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FREEDOM'S LEFTIST ENEMIES

 

By Nelson Hultberg
January 16, 2017
NewsWithViews.com

One of the tragic ironies of history is that the very moment freedom was given birth in America in 1787 with enactment of our Constitution in the wake of the Declaration of Independence, the concept of freedom itself came under direct assault from the philosophical thinkers of Europe, which laid the groundwork for the massive statisms of the modern day. This is because ideology moves history. Mankind's societies are shaped by the prevailing ideas that have gained prominence among the great minds of any given era. Thus freedom as a philosophical concept is in dreadful retreat today throughout the world, even in America.

This modern move away from freedom began in earnest in France in the early 19th century as a result of the philosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau’s influence on the thinkers of the day. It slithered over most of Europe by 1900 under the guidance of Auguste Comte and Karl Marx and exploded into the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917. It then proceeded to England and America, and it has been very subtly consuming Western civilization for the past 80 years.

I say “modern move” because the rejection of individual freedom is not new. It’s been going on in some form or another at various stages of history since the beginning of human civilization. One sees such a rejection in the terrorist atrocities of the Jacobins during the French Revolution in 1789. One sees it in the religious inquisitions of the 14th and 15th centuries, in the stagnancy and superstition of the Dark Ages, in the fall of Rome and the Greek democracies, in the vast Byzantine states of the Pharaohs, and in the countless efforts on the part of the people of Old Testament Israel to appoint a mighty king to rule their lives for them.

The Collectivist Craving

The inclination to revolt against a life constructed around personal freedom is deeply ingrained in that eternal collectivist craving of men for a material security that exceeds their self-reliance and an intel¬lectual security that relieves them of the necessity of applying thought to their lives. Every time civilization flowers, it has basically done so to the degree that men were left free in matters of the mind and the economics of living. Every time civilization declines, it has basically done so to the degree that the collectivist mentality in man is set loose and allowed to utilize state coercion to dictate truth and redistribute productivity, so as to get something for nothing by expropriating the creative effort of others.

Freedom haters will always be with us. This is why Jefferson and the great 18th century thinkers told us that "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance." There is something born into men and women that makes them naturally seek freedom enthusiastically or hate freedom disgracefully. It's part of their particular DNA. Sure, we are to a great extent a product of the ideas instilled into us from our family, schooling and culture; but these factors make up only one part of what kind of man or woman we become. The other part is born into us. We are programed not just by "nurture," but also by "nature." Unfortunately this way of thinking is scorned by modern day intellectuals. In the minds of today's scholars, our life paths are formed by the "environment" of our formative years, with the "genetic make-up" we are born with of little importance.

Nature's Programming

It is my contention, however, that modernity has got it grievously wrong and has built a warped picture of human personality upon a false view of genetics, physiology, ideology, philosophy, and life itself. As the famous physician, Henry G. Bieler, M.D., put it, "Your carcass is a clue to your character." Human physiology, endocrinology and genetic heritage are powerful determinants of what we strive for, achieve and become in our lives. We as humans are forged 50% from nature and 50% from nurture. Consequently the political convictions we end up adopting and pursuing throughout our lives do not stem just from what we are taught in the schools.

There are large numbers of humans who simply are automatically programed by nature to prefer a life of less freedom than more freedom. They come in two fundamental types – those who wish to rule and those who wish to be ruled. They enter this world naturally predisposed toward an existence of government domination. Freedom, laissez-faire and self-reliance are distasteful to them and always will be. Even if they are taught the benefits and moral propriety of freedom throughout their youth, they reject such truths subconsciously and will always seek justifications for their pursuit of power over others, or their subservience to others. They are haters of freedom by nature.

These humans are driven continuously throughout their lives to further a society of collectivism. They, of course, don't think of what they are fashioning as "enslavement." They tell themselves that the monster state they are so assiduously working for is "necessary for justice," that "freedom no longer works in the modern age," that "capitalism is antediluvian." The powerful physiological forces that drive them from within toward the obliteration of freedom are not recognized in their conscious minds. But they are there from the beginning. Jefferson and the Founders tried to prepare us.

These "freedom haters" prevail throughout our society today like germs permeate the wounds of war. Most patriots agree that the worst of these germs over the past 25 years have been Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. However as virulent and treasonous as they have been, they are only two of a whole host of pathogens that now plague us.

Here are ten of the most dangerous of these pathogens eagerly proselytizing for more and more collectivism in America:

Paul Krugman – Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and a columnist for The New York Times, Krugman, 63 yrs. old, is the premier liberal columnist in America today. He has held professorial positions at MIT, Yale, Princeton, and other schools and is the quintessential example of what is wrong with the Keynesian concept of economics and its endorsement of relentless statism. Orwell didn't know it, but he was writing about future men like Krugman when he penned his famous novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four – masters of sophistry and false ideology who wish to rule over their fellowman with monstrous, arbitrary governmentalism.

Chuck Schumer – Liberal United States senator from New York for the past 18 years after serving for 19 years in the House. Has never had a real job in the marketplace in his life having been elected to the New York State Assembly fresh out of college at the age of 25. His worldview is the modern manifestation of Mussolini's corporatism, i.e., economic fascism. To this brainy zealot, big government is the salvation of not only America, but the human race itself. Has capitulated totally to the Wall Street banks and moguls who bankroll him every election. And they, in turn, love his corporatism. A slimy Machiavellian who has mastered the rationale of mega-statism like "Il Duce" mastered the display of goose-stepping.

Nancy Pelosi – California congresswoman and Minority leader of the House, this relentless purveyor of legislative poison for the Republic is one of the most powerful females in American history and for all the wrong reasons. Never met a government program she didn't salivate over. Comes from a political family and was in love with politics from childhood. Elected to Congress in 1987 from the hotbed of liberal lunacy, San Francisco. Known for her non-stop energy, she scorns vacations to concentrate on her obsessive mission to transform America into a collectivist utopia. Supported the ominous Patriot Act, has constantly pushed to outlaw guns, and proudly dumped Obamacare upon struggling Americans. Patriots count the days until this 76 year old shrewish power luster will have to retire.

Ben Bernanke – Chairman of the Federal Reserve, 2006-2014. Educated at Harvard and MIT and captured by J.M. Keynes' 1936 assertion that "capitalism had reached its mature stage" and required an omnipresent state with a central bank orchestrating generous supplies of fiat currency to prime the engines of inflation, without which the marketplace would collapse into primitivism. This is why Bernanke pumped trillions of dollars in QE into the market in 2008 rather than let the economy purge its debt overload and malinvestment. The ideological fallacies of Keynes dominate Bernanke and today's statist establishment. America's present economic peril cannot be solved until Keynesian acolytes such as Bernanke are relegated to the intellectual graveyard of history where "bloodletters" and "flat earth society" proponents reside.

Rachel Maddow – Nightly television host of the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC and adamantly opposed to America's limited Constitutional government. Smug and intensely partisan, she is testament to the fact that Mainstream Media in America is most definitely corrupted by the leftist worldview. It is said that movies mirror the health or deterioration of society. The same can be said about the media. Its personalities, and the ideologies that pulsate from their programs, are a reflection of what kind of society we are forging. MSNBC, CNN, and the major networks are rife with the germs of leftism. Rachel Maddow is one of the more lethal of those germs.

Cass Sunstein – A close advisor to President Barack Obama heading up his Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Taught law at the University of Chicago for three decades. A prolific author of sophisticated anti-freedom books, such as The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More than Ever, he has throughout his prestigious career opted for imposing "social justice" upon Americans via more and more imperious government. Has repeatedly voiced support for government infiltration of private citizens' affairs, groups and businesses. Presents himself as a defender of human liberty, but in the best Orwellian manner, he thinks fundamentally that men, women and the marketplace must be controlled by "wise elites" in charge of an all-pervasive Nanny State.

Arianna Huffington – Glamorous, multi-talented Greek-American writer, businesswoman, and founder of the influential Huffington Post. Born in Greece in 1950, she immigrated to America in 1980 and adhered to a traditional Republican view of politics and economics in her youth marrying the millionaire elitist, Michael Huffington, a one term GOP Congressman (1993-95). But her Republicanism didn't last. By 2000, Arianna was pouring out liberal thought on all issues. She serves as the perfect example of shrewd media savvy devoid of a core philosophical undergirding, which explains why it was so easy for her to shift into rabid leftism after being a conservative. Intellectual opinion in her mind is almost surely motivated by "popularity" rather than "principle."

Bill de Blasio – Mayor of New York City and strident promoter of liberal causes, from rent control, to expansionist welfare, sanctuary for illegals, gay marriage, and progressive tax rates to soak the rich. Educated at New York University and Columbia, his first big cause after graduation was to go to Nicaragua and pledge support for the socialist Sandinistas. Leftism was born into the man like predation is stamped into a vulture. Multicultural New York's teeming ethnic factions have found their champion for more and more government confiscation conveyed to them. And he undoubtedly wants to use his mayoral office as a launching pad for a presidential run in 2020.

John Podesta – Former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, special counselor to President Barack Obama, and chairman of the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. The ultimate "political operative" on the left. Presently heads up the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington, and the Podesta Group, a powerful lobbying firm that represents mega-corporations such as Wall-Mart, British Petroleum and Lockheed Martin. Talks the language of freedom, but it is cerebral charlatanry rather than ideas the Founders would respect. His mind is racked with the strategic jargon of big government gradualism, i.e., Fabianism.

Maureen Dowd – The journalistic Princess of Statism in America, an op-ed columnist for the New York Times, she is one of the most subtle of collectivists, and therefore one of the most sinister. Smart enough to skewer political figures on both sides of the aisle. But for those who understand how ideology undergirds one's worldview, Dowd is indubitably a leftist sympathizer ruling from her perch at the Times. Hugely successful, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1999, voted Woman of the Year by Glamour magazine in 1996, she artfully articulates vivid pictures of American politics, economics and culture for her loyal readers. Skilled prose stylist, which gives her the power to bamboozle the literati and shield her latent leftism.

Purging Freedom's Enemies

All of our troubles today stem from the Marxist-Keynesian worldview that capitalism is not only evil, but in Keynes' words, "reached it's mature stage" in 1929 and must be replaced with a benevolent, all-powerful state to guide the economic forces of life. The above ten personalities are vehement supporters of this tragically flawed concept of political history and economics.

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Such a view is patently absurd. There is no such thing as a "mature stage" for capitalism. Capitalism will go on forever if men and women are simply left alone to innovate, dream and build. To speak and think as the left does is to say that freedom is a value that grows old and can be discarded if we so desire. This is hideous; it is the same as saying music, love, and heroism can be phased out of our lives. Life cannot be lived without eternal verities. Freedom is one of the verities. But the above ten men and women are haters of freedom. They believe it is old and outdated. The salvation of our way of life rests on purging our country of these traitors to freedom and all the others out there like them.

© 2017 Nelson Hultberg - All Rights Reserved

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Nelson Hultberg is a freelance writer in Dallas, Texas and the Director of Americans for a Free Republic. A graduate of Beloit College in Wisconsin, his articles have appeared over the past 25 years in such publications as The American Conservative, Insight, Liberty, The Freeman, The Dallas Morning News, and the San Antonio Express-News, as well as on numerous Internet sites such as Capitol Hill Outsider, The Intellectual Conservative, Popular Liberty, and The Daily Bell. He is the author of The Golden Mean: Libertarian Politics, Conservative Values.

Email: NelsonHultberg@afr.org

Website: www.afr.org



 

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These humans are driven continuously throughout their lives to further a society of collectivism. They, of course, don't think of what they are fashioning as "enslavement." They tell themselves that the monster state they are so assiduously working for is "necessary for justice," that "freedom no longer works in the modern age," that "capitalism is antediluvian."