I consider myself a Martin Luther King liberal, which is to say, I am now called a conservative. As a man who has co-authored four books with Ralph Nader, that still seems surrealistic to me. Nevertheless, I have reluctantly concluded that the Left (generally) isn’t interested in freedom today (with exceptions), as much as it is in wielding power. Proof is found in today’s Thomas Friedman column. He decries democracy–people’s resistance to his desires for health care and radical environmentalism–and yearns instead for an “benign oligarchy” like China’s (!) to impose the “right” policies. From his column:
Watching both the health care and climate/energy debates in Congress, it is hard not to draw the following conclusion: There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today.
One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century.
China is hardly a “benign” oligarchy. It is a brutal tyranny with utterly no respect for the sanctity/equality of human life. It has a terrible eugenics policy, the one child policy has led to forced abortions and female infanticide, it executes prisoners for their organs, stifles political dissent, arrests Falun Gong because it detests their religion, brutally occupies Tibet, etc. etc. etc.
Beyond that point, the insufferable smug presumption in the superiority of the Left’s ideas–which is relevant to the Obamacare debate and how the cost control panels would work–is revealing. Friedman’s swoon over China is yet another warning about the threat of allowing people of his political ilk to exercise centralized control over crucial aspects of our lives.
And he clearly thinks he would be among the elite decision makers, who, even though he glows green in the dark, would be allowed to keep his huge, energy burning dachau (at left) reserved for party members. Nor, would his health care ever be rationed.
Color me utterly disgusted.
September 9th, 2009 | 12:00 pm
I’m with him until the China reference. A one party democracy is inefficient – regardless of the party in control. The sad thing is (to me) the dems are somehow *more* ineffecient than the repubs – but they both suck when in total control. But you’re right – China’s gov’t is hardly one to aspire to. There. I said it. You’re right. :)
September 9th, 2009 | 12:44 pm
Come on, Wesley, living in China has always been my dream! I’ve always wanted to leave our oppressive democracy and head East to participate in China’s grand system of benevolent oligarchy…
September 9th, 2009 | 2:05 pm
And who is it that considers Thomas Friedman a lefty? He’s a huge free market economy fan, and rich as heck. All the lefties I know consider him an incorrigible elitist.
September 9th, 2009 | 4:06 pm
It isn’t so much about the Left not believing in freedom. Rather, it is about the Left realizing that the simple working folk they used to fight for simply don’t know what’s good for them.
In fact, while keeping up the facade of being compassionate, the Left has bread a new clientele of ubermensch monads who need a nihilist agenda to live out their “subjectivity” without the constraints of folk morality.
September 9th, 2009 | 9:04 pm
>>Color me utterly disgusted.<<
Hey Wesley! Do you need your "IT" man shoulder to cry on? :)
September 9th, 2009 | 9:47 pm
Every liberal secretly is an oligarchist at heart. The liberals of the 60’s and 70’s were really psychadelic libertarians, not today’s liberals. Liberals believe in the love of power, not the power of love, man.
Robert at bioethike.com
September 9th, 2009 | 9:57 pm
Nice mansion Friedman. My house could fit in your garage. But somehow, I end up being the earth-killing crypto-fascist smog breather, and you end up the compassionate, intellectual sage of all that is wise and benevolent. Nice trick.
September 9th, 2009 | 10:44 pm
Maybe Mr. Joe Average IS too stupid to know what’s good for him. After all, the same fools who are barely making do on the minimum wage are convinced that unions aren’t good for them, and that they can “bargain” with their employers individually. And health care reform? Well, go figure. After all, they seem to have bought the lie that reform amounts to “socialized medicine” although nary a one of them would recognize a socialist even if he ran up and bit them on the rear. But then, if there weren’t a low end of the bell curve, who’d vote Republican?
September 9th, 2009 | 11:22 pm
It blows my mind that Friedman is so jealous of the totalitarian power of the Chinese Communist Party that he apparently missed the fact that, far from being “green”, China is one of the worst polluters on Earth.
And HW is proving Wesley’s point. When you are convinced that you have the solution to the world’s problems, and that the only reason the plebes could possibly disagree is because they’re too stupid to see the rightness of your arguments, what is left but to force them to comply (for their own good, of course)? Far too many people on the fringes are losing the most basic ability to convince anyone of anything.
September 10th, 2009 | 3:29 pm
As the mother of chinese child (abandoned at 3 days old on a dirty sidewalk in Szechuan province), I am INCENSED when anyone blows off the horror of the one child policy and the human misery it creates. Liberals, who moan and cry when one of their pet “minorities” has their feelings hurt, have zero compassion for the very real pain and suffering of the chinese. It is quite possible that somewhere in China, there is a mother and a father who mourn the loss of their little girl (my daughter) to the one child policy, and always will.
September 10th, 2009 | 10:27 pm
HW-you know, you’re right. I don’t know what’s good for me. I want you to make decisions about how I live, when I die, what I eat, and how I see the world.
September 11th, 2009 | 12:32 am
First – very well said.
Second, some of these comments are equally excellent. I’m so deeply saddened for Gracie – all the Gracies in the world (horribly, there are many). Gracie, you need to go on a speaking tour – a speaking out tour. It’s time NOT to make it easy for people to deny the truth.
Third, oddly enough, I’ve dedicated some Twitter time to trying to send folks to read about what Communism is really like. One location had this statement, among many horrible statements – “A lot of people were put into concentration camps when the Communist government seized power” – here’s the link – http://tinyurl.com/ow6uj8 Here was another I found “Businesses were nationalized, property was confiscated, & speaking out became a crime against the State.” – again, the link – http://tinyurl.com/p4kn3c A man I know (from S. Vietnam) had much to say – it was hard to hear. There’s a lot on the web if people will only bring themselves to look at the truth. Here’s a great feature, btw. “Nazism sought genocide based on ethnicity; communism sought genocide based on class” http://bit.ly/12CyyI
Finally, I also came across some incredible quotes by Plato recently (it’s amazing how much wisdom has been around – so much longer than any of these “progressively wise” in charge) – one example, “Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy & the most aggravated form of tyranny & slavery out of the most extreme liberty.” There are many more – worth a Google.
September 16th, 2009 | 11:42 pm
[...] and the market. This is clear to me through their actions, speeches, laws, organizations, and plain beliefs. They believe that their ‘elite’ wisdom is superior to the founders of our country, the [...]
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