Just as a recap, here’s who Kurt Lewin was. His expertise was in how to control entire populations, both in thought and in deed. The Political Left has been using his techniques for decades now, and most recently, it caused the resignation of Brendan Eich, the former CEO and founder of Mozilla Firefox. I don’t want you to feel too sorry for Eich, he’ll be fine on a personal level, as his accomplishments will insure his financial well being for a long time to come. It is we Americans, as a society at large who will pay the price for this latest assault upon our formerly free nature. Not only have we lost a pioneer in the technology products world, a visionary who might possibly deny us his genius and propensity for further invention, but future Eichs as well may decide that the environment here in America is no longer a conducive atmosphere for their efforts to continue, and that’s one of the real dangers here.
We’ve reached that very place in America that our Founders warned us about. The tyrannical have over run the place, and they’ve put us on notice. The message is clear, comply not only with deed, but with your very thought as well. It’s no wonder that our President does not believe in American Exceptionalism, he is forbidden by his political bent, which is itself as important a take away as any which could be gleaned from the study of the Marxist philosophy. For those of you who are leftists and reading this, American Exceptionalism does not mean that we are great as a society merely because of the accidental place of our birth. It refers to our tradition of allowing each man to be free to pursue his own self interests, thereby encouraging him to become as productive a member of society and serve the well being of his fellow citizens as he possibly could become. It refers to Adam Smith’s, “invisible hand.” guiding each individual to serve the public interest by acting on his own needs and desires. No system of governance and economics so far devised by man in any context can hold a candle to the creative and productive forces which are unleashed when free market capitalism is allowed to reign. The lens of history has been crystal clear on this point, no where on Earth has the ordinary man benefited and improved nearly so well as in those societies which employ economic and social freedom. The grinding poverty and social duress which is decried as unjust by the political left are most prevalent in those very societies which employ the socioeconomic systems that they advocate.
Brendan Eich donated to a political campaign six years ago. His crime against humanity was nothing more than his exercise of his First Amendment Right to free speech. He supported the side that was campaigning against California’s adoption of Gay Marriage as an institution which would be considered the same thing as heterosexual marriage. Forgive me if I got the issue wrong, it’s not something that I consider to be even slightly important. Mr. Eich did however, at least to the tune of $1000, which apparently he donated to an unapproved side of the public debate.
47 states so far have held elections on this issue, and in all 47 of those elections, Gay Marriage as an issue has lost, and lost big. Yet, Brendan Eich has been smeared with the intolerant brush, and been forced out of the company that he founded, no longer in charge of his very creation. (Be careful with your celebration though tolerati crowd, the same thing happened to Steven Jobs, twice. After being ousted by his opponents from control of his company, he was twice brought back from exile to run things.) What we have here is a clear case of a very vocal and violent minority forcing the adoption of their desired actions, and most importantly opinions upon the rest of us.
Eich’s ousting is a clear indication to any future person contemplating a political donation or even stance that runs contrary to the approved script edicted to us from the political left. There will be dire consequences for your heresy. Your opinions must either be comported to match ours, or you must remain silent. Failure to behave in this manner will result in economic hardship, loss of job, loss of freedom, loss of well being. In order to teach you what will be approved of in the future, you are all sentenced to 8 hours or more of diversity training.
From the Heritage Foundation Article linked to above:
Before Eich resigned, he pointed out that he had kept his personal beliefs out of Mozilla and that they were not relevant to his job as CEO. He was exactly right, although that did not prevent him from resigning.
In a startling display of irony that was obviously lost on her, Mozilla Executive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker, who approved of Eich’s resignation, said it was necessary because “preserving Mozilla’s integrity was paramount.” She seems not to recognize that forcing a founder of the company to resign because of his personal beliefs that have nothing to do with his qualifications as a corporate officer is the exact opposite of “integrity.”
Eich is certainly not alone in his predicament. As The Heritage Foundation previously pointed out, other supporters of Proposition 8 in California have been subjected to harassment, intimidation, vandalism, racial scapegoating, blacklisting, loss of employment, economic hardships, angry protests, violence, death threats, and anti-religious bigotry. All committed by individuals claiming they are simply trying to gain “acceptance” and who complain about the supposed intolerance of society over their lifestyle.
Make no mistake about it, Mr. Eich’s crime here was not support of the opposition to Gay Marriage, his crime was heresy.
I would like to remind everyone at this point that way back in the ancient year of 2008, President Obama made opposition to Gay Marriage an integral part of his campaign platform. The difference of course was that Brendan Eich at least was being honest with his opinion at the time, and our President was merely pandering for votes. Yet, when Eich lost his job, maintenance of integrity was proclaimed. Integrity of course has never been associated by anyone with respect to Barack Obama, who’s position on the issue evolved over time with polling data that suggested such evolution was safe to admit to having undergone.
Personally, I could not care less about any issue facing us today, than I do about whether or not Gay people should be afforded the right to term their relationships as marriage or not. I guess, if they want to feel trapped and miserable, let them have at it. What does worry me beyond belief however is the reaction to people speaking their minds on the subject. So we may disagree with them, but Mozilla is a fine product, and Brendan Eich is a visionary who’s accomplishment should be celebrated, and not thwarted. My guess is that there were many Gay people who benefited from Eich’s creation, even though they disagreed with him, and he with their lifestyle. Such is the beauty of our society, even people who disagree can benefit from trade with those with whom they disagree. Henry Ford was as virulent an Anti-Semite as could have ever existed, and yet, many Jewish people I know of today drive Ford automobiles, and have been well served by doing so.
We’ll turn now to our old friend Milton Friedman again, who can explain this better than I can with his adaptation of Leonard Read’s essay entitled, “I, Pencil.”
