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| 2005/1/31 [Politics/Domestic/Abortion, Politics/Domestic/President/Clinton] UID:35994 Activity:moderate |
1/31 Yeah! That's what we think of you and your PROTESTERS!
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20050127.shtml
\_ This guy's like William Safire huffing gas fumes.
\_ You have been classified as: curmudgeon
\_ He is spot on, point out one thing wrong w/ what he said.
\_ Sowell is great, Visions of the Anointed is an outstanding
book.
\_ If we have more opinions for him than against him, the article
will somehow stop being crap. |
| 4/4 |
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| www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20050127.shtml The enraged speeches and street disorders across the country that accompa nied the inauguration of President Bush may tell us more than we want to know about what is happening to this country. The media dignify these outbursts by calling them "protests" but what ar e they protesting? D id the Republicans take to the streets when Bill Clinton was elected? Are the shouters and the rioters protesting that they disagree with Pres ident Bush's policies? Isn't that why we hold elections in the first pla ce -- because people disagree? Elections are supposed to be an alternative to other ways of settling po litical differences, including riots, military coups and dictatorships. But riots have been re-christened "demonstrations" by the mealy-mouth me dia. What are these "demonstrations" demonstrating -- other than adolescent s elf-indulgence and contempt for the rights of other people to go about t heir lives without finding their streets clogged with hooligans and the air filled with obscenities? The irony is that many of those who are indulging themselves in these st rident orgies are the same people who were telling us to "get over it" a nd "move on" during President Clinton's scandals. org is the last place where people are willing to move on. While this is overwhelmingly a phenomenon of the political left, the inc reasing acceptance of irresponsible behavior -- including vandalism and violence -- as a normal part of our public discourse says something abou t what is happening to this country as a whole. Not only is there a growing class of people for whom indignation is a wa y of life, their sophomoric slogans are taken seriously by people who sh ould know better. Moreover, their disruptions of the lives of ordinary p eople are accepted as if such things were nothing more than free speech. The media even give rioters free air time in exchange for providing them with a spectacle to broadcast and liven up their news programs. The tax payers who foot the bill for mob control seldom rate a mention. Neither do the police who get injured trying to keep hoodlums in check. This may be some people's idea of a healthy democracy but it is more of a sign of a spreading sickness in a society too wimpish to insist that l aw and order matter and too mushy-minded to see that self-indulgence at other people's expense is not idealism. If we were a little more clear-headed, these organized disruptions could be a valuable lesson in what the political left really believes in and what kind of world they would create if they ever get the kind of power they are seeking. First of all, the left does not accept the proposition that other people have just as many rights as they do. This is obvious not only in the di sorder and vandalism they inflict in the streets but also their intolera nce on academic campuses across the country, where students who question the party line are hemmed in by speech codes and ridiculed and intimida ted by professors who do not hesitate to punish them with low grades. Ask any environmental extremist if people who don't care about preservin g swamps ("wetlands") have the same rights under the Constitution that t he people in the green movement have. Gay activists who demand tolerance and sensitivity from others do not hesitate to include in their parades insulting skits mocking nuns and others in the Catholic Church. When pro-life demonstrators tried to hold a peaceful march in San Franci sco on January 22, the anniversary of Roe v Wade, a pro-abortion crowd not only followed them, shouting to drown them out and hurling insults a t them, some sat down in their path to block the march and force them to detour. We are seeing the ugly face of intolerance under the idealistic pretense of protest. We need to recognize it for what it is, even if the media r efuse to do so. Above all, we need to see it as a warning of where our s ociety is headed. Whether at home or abroad, if political conflicts are reduced to contests between the wimps and the barbarians, the barbarians are going to win. Applied Economics So much of our national political debate these days revolves around econo mic matters -- taxes, health care, even affirmative action and immigrati on policy -- that it is essential for every informed American to have a working knowledge of economics. Now the renowned conservative economist Thomas Sowell has made it possible for you to grasp quickly and easily t he economic elements of key public policies -- even if economics has alw ays seemed dry and forbidding in the past. Then write a letter to your Members of Congress or your local newspapers, who you can find by entering your ZIP code in the boxes below. Also mak e sure to tell your newspaper editors that they should carry your favori te conservative columnists! NOTE: Columns will not be automatically attached to the emails you send t hrough this tool. |