder) a Democrat?” This year’s agonizing has been worse than ever. The Republicans have become a party that stands for big government – but not quite as big as the Democrats want – and appeasing the enemy – but not quite as much as the Democrats want. The Republican motto should be, “Me too, kind of.”

Objectivists are divided over which party is the lesser of two evils. Leonard Peikoff leads the faction voting Democrat, which includes Diana Hsieh, Mike at The Primacy of Awesome, David Landy and others. Robert Tracinski leads the faction voting Republican, which includes Oakes, Gus Van Horn and others. Nicholas Provenzo doesn’t see what all the fuss is about.

Which party will do the least damage to individual rights and buy America time as the philosophy of Ayn Rand spreads through our culture? Although the growth of the religious right is ominous, the answer is still the Republican Party. The Democrats have been taken over by the New Left and have been radicalized. The Republicans have great potential for destroying liberty, but the Democrats are actually destroying it today.

Our campaign to spread Objectivism needs the right to free speech more than anything. The Democrats are the worst threat to this right. Political correctness, campus speech codes and thuggish attempts to shut up free speech are old news on the left.

In September prominent Democrats sent a letter to ABC that was a veiled threat to take away their broadcasting license if ABC did not change the criticisms of Democrats in its movie, “The Path to 911.” Neal Boortz fears the Democrats will use the Fairness Doctrine against right-wing talk radio if Air America fails. The religious right has the potential to do great harm to free speech someday. Democrats use the threat of government force to shut up speech they oppose today, right now.

Look at free speech in the socialist states of the West and you see where the Democrats would take us were they not restrained by the Constitution and the Republican Party. In Canada, a shipment of pamphlets from the Ayn Rand Institute was stopped by Canadian customs and held for three days on suspicion of being “hate speech.” In Britain you can be arrested for racism.

The Democrats threaten freedom in many areas. They are happy to subvert free elections to gain power. In 2000 the Democrats had telemarketers calling Floridians on the afternoon of election day in an attempt to whip up public concern about the fairness of the election. By the evening they had over 70 lawyers flying into Florida. This all indicates that they had planned in advance to contest the Florida election in court.

The Democrats have begun using mob violence to affect elections.

From John Fund in 2004:

Last week, in Orlando, Fla., approximately 60 union protestors stormed and ransacked the local Bush-Cheney headquarters causing considerable damage and injuring one campaign staffer, who suffered a broken wrist.


Orlando's fracas was mirrored in Miami, where police reported that more than 100 union protestors stormed the Bush-Cheney office and shoved volunteers aside. No one was charged because most of the protestors left before the police arrived. In
Tampa, about 35 protestors filled the local GOP office and intimidated the elderly volunteers working there.

The AFL-CIO took credit on its Web site for similar demonstrations--apparently all coordinated--in Independence, Mo., Kansas City, Mo., Dearborn, Mich., St. Paul, Minn., and West Allis, Wis. In what could be a related incident, the Bush-Cheney office in Knoxville, Tenn., had its plate-glass windows shattered by gunfire on Tuesday morning before volunteers showed up for work. Another Republican office, in Seattle, was broken into and had computer files stolen.


Voting fraud by Democrats is an increasing problem.

From John Fund:


A former Democratic congressman gave me this explanation of why voting irregularities more often crop up in his party's back yard: "When many Republicans lose an election, they go back into what they call the private sector. When many Democrats lose an election, they lose power and money. They need to eat, and people will do an awful lot in order to eat."

And:

Why is such activity proliferating? It flows from the success of Democratic lawmakers in pushing aside clear, orderly, and rigorous voting procedures in favor of elastic and "inclusive" election rules that invite manipulation. A machine for corruption is the 1993 "Motor Voter Act," the first bill that President Clinton signed. The law requires government officials to allow anyone who renews a driver's license or applies for welfare or unemployment to register to vote on the spot, without showing ID or proof of citizenship. It also allows ID-free registration by mail. The law also makes it hard to purge voting lists of those who've died or moved. All this makes vote fraud a cinch, almost as easy as when Tammany Hall handed out pre-marked ballots.

When Democrats let the truth slip out, their radical collectivism shows. Senator Kennedy made this now infamous statement while lauding the New England Patriots:

At a time when our entire country is banding together and facing down individualism, the Patriots set a wonderful example, showing us all what is possible when we work together, believe in each other, and sacrifice for the greater good.

Democrat think tanks recently advocated “common good” for the party’s new slogan. (The staleness of the phrase supports Dr. Peikoff’s argument that the left is a spent ideological force. They have no new ideas.)

The Democrats show a cynical contempt for the truth. Bill Clinton’s presidency was an eight-year exercise in lying, distorting and evading. Since the advent of Borking the Democrats have increasingly resorted to character assassination and scandal-mongering to defeat their opponents; they do it far more than the Republicans. And when a Republican gets mired in scandal, he is thrown overboard. The Democrats rally around their people in trouble, regardless of the facts; power is more important to them than truth or ethical standards.

The Democrats believe that the end of power justifies any means necessary to attain it.

The Democrats oppose any assertion of American force abroad, even if it is in self-defense, unless the mission is purely altruistic as it was in the Balkans. The anti-Americanism of the radical left has infected the Democrat Party.

Finally, the Democrats want outright socialism on the fast track. Hillary Clinton attempted to make health care a fascist nightmare in 1993. The Democrats are NEVER for smaller government. They want the state to control every aspect of the economy.

To sum up these points, the Democrats:

1) oppose free speech
2) undermine free elections
3) oppose individualism
4) show contempt for the truth
5) believe the end justifies the means
6) are anti-American
7) are socialists

These traits are all aspects of totalitarianism. Yes, the religious right has the potential to destroy freedom in America, but the Democrats are actually doing it today.

You’ll notice that my argument is not for the Republicans, but against the Democrats. This is the dismal state of American politics today: the two major parties really are two evils. Many individual Republicans show aspects of the seven traits of totalitarianism outlined above. (Many politicians from the days of ancient Greece on have lied and smeared their opponents.) Both parties are taking us toward the abyss; the Republicans are jogging there; the Democrats are sprinting.

Some argue that the gridlock of divided power is ideal, therefore we should have a Democrat Congress with our Republican President. Gridlock worked superbly with a Democrat President and a Republican Congress, but I don’t think a Democrat Congress will fight Republican spending. They will only obstruct the war and mire Bush in hearings.

A vote cast today is not about what will happen in the long run; it is about what will happen in the next two, four or six years. Right now the Democrats are so far gone that it is best they do not control power in Washington, D.C. We need freedom NOW in order to spread Objectivism. In the long run, if we fail, then it will not matter which party takes us to the abyss of dictatorship.

UPDATE: Trey Givens informs me that I am wrong to put him in the vote Democrat column. I have deleted his name from the second paragraph. Sorry for the mistake!