Enlightened insights taken from the past week’s reading:
"If more emphasis was put on localism in America, rather than on the national stage, the socialist perception would shift radically.
When the impact on one's own community is clear (and, of course, when it's their own money at stake), people pay more attention to any nuances and potential unintended consequences of policies.
They see the Devil lurking in the details.
The value of low (or no) taxes, free trade and barter, mutual aid, positive-sum games, and other forehead-slappingly simple things become obvious."
Chris Campbell
"The trend of prioritizing feelings over reason isn’t a new one. It’s been gaining ground for many years. More than one Disney film has trained children to 'follow your heart.' Authenticity, or 'being true to yourself,' means acting in accordance with strong emotions. The use of the phrase 'I feel like' has become pervasive. While emotions are good, they are also very powerful, and can be very dangerous when decoupled from reason. Today, emotions have become 'weaponized.' They are used as blunt instruments to exert power and gain control."
Scott Allen
"Now that slavery is gone and voting rights assured, the Urban Institute speaks of 'structural racism'. What is it? 'Racial and ethnic inequalities loom large in American society. People of color face structural barriers when it comes to securing quality housing, healthcare, employment, and education.'
Structural racism is racism redefined so as to keep racism alive and achieve some other agenda. Structural racism has no 'THE END' because it’s based upon unreachable economic equality.
Racism is virtually dead in America, limited mainly to tiny fringe groups, but the corpse is being kept alive by racial politics and the racial industry."
Michael Rozeff
"Western civilization was built upon the Judeo-Christian tradition… and primarily on the Christian tradition. Anyone who claims differently simply doesn’t understand the civilization or doesn’t want to. Whether or not the doctrines of Judaism and Christianity are true, these are the foundations of our civilization. That can’t really be disputed.
These principles – things like compassion for the outsider, forgiveness, and loving your neighbor – are demands for enlightened and righteous action in the world.
So, how do you subvert people in a culture centered on righteous action? You convince them of sin of course. You find one way after another to make them feel like they – and their civilization – have failed to be righteous; that’s the weak point. Then you convince them that they need to absolve themselves in ways that suit your agenda.
Have you noticed that the guilt slingers always have a preset conclusion for you… a single thing you must do to absolve the guilt they tossed upon you?"
Paul Rosenberg
"Anorexia is a mental disorder. One seeking to help that person shrug off this false sense of self would not reinforce that unreality by telling her she is fat. Rather, one would help her seek treatment for it so she could begin to recognize she is not fat and is destroying her health.
Likewise, one who looks in the mirror and sees himself or herself as opposite of his or her biological sex is creating an alternate reality. No amount of chemical or surgical alteration or treatment will change a biological female to a biological male and vice versa. It is a mental disorder and should not be coddled or reinforced. Nor should anyone else be forced into accepting that person’s alternate reality as reality."
Bob Livingston
"Thought is a means to the end of action, and most freedom activists have forsaken the cold, tough environment of action for the warm, safe bed of thought."
Boston T. Party
"Communism is a human neurological software virus."
Bill Buppert
"It's one thing to say libertarians likely won't prevail, it's another to insist they're wrong. Incoherent modern conservativism offers no real alternative to the grim, incremental march of progressive political centralization over the past hundred years; only the exceedingly distant hope that someday they'll control everything and impose their conservative views on blue state America."
Jeff Deist
"International trade – or any other kind – needs government regulation about as much as a fish needs a bicycle. No… that’s an inadequate image. About as much as a healthy human needs an affliction of cancer, syphillis, and toothache.
I’m all for buying the world a Coke and seeing it become a big, happy Kumbaya place. But that’s not what globalization actually means. In today’s context, it’s the politicization of trade."
Doug Casey
"We are all human beings. Once this concept is lost in the search for total individual uniqueness, nothing will be unique. We are all individuals, but we live within a society. Therefore, we have an obligation to get along, this for the betterment of all. Isolating each and every difference is racist and sexist, not the other way around. Those wishing to separate us are the problem, and they are the guilty parties in the matter of false hate they pretend to expose. They are the real racists and sexists, not those of us they condemn."
Gary D. Barnett
"Western governments and media only lie. Never do they tell the truth. Remember: Russiagate. Weapons of mass destruction. Iranian nukes. Assad’s use of chemical weapons. Gulf of Tonkin. 9/11. Russian invasion of Ukraine. JFK assassination. MLK assassination. Bobby Kennedy assassination. Skripal poisoning. Maduro starving his own people. An endless list of lies. The entirety of the West is nothing but a lie factory."
Paul Craig Roberts
"The federal government cannot and will not deliver immigration and border policies that Texans want. The only way to solve the issues surrounding the border and immigration is for Texas to become a self-governing, independent nation and determine our own immigration and border policies."
Daniel Miller