Rising Tide

If this is your first visit, look in the November archives for "Introduction".

I was reading a left wing article that was blazing on the bumper sticker bite "A rising tide lifts all boats."  For the life of me I couldn't figure out what the problem was, even having spent ten years on the left.

The ability for liberals to mis-understand is truly breath taking.  The writer was assuming that the bite was justifying the rich getting richer and that somehow conservatives believe that increasing wealth of the rich will benefit the poor.  Of course, that view is consistent with the liberal narrative that conservatives have no regard for the poor.

One must never forget that, for liberals, the truth is whatever is consistent with the ideologically driven liberal narrative. That is why just about everything liberals think they know about conservatives is erroneous. Nothing that is really true about conservatives fit the liberal narrative.

No. The bite refers to increasing the prosperity of the poor. If the poor prosper, that rising tide will lift the boats of the middle class and the rich.

The reason that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer (if that really is happening) is because the rich continue to do those things that makes them rich, and the poor continue to make decisions and engage in activities that make them poor. Taking from the rich and giving to the poor will not change that.

Fifty years of "The Great Society" initiatives have proven that.  In fact, if you view the results of the "War on Poverty" you must conclude that poverty won.

Rabbit Trail: Always keeping in mind that we are talking about conditions here in the USA.  In countries where freedom and opportunity do not exist poverty is unavoidable. 

The view of the conservative is, that to truly benefit the poor, the poor should be given the tools to prosper.

The United States has proven that if you set the human spirit free unbelievable things will happen.

Shores of Tripoli

If this is your first visit, go to "Archives": "November 2014" and read "Introduction".

It is good to remember some history. 

In the 18^th and early 19^th centuries, the Mediterranean Sea was in the grips of Muslim terror from the Ottoman provinces of North Africa generally referred to as the Barbary States. It should be noted that though the Barbary States were nominally a part of the Ottoman Empire, the Empire had little practical influence over the States. 

The practice was for Barbary pirates to capture European and American merchant ships, steal the ships and cargo, and hold the crews.  The Barbary States then demanded tribute to free the crews and curtail the practice.

The new born United States, having just fought the Revolutionary War, sent an ambassador to the region to try and reach an agreement with the Barbary States.  There is much history in all this that I do not intend to go into at this point, but the upshot was that the negotiations resulted in a treaty. It was during these negotiations that Thomas Jefferson, the above mention ambassador, uttered the famous words “millions for defense, not one penny for tribute”.

It is interesting to note that the Tripoli ambassador, during the negotiations, presented the following view point as reported by Thomas Jefferson:

“It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy's ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once.”

Stack this along side the recent statements of Imam Anjem Choudary.

Religion of Peace?  Well, provided you convert to Islam.

Shortly after Thomas Jefferson was sworn in as President, the Barbary States habit of infringing on the treaty became too numerous and blatant to ignore.  President Jefferson sent the new U.S. Navy in to the region following authorization from Congress to do all necessary to protect US ships and citizens.

The result was a two-year war with one of the Barbary States, Tripoli.  The Navy, along with the Marines (remember the hymn) prosecuted the war to a victory over Tripoli, which resulted in a treaty with the Ottoman Empire that ended the piracy (terror) of the Barbary States.

Perhaps there are some lessons for our current invertebrate leadership.