All Is Revealed

We have no excuse for missing the signs when they are clearly before our eyes. Many of us heard what he said (and what he didn't say) during the campaign. Many tried to sound alarms, but we were badly outnumbered by people who didn't listen or didn't hear or possibly wrote their own skewed interpretation in their minds regardless. Now we reap the whirlwind.

Here comes yet another one to listen to:

Profit Is Bad, The People Own It All

One need not search too deeply to reveal that today's Venezuela is moving backward in great strides. A nation with rich natural resources in a world fueled by oil, is somehow diving into bankruptcy through application of socialist policies by a megalomaniacal madman. Naturally Oliver Stone would think that Hugo Chavez was Simon Bolivar, George Washington, Alexander the Great and Michaelangelo wrapped up into one red-shirted chubby little slice of churrasco.

Try this on:

"America's country's natural wealth was too important to be left in private hands, telling journalists in central London that oil and other natural resources "belong to the people."

Somehow that ignores the fact that some free enterprise investor has to take great risk and devote considerable effort to capturing that resource. "The people" would crawl blithely by on their knees and knuckles unaware of the existance of the resource.

But, if you really want to see how warped this man's thinking is, consider this rambling non-sequitur on socialism:

"We shouldn't make this kind of profit on oil or on health or on war or on prisons. All these industries should be public industries."

On health, does he seek medical care from affirmative action staffed bureaucrats? Does he anticipate that a skilled neurosurgeon will be available for minimum wage? Does he ask technology companies to build newer MRIs, CT scans and diagnostic tools for the sheer joy of contributing to the public welfare? What motivates progress in Stone's perfect world?

Maybe he hasn't been to war if he views war as a profitable industry. Possibly he can't weigh the economics of war with the destruction of life and property and the consumption of inordinate amounts of material and personnel. What "profit" other than defense of his worthless hide does he see in war?

And finally, maybe he hasn't checked up on who runs prisons lately. Prisons might be a growth industry but it isn't free enterprise, it doesn't make any profit, and there isn't a lot of private investment in the business.

The frightening thing isn't that someone influential like Stone is saying these things. He is a buffoon and we've known it for decades. The scary part is that he isn't alone. We know there are the Michael Moores and Sean Penns and Alec Baldwins out there, but we also should become aware that there are the Eric Holders and Janet Napolitanos and Elena Kagans and Tim Geithners and Donald Berwicks.

They believe that free market capitalism and American liberty are evil. They don't hide it. They tell us freely.

We have to start listening.