William Tucker tells us how he came over from the Dark Side in the NY Post:
I always trace my conversion to an old girlfriend of mine who was in some Women's Consciousness-Raising Group that was trying to open a restaurant. They met for months on end without ever accomplishing anything. One day she got fed up and said, "To hell with this. I'm going to open the damned thing myself."Ah, to be young and
Within a month, she had the restaurant up and running. It became very successful.
To a person such as myself weaned on group "activism," it was a stunning revelation. After all, business people were supposed to be the selfish exploiters of the working class. Yet I suddenly realized that starting your own business is an act of courage and initiative. I also recognized there's a certain cowardice in the group-think that says you always have to be surrounded by people just like yourself.
Thus began the unraveling of my "class consciousness." I realized that nothing truly creative ever gets done except by individuals. At best, group effort only leeches off what other people have created.
The economy we live in is not a natural object. It was constructed piece-by-piece by inventive individuals and is upheld every day by people doing hard, fruitful labor. No one gets by simply by making strident demands on others. People who feel entitled to things don't understand how the world works.
Unfortunately, most Democratic politics centers around "entitlements." The elderly are entitled to Social Security, even if it turns out to be a Ponzi scheme. Women are entitled to special treatment because of past discrimination. Blacks are entitled to reparations because of slavery. Illegal immigrants are entitled the full rights of citizens. Children are entitled to abortions, even if their parents don't approve. The only group that isn't entitled to anything is adult white males, and they can probably come up with something if they think about it long enough.
Trial lawyers - now the most powerful constituency in the Democratic Party - are the Ultra-Democrats. They believe everybody is entitled to everything. Scratch your finger and you're entitled to a million dollars. The "class action" is the perfect Democratic metaphor - a million people get $12 apiece and the lawyers walk off with the other $12 million.
