Shot in the Dark

Don’t Parc The Arc

I saw this on social media over the the last week or so – a quote from Martin Luther King…:

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

…followed by a list of moral advances that’d seem to prove the proposition:

1776: Do we really need a king?
1863: Should people own slaves?
1954: Should schools be desegregated?
1967: Can a state legally prohibit interracial marriage?
2017: Is taxation theft?

The guy who wrote the post – who I think would fairly describe himself as an anarcho-libertarian –  meant well.  So did the guy who made the original quote, Martin Luther King.

But can there be a more toxic, wishful, pollyannaish platitude than this one?

Kevin Williamson reframed it well – the moral arc of the universe bends inexorably toward tyranny and barbarism.   

Look st the list of moral advances of the past 241years.  through the good graces of pushback against *that* moral arc, often at huge risk (like the signers of the Declaration of Independence); the king and slavery were removed with an exceptional amount of bloodshed; desegregation was neither bloodless nor inevitable.   The fact that some struggles don’t require bloodshed show that our society can, often, work out issues without going to war.

Not sure that aphorism recognizes what an anomaly modern Western civilization is.   Definitely sure people who casually use the saying don’t know it.

Posted

in

by

Mitch Berg

Tags:

Comments

10 responses to “Don’t Parc The Arc”

  1. nerdbert Avatar
    nerdbert

    In 1776 the Big Idea was that the People should be able to govern themselves.

    in 240 years later the Big Idea was that DNA-identified men should be allowed to use women’s bathrooms.

    Who says Western Civ isn’t progressing?!

  2. Penigma Avatar
    Penigma

    Sorry Mitch, NO, that last one is not seen as a moral question.

    Government generally is seen as necessary to the orderly function of society. Government needs revenue to pay the people who do that work. Further, the consent of the governed is required for government to survive. So, by obvious fact, there is consent. Perhaps not by all, but by enough or change would ensue. The underlying question, though, is not one of theft, consent exists or it would be revoked, until it is revoked, it exists.

    More important moral imperatives which you conveniently left off…
    1. Is everything fair in war (1945-1947) – decidedly not
    2. Are poll taxes or other impediments which restrain the franchise moral (1950-1960) – again, decidedly not, which raises the question of why Republicans keep trying to restrain it.
    3. Are gays entitled to basic human rights (2015)
    4. What is the appropriate point of compromise between capital and labor – in short, how much does labor contribute, should we be concerned with falling consumption (and the impacts of falling relative wages), and should we be concerned with the plight of the working class in general? (Whether that’s manifested in pay or benefits or otherwise)/

    http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/14/news/economy/us-economy-retail-sales/index.html?iid=ob_homepage_deskrecommended_pool

    5. Is health care a moral imperative (1945-2017), most of the world has said yes, we are behind the curve on addressing this issue.

    These are some real moral questions, questions about being responsible to fund the government – for programs you like and for those you don’t, that aint one of them.

  3. TheFedSucks Avatar
    TheFedSucks

    “4. What is the appropriate point of compromise between capital and labor – in short, how much does labor contribute, should we be concerned with falling consumption (and the impacts of falling relative wages), and should we be concerned with the plight of the working class in general? (Whether that’s manifested in pay or benefits or otherwise)/“

    This PROBLEM is a function of modern DISCRETIONARY central banking, which is a statist, RINO, Democrat, socialist concept. Capital has been unjustly favored over labor since LBJ pushed on Arthur Burns to give him guns and butter. If anyone thinks other government force or unions or whatever is going to fix this they are wrong. P.S. it’s too late to not do this the brutal way. Buckle up

  4. TheFedSucks Avatar
    TheFedSucks

    “5. Is health care a moral imperative (1945-2017), most of the world has said yes, we are behind the curve on addressing this issue.

    These are some real moral questions, questions about being responsible to fund the government – for programs you like and for those you don’t, that aint one of them.”

    The STATIST STUPIDITY of the employment based health insurance from WW2 and Medicare / Medicaid has made ***POLITICALLY FORCED*** UNIVERSAL COVERAGE inevitable. The only question is if we do something intelligent like Switzerland and Singapore or not. This moment is about stopping the rising tide of socialism.

  5. TheFedSucks Avatar
    TheFedSucks

    So, You Want a Swiss Health-Care System? http://bit.ly/2tU10t0

  6. TheFedSucks Avatar
    TheFedSucks

    Ep. 931 Political Representation: Another Bogus Government Concept http://tomwoods.com/ep-931-political-representation-another-bogus-government-concept/

    —–

    The nsa has a couple of comments in the bin above for the record.

  7. TheFedSucks Avatar
    TheFedSucks

    Name a government actuarial system that isn’t a disaster. Why isn’t the Federal Reserve going to bail out Illinois? Explain that to me.

    Joshua Rauh on Public Pensions | EconTalk | Library of Economics and Liberty http://bit.ly/2tBlaHr

  8. TheFedSucks Avatar
    TheFedSucks

    Why are there so many unfunded liabilities? Why is the debt to GDP so bad? What good has come from the government debt trajectory of the last 20 years?

    Why will this level of PERMANENT ***2%***GDP work out for anyone except the 1%.

    Should we vote on it?

    Be sure to vote!

    Name one thing Austrian economics gets wrong. I want to hear this.

    Save yourself—> Mises.org

  9. TheFedSucks Avatar
    TheFedSucks

    How do you (eh,hem) ***run*** a healthcare system without price signals? Why do people think this is possible?

    Can the GOSPLANNERS force people to be doctors and nurses? How does that work?

  10. TheFedSucks Avatar
    TheFedSucks

    July 18, 2017
    Pull Out the Addictive Medicaid Hook
    Obama’s team cast the hook and many Republican governors took the bait. As the Wall Street Journal columnist reports, “Once the governors took expanded Medicaid payments, they were hooked.”
    To appease governors, Republicans in Congress are planning how to keep this huge part of Obamacare intact. The federal government pays 90% of the cost of every Medicaid expansion recipient. There’s no cap.
    This increase in Medicaid funding has already led to less funding for transportation and education. Medicaid will eat Americans out of house and home, leading to economic decline and public dependency. It’s time for Americans to pull this addictive hook out of the mouths of Republican leaders.
    “The GOP’s Fatal Infatuation,” Daniel Henninger, The Wall Street Journal, July 6, 2017.
    Presented daily by Twila Brase, President, Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom.
    The Health Freedom Minute is now heard in 47 states: Mornings M-Th at AM1280 (The Patriot) in MN and 91.5 AM WHKC (FreedomFM) in OH,
    afternoons on American Family Radio, and daily on the CSN network and Bott Radio Network.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.