There are two aspects of the whole Colonial/Post Colonial period of American history which most people either pay no attention to or flat know nothing about. Among those who are acquainted with these events, many misunderstand their meaning or discount that meaning, preferring to talk about the years in between which make up the actual revolution. Both of these things I’m about to talk about are vital to any understanding of where we come from and why we seem to be where we are today. Anyone who tells you that events that occurred two hundred plus years ago don’t matter to the present have no real grasp of history. …
Month: March 2011
The Debate, part two
We left off with the Right wing idea that creative individuals owe the community nothing. By creative here, I refer to builders—industrialists, bankers, corporate giants, what in an earlier age might have been called Robber Barons. (I said in the first post that I have a point of view and a critique, that this would not be an unbiased set of posts.) I characterized this as sophomoric. It is, in fact, best codified by the writings of Ayn Rand, who wrote some interesting novels and a great deal of philosophical defense of greed. Rand is a hero to those who wish to see themselves as above it all, apart from the masses, a singular individual with gifts and abilities far beyond those of mortal men…
Forgive me, the temptation to hyperbole was irresistible. …
The Debate, part one
The talking heads have been bloviating for decades now about the function of government vis a vis a so-called Welfare State. The Right claims that having the government “take care of” people is a violation of the American tradition of independence and self-reliance and will sap our resources, both fiscal and moral. The Left has argued that such government programs are there to protect people who have few resources from the depredations of the wealthy and an economy that fluctuates as a normal element of its functioning and that it is the responsibility of the better-off to aid those who are left without recourse in such a system.…