William F. Gavin:
"What we have in the United States today is not an ideological battle, or even a cultural war, but something larger and deeper: a true clash of irreconcilable philosophic views, not just about abortion, but about truth. One of those views encompasses all that is best in the Western tradition from antiquity until now, including the findings of science, and the other holds that everything that is essential to human betterment in the modern world began during the Enlightenment, and everything preceding that was obscurantist, credulous, and bloody... the strategy is always the same: create a climate of doubt about the possibility of objective truth, discoverable by reason; corrupt the inherited intuitive wisdom by which the people have always lived; construct and then promulgate through mass-media entertainment a philosophy that puts an end to all philosophy, destroying civility in its broadest and deepest sense."[Emphasis mine.]
One of the most venerated voices for the conservatives is Ayn Rand and her novel Atlas Shrugged.
John Galt in her book says: "When two men have differing views they let reality decide which is right and which is wrong. One may lose, but both profit."
Gavin claims that objective truth, discoverable by reason corrupts inherited intuitive wisdom.
Well which is it. Empirical objective observation or intuitive wisdom. Ms Rand did call her philosophy Objectivism after all.
There is nothing objective in believing in Fresh Water economics. Thirty years of failed supply side disaster should have proven to the dimmest bulb that it doesn't work except for the 1% who buy our politicians and pay these economists to be their mouth pieces. Read Paul Krugman's op/ed piece in today's NY Times.
Ask for a coherent theory behind the abandonment of the unemployed and you won’t get an answer. Instead, members of the Pain Caucus seem to be making it up as they go along, inventing ever-changing rationales for their never-changing policy prescriptions.
While the ostensible reasons for inflicting pain keep changing, however, the policy prescriptions of the Pain Caucus all have one thing in common: They protect the interests of creditors, no matter the cost. Deficit spending could put the unemployed to work — but it might hurt the interests of existing bondholders. More aggressive action by the Fed could help boost us out of this slump — in fact, even Republican economists have argued that a bit of inflation might be exactly what the doctor ordered — but deflation, not inflation, serves the interests of creditors. And, of course, there’s fierce opposition to anything smacking of debt relief.
Gavin and the other conservatives want to keep the debate about abortion or gay marriage so while that's all the conservative media talks about the crooks keep robbing us blind.
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