The Stout Republican

I’ve been a fan of Thomas Sowell ever since my Ethics class back in college. His common sense approach to social issues, and his brilliance in regards to economic issues are beyond admirable. Every now and then he releases a “Random Thoughts” article.

Here are a couple of his nuggets:

Civil rights used to be about treating everyone the same. But today some people are so used to special treatment that equal treatment is considered to be discrimination.

It is hard to think of any word that has confused more issues than the word “rights.” Nowadays, almost anything that anybody wants is called a “right” — a magic word that does away with the need for evidence, logic or even common sense.

We can only hope that the rumor that Israel is going to take out Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities is true. If they do, Israel will be widely condemned by governments that are breathing a sigh of relief that they did.

The last one, of course, rings the most true. Israel and the United States occupy the most unenviable position in the world. That position includes acting on threats for the general well being of the free people’s of the world.

I don’t think there is a rational nation out there (or person for that matter) who doesn’t see Iran as a serious threat to the stability of the Middle East at a minimum, but the entire world realistically. To throw in more Sowell:

If people had been as mealy-mouthed in centuries past as they are today, Ivan the Terrible would have been called Ivan the Inappropriate.

The problem with the left today is the problem with parents today. They think that if you give a child what he wants…things will get better. The talk is always about compromise, and meeting in the middle, but when people like Ahmadinejad are the ones who are constantly making demands while we fight to maintain the status quo, compromise only means that little by little, tyrants get what they want, and we don’t. What does the parent “get” by giving the crying child a cookie…all it does is buy a few minutes of peace, before the kid finds out that all he has to do is cry again to get what he wants. The perpetual position of compromise, moral relativity (no one is bad…we just don’t see things through their eyes) and defeatism on the left has no positive effect on this nation. They want to commit the same atrocity we did in Vietnam, which is leave a struggling people we promised to help wide open to cleansing by butchers because a group of individuals doesn’t have the testicular fortitude to follow through with their promise of help. Why help when it’s easier to blame Bush…besides, it’s not like Democrats promised to help, or even wanted to…so why should they be held accountable, they only voted for this war, they didn’t actually expect it to be a war.

Polls are driven by news that is driven by polls that is driven by news. X percentage of people think Iraq can’t be won because the News tells us that Iraq can’t be won…self fulfilling prophecy. Iraq can’t be won. So let them die.

The Baker report says more troops is an option for the middle east, and the very same people who were espousing the virtues of the Baker-Hamilton report are now voting against such an action. Bravo.

I hate the politics of now…and the fact that those on the left can’t see a big picture. They see suffering, and instead of taking a lesson from history and doing what is necessary in the long-term to stop it, try to turn it into votes. The microwave made American impatient…if we can get a potato cooked in 5 minutes, stabilizing one of the most historically volatile locations in the world should take no more than a few years. All I can do is have faith that people aren’t as stupid as those on the left hope.

To close with Sowell again:

What is especially disturbing about the political left is that they seem to have no sense of the tragedy of the human condition. Instead, they tend to see the problems of the world as due to other people not being as wise or as noble as themselves.

Iran