I’m Not The Only One

Since no one has really responded to my scam rundown, I figured I’d get the ball rolling by discussing Affirmative Action, one of the most destructive scams ever enforced by the government and the most racist policy ever supported by liberals.

The first problem with Affirmative Action is that it is based on the assumption that all white people are wealthy and that all minorities are poor. This theory is highly flawed; even when Affirmative Action was first drafted in federal law in the 1960s, this was not true. There were many successful African-Americans who were, although segregated from whites, highly educated and among the middle-class, well before the Civil Rights Movement. (more…)

A major reason I initially launched I’m Not The Only One was to write down all the thoughts and arguments I’ve had in the past regarding politics, economics, and other issues.

So I’m going to offer what I believe to be the top ten scams facing Americans today, in no particular order.

1) Affirmative Action

2) Bilingual education

3) College

4) The Anti-Globalization Movement

5) Welfare

6) Health insurance

7) Privatization of core government functions

Public schools

9) Unions

10) The minimum wage

Here’s where you, the reader come in. I’m a little disappointed with the lack of comments on INTOO. According to Google Analytics, for the last 30 days I’ve roughly gotten an average of about 50 people coming to this site every day, so someone is obviously reading this. I’d like my readers to tell me which scam they’d like me to discuss first, why I see it as a scam and who specifically benefits from the scam.

The ball’s in your court now. Drop me a comment on this post and whichever topics gets the most requests will be selected first for discussion by me. Also, I believe in instant run-off voting, so feel free to declare a second choice you’d like me to discuss first if your first choice does not get the most requests.

And I’m not going to discuss any of these scams until I see at least 10 requests. What I’m looking for here is reader participatio, so please don’t disappoint. Thanks.

I was annoyed to learn recently about a molehill that has been built to mountainous proportions: transracial adoption, or to be exact its opposition to it.

For those unfamiliar with the term, transracial adoption is when a child is adopted by an adult or couple who is of a different race or ethnicity. The aspect of transracial adoption which has been deemed the most controversial among over reactionary so-called black advocacy groups is when white families adopt African-American children.

Though the CNN.com article above mentions that the opponents of whites adopting black children include the Dave Thomas Foundation for adoption (pretty funny considering he was a white guy!), the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, the North American Council on Adoptable Children and the Child Welfare League of America, I will focus on the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW), who is the most vocal opponent and, presuming from the name, is comprised completely of black people. (more…)

I just finished reading “Revolution!: South America and the Rise of the New Left” by Nikolas Kozloff. Kozloff is no stranger to Latin America (he has a Ph.D. in Latin American History from Oxford University) and impressively demonstrates his profound knowledge of the history and politics of South America.

While U.S. foreign policy focused more on Mexico and the Middle East in the last 20 years, South America (with the exception of Colombia) was left to its own devices, without interference from their powerful neighbor to the north.  Most Americans may vaguely recall South America as a continent full of banana republics ruled by totalitarian thugs who are as corrupt as they are brutal. But as Kozloff explains in “Revolution!”, over the last few decades, the nations of South America have shed the dictatorships which held them hostage and caused many a dissident to disappear.
In its place are an array of leftist governments headed by socialist leaders like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales who seek to use their country’s newly nationalized natural resources to finance various social programs, all the while demonizing capitalism and the United States.

As Hugo Chavez has replaced Fidel Castro as the ideological enemy of the United States, it is no surprise that the bulk of the book focuses on Chavez and his Bolivarian Revolution. Not only is Chavez mentioned on almost every page (Jesus Christ gets fewer mentions in the New Testament of the Bible!) but an entire chapter is devoted to the Venezuelan President’s propaganda campaign conveyed through the country’s state-owned television stations, state-sponsored art exhibits, state-owned movie studio, state-owned publishing company and laws requiring that 50 percent of what DJs play be Venezuelan music.

Kozloff does not hesitate to expose the endless arrangements between Chavez and former Cuban President Fidel Castro, or Chavez’ lofty goal of creating institutions to rival U.S. institutions such as Mercosur, a free trade bloc between South American nations, a movie industry to rival Hollywood and El Presidente’s obsession (bordering on fetish) with Simon Bolivar, the liberator of Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador.
The book is an exercise in outstanding, insightful investigative journalism, a kind rarely seen in this country.  The research in Revolution dives deep into the histories of South America’s largest economies, detailing past dictatorships (many of which were supported by the U.S. in exchange for allowing American oil companies to freely drill into natural oil and gas reserves while leaving behind environmental disasters) such as the Pinochet regime in Chile, Roberto Viola in Argentina and many other military-driven coup d’etats resulting in totalitarian regimes elsewhere in the continent.

The author does a pretty good job of remaining objective, interviewing both supporters and critics of Chavez, Morales and other key players in the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru.  But Kozloff’s true political leanings as a leftist certainly come forth in his writing.  The word neo-liberal appears almost as frequently in the book as Chavez’ name does.  As I turned the pages, I could almost feel Kozloff rooting for this ideological shift in South American politics, this trend towards, as Chavez calls it, “socialism for the 21st Century”.

Revolution! is definitely an eye-opener for any American who gets all of their news from the mainstream media.  If nothing else, readers will become aware of the diverse history and political culture of South America’s nations.  That South America is not a monolithic demographic, but a cluster of neighboring societies that have fought as well as allied with each other, not unlike the countries of Europe.

After reading Revolution! it becomes obvious that the rise of the new left is not a comprehensive one in the continent, as governments focus on the social welfare aspects of socialism and not much else, as countries like Argentina, Peru and Chile shy away from the notion of mimicking Venezuela, and as Colombia remains a strong U.S. ally.

Chavez is bent on creating a South American version of the European Economic Union, with the mission of undermining U.S. supremacy in the Western Hemisphere.  But after reading Revolution! it becomes obvious that if such a union materializes in the future, it will most likely not resemble Chavez’ vision but will rather be an awkward compromise between free market principles and socialist values, with ideological differences set aside in the name of a united South America.