Yesterday Democrat political operative James Carville wrote a piece for CNN offering the president advice on how to get his administration back on track. That part of Carville's column is between him and the president. It was the penultimate paragraph of Carville's post I found fascinating:
"As I watch the Republican debates, I realize that we are on the brink of a crazy person running our nation. I sit in front of the television and shudder at the thought of one of these creationism-loving, global-warming-denying, immigration-bashing, Social-Security-cutting, clean-air-hating, mortality-fascinated, Wall-Street-protecting Republicans running my country."
Strong adjectives, James. Let's go over them.
Crazy equals belief in creationism. I'm betting this isn't merely about whacking those people who believe in the Biblical version of how the universe came to be. I'm betting it's a swipe at faith-based Americans in general. Admittedly, there are a lot of people who think science and religion are mutually exclusive topics. A lot of scientists disagree. National Institutes of Health Director, and geneticist Francis Collins explains:
"So, some have asked, doesn't your brain explode? Can you both pursue an understanding of how life works using the tools of genetics and molecular biology, and worship a creator G0d? Aren't evolution and faith in G0d incompatible? Can a scientist believe in miracles like the resurrection?"
"Actually, I find no conflict here, and neither apparently do the 40 percent of working scientists who claim to be believers. Yes, evolution by descent from a common ancestor is clearly true. If there was any lingering doubt about the evidence from the fossil record, the study of DNA provides the strongest possible proof of our relatedness to all other living things."
"But why couldn't this be G0d's plan for creation?"
Why not, Mr. Carville?
Crazy equals a denial of global warming. Lots of "crazy" scientists take issue with Al Gore-sim, if you'll pardon the expression. In fact on Tuesday one of them, Dr. Ivar Giaever, former professor with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and 1973 Nobel Prize winner in physics, abruptly announced his resignation from the premier physics society "in disgust," due to its officially stated policy that "global warming is occurring." No doubt he -- and not Al Gore, who repeatedly used the word bulls**t to describe skeptics in a speech at the Aspen Institute, and now labels anyone who questions man-made global warming as "racist," is the crazy one here.
Crazy equals immigration-bashing. You left out a critical word, Mr. Carville. Or did you? It is becoming increasingly clear that for progressives everywhere, no distinction can--or should--be made between legal and illegal immigration. No doubt progressives think such distinctions are crazy. Approximately seven-in-ten Americans? Not so much. Those would be the Americans who think it's crazy to tolerate wholesale lawlessness in a country founded on the rule of law, not men. Go figure.
Social Security cutting equals crazy. In a vacuum perhaps. In a country on the brink of national insolvency, program designed to provide about one year's worth of retirement benefits now providing an average of 14 years of budget-busting pay outs, "financed" by a "lockbox" which is nothing more than a stash of IOUs is crazy. Even crazier? Democrats pretending none of it is happening and nothing needs fixing.
No doubt Mr. Carville is one those Americans -- or more aptly, an enabler of those Americans -- for whom the sum total of economic "solutions" to the nation's problems consists taking money from "someone else" to pay for "their" programs, regardless of the costs, or the damage to the country as a whole. Selfish, not crazy, is the operative word here, Mr. Carville.
Clean air hating equals crazy. Couldn't agree more, James. But as none other than Dr. Thomas Sowell points out, everything is a trade off. No doubt America's air would be completely clean if we eliminated such "luxuries" as cars, electricity-generating coal mines, and a host of other 21st century accouterments for which Americans have a distinct fondness. For some of us, that fondness also includes subjecting clean air standards to Congressional debate and legislation, as opposed to allowing EPA officials to do whatever they please. That may be crazy by your measure, Mr. Carville. But it's Founding Father, Constitutional crazy.
Mortality fascinated equals crazy. I'm not sure what James means by this one, but if you can find me one person on the planet above the age of reason who's never ever thought about his own death, I'd like to meet him or her. Whether Carville likes it or not, virtually everything in life is viewed either consciously or unconsciously through the prism of one's mortality.
Wall Street protecting Republicans equals crazy. Once again I'm with ya, James. Except that it hasn't been Republicans protecting Wall Street. During the last election in 2010, 62 percent of Wall Street campaign contributions went to Democrats and 37 percent went to Republicans. Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs ponied up 69 percent to the "party of the people." During his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama got nearly $15 million from the securities and investment industry. Doubtlessly none of it was for "protection"--- right, James?
Speaking of protection, perhaps Mr. Carville might want to explain the seemingly protected status of White House Jobs Czar Jeffry Immelt, CEO of General Electric. GE paid no corporate taxes on $5.1 billion of U.S. profits -- even as the company continues to outsource jobs to China.
And Mr. Carville is worried that we're on the brink of a crazy person running our nation? The bet here, Mr. Carville, is that a majority of Americans look at the current occupant of the White House and conclude we're already there.
