Letter to Editor by Derek King
“Global warming is the most important issue facing our country right now,” said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in front of a packed crowd at Memorial Coliseum. I take issue with that statement. I’m not here to get into a debate on global warming, but would like to ask Mr. Kennedy how he could say such a thing.
We are currently engaged in two major conflicts: In Iraq and of course, with the recent troop deployments in Afghanistan. We have over ten percent unemployment, an outrageously high number, and about 44 million people who have no healthcare. And global warming is our biggest issue? Did you know that since 2001, the earth has actually been cooling? January 2008 was one of the coldest months in 20 years and since 2007 we have seen a massive drop in climate. I’m not a scientist and won’t pretend to be. I certainly don’t have all the facts. But I do know that right now, America is at a crossroads. With recent bailouts slapping Adam Smith in the face and some of the most important pieces of legislation ever passing through congress, we can’t worry about global warming.
I will agree with Kennedy on this: free market capitalism is the answer. It’s the answer to most of our problems with big government. And as he said in his speech, not the watered down kind that is corrupted by politicians but true capitalism. We achieve this, not by healthcare reform or tax reform or environment reform, but by politician reform! We need to send responsible, concerned citizens to Washington, not lifetime politicians looking out for nothing but getting re-elected. Dr. Rand Paul is the change this country needs. As senator, he will never vote for an unbalanced budget and will not accept donations from those looking for a kick-back once he’s in power. He’s by the people and for the people and will help put a stop to reckless spending in Washington and focus on this country’s real problems.
Derek King
history and political science sophomore
“Did you know that since 2001, the earth has actually been cooling? January 2008 was one of the coldest months in 20 years and since 2007 we have seen a massive drop in climate. I’m not a scientist and won’t pretend to be. I certainly don’t have all the facts.”
You’re certainly right about one thing there – you don’t have all the facts. The earth has only been “cooling” since 2001 because it the year’s immediately preceding were the hottest in the history of our planet. The post-2001 “cooling” you’re attempting to describe actually includes the other four hottest years in recorded history.
Perhaps you should spend less time trumpeting whatever Rand Paul tells you and more time fact-checking?
The people are waking up and taking this country back.
Check out KentuckyFight(.)com and see the funding difference between these two candidates. Rand is receiving donations from the people. Grayson receives his money from Career Senators (17 of whom voted for the bailout).
Vote for Real Change, Vote for the Only real Conservative in this race – Vote Rand Paul
Taylor-So where was his inaccurate statement? Thanks for the information. Now I have 2 people to verify that the earth has been cooling since 2001. Maybe you should spend less time posting on the internet and more time asking why the opposition to the war disappeared once Obama was elected? Shame on the left and shame on the MSM. Obama never had intentions to end the war, he just knew you gullible sheep would vote for him if he said so and nothing would be said if he didn’t. He was right.
Civilization has adjusted to “global warming” (& cooling) over the centuries.
There can be no adjustment to loss of freedom caused by government takeover of the free market, except more loss.
Are you kidding me… free market capitalism will save the day… yeah right. If you thought long and critically about this you’d realize you’re wrong. You’d realize the flaws in a “true free market capitalism.” Even more than that you’d realize the idiocy involved in thinking that one person looking for political power is any less corrupt than another looking for that same power. Moreover, you’d discover the flaw in thinking that electing 1 different person to an already broken system, no matter how morally or righteously just that person is, won’t fix the problem at hand. One more thing. If you really think that it’s better, or possible for that matter, to take care of each of the problems you listed in your article one at a time then you are sadly mistaken my friend. Each of these issues hinges on another an more deeply rooted problem, you can’t simply say “We’ll take care of this health care, then economic reform, then unemployment, then the environment.” or any other proposed order. They need to be taken care of simultaneously and if you don’t think that’s possible… then my friend you are sadly mistaken and lack the imagination and determination necessary to help take care of one of these problems let alone all of them.
GLOBAL WARMING SINCE THE END OF THE LAST ICE AGE.
Politicians (either capitalist or socilaist) can pass all the B.S. Laws and Regulations they want and this course of action will have nill effect upon carbon footprints. There is a law of physics known as ‘The Conservation of Energy.’ As long as mankind utilizes some sorce of enegry, heat and chemicals will be released into the biosphere and the death of earth and mankind is sealed.
Global warming debates won’t get us anywhere these days. The interesting thing is Al Gore’s fortune was made through free-market capitalism. I bet you dollars to donuts that he would never ever have made a cent if he posted his Inconvenient Truth for free. Why didn’t he just post clips of it on YouTube or some free service like HuLu or whatever and spread his Gospel message virally? $$$
Free market capitalism can help the Green movement. If the winds of the time are changing, if the consumer mentality is going green, companies will change their products and new companies which are more green conscious will surely benefit.
Finally there should be term limits on politicians. Also, Congressional pay should be capped relative to the national average or some number over the national poverty line (3X over or some crap); most are lawyers anyways and are receiving paychecks for being partners. For every year that Congress doesn’t balance the budget their pay will actually decrease by a proportion. This is the kind of Change I was hoping for. Instead our country’s Change includes more taxes, bailouts, czars, and health care reform where Doctors are expected to work free and still have to pay malpractice!
Free market capitalism sure fucking helped us during the market crash that caused the Great Depression, the laissez-faire theory that led to the deregulation of housing markets in Grahm-Leach-Bliley which caused our current state of affairs. Free market capitalism sure did a GREAT fucking job of ending child labor, promoting women’s rights in the workplace by enforcing equal pay for equal work, and ending discrimination towards minorities for work opportunities. Give me a fucking break.
Your thought process is that of an uneducated toddler, so adolescent and devoid of facts it would be inherently adorable if not for the fact that you and similar idiots to you are the reason we have ardent deniers of scientific facts (global warming, evolution, current state of affairs in wars, the size of the crisis we face in health care, etc).
You said this: “We have over ten percent unemployment, an outrageously high number, and about 44 million people who have no healthcare. And global warming is our biggest issue?”
No one said global warming is *our* biggest issue. It is humanity’s biggest issue. Just because the beast you worship with such furor that is capitalism has ran off the tracks again does not mean we can actively deny scientific data and evidence so overt and so incredibly undeniable that not even those with the most pedestrian understanding of our situation would refuse the facts.
I can’t believe someone actually cited the law of fucking “conservation of energy” as a foolproof rebuttal towards global warming. The problem here are CARBON (and in some small part) METHANE emissions into the atmosphere as a result of BURNING FOSSIL FUELS from CARBON REMAINS left for millions of years in the ground. I honestly don’t know why I am arguing this with anyone, honestly. Anyone that in this point in humanity that denies such things as this are inherently retarded and so blinded by their defunct ideology that they refuse to admit ignorance.
“Dr. Rand Paul is the change this country needs. As senator, he will never vote for an unbalanced budget ”
For a man that literally sucks the dick of capitalism, he is an ignorant tool if he does not understand fiscal policy and the need to run a deficit during recessions. Please pick up any microeconomics book directed towards toddlers to better educate yourself, because propositions such as this are literally there so uneducated children such as you follow blindly.
For someone who is so opinionated in economics, you would think a basic education in its science would be a priority.
I am literally so blindsided by ignorance in this article and these responses that it I feel like I am one more foolish response away from an aneurysm.
“Congressional pay should be capped relative to the national average or some number over the national poverty line (3X over or some crap); most are lawyers anyways and are receiving paychecks for being partners.”
We already have impositions in place to hold congress from giving themselves pay raises, here is the 27th amendment for babby: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment27/
The suggestion we use the federal poverty line to gauge payment federal legislators is hilarious and completely ignores where they get most of their money (read: as “fellows” at PACs, “think-tanks,” or gifts from lobbyists. if you wish to eliminate outlandish payments to congressmen, you will have to convince congressmen to actually legislate against the hand that feeds them, not their fucking federal pay. hahaha you libertarians are such children).
I’m too outraged to continue making fun and picking apart your arguments here so I will check back in a few hours and actually pick arguments apart empirically.
RAND PAUL 2010: WELL HE’S A DOCTOR, HIS DAD DELIVERED LIKE 9000 BABIES.
VOTE RAND PAUL: CHILDREN DIEING IN THE STREETS, HEALTH CARE REDUCED TO DEREGULATION LIKE RETAIL BANKING AND ALL INCORPORATION IN SOUTH DAKOTA, FREE MARKET FREE MARKET!
DO YOU HATE CHILD LABOR LAWS? OSHA? THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION? PUBLIC SCHOOLS? **BIG** SCARY GOVERNMENT MAKING YOU PAY THOSE BLACK PEOPLE THE SAME WAGE AS A WHITE MAN? DO YOU MISS THE GREAT DEPRESSION? FEUDALISM? SLAVERY? DO YOU WISH TO LIVE IN A COUNTRY LIKE SOMALIA ONE DAY? VOTE FOR RAND PAUL, AND LAISSEZ FAIRE FREE MARKET CAPITALISM!!!!!!
“It’s the answer to most of our problems with big government.”
Hey derek this question is specifically for you: What in our government is currently BIG? I want you to cite–specifically–examples of things that are too big and need to be cut. I want you to tell me exactly why they should be cut, and their relation to other things in our budget. Then I want you to imagine a pie graph for me, and tell me (because I assume you are completely unfamiliar with percents) exactly how much of that pie is used to fund these very specific government programs that you despise.
I’m being dead serious and I honestly hope you do not ignore this post because I have a feeling a great amount of comedy will ensue immediately following.
Couldn’t agree more, Myles.
Derek, perhaps a rudimentary understanding of the histories of Chile, Argentina, Poland, Russia, China, etc. will enlighten you to the efficacy of the free market. It’s worked wonders throughout the world. Keep stroking the dick that screws you.
Myles-
I’ll tell you what we can jettison in the government, how about the Department of Energy, Department of Education, Department of Agriculture, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Commerce, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac.
We can phase out Social Security and Medicare over the next 40 years, I think that would be a good start. Oh, and the part of the federal government I would most like to get rid of would be the IRS.
Clearly you have no clue about economics or history, ottherwise you would know that the way we got out of the depression of 2010 was to slash the federal budget by half, not by running a deficit. Fool.
If you love big government so much, then donate your entire paycheck to it, or better yet, pay my tax bill.
Myles Bouren says:
September 22, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Free market capitalism sure fucking helped us during the market crash that caused the Great Depression, the laissez-faire theory that led to the deregulation of housing markets in Grahm-Leach.”
WOW. Myles Bouren has some BIG FUCKING PROBLEMS DEALING WITH FACTS AND REALITY.
Let us see, hummmmm Both Communists and Capitalists ran out of assets during the Great Depression.
What the Fuck Over Explain That.
“For a man that literally sucks the dick of capitalism, he is an ignorant tool if he does not understand fiscal policy and the need to run a deficit during recessions. Please pick up any microeconomics book directed towards toddlers to better educate yourself, because propositions such as this are literally there so uneducated children such as you follow blindly.”
You snot nosed bastard has sold your soul to Behavioral Economics. Economics is not a Science, Economics is not an Art, Economics is mere Voodoo Conjecture and Bull Shit Statistics.
Hey Asshole, How Big is your checkbook, probably in the Red like your penis.
The Kernel’s Letter’s to the Editor is a constant reminder that education does not equal intelligence. For that, I thank you.
Thanks, Derek, for that grown up article. Those who disagree with you (political rants) are wrong. Keep up the good work. Its refreshing on campus with all the brainwashing and bias being spewed out in the classrooms.
@Marcia Thacher
What Derek wrote was a political rant. It wasn’t an in depth study or an investigative story. It was a political rant with no point other than to communicate to the world “I think I’m right”.
I don’t see how you can claim left-wing brainwashing and bias when the kernel only prints right-wing opinion.
Interesting piece. Generating prosperity is a complex task, and requires the confluence of many factors.
Here’s a thumbnail of what it takes, in my view, for a society to be prosperous:
1) An inventive / innovative class; people have to want to invent things and processes;
2) Cross-culturalization, where multiple inventors get together and compare their inventions, and newer \ better inventions are created;
3) Seaports or trade route intersections;
4) Business flowing from invention / innovation;
5) Decent Jobs flowing from business, so people can take care of their families with pride;
6) A reasonably decent life flowing from more people having jobs; and
7) Education encouraging the repeat of the process.
Either some force in society sets this in motion, governs the process, and maintains it, or it does not. If you leave it to chance, you might be on top for a while but you will not be on top indefinitely. But that is a cost of freedom, when you do not direct people what to do with their lives.
My suspicion is that China will be the next world power because they tell more people what to do, and they are more controlling. More free? Of course not. But more planning, organization, consistency, and coordination take place under their model. We in the U.S. use the “herding cats†model, and there are benefits and costs associated with it. One cost is its mercurial and uneven results, but it is the one that we have chosen.
We’ve needed more inventors for years, and few in our country have paid attention to that issue. Simply look at the dramatic decrease in U.S. students studying engineering in this country, and the significant decline in basic research.