I have seen the Devil, and his name is Lou Dobbs. I must admire David’s tenacity on the protectionist issue, but I’m starting to pity the poor man. After all, what does one expect from CNN? You wouldn’t surely hear him spouting this stuff if Rupert Murdoch paid his salary.
What David’s articles do on another level is remind us how entrenched this dogma – and it is dogma – is. And we are reminded also that this mindset is nothing new. Plato penned the protectionist republic nearly 3,000 years ago. It was not new then, and that peculiar brand of religion has stuck with us. One of the most important contributions that Ayn Rand makes in her books is the notion that “ideas have consequences.” And I cannot for the life of me figure out how it is that well-educated, intelligent people, such as Lou Dobbs, can continually fail to see the inter-connection between economics and politics (remember I’m a political philosopher, not an economist in my educational training). Depending on which side of the street you stand on, economic principles are either the extension of, or underpinning for, a political regime or worldview. This being true, we should ask ourselves whether Lou Dobbs has a political worldview that necessitates these economics, or whether he is merely ignorant of the connection that socialist economics has had with political, social, and cultural decline throughout history.
I do not find conspiracy theories to be typically very helpful at explaining the world, so it is not my belief that Lou Dobbs is a clandestine member of a worldwide communist cabal plotting to secretly take over the world with the unwitting aid of the media. But frankly, considering the economic obviousness of David’s criticisms, I think as a man that I would have more respect for an evil Lou Dobbs than a merely brainless one.
3 comments:
I have heard people like you say things about the "intellectual Liberals" talking down to the masses and all that type of horseshit, for years, and I am now reading your words describing the masses not understanding why they should look past all those lost manufacturing jobs here in America, and following it up with the retarded argument that American businesses must leave in order to make a profit, due to government labor rules. What the fuck? Stop listening to what Bill Orielly says for two seconds and think. American jobs are disapearing, because Corporate America wrote the rules, in the form of NAFTA, CAFTA and GATT. You have a government conbtrolled by business, not stomping on business. Open your eyes, please. How can you find any good in the destruction of the American middle class, which is exactly what is happening. Yes, free trade hurts us, 1994 )Nafta) was a long time ago, and look at what has happened. The mexicans sure aren't any better off than they were, or they might stop running here. And we certainly aren't better off, that much is obvious. The only ones who are better off, are the transnational and international corporations. Redirect your thoughts and research in that direction, I beg of you.
Wow. Looks like 'Anonymous' has been watching a little too much Lou Dobbs tonight. The blogger is right on, Lou Dobbs is an evil man who is exploiting the fears of the economically uneducated. He's merely interested in the same things as every other populist, power. By the way, NAFTA isn't free trade. It's neoliberal state capitalism, and does serve to benefit the privileged. Real free trade, a la 'we are opening our borders unconditionally,' would serve liberty and all economic classes.
Free trade can benefit developed nation like the USA by allowing it to focus its resource on more productive areas like research and development of advanced products and technologies. This is a trend nobody, not even Lou Dobbs, can stop. Unless the Lou Dobbs and his right wing friends can stop the movement of capital, manufacturing jobs will move to less developed nations sooner or later.
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