Who's the Luddite?

Earlier this month at a commencement address at Hampton University earlier this month, President Obama astonished me by slamming new technology, “You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank that high on the truth meter," he told the students. "And with iPods and iPads, and Xboxes and PlayStations -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it's putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy."

This is quite a statement from our post-racial, post-political, new age, tech savvy president. When he first came to office, there were stories about how difficult it might be to maintain cyber-security since Obama was hooked on his Blackberry. Another myth died before my very eyes.

President Obama’s quote is troubling for several reasons. First, Barack Obama sold us on a president that was more in tune with science, technology and progress than his predecessor was. People of science, rather than the proponents of creationism of the prior administration would hold sway in this administration. Between the killing of manned space flight at NASA and this whack at technology, I’m beginning to have some doubts about his commitment to American leadership in science and technology. These devices and advances are the result of cutting edge American creativity and technological progress. The hardware and software are largely products of American ingenuity (although Japan and India also have been major contributors). In addition, these are GREEN COMPANIES. They are not big smokestack entities belching out CO2 and dumping waste into our waterways. These products are the result of very smart, very nerdy people in clean little cubicles. These products represent the best of America’s transition from brawn to brains.

Most disturbing is Obama’s assertion that we need to be wary of unfiltered information, as if the 3 big networks and the New York Times should be our only fact-checked reliable source of news. Right. One only has to think back of the events of last summer in Iran to know that the uncontrolled Twitter was the only reliable source of information coming out of that country during the protests. The new technology IS a means of emancipation… from established media. Mr. President, we are perfectly capable of sorting out and distilling information. You are only partially correct that they are putting new pressures on our democracy. They are putting more pressure on our leaders to be more responsive. Even guys like me can have a blog with his own modest readership. We are no longer condemned to receiving information and viewpoints from a small cluster of media elite.

It is surprising that a conservative like me would actually embrace new communication and technology ahead of our new age president, but I have done so with some gusto. I wouldn’t exactly call myself an early adopter, but I have at least been in the second wave. I have not yet purchased an iPad, but I have had an iPod for several years and I bought a Kindle last year.

Here are my recommendations for information that is sometimes a distraction, but informative and entertaining nonetheless.

Best $100 I’ve spent this year.
Hands down it is my subscription to the Bloomberg podcasts. Tom Keene has wonderful guests. He has had Nuriel Roubini, Paul Volker, Gary Becker, Gary Schiller, and other top economists and analysts. Keene is extraordinarily well-prepared (I don’t know when he sleeps), analytical, and always very good humored. He is particularly skilled at getting technical analysts to frame up propositions so that less technical listeners can understand. Clearly, Keene makes his living discussing global markets but he stays far away from partisan politics. We can all agree that we are in a major era of economic disruption, and I feel I have a much keener (no pun intended) view of the economy as a result of regular listening.

Favorite Lefty.
Terry Gross. I can’t help myself. I’ve been listening to Fresh Air for 25 years and I still like the guests she is able to attract, and she attracts a pretty wide swath of people. A high percentage of them are in the arts and music and many are on the leg of a book tour, but she is respectful and is able to get guests to open up to her on a very human level. Her interview with Tony Judt (a NYU professor and writer stricken with ALS) was so compelling that I wrote an email to Mr. Judt (from which I received a warm reply. Ms. Gross restrained herself magnificently when she interviewed Carl Rove, although I got the sense that she was squirming in her seat.

When I Need a Good Rant.
Mark Levin (www.marklevinshow.com). I have to be in the mood to listen to Levin. But when I’ve really had it with the Obama/Reid/Pelosi troika, a half an hour with Levin is cathartic. He keeps you focused on the frontal assault on individual liberty that Team Obama is attempting to implement. While I don’t much care for the call-in “man in the street” interchanges, his blunt commentary on individual liberty and American exceptionalism is refreshing.

Kindle.
I like my Kindle but don’t love it. Reading with a Kindle does not replicate reading a book. Reading a book is a sensual experience as well as an intellectual one. I love the feel and smell of a new book, and I like to flip back between pages of a text. I find the percentage of completion indicator (rather than page numbering) annoying. And the little square peg that you use to navigate is clunky.

Still, there are features of the Kindle that I like. It is easy to cart around, especially while travelling. It is perfect for purchasing books which are more contemporary and will likely not be read again. In that respect, it is much more economical than purchasing hard cover books. I like the fact that I can order and receive a book instantaneously. The economy has figured out how to extract money from me in smaller increments.


Social Media.
I don’t Twitter….yet. But I do have a rudimentary Facebook and LinkedIn profiles (which I need to upgrade). I’m still groping around for the proper amount of information to put out there in what is a public forum. Both are useful to connect with people, especially interesting long lost classmates that you were curious about. In some ways, it has made class reunions somewhat obsolete. You get to find out what happened to people and only need to correspond with those that you would like to correspond with. I’m still not sure of the value of LinkedIn. A large percentage of people that want to connect to my network are not people I particularly want to be connected to.

So there you have it. President Obama, you are dead wrong. These new devices and the new technology is tremendously empowering and liberating. See? I just posted it. Anyone around the world with access to the internet can read it. So there.

Suffer the Children

Our ultimate responsibility as a nation is to preserve the Constitution and the freedoms guaranteed by it to future generations. An important corollary is the responsibility to preserve the American Way of Life and economic opportunity for the generations that follow. Our children and their children are our most important priority.

Unfortunately, the Left doesn’t quite see it that way.

In February, President Obama dumped a $3.8 trillion budget on Congress with huge deficits that go on ad infinitum. Congress, in turn, won’t even pass a budget. It intends to tax, spend, and borrow without one. Under the cover of “stimulus,” these people are stealing from our children and grandchildren. My liberal friends blithely say, “Well, we’ll just have to raise taxes at some point.” On who? My children and grandchildren, stealing opportunity from them—money they could be using to save and invest, to feed the Left’s constituents today. No wonder the Tea Party is becoming a recognizable political force. We are clearly back to taxation without representation. But this is the most insidious kind. They are pillaging a generation that hasn’t been born yet and and therefore cannot resist or rebel.

Now it seems that the Left has stooped to a new low. A couple of educational bureaucrats in Highland Park are cynically using the Highland Park girls’ basketball team to advance their own wrongheaded political agenda. They have announced that the team will be cancelling their planned trip to Arizona citing “safety concerns” but really in protest of Arizona’s recently passed immigration law.

Now you’ve hit home, guys. Playing high school and college sports is one of the most gratifying, fun and important growing experiences a kid can have. Sportsteaches discipline, hard work, the importance of working together and getting along (even when there are teammates you don’t particularly like). It is important in building self-confidence and self-esteem. In a world of immediate gratification, sports teaches the importance to deferred reward. Further, it is only in the last 10-15 years that girls’ sports has really taken off. I have been impressed with the level of play and the skill level that girls programs have achieved. The memories of those experiences and the bonds that are created last a lifetime. I know. I’ve been there.

And these despicable creatures in Highland Park want to ruin this experience for these girls to make a political statement. It’s fine if you want to protest. Write a letter. Call you Congressman. Boycott watching “los Suns” games on TV. But don’t ruin the trip of a lifetime for these kids. I find it particularly revolting that these girls have achieved near equality with boys in facilities, resources, play and coaching level—all the things that Title IX was all about. And now you want to take away a fun experience to satisfy your petty little grievance with a state that is not even yours (not to mention whether or not your position has any merit). This is outrageous.

The Left, through its propaganda arm, the New York Times, has been all over Pope Benedict and the Catholic Church for the child abuse scandals. Fair enough, and I joined in that criticism. But the Left is engaging in its own form of child abuse. By stealing from them to feed their own constituents (which happens to include the teachers’ unions, I might add) and by using them as political pawns and denying these girls in Highland Park the opportunity to compete, they are engaging in their own form of child abuse.

The Disconnected

The president’s approval ratings continue to drift downward. The approval ratings of Congress are scandalously low—I think Lawrence Taylor’s are actually better than Harry Reid’s and Nancy Pelosi’s. A recent Pew poll indicated that 80% of Americans distrust government. These are serious numbers. Two years after the worst financial crisis in three generations, and we still do not have a financial reform bill. Drugs and gangs are pouring into Mexico and we cannot protect our border. Oil is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, ruining Southern economies and the ecosystem for a generation and our administration flips us off, saying “It’s not our job. It’s BP’s.” Terrorists have attacked us from inside our military (Administration immediate response: “Let’s not jump to conclusions”), a have attempted to blow up an airliner (Administration immediate response: “The system worked”) and slaughter people in Times Square (Administration immediate response: “This is a one-off”). Almost on cue, Robert Gates yesterday announced that we need to drastically reduce our military spending. No wonder Democrats like Bart Stupak and David Obey have bailed. The administration’s slavish devotion to liberal dogma – abundant social spending and reflexive softness on matters of security- is disconnected him from the polity.

But the Obama administration is not alone. The Catholic Church is also embroiled in the most serious crisis of confidence since Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door in Wittenburg. The child abuse scandals have roiled the church both in America and in Europe, and have implicated the Pontiff himself. In response, the Pope launched his own “apology tour” of sorts. But the magnitude and insidiousness of the crisis screams for fundamental reform. However, the elevation of Benedict to the papacy in 2005 signaled that the Church is headed in the other direction. Known as “God’s Rotweiller”, Ratzinger is a hard line Catholic fundamentalist; his position is and has been to dig a moat around the Vatican and not open the big issues of celibacy, birth control, and Catholic supremacy up for discussion. That the Vatican would even consider putting up Pius XII for sainthood tells me that there is something dreadfully wrong with the church hierarchy. Sainthood to me equals beyond reproach in any respect. It is the Catholic moral hall of fame. Given the time that Pius XII was at the helm of the church and Germany’s Catholic tradition, it is simply not possible for Pius XII to be considered for beatification.

As I thought about it more, Obama and Pope Benedict face parallel problems. In both cases, the governing hierarchy is utterly disconnected from the governed. They simply are not listening. Their views are rooted in their immutable fundamentalist beliefs that cannot be varied no matter what evidence is presented to them and what the people are saying.

In his recent book, “Practicing Catholic,” James Carroll (a former priest and self-described dissident Catholic) says:

“It seems harsh to say so, but cruelty underlies the shy pope’s evident goodwill. That is because the ideology he advances for Roman Catholicism cares less for actual people (men and women in the hopeless dead end of a failed marriage, say) than for esoteric abstractions (the absolute indissolubility of matrimony). It is this aspect of Pope Benedict’s mindset that qualifies him as the chief sponsor of the new Catholic fundamentalism, enforced with no regard for the real cost to human beings.”

The Catholic Church and the U.S. are each now governed by the most ideological leaders in a generation. Pope Benedict has been largely deaf to his constituents. But Obama cannot remain deaf forever. We have mid-term elections in six months.