From Pragertopia.com: “There is no community more liberal than Hollywood. Isn’t it odd then that the studios will do almost anything to avoid California’s high taxes and union work rules? These are the same studio executives and high-paid actors who support high taxes and unions at the ballot box.”
On the first hour of his radio show yesterday, Dennis Prager said: “If there is a less intellectually aware group than the Hollywood left, I don’t know who it is. The dishonesty at the core of Hollywood leftism is so great, there is only one possibility — there is no intellectual or rational basis for leftism in general, it is all felt… Explain to me why the Hollywood left takes so much business away from California and advocates higher taxes?”
That’s easy. Business is business. Much of Hollywood is publicly held corporations. If they did not do what made the most economic sense, their shareholders would revolt and choose a new board.
Why is this behavior by Hollywood any more difficult to explain than free market businessmen taking advantage of tax breaks and government subsidies that they ideologically oppose? The answer is that business is business. Most people understand this and take it for granted. It’s not hypocrisy. It’s understanding that life has different parts. You don’t operate in the boardroom the same way you operate in the bedroom.
Many free market types take government hand-outs. It’s not complicated. Right-wingers take low interest student loans and disability payments and unemployment benefits and even food stamps, even if they ideologically oppose those programs.
Most people view the separate compartments of their lives as separate compartments. This is why Orthodox Jews are no more likely to be honest in business than secular Jews. For Orthodox Jews, some spheres of their lives are holy (some Orthodox Jews strive to make all spheres of life holy) and some spheres are not, such as business.
A man is likely to do things with his mistress and with his girlfriends that he won’t try to do with his wife. Life has separate spheres.
Remember the Robert DeNiro Mafia don in the movie Analyze This? When asked by his psychiatrist why he did not seek oral sex from his wife (as opposed to his mistress), he said, “Those are the lips that kiss my kids.”
Most people understand separate spheres have separate rules.
For 12 years, I wrote about a topic that I would rather not have written about. Why did I write on it? Primarily because it was the only topic I could blog about and make an independent living, free to write whatever I wanted and I didn’t need to take a real job to support myself.
At the same time for a few weeks in 2004, I dated this Christian right-wing free-market economist who worked for some entity that depended on government subsidies. She hated what her employer did, but she needed the job. I accepted her compromise with her ideals. She could not accept my compromise with my ideals.
Almost everyone does this. Almost everyone understands that business is business and you don’t let ideology get in the way of making a buck. Almost everyone understands that in a complicated and demanding world, you can’t always live up to your highest ideals.
I admire those people who strive for their highest ideals in all areas of their lives. Such people are rare. I usually address them as “Rabbi.”
Dennis was totally off in this show. He said: “California Democrats can’t print money. Only Washington Democrats can print money.” False. Only the Federal Reserve can print money. The Obama administration is not responsible for interest rates and the amount of money in circulation.
