Politics, Religion ... A walk/run/scream

I am fond of saying that "No one has a monopoly on stupidity" (or dishonesty or deviousness or ...) when it comes to politics and political systems. One needs a system that can survive and grow inspite (or despite?) of dishonest people who
get into politics to serve their own ends and essentially steal from the public trough. I also say that no one system has a monopoly on ingeniousness ... people are very smart and if we let them, will find solutions to almost any problem, just let them be. Hearing the Democrats and the Republicans gives me pause - not a single candidate has excited me on the possibilities they could bring - some on the Republican side
do have good ideas on the economy while the Democrats seem intent on initiating or prolonging the class warfare while enriching themselves (Watch what Bill Clinton is doing - despicable indeed).

I am frankly terrified of the intertwining of religion in politics (or of politics in religion). I heard a conversation Terri Gross of NPR's Fresh Air have with Randall Balmer who has written a book titled "God in the White House" - and he told this story of someone yelling "Let go of my God" to the person(s) moving the Ten Commandments Stone Monument at the Alabama Supreme Court after Judge Myron Thompson of the Court of Appeal in Atlanta ordered it's removal - Balmer remarked that it was ironic that someone would tell about their "God" when
one of the commandments is about not worshipping some craven image.

That Mitt Romney had to give a speech on his religion/faith was also alarming - Have we not learned anything at all? That when he did give the speech, he refused to acknowledge any of the sins of the Mormon Church - their acknowledgement of multiple wives for the male for many, many years as the "way to heaven"
and blatant racist attitudes towards people with dark skin color and deferring to Biblical passages. Now we watch many in the Democratic side remind people that Barack Obama's middle name is Hussein (reminding everyone that his father was a Muslim).

The viciousness in faith/religion is unacceptable to me - in any form - smacks of gross hypocrisy and undermines the relation among peoples. That such viciousness is not limited to Christianity (in any form), Judaism or Islam is irrelevant to me. I have heard such vicious sentiments expressed by Hindus also. Even Buddhists
who claim to follow peace among all and such, have expressed sentiments that make my skin crawl (Christopher Hitchens writes about many such issues).

For a country like ours that many consider a "Christian" country, what the "Christians" are doing is abominable when it comes to many, many issues ... Apparently, many are content with attending church, socializing and expressing platitudes about the "poor and the hungry and the ..." and go on to express
distasteful thoughts and ideas. No one wants to see people walk into our country and do whatever they want - violate our laws and get away with it. Most people see illegal immigration that way - but that's simply wrong. ILlegal immigration is truly a
response to our economy and what the consumers/people demand. If people want cheap labor - for taking care of their houses, their businesses, their family - and they cannot find locals who can do it for the price they are offering, word gets through to others who are willing to do such jobs for the price they can get - AND they pay into the social security system and taxes and all that. The overwhelming majority of ILlegal immigrants are simply here because their services are required - and yes
they do seek better economic opportunities.

My admiration for the Wall Street Journal started with their uncompromising stand on the issue of immigration in general - and how they view our country - as that magnet for humanity everywhere. Our department now subscribes to the Wall Street Journal and my students read it. Oh, their opinion pages are now open for free.

The rapid economic growth in India is starting to sow seeds of discontent among the ones that are too lazy to work or are simply jealous of others who are succeeding. Economic growth has apparently been demanding productive workers and apparently many in the "lower caste" communities have grabbed to the economic life lines and are doing very very well and the "upper caste" Brahmins/others
are envious of the ones that are doing well - the Wall Street Journal has had many stories of atrocities - even murders. These may be called "caste-warfare" or whatever, but what drives them is simple jealousy - and it is abominable indeed. Politicians in India are only too eager to exploit such situations to get
elected.

The Republicans in the US will appeal to some/many of their "conservative" base using divisive language - while forgetting that many who would like to vote for them are scared of what they may do - when in office. The Democrats seem always intent on igniting class warfare and growing government at the expense of everyone
"Do not worry, Big Government is here to help you". When asked about Barack Obama's win in South Carolina, Bill Clinton invoked the name of Jesse Jackson who won there in 1980/84 because Jackson was/is black and hated by most whites. It confirmed for me what I had always believed about the Clintons - they are
fundamentally rotten to the core and their racist outlook on life/people is showing. It seemed to have surprised some Democrats, but not for ones that have followed the Clintonian approaches during their years in office.

I have not seen or heard a true Libertarian, yet. John McCain does give me some confidence that he will know how to deal with external enemies and he will not be cavalier with the lives of soldiers as Cheney, the VP seems to be, manytimes. For all the talk about national defense, this current president and his administration has treated the soldiers poorly by not giving them the resources they deserve, while sending them into dangerous areas.

Hillary Clinton and John Edwards makes me want to move to another friendly country - Oh, say like "North Korea" or "Albania" or "Communist Soviet Union" (yea, they give me the willies for sure). Barack Obama is smart, intelligent - and seems open to new ideas - though his policies/what he talks about are not all that different
from what Clinton/Edwards talks about. It is painful to see Bill, the womanizer/philanderer/liar/despicable human play the race card against Obama.

I'd run for office - except, they will say "He is a Hindu who believes in the sacred cow and terrorizes other castes and does not want to solve the hunger problem in India by simply letting people eat meat" (or some such drivel). And I'd get hopping mad and punch someone in their face and that would end my campaign.

OK, I'll run for office when I decide I am truly insane and devoid of any human sentiments or decide to abandon all sense of rationality.

Till then, I'll simply change/mold young minds, one at a time - and I have one very young, near and dear to me.

Capitalism and such

Ayn Rand observed more than 50 years ago that it is
always "philosophy". There cannot be any
redistribution unless there is production - which
requires the deliberate application of human
reasoning. Nothing grows or is made randomly - and
the free exchange of ideas for money or whatever is
what has propelled the productive societies to make
every one's life better.

There are always examples that can be used to
demonstrate that there is no such thing as a free
society (yes even the rich get handouts and steal and
all that). If anything these examples can be used to
show that if it were NOT for such outright thievery,
lives would be better.

Throughout history the most dynamic of all
civilizations are the ones that have progressed and
become better - the ones that allow for the free flow
of ideas and good - unfettered by central control.

``You are so wrong" - I can imagine the cry. And yes
there are examples galore of how some capitalist
somewhere made off like a bandit and stole many
people's money. It/others does not prove capitalism
does not work - but that stealing is stealing is
stealing no matter what. We have become so used to
thinking that by somehow having "some group"
controlling everyone else we all will be better off
that the ideas of unfettered capitalism is difficult
for most to understand and accept.

The idea of charity or helping others is somehow built
into people - a reverence for the sanctity of life as
it were. So, when I hear cries about how we need a
strong central government to take care of the
sick/needy - it makes no sense. Even in societies
that were completely controlled, there were poor
people - and many more as a fraction of the population
than rich societies. This was not because these
societies somehow had bad leaders - but that it is
impossible to have completely controlled societies
that expropriate property/wealth that will also
benefit the most. But given that we cannot do such
experiments and objective historical analysis is
difficult to impossible, we are left with one group
saying "Government" is best and the other trying their
best to limit that "Government".

My choice of remaining on the public dole is a selfish
one - for financial support. I will however not
denigrate the ideas of a free market system that I am
convinced will be better in all respects. Yes, even
education and health care and everything. Yes, a lot
of it is messy and there are cheats and thieves and
all that. It is amazing that inspite of the dregs of
humanity, it still works

The system of advocacy/conflict seems ill-equipped to
have any chance of resolving the fundamental issues
and differences for a system/country. On this issue,
the rapid/instant availability of "data" has made it
worse - people demand instant answers and seem
unwilling to spend the time to read/research issues.

The news media at large are aligned, mostly, with one
view that tilts mostly to the "left". When a
newspaper or article or channel provides a view that
is diametrically opposite to the majority view, the
epithets come furiously - Amazing to see what gets
spewed at the Fox News channel (and I am not even a
fan of Ann Coulter or Bill O'Reilly or many of the
demagogues there).

Obama's comment about Reagan is drawing incredible
fire from almost everyone in the Democratic party and
in much of the media. The venom from Roland Martin's
mouth on CNN was a good example for me (and I thought
he was OK - but now it seems "color" is important to
him than anything else).

The NY Times never lets an opportunity to comment on
anything that even smacks of being "not left" aligned
(they seem to take some glee at the unfortunate
killings of some kids who were home schooled and so
used a broad brush to damn the entire home schooled
society/groups - I cannot imagine why anyone would
home school - but I cannot imagine excoriating them
for their choice - even if a number of them may be
kooks and crazies - some make the rational choice that
they cannot afford good private schools and hate the
public school systems and so a parent decides to
forego one income to school the kids - so, not
everyone is a kook/crazy)

There was this NYTimes reporter on Democracy Now (Amy
Goodman) a few days ago and he talked about the
"incredible transfer of wealth from poor people to
rich people" like Steinbrenner of the Yankees and
owners of football/baseball clubs ... Yes, I find it
abhorrent that cities are being held hostage to teams
by rich owners - almost like being at the point of a
gun. He was using those examples to show why
"capitalism" is bad (or some such) - and I thought -
"Well, stop passing taxes for stadiums - and let the
teams leave" - but no, cities and people WANT teams
and GAMES AND ALL THAT - so, the owners demand the
ransom and get it ... and after the team stays, the
people complain that they are being taxed (they forget
conveniently why they passed the taxes/increase)

In Huntsville, there is a company called CINRAM that
recently got into trouble because they were LEGALLY
bringing in workers for the christmas season to
package/box DVD's for sale through out the country -
and were paying them $8/hr. The hue and cry locally
was "Why are they not hiring locals? We should cut
off their tax subsidy/whatever". Of course the city
gave all these incentives to come to Huntsville. Of
course, the company has on their payroll several
thousand employees who work year round AND make market
wages - So, if they are driven away, those people will
also lose jobs - If cities demand that every employer
pays their employees what the cities demand they get
paid, fine - they can if they want pass such
ordinances/laws - and if manufacturers can come/set
shop, great. But you cannot bribe them, and when they
come in, take the rug away and demand the company do
what the city demands.

As countries like India and China grow and as we in
the US stagnate, the politics of envy will rear it's
ugly head and we will then see how vicious the current
anti-immigrant sentiment will turn. I am alarmed at
how both parties are fanning the flames of
intolerance. The 1930's will look like a walk in the
park, unless someone, somewhere, at sometime knock
some sense into the national dialogue of what makes
economies tick and why the US remains the world's
magnet for humanity and how we will suffer if people
stop looking at the US as the shore of first resort.