Andrew Colclough

[...]

The mythology of wise and compassionate government is drowning in a mixture of oil bubbling up from the Gulf of Mexico, and sleaze pouring out of Washington.  The government has many vital duties to perform, but as it grows in size, it becomes less interested in performing them.  Its own ambitions take priority over its responsibilities to a private sector it increasingly comes to view as an adversary… since the State must both demonize the private sector to conceal its own failures, and use compulsive force to extract resources from workers and businesses.  No one should harbor any further misconceptions about maintaining the transparency of the State as it swells in size.

All of collectivism’s dreams are crumbling to dust before the eyes of people who spent their whole lives clinging to them out of desperation, or arrogance.  The alternative to ambition and commerce is not “social justice,” but widespread poverty.  The absence of growth brings collapse, not sustainability.  The Constitutional rights of free people cannot exist alongside “positive rights” provided through redistribution.  Abandoning the security of our borders does not produce a melting pot of happy immigrants.  The government cannot repeal the laws of supply and demand.  The freedom to vote does not render all other freedoms inconsequential.  Prosperity for millions cannot be designed by a central committee. Social justice cannot be created by administering controlled viral doses of injustice.

Waking up from these dreams is not easy.  Every conservative must have the patience and humor of a good teacher.  I believe Big Government is fundamentally immoral, but as Dr. Sowell pointed out, the simple fact that it doesn’t work cannot be overstated.  The collectivist fantasy can end in a relatively controlled manner, with a widespread rediscovery of how freedom and prosperity are inextricably linked… or it can end with the bloody violence of Greece, as angry dependents strip the last measure of their unsustainable benefits from the hide of the middle class.  One way or the other, it is ending.  Twilight falls upon the empty dream of the twentieth century: to sanctify a brilliant elite through the sacred ritual of the vote, and be ruled wisely.

Follow the link above and read the whole piece. Without specifically naming them, the author clearly illustrates the core Conflict of Visions between those who value liberty, and those who advocate Statism.

Podcast here. Skip to 35:37...

..."Dictatorship" you say? Interesting. Are you sure it was Ayn Rand you were reading? Are you sure it wasn't just...Nothing?  Here are some of Rand's actual words, Lynne Rossetto Kasper from NPR:

The greatest threat to mankind and civilization is the spread of the totalitarian philosophy. Its best ally is not the devotion of its followers but the confusion of its enemies. To fight it, we must understand it.

Totalitarianism is collectivism. Collectivism means the subjugation of the individual to a group — whether to a race, class or state does not matter. Collectivism holds that man must be chained to collective action and collective thought for the sake of what is called “the common good.´´

Throughout history, no tyrant ever rose to power except on the claim of representing “the common good.´´ Napoleon “served the common good´´ of France. Hitler is “serving the common good´´ of Germany. Horrors which no man would dare consider for his own selfish sake are perpetrated with a clear conscience by “altruists´´ who justify themselves by-the common good.

No tyrant has ever lasted long by force of arms alone. Men have been enslaved primarily by spiritual weapons. And the greatest of these is the collectivist doctrine that the supremacy of the state over the individual constitutes the common good. No dictator could rise if men held as a sacred faith the conviction that they have inalienable rights of which they cannot be deprived for any cause whatsoever, by any man whatsoever, neither by evildoer nor supposed benefactor.

This is the basic tenet of individualism, as opposed to collectivism. Individualism holds that man is an independent entity with an inalienable right to the pursuit of his own happiness in a society where men deal with one another as equals.

The American system is founded on individualism. If it is to survive, we must understand the principles of individualism and hold them as our standard in any public question, in every issue we face. We must have a positive credo, a clear consistent faith.

We must learn to reject as total evil the conception that the common good is served by the abolition of individual rights. General happiness cannot be created out of general suffering and self-immolation. The only happy society is one of happy individuals. One cannot have a healthy forest made up of rotten trees.

The power of society must always be limited by the basic, inalienable rights of the individual.

The right of liberty means man’s right to individual action, individual choice, individual initiative and individual property. Without the right to private property no independent action is possible....

Excerpt from The Only Path To Tomorrow, by Ayn Rand [emphasis added]

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- World leaders flying into Copenhagen today to discuss a solution to global warming will first face freezing weather as a blizzard dumped 10 centimeters (4 inches) of snow on the Danish capital overnight.

“Temperatures will stay low at least the next three days,” Henning Gisseloe, an official at Denmark’s Meteorological Institute, said today by telephone, forecasting more snow in coming days. “There’s a good chance of a white Christmas.”

Delegates from 193 countries have been in Copenhagen since Dec. 7 to discuss how to fund global greenhouse gas emission cuts. U.S. President Barack Obama will arrive before the summit is scheduled to end tomorrow.

Denmark has a maritime climate and milder winters than its Scandinavian neighbors. It hasn’t had a white Christmas for 14 years, under the DMI’s definition, and only had seven last century. Temperatures today fell as low as minus 4 Celsius (25 Fahrenheit).

DMI defines a white Christmas as 90 percent of the country being covered by at least 2 centimeters of snow on the afternoon of Dec. 24.

LOLZ. Or better yet as Ace headlined it: "Oh Dear Sweet Practical Joking Lord"

Merry Christmas! ;)

Yes - the information inside the yellowish oval shall be properly relegated to the STFU Network.

Sure, LEDs are a great new energy-saving technology. The problem is, they're no match for a Midwestern winter. That's what the town of West Bend, Wis. learned when they installed LED traffic signals. LEDs don't generate heat, which is normally a selling point. It's not so appealing when you're trying to keep traffic signals snow-free, and the ostensibly green move has caused at least one accident.

The irony of this is so rich. Goal: Attempt to save energy, perhaps fight global warming -> Result: New lights to require additional energy using warmers to keep from freezing...

...That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen