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Left: Dr. Brian Butler, chairman of the UNCA Philosophy Department, challenges Kranker on some of his assertions and takes him to task for failing — in Butler’s view — to understand that philosophy involves a spirit of inquiry and a process of questioning everything to get to the truth.
Right: Richard L. “Dick” Kranker expresses his air-tight conservative philosophy — in no uncertain terms — during his Nov. 11 lecture comparing “Liberalism vs. Conservativism” that prompted five persons to walk out at UNCA’s Kellogg Center in Hendersonville. Asheville Daily Planet Staff Photos

By JOHN NORTH

HENDERSONVILLE —  Five people walked out during a no-holds-barred Nov. 11 talk by an avowed conservative, marking a first in the history of the monthly philosophy lecture series co-sponsored by the Institute of Applied Philosophy and the UNC Asheville Philosophy Department at UNCA’s Kellogg Center.

In the aftermath, some at the gathering expressed consternation and embarrassment that the lecture series, which seeks to broaden tolerance of and appreciation for differing views and to stimulate thinking, experienced the opposite from the five who left, in some cases shaking their heads and muttering, as IAP member Richard L “Dick” Kranker spoke for nearly 30 minutes. About 40 people attended.

Kranker had been invited to address “Liberalism vs. Conservativism: One Conservative’s View of the Good, the Bad and the Differences” during the program that later included a lively question-and-answer session and moderated group discussion during which Kranker was the object of some stinging criticism — as well as support — for his views.

Kranker, who was introduced by his wife Dinorah, is a Brooklyn, N.Y., native who is a Korean War veteran of the U.S. Navy, an international trade graduate of City University of New York in 1961, a metals export merchant from 1955 to 1966 and a U.S. Foreign Service officer from 1966 to 1983, serving in Vietnam, Thailand, Nicaragua, Washington, D.C., and Niger. He has visited 54 countries for business and pleasure, and every state in the U.S., except Alaska.

Since retirement, he has served as the general manager of the Chipola Regional Symphony Orchestra in Marianna, Fla., a literacy volunteer, a community columnist, a consultant and a volunteer at the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce.

A member of the Asheville Track Club, Kranker has run in both the New York City Marathon and the Marine Corps Marathon and numerous other races.

Among his favorite conservatives are William F. Buckley Jr., Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Rush Limbaugh, Adam Smith, John Locke and Milton Friedman.

In biographical notes he on how he became a conservative that he provided the Daily Planet upon request later, Kranker noted, “Having been born and raised during the Depression, I have always had a healthy respect for fiscal prudence. Because my father was a Roosevelt Democrat, I started adult life as a registered Democrat. The more I worked for a living and the more I observed life and government, the more I realized that liberalism is gradually ruining the country.”

In opening his talk, Kranker — a “confirmed conservaitve,” according to his wife — noted that his remarks reflect “one conservative’s views — mine.” He said that, because of time constraints, his lecture necessarily would have to be limited in its focus.

He began by contrasting liberal and conservative views, asserting that liberals believe knowledge comes from human beings while conservatives think it comes from God. Kranker also said that in metaphysics, liberals believe in subjective reality while conservatives think reality is objective.

In economics, Kranker said conservatives “are capitalists,” a system which he called “the most just.” In contrast, he said liberals tend to be socialists, a label they dislike, but nonetheless is accurate because they expect continuing government intervention on economic and social issues.

He cited a statement made by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971), in which he said one could not expect the American people to jump from capitalism to communism. Instead, Kranker said Khrushchev believed the shift would occur in “small steps” via socialism.

“Liberals feel everyone deserves wealth distributed by the state,” Kranker said. “Increasingly, liberals abide by the philosophy of Karl Marx,” seeking to steer the United States toward misguided policies to alleviate poverty, “even though the Constitution never mentioned the poor.”

He noted that “conservatives also believe in taking care of the poor, but at their own expense — not the government’s.”

Kranker summed up liberals as emotional in their thinking, using the “I feel” approach, while conservatives operate from a rational “I think” framework.

He also said that conservatives, who “are more assured in an unstabled environment, are fine with guns,” while liberals tend to become unnerved when facing chaotic times and fear gun ownership and use.

Kranker stated that a 2006 Pew Research Institute study showed that 47 percent of conservatives polled described themselves as happy, while only 26 percent of liberals said they were happy.

“For conservatives, seeing is believing,” while “for liberals, believing is seeing,” he asserted.

He noted that scandal-ridden Fannie Mae, the federally chartered company that buys homes mortgages and sells them as securities, was started by the liberals during the New Deal. Other liberal programs include the minimum wage legislation and even the requirement of having multi-lingual legal documents.

“For liberals, patriotism or optimism are considered non-fashionable,” Kranker said.

With a frown, he said that after the 9/11 tragedy, the president of ABC took a liberal stance by asking the network’s news employees not to wear flag pins on their lapels “because he felt it would constitute taking sides.”

As what he termed the liberal mainstream media continue to lose readers, listeners and viewers, Kranker noted that conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh “is the most-listened-to individual” of an U.S. talk show.

Kranker said that, contrary to many highly publicized assertions, the current banking crisis is the result of liberal policies. One man said “Not true!” as he stood up and walked out.

Kranker also faulted liberals for promoting unjustified self-esteem among students and for being too easy on criminals, particularly juvenile offenders. He said statistics show that 75 percent of juvenile offenders repeat within 10 days.

“For conservatives, diversity is valuable as long as it contributes” to the strengthening of society, he said. “For liberals, diversity has become a code word for quotas and unrestrained tolerance,” making it a force for political and cultural division.

Further, Kranker lamented that “the introduction of moral relativism by modern liberal elites has distorted traditional principles of forbearance and diversity. Whereas tolerance meant forbearance, liberals claim it means legally required acceptance and welcome of all cultures and languages equally into America’s traditional Judeo-Christian social value system, deffectively encourating with the country unique social groups with unique values and poltical allegiances devaluing E Pluribus Unum and English as the national language as ‘racist.’”

He added, “Almost everyone agrees that our educational system is not working well. In the 1940s, schools were run and taught by conservatives, and most parents were culturally conservative, certainly compared to today. Teachers’ greatest threats were students talking out of turn, making noising, running in halls, chewing gum and harmless pranks. Today, it is drug abuse, pregnancy, suicide, alcohol abuse, rape, robbery and violence against both students and teachers.”

The American educational system entered a decline when top teachers began retiring and “bright women are able to take better paying jobs now available in industry,” resulting in “lesser-qualified people” offering a “liberal elite introduction of ‘values calrification’,” teaching immature students to “clarify their own values” and “to resist parents ‘fostering the immorality of morality,” Kranker said.

The liberal elite, with media complicity, successfully pushed for a shift from standardized tests to support the concept of “fairness in undergraduate admissions” and “increased diversity in the student body,” resulting in “one-third of four-year and more than 40 percent of two-year college students have to enroll in remedial classes, costing between $2.3 and $2.9 billion annually, he said.. This in spite of the fact that the SAT is highly correlated with formal IQ tests results and with success in later life,” Kranker contended.

He added, “To that end, generally rich people aren’t smart because they are rich. They are rich because they are smart.”

With a note of sadness, Kranker stated, “John Adams said, ‘There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.’”

Further, Kranker said, “Conservatives recognize the country’s past errors and note progress we have made, if still imperfect, to overcome many of them. Liberals cannot let go of America’s mistakes, reviewing, repeating and lamenting about the past.

Establishing, codifying and encouraging ‘victimization’ for any whom, for whatever reason, is not happy, like poking at a lost limb’s phantom pain with the same frustrating effect.”

He lamented that “the liberal concept of multiculturalism is weakening the American culture. Our people are being indoctrinated with the seductive, liberal idea that government exists to solve all problems, redress all wrongs, petty or great, real or imagined, and to guarantee not just the right to pursue happiness, but happiness itself!”

While the U.S. is “still a great country, how much longer, I don’t know,” Kranker said.

As for Barrack Obama’s successful bid for the presidency, Kranker cited Abraham Lincoln’s admonition that “You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”

He added, “The decision-making ability in humans lies in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which doesn’t mature until the mid- to late 20s. That may explain why so many young people — Lenin’s ‘useful idiots’ — voted for Obama.”

Kranker again blamed the mainstream media for overwhelming — and uncritical — support of Obama, despite evidence he claims showed that the president-elect was “fooling the people.”

Further, he said, “A President Obama will have to swear with fingers crossed to ‘... support and defend the Constitution,’ since he has already said he won’t. He wants to ‘break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution.’ His media support won’t mention that to the public.

“President Obama wants to appoint Supreme Court judges with ‘the empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor, or African-American or gay, or disabled or old.’ Never mind either the Constitution or that judges are supposed to follow the law, not their ‘feelings.’”

Later, Kranker asserted, “All of which proves that — provided he had the mainstream media and left-wing entertainment industry in front of him, Obama could indeed fool some of the people all of the time. At least enough to get a socialist elected president.

“As good Americans, we can only wish the very best for the country — and for a President Obama who will be wise enough to live up to his promise to be president for everybody. The alternative may very well lead to the suicide of our democracy,” Kranker concluded.