Objectivist Round-up

The latest Objectivist Round Upis up at The Crucible and Column.

Peter Cresswell of Not PC writes

"It's well known that back before he abandoned drawing identifiable figures, Pablo Picasso could draw like an angel. In an opposite twist, now that former deconstructionist architect Zaha Hadid has elected to produce actual buildings -- and in this stunning piece of architecture for the shifting desert sands of the Emirate's thriving megalopolis she has done that and more -- she's revealed as a woman with talent to burn, which was what she had mostly been doing with it up to now."

In Part III of "Night of the Long Knives" Edward Cline writes:

Describing the political climate of Weimar Germany in Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris, Ian Kershaw notes that Germany was "a Republic without republicans." One could just as well say that of the United States today, our republicans being of the intellectual and moral caliber of the Founders but who are entirely absent from the modern American political universe. No politician today advocates life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness; the Declaration of Independence and the original Constitution, sans the statist amendments to it, may as well be indecipherable Turkish runes.

A friend noted that while the Democrats wish to destroy the American Revolution, the Republicans seem to have forgotten it ever happened, which explains not only why they have never been able to defend it, but have been complicit in its steady destruction. Republican presidential candidate John McCain is not any kind of reactionary alternative to Barack Obama. If the current political environment can be likened to a coin, then heads it is altruist, tails it is collectivist, and McCain is simply the ridged edge on its side.

Mosey on over to The Crucible and Column and read yet another excellent Objectivist Round Up.

Objectivist Round-up #48

Rational Jenn has published the 48th Objectivist Round Up on her blog.

I particularly enjoyedEdward Cline's entry The Year of the Long Knives. Of Obama, he has this to say:

Why link an infamous chapter of Nazi history to any discussion of Barack Obama's character and political aspirations? Because the parallels of his rise in politics and that of Hitler's in Germany are too eerie in their particulars to ignore. To be sure, Obama's rise has been, in terms of violence, betrayal, and criminal skullduggery, entirely blameless. Never mind his early career as a "community" advocate, activist, and ward-heeler in Chicago and his somewhat lackluster but leftist record in the Illinois legislature and the U.S Senate. Obama himself is a man of no convictions, and a man of no convictions, as a consummate second-hander, will adopt the "greatest good for the greatest number" as his moral compass, whether or not he is running for office.

A man with no sense of self-identity will become what others wish him to be, or what he believes others wish him to be. The empty vessel will naturally gravitate to crowds to be filled to the brim with their hopes, dreams, wishes, sores and frustrations. Only then will he feel complete. He will become their servant, their icon, to be placed on an altar to be worshipped and prayed to in self-effacing idolatry.

So it is with Obama. It helps to explain why so many Americans are excited by him, and why he exudes a confidence not evident in any of the other candidates. His admirers cannot be excited by him because of his ideas; he has not expressed anything as solid as an idea (and clichés, bromides and populist tripe are not ideas), and his confidence grows as the number of his admirers and supporters grows.

The blog post is worth reading in its entirety. I am looking forward to Part 2, and his views on McCain.

The most important entry in the entire round up has to be this one.

Diana Hsieh presents Letter to the Editor on Colorado's Personhood Amendment posted at NoodleFood, saying, "The Denver Post published my letter to the editor opposing the proposed "personhood amendment" to the Colorado's constitution. That amendment would give full rights to a fertilized egg, thus endangering not just abortion but also birth control and in virtro fertilization."