Whoopi Goldberg was interviewed by Bill O’Reilly on Thursday, February 1st, 2007 and besides being an effective advocate for her side (the political Left), in one exchange, she was able to put the schism between Liberals and Conservatives (Left/Right) into a very clear perspective, one that I’ve asserted for many years.
In response to O’Reilly’s chiding celebrities at a recent anti-war rally for their inability to reasonably and rationally answer some basic questions put to them, saying, “You’ve got to THINK through these things,” Goldberg responded, “No! No Bill, that’s how YOU do it. A lot of us just know how we feel about things.”
I’ve always assailed Liberals for “emotional thinking,” and now a leading Liberal acknowledges that she believes many on the Left view emotion as at least the equal of reason.
Perhaps that explains a lot, but it’s immaterial as it ultimately leads to an impasse.
One of the biggest problems I’ve had with the many Liberals I’ve known is what I’ve clearly perceived to be a double standard.
I have always been baffled by the people who had no questions over the Balkans and didn’t look to publicly debate us going in on what appeared to be, from a strictly moral view, the wrong side (the Muslim Albanians in Kosovo were the first to initiate genocide in that region), not to mention that that campaign was just as much an “unprovoked” and “UN opposed” military action against a sovereign nation.
In my view, that very same standard (the military, governmental and intelligence leaders know more than we know and more than we can know) should’ve been the one used for Iraq, as well.
I still don’t know why we backed the “rat” in that Balkan fight described as “a fight between a rat and a snake,” but I take on faith that both our Military and Intel agencies knew where America’s best interests lay in that particular fight.
I understand people not liking the current occupant of the White House (a feeling), just as many people didn’t like his predecessor (also a feeling), there’s nothing wrong with that, with having those feelings.
What’s wrong is not being able to see the mix of good and bad things both those flawed Presidents delivered.
Both delivered extremely robust economies, though the Clinton/Gingrich economy was marred by an artificial and engineered (via some SEC rules changes) Tech Bubble, which burst in early 2000 creating a subsequent recession.
Clinton embraced the Gingrich domestic agenda, with welfare reform as its cornerstone. That has been one of the greatest victories for America over the past decade.
Clinton also ignored the war being waged against America and American interests by radicalized Muslims (pan-Islamists) and allowed Loral Corporation to sell advanced guidance systems to China, while unsuccessfully trying to bribe North Korea away from its nuclear ambitions.
G W Bush ignored that same war until 9/11/01. The Bush administration has been extremely short-sighted on the issue of our porous southern border – an economic disaster for American workers pre-9/11 and a national security risk after.
In short, both flawed many did some good and some bad. From an economic standpoint the period from the mid-1990s through now has been one of unprecedented economic expansion, almost entirely due, in my opinion, to a Republican Congress, although as of late, they’ve abandoned the Gingrich principles that that expansion was built upon.
Just how significant was that expansion?
Well, in 1980 just 35% of American families had a pre-tax income (adjusted for inflation) over $50K/year, by 1990 that number was 40% and by 2003 it reached 44%. For American adults between the ages of 25 and 59, the 25 year period ending in 2004 saw the number of households earning over $100K/year (inflation adjusted) rise 13%, while the number of households with incomes under $75K/year dropped by 14%.
The median annual income for Americans in that group (25 – 59) is now $63,300/year and the average income for two earner households in that group is $80K/year!
That is the legacy of Supply Side economics!
Unfortunately such things can only be determined through reason, or as O’Reilly says, “THINKING things through.”So long as a significant portion of the population insists on relying primarily on emotion, we’re going to have extreme partisanship and severe and increasing political polarization.
In response to O’Reilly’s chiding celebrities at a recent anti-war rally for their inability to reasonably and rationally answer some basic questions put to them, saying, “You’ve got to THINK through these things,” Goldberg responded, “No! No Bill, that’s how YOU do it. A lot of us just know how we feel about things.”
I’ve always assailed Liberals for “emotional thinking,” and now a leading Liberal acknowledges that she believes many on the Left view emotion as at least the equal of reason.
Perhaps that explains a lot, but it’s immaterial as it ultimately leads to an impasse.
One of the biggest problems I’ve had with the many Liberals I’ve known is what I’ve clearly perceived to be a double standard.
I have always been baffled by the people who had no questions over the Balkans and didn’t look to publicly debate us going in on what appeared to be, from a strictly moral view, the wrong side (the Muslim Albanians in Kosovo were the first to initiate genocide in that region), not to mention that that campaign was just as much an “unprovoked” and “UN opposed” military action against a sovereign nation.
In my view, that very same standard (the military, governmental and intelligence leaders know more than we know and more than we can know) should’ve been the one used for Iraq, as well.
I still don’t know why we backed the “rat” in that Balkan fight described as “a fight between a rat and a snake,” but I take on faith that both our Military and Intel agencies knew where America’s best interests lay in that particular fight.
I understand people not liking the current occupant of the White House (a feeling), just as many people didn’t like his predecessor (also a feeling), there’s nothing wrong with that, with having those feelings.
What’s wrong is not being able to see the mix of good and bad things both those flawed Presidents delivered.
Both delivered extremely robust economies, though the Clinton/Gingrich economy was marred by an artificial and engineered (via some SEC rules changes) Tech Bubble, which burst in early 2000 creating a subsequent recession.
Clinton embraced the Gingrich domestic agenda, with welfare reform as its cornerstone. That has been one of the greatest victories for America over the past decade.
Clinton also ignored the war being waged against America and American interests by radicalized Muslims (pan-Islamists) and allowed Loral Corporation to sell advanced guidance systems to China, while unsuccessfully trying to bribe North Korea away from its nuclear ambitions.
G W Bush ignored that same war until 9/11/01. The Bush administration has been extremely short-sighted on the issue of our porous southern border – an economic disaster for American workers pre-9/11 and a national security risk after.
In short, both flawed many did some good and some bad. From an economic standpoint the period from the mid-1990s through now has been one of unprecedented economic expansion, almost entirely due, in my opinion, to a Republican Congress, although as of late, they’ve abandoned the Gingrich principles that that expansion was built upon.
Just how significant was that expansion?
Well, in 1980 just 35% of American families had a pre-tax income (adjusted for inflation) over $50K/year, by 1990 that number was 40% and by 2003 it reached 44%. For American adults between the ages of 25 and 59, the 25 year period ending in 2004 saw the number of households earning over $100K/year (inflation adjusted) rise 13%, while the number of households with incomes under $75K/year dropped by 14%.
The median annual income for Americans in that group (25 – 59) is now $63,300/year and the average income for two earner households in that group is $80K/year!
That is the legacy of Supply Side economics!
Unfortunately such things can only be determined through reason, or as O’Reilly says, “THINKING things through.”So long as a significant portion of the population insists on relying primarily on emotion, we’re going to have extreme partisanship and severe and increasing political polarization.
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