The Collectivist State—It Thinks It Knows Better than You Do!

The fundamental concepts of dignity, respect, equality before the law and personal freedom are under attack by the nation's own government. That's why, if we want to restore a free society and create greater well-being and opportunity for all Americans, we have no choice but to fight for those principles. This is why we need  to engage in the political process.

A truly free society is based on a vision of respect for people and what they value. In a truly free society, any business that disrespects its customers will fail, and deserves to do so. The same should be true of any government that disrespects its citizens. The central belief and fatal conceit of the current administration is that you are incapable of running your own life, but those in power are capable of running it for you. This is the essence of big government and collectivism.

More than 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson warned that this could happen. "The natural progress of things," Jefferson wrote, "is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." He knew that no government could possibly run citizens' lives for the better. The more government tries to control, the greater the disaster, as shown by the current health-care debacle. Collectivists (those who stand for government control of the means of production and how people live their lives) promise heaven but deliver hell. For them, the promised end justifies the means.

Instead of encouraging free and open debate, collectivists strive to discredit and intimidate opponents. They engage in character assassination. This is the approach that Arthur Schopenhauer described in the 19th century, that Saul Alinsky famously advocated in the 20th, and that so many despots have infamously practiced. Such tactics are the antithesis of what is required for a free society—and a telltale sign that the collectivists do not have good answers.

Instead of fostering a system that enables people to help themselves, America is now saddled with a system that destroys value, raises costs, hinders innovation and relegates millions of citizens to a life of poverty, dependency and hopelessness. This is what happens when elected officials believe that people's lives are better run by politicians and regulators than by the people themselves. Those in power fail to see that more government means less liberty, and liberty is the essence of what it means to be American. Love of liberty is the American ideal.

Racism—Which Way Does It Go?

The country is taken up these days with the subject of racism. The owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, Donald Sterline, was caught on a hidden audiotape by his girlfriend making an obnoxious racist comment about Black people. He has been fined $2.5 million and strongly encouraged to sell his ownership of the team. The NBA wants to get rid of him, apparently.
All that being said, I want to make the point that Nancy and I have been the recipients of heavy-handed racism at the hands of Black people in Detroit. Racism goes both ways.

This episode of racism was racism against Blacks from a White man. My question is—how much media buzz and strong public opinion would this episode have engendered if the racism had been against Whites from a Black man? The answer is, “Hardly none.”

Discriminating against persons on the basis of their race, alone, is a terrible sin; and nobody of good character will participate in it. But, Whites, alone, are not the only ones guilty of this kind of travesty—other races are just as guilty.