My Two Cents Worth…The Thanksgiving Edition

 

It’s been almost two months since my last “Two Cents Worth” ramble.  I’ve written posts related to health, hurricanes, the wisdom of Thomas Sowell and, of course, THE election…you know the one to end all elections.  But now it’s once again time for a little stream-of-consciousness.

 

_The economy was already improving, albeit slowly, before the election.  With the election over, it’s accelerated.  Some of it perhaps resulting from the outcome.  But as much or more from just being done with the whole mess; definitely something for which we should all be thankful.

 

_Add Wal-Mart to the growing list of corporations scaling back on DEI initiatives.  The move away from DEI was well underway before the election.  But the results of the election amplified the message to companies that many of us, perhaps most of us, are just interested in buying their products and services… without the far-left gift wrapping.  So, I am thankful that companies have come to their senses and are stepping back from identity politics.  But at the same time, I sincerely hope they will continue to offer meaningful job opportunities and career advancement without regard to race, ethnicity, gender, age or any of the stuff that does not nor should not matter.

 

_The Yellowstone saga has returned and frankly seems a bit worn and past its due date.  I’ll watch it, but with regret that it didn’t end sooner with the original cast still intact (spoiler alert).  On the other hand, Landman is a winner.  Billy Bob Thornton is great, but the real star of the show is Texas, more specifically West and North Texas.  I am thankful that I was born and raised here; and had the chance to see a little bit of it before it got paved over.  God Bless Texas.

 

_Our hot and dry Fall weather is predicted to continue through the Winter.  That being the case we are in for an ugly wildfire season which could well begin before the end of this year.  I am thankful that we got a little rain a couple of weeks ago and I am even more thankful that we have some pretty good firefighters around these parts.

 

_I think, I hope, that Trump’s tariff threats are just deal-making moves.  I expect he will impose some tariffs just to make a point, or where the trade being conducted is clearly unfair and not in our best interest.  But he realizes that the tariff actions he took during his first term had a negative impact on our economy.  And right now, with low unemployment and inflation still a concern, the last thing we need are tariffs that would increase consumer prices. We’re simply not in position to meet consumer demand with domestic production.  Rebuilding our manufacturing base will take years.  In the meantime, we need global supply to meet U.S. demand.  And we should all be thankful that Malcolm McLean invented modern intermodal containerized shipping back in the day.

 

_Most important, I am thankful for God’s grace and forgiveness… and sacrifice.  In this Thanksgiving season I will leave you with this from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica:

 

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18

The Election Is Over… (stop spiking the ball and pointing fingers)

 

I am so glad the election is over.  Now if the Republicans, Democrats and their talking heads would just shut up and move on.  Alright already, we get it.  MAGA won and the map is painted red.  This is a pivotal moment in human history.  Hurray for God and Country and Freedom.  In your face CNN, MSNBC and The View.  The New York Times can suck it.  Joe Rogan rules.  Elon Musk for Man of the Year.  Yes, we said man, not person. Fight, Fight, Fight.

 

Or there is the other side.  How could “they” elect a “convicted felon”? Trump is a threat to democracy.  The red state people are misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, racist, climate change denying Neanderthals.  If only Biden had dropped out long before the primaries.  This is a sad day for America.  How could Black men and Hispanics betray us like this.  Why would any woman vote for Trump?  And no matter what the red state people and Fox News say, we aren’t “woke”.  That is so last decade.

 

Am I exaggerating? I think not.  A plea to my fellow Americans:  It’s time for the winning team to stop spiking the ball and taunting their opponent; and the side that lost needs to accept the outcome, quit making excuses and do better next time.  Both sides, meaning all of us, would do well to show some class.  If only we only had some. 

 

(And I should probably take my own advice and just post pics of dogs, mountains and sunsets….I’ll think about it.)

Wrong Again....Thank God

A week before the election I went on the record predicting that Harris would win.  I sighted six reasons for that prediction:

_1. The polls were undercounting younger voters who were likely to vote Democrat.  So, Trump wasn’t as close to Harris as the polls predicted.

_2. The abortion issue would be a major factor in this election and the majority of women voters were against Trump.

_3. The mainstream media’s constant assault on Trump and championing Harris was tilting the scales in the Democrats’ favor.

_4. On balance Democrats have performed somewhat better in Presidential elections than Republicans since 1992.  In a close race against a polarizing candidate like Trump, the Democrats would likely win.

_5. The Red Wave that was predicted in 2022 did not happen, largely due to a rejection of Trump-backed candidates.

_6. The Democrats know how to get out their voters in the places where it matters the most.  The Republicans just didn’t have as good of a “ground game” as the Democrats.

Thankfully, I was wrong; and it wasn’t even close.  So, what happened?

_More young people voted for Trump than expected. The majority still went for Harris, but not to the degree expected.  In particular, a lot of younger men voted for Trump.

_The abortion issue was not a match for the economy and immigration issues.  Harris still got a lot of votes from women and in particular Pro-Choice women voters.  But it was not enough to offset the voters who considered the economy (mostly inflation) and immigration as the critical issues.

_The mainstream media’s attacks on Trump backfired.  The same can be said for the “lawfare” used against Trump.  These efforts may have resonated with the Progressive Democrat core, but moderates, independents, working class and first-time voters didn’t buy it.

_The Democrats ran a terrible campaign with a terrible ticket.  As a result there was no advantage based on their historical performance in Presidential elections, the mid-term Red Wave that wasn’t or their traditional turnout the votes “ground game”.  In fact, the Republicans beat them at their own game when it came to turning out the votes.

So, I am glad that I was wrong.  I am not a Trump fan, always voted for someone else in the primaries.  But I am a “right-leaning” moderate which puts me a long way from the Democrats who have embraced so many far-left policies. Therefore, I vote Republican.  Call it self-interest or self-defense.

I am hopeful that we are seeing a fundamental shift away from woke-ism, identity politics and radical ideologies. The Republicans may not Make America Great Again, but it’s certain Democrats have proven they can make it worse.

The Vision of the Anointed

 

What follows is a review of Thomas Sowell’s masterpiece “The Vision of The Anointed”.  The review was written in 1995 by Dr. Robert P. George who at that time was an associate professor of politics at Princeton University. 

WHY do liberals and conservatives assess the same social facts so differently? The answer, Thomas Sowell suggests, is that liberals and conservatives differ in their perception of the facts. The difference, in other words, is one of vision.

"The crucial role of vision," Sowell argues, "is that it enables a vast range of beliefs to be regarded as presumptively true until definitively disproved by unchallengeable evidence." Liberals --or, to use Sowell's disparaging label, "the anointed" -- view the world as "a very tidy place," where "prescient politicians can 'invest' tax dollars in 'the industries of the future,' where criminals can be 'rehabilitated,' irresponsible mothers taught 'parenting skills,' and where all sorts of other social problems can be 'solved."' All this is possible, as liberals see things, because human nature, as a "social construct," is far more malleable than most people imagine. Thus, in the vision of the anointed, "there is obviously a very expansive role for government and for the anointed in prescribing what government should do."

Sowell contrasts the vision of the anointed with "the tragic vision" of conservatives. What is "tragic" about this vision is that it assumes that problems such as crime, poverty, and irresponsibility cannot finally be "solved." Conservatives, recognizing that "there are no solutions, only trade-offs," do not go in for grand schemes to put an end to poverty, for example, or make health care a fundamental right, or pursue what Sowell derisively calls "cosmic justice." It is not that conservatives are happy that some people are poor, or without health insurance, or whatever. Nor, for that matter, are they complacent about it. Rather, they realize that liberal schemes to eradicate these evils a) never work, and b) inevitably impose huge social costs of their own.

Thus, conservatives are skeptical of large-scale government programs and bureaucracies and are inclined to rely instead on institutions of civil society, such as families, churches, and neighborhood associations, to accomplish what can be accomplished in the areas of health, education, and welfare. Conservatives are hostile to big government not only because it fails to accomplish its utopian goals, but also because it compromises or displaces religious and other subsidiary institutions which have at least some hope of helping people to escape from poverty, rehabilitate themselves from a life of crime, or improve themselves in other ways. Those, like Sowell, with the tragic vision fault those with the vision of the anointed for making the unattainable ideal "the enemy of the good."

Sowell understands the contest of visions to be a longstanding one in Western culture. Godwin, Condorcet, and Mill all shared the vision of the anointed. Burke and the American Founders possessed the tragic vision. Sowell notes that in our own day "most of the leading contemporary opponents of the prevailing vision were themselves formerly within its orbit." He begins the list with Milton Friedman, F. A. von Hayek, Karl Popper, Edward Banfield, Irving Kristol, and Norman Podhoretz. One notable difference between those with the vision of the anointed and those with the tragic vision is that it tends to be the latter who recognize the role of vision in the first place. "To the anointed, their vision and reality are one and the same. Yet the world inside their mind has few of the harsh constraints of the world inhabited by millions of other human beings."

Sowell's account of vision and its role in political life and the creation of social policy helps to explain the tendency of contemporary elites to shift power from the people and their elected representatives to electorally unaccountable bureaucrats and judges. In the vision of the anointed, most people, in as much as they fail to share that vision, are more or less benighted. As such, they simply cannot be trusted to exercise political power justly or, for that matter, to judge accurately their own interests.