“Peace on earth to men
of good will.”
Wait. We can get to men
of good will later in the holiday season. Let’s get the other people
out of the way first.
As I write this, I am
watching the hearing by the House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee, starring MIT professor Jonathan Gruber. Republican
congressmen want an explanation from the oft-described “architect of
the Affordable Care Act” as to why he told other academics that it
was necessary to mislead Congress and the rest of us about Obamacare
because “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And
basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter, or whatever,
but basically that was really, really critical for the thing to
pass.”
Prof. Genius is having
a hard time with the Republicans, who keep asking tough questions
like “how much were you paid by the stupid taxpayers to mislead
them?” So far he has refused to answer, though it’s assumed to be
millions, counting all the state consulting contracts.
Prickly City
by Scott Stantis
December 4, 2014
|
|
|
|
 |
Flicking channel to
news conference about American’s use of torture: apparently the
Obama administration has an urgent need to finally tell the truth
about something, even if it gives our enemies an excuse to attack
Americans overseas.
I want you to know I
don’t approve of torture. I would NOT waterboard Prof. Gruber to
make him tell us the truth about Obamacare. Our government is not
allowed to torture any American. When it comes to foreign
terrorists, we should demand that CIA operatives be certain they
have a guilty person with information they must get quickly in order
to save innocent people from the torture of a terrorist attack.
One criticism in the
report is that the CIA lied to us about the effectiveness of torture
in keeping us safe. I don’t understand why it would lie; if torture
is effective and has saved lives, tell us. If it’s not, stop doing
it.
We live in a world that
is filled with ugliness created by evil people, and we can’t just
sing about “Peace on earth, good will to men.” Some men deserve to
die. We honor the military when it does its job, trying to make our
world safer.
We also honor our state
and local police forces for trying to do the same job. We know
policemen often cover for each other’s mistakes, like drunk driving,
or even occasional brutality against helpless prisoners. And, we
know they have a tough job, facing very real danger themselves.
So let the liberals who
have created the welfare system and a permanent underclass take some
responsibility for the demographics that show some racial groups are
more dangerous than others, more likely to be a threat to a
policeman, as well as to the rest of their community which that
policeman is trying to protect.
Yes, I know I have an
advantage being white, as Brian Watson wrote in his column this
week, chiding us for not understanding “black anger and seemingly
irrational violence.” He’s right, I don’t understand irrational
violence. I can’t think of a single thing that is going wrong in
this country and the world that is the fault of those who have
always supported the rule of law, personal responsibility, and peace
to men of good will.
Columnist David
Shribman wrote last week about a fascinating historical dispute,
between those who want the study of history to concentrate on the
past 2,000 years or so, and those who want it to be taught on a 14
billion-year scale. Sign me up for the latter: until one goes back
to our roots as human beings, nothing makes sense.
In early history, it
made survival sense to be suspicious of anything, including other
early humans, who were different from us; this is the root of
racism. Good people have evolved over the centuries from genetic
impulses and deserve credit for it. Others have not; this is what we
need to understand and address. The race-baiting that has occupied
the political environment since the election of Barack Obama has
stopped evolution in its tracks here. Good people should be able to
criticize a person who is doing the wrong things, regardless of his
skin color. Black leaders shouldn’t encourage a return to the
us-them mentality by excusing rioting and looting.
Clearly evolution and
history are going backward in the Middle East, where barely human
Muslim terrorists are beheading people, and in parts of Africa,
where black Americans are lucky not to be residing.
In every country of the
world, good people of all races struggle against others of the same
race who refuse to let them live in peace. Good people founded
America, and created a constitution to protect Americans from the
bad people, hopefully far into the future. Good people emigrated
here, recognizing that this is a better place than anywhere else,
and were welcomed. Wise former slaves stayed here to work for equal
civil rights, rather than returning, as some did, to West Africa.
This is why we must
protect our constitution and our borders. We must make sure new
immigrants are good people, then not destroy their spirit and their
families with a welfare state. We should ignore race, and treat
every person as an individual who might, when we get to know him,
deserve both peace and our friendship. This is the spirit of America
and of Christmas.
Barbara Anderson of
Marblehead is president of Citizens for Limited Taxation and a Salem
News columnist.
