Barack and Sarah; Left and Right

David Foster:

Circa 1870, an English gentleman was touring the American West. After meeting a cowboy and talking with him for a moment, he asked:

“And where is your master, my man?”

Cowboy replied: “Son of a bitch ain’t been born yet.”

I think the core Obama-ites are truly troubled by the idea of masterless men, and this is a major factor behind their hostility toward small business.

Somebody smart - can't remember who or where - said left philosophy, taken to it's logical conclusion, inevitably leads to fascism. I laughed when I read it. I dismissed it. Now it nags at me. More and more, I might believe it.

Re David Foster's observation: Barack, with his fundamental belief in wealth distribution, does seek to master men; does seek to decrease personal liberty and to increase subservience. And Barack doesn't merely seek it. He is accomplishing it.

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David Warren in Ottawa Citizen:

Increasingly, I find, people on the left simply cannot accept any right-wing view as legitimate. The mere fact it can be so labelled puts it beyond the pale.

We often read that the old categories of "left" and "right" have become irrelevant. It is an argument almost invariably propounded by the left. They have been freed, for more than a generation, from anything resembling serious public debate, and have thus got in the habit of proceeding with an infinitely extendible agenda (through the courts if there are legislative delays). The right has meanwhile got in the habit of feeling disenfranchised.

The right is still there, however: mostly invisible to media editors, beyond their goldfish world. (The immense success of Fox News came from recognizing this "niche market," consisting of about half the population.)

We have one group that lives under the highly artificial and intensely regulated conditions of post-modern urban life. (Even if they go to a cottage, it will be equipped with the electronic paraphernalia to create a bubble of urbanity.) And, we have another group who remain in contact with the eternal verities of life on this planet. (Who, for instance, associate electric power with doing work, as opposed to "making consumer choices.")

Perhaps better terms for the two sides, to replace left and right, might be "martians" and "earthlings."

It is to the earthlings in this scenario that Ms. Palin is speaking [in her Wa-Po opinion piece]. And when she writes lines like this intentional jaw-dropper in the Washington Post -- "We are ripe for economic growth and energy independence if we responsibly tap the resources that God created right underfoot on American soil" -- she is quite intentionally signalling that she is ready for war.

That only implies an immediate run for the presidency to people who cannot understand her. Instead, she intends to use her celebrity to champion the views of the many earth-based Americans who have been overlooked -- and whom the Republican establishment will continue to patronize, and overlook, at the cost of their own annihilation.

We are going to have a war, next door in the U.S.A. -- a war between two world views that have become very nearly mutually incomprehensible. One might almost say that it was quietly declared on the op-ed of the Washington Post Tuesday.

I agree with this take on Sarah Palin. She's going to say what needs saying. She hopes she catches on as a Presidential candidate. However, if she doesn't catch on, she will have nevertheless done her part, via saying what needs saying, via championing sanity and truth, via speaking up for Warren's "Earthlings". Hers is a shrewd move. It is consistent with her values and principles. If she fails in running for President, she still contributes to our nation, and she greatly increases the wealth of her family. Win/win. Plus, Alaska probably will be more successful if it is governed by the current Lt. Governor. Win/win/win. Palin displays audacity and shrewd strategic judgment.

General George S. Patton, "L'audace! L'audace! Toujours l'audace!"