Some timeless wisdom for Obama: "This country has achieved its commercial and financial supremacy under a regime of private ownership. It conquered the wilderness, built our railroads, factories and public utilities, gave us the telegraph, telephone, electric light, automobile, airplane, radio and a higher standard of living for all the people than obtains anywhere else in the world. No great invention ever came from a government-owned industry." - George B. Cortelyou
Beware backdoor socialism
John Andrews writes: My comrade-in-arms Kevin Miller, the former CCU business dean who is now a Centennial Institute Fellow, has brought out a book-length treatment of his landmark essay on freedom and virtue [photopress:kevin_miller_book_cover_1.png,full,pp_image] in American politics, which we first published a year ago in Centennial Review.
Freedom Nationally, Virtue Locally - or Socialism was released Nov. 29 by Denali Press. Learn more and order the book here.
In a jacket blurb, I call it a guidebook for helping "conservatives rediscover the 'render to Caesar principle," without which "America won't remain the land of the free."
Bill Armstrong, the former US senator who now heads Colorado Christian University, says the book is "full of passion, wisdom, and horse sense... Kevin Miller is an important thinker."
Miller's argument in brief, adds James C. Bennett, author of The Anglosphere Challenge: Why the English-Speaking Peoples Will Lead the World in the 21st Century, is that "while freedom is an attribute of political system, virtue is an attribute of human beings -- and so the attempt to use the state to pursue visions of virtue is undermining the republic of the Founders."
Josh reminds me of Barack
So our beloved Broncos have found their home next to the Titanic. At the bottom. In a sea of darkness. Hopes and dreams quite literally drowned. This development was as predictable as daylight to many of us when young Josh McDaniels was named coach less than two years ago. McDaniels carried with him the seeds of his and the Broncos destruction. In a phrase, the catastrophe is summed up in the proverb; “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18) But it is instructive to break it down. First, McDaniels thought his ideology, his “system” was so superior that all he needed to do was find athletes and “plug and play.” It was the system, not players, that mattered. So he first concluded that a Matt Cassell was a better quarterback than Jay Cutler. Yes, Cutler is an annoying prima donna but his upside is so much greater than a Cassell’s or a Kyle Orton’s, any fantasy league owner could see. This was followed by numerous personnel decisions that ranged from bizarre to disastrous concluding with one of the worst trades in Bronco history—Peyton Hillis for the not-so-mighty Quinn.
Second, when you know everything you do not need or want assistants around you who might disagree. So from drafting to play calling to selecting coaches McD revolved out the people who were not “yes” men. The most inexplicable was Mike Nolan. The only redeeming characteristic of the 2009 Broncos was their defense, so, let’s fire the defensive coordinator. Who knows what Nolan said to be shown the door. But you can bet it was some kind of disagreement with Josh the Omniscient.
Third, when you are a cut above the rest rules which apply to other people do not apply to you. So, in a still mystifying maneuver, McDaniel’s videographer taped a San Francisco practice, in clear violation of NFL rules. Good grief—the 49ers! Then he Watergated it by trying to hush it up. Don’t tell anyone. But one of his coaches leaked the truth and that was the final nail in the old coffin.
Let’s shift from Denver, Colorado, to Washington, D.C. where this same type of drama is playing itself out in eerie similarity; a place where hubris can do some real damage.
Our young president came into office full to the brim with himself. His inauguration would be noted as the time when the “planet began to heal” and the “oceans would recede.” He would incarnate the slogan, “We are the change we’ve been waiting for,” and other inscrutable and mind-numbing slogans.
His administration would be composed of the anointed. No one with business savvy was needed. No one to the right of Karl Marx need apply. It didn’t even matter if you paid taxes—you could help precipitate the greatest spending orgy in world history. And when nervous Democrats warned of impending electoral disaster, the young president reassured them, “This time you’ve got me!”
Then there would be no need to listen to the unwashed masses, the flotsam and jetsam of humanity. After all, these are people who “cling to their guns and religion” because an enlightened government had not done enough for them. But not to worry. The Enlightener himself had arrived. And what about all those foolish people who, because of their fear, were unable to “think scientifically.” No problem. The president would do their thinking for them. After all, McDaniels-like, he was the smartest man in any room he entered.
Finally, who need rules? Constitutions are for suckers. What people really need are a string of syrupy slogans and endless, endless, endless speeches from the Anointed One. Heretofore, congress had been governed by regulations and procedures. No need for those now. Dispense with them and ram Obamacare down the throats of the critics. They will come to appreciate what their betters have done for them.
And so our national government has come to look like the Broncos. Only the stakes are a bit higher. The future of constitutional government is at stake. And so is our ability function as a free market society. Josh McDaniels was fired twenty-two months into his reign. Obama would have suffered the same fate if the constitution so allowed. Let’s hope and pray that in four years it won’t be too late. Imagine what McD would have done to the Broncos in two more seasons.
Doubt American Exceptionalism?
Remember BerlinBy Joe Gschwendtner
When Mamoru Shigemitsu, the Japanese foreign affairs minister, signed the surrender papers on board the USS Missouri in 1945, the drama of World War II drew to a close. The end of the war set the stage for another great play – one in Berlin where America would take center stage. Unlike the European continent, the United States emerged from the war physically strong, economically robust --- and in a position of global leadership. As the sole owner of nuclear weapons, it would have been possible to dominate the defeated nations of Germany, Italy and Japan and destroy the malevolent Soviet Union. Instead, America harkened back to the spirit of Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. With “malice towards none” our nation helped rebuild a post-war industrial world and launch it into an era of unparalleled prosperity.
This decision to act for the good of all – even our enemies – was perhaps the most significant act of benevolence by a victor that the world has ever seen. It demonstrated how exceptional America truly was. Still, it would be the smoldering Cold War that would force us to seize the stage in Berlin for a command performance.
It was not as if we were unprepared. We were, after all, the nation that proclaimed its Manifest Destiny and the one which de Tocqueville in his 1831 Democracy in America saw as uniquely placed to lead the world in “benevolent enterprises.”
What was lacking however was our failure to recognize that few other nations ever look beyond their own short-sighted, self-interests. This would cost Europe dearly at the end of the World War II when the United States worked hard to be a team player with even the Soviet Union, often to its disadvantage. In fact, much of the turmoil that became the Cold War was the result of our failure to understand Joseph Stalin and the insatiable communist appetite for territory.
From Yalta on, Stalin had fast-talked the allies into post-war concessions as trade-offs for his entry into the war against Japan. The Battle for Berlin had been grueling and in April of 1945, similarly shortsighted U.S. diplomatic accommodations on the battlefield kept U.S. forces out of the city as Soviet forces razed what little remained after allied bombing. House-to-house street-fighting by the Nazis gave communists all the excuses necessary to further dehumanize the war by raping Berlin’s women and girls, and pillaging its remaining booty. These war crimes were not just premeditated but actually promised to the soldiers as rewards for the bitter campaigns that had preceded Berlin’s “Stunde Null” (Zero Hour).
At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, Harry Truman arrived with more realistic insights on Soviet eastern European expansionism than his predecessor, FDR. The Russians sought at first to retain all of Berlin but Allied Forces used physical leverage over the Soviets in the German states of Thuringia and Saxony to ensure that Berlin would be an open city, governed by four powers in a ruling body known as the Kommandatura. It was with more than some suspicion that agreements regarding the four country occupation zones were crafted and under these conditions that American forces were actually “admitted” to the city.
In the three years following the war’s end, the Russians were obsessed with reparations and followed a two-pronged exploitation of their spoils. On the one hand, their commissars exacted money from current German production activities while on the other, they stripped prime industrial machinery in their zones and shipped it by railcar back to the motherland.
In Berlin, it went well beyond economics. It became crystal clear to the Allies that Russia had every intention of transforming the city by stealth into a socialist enclave by using trained agitators, labor thugs, and former Nazi hacks. Resistance by the Allies to the Soviet master plan came slowly at first, but it went from warm to a boil almost overnight through friction within the governing combine. By late spring 1948 the fissure was beyond repair. A secretly orchestrated tri-party currency reform replaced inflated occupation Reichsmarks with new Allied Deutschemarks. The Russians were furious and they responded predictably by instituting a blockade of all traffic to and from the non-Soviet sectors. They were sure that the allies would have to submit to Soviet demands or surrender control of Berlin.
It would have been understandable if Washington had done nothing to stop the Russian land grab. Confronting the Soviet military was not a viable option as our remaining occupation forces were pitifully small -- and the potential for another major war was quite real. So it was in June of 1948 that America’s muscular exceptionalism came of age as President Truman announced the Berlin Airlift as the counter-punch to the Russian siege. The decision did not come easily. Many urged “Give-Em-Hell-Harry” to sacrifice Berlin in the name of peace. Fortunately for the citizens of Berlin, the president and his post-war generals were insightful of their enemy and Truman had taken his own full measure of the Russian beast.
The airlift itself was an impossible task. Feeding and providing fuel to a city of some 2 million people with the technology and smaller cargo aircraft of the day was beyond imagining. But there was the American “x factor” -- brilliant doses of ingenuity that revolutionized air freight management, ground approach radar and air operations.
The enormous success of the 11-month air bridge was seen in its numbers: 2.33 million tons of cargo, 277,569 flights, only 101 fatalities and the lifting of the blockade in May of 1949. But this was no solo task. America led the free world air flotilla but the Royal Air Forces of England, New Zealand, and Australia contributed mightily to these monumental numbers. The book Daring Young Men by Richard Reeves (released earlier this year) is a compelling account of this epic success and a must-read for anyone who wants to understand American courage and leadership in the post-war world.
If American exceptionalism was not obvious enough in the Berlin Airlift, it was demonstrated clearly to the whole world in the Marshall Economic Recovery Plan. Through the Marshall Plan, the United States poured upwards of $100 billion in today’s dollars to rebuild Germany and also Europe’s economy. Never in the course of history had one country taken on the responsibility of rebuilding an entire continent, including both its former enemies and exhausted allies.
The plan itself was at its core, foreign policy. It recognized that freedom in the old world would be doomed if the new world could not breathe economic life and hope into the ashes of war. Russia was also in dire straits but when offered participation in the plan, Stalin could not countenance it. The Marshall Plan was more than just a “most noble adventure” as Greg Behrman has detailed in his book of the same name; it was the signature foreign policy achievement of its time. When reinforced militarily with the NATO Treaty executed in 1949, the military-economic umbrella it represented became the catalyst of development and then the emergence of a modern-day Europe.
Thirteen years later, in 1961, Europe was back on its feet and surging. In contrast, the Soviet Zone of Germany was in shambles. It is estimated that some 2.5-3.0 million East Germans had found a way to escape Soviet domination – either by going to West Berlin or transiting through on the way to another free country. Coupled with the ongoing economic counter blockade initiated in response to the airlift, the Democratic Republic of Germany was losing its best minds to freedom and was no more than a third world nation. Reacting again to the failure of its political system, the Berlin Wall was hastily thrown up on the night of August 13, 1961.
For 28 years, an isle of freedom endured in a squalid communist sea because the United States, as the free world’s leader, refused to be bullied by ever-changing masters of the failing Soviet communist state. During that time President Kennedy joined the city with his famous line, “Ich bin ein Berliner” and decades later Ronald Reagan called on Mr. Gorbachev to tear down his wall. On November 9, 1989 the Berlin wall finally collapsed under the weariness of a dysfunctional political system unable to sustain its own economic promises.
If the story of Berlin is the story of the collapse of communism, it is even more the story of America coming of age. The rise and fall of the Berlin Wall serve as benchmarks of the Cold War – a costly economic, military and political struggle which had the highest of nuclear stakes and was won by a free world with the unswerving, courageous leadership of the United States.
Today, it is fashionable in some circles to denigrate our nation’s glorious past. We have entered into a time in which the intellectual and political leadership of this country has lost sight of our greatness. There is a clattering gong from the growing ranks of apologists who feel the need to expunge the demons of American greatness past. Many of the liberal, political elite fail to see the blessings they are still enjoying from America’s leadership and instead seek to paint our great benevolence in hues of domination and intimidation.
In 2008, Andrew Bacevich in his book, The Limits of Power, called U.S. exceptionalism into question. He concluded that our exceptionalism had become an unsustainable desire for material wealth. He saw the Cold War having given rise to the “Long Peace”, followed by an unbridled decade of interventionism, with the beginning of the “Long War” on 9/11. In essence, Bacevich sees his country with a military industrial complex, picking convenient wars with those who threaten its way of life and the oil pipelines that sustain it. It is a nation that has reached the limits of its power.
The opinions of those like Bacevich threaten to destroy the fabric of our nation and can become self-fulfilling prophecies. By attacking our nation’s very ideals, these detractors keep our nation from success and then point to our struggles as proof of their beliefs. How many of our school textbooks weave national guilt into their historical accounts making for a youthful self-loathing that is cancerous to our culture?
Granted, there are no great leaders and no great nations that have been perfect. And surely, everyone needs humility to recognize faults and correct them. But there is grave danger in being so fault-focused that we begin to believe our detractors. When we believe what our foes are saying, we lose our ability to lead. And right now, strong leadership is what the free world needs most. As a result, this attempted destruction of American exceptionalism is not a purely domestic issue. It has consequences for the entire world.
Exceptionalism recognizes the lonely challenges of leadership, the fundamental rightness and unarguable progress of the western, Judeo-Christian way of life. Moral relativism and post-modern accommodations don’t work when the enemy wages war on a way of life, innocents and children, and against all reason. Since 1776 and the Revolution that followed, our manifest destiny has been to do what is right. Steeled in the high drama of Cold War crisis and the streets of Berlin, we have proven ourselves worthy of the task. While there may be limits to our national power and its projection, our capacity and resolve to lead the free world cannot be in doubt.
Can the free world afford a U.S. retreat from exceptionalism? Consider the alternative: a stew of leadership including socialist bullies and third-rate actors like Iran, North Korea, Yemen, and Venezuela, all stirred in a pot by a hapless United Nations. None of these nations will seek to benefit anyone but themselves even though the only real hope for peace is a world leadership that is characterized by a genuine pursuit of the common good. In this way, American exceptionalism is the last and best bulwark in the fight against terrorism. As in Berlin, the world cannot do without U.S. leadership. The scream for our continuing exceptionalism is primal and strong, but never louder than from those who would be free. May God continue to drive and bless American Exceptionalism!
Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011
As Head On starts its 15th year on TV, there's a friendly disagreement about whether Nancy Pelosi is one of the winners or sinners of 2010, but something closer to unanimity on Gov. John Hickenlooper's continued quirkiness in 2011. Reviewing the old year in the December round of mini-debates, John Andrews lauds the American worker while Susan Barnes-Gelt pans the Tea Party. John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over an agenda for Congress, priorities for Denver's next mayor, and strategies for improving Colorado schools. Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997. Here are all five scripts for December: 1. WINNERS AND SINNERS OF 2010
Susan: There is ample blame and praise to go around for the first decade of the 21st Century.Winners: Wall Street fat cats, Sarah Palin and the tea party; the national Republican Party. Sinners: fat cats, Palin, the Republican Party.
John: The decade started with New York and Washington under attack. It ended with the mistake that is Obamacare and the mediocrity that is Pelosi. Despite that we still lead the world, thanks to the American worker amidst this recession, the American voter left and right, and the American soldier sacrificing so much.
Susan: D C and Wall Street losers all - came out as winners if you count the money they stashed by fleecing the American public. Pelosi is a winner, fighting hard for the American public, while Obama and the Democratic Senate played to the fat cats. Unlike Gingrich who quit when he lost the majority, she's a winner!
John: Right. But she is the liberal gift that keeps on giving. While San Fran Nancy lingers on, though, 2010 is outta here. Departing in disappointment are Betsy Markey, John Salazar, Bernie Buescher, and Cary Kennedy. Entering the new year in glory are Hickenlooper, Bennet, Stapleton, Gessler, and Troy Tulowitzki.
2. FEARLESS PREDICTIONS FOR 2011
John: Fasten your seatbelts for a wild ride in 2011. Here are John and Susan’s fearless predictions for a year you won’t believe. TSA requires a colonoscopy for every airline passenger.Gov. Hickenlooper puts Tancredo in charge of Hispanic outreach. Carmelo Anthony leaves the Nuggets and is elected mayor in a landslide.
Susan: The uber popular John Hickenlooper sees Mr. President in the mirror after his first Democratic Governors Association meeting, and sets up a field operation in Iowa. Denver voters are so unimpressed with mayoral candidates that they unanimously elect 'none of the above' as mayor.
John: Also in 2011, WikiLeaks exposes the secret life of Joe Biden and nobody notices. Ex-coaches Josh McDaniels and Dan Hawkins go into witness protection. Obama sends Hillary to Afghanistan as commanding general and names Sarah Palin secretary of state to remove her from the 2012 picture. His poll numbers skyrocket.
Susan: Denver traffic engineers convert all the city’s 1-way streets to 2-way and add bus-rapid-transit to Colfax – causing Denver’s economy to boom! Someone slips truth serum in DC’s politician’s eggnog, causing nationwide voter recalls. 2011 ushers in a decade of peace, health and economic stability for man & womankind.
3. PRIORITIES FOR CONGRESS
Susan: The lame duck session needs to be euthanized! Both parties are ignoring the overwhelming best interests of the American people: jobs, jobs, jobs. Tax breaks for millionaires is a distraction. Obama must take the lead and veto any unreasonable bill.
John: Congress changing hands at the turn of the year is good news for Americans who were concerned about our country drowning in debt while government grew and liberty shrank. The Republican House needs to resist any tax increase, set about repealing Obamacare, and get tough on radical Islam.
Susan: Puuleeeze John. Americans want jobs. They want their kids to be educated and the troops, stuck in Afghanistan defending a corrupt government, to come home. The US healthcare system eats nearly 10% of the GNP - the highest in the world. We need to invest in education, infrastructure and retraining workers. Otherwise, pass the marmalade, we're toast.
John: What Americans want was clear on election day. The Tea Party made itself heard. Taxpayers are demanding some adult leadership in Washington DC for a change. A president in over his head and a Congress out of touch paid the price. Speaker John Boehner is the new sheriff in town.
4. PRIORITIES FOR DENVER’S NEXT MAYOR
Susan: Denver`s next mayor faces challenges and opportunities. Here is my to do list: 1. Love the city and tell the truth.2. Restore two-way traffic to all downtown streets.3. Replace the chief of police. 4. Develop a retail strategy for the City to address declines in sales tax.
John: Better yet, a strategy for overall economic growth. The candidate who offers a vision for making Denver a magnet for jobs, innovation, and in-migration will deserve to win in a walk. Pull the plug on Hickenlooper’s tax-and-spend policies. Discourage medical marijuana. Privatize, deregulate, and restore the pride of law enforcement.
Susan: To continue - explore taking over Denver Public Schools to restore sanity and accountability. Don't run unless you truly believe in City Building, the ability of local government to make a positive difference - and, most important, develop and articulate a vision - in short: LEAD!
John: Leadership equals taking things over, Susan? There you Democrats go again. Denver has an elected school board. Let them do their work and let the mayor do his. Economic growth, safe streets, and livable neighborhoods ought to be plenty. If only Democrats and Republicans competed for mayor.
5. BETTER SCHOOLS FOR COLORADO
John: Colorado’s billion-dollar budget deficit means that state aid to education will be cut for the second straight year. But learning performance could improve if legislators free the districts from mandates and school boards face down the teacher unions. Students in Utah achieve higher than Colorado at 60 cents on the dollar.
Susan: The issue isn't unions or no unions - it's hiring good teachers, paying them well and firing them if they don't. No urban school district has the resources to educate the diversity of students who walk through the door. It's not about mandates. It's about ensuring every student and her family have a full range of opportunity.
John: Increased resources are impossible right now, and they aren’t the answer anyway. America’s real spending per pupil has doubled since my kids started school, with zero improvement in test scores. Education expert William Moloney says by following the example of other countries, we can have much lower budgets and much better schools.
Susan: You’re half right, John -- more money in the classroom doesn’t necessarily translate to better schools. Improving the quality of teacher education and training, lengthening the school day and year are part of the puzzle. There’s not simple answer but cutting budgets is not a magic bullet.