Democrats: Dumbing You Down

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Saturday, December 15, 2012

Travis Rowley, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™

Liberals want your brain. And they’re going to enslave it by training you to be as emotionally impulsive as possible.

This week the Wall Street Journal revealed that EngageRI – the leading advocacy group for state pension reform last year – was “financed, in large part, by a Houston billionaire” named John Arnold.

Local progressives pounced on this disclosure as evidence of the illegitimacy of last year’s landmark pension reform. The Providence Journal followed up the WSJ’s article with this front-page headline: “Texas Billionaire Gave To Advocacy Group.”

Within an article titled “The One-Percent and RI’s Pension Overhaul,” RIPR reporter Scott MacKay (while oddly preoccupied over the pricy wine that wealthy people order at restaurants) ridiculed and lamented Arnold’s involvement: “Ok, so now we know the one-percent are intensely interested in Rhode Island pension issues…We hope this Texas billionaire is as worried about his own state’s dismal record in providing health insurance to children as he is with RI pensions. It is bad enough that Texans own our only statewide newspaper. Do they want our government too?”

A man who has left the business sector in order to “focus on philanthropy” and who has “pledged to give away most of [his] fortune of more than $3 billion,” with all of the economic illiteracy a progressive can illustrate Bob Plain of RIFuture.org chose to accuse Arnold of being someone who “[makes] money on the misfortune of others” – an accusation ignorantly based on Arnold’s skill and past success as an investor.

President of Council 94 Michael Downey remarked, “I’m disgusted to see wealthy people from out of state putting money into a crusade to steal retirement security from a janitor who makes $12,000.”

By listening to these people, you might think that Central Falls never collapsed under its own union weight. They still think unions are the only people trying to protect “the workers.” Worse, they’re attempting to have more Rhode Islanders adopt the same delusion.

But it is a simple fact that Downey and his ilk are the ones who “[stole] retirement security” from Central Falls retirees, and that reformers like Raimondo and Arnold are working hard to make sure something like that never happens again.

The Arnolds, who are currently helping the Pew Center offer “free technical support to Rhode Island cities and towns,” are doing the Lord’s work.

Thank God for rich people.

Making Smart People Stupid

But that’s not how progressives see it. And that’s not how they want others to see it either.

Unfortunately, progressives specialize in making smart people stupid. They train people to think with their hearts instead of their heads; to treat truth as a relative reality; to believe facts depend on the messenger – in this case, the messenger’s wealth.

Normal Person: “Two plus two equals four.”

Liberal: “Wait, before I can trust you, I need to know how much money is in your pocket right now!”

By constantly injecting emotion into legitimate controversies (for the most part, with charges of bigotry and greed, and with the temptation of envy) progressives have enabled themselves to bypass penetrating discourse by rendering various political disputes as one all-out war between good and evil. From then on, that’s all people have to know. The world must be saved from Republicans! The world must be saved from the racists! The world must be saved from the one-percent!

Or maybe we just disagree on this one issue, guys. I mean, come on. Can we at least talk about it?

No, you’re a fascist! No War for Oil!

This week in Michigan, while trying to interact with union activists who were protesting right-to-work legislation, Fox News reporter Steven Crowder made a point that has been observed many times before, that leftists “don’t want dialogue.” When actually confronted by someone who seemed interested in debate, Crowder explained, “You don’t believe I have a right to not be in a union. I think that’s wrong.” The man responded, “You would never last in a union. Look at you.”

And now you know why conservative commentators write books titled, “Liberalism Is a Mental Disorder” (Savage).

Crowder would then be stalked by a handful of labor goons, and assaulted with a sucker-punch.

And now you know why conservative commentators write books titled, “How To Talk To a Liberal – If You Must” (Coulter).

Intellectual Dishonesty

Of course, leading leftists are careful not to explicitly make too much of Mr. Arnold’s personal wealth. They just sort of, well, mention it.

Because if they actually did come out and tell everyone what the primary objective is of focusing on the wealth of their political opposition, they wouldn’t be able to admit what it truly is – which is to perpetuate an advantageous falsehood, the notion that the Left is powerless and without billionaire backers of its own.

In place of this intellectual honesty, progressives employ innuendos to make their point, crafting headlines that mention “billionaires” and the “one-percent.” Then they couch their true political strategy – as well as their irrational disdain for the rich – within legitimate concerns, such as “transparency” and “money in politics.” Especially “out of state” money.

The Providence Journal writes that the outing of John Arnold has “touched off a debate about transparency and the role of money in politics.”

No it hasn’t. Progressives don’t really care about these things. Are we to believe that unions – who spend more money each election cycle than both political parties combined – have a problem with “money in politics?” Or that left-wing activists have a problem with “out of state” money influencing local issues? These are the people who just sent millions of dollars in “out of state” cash – as well as “out of state” activists – to Wisconsin and Michigan to assist their unionized “brothers and sisters.”

Transparency? These are the people who don’t want anyone to have to show an ID at the voting booth.

For progressives, this is about never missing an opportunity to brainwash and propagandize the Rhode Island citizenry, to inject more emotion into debates that should be based on math and reason.

Because once the intellect is spoiled, all the progressive puppeteers need to do is point out that a representative from the “one-percent” is involved in the controversy, and the liberal minions – like a mob of monkeys – will understand it as a call to action.

The disclosure of John Arnold’s support of EngageRI simply gave the Rhode Island Left an opportunity to continue their effort to dumb down as many Rhode Islanders as possible – to once again make them disregard the fact that two plus two equals four.

Travis Rowley (TravisRowley.com) is the author of The RI Republican: An Indictment of the Rhode Island Left.

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