Chesterton's Fence

All police are racist murderers so only they should own guns. Trump is Hitler so we should give him power to define and ban “offensive” speech. America savagely abuses immigrants from Latin America and the Middle East so we need to bring in as many as possible.

Jon Gabriel, Richochet

Though he is only seeking to translate the thoughts of Chesterton for a modern audience, this is a brilliantly keen insight in surprisingly few words.  Along these same lines, Trump is a fascist who suggested he should be president for life but citizens should be deprived of guns.  Not surprisingly, this all reminded me of Chesterton's Fence.  A reformer sees something that appears to have no purpose and wants it removed.  Chesterton replies:

 

If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it

G.K. Chesterton, The Thing

 

Laws and traditions have been adopted over the centuries and the problems that they solved are often inscrutable to modern people.  However, once the law or tradition is repealed or ignored, the problems it addressed are likely to return.  Do not lightly overturn what your predecessors have wrought unless you clearly understand why it was done and the consequences of removal.

Republicans See Movies Too

Jennifer Lawrence recently intimated that the current spate of hurricanes may be mother nature's wrath at America's election from last year.  Silly but she is entitled to her opinion.  However, she is in entertainment.  Love him or hate him, 62 million potential movie ticket buyers voted for him.  Why antagonize them?  Do you think you are going to change their minds?  In J Law's defense, the interviewer asked the question.

A vast number of entertainers have joined this latest anti-Republican bandwagon.  Sure, they say that Trump is particularly bad but that is what they said about George W. Bush.  The current Republican is always the worst ever, with the possible exception of Nixon.  Although you will often hear that 'even Nixon didn't go this far' or the like.  Worse than Nixon!  While they constantly denigrate half the country, the entertainment industry is concerned at the reduced ticket sales, the lower ratings, the diminishing music profits, etc.

 

You can't attack half your audience and not expect some reaction.  Republicans see movies, watch TV, and listen to music too.  As a business decision, I am baffled.  Shut up about politics.

When the Shoe is on the Other Foot

One of many reasons that I want a very constrained and limited government, even when those who share my views are in office (who am I kidding, that doesn't happen), is that I know it won't last.  Eventually, someone with whom I profoundly disagree will get the reins of power.  If I have been a cheerleader while my guy was riding roughshod over the traditional give and take of a Representative Republic, it is going to look really bad when I change my tune when the other party does the same thing when the shoe is on the other foot.  If he is elected, Donald Trump is going to have no more power than Obama currently has and yet the left is panicked as if he is going to impose fascism with his first executive order.

 

While Obama has by his own definition exceeded the authority granted to him by the Constitution, the left has cheered.  These short-sighted boosters may now be seeing the light.  If a President Trump follows the precedents of President Obama but instead uses them to impose a non-leftist agenda, how does the left complain?  Obama set a precedent when he rewrote immigration law without the participation of the Congress.  He decided certain immigrants would not be deported even if they were caught.  Very well, then if President Trump decides that no Muslims can emigrate to the US, the principled argument has already been lost by supporting Obama.

 

Here is another take.

Leftists Love Autocracy

Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, is in a bit of hot water for praising China, shown here.  Many are baffled by why a man from a Western Democracy would admire 'basic dictatorship.'  I am not.  Liberals have a long history of admiring dictatorships.  Cuba is beloved by the left, getting praised for its universal healthcare and education by the likes of Michael Moore and Bernie Sanders.  Sean Penn was a booster for Hugo Chavez.  Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, like Trudeau, praised the one party autocracy of China, noting that they were reasonably enlightened.  Many New Dealers thought very highly of Mussolini's Italy and Stalin's Russia.  Lefties love autocrats.

 

Liberals and Progressives want to use the power of the state to impose their policy preferences on the populace.  Consider: freedom is silence of the law.  If there is no law on a given subject, you are completely free to do whatever appeals to you.  Law is an abridgement of freedom.  In many cases, that is necessary.  However, why aren't we free to plan (or not plan) for retirement without government interference?  Social Security is mandatory.  Why aren't we free to arrange (or not) our health care?  Medicare is a mandatory tax and the Affordable Care Act makes it a crime to lack health insurance.  Why aren't we free to drive with (or without) a seatbelt?  There is a lot of nanny-statism on the left.  Really, we have gotten to limiting the size of soda bottles in some jurisdictions.

 

There was a time before all of these programs and yet we don't read stories about the dead piled in the streets for want of retirement savings or health care.  As Jefferson observed, the tendency is for government to advance and liberty to retreat.  Those in power want more power.  Each new generation of politicians want to exercise a little more power than their predecessors.  As such, they always admire those who already have more power, especially when there is no opposition to prevent such power grabs.  Ah, the joys of dictatorship!

 

Any politician who admires 'basic dictatorship' should be voted out of office as soon as possible.  Any politician who offers praise for any authoritarian government should be immediately rejected by the voters.

Star Trek in Collapse

Here is an article that delves into the changing morality of Star Trek from the Original Series in the 1960s, through the Next Generation, and up to the recent movie, Star Trek Into Darkness.

I was a huge fan of the original series.  I loved Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, et al.  So when The Next Generation arrived, I was excited.  I watched the premiere and was not thrilled.  I watched that first season and, though I could not effectively explain why, I didn't much like it.  I was politically unaware at the time and the underlying philosophies of both the Original Series and The Next Generation didn't occur to me.

 

In my review of the latest Star Trek movie, I complained about the mindlessness of it but this article gets to the heart of the matter.  It is interesting how Sandefur tracks liberal political ideology in a SciFi TV/movie series.