To be trapped in the boarding area of a smallish airport in the upper Midwest is, as often as not, to be subjected to that bestial din of fricatives, gutturals, plosives and shrieks of hysterical alarm that constitutes political discussion on Fox News . . .. The experience is especially nasty if one’s wait coincides with the prime-time shows hosted by those two almost indistinguishable fellows with the suety faces . . .. [O]nly in America, as they say. Only here is the word “socialism” freighted with so much perceived menace. I take this to be a symptom of our unique national genius for stupidity.
The disdain for what's left of the backbone of this country has grown strong and palpable in this blind snob, who, fittingly, has gained a lot of weight over the years as he dines out on his Christian, cultural criticism. Talk about a suety face.
I say blind because while Mr. Hart thinks he's proving the "everyday" merits of European "democratic socialism" in this New York Times op-ed he never once confronts the phony arithmetic which never subtracts the costs of European defense from their Treasuries but from ours. Remove their largely freely provided military umbrella and see how long healthcare remains "affordable" in those places, or those places remain politically free.
This pompous gasbag gets one thing nearly right, however: "Democratic socialism is, briefly put, . . . grounded in deep Christian convictions." Yes, in the deep Christian convictions of Americans who decade in and decade out keep thinking for some strange reason that defending the European civilization from which we sprang has been a worthwhile, indeed, Christian obligation. America, briefly put, makes the "success" of European "socialism" possible.
Maybe it's time we abandoned this sense of obligation and spent the money on ourselves instead. Mr. Hart can move over there and stay over there since he likes it so much and thinks it so superior, until he needs a cow or pig valve procedure like Mick Jagger.
Pig valve, I think, for Mr. David Pudding Head. We'll keep one ready. It's the Christian thing to do.
