Open Thread: The Left's Far-off Claims of Moral Superiority
While the Left has long held the upper hand in appearing to implement morally superior policies, according to Jim Lacey at National Review, their policies have had particularly negative impacts on poor parts of America and abroad. From often debilitating and expensive policies, including being forced to use alternative energy or banned from using genetically modified food, Lacey explains, "leftist policies continue to destroy the lives of tens of millions in this country and billions worldwide." He adds,
Soon after I published an article questioning the global-warming orthodoxy, the world’s foremost hypocrite, Al Gore, informed anyone who still listens to him that my position is akin to racism. The wise course of action would be to ignore the rants of a man who desperately needs the world to remain fearful of carbon, the element on which all life on earth is based. …
Who do you think holds the moral high ground? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Lacey goes on to explore a number of "morally superior" policies. In the fight against genetically modified foods, liberal policies delayed and stopped the use of modified rice to increase Vitamin A. Had this rice been used, it would have prevented 500,000 cases of child blindness per year. Anti-gentically modified food activists have also prevented Africa from using genetically modified seeds, which would better withstand the effects of drought and disease. This is despite the fact that Africa would become almost self-sufficient in producing food if they began using the stronger genetically modified seeds, curbing malnourishment rates and hunger-related deaths. Another major problem in Africa is malaria, which kills one million people every year. Malaria was eliminated in America and Europe through the use of DDT, but the privilege of using DDT has been denied to African countries because of its ill effects on bird populations.
The effects of liberal policies are not limited to food and chemical issues, though. Due to the push for alternative energy sources, poor countries could be forced to adopt expensive alternative energy over cheap carbon-based energy, only adding another obstacle to escape poverty. Without a cheap source of energy, Africans would be without electricity to refrigerate food and medicine, without modern conveniences including lights and computers, and without a major generator of jobs in factories, schools, hospitals, and shops. This again would lead to more deaths, as people would cook and heat their homes with open fires, causing lung infections, eat spoiled food and drink bad water, causing intestinal diseases, and receive medical treatment from sub-standard hospitals, preventing the proper treatment of malaria, TB, cholera, measles, and other treatable diseases.
Yet, according to Lacey, no one ever cries foul on these policies being racist.
Closer to home, implementing alternative energy would also be a hard hit to the economy. To reduce the carbon output by 80% by 2050, and increase spending on solar and wind power tenfold, we would still only be able to generate 25% of our energy from those sources on good days, lacking the energy output we would need to maintain current GDP levels. As Lacey points out, studies have show that "every 1 percent reduction in power causes a 0.7 percent reduction in GDP," which would put millions of working class Americans out of work. In looking abroad, studies also prove that "in the world’s emerging economies each 1 percent loss of GDP causes almost 2,500 premature deaths per 100,000 population," killing off millions more people in developing countries in the name of a cleaner environment.
Another domestic example is the jobless rate among American black teenagers, currently hovering at 46.5%, and the jobless rate of blacks overall being double that of whites. Much of this unemployment is a result of the liberal policies in inner cities, which have worked to discourage business investment and subsidize a failing education system defended by liberal teachers' unions, permanently trapping poor black students into a failed system without any personal choice.
As Lacey concludes,
...What, for instance, can one say about the morality of economic policies that place a $70,000 debt on every American child? Is it really moral to take all the money the better-off earn and thereby deprive them of funds they could have invested to create the millions of jobs the unemployed need? What is moral about expanding the multicultural dogma, when the one thing it definitely creates is an unassimilated mass of youths with limited future prospects? What is moral about diversity programs that more often than not create isolated warring tribes within America’s most important institutions? Finally, is it really moral to force Americans to purchase medical insurance coverage they don’t want? And if you think it is, then where does government power over private lives end? What of freedom?
What are your thoughts?
- NB Staff's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
Well, if the facts are true...
Submitted by E.S.Blofeld on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 10:30am.
Drought, Floods, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Snow and Ice Storms are equal opportunity killers.
It's getting a little crowded out there. There's a buck to be made by feeding and clothing the unwashed masses. Cheaper labor to produce cheaper products to make our lives better.
Ernst
"Isn't it pretty to think that way?"-EH
Ice and cold, are winning.
Submitted by upcountrywater on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 11:47am.
It's cooler and it's deadlier, as years march on.
Too much ice for warming research.
Ohh L@@K China ships DDT: China exported DDT to South Africa, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Namibia and Djibouti.
You Didn't Build That.
To me, the abortion test is
Submitted by rbosque on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 10:57am.
To me, the abortion test is the strongest. If life means so little to these people and is not sacred, then nothing is off limits. They are now capable of anything including genocide. Because if one kills even the most innocent, then they can be trusted for nothing.
Agree
Submitted by CarlosS on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 11:08am.
For me the litmus test for ANY politician is their position on abortion, i.e. killing the most innocent of our society. I don't care how they try to parse it, if they're for it, I'm against them.
yep you hit it on the head,
Submitted by jkwtrading on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 11:07am.
yep you hit it on the head, abortion is like bugs eating their young.
Dow won the DDT trial
Submitted by CO2Maker on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 11:02am.
Rachel Carson-ogenic book scared folks, created the green-earth movement, and gave many people the ability to feel superior when the demanded other people make sacrifices.
Ruckelhaus shied, black kids died.
Oh, how white is my greenery!
Slavery to the democrats is
Submitted by jkwtrading on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 11:07am.
Slavery to the democrats is morally superior too.
Advanced copy
Submitted by bkeyser on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 11:07am.
of tonight's speech.
Job's Speech IV
Submitted by kata on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 11:24am.
This time ... it's personal.
Moral superiority???
Submitted by Grumpy in Arizona on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 11:19am.
Only if you redefine the word MORALITY... which the leftists did, and now claim their "new morality" to be superior... which it is not because they intentionally left our "Divine Creator" out of the equation.
- Grump
If this country had leaders that had hybrids
Submitted by shawn. on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 11:32am.
Of liberals and conservatives and libertarians that just mind their own business and don't tell us what to eat drink and what we do in the privacy of our own homes, that would be great.
It is just silly why people don't get the concept of living life to the fullest and not worrying what other people do
Just mind your own damn business.
Another "Flash Mob"
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 11:49am.
This time in Dallas. Won't be long before it's discovered "flash mob" isn't codespeak, but reality, and Maxine will demand a new descriptor.
http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/09/video-shows-crowd-of-te...
Ooooooh, Moochie ain't going to be happy!
Submitted by Newsbubba on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 11:54am.
I just saw a snippet in the paper that said that Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (that's Kate to you troglodytes) has become the "model of regal aplomb."
"Catherine's style - streamlined and seemly almost to a fault - resonates ... with scores of young women who aspire to a classically patrician look." It goes on to say that, "We are definitely returning to a time when we want things that are more timeless and polished, not looking a mess."
Moochie ain't going to be happy to read this. I guessing booby belts, tight, ill-fitting, mismatched, hippy crap isn't going to be included in Kate's wardrobe.
The Day of the Clydesdale is coming to an end even faster than the Fall of Bambi. Maybe Joe Scarborough can write songs to cover those catastrophes in the World of Liberals?
It will be nice to look at a first lady without saying "are you Shiite'n me?"
The left has a moral high ground?
Submitted by iamsaved on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 11:56am.
During the campaign, the left, in particular Hillary and Obama, claimed George Bush had ruined our standing in the world and the respect of other nations and and that they would bring that respect by playing nice with despots and sending billions in aid to poor countries. They claimed it was the "moral" thing to do. These are words and cliches that are coming from a morally bankrupt culture that the left is propogating.
This nation was founded on Christian principles despite what history revisionists would have us to believe. When our country began helping other nations it was based on those Christian principles that were taught in the Bible. Over the past several decades, the left, aided by a secular, anti-God society, did its best to remove God from anything that even looked like it was possibly being fostered by government. God says in his Word that without Him, you are doomed to failure. John 15:5 - "I am the vine, you are the branches: He that stays in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing."
Because God isn't part of the equation anymore, the so-called benevolent giveaways our government is sending to other nations (tax dollars), are not having the affect the left envisioned. This country is respected even less than it was a few years ago and is continuing the downward spiral at a more rapid pace.
The left has proven over and over they are God-less just based on their condemnation of everything and anything Christian. So one has to ask, from what source do they derive their morality from that they can even consider themselves superior?
rediculous
Submitted by kata on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 12:01pm.
I'm more environmentally conscious than Al Gore, "organically" gardened more than Michelle Obama ever has, and we give more money to charity than Joe Biden. All without someone coming to tap on my door and tell me I had to. The morally superior left can just bite me.
Build a still, make your own
Submitted by jessieH on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 12:01pm.
Build a still, make your own fuel and screw the gov't.
FBI raiding Solyndra
Submitted by bkeyser on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 12:29pm.
on the orders of this guy. Odd timing, given Obama's about to beg for $400B dollars to spend for more of his pet projects. According to the Daily Caller, officials from that solar panel manufacturing company paid 20 visits to the west wing before landing that $500+M federal loan and have now indicated they'll be filing for bankruptcy.
I'm guessing Obama doesn't mention this tonight and the DoE's IG is preparing his retirement letter.
Their claims of moral superiority come from rampant egotism...
Submitted by Phryj1 on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 12:39pm.
...stewed in a mix of good intentions and feel good BS. Hence, a complete refusal to admit failure or consider they may be doing far more harm than good.
Also, AGW has been debunked. It's over. We need to permanently sh*tcan any notion of regulating CO2. Time for AlGore and friends to go get real jobs.
Progressives seem to be completely averse to facts and logic. Apparently, reality has a conservative bias.
Longshoreman, Dual use signs....
Submitted by upcountrywater on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 4:06pm.
When words just don't say enough.jpg.
You Didn't Build That.
I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 4:14pm.
Adirondack? I guess only the business agents and higher get the Louisville Sluggers.
Well, it might have been worse...
Submitted by Jer on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 3:41am.
Longshoremen union prez Robert "Bobby the Bull" McEllrath could've lifted the ban on metal bats.
Jer
Americans still the coolest~
Submitted by GG_NB on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 4:26pm.
Note fourth paragraph:
http://www.aol.com/2011/09/08/belgian-least-cool-nationality_n_951968.html
Yes, we are. :)
"If not us, who? If not now, when?"
~Ronald Reagan
What Is It The Survey Finds As "Cool"?
Submitted by stratman on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 5:54pm.
Maybe it's because Belgians don't worship cultural lowest common denominators.
Strat~
Submitted by GG_NB on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 6:20pm.
A ways back, I temporarily lived in Belgium. What I experienced was not inspiring. I appreciated America even more after living in Belgium. I (no exaggeration) REJOICED upon returning to America. I practically kissed the ground coming off the plane!
As one of the Begians told me (who was uncharacteristically much more the best of what Americans are): "Belgium has become a country largely made up of people who feel that those who believe in God are weak and stupid. This is a country made up -- more and more -- of elitist snobs who are so jealous of America that they not only mock America, but they often cheer whenever America is taken down a notch. I can't wait to finish up college and move to America. I love America. I love the warm-hearted American people."
As much as there is a big cultural/moral battle in America, I believe America is still the best hope on earth. Granted, all countries/cultures have people who are bright lights and people who are tragic forces, but I still feel so blest to be an American.
I'm not sure what the standard for "cool" was in this silly poll, but for me, Americans (in total) really are the coolest.
P.S. No offense to Belgium, as I did meet some "bright lights." And the chocolate is grand.
"If not us, who? If not now, when?"
~Ronald Reagan
I was not aware of Belgian
Submitted by stratman on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 9:01pm.
I was not aware of Belgian jealousy towards America. Sad. When I visited in 1969, the Belgians seemed like decent people who were very straitlaced. They were not trendsetters nor hipsters the way the countries that flanked them were. Sigh. Things change, sometimes not for the better.
From your description I would not expect the Belgians to be on the bottom of the "cool" scale. Isn't America-bashing a "cool" thing to do nowadays in the world, including here in America? And if elitist snobs cannot be "cool" then the Left are out another faux title.
I am completely with you that it is a true blessing to be an American.
I can attest that besides chocolates the Belgians make some fine beer. Speaking of... I saw this today on the interwebs. Even though it is not made in Belgium, it is in the Belgium style and I am looking forward to trying it one day. :-)
Strat~
Submitted by GG_NB on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 9:13pm.
They did have every beer flavor you could imagine...cherry, butterscotch, pineapple, vanilla, chocolate, raspberry, lemon, apple...
Okay, I guess you get it. EVERY flavor. LOL;)
I'm going to try your link now. Denny showed me how to get the links to work on my iPad, but it takes a few minutes...
Shoot. For some reason, my system won't bring up that one. :(
"If not us, who? If not now, when?"
~Ronald Reagan
GG: I tried it myself just
Submitted by stratman on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 12:18am.
GG:
I tried it myself just now and there was no HTTP link but the text is highlighted in red like there is a link embedded. Weird.
Here is a longhand form link: http://beerstreetjournal.com/deschutes-the-stoic-details/
I like beer-flavored beer best. ;-)
Got the link~cool!
Submitted by GG_NB on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 12:50am.
Yeah, I tried the chocolate beer out of sheer curiosity. I did not like it. (((Ick.))) But the cherry one was really good. :)
"If not us, who? If not now, when?"
~Ronald Reagan
I think that those
Submitted by Bill The Bold on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 8:59pm.
programs and initiatives described as liberal and destructive, perhaps in ways unintended, holds some truth. But the notion that those things are undertaken with malevolence of forethought or sans purpose is wrong. Liberals are, by definition, do-gooders. They want to help where and when help is needed. Sometimes it works out for the best and sometimes it is FUBAR. I don't see how trying to feed starving people while at the same time trying to rid foods of harmful chemicals is bad. It seems that to do the most expedient thing w/o a road-map to sustainability is bound to make things worse. The side effect of this do-gooder stuff is that it provides insight into what big business is doing to food and the environment so that meaningful controls can be applied as necessary and with precision. This way the profitability and growth of business is aligned with the safety and health of the people served by their products. The liberal do-gooders are responsible for countless successes in all manner of health, safety and accountability standards that we all benefit from and often take for granted. The statement that liberal meddling in things causes the suffering of billions worldwide strikes me as something from the land of Bizarro. It is the balance between the liberal and conservative philosophies that has worked best for most of the world over the decades. Not all of one or all of the other. This purity of belief simply cannot be applied to the real world without extreme consequences.
Where would we be without clean drinking water or pollution controls or food packaging regulations or workplace safety regs or aircraft safety regs or safety glass or electrical product standards or pharmaceutical product approval regs or airbags and so on. If left up to the free market to do what was forced by liberal government action we would be living in a very different world. Then we might be seeing billions suffering from the things people suffer from in countries where there are no liberal do-gooders and big business calls the shots.
No, we need balance.
BTB, Aircraft were flying before the FAA
Submitted by upcountrywater on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 9:11pm.
Egyptians were filtering water 4,000 years ago.
My grandmother canned food and sealed it with paraffin wax.
Liberals are do-gooders with other peoples money.
Why is it, an oil company needs 36 permits to drill one hole?
oh yea balance.
You Didn't Build That.
Everything after "I think"---
Submitted by matthewdean on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 9:30pm.
is proof that you don't do well at that activity.
"The side effect of this do-gooder stuff is that it provides insight into what big business is doing to food and the environment so that meaningful controls can be applied as necessary AND WITH PRECISION."
Are you referring to the Federal government implementing and applying said controls?
The same government that runs the U.S. Postal Service?
You're a moron.
MD
Bill, you're not really all that bold
Submitted by bkeyser on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 9:39pm.
Then again, there was DDT and low rates of malaria; my how that has changed.
Your premise follows the tired liberal sraw man that all business is out to harm both their employees and their consumers. This is such garbage. How long does a meat-cutting outfit last when people start becoming ill eating their steak? How many people would fly American Airlines if two out of every three planes dropped out of the sky? How many people would buy Tylenol if all it did was give them diarrhea?
Business is not in the business of failure. Those that are -oddly enough- do. Certainly there was a time when there were a few companies large and unique enough to exploit their workers, but how was working 12 hours in a factory really all that different than working 16 hours on a farm? At the turn of the 20th century, people worked longer and harder than they do today, largely due to technology. So outside of child-labor, something that clearly was used on the family farm at the time, the exploitation of workers probably wasn't all that far off of mainstream.
Same goes for safety regulations. Employers spend a lot of money bringing their employees up to speed though certified- and on-the-job training. They teach them the most efficient methods of productivity. Falling off a 20-story building -while it may be the most expedient method of reaching ground level- isn't, under most circumstances, all that productive. Businesses do not want to see their employees hurt on the job, regardless of whether OSHA places rules on them to try and insure worker safety. It's counter-productive. And therein lies what is the biggest difference between "do-gooders" and capitalists- the desire to be productive.
By the way, have you met mamabear? I believe she may be available for a cup of coffee under the right circumstances...
Yes. Where would we be? Where oh where?
Submitted by The Vet on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 3:08am.
Where would we be without Red Herrings and Lies and Straw Men and Lies and Red Herrings and even more Red Herrings from a troll that did not take 20 seconds out of his day to bother to actually read an article being written about.
Where would we be?
Disagreement on several parts.
Submitted by E.S.Blofeld on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 9:46am.
As you will obviously get the usual abuse from the free market types who think businesses should be allowed to succeed or fail dependent upon the products and services provided. The automobile destroyed the buggy whip industry- should we have bailed out that industry? Since business owners take the risk with their credit and capital, the government needs to support them in ways of making sure they aren't smothered by regulation and policies that destroy their way of life. I will support the harshest of penalties to those businesses creating havoc on society. The polluters who spoil the air and the water need to be punished. The problems begin with the fly by night operations who get in and get out of the "free market" all to make a quick buck. Government should be able to regulate the standards and allow the market place to prosper. This comment is getting way too long...
I understand what you are trying to say but you must be flexible in your views to allow businesses to thrive.
Ernst
"Isn't it pretty to think that way?"-EH
Fly by night operations making a quick buck
Submitted by upcountrywater on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 12:03pm.
Oh like Solyndra and GM, continuing long after they should have failed.
Obama using my taxes against my will to play business man.
I will support the harshest of penalties to those businesses creating havoc on society.
Just what do you propose?
You Didn't Build That.
I was thinking along the lines...
Submitted by E.S.Blofeld on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 2:23pm.
...of Global Crossing.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/639087/posts
just to name a few...
Ernst
"Isn't it pretty to think that way?"-EH
Small time compared to this.
Submitted by upcountrywater on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 3:26pm.
http://archives.hud.gov/news/2000/pr00-317.html
You Didn't Build That.
True.
Submitted by E.S.Blofeld on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 6:30pm.
And now the Big Bad Gov't is suing for a paltry 200 Billion...go figure
Ernst
"Isn't it pretty to think that way?"-EH