CHINA TODAY

China Hand has just put up some more vivid word-pictures of his day-to-day life in modern China.

****************

DEFINING CONSERVATISM

Because I have made a considerable attempt to define and investigate what Leftism is, I also of course have had to define what conservatism is. And the definition I have offered traces right back to the English Parliamentarians who in 1649 beheaded King Charles 1st. They very explicitly did so in defence of traditional English liberties against the tyrannical �Divine Right of Kings�. And that central conservative idea of defending the individual citizen from government tyranny still has not changed. Courtesy of Culpepper, note this excellent statement of the conservative mission:

"Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. Their mistaken course stems from false notions of equality, ladies and gentlemen. Equality, rightly understood, as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism.

Fellow Republicans, it is the cause of Republicanism to resist concentrations of power, private or public, which enforce such conformity and inflict such despotism. It is the cause of Republicanism to ensure that power remains in the hands of the people. And, so help us God, that is exactly what a Republican president will do with the help of a Republican Congress.

It is further the cause of Republicanism to restore a clear understanding of the tyranny of man over man in the world at large. It is our cause to dispel the foggy thinking which avoids hard decisions in the illusion that a world of conflict will somehow mysteriously resolve itself into a world of harmony, if we just don't rock the boat or irritate the forces of aggression - and this is hogwash.

And who said that? It is from the acceptance speech by Barry Goldwater at the 1964 Republican convention which nominated him as its candidate for President. Unfortunately, a majority of Americans did not vote for Goldwater. They got Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson and disaster in Vietnam instead.

So, for over three centuries, the central values of conservatism -- at least in the English-speaking world -- have remained the same.

*************

ENGLISH ANTISEMITISM

I believe that I have had more papers about racism published in the academic journals of the social sciences than anyone else ever -- so that should make my conclusions about the matter of some interest. But what I conclude is in fact also what many of my fellow academics specializing in the topic conclude: That human beings are inherently tribal and that they therefore very easily develop group loyalties, including �racial� loyalties. In other words, some form of �racism� is normal and universal. Putting it yet another way, we are all racists but some of us are better at hiding or suppressing it than others.

Unfortunately, this would seem to make it highly likely that the ancient and cruel folly of antisemitism will be forever with us too. The crumb of comfort that I think I can offer, however, is that not all racists are equal. Some are more benign than others. I have previously pointed out here at some length that a 20th century socialist and exponent of big government (Hitler) was a world apart in his racism from the 19th century English conservative racists who made a Jew (Disraeli) one of their most distinguished prime ministers. Instead of exterminating him and his family, they made him a Lord instead.

Looking further back in English history we find another interesting contrast. The powerful Plantagent King Edward 1st expelled all Jews from England in 1290 AD. And it was the regicidal champion of Parliamentary government, Oliver Cromwell, who invited them back again in 1655 AD. And Jews have lived relatively unmolested in England ever since.

Again as I have previously argued, the Parliamentarians who went to war against the Stuart despot in 1642 under the able leadership of Fairfax and Cromwell were England�s first conservatives. Conservatives can fight wars for their causes too. So it was a despotic and centralized authoritarian government that was responsible for expelling the Jews and an anti-centralizing and anti-despotic conservative government that invited them back. Once again we can see that it is the individualistic conservatives who are infinitely more tolerant than the exponents of unlimited government power.

********************

GLOBAL DECEPTION

Leftists and Greenies are very similar in that they both are constantly advocating vast amounts of destructive government meddling in our lives. So I feel that I have to do my bit to show up Greenie lies for what they are from time to time too.

The global warming scare seems to be the most entrenched Greenie nonsense at the moment. They even teach it to our kids in school as if it were gospel. So let me excerpt briefly a recent summary of the science of the matter:

"The author of this recent scientific analysis noted that .... a net sea level lowering by the year 2100 is as likely a mathematical possibility as a sea level rise. In other words, no scientific case can even be made to predict a global sea level rise due to CO2-induced changes in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. ...The IPCC ... was generating a scare scenario of a melting Greenland ice sheet, despite the well-known geological evidence demonstrating that the Greenland ice sheets have been stable for at least the last few interglacial periods - about a few hundred thousand years"

And there is much more data to the same effect in the full article. I am sure that the article would immediately be dismissed by many "Reds" and "Greens" (with typical illogicality) as just being Right-wing white supremacist talk -- so it is fortunate that the article comes complete with a picture of the author.

One thing that "Reds" and the Greens" have in common is a vast lack of interest in the full facts of anything they discuss. They need to be that way. The facts are SO inconvenient.

John Daly's "Greenhouse" site has lots of new facts and figures about the real truth that Greenies are so dishonest about too. It is almost laughable the way Greenies distort the truth.


*******************


Comments? Email me: jonjayray@hotmail.com.
If there are no recent posts here, check my HomePage for a new blog address.


***************