Quote of the week
The eminent Paul Gottfried yet again gives us our (extremely sporadically observed) Quote of the Week:
Another problem that [Thomas] Sowell does not consider is that some groups, like blacks and Hispanics, usually give “conservative” answers to social questions but then vote for candidates on the left. My eldest daughter has had a black friend since her college days at Michigan who sounds like Jerry Falwell but votes like Barney Frank. My daughter’s friend believes without evidence that the GOP is conspiring to strip blacks of civil rights. Moreover, she has often heard this view expressed by other black Fundamentalists, who attend her church. How does it benefit the GOP if such people define themselves as “conservative”? This identification will not translate into changed voting habits, no matter how energetically GOP politicians grovel before minority audiences.
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:21 pm
What he says about the disconnect between thought and action among blacks suggests that they cannot be reached by normal communication methods such as speaking, writing, dialogue, etc. They are programmed, and seem to be immune to reason on many issues. I think this is a reasonable observation, similar to what I have seen myself. For this reason, I think that conservatives should devote little to no time and effort trying to win blacks to the conservative cause. Those that want to come along are welcome to join, but the effort required to persuade them is to costly to justify the return.
Another quote:
And it is unlikely that a return to the missionary, saber-rattling policies popular at the Hoover Institute, the institution at which Sowell hangs out, will result in a flood of GOP voters.
I think Obama is doing this for all of the wrong reasons, but I agree with the result. It is time for the US to butt out of the affairs of other nations. If the Iranians want freedom, then the Iranians should get busy and have their own revolution. We should cheer them on vigorously, and not do anything more at all. Whether their revolution succeeds or fails is really not the concern of the US, and we should leave it at that.
I do not think for one moment that the Won is staying quiet because he sees this as a wise course for the good of the US. But I will take the result because I think we can ill afford anymore foreign adventures at this time.