LTE Printed

LTE Printed
By Mike N · February 16th, 2012 6:01 am · No Comments · ·Edit

I had the following LTE printed verbatim in the Macomb Daily a countywide newspaper serving Macomb county which abuts Wayne County home of Detroit.

“We must return to basic principles

I applaud George Will’s Feb. 5 opinion column, pointing out the dictatorial desires of progressives from Woodrow Wilson to Franklyn Roosevelt and President Obama. Americans need to know that the Democratic Party is dominated by those who think brute force is the practical way to govern citizens.

But Will failed to take the next step: to ask why do progressives worship force instead of freedom, while our Constitution clearly calls for freedom? The answer is to be found in the Declaration of Independence with its principle of individual rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This principle is one of reasoned self-interest, that one can serve one’s own interests as long as one respects the same rights of others.

But progressives disdain these principles, believing that man is not capable of reasoned behavior and must be forcibly ruled by benevolent masters, a longing for something that has never been or will ever be. If America doesn’t return to the principles of the Declaration of Independence soon, the progressives will have the dictatorship they crave. Where reason and rights do not prevail, force does.”

Mr Will is a famous conservative pundit who is quite good at pointing out all the idiocies of progressive policies. But like so many of his colleagues, often fails to identify the principles underlying those policies thus leaving them unchallenged to continue birthing more such policies.

More Part Time Objectivist Activism

My activism the last week in promoting Objectivist ideas was mostly good with only a little bad. First the good. On Monday the 6th I went to the center campus of a local community college to check on my rack of The Undercurrent newsletter. They were all gone so I plunked down another 25 copies and will check back in two weeks. Then I went to the south campus and my previous supply of 30 only had 3 left so I put another 25 there also.

On Tuesday the 7th I checked a coffee shop next to the college where students like to hang out. I put a rack of 30 copies there back in November. There was only 1 left so 25 more went there as well. I also left 2 copies of the Sampler on the bottom shelf of the rack.

Today I visited a small private college that teaches business with several other professions. I gave a copy of "Why Businessmen Need Philosophy" to the Administrator with a view towards providing more copies should any teacher want more to teach to his/her class. Failing that I wanted to donate the book to the business school library so it will be available to students to read if they so choose. The administrator seemed very receptive although she said she never heard of Ayn Rand or Objectivism. She has now. I also left a flyer for the free books for teachers program and the student essay contests with her.

The bad news came from a larger private college where I sought permission to place a rack with The Undercurrent on it. This administrator said that because people pay tuition to attend, it may be inappropriate for the school to be seen as advancing a given viewpoint. In a nutshell, no rack. So I have determined that if someone should haphazardly leave a few copies laying on a random table well, the school couldn't be held responsible. Besides, thanks to today's experience at the smaller business college, I'll be going back to donate a copy of WBNP to their library probably this Friday the 10th.

I was also reminded of another business college about five miles from those mentioned above. As soon as I order more copies of WBNP I'll be paying it a visit.

That's it for now but I'll keep looking for more opportunities.

Why we seldom get morally principled leaders.

I posted this at The New Clarion yesterday and am re-posting it here today.

The Friday Jan 6th print edition of the Detroit Free Press carried an oped by Leonard Pitts Jr of the Miami Herald titled "Ron Paul is foolishly consistent in his extremism." He starts it out with this Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds" I'll skip the fact that there may be some debate over the contextual meaning of that quote in some circles and just focus on how Mr. Pitts uses it as received wisdom. I will quote a few passages with my comments in brackets.

"Ralph Waldo Emerson, meet Ronald Ernest Paul. He is the very soul of a foolish consistency. Meaning that he is willing, often to a fault, to follow his ideology to its logical and most extreme conclusions." [Right off the bat, Pitts is using extremism to smear Paul's consistency i.e. integrity. "(T)o a fault" means excessive, too much, but no argument is given as to why extreme consistency or integrity is a fault. Why is a man who is extremely honest faulty?]

"In this, the congressman differs from other GOP contenders for the White House and, for that matter, from most politicians, period. Your average pol might rail against the intrusion of government into the private lives of its citizens, then turn right around and advocate a law regulating what a gay man does in his bedroom--and see no contradiction. [Very true] Paul is too intellectually honest for that." [Mr. Pitts, you're starting to make Paul look really good]

"Intellectual honesty is a good thing, if only because it can lead you to reconsider a faulty premise.(If only? It has no other value?) But in Paul's take on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he doubles down on the bad premise instead." [Here Pitts confuses government enforced segregation with private prejudice and treats them as equal malfactors which of course they're not. Here the 'bad premise' is private prejudice.]

"In other words, forcing a restaurant to take down a Whites Only sign infringed the rights of the restaurant owner.[Yes, it did] A similar argument was made by segregationists in 1964--and by slave owners in the 1850s." [Not actually. Slavery and the Jim Crow laws were enforced by local and state governments and should have been repealed. Had they been repealed sooner, market forces would have eroded the private prejudices even sooner than history shows.]

"Can government be overlarge, overbearing, overwhelming, overrestrictive, overintrusive? Of course. And where it is those things, it is the right--and duty--of the electorate to pare it back." [Obviously Mr. Pitts doesn't think today's government is any of those things because the Tea Party which he opposes, exists to pare it back. Notice too that he doesn't object to the government being restrictive or intrusive, just overly so. He doesn't understand that he is actually saying don't overchain your slaves but chains are ok. But what would happen if the chains were removed completely?]

"On the other hand,unless you enjoy salmonella in your food and lead in your paint, unless you think it's OK that your doctor has no medical degree and your lawyer no licence, unless you're fine with breathing sooty air and drinking tainted water, and unless you really think a black woman in Mississippi, locked out of public places by threat of violence and force of law, should have been required to wait on market forces to rescue her, you must regard Paul's moral imbecility with a certain awe." [This is a partial rewrite of history. According to Pitts we were walking over bodies in the streets who died from salmonella, lead, tainted water and air and doctors and lawyers who didn't have government permissions to practice until the caring, loving government came along to save us all. Utter nonsense.]

[I have noticed that when statists mentalities are on the brink of achieving or losing their goals, they become more bold in the accuracy with which they identify their true goals and ideals.]

"Heaven help us if the intellectual rigidity he symbolizes is really the only alternative to the intellectual malleability of so many of his colleagues." [Wow! An open admission that intellectual malleability is the ideal, the norm to be achieved and admired. I will only add that Mr. Pitts is to be admired for his cognitive precision in identifying the intellectual status of Paul's Republican colleagues.]

With pundits like Mr. Pitts bombarding the public with ideas like this it is no wonder that the public has no principled leaders. My hope is that there are principled leaders out there taking notes on the election campaigns and deciding whether the public is ready for principled leadership. I think a growing number are. I just don't know how big that number needs to be to turn this country around. Perhaps 2012 will give us a clearer picture.

Objectivist roundup Jan 12 2011

This issue has posts on things like Inflation, the impact of entitlement programs on debt, Religious conservatism vs Islam, fighting for your life and the truth about Romneycare and a lot more.

Objectivist roundup #234

This week's Objectivist roundup is at Rational Jenn where you can read posts on things like "Thoughts on Drawing" or the "importance of mathematics" or on "When goals flounder, review your central purpose' and much more from an Objectivist perspective.

Paleo Rodeo #19

The Paleo Rodeo #19 is up at Modern Paleo where you can discover a coconut egg nog recipe or read a post on what causes anorexia or read as Mark tells how he improved his cholesterol results on a low carb high fat diet or learn how Tim improved his blood glucose control or simply enjoy many tasty recipes.

Here is a link to some very good articles on the junk science that is global warming. The statists and witch doctor wannabes are meeting in Durbin this week trying to keep the hoax alive.

Objectivist roundup Oct 27th 2011

This week's Objectivist roundup is at "Parenting is..." Where you can read posts like Ed Cline's on the Occupy Wall Street protests or one that takes a look at a 1960 hospital bill, or in defense of income inequality and much more. Enjoy.

The Objectivist Roundup #221 is at the blog of John J McVey where you can read posts on topics like naps at preschool, Elizabeth Warren's Assault on Justice, good getting things done habits by John Drake, a post on the importance of primacy of existence premise, why Gideon supports Gary Johnson for president, and much more. Enjoy!

Good Science on meat vs vegies only

Here is a good fisking of the new documentary "Forks over Knives" by Denise Minger. It's long but worth it.

Here is an LTE I sent to the Detroit Free Press whcih they haven't printed. They still might but it grows less likely the further away we get from 9/11. "In the Freep's Sunday 9/11 edition editorial page editor Stephan Henderson came oh so close to naming the why behind the evil of the 9/11 attacks. I laud Mr. Henderson for identifying it as evil but he is less precise in his identifications of why. Calling such attacks 'madness' or 'lunacy' makes the same mistake as calling Hitler 'insane' or 'crazy.' Hitler was, like the hijackers, acting on a set of principles in which they had total faith. But why faith? Mr. Henderson says "There are some acts that are just unhinged, unmoored from the emotional or intellectual infrastructure that most people use to guide their daily lives." Mr. Henderson, that 'intellectual infrastructure' is called reason. When men abandon reason they have nothing to guide their actions but their feelings. Since feelings are the result of values their empty minds can be filled with any irrational values the life destroying nature of which they will be oblivious. America was born on the benevolent universe premise which holds that man's happiness and values can be achieved in this life and that disaster and suffering are the exception not the rule. A set of irrational principles often leads to the malevolent universe premise which says misery and suffering is the norm and happiness can only be had in the next life. If believed avidly as Jihadists do, then any strong evidence of the benevolent universe premise like America the West and even Isreal will be seen as proof that the malevolent premise is wrong. This will be intolerable. Thus to maintain their irrational illusion, the West, Isreal and the great Satan America must be destroyed. The hatred of the West is not caused by 'madness' but by a set of irrational principles adopted on faith. "They do not want to own your fortune, they want you to lose it; they do not want to succeed, they want you to fail; they do not want to live, they want you to die..." Ayn Rand. Return of the Primative" Michael Neibel 27335 Lawnwood Roseville Mi. 48066

9/11, a time for activism.

This was a successful week end as far as pro-capitalist activism goes. I went to a tea party in a northern Detroit suburb on Saturday 9/10/11. There I set up my little table on which I placed about 10 baskets each with copies of essays on free market subjects. I didn't hand out anything really. I just stood there and declared to passersby that ideas matter and to help themselves to some free knowledge and ideas. There were only about 110 people there but that was good enough. They helped themselves to the following: 15 copies of the essay Message to Republicans from the Ayn Rand Center of Individual Rights, 7 copies of Seperation of State and Economy, (I ran out) 24 copies of Unlocking the Jobs Dilemma, 12 copies of To Stimulate the Economy, Liberate it. 12 copies of Significance of Atlas Shrugged, 29 copies of an essay on Pre-existing Conditions, 6 copies of Doctors are not Slaves with an ad for Lucidicus Project on the back, 25 copies of Stop Blaming Capitalism for Government failures, (ran out of these too) 14 copies called Two Thoughts which included a paragraph from Amy Ridenour on rationed medicine and 4 paras by me on the danger of socialized medicine to patients, 13 copies of a Free Books for Teachers flyer I made from the ARI website. 16 copies of the Feb 2011 Undercurrent, 11 copies of the spring 2010 Undercurrent, (ran out) and finally, 29 copies of the Ayn Rand Sampler. I got the impression that people were looking for more info on the nature of capitalism and how free market ideas would work in an actual free market. All in all I think it was a good day. But since this was the weekend of the 9/11 anniversary I decided one day was not enough. So today Monday 9/12 I took flyers for the Free Books for Teachers program and the Student Essay Contest and placed 10 copies of each at eight public libraries. I got permission from the librarians over a year ago. It's easy, all they want to know is if ARI is a 501C3 educational charity. Later this week I'll be checking my supply of the Undercurrent at two community college campuses. Despite all this, my activism is strictly a part time adventure.

It's Coming True!

I posted this over at the New Clarion a few minutes ago. Now I post it here.


In Ayn Rand's 1957 classic Atlas Shrugged, one of the bureaucrats, in response to the nation's economic collapse, provides his reasons for Directive No. 10-289.

"The picture now is this, said Wesley Mouch. "The economic condition of the country was better the year before last than it was last year, and last year it was better than it is at present. It's obvious that we would not be able to survive another year of the same progression. Therefore, our sole objective must be to hold the line. To stand still in order to catch our stride. To achieve total stability. Freedom has been given a chance and has failed. Therefore, more stringent controls are necessary. Since men are unable and unwilling to solve their problems voluntarily, they must be forced to do it." He paused,picked up the sheet of paper, then added in a less formal tone of voice, "Hell,what it comes down to is that we can manage to exist as and where we are, but we can't afford to move. So we've got to stand still. We've got to stand still. We've got to make those bastards stand still."
(Page536 in the large edition, 491 in the small paperback)

I was reminded of this quote when I read this article at Digital Trends. (Hat tip to OActivists) The first paragraph:

"The Federal Communications Commission just handed down new regulation designed to protect small, independent networks, and cable providers are getting seriously riled up. The FCC’s “standstill order” states that cable providers can’t pull networks off the air during contract disputes."

This demonstrates how government regulations create the need for more regulations, and what happens when the powers that be cannot properly adjudicate property rights which said regulations work to thwart. This incident should tell Republicans of the need to replace government regulations with market regulations. Sadly, I don't think there are but a few Republicans who even know what market regulations are or how they work. That is why the 2012 election is so important. The events in Atlas Shrugged are materializing faster now than in previous decades.

Objectivist Round up June 23.

This weeks Objectivist roundup is at "Parenting is..." where you'll find articles on economics, politics, parenting, culture and much more.

Objectivist roundup June 19th.

This week's Objectivist Roundup is at Noodle Food where you can read articles of the GOP's attempt to combine Jesus and Ayn Rand, parenting, economics and much more. Enjoy!

Paleo Rodeo # 63

The latest Paleo Rodeo is up at Modern Paleo where you can read about exercise, parenting with paleo, learn new recipes, and much more.

Objectivist Roundup April 28th

The Objectivist Roundup April 28th is at J. J. Mcvey's site. Great articles on things like induction and the arbitrary. Also posts on reforming health care, integrative abstract reading and much more.

Objectivist Roundup April 21

This week's Objectivist Roundup is at Reepicheep's Coracle. There are good essays on politics and culture and movie reviews including the Atlas Shrugged movie.

Paleo Rodeo # 057

This week's Paleo Rodeo is up at Modern Paleo where you can read about some good recipes and articles of fitness, supplements and paleo from a variety of perspectives. I liked toe one on raising HDL.

Paleo Rodeo # 056

The Paleo Rodeo is now up at Modern Paleo where you can get tips on healthy eating and living.