Rebane's Ruminations
June 2012
S M T W T F S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930

ARCHIVES


OUR LINKS


YubaNet
White House Blog
Watts Up With That?
The Union
Sierra Thread
RL “Bob” Crabb
Barry Pruett Blog

George Rebane

RL ‘Bob’ Crabb posted ‘Inept vs Insane: The National Feud’ on his blog which by its title alone invited a heated discussion in its comment stream.  I put in my two cents and started a thread that had Bob worrying that people would “put holes in (his) new blog”.  Points were raised and questions put that are best answered on RR, which already has enough holes in it so that a few more here and there won’t matter.

GlobalizationObamaBob’s main point seemed to be that the polarized politics of the country have very little basis in reason, and therefore if people just cooled their rhetoric, they could find a nice middle way and all would be well for the country.  He couldn’t see that much difference between the two sides.  Well, I have spent the last five years on RR trying to substantiate the proposition that there is a huge difference between free market capitalism and collectivism in all its forms, many of which are clearly on the rise for reasons discussed in these pages.  Anyway, I commented –

“The main difference I see in the contending sides is that one says, your way won’t work because it will put all of us in a poorhouse surrounded by barbed wire; therefore let us go do our thing, and you can do your thing. The other side says your way is unfair, and you have to stay and pay us to make our way work (and we’ll use the barbed wire if we have to).”

Michael Anderson, somewhat incredulously, asked “George, what’s/who’s stopping you from creating a new country where you can “do your thing” within the border of the USA?”


Somewhat nonplussed, I replied that it’s “sorta like asking the citizens of the USSR, who outnumbered the Party members about 50:1, the same question. That’s the correct reply.  However, a more comprehensible answer is a) two plus generations of citizens graduated by our public schools, and b) the ‘progress’ of our republic toward a democracy. There is no way that the gimmes are going to let their meal tickets go.”

Gregory Zaller, a new voice from the left, replied, “I don’t know, George. The truth goes the other way you intended more readily. The far right are the intrusive ones who will jail those they find morally different and who want less government so they can develop more schemes to exploit people.”

GregZ’s “I don’t know …” was the only correct part of his comment, as several following commenters from the right attempted to inform him.  GregZ’s perception is iconic of the left and the prime reason for the Great Divide debate.  Only class warfare collectivists have put in place and operated regimes which removed individual liberties, jailed their opponents by the millions, and killed them by even greater numbers.  But their view of history is so different that the dialogue ends before it can start.

Piling on incredulity, MichaelA comes back with the claim that not only didn’t I answer his question, but that even my “proposition was dishonest”.  Then taking a tack way to the left, he attempts to point out the weakness of conservative propositions in general by focusing on healthcare, and claiming that the right has no solution that beats going to nationalized healthcare via the rosy road of Obamacare.  That argument had enough leaps, turns, and twists in it to put shame to some of the best Cirque de Soleil routines.  It was definitely time to come back to RR.

Adopting the established argumentation of the mainstream left, MichaelA completely ignores the sustainability and level of care problems under which EVERY nationalized healthcare system today in the world suffers.  As new evidence emerges daily about implementing Obamacare, it is clear that if you thought healthcare costs and levels of care were out of control now, you ain’t seen nothing until that monstrosity fully kicks in.  Yet progressives like MichaelA want to go toward certain disaster (added to the already dire fiscal condition of the nation) instead of even giving the conservative proposals another look.

Actually, it’s worse than that.  The leftwingers have not even given the conservative healthcare proposals a first look because these require drastic overhaul of our tort laws, tax code, and the elimination of a number of holy collectivist cows.  For liberals it’s nationalized healthcare or the gulag since, as I continue to point out, for us the highway apparently is out.

But pushing Obamacare is just one of many rocks on the road to recovery that this administration has laid down, and will continue to pile up in spades once they get re-elected.  And to be sure, it is again the apparatchiks of the left who are preparing the usual draconian response to the inevitable and massive civil disobedience when it comes.

If we appeal to Occam’s razor for the simplest explanation and one that has the most predictive power, then ‘It’s global governance, stupid!’ and Agenda21 is the way.

[Today’s headlines  – ‘Payrolls Rise by 69,000; Jobless Rate up to 8,2%’ – continue to corroborate the thesis that we are in Depression2.  And predictably the economists and analysts were again “surprised” by these “unexpected numbers”.]
 

Posted in , , ,

128 responses to “The Great Divide – the debate continues”

  1. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    Illustration of point made earlier, about insurance companies which used to abort citizens:
    (Reuters) – Texan Sam Lovett had no health insurance in August 2010 when an emergency hospital stay brought the news from his doctors that his liver was failing and he could die within less than a year without a transplant.
    The small distribution center where he worked did not provide health insurance. Lovett, 43, who lives near Comfort, Texas, was not able to buy private coverage on his own because of his already bad health. Though he had the resources to cover routine medical bills, he now needed a $400,000 organ transplant and no doctor or clinic would take him without insurance.
    “They were making arrangements to send me to a hospice. One doctor flatly told me that I had a better chance of leaving the hospital dead than alive,” said Lovett, who had a history of alcoholism and obesity.
    But in the months that followed, Lovett was able to enroll in the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP). The program was created by the healthcare law that President Barack Obama, a Democrat, signed in March 2010 despite the united opposition of Republicans in Congress. The program paid for Lovett’s transplant surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix last December.
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/03/us-usa-healthcare-uninsured-idUSBRE85206I20120603

    Like

  2. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    One thing we can always rely on is the idiotic statements of SteveF. Hell, Keach is more coherent. The Preamble is not the law. That is an argument made by the LEFT all the time. Now they want to use it and we simply point out it is not the law. Then a stupid statement by SteveF poops up and puts words in our mouths about slavery! The Constitution has amendments as enumerated in the document (the law). Those Amendments gave all people equal rights. If there was no way to Amend the Constitution then StevF”s inane (as usual) remarks would be cogent. But, my simple request is to show us all where in the self enumerated Constitution where it says it will require a government or private eduction system. When you do I will agree. Otherwise you are incorrect.

    Like

  3. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    Dear Todd, If you really believe that this country would be better off with all education the responsibility of each individual adult, for each kid that comes along, unwanted or wanted, with ZERO tax dollars devoted to said education, then why would you be arguing that private schools should be getting tax dollars? You do seem to agree, by your indicated desire for this welfare education handout, that education is in the interest of the country, even if it is polluted by a wide variety of religious beliefs, including NeoNAZI, peyote smokers, and group marriage oriented Mormons (you want their values paid for by your taxes?).
    You know, maybe the receipt of such tax subsidies should be based on test scores? Hey, we want to make sure we are getting the right bang for the buck. Spend too much time on Creation and not enough on evolution in Biology, and guess what, your kids fail that part of the test, and you loss your funding. How about them Mendel apples and peas? The same standards you want to apply to teachers in public schools should equally apply to your wonderland array of private schools. Schools after losing accreditation could continue to take the test, but only under outside observation, we don’t want no cheat’n.

    Like

  4. Steven Frisch Avatar

    Todd, you just made my point….thanks. The constitution is not an end, it is a beginning, it is a living document, and the rights we enjoy are re-interpreted by every generation through amendment, judicial interpretation, and new legislation. So we do not consider blacks 3/5 ths of a human being, not just because it was original wrong in our system, but because the 14th amendment changed the law.
    I have watched as those here have even challenged Marbury v. Madison–so when you say you don’t want to go back to the ‘originalist’ interpretation of the constitution you are not fooling me. You and others here have been contending that all along. After all, you are the one that said “minorities should just shut up” about voting rights.

    Like

  5. George Rebane Avatar

    Is it not true that all human life has finite value, the amount to be determined by time and place and circumstance? Most certainly those amounts can be pinpointed today. For example, I can calculate for you the dollar amount that Caltrans puts on a human life every time it decides to decorate the side of a road rather than use the money to extend a center barrier somewhere. And we can get more detail in looking at the dollar value of life in other pursuits.
    Most of the abortion debate revolves around government funding it when taxpayers are divided on the issue, claiming deep religious and moral beliefs. We already proscribe many kinds of medical/surgical procedures. For example, should parents want their daughter to be circumcised, they would have to go to another country to have that done. A start at resolution would be not to have the federal government fund abortion, and leave such funding up to each of the several states.
    Re the “living Constitution” debate. The Left wants to maximize the modalities of “re-interpretation”, while the Right wants to minimize them, overwhelmingly tending toward amendment leavened by a bit of judicial interpretation. But never allowing legislation, much less bureaucratic regulation, to sully the intent of the Founders. The latter (successful) attempts to abrogate the fruits of our Revolution should be definitely (rolled back and) restricted to hewing to the Constitution as currently interpreted, and never to inject a new or broader interpretation by themselves. The Left, of course, totally disagrees.

    Like

  6. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    “But never allowing legislation, much less bureaucratic regulation, to sully the intent of the Founders”
    I wonder why the Founders ever bothered to make a preamble for their Constitution, since conservatives, at least here this week, seem to feel it was just window dressing with no meanings to be considered? Did the all knowing, all intelligent Founders, waste their time for the sheer hellova it?

    Like

  7. George Rebane Avatar

    DougK 1235pm – First, the Preamble introduces the document and gives the reader and overall flavor and purpose to the legal strictures which are to follow. I don’t understand your focus on the Preamble to apparently support some point you are making.

    Like

  8. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    Focus is due to Todd and others’ discounting of the phrase “the common good” and others. Todd still hasn’t announced whether he is in favor of public schools or subsidized private schools, regardless of any political or religious stripe, or how to evaluate them.
    On pensions in California, try: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/02/us-usa-california-pensions-idUSBRE8510BQ20120602

    Like

  9. billy T Avatar

    I once voted for a black man for President of the United States. I was in the 3% in California that voted for Ambassador Alan Keyes. In hindsight what bothered me about Mr. Keyes was his constant references to the Declaration of Independence. A fine document, along with the Gettysburg Address that every school kid could recite verbatim in the “old public schools systems”. Alan Keyes was a wonderful orator and statesman in a nation void of of his skills. Yet, I kept thinking what about the Constitution? It took 13 years or so to hammer out our Constitution and we expect Iraq or foreign nations to whip one out in months, but I digress per usual. Abortion is legal per the Supreme Court. That is the law of the land whether I like it or not. The Constitution is our “law of the land” whether I love it or not. States rights are not some right wing wacko idea and those that quote the Constitution are not to be disparaged like the white racist gun toting Tea Party luving beer bellied meat eating pick’em truck driving blue bloods that cling to antiquated silly notions form and wear little American flags on their lapels. Wheew, that was a long sentence. Can’t find public education in the Constitution, expect that part we ignore about mandating setting aside open space for colleges (my interpretation). I love the preamble and the Declaration of Independence, but the Constitution is where we live. The former documents set forth the spirit of “the law”, the latter is the law. Concerning the Great Divide, I was interested by the porn star “actor” hiding in France that send a body part to the Conservative Party in Canada. First I though it was an Occupy member, but details emerge that indicate he sent a pox to both their houses. The case began Tuesday, when a package containing a severed foot was opened at the ruling Conservative Party headquarters. A hand was discovered at a postal facility, addressed to the Liberal party of Canada.

    Like

  10. George Rebane Avatar

    DougK 112pm – Sometimes it’s more than hard to follow you (at least I’m so encumbered). Of what import or provenance is “common good” that it be here counted or discounted??

    Like

  11. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    How come I am not surprised that neither of you do not understand the concept of, “common good,” as it might affect various legislative activities, including funding public education? I wonder if the Founding Fathers would find that gap in your education a tragedy?

    Like

  12. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    I edited without removing the “not,” twelveth word in.

    Like

  13. George Rebane Avatar

    DougK 224pm – We do very much understand the concept of “common good” and sincerely believe the form of governance our ideology recommends will maximize it. The implication you have given all along is that the Founders wrote “common good” into the Constitution, which they did not as I pointed out in my 816am.
    It goes without belaboring again that both your definition of “common good” and its method of achievement are worlds apart from the conservative/libertarian concept of “common good”. You make your points by putting words into our mouths, and we attempt to make ours by pointing to the sorry history of collectivism whenever it has raised its ugly head.
    Hence the topic of this post.

    Like

  14. billy T Avatar

    I have an idea what common good means to social justice advocators. Not my concept, but I never had to read a book on my moral compass. Don’t lie. Take care of the elderly and orphans and feeble, especially burn victims, which have a special place in my heart. A child who has survived a terrible burn usually has lost a parent in the fire, thus leaving the little one with extreme physical, mental, and emotional anguish. Be honest in all personal and business dealings and show favoritism to no one, i.e., don’t be a respected of a person’s status. Don’t cheat on taxes and overlook slights, real or imagined. Be the same person at work, at play, at home. Be industrious and take care of all obligations immediately. Never short change or short sheet. Do what one can and then more. Sure, my shortcomings are more than one can ever imagine. Respect authority (which is instituted for the common good) and fight against power (which is abuse of authority for personal gain, including status). I have a higher responsibility since I am able bodied with a semi quasi capable mind. Thus, “if a man will not work, he should not eat” is my mantra. The operative words are “will not” as opposed to cannot. Does not do society any good to have 47% pay no federal income taxes or to illegally hide assets from our National Treasury. Heard a former major of Nevada City spout that not having health insurance or being ill interferes with her pursuit of happiness. That statement says it all concerning the left’s idea of social justice, IMHO. Giving everyone an A on a subject in a class whether they deserve it or not is unfair, also IMHO. The problem with social justice is that suddenly I must pay for the whole planet, even those countries that feel they have zero responsibility for looting their own national treasuries. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/06/01/rio-20-conference-negotiators-producing-mammoth-messy-and-expensive-grab-bag/?test=latestnews

    Like

  15. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    When we point out the Constitution allows amendments SteveF makes an absurd attempt to claim that he is somehow gaining agreement from me the document is a “living” document! This is why no one believes a liberal. They are constantly trying to put words into others mouths. The Founders placed enumerated laws in the document then left the states the rest not listed and then to the people. The desperation of SteveF and DougK to be right on an obvious thing they are wrong is hilarious. If one wants to change the document, the Founders gave us a couple of ways to do that. We can Amend and we can call a Constitutional Convention. So SteveF, get that little book out and read it again a few times and then when you gain a understanding of the “enumerated” document, rejoin the debate.
    DougK, you need to study the difference between the power of a Preamble and the actual Constitution. The common good is understood by us and we do our part to keep a strong military a a National Guard to ensure the “common good” is still here. Dougk, you should thank George and Russ for their military service that protects your right to post some really dumb stuff here.

    Like

  16. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    Todd, did you know that the rest of us learned the word, “enumerated” many years ago? We so happy you have discovered it too.
    Todd, you still haven’t answered the question about socialized education? Are you in favor of it, or opposed? Either way, why do you take the stand you do? Then you can thank me for being a teacher. BTW, as I-Y medical status, due to birth defect hearing loss, I could not volunteer. You, as a married man, could have.

    Like

  17. Paul Emery Avatar

    “Today’s so-called ‘conservatives’ don’t even know what the word means. They think I’ve turned liberal because I believe a woman has a right to an abortion. That’s a decision that’s up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders or the Religious Right. It’s not a conservative issue at all.”
    Conservative icon, Barry Goldwater (R), a few years prior to his death in 1998, on a woman’s right to choose.

    Like

  18. Gregory Avatar

    Today’s so called “liberals” really don’t know what the word means.
    As a Marxist I once had a date with informed me, “liberal” means you’re for taking money from some people to give to others.

    Like

  19. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    “who” not “with”

    Like

  20. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    “Good Knight, Sweet Prince…”

    Like

  21. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    Do tell us more about your experiences as a Marxist.

    Like

  22. Gregory Avatar

    “Hey, if we are going to go back to the Constitution, as written in 1789, lets just acknowledge that blacks are only 3/5 ths of a human being.” – Frisch
    Idiocy from Frisch, who should know better. It did no such thing, though it’s become a popular fiction on the left. It was a compromise on the formula for apportionment of representation in the House between the abolitionist North that did not want the South to dominate the House based on slaves who could not vote.
    Free blacks got their full measure of representation by the 3/5’s compromise, and Frisch knows it. The humor in this is that wanting black slaves to count as a full person was what the southern slavers wanted. Abolitionists didn’t want them counted at all.
    I guess we’ll just have to put Frisch down on the pro-slavery side.

    Like

  23. Gregory Avatar

    Gee Keach, I’ve been a Marxist my entire adult life. What’s not to like? Went from being a Harpo Marxist to embracing Groucho Marxism with the passage of time. Hail, hail Freedonia!
    I was also a Lennonist while John was working with the rest of the Beatles but the navel contemplations of his Yoko years led me to dropping that affiliation.

    Like

  24. Steven Frisch Avatar

    Talk about twisting in the wind,,,,the hoops Greg and Todd have to jump through to be apologists for the original racism of the American system of government is amazing. I am of course not supporting slavery, I am condemning it, and using the disenfranchisement of our fellow human beings as an example of the dangers of interpreting the US constitution as an originalist in a modern era.

    Like

  25. Steven Frisch Avatar

    Yeah, lets judge the normative definition of ‘liberal’ by Greg’s dating experience!

    Like

  26. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    Gregory, your smackdown of Frisch was spot on. How a so-called, educated person such as SteveF can interpret the Founding document as a racist one show why there is a huge whole in the comprehensive ability of a liberal. He and DougK are tied at the hip. What a hoot!

    Like

  27. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    Se post in Zimmerman thread. Todd, how’s that white black marriage thing working out back in 1776? You know, between a man and a woman only? Liaisons (Tom Jefferson) yes, marriage, no.
    How many blacks crossed the Delaware? Oh, that didn’t get cleared up until AFTER WWII.

    Like

  28. Steven Frisch Avatar

    Todd, the beauty of our country, and a testament to our founding documents, is the point that a nation born of enslaving one sector of its population can change, update its constitution, and move on. To believe that slavery was anything but racist, and an original evil, is just ignorant. And the great bulwork against full rights was the doctrine of states rights….the very doctrine that so many of you here are professing every day.

    Like

  29. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    SteveF, you have it exactly backwards. We are not racist here, we believe in the equality of all regardless of immutable traits. You however are a racist since you see all issues in terms of color. To come here and try your racist views is proving a flop. When you get liberated from your idiotic racial profiling lifestyle then maybe you will attain credibility here.

    Like

  30. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    Todd, you may well not be racist, but the majority of the white population in 1776, if transported to the here and now, would be profoundly shocked and dismayed to see equality somewhat in action. They were definitely racist by today’s standards. Steve F has plenty of credibility here, and you have plenty of incredibility here too.

    Like

  31. Gregory Avatar

    The claim Frisch made wasn’t a simple recognition of racism existing from 1776 through 1789, but that “Hey, if we are going to go back to the Constitution, as written in 1789, lets just acknowledge that blacks are only 3/5 ths of a human being.”
    That’s just flat out false. Say it, Frisch… under the constitution of 1789, free persons of all races were counted, for the purpose of representation in the Congress, just the same. And it was the slavers who wanted slaves to count the same as free men and women because they wanted more power in the Congress.

    Like

  32. Steven Frisch Avatar

    Greg, what point of the fact that enslaved African-Americans were only counted as 3/5 ths of a person do you not get? The only reason the slavers wanted slaves to count was to boost their representation–not to enfranchise them because THEY COULD NOT VOTE. Yes, freed blacks were allowed to vote, but only in certain states, and only if they were property owners. You guys are digging a damn big hole!

    Like

  33. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    “free persons of all races were counted, for the purpose of representation in the Congress” of course they counted thyem for purposes of representation, they needed every warm body they could get to keep up with the Southern slavers. How many blacks actually got to vote 1789 and nearby years?

    Like

  34. Gregory Avatar

    The issue regarding what a true liberal believes in really was put in nice focus by that commie babe I had a date with. I note that no one generally on the left here disagrees in any significant way.
    Liberalism used to stand against the coercive powers of the state and for the liberty of the individual. Modern liberalism revolves around insuring coercive powers of the state to assure a politically defined social justice outcome, standing original liberalism on its head.
    Regarding Goldwater and abortion rights, I doubt you could find quotes of his to support the concept that, once one agrees it’s none of the government’s business whether a woman has an abortion or not, one must reverse directions entirely and state that it’s the government’s business to pay for the abortion if the says she cannot afford it.
    Goldwater, like many Arizona Republicans, had a wide libertarian streak. It cuts both ways.
    So now we’re back to modern liberalism believing government is there to take money from person A to spend on person B if person C, in the government, thinks person B deserves it. Everyone gets their needs met except person A, the one being shaken down.

    Like

  35. Gregory Avatar

    So many inconsistencies, so little time. All in quotes is from Frisch 12PM:
    “Greg, what point of the fact that enslaved African-Americans were only counted as 3/5 ths of a person do you not get?”
    First, the “enslaved” wasn’t in your first statement, and neither black or African American was in the 1789 document at all.
    “The only reason the slavers wanted slaves to count was to boost their representation”
    Thank you for noticing; my point. And the slavers agreed with you; they wanted 5/5 counts for their blacks in chains.
    “–not to enfranchise them because THEY COULD NOT VOTE. Yes, freed blacks were allowed to vote, but only in certain states, and only if they were property owners.”
    I said nothing about enfranchisement. It wasn’t about voting; for example, white women were fully counted for apportionment, weren’t they?
    Whether they could manage to vote or not wasn’t the point here; for example, whether they were counted one for one, as a 3/5, or not at all (like an native American who wasn’t subject to taxation). It was whether their existence was reflected in their state’s Congressional delegation.
    “You guys are digging a damn big hole!”
    You are a big hole, Steve.

    Like

  36. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    One of GG date’s opinion on liberalism? How you like to contemplate one of my date’s opinions on astrology? Or another one’s opinions about Brussels sprouts? Or the one with opinions about Barry Goldwater, or my wife’s opinions about Richard Nixon? What a kidder!

    Like

  37. Gregory Avatar

    Keach, she was your kind of gal.

    Like

  38. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    My gals are very much more multidimensional than that.

    Like

  39. Steven Frisch Avatar

    Some people are just much more comfortable in two dimensions Keachie. It does not threaten their …….small ideology.

    Like

  40. Gregory Avatar

    Frisch’s monodimensional politics seen here:
    http://youtu.be/iazv-tIy5Js

    Like

  41. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    GregG that was spot on.

    Like

  42. Gregory Avatar

    I guess my demolishing of Frisch’s misdirections (04 June 2012 at 01:14 PM) was just too spot on. A shame; I was hoping he’d continue with his red herrings regarding the 3/5’s compromise and voting rights.
    You see, the census counts used for apportionment were never about individual voting rights. Men, women, children are all counted, as are resident non citizens, whether legal or illegal. Felons and cretins, too.
    This may be the first time anyone has stood up to Frisch on his mischaracterization of the 3/5’s compromise. It’s a popular misunderstanding in some circles, as it allows one who wants to ignore the Constitution to have a faux outrage in order to do so.

    Like

  43. George Rebane Avatar

    Gregory 117pm – Extinguishing faux outrages is always appreciated. And moreover, it is good for the soul of the so outraged, because it saves them from the sinful pride that often accompanies the exercise of such outrage.

    Like

  44. billy T Avatar

    Excuse me for popping in here with another topic under the subject of The Great Divide, which you are free to dismiss and continue on with a very interesting and information discussion of the 3/5 personage in our Constitution of the United States. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/06/2-major-california-cities-approve-pension-cuts-for-city-workers/#ixzz1wzdJat5R

    Like

  45. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    Hear Yea Hear Yea, Rebane’s Blog breaking news:
    “There was no racism in Colonial America and the writing of the Constitution, especially the 3/5th representation for Southern states slaves compromise. Ignore the man behind the red, white, and blue curtains…So say we conservatives one, and so say we all…”
    Ben Franklin is laughing his head off.

    Like

  46. George Rebane Avatar

    billyT 608am – actually you’re right on target re the Great Divide subject. While cities in the real world have to deal with real solutions to the fiscal mess their profligate pension polices have gotten them into, there is still a very large liberal flat earth cohort that believes none of it. Can you imagine the ignorance abetted by ideological cataracts that such people suffer under, and by their actions in the voting booths spread that suffering over the country?

    Like

  47. George Rebane Avatar

    DougK 1046am – I hope that is you again taking both sides of an argument, using full quotes no less. The alternative to your talking to yourself is that somehow you weren’t able to grasp the content of the comment stream dealing with the 3/5 issue and early Constitutional interpretations.

    Like

  48. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    George, my mind is less compartmentalized than the average conservative, who has such an easy time avoiding connections that might disturb their conscience and need to see only certain things certain ways. Conflicts like these send alarm bells off in my mind like crazy, and so I post.

    Like

  49. Gregory Avatar

    By “by less compartmentalized”, Keachie probably means not bound by reality or logic; as a result, he can invent straw men faster than anyone can try to demolish them. Remember recently when he couldn’t tell the difference between a statement in a Teacher Quality document, that a teacher’s graduation from a top 100 college was associated with better student outcomes, from his caricature of it that claimed the document stated such a graduation was REQUIRED for higher test scores?
    Keach just can’t tell the difference between what others write, and what he thinks they wrote. George, I’ll say again, Keachie doesn’t represent modern American liberalism; I understand you like having a caricature of a leftist to poke fun at, but RR is not the better or the more diverse by putting up with him. There’s a reason he’s persona non grata elsewhere.
    In this thread, absolutely no one wrote anything like “There was no racism in Colonial America”. Pure straw man.
    Frisch wrote “Hey, if we are going to go back to the Constitution, as written in 1789, lets just acknowledge that blacks are only 3/5 ths of a human being.” That was not in the Constitution as written in 1789; if one thinks they were trying to say slaves were only 3/5 human by granting the slave states an increase in Representatives for their slave population, how do you interpret the treatment of native Americans, who were counted as 5/5 if they paid taxes but not counted at all if they were not subject to taxation?
    I sincerely doubt the constitutional conventioneers believed in some sort of taxpayer transubstantiation that turned Indians into humans. No, they were just trying to come up with a formula for determining the number of congresscritters each state should get that all could live with.
    This was entirely a compromise that enabled a Constitution to be written and agreed to by the several states, one of those sausages that had to be made to get it done. Had it not been ratified, there may well not be a USA surviving to this day.

    Like

  50. George Rebane Avatar

    Gregory 135pm – Yes, but then there are those lucid moments.
    In DougK’s 1136am my concern is not so much that he’s all over the place, but that he has established a “connection” with discussants who don’t visit these pages, and may exist undisturbed only in his conscience. Early on, most of us were advised not worry about people who talk to themselves, but only about those who also demonstrate their ability to carry on a full blown conversation, solo.

    Like

Leave a comment