Critics and Cynics
__________________________
post by Bob Clasen
A quotation from Theodore Roosevelt:
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
"Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
____________________________
I note that the current crop of Democrats always seem to be the critics. They point out every mistake, every shortfall; they would defer action until every circumstance is perfect, until our army is fully ready, until every other possibility besides war is ruled out, to the point that it is clear that we would never have the perfect synchronicity of times and circumstances and readiness that would justify engaging our enemies.
Once we do act, Democrats are busy again, this time predicting every sort of dire result, woe and doom. They count every body, and interview every grieving mother. No war can justify the death of a single soldier from this mindset. Every setback is a justification for early surrender and quick withdrawal. "I told you so!" they shriek when difficulties are encountered.
Democrats expect the worst, which is another reason they rarely have the courage to take action. Go back and read all the predictions for the first and second Iraq War and for the Afghanistan War by liberal critics. All is doom and darkness. Success is unimaginable. Every silver lining has a dark cloud.
If you believe that success is impossible, why even try? Democrats are the party of cynics. Christians and other religious types are naive, gullible idiots. To believe that the world was created by a benevolent Deity is nothing but silly wish fulfillment.
Businessmen are selfish evil thieves. Corporations are greedy conspiracies to rip off dim witted consumers, who desparately need the few elite sophisticates to protect them from their own stupidity. Freedom is not a real value, because the average citizen is too stupid to be trusted with it. People need the protection of the intelligentisia, who know best. The secret that they know is that nothing is worth fighting for.
_____________________________________________________________
What is the difference
between rule by a self regarded elite
and fascism?
_____________________________________________________________
I would rather be with a party that still believes in a vision of a world of Democracy and Freedom, even if we try and fail, than with a party that has no vision, that seeks only to buy peace at any price, that compromises with evil (such as Saddam Hussein) to buy peace, willing to tolerating a perpetual state of rape rooms and torture chambers as a small price to pay to avoid war.
If you believe that Good and Evil are delusions only believed by fools, then you are left with comfort and security as your societal goals, which should be purchased at any price.
Without any notion of good or evil, the best of all possible worlds is a Nanny State that takes care of its citizens as Nurse Ratchett took care of the members of the Cuckoo Nest: neurotic people who cannot be trusted with freedom, who must be cared for like senile senior citizens and clueless infants, and mustn't be permitted to miss their medication, their Soma or Prozac or anti-depressant cocktail. The best we can hope for is "social security;" and, if we're lucky, free nursing care.
___________________________
If you believe that this is an unfair caricature of Democrats, would you please set forth the positive ideals that inspire Democrats, the vision of Society that motivates them? What is the Democrat vision of a good man, a hero? To what greatness does he aspire? What is the vision of a Good State? What is it that should Inspire our relations with other countries?
Please be advised that I do not consider the hatred of Republicans, Christians and corporations to be much of an ideal.
___________________________
post by Bob Clasen
A quotation from Theodore Roosevelt:
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
"Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
____________________________
I note that the current crop of Democrats always seem to be the critics. They point out every mistake, every shortfall; they would defer action until every circumstance is perfect, until our army is fully ready, until every other possibility besides war is ruled out, to the point that it is clear that we would never have the perfect synchronicity of times and circumstances and readiness that would justify engaging our enemies.
Once we do act, Democrats are busy again, this time predicting every sort of dire result, woe and doom. They count every body, and interview every grieving mother. No war can justify the death of a single soldier from this mindset. Every setback is a justification for early surrender and quick withdrawal. "I told you so!" they shriek when difficulties are encountered.
Democrats expect the worst, which is another reason they rarely have the courage to take action. Go back and read all the predictions for the first and second Iraq War and for the Afghanistan War by liberal critics. All is doom and darkness. Success is unimaginable. Every silver lining has a dark cloud.
If you believe that success is impossible, why even try? Democrats are the party of cynics. Christians and other religious types are naive, gullible idiots. To believe that the world was created by a benevolent Deity is nothing but silly wish fulfillment.
Businessmen are selfish evil thieves. Corporations are greedy conspiracies to rip off dim witted consumers, who desparately need the few elite sophisticates to protect them from their own stupidity. Freedom is not a real value, because the average citizen is too stupid to be trusted with it. People need the protection of the intelligentisia, who know best. The secret that they know is that nothing is worth fighting for.
_____________________________________________________________
What is the difference
between rule by a self regarded elite
and fascism?
_____________________________________________________________
I would rather be with a party that still believes in a vision of a world of Democracy and Freedom, even if we try and fail, than with a party that has no vision, that seeks only to buy peace at any price, that compromises with evil (such as Saddam Hussein) to buy peace, willing to tolerating a perpetual state of rape rooms and torture chambers as a small price to pay to avoid war.
If you believe that Good and Evil are delusions only believed by fools, then you are left with comfort and security as your societal goals, which should be purchased at any price.
Without any notion of good or evil, the best of all possible worlds is a Nanny State that takes care of its citizens as Nurse Ratchett took care of the members of the Cuckoo Nest: neurotic people who cannot be trusted with freedom, who must be cared for like senile senior citizens and clueless infants, and mustn't be permitted to miss their medication, their Soma or Prozac or anti-depressant cocktail. The best we can hope for is "social security;" and, if we're lucky, free nursing care.
___________________________
If you believe that this is an unfair caricature of Democrats, would you please set forth the positive ideals that inspire Democrats, the vision of Society that motivates them? What is the Democrat vision of a good man, a hero? To what greatness does he aspire? What is the vision of a Good State? What is it that should Inspire our relations with other countries?
Please be advised that I do not consider the hatred of Republicans, Christians and corporations to be much of an ideal.
___________________________
Comments
For eight years Republicans did nothing but blame Clinton and the Democrats for everything. That's politics.
Now, if your real agenda is to say that Rummey doesn't deserve any critisism over the conduct of a voluntary war in Iraq, just turn on Rush.
Today he spent the entire morning blaming the Clinton adminstration for the lack of armoured vehicles. Dittoheads are dumb as stumps. The cut backs in military spending during the post-Soviet period were given bipartisan support. And three years after Bush takes office, neither Clinton nor the Democrats are running anything.
So, Rummey has to take the heat because he planned this war and he had years to think about it.
If we need more armored Humvees, buy them. Perhaps critics could write some legislation to provide more armored transport. Solve the problem. What I object to the blame game. What good does it do?
The only question I am interested in is: what did we learn? Can we avoid making the same mistake next time.
All this back seat warring and second guessing could work on anyone. No one is perfect. Every success requires that you measure how you are doing, make corrections and changes and keep on trying. No plan is perfect, especially when you are doing something new. If you wait until everything is perfect, you will wait a long time. You can't do great things, scale new heights without taking risks.
______________________
I get very bored with Rush perpetually punching on Clinton; if Clinton did make a mistake, as when he missed the chance to get Osama Bin Laden, we should learn from that mistake, not to perpetually blame Clinton, but to resolve that the next time we get someone like Bin Laden in our reach, we should snatch him.
If would be refreshing if Democrats and Republicans could work together to solve problems, rather than spend so much time name calling and assigning blame.
__________________
The fact that Hussein is gone, we won the war, Iraq had democratic elections are all passed over to emphasize, once again, the negative spin. Sigh.
____________