Friday, November 25, 2011

Conservatism 101 for Those Not Paying Attention

American Thinker

Comment: What about race in politics?  Herman Cain pitches the idea that he can win a lot of the black vote, thus ensuring a victory over Obama.  But what if this is false?  What if the notion that Republicans are all racist and therefore, to vote for them is not in the best interests of a black person?  Then Cain cannot succeed in getting those votes no matter what he says or who he is.  He is cast as a tool of white racism and therefore cannot be trusted.

If things have gotten to that point, and this is not to say one way or another whether or not it has, politics has taken an ugly turn in this country.  It is no longer about ideas, but race.  There can be no good outcome for this mode of thinking.

The big sticking point could be affirmative action.  Affirmative action may have its roots in the belief mentioned above: that any success of one man comes at the expense of another.   That notion can be defeated by wealth creation.  Wealth creation itself can be defeated by those who believe in the zero sum game.  Those who believe in a zero sum game believe in the "share the wealth" schemes of Obama and his ilk.  Affirmative action morphs into the racial spoils system, in which the winner of elections walk off with their spoils of victory.  This has nothing to do with wealth creation, but everything to do with "spreading the wealth around".

Somebody has to articulate the notion that there can be no wealth to spread around unless there's someone to create it.  Otherwise you are left with a continual degrading of human capital until you reach the sad spectacle of nobody knowing anything about the skills necessary to support a high level of cultural development.

You can't reach people unless you can get to their minds.  If their minds are polluted with the us v them mentality of today's Democrat political ideology, there's not much hope for us or them.  Hopefully, Cain is right.  If not, we face a grim future.

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