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Is Dennis Prager a political ally?

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MisterSwig

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On 3/12/2021 at 5:20 PM, Eiuol said:

The left liberals you think of still support a capitalistic mixed economy still oriented towards markets and different degrees of regulation and the way they all use the media machine, just as right-leaning liberals. All of these people are neoliberals.

The Bidens of the Democratic Party still give lip-service to "free markets" but they mean egalitarian globalist "markets." They want to end "shareholder capitalism" in the US, redistribute American profits to other countries in the form of foreign aid, and unfairly force American businessmen to compete with foreign businessmen who don't have to respect property rights, pay minimum wages or deal with environmental regulations. It's like saying I'm for playing baseball, as long as you can't use your best pitcher and I get five outs per inning to your three.

On 3/12/2021 at 5:20 PM, Eiuol said:

But should we really call Prager a right liberal? I feel unsure.

My initial thought is that socially/culturally we are at or near the ideal of liberty, in terms of things like race, sex, and class relations. The right has its conservative gripes but pretty much wants to maintain the current level of social freedoms. However, the "woke" left realizes this is no good for their egalitarian Marxist agenda. Liberty ain't creating equity. So they need to repress and reverse the liberty of those who are flourishing above others.

So liberalism is mostly a done deal in the social sphere. Either we'll maintain our liberty around this level or revert to the racism and sexism and classism of the past.

It's in the economic sphere where liberalism still has ground to gain. And it's here where Prager-types are rightist liberals who want to reduce government abuse and control of trade and business development.

Edited by MisterSwig
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Last August, 28, 2021:

OSI, PragerU, and Sales of Atlas Shrugged

For instance, according to the top three Amazon book sales calculators (TCK Publishing, WildFire Marketing, and Kindlepreneur), in the week following the release of “The Book Club: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand,” sales of Atlas increased as follows:

  • Audio edition sales nearly doubled,
  • Kindle edition sales increased threefold,
  • Paperback sales increased fourfold.

The calculators were not intuitive to me. The numbers above could stand some better context, (doubled, trebled, quadrupled from what?)

 

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On 3/5/2021 at 8:57 PM, whYNOT said:

Individualism, imperfect or inconstant by O'ist standards, pre-existed and exists whether you perceive it or not. And plainly, in greater degrees and numbers in the West - and - moreso in America.

And, to cap that, Americans have been overwhelmingly Christian. Explain that supposed contradiction.

Easy. The form of "Christianity" that's actually practiced today (even by such open Bible-bashers as Prager) bears very little resemblance to the original form of Christianity that's actually expounded in the Bible.

You can find plenty of alleged "Christians" who believe in liberty and individualism; sure. And you can also find plenty of alleged "Muslims" who find the idea of a political Jihad morally abhorrent and want nothing more than to live in peace and freedom (I've met a few at the gas station I used to work at).

Find me a "Christian" who has actually read their own holy book, in its entirety, takes its moral teachings seriously and still believes in the founding principles of America. I would be very surprised if you could.

 

In that respect the founding fathers were even less Christian than today's right-wingers.

 

Dennis Prager has made multiple YouTube videos (and maybe I'll have to track them down and link to them) arguing that there can be no conception of morality except in a religious context and that secular values of any sort (any value which isn't derived from the Bible) lead politically to Communism and mass slaughter.

 

It's not that no religionist can be a conceptual thinker; it's that no true religionist can be truly pro-liberty. They can mouth the sound "freedom" (just as the Communists do) but if they believe in it then they don't take their religion seriously; if they take their religion seriously then they don't believe in freedom.

The alleged "Christians" who truly are pro-freedom are our allies, just as the alleged "Muslims" of that sort are.

I just don't believe that's the camp Prager belongs in.

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