I would like to have some better learned Objectivists explain the current political social situation to me
I would like to see how Objectivism views/interprets the current politics. Are the Liberals right? The Trump people right? No one right? What would work better, and could actually be achievable?
It's the RESULTS that matter in watching the movie being played before us. Trump, the master magician, is making the COMMUNIST media and Democrats chase rabbits while he is RESETTING AMERICA back to PRE-1913 ACTUAL observance of the Constitution.
Has anyone noticed the rolling back of personal and credit card debt on the Debt Clock? https://usdebtclock.org/index.html
Tell me Trump is NOT working MAGIC behind the scenes while the Commies whine and moan about statues.
Very tricky to unwind it now, particularly with nothing he does being acceptable to the media.
He may be too strict. He may be too lenient. I'd hate to have to deal with it, but if I did, I would tell people who are unacceptable to go hide, and the rest of us can roll the dice.
Seems to me, his instincts are much more reliable than their "expertise".
All he did was get out of the way and let the people take responsibility for their own health.
He didn't force anyone to go to the gym, or to get their nails done, or to go have dinner with 50 people in a restaurant.
He gave people back the freedom and responsibility that the constitution guarantees.
For returning liberty to the people he was pilloried by the media.
For that act alone, he deserves to be re-elected.
Trump has been getting that treatment by the media for more than 4 years. It's disgusting.
If Obama had been faced with a pandemic and done the same things that Trump did, Obama would have been praised to the heavens and declared a Nobel prize winner in Science.
I didn't vote for Trump, but the media has done everything they can to push me into supporting Trump in spite of his obvious flaws.
1. A persons intellectual creations are theirs, the fruit of their mind and knowledge. Yet anyone who works for a company almost always has to sign away their work to the company (at least at my company thats true).
2. Government is almost always doomed to become authoritative and despotic simply because power is concentrated at a small level, and people are easily corruptible.
3. Democracy is a dictatorship of the 50.1% over the other 49.9%.
4. Government control of anything (i.e. Hank Reardons steel) is almost always doomed to mediocrity or failure.
5. You cannot force me to produce if I choose not to.
6. The individiual is th most important person in the world. EACH individual is important. Placing them into groups and classes and labels is demeaning and manipulative. You move from a concept of "I", to the concept of "We" and then to a "You owe me" groupthink. The individuals in Atlas Shrugged were the ones who succeeded and did not end up morally compromised.
I don't have a lot of free time to dig around into Objectivism as a total philosophy, and a lot of that is because I have yet to find anyplace that talks about Ayn Rands concepts in plain language, sorry to say. It seems it always devolves into high level talk with a lot od "isms" included. So I thought to ask the question after a discussion with a person who is very well educated in it. I do see a lo of parallels between what I think Trump and the Patriots are trying to accomplish, and what was brought out in Atlas Shrugged. The real issue is it seems a lot of people do not understand the current state of our society, where the huge political machines took over, and have been in control for a hundred years. The individual and personal responsibility has been crushed under propaganda and skewed news.
www.importanceofphilosophy.com. It is well organized and simple to navigate. Most is in easy to understand verbiage.
Surely this post could be smelled from a distance but the predator has yet to show.
I have been called worse and never complained...it comes with the territory of learning and testing one's thoughts on a subject aloud...or in this case, writing. Being objective through that process is not easy but eventually, with a bit of introspection, it works itself out.
So, I welcome a hit, an observation, even if personal, from time to time...keeps one humble.
Actually he won't be reporting, he doesn't have to. He just says: Bring em in Daniel...But we will hear the details.
Not holding my breath but await while breathing. LOL
The president was correct to shut down air travel from affected countries. But that's all he actually did.
The jackbooted THUGS of the IRS enabled most of the corruption we are seeing today.
So, I have to disagree with you where our Time-Machine has to land. :-)
Other than that, destroying Leftism as a viable and/or credible philosophy would be another excellent goal.
"So, fast forward to the early 1900’s and you’ll come across several key events that make it quite obvious there was a master plan at work to enslave the people. If you read a book named The Creature From Jeckyll Island, you’ll become intimately acquainted with the happenings in the year 1910, when 6 men, who were either elite bankers and/or politicians, met in secret in a place named Jeckyll Island. The purpose of this meeting was to formulate plans for economics reforms for the United States. This is where the banking cartel began in this country. The idea of a central bank had always been rejected, and so the men who met on Jeckyll Island, needed to come up with a way to trick the people into allowing a central bank to be instituted.
Three years later, in 1913, President Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act into effect, which is the current central bank in the United States, even though it is actually not governed by any agency of the Federal Government. Eight years later, in 1921, the Maternity Act was passed which required all birth to be registered with the state. So, now all key pieces were in place for the upcoming bankruptcy default and restructure."
http://understandcontractlawandyouwin...
I'm learning more but I don't understand the Fed system very well. And, I can't see what a return to a gold standard would look like for me personally. But, I DO understand basic market scarcity principles and know that as they print, WE PAY for it as a hidden tax. Printing = Devaluation of the $ in our pockets. Scarcity = HIGHER value.
I'm for the IRS being eliminated completely, too. With Trump also bringing tariffs back as a revenue source for the Federal government and knowing that he's big on "under budget and ahead of schedule" projects, it's not too outlandish to believe he's also in the process of fixing the WASTE, FRAUD, and ABUSE of the taxpayer's resources. And, the amount of THAT that has been going on, if everyone realized, would make even the most disengaged person go get the torches and pitchforks in RAGE. I'm not exaggerating.
So, he's obviously reducing the size of this monster and he's finding and reinstituting the Constitutional means for revenue collection. I think we're on the cusp of something many could not imagine.
And, it tells you why the HATE for him is enormous and pretty bonkers. To put it MILDLY.
If you want to see the results, look online and find a chart showing inflation in the US from the 1780's to the present. Prior to the federal Reserve Act in 1913 inflation did not exist in the US except when a war was being fought that meant the government spent more than it had to destroy things outside the US.
The value of the US dollar was stable from the time the US constitution was signed until 1913. No inflation. Stable prices. Bankers had to provide their own money to be able make loans and get rich on interest. ZERO inflation. The elderly could save some of their earnings and count on being able to support themselves in their old age because prices would be stable. Since 1913 solely because of the Federal Reserve Act the price level today is 26 times higher than in 1913.
On average if it cost $1 in 1913, today it costs $26 solely because of the banking cartel stealing from everyone else legally after bribing the US government to create the Federal Reserve Act.
Read the book. For the first time you'll understand why you are angry and who is the cause.
Click videos at the top and they are chronologically listed.
As far as his physical stamina goes, it is amazing. But, I believe that he is on a RIGHTEOUS mission and that is where he is getting his energy. He appears to be aging in REVERSE or in a holding pattern. No president has done so before.
I would think that has to be the result of doing GOOD vs. doing EVIL. Doing and thinking Evil always degrades you outwardly.
If fact we have three choices: 1) Biden, 2) Trump, and 3) to pick anyone else as a symbolic protest. Biden quite clearly seeks more government power and control. Trump speaks like a clown, and certainly does not concern himself with the rules, Constitution included. A symbolic protest accomplishes almost nothing. It is not unlike throwing away bologna when starving because it is bad for you and animals.
Ayn took an uncompromising position on Libertarianism, to the detriment of Objectivism, Libertarianism and the general population, allowing obviously flawed polarizing positions of Republicans and Democrats to dominate. Maybe her choice was really right for her. I believe it was simply spiteful.
To the great credit of the American people, the polls taken immediately after the Democratic Convention showed a significant drop in McGovern’s popularity and a significant rise in Nixon’s. At this writing, Nixon leads by the enormous figure of 26%.
I am not an admirer of President Nixon, as my readers know. But I urge every able-minded voter, of any race, creed, color, age, sex, or political party, to vote for Nixon – as a matter of national emergency. This is no longer an issue of choosing the lesser of two commensurate evils. The choice is between a flawed candidate representing Western civilization – and the perfect candidate of its primordial enemies.
If there were some campaign organization called “Anti-Nixonites for Nixon,” it would name my position.
The worst thing said about Nixon is that he cannot be trusted, which is true: he cannot be trusted to save this country. But one thing is certain: McGovern can be trusted to destroy it.
Ayn Rand
Yes, hiltery then (2016) biden now would definitely be trusted to destroy us.
Likely, biden would not be doing his own bidding, that much is obvious, the post modern cultural marxist would be marching on.
"A voter's choice does not commit him to a total agreement with a candidate -- and certainly cannot commit a candidate to an agreement with every voter who supports him. Under a two-party system, a voter's choice is and has to be merely an approximation -- a choice of the candidate whom he regards as closer to his own views; often, particularly in recent times, a voter merely chooses the lesser of two evils." - "How to Judge a Political Candidate," Ayn Rand, The Objectivist Newsletter, Edited and Published by Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden, Volume 3, No. 3, March, 1964, pg. 10.
I think we all need to remember that Trump is not alone. When voting for Trump, your voting not just for Trump, but rather the entire Trump administration. Essentially, the best shot of filling the administration with people that actually understand to some degree the core principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, free markets, limited government, etc. is to vote for Trump. [I'd love to hear an opposing view on this.]
Obama, Michelle, and Kamala are all all collectivists. It would change nothing. It would still be a question of Collectivism vs. Individualism.
A complication in philosophical political cultural discussions is of the slippery continua of ‘definitions’. When I struggle with a definition, I try to learn a positive meaning, but also a negation - what is not within the definition. I resent, have long resented, what I see as L. Peikoff’s corruption of Ayn Rand’s philosophical legacy - in to his rice-bowl.
What is an Objectivist and what is he not. What is a conservative and what is not a conservative position.
Humpty Dumpty (Through The Looking Glass). "I don't know what you mean by 'glory,' " Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't—till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!'"
"But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument'," Alice objected.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master—that's all."
My initial view of Trump, from the moment in summer of 2015 when he bellyflopped right smack into the middle of what had been the most promising lineup of GOP candidates in a quarter-century, was of a pragmatist utterly devoid of philosophical moorings, who happened to lean in the direction of GWB-type conservatism, only with a more assertive and self-confident (not to mention abrasive and crude) public persona. In the runup to the 2016 election my attitude was close to that of Objectivist author Robert Bidinotto's, as expressed in his April 2016 blog post "A Vote For Neither":
http://bidinotto.blogspot.com/2016/04...
As a resident of California, a state 99.9999% certain to flop to the Democrat Presidential candidate in any case, my desire to vote my conscience - for Cruz, who was demonstrably the best of the 2016 lot - was an easy one with no downside (except for the fact that my vote was null in any case.)
I obviously cannot speak for Mr. Bidinotto and I do not know if his view of Trump has changed in any way since that blog post, but given the undeniably good moves Trump has done in office - alongside the certifiably moronic - my opinion of him as a President has improved somewhat, with the emphasis being on the "somewhat."
That he's better than any of the totalitarian-collectivist Democrat mentalities is a no-brainer, but at a visceral level I rebel against being placed in a position of having to cast my vote for someone I would never otherwise choose, just to keep barbarian marauders at bay. Which in context of the 2020 election means I remain undecided as to whether to cast a vote on conscience again or to just give it to Trump.
The void where a philosophical framework needs to be is Trump's key flaw and continues to be.
So at a baseline level I consider Trump an acceptable placeholder and bulwark of sorts against... a pack of barbarian marauders, which is regrettably what the National Socialist Democrat Party has become.
From that baseline upward I can only hope that Trump will work to roll back the evils of the Obama, GWB, Clinton and GHWB years, work which may outweigh his asinine trade war, his asinine border wall, and the asinine noises he's been making in the direction of censorship and "antitrust" action against his foes in online media.
His most catastrophic default continues to be a.) his failure to gut and overhaul American education from top to bottom, and b.) his default as a competent competitor in the ideological tug-of-war we're in.
a.) As we've all seen over the last six weeks, a dangerous percentage of American people have been steeping for far too long in the collectivist, anti-American toxins that American "educators" have been dishing out for decades, the general worldview of Howard Zinn: America was not founded on July 4, 1776 but rather with the brutalization of the Avatar/Eden-like Western Hemisphere paradise by the EvilGreedyEuropeans who arrived on the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria in the late 15th century.
Every evil manifesting itself in American politics and culture right now can be traced back, not surprisingly, to the ideas that have been inculcated in American schools, particularly the increased radicalization of ideas we've seen since the close of the 1980s. If this is not reversed, it won't matter who's elected or what laws get passed.
The collectivist corruption in politicians, in entertainment, in the CEOs of American businesses from Disney to the NFL to Facebook to YouTube to Twit to Nike to Netflix, to the hordes of otherwise decent people who happily marched beneath the banners of an openly black-supremacist and Marxist-totalitarian group in the wake of the George Floyd murder, are the consequence of this uncorrected educational corruption.
The people working in these offices and these businesses and marching on the streets are people who... have been steeping in anti-Americanism for most of their lives. And most people believe what they're taught.
b.) Politics is a pendulum-swing or tug-of-war. The side that pulls the hardest and for the most radical goals will almost never get what it's pulling for - but in pulling for those radical goals it thereby pulls the entire context of debate that much farther in the direction of its worldview. It's the old Soviet "two steps forward, one step back" dance, and it still works.
A Republican President should be championing things like: a new Amendment to abolish residential property taxation nationwide (not a single American "owns" a home,) a 100% regulatory review with a goal of repeal, the expulsion and dismantling of the UN, the transformation of Mexico into a prosperous, constitutional republic by whatever means possible, etc.
America needs a "radical for Americanism," and Trump is at best... a placeholder.
I agree with your assessments of education in as much as can be addressed at the federal level. I agree with your stance on property taxes, but those are mainly at the local level (state, county, municipality). The income tax system can certainly be addressed at the federal level (abolish it!).
IMHO, Trump is more than a place holder for "Americanism", but he could be even more radical. The left hates him for his love of America.
But again, the mere proposal, championed aggressively and publicly, and debated seriously in the halls of Congress, would ipso facto vault the issue to prominence and pull the entire context of property taxation in the direction of individual rights and the importance of private property - something desperately needed at a time when the UN's "Agenda 21" implementation is being ramped up aggressively.
The abolition of the Income Tax would be a vast benefit, obviously, but the need to maintain funding for essential government rights-defense functions (as identified in the Declaration of Independence,) would require its replacement. The transition between which would be a delicate - if not prohibitively difficult - balancing act.
Ideally a national sales tax would be a contender, if for nothing else on the issue of financial privacy alone.
[Nobody should have access to the details of anyone else's income or finances. If you were to discover that a neighbor or even a relative had found a way to examine your personal finances you'd be outraged; why then do we acquiesce to a pack of faceless IRS bureaucrats doing precisely the same, annually? A sales tax would eliminate that privacy violation.]
But before as radical a change as Income Tax repeal and replacement could be even feasible, there would have to be a drastic, sea-change-type reduction in Federal spending in all areas except the three essentials: the Armed Forces, the Police and the Courts.
Meanwhile, Malta, Lichtenstein, Croatia, Thailand, Monaco, Fiji, the Cook Islands, New Zealand, Israel, Dubai, Bahrain are countries where there is no residential property taxation at all, or at most a one-time tax on purchase or sale of a residence, but no perpetual, annual tax on property. The United States of America, once the leader of the free world, has a less-just tax policy than Croatia? Than Malta? Than Dubai?
It's for that reason - and the impending specter of retirement - that I think a property tax abolition is a great and long-overdue idea. Also the fact that with virtually every American home "owner" likely being an enthusiastic supporter, it would sail to ratification in record time. But yes, the Constitutional legality of it would have to be hashed out before it could be advanced.
And to take it back to my original point: Regardless of legal feasibility, this is the kind of thing we should be hearing from Trump and from all of the Congressional Republicans, continuously, aggressively and relentlessly. The collectivist Left seem to understand this "pendulum swing," because they are continuously spewing a barrage of ever more atrocious assaults on individualism, capitalism and liberty regardless of plausibility - and it serves the purpose of maintaining focus on their warped agenda. From their opposition - the elected Republicans - we typically hear pins hitting the floor, in seeming quadraphonic clarity. Some other off-the-top "radical for liberty" demands, great and small, that could be and should be demanded:
- The selloff of all government-held lands not sitting directly beneath legitimate government buildings, facilities and military bases, à la Senator Cruz' 2016 campaign pledge (which would be another stake through Agenda 21's heart);
- The repeal of all absurdities such as regulations of toilets, bans on incandescent light bulbs, and "water use" regulations on appliances such as clothes washing machines;
- The repeal of all land-use regulations which violate the property rights of landowners;
- The opening of first class mail delivery to any and all competitors to the USPS (again, if bureaucratic Japan, socialist Britain and even theocratic-hell Iran can successfully privatize their government postal delivery, so can we);
- The 100% deregulation of homeschooling, of for-profit private schools, of parochial schools, and the implementation of a phase-out of government-run "public" education in total;
- The review and evaluation of all laws on the premise of coercion as the sole criterion for rights-violation - which would eliminate vast swaths of government regulation;
- ... to name a few.
Nobody is articulating - or even brainstorming - these kinds of moves back to Constitutional restraints and individual liberty, while the opposition continues to vomit an endless stream of assaults on them. This must change, but it won't unless Trump gets himself a whole new, better lineup of advisers.
My wife and I have lived in the same house for 40 years and have paid off the mortgage long ago, but can still be thrown into the street if we miss "Royal Rent" payments. My ancestor, who fought in the Rev War, was paid with land that had no such lien attached - and no income tax, either. He's probably rolling in his grave knowing government bullies will show up at my door to slap me around if I don't cough up the loot.
"Nobody is articulating - or even brainstorming - these kinds of moves back to Constitutional restraints and individual liberty..." Point well taken! I suspect the big rise in the price of beef is at least partly due to the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) stepping on ranchers in the West, but I don't see any addressing the issue after the last shootout.
Trump has been deregulating some things through executive orders and the left has been screaming - I see it on Facebook all the time about how the planet is doomed for one thing or another. Maybe he'll get around to a few more things on your list, but for now he certainly has other blips on his radar.
https://youtu.be/YUYCBfmIcHM
They offer no novel solutions as to how we rid the world of this problem.
It is a seeking of power over others by those that cannot create a self sufficient space for themselves and therefore require the values created by others in order to survive.
Yes, That IS Parasitism and their lack of conscience makes them Humanoid, not Human.
The problem goes deeper, it's a lack of conscience, the mind and mutuality which makes the "looters" parasitical.
Out here in the real world, let's face it, Trump likely would not have anything to do with any of us here however he considers himself closer to us than any other politician in my lifetime.
Just my opinion but I firmly believe that Trump has been screwed and burned by many of these so called "Elites" and has a serious vendetta against many of them. In another 4 years he will go back to his life of luxury with a big grin knowing that he screwed the "Elites" right back and in the process made it better for us little folks.
Biden will reap the rewards of this trend, especially given the hatred (often justified) against Trump. It will not likely matter just how progressive Biden talks.
The short-term hope is that Rep.s hold the Senate; we are in danger if not.
The long-term hope is a true capitalist properly defending American principles and gaining traction with the rational side of our populace.
Yes, there are good policies as well.....
Your conclusion of the handling of COVID and BLM as mostly bad may be based on flawed assumptions. He is neither John Galt nor omniscient and must rely on data supplied to attempt to a rational response. If the data is corrupted (either mistaken or agenda-driven), it is intellectually dishonest to assume he should have known. Just look at Dr. Stadler, I mean Dr. Fauci, who had no scientific integrity. You entirely discount the immense negative forces from all the anti-Trumpers that purposefully want to destroy him.
But as I said, your opening sentence may tell much of your predetermined biases, rather than any objective observation and discussion.
He is no capitalist.
The inequities with China are not resolved with tariffs - bad economic policy.
I'm certainly not putting the bulk of the COVID fault on Trump; but COVID strategy and communications has been bad.
Re China, trade or war are the only alternatives as Rand has said. Our misunderstanding of China has caused us much harm for over a generation. Identifying their metaphysical nature is the first step in moving the ball. Hong Kong, military in S China seas, India incursions, Thailand, and the COVID coverup are just some example of their totalitarian fundamentals.They have exposed their cards and now it's up to us to have them accountable and trade has been lowered in priority to formulate a proper response, at least I hope. Chang and Pillsbury may give you a better perspective.
With regard to the COVID strategy two fundamental things were done. Rather than seize more power and control, he deregulated many of the needed medical chains and decentralized basic decision making back to the governors. Both a good thing.
Let's just make real assessments of the current state.
Trump is hated by the Left and all associated Marxist groups. And it is "broad brush": his personality, mishandling of COVID/domestic terrorism, lack of progress with issues such as inequality and climate change.
Objectivists generally dislike him for his personality, general mishandling of COVID and BLM (albeit for different reasons than the Left), trade and immigration policies, etc.
I agree with most of what you say re China; but trade tariffs are not the rational or proper economic solution - they hurt us more than China.
COVID could have been essentially eliminated by now with good decisions. What he has done right was done too late. CDC and "experts" screwed up, but who is their boss?
Enough said.
Trump is hated by the left because he is capitalist enough to poke their Marxist eye - and it hurts them. Every time he pokes them they label him "unpresidential" or other such hateful response.
Free market capitalists hate tariffs, but that only works when trading with other free market capitalists. As soon as the "other" initiates an action that crushes or manipulates the free market, then by default it is no longer a free market and must be dealt with accordingly. Between China's manipulations and our own foolish foreign and domestic policies, which Trump inherited, the wealth transference (including wealth creating jobs and businesses) from the USA to China (not to mention other worldly places) has been enormous. Trump is the first president in my lifetime to actually address these issues. Tariffs may be distasteful to free market promoters and believers, but we are not dealing with a free market.
C-19 is like a hurricane. How do you "handle" a hurricane? You don't, it handles you. The best you can do is find a way to hunker down and minimize damage until it blows over and then clean up the aftermath. Government can offer suggestions and assistance as it can, but your ultimate survival is up to you. Picture Trump as the Fed and you are the states. The states did what they did and if their outcome wasn't optimal they blamed Trump.
It's not because he is "capitalist enough", but because he is not Marxist enough. Difference.
Free market cap.s hate tariffs always! Trade does not have to be equal to justify trade. E.g. China having tariffs hurts the Chinese and does not justify the U.S. reciprocating.
Jobs moving to China (and many other places never discussed) was a result of many bad policies; but that did not hurt our economy (separate from China's misdeeds - e.g. theft of our intelligence.
I won't repeat Trump's contribution to the COVID problems - they are well documented.
"Jobs moving to China ... but that did not hurt our economy." I respectfully disagree. For example, there are large swaths of any population, including Americas, that have limited skill sets that can be trained into simpler jobs that large scale manufacturing plants and their support industries and businesses can fulfill. When those jobs are shipped overseas the only recourse for those people is the welfare state and that hurts America (you could argue getting rid of the welfare state, but good luck with that in these times). I believe Trump knows this, which is why he has worked to find ways to repatriate American companies and slow the tide of illegal immigration. I suspect he knows he will not get rid of the welfare state, but he can press policies that lessen the demand on it.
"I won't repeat Trump's contribution to the COVID problems - they are well documented." To satisfy my curiosity of this statement please do repeat or at least provide a link to the well documented list. I'd like to see it.
Note that if you like Trump's trade policies, then you will like Biden's as well.
Of course in the case of trade with hostile countries such as China, free trade may also help them arm for war against us or our friends, which can be a good reason not to liberalize. IP theft may be another good reason. Slave labor too.
I like Trump's trade policies better than Obama's. They are not the best possible. But toward China I think he's doing the right things.
"Note that if you like Trump's trade policies, then you will like Biden's as well." Flippant remarks like this do not state your case, either.
Trump does not seem to understand the options; but his advisors certainly should.
Your examples are not specifics, but broad platitudes and opinions that are open to a variety of interpretations, again hardly objective.
To say “Objectivists generally dislike him for his personality,….” can be a “frozen abstraction.” I wonder what you would say if you met Rand or Peikoff, neither of which demonstrated a warm and fuzzy appeal. That shortcoming did not undermine the brilliance of their thoughts.
And as you said, “enough said.”
No Obj.ist should like him. And shame on you comparing his personality with LP and AR. Trump is purely pragmatic, off the cuff, irrational in what he says most of the time.
For the record, I have met and spoken to both LP and AR. They may have come across as tight and inflexible to some, but that's because they are representing an inflexible but rational philosophy. AR was very appealing.
Every day you see Trump threatening to intervene with regard to riots, but he doesn't intervene. He checks his own power and yet keeps the real tyrants in check with his threats. He is walking a fine line.
Trump is a mouthpiece. He is not even the tyrant leader of his party.
Everything I have seen re toleration in Obj. has been fallacious. Tolerance is not a virtue for good reason.
I've checked my premises my entire adult life! Not sure which one you are questioning.
And he was not a thorough Obj.ist.
I always found AR delightful.
"Race" should not even be the issue; this is about individual racists who need to be called out; and that applies to Whites and minorities.
I was distinguishing all this from Govt. "system".
Reverse discrimination (racism against whites in particular) has been government (institutional racist) policy for decades.
Today's Leviathan proponents have replaced the monarch with an oligarchy of elites who know better than the rest of us what is best for us. The believers have adopted a cultish, pseudo-religious passion for this belief, obedient to the pronouncements of the high priests of collectivism. With the declarations of the all-knowing oligarchs at the top not to be refuted or disobeyed, it is easy for those oligarchs to engage in doublespeak, changing what is holy as is convenient to promote their agenda. What is blessed today may be abomination tomorrow, and the believers follow without question.
It is this religious aspect of collectivism, as practiced by the extreme wing of the Democrat party, that makes it impossible for an Objectivist to have a rational conversation with its followers. Logic and actual facts are forbidden for them to discuss. Their belief stems from virtue signaling, being on the righteous side of an argument regardless of what is real. There's a set of interviews on Facebook that best illustrates this belief system: in the piece, liberal whites are first interviewed, on the question of defunding the police, and they all declare the righteousness of getting the police out of poor minority neighborhoods; the second set of interviews are with residents of Harlem, the "victims" who say that getting the police out of their neighborhood is insanity, and that they want a stronger police presence to protect them from the gangs.
The insanity of the collectivist position is exemplified by AOC, who declares the increased crime rate in minority neighborhoods after the police presence has been reduced is due to the pandemic, and is just poor people shoplifting a loaf of bread. She would have us believe that it is nothing more than a modern black Jean Valjean, struggling to provide for his family. Pay no attention to the dramatically increasing numbers of gunshot victims, because that doesn't fit the narrative.
Hopefully, this comedy of terrors is making an impression on those remaining people to whom reality hasn't slipped away. If this November's elections put the mentally challenged Biden (who is now adopting the most extreme of the irrational positions) in the White House, we will have two choices: either bow our heads and accept our fate, or rise up in resistance, and possibly take up arms to defend our freedom.
Jefferson
https://www.monticello.org/site/resea...
Even if he owned slaves (a very un-Objectivist idea, anathema) he was a Patriot to the country. He had many faults, but all humans do. Still does not detract from the statement.
Known as the "anti-slavery clause", this section drafted by Thomas Jefferson was removed from the Declaration at the behest of representatives of South Carolina.
This was not because of racisim, sexism or any other ism, but of her debacle in recounts, and the videos of the "ballots" being unloaded in the dead of night:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bren...
Am I in error?
I can not imagine. FL is at a tipping point, just like TX.
Humanity is good, but, when we let our guard down we allow darkness to infiltrate and destroy.
Like past battles fought, we now face our greatest battle at present, a battle to save our Republic, our way of life, and what we decide (each of us) now will decide our future.
Will we be a free nation under God?
Or will we cede our freedom, rights and liberty to the enemy?
We all have a choice to make. .
Evil [darkness] has never been so exposed to light.
They can no longer hide in the shadows.
Our system of government has been infiltrated by corrupt and sinister elements.
Democracy was almost lost forever.
Think HRC install: [2+] Supreme Court Justices, 200+ judges, rogue elements expanded inside DOJ, FBI, CIA, NSA, WH, STATE, …….removal 2nd amendment, border etc. ……… America for sale: China, Russia, Iran, Syria…….ISIS & AL Q expansion…….expansion surv of domestic citizens…….modify/change voter rules and regulations allow illegals+ballot harvesting w/ SC backed liberal-social opinion………sell off of military to highest bidder to fight internal long-standing wars……..
Their thirst for a one world order [destruction of national sovereignty] serves to obtain control over America [and her allies [think EU]] by diluting your vote to oblivion and installing a new one world ruling party.
The start of this concept began with organizations such as: world health org, world trade org, united nations, ICC, NATO, etc., [all meant to weaken the United States] also the formation of EU through threat [con] of close proximity attack [attack on one is an attack on all – sales pitch to gen public – fear control].
Re: EU _did each member nation cede sovereignty to Brussels?
Re: EU _each member must implement EU rules and regulations in all areas [think immigration, currency, overall control].
Their thirst to remove your ability to defend yourself serves to prevent an uprising to challenge their control.
There is a fundamental reason why our enemies dare not attack [invade] our borders [armed citizenry].
If America falls so does the world.
If America falls darkness will soon follow.
Only when we stand together, only when we are united, can we defeat this highly entrenched dark enemy.
Their power and control relies heavily on an uneducated population.
A population that trusts without individual thought.
A population that obeys without challenge.
A population that remains outside of free thought, and instead, remains isolated living in fear inside of the closed-loop echo chamber of the controlled mainstream media.
This is not about politics.
This is about preserving our way of life and protecting the generations that follow.
We are living in Biblical times.
Children of light vs children of darkness.
United against the Invisible Enemy of all humanity.
Q
This Objectivist’s take...