The ComPost Files : Opinion and Authority

Monday, November 22, 2010

Opinion and Authority

In another example of how rational thought is becoming as rare as frog fur, we get this story from the examiner.com regarding a person allowed a position of authority for the purpose of eroding our rights further.

Hat tip to Joe Huffman.

Go read at least the first few paragraphs of this article, and then come back. Go ahead. I'll wait.

What I really applaud at Joe's blog is his last commentary on the link, which is so juicy and apropos, I simply must reproduce it here:

Oh! I like this game:

Everyone who has ever been in an automobile wreck is now a traffic safety engineer.
Everyone who has ever had their computer crash is now a software developer.
Everyone who has ever been divorced now is an expert on relationships.
Everyone who has ever failed a class is now a professor.

Everyone who has ever said something stupid is now a genius.

That last one must explain why Joe Biden is now VPOTUS.

About 20 years ago, I read an essay by a famous newsman (can't remember the name) lamenting the fact that society had gotten to the point where everyone's opinion was somehow sacrosanct. It had gotten to the point where a person could have absolutely no knowledge about a subject, or worse, believe silly and untrue things about the subject and yet nobody is supposed to point out the fact that it's stupid to give any credence to such an opinion.

Today we are reaping the disaster of the seeds or weeds we've allowed to grow unchecked for fear of hurting anyone's feelings. It's time for this to stop.

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Quotes

"The most glaring example of the cognitive dissonance on the left is the concept that human beings are inherently good, yet at the same time cannot be trusted with any kind of weapon, unless the magic fairy dust of government authority gets sprinkled upon them."
-- Moshe Ben-David

"We can ignore reality, but we cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality." -- Ayn Rand

"On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed."
- Thomas Jefferson

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and passed on ... or we will spend our sunset years telling our children's children what it was like in the United States when men were free."
– Ronald Reagan

"There's no question that weapons in the hands of the public have prevented acts of terror or stopped them." - Israeli Police Inspector General Shlomo Aharonisky

"A woman who demands further gun control legislation is like a chicken who roots for Colonel Sanders." - Larry Elder

Make them . . .

“Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?” said Dr. Ferris. “We want them broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against – then you’ll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We’re after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you’d better get wise to it. There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now, that’s the system, Mr. Rearden, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.”
—Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged.

Federal Reserve

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered...I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." -- Thomas Jefferson

Who said that?

“[F]reedom isn't free. It shouldn't be a bragging point that "Oh, I don't get involved in politics," as if that makes you somehow cleaner. No, that makes you derelict of duty in a republic. Liars and panderers in government would have a much harder time of it if so many people didn't insist on their right to remain ignorant and blindly agreeable.” ― Bill Maher

It is almost unbelievable that I could ever agree with Bill Maher on anything, but what is right is right. Wise men do not cater to ad hominem arguments. -- Moshe Ben David

Make no mistake . . .

"The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed - where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once."

-- Judge Alex Kozinski, U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

The REAL danger

“The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming the prince of fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools, such as those who made him their President.”
-- Premier Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic, c 2009.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Opinion and Authority

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