The US v. China?

A little while ago, I wrote a piece for my young son, Erich Ferger, about making a difference in the world. I was just re-reading it. What stood out this time around was the point I was trying to make about changing the world for the better. Make the world free!

Any form of collectivism/statism (socialism and its' variants, communism, totalitarianism) must ultimately fail, and often the result of this failure is massive human bloodshed, and/or massive human starvation.

The fact is that here in America, we shall soon see people dying of starvation on the streets, just like in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. We  now have well over a century and a half of proof, the sordid results of the leftists insane dream to create a Utopia. The end result of socialism/collectivism is societal, governmental and cultural collapse.

But here's a thought: if the Chinese abandon their communist government and embrace freedom, meaning they drastically reduce taxation and regulation, remove burdensome restrictions, decriminalize specific human behavior, involve the population in electing legislatures and executives, and encourage the investment of capital-if the Chinese have the sense to do this, to embrace free market capitalism, then it would be only the Chinese who could prop up our leftist, socialist policies after we go broke. Wouldn't that be ironic?

Thoughts about New Orleans: A Rant Written While Drinking Coffee in New Orleans at Home

There is a feeling you get when coming in to New Orleans, either by car or by plane. It is the feeling of entering another world, or even another dimension of existence.

New Orleans Saints

The following is a re-post of an article I wrote some time ago, right before the Saints won the Super Bowl.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

I have been a New Orleans Saints football fan all my life. That hasn't always been easy. For many years, the Saints had losing season after losing season. There were times when fans in the Superdome wore bags over their heads, in mock shame over their team's poor performance. Of course, these bag-headed fans were at the game, cheering the Saints (the "Ain'ts") on anyway.

But this year has been differant. This year, I've been moved to strong emotion over this edition of the Saints, with guys like Drew Brees, Pierre Thomas, Robert Meacham, Reggie Bush, Mike Bell, Darren Sharper, Jonathan Vilma, Jeremy Shockey, hell, the whole team playing to an unprecedented 13-3 season.

By "strong emotion", I mean a curious mixture of pride, joy, and happiness that something so meaningless as a football game could make me cheer with unbridled passion. I was there with the rest of them, screaming like a lunatic, actually getting angry if the referee made a bad call, or the opposing team scored. I like what talk show host Limbaugh said when someone asked him why he liked football so much. He answered: "well, I'm like most guys in this. Most guys I know love to watch football, because it allows them to spend unlimited amounts of passion, with minimal or no consequences." That's me alright. Yeah, it's just a game, but it's the SAINTS! and I love 'em! And my! Was it a spectacular ride, or what? Who can forget the nail-biting win to the Redskins in OT?... being behind 24-3 to the Dolphins?... slugging it out with the Carolina Panthers in the Dome?... losing to Tampa Bay (!?!), also in the dome?... beating the Patriots on Monday night football, with the whole nation watching... The Saints offense rose to the top of the NFL, and our quarterback Drew Brees is or was the number one rated passer in the league. Yes, this season was great, far beyond my expectations, and if the Saints make the Super Bowl, that's just gravy...particularly tasty gravy.

But there's more to it than being a fan. The best way for me to illustrate this to you is to imagine the Superdome filled with proud Saints fans, all shouting their joy to the heavens, making a noise so loud that the sportscasters on the field cannot hear each other. Many outsiders have commented on the unique ferocity of our loyalty to "The Boys". Nowhere else, they say, have they found fans more vocal and more supportive. You can hear it if you watch them on TV. For some reason, when I see the Dome packed with thousands of fans, all or nearly all of them filled up with the team spirit in a collective voice like thunder at the end of the world, I feel an enormous uplifting in my own spirit, more proud than I've ever been to be a
New Orleanian.

Thank you, Sean Payton and team! And well, well done! Now, we're with you in the playoffs!

A Confederacy of Dunces

My story on the Ignatius J. Reilly statue yesterday had about seventy or so hits-much to my surprise. I forgot to tell you all why the hotel moved the statue in the first place: so the Mardi Gras people wouldn't kidnap him, or damage the statue in any way.

Ignatius J. Reilly is Back!

Ignatius J. Reilly

TODAY has been an interesting day today, so far. Let me tell you a story about why, but first, let's go back two weeks from today, OK?

Two weeks ago, I was walking up Canal Street, probably thinking about Mardi Gras, when I passed the Chateau Bourbon Hotel just past Bourbon and Canal. Some of you might remember what this place used to be-the old D. H. Holmes department store ("meet me under the clock by Holmses, baby").

Well, "Holmses" went away, the Chateau Bourbon filled the empty building, and some sweet soul put up a bronze statue of Ignatius J. Reilly (photo at left) in the veranda right there in front of the hotel entrance. For those of you who don't know who the heck is Ignatius J. Reilly, he's the central character in a fiction/satire novel about his life in New Orleans, A Confederacy of Dunces. This book, one of the funniest I've ever read, won the Pulitzer prize, and became required reading at UNO by the time I got there in 1982. And the reason why his statue is in front of the Chateau Bourbon/the Old D.H. Holmes is because of the first scene in the novel. Ignatius is supposed to meet his mom there, under the clock.