James Nagy – 6/26/07

This page was last updated on July 1, 2007.

‘United State [sic] empire’; James Nagy; Beaver County Times; June 26, 2007.

You probably recall most of Mr. Nagy’s letters are simply vehicles to bash Republicans in general and President Bush in particular. In a recent letter, Mr. Nagy lobbied for impeaching President Bush.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Why does the United States ruling class think that the middle class won’t openly support an empire? They most surely will if the reasonableness of doing so is honestly delineated.”

[RWC] Yet again we have a liberal who views people as classes, groups, et cetera. Folks like Mr. Nagy like to use the term empire when referring to the U.S., but that usage indicates they don’t know the definition of empire. I guess it just sounds good to them.

“However, empires don’t always turn a profit, so the efficacy of being an empire needs to be discussed.

“One would assume that a large number of business executives would favor a vibrant middle class. Without a middle class, who would be able to go shopping and by so doing fuel our economy? Have all the executives forgotten Henry Ford’s strategy? He paid enough in wages so his workers could afford to buy his cars. For fun, let’s call this ploy gush-up economics.”

[RWC] Is Mr. Nagy claiming business owners don’t pay their employees enough?

“Given the lack of interest that most United States citizens have in visiting other countries and their objections to acquiring a second language, we may not be ready to run a worldwide empire just yet. A call for citizens to study hard so as to prepare for the future needs to be issued and heeded first. Unfortunately, the costs of the ill-conceived Iraq war will first need to be recovered before we attempt any more democratizing invasions. Perhaps building a republic is a more manageable strategy for the short run.”

[RWC] To accept Mr. Nagy’s assertion is to believe our international airports exist primarily to handle foreign visitors and all the cruise ships leaving the U.S. are full of foreigners. Does Mr. Nagy just make this stuff up?

Who says, “United States citizens have … objections to acquiring a second language?”

“If we live in a hostile world, shouldn’t we reinstate tariffs? Wars often disrupt supply lines. The main reason for having import tariffs is to protect the suppliers of items critical to our economy.”

[RWC] Does Mr. Nagy believe we’re naïve enough to believe his assertion that the “main reason for having import tariffs is to protect the suppliers of items critical to our economy?” Import tariffs are more often than not used to buy political support from specific labor unions or business owners. Why else is there a high import tariff on sugar?

“We need to consider, among other things, that low tariffs foster a diversity of food sources which increases the risk of contamination, and how Canadian workers, who have lower health-care costs, can afford to work for less.”

[RWC] Canadians don’t “have lower health-care costs.” They simply pay for their healthcare via taxes.

“Lastly, a stand on illegal immigration is important. Since our enemies are not wearing uniforms, a stronger stand on securing our borders is only logical.”

[RWC] Given Mr. Nagy’s letter-writing history, I have a hard time buying the sentiment in this paragraph. I hope he really believes it.