Remembering Freedom and Finding Truth

I started off today with a plan to do a comparison of people under tyranny and under freedom, before going down a slightly different rabbit hole. But let’s start with a few quick visuals.

I came across this photo of Girl Scouts in Iran in 1969.

Girl Scouts in Iran, 1969, before the Islamic Revolution
image found here

Somewhere near that time, maybe a decade earlier, Mr. Spherical Model’s grandparents lived in Iran for several years. Grandpa was an educator, near the end of his career (he had been president of a college), and was contributing to education in Iran. At the time, it was a modern and thriving part of the world. People looked and dressed much like people elsewhere. An organization such as Scouting could thrive and be seen as a positive contribution to society in such an atmosphere.

Then there’s this photo, from much more recently, where women not only look oppressed; they feel it. They want to throw it off, and return to the freedom they had before the oppression.

Women in Iran, October 2019
image found here

There are similar comparisons for Venezuela, before and after socialist reforms imposed by Chavez, and then Maduro. Venezuela had been the wealthiest, most prosperous and forward looking nation in South America. Only about a short decade later, toilet paper shortages are the least of their problems. People are literally starving, while the nation’s wealth has disappeared, offshore, into accounts belonging to the rulers' family members.

Destitution in previously thriving Venezuela
photo by Claudia Guadarrama/Polaris/Newscom, found here

In a 2018 piece on socialism, David Harsanyi says this:

After all, socialism is the leading man-made cause of death and misery in human existence. Whether implemented by a mob or a single strongman, collectivism is a poverty generator, an attack on human dignity, and a destroyer of individual rights.

In both the Iran and Venezuela cases, the implementation of tyranny happened quickly enough that the memory of previous freedom and prosperity remained. But, in time, would the societal memory disappear? Then what?

A comparison of North and South Korea can give us a pretty good look at the differences between relative freedom and tyranny. The ethnicities and cultures started out the same. The dividing line is artificial. The North has almost no access to the outside world, or any news beyond what the government tells its people. And this has been going on for 70 years, pretty nearly a lifespan. In other words, anyone who remembers previous freedoms has probably died off by now. Societal memory is virtually gone.

North Korea, left; South Korea, right
comparison photos found here

In our social media world, we often see funny memes comparing things to olden days—when we didn’t have internet, and phones were connected to the wall, and you went to the library or opened the set of encyclopedias to look up information. Enough of us remember those “olden days” that it’s still societal memory.

Lately there have been memes talking about the good old days of 2019, back when we used to go to restaurants or get together with friends.

I was thinking through these comparisons when a friend posted something about a Scott Adams podcast from Saturday, October 24. My friend pointed us to around minute 16. So I listened. I’ll summarize the data afterward, but it’s fun getting the data a bit at a time, with a tad of misdirection and suspense, as Adams reveals it. So here’s a transcript of that section. He’s talking about national daily polling numbers, by Rasmussen, for black likely voter job approval for the president:

So these are likely voters who are also black, how much they approve of the president. Back on—this is just not long ago; this is October 19^th, not that long ago, right? Just last week? Black likely voters have a 25% approval rating for the President, which would be crazy, like off-the-charts crazy. Because he only got like 11% of the vote, so you’d expect his approval would be closer that 10% range, right? 10-11%. But 25%! Last week? That close to the election?

Oh, I’m not done yet. That was last week. So, that was the 19^th. On the 20^th it dipped a little bit. OK, that’s back to normal; it dipped to 24%. Still really high, but at least you can see it trending down where you’d expect it to trend, right? You kind of expect it to sink back down.

Except, oh, what happened on the 21^st? Huh. It reversed directions and went to 31%. What? Thirty-one percent of black likely voters have given the President—who is considered by his enemies the worst person in the world—they’re giving him 31% approval? On the 21^st? That was only a few days ago.

But, you know that’s not going to hold, right? That’s the kind of number where, you hear it, and you say, “OK, that’s not gonna hold.” And it didn’t. It didn’t hold.

So, the very next day it was pretty different. It was up to 37 frickin’ percent. Black likely voters, 37% approved of the President, on the 22^nd. What’s today? Today’s the 24^th. That was only 2 days ago. 37% of the black likely voters approve of the President? What’s happening here?

So, one thing you can say for sure, again, the 25% was crazy, so you didn’t really expect that to hold. But when it reaches 37%, you know that number’s not going to stay there, right? ‘Cause that’s just crazy. It’s not going to stay at 37%. And, indeed, sure enough, the very next day, the 23^rd, it changed again by quite a bit—to 46%. Forty-six percent!

I feel like I have to keep reading this again, because you won’t believe you heard it right. Let me say it again, to make sure you heard it right. The national daily black likely voter job approval for the President, according to Rasmussen, went from 25%, which was sky high, on the 19^th, just a few days ago, to 24%, 31%, 37%, then 46%.

What the h— is happening? What the h— is happening?

Here it is in quick-to-digest chart form:

National daily black likely voter job approval for the President—Rasmussen polling
date	%
Oct 19	25%
Oct 20	24%
Oct 21	31%
Oct 22	37%
Oct 23	46%

Estimates are that, if Republicans can get 15% of the black vote, they win. So, while job approval doesn’t equal votes, it tends toward that direction—bigly, as the President would say.

Scott Adams went on to speculate about why this is happening. Maybe because of the influence of prominent blacks: 50 Cent for one—who quipped that Biden’s tax increases would make him only 20 Cent. Ice Cube for another, who asked questions of both sides and got better answers from President Trump's side. Also Kanye West—hard to tell whether his write-in campaign is to give blacks a transition alternative away from Democrat Biden, or if he legitimately wants to run, even though he has expressed great approval of President Trump in the past. And former Obama adviser Van Jones said aloud that Trump isn’t getting enough credit for what he is accomplishing for blacks.

All of that could contribute. But Adams has his own theory. He says there’s a crack in the media silo, “the news silo that keeps the left in their bubble—I feel like it cracked.” Actual news is seeping out. He goes on to talk about this theory:

My world view is that our opinions are assigned to us by our chosen media. And if the media you’re absorbing is telling you Trump is a monster, you go away believing it—and you believe you’ve made up your own mind. But you didn’t. And I would say that my world view has all of the scientific backing, that people can be convinced to believe anything, just about anything, if their news source is consistent.

And, so, my world view is completely intact. The people who watch the wrong news get the wrong feeling about the world. The people who watch the correct news, or at least they’re smart enough to recognize fake news when they see it, have not been brainwashed. And that’s it.

And that’s what we see. We see some brainwashed people, some not brainwashed people. It’s all perfectly consistent. And scientifically backed, I would say.

That part where he says “people can be convinced to believe just about anything, if their news source is consistent” brings me back to North Korea, and probably other tyrannies—where memory is gone and current beliefs are controlled by the government. I don’t think North Korean’s know the rest of the world is far and away better off than they are; they see no evidence. 

This past week we saw the blatant partisan media attempt to black out news about the Biden family crime corruption. NPR—which we taxpayers pay for—decided to avoid all mentions of the story, to dismiss it as unproven, even as one source after another comes out. And all the “legacy” media sources blacked it out or repeated the “Russian meddling with our election” line, preventing their followers from even hearing about the story—while all the intelligence say there has been no Russian connection at all.

I continue to wonder about the news related to COVID-19, the virus from China. Why has it been so difficult to get accurate, or even consistent reports? I collect data myself—I’m dependent on government sources, but at least I can see trends for myself. News lately claims we’re in an upsurge in cases right now. But the rates I’m seeing (I ignore cases, except in my own zip code) are essentially flat or lowering slightly, as they have been for months. Death rates are a lagging indicator, so I’ll have to wait to chart that. But here’s the current epi curve chart for cases, on the Harris County Public Health site, looking pretty much the way it has looked for the last couple of months:

Harris County Epi Curve of Cases Over Time, October 26, 2020
image from here

This doesn’t look like a surge in cases. It doesn’t look like we should expect a sharp rise in deaths within a couple of weeks. With the county level still at red, no matter how low the cases and death numbers, it looks like someone is ignoring the data—ignoring the science—to keep us in fear and confusion, and under control.

Who would want to control other people? Tyrants. People who don’t understand that there’s a whole northern hemisphere on the model, where you find freedom, prosperity, and civilization—those people look only at who’s in charge; and they want to either be in charge themselves, or have someone in charge who has promised them special treatment.

I believe the principles of freedom, prosperity, and civilization will work every time they are tried. I see evidence that bears that out. It's in our history. And it's what we see when we examine the truth in real time.

But people who never see that higher possibility are brainwashed to think that no better possibility exists. It looks like intentional blindness to those of us who see, who are trying to show them, mostly without success.

I don’t know what our country is going to look like after this election. I hope we have beautiful freedom and all that comes with it for a good and righteous people.

But if we don’t, I won’t think it’s bad luck; I will see that it is bad choices by tyrannical, corrupt overlords, who managed to get their power—not by telling the truth, but by obfuscation and outright lies.

I'm hoping that Scott Adams is right about a crack in the fake news silo—through which truth will flow. And people who love truth will move toward it, and find that truth is easier to find when their eyes are open.

The Witch Is Dead!

There’s a scene early in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy’s house drops on top of a wicked witch. And the people of the land, the Munchkins, come out to meet “the young lady who fell from a star.” And they sing, “Ding Dong! The witch is dead! Which old witch? The wicked witch?” And they cheer and celebrate.

And then the other wicked witch shows up. And she’s every bit as bad as the one under the house.

It wasn’t until much later in the movie, when Dorothy accidentally kills the other wicked witch, by throwing water on her in the attempt to put out the fire on her friend the Scarecrow, that the large army of guards let their real allegiance be known. They had been tyrannized by the witch; they hadn’t served her out of love and loyalty. They cheered Dorothy for freeing them.

So, this weekend we’re looking at the somewhat unusual spectacle of people cheering the death of a human being: Fidel Castro. He was 90 years old, so no one ended his life prematurely. But there’s a sense that at last his personal evil has left the earth. Of course, he had a younger brother (Raul, 85), to whom he bestowed his power, so the tyranny can continue. So the story, for Cuba and its people, isn’t over yet.

It’s probably a good time to recount the evil, while people are taking notice—because people tend to overlook evil once it is no longer imminently threatening.

Fidel Castro has been the dictator of Cuba, not just during my adulthood, but essentially through my entire life. He came to power in 1959, in an overthrow of the Batista regime. As President Kennedy pointed out in 1960,

“They [Castro and other revolutionaries] promised individual liberty and free elections. They promised an end to harsh police-state tactics. They promised a better life for a people long oppressed by both economic and political tyranny. But in the two years since that revolution swept Fidel Castro into power, those promises have all been broken.”

Those promises were never intended; they were lies to get people to back them, so they could gain power. And once in power, they would wield it.

Castro’s style of tyranny was based in Marxist-Leninist doctrine. A year into his reign he nationalized all American-led industries (these included oil refineries, factories, and casinos), which led to the end of diplomatic relations with America. Let’s note here that Cuba had the ability to end the embargo at any time, by willingly agreeing to civil rights for its people and denying its intention to spread communism. Castro chose to let his people live in poverty, and then claim it was that evil capitalist America that was doing it to them.

When Obama lifted the embargo in 2015, it was not because Castro had capitulated—even partially. Obama, the “great” negotiator (as in the Iran deal), made sure the US got nothing in exchange for lightening its policies against the neighbor who had threatened us with nuclear missiles in the early 1960s. Maybe that was because Obama could see nothing wrong with Castro’s dictatorship or imposed socialism. We can only speculate, because Obama hasn’t provided any acceptable explanation.

Senator Marco Rubio, whose family escaped from Cuba, is right to hope for a rollback of the Obama concessions.

Obama’s expression of condolence was mild compared to some. Jill Stein, recent Green Party candidate who is insisting on a recount (does she think votes for her were hidden in a few states?) tweeted,

Dr. Jill Stein 

✔@DrJillStein

Fidel Castro was a symbol of the struggle for justice in the shadow of empire. Presente!

6:46 PM - 26 Nov 2016

While the insanity of the sentence causes enough consternation, I’m puzzling over the “Presente!” which means “present,” as in, “I’m here in class, or in line” or maybe means, “I’m with you, and ready to go to battle on your side.” Or maybe she was just referring to him as “presidente” and misspelled it. Either way, her expression, while legal in the US (as dissenting views are not, in Cuba), is highly offensive, and reveals her to be both anti-American and pro-communist tyranny.

Much of today there was talk of Canada’s Prime Minister Trudeau lamenting the loss:

Fidel Castro was a larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century. A legendary revolutionary and orator, Mr. Castro made significant improvements to the education and healthcare of his island nation.

There isn’t any truth in there, other than the length of time. He didn’t serve the Cuban people; he served himself by enslaving the people. In a country where people’s average income (using American money as a standard) is about $20 a month, Castro had amassed for himself a cache of $900 million. He enjoyed a massive estate, on a private island, and simply lied to his people.

There are those who claim he improved the education and healthcare of his people. Photo evidence shows healthcare for regular Cubans to be Third World at best, and filthier than a Gosnell clinic. If you know anyone who would prefer educating their child in Cuba rather than 90 miles north in Florida, I’ll concede that one, but I don’t think I’ll have to.

There are lists of the abuses and crimes against humanity, in particular his own people. Yale history professor Carlos Eire wrote a piece with such a list, called “Farewell to Cuba’s Brutal Big Brother,” with a pretty good list. He ends with this epitaph:

In sum, Fidel Castro was the spitting image of Big Brother in George Orwell’s novel “1984.” So, adiós, Big Brother, king of all Cuban nightmares. And may your successor, Little Brother, soon slide off the bloody throne bequeathed to him.

A piece by Jeff Powers earlier today included a list from CubaArchive.org/database that lists the deaths Castro is responsible for: 

One thing we’re seeing is that support for Castro is limited exclusively to the leftist-progressive-liberal-democrat side. No lover of the Constitution and freedom would praise such a monster.

As Powers summarized in his piece:

Troublingly, the praise and criticism of Castro has mirrored political ideologies. Support is coming from those who lean left. Consider that for a moment. Because someone has an ideological slant similar to yours, you are willing to “overlook” decades of human rights and political abuses and heap praise on someone’s legacy. That is a scary thought, and shows how partisan our politics have become.

In Spherical Model terms, Castro was a deep south tyrannist. Control over people and power to himself were his goals, his ideology, and legacy. Those who praise Castro while claiming they fear and hate President-elect Trump for his authoritarianism are morally depleted. You can’t overlook one tyrant’s crimes and despise another just because he’s not currently in your party.

Those of us who see northern freedom clearly must never ever compromise with those who want to impose tyranny on us.

Senator Ted Cruz, whose father and other family members suffered under Castro’s dictatorship firsthand, recounts the history in a National Review op-ed. And I’m in agreement with him about Cuba going forward:

A dictator is dead. But his dark, repressive legacy will not automatically follow him to the grave. Change can come to Cuba, but only if America learns from history and prevents Fidel’s successor from playing the same old tricks.

Ding dong! The dictator is dead! But there’s still another dictator in place and willing to continue the oppression. And there are people among us in America who glorify tyranny and degrade Constitutional freedom. We must be constantly vigilant.

Gotta Love Texas

I’ve probably mentioned this before, but Texas is not your everyday run-of-the-mill state. It used to be its own country. And there’s a certain pride here—that is not without substance. When we go to foreign countries, and people ask where we’re from, we are more likely to say Texas than the USA. Texas is kind of All-American. Anything good about being American is embedded in saying we’re from Texas. Texas love is something I didn’t really know about until we moved here.

Sometimes we get together just to give a happy “Yee Haw!” that we’re here. So that’s what we did for fun this week.

Governor Greg Abbott was in Houston on Tuesday, and we (son Political Sphere and I, along with grandson Little PS2) got to go hear him speak.  It was a feel-good kind of experience—very American, very Texan. So I thought I’d share a few lines. (Note: any quotes are from my notes and may not be exact quotes.)

Governor Greg Abbot is greeted by the
restaurant owner hosting the event

Governor Abbott is Texas proud:

I don’t believe it’s the United States of America that is broken, but it’s Washington, DC, that is broken, and it takes states like Texas to fix it.

That kind of theme came up several times. He also said, “Texas is what America is supposed to be. American needs Texas now more than ever.”

There was a bit of Texas swagger, about what Abbott himself has done, and what Texas is doing that probably every other state ought to do.

We even love the shape of our state.
This photo is a University of Texas class photo

He reminded us that, as Attorney General, he sued Barack Obama 31 times, several times challenging Obamacare, a law which only stands “because Justice Roberts rewrote it.” He suggests (that’s putting it too mildly; he insists) we repeal the whole thing, “and replace it with laws that protect patients and doctors.” I don’t know the specifics of such a law, but, since this is Texas, you can expect that to coincide with free market principles, rather than regulatory interference.

He said we “need judges who will apply the law, not re-write it.” In reference to the Supreme Court ruling to redefine marriage, he said Texas has done three things. First, Texas already has a Religious Freedom Protection Act—similar to the US RFRA law, enacted 15 years ago.

Second, the legislature passed the Pastor Protection Act. This was signed in June, ahead of the SCOTUS ruling, saying that no pastor, priest, rabbi, clergy, or religious leader can be forced to either perform or recognize a “marriage” that goes against their sincere religious belief.

Third, on the day of the Supreme Court decision redefining marriage, Governor Abbott issued an executive order that all offices in the state would protect religious liberties of workers who hold a different belief about marriage, and also all businesses, so no one will be forced to violate their religious beliefs.

Speaking of the Courts, the 5^th Circuit Court erroneously struck down our Voter ID law, even though the US Supreme Court has already upheld virtually identical voter ID laws in other states.  He told us, in case you thought that voter fraud wasn’t an issue, “on the very day a lawyer in Texas was arguing against Voter ID, voter fraud scam indictments came down in south Texas—for using cocaine to buy votes.”

Governor Abbott reminded us that the federal government has an obligation to secure our sovereignty and secure our borders. But they won’t. So, Texas is spending $1 Billion to do it ourselves. We’re increasing personnel, barriers, and air support to secure the border.

Governor Abbott said, “Texas is the model for governing in the United States of America.” He gave several examples. One was that, in response to attacks on our military, including here at Ft. Hood, he has ordered that all on-duty soldiers be armed. Another is taking care of veterans, with particular concern for PTSD. And Texas has now declared February 2^nd as Chris Kyle Day, honoring him in his work to rehabilitate PTSD sufferers.

Texas is exemplary on taxes. The legislature cut the business franchise tax by 25%. Combine that with the property tax cut—raising the homestead exemption, which is Prop 1 on the November ballot—that will be $4 Billion is tax cuts.

We use our money well. We’re leading the nation in improving roads. We kept $10 Billion in our rainy day fund, to address anything that arises.

He proclaimed the Texas rule, loudly: “Don’t Spend All the Money!” and added, “That’s something Washington, DC, needs to learn.”

He made some comparisons between Washington, DC, and Texas:

Washington defines success as more people dependent on government. Texas defines success as more entrepreneurs, more people who get jobs. Texas works to achieve exceptionalism.

Texas is responsible for most of the economic growth in the nation during this president’s administration. With better government in Washington—say, something akin to abiding by the Constitution, and getting out of the way of the free market—Texas would be even better off, and so would the rest of the country.

If you’re into contrast, the Democrat presidential primary debate was held that same evening, just a few hours later. I chose not to assign myself to watch. But I scanned the transcript and heard a few painful lies on radio in the car. I read a pretty good response or two. One, entitled “Two Hours I’ll Never Get Back,” by Derek Hunter, offered this summary:

I don’t know what country those candidates were talking about, but it sounds awful. It has a rigged system that keeps down minorities, women, gays, men, aliens, animals, trees, anything living and most things dead. But somehow this horrible nation favors the rich. I’m not sure how they earn the money the rich steal from them since they’re so severely oppressed, but it all just sounds horrible.

Whoever has been running the place they were speaking about must be some kind of monster for not fixing these egregious injustices.

Fear not, America. Those Democrats running to replace that person promise more of the same, only with different results. There’s a definition of insanity in there somewhere.

The basic theme of the Democratic debate was: “Big government isn’t working, so we need bigger government.”

The debaters agree the biggest security problems we face are not Islamist Terrorism calling for Death to American and acting on that jihad. No, it’s weather. And which of the candidates is most adamant about preventing law-abiding citizens from owning firearms for self-defense. And what we must spend our money on is free college for everyone—even those who drop out of high school (at rates above 50% in “progressive” run cities), and even those who hate school and would be better off finding an alternative career path.

By contrast, again, Governor Abbott mentioned a young man he had recently met who had completed a two-year certification to become a welder. In his first year he earned $130,000. In his second year he earned $140,000. Abbott quipped, “If this governor thing doesn’t work out, at least I know I can get a welding certification and make a living.”

No just a living wage, but up there in the top 10%. And the money goes further here in Texas. To be fully truthful, it’s quite possible that the welder makes a lot less in years like this one, when oil prices are down. But even if that welder is only making $60-$80,000 a year, that’s better than most law graduates are making—after four years of college, three years of law school, and a couple years’ gross salary in student debt.

But that’s not an option Obama and his would-be replacements want young people to know about. He wants them to be beholden to government, go into a fruitless field—maybe ethnic studies—and the stay dependent. That might be the way Democrats fish for voters, but it’s not good for American citizens.

In case you thought integrity, honesty, and reliability might come up—well, that’s not their strong suit.

The little part I heard on radio included this exchange, in response to a call to ignore the email scandal:

COOPER: I know that plays well in this room. But I got to be honest, Governor Chafee, for the record, on the campaign trail, you've said a different thing. You said this is a huge issue. Standing here in front of Secretary Clinton, are you willing to say that to her face?

CHAFEE: Absolutely. We have to repair American credibility after we told the world that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, which he didn't. So there's an issue of American credibility out there. So any time someone is running to be our leader, and a world leader, which the American president is, credibility is an issue out there with the world. And we have repair work to be done. I think we need someone that has the best in ethical standards as our next president. That's how I feel.

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond?

CLINTON: No.

Just plain “No.” Credibility is not worth talking about. I haven’t heard any commentators mention this, but it’s telling. If you’re talking about credibility, you don’t get that from the Democrats, maybe particularly Hillary Clinton, although it’s hard to be less credible than our president oval office occupant.

I don’t like having an anti-Constitution president. I hope we can soon change that. The old, overwarmed options on the Democrat side lead only to greater tyranny and poverty.

The Republican bench is deep. And the contrast is clear.

Just as those who have lived under socialism appreciate the freedom of America, people in America who can experience the difference between places like Texas and places like Chicago or DC appreciate the freedom where it is real.