Orson Scott Card wrote one of the books that I return to time and again. "Ender's Game". In it, he predicts blogs, and bloggers—though he doesn't call them that—and the influence they would have on the political process. The subtitle of my blog—"Jumping into the pool with Demosthenes and Locke"—is in honor of two bloggers in his story.
He is a perceptive, forthright, classical liberal and, though I don't know how or why, Orson Scott Card is a Democrat. Not that you can't be perceptive and forthright and be a Democrat, but a classical liberal gets no representation whatsoever from the Democrat Party.
In the proud tradition of those who are loyal to an ideal, not a party, Mr. Card takes a scalpel to his own party, and to their surrogates, mainstream journalists. Mincemeat is the result.
I wish I could simply reproduce the whole thing for you right here, but I'll just have to be happy with a few choice paragraphs.
Regarding our current economic problems:
Meridian
This housing crisis didn't come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.
It
was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s,
to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more
accessible to poor people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized
to approve risky loans.
[...]
This was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did
foresee it. One political party, in Congress and in the executive
branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules. The other party
blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them.
Furthermore,
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political contributions to the
very members of Congress who were allowing them to make irresponsible
loans.
Regarding "journalism's" lack of enthusiasm for any story critical of Democrats:
Isn't there a story here? Doesn't
journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth
about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep
confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren't you
supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting
personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?
I
have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party
or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a
vast scandal. "Housing-gate," no doubt. Or "Fannie-gate."
Instead,
it was Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both
Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush
administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these
agencies to go even further in promoting sub-prime mortgage loans
almost up to the minute they failed.
[...]
Yet when Nancy Pelosi accused the Bush
administration and Republican deregulation of causing the crisis, you
in the press did not hold her to account for her lie. Instead, you
criticized Republicans who took offense at this lie and refused to vote
for the bailout!
What? It's not the liar, but the victims of the lie who are to blame?
Now
let's follow the money ... right to the presidential candidate who is
the number-two recipient of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae.
Mr.Card has written a serious essay. It flays to the bone Democrat hypocrisy, and the so-called journalists who enable it. He has written with the courage of his convictions, and I heartily recommend that you read the whole thing.
