As IF Times

link Liberal Frankensteins – Victor Davis Hanson – National Review Online.

In my opinion, one of the best, succinct summaries of the malaise that affects free societies in our time.  Hanson points out the various big fibs and spurious policies that have been circulating since the end of World War 2.  Wrong headed policies that were pursued with the ‘best of intentions’ have grotesquely morphed into the cancer like manifestations of liberal thought threatening the very survival of free society today.  Unlike Al Gore’s version of how it’s all going to end, this article clearly illustrates the various prongs of stupidity that are surely pointing to the demise of free people.

At the root is the hijacking of the education system, which has veered sharply away from teachings of core values and absolute results to political brainwashing and elusive conclusions and questionable sensitivities.  This is one of the best lines from the article:

“…Modern university education has achieved the dubious result of turning out a self-described sensitive, caring mind that has never been more ignorant of the past and the present…”

While there are certainly voices that point out the insanity of what’s happened, they are vastly outnumbered by the endless cacophony of the delusional left.  Life so closely parallels George Orwell’s Animal Farm, that you can use the book as a roadmap for a glimpse of Christmases future.  It’s as if the people who gained the most from social and economic policies of the past 50 years are the people most likely to pursue policies that are the exact opposite of what brought success to them.  Paradoxically, the more obvious the failures of these policies are, the more ardently they are pursued and defended.  Unfortunately, those that make the most noise tend to get the most attention, regardless of how inane their viewpoints.   This is expected to appeal to young people, since their minds are susceptible to information of all kinds and they have yet to measure what’s told to them against the realities of genuine experience.  But how then to explain the ongoing ignorance of the older generation, those who should have passed the naive phase of their lives towards a more reasoned view of how things work?  Somehow, many in this group of aging hippies have never grown up.  There are many that have been allowed to live their lives in an extended adolescence.

As I have opined previously, there must be a self destruct gene that takes hold once a certain level of affluence is achieved.  If so, that’s sad.  It’s doubly sad when these people achieve positions of power and are then able to take others down with them.  They then bring their dubious logic and naive sentiments to impact public policy.  They somehow work their way to become political leaders and teachers or even worse, get a job on MSNBC.  The fact is, big political and social issues are not that interesting to young people.  Most are more consumed about their next Iphone than the next President.  For many, there is no direct link between what happens to them and what is happening on the big world stage.  They don’t have to worry about the big picture because things have always been benign for them.  It will be a severe shock when the adults stop paying the bills.

link Obama floats plan to tax cars by the mile – The Hills Floor Action.

I don’t know the veracity of this story, but if true, it would open up vast new horizons of revenue for governments.    Many eco-nazis would be pleased to see this new method of taxation implemented because in their minds, this saves the planet.    Never able to project the consequences of their actions beyond their juvenile ideals, if this plan is implemented, these greenies would in fact preside over the total downtick of civilization.   

This statement is hardly hyperbole since if people stopped to think of it, the entire foundation of civilization rests on the ability for man to transport goods over far distances.   The world would be reduced to unconnected villages of tribal influence if the ability of transportation of goods and movement of people were curtailed by prohibitive costs.   Proponents of the ‘less cars is more’ viewpoint would rather society revert back to greener modes of transportation.  Horses and donkeys perhaps. 

As is the case with most taxes, the supposed beneficiaries, the poor, will suffer the most.  People with means will be able to pay the tax and businesses will simply pass on the tax to the consumer.  Imagine the circumstance of a laborer who has to commute long distances to his job.  More of a tax on the miles he drives will either disqualify him from taking the job, or else wages will have to go up to offset the additional transportation cost.  If the wages go up, the cost of goods produced by his employer goes up, which is subsequently passed on the consumer.  The consumer either reduces his consumption, or shops elsewhere.   Very simplistically, this is how Wal Mart and other big box stores came into existence.  They were able to exploit both cheap sourcing and manageable transportation costs.  If a per mile tax were imposed, the impact will not only be on the consumer, but also on Wal Mart’s ability to offer inexpensive goods.  Net result, prices go up.

For some reason, government mindsets over the past few generations have focused on milking the populace rather than encourage their productivity.  The momentum of innovation and progress, hallmarks of an advancing civilization have been attacked and perhaps even stopped by the combinations of frivolous lawsuits, unreasonable regulation and red tape and of course by short sighted taxation.  This is analogous to cutting off parts of a steamboat to fuel the engines as the vessel slows down.  Onerous taxation is cannibalizing western society in the same way.

I suggest a far more efficient tax be levied instead.  How about a tax on politicians by the words they utter?  If they are caught uttering outright fibs, then the tax triples.  Al Gore could be the national benefactor, finally doing something useful for the nation.   In fact, with the kind of non sensical rhetoric being spewed daily by the present administration,  any budget deficits could be paid off within a generation.