Now that Peter Suderman's no longer involved in the crap that passes for politics at FreedomWorks, is he suffering some sort of guilt pangs about his activities? Will he stop typing about politics, move to the suburbs, & cover house-husbandry &, I dunno, puppies? (Really. "The Problem with Politics." Got a mirror, Petey?)
It's the usual boiler plate until we get to the "libertarian streak."18 Aug 2009 03:38 pm
The Problem With Politics
by Peter Suderman
Given my libertarian streak, I'd also add a final thought: The way to avoid the maddening convulsions of politics isn't to change them, or rise above them, or move past them, or transform them, or whatever the trendy term of art is on any given day. It's to avoid them -- and reduce their power to hold sway over how we live. And the more decisions about our lives and welfare we put in the hands of politicians, the harder that will be to do.Look, glibertarians, if we admit that libertarianism was a really swell philosophy that was just perfect two hundred yrs. ago, when any schmuck w/ a plow & some seeds could homestead across the continent, stepping over the bodies of the original inhabitants, & make a living w/o much interference or help from the gov't., & w/o needing a gov't. to protect them from today's high-tech industrial/corporate predators & polluters (or even neighbors, other then the aforementioned bodies — and now casinos) will you just admit that the frontier closed 120 yrs. ago, John fucking Galt ain't never gonna happen, & the world has changed a little too much for your half-baked fantasies to be of any use other than a bad example? Please?
Balloon Juice has P. S.'s opening statement as he fills in for Randy Andy at The Daily Dish this wk., & notes an interesting omission from it, as well as calling some of Suderman's work "sleazy." Heh heh.
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Because it's so much better to put decisions about our lives and welfare in the hands of corporations who care more about the bottom line than human beings.
Not that any of this isn't the empty rhetoric of a 7th grade debate team. Christ, Suderman and McArdle deserve each other.
fucking shoot me now, she's on tv in the uk. channel 4 news is usually very good; must have been short notice.
http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/08/mcardle_vs_darzi_on_healthcare.php
The only thing that baffles me more than her employment with the Atlantic is the number of people who take her inane, grammatically-challenged, horribly written and ill-informed babble seriously.
Not only is Galt's Gulch never going to happen, it literally can't happen. I forget where I read it, but someone on the internets pointed out that the existence of Ayn Rand's libertarian paradise is predicated on the invention by her hero of a perpetual motion machine.
It's even better than that:
After graduating, Galt becomes an engineer at the Twentieth Century Motor Company, where he designs a revolutionary new motor powered by ambient static electricity.
I don't much about electricity, but I'm pretty sure this would be impossible.
And the article says that Rand basically ripped off the plot of Atlas Shrugged from a book written in 1922!
That's a common misconception, Susan. See, in the 1922 book, a guy named Henry Galt battles socialist collectivism, while in Rand's book, a guy named John Galt battles socialist collectivism. It's a big difference, you see.
Shane, I was summarizing badly. The article I read explained that no motor could work the way Rand describes, and that she had in effect posited a perpetual motion machine.
Pat Henry U is, alas, a stand in for Case Tech, now CWRU, aka Screw U.
Case does not advertise this, although the Michelson Morley fountain gets the point across -
http://www.case.edu/visit/tours/full/michmorley.jpg
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