:: Some thoughts... ::

:: Friday, September 20, 2002 ::

As my first blog, I would like to share some of my interests, and then get down to the "nitty-gritty" so to speak. I am an economist by training, so if you end up reading my blog regulary then you will probably see some of that come through in terms of the way I think through issues. This blog will be focused on my favorite topics: Economics, History, Religion, Philosophy and Politics. I have several current projects going on at the moment. The first one is in regards to the litany of the environmentalist movement. It is an attempt at a rough Cost-Benefit Analysis of Global Warming. The other is a book, which I am entitling "Perfect Governance" which is a philosophical book with an emphasis on what I term "Principle Law Theory." There will be more on that later.
My politics tends to lean decidedly toward the conservative side. There are many good reasons for this. Outlined below is the main reason I am a conservative. It is entitled "Being a Conservative:
he following will is the germination of some thoughts
I had this morning that is really a coalescing of
prior thoughts and understanding, into a kernel of
easily explainable truth....

The germ of the idea, is that "conservatism" in a
modern sense is the ideology of the common man.
Conservatism places its faith in that idea and is the
ideological successor to classical liberalism and the
foundations of this republic.
Modern "liberalism" in contrast claims to espouse the
common man as being the center of its cares and
ideology. As Al Gore put it succinctly in his
presidential campaign, its the "People versus the
Powerful." Why, I can't be a modern liberal, yet would
consider myself a classic one is because of the
inherent contradiction in the modern liberal position.
It is in fact, to put it more bluntly, hypocrisy.
As Bill Clinton so famously said in 1999, "who would
you rather trust with your money, the government or
yourself." His implication of course, was that you
should trust the government. Therein lies modern
liberalism's biggest failing. Implicit in that
statement is that "we" know better. It is the ideology
of elitism. In a sense, we are better, and smarter and
you can trust us to do what is good for you. It is the
conceit of intellectual superiority. It is the
antithesis to democracy which values each man as an
individual, and of equal value. This is enshrined in
the principle of "one man, one vote." Furthermore, in
the Declaration of Independence it is written, "that
all men are created equal," in modern liberalism, it
becomes obvious that some are created more equal. It
is this same conceit that the "mainstream"
environmentalists espouse. They deliberately mislead
the public because the public cannot be trusted to
make the "right" choice. In fact, that is a paraphrase
of what a big time environmentalist said in 1989,
basically that it was ok to distort and exaggerate the
facts because the outcome was what mattered. A debate
centered on falsehoods is no debate at all, and cannot
be considered reasoned or reasonable policy. It is
akin to chicken little running around chanting the sky
is falling when it is most definitely not. Then, we as
the public are supposed to take the idea that the sky
is falling simply on the word of chicken little
because chicken little "knows" that the sky is
falling, even in the face of amassed evidence to the
contrary. If you were to argue with chicken little, he
would shout you down, and continue to chant the sky is
falling without any evidence of such a thing. If you
again dare to point this out, you would be a
unilateralist and against the poor and against the
common man, and worst of all, a conservative.
So, let me be a conservative, and a unilateralist, but
definitely, and I will bask in it. A unilateralist is
in of itself not a bad thing. We are all
unilateralists of varying degrees. We do not consult
with one another on the appropriate time to go to the
bathroom, nor on whether eating is a good thing.
I think this is getting long winded and I could
continue to go on, but suffice it to say, my main
point is that the conservative seeks to empower the
common to exercise his judgement and intellect, and
places great faith in that man. The conservative
declares, "let man be free." In this he is derided as
"uncaring", "mean", and other nasty epithets. The
modern liberal shouts to all who can hear, "I care," I
"empathize," etc... In the meantime, he says, because
I care so much, and you are too stupid to care for
yourself, give me your money, and your freedom and I
will do whats best for you.

That is the conceit of the modern liberal, it is
arrogance of elitism, and the antithesis to democracy
and equality. That is why I am a conservative.

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:: Nathan 7:30 PM [+] ::
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