Yellow Dog [Part 4]

Marx,

OK, Marx. I know that you’re in love...with a woman, her country, and her country-men...so I don’t know how my points will be received. But, in the interest of truth I think a few important points must be made.

First. I am not a “conservative.” I am a laissez-faire capitalist. I am registered Independent. On economic issues, neither party promotes my view: Democrats are socialists. Republicans talk about free markets, but they aren’t laissez-faire capitalists. Taxpayer money is not used to bail out failing banks, for example, in a capitalist economy. Businesses, like individuals, are free to succeed and free to fail. Politicians play no role whatever in the economy. That is economic justice. True capitalism existed in this country only briefly...in the 19th-century. Economic freedom has been undermined in this country consistently over the past 120 years. Every economic problem we have was caused by politicians [people who produce nothing] and government intervention in the economy. On social issues, I disagree with the “conservatives” on every single issue, except gun control. My views on social issues are far more liberal than even the Democrats. My list of “things government should be doing” is a very short list.

Second. Modern medicine was invented in the United States in the early 20th Century, early efforts largely funded by endowments set up by the great capitalist, JD Rockefeller. Life expectancy in China in the 1960s was 40-years-old! Traditional Chinese Medicine [TCM] may have discovered a cure for the sprained ankle, but it utterly failed to cure the diseases that actually kill us. My father was a physician and a healer. He cured thousands in his 30-year career. My sister, L, is a Duke-Johns Hopkins-educated pathologist saving lives daily in rural North Carolina. “Whores to the pharmaceutical industry” is just laughable, communist propaganda. [I’m sure your doctor was born before the 1976 revolution in China’s politics.] Since then, China’s Right has been growing the number of individuals who practice Western medicine along with their nifty TCM remedies. As I write, thousands of Chinese nationals are enrolled in American medical schools, the best medical schools in the world. Every important break-through in life saving medicine can be directly attributed to capitalism, economic freedom...before capitalism, even in the West, life expectancy was under 50.

Third. Free people grow the world’s knowledge and wealth. Did you know Americans are awarded over 50% of the worlds patents annually? Chinese researchers—all 1.3 billion of them—are awarded less than 2%. Tiny, more-or-less-capitalist Japan next door pulls in nearly 20%. Over the past several decades China has dedicated most of her efforts in this area to stealing the protected property of Western innovators. I have agreed with you, that China is moving in the right direction. I only wish you would acknowledge what that means: China is adopting Capitalism, economic freedom. Socialism, even in the health care system in China is on the way out. China is dismantling her welfare state, even as Obama Democrats argue in favor of creating these failed institutions in this country under the guise of “change.”

I thought your car accident story was interesting. I carry liability insurance because I can’t afford to replace some-guy’s $50k Beamer if in fact I am at fault. And how are these public tribunals conducted when one of the drivers is dead? Do they kill the surviving driver right there on the street if the crowd determines he was at fault and liable for the other guy's death? ...I think I’ll keep paying my premiums.

I agree with you...our Congress [in fact, the mainstream political debate in this country] is crap. Both Republicans and Democrats are statists, Republicans primarily on social issues, Democrats in the economic realm. Both sides are a threat to my liberty. When ever I vote, I am choosing the lesser of two evils.

I think it’s dishonest for a teacher to claim to present both sides fairly. I’ve heard this many times before....an American history teacher who claims to present history without bias...then I find out they spend two weeks covering FDR, a president they call great, a man they argue saved America during the Great Depression. When, in fact, FDR’s socialist policies did nothing to alleviate the depressed economy. The unemployment rate remained above 14% [usually higher] throughout FDR’s entire reign. The stock market had not recovered from its 1929 losses until 1954! [Clearly, Bush’s policy of cutting taxes and telling Americans to go shopping was a better remedy. The stock market recovered from the 9/17/01 crash—ten times worse than the ’29 crash—in a year.

Since I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat, I am free to trash both parties when I think they are wrong, and that’s exactly what I do. You see, I don’t think communism and socialism are just “bad ideas that don’t work.” I think they are pure evil. I don’t think Republican-religionist positions on social issues are just “wrong.” I think their positions are a threat the liberty of all Americans. I think their positions are irrational, anti-man and anti-man’s rights. I think they too are a dangerous evil. I will not present both sides equally if I know and can prove that one side or the other holds views that are pure evil. People, of course, are free to have whatever opinions they choose, however irrational, but I will never teach “all opinions are equal.” There is such a thing as a wrong opinion.

A Pastiche? Anything less than the truth is a lie. Any movement away from pure, social and economic freedom is movement in the direction of statism...pure evil. America is moving in the wrong direction. We may be doomed. China is presently moving in the right direction. I wonder if the Chinese will ever be able to shake that mammoth they’ve created, the state?

Donn