Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture » Cultural Revolutions

Another Glenn Beck Brainstorm--Tom Piatak

Tom Piatak — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:24:23 +0000

There is no denying Glenn Beck’s great popularity with many Americans who see themselves as conservatives. Joe Carter of First Things recently offered a reminder of why this popularity is unfortunate. In an appearance on Bill O’Reilly’s program, Beck denied that legal recognition of gay marriage would harm the United States and stated, “I believe what Thomas Jefferson said. If it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket, what difference is it to me?” To Beck, the redefinition of the bedrock institution of human society is apparently of less concern than the fasces found in American architecture from the 1920’s.

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A Plague on Both Their Houses--Thomas Fleming

Thomas Fleming — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:46:25 +0000

What can you do to make the worst of a bad situation? The Democrats know how: they have decided (temporarily) to shaft their welfare-consuming constituents–by cutting out Food Stamps–in order to help teachers and other government “workers.” At least the welfare drones do nothing more than lay around thinking about crimes to commit, while public school teachers are paid good money to destroy the minds and morals of American children. What is the predictable GOP response? This plan will cost too much money and reward thriftless states at the expense of the thrifty. The same Republicans would probably do a cost-benefit analysis of the Gulag. And, if I recall, Food Stamps was a brilliant Republican idea. Instead of giving food to the poor–the only idea that makes sense–let us instead give them vouchers so they can learn how to handle their money. And it has actually worked well. Recipients regularly sell their Food Stamps at a discount to get money for alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Republicans always accuse the Democrats of throwing money at problems, but they are scarcely any better. If either side understands the reality of the American underclass, no one is talking. I cannot believe the Democrats will fail to throw more food stamps at their voters in the underclass they have worked so hard to create as a permanent constituency.

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The Very Definition of Arrogance--Tom Piatak

Tom Piatak — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:36:27 +0000

A California federal judge just provided the very definition of arrogance, in ruling that Proposition 8, the California law codifying marriage as between a man and a woman, lacked even a “rational basis” and was therefore unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. So much for the beliefs that created Western civilization. So much for the traditions of all human societies, none of which have ever recognized “gay marriage” before now. What is the accumulated wisdom of mankind, not to mention the will of the voters of California, next to the musings of an unelected federal judge?

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Treason in a Good Cause--Thomas Fleming

Thomas Fleming — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 17:13:19 +0000

Am I the only one who is a bit put off by all this conservative support for the Pfc who allegedly leaked classified material to Wikileak? Have anti-war conservatives gone so far down the road that they no longer value honesty and duty or condemn oath-breaking and treason? Oh well, it’s all in a good cause, as Julius and Ethel Rosenberg used to say. Or was it Kim Philby?

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The New Racism--Thomas Fleming

Thomas Fleming — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 17:07:47 +0000

Friends of Omar Thornton, the black male who killed eight co-workers and then himself, say he was driven to the point of despair by the racists he worked with. The trucking company for whom he worked has pointed out that he never filed a complaint. Thornton went on his killing spree when he was shown a tape of himself stealing beer from a truck. If he were with us today, Mr. Thornton would undoubtedly point out that white people steal beer, too. Then, why fire a black man for stealing? Because they are racists.

This is a principle of somewhat wider application. Governor David Paterson understands it, and this why he censured President Obama for criticizing Charles Rangel. Such criticisms are not appropriate from someone in “the community,” a word which means in his vocabulary only one thing: the black race. White congressmen are corrupt, too. They why are white congressmen picking on Charlie? It’s because they are racists. We have had stupid and evil white presidents, too. Why pick on Obama? You tell me the answer.

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Perpetual Education for Perpetual Indoctrination--Tom Piatak

Tom Piatak — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:51:38 +0000

The Obama administration already wants every child to go to preschool and everyone to go to college. Yesterday I noticed a cover article in Time magazine taking aim at summer vacation. It seems our leaders want all young Americans in school, all the time. Forgive my skepticism, given the long track record of failure when it comes to policies endorsed by the educational establishment. But there is one thing our public schools have come to excel at: indoctrinating students in political correctness. Maybe that helps explain the current enthusiasm for perpetual education. A generation subjected to PC brainwashing from preschool through college will have very few members who can still think for themselves.

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The Inequity of Diversity--Tom Piatak

Tom Piatak — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:29:44 +0000

A new study of admissions at elite colleges by Princeton sociologists Thomas Espenshade and Alexandria Radford is attracting a lot of attention at Steve Sailer’s website and elsewhere on the internet. Deservedly so, since the study clearly shows that “diversity” in college admissions is nothing more than a code word for systematic discrimination against whites. According to Espenshade and Radford, to have the same chance of admission as a black applicant with an SAT score of 1100, an Hispanic applicant would need to score 1230, a white applicant 1410, and an Asian applicant 1550.

It’s even worse for working-class and rural whites. Compared to working-class whites with comparable credentials, a working-class Asian applicant is seven times more likely to be admitted, a working-class Hispanic eight times more likely to be admitted, and a working-class black ten times more likely. And although extracurricular activities generally improve the chance of admission, participation in such activities as high-school ROTC, 4-H, and Future Farmers of America actually decrease the chance of being admitted.

This study is just another reminder that working-class whites are disdained by our elites and discriminated against with impunity, a result that seems especially inequitable when one remembers the achievements of such as Alvin York and Audie Murphy. Of course, I suspect that most Ivy League admissions officers have never heard of Alvin York or Audie Murphy, and would be appalled by them if they had.

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Disappearing Summer Jobs--Tom Piatak

Tom Piatak — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:21:25 +0000

The redoubtable John Derbyshire had a piece at NRO this morning on how mass immigration is causing summer jobs for teenagers to disappear, and why our feckless elites think this is a good thing. The piece is well worth the read, and it may be found here.

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Obama Still Dislikes “Anti-Trade Sentiment”--Tom Piatak

Tom Piatak — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:46:39 +0000

David Frum has now praised Barack Obama for urging Congress to ratify free-trade pacts with Colombia, South Korea, and Panama, saying this represents “an amazing turnabout for President Obama.” Actually, Obama’s support for free trade is quite predictable, despite the occasional protectionist noises he uttered to win over gullible voters in manufacturing states. Obama’s true feelings were unveiled to wealthy donors in San Francisco when he disparaged Pennsylvania primary voters unreceptive to his message of “hope” and “change” for “clinging” to religion and guns. One of the other sins of those benighted Pennsylvanians was their “anti-trade sentiment,” a sentiment quite common among members of the blue-collar middle class that was created by an American manufacturing sector decimated by free trade but alien to Obama, his San Francisco audience, and other credentialed members of the overclass. A Democratic Party controlled by Obama and those who think like him can hardly be expected to oppose consistently or credibly the economic forces that are helping to sweep away a blue-collar middle class that has never been receptive to trendy leftism and that has long been scorned as reactionary and racist by our leftist elites. (Hat tip to Matt Roberts, who pointed this story out to me.)

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Hitchens and Israel--Tom Piatak

Tom Piatak — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:04:28 +0000

The print issue of National Review has a very revealing review of Christopher Hitchens’ autobiography by Ronald Radosh. It comes as no surprise that Radosh praises the book and its author as a “voice to treasure”; Hitchens has been enjoying neocon praise since he emerged as a very vocal supporter of the neocon project of using American blood and treasure to impose democracy on the Mideast. What is surprising, given NR’s history, is where Radosh chooses to criticize Hitchens. Hitchens is not criticized for his jihad against religion, which is arguably at the heart of Hitchens’ worldview. Instead, Radosh charges that Hitchens is insufficiently supportive of Israel, which Radosh sees as part of Hitchens’ being “strangely unable to empathize with ‘the tribe,’” a peculiar term Radosh employs because Hitchens has Jewish ancestry on his mother’s side. The same priorities are reflected at NRO, where piece after piece extolls Israel and no dissent on American policy toward Israel is allowed.

If anyone had predicted 50 years ago that the magazine founded by the author of God and Man at Yale would someday view hostility to Christianity as no big deal and would instead have as its litmus test support for Israel, he would have been laughed at. Nonetheless, he would have been right.

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