As the late, inordinately great Andrew Breitbart wisely noted: “Politics is downstream from culture.”
Our politics is so awful, awfully Leftist – in no small part because our culture is so awful, awfully Leftist.
Our media of all sorts – news, Hollywood, music, literature – is corrupt nigh to the core. And that rot – pollutes the waterways all the way down to our politics.
So ANY cultural glimmer of sanity and reason to pierce the dark veil – should be warmly welcomed.
Rapper Kanye West is currently offering one such glimmer. West is thankfully in the midst of melting down a decent portion of the Democrats’ horde-enforced lockdown on black people and their votes.
It all began with what what in saner times would be the most innocuous of pro-President Donald Trump comments. Delivered – as many things these days are – via Twitter:
Really – this is inordinately innocuous. But every single word of this – is highly problematic for Democrats. Who loathe individual thought – and rely on horde violence to enforce any deviation from the Leftist mind meld. Especially when it comes to blacks – who have for decades overwhelmingly voted for Democrats.
West has hereby committed Leftist racial heresy.
Thankfully, West did what Trump also does when confronted by the hordes. He didn’t back down – he doubled down. Appearing on TMZ, West said:
“You’re choosing to enslave peoples’ minds. You’re choosing to not let the truth be free….
“It’s the mob. The mob tries to tell you what to think. The mob tries to make all blacks be Democrats for food stamps. It’s the mob.”
Yes, I know West hasn’t spent his life writing treatises on Austrian economics and traditional social doctrine. And he hasn’t now arrived at 100% conserva-tarian-ism.
But…politics is downstream from culture. And if this modern-day cultural icon is carpet-bombing his tens of millions of fans with these eminently reasonable truths – we should at the very least appreciatively applaud his efforts.
We’ll take wisdom – wherever it turns up.
Which brings us to former WWE wrestler Glenn Jacobs – better known by his nom de singlet Kane.
Jacobs is running for mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee. And it looks like he’s going to win.
Our media – is likely even more stupid than it is corrupt. Get a load of this headline:
Glenn Jacobs, Expected to Be Elected Mayor is a Libertarian. What that Means for Knox County
Because for the media, seeing Libertarians and Conservatives – is like being on safari in Africa. They are examining what are for them weird and dangerous animals – from which they would very much like to distance themselves – and the nation.
But while Kanye West appears to have recently arrived at Reality – Jacobs seems to have thought about these things for a very long time. His less government ideology is very much fully-formed – and he is more than able and willing to discuss it.
Jacobs sat down for a discussion with fellow Libertarian Matt Kibbe – during which Jacobs eruditely eviscerated Socialism.
Perhaps the most interesting portion of the exchange – was Jacobs deviating from what seems to be dominate Libertarian doctrine on Intellectual Property (IP).
Most Libertarians are…awful on IP. They fly full-speed into the headwinds of human nature – and pretend that if you allow universal theft of the work product of IP producers – IP producers will continue to produce IP anyway.
Which is…simply, titanically stupid. Intellectual Property – is property. If we allow universal theft of a farmer’s crops – no one will ever farm again. Because…duh. If we allow universal theft of IP – no one will ever create IP again. Because…duh.
God bless Jacobs – he gets all of this. Describing the awfulness of Socialism – Jacobs champions IP:
“You can completely lose innovation – because there is no profit motive. Why would I want to go out there and work really hard – and as an entrepreneur put my capital and put my time into research and development and bring a product to market – when I’m not going to be able to keep the profits and the fruit of my labor? The incentives are completely, completely perverted and distorted.”
Indeed the incentives are.
And there’s the dirty little secret, my anti-intellectual Property friends – Libertarian and otherwise.
You can not be pro-capitalism – if you are anti-IP. Because you can not have capitalism – without IP.
If you champion IP theft – you are championing Socialism.
Socialism being the governmental, societal and cultural system – predicated upon theft.
So thank you Kanye West. Thank you Glenn Jacobs. Thank you comedian and podcast impresario Joe Rogan.
Cultural glimmers all – sending shards of hope downstream to our politics.
Long may you entertain – and inform.
We’ll take wisdom – wherever it turns up.
This first appeared in Red State.