Dennis Prager: Americans Hate Equality
| October 29th, 2008Dennis Prager has done America a huge favor. He’s finally just come right out and said what the hardcore righties actually believe:
Equality, which is the primary value of the left, is a European value, not an American value. Let me tell you that right now. I know this sounds offensive to half of my fellow Americans, because they have been Europeanized in their values. The French Revolution is not the American Revolution. The French Revolution said Liberty, Fraternity, Equality. The American Revolution said Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. We have lost touch with what our distinctive American values are. We have distinctive American values. … We have a better value system, and this is being protected by one of the two parties: the Republican party.
Yeah, where would we liberals get the stupid idea that there’s some self-evident truth that all people are created equal? Or the dumb concept that all are equal under the law? Probably from the French. Stupid French, what with their liberté, égalité, fraternité crap.
All snark aside…I mean, Sweet Zombie Jesus, does Prager actually listen to himself? That people are created equal, and endowed with inalienable rights — that’s the fundamental principle on which our nation was founded. To declare that Americans don’t believe in equality is like saying that Christians don’t believe in Jesus — it’s flatly and self-evidently false.
Of course, Prager doesn’t believe in equality. He thinks that some people are more deserving of civil rights than others. He was vocal in saying Rep. Keith Ellison, DFL-Minn., shouldn’t be allowed to be sworn in on a Qur’an, despite the Constitution’s clear and unambiguous language that there are no religious tests for office in this country. And he’s equated the threat of same-sex marriage with the threat of Islamic terrorism. Prager doesn’t think that some are deserving of equality under the law. And it’s clear in the bile he excretes.
Dennis Prager, as I’ve said before, is truly anti-American. He doesn’t believe in the ideals of our nation. He doesn’t believe in life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness — or at least, he doesn’t believe everyone should have the right to those things. Since I do believe in the ideals this country is founded on, I’m not going to suggest that Prager be silenced. No, in America, rights accrue equally to all, even those who reject that very notion. And the First Amendment applies to Prager no less than to me. Besides, I wouldn’t want Prager silenced, because in his venom he shows the exact kind of country he believes in, one where he and Napoleon the Pig would get along swimmingly.
October 29th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Ellison is D-MN, rep of the 5th CD. …for clarity’s sake.
This comment was written by sly c.Report this comment to the moderators
October 29th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
[...] on Alas, a blog: Dennis Prager says, “Americans Hate [...]
This comment was written by debgpi » Blog Archive » Equality! It’s not just for the French any more.Report this comment to the moderators
October 29th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Gah–typo.
This comment was written by Jeff Fecke.Report this comment to the moderators
October 29th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Prager the Pious was referring to a popular GOP bogeyman - Liberals want to ensure equality of outcome, not just equality of opportunity.
This comment was written by Steve J..Report this comment to the moderators
October 30th, 2008 at 4:11 am
I thought your declaration said that all men are created equal. If you want to adhere to the letter of the law, that is.
This comment was written by Lea.Report this comment to the moderators
October 31st, 2008 at 1:08 am
If you’re actually interesting in FACTS and would like to hear Dennis Prager discuss precisely what he said then move the slider to 40:00 here: http://dennisprager.townhall.com/MediaPlayer/AudioPlayer.aspx?ContentGuid=d41b7565-71f5-4804-9c21-e981bdfa9639
This comment was written by Robert W..Report this comment to the moderators
October 31st, 2008 at 10:14 am
You are very misleading in your post. I dare you to read my post and try to reconcile your statements.
Prager specifically says that he is not referring to equality of opportunity. He does not believe anyone should be discriminated against.
He is saying that American government has not and should not be responsible for ensuring economic equality, i.e. that after all is said and done, everyone has the same amount of money.
Because, after all, the way to ensure that everyone has equal net worth in the end is to redistribute wealth via taxes. Taxes, as we know, are forcefully imposed upon us.
How do we know this? Because if you do not pay your taxes, people with guns come to your house and haul you off to jail. So by definition, the requirement to taxes results in a lack of liberty.
So Prager is saying that American conservatives have placed liberty as a higher value than economic equality. When conservatives see people in need, they wish to help but not at the expense of someone else. They do not want to empower government to make the decision to take money from one person and give it to another.
They would rather see voluntary donations can be made by individuals, or they would rather grow the entire economy to help everyone together.
This is a key difference. Any inequality bugs the hell out of them. This is why Liberals love and praise places like Cuba. They love Cuba because everyone is at the same economic level. Forget that everyone is dirt poor–as long as no one has more than the other. Fantastic!
This comment was written by Chris.Report this comment to the moderators
November 1st, 2008 at 3:41 am
The problem is that even if we take his meaning as referring to ‘Economic Equality,’ he’s really really really wrong, as this post and this post, both from Matt Yglesias explain clearly.
Oh, and I couldn’t let this go by without comment:
Sure. So? That’s true of every law. Conservatives (and especially libertarians) like to pretend that there’s something special and magical and evil about taxes, but actually … it’s just pretty much how laws work. You live here, you obey the law. Don’t like it? Protest or leave.
Conservatives have no problem understanding this in any other context, but man oh man taxes sure are confusing.
—Myca
This comment was written by Myca.Report this comment to the moderators
November 1st, 2008 at 7:24 am
So, as a matter of policy and general principle lets have fewer laws and less taxes. After the bush administration I think there’s a huge opportunity for the left to pick up a lot of libertarians. Sure, they’ll never be on the same side wrt to the size and scope of government, but there’s plenty of common ground there.
This comment was written by Joe.Report this comment to the moderators
November 1st, 2008 at 2:24 pm
For me, especially after the last 8 years, I have a hard time reading ‘Libertarian’ as anything except ‘Republican who likes pot’.
Now, I’m all for picking up their votes, but considering how often they seem to be willing to abandon social liberalism in return for a promise to cut taxes, I’m not particularly interested in shifting our positions much in order to accommodate what seems to be essentially a foolishly one-issue party.
—Myca
This comment was written by Myca.Report this comment to the moderators
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
There’s something magical and evil about taxes because taxes are what government uses to fund it’s operations. The less money a government has the less power it has.
This comment was written by RonF.Report this comment to the moderators
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
In order to believe that redistribution of income is the best solution to the fact that some people don’t have enough money to live on seems to me premised on the concept that wealth is limited, and that you therefore have to take money from some people in order to make sure that everyone has enough. An alternative concept is that people can generate wealth and that through education and various kinds of assistance and the taking advantage of opportunity by working hard, poor people can gain wealth without taking money from other people to do it.
This comment was written by RonF.Report this comment to the moderators
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:32 pm
through education and various kinds of assistance
Which will be funded by what, taxing the already-poor?
This comment was written by PG.Report this comment to the moderators