Hillsdale's Gary Wolfram Elevates Andrew Breitbart - Dean of Defamation - to "Sainthood"

Response to Prof Gary Wolfram on the Detroit / Mackinac News Michigan View in "Ludwig von Breitbart" on March 13, 2012.

Hillsdale’s Dr. Gary must be high on chalk dust. Wolfram's eulogy for Andrew Breitbart was a cold rehash of his idol Ludwig pulled-reflexively from the prof's dusty achieves and yellowing scrapbooks. What exactly connected political hit-man and truth twister Andy Breitbart in Wolfram’s thinking with Dr. Gary's hero Ludwig von Mises?

It must have been a severe allergic reaction to accumulated chalk dust in Wolfram's stuffy cubical at the Rad Right's faint mockup of  a “Harvard”, Hillsdale College, a member of the Poison Ivy League.

Hillsdale College: Leaning right since right-wing Free Marketeers forced
the exit of the founding Free Baptists (Hillsdale Historical Society Archive)

Locked away from everyday reality, Professor Wolfram dwells at this quaint institutional anachronism, hidden away in a small bucolic southeastern Michigan town.

Hillsdale College is more an archetype of civic collapse and failure, retro-progression in quest of a giant need to be noticed in its attempts to pander to the greed of national and international corporatocracy, rather than be a crystalline beacon of higher culture.

Hillsdale exists, in large part, to supply the Too Far Right with pliant foot soldiers such as the murderous mercenary, billionaire scion- Eric Prince of Blackwater infamy.

A liberal arts education seeks to instill a higher sense of history and philosophy into a continuum and expansion of understanding about eternal truth and to build upon the vast achievements and ideals of the progressive human race propelled by the Enlightenment and an ongoing rediscovery of the classic cultures of yore as woven into the march of religion, philosophy, science and human understanding.

Why perseverate? Why ramble on about "liberalism" defined in the enlightenment era as 'the importance of individual liberty and limited government' when what is being espoused at Hillsdale is regression and suppression of modernity and the 'maturing understanding' of the needs and abilities of science and human inventiveness via strangling government?

For chalk dusty Prof. Gary, Breitbart "was an inspiration to those who agree with Mises that 'the ultimate and most profound of the fundamental insights of liberal thought is that it is ideas that constitute the foundation on which the whole edifice of human social cooperation is constructed and sustained and that a lasting social structure cannot be built on the basis of false and mistaken ideas.' “ From this we may try to follow Dr. Gary into believing that Andrew Breitbart was the paragon of TRUTH and ACCURACY.

Here is where Breitbart's notoriety as a crusader in Wolfram’s mind and von Mises' liberalism is seen as versus or against "anti-liberalism," (by which Prof. Gary derides the 21st Century "Liberals"-meaning Democrats and Progressives) and thus becomes lost in that stale cloud of professorial chalk dust.

While Wolfram is perfectly at home seeing himself as a "Classic" Liberal, and not a 21st Century Democrat/Progressive [Boo Hiss] Liberal; the man-on-the-street cannot make the jump Prof. Gary demands. Liberal must always, only mean Democrats.

Prof. Gary Elevates Fellow Traveler, Andrew Breitbart - Dean of Defamation - to Wolfarm’s Constellation of All-Time Ideological ‘Saints’- How Quixotic!

Not to be defeated, Prof. Gary bravely soldiers on. Gary, obviously at grievous personal loss over the death of his grenade-throwing Too Far Right Radical brother, Breitbart) describes his ideological troublemaker and soul-mate as a man labeled by many as "an enemy of the people."  Breitbart earned that exact description by virtue of his relentless partisanship and determination to spin, distort, twist, and invent Breitbart "truth" to fit radical ideology-in the service of the moneyed masters of a growing fascist Corporatocracy.

Andy Breitbart: Lived Large in a Conservative Tub of Small Minds
(TIME posted Bryce Duffy Photo on Brietbart's 'BagNews' 2010)

Breitbart, A Hero to Classic Liberalism? Hardly.
"Governments must be forced into adopting liberalism by the power of the unanimous opinion of the people, claimed von Mises,” proclaims Prof. Gary, emitting a temporary democratic high tone. Then Wolfram goes on to list the areas where Breitbart bent the truth and altered facts to defend a true and genuine anti-classic liberalism-TeaPartisanship given to bottom feeding, dissimulation, and ideological subterfuge he leaves the path of credibility and public trust.

Perez Zagorin, a noted American historian in "The historical significance of lying and dissimilation - Truth-Telling, Lying and Self-Deception" (1996):

"...Since the appearance in 1978 of Sissela Bok's important and widely noticed book, Lying. Moral Choice in Private and Public Life, the concern with lying and deception has continually increased. Bok's work was actuated by worry over declining standards of truth-telling and for this reason apparently touched a nerve. It coincided with the growing skepticism and mistrust felt among Americans and in other western nations about the veracity of governments, officials, and politicians, as well as lawyers, the medical profession, and business corporations."

Just prior to Breitbart's demise, in Troy, Michigan  Michigan Tea Party Republicans (under the spell of and paid & played by the Koch Bros' Americans for Prosperity) hosted one of Breitbart's very last public appearances, shared by Wolfram. This event was at a Koch Brothers pay-to-play sponsored event for Goldman Sach's operative, Mitt Romney, who regaled the Troy/Koch-ish Tea Party elements with his pledges to be one of them.

On the dais was a co-conspirator with Brietbart, Michelle Malkin - a virtual vestal virgin of poisonous venom - in the pursuit of penultimate Rovian truth, skewed to serve FOX's Too Far Right Wingers and corporatist fat cats.

What did the late Breitbart and Malkin bring to the Troy Tea Party Gathering according to Detroit News' Hank Payne?  From his article "Payne in Troy: Tea Party Mitt" February 26, 2012:

"...perhaps most striking was Mitt Romney's extraordinarily detailed, right-wing message perhaps most striking was Romney's extraordinarily detailed, right-wing message specifically tailored for the grassroots conservatives assembled by Americans for Prosperity and warmed up by red meat pundits Michelle Malkin and Andrew Breitbart.”  

This lusty interpretation of the work of Breitbart is shared by non-other-than Sarah Palin:

"With the death of Breitbart, the conservative movement didn't just lose a General " we lost an entire Special Forces Division....But he didn't leave us without the tools and the knowledge we need to fight."

GOT THAT: Brietbart is lauded by Palin as a 'special forces' political/ideological, a high powered hit-man. A deceitful/unprincipled wonk-cum-celebrity in the hunt to bring down America's first Black president.

Is this the “classic liberalism” package that Dr.Gary presents to his nascent ideological apprentice warrior-types in laid back Hillsdale's Rad Right bootcamp?

Bottomline: The Wolfram veneration of Breitbart fails the high ethics and moral high ground test so vaunted by Hillsdale's über-moralizers. The following quote excerpted out of a synopsis in "Andrew Breitbart Dead: Conservative Blogger Dies Suddenly At 43", posted by Huffington Post:

1. "Republican gay rights group GOProud, of which Breitbart was a board member until recently, released a statement saying it was 'stunned and saddened,' and calling him an 'amazing friend and ally.'"
   
2. "Breitbart seldom showed restraint in his vitriol to his critics and seemed to relish in the negative attention his antics earned him. After Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts died in 2009, Breitbart tweeted, 'Rest in Chappaquiddick' and called him 'a special pile of human excrement.' When critics questioned (Breitbart's) tone, he tweeted they 'missed my best ones!'"
   
3. "Breitbart sponsored hidden camera, gottcha attacks on ACORN. Racial in nature, this tactic resulted in a firestorm of criticism. [The embarrassment it engendered stoked up such fierce partisan rants as were heard here in Michigan shrilly mouthed by former State Senator Michelle McManus while running for Michigan Secretary of State.] The edited Breitbart video featured 'some ACORN employees appearing willing to support illegal schemes involving tax advice, misuse of public funds and illegal trafficking in children.' Ultimately the Government Accountability Office cleared ACORN of criminal activities. None-the-less "public pressure led Congress to block previously approved funds from going to ACORN and to stop future payments. Roughly 10 percent of ACORN's funds came from federal grants and the group eventually disbanded."

Just another of Breitbart's tactical 'special forces' successes against Blacks and Obama? Of course.

Carry on Prof. Gary, elevate Brietbart and thereby lower the national bar for truth and civility. How "ill-liberal" in an anti-von Mises pro-Breitbart declination can Wolfram be?

On the Reader:
Read the Detroit / Mackinac News / Michigan View's "All Star" review of Brietbart's 'legacy' including the canonization by Rep. Thaddeus McCotter:

"There was no stopping Andrew Breitbart from fighting the good fight with every fiber of his soul. Good bye and God bless, Brother Andrew. You are loved and mourned and ever remembered."

Related Slates:
"Michigan View's Gary Wolfram Resurrects 18th Cent. Racial Bigotry in His Vision of Economic “Freedom” (ala Adam Smith)" - "Prof. Gary Wolfram of the Michigan View Let’s His Little Light Shine On Greed" - "Our Guides to the Bottomless Pit: Wolfram, Von Hayek, Lewis F. Powell, & A.L.E.C."

More responses to Gary Wolfram and other on the Michigan View on the Gazette.

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It Was No Frenzy Island: Neanderthals & the Nerd (Republican Leadership Conference on Mackinac Island)

The rogue elements comprising the Americans for Prosperity (AFP/Koch Bros. Political Arm) had a bodacious and oversized party on Mackinac Island last Saturday night after the Mitt Romney speech at the Biannual Republican Leadership Conference. Loud, crowded, and a must-be-seen-there event, the AFP bash (with a live band) topped off the behind-the-scenes manipulation of the Nerd's first island confab.

In nearly every conference event there were mentions of Right-to-Work, crack downs on unions/collective bargaining, bashing of teachers and other public servants, no new taxes, and lots of talk about rolling back taxes e.g. personal property taxes. Any mention, however slight of these topics brought out the hooters, hoopers and the clappers were especially loud and bodacious, over-powering and dominate. Any mention of breaks for business brought on swoons and loud applause.

The plaid-shirted ordinary folk, who are the core of the ill-defined Tea Party, the anti-brain bucket ABATE bikers with oiled leather, colorfully patched vests, were noticeably absent. Gone too are the long hair, long, ankle length gingham-dressed fundamentalist women folk with suckling babies. The aggressive independent Libertarian, Hillsdale College crowd and Alumni were, however, everywhere present.

What had the greatest potential to excite the Neanderthals was raw red meat; finding it in the presentations and in the standard speeches was hard, like picking over old, stale offal. The Nerd, Governor Rick Snyder, wants a cap on outward shows of incivility-blame-laying and extraneous and counter-productive partisan exaggerations and accusations.

To the Nerd's credit, he wants to stay focused on results and achievements toward what he has set out as the "doable" goals of his plan. In his Friday night speech he emphasized this point to the sound of one hand clapping.

The Nerd doesn't support the Neanderthals and their voracious appetite for carrion and bloodletting, raging politics. Flying flint spears and crude arrows of personal media attack-ad assassination were left to be mentioned off center dinner stage, at pundit/spin doctor panels.

In spite of the Nerd's savage legislative attacks on the poor, the public service providers, and the old/retirees on pensions; Rick Snyder persisted in his low key, CEO (self-defined) manner.

The Nerd has a set of goals and is ready and anxious to get on with the next pre-planned project: his new health and wellness proposals. Snyder is convinced emphasis on reducing the fat on the belt lines of Michiganders will result in "real savings" in the future.

The Neanderthals are seething at the Nerd's health concepts and are ready to cannibalize the Nerd's proposed health and wellness program. They see it as egregious government overreach to wipe out "individual responsibility" The grunts, the snorting, and hoof-to-ground (dust-up-hove-pawing) were everywhere-the undertow.

The Nerd has suggested, received, and signed into law; a "$400 million dollar assessment on health insurance claims" which is designed to relieve the corporate insurance companies of a "6% use tax on Medicare managed care" organizations-the "broad-based claims assessment" tax. The NEW TAX will be on everyone (little people) who have a health care claim. It's a classic case of shift and shaft. TeaPublicans are being besieged with legislation addressing those laws and regulations, taxes that defeat and confound their previous outrage and anger. Snyder has thrown them some "pickin's," some scraps. But the cave dwellers want more.

What are the TeaPublicans to expect, their TP supporters, being Neanderthals, they were purposefully chosen by Dick Morris and the Brothers Koch to lead the sheep to slaughter, to effect obfuscation and confusion, paving the way for the more ambitious and all-pervasive AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL (ALEC) to sweep the bill writing slate with pro-corporate "put-and-take" bills they are pressing into pro-business legislation across America.  

To Morris and handlers, Neanderthals are simply "tools."

With the Neanderthals in tow, it is intended there will be little resistance; after all the TeaPublicans control the entire apparatus of Michigan governance and see no limits to their power and ability to do as they wish.

So after Snyder's homily, Chief Justice Robert Young, Henry Payne (See "MACKGOP: YOUNG GIVES 'EM RED MEAT") took to the podium with a zip-lock bag of bits and kibble, freeze dried red meat, intent upon getting the thrust and plunge spear carriers tuned up in a warpath frenzy. Henry Payne's plaintiff pout, "It was a stark contrast to a governor who never mentioned Obama's name once in his speech."

However, it was then too late to make Young's desired impact; to get the Neanderthals to chant and stomp. The main act was over. The dinner guests were sliding back their chairs and deep in yuck-yuck. Young was drown out with meet-and-greet, and the exit sounds of attendees rushing out, headed to Cuban cigars and Jack Daniels in the big tent at the Grand Hotel's Jockey Club-the sponsored late-night past-midnight bash.


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Hide It Under a Bushel NO, Let It SHINE: Dr. Wolfram’s Tiny Point of Light

It is surprising what a tiny shard of light can do in a darkened environment like the mind of Gary Wolfram. Now Professor Gary wants to talk about "community."

This is a Response to Gary Wolfram in "A Return to Community" posted in the Detroit/Mackinac News on August 25, 2011.

The dear doctor professor spends all his time as an apologist for the "market" and a being a relentless critic of public matters as they stray from his economic bible. He is majorly bent upon "a need to point out something that is going wrong and offer a solution to the problem" to use Wolfram's own words.

Dr. Wolfram is a market fundamentalist. Like Dr. Ron Paul, he is also a fringe dweller with a devoted audience, including what Hugh Hewitt has labeled "whack jobs". That being said, a moment of revelation has come to the good doctor: Community is central, critical.

So much of what this greenpea, self-serving, Chamber of Commerce servicing TeaPublican Super Majority in the Michigan Legislature has been devoted to is the destroying community in the name of business protection and promotion.

Community has been the preferred target for the attacks. The community and public service are being attacked and trampled with every session of this ill-fated, depression promoting, jobless jihad used by the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Chamber of Commerce to get its own agenda passed.

Bringing down a proud and productive state is a nasty, hard job, however these Karl Rovian, Koch Bros. servants are becoming infamous for their tenacity and cold-hearted, heartless behaviors. Reason and collaboration toward lasting solutions is out.

Wolfram is part of the Jindal crowd of public policy:

"Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, an ALEC alum and the 2011 recipient of ALEC's highest honor, the 'Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award,' repeatedly praised the power of obstinance, proclaiming to ALEC members that when legislating, 'it pays to be stubborn.' 'He added, 'I don't care what china we break in the process.'"

If McLellan/Mackinac Center, the Club for Growth, Grover Norquist crowd get their way, the Michigan march to the establishment of Michissippi as s dirt poor, impotent state is sure to succeed.

While watching a performance of the Hillsdale College Players Wolfram, the professorial curmudgeon and political critic, had an epiphany. Sometime in the evening, amid the tasseled fields of ear corn, smothered in the sweltering Hillsdale summer miasma, Prof. Gary thought about what he was experiencing: community. Looking about the theater and scanning the program our professor discovered that this wonderful, electrifying performance he was experiencing was truly revelatory of how people in one location can and do work together for a common purpose. Hitherto, with so much of Wolfram's efforts directed toward slicing and dicing the public sector and attacking the way people thrive on art and performance-the culture of a community-this was a truly insightful moment in the doctor's maturing experience.

Dr. Wolfram turned quickly to his favorite Rolodex of philosophers and pundits for personal insight and meaning during this his one moment of revelation. Quoth the good professor, "I was reminded of De Tocqueville's observation that voluntary associations were the characteristic institutions of American life." 

In an instant the darkness of "market fundamentalism" gobbled up Dr. Gary's enlightenment. What if we, as a state and nation, could accomplish "good things" via voluntarism, take the "burden" of taxes off the businesses and achieve idealistic "community" where things are done at the expense of personal time and effort, gratis; freed from the necessity of raising taxes.

As the tarry night-of-the-soul oozes over Prof. Gary's tiny moment of light, we are reminded of what has been brought on by his ardent work to make the Market King of America. From the New York Times:

"At least 23 states have made huge cuts to public education spending this year, and school districts are scrambling to find ways to cope. School foundations, parent-teacher organizations and local education funds supported by business groups and residents contribute at least $4 billion per year to help public schools throughout the country."

This kind of reliance on the good will of community to take up the slack (on a purely volunteer basis) is becoming the unrelenting new Michigan reality: the product of Wolfram's unflappable work to make profits more important than people, commerce more vital to everyday life than human community, brotherly love.

Prof. Wolfram has us pointed along the sad, sure path to a failed state called Michissippi.


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My, My... How the TeaPublicans Revel Over Revenue Deficits

Response to a piece by Dr. Gary L. Wolfram (Hillsdale / Mackinac Center) in "Leadership is the difference" on the Michigan View on May 13, 2011.

The smacks of high 5's and the thumping of chest bumping echoed from the bowels of the People's House as diehard teapartians took to celebration over their take-downs accomplished in Nerd Snyder's budget proposal victory last Thursday. It all fits the "drown the baby in the bathtub" MO of these harsh anti-public service creatures.

Snide Gollum of all the trolls, at Mackinac Center, is Professor G. L. Wolfram. From his fertile Rolodex brain, trained and muddled deep in extremist ideology and "gottcha politics" comes this wonderful insight:

"As a certain Presidential chief of staff once said, YOU SHOULDN'T LET A CRISIS GO TO WASTE. We have a chance to introduce structural reforms on our educational system, our business tax, our corrections system, and our Medicaid system because THE BUDGET PROBLEMS HAVE FORCED AN EXAMINATION THAT WOULD NOT OTHERWISE HAVE TAKEN PLACE. THE BUDGET CUTS CAN BEST BE ACCOMPLISHED BY ADDRESSING HOW SERVICES ARE DELIVERED AND WHICH SERVICES ARE PROPERLY THE ROLE OF STATE GOVERNMENT. It will be interesting to see how this ends up."

Prof. Gary follows the path set by Milton Friedman and others. These cuts benefit corporatists the Koch Brothers et. al. and are designed to enhance the bottomlines of business at the hard hits expense of many others, including the middle class of Michigan.

Class warfare is on the rise in Michigan and its results are not yet fully known, but are predictable and tragic.


The "bums rush" to ramrod the Snyder Budget and agendas (assembled and implemented by the Mackinac Center, Koch Bros. Americans for Prosperity, special interests e.g. Michigan's Chambers of Commerce, The American Legislative Exchange Council "model" legislation with its "fill in the blanks and file" format, and the remnants of the crusty old Englerites (given cushy, high-salary positions in the Nerd's brain trust) had to be put in place quickly, before the people of Michigan come to fully understand its impact and implications on their economic and social well-being.

Even now newspapers across the state are fleshing out the harsh details how the new taxes and service cuts will impinge on the lives of the poor, the elderly, and school children. It's not a happy or pretty scenario.
The rush to pass Snyder's budget proposal legislation and unprecedented TAX HIKES had to fall in place before the public learns that the upward trends coming out of the work of the Granholm Era and the early signs of national economic recovery under President Obama are set to yield increased state revenues. Increased revenues are a problem for Snyder's team.

Now the Nerd's Nixon wants to play "piggy bank with the potential increases and keep them from plugging the humongous holes Nixon and the Nerd created in public education, public service everywhere, corrections, and the like across our state.

These are desperate times we were told over and over. Now, rather than act in targeted ways to sustain such programs as public education Snyder's team will demand a "rainy day" piggy bank. Rainy day, we have one now! But if the love is of deficits that produce crisis and allow for radical cuts and attacks on programs and groups viewed as arch-foes (in the manner of the Mackinac Center and such lower lights as Professor Gary), then let the deficits and the shortfalls pile up!

Don't the TeaPublicans just love the opportunities this crisis has developed. 

Out-state influences are also in the game. Never rule out the Heritage Foundation, Koch's CATO, and the word weasels at Heartland, whose spokesman made this searing cynical comment about our Nerd:

"No one could have anticipated such bold budget moves after hearing Snyder's embarrassingly awful state of the state speech, which sounded more like a middle school nerd asking out the best-looking girl in class than One Tough Nerd our state was promised. Sometime between then and now, THE GOVERNOR PULLED ON HIS BIG-BOY PANTS and offered real long-term solutions to Michigan's heretofore insurmountable problems."

Enter now further evidence of misguided "rush to pass" a huge tax-increasing budget, Snyderism on steroids: The Detroit News headline reads, "Business tax cut will wipe out rising Michigan revenue, House agency says." The story outlines the following: "An improving economy means the state could realize up to $700 million more in revenue this year, according to financial estimates by the House and Senate fiscal agencies.
"But the growth in this year's revenue won't make up for the loss of $1.8 billion in 2012 as the result of the elimination of the Michigan Business Tax."

One Michigan daily right up front with this analysis: "It's a big bet that tax cuts will promote job creation and economic growth in Michigan. Critics are right: There is no way to predict or quantify how many jobs the business tax cut will create, and Snyder hasn't attempted to do so."

Other Outcomes? Reports an expert business news: "You can bet, for instance, that if an improved Michigan economy results in a surplus of tax revenues, there will be intense pressure by Republicans to cut taxes again, rather than increase spending on higher education or cities."

Prof. Wolfram holds forth: "Governor Snyder, Speaker Bolger, and Majority Leader Richardville will face political pushback from plenty of special interests as they put state government back on a path to providing basic services and make Michigan a place where entrepreneurs are welcome. It's up to us to let them know that we believe in a government limited to the protection of life, liberty and property, individual responsibility.

"With determination, Michigan will lead the nation in liberty and prosperity."

This above is Wolfarm's professorial clap trap, pure ivy-choked arcane academic conjecture, Libertarian pipe-dreaming and back steps prattle. With this kind of hectoring, Wolfram encourages the TeaPublicans to remain harsh and uncaring, injurious to our state.

Michiganders have lives to lead and real work to do of the type Prof. Gary knows nothing of. Move aside and let us get on with our lives.
Original Post.