The Grail of Equality (11/11)

By P.T. Bauer

Disregard of the restriction of the opportunities of the poor effected by egalitarianism is promoted by a curious asymmetrical application of the environmental determinism which underlies so much contemporary discourse on social affairs.

The poor are seen as helpless victims of their environment, people at the mercy of external forces and without wills of their own.

The implication is that they are without the primary human characteristic of responsibility.

This determinism, however, does not extend to the rich. They are seen as having wills of their own which are somehow deployed for selfish and even villainous ends. Poverty is thus a condition caused by external forces and not by personal conduct.

Wealth on the other hand is the result of conduct which is purposeful but reprehensible.

The poor are seen as passive but virtuous, the rich as active but wicked.

This picture is painted by certain groups who regard themselves as standing apart from rich and poor, and perhaps as above both. They are, in the main, politicians, social reformers, welfare administrators, social scientists, writers, artists, media people, churchmen and even entertainers. [... T]hey form much of what was once called the political nation. In their advocacy of redistribution and its misleading identification with the relief of poverty, a significant number of these people behave in a manner which has led Dr. R. M. Hartwell of Oxford University to refer to them as the redistribution industry.

Many members of these groups, especially politicians, academics and media men, have in recent decades done much to articulate, institutionalize and organize envy and resentment against economically effective people.

Envy and resentment may be as old as mankind, but especially in the West and in the Westernized Third World countries these sentiments seem nowadays more insistent, persistent and extensive than they were formerly. Politicians and intellectuals have supplied articulation and a veneer of intellectual respectability to envy and resentment.

They have argued that economic differences are abnormal and reprehensible, and also that they result from exploitation. They have effectively helped to provoke feelings of guilt among the more successful and affluent, and this in turn has helped to confer a spurious legitimacy on envy and resentment.

Parts 1/11, 2/11, 3a/11, 3b/11, 4/11, 5/11, 6/1, 7/11, 8/11, 9/11, and 10/11.

 The Grail of Equality is the first chapter in Peter Thomas Bauer's collection of essays published in 1981 under the title Equality, the Third World, and Economic Delusion.

Professor Paul Rahe  - whose work we have referred to here and here at RedStateEclectic - offers these reflections on the occasion of Thanksgiving:

On Thanksgiving, it is customary that Americans recall to mind the experience of the Pilgrim Fathers This year, it is especially appropriate that we do so--as we pause, in the midst of an economic maelstrom, to count our remaining blessings and to reflect on the consequences of our election of a President and a Congress intent on "spread[ing] the wealth around."

We have much to learn from the history of the Plymouth Plantation. For, in their first year in the New World, the Pilgrims conducted an experiment in social engineering akin to what is now contemplated; and, after an abortive attempt at cultivating the land in common, their leaders reflected on the results in a manner that Americans today should find instructive.

The story in more detail, and the conclusion:

The moral is perfectly clear. Self-interest cannot be expunged. Where there is private property and its possession and acquisition are protected and treated with respect, self-interest and jealousy can be deployed against laziness and the desire for that which is not one's own, and there tends to be plenty as a consequence.

But where one takes from those who join talent with industry to provide for those lacking either or both, where the fruits of one man's labor are appropriated to benefit another who is less productive, self-interest reinforces laziness, jealousy engenders covetousness, and these combine in a bitter stew to produce both conflict and dearth.

Looks like Laura isn't the only person questioning where the stimulus money actually went. The Chicago Tribune also has some questions about the White House's accounting.

The Obama administration claims that its $787 billion economic stimulus program has "created or saved" 640,329 jobs across the country, with more to come. That breathtaking figure includes 24,448 jobs in Illinois.

Really? Those employment claims are looking like a snow job.

As the Tribune's Bob Secter and Erika Slife recently reported, the figures for Illinois don't come close to adding up.

State and federal officials claimed that the stimulus money had saved 473 education jobs in North Chicago. But the school district there employs only 290 people. Officials claimed 166 jobs were saved in Wilmette schools. The real number: 0. The 382 jobs supposedly saved in Dolton-Riverdale? That's 142 more people than the school district employs. And on and on....

“Why, I just shake the buildings out of my sleeves.”  –F.L.W.

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Watch the amazing clip film below from Ken Burn’s documentary on Frank Lloyd Wright, and you’ll see that this was literally the case with Falling Water.

The source.

But what is really neat is the way that 911stories.net is displaying the highlights.

So, I decided to peruse the much discussed Climategate emails and it wasn't long before I ran across this interesting little epistle.  I think Phil may have to be asked some serious questions by officials in the UK.  One would think that some news outlet would be a little more inquisitive than the New York Times with regard to these emails, but I guess we know where the MSM stands on this issue.

At 09:41 AM 2/2/2005, Phil Jones wrote:

Phil

(note: emphasis mine)

"If they ever hear there is a Freedom of Information Act now in the UK, I think I'll delete the file rather than send to anyone."  ??? 

Um...that doesn't sound very good, does it?  Delete, hide...  Delete instrumental data in violation of the law?  Hide?  Hide from what? 

I think the globe is going to get downright hot for the AGW business.  How inconvenient.

And, of course, it has been. It probably comes as no surprise that our story originates in Pennsylvania, where two young adults were arrested because they refused to pay a tip required by law. One can imagine the type of service rendered to compel people to risk arrest. But should anyone be surprised that bad service would result? Such a law implies that the workers inside a Pennsylvania restaurant have a right to your money the moment you walk through the doors for a meal. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't step foot in a Pennsy eatery if I could help it and would take special care to avoid large gatherings due to such implications. I guess this is what the service industry ultimately morphs into when it gets large enough.

From the LAtimes we learn that restaurant visits have dropped for four quarters in a row. From this, one would think that legislators and restaurant owners would take care to avoid negative publicity. Instead, they are going to make an example out of two college students? Eating out is known as a dining experience. It is a combination of many things: good food, good atmosphere, good prices, and good service. When the state intervenes, prices and service are affected to the point that the good food and atmosphere can not make up the difference and people avoid the hassle rather than plunk down hard-earned money for nothing. I can think of only one time where I didn't leave a tip. The service was incredibly bad and would have had to be for me to send such a stern signal. But that's what it is: a signal. A tip is a cultural critique. Learn from them and you get more tips. Ignore them and you receive fewer. Get them at the point of a gun and you don't have to care about the customer at all. As nice as that is in the short run, long-term it just isn't going to fly.

Another exclusive piece from Michael Scheuer on Ron Paul Forums today, talking about Holder's decision to hold terror trials in a New York courtroom instead of in front of a military tribunal.

What Americans and the world will see in New York....is an exercise in political expediency staged in a courtroom, not a fair trial.

--This point leads to the most recent lunatic statement by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) that the New York trials will show the world -- especially the Muslim world -- that the U.S. judicial system is impartial and should be the envy of all people. Leahy is blowing smoke. The only way the effete/Pacifist Europeans and the world’s Muslims will see the U.S. judicial system as fair is if KSM and his colleagues are acquitted and walk away free. Otherwise, the human-rights-crazed Europeans and all Muslims -- moderate, conservative, and Islamist -- will see through Obama’s judicial charade for what it is, a show trial that, especially for the Islamic world, will demonstrate the U.S. government hates Muslims. Indeed, Obama and Holder have already set the stage for this disaster by saying, in essence, that the accused will be tried, convicted, and executed.

There's more to both than meets the eye; and neither is real.  Think about it.

http://www.weblogbahamas.com/DrRichardEbelingONJeffLloyd.mp3

Dr. Ebeling is accosted by every socialist pretense in the book but dispels them all in an entertaining and educational way. If we in the free market camp were as lucid as Dr. Ebeling, we would be winning far more people to our cause.

This is so sweet, but you really have to click on the video and read the text under the "more info" section to get the whole experience.

I was printing out my son's next book, Louisa May Alcott's Little Men, when on the last page I spotted the word "Thanksgiving". It turned out to be a very delightful way to end a book:

Mr. Laurie slipped into the hall, said a word to the children, and all of a sudden the whole flock pranced into the room, joined hands and danced about Father and Mother Bhaer, singing

"Summer days are over,

Summer work is done;

Harvests have been gathered

Gayly one by one.

Now the feast is eaten,

Finished is the play;

But one rite remains for

Our Thanksgiving-day.

"Best of all the harvest

In the dear God's sight,

Are the happy children

In the home to-night;

And we come to offer

Thanks where thanks are due,

With grateful hearts and voices,

Father, mother, unto you."

With the last words the circle narrowed till the good Professor and his wife were taken prisoner by many arms, and half hidden by the bouquet of laughing young faces which surrounded them, proving that one plant had taken root and blossomed beautifully in all the little gardens. For love is a flower that grows in any soil, works its sweet miracles undaunted by autumn frost or winter snow, blooming fair and fragrant all the year, and blessing those who give and those who receive.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Part 1

Part 2

Glenn Beck makes a few good points about mainstream media outlets refusing to publish things that were never meant for public consumption. Riiiight.

Without fear there is no convincing reason to act. Without panic there is no reason to do so immediately. Creating an endless climate of fear through constant exhortations that the world is ending if this or that problem is not resolved through gobs of taxpayer money is a lucrative business. – Scott Smith

Next we hear one of the life-longers, Senator Inhofe, discussing the possibility of an investigation:

The purpose of a government investigatory commission is to place blame where it does the least harm politically." – Paul Craig Roberts