Consider This! | Conservative political commentary in 10 minutes or less

Consider This! | Conservative political commentary in 10 minutes or less


Episode 135: The Flint Blame Game, and Defending Caitlyn Jenner

February 29, 2016

When the problem with the Flint, Michigan drinking water was discovered, the blame game got started. It is fair to just blame on person for all of this, or are there others who need to be held accountable? And isn't it interesting that political party seems to play a role in deciding who to blame?

Caitlyn Jenner is getting a lot of "flak" for coming out, but coming out as what and getting flak from whom might surprise you. I come to Jenner's defense in this episode.

Mentioned links:

Flint Is Not a Republican Scandal

List of mayors of Flint, Michigan

Darnell Earley

Flint City Council Members

Flint, Michigan City, Elects 2 Felons To City Council, Including A Convicted Murderer

Caitlyn Jenner: I get more 'flak' for being a Republican than being a transgender woman

Show transcript

I’ve talked about Caitlyn Jenner here before, and here’s a trigger warning; I use the male pronoun because every cell in his body identifies as male. That’s the science. I can’t judge what’s happening in his head, but I prefer to tell the truth when it comes to what’s observable.

I mention him this time to come to his defense. You see, there are people giving him “flak” for coming out, and I believe those people are leaping to judgments. They are making assumptions about him that are unfounded, and attacking him for it. Talk about intolerance.

I speak, of course, about Caitlyn’s politics. He’s come out as a Republican, and the Left just can’t tolerate that. Now, it’s really not been a secret that he was one. In the link in the show notes, there’s a picture of him visiting Ronald Reagan at the White House. So this goes back a long way. But there are those, not knowing his history, who think that since he’s transgendered, he must be a Democrat.

This is not a new phenomenon. It seems that the Left is far more intolerant of dissent among their ranks than what they accuse the Right of. A friend of mine on Facebook had some experience with this. She wrote, “I know some lesbians in the Bible Belt who were ‘out’ to their Christian coworkers with absolutely no problem, but were ‘in the closet’ as conservatives with their lesbian friends.”

In today's society, it takes far more courage to "come out" as being a conservative or a Republican than to come out as transgender. It's not even close. When the Left attacks others for intolerance, well, it’s the most classic example of Psychological Projection you’re likely to come across.

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One of the topics I have come back to occasionally is the idea that cities that are run by Democrats, and have been for 30, 40, or 50 years, ought to be liberal utopias. And yet, when you look closely, some of the worst examples of poverty, crime, racism and mismanagement are to be found there. And yet, the people in those cities continue to elect more Democrats, year after year, decade after decade, and sometimes generation after generation, in spite of the fact that nothing has changed.

An editorial in The National Review highlights the latest case of this. Flint, Michigan has had mayors from the Democratic Party since 1973. In the intervening 43 years, the city has had various Emergency Managers assigned to run the government during times of, typically, financial crisis. It was during this time that the change was made in Flint to go from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department and joined the Karegnondi Water Authority as a cost-saving measure. While using the KWA, the switch to using the Flint River was made. The corrosive Flint River water corroded the lead pipes in use, which contaminated the water.

First of all, there is no doubt that improper water treatment was the cause of the lead in the water. Government at all levels – even at the federal EPA – failed the residents of Flint. In the interim, eeevil corporations like Wal-Mart and Pepsi provided bottled water to residents; water that, I’m sure, the residents gratefully accepted from organizations that