More Gibberish from Schoenfeld

Today's letter from Mark Schoenfeld of Hopewell Junction is more confused than his usual offerings, and that's saying something.

First off, in quoting George Will out of context (which is normal for Mark), he misses the obvious - that Will is “unhappy” as a Cubs fan because the Cubs had a history of losing. Schoenfeld refers to Will's “unhappy political views” without regard to recent research showing that generally, conservatives are happier than ‘liberals’.

But then he follows up with a real doozy. He writes, “[L]iberalism's basic philosophy is the development of individual freedom.” When you look at the political agenda of today's “liberals”, it's hard to reconcile liberalism with individual freedom. From welfare to universal health insurance, to gun control, to school choice, to taxes and on and on, today's so-called ‘liberals’ have little regard for individual freedom when it gets in the way of their agenda. For instance we can look back on Schoenfeld's own writing and find where he stands. In a March 21, 2006 letter he argues against the individual freedom of business owners. In a March 15, 2005 letter, and a December 30, 2004 letter, he rails against your individual freedom to control your own retirement funding. He has written many letters defending abortion, but in order for his pro-abortion position to be in support of individual freedom, he has to dismiss the individuality of the unborn child.

And then his letter gets completely incoherent. He gives credit to liberalism for the end of slavery. In doing so, he ignores the role of Christianity (a frequent target of his rants) and the fact that Lincoln was a Republican. We might forgive him if he didn't then go on to equate “Republican” with “conservative” in his attack on the 11th Circuit Court.

There's something else of note about this letter. Schoenfeld had his last letter published Oct. 28. His 30-day “blackout” period, during which he can't submit another letter, ended only three days ago. For the record, I sent in a letter on Nov. 19, and it took them more than three days to acknowledge it, and they haven't printed it yet. And it contains fewer words than Schoenfeld's. And John Penney claims there's no bias on his page. What a joke!

(Posted Thursday, November 30, 2006 )   <Read it>