The Wisdom of Ben Stein

[E7]

THE WISDOM OF BEN STEIN

I never dreamed that I would have to face the prospect of not living in the United States of America, at least not the one I have known all my life. I have never wished to live anywhere else. This is my home and I was privileged to be born here.


But today I woke up and as I had my morning coffee, I realized that everything is about to change. No matter how I vote, no matter what I say, something evil has invaded our nation, and our lives are never going to be the same. I have been confused by the hostility of family and friends. I look at people I have known all my life--so hate-filled that they agree with opinions they would never express as their own. I think that I may well have entered the Twilight Zone. We have become a nation that has lost its collective mind!


You can't justify this insanity:


• If a guy pretends to be a woman, you are required to pretend with him.


• Somehow it's un-American for the census to count how many Americans are in America.

• Russians influencing our elections are bad, but illegals voting in our elections are good.

• It was cool for Joe Biden to "blackmail" the President of Ukraine, but it's an impeachable offense if Donald Trump inquires about it.

• Twenty is too young to drink a beer, but eighteen is old enough to vote.

• People who have never owned slaves should pay slavery reparations to people who have never been slaves.

• People who have never been to college should pay the debts of college students who took out huge loans for their degrees.

• Immigrants with tuberculosis and polio are welcome, but you'd better be able to prove your dog is vaccinated.

• Irish doctors and German engineers who want to immigrate to the US must go through a rigorous vetting process, but any illiterate gang-bangers who jump the southern fence are welcome.

• $5 billion for border security is too expensive, but $1.5 trillion for "free" health care is not.

• If you cheat to get into college you go to prison, but if you cheat to get into the country you go to college for free.

• People who say there is no such thing as gender are demanding a female President.

• We see other countries going Socialist and collapsing, but it seems like a great plan to us.

• Some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, and other people are not held responsible for what they are doing right now.

• Criminals are caught-and-released to hurt more people, but stopping them is bad because it's a violation of THEIR rights.

• And pointing out all this hypocrisy somehow makes us "racists"?!


Nothing makes sense anymore - no values, no morals, and no civility. People are dying of a Chinese virus, but it's racist to refer to it as Chinese even though it began in China. We are clearly living in an upside down world where right is wrong and wrong is right, where moral is immoral and immoral is moral, where good is evil and evil is good, where killing murderers is wrong but killing unborn babies is AOK!


Wake up America, the great unsinkable ship Titanic America has hit an iceberg, is taking on water, and is sinking fast. Speak up!

[up148]

Reread and definitely not Ben Stein and some very stupid statements. Once again bitten by the "just read it stupid" before you comment syndrome.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Not sure if you checked this on any fact checker.............

Yes, does not parse as anything like Stein might have written.....but if you like angry old man rantings, it's a pretty fair example.

[bob turner]

We do have a choice coming up - should we remain a representative democracy, or should we restrict voting to those who have the proper viewpoints and/or backgrounds? I have no idea which way it is going, but other fairly advanced societies are opting for the latter.

[robert.]

Can anybody prove illegals voted? Or is it spun? a person entered the USA 20 years illegally. Then after 15 years became a US. citizen and voted?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Can anybody prove illegals voted? Or is it spun? a person entered the USA 20 years illegally. Then after 15 years became a US. citizen and voted?

There's no real proof of fraud; just a convenient lie that gives malcontents an excuse to rant, rend cloth, foam at the mouth, etc.

If someone became a US. citizen and voted.........good for them - perfectly legal and a vote from someone that actually wanted to be here enough to jump through hoops that few born here could match.

[gregj410]

Can anybody prove illegals voted? Or is it spun? a person entered the USA 20 years illegally. Then after 15 years became a US. citizen and voted?

There's no real proof of fraud; just a convenient lie that gives malcontents an excuse to rant, rend cloth, foam at the mouth, etc.

If someone became a US. citizen and voted.........good for them - perfectly legal and a vote from someone that actually wanted to be here enough to jump through hoops that few born here could match.

Maybe, maybe not. Call it what you want but it sure looks deceitful when you’re required to have an ID for nearly everything except voting. Then suddenly it’s racist.

[robert.]

Pennsylvania allows people to vote without ID. or proof of address. It is illegal for poll workers to ask for it. ( with a few catches first time voter or change of address) I theory. One could vote by using the name of someone else. If that someone was not casting a vote. ID. should be required. f you're not responsible enough to maintain an ID. You might not be responsible enough to cast a vote.

[HONDO74]

We do have a choice coming up - should we remain a representative democracy, or should we restrict voting to those who have the proper viewpoints and/or backgrounds? I have no idea which way it is going, but other fairly advanced societies are opting for the latter.

So you would prefer a one party system with the democrats in total control. It looks like that is the way we are headed.

That one party system is working pretty good in China presently.

[bob turner]

Yes, but:

1. The penalties for fraudulent voting are pretty severe. Why on earth would anyone risk that? For such a minuscule gain?

2. What would lead you to believe that only folks who voted against Trump were voting fraudulently? If there were some advantage to faking a vote, wouldn't it be common across the spectrum?

3. Or have we decided that only Democrats and Liberals are deceitful, and we would be better off restricting them from voting?

I am thinking the country is leaning toward #3. Oligarchy works for a short while, then you get a dictatorship. Most humans apparently prefer dictators. Why would we be different?

[bob turner]

I missed Hondo's comment. No, some of us are a bit worried about disenfranchisement and Gerrymandering. Democracy is majority rule - we temper that with safeguards for the discrete, insular minorities.

Some of our safeguards - the Electoral College, the Senate, and indeed Gerrymandering - work against our democratic ideals.
We get to choose. We so far have chosen minority rule in the 21st Century.

[robert.]

Fraud should be equal across the board. Even if people were playing games it would be maybe 10-20 extra votes. How many 100 at the most? That want change any outcome. You would need a few rigged machines or a van full of votes to go away. I don't have faith in our voting system. To much money is involved. And i will say " It has to be so hard to change the outcome. " I can't comprehend how it would be messed with. Especially when 3 can keep a secret if 2 are dead!

[HONDO74]

I missed Hondo's comment. No, some of us are a bit worried about disenfranchisement and Gerrymandering. Democracy is majority rule - we temper that with safeguards for the discrete, insular minorities.

Some of our safeguards - the Electoral College, the Senate, and indeed Gerrymandering - work against our democratic ideals.
We get to choose. We so far have chosen minority rule in the 21st Century.

The United States of America is defined as a constitutional republic.

Article II of the Consitution, which describes how the legislative branch of the government functions, lays it out pretty well: citizens of states vote for members of the House of Representatives and Senate, who then vote on their behalf.

Representatives voting in place of citizens is classic republicanism – once again, we see “representative democracy.”

Another republican idea is the Electoral College. As mentioned above, republicanism puts some “distance” between everyday people and government functioning, and that’s what the Electoral College was originally intended to do.

While there’s always been a popular vote, wherein eligible U.S. citizens cast their votes for President of the United States, the Electoral College was originally meant to deliberate on that vote to ensure a populist or tyrant would not become President.

[v8vega]

What about what Ben Stein said is not true?

[bob turner]

Hondo's last post is quite coherent.

Indeed we are set up so that presidents can be, and are, selected by a minority. We should change that.

I have Conservative friends who strongly believe that a Wyoming rancher's vote is far more important than that of an inner-city Black woman. In our past, a woman could not vote - and at some point it was thought that only "property owners" should be eligible.

These are choices we have made and modified over the years. I personally believe we need to step back a bit from the idea that certain folks' votes ought not count as much as others - and at least make sure that no President steps into office with fewer votes nation-wide than his opponent.

I am quite sure you will agree with me the first time a Liberal steps into that office with fewer votes than her Republican opponent.