July 3, 2012 - 12:06 pm
In the wake of continued bad economic news and the SCOTUS obamacare ruling, some perspective, by recounting the state of our union on Fourth of Julys past.
Also available at PJTV.com.
In the wake of continued bad economic news and the SCOTUS obamacare ruling, some perspective, by recounting the state of our union on Fourth of Julys past.
Also available at PJTV.com.
This is just plain beautiful–and so needed right now.
The flag motif is particularly wonderful. (I sometimes wonder if I’m the only person who never seems to get my fill of just gazing at it like a spellbound kid, the only person who thinks it’s the most beautiful flag in the world, the only person who selfishly thinks no other country’s flag comes even close—except perhaps for England’s. I’ll give theirs second place. The rest all look the same to me, none of them mean a tinker’s damn, and I’ll never be ashamed of feeling that way.)
Thanks, Bill. God Bless You, and God Bless America!
A timely and powerful reminder, Bill. Thanks, I for one needed it.
Reality Check: Government Drones Over U.S. Soil Violating 4th Amendment Rights?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvBL2TTVwVY&feature=plcp
And exactly what part of the 4th Amendment protects you from people looking into your yard?
Lovely sentiment. I truly wish there were some hope. However, there is a key difference –
That being that in each of those prior 4th of July’s, we had a Republic of Free Men.
Now, we live in a sham-Republic ruled by corrupt men. That sham is sold to enough of our citizens in the right locations by professional propogandists to make it look legitimate – as long as you don’t look too closely. Our educational institutions were destroyed, guaranteeing enough people could be fooled, lied to, or outright bought off to happily call for the chains to be placed around their necks – and to call me a fool for not wanting those very chains.
I no longer believe that we can regain our freedoms by the ballot box as the ballot box is now a sick joke and voter fraud is the rule, rather than the exception.
Orion
There is still a Republic of Free Men. I’m one. Mr. Whittle is one. They may try to chain us, but they won’t succeed. They may kill us, but they won’t defeat us. The only way we lose is if we quit. As Abraham Lincoln said: “As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
I don’t think voter fraud is the rule nationally. Outside the dens of corruption like Chicago it accounts for a few percent at most. That’s why we say they can’t cheat if it’s not close.
I wish I shared your optimism. But there is no way you can call the folks currently sitting in our government buildings in Washington DC members of a ‘Republic’ – Not even close. The Supreme Court at long last finally removed the fiction that the Constitution has even a tangential connection to limiting the Government’s powers. And the folks ruining our nation no longer have even a significant FRACTION of the US population giving their consent to be governed by these criminals. And yet somehow folks keep voting for them.
And you think voter fraud isn’t the norm? Did you note that Democrats (not that there’s much difference between the Statists with D after their name and the Statists with R after their name) start every Presidential election with pretty much 200 of the 270 electoral votes needed for election? It’s NEVER close – They have a massive head start and they need only get a few counties outside of their massively corrupt vote-generating machines of the big cities to ‘win’ the few other states they need to return their guy to the White House and make it look legit. They learned their lessons well from their prior failures in the Soviet Union and elsewhere – Getting 99% of the vote just LOOKS bad…but 52%? A slight plurality in the electoral college? That just looks like a good close race!
Hollywood LOVES a good close race, don’t they? They make great films about it They’re making another set every single day and sending it out via TV, radio, newspapers, and blogs. I’m sure this will be another exciting blockbuster with every bit as much of a pre-scripted ending as your favorite movie. But they’ve sure hedged their bets well! Even if the ‘R’ folks win, there’s no real difference, is there?
Look at Roberts. Look at Romney. Look at all the rest of the ‘R’ folks who are every bit as Statist as the ‘D’ folks. Now tell me that we live in a Republic again. Tell me again that your vote will have some sort of meaning – Mine surely wouldn’t even if they DID actually count the ballots. I live in Deep Blue Loonyland, surrounded by people who think that slavery, as long as it’s comfortable, is preferable to all that nasty cruel freedom.
I hope there are still Free Men out there still. The time is coming soon when they’ll be needed, and not just to vote.
The reason you’re pessimistic is that you’ve set impossible goals. You want to undo the Progressive agenda this year. That’s not going to happen. It took us a century to get into this mess, it’s going to take a few decades to get out of it.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Our goal for this year needs to be repealing Obamacare. Once that’s done we can work on making the tax cuts permanent. Then we can work on things like eliminating baseline budgeting and shortening the CBO and OMB forecast horizons. This will help fetter the statists by forcing them to actually implement advertised cuts instead of pushing them into the hypothetical out years or calling reductions in rates of increase cuts. After that we can work on pulling the political class to the right.
The fact that Democrats enjoy a 26 vote advantage in the baseline Electoral College is simply because the EC favors high population density, which also encourages support of Progressive ideas. However, the major solid blue areas are in serious financial trouble, they simply cannot continue supporting all the promises they’ve made. And when people realize they can’t have their cake and eat it too things will get ugly for those who promised otherwise.
Supreme Court decisions can be overturned, look at Dred Scott and Plessy v. Ferguson. I have high hope in this case because this decision is basically the opinion of one man. 4 justices said that Obamacare is simply unconstitutional, 4 justices said it was a constitutional exercise of Congress’ commerce power. Only Roberts tried to split the baby by saying it was unconstitutional under the commerce power but constitutional under the tax power. Nobody is going to cite such a dog’s breakfast of an opinion. Frankly we could have the decision overturned simply by having the next Congress impose a punitive tax on anyone who didn’t purchase a gun and 500 rounds of ammunition a year. They could do it right after they repealed Obamacare.
So, tell me ONE step we’ve taken to undo 75 years of Progressive destruction of liberty in this country? ONE thing that they’ve done that we’ve UN-done? ANY time that a Government has willingly surrendered a power once it was handed over to them?
And even if we DO manage to repeal Obamacare (which would cause me to happily sit down to a lovely plate of crow – and ketchup. Lots and lots of ketchup), that does NOT un-do the Roberts Treason. The genie is out of the bottle. The Supreme Court has definitively said that the US Government can compel ANY behavior of it’s citizens whatsoever simply through taxation. How does one un-do that? You mention the overturning of Dred Scott and Plessy – How do you see that happening without a wholesale replacement of every crook currently occupying a chair in DC?
Cuz I’d surely love to be optimistic. But I require some sort of evidence that there is some hope. Pandora at least was left with a jewel as a sign that there was hope. What I’ve seen is no gem, but instead, massively more obvious voter fraud, a President and his administration who publicly and frequently violate the law with impunity, and an on-going and tectonic shift of power into the hands of the federal government, etc.
PLEASE show me a gem somewhere in this box of horrors so that I can see some hope.
Orion
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll014.xml
But you may object that this bill went on to defeat in the Senate. What you are forgetting is that the ship of state is massive, with a deliberately undersized rudder. The Founders knew what they were doing when they set up a system that elected the entire House but only 1/3 of the Senate every 2 years. They gave the people the power to (relatively) quickly stop governmental overreach, while assuring that changes in government policy only came about because of deep-seated changes in the will of the electorate*. The Democrats wouldn’t have been as successful in 2008 if they hadn’t already made progress in 2006. The gains we made in 2010 make the 2006 loses look pathetic. That’s why you’re seeing an increase in lawless behavior from the administration. They know this is their last chance for progressives to hold power for at least a generation. And, frankly, given the state of finances in progressive strongholds, a generation from now they’ll be mocked as innumerate jackwagons.
*This is also a major reason why Boehner and McConnell haven’t been as strident as they could be in attempting to push back the progressive agenda. The progressives control the media, and allowing them to pin the continuing economic troubles on the GOP “obstructionists” would be counterproductive. Right now they need to hold the line and wait for the cavalry to arrive. We need to make sure the cavalry gets there.
One more thing. It’s certainly not good to have a government with unconstrained tax powers, but it is preferable to having a government with unconstrained commerce powers. There’s a reason that Obama, Pelosi, and Reid sold the mandate as a mandate and still refuse to call it a tax.
Bravo, Jeff! The only way we lose IS by giving up.
What a great Lincoln quote. Another one I think applies is Samuel Johnson’s “Without hope, there is no endeavor.” We simply MUST press on, flexing our wills to choose optimism and action. Attitude is everything, and it’s optional!
I think this is something that needs to be said. The early history of this country has been obscured and it is well worth remembering.