Walking on Hind Legs

IM:  Two issues dominated today’s Meet the Press:  Citizens United and LGBT discrimination, with George Clooney as the protagonist (enhanced by his Batman fame).

Old Gadfly:  Summarize for us Clooney’s arguments.

IM:  First, he defended his role in hosting a fund-raising event that drew wealthy donors—the same group that is commonly demonized by the left for its immoral wealth, you know, the evil 1%.  To sit at the same table with the Clintons and Clooneys cost a mere $353,000.  He agreed with Bernie Sanders that this kind of campaign financing is obscene, but is doing what he can to raise obscene amounts of money to keep a democrat in the White House, and to put democrats back in charge of Congress, ultimately resulting in a Democrat-nominated justice on the US Supreme Court to overrule Citizens United.   

AM:  Ironically, Citizens United benefits both Parties.  Folks, with their short memories, may not recall how Obama reneged on his pledge to use only public funding, something McCain honored through the election in 2008.  Obama had nearly twice the funding, a lot of it from big business, such as the healthcare industry that collaborated successfully in getting the Affordable Healthcare passed—probably the most grotesque manifestation of crony capitalism in our history.  Citizens United doesn’t come close to negating the advantage Democrats receive from union support.  I just checked Open Secrets.org to see how the Federal Election Commission has reported funding to the Clinton campaign.  You can see that aside from Soros leading the pack, many of the large donors are unions.

IM: I noticed for the State of Colorado, Senator Bennet has over $10 million in campaign assets, whereas his Republican challengers combined have less than $500 thousand.  OpenSecrets.org indicates Bennet’s funding is coming from financial sectors, corporations, and lobbyists.

AM:  Yet, Democrats want the public to think Wall Street donors primarily support Republican campaigns.  That is why Citizens United is such a good straw man caricature for political purposes.

Old Gadfly:  This is part of the power of creating caricatures of the real thing.  Nobel laureate, Joseph Schumpeter, captured this tactic well when he said, “We fight for and against not men and things as they are, but for and against the caricatures we make of them.”[1]  IM, expand on the second issue addressed by Clooney on Meet the Press.

IM:  The other issue dealt with the transgender bathroom controversy in North Carolina.  The Governor argued in favor of those who accept their natural born gender and want to protect their privacy in public restrooms.  The LGTB lobby argued against this majority and for the very small percentage of transgenders.  This faction argues that a man in woman’s clothing has the civil right to use a woman’s bathroom or shower facility.  The LGTB lobby convinced business enterprises to boycott North Carolina until the Governor reverses his decision.  Clooney supports this kind of financial pressure.  Thus, in the same segment, Clooney demonizes and then celebrates financial influence in politics.  

Old Gadfly:  The progressive messaging today is very sophisticated in shaping public sentiment.  The caricature of a caricature, that is Clooney playing Batman, is the good hero combatting evil.  Clooney was explicit in the immorality of Citizens United and the North Carolina Governor’s refusal to accommodate LGTB demands.

AM:  It is obvious the political elite argue that all genders are created equal; some are more equal than others.  Sound familiar?  That was the single remaining commandment in Animal Farm:  all animals are created equal; some are more equal than others.

IM:  This commandment also emerged as Napoleon and his fellow socialist farm animals began to walk on their hind legs—in other words, they began to mimic the behaviors of those they despised.  In this case, however, the supposed despised behaviors are manufactured caricatures of those they oppose.  Orwell’s caricature of real life seems far more sobering, and reflective of current affairs in America, than the Clooney’s Batman character.

AM:  Let’s see how far the hypocrites get on their hind legs in the upcoming elections.

Old Gadfly:   What we are witnessing is a tug of war between liberty and license.  I would submit that liberty is dependent upon a just system of laws and one of the political Parties, which mostly subscribes to this notion, is unjustly caricaturized as anti- this or that and as fear mongers.  The other Party does not feel beholden to the current system of laws and through their notion of social justice will ignore laws in the interest of achieving political power.  One approach respects and seeks to protect liberty while the other accepts license as a necessary means to achieve their political ends.  In the process, a secular humanist faction (one that believes science is dichotomous and superior to faith) believes civil rights trump natural rights.  History documents similar trends in other socialistic societies—the government becomes the ultimate moral authority.

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[1] Joseph A. Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis (New York:  Oxford University Press, 1954), p. 90.