A Great read!

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0811,374064,374064,1.html/full

An interesting read into a Huffpo contributor, and and Village Voice columnist.

Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal'by David Mamet
(An election-season essay)

"...And, I wondered, how could I have spent decades thinking that I thought everything was always wrong at the same time that I thought I thought that people were basically good at heart? Which was it? I began to question what I actually thought and found that I do not think that people are basically good at heart; indeed, that view of human nature has both prompted and informed my writing for the last 40 years. I think that people, in circumstances of stress, can behave like swine, and that this, indeed, is not only a fit subject, but the only subject, of drama.

I'd observed that lust, greed, envy, sloth, and their pals are giving the world a good run for its money, but that nonetheless, people in general seem to get from day to day; and that we in the United States get from day to day under rather wonderful and privileged circumstances—that we are not and never have been the villains that some of the world and some of our citizens make us out to be, but that we are a confection of normal (greedy, lustful, duplicitous, corrupt, inspired—in short, human) individuals living under a spectacularly effective compact called the Constitution, and lucky to get it.

For the Constitution, rather than suggesting that all behave in a godlike manner, recognizes that, to the contrary, people are swine and will take any opportunity to subvert any agreement in order to pursue what they consider to be their proper interests...."

WOW! Now THAT's writing!

Mamet's essay and his description of his political journey is familiar to me. If history has taught us anything about human nature, it is that the tragic view is far closer to reality than the romantic view. This is not my opinion. It is fact. And even more important, ALL attempts at large-scale social engineering have not only failed, but have produced the greatest mass murders and genocides in human history. If humans were perfectable, we would not need government. But if we are not perfect, then government in the hands of flawed human beings is particularly dangerous. The genius of America's founders is that they realized that the goal of a good society could not be the folly of trying to make humans perfect, but instead, to create a framework which reconciled government with an imperfectable human race. Therefore, they understood that government's most important role was the protection of individual rights, because any significant role for government beyond that would open the door for all the pernicious aspects of human nature.

Then came the "Progressive Era" and FDR's New Deal, and the temptation to use government to "perfect' the nation. The inevitable result is what we have today : a government which is paralyzed by special interest groups, unable to address the fundamental problems we face. And yet, the Left clamors for what ? You guessed it - MORE GOVERNMENT ! And the election of McCain, Clinton or Obama will change nothing in a meaningful way. This sad state of affairs is the inevitable result of the cultivation of the attitude that someone other than yourself is responsible for solving your problems. To be a Leftist is to believe that we should become serfs of the state.

Virtually all of the historical material progress of humanity is the result of trade and free market capitalism and the innovation it has inspired. Very little material progress for the rich or the poor can be attributed to government action, beyond the protection of property rights, and the rule of law. The story of human progress is largely the story of capitalism.

Democracy is not the answer to our problems. Democracy is the source of most of our problems. Democracy is basically nothing but mob rule. Democracy does not civilize us. Individual rights, private property rights and trade are what civilizes us. Human beings ARE compassionate. Human beings DO cooperate. And we do NOT need government to make us do it. The government is NOT the community. The community is organic, and exists largely outside the realm of the state.

We will either have a strong government or a strong civil society. We will not have both.

Just my 2 cents.


I should also note that the nature of the replies of most of those who disagree with Mamet's essay is all too typical of today's Left, and is another indication of its philosophical bankruptcy. Most of these responses are either ad homenim attacks, or consist of the "straw man" tactic, or, the "yes, but look how bad the other guy is" approach.

I have concluded that the reason many on the Left refuse to engage in rational dialogue is because their entire worldview would collapse if the acknowledged what massive amounts of emprical historical evidence would require them to acknowledge. And many people on the Left take great pride in maintaining a facade of sophistication. They cannot abide the possibility that a rube like Rush Limbaugh might actually be correct, and they could be wrong. I believe many Leftists actually know this, or fear that it is true, and the anguish of realizing their worldview has been proven wrong by history goes a long way in explaining the anger and vitriol on the Left these days. Take a look at the replies to postings on sites such as Huffingtonpost or DailyKos, and you will see what I'm taking about - some of the most vile hatred imaginable.

Here is another great explanation of another Leftist who finally saw the light. It was written after the elections in Iraq in 2005, but the essence of the comments are still quite relevant.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/05/22/INGUNCQHKJ1.DTL