Monday, September 08, 2008

LIFE LESSON

Dr. Boudreaux,
Why are you so bitter about politics? Why so cynical? Why don't you give candidates and office holders the benefit of the doubt when they say they want to help others?
Sara
This e-mail just appeared in my e-mailbox. I have no idea who Sara is, but rather than answer her privately, I'll answer her here.
Dear Sara:
Thanks for writing. I often say, quite sincerely, that I'm not cynical about politics; I'm realistic about politics.
If a stranger knocks on your door and tells you that he or she is here for the express purpose of helping you, of serving you, of making your life better -- not because of anything that he or she will gain by doing so, but because he or she believes in your goodness and knows that you deserve more than you have -- what would you think? Would you give this person the benefit of the doubt, and trust that he or she really and truly is motivated chiefly and overwhelmingly by a desire to serve you?
Would you continue to give this person the benefit of the doubt on this score when he or she informs you that, to help you, he or she must have the power to tax you and to take away some of your liberties? When he or she assures you that, by some mysterious process, he or she "feels your pain"? When he or she modestly exclaims that those other persons standing on your porch ready to make pretty much the same offer cannot possibly care about you as much as he or she cares about you -- cannot possibly have sufficient skill, determination, and wisdom to improve your life; that only he or she possesses these qualities?
Would that benefit of the doubt continue to be given when you learn that, should you decide to trust this stranger with some of your wealth and your liberties, he or she will get lots of prestige and acclaim and applause simply because he or she holds power over you?
And would you persist in giving this person the benefit of the doubt when, should you ask probing questions about his or her motives or about inconsistencies you believe to have spotted in the plans he or she laid out for helping you, he or she suddenly begins dissembling or speaking in platitudes or vague generalities, or launches into stories of his or her past glory in some endeavor or other that has little to do with the power that he or she now seeks from you?
I suspect, Sara, that should such a person arrive at your door and deliver such a spiel to you that you'd quickly slam the door in his or her face, convinced (and correctly so) that that person is either an utter goofball or a supremely arrogant busybody. You'd want nothing at all to do with him or her, and if he or she persisted in knocking on your door you'd call the police or your bouncer-friend Bubba to escort this obnoxious person as far away from your home as possible.
So, if you'd not give such a person the benefit of the doubt, why in the world are you surprised that I don't give Barack Obama, John McCain, or any other successful politician you care to name the benefit of the doubt?
Sincerely,Don Boudreaux
Trash it

Trash it! That seems to be the new flag code initiated at the Obamafest Democrat convention in Denver. Eye popping pictures of 12,000 American flags mixed with the trash and ready to be dumped with the refuse at Invesco field, appeared on internet blogs on August 29. A vendor hired to clean up the mess after Barrack Obama’s acceptance speech was offended when he found thousands of American flags mixed into the regular trash receptacles or bagged up by the hundreds separately in black trash bags and put by the dumpsters. To see the pictures do a Google search for ‘trash flag democratic convention.’ Two conclusions are obvious. First, the flags mixed into regular trash were dumped there by Democrat delegates when they were finished celebrating Barrack Obama’s ( also known as "The One") accession to Presidential nominee of the Democrat party. Once the celebratory display of patriotism was over, the flags became litter. Second, Barrack Obama’s crack campaign staff, not knowing what to do with excess, display flags, just decided to bag them up and leave them for the trash man. Which are the bigger, clueless doofuses? The Democrat delegates or ‘The One’s’ campaign staff? And what about this display of environmental incorrectness?

The Obamafest convention that emphasized it was the greenest and most environmentally friendly convention in history finished it’s run by trashing 12,000 perfectly, good American flags. Prior to the convention, the Obama campaign announced all sorts of rules regarding food colors, displays, biodegradable balloons, and content of materials (must be locally manufactured and bear a union label). There were to be official trash monitors by trash receptacles to insure that delegates properly disposed of trash. Imagine ‘The One’s ‘ official trash monitors telling delegates: "Beer cups on the right, veggie burger wrappers on the left, and American flags in the middle." If the mantra of the Obamafest was recycling, why were American flags not included in the effort?

Given ‘The One’s’ problem with the American flag and rumors of his tepid patriotism, it is astounding that his campaign would commit such a boneheaded gaffe as flag trashing. Where were Obama’s community organizing skills and his crack campaign organizers when such an error occurred? Anyone with common sense would understand flags in a trash bag would offend a large swath of the American public. This blunder comes from the Democrat party of ‘caring’ and ‘sensitivity’! Obama has suffered grief regarding the flag ever since he proclaimed he quit wearing a flag lapel pin after 9/11 because it smacked of false patriotism. He only took up appearing again with flags when he had to dump his racist, anti-American minister, Rev. Wright. Throwing Rev. Wright under the Obama campaign bus required seven flags in the background. Also, Michelle Obama’s anti-American and unpatriotic comments were popping up often until she was muzzled before the Obamafest in Denver. On the convention floor she became a patriot.
The rescued flags were turned over to a group of Boy Scouts who brought 84 garbage bags full of the discarded flags to the site of a Republican rally in Colorado Springs. There they were distributed by veterans throughout the assembled crowd. McCain supporters waved the recycled flags and chanted "U.S.A." as they welcomed Republican candidate John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin. The Democrat party has objected to what the vendor and the Boy Scouts did by claiming the flags were stolen from their trash. What will the Obamamaniacs do next? File theft of trash charges against the vendor and Boy Scouts?

The ‘cone of silence’ has apparently been imposed on this story by the mainstream media. Although the pictures of the trashed flags and the story of how they wound up in the black bags has raged on the internet since August 29th, the first mention of the incident in the mainstream media was when Fox News reported on September 6th that the Boy Scouts distributed the salvaged flags. The mainstream media either consider the story irrelevant or are posing a blackout on a story because it reflects poorly on their chosen candidate for president, Obama. Interestingly, the blog site that first reported the story and posted the pictures, received over 2,000 visits from a Hillary Clinton web site in the first hour of the posting. Angering Hillary supporters, does not bode well for "The One."

Barrack Obama launched his political career from the home William Ayers, self- proclaimed terrorist and member the 60's radical group the Weatherman. Obama’s mentor, Ayers, who still says his only regret is not planting enough bombs in America, posed for a magazine in an alley a few years ago standing on a crumpled American flag. He must be so proud of his protégée, Obama and his fellow travelers because of whom 12,000 fewer star-spangled banners now wave, "o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave."