Posted by Tina
“A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.” – Benjamin Franklin
Our President signed an executive order in between the Popes visit and the fancy state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping. The order, “Using Behavioral Science Insights to Better Serve the American People,” is a plan based on a book by Obama’s former regulatory czar Cass Sunstein and University of Chicago economist Richard H. Thaler. This pair of central planners believe it’s the governments job to “nudge” the good citizen’s of America to make the right choices:
“People often make poor choices — and look back at them with bafflement! We do this because as human beings, we all are susceptible to a wide array of routine biases that can lead to an equally wide array of embarrassing blunders in education, personal finance, health care, mortgages and credit cards, happiness, and even the planet itself…. A nudge, as we will use the term, is any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives.”
They call this system, “libertarian paternalism,” an oxymoron if ever there was one! Ronald Reagan, the modern voice of individual liberty, would slam this idea back to it’s old white men Leninist roots.
Mr. President explains:
“By improving the effectiveness and efficiency of Government, behavioral science insights can support a range of national priorities, including helping workers to find better jobs, enabling Americans to lead longer, healthier lives; improving access to educational opportunities and support for success in school; and accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy.”
Father knows best? No, not in the brave new world of progressive government. Progressives hated that show from the fifties because it placed dear old dad at the head of the family in the minds of America’s children…who needed to be manipulated (nudged) into relying on the federal government instead.
How does Obama’s “government knows best” executive order hope to accomplish his intent? Easy! Propaganda government! Hire behavioral science experts and place them in every department to “nudge the people through policies” that entice people to act in the direction progressives want us to go. The “fictitious miracle” of health, wealth, opportunity and a perfect environment will be the bait used to attract the support of the masses.
The “godfather” of this god awful idea, Edward Bernays, was the master propagandist of Woodrow Wilson’s time:
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country… We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of…”
Frank Miele – Daily Interlake in Montana brought this news to my attention today in his always informative and educational column.
I am of course disgusted by the anti-American in the oval office. I am disgusted by the fact that this is just the tail of the dog of manipulation started long ago. After seventy some years of progressive ideas and progressive “nudging” too many of the American people have no experience of the value of freedom and limited government and we are fast becoming a nation of serfs.
The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles. – -John Adams
Radical elitist progressives in positions of power promise utopia and deliver shared misery through central planning and now, “paternal libertarianism.”
“Fictitious miracles” indeed!
Agreed.
Tina nails it down tight.
Thanks Pie. All we have to do is look at the EPA of late, or NYC, to see our future.
The EPA’s unreasonable demands have forced businesses to close, eliminating jobs, and will force energy prices sky high.
In New York City the mayor was regulating the size of soft drinks and the salt content in foods.
Give every department of government a free hand and our nation will be and even bigger mess than it already is.
Cass Sunstein is one “weird dude” right up there with “spooky dude” George Soros. Both want to control the world by forcing people to live by their standards.
Quotes:
“We ought to ban hunting”
– Cass Sunstein, in a 2007 speech at Harvard University
Watch Video
“[A]lmost all gun control legislation is constitutionally fine. And if the Court is right, then fundamentalism does not justify the view that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms. ”
– Cass Sunstein, writing in his book, “Radicals in Robes”
Read full text
“Animals should be permitted to bring suit, with human beings as their representatives …”
– 2004 book Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions
Read full text
“[Humans’] willingness to subject animals to unjustified suffering will be seen … as a form of unconscionable barbarity… morally akin to slavery and the mass extermination of human beings.”
– Cass Sunstein, in a 2007 speech at Harvard University
Watch video
“[T]here should be extensive regulation of the use of animals in entertainment, in scientific experiments, and in agriculture.”
– Cass Sunstein, “The Rights of Animals: A Very Short Primer,”
August 2002.
Read full text
“A system of limitless individual choices, with respect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest of citizenship and self-government.”
-Cass Sunstein, arguing for a Fairness Doctrine for the
Internet in his book, Republic.com 2.0 (page 137).
https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Article/063885-2010-01-15-listing-of-cass-sunsteins-quotes-articles-and-videos.htm
He’s also married to Samantha Powers, US ambassador to the UN, which is a whole other major concern.
A Look at Obama’s New UN Ambassador: Radical Samantha Power:
“Power is anti-Israel, embraces the Palestinians and said during an interview at the Institute of International Studies at UC Berkeley in 2002:
“[W]hat we need is a willingness to put something on the line in helping the situation. Putting something on the line might mean alienating a domestic constituency of tremendous political and financial import; it may more crucially mean sacrificing — or investing, I think, more than sacrificing — billions of dollars, not in servicing Israel’s military, but actually investing in the new state of Palestine, in investing the billions of dollars it would probably take, also, to support what will have to be a mammoth protection force, not of the old Rwanda kind, but a meaningful military presence. Because it seems to me at this stage (and this is true of actual genocides as well, and not just major human rights abuses, which were seen there), you have to go in as if you’re serious, you have to put something on the line.”
It’s essential that some set of principles becomes the benchmark, rather than a deference to [leaders] who are fundamentally politically destined to destroy the lives of their own people. … I do think in that sense, both political leaders have been dreadfully irresponsible. And, unfortunately, it does require external intervention…Any intervention is going to come under fierce criticism. But we have to think about lesser evils, especially when the human stakes are becoming ever more pronounced.”
So, Obama has chosen an anti-Israel ambassador to represent the United States at the anti-Israel United Nations. What could possibly go wrong?”
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/06/05/a-look-at-obamas-new-un-ambassador-radical-samantha-power-n1613587
Russian, Iranian Leaders: Assad Must Remain in Power:
http://www.voanews.com/content/russian-iranian-leaders-assad-must-remain-in-power/2982185.html
Samantha Power: Saudi Arabia Heading UN Human Rights Panel Is Only A “Procuedural Position”:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/09/27/samantha_power_saudi_arabia_heading_human_rights_panel_is_a_procuedural_position.html