Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

VENEZUELA - SOCIALISM'S FAILURE ON DISPLAY

As Venezuela descends further and further into chaos, Ed Morrisey writes:

As the Washington Post reports today, their patience has run out. Venezuelans have started sacking grocery stores rather than groceries, and have attacked supply trucks before they arrive at the store. . .

Bread lines recall the glory days of the Soviet empire, in which “socialism” reduced people to beggar status, in a country with a surfeit of natural resources. Shortages and rationing always occur when socialism is adopted, especially the nationalization-of-producers variety favored by the Chavistas and the Castros.

Morrissey offers the simple explanation that socialists can never get through their heads:  [my bolding]

The economic pattern is simple, predictable, and brutal. Socialists demand that producers lower prices for “the people” to a level that ensures losses for the producers. Producers either close their doors, or the government seizes the businesses from them. The leaders put people in place who have little expertise but tons of socialist credibility, and their incompetence leads to massive failures in production. Widespread shortages result, and either the leaders have to enact increasingly brutal methods of repression or the people end up revolting and putting said leaders up against the proverbial wall. And the latter scenario incentivizes the leaders to make damn sure they employ Option One for all it’s worth.

F. A. Hayek described the inevitable downward spiral eloquently in his seminal book "The Road to Serfdom."  Socialist systems never fail because they don’t have “the right people in charge,” as old socialists like to claim. They fail and turn into repressive tyrannies because all of the incentives for power reward the brutal when the economy fails, as it will always do with central planning and control of production.

Consequently, Morrissey writes:

As one Venezuelan told the Post’s reporters, “This can’t continue.” That’s practically the primary axiom of socialism — it’s totally unsustainable, and only exists as a path to tyranny. One way or the other, the status quo won’t continue. It’s now a question of what replaces it — a free Venezuela, or an outright dictatorship.

AMERICA SHOULD PUT BRITAIN TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE, NOT TO THE BACK AS OBAMA THREATENED

** National Review Editorial: Why Britons should vote to leave the EU   [Perceptive arguments!]

** Andrew Roberts, the great English historian, recounted the ways Britain and America have come to each other's aid in sharp contrast to Obama's threat to cast Britain to the back of the line if she voted to withdraw from the EU.  Now that Britain has asserted her independence and voted for Brexit, it would be ghastly for Obama to treat her as an enemy (in keeping with the shameful way he habitually treats America's friends and allies).  On June 17th, before the successful Brexit vote, Roberts wrote the following (and it is particularly pertinent post-Brexit):

On June 23 the British people will be going to the polls to choose whether they want to continue with the present system whereby 60% of British laws are made in Brussels and foreign judges decide whether those laws are legitimate or not, or whether we want to strike out for independence and the right to make all of our own laws and have our own British judges decide upon them.

It’s about whether we can recapture the right to deport foreign Islamist hate preachers and terrorist suspects, or whether under European human-rights legislation they must continue to reside in the U.K., often at taxpayers’ expense. The European Union is currently experiencing migration on a scale not seen since the late 17th century—with hordes of young, mostly male Muslims sweeping from the southeast into the heart of Europe. Angela Merkel invited them in and that might be fine for Germany, but why should they have the right to settle in Britain as soon as they get a European passport?

Surely—surely—this is an issue on which the British people, and they alone, have the right to decide, without the intervention of President Obama, who adopted his haughtiest professorial manner when lecturing us to stay in the EU, before making the naked threat that we would be sent “to the back of the queue” (i.e., the back of the line) in any future trade deals if we had the temerity to vote to leave. . . . 

SORTING OUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "THE "UNITED KINGDOM," "GREAT BRITAIN," AND "ENGLAND"

I found this VIDEO helpful.

 

CISGENDER - A MADE UP WORD TO ADVANCE A POLITICAL AGENDA

John Stonestreet speaks of neosexual propaganda:

Words have great power. They shape how we think about ourselves and the world. Even silly, made-up words.

The sociologist Peter Berger once told a story in First Things about his childhood in Mussolini’s Italy and the ideological use of language.

Italian, like Spanish and French, has one way of addressing someone close to you, “tu,” and another for addressing a stranger, “lei,” which is also Italian for “she.”

As Berger told readers, Mussolini thought using “lei” was “effeminate” and “degenerate.” So instead of using “lei,” the Fascists insisted on substituting “voi,’ which is the second person plural – sort of like “you all.”

Linguistically-speaking, this was nonsense. But it had real-world consequences: “From that moment on,” Berger wrote, “every time you said ‘lei’ in Italy you were making an anti-Fascist gesture, consciously or unconsciously . . . And every time you said ‘voi’ you were making the linguistic equivalent of the Fascist salute.”

Berger’s story comes to mind in this latest encounter with a neologism courtesy of the sexual revolution. The new word is “cisgender.” In case you are unfamiliar with this word, it is used to refer to, to quote Wikipedia, “people whose experiences of their own gender agree with the sex they were assigned at birth.”

Now statistically-speaking, that’s virtually everyone. Dare I say, a better word could be “normal.” But note how embedded in the definition itself, gender is chosen and sex is assigned—as if it were not tied to reality at all.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Victor Davis Hanson:   (my bolding)

So we always return to the central truth of 2016: Trump is a symptom, not a catalyst. He was created by the hyperpartisan unconstitutional overreach of Barack Obama, and by the appeasement of much of the Republican establishment, who wished to be liked and admired for their restraint and Beltway moderation rather than feared for their insistence on adherence to the Constitution and the protection of the individual from an always growing and encroaching government.

CARTOON

ISIS WON IN ORLANDO

Quote of the day from David French.  Longer article here:

Incredibly, ISIS won not just in Orlando. It’s winning the aftermath. The American response to the attack has been beyond ineffective, veering decisively toward the counterproductive. We’re doing nothing more to deter or prevent terror attacks and everything to deceive our own people about the true nature of the threat. Rather than unite to fight a common enemy, we’re dissolving into partisan, polarizing stupidity. . . 

 

This is perhaps the most astounding aspect of the aftermath — leftist thought leaders are responding to the massacre by condemning Christians. In other words, rather than educating Americans about the truly vicious nature of jihadist theology and encouraging Americans to remain vigilant, the New York Times, CNN, and similar news outlets are training their fire on Republican governors and attorneys general. To the extent that ISIS follows domestic American debates, there have to be high-fives all around in Raqqa. A Muslim kills gay people and ISIS’s Christian enemies face blowback? They couldn’t conceive of a more complete propaganda coup.

And so proceeds the unraveling of a nation.

See also Dennis Prager, "What If the Orlando Murderer Had Been a Christian?"

 

PRAYER ALERT FOR NIGERIA

Elizabeth Kendall headlines a report:

LEGISLATION WILL FURTHER ISLAMISE NIGERIA

One year after the official swearing in of President Muhammadu Buhari the government is considering two bills that, if passed, will further Islamise Nigeria. A bill to establish grazing reserves for the Fulani in every state would facilitate Muslim Fulani expansion deep into the Christian south. This is despite knowing the Fulani have been infiltrated by Boko Haram which uses the Fulani as a means to Islamic expansion. A bill proposing to amend the Nigerian constitution to expand the scope and jurisdiction of Nigeria's Islamic Sharia courts passed its second reading without debate on 19 May with apathetic and corrupted Christian lawmakers waving it through. Christian and Muslim students have protested in Abuja against the government's move to divide and Islamise Nigeria. Please pray for Nigeria and for her Church.

The above is an executive summary.  More details can be found here.

QUOTES OF THE DAY

  Western powers have been fighting jihad for more than 1,300 years — but for the American trained in cultural relativism and silly university ideals of diversity, reality can be so shocking that it’s simply easier and more satisfying to deny its existence.  - David French

   Western elites remain constitutionally unable to acknowledge that there are greater forces of evil in the world than the West itself.  - Heather MacDonnald

   The sexual revolution. . .  is the centerpiece of a new orthodoxy and new morality that elevates pleasure and self-will to first principles. This has become, in effect, a rival religion.  - Mary Eberstadt

ANDREW McCARTHY - KILLING SODOMITES IS ENSHRINED IN ISLAMIC SHARIA LAW

Representative news reports of the Gay bar massacre in Orlando, Fl where 50 individuals were killed and 53 injured include the following:

-- Gunman pledged allegiance to ISIS before Florida gay club massacre

-- ISIS claims responsibility for America's most deadly mass shooting:

 ** In an important article titled "Killing Homosexuals is not ISIS law, it is Muslim law," Andrew C. McCarthy states what should be common knowledge but isn't because of the elite's protection of Islam.  The political class, he says, has concocted  “An Islam of Their Very Own."

It goes something like this: Islam is a religion of peace, period. End of discussion. “Violent extremist” outfits such as ISIS and al-Qaeda kill wantonly, with no real ideological motivation. ISIS and al-Qaeda are thus not Islamic, but actually anti-Islamic — and if they cite Islamic scripture to justify their atrocities, they are “hijacking” and “perverting” Islam. Because we must see these groups as “anti-Islam” rather than Islam, it is acceptable to call a mass-murder attack “terrorism” only if law-enforcement develops some plausible tie to these groups. Otherwise, if a Muslim is involved, stick with “workplace violence” and the like. Finally when an attack committed by a Muslim is too obviously terrorism to deny, call it “ISIS-inspired,” or “al-Qaeda-inspired,” or “Hamas political resistance,” etc. — but by all means do not, absolutely do not, ascribe it to Islam in any way shape or form.

McCarthy rightly says, This is idiocy. Will today’s event, the worst mass shooting in American history, help us see that?

He says further: The mandate that homosexuals be killed is not from ISIS or al-Qaeda. It is from sharia — which draws on Muslim scripture.  Read his whole article which authoritatively explains the injunction in Islam to kill homosexuals.

** National Review editorial: It's Time for a Long-Term Strategy to Utterly Crush Islamic Terrorism

Sunday morning’s horrifying attack on an Orlando gay club is not only the worst mass shooting in America’s history; it is the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11. It should be treated as such. . . . 

The U.S. can no longer treat the Islamic State, a resurgent al-Qaeda, and other terrorist organizations as distant enemies. Islamic terrorists’ war on us has returned to American shores, and it will continue here as long as we refuse to exercise the tactics necessary to stamp it out.

INTRIGUING INTERVIEW WITH JAMES ROSEBUSH, AUTHOR OF "TRUE REAGAN: WHAT MADE RONALD REAGAN GREAT AND WHY IT MATTERS"

If you can spare 30 minutes, you will find Jay Nordlinger's interview podcast with James Rosebush, chief of staff to Nancy Reagan and senior advisor to President Reagan, very much worth your time.  Rosebush has now written a book: True Reagan: What Made Ronald Reagan Great and Why It Matters.  Nordlinger asks captivating questions about Nancy Reagan's dabbling in astrology, Ronald Reagan's favorite hymn, his alleged lack of intimate friends, etc.  I found it not only an enlightening interview, but an edifying one as well.  Click here.

CHINA'S LOVE OF MUSIC AND CHRISTIAN FAITH

 

CBN'S George Thomas: Transcript

BEIJING -- China loves music. A new survey shows hundreds of millions listen to it on a regular basis. Now a small, but growing number of Chinese Christians are tapping into that market with a genre of music they hope will impact the world's most populous nation. 

Xu Chi is part of that movement. Xu was a rock singer for 20 years. 

He performed in nightclubs and other venues around China. But the fame and wealth, he says, did nothing to quench the emptiness he felt inside.

"It took me sometime to admit it, but the pleasure was temporary. It did not reach down into my soul," Xu told CBN News.

From Rock to the Gospel

Xu said that all changed in a single moment and transformed his singing career.

CHART COMPARES THE GROWTH OF MEDICAL ADMINISTRATORS VS. PHYSICIANS

 Wesley J. Smith of National Review Online posts this amazing graph:  

Smith writes:

Talk about a picture–or graph–being worth 1000 words! 

Medicine is now an administratively-driven enterprise. This is the consequence of the medical technocracy promoted by most bioethicists, bureaucrats, Democrats, and the mainstream media.

Now, imagine how much worse things have become with Obamacare.

QUICK TAKES

   ** Robert Epstein - Your brain is not a computer   The "information processing" metaphor (IP), now dominate, when it is finally abandoned ("the IP metaphor is not even slightly valid"), will be seen as silly.

   ** David French's speech to homeschool graduates  - How to Live a Life of Privilege    Truly valuable reflections, observations, and exhortations.

   ** Andrew Strattaford - War on Cash - Besides the privacy it affords, cash serves "as a vital element in the preservation of the rights of the individual against the presumption of the state."

   **  Rod Dreher - "Transgender McCarthyism"  - Useful coverage of an asserted "right" that has left many of us further questioning the sobriety/sanity of the contemporary culture mindset

   **  Tyler Streckert - What It's Like to Be Gay at Wheaton College  -  "During my student years at Wheaton, I became healthier mentally, intellectually, socially, emotionally, and spiritually. When I tried to keep my orientation secret, I isolated myself from the very people who would love and accept me."  Streckert has devoted himself to celibacy.

HEATHER MACDONALD - "THE DANGER OF THE 'BLACK LIVES MATTER' MOVEMENT"

MacDonald's article offers statistics and facts that we don't usually hear anything about.  This article is important!  I am far better informed for having read it. Highly recommended!