Author's Note: When I first wrote this series over a year ago, RFFM.org received some criticism about my viewpoint on the issue. In fact, one reader demanded that his name be removed from the e-mail list. Since then, of course, we have become aware, via various media and Internet sources, of a long series of “white guy” blaming from several leftist groups. This non-exclusive list includes Rev. Jeremiah Wright from Sen. Barack Obama’s former church, Father Pfleger also preaching (or rather screeching) from Wright’s pulpit and former (or maybe still) Obama friend--Pentagon bomber Bill Ayers. We really should not be surprised by such ideas because this is common conversation in university faculty lounges all over the country. Who can forget former University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill’s characterization of 9/11 victims as “little Eichmanns” and the Duke faculty’s quick conviction of the innocent lacrosse players with terms such as “race, gender and white privilege”. Then, there is Bill Ayers' comment in his April 2008 blog, “capitalism is built on exploitation, theft, conquest, war and racism.” And Columbia University (Obama’s alma mater) asked Ahmadinejad to speak, but not extend an invitation to George Bush. I am thankful to this group for going on such a rhetorical rampage that my material looks mild in comparison. I have updated these columns to include some new info provided by these various sources.
From the Desk of Bill Zettler
I am sure you have heard this before in the media and from the campuses of American secular madrassas such as Columbia (where Obama received his undergraduate degree) and Harvard (where Obama received his law degree). It doesn’t seem to matter what the issue is, “It’s the white guy's fault.” This is an attempt by the media and certain educational institutions to make true what Russian historian Pokrovsky said, ”history is (liberal) politics projected onto the past”.
In this four-part series, I will attempt to correct the leftist media impression that all the World's evils are the result of historical actions taken by Europeans or their Western Hemisphere descendents.
It used to be just the fault of Europeans, the original Colonial/Imperialists, but over the last 25 years or so, the white guys on the block including Americans and, in fact, today Americans are, by far, the number one whipping boy of the far Left. After all, we are descendents of those European colonialists, neocon Imperialists, capitalists and other evildoers. Rev. Wright has in fact used the words “colonialism”, “imperialism” and “capitalism” in many sermons criticizing what he calls “white supremacy.”
The European white guys have moved to second place by adopting the liberal U.S. position which goes something like this: “I am sorry I am free, live under the rule of law and the Bill of Rights, vote in democratic elections, have the most powerful economy and the highest income per capita among industrialized nations. I apologize for all those things. I wish I were more like you, unable to choose my political leaders by secret ballot, vilified, tortured and jailed by my government. I really wish I could have the miserable life you have, then I would not feel nearly as guilty. But I was wondering: could I still get Starbucks?”
Even Warren Buffet, one of the most successful capitalists in the world, sounded apologetic when he donated $30 billion to help others less fortunate. To paraphrase Buffet's words: I studied for years, worked hard 'round the clock for decades, risked everything I had and became wealthy because of it. I apologize. I am sorry it happened; I didn’t mean to do it. It is a legacy of my colonial/imperialist past. Here, take it all, it won’t happen again.
Of course, if it doesn’t happen again -- wealth creation that is -- millions, if not billions, will starve because only wealth creation can save the World. Only wealth can create jobs; only wealth can be given away; only wealth becomes charity; and only wealth generates the taxes to provide for a fair and generous government. Poverty yields nothing, but more poverty. Mediocrity and dissension towards the mean yields only tyranny and helplessness. See Cuba, North Korea and Zimbabwe as examples.
What Buffet should have said was: I am thankful that I live in a country with a political system that has allowed me to accumulate this great wealth so I could use it to help others. I am sure there are more intelligent and capable persons in Africa than me. However, because of the corrupt political systems endemic to that continent, they are unable to create and generate the wealth needed to help their own people. Therefore, I will try to help them with the wealth my country’s political system allowed me to generate.
The self-loathing and self-hatred of the Left is some sort of mental illness. Success, wealth and their antecedents, freedom, liberty, capitalism, property rights and the rule of law, should be encouraged around the World -- not vilified as some sort of moral decadence. The moral decadence exists in places like Cuba and North Korea and Zimbabwe, not in the U.S. They have neither freedom, nor liberty, nor capitalism, nor property rights, nor the rule of law and their citizens suffer and live in poverty because of that -- not because of exploitation by Western nations.
The elitist Left have a superiority complex -- they claim they want to help the poor, but repeatedly tell them they are not capable of doing what the elitists themselves have done -- become successful in a capitalist political system. In order to justify their own existence, liberal elitists have created need for themselves by disabling the limitless potential of those they are purporting to help. But blaming the success of Western nations for the failures of others serves no purpose except to obscure the source of the problem. The problem is over there, not over here.
All men are created equal, meaning we are not innately superior to those who live and suffer in ignorance and poverty, but our political system is superior. Our political system allows and encourages success and that is why we are more successful. That is a good thing for the World to learn, not a bad thing.
Copyright 2008 Bill Zettler / RFFM.org
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