The Curmudgeon Speaks

The things which irritate an old man...

As I took my morning walk today I noticed a car with a bumper sticker that said, 'I'd rather be riding transit'. And my first thought was, then why aren't you? Why don't you sell that thing, give the cash to the government to put towards transit, and then take the damn bus where you want to go. They're all over the place. I see them every day. Stop signaling whatever virtue you mean to shame me over and put your money where your mouth is.

Then it hit me. You don't want your money to go to transit without a pile of mine to keep it company.

Well, guess what? I don't want to take transit. I want to take my money (which I earned and you did not, by the way), buy me a car, and go wherever the hell I want to go whenever the hell I want to do it. And I do not want nor expect any of your cash for that right.

In other words, blow that empty posturing out your nose, and keep your hand out of my pocket.

The Stupid Secretary of State

New Secretary of State John Kerry told a group of German students that Americans have a right to be stupid. The remark garnered a few laughs, not the least of which likely emanated from a general European view that Americans are stupid. Be that as it may, Kerry called the supposed right to be stupid a virtue which is protected by our Constitutional system.

A-hem. Let's be perfectly clear on such points: no one has the right to be stupid, just as no one has the corollary right to be wrong. It follows, then, that no one ought to tolerate stupidity and error either. We may have to, but only as a matter of practical necessity and certainly not because the stupid person has a true right to be that way.

This is the sort of argument which must lead towards the toleration of horrid ideas and real moral evils. Why do we have abortion, for example? Because of this very same argument for tolerance: we can't make a woman carry a baby to term because she has the right to be wrong. You may notice that those who are pro-life apparently do not have the same right to be wrong, but that's okay. It's simply another strike against the secular world: when they say that people have the right to be wrong, they mean themselves, not us or those who think our way.

This is the lesson which ought to be learned from Secretary Kerry's remarks. Tolerance is merely a buzzword for let the left do what it wants to, because it certainly isn't willing to let the right do what it wants to, as illustrated by issues such and abortion and gay rights. They have a right to be stupid; they have a right to be judgmental in judging us. But judge not them. They have a right to be stupid.

Stupid is as stupid does, eh, Forrest? It's right in the Constitution and Supreme Court rulings. As America slowly loses the moral high ground, we will have inane, off the cuff remarks about stupidity as a virtue to thank, delivered from the highest thrones in our government. Will we, even for a moment, consider whether such ideas are themselves stupid?

Not so long as they make a good sound bite.