best friend: Lost War

Was the Cold War for Nothing?

In an incredible opinion poll by the respected Rasmussen company only 53% percent of the public supports capitalism! That is tempered by the fact that they are not endorsing socialism either (only 20% are that foolish) with the rest undecided. Yet those results are still depressing.

Liberator Online has a few theories to explain the poll's shocking results;

* Government ("public") schools, themselves thoroughly socialist institutions, have failed to educate young Americans about the failures and dangers of socialism. Or, for that matter, failed to educate millions of them on just about anything. Many poll respondents probably couldn't coherently define either socialism or capitalism if asked.

* Many people greatly prefer the term "free market," which they associate with abundance and freedom, to "capitalism," which they associate with monopolies and corporate fat cats gaming the economy for their own benefit. This would explain a December 29, 2008 Rasmussen poll, which found that 70% of U.S. voters said a free market is better than one managed by the government. (It should be noted that many of those 70% also wanted government regulation of big business). This is why the Advocates has long suggested that libertarians use "free market" instead of "capitalism" when appropriate.

* The Bush administration has given the word "capitalism" a bad name. The Bush administration pursued gigantic social spending and an unprecedented assault on our fundamental constitutional liberties, all the while calling the system they favored "capitalism." Millions of Americans, understandably outraged by these policies, want nothing to do with anything the Bush administration favored.

All three of those reasons are probably true, but that's still unforgivable. To think of the thousands who gave their lives during the Cold War years to defeat socialism, and who succeeded in overthrowing it in nearly every nation in the world, only to have the winners (that's us) be confused about what we won.

That's pathetic.

Randians Speak

The Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights has released a statement on the growing "tea party" movement:

Today, thousands of Americans are joining modern day tea parties, named after the Boston Tea Party of 1773. They are protesting a government that, in the wake of today’s financial crisis, is rapidly strangling their freedom, with endless bailouts, mounting regulations, reckless spending, and the promise of a crippling tax burden. Correctly sensing that the American system is being discarded, they seek to battle this trend by taking to the streets to register their outrage.

But today’s statist onslaught is the result of a deeply entrenched set of ideas about the proper purpose of government. Virtually everyone today believes that unrestricted capitalism is immoral and dangerous, and that the government’s role is to actively intervene in the economy in order to achieve the “public good.” So long as these ideas remain unchallenged, and no positive alternative is offered, no protest will be able to change the country's course.

What’s needed today is not a tax revolt, but a revolt against today’s intellectual mainstream.

To read more click here.

Happy Patriotic 420

Today is April 20th, the international day of High Pride, when we pause to celebrate the many contributions to society by those have been stoned. Just think of all the wonderful music that has been gifted to the world by those who have been intoxicated?

Of course there's also the dark angle of the high side, and I could tell you a lot about that too, but this day is not the proper time. Today is also a special holiday celebrated nowhere else in the nation except Massachusetts, Maine and Wisconsin. It's called Patriots' Day and the Wikipedia.org has this to say about it:

Patriots' Day (sometimes incorrectly spelled Patriot's Day or Patriots Day) is a civic holiday commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. It is observed in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and state of Maine (once part of Massachusetts) and is a public school observance day in Wisconsin. Observances and re-enactments of these first battles of the American Revolution occur annually at Lexington Green in Lexington, Massachusetts, (around 6am) and The Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts (around 9am). In the morning, a mounted reenactor with State Police escort retraces Paul Revere's ride, calling out warnings the whole way.

Traditionally it was designated as April 19 in observance of the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. Since 1969, however, the holiday has been observed on the third Monday in April, providing a three-day long weekend. It is also a school holiday for many local colleges and universities, both public and private.

UMass was among those universities that closed, which might explain why the UMass Cannabis Club office was shut for 420.

Or at least their entrance was shut. There was a distinct odor wafting out from beneath the door.

This morning in Northampton I saw that Patriots' Day was being acknowledged with flags flying all along Main Street.