Liberal Democracy

Liberal Democracy
The Free State

Monday, June 11, 2012

Human Events: David Harsanyi- David Limbaugh: 'Liberalism is Like a Metastatic Cancer'


Source:Human Events- interviewing right-wing author David Limbaugh.

"Part one of Senior Reporter David Harsanyi's with NYT bestselling author David Limbaugh about his latest book "The Great Destroyer: Barack Obama's War On The Republic."

From Human Events 

Just to respond what David Limbaugh said about liberalism: 

"Liberalism, political doctrine that takes protecting and enhancing the freedom of the individual to be the central problem of politics. Liberals typically believe that government is necessary to protect individuals from being harmed by others, but they also recognize that government itself can pose a threat to liberty. As the American Revolutionary pamphleteer Thomas Paine expressed it in Common Sense (1776), government is at best “a necessary evil.” Laws, judges, and police are needed to secure the individual’s life and liberty, but their coercive power may also be turned against the individual. The problem, then, is to devise a system that gives government the power necessary to protect individual liberty but also prevents those who govern from abusing that power." 

From Britannica 

So if you are someone who doesn't believe in protecting and enhancing the freedom is a bad thing, then you are illiberal, not liberal. If Barack Obama is what David Limbaugh believes he is, then President Obama is illiberal, not liberal. Someone who is illiberal, is someone who doesn't believe in advancing liberal values, like the freedom of the individual and our individual rights. Not the freedom of man or for men, but the freedom of individuals, which includes men and women. 

Some would argue what David Limbaugh is really talking about here (even though Limbaugh never says so) is what's called modern liberalism and what Barack Obama is what's called a Modern Liberal. Modern Liberal and modern liberalism, is what closeted Socialists call socialist and socialism, because they're terrified of people knowing what their real politics is, which is socialist. (Democratic or otherwise) 

Hearing David Limbaugh talk about liberalism, is like getting an opinion from an auto mechanic about what's the best diet for you. I would think any intelligent person would want a second opinion (like from a doctor or dietician) about what's the best diet for you, before you automatically take the word of an auto mechanic about what's the best diet for you. 

News One: Boyce Watkins- U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr.: 'Leads The Charge on Increasing the Minimum Wage to $10/Hour'




Source:Wikipedia- News One reporter Boyce Watkins.

"Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. is leading the fight to increase the minimum wage.  The congressman would like to see every American get a wage of at least $10 per hour, which is an increase from the current rate of $7.25 per hour.  President Barack Obama promised that the minimum wage would be over $9 per hour by this year, but he has not been able to make it happen.

Jackson is citing President Obama’s campaign promise and is promoting his wage increase as the Catching Up Act of 2012.    Jackson notes, however, that even an increase to $10 per hour would not match the real wage that was paid in 1968 (adjusted for inflation).


“I’m calling on President Barack Obama to honor his campaign commitment of 2008 to stand behind legislation that raises the minimum wage for the American people a little more than he requested in 2008 because the numbers and the economy reflect that $10 is not an unreasonable starting point,” Jackson said at a June 6 news conference.

Ralph Nader, a former presidential candidate, has backed Congressman Jackson on the issue as well.

“The minimum wage increase used to be the signatory dynamic of the traditional Democratic Party since they got it in 1938. That’s how decayed they are,” Nader said. “You’re fighting their desire to win the election up against their inherent caution and cowardliness to do anything other than raise more money and put more insipid ads on TV.”

I spoke with Congressman Jackson this morning, along with his father, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.  The only thing wrong with Congressman Jackson’s proposal is that it shouldn’t be a proposal at all.  The truth is that the minimum wage should have surpassed $10 per hour years ago, and we should be embarrassed to live in a nation that thinks that $400 per week is too much for someone to receive after working a full-time job.

Capitalism and free enterprise are powerful economic boosters.  America became the richest nation in the world because of our ability to inspire investment and innovation.  But the risk of adopting unfettered capitalism is that when it is unregulated, capitalism is designed to enslave a perpetual underclass.  Capitalism doesn’t care about the elderly, the sick, the poor or the handicapped.  It is only our collective conscience that creates a society that is beneficial to everyone, and that conscience is communicated through our legislators.

To the extent that our politicians have been kidnapped by corporate money, there is little hope that Congressman Jackson’s legislation will ever be passed.  At the same time, it can be successful if people take the power back from those who’ve become corrupted.  After we get the minimum wage up to $10, perhaps then we can start working to get a wage that actually allows families to survive." 

From News One 

I actually agree with Representative Jackson here, (perhaps for the first time in my life) the minimum wage should be increased. 

So-called economic Conservatives/Libertarians always argue that it should be the free market that should decide of wages and benefits of all American workers. But the fact is they don't want that. They want management to be able to decide how much they should be able to play their workers. 

Employers are at best 1/4 of the entire private market in any free society. The rest of the market is made up of labor, consumers, and the government. If you let the entire private market get to decide and have to work together to decide what workers would get paid, you probably wouldn't see low wags in any developed, free society in the world, including in America.