Liberals’ Favorite Fallacy

Mountain Goat Report has a breathless post blaming every problem in our state on the Republicans in the legislature.

The serious point of her posts seems to be that big conservatives like Senator Chuck Coiner and Representative Tom Trail being big hypocrites for personally tag Ag. Subsidies. Of course, this is MGR’s favorite line of assault, and the left’s it’s the ad hominem tu quoquo that tries to argue that an inconsistent action negates the argument of the person making the case.

Of course, this is absurd. We do not get to live in the world of our own choosing, and in the case of farmers, they live in a world where their business rivals get tax credits and they would be at a political disadvantage. Consider this point. Liberals believe government is underfunded, how many of them selfishly took tax deductions this year. Give it back! If government needs the money, then you on the left who see the need should give every tax grocery tax credit, charitable write-off, and home mortgage deduction to keep the state, our almighty provider, in business.

Oh wait, it doesn’t work both ways? What’s good for the goose isn’t good for the gander? You don’t say.

As to the state’s rainy day funds, while I favor tapping them judiciously to ease the pain of some spending cuts, let’s be clear. The secret of the rainy days funds is once they are spent, they are gone. And while the left have taken a big sip of the Obama kool aid, I don’t think the storm’s ending any time soon.

I would argue that this current political storm shows the lack of compassion of the statist apparatchniks who have helped create this leviathan. We saw it first in New Orleans in Hurricane Katrina, where a physical storm came in and those most vulnerable who had been taught to be dependend on government were those least prepared to face it.

Now, we face an economic storm, and the results are similar. Statists know the key to power. Make people dependent on government. You will get their votes time after time.

Of course, this wasn’t the only option. In most cases, individuals could be given a hand up, and be taught to help themselves or obtain help from strong communities, by encouraging community and civic organizations to meet needs. But, there’s no power in that. Instead, we were told the almighty state would the provider of everything we need. They encouraged people to become permanently dependent on the state. The left has talked down responsible investing and building your own wealth as comparable to playing craps on the Vegas strip. 

The politicians had the poor and the seniors right where they wanted them, dependent on the state for their existence. They could puff out their chest at their own unfailing righteousness for they had taken care of the poor with the sweat of other people’s brows. 

Of course, in the midst of all the class warfare and the consdescending self-congratulatory hoopla, the politicians forgot to tell the people something. All the help we’d had the state do depended on the productive part of the economy.  And what if that productive part failed? What if the evil producers of capital stopped producing wealth.

What is happening in Idaho and across America in the midst of this recession? The levees broke.