Skippy of the Day: Paul Harvey

I'm not easily shocked, but this little peek into Paul Harvey's political views really surprised me. The quote is actually from two years ago (via Think Progress), but it bears posting again so that other people know what kind of mind this legend of the airwaves has:

We didn't come this far because we're made of sugar candy. Once upon a time, we elbowed our way onto and across this continent by giving smallpox-infected blankets to Native Americans. That was biological warfare. And we used every other weapon we could get our hands on to grab this land from whomever.

And we grew prosperous. And yes, we greased the skids with the sweat of slaves. So it goes with most great nation-states, which - feeling guilty about their savage pasts - eventually civilize themselves out of business and wind up invaded and ultimately dominated by the lean, hungry up-and-coming who are not made of sugar candy.

I'm not a part of the liberal left wing that will throw around names like "Hitler" with wild abandon. Using so vilified a name on just any Republican that pisses you off will weaken your argument and immediately turn your audience off. But the way Paul Harvey easily tosses aside the treatment of Native Americans and African Americans as necessary for the building of this country, he could have easily written speeches for Der Fuhrer himself.

Here's the basic point: Sometimes your two options are to do something (A) morally right or (B) personally beneficial. If you're lucky, you have options that are both. But what Paul Harvey is basically saying is that, no matter what, this country should choose option B, because supremacy and survival are the only things that matter. Wiping out one group of people and enslaving another is fine if it benefits the country. How much closer does he have to get to the Third Reich mindset before Americans at large will cry "Foul"?

Hitler wasn't made of sugar candy, either, but he and his empire fell anyway due to bad tactics and a world community that fought against him. Liberals don't want a country made of sugar candy, Mr. Harvey, but we do want one that does what is right and just, regardless of the consequence. Sometimes doing what is right will make us weaker, but we can at least continue with a clear conscience. People like Mr. Harvey, however, do not appear to have one.

Re-read your Book of Mark: "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?". I've always agreed that the Bible can be a great guide for living a good life. Too bad Mr. Harvey doesn't read it closely enough.