Pork Chop Hill
The Tea Party extremists are on the loose. Senator Harry Reid, describing his disappointment at Richard Lugar’s loss in the Indiana Republican primary to challenger Richard Mourdock, said Lugar was being punished for his willingness to cooperate with Democrats:
Throughout the history of this country, even in the most trying times, that’s times of great social and political unrest, our elected representatives have worked together despite their difference to do what’s right for all Americans. So I worry when I see dedicated patriot like Sen. Lugar drummed out by tea party zealots for being too willing to cooperate. But that’s what happened on Tuesday.
Another Democratic senator, Michael Bennet of Colorado, warned that Mourdock was likely to exhibit “Palin-style extremism.” He told voters: “Democrat Joe Donnelly is taking on the Palin-Mourdock machine in November because he believes that Indiana should send someone to Washington who is accountable to the people of Indiana, not to Tea Party front groups and their special interest backers.” Also:
You can help stop the spread of ideological extremism. Click here to sign the petition to stand with Joe Donnelly against extreme politics.
With the general election campaign officially under way, Palin, Mourdock and their allies are doubling down. The big money special interest groups that carried Mourdock to victory in the primary have their sights set on Joe Donnelly.
But if there is any machine that is to be feared, it is Incumbency, Inc. What is remarkable is that Mourdock could win at all against the incumbent, let alone an incumbent as powerful and influential as Richard Lugar. The chances of any challenger beating any random incumbent are pretty slim. Against Lugar the odds were even lower than improbable. A study of the advantages enjoyed by incumbents reveals some startling probabilities:
Success of congressional incumbents has become something of a half-funny joke recently. These are the figures for those Representatives who sought reelection in the 13 biennial national elections for 435 U.S. House seats from 1982 through 2006: 95.17% of incumbents who sought reelection were successful. What’s more, an average of 396 of the 435 incumbent seat holders sought another term, leaving only 39 “open seats” each biennium for new Members of Congress (Jacobson 2008, 28-29). You can see these effects graphically via thirty-thousand.org — Reelection Rates of Incumbents in the U. S. House, and Duration of Representatives’ Incumbency in the U. S. House. Rounding the 4.83% of winning challengers to 19 freshmen, another 39 get there the easy way by filling a seat vacated by a departing incumbent. So about two-thirds (39 of 58) of freshmen only get there from good fortune of facing no incumbent.
…
The Senate has not been much better: 86.98% of incumbents were winners in the 1982-to-2006 period. Only 33.3 Senate seats on average are up each biennium (a first 33, another 33, then 34 to tally 100; and back to the first 33). In the 13 elections of 1982 to 2006, that’s 433 senators who could seek reelection; and 361 of them did so, leaving just 82 vacated open seats for new senators. By rounding the 13.02% of challengers who broke through against incumbents to 38 freshmen, that’s 85 of 113 freshmen who got there by virtue of avoiding a collision with a senatorial incumbent. And in 2006, there were six incumbent senatorial losers, all Republicans. At least one, George Allen of Virginia, was a surprising loser considering that he was prominent among those expected to contend seriously for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination …
Something isn’t quite right with this picture. The constitutional idea since the 1913 amendment to adopt direct election of senators is “build it” (elections, that is) and “they will come” (challengers seeking to oust old ballplayers from positions in this Field of Political Dreams). Apparently since 1982, the democratic mechanism of refreshment and change has ceased to work very well.
The challengers aren’t the machine fighting against some poor, hapless, bipartisan incumbent. On the contrary, the incumbents are the machine — an invincible, clanking, sparking, and all powerful juggernaut crushing all before it. This steamrollering phenemenon is well-known. There is even a theory dedicated to the study of the consequences of incumbent invincibility called Congressional Stagnation:
Congressional stagnation is an American political theory that attempts to explain the high rate of incumbency re-election to the United States House of Representatives. In recent years this rate has been well over 90 per cent, with rarely more than 5-10 incumbents losing their House seats every election cycle. The theory has existed since the 1970s, when political commentators were beginning to notice the trend, with political science author and professor David Mayhew first writing about the “vanishing marginals” theory in 1974.
The term “congressional stagnation” originates from the theory that Congress has become stagnant through the continuous re-election of the majority of incumbents, preserving the status quo.
“So I worry when I see dedicated patriot like Sen. Lugar drummed out by tea party zealots for being too willing to cooperate.”
Democrats don’t remember that Lieberman was a member of their party once upon a time, do they?
Title for The book:
Defeating the House of Misrepresentatives
So proud of LL3…
On English conservative blogs they refer to the politicians simply as “troughers” (feeding at the trough). Of course, some are worse than others, but the temptation is ever present.
This demonstration of how easily the political establishment, with the cooperation of the media, can describe political opponents as enemies of the state shows just how far the Republic has fallen into the authoritarian hole.
Lucky for us, for the time being anyway, there are still enough Americans of good will and independent thought around to keep the juggernaut from succeeding 100% of the time.
A while back, we had a major scandal involving MPs cheating on expenses here in the UK. That’s breaking the rules, not feeding at the trough in an approved manner.
Regarding the issue of second houses, quite a lot of people over here have been talking about the idea of ruling out government subsidy for second houses. it would actually be cheaper to hire (or even build!) a decent-sized hotel for the MPs to stay in for free, when on official business.
Have there been any similar scandals in the USA?
I wonder if Lugar went house hunting while he was in Indiana this week. I hear it is a good state to retire to. But maybe he still wants to work in Washington until he’s 86.
It seems incumbent Republicans are using the “poison pill strategy” against Tea Party Candidates. They attack them in a way that the Democrats can use to win in the fall. The Democrats can say, “Even sober Republicans say he’s a wild eyed T-Party radical at war with — everyone!” Republican voters are then told the challenger is unelectable and are scared into supporting the incumbent. If the challenger wins they go on to defeat in the fall. So in the future there are fewer challengers to the entrenched DC establishment. Meanwhile, the person they defeated gets a great job in DC lobbying their friends — who are still their friends — in Congress. Great work once you get it.
I think Harry Ried is mistaken. After 30 years in office, Lugar isn’t a moderate, he’s tired. It serves the same purpose for Reid.
Fletcher:
Check out Charles Rangle. Why this guy is not in jail is quite simply amazing.
Things like this happen when the first line of any law passed states that those passing the law are exempt from it.
What could go wrong?
SuPpoRt meNTal HEaltH
or I’Ll kKkKIiLLLLl u
/vaudeville never dies
”Bipartisan”? That has meant agreeing with the Dems and letting them mostly have their way, never really opposing anything.
”Tell you what: Cut that back to a 13% increase so I can say I fought to reduce spending. A 3% decrease is, what?, 2 billion? I’ll say I achieved a 2-billion reduction in government waste and we can go on voting for each other’s pork—right?”
Yes, indeed. About the same way a cop might be punished for his willingness to cooperate with burglars.
Harry, please make sure you give this message to every Republican in the Senate. I mean, it really is pretty blindingly obvious that cooperating with Democrats to raise taxes, squander money, pay off cronies and regulate our economy to death is something conservative voters ought to punish a politician for, but some of them Senators are dim bulbs and might need it explained to them in small words. You’re the guy to do it Harry. Appreciate the help.
In the past, an incumbent politician had a lot more money than any potential challenger in his area.
The new phenomenon is that it’s now easier to get a lot of people across the nation focusing on a few races. Luger’s defeat wasn’t orchestrated from just Indiana. Mourdock got money from lots of people.
That’s the new pattern among TEA Party types. Look nationwide at who you would most like to be rid of, and who has a credible-looking opponent. Then give national support to that opponent. Focus nationally on a handful of races, and you can get rid of incumbents.
The fawning of the media over ‘bipartisanship’ is a bit too self-serving. The MSM did a lot of cheerleading over the triumph of the savagely partisan Obamacare bill – AFTER it had conducted a six-year scorched-earth ‘news’ campaign against GW Bush, which created the conditions enabling the election of the unvetted, inexperienced Obama, the Democrat supermajority and those who voted with them. Said MSM also furnishes a monster megaphone for such Democrats as John Kerry, to amplify his crocodile tears about his favorite Stockholm-syndrome Republicans. And it continues its proud tradition via its negative ‘news’ of the apparent non-Democrat Presidential candidate, digging back 47 years for one incident of high-school incivility; not to mention its constant charges of extremism against the Tea Parties and Sarah Palin, even when it’s an opposition Republican who gets toppled in a primary.
It is not hard to conclude that the MSM is a close ally of the Party of Incumbency and Government, and to predict its continued role in protecting the potbellied porkers – extremists in the looting of taxpayers – in the Congress. We’ll hear a lot about violated ‘bipartisanship’ for the next six months.
Fletcher:
Our scandals dwarf the British ones, and are not even reported as scandals by our press. For example, Obama is sometimes touted as a “scandal-free” president, which is an utter falsehood.
I think Lugar was a pretty good Senator but after 36 years he should have stepped down gracefully instead of fighting a losing battle. I read today that Lugar didn’t even live in Indiana any more. He rented a hotel room in Indianapolis for his legal residence. When I saw Lugar go down to defeat all I could think of is Spencer Tracy in the “Last Hurrah.”
I am against term limits. It is up to the voters to “retire” legislators after a certain amount of time whether they are good, bad or indifferent.
I say to Mr. Lugar, thank you for your service to the State of Indiana and the nation but it is time for you to go.
I’m opposed to term limits but also believe that incumbency is huge problem.
I think we need some sort of an incumbent tax, with the party subject to it being able to control what his tax rate is. For example, if you vote for a budget that borrow 40 cents on the dollar, then your reelection campaign should be taxed forty cents on the dollar. This tax is additive every year (so a 10% tax one year would add to a 5% tax the following for a total of a 15% tax) and applies for every Federal office you run for. So a Congressman who has voted for a small deficit of even 3% per year for 10 years is facing a 30% drag on his fundraising. If you never vote for an out of balance budget, then you will get to keep your all of the funds you raise. If you are Senator whose incumbency tax rate is 25% and run for President, then your Presidential campaign tax rate is 25%.
This would provide a feedback mechanism to reduce the buying of votes.
Richard Lugar brokered the departure of Ferdinand Marcos from the Philippines. That is still regarded with gratitude, but it also indicates how long Lugar has been in the US Senate.
It is really too much to ask of any one person to resist the corrosive powers of Washington for so long. After 36 years, even Mr. Smith would not remember why he came to the capital in the first place.
However, there are people for whom this presents no moral dilemmas, who were born into the system and know nothing else. For example, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are individuals who have lived out their entire lives, from youth till middle age and beyond without ever having had a nonpolitical job at all.
Similarly, Gordon Brown started off in university politics and stayed in the Labor Party until he could no longer cling to power. Brown is still doing “public work”.
“Democrats don’t remember that Lieberman was a member of their party once upon a time, do they?”
Good point. Not only that but Lieberman would’ve been one heartbeat away from the presidency if the reichwing Scotus the lefties despise didn’t steal the 2000 election from the Goracle. How quickly they forgot.
The response to some MSM pinhead reading the Party Line about the Tea Party punishing bipartisanship is to stare in the camera and in a monotone recite a list of Democrats who have been attacked from the left.
On the last thread it looks like people are picking up my idea of restricting the franchise to those who don’t derive their income from the public treasury. In a federal system every citizen, except felons, should get to vote somewhere. No government dependent, except enlisted military, should get to vote at both levels.
We have the best Congress that can buy us.
The senate has been joke for decades, a fact that became obvious with the “fixed” impeachment of Bill Clinton.
Few indeed seem to recall it now, but when Sen Jeffords of VT agreed to vote with the Dems in order to protect his committee chairmanship ship and thus protect nationally vital institutions such as his New England Milk Price Support Compact, the Dems took over. G.W. Bush essentially never had a compliant Congress.
And Jeffords’ treason made the head of the Senate noneother than Tom Daschle, the man whose wife ran the most important lobbying firm in DC. And no one saw any conflict of interest in that.
And now Sen Reed can make the most absurd statements, such as that Soc Sec is doing fine and we need not fear its collapse – and get away with it.
In the case of Lugar, a political commentator the other day said that certainly the Senator from Indiana will not be heading back home. He has a very nice home in the DC area. And no one will ever know how much influence and con$ideration he really garnered as his staunch defense of the CRA and Fannie/Freddie lending practices.
What did Mark Twain call the Senate? That grand old debating society for the insane? Would that they would rise again to that level.
In the entrenched in DC there are no “moderates,” just Ruling Class with Interests.
I’ve heard quite a lot of Americans expressing approval for our parliamentary custom of Prime Minister’s Questions; incidentally, the last government watered it down and the current one hasn’t seen fit to reverse that. Less well known, perhaps, is that we have similar gauntlets for other Ministers to run.
Would it be possible to institute some similar system in the USA, and should it be done?
And would it be appreciated if we lent you Daniel Hannan for a while? Or Nigel Farage?
I am to the point where I believe any Pub Rino should be voted down not only in Primary but in the General as well.
These arrogant bastards that call themselves the Republican Leadership need to be taught a harsh lesson. If we lose a few seats to the lefties so be it. “The Republican Leadership” has been one of the major obstacles in returning America to greatness and they need to taken down and politically ripped to shreds no matter what. They need to pay for their treachery and betrayal.
wretchard 17,
“individuals who have lived out their entire lives”
What terrifies and infuriates the Democrats about Romney and GWB 43 is that they had real jobs. They are not like Julia, dependent from womb to tomb on the government teat. Who was the last national Democratic Party leader who had held down a real private sector job? Harry Truman was a haberdasher.
Romney is facing a torrent of bare knuckled religious bigotry in this campaign. He will need people of faith to stand with him, even while not endorsing the LDS creed. There is a risk that CAIR will use this to insinuate themselves into his circle. That is why I do not endorse bringing Chris Christie of NJ into the campaign. For those who are now going to the extreme of assigning special magical virtues to Mormonism I have two words, Harry Reid.
FC 22,
Something akin to Ministerial “Question Time” was built into the Confederate Constitution. For understandable reasons worthy as that idea may be it was tainted by association.
It’s wonderful that L3′s had an effect in the House and spreading the word. Join me in giving him some more help – and if you’ve a mind to do the same for the Senate, contribute to the Club for Growth.
https://secure.piryx.com/donate/FnTy7rRg/Campaign-for-Primary-Accountability/
http://www.clubforgrowth.org/
I think Mr. West is spot on – and could use some memorable quotes.
(hmm. Is there a wiki of conservative and libertarian one-liners – organized by topic, guaranteed to put the left off their game? Good for underdogs and dinner parties? That end in a question or assertion that leaves the Left sputtering – because it undercuts their meme, challenges their cliche.)
Need a better, pithier way to say:
“In communism we know that the government runs all and all are dependent on the government. Socialists insist on the Government controlling if not owning everything important. And we all know Progressives are never satisfied, they always want more, more government, more bureaucracy, more handouts, more taxes, more regulation, more debt, more entitlements, more dependency, more voter fraud.
If Progressives aren’t card carrying communists today, tell me how can we tell them apart? Seems they all end up at the same place. A world and nations of less free people, less free enterprise, a people equal only in their poverty.”
“Democrat Joe Donnelly is taking on the Palin-Mourdock machine ”
Democrat Joe Donnelly should be required to update himself on this concept by asking for Todd Palin’s assistance.
…preferably around checkpoint “Ruby” on the Iditarod Course.
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Inspiration for Walt: (and other energetic codgers)
Update: Thursday, March 8th at 10:30 p.m. ET
For the third day in a row we have a new leader. Jim Lanier flew past the fading Buser’s tandem and now holds the slight lead over Mitch Seavey.
What’s incredible about Lanier is his age. At 71, he is not only competing against much younger mushers in an extremely physically demanding sport, but he’s winning.
Now he is the leader as we reach the halfway mark and won a prize of gold nuggets worth $3,000 for his efforts.
Current Standings:
1. Jim Lanier (13:55) Checkpoint: Cripple
2. Mitch Seavey (eventual winner) (14:16) Checkpoint: Cripple
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1089810-iditarod-2012-results-daily-updates-reaction-analysis-and-more
Palin just endorsed Cruz (Tea Party) over Dewhurst (the Establishment pick) in the Texas Republican primary for the open Senate seat being vacated by KBH. It is Palin vs Perry, Huckabee and by extension, Romney by proxy. The Cruz campaign reports that after her endorsement that they had a surge in volunteers and campaign contributions. She has also endorsed Deb Fischer in the Nebraska Senate Race over the Establishent pick, Bruning.
If Sarah’s two picks win we may have a steamroller picking up speed. Hatch next in Utah? And if the trend continues will Romney end up having no choice but to pick a Sarah approved VP candidate (West)? Interesting times.
Lindsay Graham said his idea of a moderate is one who urges others to steer towards the middle of the road rather than straying too far to the left or the right. That is not what we need. We need bold citizzens and legislators who will tell the establishment “Turn around — you are going in the wrong direction!” That is what the Tea Party is trying to do.
Greetings to all after a few weeks absence. I will ignore the rumors that the absence was either forced incarceration or curious aliens probing my nether regions. Come to think of it, a person under the influence of certain provoca-ceuticals might interpret the first scenario as being the second. At least it makes the body cavity searches seem more heroic…
Speaking of body cavity searches, the coming election may be the last which does not require’em. I’ve been telling the callers from the Republican National Committee I’m not giving them another dime, because of their deliberate efforts to torpedo conservative candidates. I send my money directly to candidates of my choosing, or to Leo’s organization.
The Mainstream alleged News Media turned traitor since the 60′s when the lot of’em decided they know f**k all about every thing they examine. Used to be that there were reporters and commentators who had actually studied science, law, medicine, whatnot. Sorry, but Journalism has become a BULLSHIT academic field, more a matter of getting your progressive ID card stamped. When the Cowards in charge of the universities caved in to the “student radicals” after a rash of armed occupations starting at Columbia in the late 1960′s, it started an avalanche. Degree programs in Black Studies, Wymyn’s Studies, “Critical Theory” Studies – all sorts of programs to discredit all Western traditions – were rushed into being without any rigorous “peer review” or long-term sense of the consequences. The Academics not already radicalized handed over the reins to the Hard Left, and set the stage for our current upended state.
When I was in high school the counselor told us,
The folks now in the MSM view themselves as the arbiters of all things, and have arrogated unto themselves the role of selecting and promoting, or destroying whom they will. They certainly do not answer to the public they claim to serve. They have for years now been lobbying and whoring themselves to anyone in government they think will help them secure a guaranteed subsidy. Clearly, truth is only an accidental intrusion into their reports and commentaries. When it ironically suits their purposes.
Senators and Congresscritters come and go. The media have no term limits. The Soviet gozpadin and gozpazha were aware that Pravda and Izvestia could not be trusted. American citizens by and large have not yet understood this.
OT:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jp-morgan-reveals-surprise-2-billion-trade-loss-2012-05-10
Initial report of $800m, in an hour it’s grown to $2b “with more in future”.
“London whale” sale of CDS to hedge funds.
By the time this is fully reported, what do you bet it’s $10b? $100b? Should we start a pool?
CDS in present form should be OUTLAWED they are theoretically UNSOUND.
Hmmm there seems to be some disconnect between publicly released polling data and actual election results lately. Could it be people are lying to pollsters?
I keep seeing a disconnect between the number of people who think the country is heading in the wrong direction and the numbers who say they are going to vote for Obama?
27. Tarnsman said…
“…a Sarah approved VP candidate (West)?”
Also strongly endorsed by Tammy Bruce.
Two lusty beauties, two different Demos.
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I woulda got that gap in my two fronts fixed…
Shows what I know about Real Women…
…or more to the point:
Real Men
31. toadold…
If you had as many Gay Friends, and Black Friends, and Gay Black/White Hispanic Transgendered Friends as I do, you would understand.
…but you don’t.
SORRY
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From
http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2012/05/09/how-many-blocks-away/#comments
48. monkeyfan
So is it official?
Has history herstory been made yet again by this progressive bringer of light and stash?
Has America’s second black President -after Bill Clinton we are told- come out of his political closet as the gayest* President ever in the herstory of the world, or is it only still just that he is partnered with the gayest vice-president?
*Stasi disclaimer: Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Ari #25:
Capitalism is what you get when you leave people alone to do what they want.
Communism is what you get when you leave government alone to do what it wants.
The Progressives want government to be left alone to do what it wants.
The Tea Party people want government to leave them alone more than it does now and thus will not leave government alone to do as it wishes.
OT:
RWE…
Could you update us on the success/failure of the Osprey?
My contention all along has been that it would prove to be an expensive boondoggle.
True?
…sure don’t hear much in the news anymore.
“Richard Lugar brokered the departure of Ferdinand Marcos from the Philippines. That is still regarded with gratitude, but it also indicates how long Lugar has been in the US Senate.”
Winston Churchill prevailed against the German Nazis. That is still regarded with gratitude, but since his governmental involvement goes back to Gallipoli and even the Boer War, it also indicates how long Churchill has been in Parliament.”
Please excuse the snark, Mr. Fernandez, and it is a fine virtual salon that you have here, but there seem to be many active commentators that you have attracted here who lack your virtue, your honor, your sense of history, your level, if I dare say, nuance.
Maybe I am saying that for all of you having those qualities, there are many people lacking in the virtues you possess, people without honor, lacking in any historical perspective, and having the finesse of that guy cursing his partner on the (U.S. version of ) Dancing With the Stars. Don’t know how you put up with them, but if as site moderator you starting banning people for being obtuse, I guess you would not get any traffic.
There is a posse, a ravenous pack of “Lugar? RINO! Been there too long! Throw the bum out! Just because he calls himself ‘Republican’ doesn’t mean anything with me, pal!”
So he helped broker the deal that got Mr. Marcos to leave. I don’t know if the Senator was just the right person at the right time or if he was a gifted statesman to make it happen. People are probably going Marcos, who? Was he one of those Islamic radicals or somethin’? People don’t even remember your story as to why you call this place “Belmont Club” and what a place name in Massachussetts has to do with anything.
Service. Means nothing. Honor. Same thing. Loyalty. Fuggedaboutit! Party? Look, I am a “Libertarian” and not one of those Country-Club Republicans. Wisdom. The man is old and washed up. Depart I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go! Who said that? Dunno, maybe some British dude . . .
Doug #35:
I don’t know about that Doug. There is a book out about the Osprey, very critical of it, but I have not read it.
My own observation was that in the 1980′s the ATF (F-22) and Osprey seemed to have turned into F-111 and Space Shuttle type programs in which they try to cram everything into one piece of hardware as wella s do all kinds of procurement innovations.
I recall being told that on the ATF the program manager and one of his senior people went out to actually change an engine on an airplane. They came away with the PM saying “No safety wire on the ATF!” I wondered how much that was going to cost, just because you had non-engineer, non-mechanics trying to do the work. My 1946 airplane and my 1999 Toyota both have safety wire on it, because that is the best, easiest, cheapest way to do some things.
How many times did they do things like that on the F-22?
36. Paul…
Many lacking Kobe’s drive, talent, and killer instinct, watch, nevertheless.
…or so I’m told.
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Driving a ’93 Carolla here, RWE.
40 k miles, to and fro, to the Boeing Plant, garaged in a basement in Long Beach by my sis.
Unfortunately getting the crap baked out of it here in Paradise.
Still have the ’93 Escort Wagon as a backup and to carry my bike around…
World’s biggest seller for 15 years straight, back in the day.
Getting elected to a statewide office is no small undertaking and needs a lot of cooperation from a lot of people, incumbents have one other thing up and comers do not typically have and that is experience in running a campaign and dealing with large amounts of people.
Even primary fights in senate seats are not a tiny effort, especially when up against and incumbent and especially when the incumbent can and does bring home the bacon. This is one reason why party establishments resist the up & comers, they have a proven candidate against a new person. New person may be a great candidate, but maybe they will not be such a great one after all.
The ironic thing is when Hairy Red and Lurch bemoan the loss of one like Lugar they make it more and more obvious they believe the senate is club only for the entitled.
I have not seen if Lugar has endorsed Murdoch, I know these fights can cause some bitter feelings among one’s partisans. However, we’ve seen these heads you lose, tails I win mindsets way too often in politics.
Tarnsman @ 27:
It is not a 2 person race. There are two others – Leppert = former Mayor of Dallas & James a sportscaster. The race between Dewhurst & Cruz is nasty. Cruz is a Harvard JD which gives minus points from me. (No More Ivy F-kkin Lawyers!!!!) Dewhurst if the Lt Governor = minus points as he is big gov’t apparatchik. James = Who?
Leppert seems to be running a cleaner campaign than any of the other two – Dewhurst or Cruz – who are trying to destroy each other.
L3 is doing great work and his org needs to go viral in the US. We may have only one more chance to clean out the nest vipers – if we are truly blessed. Otherwise it will be full-on Marxism via the 0bungler.
Revisit this link if you’re of the mind:
http://www.people.hbs.edu/cmalloy/pdffiles/envaloy.pdf
This study makes a counter-intuitive claim that as Congressmen gain the ability to “bring home the bacon”, their district actually suffers for it. What a cruel irony. Hayekian dynamics are afoot so easily with the prospect of expanding central power, ones that lead folks to vote for the very medicine that sickens them.
#36 — so you lament Lugar’s loss because you think he has “wisdom” and all of us yahoos who comment on this blog don’t get it? If Lugar is so smart why didn’t he see and remark on the burning issue of our time which is that the “blue model” of every increasing government debt is dead? You can’t “play nice” with the Democrats when they want to increase the debt that is already way past being unsustainable. Thank you for your service, Mr Lugar now step aside and let someone else take the wheel.
#36: huh???
Doug:
“If you had as many Gay Friends, and Black Friends, and Gay Black/White Hispanic Transgendered Friends as I do, you would understand.
…but you don’t.
SORRY”
Gee your right, I only have one lesbian friend. On the other hand I can read.
Paul Milenkovic
Does it mean anything that so many of the most wrong-headed Democrats are bemoaning Lugar’s loss? Somehow I suspect that if Lugar was representing the interests of the country he wouldn’t be getting so many eulogies from the folks busy looting it.
You mention service. What “service” is that of Lugar’s? Hauling down a Senator’s salary and perks for three and a half decades that saw the country slide trillions into debt? Three and a half decades of service kicking the can of entitlement reform down the road? Three and a half decades of service sowing and reaping a harvest of dysfunctional bureaucracies rampaging over our lives and our futures?
He’s lucky if it really “means nothing” since if it did mean something, it would probably mean prison or worse for him. He’s betrayed the public trust.
He helped deliver one country from the hands of tyranny. Let’s hope we got rid of him soon enough that he didn’t help deliver another one to the hands of tyranny.
24. bftp
“Romney is facing a torrent of bare knuckled religious bigotry in this campaign.”
But, but, but, the left and the right and the ambidextrous all declare their undying belief in the separation of Church and State. I realize that the separation of Church and State is not specifically written into the U.S. Constitution – the first Amendment includes a simple guarantee of religious freedom. Regardless, as long as a Presidential candidate’s religion is not one that explicitly advocates a theocratic form of government for America – then why should that candidate’s religion be a political issue?
Are millions of Americans lying when they declare a belief in the separation of Church and State? If they are then perhaps they are also lying about believing in other ideas of freedom and liberty.
My point is that when Obama lies about believing in the Rule of Law, or in the separation of Church and State, or in equal opportunity perhaps he is reflecting a big part of the U.S. electorate. Maybe he faithfully reflects the Party of Incumbency too.
Again and again we describe a confrontation between those who believe in self governance, the Rule of Law, the U.S. Constitution, limited government, free enterprise and those who believe in the opposite of all these things. But if many of those who claim to believe in self governance etc etc are lying, then no wonder the Party of Incumbency is in power. Expect total confusion and disarray in the Good Ship America until voters clarify their personal beliefs about what kind of country they really want.
The real damage that “progressives” have done is to confuse people so that individuals no longer know what they themselves believe.
This is bad, “Michelle Bachmann to withdraw Swiss citizenship.”
These are good, “House Bill reins in Census Bureau, Justice” and “House shifts pending budget cuts from defense to entitlements.”
Unfortunately Bachmann handed the Donks a club to beat us with and the House vote will go nowhere in the Senate. We are now over three years without having a constitutionally passed budget. What is the longest that America ever went without a budget before this? Could some lawyer challenge the legality of every government act taken without the enactment of a proper budget?
stevesmith 46,
The First Amendment includes a simple prohibition against any Established Church at the federal level. There were several established churches at the state level for many years after the Constitution was adopted. The “separation” line was gleaned from a letter of Thomas Jefferson’s. On this one issue the Left has an interest in a Founder’s original intent. After the XIVth Amendment was adopted it was held that First Amendment restraints also apply to the states. None of this has anything to do with the torrent of bigotry unleashed by the Left at any target.
The answer to recovering from the destruction of the citizenry by the education establishment and their allies in power is that it will take longer and more work to recover than it did to get here. That is the task we face.
After his win Mourdock said,(paraphrasing), he got elected to NOT compromise with the other side. He said roughly there are two ideologies at play, big government and self reliance and conservatives should stick to their principles as liberals stick to theirs. The public will decide who is right and vote accordingly. I can’t disagree with that at all.
Cowboy…
What happens is that the labor market becomes entirely distorted — and so too the real estate market.
A perfect example being the Big Ditch in Boston. It caused an enormous real estate bubble, all by itself.
West Virginia may never recover from Robert Byrd.
Federal spending is a political-economic NARCOTIC. Withdrawal is brutal.
Yep, good point.
The secret to a functional democracy isn’t doing what 51% of the people prefer, but doing what 85%+ of the people can willingly accept. If a government does what slightly over half of the people want, but that turns out to be intollerable to most of the rest, you won’t have a stable or peaceful country. So the secret is finding the compromise that get the vast majority to willingly accept.
The weakness of a European parlimentary system is that compromise usually happens after the election. Voters have their choice of parties to vote for – lots and lots of them. Multiple different flavors of socialists, a nationalist party or two, Greens, maybe a religious or ethnic minority party, niche market narrowcasting in politics. But after the election, when the balkanized parliament meets and a “government” is formed, it’s done by post-election negotiations among the party bigwigs. They work out the compromises of what junior partner party gets what cabinet positions or chairmanships, which legislative agendas move forward and which are shelved, etc. All after the voters have had their say.
The US two-party system used to do all the compromises up front, before the election. Each party would stake out it’s position and let the voters decide who had the best compromise that would address needed concerns without destablizing society.
But some time back, seems like not too long after Lugar joined the Senate, but it was probably long before that and I just think it was then because that’s when I started paying attention…
Where was I? Oh, yeah, some time back the folks in DC started all this European style bipartisanship post-election compromising. It’s not needed in a functional two-party system, at least it’s not needed on behalf of the voters. What it is needed for, I suspect, is for incumbocrats to run their ponzi schemes and con games. Gives them an excuse for not doing what they said they’d do in their campaigns.
No, Mourdock’s got it right (hope he really means it). Candidates should state their principles and then stick to them. That’s the only way voter’s decisions can be meaningful. And if ballots stop being meaningful…
was disappointed Lugar’s globalist credentials were not part of the Indiana debate.
By Cliff Kincaid
“He’s got to run against who he is.” This was the verdict on Republican Senator Richard Lugar from one of the activists attending a Citizens for Global Solutions (CGS) national conference in Washington, D.C. last week. The group used to be known as the World Federalist Association but dropped the name because of the taint associated with promoting world government.
“Senator Lugar is one of the few Republicans ever supported by Soros,” Mourdock says.
The World Federalist Association had openly stated that a “world federation,” a euphemism for world government, can be achieved by advancing “step by step toward global governance” through establishing new U.N.-associated entities such as the International Criminal Court and by passing measures like
the Law of the Sea Treaty.
One of its main priorities is “To provide the U.N. with sustained and independent sources of funding.” That is, global taxes.
“Lugar can’t use that part of who he is,” said a left-wing activist, discussing the race as people waited for Obama Administration officials to brief the participants on “genocide prevention.” He said the world government lobby had met with Lugar’s personnel to offer their help, but were told that any public expression of support for the liberal Republican senator would backfire because of mounting Republican suspicions that Lugar is a RINO—Republican In Name Only.
As Lugar’s true colors as a globalist begin to be covered by the national media, another embarrassment has emerged. A local elections board has ruled that Lugar can’t vote for himself in the primary, scheduled for May 8, because he doesn’t live in the state.
Lugar, a prominent backer of the U.N. Law of the Sea Treaty, even has financial ties to the world government lobby, having accepted campaign contributions from the Citizens for Global Solutions political action committee and giving an interview to the organization’s newsletter.
One edition of its newsletter hailed Lugar as one of several “internationalist Senators” the group was working with. Another heralded Senators Obama and Lugar as “globally-minded leaders” supported by CGS. Lugar has been “a long-time advocate for internationalism,” it said.
Obviously aware of the sensitivity caused by a financial link to a world government group, the Lugar campaign website makes no mention of it and instead insists the senator is a “national security leader.” It emphasizes Lugar’s work with former Democratic Senator Sam Nunn on the Nunn-Lugar bill to eliminate nuclear weapons in Russia. However, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that some of the funds were used to destroy obsolete weapons that Moscow was going to replace with high-tech arms and provide salaries for Russian scientists.
The campaign website does not mention how Lugar had served as one of Obama’s mentors and had accompanied him on a 2005 trip to Russia, when Kremlin authorities briefly confiscated and reviewed Obama’s passport.
Kliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism, and can be contacted at cliff.kincaid@aim.org.
51. dwall…
IOW, Lugar was not just a too-old lifetime pol.
He was simply really bad news, pure and simple.
(which was always my take…
…something about that fecal matter eating grin he had on display around “friends” and foe alike.
Betcha BHO loves that “Law of the Sea Treaty” outrage.
At this point either you believe something is wrong with American governance, or you don’t.
Lugar didn’t. Neither do the rest of his political class pals who have run the country into bankruptcy.
If you’re doing well in the US right now- say, if you’re an employee of the Federal Government, a bankster working on Wall Street, or someone in some other group cashing in on the incredible waste and dysfunction- perhaps you’d be mystified as to why Lugar got the boot. I’m thinking of you, #36, although maybe I shouldn’t be.
But everyone else in the country knows full well why Lugar not only lost, but was crushed. In any failing regime the people who benefit from its political arrangements eventually become outnumbered by those who don’t. The US past that point a long time ago. The only thing that has kept people like Lugar and Reid and many other incumbents in office has been the power of the establishment to reward its friends, punish its enemies, and thwart its challengers.
I take the Mourdock victory as yet another sign that the establishment is weakening. The United States is too obviously ill-governed, and the ever more hysterical attacks on people like Richard Mourdock just don’t work like they once did.
Prior to the Civil War there existed a sort of politician described as a “doughface”. That is, a Northener who could be counted on to do the bidding of the politically dominant slave-holding South. Eventually the Northern public tired of this and elected Abraham Lincoln and the Republican party, with results well known.
I put Dick Lugar in the “doughface” category. He’s been doing the bidding of the politically dominant left for many years, and they are lamenting his departure. The voters of Indiana have finally tired of his self-interested charade.
That, by the way, is my historical perspective of Dick Lugar.
I remember that Lugar was making an appeal to dem voters to cross over and support him in the days (or week) leading up to the primary election. Internal polling leading up to the. big. day. must not have been good.
Overall, the RINO’s Reid loves so much are part of a (non-partisan? bi-partisan?) system that must continually proffer a false drama for public consumption mid-wifed by a compliant but look-the-other-way media. It’s always presented as though it were some ideological struggle precisely because the fix is (already) in. If any democrat party pol faces trouble back home (based on an upcoming vote) in their district, there are RINOs to pick up the slack. Who bears the burden for their gamesmanship? All us “folks back home”… Repub and dem pol ops both want to be in the club, because membership has it’s advantages. There isn’t the political battle or battles there really could be, or should be. Every time ther’s some ‘nother landmark liberal repub bill, such as the “education bill’, or “perscription drug” bill, we, the non-elite, get nothing but grief, slander and beat up for merely clinging to our fiscal, conservative patriotism. no thanks, no hail-fellow well-met, we’re just the ones get stuck with paying for the next new bill. I wonder if repub party knows how fed up we all are with this?
36 @Paul Milenkovic
You really going to compare Lugar to Churchill? Perhaps this is just nuance that I can’t understand as a knuckle-dragging, Tea Party sympathizing libertarian. Funny me thought that having a sinecure for life wasn’t the American way. Guess you showed us rabble, eh? Is your whole rant about his “service” because he served as a junior officer in the Navy for a few years? I didn’t realize that entitled you to a cushy Senate job for life. Surely you can’t be actually referring to his career in government?
Of course, the only people I hear squealing about Lugar’s departure are hardcore Democrat apparatchiks and quisling establishment Repubs. Did your rice bowl happen to get broken, by any chance?
People are unhappy, sure, but I do not think that is why he lost. Incumbents get re-elected, because they engage in retail politics. They respond to their citizenry. Also, people just feel comfortable with “their Congressman” or “their Senator”
Lugar ceased having a residence, ceased being part of the community of his State. He relied solely upon his incumbency, his name familiarity, his being “their Senator”. When he faced a real challenger, he was lost. His was a straw house, and the big, bad wolf blew it down.
The old rule in politics is that it takes a candidate to beat a candidate. Lugar ran up against a real candidate, someone who enunciated what he believed, and so, Lugar’s weakness became evident. He was doomed from the beginning, because he had long since ceased engaging in retail politics. He had long since ceased to live in Indiana.
And yes, Mourdock was able to raise some real cash. Hail the Tea Party, the New Media, and L3! Tuesday was a very good day!
Those numbers for incumbents are revealing in light of the Mourdock win. The Tea Party principles are as strong as ever. They have energy, they can raise money and they are helping change the Congressional sewer in DC. The Mourdock win shows Americans are not buying the liberal BS.
And the mainstream media keeps bleating that the Tea Parties are dead and that they are no longer a political factor. Tell that to Dick Lugar. The Tea Parties are alive and well and if the mainstream media still thinks that they are no longer a political factor, just wait until November. I love showing how wrong the mainstream media can be.
I firmly believe that the Founding Fathers made terrible omission when they did not build in term-limits for all members of Congress.
The modern tea party, like the original tea party of our Founding Fathers, is the vast pro-American right wing conspiracy which stands in eternal opposition to the vast anti-American left wing conspiracy. The vast left wing conspiracy is one of organized domination of the great mass of ordinary individuals by a small group of other individuals (government) in their (the government’s) pursuit of happiness (oligarchic collectivism). The vast right wing conspiracy is one of organized domination of government by the vast majority of ordinary individuals in defense of their equal rights to life, liberty and fruit of labor in pursuit of happiness. The vast left wing conspiracy is an anti-American counter-revolution of Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx and – a conspirace of unequal rights where some are more equal than others – a conspiracy of oligarchic despotism. The vast right wing conspiracy is the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution – the American Revolution its self – a conspirace of equal rights – a conspiracy of goodness.
http://www.wimp.com/thegovernment/
At age 80, after 36 years in the Senate and not even maintaining a residence in the state he purported to represent for some long number of years, wouldn’t the logical step be for Dick Lugar to gracefully step aside ?
Hearing laments from completely self-serving hypocrites like John (genghis khan) Kerry and Hairy (sic) Reid over Lugar’s defeat, you can only conclude that the voters of Indiana made the absolutely correct decision.
The guy mentioned as a target in the above video, Sylvestre Reyes (sat as chairman of the house “intelligence” committee!) didn’t even know the difference between Sunni and Shiite some years back (said Al Qaeda was shiite) and has been on my “extremely dim bulb” list ever since.
There are many long term sitting representatives and senators who qualify as full blown morons.
“Lugar, Reid said, was being punished for his willingness to cooperate with Democrats.”
Let’s re-state that metaphorically, in terms our Founding Fathers would understand.
“Benedict Arnold, Cornwallis said, was being punished for his willingness to cooperate with Redcoats.”
People are beginning to smell the anti-humanist agenda of the parasite that has taken over the Democratic party. They may not be able to grasp and describe it consciously, but they sense the deeper nihilism in the choice of snail darters over human striving, the $600 million government support of Planned Parenthood global sterilization programs, and the relentless anti-family, anti-individual, anti-Christian assault by President Snoop Dog.
The bottom line is a fight between a culture of death (and party of death) and a culture of life.
Let’s define our terms properly. The extremists of the Left, now in charge of our government, are seekers of death and darkness. The Right is shorthand for those of us who are foolish enough to believe in thousands of years of successful tradition, the inheritance of the most profound thinking ever done, and in humanity and what we are becoming and can become. Just how extreme is that, really?
62 Storm-Rder: BINGO
59. “I firmly believe that the Founding Fathers made terrible omission when they did not build in term-limits for all members of Congress.”
I don’t think they had any idea at all that there would come an era where people would be tempted to make public office service a career. It’s no small wonder though with the high rate of pay & all the fancy perks. These people live like fricking royalty. The FF would be absolutely astounded if they were to see what goes on in Washington these days.
63. “…those of us who are foolish enough to believe in thousands of years of successful tradition, the inheritance of the most profound thinking ever done, and in humanity and what we are becoming and can become. Just how extreme is that, really?”
Probably more so than the notion that we might be witnessing the twilight years of our civilization as we know it. JMO.
#66. True. Hope and faith would sound extreme to those with a materialist theology. But as we know, they can’t help but always be in error.
“The challengers aren’t the machine fighting against some poor, hapless, bipartisan incumbent. On the contrary, the incumbents are the machine…..”
That is a wonderfully perceptive observation and one that is totally lost on the flacks in the media. What happened to the days when the media would cheer on a gutsy “outsider” taking on the privilege and power of an entrenched incumbent?…..Oh Wait….I forgot that this sort of thinking doesn’t apply to conservative “extremists.” Dick Lugar was a nice, friendly “go-along, get-along” type who worked hand-in-glove with the Democratic leadership. Therefore he isn’t merely an “incumbent”, he’s a “Senate institution.”
This whole situaiton is like a flipped over version of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” Only in this case the “gentlemen of the press” are applauding the well-oiled political machine (led by Edward Arnold and Claude Raines) while painting poor old Jimmy Stewart as a dangerous extremist. I hope Mourdock wins by twenty percentage points.
Old Soldier @ 59: “… the Founding Fathers made terrible omission when they did not build in term-limits for all members of Congress.”
With respect — the Founding Fathers provided for a Congress with a limited purview to meet for a few weeks each year. Under that arrangement, term limits were unnecessary.
A very much larger number of weaker minds later passed a Constitutional Amendment making Congress into a year-round fiesta, resulting in today’s unintended consequences.
The answer today is not term limits — it is a prohibition against incumbents running for election to any office, including the one they currently occupy. It is unseemly to see Lugar, Obama, and the rest of that clique taking a taxpayer-provided salary for doing a specific job while actually spending much of their time working on something else, their personal re-election campaigns. That dishonesty is morally equivalent to theft.
Let political animals serve as many times as we the people will elect them — but simply not as consecutive terms. That, and eliminate all pensions for elected officials. And I would be happy to see that pension elimination made retro-active.
69. Kinuachdrach
Old Soldier @ 59: “… the Founding Fathers made terrible omission when they did not build in term-limits for all members of Congress.”
If we want to second-guess the Founders, then I would say the most glaring “ommission” was to not enshrine the Declaration of Independence within the Constitution. The Declaration is the soul of American governance, and the Constitution the brain. It really does matter, because one aspect of our drift away from constitutional governance is that the Declaration’s sentiments are considered irrelevant by our political class. Remember that “Life, Liberty, etc.,” do not reside within the Constitution, and neither does “Consent of the governed.” The pedantic weasels who make up our ruling elite will, and have, found “lawyerly” reasons to ignore those sentiments. At leat three current Supreme Court justices have shown both ignorance and contempt for the Declaration’s views.
In fairness to the Founders, they thought the sentiments (truths) of the Declaration to be self-evident. As prescient and forward-looking as they were, they had not expected that an entire nation could take leave of its governing senses. I should note that in the 1870s an act of Congress declared that the Declaration of Independence embodied the values protected by the Constitution. However, that was a long time ago, and not sufficient. I believe that if there is any amendment that should be made to the Constitution, it would be one that enshrines the Declaration of Independence within itself. The “self evident truths” of the first document, must become official law by being incorporated in the second one.
For many years, there has been bi-partisianship and that has only led us to more and more problems. We need our representatives in Washington to stop the -go along to get along- policy that has wrecked the US and start standing on principle that follows our founding fathers ideals and the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.
Speaking of the Founders…the way things have turned out over the last 100 years or so the best commentary on the establishment of the Republic may be the anti-Federalist Papers. http://www.utulsa.edu/law/classes/rice/Constitutional/AntiFederalist/antifed.htm
These early writers we have never heard of saw the seeds of tyranny in the Constitution, and correctly predicted the centralization of power and the loss of liberty we have experienced.
bipartisanship = helping the ‘rats destroy America
x @ 53: But everyone else in the country knows full well why Lugar not only lost, but was crushed.
Old. Too old. Way too old. Old politics, and too old to learn new tricks. Probably two full terms past his expiration date, but incumbency kept him in. Of course incumbency has kept in older fossils, but that’s nothing to brag about. I agree to some extent, his kind of politics made sense, was mainstream – 30, 40 years ago. Not since 2000, certainly. Things are SO different today, he became laughable. So, all praise the electorate, they (we!) are still able to learn and adjust.
Both of California’s (Democratic) Senatresses are equally obsolete, in all the same was as Lugar, but the political system in California – sure it leans waaaay Democratic (liberal, progressive, or just nucking futz), but neither will the Republican party turn up an attractive candidate. Carly Fiorina?
72. Peter Boston
I have read comments by obvious leftists on other sites who have taken to quoting Hamilton form the Federalist Papers as if he was the ultimate authority on the intent of the Constitution. Hamilton was in the minority in his views on the power of a national government even among fellow federalists. He didn’t even see the need for a Bill of Rights (the first ten amendmants). He lost the overall argument to Madison.
Federalism still has merit. What has happened in the past century is a drift away even from the proper notions of federalism.
Incumbents? Hell, we’ve got hereditary Senate seats: Gore, Kennedys (although that line seems to have died out), Quayle, just to name three. House seats as well, especially in the states’ legislatures. Do you suppose Lugar will want to try a “Murkowski” and run as a “write-in Republican candidate”? I don’t believe the state GOP rules matter, as Murkowski’s candidacy violated Alaskan GOP rules blatantly, so the question is “Will he?”, not “Do the Indiana GOP rules allow it?”
But, yes, the Establishment GOP got spanked and the Democrats who depend upon the RINOs – most years – to help pass their legislation are up in arms. “A pox on both your houses.”
36. Paul Milenkovic, seemingly rather agitated, says, There is a posse, a ravenous pack of “Lugar? RINO! Been there too long! Throw the bum out! Just because he calls himself ‘Republican’ doesn’t mean anything with me, pal!”
Another way of phrasing that is “A number of Senator Lugar’s constituents have decided they no longer agree with the way he represents them and this number is sufficient to nominate a successor more in agreement with their ideas.”
Remember that Mr. Lugar worked the Marcos issue in his first term, and was largely downhill after that. Started with the zeal and energy of a “startup” followed by steady state while being seduced by the institution, and downhill from there. Not unlike most government institutions that move from crisis (when most of the members intensely believe in the mission) to stasis to decline (believing in the institution/bureaucracy). Jerry Pornelle’s Iron Law. There are times I envy Israel. Institutions who know that they and their families’ lives are personally and immediately at risk depending on their actions don’t have this problem to anywhere near this degree.
Mr. Lugar is a nice guy and a good man. I spent some time with him and Bob Bennett (trying to convince them not to legislate about Y2K – just what the U.S. needed was to force (an unneeded) shift of a bunch of upgrades to hardware and software into the peak of the dot com boom – aka cash for clunkers on steroids – probably doubled the depth of following crash.. granted I was arguing against the conventional wisdom and all of the computer industry..).
Both were altogether too comfortable with the established routine. No fire, or even an interest in returning to something closer to the Founders’ vision. So, no, I will always favor a newcomer that has demonstrated intellect and judgment over the (average) incumbent in a given party. But, as L3 knows, the party elders and the party are now the incumbents – so we seldom get primary challengers. In days of old the smoke-filled-rooms (and state bodies) would insure this, especially in the Senate.
Re: Term limits. Hard to know how that’d work out. Much better to incorporate the Declaration in the Constitution and restate in very simple and clear terms the Founders’ vision of a limited government w/ the Constitution as its contract, not a living document. But I’d move the capitol every 20 or so years to some destitute place in the country – just to shake off the flees (those that believe in the institution more than the mission get comfortable and won’t move). I’ve spent some time in Isleta (Ysleta) over the years. Unlike Detroit they are at least trying. They get my vote to be next.
Another thing that might help is the introduction of “term limits” for Government bureaucrats also – probably with exceptions for such people as military officers and air accident investigators. Term limits in the form of fixed-term, non-renewable contracts with no attached pension, with a proviso that no more than one such contract would be awarded to any individual; one suck at the government teat and you’re out.
Yes, the 17th was a mistake. The Senate was intended as a voice for the State governments, the People already being represented by the House.
Now it’s another popularity contest, rather than the “sea anchor” it should be.
The predictable result: Senators for Life.
Some Belmonters (“Belmontistas?” “Belmontines”?) have lived long enough to remember the Democrat Party’s elevation of Geraldine Ferraro to serve as their candidate for VP.
That seemed very much an act of desperate cynicism, as they realized their chances of winning the election were nil… Make a dramatic gesture, something Heroic and Noble, that would give them some future credit when maybe Republicans were less ensorcled by a charismatic leader.
Some of that same logic seems to be at the core of the relentless frenzy of campo bama… Seems he’s making gestures and postures that have no “electoral” value, except possibly in a bid for Secretary-General of the U.N.
Anyone else?
79. Fletcher Christian
I think that’s an idea with a lot of merit. I might argue about the details of your idea, but not with the underlying notion that entrenched bureaucrats are a major part of the problem. As a matter of fact, I think they are the single largest problem, and becoming more so. We have noticed that, of late, federal agencies have become law-making entities of their own. While this is a dangerous new escalation, bureacrats have had unaccountable decision-making power for decades. One example that comes to mind immediately is the evolution of affirmative action. Within two years of its inception in the LBJ administration, a single bureaucrat whose name I forget turned afirmative action into the racial/ethnic/gender quota system it has been ever since. He made the decision, with no input from Congress or the White House.
As I have stated before: Washington bureaucrats view Republican administrations as occupiers (in the traditional sense, before ertain defecating anti-semites ruined its meaning), and view Democratic administrations as liberators. Every GOP president ends up having to deal with a bureaucratic insurgency, and even Democratic ones will find various “tribes” in the bureaucracy pushing back when “reform” is attmpeted or contemplated.
In a recent column we were discussing an inability to evolve with technology by the print media corporations. There is no reason I see that Congress-critters could not work 90% of the time in their home state, coming together on scheduled occasions, or special occasions (think 9/11), for votes. They would be much more accessible to their constituents and less likely to go all ‘DC’. It would save the taxpayers a mint too if the states had to pay for their upkeep. It would be too visible to the ones footing the bill to live too highly on the hog (pun fully intended). No more secret meetings with lobbyists when they have to travel to your state to meet with Sen. Puffinstuff. And Bella Pelosi would not need a private 747 paid for by you and me.
If you term-limited government workers, you would devastate the black middle-class, which is largely dependent on government jobs. This may be more true at the state and local level (in certain places), but it’s also very significant across some Fed agencies.
Don #82:
The actual number of people “in Congress” is well over 20,000. In addition to the elected members there are their staffs, committee staffs, people who run the cafeteria and mop the floors, etc. Needless to say, many of the staffs have at least as much influece over what the Congress does as do the members, if not more.
And that 20,000 plus view themsleves as being horribly understaffed to interface with and control the entire Federal Government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action_in_the_United_States
The history of the term spans multiple administrations.
Ironically, it’s the NIXON executive order ( 11625 ) that has carried the most legal weight — because it so expanded the scope AND provided a policing agency ( Office of Minority Business Enterprise [MBE]) ; it takes a cop to make a nostrum law.
Kennedy and Johnson’s executive orders had feeble enforcement.
Comes the 1970s, and the courts are choking with lawsuits, Griggs vs Duke Power right out of the gate.
Further, Nixon’s EO made the issue fulsomely bi-partisan — even though Republican legislators were howling in dismay at the time. They detailed all that has come to pass — decades ago. (!)
RWE
K Street wrote Obamacare.
Even 20,000 seems too low a number.
“So I worry when I see dedicated patriot like Sen. Lugar drummed out by tea party zealots for being too willing to cooperate. ”
Harry Reid has never been willing to cooperate with Republicans on any issue, big or small, so, by his own definition above, he is clearly not a dedicated patriot.
But we already knew that.
Being a Hoosier who saw this all first-hand, I can state with confidence that the Tea Party and Club For Growth support played an important, but not totally decisive role in Senator Lugar’s defeat.
The writing was on the wall last year when Mourdock locked upped the overwhelming majority of county Republican chairpersons and Lugar did not even know this had happened until Mourdock announced it. He had become very distant from Indiana. This coupled with his age (Indiana has long history of turning out its aged senators regardless of party) were too much to overcome. The Club for Growth folks kept him in the TV game, and although thought important at the time, meant little in the end as the margin of defeat made clear.
The perception that this a a pure Tea Party takeover is a creature of Inside the Beltway folks who don’t know Hoosiers. BTW, Mourdock wiill beat Joe Donnelly like a drum in November regardless of Democrat fantasies to the contrary.
Kudos, Richard.
Lugar never met a UN treaty he didn’t L-O-V-E. Kind of like the EU has negated all 27 democracies of EU countries, by supra-imposing rules of unelected supra-crats. If you liked Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Marxism, Castro brothers, Hugo Chavez, you are going to L-O-V-E what Lugar and his UN buddies (and Agenda 21) have planned for you!@!!!!
I’m really proud to be an Indiana native this week.
@84, 85, 87 remind me that: In response to a reporter’s question “How many people work at the Vatican?” (now-)Blessed Pope John XXIII said “About half of them”.
Peterike…
The downside to that over promotion is the death of entrepreneurship in the Black community.
We’ve ‘stolen’ all of the critical brains that trigger economics.
It’s a sin that goes completely unremarked.
It’s a variation on the antebellum house &*(^&(*^*.
Making it a split polity. For sure the elite Blacks entirely identify with Big Government.
AA is a Political Narcotic.
It’s like bending the fuel meter instead of filling the tank.
Manipulation of stats trumps all.
Don’t go away mad, Dick, just go away.
This is the kind of journalism we cannot get in our typical media.Thanks Richard well done and unfortunately truthful.
“You can help stop the spread of ideological extremism. Click here to sign the petition to stand with Joe Donnelly against extreme politics.”
I believe both the Russian and French revolutionaries had a solution to a nobility this venal and corrupt. It’s quaint to think the TEA parties believe elections make a difference.
FWIW, here’s my one word rebuttal to anyone who believes that terms limits, by themselves, will solve the problem of an out-of-control government:
(They’ve had term limits for state legislators since 1990. More than twenty years.)
Term limits are not a substitute for electoral accountability. They’re not a bad idea, but they’re not a panacea. We’re a self-governing republic which requires citizen engagement.
IOW, as my friends at KIPP frequently say: There Are No Shortcuts.
L3