The Queens Village Republican Club's annual Lincoln Day Dinner was fantastic. The QVRC claims to be the oldest Republican Club in the country. It was my first time in attendance at the dinner because I often teach on Sunday afternoons, when the dinner is held each year. I drove the 130 miles to Queens from Woodstock and was happy I did.
The highlights of the dinner were remarkable speeches by Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey, whom I was privileged to meet for the first time, and my good friend Candace de Russy. Lt. Gov. McCaughey, besides being brilliant, is utterly charming. I understand that she is a frequent visitor on Fox television. Her claims about the Senate health care bill are startling and are enough to give any American pause about this bill. I still harbor some second thoughts about supporting it. If it passes it could lead to a libertarian revolution, which would make me very happy. Eliminate Washington altogether, I say. But it is wrong to wish the country ill, even if for a greater cause. This is one of those conundrums for philosophers who specialize in particularist ethics. Is it wrong to support a bad that supervenes on circumstances that make it good? I say the answer is yes, despite my initial impulse. Virtue (or what particularists call "resultance") lives. Let us say no to "Obamacare"!
According to Dr. McCaughey, under Obamacare there will be significant reductions in the availability of pain-reducing surgery such as knee operations and hip replacements. In other words, care for baby boomers would be significantly reduced, resulting in much worse quality of life for boomers than has been true for their parents. The Democratic Party seems to have arrived at a new form of exploitation: inter-generational. Exploit 2030 voters to subsidize 1972 voters. Let's pray that Americans have not been so debilitated intellectually that they are able to revise this pattern. As Dr. de Russy suggests, schools have become Orwellian so that Americans have become unable to question the claims of Democratic Party politicians.
Which brings me to Dr. de Russy's talk, which emphasized political correctness and decay in American higher education. As usual, she was right on the mark. The "tenured radicals" who dominate higher education have created a nation of historical ignoramuses who worship the state.
I was delighted to meet Dan Halloran in person for the first time after a couple of years of e-mailing. Dan gave one of the concluding talks of the evening. He is a brilliant speaker, articulate and brave. I am expecting him to make a congressional run after conquering the City Council, and I will be thrilled when he does.
Finally, there is a wonderful rumor that Cortes de Russy and Phil Orenstein, two of my favorite people, are thinking of running for Congress this year. The Massachusetts Miracle seems to be infectious. Let us hope that they along with George Phillips in my 22nd Congressional district, a wonderful candidate as well, all will win.
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2 comments:
Mr. Langbert. Hello. I found your blog quite by accident. After reading the recent edition of the "Olive (Pravda) Press" I was so disgusted by Paul Smarts editorial that I was doing a google search on him before shooting off a letter and luckily found this blog. I too live in the area and am a Conservative. Glad to know I am not alone here in INGSOC. Otherwise known as Olive and Ulster county.
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