PrintBrad Pitt and the Mind of the Leftist
Regarding the actor, Brad Pitt, USA Today recently reported: "Reflecting on those responsible for the oil spill, Pitt can barely contain his contempt. ‘I was never for the death penalty before,' he says. ‘I am willing to look at it again.'" Many will likely cast Pitt's statement as something less than serious - either the ramblings of another Hollywood type, witty and pointed hyperbole, or something in between.
However, consider for a moment how his words demonstrate something deep within the mind of the leftist; or to be more accurate, an impulse hiding within every human being, albeit usually restrained by some combination of the rule of Law, religious conviction, the traditions of society, or a simple awareness of the value of created Man. Since the ideology of the left generally heaps disdain on all such principles, one can surmise (and history in fact demonstrates) that these restraining influences are easily ignored when leftist regimes hold the strings of power.
In 1933, William Randolph Hearst, an admirer of European fascism, reworked a script for what would become the movie, "Gabriel Over the White House." In it, President Judson Hammond, having only been recently inaugurated, survives an automobile accident and has an encounter with the archangel Gabriel. Thereafter, with a higher calling and the full power of the state, he begins to tackle every social ill. When impeached, he suspends Congress and assumes the role of sole law-maker.
After building up an "Army of Construction" and spending billions on a series of workers' programs, President Hammond soon faces resistance from his enemies, through a group of powerful gangsters. With absolute authority, he orders that these gangsters be tried in a military "court" - when convicted, they are immediately taken out and shot. In the end, President Hammond dies, and is eulogized as "one of the greatest presidents who ever lived."
What is interesting is that the Democratic presidential nominee, Franklin Roosevelt, was an eager participant in "tweaking" the script. As Jonah Goldberg points out in his book, Liberal Fascism,
One of the project's uncredited script doctors was the Democratic Presidential nominee, Franklin D. Roosevelt. He took time off from the campaign to read the script and suggested several important changes that Hearst incorporated into the film. "I want to send you this line to tell you how pleased I am with the changes you made in 'Gabriel Over the White House,'" Roosevelt wrote a month into office. "I think it is an intensely interesting picture and should do much to help."
FDR, an admirer of the film and the fictional Hammond (as well as the real-life Mussolini), went on to establish his own civilian armies, spend billions on New Deal programs, and order the internment of hundreds of thousands of Japanese and German Americans during WWII. Wilson, during WWI, had imprisoned thousands of Americans without trial. If either war had dragged on for an extended period, would these presidents, or their successors, have increased their power even more and taken even more drastic measures? One may only speculate, but what is clear from the history of the last century is this: more than 150 million lives were extinguished by the hand of the leftist. Socialist states, placing the collective above the individual, took it upon themselves to commit mass murder in the name of furthering their Cause. They were restrained by neither the rule of Law, not religious conviction, nor the traditions of society, nor any awareness of the Value of created Man.
Perhaps those who are responsible for the BP oil spill are nothing more than "gangsters" - I don't know. What I do know is that when Brad Pitt makes his comments, he is not expressing an opinion on the nature and extent of judicial punishment. He is, in fact, expressing the moral relativism that dominates the mind of the leftist, and is channeling the arrogance of power that led to the murder of all those millions, all in the name of a Cause.
