GraniteGrok is about Freedom and Liberty, and we are ALWAYS advocating for Freedom and Liberty. After all, the other side is ALWAYS in Missionary mode to have Government “do” more and that you and I need to “let go” of those freedoms (e.g., Fauci, who just said that we shouldn’t be so concerned with it).
To that end, back to “Biden and Automakers Agree on 50% EVs by 2030—Are the Regulations Tough Enough?”
We see Government basically take control of the auto industry with Biden’s Executive Order that basically mandates that all vehicles are going to be electric – we have no choice in it.
No, Government doesn’t have to “take over” the means of production” by using the Mussolini version of Fascism – why buy the cow when you utterly (yes, I resist the urge to use another word there) control its production via a mountain of regulation and law?
Here was the beginning of the “conversation” that Government has the right to tell us what to do because those of us that DO value Freedom and Liberty as a primary value are SELFISH. Get used to it, folks – we already see this in the “Vaccine War” where those that are “hesitant” or outright refusing to take the Jab are Selfish and Self-Centered and don’t care about the “Common Good.”
The ability to freely make that decision is certainly under attack.
Related: Progressives in MA Wants to Drag NH Back into the 18th Century
I had left off here:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men
To secure Rights, not set industrial police or a lot of other things that people believe Govt is supposed to do. In fact, our Constitution was written to keep the Federal Government from doing lots of what it is doing anyways.
We can thank the Progressive / Socialist movement that started just before the 1900s for this fiasco.
Normally, Commenter Bob Baal and I are part of the distaff Commenters that disagree with the hardcore Eco-Socialists there but not this time (reformatted, emphasis mine):
Bob Baal : OK I know that you have been brainwashed by the likes of Fox News but try to expand your vision a bit. This story that we are a part of is much longer and larger than the USA.
We invented government approx. 20,000 years ago, when hunter gathers (which we had been for all time) were faced with problems and issues that was beyond the ability of family groups to solve and they pooled resources to form tribes and Towns. they would have had some simple form of government then that we do not of course know details of. Time went by the challenges became larger and more complex and we get the rise of city states approx. 3,000 years ago.
Then the developments resulted in the merging of city states and increases in the complexity of government. These in turn resulted in the creation of nations with ways of running them.
This process continues today as faced with even more challenges requiring resources far larger than a nation state to solve, we are constructing management systems of even larger the nation states. The current modern concept of a nation state has only existed since about 1820 anyway.
And if you have to read between the lines, it’s clear that “larger than nation-states” means a one world govt. You know, the Progressive “move control and Power higher and further away from the normal plebes.” Uber-Kings and Queens…
We are caught in a tide that will take it where it will take us and government, that we have had for 20,000 years, will continue to change and evolve as a result.
We are caught in a tide ONLY if we consent to that tide – another part of our political philosophy that seems to go unnoticed elsewhere – another reason why the US is different.
“We can thank the Progressive / Socialist movement that started just before the 1900s for this fiasco.”
If you really believe that then you are truly out of contact with reality. Your master Rupert Murdock would be pleased with what his efforts have done to you. What is it like being led around like you have a bull ring through your nose by him?
And he really doesn’t know American history all that well, does he? So my answer:
GraniteGrok : First off, I don’t watch Fox News. Second, I am old enough to have still received a decent education before the US system decided that academics should be second, third, or even fourth level down in importance. Sorry, but I actually still believe that our foundational Law is both still relevant and we should be measuring our politicians and bureaucrats by those standards of measurement/quality.
Your history of government is fairly correct.
These in turn resulted in the creation of nations with ways of running them.
You are correct and the US was founded on its own notion of what is the right way. Millions still emigrate to this country because they believe it is correct as well. And our Declaration of Independence set the philosophical framework for the Constitution that was constructed so as to enforce that framework.
Bob, you and I generally agree on most things but I can’t agree with your notion that heads of States can just Rule by Decree in a system that was specifically set up to stop that aggregation of Power by one (or a few) people. If that’s a condition that you like, given what I see in the news about New Zealand, perhaps you’re in the right location – fine for hobbits and serfs, given the actions of your leaders.
I will say one thing – this is more cordial than most of my TH debates. There’s more, but this is enough to chew on for a while. It did continue, showing that he doesn’t believe that what I say about our foundation processes is true.
Sadly, neither do a lot of Americans. It’s pop culture all the way down – pop trends, the worship of celebrities, concentration on the latest tech toys, knowledge aplenty. And that pop culture, devoid of knowing what our political foundation was (and still should be primary), is driving our political culture.