john hood

John Hood, stage manager at the non-profit Art Pope Puppetshow, is at his free-market best today with a selective nod in the direction of accepting reality.

The reality here is that most people act with regard to their self-interest most of the time. They work in order to feed, clothe, house, and otherwise take care of themselves and their families. They’ll also gladly give of their time and money to causes they deem worthy, but that’s not their primary motivation to work, save, and invest.

Fortunately, another reality to accept is that intentions don’t determine results. When governments use coercion to force people to act contrary to their personal choices, the results are often disappointing regardless of how well-intended the government program may have been. And in a market economy, individuals freely transacting business to mutual advantage tend to advance the common interest by promoting innovation, lower prices, better service, and economic opportunity.

How can you disagree with that? Individuals freely transacting business to mutual advantage. Of course in some cases, that mutual advantage means you're a kid who doesn't get the crap beat out of you. Sounds like heaven to me.

John Hood, Stagemanager at the Art Pope Puppetshow, has been bragging in his columns lately about the considerable influence he's been able to buy with the $4 million a year Papa Pope gives him in spending money. We know, for example, that the Puppetshow has deeply infiltrated WPTF-AM 680 (Little Ricky, news director), the (News and Observer ) and NC State.

So why is it that no one ever reads their blogs? It's tempting to think the attention deficit is simply a result of reactionary content, but if you'll allow me a moment of armchair psychology, I think their problem runs deeper. You see, the Puppetshow operates under a command and control model. You either agree with them and suck up to the Stagemanager or you find another job. You cavort in the boys club on their terms, and you do not challenge the wisdom of the Magic Invisible Hand that eventually cures all ills. Is it any wonder that no one bothers to comment on their "suite" of irrelevant blogs?

John Hood at the Carolina Journal has an honest take on North Carolina's population growth, along with some interesting comparisons:

Not too far into the future, it is likely that there will be about as many people in the Carolinas (13.5 million in 2007 and exploding) as in all of New England (14.3 million and barely growing at all).

Location. Location. Location.

Of the many ironies swirling around the Art Pope Puppetshow, their non-profit (and presumably non-partisan) status is among the most amusing. For a bunch of guys who can't string ten words together without saying "free market," the organization is bereft of leaders who know anything about making business in general and making a profit in particular. The Patron Saint of the Puppetshow himself inherited all his money from his daddy, and he happily passes it along to the John Locke underlings, all relying on other people's money (OPM) to fuel their crusade.

So imagine my surprise today when John Hood, Stagemanager at the Puppetshow, gets all gushy and philosophical about fighting for freedom. Even more exciting, you too can fight for freedom right alongside the Puppets, simply by clicking on this page and contributing some of your hard-earned money to their cause.

Lately, I've mostly ignored John Hood, Stagemanager at the Art Pope Puppetshow. Hood is a hard-core proponent of free-market extremism, whose disdain for government knows no bounds. So why am I acknowledging Hood's unfortunate existence today? Because I want you to understand the utter lack of integrity with which the Puppetshow operates.

As prelude, there is one thing you should know. The Stagemanager and his not-for-profit minions are part of a political operation dedicated to helping the Republican Party grow in North Carolina. Each and every action and "report" produced by the Puppetshow is designed to prepare the ground for Republican electoral victories. Which brings me to John Hood's sad little column today. Here's the teaser:

By blithely ignoring common sense and essentially accusing the majority of North Carolinians of bigotry, immigration-rights advocates are doing their charges no favors.

Ah yes, the magical sleight of hand made possible only through the use of the word "essentially." Without a shred of evidence to support his assertion, Hood drives the latest Republican wedge, pushing it deep into the heart of North Carolina's electorate. In doing so, he accuses both Erskine Bowles and Mike Easley of calling their opponents bigots. That opening insult is but one among many misrepresentations of truth in Hood's column today. None of us should be surprised. Mr. Hood is, after all, essentially a liar. To my knowledge.

I'm not sure which, but I know from the first sentence he wrote in this op-ed in today's Charlotte Observer that he isn't being honest with his readers.

I want to believe in the John Edwards campaign.

Bull. Complete and utter bull.

There is no way that a right-wing ideologue like John Hood could possibly believe in the Edwards campaign. No freaking way.

In a post at Ed's Place today, John "the Stagemanager" Hood defends one of his minion's absurd injection of Christianity into the climate-change debate. Hood had this to say about a link to BlueNC:

I don't much care what gets posted on the kook sites. The sillier they look, the better off we are at JLF. If they didn't exist as comic relief, we might be tempted to invent them just to serve as a useful foil. But Ed, I thought you had employed a better editorial filter.

Which brings to mind words from someone considerably wiser.

Old-timers at BlueNC know I have been doing battle with John Hood of the Art Pope Puppetshow, for almost two years. We have seen eye-to-eye on almost nothing, but when I read his column today about the North Carolina Lottery, I was inspired to action.

RALEIGH – While traveling back to Raleigh Saturday night from a family Halloween cook-out in Mint Hill, my kids and I stopped at a convenience store in the Montgomery County town of Troy for gas and soft drinks. At 10 p.m. on a Saturday night, there was a gaggle of bedraggled, middle-aged men standing at the counter buying and pathetically scratching North Carolina lottery tickets.

I was disgusted. And angry. Disgusted that North Carolina politicians had chosen to take advantage of these desperate and deluded lottery players, and thousands like them across the state, to finance more government spending, much of it benefiting higher-income households.

Angry that because the “Education Lottery” is a state enterprise, not just the creation of some amoral flim-flam man, I had to explain to my boys that what the men were doing was unwise and self-destructive but officially encouraged by North Carolina’s elected government leaders.

I agree with John Hood about the North Carolina Lottery.

In the middle of a perfectly predictable warning that North Carolina communities should avoid the evils of planning ahead, Stagemanager John Hood today sneaks a little pro-Puppetshow propaganda into his otherwise forgettable column.

For the most part, city and even school-board elections this year won’t be decisive (though spirited mayoral contests in Cary, Wilmington, and Durham will be worth watching). Instead, much of the political energy and resources will go into high-stakes public referenda in communities across the state.

I oppose free-market fundamentalism on every front, but when it comes public education, I find myself nodding in partial agreement with John Hood. Despite his extremism on many issues, he is an increasingly articulate spokesperson on the need for "competition" in public schools. I don't know if he's toned down his over-heated rhetoric on the issue - or perhaps I'm drifting in his direction - but his column today addresses many of my own long-standing concerns. Naturally, there is much that I don't agree with, including his grounding premise:

For me, debates about parental choice and school reform come down to productivity. I don’t doubt the good intentions and efforts of most public-school leaders and educators (growing up as the child of two public-school employees may well explain my predilections here). And I have long favored a governmental role in ensuring that all children have access to educational opportunities (though this does not mean that governments must operate schools, only that taxpayers will fund many of them).