Roger Kimball – a genuinely smart guy and a great writer – has a long article up over at Pajamas Media entitled The Anglosphere and the Future of Liberty.  It is a good article and well worth reading, but I do think it misses a very important point.  The gist of it is that the Anglosphere – those nations which share the English language and precepts of English law and government – have led the world in to liberty and are likely to save and restore liberty in the future.  In as much as it asserts that the English-speaking world has had a unique desire for liberty, it is correct.  It is also correct in the assertion that it is the English desire for local rule which is the basis for this liberty.  But if anyone is thinking that because of this heritage that there is a future for liberty in the world, then he’s gravely mistaken.

Kimball is smart enough to out a large “if” on the whole concept – if we do what is right and necessary, then we may save and restore liberty.  But I believe that most in the Anglosphere don’t understand fully what is right – what, that is, needs to be done.  And this is because we fail to understand why liberty is dying: it is dying because people work for others, rather than themselves.

Liberty is not an outgrowth, tyranny is.  Liberty is the natural condition of all mankind, until the corruptions of the world come along and wreck it.  We don’t actually run from tyranny to liberty, but it is always from liberty to tyranny.  You can’t have a revolution – a real one, that is, as opposed to the mere replacing of one tyranny with another – without there being a democracy; without, that is, a free people who are possessed of liberty and thus willing to fight to preserve it.  The Founders were not slaves – they were free men, and so fought when they perceived that someone was proposing to take their freedom away.  And here’s the thing – you can’t have a democracy unless a majority of the people are independent of all others.  For there to be liberty, most people must be able to take care of themselves without let or hindrance from anyone else.  

In olden times, this was done by trying to have at least a majority be free farmers, working their own land.  That is not terribly practical today, but the fact of the matter is that liberty started to atrophy in the Anglosphere at the same time that a majority of people stopped being owners of the means of their own livelihood.  As we were ever more crammed in to cities to work in factories and offices owned by others, we became unfree – and ever more willing to listen to people who proposed to take from some and give to others.  It made more sense, don’t you see?  When you’re a free man or woman working your own farm you know what “re-distribution” is – it is the taking of what you’ve worked very hard for and giving it away.  When you’re a drudge in a factory or an office cubicle, it becomes less clear…its a matter of taking away from the rich SOB who runs the factory or office and, presumably, giving to you, the worker.  That it doesn’t work out like that doesn’t take away from the appeal of such a scheme in a society which has become unfree – most of the money taken from one group of rich people is just passed over to the group of rich people currently favored by the government, of course, but the rhetoric of re-distribution appeals to a sense of justice in the wage-earner.

And this is where we conservatives have failed for so long – we don’t accept that socialism has an appeal, let alone an appeal to an actual, genuine sense of justice.  But, it does.  Deep in the hearts of all men and women is a notion that you really shouldn’t have too much – certainly not too much of wealth you clearly didn’t earn by the sweat of your own brow.  This is why there is little hostility to someone who builds up even a quite successful small business and becomes a millionaire, but there is resentment against a financial shark who made his billions by sharp practice.    The socialists twist this rational sense of justice, of course.  No socialist has ever really figured out what the problem is, but they have figured they can make hay by playing upon rational resentments and twisting those emotions in to a scheme whereby the socialist now becomes the owner (as it were) of the un-earned wealth – the distributor of the fat, and thus the tyrant of society.  But for all their twisting, we must not loose sight of the fact that there is a real basis here. 

If there is to be a future for liberty we won’t find it in appeals to a Constitution that most Americans only have a hazy idea about.  We won’t find it in a rigid defense of what is called Capitalism but which has completely degenerated in to a State-run, crony-Capitalism.  If there is to be a future for liberty it will only come by a revolutionary movement determined to set up a system which will in short order get a solid majority of the people owning their own means of livelihood.  Either directly as individuals, as part of family enterprises, or as worker-owned and managed cooperatives.  Once we get 50% plus 1 of the American people working desperately hard for themselves and only enriching themselves, then all appeals to socialism will die off…people are able to be suckered in to thinking that stealing from others is a good idea until they realize the person being plundered is themselves. 

All our proposals must advance this cause.  We must seek to tear down regulations which hamper business formation.  We must reform the tax code so that it doesn’t punish someone who wants to work.  We must provide financial backing and incentives via the tax and regulatory code to make it ever more appealing for people to set up on their own.  And we must campaign among the propertyless with a vision of them owning property and working for themselves – not because we’ll get all of them, all at once, to join us, but because we’ll get some of them…and any addition to our ranks of free and independent citizens means that genuine democracy has spread, and our side is one step closer to victory.  Our campaign must be of Freedom against Slavery…while making it clear we mean real freedom: the freedom to work for one’s self and take care of one’s own. 

There is a future for freedom, IF we understand what freedom really is and then go out and fight for it.

“…To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church…” – Our Lady of Fatima, 1917

You non-Catholics reading that might not be familiar, so I’ll explain.  We Catholics believe that our Blessed Mother, Mary, appeared to a few children in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917 and uttered that rather dire prophecy, as well as some other things.  You can believe that Mary appeared, or not, as you like (I do believe it), but no one can argue against the particular prophecy – the poison that arose in Russia in 1917 – communism – did indeed spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church, as well as many other horrors.  I bring this up not as a lesson in theology or faith, but because there is a bit of an argument brewing on the right over a book which not only asserts the indisputable truth of the prophecy, but also goes a bit further and asserts that our government policy came largely under the control of communists and fellow travelers.

The book is called American Betrayal: the Secret Assault on Our Nation’s Character, by Diana West and the premise is that communism so deeply penetrated American government that it not only swayed American government policy in a pro-communist manner, but allowed our society to be infected by communist ideology overall.  Not only did the communists get us to sell out at Yalta, they also got us to buy in to moral relativism and other communist ideas which have lead to the moral destruction we see around us today.  The first I heard of the book was when I read a very hostile review – not from some lefty, but from a prominent conservative who’s views I greatly respect, Ron Radosh.  The title of his review, McCarthy on Steroids, sets the tone for the whole piece.  Radosh’s review is excellently written and makes many good points – but I confess I was disturbed by the title: as if Radosh thinks there was something wrong with McCarthy; reading the review, I can help but believe that Radosh does think ill of McCarthy – that McCarthy had in some way gone wrong.  Not on the fact that communists had infiltrated, but I guess on some of the tactics that McCarthy is alleged by his critics to have used (being mean, browbeating, making false accusations, etc).  Trouble is, in reading accurate accounts of the McCarthy period, I find no evidence of McCarthy using any of the tactics his enemies claim.  Leaving aside McCarthy, we have a battle – between fellow conservatives and not about whether or not communism is an enemy which infiltrated, but about just how much infiltration there was and how culpable people on both the right and the left were and are.

Over at PJ Media, David Solway deplores the intramural argument – seeing in it a disintegration of the overall conservative movement as we battle internally while the leftist enemy advances.  There is much to be said for this.  We daren’t fight too much among ourselves.  I, too, deplore an argument which sets us against each other – and while one, small blogger is not likely to resolve the issue, I think I have a couple things to say which both sides may find useful.

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Well, here’s why:

She drew the big names — but didn’t dole out the big bucks.

The celebrity-backed charity launched by departing Daily Beast editrix Tina Brown failed to meet the company’s goals in its first year out of the gate — handing out just $10,000 in grant money in 2011 despite raising nearly $1.2 million, IRS records show.

The nonprofit Women in the World Foundation kicked off to much fanfare in 2011 with a star-studded Manhattan party that cost $168,048 and was hosted by Meryl Streep…

…Total expenses, including the launch party, came to $536,868 for the period.

Of course, they are now claiming they are giving out bags of money – in 2012 about $1.1 million out of $2.6 million raised.  Given that I’m a knuckle-dragging, Bible-clinging, teabagging bastard, my math might not be so good…but that, I believe, works out to less than 50%.

Now you might ask, what has something like this got to do with anything?  Well, because this kind of self-dealing by the Ruling Class is what happens all the time.  They are always giving themselves bags of money and congratulating themselves on being so wonderful – and ensuring that they have fabulous parties along the way.  Do you think that Hillary is going to get a “Liberty Medal” because she’s done anything significant?  Nope.  She’s going to get it because she’s Hillary; and they can have a swank party to celebrate it – all at taxpayer expense either in the form of direct taxpayer money, or because the money being spent on it is tax deductible.

Just get in to that Ruling Class and do as you’re told and all door are open.  You’ll have wealth.   You’ll get awards.  You’ll be ensured a well-paid sinecure either in corporate or government America (which are becoming increasingly interchangeable).  Doesn’t matter if you’re a complete idiot or unrepentantly morally corrupt (though you can run afoul of things some times – as the former Mayor of San Diego found out…but even that took decades of misbehavior before someone decided to call him on it…he was one of them; he did as he was told…he had to be protected lest the unwashed masses find out).  Got no talent?  Can’t tell sh** from shinola?  Doesn’t matter.  Just get the right credentials, mouth the right liberal phrases and do as you’re told – you’ll be taken care of.

Leeches like Brown are living off the wealth produced by others – and they are legion in our nation.  Our whole country is infested with these folks – and they are destroying us because being mindless pinheads in service of a anti-human, leftist ideology they advance causes which destroy the very sources of wealth they latch on to.  You see them everywhere – they are in political office, they are running our largest corporations, they man the bureaucracy (especially at its highest levels), they are 90% of the MSM, they run most of the non-religious non-profits.  If you ever say “they are ruining things” then here’s your “they”.  Think of Tina brown blowing through half a million dollars as part of a “charity”.  That is the Ruling Class.

I bring this up because we must get unconfused about this – we are fighting a whole class of people, which includes at least half of the GOP leadership.  These people are either too stupid to know what they’re doing (I’d guess about 70% of them fall in to the “too stupid” category), while the rest know full well what they are doing and think its a good thing…after all, we Bible-clinging morons simply don’t know what’s best for ourselves.  We need a Ruling Class to ride herd on us, you see?  The stupid just want to keep living well, the rest believe that if they can finally, absolutely destroy the United States (fundamentally transform it, as it were) then they will have done a service to the world.  They will have got rid of a Christo-fascist, racist, sexist, homophobic entity which is destroying the world.

For us to survive as a people, all of the Ruling Class ultimately has to go – we can’t think in terms of just winning one election or hoping that a Republican gets in, even if that particular Republican is a a true-blue conservative.  We need a revolution – someone who will go to DC like Andrew Jackson in the 1830’s to clean out the whole mess…get rid of these people.  They are not only unfit for government and corporations, they are unfit for decent company.  Fire them. Send them packing.  Take away their taxpayer funds and tax deductible “charities” which are merely vehicles for their swank lifestyle.  Walk through the bureaucracy and fire everyone who has in even the least instance misused taxpayer money, or abused their authority.  Hammer the big corporations – break them in to little, bitty pieces so that a free market can emerge once there’s no longer corporate money-bags suppressing competition via government regulation.  Unless we think in terms like that, we’ll just be fighting with particular tentacles of the nasty beast rather than driving a stake through it’s vile heart.

Rant over.  But I’m serious – we’ve got to kill the whole, nasty dragon…not just bits and pieces of it.

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