Who is our Moses?

| March 22, 2010

As I drove home to let my clinically insane dog out of his cage to take a dump, I was listening to the radio. And as I scanned I came across Glenn Beck. I have never listened to his show, but thought what the hell, might as well now. Anyway, he said something interesting, and I am TOTALLY paraphrasing here:

Look, when they were building the pyramids, a lot of slaves got crushed in the rocks. Lots of them. They didn’t stop, they just left the guy in there are brought up more stones. Happens again, and no one did anything. And this happened hundreds of times, and no one said anything. And then Moses came and said “Let my people go” and led them out of Egypt. Because no one else had taken any interest, and Moses came and promised horrible things from the Power on High, and delivered. And the slaves became Freemen and moved on. This message, and the preceeding 1/2 hour of our show brought to you by the people who know that Gold is a commodity we need in times like this…..

First off, the Gold part. I agree. Just this weekend I dumped all my investments in Gold though to pay for the healthcare of XBlackheart, Dreadbeard (Claymore), PastyEunuch (Brown Neck Gaitor), Milbe, Photara (Mrs. Claymore) and myself. It took the form of these beauties:
prots-of-life

But, to Beck’s question: Who is our Moses? I hear Paul Ryan’s name being thrown around a lot, and I do genuinely like the guy, but he caved on several money issues in the past, and everyone seems to be ignoring those discrepancies now. So, I throw it out to you, who is that guy? I have my theory, and I will be sharing it in a bit as I defend him from some asshattery from who else but Vote Vets.

Category: Politics

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UpNorth

Debra, you just hit on the “universal post” when anyone on TAH wants to address Joey. “I have concluded that you know nothing whatsoever about _______________”. Saves Jonn all kinds of bandwidth, and it addresses anything and everything that Joey could spout off about.

Joe

Well Debra,

You’re partly right – I have never read her, but I have read of her. With her hatred of the state and taxes, and by extension the programs taxes support, she has an almost Darwinian view of how the world should operate. She seems to glorify successful, powerful people, esp. men, and takes a dim view of “average men” and women. Below is a quote that kind of demonstrates what I was trying to describe, the rationalizations the powerful use to justify their success (however it was acheived, ethically or thru skullduggery) and the effects the exercise of that power has on those less fortunate.

“What are your masses but mud to be ground underfoot, fuel to be burned for those who deserve it?”

It’s also convenient that adherents to her philosophy universally consider themselves to be part of her elite, and rationalize their sometimes unethical behavior thus. How many admirers of Rand consider themselves, “mud to be ground underfoot”? Not too many I bet. Being an adherent to her philosophy also allows one to pat oneself on the back for being one of the elite, and is very satisfying to the ego.

“…deserve it?” Why do they deserve it? Well, in her mind they deserve “the fuel” because they have the fuel, and they have the fuel because they deserve the fuel. It’s a tautological rationalization for ruthless Darwinian polocies. As students of Darwin, we can both appreciate the elegance of his theories, but at the same time recognize that civil societies should not be based on pitiless Darwinian models described by her phrase, “What are your masses but mud to be ground underfoot”. Does that make any sense? In my view, a society should in many ways reflect the antithesis of Darwinian principles, and that a society and a nation have a duty to take care of those less fortunate rather than throw them to the wolves, as Rand would do.

Debra

Well Joe,

I think you have a lot wrong. The quote you provided, for example, was said by a character in one of Ayn Rand’s novels and shouldn’t be construed as an expression of her formal philosophy (which I think evolved over time anyway). It arose as an expression of a conflict between false alternatives and I believe she later cut that line anyway. What is more interesting to me is what came out of her mind as a result of her own background and experience in growing up in a Communist country.

I don’t, by the way, agree with everything Rand believed or said. When I spend a lot of time looking at it, I find some confusion and contradiction in her words and philosophy, as well as what I can only describe as an intellectual arrogance that masquerades over the fact that she really was not all that original of a thinker, but took from many giants that came before her, often without properly crediting them. So I am also a critic, however, none of that should be construed as a rejection of what she brought to the table with her unique clarity in many areas that strike a chord with my own personal and, more especially, political philosophy and impulses.

UpNorth, so finally I wrote something that has met with your approval. What a momentous occasion..

JustPlainJason

Joe you just did a search for ayn rand quotes and read some cliff notes. Sorry I’ve got a raging headache and don’t feel like arguing.

Frankly Opinionated

Z’zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Nuf Sed

UpNorth

Might I add, the two of you, Debra and Joey, can spend millions of electrons saying……………..not much.
Debra, I wasn’t aware that you ever posted anything seeking approval from anyone, am I supposed to be flattered, insulted or non-committal?

Debra

Well, UpNorth, I don’t post things seeking approval, however, because I am normally a very positive minded person as well as trained in customer service, I do it more rewarding to to receive postive feedback from others. It is a little bit disconcerting to me when that doesn’t occur. But you aren’t supposed to be anything…flattered, insulted, or non-committal; it’s whatever you choose. As for wasting electrons…I don’t know…what do you consider to be a valuable use of them? I’ve also been trained on institutional effectiveness and the continuous improvement cycle, as well as being experienced as a mother and grandmother. So, yes, I guess I do have an overall orientation of aiming to please. Really I just come by it naturally, I think.

Debra

Typos again…Insert “find” in the first sentence between “do” and “it” and delete the second “to.” (My typos are really terrible.)