The Liberal Mind on ATVs

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/editorials/2016/01/20/editorial-ban-atvs-iowa-roads/79064158/

I'm re-reading the excellent work "The Liberal Mind" by Kenneth Minogue and plan to blog on it later. I originally read it in 2000 before I started blogging my books. The book is very academic / intellectual and points out that the roots of "liberalism" contain the strain of "libertarianism", and the book documents how the desire for "total agreement" has trumped the libertarian  strain over the years.

I ran into thos column while looking up the rules for riding UTVs on roads in IA and found it to be an excellent example of the liberal mind.

The modern liberal mind is often described as "ideas so good they must be mandatory!". On issues of "safety", "liberals" have long ago decided that they know better than any individual what trade-offs ought to be made in order for one to be made as safe as "liberals" deem ought be required.

From seat belts, air bags and a chorus of warning gongs and lights in our cars, motorcycle helmet laws, gas cans that don't pour, packages that don't open and various attempts to restrict fireworks to disallow even the lowly sparkler, "liberals" have our best interests in mind, and THEY know what those interests are FAR better than we do! In fact, they use the force of law to make CERTAIN that we follow their wishes, lest they be forced to fine or jail us "for our own good".

The linked article is fairly standard fare -- there are a bunch of ATVs/UTVs out there, people want to drive them on the highway, they aren't as safe as cars, CHILDREN might be hurt, THEREFORE, ban the them from the road! Simple.

As is pointed out in some detail in "Coddling", life is actually about more than "safety". Is it better to die in a recreational accident at 14 or commit suicide at 24? Obviously, we are thankfully talking about relatively small numbers for ATV/UTV deaths  ... order 500 deaths per year  ... for suicide, the numbers are not so small -- suicide deaths are order 45K a year and rising. What we are beginning to understand is that some level of risk taking may well be at least a near requirement for a worthwhile human life -- apparently sitting in your bedroom with a cell phone and a video game console, while "safe", is actually not actually "a life". Churchill said that "there is nothing quite so exhilerating as being shot at without effect". It may well be that without some actaul (NOT "imagined") exhilerating danger in life, either our spirit or our brains are tragically stunted.

The Iowa House of Representatives sided with the industry, approving the bill on a vote of 75-22. Thankfully, Democrats in the Iowa Senate believed the health and safety of Iowans was more important than the profits of ATV dealers and put a stop to the legislation. But that action did nothing with regard to county roads, which is why counties continue to pass ordinances allowing ATVs on their roads. 

State legislators should ban ATVs from public roads, and while they’re at it, they should take a hard look at the existing state law on age limits. Today in Iowa, a child of any age can drive an all-terrain vehicle of any size on private property, without regard to training, certification or parental supervision. That’s a prescription for disaster.

Letting people decide what their children are capable of doing on their own private property is "a prescription for disaster" in the liberal mind. Only the Nanny State may decide what is "good" and "prudent" in the liberal state. What they totally fail to understand is that "life" is not equivalent to "safety". One of the old benefits of Christian Faith was the idea that this mortal coil was only a prelude to a greater life to follow. It was a life to be LIVED in gratitude and joy, NOT a life to be hidden away by like the man that hid the talent in the parable of the talents (Matt 25 14:30).

"Liberals" have a remarkable tendency to destroy all they touch -- as the suicide rate climbs we have excellent evidence that they have succeeded in destroying the joy in life itself!

Do Unto Kavenaugh

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/09/17/what-should-the-senate-do-with-brett-kavanaugh-219985

The most interesting thing about reading the linked article  is the utter predictability of responses from legal scholars of the left and right. In BOistan, NOTHING is more imprtant than one's political worldview, because in the absence of belief in a transcendent authority (God) -- all is politics, and there is CLEARLY no morality in politics. Obviously, the "rule of law" isn't any substitute for God at all -- even the top legal scholars simply twist "the law" to be what they want it to be.

The immediately obvious thing about the loss of God in this case is the loss of the "Golden Rule". I'm guessing that some people still recall it, though in this tribal state, rarely if ever apply it. The best place to read the basis for it is Matt 22:37- 39 Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.This is the greatest commandment, And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

These two verses get summarized in Matt 7:12 even more succinctly: "Therefore whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets." The "Golden Rule".

We all understand that when seeking a job, we would be completely aghast for someone to come out with a charge against us that they had never brought to our attention in 35 years.  When nobody else agrees with the accusers version of events  (of the 5 people supposedly at the party, none except the accuser says what was charged happened at all) .

In decent society for thousands of years we also understood how to deal with a sin against us. If possible, GO TO THE PERSON, if not, got to "authority" -- QUICKLY, because if this is really a serious matter, other young women might be harmed. When you fail to do this for "weeks, months, or ...", especially when you are talking about a 17 year old boy who is exceedingly well known, you make your charge under no threat of reprisal. We are not talking about the town tough who is going to be sure "you get yours", because he is certain he has no future anyway. Failure to come forward drops your credibility with each passing day. LONG before "35 years", your credibility is gone.

So what of "the woman"?  Given the amount of time, the fact that supposed corroborators swear under oath that what she claims did not happen, 65 women and many others coming forward to vouch for the character of the man she seeks to destroy, and the obvious politically motivated climate she came forward in, her credibility is ZERO.

Perhaps she was attacked when young once or multiple times and imagines that Kavenaugh was one of those attackers, or perhaps she only observed Anita Hill ($9 million net worth), and decided that she too could be a heroine to the left for a price. Women trading virtue for rewards is the oldest proffesion after all. In a world where honor and wealth are attached to calmuny, this is certainly well within the grasp of understanding. When there is no other world to come, the taking of easy wealth and fame in this one actually makes total sense. What would be against it? Morality? What a joke.

A country with even a hint of what used to be called "decency" would make certain that every Democrat up for election in November lost by historically unprecedented margins. If we were were a moral and religious people, that would be the certain case. As John Adams said,  "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other".

Clearly we are NOT that people, and since that state was founded on IDEAS, not territory, religion, ethnicity, etc, -- this is more proof that this is BOistan, not America. BOistan is in the process of development -- and as we see from Clarence Thomas and now Kavenaugh, it is not a good place to live if you are not a member in good standing of "The Party" (TP-D). On the TP plantation, you-uns gotta lay LOW if you don't kneel at the alter of the left.

As the charges against Kavenaugh show, liberty can't survive in such an environment because liberty requires the potential of leadership for people of more than one political stripe. We can run down a short list of men of the left NOT destroyed by charges significantly worse than this one even in the unlikely event that what the accuser says has any truth -- Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton are only the head of a sordid list from the left.

On the right? Well, Roy Moore is the most recent example of 35-40 year old "charges" being used to take him down. As I covered here, the Stupid Party (R) is reaping what they sowed. Now Kavenaugh. As the last entry in the linked article says ...

Ford, Kavanaugh’s accuser, maintained a stony silence on these allegations for more than 35 years. At no point did she raise them in connection with the Senate confirmation hearings before Kavanaugh was confirmed in 2006. Kavanaugh has categorically denied the allegations. Late last week, Mark Judge, his alleged accomplice, denounced the allegations as “absolutely nuts.” No other woman has ever made any allegation of this sort against Kavanaugh. and 65 women have written an explicit letter in his defense. Kavanaugh is right not to respond beyond his categorical denial, knowing full well that further comment would only draw him further into a vortex on which credibility determinations would be unending. And the Senate is right to continue with the confirmation vote. The institutional damage to the Senate, the Supreme Court, and the nation has already been enormous. What is left now is only the sorry task of damage containment. What sane judge would like to be the next Supreme Court nominee.

The author of that last piece (the best in the bunch) leaves out the obvious "What sane NON LEFTIST judge ...". The BO istan political buzzsaw really only cuts in one direction, and if you are willing to accept a nomination to a position which the left wants to block you from, not only will they try to block you, they will try to remove you from your CURRENT position -- unless you are a member in good standing of TP (The Party - D), it is best to keep your head down!

This nomination process cannot continue as it was before these grave and credible allegations became known. That would be a slap in the face to women and survivors of sexual assault everywhere. The question isn’t only whether Brett Kavanaugh can still be a Supreme Court justice; it’s whether he can still be a federal judge.

The Summer of '82

Link to Article ... 

In BOistan, "The Party" (TP-D) has established "standards" for anyone not in their good graces that disqualify any non-TP member from high office. As I said in December relative to Roy Moore, the sorts of "standards" of 35-40+ year old unsubstantiated "charges" mean exactly what TP wants it to mean. If you are not a member of TP in good standing, they will take you down, so "get your mind right boy".

It really doesn't matter that you can find 65 WOMEN willing to swear to the character of Judge Kavenaugh in High School!  That is completely beside the **MAIN** point is that if you are not a member in good standing of TP, you will be CHARGED ... as I cover in some detail in the linked post on Moore above, this "standard" is completely missing if you are a member in good standing of TP ... unless they are in some momentary "morality play" as they are now trying to denigrate Tump. If you are in TP,  you are simply immune from anything -- murder in the case of Ted Kennedy, rape in the case of Slick Willie!

BTW, the 65 women are BRAVE ... I can only imagine the sorts of suffering that is going to befall them from friends, co-workers and family. It would be completely unsurprising if some of them lost their jobs in the TP run slimepit of BOistan,  DC. 

I think we are effectively AT the point were only someone with the nasty comeback skill of a Tump has any hope of survival in public life outside of the protection of TP! Why be nominated to the SCOTUS? Even if you are absolutely pure, all it takes is a CHARGE! "Evidence"? That is of no concern!

After so many years, Ford said, she does not remember some key details of the incident. She said she believes it occurred in the summer of 1982, when she was 15, around the end of her sophomore year at the all-girls Holton-Arms School in Bethesda. Kavanaugh would have been 17 at the end of his junior year at Georgetown Prep.

A sketchy charge from when you were SEVENTEEN! Clearly, if you do not join TP, there is no such thing as being young! You give up all your "rights" when you fail to bow to TP -- if you get your mind right though, they may eventually stop hitting you!

Reagan's Letter To Dying Father In Law

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/opinions/wp/2018/09/14/ronald-reagans-letter-to-his-dying-father-in-law-annotated/?noredirect=on&__twitter_impression=true

Back before BOistan, in America, a great Christian country, we once had this man for president! God's blessings are for this life as well as the next!

Worth the read -- maybe once a year or so. I especially liked this section -- but it is all good, and a reminder of what a great country America was,  how great a president Reagan was, and a strong foreshadowing that if we have but a little faith, we will see Reagan in eternity!

The miracle is that a young man of 30 yrs. without credentials as a scholar or priest began preaching on street corners. He owned nothing but the clothes on his back & he didn’t travel beyond a circle less than one hundred miles across. He did this for only 3 years and then was executed as a common criminal. 

But for two thousand years he has … had more impact on the world than all the teachers, scientists, emperors, generals and admirals who ever lived, all put together. 

The apostle John said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that who so ever believed in him would not perish but have everlasting life.”

Google = "The Party"

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/09/its-official-google-is-a-democratic-party-front.php

You have to watch it here

We all know that Google is a far left company, if you need "proof" and have a strong stomach, you might want to listen to some of it. A few points:

• They feel that "their values" are sacred ... open borders, silencing of Christians and conservatives, destruction of the nuclear family, abortion, legalization of drugs, elevation of alternative sexual and gender lifestyles above "cis / hetero", etc  ...
  
• There is no sense that other points of view ... especially Christian ones, have any "rights". To "Googlers", the secular "values" that they have signed up for are "sacred" -- they are "certain" in that they believe that "history is on their side". Since they don't believe in any sort of divine power, they believe that "somehow", there is "somehow", randomly, an order and direction to history, and they are "on the right side".
  
• They are clear that they want to use their company to WIN! How can Google make certain that the "right side of history" wins!
  
• 3 things 1). We are a great country because we are a good country 2). Never stop believing that fighting for what is right is worth it! (and Google is going to FIGHT!) 3). A lot of people felt left out because of "rising inequality". ... "everyone at Google needed a hug"

I lasted up to the part about how Google was kind of treating the election as a "tragedy" ... special employee groups, counselling, etc. At Google they expect everything to go their way, and when the election did not, it was shocking. Certainly, for Christians and conservatives, things have not gone our way in general since maybe "FDR", with big disasters in the '60s, '90's and BO years. Losing is nothing new if you are Christian or conservative. 

"50% of googlers probably want to move to Canada". 

I WAS heartened that I lasted long enough to hear one of the speakers indicate that there might be some in the closet conservatives or even Christians at Google that expressed that they were feeling uncomfortable about the level of reaction. 

CEO Pay Falls Behind

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/09/ceo-pay-fails-to-keep-pace-with-average-workers.php

CEO pay as a giant multiple of workers wages is just another TP / MSM created lie to encourage you to vote for TP to allow the top of the top CEOs in TP controlled companies like FB, Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, etc to continue to make vast multiples of their workers salaries!

In 2005, the median worker made $46,242 and the average CEO made around four times that amount, or around $180,000. In 2017 the median worker made a record $61,372 up around 33%, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average CEO made $183,270 in 2017 or just a 2% or 3% increase in twelve years. The average CEO today makes just three times the average worker, so why does media just repeat the lie? Obviously because they collude with Democrats heightening class resentments, and they don’t want the public to know the truth or they are too lazy to do the research.

The Coddling Of The American Mind, Lukianoff and Haidt

https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2018/09/universities-and-the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/

I linked to a review rather than the book this time. I L O V E D the book! I consider it the 2nd important book of the year after "Suicide of the West" both are critical ... if you are more left / academic, read this one, otherwise Suicide if you can only do one, BUT, you kinda owe it to yourself to read them both!

They coin the term "safetyism" and they use the well known peanut allergy example. To oversimplify, it young kids get peanut exposure when infants, SOME (a small number) will have a reaction that is concerning but not life threatening. HOWEVER, by being "safe", we have RADICALLY increased the number of children with very serious peanut allergies , so a LARGER number is exposed to severe reactions up to and including death. By "trying to be safe" we create a larger problem.

This is one of the problems of mans greater ability to "take action" -- preventing forest fires is similar. We prevent them for a long time, and then when one breaks out, it is catastophic. Many of the plants in certain ecosystems REQUIRE regular fire in order for their seeds to germinate!

There is quite a long list of these sorts of issues ... the book "The Black Swan" and "Unfragile" are referenced in "coddling", and cover these issues in more detail.

For the really politically ideological, on page 216 the authors find it necessary to testify that "neither of us has ever voted for a Republican for congress or the presidency"! Essentially, one author is an avowed centrist, the other identifies as "left" -- a "centrist" in BOistan acedemia is a rare rare thing all on it's own! What they want to have is NOT a "political book" -- their purpose is the save the university along with a few young lives from depression, anxiety, addiction and suicide.

I STRONGLY recommend this book! In summary, it's points that resonated with me are:

1. We are greatly harming our young by preventing them from learning through normal youthful errors and social development through "free play". We don't know if this is even "recoverable" -- we strongly need to get kids out playing with each other and away from the screens! 
2. The universities are teaching three great untruths ... 1. That which does not kill you makes you weaker 2. Always trust your feelings 3. Life is a battle between good people and evil people  ... the picture below shows a nice chart from page 263 with these untruths and the proper ancient wisdom to answer them. 
3. Chapter 2 is devoted to how the great untruths lead to living life via "emotional reasoning" -- I feel anxious, therefore something must be happening "out there" that justifies my anxiety! (Always trust your feelings). This is what is known in psychology as a "cognitive distortion", and the very successful treatment approach of "Cognitive Behavioural Therapy" has been devoted to rooting out these thinking errors 
4. If we are to have a prayer of recovery, nearly ALL of our universities need to sign up for something like "The Chicago Statement"  the FOUNDATION of a university is free expression, civil dialogue, ability to air ALL points of view, ESPECAILLY those that are not popular and even abhorrent to groups of people. Words ARE NOT violence! We need to get over that great untruth! 

There is no doing a book like this justice in a short blog post. READ IT! If you really can’t, this Atlantic article gives the jist. The following picture is a great summary of a core of the book.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/