Month: July 2023

This piece by Ayaan Hirsi Ali comes from her unique perspective of being a Somali, under a socialist government system. Under that type of system, there is no bankruptcy to cull the poorly performing companies and organizations. This also leads to the public good suffering. Benefiting from the work of one’s hands and profiting from private property promotes progress.

The internet, for example, gives entrepreneurs more opportunities by “getting out of their way.” If a society has a functioning rule of law, a free press and expression, and an informed public, abuses can be mitigated.

I consider the topic of Scandinavian-style medicine a worthy topic to discuss. (Unfortunately, today’s youth envisions a socialism that “works,” not the actual versions in Venezuela and Cuba.) Along this line of critique, Ali mentions that there is no denying that our healthcare system is “messy.” Even though American healthcare leads in quality, innovation, and advancements, there is inefficiency and inequality.

But the woke mob destroys this exercise of American self-criticism in the name of “antifascism” and “antiracism.” We cannot improve or even function under the constant barrage of oppressed and oppressors. We were built on constant trial and error that recognizes our “human foibles.” The question should be, “How can we improve ourselves?”

“Democratic capitalism, in the framework of the rule of law and respect for individual rights, has benefited billions of human beings. It allows for gradual, incremental progress to remedy legitimate grievances as they arise. Until a better alternative can credibly be proposed, these are the institutions that we should celebrate–and defend.”

Elon Musk has purchased Twitter, exposing its censorship activities in collusion with the government. But he has other ideas, some strange, in addition to his free speech beliefs.

During Covid: “I will be on the [Tesla assembly] line with everyone else.”

About the Democrats: The Democrats are the “party of division & hate.”

About voting: “Democracy is probably unworkable long term without limiting suffrage to parents.”

About population control: “Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming.”

I watched the recent Tucker Carlson interview with Musk and am heartened that he opposes unrestricted AI. But that begs the question, doesn’t he have a robot in the works? (A robot needs some sort of operating system.)

He’s obviously very intelligent, but make no mistake, he’s a businessman and big business is amoral.

My Brasilian grandmother always said she loved the national anthem. She would cry in fact.

My parents became citizens in 1975. My father moved us to the U.S. (back and forth to/from the U.K.) to make a way where it was difficult in England. (Why the number of moves is another story.) My mother moved here with her mother as a kid.

I don’t want to give a mushy and overly effusive lecture on Independence Day–but it’s such an important day. The Star Spangled Banner is not the military cadence or French-style revolutionary anthem. It has a freshness even to this day. It makes immigrants cry. If only it did for all our compatriots. Gratitude.

Yes, the U.S. has to return to its roots: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; e pluribus unum; and In God We Trust. I don’t want to preach, but those are really available, really possible, and truly trustworthy.

Peace and grace this 4th.