Part 1: Keynesian v. Austrian Model
Particularly in an election year, every citizen’s mandate is to know the issues and become engaged in the political process, but where to start?
Econ 101: Back to Basics
Foundational worldviews determine fiscal policy. For example, our founders acknowledged God as the source of all prosperity.1 The basis for wealth is a solid work ethic2 that relinquishes exploitation, conspicuous consumption, selfishness, and shortsightedness. Not government stimulus, but rather “diligent hands bring wealth.”3
In the words of Thomas Friedman, “The Puritan ethic of hard work and saving still matters. … We need to get back to collaborating the old-fashioned way. That is, people making decisions based on business judgment, experience, prudence, clarity of communications and thinking about how—not just how much.”4 Engaging the free market to multiply goods and services—thereby expanding wealth and opportunity for all, rich and poor—distinguishes wise stewardship.
Blame Game Folly
Debating John McCain (2008), Obama admitted, “It’s true that nobody’s completely innocent here,” and lamented further, “We have had over the last eight years the biggest increases in deficit spending and national debt in our history.”5 Rather than reverse this disturbing trend, however, our nation today boasts the greatest deficit spending ever and, for the first time, the U.S. lost its “triple A” rating.6
Truth be told, both Presidents George W. Bush and President Obama espouse progressivism; furthermore, presidential candidate Mitt Romney is best characterized as a progressive neocon. Repeated, failed policies of both political parties have resulted in a $15-plus trillion debt, plus a $118 trillion unfunded liability. But forget the blame game. America needs answers. But hope, change, and the can-do spirit must be grounded in reality, not illusion; therefore, we best recommit to America’s foundational principles and review history for answers.7
Lessons from History (Supply-Side Austrian v. Demand-Side Keynesian Theory)8
Dr. Michael Coffman characterizes the first significant depression this twentieth century (1920-1921) as “the forgotten depression.” President Woodrow Wilson’s excessive non-defense and deficit spending, exacerbated by tax increases, backfired until, by 1920, unemployment jumped to about twelve percent.
After his election in 1921, Warren Harding cut the government’s budget in half; and by 1925, he had slashed taxes from seventy-three to twenty-five percent. As early as 1923, unemployment had fallen to 2.4 percent, thus signaling end of the depression. The Roaring Twenties were launched, not by progressive policies of Wilson and ilk, but rather by what has come to be known as the “Harding Miracle.”
A four-year research project of two distinguished UCLA economists, Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian, concludes that, had the government under FDR not intervened, the Great Depression that followed would not have persisted, as it did, for nearly fifteen years. Significant government intervention actually slowed the process of recovery. To blame were Roosevelt’s specific anti-competition and pro-labor measures—not capitalism.9
The Harding pattern was replicated when, under President Ronald Reagan, the nation’s worth more than doubled. President John F. Kennedy likewise cut all tax brackets by thirty percent (even for the rich). At the same time unemployment plummeted, the economy jumped by fifty percent.
Many remember with nostalgia the economic surplus under President Clinton’s watch, due in large part to the technology boom; but Charlie Gasparino of the New York Post traces seeds of today’s economic malady to Clinton’s mobilizing big government to ensure home ownership for all Americans (Recall the Community Reinvestment Act10).
Gasparino further contends that, as President, Clinton put “the final nail in the coffin of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act11,” thus ushering in “an era of wild risk-taking.” For this bipartisan folly, Bill Clinton shares blame for the financial crisis in 2008 with fellow progressive George W. Bush.12
Global Booms and Busts
A regular columnist for the New York Times, Paul Krugman insists that commitment to a non-Keynesian doctrine has proved to be false, even “disastrous,” in other countries.13 Not so. On the international stage, as Europe imposed excessive taxes/regulations and maintained unsustainable health and retirement-related benefits, Sweden pared back government and cut welfare spending and taxes (including property taxes for the rich). Her supply-side approach to the 2007-2009 recession ensured Sweden’s economic growth—the fastest in Europe—and her economy consistently outperforms the U.S. economy.
Rather than employ the Keynesian (government-controlled, demand-side) model lauded by progressives, Sweden applied the Austrian School of Economic Theory (laissez-faire economics constrained by a few necessary laws to protect businesses and consumers). Not to learn from history is to repeat it. If America persists in replicating Europe’s bankrupt welfare society, she’s next in line to fail.
Moral Consensus and Choice
Most of our nation’s founders accepted that God owns all; and man, empowered and blessed by God, stewards it. It’s the Lord who builds the proverbial house, lest they labor in vain who build it. 14 For this reason, the 2012 Republican mantra, “WE Built It!” is sadly flawed. King Nebuchadnezzar made a similar boast; in the end, he was profoundly humbled, and his great Babylon fell to ignoble ruin.15
Even so, Max Weber’s Doctrine of Vocation rightly honors human labor that yields prosperity.16 By contrast, Frederick Engels incited the proletariat to seize political power and, then, turn the means of production into state property, owned in common. In a Marxist system, major sectors of the economy are nationalized (e.g., bail outs), and wealth is redistributed. To ensure guaranteed income (not so much personal wealth), the “ends justify means.”
In Greek, economics speaks to “household management”—this with respect to production, distribution, and consumption of wealth based on goods and services. Biblically, the rich get richer—but not necessarily off the backs of the poor, as progressives contend. Recall the parable of the unprofitable servant who buried money entrusted to him, rather than put it to work to double its value. As a result, his Master rebuked him, denied him an “even cut” of what his fellows earned, and stripped him of what he had buried.17
The lesson? Equality of opportunity doesn’t ensure equality of prosperity. Even so, economic justice describes much of Barack Obama's platform for America.18 If the words of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney are to be believed: “President Obama's view of a free economy is to send your money to his friends. [Romney’s] vision for a free enterprise economy is to return entrepreneurship and genius and creativity to the American people.”19
1. Psalm 50:10.
2. Isaiah 65:21ff; Jeremiah 32:43ff.
3. Proverbs 10:4.
4. Thomas Friedman, New York Times, October 15, 2008.
5. http://www.ontheissues.org/2008_Pres_2.htm
6. www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/06/us-usa-debt-downgrade-idUSTRE...
7. US Debt Clock as of 12/15/11. http://www.usdebtclock.org/
8. Michael Coffman, Ph.D. Plundered: How Progressive Ideology Is Destroying America (Bangor, Maine: Environmental Perspectives, Inc., 2012): 9-20.
9. Sullivan. “FDR's Policies Prolonged Depression by Seven Years,” UCLA Newsroom, August 10, 2004.
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/FDR-s-Policies-Prolonged-Depression-5409.aspx
10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act
11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass–Steagall_Act
12. Joe Weisenthal. “The Untold Story of How Clinton’s Budget Destroyed the American Economy,” BUSINESS INSIDER Politics, September 5, 2012.
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-bill-clintons-balanced-budget-destroyed-the-economy-2012-9
13. Paul Krugman. “GOP is Dead Wrong on the Economy.” (Seattle: The Seattle Times, October 14, 2012): News A21.
14. Psalm 127:1.
15. Daniel 4:30.
16. Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 1905. http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/protestantethic/summary.html
17. Matthew 25:14-30.
18. John R. Talbott. Obamanomics: How Bottom-Up Economic Prosperity Will Replace Trickle-Down Economics (New York: A Seven Stories Press First Edition, 2008): 29-31.
19. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mittromney430129.html
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Foxes in the Henhouse
Human Rights Council: Foxes in the Henhouse
Basic to American creed are inalienable rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” In his Second Treatise of Government, John Locke outlined the law of nature and nature’s God—i.e., rights of “life, liberty and estate.” Locke agreed with our founders that fundamental human rights are God-given. Thomas Jefferson characterized the Locke Model as “the People’s Law,” rightly balancing between tyranny, on one hand, and anarchy on the other.
The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The international community concedes that every person is entitled to fundamental rights that preclude abuses of discrimination, intolerance, injustice, and oppression. In 1948, following World War II, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed, thus establishing basis for world freedom, justice, and peace.
A plain-language version of this Declaration unambiguously touts rights to freedom of thought/speech, religion/conscience, assembly/voting for one’s preferred candidate or party slate. Fundamental human rights likewise include right to equality, privacy, marriage and family, needful sustenance, private ownership, safety, and more—all regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and socio-economic standing. If accused, one has the right to legal representation and a public trial; moreover, he is considered innocent until proven guilty. Furthermore, the Declaration expressly outlaws slavery, torture, unfair detainment/ false imprisonment, and killing.
The Human Rights Council
Charged with strengthening and protecting human rights worldwide, an inter-governmental body within the United Nations (the Human Rights Council) consists of forty-seven Member States elected by the U.N. General Assembly. One might reasonably expect those charged with reviewing, advising, and addressing human rights violation complaints themselves embrace the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as summarized above.
But composition of officials at the Council’s twenty-first session in Geneva (September 2012) suggests otherwise. Elected nation-states include Bangladesh (third largest Muslim country after Indonesia and Pakistan), Benin (13-15 percent Muslim), Burkina Faso (25 percent Muslim), Cameroon (25 percent Muslim), China (5 percent Muslim), Djibouti (94 percent Muslim), India (11 percent Muslim), Indonesia (87 percent Muslim), Jordon (92 percent Muslim), Kuwait (90 percent Muslim), Kyrgystan (52 percent Muslim), Libya (97 percent Muslim), Maldives (100 percent Muslim), Mauritania (99 percent Muslim), Mauritius (17 percent Muslim), Qatar (99.9 percent Muslim), Russian Federation (12 percent Muslim), and Saudi Arabia (100 percent Muslim).
Add to these an Advisory Committee representing Azerbaijan (87 percent Muslim), Nigeria (48-50% Muslim), Pakistan (95 percent Muslim), Morocco (99 percent Muslim, including Western Sahara), and Egypt (90 percent Muslim). Note, too, that Israel was strangely missing though, unlike the Muslim mindset, Israel’s biblical ethic uniquely features the dignity of human life. Furthermore, she is known broadly as the only true democracy in the region, allowing all Israeli citizens (Muslims included) the right to vote or run for office.
So … What’s the Problem?
Disturbingly, Hamas’ founding document proclaims war to be open “until Israel ceases to exist … and the last Jew in the world is eliminated.” In 2006, the Hamas even launched a terror web site for children to see cartoons and hear stories preaching the moral desirability of becoming a suicide terrorist.
Jamal Abdel Hamid Yussif has admitted: “Our people love death.” Furthermore, he added, “our goal is to die for the sake of God; and if we live, we want to humiliate Jews and trample on their necks.” Outspoken wives of terrorists express longing for Allah “to make Jewish women widows and their children orphans.”
• Muslim Record on Freedom from Force/Oppression
Islamic cultural imperialism imposes the religion and culture of seventh-century Arabia wherever it sets foot. The term “Islam” speaks to the “perfect peace resulting from total submission to Allah.” The Qur’an expressly forbids taking Jews and Christians as friends and protectors. Instead, it urges Muslim believers to war, fight, seize, and kill. The fatwa pronounces death to non-Muslims (i.e., infidels, likewise known as “cows”). If not properly submitted, whether by consent or conquest, the Dar al Hob (House of Infidels, including Jews and Christians) must be seized and slain wherever Muslims find them.
• Muslim Record on Women’s Rights
Both Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan have ratified an international treaty promising women “the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men.” While the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) sounds promising, reality flies in the face of its hollow precepts and vague language. Be sure, in Saudi Arabia, women still may not vote, drive a car, or travel alone; and some women in Afghanistan continue to set themselves ablaze in order to escape forced marriages. In fact, Muhammed referred to women as “toys” and “property” to be bought with “dowries” by men. Before marriage, women and girls undergo chastity tests, and an estimated three million are brutalized by forced female genital mutilation each year. Muslim husbands may beat wives for the flimsiest of reasons; and more often than not, physical abuse toward women and children goes unreported.
• Muslim Record on Human Dignity
Under Shariah law, a man can sequester his wife at home as punishment for disobedience; and maids and underlings are treated poorly. Up to 17,000 victims every year yield their God-given human dignity to “honor”-related kidnappings, sexual assaults, beatings, and murders. Activist-author Brigitte Gabriel of Lebanon reported that, in her experience, Muslim Palestinian students in the Old City of Jerusalem broke crosses, dug up bodies in Christian cemeteries, and threw acid in faces of Christian girls.
• Muslim Record on Equality
In no uncertain terms, Muslims are called to “fight those who do not believe in Allah … until they pay the tax in acknowledgement of superiority, and they are in a state of subjection.” Men are rewarded for marrying (thus evangelizing) non-Muslim women, but women who do the same face punishment by death. Fabulous rewards in Paradise await men. On the other hand, Qur’anic teaching is unclear as to a Muslim woman’s eternal state—perhaps because, in Islam, “the male has the equal of the portion of two females.”
The wife receives half the amount of inheritance enjoyed by her male siblings. Moreover, that inheritance is shared with additional wives, children, and extended family members. Divorce and remarriage are easy for men, but not for women. When a husband dies, the father’s uncle, not the mother, wins custody. Practically no social structure of support exists for widows outside their families; hence, their children are sent out into the streets begging for bakshish (“tips”).
• Muslim Record on Freedom of Speech/Press; Thought/Religion
To criticize Islam merits the death sentence—e.g., a human rights activist and women’s advocate Farag Foda was falsely accused, then gunned down in front of his Cairo office (1992). Forget about freedom of press. In Iran, Not Without My Daughter became one of the "most hated" books along with Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. Both were banned.
Freedom of thought and religion? No way. A Shiite court ruled Kuwaiti Muslim-turned-Christian Robert Hussein an apostate worthy of death. Harsh religious court rulings violated even Kuwaiti civil law. Indeed, the court ruled that his wife should be divorced from him, and all his possessions distributed to heirs. Similarly, Mehdi Dibaj’s conversion from Islam to Christianity landed him in prison for ten years before an official execution order was issued. The leader of Evangelical Christians in Iran launched an international campaign to end civil rights violations of Iranian Islamic courts. At the eleventh hour, the government was forced to release Dibaj; but in exchange for his courage, Bishop Haik himself suffered martyrdom. Inconceivably, Egypt, Kuwait, and Iran were among U.N. foxes elected to oversee the henhouse of human rights.
Global Human Rights Applauded Disingenuously
Human rights are commonly understood to be “inalienable” and “fundamental.” However, given make up of the Human Rights Council and advisors, one wonders: Why would communist Cuba be among those reviewing, advising, and addressing complaints about the right to democracy? And what’s the wisdom in electing Saudi Arabia to address complaints about women’s rights?
Under China’s occupation, the Tibetan people are denied most rights guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—namely, rights to self-determination, freedom of speech, assembly, movement, expression, and travel—yet China is among those reviewing, advising, and addressing complaints about freedom from foreign occupation. Similarly, in Uganda, Asian/Indian residents are assigned inferior status, yet Uganda is among nation-states speaking to complaints about racism.
For Iran, Pakistan, and Libya to be among those addressing freedoms from terrorism, hostage taking, and war defies common sense. Then there’s India, where gross human rights violations are commonly leveled against its indigenous population; yet India’s tasked with reviewing, advising, and addressing complaints about the very ones they marginalize.
Apparently, seventeenth-century French writer Francois de La Rochefoucauld was correct: “Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.”
1 Michael S. Coffman, Ph.D. Plundered: How Progressive Ideology Is Destroying America (Bangor, Maine: Environmental Perspectives, Inc. 2012). 25 and 29.
https://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/humanrights/resources/plain.asp
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/HRCIndex.aspx
William Wagner. How Islam Plans to Change the World. (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications. 2004). 247-262.
http://str8tguy69.xanga.com/705968001/seven-principles-of-the-judeo-christian-ethic/
http://www.factsofisrael.com/en/democracy.shtml
www.Al-Fateh.net
Al-Tauba 9:29; Al-Nisa 4:89; Al-Anfal 8:65, Qur’an
Sura 4:89; 5:14, Qur’an
http://movies.nationalgeographic.com/movies/desert-flower/
Al-Nisa 4:34, Qur’an
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigitte_Gabriel
Al-Tauba 9:29, Qur’an
Al-Nisa 4:129, Qur’an
Betty Mahmoody. Not Without My Daughter. (New York: St. Martins Paperback. 1991).
Salmon Rushdie. The Satanic Verses, A Novel. (New York: Viking Penguin, Inc. 1989).
https://www.rutherford.org/
www.acryfromiran.com
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/francoisde124518.html
Basic to American creed are inalienable rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” In his Second Treatise of Government, John Locke outlined the law of nature and nature’s God—i.e., rights of “life, liberty and estate.” Locke agreed with our founders that fundamental human rights are God-given. Thomas Jefferson characterized the Locke Model as “the People’s Law,” rightly balancing between tyranny, on one hand, and anarchy on the other.
The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The international community concedes that every person is entitled to fundamental rights that preclude abuses of discrimination, intolerance, injustice, and oppression. In 1948, following World War II, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed, thus establishing basis for world freedom, justice, and peace.
A plain-language version of this Declaration unambiguously touts rights to freedom of thought/speech, religion/conscience, assembly/voting for one’s preferred candidate or party slate. Fundamental human rights likewise include right to equality, privacy, marriage and family, needful sustenance, private ownership, safety, and more—all regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and socio-economic standing. If accused, one has the right to legal representation and a public trial; moreover, he is considered innocent until proven guilty. Furthermore, the Declaration expressly outlaws slavery, torture, unfair detainment/ false imprisonment, and killing.
The Human Rights Council
Charged with strengthening and protecting human rights worldwide, an inter-governmental body within the United Nations (the Human Rights Council) consists of forty-seven Member States elected by the U.N. General Assembly. One might reasonably expect those charged with reviewing, advising, and addressing human rights violation complaints themselves embrace the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as summarized above.
But composition of officials at the Council’s twenty-first session in Geneva (September 2012) suggests otherwise. Elected nation-states include Bangladesh (third largest Muslim country after Indonesia and Pakistan), Benin (13-15 percent Muslim), Burkina Faso (25 percent Muslim), Cameroon (25 percent Muslim), China (5 percent Muslim), Djibouti (94 percent Muslim), India (11 percent Muslim), Indonesia (87 percent Muslim), Jordon (92 percent Muslim), Kuwait (90 percent Muslim), Kyrgystan (52 percent Muslim), Libya (97 percent Muslim), Maldives (100 percent Muslim), Mauritania (99 percent Muslim), Mauritius (17 percent Muslim), Qatar (99.9 percent Muslim), Russian Federation (12 percent Muslim), and Saudi Arabia (100 percent Muslim).
Add to these an Advisory Committee representing Azerbaijan (87 percent Muslim), Nigeria (48-50% Muslim), Pakistan (95 percent Muslim), Morocco (99 percent Muslim, including Western Sahara), and Egypt (90 percent Muslim). Note, too, that Israel was strangely missing though, unlike the Muslim mindset, Israel’s biblical ethic uniquely features the dignity of human life. Furthermore, she is known broadly as the only true democracy in the region, allowing all Israeli citizens (Muslims included) the right to vote or run for office.
So … What’s the Problem?
Disturbingly, Hamas’ founding document proclaims war to be open “until Israel ceases to exist … and the last Jew in the world is eliminated.” In 2006, the Hamas even launched a terror web site for children to see cartoons and hear stories preaching the moral desirability of becoming a suicide terrorist.
Jamal Abdel Hamid Yussif has admitted: “Our people love death.” Furthermore, he added, “our goal is to die for the sake of God; and if we live, we want to humiliate Jews and trample on their necks.” Outspoken wives of terrorists express longing for Allah “to make Jewish women widows and their children orphans.”
• Muslim Record on Freedom from Force/Oppression
Islamic cultural imperialism imposes the religion and culture of seventh-century Arabia wherever it sets foot. The term “Islam” speaks to the “perfect peace resulting from total submission to Allah.” The Qur’an expressly forbids taking Jews and Christians as friends and protectors. Instead, it urges Muslim believers to war, fight, seize, and kill. The fatwa pronounces death to non-Muslims (i.e., infidels, likewise known as “cows”). If not properly submitted, whether by consent or conquest, the Dar al Hob (House of Infidels, including Jews and Christians) must be seized and slain wherever Muslims find them.
• Muslim Record on Women’s Rights
Both Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan have ratified an international treaty promising women “the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men.” While the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) sounds promising, reality flies in the face of its hollow precepts and vague language. Be sure, in Saudi Arabia, women still may not vote, drive a car, or travel alone; and some women in Afghanistan continue to set themselves ablaze in order to escape forced marriages. In fact, Muhammed referred to women as “toys” and “property” to be bought with “dowries” by men. Before marriage, women and girls undergo chastity tests, and an estimated three million are brutalized by forced female genital mutilation each year. Muslim husbands may beat wives for the flimsiest of reasons; and more often than not, physical abuse toward women and children goes unreported.
• Muslim Record on Human Dignity
Under Shariah law, a man can sequester his wife at home as punishment for disobedience; and maids and underlings are treated poorly. Up to 17,000 victims every year yield their God-given human dignity to “honor”-related kidnappings, sexual assaults, beatings, and murders. Activist-author Brigitte Gabriel of Lebanon reported that, in her experience, Muslim Palestinian students in the Old City of Jerusalem broke crosses, dug up bodies in Christian cemeteries, and threw acid in faces of Christian girls.
• Muslim Record on Equality
In no uncertain terms, Muslims are called to “fight those who do not believe in Allah … until they pay the tax in acknowledgement of superiority, and they are in a state of subjection.” Men are rewarded for marrying (thus evangelizing) non-Muslim women, but women who do the same face punishment by death. Fabulous rewards in Paradise await men. On the other hand, Qur’anic teaching is unclear as to a Muslim woman’s eternal state—perhaps because, in Islam, “the male has the equal of the portion of two females.”
The wife receives half the amount of inheritance enjoyed by her male siblings. Moreover, that inheritance is shared with additional wives, children, and extended family members. Divorce and remarriage are easy for men, but not for women. When a husband dies, the father’s uncle, not the mother, wins custody. Practically no social structure of support exists for widows outside their families; hence, their children are sent out into the streets begging for bakshish (“tips”).
• Muslim Record on Freedom of Speech/Press; Thought/Religion
To criticize Islam merits the death sentence—e.g., a human rights activist and women’s advocate Farag Foda was falsely accused, then gunned down in front of his Cairo office (1992). Forget about freedom of press. In Iran, Not Without My Daughter became one of the "most hated" books along with Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. Both were banned.
Freedom of thought and religion? No way. A Shiite court ruled Kuwaiti Muslim-turned-Christian Robert Hussein an apostate worthy of death. Harsh religious court rulings violated even Kuwaiti civil law. Indeed, the court ruled that his wife should be divorced from him, and all his possessions distributed to heirs. Similarly, Mehdi Dibaj’s conversion from Islam to Christianity landed him in prison for ten years before an official execution order was issued. The leader of Evangelical Christians in Iran launched an international campaign to end civil rights violations of Iranian Islamic courts. At the eleventh hour, the government was forced to release Dibaj; but in exchange for his courage, Bishop Haik himself suffered martyrdom. Inconceivably, Egypt, Kuwait, and Iran were among U.N. foxes elected to oversee the henhouse of human rights.
Global Human Rights Applauded Disingenuously
Human rights are commonly understood to be “inalienable” and “fundamental.” However, given make up of the Human Rights Council and advisors, one wonders: Why would communist Cuba be among those reviewing, advising, and addressing complaints about the right to democracy? And what’s the wisdom in electing Saudi Arabia to address complaints about women’s rights?
Under China’s occupation, the Tibetan people are denied most rights guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—namely, rights to self-determination, freedom of speech, assembly, movement, expression, and travel—yet China is among those reviewing, advising, and addressing complaints about freedom from foreign occupation. Similarly, in Uganda, Asian/Indian residents are assigned inferior status, yet Uganda is among nation-states speaking to complaints about racism.
For Iran, Pakistan, and Libya to be among those addressing freedoms from terrorism, hostage taking, and war defies common sense. Then there’s India, where gross human rights violations are commonly leveled against its indigenous population; yet India’s tasked with reviewing, advising, and addressing complaints about the very ones they marginalize.
Apparently, seventeenth-century French writer Francois de La Rochefoucauld was correct: “Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.”
1 Michael S. Coffman, Ph.D. Plundered: How Progressive Ideology Is Destroying America (Bangor, Maine: Environmental Perspectives, Inc. 2012). 25 and 29.
https://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/humanrights/resources/plain.asp
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/HRCIndex.aspx
William Wagner. How Islam Plans to Change the World. (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications. 2004). 247-262.
http://str8tguy69.xanga.com/705968001/seven-principles-of-the-judeo-christian-ethic/
http://www.factsofisrael.com/en/democracy.shtml
www.Al-Fateh.net
Al-Tauba 9:29; Al-Nisa 4:89; Al-Anfal 8:65, Qur’an
Sura 4:89; 5:14, Qur’an
http://movies.nationalgeographic.com/movies/desert-flower/
Al-Nisa 4:34, Qur’an
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigitte_Gabriel
Al-Tauba 9:29, Qur’an
Al-Nisa 4:129, Qur’an
Betty Mahmoody. Not Without My Daughter. (New York: St. Martins Paperback. 1991).
Salmon Rushdie. The Satanic Verses, A Novel. (New York: Viking Penguin, Inc. 1989).
https://www.rutherford.org/
www.acryfromiran.com
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/francoisde124518.html
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