2010: A Year of Living Dangerously?
I never bought into the Y2K business and the year 2000 was not that big a deal to me. I’m not into conspiracies or magic numbers anyway. But there is something about our new baby 2010 that has my attention. I hesitate to make predictions. I’m almost always wrong. But if there ever were a “A Year of Living Dangerously,” this could be it. The USA – and the world – is at a crossroads.
These thoughts started coming to me on my return from my recent trip to Copenhagen for the UN Climate Conference. One thing was clear from that event. Few were interested in climate science or the veracity of the link between CO2 and global warming, but many were interested in money and controlto be gained from them. Very interested.
Ironically, I flew back on a Northwest flight run by Delta. Sound familiar? Like Abdulmutallab, I was originally scheduled to fly via Amsterdam, but changed my reservation to go back through Atlanta. Obviously, this was several days before the events of December 25, but it was the same airlines and some of the same airports. (I had flown over through Amsterdam’s Schipol.) So everything was amplified.
And it was on the eve of that same December 25 that the gigantic health care legislation that almost no one had read was passed by our Senate. Again, it seemed not be about health at all, but about control and, of course, money.
Meanwhile – was it just an accident, a confluence of events? – democracy demonstrators were being gunned down and run over in the streets of Tehran and our government said next to nothing.
So, for the first time, maybe it was reading Hayek, that I worried we could conceivably be losing our democracy. Apocalyptic? Yes, sure. But still an ominous thought that will not go away. 2010 could indeed be a Year of Living Dangerously.
Our two-party system would normally be a consolation, but the Republicans, alas, are not impressive, especially at their higher levels of leadership. The names currently being bandied about as presidential candidates don’t resonate for me. But perhaps leaders are not the point. The Tea Party movement shows potential, if – and it must – it grows beyond people waving funny signs. We are in crunch time, as they say. As our (non-existent) money gets spent at levels beyond comprehension, we had better stop it now or our lives and our children’s lives will never be the same. Happy New Year.
“And it was on the eve of that same December 25 that the gigantic health care legislation that almost no one had read was passed by our Senate.”
The good news is that the health care bill will likely not be signed into law. Purple and red state Democratic Party legislators are worried sick regarding their political futures. Ben Nelson’s dramatic 31-point drop in the Rasmussen poll did not go unnoticed. Unfortunately, Barack Obama will remain president—and will increasingly become more dangerous. He will try to punish the American people for rejecting his utopian vision. The man is a narcissist and firmly convinced that the world should revolve around him. God help those who disagree.
The taxes come first in “Obamacare” and the government payouts kick in one to several years later, which is, as many have noted, an eternity in politics. Essentially then Obamacare is a tax bill, designed to keep the Federal government from falling into the same fiscal difficulties that now bedevil California, New York, and other deep-blue states. Nothing stops Congress from canceling the health-care outlays in the next few years, and the taxes already collected are not going to be returned if these promised payouts do not occur. It’s amazing how the national political elite have kept us all arguing about health care so that we took our eyes off the ball, not objecting to the way taxes are being raised…
I am so glad you finally read Hayek.
Well, I’d read a lot of Marx. Thought I’d better equalize.
The Tea Party movement will only change America’s direction if each and every participant becomes involved in their local election, and keeps a close eye on the ballot box.
America is in this fix right now because it has allowed the thrugs and thieves to run amuck through the electoral system. Certainly, the good folks in the SEIU and ACORN are right there on the ground during any election.
It was interesting following the Norm Coleman election, which delivered that clown, Al Franken, to the Senate: suddenly bunches of ballots found here and there and everywhere. And then, there are the military ballots wandering in a couple of weeks after the official election. And allowing drive by electors; and absentee ballots. All of which has degraded the electoral system to almost a sham. Almost but not quite.
I think Election Day in the US should be as important as July 4.
“I never bought into the Y2K business and the year 2000 was not that big a deal to me.”
OT, Roger, but while ‘sky is gonna fall’ rhetoric was over the top,, Y2K was potentially fairly serious in certain quarters, and ended up not being much *precisely* because governments and businesses took it seriously and invested time and money in eliminating the risk.
I was a manufacturing engineer and we went thru quite a bit making all of our production control PCs Y2K compliant.
Add to this the commercial real estate collapse that is beginning to hit, the power grab on CO2 at EPA, the tightening of firearms regulations in a number of cities and states as gun bans prove ever more ineffective, the complete lack of spending restraint and corruption in Washington, a half dozen state bankruptcies along with countries such as Spain and Greece, and there’s nothing to worry about at all.
Throw in a lap dog media of educated morons, the control freak tendencies of the Democratic Party Left, and a wake up call like another 9/11, and you have Nineteen Eighty Four.
“but the Republicans, alas, are not impressive”
That could well wind up the understatement of the year.
Unless you’re talking about their ability to shoot themselves in both feet, reload, then aim for their heads.
My hope for 2010 is that the GOP bus gets a liftkit to better negotiate all the worthless, big-government idiots getting chucked underneath it.
And HNY2010 to ya, Roger. I can see why we’ed feel like steerage on the Titanic, with ObiWon and the czars as captain & crew, and with the GOP rescue ships looking like shrimpers in the North Sea captained by the 3 stooges. Not to despair, though, remember John Paul Jones, demasted, shot to crap and sinking – “..I have not yet begun to fight..”
I like the thought about magical numbers. If we don’t do something by 2015, we’re all going to die by 2020, or 2030, or 2050, or 2100. People have such a love of symetry.
Fortunately, here in the land of Oz(traylia), many people don’t believe in the law of magical numbers or the apocalypse, which is why we ditched one polital leader and another’s plan for a massive carbon tax in the lead-up to Copenhagen.
People in the real world still know a stinker when they smell it.
“The names currently being bandied about as presidential candidates don’t resonate for me.”
Sarah Palin is going to surprise you, Mr. Simon, if (as it appears) she hasn’t already.
Just as the perfect storm brought us President Obama, his presidency is brewing the perfect storm that will sweep his exact opposite into the White House. And when that happens, you will see real change: Obama is doing more to reveal the dangerous vacuity of left-wing ideas for “governance” than Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, and Glenn Beck combined: those and other individuals, yourself included, are merely communicating the reality that people cannot help but feel in their gut as they observe the real-world consequences of electing Obama to the highest office in the land.
This guy is a disaster — an ideological freak who could possibly have risen to power without hiding who he is from the American people, and for that he needed the MSM to sell the last remnants of whatever foul soul it ever had.
The problem is, once you sell the last remnants of something, they’re gone — the MSM bet everything on Obama, and he is the last king they will ever make.
Gov. Palin needs to impress the American people, and if her past successes are any indication, she will impress them. It is a fact: the more the American people see of her, the more they like her, because, again, she is everything Obama is not: practical, commonsensical, and patriotic in the best sense of the word. She doesn’t have to lie to win; she will win despite the MSM, not because of them.
So buck up, Mr. Simon: a storm is brewing, and this time it’s a good one.
This is certainly the annus mirabilis if we can throw the crooks and chiselers out next fall. I don’t know if Sarah Palin will ever play a major role in our government but she might be the rally point for a lot of people who are sick of both parties.
I read you Pajamas Media folks and your commenters and see that in your parlance ‘the Republicans’ really means “not me.”
With party registration becoming increasingly meaningless due to Boomer self-conceit about being ‘independent’ voters, the real measure of whether one is a Republican or Democrat is which party’s candidates does one typically vote for in partisan races? If y’all are voters, then Republicans and Democrats aren’t some other people over there somewhere buy yourselves. Now, when you’re whining “Republicans should do this” or “Democrats should do that,” take a look in the mirror folks, ’cause you’re talking about your own self.
(By the way, if you and your friends aren’t already scouting for candidates you’ll be organizing a campaign and fundraising for, you’re already too late to play in 2010. Tea partiers, this especially means you.)
Mr. SImon:
“We are in crunch time, as they say. As our (non-existent) money gets spent at levels beyond comprehension, we had better stop it now or our lives and our children’s lives will never be the same. Happy New Year.”
We’ll see how happy it is.
Politically, we are faced with much the same situation as was Rommel a week or so after D-Day against the Allies in the Overlord landings.
The Transnational Progressive Statists have secured their foothold on the beach, have mounted their first forays in strength from it, and are marshaling their forces in defense of the counterattack that must, MUST push them back into the sea.
Keep the heat on Obama, but the schwerpunkt must be successful in recapturing the Congress.
The longer that the Democrats stay in the majority, the longer Nancy Pelosi remains Speaker. Nevadans are apparently “Finished With Engines” on Harry Reid, and it might be likely that Dick Durbin of Illinois then ascends to Majority Leader.
The nation cannot afford another two years of these doctrinaire far-left liberals.
God help us if this be case.
If New Year’s Eve 2011 doesn’t find the electorate having delivered a monumental rebuke to the party led by such as these, then 2010 will have been a waste and a failure. It will then be far more difficult to undo and repair the damage that they have done…and that assumes that any presumptive future effort will be limited to no more than re-establishing the status quo ante.
I sort of enjoy waving my funny sign. It says very simply: “Are you listening.”
I like to believe that, if they see my sign, the powers-that-be silently say to themselves that “yes” they are listening. In which case they are either self-delusional or lying, and I am doing the right thing by waving my sign.
And if they instead are silently saying to themselves “no” they are not listening and do not even care, then I REALLY know I’m doing the right thing waving my sign at the idiots.
In the end, waving funny signs is a means to reinvigorate passions and remind the idiots that “we” will be showing up when the count is taken at future elections. 2010 is here.
Roger, you said “As our (non-existent) money gets spent at levels beyond comprehension, we had better stop it now or our lives and our children’s lives will never be the same.”
But it is comprehensible. It’s just not at all pleasant, doing so. May I reference a documentary on the last decade’s inflation issues in Argentina? There may be parallels.
If the link does not work it will come up by youtube, search=argentina and inflation. Doc is split into 12 parts due to youtube length restriction of 10 minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH6_i8zuffs&feature=PlayList&p=C7977A6A32A8B59F&index=15
Let’s learn from history a bit here.
The leadership of the Republicans might not be all that impressive, but they are a lot less scary than the Democrats are. That is for sure. I like Sarah Palin, but I am not as in love with her as some people seem to be and sometimes I get the feeling that there is a sort of counter cult thing on the right that reminds me somewhat of the sort of adoration people on the left had for Obama…it kind of makes me uncomfortable sometimes to be honest. I think that Palin would be a vast improvement over Obama, but then almost anyone would.
My vision of the future is also foggy,
but there is _something_ out there, and
it is large, carnivorous, and hungry.
My best guess is that TPTB see it clearly,
and plan to “hide in towers” until it has
fed, but that it will find them still.
In clear: TPTB have chosen to maximize
the financial efficiency of the world
economy, at the cost of minimizing its
robustness, and expect it to suffer a
catastrophic cascade of failures and
consequent, ah, civil disturbances,
which they are preparing to survive.
Choose your own trigger; There are
plenty available, all traceable in
one way or another to the last 50
years of tax-and-spend-until-broke
political economy here in the US.
“Now, when you’re whining “Republicans should do this” or “Democrats should do that,” take a look in the mirror folks, ’cause you’re talking about your own self.”
No, we are talking about a class of professional politicians who have made a good thing of this for far too long. I think you mean well but some of us actually have experience in local politics and know how quickly good intentions can be corrupted. Maybe we have reached the point where enough voters see through the BS. If so, we will have to find an entire new political class. I don’t know how many of the present ones are salvageable.
For what it’s worth, I’m somewhat obsessed with the fact we are fast approaching the centennial of the first world war, which was a cataclysm the magnitude of which we have yet to to realize….There is a certain amount of obsession with WWII, which is understandable given its horrific dimensions, but the first world war, like the war in Korea, has been relegated a secondary significance in the public mind, no doubt due to its political inconvenience as a counter to the shibboleths of the left-wing philosophy of life. Also there is a certain amount of misconception regarding the Versailles treaty and its responsibility for the subsequent hostilities. Nevertheless, I believe we are today inheriting the wind of our ancestors. In short, we are facing something new, something outside the bounds of our usual political dimensions. I hope it isn’t too late to be politically effective in a positive way.
The hard part [it would seem] is finding someone who wouldn’t sell their soul (and their very country) to become the glamorous, famous, wealthy, powerful
PUPPETPresident of the United States.There is a tread at twitter #openmoney which tells me the control the big sh*ts expect will not be total.
It is always blackest before the dawn. Congress controls the purse, so if Dems are worried about being voted out of office in Nov, they will not enact Obama’s agenda. If they are not worried, they will lose their jobs. Either way the Obama agenda will be stopped.
I concur, Roger, and think that while your concern over potential presidential candidates is warranted, greater value may be had on the legislative personnel front.
For example, while the president submits a budget, it’s only a proposed budget which gives the House a starting point, should they choose to use it. The House, which the Constitution charges with the responsibility to initiate all spending, is free to ignore the president’s proposed budget and develop one of its own.
And in that last sentence is one of the things which forces me to agree with your contention of 2010 as a dangerous year. There is so much money at stake, and the power which stems from its manipulation, that I would not rule out a castle coup.
As we get closer to the November elections public sentiment will inexorably shift away from Obama and toward the idea of “congressional replacement” – throw all the bums out and replace them with new bums, who, one hopes, will possess enough fiscal responsibility to reverse our course, however slowly, from Obama’s precipice.
Faced with loss of the ability to manipulate money, and the near total reduction in power that brings, it would not surprise me if the White House attempted to declare some sort of dire emergency that required postponing the election, potentially aided by a terror event, real or manufactured.
While the possibility of that is extremely low, I do not think it is zero.
The Tea Party movement has awakened new interest in Ayn Rand. Is it self-centered greed or legitimate self-interest that is the main concern with those who do not understand Ayn Rand? Those who admire and criticize Ayn Rand’s beliefs about people who stand on their own feet often say she promoted selfishness, thereby greed, which is self-centered and anti-individual creativity. That is anti-Rand. Rand admired the creative individual, people like railroad builder James Jerome Hill, on whom she was reputed to have based her character Nathaniel Taggart in Atlas Shrugged. Independent “I’m OK, you’re OK” people are OK with Rand, not the criminal takers. If we look at Howard Roark’s summation to the jury, from Fountainhead, we do not see a self-centered individual destroying his work. If he was greedy he would have simply accepted his payment. We see an other- and outer-centered individual in love with his own dreams and creations, as one would love a spouse, child or family and refuse to allow them to be assaulted. That is the kind of self-interest that built America. Though love for anything spiritual may be missing, a great idea or vision also measures up to that which is spiritual, beyond self, and that view is not even inconsistent with Christianity. Claysamerica.com.
“It is always blackest before the dawn.”
Steve, it will get a lot blacker and stay there if we don’t wrest our country from the left, and soon. We need someone like Sarah Palin, who not only believes in our country, but believes in the ability of each of us to right our country and move it forward. If only we could think of who that person might be…
Roger
I think 2010 will be a year long remembered, like 1914, 1941, 1861, or 1776. It might not be fondly remembered, that remains to be seen, but I do think it will be a very important year. Too many long-term problems ignored for years or decades are coming to a head, and a bunch of people are pushing really hard to accellerate everything.
marymcl:
I found myself thinking about WWI the other day. Fundamentally, WWI was the result of the European hereditary ruling class failing to do its job and failing to let anyone else try. They mucked up things and ended up killing millions of people and shattering their own civilization. I don’t think Europe ever recovered, or ever will.
Our “ruling class” of lawyers, career politicians and activists are not up to the job either. Can we shove them aside and get some competent leaders in place before it’s too late?
My sign is pointed steady at the oncoming traffic from my Freedom Corner. Passersby at 40-55 mph can’t read one too well that is moving. I ask “R U GIVING UP ON FREEDOM” or similar questions. We are taking back our nation . . . one corner at a time. Join us when not TEA Partying
WW1 has certainly cast its shadow upon us, but the conflict that comes to my mind is the American Civil War.
The One is preparing to shove Amnesty II down America’s throat the same way he did the Health Care Bill.
Many people doubt that this wildly unpopular bill will get through Congress, but I have a very bad feeling about this. Before Cortes invaded the Aztec empire, he burned his ships in order to eliminate any idea of a retreat.
Obama has done the same thing by passing a Health Care Bill that the American people are very much against. Now, there is no “Exit Strategy” for the Democrats who passed it.
So no matter how unpopular the Amnesty Bill is, the Dems have no choice but to pass a bill that will legalize the voting status of about 20 million illegals.
It is the only way that the Democrats will survive the 2010 elections.
Yes, I think that there will be a civil war in this country.
Like the waters of that hope this troth had been plighted by the subtle baiting of a system gone mad and dim, we live to be mournful forever
This a vision only vivifying with touch of humor , you fall exhausted along a shore shaken, broken wreith momentary shiverings this is America.
We alost in the wind so drearily real and with dismay you get up and live with hope for one more day.
We have been the uncounted generations with a critical position the undaunted defenders of all that has been the underlying facts of skepticism.
I feel people do want unconditioned freedom without the master controler uncontrollable and within its own serenity of powers.
the unavoidable propensities are not the same as unattainable perefection one would hope to have some unassuming dignity as unbecoming one human living in America.
@ #14: It is not conceit that keeps THIS boomer registered independent. It is, on the one hand, the outright communism of the Democrats, and it is the “Look out! The homos and unChristians are gonna be the death of us all!” while playing get-along games with the communists by God’s Ordained Party on the other.
The very day I see ANY fiscal responsibility or desire to uphold the Constitution from ANY candidate, I will vote for them. And it will not matter what party they are in.
This is off thread but over at patterico.com there is a raging thread about the blog little green footballs. I didnt realize it but according to Wikipedia Charles Johnson co-founded pajamasmedia.
Not that i am trying to stir up any drama because i never read LGF except by link during the rathergate scandal years ago but what happened to Charles Johnson? he seems to have really gone off the rails.
james Conrad @35
Charles joined the Dark Side (I think it was always lurking within)
I am also worried about 2010. This could well be the year when the out of control spending and increased tax chickens come home to roost and the economy goes off the cliff. There is a better than good chance unemployment, inflation and gasoline prices will go through the roof. Obama and the Democrat Congress would have no clue how to handle it other than yet another “stimulus” bill. And we havn’t even gotten to foreign affairs yet. Iran will probably join the bomb club this year, and the U.S. will take some major hits from radical Islam suicide bombers. The crossroad will be reached in the Congressional elections of November 2010. If the Democrats aren’t voted out of their Senate and House majorities, and RINOs retired on the Republican side, this nation is toast.
Finally!!! Someone is noticing that while we have a tremendous amount of momentum thanks to Obamistakes and divine providence, we cannot succeed in taking our country back unless we can rally behind a bright, charismatic conservative whose rhetoric is crafted in policy and NOT rooted in women’s uteri or male-on-male shenanigans.
These issues become less and less relevant as our cause takes on greater urgency. Please, if you’re out there, fearless leader, stay out of the bedroom and get back to the boardroom!