On 6/3/10, Bruce Majors <[email protected]> wrote: > Publisher's Note: From now until after the November election, we will be > sending out a free version of TIA Daily to our entire mailing list—including > former subscribers and trial subscribers. Please enjoy our coverage of the > political battle in this extraordinary and important election season. Feel > free to forward our newsletter on to your friends, and tell them to sign up > in the "trial subscription" box at our website, www.TIADaily.com, if they > want to receive this free version. (If you don't want to receive TIA Daily, > use the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of this newsletter.) Article like > the one below will also be posted every day at TIADaily.com. > > The central issue of the November election, in my view, is the Obama's > administration's attempt to break the last of the bonds that used to curtail > the power of government. This year will decide whether *any* limits remain > on the power of the state. That's why I'm trying to rapidly increase the > distribution of TIA Daily, in order to provide more ammunition to more > people as we fight this ideology battle for liberty.—RWT > > [image: TIADaily.com] <http://www.TIADaily.com> > > > > *TIA Daily* • *June 2, 2010 * > > *FEATURE ARTICLE* > > *The Gods of the Copybook Headings* > > Europe Pays the Price for Defying Reality > > *by Robert Tracinski* > > European markets continue to > collapse<http://www.marketwatch.com/story/euro-slips-after-germanys-president-resigns-2010-05-31?dist=beforebell>as > the Southern European welfare states slide into insolvency. > > There has been a lot of discussion about the cause of this disaster, but to > any good Kipling fan the answer is obvious: it's The Gods of the Copybook > Headings <http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_copybook.htm>. > > The title of Rudyard Kipling's poem is obscure today but would have been > clear to any educated Englishman of his day. A copybook was a kind of > penmanship exercise in which the student copied over and over again a > sentence printed in the heading at the top of each page. These copybook > headings were usually aphorisms or statements of commonsense wisdom, so > Kipling used the Gods of the Copybook Headings as a symbol for basic, > immutable truths. > > We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn > That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn. > > The point of the poem is that the various schemes for "social progress" > being promoted at the time—and most of them are still with us today—are > based on denying the basic truths represented by the Gods of the Copybook > Headings. > > With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch, > They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch; > They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings; > So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things. > > > Kipling's derisive reference to the "Gods of the Market Place" was not > intended as anti-capitalist. "The market" is not short for "the free > market," as it is in contemporary parlance. Rather, the "market" refers to > the public spaces where people gather to listen to demagogues who promise > the impossible and the irrational—the function performed by CNN today. > > Which brings us to modern politicians and the collapse of the European > welfare state. See if you recognize this warning from Kipling. > > In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all, > By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul; > But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy, > And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: *"If you don't work you die."* > > That's a concise summary of the inevitable disaster of the welfare state. > And more: it names a key part of the mentality behind it—the systematic > evasion of basic, obvious truths. > > Who thought this was ever going to work? Who thought we could build a > society in which an ever-increasing number of citizens are told that they > don't have to work and that their needs will be provided for by somebody > else—while the burden is shoved onto the shoulders of an ever-smaller, > ever-more-despised minority of producers? > > That's what Greece did, shifting a huge number of its citizens onto the > government payroll and creating a lavish pension scheme in which the average > retirement age is 61 and workers in some fields are guaranteed retirement at > age 50. When the overloaded private sector could no longer pay for all of > this, the Greek government borrowed money to paper over the shortfall—until > the Gods of the Copybook Headings caught up with them and their scheme came > crashing down. > > We're all headed in that direction. A recent > report<http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/income/2010-05-24-income-shifts-from-private-sector_N.htm>revealed > an ominous statistic. And I'm not using "ominous" in the loose, > sloppy modern way that just means "vaguely bad." By "ominous," I mean: this > is a harbinger of societal collapse. > > The statistic? The percentage of income in the US that is derived from > government payments—welfare benefits plus government payroll—is reaching an > all-time high, while the percentage of income derived from private-sector > wages is reaching an all-time low. If I understand the figures in this > report, they imply that the government is paying out two dollars in income > for every three dollars of private income. > > Put simply, the takers are eating up the makers. > > At some point—and it's not too far off—there just isn't going to be enough > private income to seize to pay for the public income. The system is > inherently, *mathematically* unsustainable. But nobody cares about > mathematics. The welfare state is based on denying the truth that two and > two make four. > > The report linked to above quotes an economist who worries that "People are > paid for being rather than for producing." And that's what reminded me of > Kipling. His poem concludes by describing what will happen when "the brave > new world begins." > > When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins, > As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn, > The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return! > > That brings us to the motivation for this evasion of reality. It is not just > avarice for unearned wealth, as Kipling implies. It is avarice for unearned > wealth—combined with a moral code that makes parasitism seem noble. The > altruist creed that one man's need gives him a claim on the wealth produced > by others is not just an injustice—Kipling describes it as a system that > hands out undeserved rewards, while shielding men from punishment for their > vices. It is also an attempt to overturn the law of cause and effect. The > cause of wealth is *production*, but the altruist welfare state is built on > the assumption that a man's *need* will bring him wealth, regardless of > whether or not he produces anything. In order to maintain a moral code that > makes need into the ultimate moral claim—while denigrating as "greed" the > virtues of hard work, ambition, and success—the defenders of altruism have > to stage a rebellion against reality. In this, they are supported by a whole > network of modern intellectuals and philosophers, who tell them that there > is no objective truth and that reality is whatever we collectively choose to > believe. In effect, this is an excuse to say that when their moral theories > conflict with reality, it is reality that will bend. > > But reality is absolute and always asserts itself in the end, with dreadful > consequences for those who rebel against it. > > If you think that the last line of Kipling's poem, the part about terror and > slaughter, is over the top, remember that this poem was written in 1919, > when the terror and slaughter of World War I were still fresh. (The Battle > of Loos had claimed an Irish Guard named John Kipling, the poet's only son.) > Mercifully, Kipling did not live to see the terror and slaughter to come. As > for the terror and slaughter this time around, take the riots in Greece—the > firebombs thrown at banks in the heart of Athens, burning three employees to > death—as a warning. > > Let's hope we don't get around to the terror and slaughter here in America. > Kipling tells us how we can avoid it. > > Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards > withdrew > And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true > That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four > And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more. > > There are no Gods of the Copybook Headings—not in the literal sense—so it is > going to be up to us, those who insist that reality is real and cannot be > cheated, to take on their role and limp up to explain it once more. > > *back to top* <#128fe2f741fcbdd5_TOC> > > ------------------------------ > > [image: TIADaily.com] <http://www.TIADaily.com> > > Copyright © 2010 by Tracinski Publishing Company > PO Box 8086, Charlottesville, VA 22906 > > To r > > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. 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