Government Power Undermines Empathy

I got this article off American Thinker, yes again, but it is an eloquent way to say that government and liberals fuck us all without permission and not even any KY. This is why we want dems dead. Not even they laziest free thinking American (read non-liberal) will stand for being told what to do, think, or buy from the government.

Government Power Undermines Empathy
By Joel F. Wade

Empathy: The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also: the capacity for this.
- Merriam-Webster's dictionary

The fundamental quality of human relationship is empathy. Empathy enables you to understand another person's situation, make sense of his behavior, and distance yourself from you own initial self-absorbed reaction to what other people do. It is a supreme expression of consciousness, providing the ability to wait a moment and consider what's happening before acting.

Freedom and capitalism encourage empathy; government power and administrative nitpicking undermine it.

Before trade, the primary interaction among people of different groups was war. The enemy was not considered human; there was no reason for him to be. There was no benefit to expanding the range of empathy beyond one's group. Outside people did not exist within the moral circle of another tribe, and they did not enjoy the benefits of human empathy.

This all began to change with the beginnings of trade about 80,000 years ago. That's when we see marine shells painted and strung as necklaces far from the sea in Africa (see Matt Ridley's book, The Rational Optimist). How did they get there? From people outside the tribe who had something to trade. These shells were used as a medium of exchange, and it was the beginning of a visible expression of our common humanity.

Free exchange is the form of social interaction that most encourages human empathy. When you want something, and somebody else has that something that you want, you have several choices: You can steal it, you can beg him to give it to you, you can ask to borrow it, or you can exchange with your interlocutor something that has an equal or greater value to him.

Begging, borrowing, or stealing all put you in a position which naturally diminishes your empathy. The other person becomes "the thing that possesses something I want." If I use force to steal or appeal to the generosity of another to lend or give me what I want, it puts both of us in an adversarial position toward one another, or at the very least into a sort of dominant/submissive relationship.

The free trade of capitalism, on the other hand, encourages empathy. If I trade with somebody, we are equals. We have to consider each other's interests, likes, desires, and dislikes in order to make a good trade.

Free trade encourages very different people to seek common ground, to understand different ways of living so that we can understand what each one wants and effectively sell things to each other.

In a very real, social sense, it is trade that has brought out the very best of humanity.

Trade does not make everybody angels, and it does not negate human nature. But it does encourage us to understand and accept human nature, and it gets us to look for what's true about people as a consistent way of life, because by doing so we become more effective and successful. But this is not something that can be forced; free trade requires the ability for individuals to choose to do what motivates them. Free trade requires freedom.

The contemporary antithesis is the attempt by some people to use the force of government to make people do things -- like forcing new "green" technology to be (somehow) invented and used or forcing those who create wealth to spread their wealth around to those who do not.

These kinds of ends are pursued by people who consider themselves deeply compassionate and who consider those who oppose such government force cold and uncaring. But they confuse controlling and giving things to people with compassion.

I had a conversation recently with a retired schoolteacher who was singing the praises of President Obama's policies. She said that she wants more entitlements. I pointed out how many of the people who create wealth are leaving California for the very reason that the government is taking too much of their wealth to pay for her entitlements. She responded, "That's why it's good that Obama is enforcing these policies throughout the country so that the wealthy can't just leave." I pointed out how many of the people who create wealth are leaving the country, too. She responded, "That's why I like that Obama is making it more difficult for the wealthy to leave the country and avoid paying U.S. taxes."

Nowhere in this conversation did I hear from her any appreciation of "these people who create wealth" as people. Rather, these people were seen by her as "the wealthy" -- not people, but things that should give her more of what she wants.

This is the problem with greed and envy (which are clearly two of this woman's driving emotions): they cause us to think of other people not as people, but as things. They serve to diminish our capacity for empathy, and they reinforce our sense of other people as objects. It is this lack of empathy that makes it possible for people to do horrible things to one another.

When people on the left talk about compassion, it is really an abstraction. Their compassion -- at least as they express it politically -- is based upon an idea they have of how we all should be; they want us to be like their image of us. Like bad stage parents who try to force their kids to fulfill their own ambitions, folks who seek to use government force to make us better people are not thinking about real people at all.

But their actions, their wishes, their ideals affect real, live human beings, with very personal experiences, relationships, ideas, and beliefs -- and a very real human nature that will not be molded like so much clay in an administrator's hands. Those on the left look upon humanity as small children look upon a blob of Play-Doh, and they work like crazy to squish us and form us and flatten us into the shapes that they long for humanity to become.

This is not empathy; it is magical thinking.

Empathy is encouraged by trade and individual liberty. Individualism is not some cold-hearted selfishness; it is the condition under which real people can care for, respect, and understand other real people.

The way to encourage greater human empathy is to affirm and champion the freedom of the individual, including the freedom of the individual to trade what and how he or she wishes.

This is what our founders did, and they created the foundation for the most benevolent, powerful, and compassionate country that this world has ever seen. It is our task to ensure that our gift of liberty does not perish from this earth in the name of the childish fantasy that people can be forced to conform to an ideal.


Joel F. Wade, Ph.D. is the author of Mastering Happiness: Ten Principles for Living a More Fulfilling Life. He can be reached at jwade@drjoelwade.com.

It Has Been A Week

So I have not posted for a while. Well fuck you, I have been busy and today I am in a bad fucking mood. Mostly due to being busy at work and then being too tired to write anything at night. Other causes would be Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Pelosi, congress as a whole, liberals, the media's hypocrisy. Plus I have been trying to find a new gun worth buying and I cannot choose which one. But seven days have passed since my last post so I figured now is the time. But like I said I am in a bad mood so brace yourself. I could not give a shit less about the fucking earthquake in Haiti. Haiti is a drag on the world economy, these people produce nothing other than refugees. They are the welfare state personified. These people are the poorest of the poor because their government has enslaved them in socialism. This was a natural disaster, no, this was a city of clay and brick huts built on a fault line, not the smartest idea mankind has come up with so far. The reports from the land of voodoo and burning tire necklaces are saying 200,000 dead. Their own government will not miss them, same goes for the rest of the world. This is what Obama wants here a natural disaster that kills Americans, fewer people to oppose his policies and more people to scare into falling in his party line. Is it tragic? Yes, of course it is. So was the tsunami in Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh but that is what happens in that part of the world to coastal villages. When you want to build permanent structures or huts at or below sea level understand that the sea will claim them eventually. Same goes for this country. Are you listening New Orleans? New York? Miami? Boston? Venice is being reclaimed by the sea so they came up with a gate system to keep the water out, seriously that is no different than this congress and administration passing this "health care" bill's costs onto future generations. What a waste. No not the people killed they were pretty much wasting their lives living in such a sorry state. The waste is the people all over the world not using their God given right to live free and be free. Wake up and fight for your freedom before a "natural" disaster happens here thanks to those in charge.

Thanksgiving Day

Well it is Thanksgiving Day again and this year(and the next three) America is going to be the bad guy. Do we have faults? Yes. Are we perfect? No. Are we the last, best hope on earth for freedom-loving people to come to? Hell, yes. In fact people die trying to get in, does that happen in any dictatorial, fascist or communist country? Hell, no. So today I will spend time with my family, at least I get to see my nieces and nephews who I do not to get to see enough. I will sit on my fat ass and stuff my fat face. I will digest by yelling at the Giants while they frustrate the hell out if me. But always in the back of my mind will I give thanks that my people had a chance to come to a place that would afford me these luxuries. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and yours. Thanks to Blackfive.net and men like this:

A Time for Giving Thanks
Posted By Blackfive

[This is a repost from 2005. It's still appropriate...Corporal Javier Alvarez is Someone You Should Know, and Captain James Eadie, a Harvard University Medical School grad, is too.]

RudeOne (USAF Call Sign) sends this email, a must read if ever there was one, that he received from Captain James Eadie today:

A Time for Thanksgiving
As Thanksgiving quickly approaches, I eagerly anticipate the plates of turkey and stuffing, the moments of camaraderie around the TV watching football and the sharing of stories amongst friends, but it is the soldiers’ stories of bravery and courage that should be shared on this day of Thanksgiving.

I had the rare chance to talk in depth with one of my CCATT patients on our last flight, a young 24 year old Marine from Camp Pendleton, California. It is Javier’s story hangs with me this day. Javier gave me permission to share his story with you, a true story of heroism, and sacrifice that deserves to be told on Thanksgiving.

On the morning of 16 November 2005, the Marines of 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment were taking part in operations along the Iraq-Syrian board to clear the towns of insurgents.

Javier [Alvarez], a strong and sturdy looking square jawed Marine Corporal was on his third deployment to Iraq. He had seen heavy combat in his previous two deployments, and had been injured once before earning him a Purple Heart. On this day he was in command of a Squad of fourteen men. I knew just by talking to him that his men were fortunate to have him leading them into battle. He spoke with clarity and confidence of a man twice his age. In the truest essence, he was a Marine.

Taking point, Javier led his five man team towards the house. Shots rang out around them as they advanced. They could see the downed Marines ahead. A young Lieutenant lay face down outside the house. Javier did not know if he was still alive. They would have to act quickly if they were to save him and the others.
As they approached the house the enemy fire intensified and Javier felt a sudden sting and burning in his right leg. He looked down at his leg. Damn, he thought, “I’ve been shot.” He indeed had taken two bullets to his thigh, but he pushed on.

Undeterred, Javier continued to lead his men towards the house. With increasing fire, they took up a defensive posture against the house wall. Slightly protected there, he began tending his wounds with direct pressure as the others returned fire. He could see several downed Marines only arm lengths away, but they could not be reached safely. Gun fire continued to rain down on them. Another member of the squad was hit. They were in a bad position.

What happened next was recalled to me by the Medic that they called Doc. During the barrage of fire, with their backs literally up against a wall an enemy grenade was thrown out of a window landing in the middle of the five men. Doc told me “It was amazing. I was applying pressure to one of the injured soldiers when someone yelled out GRENADE. Javier just dove at the grenade. I have never seen anything like it.”

Javier grabbed the grenade with his right hand. He told me “I knew I only had three to five seconds before it would go off.” With his body shielding his men from the grenade, he made a valiant effort to heave the grenade away. As the grenade left his hand it exploded.

Javier’s right hand was immediately amputated at the wrist. Shrapnel from the grenade penetrated his left thigh. Others in his group took shrapnel to their arms and legs, but no one lost their life.

Doc told me on the plane that he was convinced that they all would have died if it were not for Javier’s heroic actions.

The fighting continued. As more Marines approached the house to provide covering fire, Javier now with two gun shot wounds to his right leg, shrapnel to his left leg and an amputated right hand worked to get his injured men clear. With the aid of his Platoon Sergeant, Javier and his men walked out of the kill zone to the casualty collection point away from the fighting.

Doc stayed in the fight for a while despite being hit with shrapnel from the grenade. He tended to the downed Marines and at one point crawled into the house to pull out the Marine who lay inside. Unfortunately, most of the Marines they came to help had been fatally injured. There was little that could be done. Doc continued to care for the downed soldiers until others noted his wounds. Doc was finally escorted out of the fight to attend to his injuries.

In all told, Javier’s Squad took heavy injuries. We air lifted out 6 members who had sustained shrapnel injuries and one who lost his leg. Javier clearly took the brunt of the injuries, but miraculously no one lost their life. Javier’s selfless action had saved the lives of many men.

I spoke at length with Javier on the flight to Germany. Perhaps it was the awe that I felt talking with him that kept me coming back, or maybe the fact that his men admired him so much. In the end, I think I was drawn in by him because he was just like you and me. He was real. A soldier who had done everything asked of him by his country. He fought with honor and dignity, and led his men with courage. Above all, he put his men’s life above his and protected them from harm.

He didn’t ask for honors or special treatment. His biggest concern when we were loading him onto the plane was his fellow soldiers. He would not lie down until he had visualized and spoken with all of his troops on the plane.

When I arrived home from the mission, I opened the paper. There before me in simple bullet format read the names of the most recent US deaths in Iraq. I generally do not look at these lists. They are just names with no personal connection. But this day, halfway down there were five Marines listed including a young Second Lieutenant all from the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment from Pendleton, California who had died on 16 November, 2005. These were the men that Javier and his Squad gave everything to try to save.

I stared at the paper for many minutes, recalling the story Javier and his men had told me. I marveled at the sacrifices they made and felt a tremendous sense of loss for these men whose names now stood out from the paper as not mere records, but as living, breathing men who gave everything their country asked of them.

As I get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving here in Iraq, I have so much to be thankful for. My wife is amazing, we have been blessed with a child on the way, and I feel like I have the greatest family and friends that one could ever wish for, but there is more. I see around me everyday soldiers giving everything they have with the full belief that their actions do make a difference. That their sacrifices are for freedom and will one day improve the lives of ordinary Iraqis.

When I sit down on Thursday to my thanksgiving meal, I will be holding these soldiers and their families close. We as a country have so much to be thankful for.

For me, on this Thanksgiving Day, I will be thankful for Javier. He has given the gift of life to his men and their families. I often ask myself if I was in his position, what would I have done? I don’t know, but I certainly hope that I could be like Javier.

My warmest wishes to you all for a wonderful Thanksgiving, we truly have a great deal to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving,

James S Eadie, Capt USAF MC
332 Expeditionary Air Evacuation Squadron
Balad, Iraq
Critical Care Air Transport Physician

The men who died that day were Lance Corporal Roger Deeds, Lance Corporal John Lucente, Corporal Jeffrey Rogers, Corporal Joshua Ware, and 2nd Lieutenant Donald McGlothin - all from the Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment, 13th MEU, 1st Marine Division.

UN Great, US Bad

As usual our dear leader went in front of the world and declared his hatred, not dislike, pure unadulterated hatred for this country. Let's face it anytime an American president goes into the U.N. general assembly and receives multiple ovations, it is a problem. Why you ask? Simple. Everything that the U.N. stands for is in direct opposition to American principles, thought and philosophy. We are an exceptional country founded on beliefs and a superior way of thinking that, arrogantly, makes us better. Here all men are created equal. Do you think that is so in the rest of the world? Iran? Libya? Bolivia? But this dickhead president does not think so, he thinks that since all men here are equal then all men worldwide are too. It does not work that way we are better plain and simple. He said he will not apologize for acting in the United States' best interest. What? Come again asshole? When have you ever done that? Much like Gadhafi and Ahmadinejad all you do is blame the U.S. for the world's problems; war, poverty, "climate change." Do not forget the praises sung to you by your African brother Gadhafi, yes I know the U.S. delegation left before his speech but this man thinks you are compadres just like you and Hugo Chavez are. Let us not forget how your State Department did not let in the leader of Honduras even though he is constitutionally the President of that nation. No, you and your cronies are still backing the leftist who declared himself president for life Zelaya. You have some seriously fucked up ideas on freedom and what freedom means to people. But that is only to be expected of a leader who only thinks about and talks about himself.

Now on this world stage you said, "Nothing is easier than blaming others for our troubles and absolving ourselves of responsibility for our choices and our actions. Anyone can do that. "Responsibility and leadership in the 21st century demand more." All you ever do is blame past presidents, Bush mainly, but you even bitched about the U.S. for things done when you were a baby. Just shut the fuck up and fix things, get things done, do something one thing without a speech or a justification press conference. Of course you cannot do that you have never fixed anything in your whole life have you, you have never been in charge of anything or had to run anything. You take responsibility for nothing yet take credit for anything positive in America. You whine people are attacking you on health care, well shithead, come up with a plan you have clearly left this to this sorry assed congress while speaking in vagaries, take a freakin stand you gutless wonder. Do not forget people the congress can pass any legislation without 1 single republican vote but they are not doing that. Why, I wonder. Simple it is just bad legislation any reasonable American can see that. Bush had balls and would take a stand for the USA and when things did not go his way he took it like a man. Our new president has no spine and no balls and as a citizen of the world considers that his most important title. Those of us here in the U.S. who love it and want it to continue to be THE world's leader in everything are feeling like men without a country. No wonder ammo sales are sky high.

Iranians Fight For Freedom

Americans just give theirs away. If you have not figured out by now that Barack Hussein Obama does not give a shit about anything but himself you are a fucking moron, if you voted for him and have not figured this out you are a brain dead fucking moron. How can he not come right out and say that AMERICA supports the protesters 100%. Freedom all the way no matter what it takes. Instead he is "moved" by the images coming out of Iran. Hey dickhead did you see that young woman die in the street? Was that not worth at least a "we are with you." Oh that's right you only think of you and you only care about yourself you are such an asshole. I bet you were more than "moved" by the pictures of the Kent State shootings but then you were on the protester's side. Don't get me wrong I know you were not old enough to have an opinion at the time but now what do you think? Was either shooting justified? Are both governments oppressive? Were the all the dead fighting for freedom? Were the shooting just tragic accidents? What do you think you gutless punk? Say something, Ahmedejan is punking you out, he is always 1 or 2 steps ahead of you. He knows you are nothing but a little bitch and will not do anything no matter how many people he kills. He is going to blame the U.S. just say something to condemn this violence. Lets face it you are waiting for a stern letter from the U.N. condemning his actions. Jerkoff. You should not be president of the United States you should be Secretary General of the U.N. you do nothing bureaucrat turd. Enough about our pussy president.

The people of this country continue to give away the freedoms guaranteed to us in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Half a world away people are dying to get a taste of what we have. I believe our forefathers were correct and prophetic in granting only those that owned property the right to vote. Let the racism whining begin here. OK, you done? Let's face it all these welfare getting freeloaders get a vote same as taxpaying (but not getting anything back) you and I. They do not care about freedom they only want to keep getting free stuff from the government. Do you think these people would ever in a million years protest against the government? Hell no. Would you like to venture a guess who these prideless people voted for in 2008? We who own stuff and pay into the government coffers understand that they are the enemy the IRS, ATF, FBI, SEC etc. We care about freedom we see our rights vanishing we see the need for revolution against those in power and those that hold our country hostage with "entitlements." When do we begin the revolution? When is enough enough going to be enough from those above us and below us? Iranians are fighting for their freedom and I support them, I will fly my Gadsden Flag in support until they succeed or are crushed under the boot of tyranny because of a lack of support from the POTUS. The land of free and home of the brave only those numbers are dwindling and fast. Was this the "hope and change" 63 million+ douchebags voted for?
Just as a reminder:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage