Tag Archives: free market

Trapped in a cave

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trappedincaveThere’s a marvelous old story of imagined persons chained in place by their legs and necks since childhood staring straight ahead at a blank wall in a darkened cave deep in the earth.

They see only the reflections and shadows on that blank wall and what they see are the projections of puppets and objects passing before a bright fire but the source is hidden from their sight and knowledge atop a wall behind them.

These shades, and echoes of sound, are their only truth; they know no more.

As in every good story of captivity, we require an escape from these “unkindly” shackles, and one person does crawl up a tunnel to the sunlight above, finding it difficult to comprehend the light, still preferring the familiar shadow world below, but soon, with some difficulty, realizing the shadowy images below are false, unreal, forms of misdirection, and he feels pity for those left behind.

The intent of this allegory is obvious. We are metaphorically shackled by what we fail to question and examine and learn.

Case in point – we have a national debate that has sadly reduced for many to which presidential candidate is worse for the nation. (I have a different view about Hillary than those who see it this way.) But, in the debate of who is worse, Donald Trump is winning hands down.

It’s not just about who may win, although that is what we talk about almost 24/7.

Speaker Ryan fears he would win fewer House seats if he opposed Trump.

Senator McCain fears he can only win his Senate Primary if he supports Trump.

Many shun Trump but don’t oppose him because they want to win this congressional seat or that senate seat.

These are the shadows on our public wall that we stare at day by day. Continue reading →

In defense of “Duck Dynasty”

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The following is a guest post submitted at my invitation by commenter David Dickinson. I believe we both had some degree of expectation that his post would express an “opposing view” to what one of our regular authors might have said about the “Duck Dynasty” drama, had we said anything about it. -Epluribusunum

“I think that this intolerance by gay activists toward the full spectrum of human beliefs is a sign of immaturity, juvenility….This is not the mark of a true intellectual life.” So said Camille Paglia, professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, social critic, and lesbian activist.

“utterly fascist and utterly Stalinist” is another way she put it.

She was, of course, referring to the treatment “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson has received for expressing biblical views in his now infamous GQ interview.

And she is completely correct.

Many fascinating events have transpired since Phil Robertson’s words ignited a maelstrom of events. There was, or course, the knee-jerk condemnation from the Left followed by the counter-condemnation from the Right. Par for the course. More interesting was Cracker Barrel removing Duck Dynasty gear, only to put it back on the shelves a few days later after observing the strength of the backlash and, I’m sure, noting that Wal-Mart was quickly selling out of Duck Dynasty merchandise. Conservative politicians praised Phil Robertson. It seemed like a repeat of Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy’s remarks supporting traditional marriage.

But this time it is different. This time the liberal machine is starting to crack.

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Black Friday – “Blunted Conscience”?

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Black_Friday_bright“I’m having 21 over for Thanksgiving dinner,” said Evelyn Newlin, with her husband Harry looking on, “I’m doing the cooking, and there will be my 4 sons, my daughter, and 9 grand-children.”

More often than not, if you ask someone, they’ll tell you that Thanksgiving is about family, friends, getting-togetherness, love, and affection.

How do we reconcile our loving affection for family on a Thursday with the impulse to elbow one another to buy what we don’t really need at all — on “Black Friday?”

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