Almost Forgot -- The Apology

How callous of me to neglect mentioning that Congress is poised to apologize -- supposedly on behalf of me and every other white American -- for slavery. Doesn't it strike anyone as odd that Congress is expressing regret for blacks' presence on American soil? That is the inescapable essence of what Congress intends, since the vast majority of blacks would not be among us but for the peculiar institution of slavery itself. Maybe Congress should think about this before putting its foot in its mouth.

Ordinarily I would discuss at length the numerous other reasons for rejecting a resolution of this nature, such as the fact that Western civilization (not Africa) decided that slavery was wrong and ended it; that we should be proud rather than ashamed to inherit the Western tradition; that no living American was ever a slave; that no living American ever owned a slave; that it is a moral abomination to punish the living for the deeds of the dead; that the Union and the Constitution could not have existed but for the compromises on slavery; that there will never be racial reconciliation as long as the grievance mentality continues being legitimized; that there can be no reconcialition of any kind when a nation's government condemns the nation's own citizens and founders; and most of all, that no putrid collection of politicians has a right to apologize for me in the first place. But that would be a waste of time, since far more important matters hold Americans' attention.

I will say that the only apology I owe is to my ancestors: I'm sorry I failed you. I have failed to safeguard your legacy from the swarms of rats who are tearing it to pieces, but I will do my best to preserve an island of sanity while the edifice you built yields to the sludge of untold centuries.

Roundup

The media have derived immense satisfaction from tearing apart South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, and it's easy to figure out why. Cheating on one's wife isn't so bad in their eyes -- as evidenced by their dispensations for JFK, MLK, and Bill Clinton on that score -- but refusing to accept the unlawful plunder of federal "stimulus money" constitutes a mortal sin.

A "hate crimes" bill sailed through Congress recently, in contradistinction to the "love crimes" bills Congress ordinarily considers. Nobody bothered to mention during the debate that the Constitution empowers the federal government to criminalize only counterfeiting, piracy, offenses on the high seas, violations of international law, and treason. Additionally, nobody bothered to mention that a constitutional amendment is necessary to criminalize any other behaviors, such as with Prohibition during the 1920s and '30s. Then again, thousands federal criminal laws have unconstitutionally cropped up over recent decades, so there's no reason to stop now.

Hardly pausing for breath, Congress approved a bill empowering itself to regulate every activity that has an imaginable impact on the amount of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere, since our modern Earth-bound religion dictates that humankind may not affect the environment in any notable way (asteroids, pole shifts, ice ages, periodic mass extinctions, and solar expansion are all okay because they are "natural" -- and because they offer no political rewards). As with the debate over hate crimes, nobody bothered to mention that atmospheric carbon dioxide was several orders of magnitude greater during the Mesozoic (Dinosaur) Era, and nobody bothered to mention that 96% of carbon dioxide currently entering the atmosphere would continue to do so even if humanity completely vanished. What's especially entertaining is that Congress is no longer satisfied to believe it may regulate activities that "substantially affect" interstate commerce -- a realm that the Constitution entrusts at least somewhat to Congress's attention -- but now seeks to regulate activities that "substantially affect" the atmosphere, which I'm pretty sure the Constitution never mentions in any way, shape, or form.

Pausing from its efforts to play God and control the climate, Congress has expressed its outrage over the conduct of elections within a sovereign nation on the other side of the planet -- Iran, which must adopt a "democratic" system of government or risk a U.S.-funded and fomented rebellion. Of course, Iran once had just such government in the 1950s, but the U.S. helped to destroy that government and install the brutal Shah. Someone might conclude that the political philosophy of Iran's government is irrelevant, so long as Iran does the federal government's bidding, but that would be cynical and unpatriotic. Someone might also suggest that freedom is impossible without independence -- similar to the sentiments expressed in our own Declaration of Independence -- but they don't teach that stuff anymore.

Last, the American public has not expressed any notable interest or pathos about any of the foregoing. The American public has, however, gone positively nuts over the recent demise of an entertainer.

Health Care Debate Misses The Point, As Usual

People locking horns over whether the feds should launch an "overhaul of America's health care system" appear to be debating the finer points of whether this grandiose plan makes fiscal sense or promises to improve the defects in the present system. Consistent with the amoral and technocratic mindset that our schools and universities pride themselves on producing, almost no one is pausing to consider the larger concerns here.

It should come as no surprise to anyone reading my rantings that my first objection is based on the Constitution, which delegates no authority to the federal government to embark on a quest to commandeer the interactions between doctors, nurses, hospitals, and patients. Any such effort belongs to the States by default, whose citizens could mercifully move elsewhere if an experiment such as this proved disastrous. I recognize that the rule of law is a quaint concept that now yields to the perceived exigencies of the moment, but allow me to rhapsodize about the America that my elders taught me to admire.

But let us assume (with some ease) that the Constitution poses no obstacle here. In my own case, if a given State sought to regulate health care, I would have to admit that my constitutional objections would vanish. Even then, a proposal to dictate how people may choose to provide legal goods and services to each other would strike anyone honestly calling himself "free" as repugnant and evil, meaning that in a "healthy" America the proposal would automatically fail politically even if not legally. The fact that it's not failing, but as a matter of fact is gaining ground, reveals a cultural collapse that no legal system could possibly resuscitate. Sure, various other countries provide "free" health care all the time, but America once prided itself on being different from the rest of the world in regard to a man's right to govern his own existence within very broad boundaries. We are no longer different from the rest of the world, meaning that we are different from how we used to be. That's the saddest part of all.

Secession Goes Mainstream

When the Wall Street Journal parrots my rhetoric, you know that progress is being made.

I've Heard It All Now

The tragic murder of a guard at the Holocaust Museum today has motivated certain members of the media to blame "anti-tax secessionists" and others of us who voice serious concerns about the state of America (i.e., those of us who dare to engage in discourse outside the shallow and narrow box that the media would like to confine us to).

I'll tell you what - without knowing anything about the lunatic who committed this murder, I will stipulate for purposes of argument that he was an "anti-tax secessionist" whose general displeasure with our societal ills motivated him to act as he did. Even with that extreme concession, this man's despicable crime pales in comparison to the death, destruction, and impoverishment that unlawful government inflicts around the globe and here at home every single day. A deranged lunatic cannot send thousands of young adults abroad to kill and be killed in an undeclared war. A deranged lunatic cannot steal trillions of dollars from honest, hardworking citizens in order to shower it on his friends or to promote any number of pet projects alien to the Constitution. A deranged lunatic cannot crush prosperity with innumerable and indecipherable regulations authored by unelected troglodytes. And a deranged lunatic cannot destroy our dreams of inheriting what was once the greatest country in the history of Earth.

If the media mollusks want to blame me for the murder of a guard, then I blame them for the murder of the American dream. And at least I never advocate or encourage murder -- the media, however, cannot say the same about themselves.

UPDATE:

As if the media's pathetic attempts to link a murderer with all political dissent weren't enough, MSNBC now has smeared "loners" as well:

He was smart enough to join Mensa, but even admirers considered him a loner . . . .

Wow, no built-in prejudice here. I guess we're supposed to conclude that being a "loner" is a severe defect that automatically degrades one's standing even in the eyes of admirers (and even though America was built by the heroic efforts of loners who ventured into the untamed wild). For a good read on how rampant and inaccurate anti-loner prejudice is, read this excellent book by Anneli Rufus.

Geithner Illustrates The Virtues Of Global Competition

Much has been made of how a gathering of Chinese students recently laughed at Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner upon hearing his Pollyannish prescriptions for propping up America's obscene debt. This episode should remind us to be extremely grateful we inhabit a world fractured into competing nation-states, for this constitutes the last line of defense against the imperial insanity we're confronting. While the administration might be able to rob and deceive Americans with impunity, foreigners have no "patriotic duty" to play that game. The Chinese and the rest of the world will look after their interests and thereby correct for the grave errors that this administration is obsessed with committing.