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Friday, January 19. 2007

Neo-Marxist Fascism

Dr. Sanity gets it. Please read her piece: it's a classic. You go, girl.

And, by the way, Christ did not say that money is the root of evil. He did probably express the idea that love of money is the root of evil. The point being that love of anything more than love of God was a path to hell and a path to a rotten life. Indeed, in Christianity, loving anything or anyone more than God is sin. Luke 9:

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, "I will follow You wherever You go."

58 And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

59 And He said to another, " Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father."

60 But He said to him, "Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God."

61 Another also said, "I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home."

62 But Jesus said to him, " No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

A very demanding fellow, Jesus. Christianity invites us to be "in the world, but not of it."

I think money, especially spare money, is a wonderful thing and the route to personal power, autonomy, freedom, and choice. Like guns, the money we have and the wealth we have represent our personal independence. The creation of wealth in capitalism is a remarkable phenomenon - like alchemy, we can create wealth out of nothing but using our brains.

In the piece, she quotes Atlas Shrugged:

"So you think that money is the root of all evil?" said Francisco d'Anconia. "Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?

Posted by Bird Dog in Our Essays, Politics at 07:03 | Comments (15) | Trackbacks (0)

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A great post.
For those unfamiliar or uncomfortable discussing with leftests' finer points of capitalism and freedom, Atlas Shrugged is a MUST read, along with The Road to Serfdom byF.A. Hayek to deconstruct their sophistry.

I have for months now here and on a site I fomerly posted on referred to the Baby Boomers as the Baby Bummers for their cultural damage to this country.

Dr Sanity aids me with the multi-nexus of 1. multiculturalism 2. political correctness, and 3. radical environmentalism, all products of the Baby Bummer generation. Yes, one could perhaps trace the etiology of each one to some nascent beginning in the past fog of time but it was the "Bummers" that gave full throated dynamics to these cultural cancers.
We can win this fight that is upon us, both philosophically and, unfortunately in the streets, but one must have the courage of their convictions to dispatch the enemy intellectually and physically. That, dear people, is where we are. This posting by BD, the wisdom of Any rand and F.A. Hayek will help you go forward.
A wonderful post by BD..many thanks..Habu
#1 Habu on 2007-01-19 08:21 (Reply)
Ever notice how the same sort of weirdness surrounding the alliance between the ruling racist fascists of WWII Japan & Germany, is now replicating between Achmadinejad and Hugo Chavez?
#2 buddy larsen on 2007-01-19 08:51 (Reply)
The one playing Mohammed, the other playing Jesus. What project would those two have cooperated on?
#3 buddy larsen on 2007-01-19 09:12 (Reply)
Achmadinejad and Hugo Chavez. Playing an dangerous game of "containment" of the US.

In fact you can see the limn of containment globally. US, India, several old "stans" of the Soviets surrounding the resurgent Bear. Europe doing their 2007 iimitation of "deer in the headlights"
Africa still a train wreck, but like who cares?
South America up for grabs but with Chavez gaining dictatorial power as of yesterday to rule for the next two three or thirty years we'll have trouble there. ICBM will be planted on their soil within five years.
Shaping back into a bipolar world whcih would be good. We should allow the Soviets their client states to keep in line and we'll do the same.
More small war/big power confrontations, but containable.
Wildcard .... Islam... if they set off a nuke within US borders much of Islam will evaporate in retaliation. Syria, Iran,KSA,Paki (via the Indians) and Indonesia, Egypt...very messy for humanity but hey we had the Black Plague too.
#4 Habu on 2007-01-19 09:50 (Reply)
Hey it's Friday .. have a pizza, spend your kids inheritance, and don't watch the news....
#5 Friday Habu on 2007-01-19 10:12 (Reply)
...or bother visiting the Elephant Bar
#6 philg on 2007-01-19 14:02 (Reply)
Actually, Jesus isn't recorded as having said either. It was St. Paul the Apostle. 1 Timothy 6:10.

http://bible.cc/1_timothy/6-10.htm
#7 ELC (Link) on 2007-01-19 15:16 (Reply)
It was Paul and here is the KJV

" 9But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

10For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

11But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness."

Rand and Jesus are not in the same place on this, so this is strange juxtaposition. Rand was talking about money as an economic instrument without reference to one's feelings about money. Paul was talking about where the heart is. Rand paid lip service to charity, but it was not even secondary or tertiary in her notion of relationships between people, while it was deemed central to relationships for Christians.

The concept of grace itself is about that which is essential being unearned. Rand did not have any room for a notion of grace or of the humility that prepares us to accept grace.
#8 Anonymous on 2007-01-19 23:11 (Reply)
"His point being that love of anything more than love of God was a path to hell and a path to a rotten life."

Did St. Paul say this? Did he mean to imply one should love God more than one's own children? Or fellowman?

I'll Google that link.
#9 Phoenix on 2007-01-19 23:19 (Reply)
Okay. Thanks to anonymous I'm clear.

I didn't get the connection to Rand and Jesus, but I just thought of something based on what anonymous said about grace:

Does having money increase our propensity to have grace or not?

This makes me think of a question asked for a statewide Latin oratory contest: "Is nobility the greatest of all virtues?"
#10 Phoenix on 2007-01-19 23:26 (Reply)
Right, it was Paul. My bad. Might as well have been Christ, though, since he preached quite a lot about money.
#11 BD on 2007-01-19 23:47 (Reply)
It was like Peter,Paul, and Mary were all down wit it.
#12 Religion dude on 2007-01-20 13:03 (Reply)
Yes, more than your children and parents. That is the demand...or the invitation - depending on how you view it.

Nothing easy or comforting about being Christian.
#13 BD on 2007-01-20 15:10 (Reply)
I suppose this would be the Gnostics' approach, but loving God should not be a choice or an effort. It is just the subliminal foundation of one's being. What it does do is what God wants it to do from that subliminal position: Allow you to love unconditionally your children and your fellowman. That seems the clearest way to live a Christian life and the best way to instill Christian values into those you love. I think the Gnostics loved themselves because of their inherent love of God, and because of that, as with anyone, loving another was easy. I think it is that way with anyone. How do you love another if you don't love yourself first?

The Gnostics had it down with the 'demands' and 'invitations'. Forget about them. God is in me. So much for their beliefs as it turns out. They were snuffed out for their stupid ideas.
#14 Phoenix on 2007-01-21 01:05 (Reply)
I like they way every liberal is automatically equated to Rand, Marx and Chavez by conservative threads. You must think we all hate capitalism, freedom, guns... Of course I guess people that are as extremely leftist as subscribers to this site are right, probably believe you couldn't tell Jesus Christ from David Koresh or Hitler.
#15 you apparently don't know me on 2007-01-25 11:05 (Reply)

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