A Little Tyranny Between Friends
Robert Mugabe Reminds us of Important Principles
By Leon H Wolf Posted in Contra Tyrannum — Comments (21) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
This is delightful news:
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Police detained opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday after his convoy was stopped at a roadblock while campaigning ahead of the presidential runoff election set for later this month, his spokesman said.
Tsvangirai and a group of about 14 party officials were being detained at a police station in Lupane, north of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second- largest city, spokesman George Sibotshiwe said.
No charges have been filed, Sibotshiwe said, and no comment from police was immediately available.
People in America often get the idea that what the government does is mostly irrelevant to their daily lives. The government is perceived as something that is far away and unimportant, and of far less importance than many other things in their daily lives. Recent events in Zimbabwe and throughout Africa demonstrate that this is a pleasant fiction enabled by the fact that we have never had a true and successful tyrant take charge in America.
Read on...
Everyone by now knows the litany of ills that plagues the continent of Africa: disease, famine, war, homelessness, and corruption. The miseries of that continent have led many a well-meaning individual and politician to make impassioned pleas for the United States to offer aid in whatever form possible to the people of Africa. U2 frontman Bono has been a rare purveyor of insight and common sense amidst this clamor for help. You see, Bono understands that the number one problem facing Africa right now is not poverty, or famine, or even disease, but governmental corruption.
The last century in this country has established that virtually every climate can be made comfortably habitable for human beings, given a stable and reasonably clean system of government that is dedicated to either building or fostering the development of basic infrastructure that reaches all of its citizens. The last century in Africa has demonstrated that goverments are equally capable of deliberately keeping their populations in poverty and squalor so as to prevent the very possibility of their ouster from power. These governments have furthermore pilfered billions of dollars of aid destined for their people to corruptly enhance their own creature comforts at the expense of the lives and welfare of their citizens.
Ladies and gentlemen, it matters who's running the government. Government corruption isn't just a scandalous news story, it's theft of the country's resources as a whole. And government that deliberately fosters dependence and poverty will make its population miserable, compared to the government that focuses on the construction of necessary infrastructure, and the protection of private property that is necessary for the creation of an economy, jobs, and wealth.
These things have become abstract principles in America, and we are in fact in danger of forgetting them. But for the people of Zimbabwe, who are desperately trying to throw off a selfish and evil tyrant who will stop at nothing to retain power, the effects on their daily lives are all too real.
I should hope that it would be obvious that I am not intending to compare any given politician to Robert Mugabe, who is an evil and despicable human being. I do not believe that the most rabid liberal in this country would turn America into Zimbabwe, if given the chance. This is but a simple reminder of the fact that, even in a democracy in which the electoral process is respected (unlike in Zimbabwe) elections do indeed have consequences that can reach us all.
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A Little Tyranny Between Friends 21 Comments (0 topical, 21 editorial, 1 hidden) Post a comment »
when one branch of government, one man, and one party has too much power.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
Al Gore and John Kerry should be getting out of the slammer any time now, since they're no longer a threat to the Ruling Junta. John McCain too; he came too close in '00.
Good thing those efficient, effective Ds won Congress, or Obama would be on ice right next to them, too, huh?
Dumb*ss.
No need to get snarky. I was just making the point that it requires more than one crazy person to control a country. You need a whole lot of crazy people to help and/or acquiesce. And when you have several institutions under your thumb (especially those with guns), that's a lot easier. If it only took one lunatic, I have several future tyrant/dictators who ride my bus everyday.
Quit digging.
Jeff Emanuel's assessment still stands, at least until you put down the shovel.
Unfair. Unbalanced. Unmedicated. -- IMAO
He only jailed people extraconstitutionally according to their political views or national origin. But he was a socialist Democrat so it doesn't count.
Yup.
Besides, he buddied up to "Uncle Joe" Stalin and took Mr. Hiss under his wing.....
As long as you're supportive of Communists, what is a little dustup here and there?
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Dependence is Slavery.
Look, I fully admit that Cheney's ambitions led to the Bush Administration trying to grab off quite a bit of power for itself. And other Administrations have tried that sort of thing too: Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, etc.
But never in the history of the U.S. has any President, no matter how ambitious and power-hungry, ever disregarded the result of a national election as required by the Constitution. When someone is voted out of office, or their term expires, they clean out their desk and prepare to leave.
No matter how much the Left hates Bush (and they really do hate him), notice how they fully expect him to depart office in January. Nobody is suggesting we need to form an armed militia and storm the White House to get him out.
Unlike Zimbabwe and Venezuela and Cuba, we don't do "President for Life" here in America.
Executive Order 9066 is a cause for shame, I don't care who signed it. Lest we forget.
In fact, watch this!
Blam.
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is employed before Mugabe makes folks disappear. As an aside, I've seen many trolls here but this one was the first Mugabe apologist. Does the Left know any bottom these days?
In short?
Nope.
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Dependence is Slavery.
There's only one conservative who has dared to defend FDR's Executive Order 9066, and that's Michelle Malkin. She wrote an entire book defending the internment of the Japanese-Americans.
For this, she was promptly slammed by most other conservatives, including Ann Coulter and the National Review, all of whom sharply disagreed with Malkin on this.
No, as conservatives we are NOT big fans of Federal power, which includes Executive power. We didn't enjoy having FBI dossiers on prominent conservative politicians sitting right on President Lyndon Johnson's desk.
But it was easy to become corrupted by power when "our guys" (Bush and Cheney) were the ones wielding it. I don't think McCain is cut from the same cloth though.
In the last paragraph, you said:
I do not believe that the most rabid liberal in this country would turn America into Zimbabwe, if given the chance.
While this is true right now, but what about 50 or 100 years from now? The sad fact is that as long public schools are churning out kids indoctrinated with liberal philosophy, when they grow up as adults, they will have huge influence in politics. From there, who knows what they will do with the US Constitution and capitalist principles this country was founded upon?
I don't think we'll see the likes of Mugabe, we do agree on that one, but can you honestly tell me there is a difference beteween a tyrant and a government behaving "tyrannically"? One we need to remember that while Mugabe was just one person, he had many supporters as well? Why did they decide to side with Mugabe?
It is my view that tyrannical behavior always start with what kind of philosophy you believe in. From there, it affects every decision you make. So, even if you got rid of Mugabe, the wrong kind of philosophy still remains in place, who are we to say that the opposition party won't turn out way Mugabe is now?
I don't think America will face anything like in Zimbabwe, but we've got to be careful in how we teach our own children and what sort of action we take in running our country. Being careful is a good virtue to be practiced diligently.
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Daniel 2:20 And he [God] changeth the times and seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding.
I got banned from this website, and that's fine, but I wanted to just defend myself here one last time.
My original comment about one man, one party, etc. was not some passive-aggressive comment about the current administration. Really. While I don't like the current administration, I'm not going to bring it up all the time, and especially in inappropriate posts. My comment was meant in a general sense, and especially as applied to politics in Africa, where cults of personality and one party systems have a sad post-colonial pedigree.
What is happening in Zimbabwe is atrocious and should disgust us all. It is not democracy. It is a pure thugocracy (if that's even a word), and despite what many of you seem to think, I do not equate that with the Bush administration, and I don't equate that with conservatives, and I'm not sure what I said to make you think that. Maybe you just figured that's where I was going with my comment, but I wasn't and didn't.
I don't know what I said that could be read as being from a Mugabe "apologist," but for the record I don't think physical intimidation of your opponents or supporters makes for a good democracy.
I also enjoyed the "short bus" comment. The ad hoc stuff makes it really easy to peace out of here.
Somehow I doubt your employer would appreciate being informed that company resources were being used to post your own personal pornographic proclivities after repeated bannings.
I'm guessing you meant to say "ad hominem" instead of "ad hoc" in your closing argument. And don't be so paranoid about fellow passengers on your bus, be it long, short or micro.
and doesn't ruffle feathers, I think we can be satisfied with the results
[sarcasm off}
How can you write what you did above and rip the heck out of Bolton on the same day?
Do you not see the connection?
FYI The UN general assembly has a new chairperson/secretary. Someone who called Reagan a murderer and a great lier.
So much for UN civility. Definitely wouldn't want to bespoil such a fine civil place
{sarcasm off}
The principals of positive and for the people are growing worldwide, but certainly the average US citizen knows nothing of what a "bad" government is really like.
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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
--Aristotle