Brown: Liberalism is slavery and a license to steal.

[BurtWorm]

Thanks for rushing this info into print, Times. Good timing. :eyes:


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/09/politics/09brown.html?ei=5094&en=3dfdc077be26edc5&hp=&ex=1118376000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

June 9, 2005
Latest Confirmed Nominee Sees Slavery in Liberalism
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

WASHINGTON, June 8 - Janice Rogers Brown, the African-American daughter of Alabama sharecroppers who was confirmed Wednesday to the federal appeals court here, often invokes slavery in describing what she sees as the perils of liberalism.

"In the heyday of liberal democracy, all roads lead to slavery," she has warned in speeches. Society and the courts have turned away from the founders' emphasis on personal responsibility, she has argued, toward a culture of government regulation and dependency that threatens fundamental freedoms.

"We no longer find slavery abhorrent," she told the conservative Federalist Society a few years ago. "We embrace it." She explained in another speech, "If we can invoke no ultimate limits on the power of government, a democracy is inevitably transformed into a kleptocracy - a license to steal, a warrant for oppression."

To her critics, such remarks are evidence of extremism. This week, some Senate Democrats have even singled her out as the most objectionable of President Bush's more than 200 judicial nominees, citing her criticism of affirmative action and abortion rights but most of all her sweeping denunciations of New Deal legal precedents that enabled many federal regulations and social programs - developments she has called "the triumph of our socialist revolution."

...

[sniffa]

1. oh, weLL then

at Least she didn't say it's a disease of the mind. :eyes:

[Dhalgren]

3. At least she hasn't called for internment - yet...

[sniffa]

4. did i say internment camp? i meant democracy camp.

[Dhalgren]

12. And according to my teevee, Democracy Camps

are double-plus good! :applause: :thumbsup:

[TomClash]

2. And up is down and down is up

And being a liberal is a thoughtcrime.

Hey, Janice, we didn't pass the USA Patriot Act.

[qazplm]

5. this is Clarence Thomas all over again...

have some success by struggling, get overly proud about it and arrogant/cocky about it, wonder why other people are struggling, conclude it must be laziness or lack of hard work (because after all you did it ALL on your own *snark*) ergo liberalism is bad because it "coddles" people or makes them dependent.

It's an arrogance thing really, which is why otherwise intelligent people like Thomas or Brown, hold such idiotic and extreme views.

Just my pet theory.

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. I think it is a profound insecurity.

There are people who are appalled by the notion that they did not succeed on their own, and they have very low feelings of self worth. Their reasoning is, if someone as unworthy as I can be successful, then anybody can be. They have the dissonant view that even without affirmative action, for instance, they would have been successful -- a view they must have to prop of their ego -- and at the same time believe themselves to be unworthy. The are afraid that if they admit they had to accept help, that would validate their unworthyness.

It is weird thinking, because while liberal programs like AA might open doors, it is their work that makes them succeed.

It isn't only AA, of course. Any of the 'hand up' programs that can help lift people out of poverty, food stamp, section 8, medicaid, can be plugged into the equation.

Here's a little experiment. Find a pair of boots. Slip them on and stand up. Then bend down and grab the bootstraps and pull.

See how far you get.

[Catherine Vincent]

23. And it's a very good theory.

[Deep13]

6. Also, freeing of slaves is a form of slavery.

:wtf:
This is what happens when one locks herself into ideological thinking without regard for the facts. If the state does not regulate powerful interests, those interests essentially become the state and we all become serfs.

[punpirate]

7. Said like a true slave...

... to capital, right-wing ideology, corporations and fascists. And Ayn Rand, too, probably.

The next time it rains, taste a few raindrops. I'm betting they'll be salty....

[GiovanniC]

8. Yes, All Those Liberals Who Still Support Slavery

And have THIS plastered all over their trucks and homes and t-shirts and coffee mugs...




Oh wait, that's right. It's the Republicans that wish the South had won.

[getmeouttahere]

9. Hmmmm...I wonder if she really thinks....

that we would have accomplished all that we've accomplished in the last 70 years if not for the New Deal.

I'm so tired of this crap...I really don't want to live in the same country with these extremists. Social & economic justice is just too important to me.

[lumpy]

10. If it wasn't for New Deal liberalism this

woman would still be 'down on the farm'. Liberal Democrats fought for her civil rights; affirmative action was the factor that allowed minorities to enter the work force on a more level playing ground (although it's usefulness is redundant at this time). Wonder if she would have had her higher education if it weren't for the 'socialist revelution'.

[atommom]

11. And preserving human rights is another form of slavery...

as are the Geneva Conventions, the minimum wage, workers comp, affordable healthcare ...

I want my freakin' country back! :banghead:

[Tsiyu]

13. You know what the definition of slavery is in that camp?

When a rich White Republican actually has to work for a living; when a rich White Republican has to accept responsibility for his bad behavior, poor choices, lies, thievery, fraud, whatever; when a rich White Republican is forced to live by the concepts of "Do unto others" and "Care for the poor" and "It is more blessed to give than to receive" and "Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me" instead of simply using the name of the man who said those things to "pretend" to believe them; when a rich White Republican has to give a flying fuck about anyone but himself. THAT is slavery.

Brown's comments? Despicable. What she says about liberalism is a lie, but it CAN be applied to the current administration and this suck-up knows it. Shameful.....:thumbsdown:

[quiet.american]

14. A sad case, this woman, sad case. n/t

[Crankie Avalon]

16. The neo-con artists just love it when a black person sucks up to them...

...and are sure to stick here out front as if to say, "see, we're not racists...no, really." In fact, they even go on to disingenuously claim you're the racist for daring to question her record. "Why are you opposing this African-American woman?"

This, from the group whose standard practice is to disenfranchise as many African-American voters as they can in places like Florida and Ohio. Well, maybe Ms. Brown also sees slavery in actually getting to vote...who knows?

[Lexingtonian]

17. right....

And the way to get people who know nothing about swimming to learn it is: take them out of sight of land, throw them overboard, then tell them you'll pick them up at the beach.

It's a very strange thing to see idiocy redefined as wisdom, to watch a black woman claim that slaves will always improve their condition by imitating their masters' behavior without having his powers or resources, but it's starting to feel sadly familiar. The fallacy lies in believing that the principle applies to every situation, to any person, when it only works in very limited ones.

[Igel]

18. It would have bee nice had Kirkpatrick not just used

Brown's hyperbole, but explained some portion of her reasoning.

The article serves to incite, maybe inform, but not enlighten. Sigh.

[BurtWorm]

19. That's not what the media are in business to do.

They're in business to sell news.

[Igel]

22. I know, I was having one of those insane "idealist" moments.

It's passed.

And the toddler's awoken. Sigh.

[redqueen]

24. I think they're in business to perpetuate the status quo.

The middle class must never figure out they're being screwed by their masters.

[Pockets]

20. That made, like, no sense at all

liberalism = stealing = slavery ?

Is she saying the multimillionaires who pay taxes are slaves being stolen from? The minimum wage employees are their thieving masters? I don't get it.

[Javaman]

21. This is what we get when we don't stand up to the repukes and don't

filibuster.

[Telly Savalas]

25. Her political stuff is pretty good...

but she's really at her funniest when she's pointing out the little quirks of marriage, like the husband always leaving the toilet seat up. Hoo-boy though, she's always good for a knee-slapper.

[maxsolomon]

26. the US, since its inception, is a liberal democracy

but this is its "heyday"?

which party keeps limiting rights? i mean essential rights, constitutional rights: assembly, free speech.

[BurtWorm]

27. Here's her reasoning according to her "friend and mentor."

''We discuss things like, 'How did slavery happen?''' said her friend and mentor Steve Merksamer, a lawyer in Sacramento, Calif. ''It comes down to the fact that she believes, as I do, that some things are, in fact, right and some things are, in fact, wrong. Segregation—even though the courts had sustained it for a hundred years—was morally indefensible and legally indefensible and yet it was the law of the land,'' he said. ''She brings that philosophy to her legal work.''


:wtf:

So liberalism is morally and legally indefensible? Like slavery and segregation? Therefore liberalism is slavery?

I repeat: :wtf:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

28. She'll never get in. The Dems will filibuster...Oh, I forgot.

The Dems no longer filibuster fascists. They're saving it for "extraordinary circumstances".

[deutsey]

29. Yes, and war is peace

Love is hate.

Ignorance, indeed, is strength.

[NMMNG]

30. Whatever

But she also has a fondness for rock 'n' roll lyrics, quoting at length from Procol Harem's "Whiter Shade of Pale" in one speech and rewriting Paul Simon's song "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" as "50 Ways to Lose Your Liberty" in another.


Did she pay royalties to the copyright owners for using these song lyrics? Otherwise she would be guilty of intellectual theft!:evilfrown:

[ngGale]

31. Well, guess it took until today for the Times to...

check their sources.:sarcasm: