Liberal Fascism Watch

Environmentalist David Shearman thinks democracy is hopeless if you need to save the planet:

…the savvy Chinese rulers may be first out of the blocks to assuage greenhouse emissions and they will succeed by delivering orders. They will recognize that the alternative is famine and social disorder.

Let us contrast this with the indecisiveness of the democracies which together produce approximately the other half of the world’s greenhouse emissions.[…]

Liberal democracy is sweet and addictive and indeed in the most extreme case, the USA, unbridled individual liberty overwhelms many of the collective needs of the citizens. The subject is almost sacrosanct and those who indulge in criticism are labeled as Marxists, socialists, fundamentalists and worse. These labels are used because alternatives to democracy cannot be perceived! Support for Western democracy is messianic as proselytized by a President leading a flawed democracy.

There must be open minds to look critically at liberal democracy. Reform must involve the adoption of structures to act quickly regardless of some perceived liberties.

Robert McHenry balks.

Goodbye Retirement?

Glenn Reynolds reports on the latest in anti-aging research. Fascinating. One possible implication of extending life spans:

… on a societal level, the extension of peoples’ productive working lives could pay huge dividends. If people stay youthful longer, we’ll see less pressure on the stressed-out social security systems of most industrialized countries. If 65-year-olds were as vigorous as 35-year-olds, or even 45-year-olds, there would be no reason to fund their retirement. Pushing the retirement age back a decade or two could save trillions. And, of course, if you can actually reverse aging, the whole notion of retirement becomes obsolete.

The Super-Delegates Begin To Balk

That’s the news from the Democratic race:

“She has to win both Ohio and Texas comfortably, or she’s out,” said one superdelegate who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton, and who spoke on condition of anonymity to share a candid assessment. “The campaign is starting to come to terms with that.” Campaign advisers, also speaking privately in order to speak plainly, confirmed this view.

Several Clinton superdelegates, whose votes could help decide the nomination, said Monday that they were wavering in the face of Mr. Obama’s momentum after victories in Washington State, Nebraska, Louisiana and Maine last weekend.

Some said that they, like the hundreds of uncommitted superdelegates still at stake, might ultimately “go with the flow,” in the words of one, and support the candidate who appears to show the most strength in the primaries to come.

The View From Abroad – Sweden

A reader from Sweden writes:

The Swedes here only ask me one question, "Who will be the next President, Hillary or Obama?" They never ask about the Republicans, and they are so open-minded here it never crosses their minds why we wouldn’t want to elect either one for any reason. They see no reason a black man or a woman shouldn’t be elected. Some want Hillary because they think the U.S. should be led by a woman, but mostly they have no preference. Also, they don’t understand why people dislike Hillary so much.

But Swedes are not the only people here with opinions on the subject.  There are also a lot of immigrants from the middle east and while I have only spoken with a few, one opinion that stuck out was from a Kurdish gentleman who was for Hillary because he thinks she will leave U.S. troops in "Kurdistan" forever.