Good News — What Good News?
I have a confession to make: I don’t quite understand the jubilation among the conservative-Republican forces during the last two months of the Obama crack-up, and here, unfortunately, is why:
1. The so-called Obama crash. I believe that Obamism — 41 months over 8% plus unemployment, anemic GDP growth, serial $1 trillion deficits, unsustainable rates of new aggregate debt, the takeover of health care, record numbers on unemployment insurance and food stamps — is not only strangling the country, but in the long run will be seen as such by most Americans. Obama is incoherent — castigating the Supreme Court’s right to overturn a law, then himself suing to overturn state laws, while simply ignoring federal laws. Abroad, even his supporters cannot claim the Russian reset was a success. What was so hard about supporting the Iranian dissidents in the spring 2009 demonstrations, or expressing support for secular democratic movements in the Middle East rather than praising the Muslim Brotherhood? Why treat Israel or Canada worse than Turkey? And was it worth the administration chest thump to risk the security of the United States by leaking classified information about Predators, the cyber war against Iran, the Yemeni agent, and the bin Laden raid?
But all that mess is not to say that in the here and now Obama cannot cobble together a 51% majority to win the election. He figures that he can by appeals to gays (gay marriage), those on entitlements (nearly fifty million are now on food stamps; 50% are paying no income tax or are on some sort of entitlement — or both), the greens (Keystone), the Latinos (de facto amnesty), feminists (“war on women”), the (fill in the blanks), etc.
Review Obama’s bad news of the last 90 days: the Scott Walker victory, the Obama gaffes (the private sector is doing “fine”), the Democratic defections (whether senators and representatives bailing from the convention or smackdowns on Bain Capital from Cory Booker, Bill Clinton, etc.), the Holder mess, the circumvention of Congress by de facto amnesty, the non-ending scandals (Solyndra, Fast and Furious, GSA, Secret Service, etc.), the Putin/Merkel put-down, our new Muslim Brotherhood friend and ally running Egypt, the supposed shortfall in campaign donations, etc. Yet this weekend Obama remains up in the polls and ahead in key swing states. If these “bad” weeks have led to his rise in the polls, what might good weeks do?
Sometimes when I watch Fox News, listen to talk radio, or read the blogs, I fear too many are in a strange bubble: the Obama embarrassments are tallied, his crashing defeat predicted — but no one seems to say, “But hey, he is still after all that ahead in the polls!” And to the extent someone might point to polling, he is met with “But the polls are biased!” Perhaps they are by 3-4 points. But right now, given the power of incumbency, the changing nature of the U.S., and the no-holds-barred methods of Barack Obama, the advantage is still all Obama’s — and almost all the polls show that. And we should remember that fact rather than be told simply how bad Obama is.
2. The Supreme Court. I have read all the exegeses of why Justice Roberts voted to tip the court in favor of upholding Obamacare. I do not here care to comment on the case other than to note that the most radical piece of social legislation since the Great Society is now the law of the land. It may prove a boomerang in November; there may be some clever means to detect in Roberts’ decision a path for upholding judicial conservatism. In fact, there may be all sorts of hidden good news. But for now, the decision is a huge victory for Barack Obama — how can it be any other?
Other depressing notes: the Court is now 4 liberals, 2 swings, and 3 conservatives. Is this really the age of a conservative Supreme Court? But more importantly, the elite culture in the New York-Washington corridor is a force multiplier. It defines liberal blinkered orthodoxy on the Court as “open-minded” and “moderately liberal” in contrast to conservative orthodoxy that is “reactionary” and “closed-minded.” In other words, there is always more pressure on a conservative than a liberal to be thought sober and judicious by joining the other side. A liberal justice joining the conservative side almost never happens. Because of the great decision of our age, Justice Roberts will be revered by the media-academia-arts-government nexus as the new Earl Warren, even as conservatives rightly respect his right of independent judicial review. And, as Roberts knew, had he voted otherwise to reject Obamacare, he would now be reviled by the Left in the manner of Robert Bork, while, without fanfare, being simply acknowledged as a fair and circumspect judge by conservatives.
3. Obamacare. Obamacare is a disaster. Imagine DMV supervisors, TSA employees, someone like an Eric Holder running the show, and taking a number at the emergency room, and you have the formula of dealing with your rendezvous with a tumor or heart attack. Most Americans don’t want it. But be prepared: we will hear that if it were not for courageous Barack Obama and Justice Roberts, then conservatives would have taken 25-year-old Johnny off his parents’ plan and thrown him in the street, or denied all treatment to Linda with breast cancer — as if neither could find health care without a massive government bureaucracy. Remember again: this was a plan that was sold as a mandate, not a tax; then argued by the administration before the Supreme Court as a tax; then found constitutional on the basis that it was a tax; and now defended on the basis that it is suddenly once again not a tax. Adolescents, not the president of the United States, make it up as they go along — mandate, tax, penalty, fee, etc.
4. The Arizona decision. How is the court rejection of the Arizona law good news? Yes, I know they upheld the right to ask for proper ID when there is good suspicion of a possible crime, but that is merely a reflection that what thirty years ago was a common-sense given is now considered a landmark breakthrough.
Factor in the president’s circumvention of Congress to grant de facto election-year amnesty to about a million illegal aliens, and examine where we are: it is illegal for a state to try to enhance federal immigration law enforcement, but it is still apparently legal for a municipality to declare itself immune from federal immigration law by granting sanctuary to illegal aliens. Arizona “broke” the law by trying to enforce it; the president did not break the law by trying to circumvent it. The former passed a law through a majority vote, the latter shredded it by fiat. In some sense, there is no federal immigration law anymore — only what Barack Obama on any given day determines is politically expedient to enforce or not enforce. If one million can be exempted today by presidential decree, why not five million next year and another six the year after? The Arizona border or Parlier is a long way from Martha’s Vineyard and Sidwell Friends.
5. Fast and Furious. The Republicans may find themselves pursuing the moral and ethical high ground right into a political quagmire, reminiscent of once trying to convince the American people that a sitting president cannot lie under oath with impunity, even as the country sided with Bill Clinton without worry that he had been serviced in the Oval Office by his own in-house intern.
From the little that we know, Eric Holder at best knowingly presented false information to a congressional committee, and at worst also oversaw a harebrained scheme that led to several deaths (among them one and maybe two Americans) and whose ultimate objective is still unclear — and did so as the chief law enforcement officer of the nation. If that stands, in some sense we are then reduced to a banana republic. That said, the Holder mess, in the campaign sense, may divert attention from the economy, will likely not proceed to any further action against Holder or new releases of documents until after the election, and allows Holder once again to play the race card. Unless something dramatic happens, the contempt vote will either not help the Republicans or likely distract them from the economy. That is not a reason to stop now, but only a warning once more of the long road ahead.
6. The Obama crises. We hear of defections in the black community. Does that mean from a 97% majority down to a 95.5% margin? The Latino community is unhappy? Does that translate into a lost 3% from 2008? Is he short of cash? Does that mean Obama will not quite reach $1 billion until late October? Given that Obama has polarized the country, the fact that purple-state Democrats up for reelection don’t want to be seen with Obama is understandable, but not necessarily a barometer of what Ohio, Florida, Colorado, and Virginia will do on Election Day.
What Does It All Mean?
None of us know what November brings. We all imagine the race will be far closer than 2008. We worry that eight years of this administration will institutionalize what we saw during the first four years. That said, every person worried about the direction of the country will have to vote, donate time or money, or offer public or private commentary. We are going to see things in September and October that we have not quite seen before in an election, as our modern Borgia pulls out all the stops to do whatever is necessary to win.
We have a president who was not truthful about his prior associates and pastor, raising taxes, the Bush-Cheney protocols he once demonized, and promises to follow the law. The law now is followed largely to the degree that it is judged most progressive for most people. On a mundane level, a president is up for reelection who, by common assent, made up almost all the key details in his own memoir, claimed on his own bio that he was born in Kenya, jokes with his middle finger on his chin, laughs about Predator assassination drones protecting his daughters, offers a double-entendre about a sex act with his wife, and links “BFD” T-shirts to his website. From the fundamental to the ridiculous, Obama is sui generis. After all, we have a man of the people in the White House who has set presidential records for golf outings and fat-cat fundraisers, while running on them/us class warfare — to the delight of 50% of the country.
Against all that, rationalizing recent conservative defeats is surely no way to learn from them — and learn from them we must.
Scott Walker’s recent victory was a huge win for us. There is a lesson there, and, one hopes, a portent of things to come.
That’s right. The folks in the very liberal Wisconsin voted conservative. If left to the likes of CJ Roberts we are all in deep trouble. This time we have to roll the dice and trust the people.
What Gov Walker’s victory should tell conservatives across the country is that in order to win, YOU NEED A GREAT “GROUND GAME,” i.e., you need to have motivated volunteers to get out the vote.
Just this weekend, a “volunteer” knocked on my door “on behalf of President Obama;” I don’t believe he was old enough to vote, but someone had talked him into walking door-to-door in the stifiling heat for The Won…
The fact that Florida, and other states, have attempted to CONFIRM the identity of all those on their voter rolls, and the DOJ has continually fought them (to prevent “disenfranchising” dead voters and illegal aliens) should tell you where to concentrate your efforts.
No, the message/lesson from Wisonsin was not about a ground game. The message was simple – the campaign needs to be very direct, and conservative and the leader of the campaign needs to be 100% honest and courageous about doing the conservative thing – which is shrinking government. The candidate must lead, not simply take a cautious strategy with no clear legislative plan. Walker ran on the explicit plan to cut the role of public sector unions to reduce the cost of education and state and local government. Then he and the legilslature did exactly what they said they would do. Then, they were viciously attacked for doing what they said, and Walker paid zero attention to the media and he stuck by his guns. He did not care what the New York Times or Brian Williams said about him. He was courageous in his conservative convictions and he stuck by his principles. THAT is the lesson from Wisconsin. Now, is there any leader on the national stage who is showing Walkers simple formula for success? Be honest.
Scott Walker did exactly as described. He showed up to bring an agenda of thrift and good management that he popularized, he enacted it, he defended it without waffling, he showed no resentment or ill temper but kept to his task, and the voters recognized his uncommon valor and clarity of purpose a second time.
The Scott Walker *win* was a setup. BHO needed the rank and file teacher unions out of the way. Walker played right into it–when will conservatives wake up? Hes going for the whole soviet enchilada-rule by central committee–
The key lesson in Wisconsin was a leader who ran on a campaign and did exactly what he said he would do after being elected. So did the Republican Legislature.
Those very actions threatened the liberals so they threw every resource they had at them. Neither he nor the Republican Legislature flinched, held their ground, and continued to do what they knew needed to be done. Their honesty and integrity sold themselves and the required ground game automatically followed.
Unfortunately at the national level we have- Boehner, McConnell, Cantor- none of which come close to the calibre of the greenest Republican member of the Wisconsin legislature.
Second-the reason that Obama still scores close to Romney is that Romney is- well Romney. His track record does not instill confidence that he will do after being elected what he says he will do now. It is up to him to instill that confidence. If he does the required ground game will follow. If he doesn’t it won’t
And did you tell your underage Obama groupie anything civil and constructive or simply slam your door on the inchoate individual. (Hint, there is no correct answer to this rhetorical question).
The Scott Walker victory should indeed give us hope and resolve. It was a decisive move away from Big Government. There are many forms of authoritarian statism, which I described here: http://clarespark.com/2012/06/29/the-neutered-state/. The Obama administration seems to partake of all of them. And Mr. or Ms. Areopagitica, let’s hear it for “the mind is its own place.”
Of course there is a correct answer to your question.
Thank the ‘on behalf of president Obama’ youth, promise him/her you’re certainly going to get more people to vote against president Obama, then say ‘Nuclear Power’(or other energy plans) while shutting the door.
I would have invited the young man in, and asked him why he thought Obama should be reelected, then shot down his arguments and told him why Obama should not be reelected. I know this might be futile, but this kid might have just been deluded by leftist professors. If he found out how much Obama would relly end up costing him, after all it is the young that will get stuck with the bill when the gov runs out of other peoples money, he at least might be inclined to do a little thinking, would realize that even though all his professors are pro obama, not everybody is, and not everybody who opposes obama is a knuckle dragging neanderthal, as his professors have told him.
There is one guarantee way to rid ourselves of this nighmare called Barack Hussein Obama and that is send you money to Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his investigators so that they are enabled to find a platform from which they can expose the crimes Obama has been involved in. He held his first Press Conference in March 2012 and was ignored. He will be holding his SECOND Press Conference on July 17th, 2012 in Phoenix, AZ. He will add more evidence to the evidence he already presented exposing the criminal activity of Barack Hussein Obama. There may be too much for the media to ignore this time around. I hope that Mr. Hanson will join Frank Gaffney, Diana West and Lord Charles Monckton at that Press Conference in order to give support to these amazing patriots.
The fact that half of America has watched this arrogant, tyrant, jerk, adolescent, liar, lazy lout operate for 3.5 years and STILL supports him is the real problem. The prince of fools has a vast group of supporters who are so twisted that they cannot see him for what he is.
This country is doomed if it cannot rise up and vomit him out in November. Furthermore, it DESERVES to be doomed if it does not. I will celebrate the financial catastrophe that will come, and hope against hope that those that support Obama will suffer horribly. Does that make me a bad person? You have to survive first to be a bad person.
There was a comment in a Czech paper in March or April of 2011 which went as follows under the title “Multitude of Fools”:
I am sorry to have to agree with this assessment. There is some hope because not everyone has been fooled by this charlatan. But it is not a large hope.
I know of a lot of people that voted for obama last time, and will not again, so there is hope. The old saying still has some truth:
1. You can fool all of the people some of the time. 2008.
2. You can fool some of the people all of the time. The kool aid drinkers who still support him.
3. But you cant fool all of the people all of the time. The former rubes that are finally beginning to wake up.
I also have to agree with Cynic/“Multitude of Fools”. I the US re-elects the BIG O then it has a death wish.
Liberals are motivated by hate. They simply vote to destroy those more successful than themselves or they disagree with. Like a suicide bomber, they’ll destroy themselves to bring the enemy down.
Well stated PD Quig
Walker won because it was a wallet issue with the voters of Wisconsin. They did not want to pay the unions more money for their pension/benefit programs. The number of union supporters was less than the tax paying public and the tax payers won. In the national elections the non-taxpayers out number the tax payers and if we don’t do something radical they will prevail in Nov. There probably was a small percentage of Wi. voters who voted on strong principal but most voted their wallets. We are at the tipping point in our nation’s history where the non-taxpayers are taking over the government from the taxpayers. If the disaffected voters like the Ron Paulians and hard right conservatives do not step forward and vote for Romney we will lose not only the election but our country as well.
Dear Dr. handsome,
I do not know what is to come…I know people are restless and many people are angry. Some of us feel hopeless and some of us are clinging to a thin thread of ‘glass half full’.
Trouble is brewing…I fear and yet I am unafraid.
I will not let anger or fear rule my soul… So, I contemplate and I pray and I meditate.
Dark days are ahead of us no matter what happens come November… Our country needs a true awakening…
As you’ve said before, our version of ‘poor’ would be the ‘elite’ in a third world country. The parasites aren’t even ashamed any longer. When my mother had to go on welfare she was mortified about it and having to use that ‘monopoly money’ was an added humiliation… No you have people buying cigarettes and beer with EBT cards with NO shame whatsoever. How did that happen?
We are living in very strange times.
I wish you would post something uplifting though. Lately…when I read you? I just want to curl into a fetal position and cry my guts out.
:(
Of course there’s some good news here and there in the world…but you might as well stop looking for it in the US.
Passengers and crew foil Muslim hijacking attempt in western China
Evidently, the Chinese have more freedom than we do here. Somehow, they had the wherewithal to overwhelm and defeat hijackers. We don’t get to do that any more.
“From the little that we know, Eric Holder at best knowingly presented false information to a congressional committee, and at worst also oversaw a harebrained scheme that led to several deaths (among them one and maybe two Americans) and whose ultimate objective is still unclear”
“several deaths” ??? You look but you do not see.
Operation Fast and Furious should be called Operation Murder and Mendacity.
Obama and Holder have murdered hundreds of Mexican civilians and that’s just the count from the guns they ran that were recovered which is probably only a very small percentage of the total and increasing number of Mexican civilians murdered. The Mexican AG said months ago that already 200 Mexicans had been murdered by this criminal program just counting where Mexican authorities had recovered the guns used. Obama and Holder have committed a slow motion, and continuing, 9/11 against Mexican civilians and need to be called to account for their mass murders most foul and punished for their capital crimes. Obviously Obama and Holder considered Mexican civilians, and a couple of Americans so far, to be just so many eggs to be cracked to make the “under the radar” omelet they were trying to cook. I can not fathom how any self-respecting person of Mexican heritage in the United States could possible vote for Obama in 2012. It would be like any American voting for OBL for President.
The incoming Mexican government should indict Holder and demand his extradition.
The US would never have flooded Montreal with weapons. Why then is it acceptable to facilitate the murder of innocent Mexicans by drug cartels and kidnap/murder gangs?
The newly elected President Pena Nieto needs to play the race card on his corrupt cousins to the north.
Who is to say that they didn’t also run guns into Canada or at least facilitate the smuggling of them. We have strict registration of hand guns, but every day someone is shot in one of the big cities, usually by one of our “refugee” immigrants, by a hand gun in the hands of a gang member.
Where are the guns coming from? Our police claim the guns are mostly smuggled from the US. At least, unlike on the Mexican border, our border agents do try to prevent smuggling. At least, I’d like to think so.
Gunrunning to Canada. An interesting thought. Anybody wonder where the budget for the war materiel was nicked from, and who conveyed it to what party that profited handsomely? Maybe that avarice was the main reason for it taking place? When you have such an inexplicable travesty taking place those are only a few questions that come to mind. And, do not forget Holder was the lawyer who PARDONED Mark Rich, for Clinton, so he could take up a new career as a contraband arms broker to, let me see, Iran?
The guns are coming through our Indian reserves Ladylawyer.
They have been for decades.
The police know this but we don’t talk about it….it’s a secret you know.
If you are Canadian then you know about the Caledonia fiasco that still goes on where our gutless politicians at all levels allow the natives there to do pretty much whatever they want to the non-natives there who own homes and property.
The Ontairo Provicial Police actually work with our government to allow the natives to do again whatever they want.
To the point that there are several folks trying to protest this peacefully simply by walking down the non-native roads…so trying to be carefull not to incite the natives….but they are still arrested weekly.
Now this started 7-8 years ago and the main stream media doesn’t even cover it any more.The Sun News Network covers it here and there.
Why do thhe police not go in to the reserves to deal with it?
Well because the Native reserves are armed to the teeth with all mannor of weapons.
I mean they stand on the road side in front of the cops and our soldiers at one time with their assault rifles in plain view.
These natives are actually in cohoots with Iranian terrorists…they are buddies.
Google Caledonia Ontario and you’ll get lot’s of info.
You’ll see it all there.
That’s not the only reserve that the guns come into.
I grew up near Osahawa Ontario which was our automoblie capital back in the day when G.M. was the big ticket employer and many of my friends and family worked with Indians who by the way never had to pay taxes but they came from several resrves in the area and told my buddies more then once “Hey if you need a gun come on over.”
That’s back in the 70′s and 80′s.
Anyway there you go so we have our own terrorists next door.
The million from Clinton and her large donation of guns to “arm the army and stop drug trafficking” of whihc many of the arms are now in cartel hands, provided the basis for the previous President of Mexico to never mention the invasion of his country.
I worked on mutual aid agreements between both nations for fire fighting and rescue. The Mexican gov is highly sensitive to having any Americna helicopter, armed personell, guns or other equipment cross into Mexico. Even getting an agreement to have a helicopter cross hte border for a rescue mission was like pulling teeth.
Yet, on this issue of guns, we only heard crickets except from a mid-level AG.
Yes, Clinton had us pay a pretty penny. Perhaps this new president will not operate like the last guy.
Now with a new Mexican leader (I assume of the old corrupt party) maybe they will stoop to the same guerrilla warfare against the USA that Holder’s action, intentionally or otherwise, apparently inflicted upon them. Which, given the nature of our current leadership could be a blessing in disguise.
Make it your rallying cry. Once we vote these bums out we prosecute for murder.
I do ‘spect that Teh Won will pardon any and all likely to be needful during the ‘____ You’ session of his administration should he be shown the boot this November. And if that’s the price to rid us of him and his, good riddance to bad rubbish.
And on the subject of ‘____ You’ sessions, why are we allowing outgoing congresscritters and the Pres to have any input whatsoever after they’ve been given the boot by the electorate?
I say, short of an existential emergency, no business is to be conducted by any elected official following an election in which they have been replaced by the people until his successor is seated.
No one is riding to DC on horseback, in the snow, uphill, both ways, anymore.
Exactly so Feral, this is something I have been saying for a long time. No one seems to care about dead Mexicans, especially our post-racial President and Attorney General.
Now, if they could have gotten those same Mexicans over the border and to the polls to vote for Barack Obama in November…well, their lives would have had meaning. As it stands, they are just not important. After all, they’re only Mexicans.
There once was an attorney general named Holder,
Who wasn’t much the law and order border soldier,
With guns he went fast and furious,
Then went mum and full incurious,
Now Boehner has the honor of making him smolder.
Now they say Barack Obama himself knew something special,
But to criticize the lack of truth about this is Rodney King racial,
What if 300 Mexicans ingloriously died?
The answer to everything is Bush lied!
Besides, Moochelle is in charge and she’s getting a facial.
Obama would never throw Holder quickly under the proverbial bus,
And defenstration would cause such a bad-sickly political fuss,
So our best guess is,
The Prez will have biz,
On Air Force One with Holder, outside over the ocean nonplus.
Pleasure to read your verses again RWB!
I like it. And you get an extra thumbs up for use of the word, “defenestration.”
Sadly the readership of this blog is such a tiny percentage of the 2012 voters as to not matter much in the overall scheme of things. The vast majority of the voting public still get their news and commentary from SNL.
I predict a long hard struggle on in to September unless there is a huge revitalization of the Tea Party. Massive Tea Party marches on Washington DC will get coverage by the mainstream media, me planting a flag and sign in my front yard will not be seen by more than a few neighbors. It’s going to take much more organizing to get the message out, plus Mitt is going to have to take the gloves off and get dirty early and stay dirty long into the race. All of Obama’s old political victims are going to have to be dragged out from under the bus and paraded before the public in some unforgettable manner. A mockery of Obama’s idiocy will have to be on prominent display, i.e., “57 States”, “Bitter Clingers”, “Death Panels”, etc.
I have no doubt Mitt can handle himself well in a public debate against Obama. That is to say, if he can be pulled away from his Teleprompters long enough for the people to be able to see just what a nutcase he is when having to speak off-the-cuff. Obama is not a good extemporaneous speaker, make a plan to get him away from the Teleprompter as much as possible, let him cut his own throat.
We have a chance, a slim chance, but it’s a chance to unhorse Obama if the GOP plays the right card against the inevitable “race card”.
The Fox media and other conservative outlets, talk radio, etc. are all talking about an Obama defeat in the upcoming elections. Yet, if you read VDH closely, the fact that the polls still have Obama at a high level considering the disaster of the past three years, the message should be clear by now.
The people of this country with the exception of a minor percentage on the conservative side who are involved are satisfied with eating the acorns scattered along the path between the fence lines that slowly converge into a narrow passage through the gate and into the government controlled corral where the entire populus will be managed by the unelected and non-contributing government managers who will make the decisions for all of us.
The Roberts defection was the final straw and the camel’s back is broken. As much as I dislike cliches’, this one is appropriate for the situation. When Roberts cast the deciding vote, the SCOTUS did become a liberal dominated court and in the future, we can expect more of the same.
It is time for America to finally walk down the aisle with socialism and make the shotgun marriage official, it was inevitable. When McCain abdicated the presidency with his so-called civility during his campaign, he in effect gave the keys to the future to the left, liberal dominated element of our country. When we the people continued to allow the media to infiltrate our lives with the subtle comments and eventually openly supporting the liberal/leftist agenda and indoctrinating our children with their ideology, who can we blame in the end? I refuse to purchase Citgo products even if they were sold by my brother because of Chavez. But, I see the local Citgo outlets with cars lined up to buy their gasoline which puts money in his pocket to allow him to continue his anti-American rhetoric and threats. If you make a comment to most, they look at you with a blank stare and think you to be an idiot or worthy of being put in an institution for the mentally unstable.
The con-job by Obama has been a resounding success and when you consider that 50% of the people who file tax returns do not pay federal and most likely do not pay state taxes either, you have a voter’s bloc already in place. When you consider that 95% of African-Americans will vote for Obama even with his recent support of same sex marriages which the black community does not support by a large percentage, what does that say to the responsible voters of the country? When a man has been exposed as a serial liar time and time again yet he still enjoys a higher than deserved approval rating, what does that say about the character of this country and the direction it is taking?
I am in the so-called twilight years of my life but I still hold down a full time job and every day, do my exercise routine so I can stay in good health and hopefully not become solely dependent on the government to dictate what health care I can or cannot receive. I am not anxious about the end of my life but I am anxious about the lives of my children and if fortunate enough, the lives of their children. I am anxious about the future of the children of the articulate and caring people who make comments on this forum because it will be their lives that will be lived in the confines of a restrictive government under the guise of being “free”.
As a general rule, I am an optomist and believe there is always a positive to everything. However, in the past three years, my optomism has slowly deteriorated and today, what I see for the immediate future is not pleasant.
Bart, you would think we have the ability to access anyone in an nanosecond (assuming they are online) and that the truth would become viral about what is happening. Someone said the fax machine brought down the Soviet bloc. Why can the internet not bring down the clown act in Washington? We have to wait till November to see if it has, but again the poll numbers about Obarfme are astoundingly discouraging. Yet, if they reflected what he deserves the dem convention would stuff Hilary into the nomination, and would probably win the outcome. One can only imagine the leadership that would ensue from that.
I totally agree with your observation about the internet. However, the internet may give millions access to the truth but the truth is dependent upon the person who is interpreting the words written as truth. Those who are dependent on the government for their income and all other necessities of life will agree but it will not register for it they vote against the ones who support their receiving the income, etc., they will be voting against their own self-interests and when we face the reality of the situation, how can we expect anyone who has lived their entire life receiving without working to actually want to go out into the world and do the necessary work to earn the money to pay for their own care and support?
The fax machine may have brought down the Berlin Wall but the wall was made of brick, stone, and mortar. It was an easier task to take down the wall than it will be to break the dependency of an ever-growing majority on the government to provide for their needs and wants. The wall was emblematic of an era that was changing in Germany and Russia. The desire to re-unite and the pressures Gorbachov (sp) was under to make changes that would allow more freedoms for the Russian people is now in reverse in America.
Yes, there is hope but hope for what? Hope that the experiment with socialism will not do permanent damage to this country or that somehow, we will be able to marry socialism with capitalism and form a new type of government where one can earn as much as they want, keep the bulk of it and at the same time, grow the government to the size it needs to be to administer to the needs of everyone else on an equal basis? Will we become successful where Greece has failed by having 33% of the people employed are working for the government and still be able to supply the necessary taxes for the 33% plus all of the services from the 67% who are producing the taxable income?
The internet is a great source of information – for both sides. It was the internet and other social media that delivered the votes for Obama. It will do so again, maybe not to the same degree but when the young voters decide to go to the polls, given the changes in the fabric of our society, I suspect Mitt Romney will do well but not well enough. Liar, socialist, dishonest, seducer of the weak minded, and hypocrite are a few descriptive words to describe Obama but when you consider his still viable appeal, one must wonder if this is not the future of America and with the approval of the generations to come. When lies and dishonesty are acceptable in the leader of this country by any margin over 1% much less 45%, the damage has been done and reversing it will be a major undertaking.
We knew we would take more hits, hell, the worst is probably yet to come. That’s why we have to steel ourselves, so that setbacks and daunting odds won’t dampen our resolve. We have to steel ourselves because this is a war. And in a war, the one thing that guaranteeds defeat is the refusal to fight. Often the night seems darkest just before dawn. It may be that we go down in November (though that is not necessarily the end for us, there are other ways to fight), but it may be we win a resounding victory. There’s only one way to find out and that’s to strive with every moral fibre that has gotten you through a long and noble life to make sure everyone you know, and many that you don’t know, turn out to vote this destructive cabal out of office. After that, we fight some more…
History shows over and over that small numbers can do great things.
We have a chance. Kent and jbtx above provide good strategy (If Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck or any combination of serious conservatives with a microphone and a following, led a march on Washington, I would go myself!) But in the end it’s all up to us. The next months will determine whether we ever deserved the freedom that our ancestors fought and bled and died to bring into this world. A dark future awaits if The One is re-elected, because he will enshrine mankind’s basest instincts: Greed, lust for power, deception, envy and resentment, hypocrisy and ultimately, nihilism. He will raise them up and make of them a new religion, and a new Constitution. If this isn’t worth rising up against, then life has no meaning.
Well, we know where the money- oh, I’m sorry, the wealth redistribution comes from to bribe a fifty one percent majority together in november.
The only good think about the supreme court ruling, is that a tax can be repealed by a straight vote and only needs 51 senators.
So the path is clear, remove at least 4 dem senator that have to run on voting to provide this massive tax increase and remove obozo, our clown in chief, and all his tsars and court jesters in the process.
Clear and straight forward.
The ads can start with obozo telling us that obozocare is not a tax. Sounds like read my lips no new taxes and that spells defeat if the conservatives will just have some cojones.
How about the magical unsealing of certain records of opponents of Teh Won compared and contrasted to the black hole that HIS records seem to reside in. Like, oh, lemmesee, medical records, school records, his theses, mine are public record, where’s his?
Read this through to the end.
Yes, it’s important, and in a strange way, it is a message of hope.
Here’s an off-the-wall prediction. Wall Street’s financier’s have turned against Obama — so look for another financial crash like the one during the 2008 election. This time it will work against Obama rather than for him.
By the way, wasn’t it quite the coincidence that a financial crash took place ** while the 2008 presidential election was in progress ** ? Can anyone say “George Soros” (and his Arab trillionaire friends)?
Really, now-a-days all you have to do to make the stock market go down is buy enough shares of a leveraged inverse ETF, like the ETF with the ticker symbol SDS (this ETF is leveraged to twice the inverse S&P 500). Better yet, try the ETF with the ticker symbol UPRO (it’s leveraged to three times the inverse S&P 500.) And it’s all perfectly legal, not counted as a campaign contribution or anything, because you’re just following your investment guess that the stock market’s about to decline…
Romney will fail. Good or bad? US economy will remain flat. Real issues here are not adressed. What jobs will obama healthcare act create? Non producing jobs and certainly not enough. Romney and republicans fail to zero in on key issues surrounding economy. You cannot sell healthcare plans around the world. It creates nothing but debt. If we do not create or manufacture useful goods we have nothing to trade.
We cannot trade on someones ability to administer a health plan or bundle healthcare services in a federally administered insurance plan. No products no trade. No trade no jobs. No jobs no economy. Simple as that.
The failure of republicans and Romney to stay on this message is Obamas win and our shame.
“What jobs will obama healthcare act create?”
Please excuse me, but things should be called by their appropriate names. In this case:
obama healthcare tax act. I thank you.
How about “Obama Health Tax”, or
“New Health Tax”, or
“The Bo Tax”
????????????????????????????????
I don’t understand why anybody expected the SCOTUS to uphold the Constitution (as its members are sworn to do) when neither the POTUS nor the US Senators and Representatives feel bound to do so.
Obamacare should never have been proposed, much less voted on. Same with Romneycare (which was based on getting federal pork-barrel dollars), Hillarycare, Medicare/Medicaid, you name it. The rot goes back a very long way.
Transforming the United States into a broken “Rule of Whim” third world s**thole like Argentina, Mexico and Zimbabwe is fundamental change and that is what Obama is delivering.
Give him 4 more years and he will confiscate your 401k to bail out his Wall Street campaign contributors, institute “death panels” to those over 65 who fall ill and swan around golf courses like a later day King George III whilst America’s enemies and rivals sharpen their knives.
I agree that 401k confiscation is a possibility. Although I see the theft being primarily used to pay off union pension deficits. It has the side effect of further impoverishing the middle class, and making them more dependent on the gov., which I am convinced is a goal of the current administration.
It will have to be done incrementally, or during a major crisis when people are scared to avoid setting off a revolution. If the market crashed hard, with people losing over 50% of the account values, I could see some “Trade in your 401k for a federal annuity” (ie SSI #2) program being pushed. This would become mandatory in short order.
The elites are pulling up the ladder.
What or who has taken this country to the brink, lawyers. The control of our government Legislative Reid, Executive Obama, Judicial Roberts, lawyers. Who is controlling and extorting the medical profession, lawyers. Who has curtailed and blocked the use of energy, lawyers. Who has ruined or constricted whole industries, aviation, tobacco, lumber to name just a few, lawyers. Who manipulates the output of our farms, lawyers. In this article VDH refers to the Law throughout and the corruption it has achieved. The non lawyers, Bush’s and Reagan vs the lawyers Clinton and Obama, who has served us more nobly? If Obama wins what profession has ill-served this country. Romney is not a lawyer nothing else need be said.
Actually, Mittens is a lawyer, by education if not by practice. He simultaneously earned a doctorate (JD) and an MBA from Harvard, graduating in the top 5% of his class. I would say intellectually, he can run circles around the affirmative action fraud in the Oval Office.
Hear, hear!
Also, in his case, there is PROOF, on many levels!
Yes, HE CAN!
There was no rational reason to elect Obama to the presidency in 2008. Consider: Obama did not have any resume of executive experience in the private or public sector. He had completed only 1 term as a state senator and was still in his first term as an U.S. senator. He wasn’t the leader of a popular movement, religion or philosophy, and his primary claim to fame was that he wrote 2 autobiographies. So how did this non-entity defeat both Hillary Clinton and the hapless John McCain to become president? He ran as a celebrity, not a politician.
The vast majority of voters have little or no interest in politics. Most peoples’ passions involve some aspect of the popular culture and their heroes are musicians, actors, athletes, or others on the fringe. Obama, well coiffed and attired, was seen in glamorous venues with these popular “heroes” who counted him as one of their own and sang his praises. Result: Obama was an instant celebrity, and his campaign cashed in on that persona on the way to the White House.
Obama’s celebrity status accounts for his popularity despite the execrable performance of his administration: people admire him because he is “cool” and “awesome” (if you don’t believe me, just ask Sarah Jessica Parker) and not for any rational reason. It doesn’t hurt that negative reports concerning Obama are discreetly hidden by the MSM (still the primary source of news for most non-political people.)
You aren’t going to beat a man who appeals to voters on an emotional level (think JFK or Huey Long) with a candidate who tries to sway voters with mere arguments and facts. Too many voters will get into the voting booth and ask themselves: “was I a fool and a dolt to vote Obama in 2008, or am I a good person who sees something special in this man? Should I admit my foolishness and vote for Romney or should I stick with my gut and let Obama have another chance to demonstrate my faith wasn’t misplaced?” How do you think that will turn out?
The “celebrity factor” is what makes Obama so difficult to beat: he isn’t held to the same standards as other politicians; he just has to continue being the awe-inspiring Obama to earn re-election. Unfortunately, you can’t take the shine off Obama’s celebrity persona by talking policies, you must attack the man himself. And that is one thing the Romney has foresworn.
You’ve touched on a critical point – the thing that underlies so much of our cultural, societal, and government change these past few years: The ‘cool’ factor.
But, as much as I detest this administration and the chaos in its wake, I believe the real blame goes to our lazy, weak-willed, uninformed, unprincipled, and attention-hungy populace; people who approach life as sort of a reality TV show/popularity contest.
In the ‘life as a popularity contest’ mode, things like integrity, hard work, persistence, and discipline, aren’t required. And for the stupid and lazy, it’s the ideal shortcut to goodness. Just latch onto any of several convenient social ‘brands’ and you’ll be perceived ‘cool’. Brand yourself a progressive, an environmentalist, pro-choice, etc., and you’re automatically granted claim to being more ‘intellectual, sophisticated, worldly, compassionate, thoughtful, educated, caring, kind, and fair-minded’ (within your social circle) which is all they care about.
The best part of all this is that you don’t have to do a damned thing. Just ‘look the part’…you need not be impeded by facts or reason, faith, or any of that other nonsense when you’ve got the mainstream media repeating the mantra, endorsing the fantasy of what’s ‘cool’, day after day.
Someday, these things that are currently cool will be seen for what they were. The problem is that by then it may be too late.
Very nice post. I find nothing in it I would disagree with.
I fear too many are in a strange bubble: the Obama embarrassments are tallied, his crashing defeat predicted — but no one seems to say, “But hey, he is still after all that ahead in the polls!”
Quite correct. Unfortunately the strange bubble (in truth not so strange) also conceals the living-room elephant called Romney. Time to fix that error ahead of the election is long gone, nor is there virtue in gloating. We — all who loathe Obama and his cohorts — face an existential threat which now must be combined with damage control, so what do we do?
VDH is surely correct about part of the solution:
every person worried about the direction of the country will have to vote, donate time or money, or offer public or private commentary.
…preferably some combination, and as often as possible. Progressive socialists are humorless, arrogant and smug, so ridicule is a powerful weapon in the right hands. Tea parties can likely be counted on to work their asses off locally, so leave ‘em alone.
But it’s not enough. The main hope must be that the superPacs will slap their collective foreheads in a group ‘Duh!’ and then spend most of the money on fat targets where Romney is largely irrelevant:
–Unemployment (Are you better off? …etc., etc)
–DMV/TSA goes to the ER (Your life in their hands…)
–Obama’s incoherence.. flip flops… lawlessness
–Obama’s insults… hate speech… arrogance
–Obama’s ignorance and shady character: mis-speaks… fake black accent… fictive autobiography… lies…
As for the cardboard cut-out candidate, Romney, slap on a new coat of lacquer, oil his wheels, fix the elbows so they don’t squeak, put him on a train and let him wave at everyone. Toss in a few cheap ads extolling motherhood, apple pie and good Mormon food, and spend the rest of the time preparing for the debates. The goal is to avoid a debate disaster. Against Obama, it’s do-able, even for Romney.
But be prepared to unleash all the op-research in October.
Good stuff. Also Jeff P above. If Romney won’t openly attack Obama as the criminal he is, and expose his totalitarian agenda, then maybe someone like Sarah Palin will.
I saw an interview with Sarah Palin the other night on Hannity: I was seriously impressed by Sarah. She was focused and knowledgeable—and, as always, most intelligently, called a spade a spade. E.g., I was delighted when she called Pelosi a “dingbat”: how civil of Sarah! I’d vote for Palin in a flash, if I were an American and had a vote!
It’s no surprise that Sarah’s loathed by the left. They’re terrified of her: she’s fearless and boldly speaks truth to their legion of lies. She laughs in their faces: mockery is what the devil hates most. Sarah mocks evil and the demons scream . . .
Palin’s unlikely to play a direct role in Romney’s campaign, though no doubt she’ll speak up now and again. Rather more interesting is the way forward. She’s seen by many, FWIW including me, as the most naturally gifted politician of recent times, badly underestimated across the spectrum.
The visceral fear and panicked hatred among opponents isn’ t just on the left, but equally distributed among the left and others, including wack-a-doodle ‘personalities’ (Cher, Bill Maher, Andrew Sullivan); oddball homosexuals of the kind who voted for and dote on Pelosi (a women to get behind, girls, just look at the work she’s had done…); an eclectic bunch of bitter, elderly Republican women disappointed by life (lurk on lucianne.com for a while); and, by no means least, most of the MSM (out of touch as usual). Overall, they add up to a vulnerable hill of beans and gas, so the question for Palin and handlers, one imagines, is the best next step. Lots of choices.
My guess: She’ll delay endorsement of Romney until the convention and exchange it for a cabinet level job and other support. Sec of Energy is high profile, destined for front stage in the near future (pipelines, nat’l gas refineries, LNG terminals, fracking, shale oil, environmentalists) and she’s well qualified; it’ll also boost her foreign exposure without the hassle of dealing with, say, the subversives at State. Then take it as it comes…the possibilities are obvious and will multiply, including for many Republicans; it is hard to see a situation in which our country does not benefit.
Palin isn’t indispensable (who is?), but she’s an important part of the solution.
Yes, she seems to be despised by the Republican establishment as well. I guess they feel threatened by her too. Almost like they put their own interests ahead of the countries’ welfare (image that!) We’ll have to address that situation in due course too.
What if anything Sarah Palin knew about energy policy she might have absorbed by osmosis from living in an oil state or from pillow talk with Todd Palin who had a production level job on the North Slope. She was so dramatically unqualified for her patronage appointment job with the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission that the Republican-controlled State Legislature passed legislation known to insiders as the “No More Sarah Palins” bill establishing minimum qualifications for the job she likes to brag about having. In reality, Gov. Murkowski gave her what was then among the highest paid and least demanding patronage jobs in hopes that she’d shut up, take the money, and get over not being elected Lt. Gov. or appointed to his Senate seat. Didn’t work.
She’s memorized a few speeches and sound bites but just like she’s always been, she couldn’t answer the second follow up question and probably not even the first. Sarah Palin isn’t ever going to appear where there is the slightest possibility of a tough question and as she proved by resigning from the Governorship, she isn’t going to hang around on any job that either makes her work hard or which holds her accountable. It was easy to be a popular governor in ’07 and ’08 when the price of Alaska oil went to $140/bbl. and she was giving away money by the bucketful. When the price went in the tank after the ’08 election and she was, first, going to have to actually say no to people, and, two, had that nasty old Ethics Act standing between her and a bunch of money, money based on fame that was rapidly becoming stale-dated, she bailed on the job and the people who elected her. She couldn’t get elected to ANY statewide office in Alaska today.
You’ll see just enough of Sarah Palin to keep her speaking fees high enough to suit her. She won’t put herself in any position where she might have to answer a tough question. She especially won’t put herself in any place where somebody might ask her about Glenn Rice. You might recall that Todd issued a half-hearted non-denial denial but Sarah has never said a word. And she’ll never hold another office that requires her to stand for election or submit to confirmation. But you can keep fantisizing about her if you like.
too frickin’ much about Sarah Palin. He begrudges her everything. He’s full of shit, ignore him.
@methinks – Ignorant a**es who post anonymously with ad hominem rather than factual and logical rebuttal are pretty typical Palin fans.
you’re jealous of her.
Still anonymous, huh? Ignorant punk; naked assertions aren’t rebuttal either. But you are a typical Palin fan; bet you consider yerself one o’ them there “true conservatives.”
thing, you can’t help it . . .
Good recipe! The right one, too, I think.
What we also need is some Conservatives, GOP types with
impeccable records and “personal panache” and big, big mouths
to get on the campaign trail for Mitt and hit the Choomster
from all sides simultaneously, so intensively that the MSM has
to cover it, can’t cover it up, or spin it away. In other words,
in good old-fashioned tactical manner: overload their defenses!
That has to happen! Soon!
Heard something about Romney’s campain having a link to send ideas to. What is it?
VH: You got ‘em all. If Obama were white he’d be called “trailer trash.”
Hey, as a full-time motorhome dweller, I resemble that remark!
Genuine rednecks are the finest people in the world, bar none.
Ghetto thugs, not so much.
“Sometimes when I watch Fox News, listen to talk radio, or read the blogs, I fear too many are in a strange bubble: the Obama embarrassments are tallied, his crashing defeat predicted — but no one seems to say, “But hey, he is still after all that ahead in the polls!” And to the extent someone might point to polling, he is met with “But the polls are biased!” Perhaps they are by 3-4 points. But right now, given the power of incumbency, the changing nature of the U.S., and the no-holds-barred methods of Barack Obama, the advantage is still all Obama’s — and almost all the polls show that.”
I’m getting a little sick and tired of people moaning about the polls. The last poll I saw showed Obama and Romney neck-and-neck at 46% each (USA Today poll), which isn’t a great place for the president to be only four months before the election. And always remember that Jimmy Carter was AHEAD of Ronald Reagan in the polls right up to election day in 1980 and Carter still lost in a landslide. And what about 2010? NOBODY predicted the huge loss the Democrats suffered in that mid-term election and the polls in no way reflected the extent of the Republican victory. Now Obama has to defend not only a lousy economy, but Obamacare as well, just like he had to do back in 2010. So, tell me, why would the outcome now, when things are a lot worse, be any different than in 2010, especially with a well-motivated Tea Party and Republican base just dying to vote against Obama?
Give me a break. All we need to do is keep our focus and go after Obama mercilessly with the facts. Obama’s record is going to do him in, no matter how much money he throws at his base. Remember, he is trying to simply hang on to his base, while Romeny is getting Independents and just about everybody else. If we have a big turnout in 2012, there is no reason to believe we cannot copy what happened in both 2010 AND in what just took place in Wisconsin. I think people are ready for some real Hope and Change, and they’re certainly NOT going to get it by re-electing Obama.
The significant “wave” elections over the last century occurred in 1932, 1952, 1980 and 2010. Note the generational time gaps: 20 years, 28 years and 30 years. In 1994 the Congress shifted to long term Republican control for the first time in 62 years – directly as a result of “Hillarycare”.
In 1932, 1980 and 2010 there was high unemployment and general economic distress. 1952 featured the Korean “police action”.
In 2012 we have long term high unemployment, the loss of 40% of household assets, very low growth, an unpopular war in Afghanistan, nasty fallout from Libya and a very unpopular farbishment of health care.
Tsunami time!
You are exactly correct! Defending Gay Marriage and De fact o Amnesty are not qualities you would expect from an re-election campaign with confidence. Both of these issues would lose overwhelmingly on state (all 50 stars) ballots today.
Obama’s campaign is struggling, not Romney, and I would venture this is the media template to dis-spirit as many voters as possible so Obama can at least compete.
Prediction, Obama will lose all of the swing states. Look, Virginia has no power not because of weather damage, utility unions striking because of greed. Be quite, you not suppose to report this!
Yes, we have a pair of candidates facing off who are chalk and mayo, and we like neither. The strength of the “Bush did it” excuse is it cannot be scientifically refuted just where we should have been after all the band aids have been applied, or had none of them been undertaken. Troglodyte dems will never take evidence of the effect of bad policy as having debunked such policy. I have a PhD relative who will not allow any political discussion from me because he knows it would gore his sacred cow and he cannot bear to see that. We must in the end rely on the emotions of revulsion and despair to pull enough levers for the right candidates, or at least the NEW candidates, and rid us of the so called celebrity leadership that cannot and will not lead or even conduct itself honorably.
Amen
Gylippus. You are my George Washington. Our spirits are flagging. Our losses have been staggering. Still, you ride ahead of us shouting encouragement . . . to fight! Dammit! Fight! . . . that we might be worthy of our liberty. Thank you.
You do me great honor Catherine. But I believe in you too.
What we didn’t have to face in 2010 was the legitimization of Obamacare. There is a considerable number of people who are happy that their kids will now be covered to age 26 (of course, they all think their kid is going to get a PhD), and nobody will now be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions. Also, there are a lot of people who have lost their employer insurance for one reason or another, and are either without insurance or are paying through the nose for it. These are middle class people, not welfare parasites, and they vote. This could be why Obama’s approval has risen.
I think most people who pay little if any attention to politics see Obama as an underdog. He only wants to do the right thing by helping the poor illegals and unlucky folks without health care. He also wants to keep jobs in America. The only thing stopping him are the evil rich Republicans and Corporations. To most people he is the poor unfortunate persecuted black man, who achieved the American dream and became President.
I predict Obama will win in a landslide this fall.
I really really hope I’m wrong but this is what my tea leaves tell me.
You don’t have much faith in people, do you?
Should he?
Amen!
I think he should. I don’t know what tea leaves he’s looking at but one thing to look at right now is how Obama is conducting his campaign. No more are there these large crowds where people are seen fainting. No where is this “billion dollars” many swore he was going to be able to raise; in fact, I thought I saw a Drudge headline recently saying Romney was raking in more $$ than Obama. The only campaign stops we see Obama making these days are on college campuses & celebrity-backed fundraisers. This is the stuff of a wildly popular candidate? I think not.
If voters really want to buy into the delusions of POR, check out Pelosi’s interview on CNN over the weekend. She was ranting about how the Obamacare mandate was not a tax. She insisted that it was “a penality for the freeloaders.” If enough voters want to twist their intellects and accept into that paint-over-rust lie, then Obama gets his landslide.
You just totally depressed me.
So when exactly is it time we amicably divide the country? What is the line that has to be crossed? Can we tolerate anything and everything and keep holding on to a dissolution of all we hold dear? Even the constitution itself?
So I ask you all: When is it time? What is the threshold that will tip each of you into saying the time has arrived?
I am ready for The Divorce proceedings to start right now. I am tired of the Propaganda & Lies Ministry lording sooooo much power over public opinion. People who cannot see through the lies should all be corralled together somehow, leaving the rest of us alone to go about our business. Trouble is though, it won’t be long before those folks run out of money & come crying to the rest of us to save their foolish asses.
We are Yugoslavia with better personal hygiene. When you have what are effectively multiple nations being forced under the banner of one state, it is inevitable that they are going to split apart whenever the thing that has previously kept them mollified/coerced falters. So to answer your question, yes separation is going to happen and is at this point even desirable, but one thing it won’t be is amicable. The reason for that is that Leftism is a totalitarian system. It’s not enough for them to live that way, no, no, everyone else must too.
For more than 3 years we’ve watched Obama trash the office he holds, shred the Consstitution he swore to uphold, sneer at the Supreme Court and dare the Opposition to counter his actions. His Unions fouled the Wisconsin Capitol Building with not a word of dissent from the WH. He has taken the economy to the brink (if not the hole) of disaster; and here we are, spouting the same old
slop, howling like a pack of hyenas and watching it all happen as if the November election will do some magic. Well, I say it’s too late! Everyone knows Obama has made fools of his supporters, betrayed his black heritage and
turned this great USA into a playground for himself and a chosen few while many of those who voted him into office are unemployed and living on welfare which is soon to run out of money. If he can do all that and still be in office, he can probably win another 4 years. He fooled us once, shame on him, fool us agsin, he deserves to win.
Talk is cheap……..load your guns !!
I should like to attempt an interpretion of “order” in the seeming chaos that Hanson has described in Obama’s activity. I venture the suspicion that Hanson sees a bit of the end of Sparta as having an undated replay in America of today. Perhaps!? I myself would give another interpreation, one equally depressing. What is the ONE constant factor that remains active, however diverse and contradictory the acts of Pres. Obama might be? That factor consists therein that Obama himself “dictates” what is to happen! Naturally, the term “to dictate” suggests “dictatorship” and as such should occasion reaction and resistance. Had not our founding fathers revolted against the perceived arbitrary “orderings” coming from the English Crown? True enough! But that was then, and Hanson’s “empirical” description of the current situation is for NOW. So, I cast my eyes about in ancient history to a period far, far more known to Hanson than to myself. Bluntly stated: I would like to seek a parellel in the metamorphosis of the Roman Republic into the Roman Imperium, a “fundamental transformation” that seems to be approaching full(er) realization under Obama.
In Julius Caesar’s attempts to become THE “ruler” of Rome (I am not sure what term would be best as the use of “rex” provoked reaction by the Senate.) In modern terms, Caesar’s ordering Roman society about was experienced by the Senatorial “republicans” as a dictatorship. As I remember Caesar even had himself “elected” as Dictator for Life. But a “dictator” is, well, just that and Julius C. wanted more legitimization. We all know the story of murderous resistance to Caesar’s incipient tyranny. Let us jumb forward some years to the point in time when Octavius, Caesar’s adopted son (no?,) returned to Rome having vanquished Antonio and his “girl friend” from Egypt. Octavius returned all powers to the Senate and was declared “princeps”, which meant at the time “First Citizen” (oh, that sounds like the early Napoleon). Without going into detail, Octavius centered ever more “excutive powers” under his command, and without ever formally abrogating the Senate. The legitimate political order appeared to remain in its fundamental constitution. At some point, however, the centralization of executive orders under Octavius led him to become Augustus Caesar (and “Caesar” had lost its function as a family name to take on it future aurora of absolute authority as in “Kaiser” or “czar”). Legitimized dictatorship!
The constant “power” factor in the metamorphosis of Octavius into Augustus Caesar was the accumulation, in breadth and depth, of the range of “executive orders” he could and did impart. There, I have just given away the parellel that I am seeking to suggest. In Nov. 2010 John Podesta, former advisor to Pres. Clinton and head of the Center of American Progress (a Soros funded front) imparted the wisdom that it “is through substantial executive authority … such as executive orders” that Pres. Obama can rule without or with the Congress. I find it nominally fair to say that Podesta was advising Obama to become and “imperial” president. Let us not forget the “imperial” is derived from the Latin “imperator” or, effectively, a general of an army. The “imperator” of a military organization ORDERS all into action, no matter how chaotic or unwise the effects of said orders might be.
In summary: I tentatively suggest that the US of A is situated in a transformational phase which will fundamentally recreate Constituional America into an IMPERIAL presidency. Worse, I suspect that it is already too late. I suggest to the reader of PJM that s/he consult Thomas Wood’s “Who killed the Constitution”, both as a book and as a lecture. One of the “killers” is Barack Hussein Obama. Given the fact that Pres. Clinton has suggested that we should have THREE term presidents, it would be no surprise that, given an Obama victory, that we do for a fact get a third term “Imperial” president.
I am curious what knowledge readers, indeed, Hanson himself, might think of the parellel I so briefly outlined.
It is indeed a very close parallel. We have have far more means and institutions than the Roman citizenry did to directly express ourselves, connect and mobilize. Economic power is still far more diffused than in the late Roman Republic.
If civil war does break out, I think it’s likely that the majority of the forces would refuse to back the usurper. Our brave soldiers know that they are fighting for freedom. But that may not last, Obama is aggressively undermining the military as we speak.
Centripedal forces are always at work, and as institutions and offices get corrupted by size and time, they get stronger and stronger. Our task is to defy the tide of history and prove that free men and women can always re-shape their own destiny no matter what forces are arrayed against them. Our unity of command is not fragmented, yet. With a conservative administration in place we will be in a better position to push for the kinds of reforms we seek. There may yet be violence, but if we have control of the executive and the legislative, we will have a decisive advantage in that arena. That was always in the cards
Thank you for your crtique. My suggested parellel entails at the outset limits. There can be no one-to-one events. Critique must begin with these limits. However, whereas German tv in historical reports on Rome stresses the great achievements of the Empire, there is really very little examination of the Republic period. The Julius C. plot is of course, standard sauce on tv shows. Octavius much, much less. As of to date I have yet to see a historical analysis of the “fundamental transfomation” from Republic to Empire. And this interested me. So, I have sought to follow the matter on my own and ended up with the thesis presented.
I also thank you for reminding me that there are differences, e.g., that we “dispersed” conservatives in the opposition dispose of means not open to Roman resisters, which were mostly Aristocrates of limited numericity. Alas, I do note the murder of Cicero and the cutting off of those might critical writing hands, a symbolic deed. I wonder, keeping with parallels, if the FCC or any other Obama effort to control cable news might not be seen as sort of a Cicero moment. Also, it is worth while looking up Obama’s plans in case of national emergency (declared by himself of course), plans which entail the use of American Armed Forces to enforce order on the citzenery and, if necessary, to bring in the Canadian military. I looked up those plans years ago. Despite my pessimism, I am encouraged by your optimism. I view the goings-on from here in Germany. I have been here so long that I am in many ways German. And we Germans just enjoy a good dose of pessimism, it makes us feel good. One of our favorite pessimists is the title of David Goldman’s essays. And it is? Spengler!
Yes the exact dynamics are not a one to one match, but the underlying forces at work are similar. There are signs that this pattern took place in many other regions as well: semi-independent, economically productive individuals produce wealth and grow. The more they grow, the more infrastructure they require; bureaucracies emerge to manage the infrastructure, these become a focal point of power. Ambitious individuals come to recognize that if they can control the bureaucratic structure, ally themselves with a certain number of the wealthiest members of society, and take control of the main communication matrix (including the language and dominant concepts of that society) they can gain absolute power. And so the struggle is on. Whenever republican Rome was not at war with some existential enemy like the Macedonians, Gauls or Carthaginians, they were basically waging this internal battle between those who wanted to keep power diffused, and those who wanted to concentrate it absolutely.
Too much wealth and power are dangerous too. It requires a lot of wisdom and self-discipline to harness these without being destroyed by them.
In the event, the forces of Caesar vs. The Senate were pretty well matched. Their battles lasted years and ravaged much of the Mediterranean world. Caesar fits the model of rogue superman that appeals to the German psyche, and it’s arguable that only someone like that could have kept the Republic from pulling itself apart, as in many ways it was Constitutionally ill suited to wield the kind of Imperial power it had recently gained. Athens and Sparta also fell apart in large part because they were not constituted as large-scale imperial regimes. Macedon was more feudal, it produced Alexander, and adapted to empire more readily.
America too in many ways stands at the cusp of empire, and it is this promise/danger of absolute imperial power that threatens so many and endangers us at the same time. We still really do not have any serious military or economic rivals, even with the the socialist usurper in the White House. We have shaped the world order for the last 50+ years, though not without the limiting constraints of our existential battle with Soviet Communism. We have tried to stick to our democratic, free market values throughout. We are one of the few (only?) truly moral hegemons in history. But that alone doesn’t win you any friends when you are top dog. Radical Islam, instinctual collectivists and assorted dictators and oligarchs all hate us because we represent an existential threat to the thought-systems that keep them in power.
Our own home grown collectivists and statists see our moral aspirations as weakness. They use our open-ness and goodwill to bore inside and eat away at the fabric of society, on the theory that this will allow them to control us and use as the foundation of the new world empire they plan to build.
Octavian was a tyrant, but a benevolent one is many ways. He seems to really have believed in the greatness of Rome and wanted to preserve it from the historical forces that swirled and intensified around it. He knew it meant he would have to be ruthless at times. It may be that for his time, given what he knew, he was right. Caesar was unbridled ego and would have become a monster had he gained total power (he already was, just ask the Gauls!), Octavian however was not. Though he does not the personal allegiance of a huge, elite army (thank God!), Obama is more of a Caesar than an Octavian. He hates America and underneath all the glamour is just another petty thug. That is why we must oppose him.
There are not enough active duty military, including the notional Canadians, to make this happen, even assuming that enough will obey to matter. And I do believe the Canadians are more sensible than that. This is a country of over 300,000,000 and even assuming 50% are Tory (Obamian) no. If it comes to that they lose and lose big.
Obama garnered 52.8% of the popular vote in 2008 with no record and unprecedented hype from the media. He only gets 43% of the popular vote in 2012. He’ll still be president in 2013, though, because there is no way he admits defeat or relinquishes power.
Mr. Obama’s poll numbers are no better now than they were in November of 2010 when his party suffered an historic defeat. The next election will be decided by turn-out. It’s probably true that conservatives are motivated more by fear of Obama than love for Romney, but that fact manifests as a solid block of 42% who strongly oppose the president. Support for the president is tepid by comparison. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that America has already been fundamentally transformed. I’m not talking about our institutions, but about the American character. If the Romans fell because they forgot what it meant to be Roman, then America will fall for the same reason. Plato warned that a democracy of poor people would never work. Substitute the term “government dependents” for poor and you will see that we’ve arrived. Tocqueville predicted the American republic would fail when politicians learned to bribe the citizens with their own money. Are we there yet? I think probably so.
There was no reason to suppose that Rome would succumb to a bunch of wild-eyed barbarians. Yet she did. There is no reason why America can’t recover given her native talent and abundant resources. But will she? Our survival as a nation is on the line. It boggles the mind to consider how the nation that defeated the Nazis and the Soviets could degenerate so quickly. But we have.
You have to remember that to the Romans, barbarians were anyone who wasn’t a Roman. The Romans were successful at staving off the “wild-eyed” invaders from North and East of the Rhine/Danube for a very long time. By the time of the Western Empire’s dissolution, the “barbarians” inside the empire were the problem and they were just as wealthy, technologically advanced, and “civilized” as the Romans. What “ended” the Western Empire was the financial collapse brought on by the loss of Africa to the Vandals which caused both a significant loss of foodstuffs and of Imperial revenue. As the result, the Romans simply couldn’t afford to keep their armies in the field and their government functioning anymore. The Western Roman Empire didn’t really fall, it just went broke and dissolved.
History records that when the barbarians arrived before the gates of Rome, the able-bodied youth of the city refused to man the walls. To my mind there are two characteristics which define decadence. The first is the inability to recognize existential danger when it’s staring you in the face. The second is a willingness to surrender in order to live, rather than fight in order to live free. Europe has reached the point of absolute decadence. If Obama and the Democrats get their way, America won’t be far behind.
“…two characteristics which define decadence. The first is the inability to recognize existential danger when it’s staring you in the face. The second is a willingness to surrender in order to live, rather than fight in order to live free.”
What a sad, profound, and eloquent comment on the state of our world today. I don’t know whether to commend you or punch you in the face. I hate depressing truth.
Remember- that by the time the Romans were unable to keep the barbarians out of the empire at Adrianople- they had already become dependent on them for their combat power as foederati. Once allowed to occupy territory within the empire they became foreign enclaves where Rome’s writ did not run.
If there is a lesson here it is in what will eventually happen if we fail to control our own borders.
Our real and first “Dictator” has arrived in Barak Hussein Obama! Hot damn…look at all those who come to worship at his feet, both from within our government and those who daily walk our streets.
We are the enlightened…majority. Get used to it people!
You wanted a world where “feelings” trumped reality. You wanted a world where the “female” perspective ran the game of life. You wanted to be “dominated” by others to assuage your guilt for being so “successful” in all that you attempted. You wanted “gay marriage” to eat away at the nuclear family.
“Hell no, we won’t go!” you shouted some 40 plus years ago. “Sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll” was another of your mantras, followed by “do your own thing” which brings us to today.
You reap what you sow, you malignant narcissists!
Acutally what got us here is rise of Dem Party with the idea they could BUY Votes from the POOR & successfully doing so since 1965
People vote for the politicans that promise Free Ice Cream & the sheep fall in line and keep re-electing the likes of Fwank, Pelosi, Reid
And in 1965, the oldest boomers weren’t even twenty years old, so they weren’t yet eligible to vote. Look to the so-called ‘greatest generation’. They grew up worshipping FDR. They were also the ones who gave us the Great Society.
But since said election happened in ’68 and said losers were three years older and well eligible to vote their gonads, yer point? BTW, a Republican won, O.M.G.
I suppose the “birth control pill” for women had nothing to do socially with these “boomers” that you people have focused your attentions? The rise of “feminism” began, but may have been masked by those “bra-less” coeds who were really horny…in public and private way back then. College professors who realized those students protesting could be harnessed to be used against the administration in a power struggle not so obvious to outsiders. Or would the advent of color television have something to do with this social change, evolution or would you prefer revolution? East coast versus west coast in life values…maybe here could be found some fertile energies?
Eric Hoffer had a sharp perspective on this time period, perhaps.
So many like to blame so much on the people who came of age in the ’60s, the early Boomers; helps allay some of their own guilt I guess. Let’s try facts: The accepted definition of a Baby Boomer is someone born between 1946 and 1964; I think there were about 80 million of us. The first election that ANY Boomer could vote in was 1964, and only in Georgia and Kentucky the only states that offered the franchise to 18 year olds. You might note that Georgia was one of the few states carried by Goldwater. The first election that any significant number of ‘Boomers could vote in was ’68 and that Nixon guy won that one. The 26th Am. foolishly conferred the franchise on all 18 year olds in ’71, so all those Boomers born before ’54 could vote in ’72 when that Nixon guy overwhelmingly defeated the leftist candidate McGovern. Despite what he’s become in his dottage, Carter was a conservative Southern governor when elected in ’76 in the aftermath of the media coup d’etat known as Watergate. All the Boomers except those born in ’63 and ’64 could vote in ’80 and, funny thing, that Reagan guy won. The first election that everyone who fits the most common ‘Boomer definition could vote in was ’84 and that Reagan won that one overwhelmingly. Then President Reagan’s VP, GHWB won in ’88. Clinton was the first ‘Boomer President, b. 1946, elected in ’92 as a governor of a conservative Southern state over leftist opposition in the Democrat Primary. His not-so-conservative wife’s healthcare plans led to the Republican Revolution of ’94, led by an almost ‘Boomer, Newt Gingrich, b. 1943. Clinton was succeeded by George W. Bush, another ‘Boomer, b. 1946 also. Comrade Obama is technically a ‘Boomer, b. 1961, but most of his young life wasn’t even as an American – most of his later life either but that’s another story – but, funny thing, aside from Blacks, the bulk of his support was voters under 30 and single, divorced, or never married women.
When we ‘Boomers got to college, the communists were already there. None of the leaders of the Berzerkley Free Speech Movement in ’64 were ‘Boomers and the only ‘Boomers there in ’64 were 18 year old freshmen. In ’69, the year of The Summer of Love and Woodstock, the oldest ‘Boomers were 23; we weren’t the ones who owned and ran the Fillmore West or the record companies, no group of stoned 20-something college students rented Yasgur’s farm and hired all those acts to play. Actually the guys who did that were born in ’42 and were trust fund babies. ‘Boomers didn’t own the New York Times when it was saying “we have seen the future and it works” or when Duranty was denying Stalin’s purges and genocide.
Funny, it is a good conservative/libertarian position these days to oppose interventions and undeclared wars, sorta the situation so many who said, “Hell no, we won’t go” faced, though many millions more accepted being drafted than ran off to Canada. We had “drugs, sex, and rock ‘n roll,” our parents had “booze, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller” – some pretty lively music, and they must have had sex or there wouldn’t have been so many of us.
Damn, Art. You political defense of Boomers deserves a by-line. Good work there. I’ve been reading you since RedState, left there shorly after you did for the obvious reasons, the site’s purpose was to promote its founder, less so to promote good conservative policy.
I voted R when I turned 18 in ’74. My father, the union plumber and democrat committeeman, started saying a daily rosary for me and kept it up ’til he passed in 2005. He was a good man and a great father. But it was the Depression era population that brought us the Great Society…. Not us boomers. Thanks for the reminder.
Thank you for the kind words! I drop by over there ocassionally and the writing just stinks compared to a few years ago. A lot of expatriate RSers are at a site called United Patriots or something like that; I’m not because I simply cannot bear “jaded” and her puppies and won’t promise to be nice to her. A bunch of us “banned from RS” types have a Google group where we stay in touch.
I came to just detest the Southern frat boy point of view on everything, and Leon is even worse than Erick. I do like Moe Lane and Neil Stevens. I think Erick was just desperate to be seen as some sort of Tea Party leader back in ’10 and would snap up anything somebody claiming to have “tea party” ties said. That’s what I got so crossthreaded with him about. First with the endorsement of Mark Begich over Senator Stevens because he was listening to some Palinista malcontents and wouldn’t listen to those of us telling him the prosecution was corrupt. Then jumping on the Joe Miller candidacy because some whackjobs endorsed another whackjob, when he was being warned that Miller would never withstand any oppo research. I remain amazed that the Democrats didn’t yank their nominee and run somebody, anybody, remotely sane and with a little name ID. If they had, they’d have both Alaska senators – and this used to be one of the most safely Republican states in the Country. We’re still paying the price for the Joe Miller candidacy; when we desperately need Republican unity to restore the Alaska Senate, which Palin’s machinations gave to the Democrats, we don’t have a Party at all. With some more Palin machinations through her sock puppet/proxy Miller the Paultards took over what’s left of the Republican Party, so now we have two libertarian parties and no Republican party in a Presidential year. This too will surely pass – I hope.
I haven’t closed a link to RS since the day I obliterated my account settings and deleted it from my bookmarks… An admin/moderator had been contacting me via my personal email to feel me out politically and that just seemed way too creepy in a Freeper sort of way.
I do miss ol’ VB tho. He defended you vociferously, and took it wrongly when I said something like you “sucked the air out of the room” with your posts. I had meant it as a compliment, given that the air was smoky and stale with the cult worship of Erick and Sarah.
Vassar Bushmills is still around with the gang on UnitedPatriots and has a diary up right now. Here’s the link: http://www.unifiedpatriots.com/
I like Vassar and appreciated his carrying the spear for me. It always really pi**ed me off that Leon claimed to have banned me and took my diary down in which I said I was leaving over their stupidity. ‘Course, he was playing to the Erick and Leon sycophants like Jaded, scope, and the other self-described “true conservatives.” Then they ban practically every good writer over the alleged conspiracy to pump up the reccos. One of the worst for that was Gamecock and he’s still there; he’d email everybody he had any relationship with begging for recommendations. I never asked anyone for one in the four years I was there and I could put a diary on the Recco list almost anytime I felt like writing one, even though sometimes the reccos were just to get it up there to get more people to argue with me.
Frankly, I found the absolutely blind adulation of a complete phony like Palin incomprehensible, but giving the Palinbots facts about her budgets and taxes was like trying to teach a pig to sing; they all swear to this day that she was a reforming, tax-cutting, budget slashing true conservative when she had almost nothing to do with the Ethics Law changes that she so loved to brag about and which chased her out of office, the budgets went up logrithmically when she was governor, the gasline she touted remains vaporware and the State, half a billion poorer because of her gift to TransCanada, is looking for a State-financed in-state gasline and an LNG facility for export to the Pacific Rim, and her ACES oil tax scheme has practically ended development in Alaska provinces in favor of more Industry friendly North Dakota. Good thing for the Palins, I guess, that Todd doesn’t have to work anymore or he’d probably have to move to ND to find an oilfield job.
I too am despondent about the full court press attack on conservative values. CJ Roberts folding was a cruel blow to all we thought we knew and held dear.
Chief of Staff Jack Lew is a formidable foe as he spins his magic web of deceit to the news shows. He has his shtick wired and doesn’t give an iota.
Take heart, we must work hard, inform our friends and neighbors about the issues.
DON’T BE DISCOURAGED BY THE POLLS: (they are purposely skewed)
What percentage of people who voted for McCain will now vote for Obama?
What percentage of people who voted for Obama will now vote for Romney?
How many disheartened conservatives and libertarians who stayed home will now vote for Romney?
Stay thirsty my friends.
And one additional detail, How many who voted for Obama in 2008 will be disillusioned enough to just stay home this time?
Remember, much of his base is highly disappointed that he has not kept enough of his promises to them. Gitmo, predator drones, Afganistan, gun control are all issues the base was expecting much more action on.
His base isn’t self-involved Berkeley leftists, it’s baby-mommas hoping he’ll pay their bills for them and the wannabe babydaddys hoping to knock them up for no cost.
If every conservative could sway just one other person to vote Romney, we’d have it. All hands on deck. Each of you can gain just one more vote, can you not? You must.
OH MY GOD. You, and others like you, just don’t get it.
Romney is every bit the enemey that Obama is. FOOLS.
It’s like you accept that King George is a problem, but King Wally would be so much better! No need for this rebellion stuff then!
Obama by five points True conservatives, WON’T VOTE FOR ROMNEY.
Due to the nature of our system, at this point there are going to be two, get it, TWO choices. One for the Greater Evil, and the other for the lessor. You can foam at the mouth for the Alfred E Newman write-in candidate all you want but at the end of the day a vote for the Not-Romney candidate IS a vote for Obama.
You may or may not be an Obama rabble rouser but at the end of the day I’mna dumping your fourth point of contact at a serious discount. And counting myself lucky to do so in time.
You are correct. I continue to try to educate people for this coming election, a vote for a third party candidate is nothing more than a vote for obama. I remember all too well what Ross Perot did even though I wasn’t a Bush sr. fan, he would have been far better than the playboy that was elected to office.
By the Numbers: A Look at the Democrats’ Health Care Law
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Health Care Costs and Impact on Americans
$1,200: Increase in health care premiums for an average American family in the year following enactment of the Democrats’ health care law.
13 percent: Premium increase, in 2016, for individuals and families who buy coverage on their own – compared to if the law hadn’t been enacted at all.
$118 billion: Additional financial burden saddled onto state budgets from ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion.
200 percent: National debt as a percentage of GDP in 2037 despite promise of cost-control from ObamaCare advocates.
$70 billion: Size of ObamaCare budget gimmick resulting from the failed CLASS program.
1,019,810: Number of Americans that are at risk of losing their plan, because the plan was denied a waiver from ObamaCare.
Impact on Employers
$422.4 billion: Amount that 71 Fortune 100 companies could save by eliminating employer-sponsored health plans and instead paying the $2,000 employer mandate penalty from 2014-2023.
$28.6 billion: Amount that 71 Fortune 100 companies could save by eliminating employer-sponsored health plans and instead paying the $2,000 employer mandate penalty in 2014 alone.
4 million to 20 million to 65 million: Number of people in the employer system estimated to lose insurance as a result of ObamaCare, based on two separate analyses provided by CBO and Deloitte.
800,000: The amount of workers the labor force would be reduced by in 2021, as a result of ObamaCare.
Taxes
22: Number of new tax increases in the Democrats’ health care law as originally enacted – a dozen of which violate the President’s pledge not to raise taxes on middle-class Americans.
$569.2 billion: Gross tax increase over 10 years resulting from the Democrats’ health law, as estimated at the time of enactment.
$1 million: Amount of money IRS spent to send out 4 million postcards to small business owners touting their “eligibility” for the Small Business Tax Credit even though IRS knew that many of them would not qualify because of the strict eligibility criteria.
170,000: Number of small businesses that claimed the credit in 2010, or less than five percent.
1,278: Number of employees that the IRS reported to TIGTA that it needs in FY12 alone to implement the Democrats’ health care law.
Why Full Repeal is Still Necessary
9: Number of provisions that House Republicans passed, and that President Obama has signed into law, that either repeal or defund portions of the law, resulting in more than $52 billion being taken out of ObamaCare.
$1.8 trillion: Amount of money the Democrats’ health care law is expected to cost over the next 10 years – nearly double the original estimate.
1311(h): Section of ObamaCare that empowers Washington bureaucrats to decide which doctors and providers can be covered by your health care plan.
12,000: Approximate number of pages of ObamaCare regulations issued by the Administration.
Seniors
9 in 10: Number of seniors with retiree benefits who will lose their retiree prescription drug coverage through their employer under the Democrats’ health care law.
Approximately 8 in 10: Estimated number of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Part D that are paying a higher premium so that 15 percent of beneficiaries can benefit from the change to the donut hole.
Special Interest Spending
$3.8 billion: Amount of money available to the Obama Administration to hand out in cut-rate loans, primarily to political allies, to form insurance cooperatives, many of whom do not appear eligible under the law.
$0: Amount of money left in the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP), which was supposed to be in place through 2014, but has already stopped paying new claims after spending $5 billion.
About half of the entities receiving the subsidies are politically favored friends – unions and state and local governments.
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It’s immensely disappointing that you didn’t provide a single citation supporting these numbers in your post. While simply repeating these numbers may persuade some people that Obamacare is going to be a mess, many people will not ever read the argument unless they know that it comes from a trustworthy source. A mere assertion on a conservative blog without any citations doesn’t count as a trustworthy source.
I want to believe the numbers you are giving but even I won’t buy them without some proper citations – and I’m conservative.
Please, PLEASE, add some citations!
A gentle suggestion to you both – do not post either elaborate statistics or links.
I do not waste my time trying to decipher statistics in the comments section.
Neither do I waste time following links. I am perfectly capable – like most of us here- of doing the research myself if I think it necessary.
I read the comments section to get your analysis of VDHs column.
Unlike the comments section on most blogs- the responses are interesting and thought provoking.
I would really, really like to live another hundred years and see how this all turns out. Or a thousand- what will the history books say of this time?
History will say that the US was stupid for electing someone like Obama.
What else could history say, that his election was a wise choice?
Depends on who writes the history.
This is on the home page of the Daily Kos right now.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/01/1104943/-Anti-Capitalist-Meetup-The-Cooperative-Movement-and-the-Big-Tent-Approach
They’re not even trying to hide it any more. Look at Zombie and Ringo’s pix from last May Day – a bunch of reds.
And they have most of the media, colleges, school bureaucracies, Hollywood and young media behind them. The trend is down, not up. We’re being overwhelmed by populations from a failed Third World. We’re history. America is dead and gone.
Fail, I looked up this site that you suggested. The extended conclusion would be that for the sake of truth in advertising, the Democratic Party would become the Social Democratic Party, or the Democratic COOP Party. The COOP would be where all of those infamous chickens came home to roost. Time to debug the harddrive.
I was with some family this weekend that I don’t get to be with all that often and I brought up fast & furious……. They all said that they saw the movie but why was I bringing it up….. Ground game is absolutely needed……
“Adolescents, not the president of the United States, make it up as they go along ”
Except we have an adolescent as the President. And he wants dictatorial powers. And acts that way.
The only thing that gives me a modicum of hope is that some people I know are registering to vote, so they can vote against Obama. These are people who have never voted in their lives. At the very least maybe it will cancel out some of the illegal votes from the left.
I agree with everything stated above but also want to mention the other side of the coin. Obama was new and exciting and had no record 4 years ago. Now he has a record of 3 1/2 years as a total failure. I believe the “blame Bush” and racism fall backs have pretty much been worn out. McCain was a NON opponent 4 years ago,Romney will mount a serious challenge. Obama had a HUGE money advantage 4 years ago, not this time around. Most of the polls that make it into the MSM these days have been significantly adjusted to favor democrats. Wisconsin wasn’t even close but even the exit polls had it all tied up! I have not seen many Romney bumper stickers here in Florida lately but also almost no Obama stickers either. I suspect that is because Romney voters don’t want their cars vandalized by Obama zombies. The lack of Obama stickers is because Obama voters don’t have cars to put them on anymore.
I live in Colorado where recordsetting forest fires are raging throughout the state. Many experts argue that this conflagration was born of decades of misguided federal policy that sought to “kick the can down the road” by doing what was popular as opposed to what was necessary. This may well be an apt analogy for our political future. As an affluent country that’s been spoiled with government largesse, we’ve grown accustomed to being bribed by politicians who endlessly offer the promise of another handout at someone else’s expense. This habit has become deeply engrained and will not be shaken by minor inconvenience.
On the bright side, after the devastation of the fire, in the Spring nature renews itself from the ashes.
I am heartbroken at the devastation there. Colorado is so beautiful.
You may wish to point out to your neighbors that the potus was not even in contact with your governor there for what, 2 weeks? Then had to hastily scramble to make it there for photo ops once he and his pr team realized the blunder.
We have to undertand the mind of the progressives and their leaders. This, in order to counter them and begin to convert them to conservative values by showing the destruction of our society that has resulted from their values.
“Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be. The future’s not ours to see. Que sera, sera.” Sing it, Doris.
Everything VDH writes today can be captured in a simple number—45%, say.
Since we can’t know every single voter of the 100,000,000 or so of them, history gives us this—roughly 45% of the vote will go to Obama and 45% to Romney, NO MATTER WHAT.
So, the good doctor just reminded us of who Obama’s 45% are, essentially.
It’s always all about the on-the-margin 10%, or so, the on-the-fence “swing” voters. It seems to me that they are self evidently NOT as interested in politics as the commentators on this blog, so the approaching months will be when they must be “enlightened” about what 4 more years of “The One” will bring.
When Roberts affirmed Obamacare with the reason that the penalty was a TAX, I think he was channeling Walter Mondale’s killer statement in that debate with Reagan, that he’d raise taxes. That is, the Chief Justice, not wanting to have the SCOTUS get in the way of Congress and Obama by vitiating Obamacare, he found the perfect way to NAIL Obama, and guarantee his defeat—by the people, not the court.
It’s the taxes, stupid!
As VDH notes, with his ever-ready litany of damning issues stemming from Obama, we are in danger of having too many scandals to deal with. Imagine that!
Obama may get away with murder, by dint of taking the Clinton administration’s history of a scandal a day, and exponentially expanding it. With so much to react to, he’s got the good guys running helter skelter!
Whereas, it is TAXES that matters.
The way to reach that crucial 10% of undecided voters is to hammer home to them that Obama is certified by the Supreme Court as a TAXMAN.
Remembering that the most basic reason to vote is personal, the “What’s in it for me?” metric requires that Romney and his supporters heavily emphasize that if Obama is reelected, there is a simple message-
The TAXMAN COMETH.
Recall the recent news about a majority of Americans receiving transfer payments from the federal government? There’s your electoral majority, and a recipe for the destruction of a republic.
Republicans need to fight back when Democrats say “Republicans want to cut…”
Nobody wants to cut anything. Ever. That’s why we are where we are now. Who doesn’t want an endless money tree to raid in order to throw cash at every problem which comes down the pike? That way legislator can say they 1) care and 2) are “doing something.”
Never mind unintended consequences, creating dependency, or the laws of economics.
I was at a dolphin encounter in the Bahamas about three months ago. Why is it all “progressives” get that it’s a bad idea to feed wild dolphins? Creates dependency and bad behavior they say.
Sounds familiar.
And today, Obama is using the weather crisis to campaign and raise funds. For a comparison as to how bad things really are, how deranged this nation has become under this vile, vile president… had Bush attempted to raise campaign cash on the tails of Katrina, the media and the Left would have burned this nation down in psychotic frenzy.
The majority of people I meet in my circles are still for this anti-American freak, and display no sign of dissatisfaction or doubt about his upcoming victory in November.
The world is DERANGED. America is DERANGED. I truly cannot reconcile how they can’t see what a catastrophic, poisonous man the President is…
What part of the country are you describing these schmoos as inhabiting?
Prepare to re-establish the rule of law by force or prepare for ages of servitude.
No, prepare everyone you know to go to the polls this November and re-establish the rule of law. Then, if that doesn’t work, more drastic measures will have to be taken.
Obama cannot grin the American people back to prosperity. We are headed for financial disaster worse than we already have. Obamacare is not “sustainable,” to use a favorite phrase from the Left. I can only hope that Romney is our next President and that he has a plan for getting us out of the mess were in.
We have a lying sack of dirt as a President. A poster boy for corruption. A mole in the White House. The tallest tree in a forest of liars.
Worse, is their intention. . They don’t just want to destroy our medical system, or our economy, or our ability to defend ourselves, they want to destroy our nation.
Would you vote for a sack of dirt? Well, half of the country, the polls say, is ready to. How in the world did this happen to the United States of America?
Real good question, I’ve been looking for an answer as well. I know part of the problem is that the MSM vets out stories that are hostile to Obama’s image. Items that would have been headliners if Bush did them aren’t even mentioned or buried by the Obama’s media choir. So deliberate disinformation is part of the answer. But I know a lot of people who should know better still fellow this phony and that I cannot explain.
The comments on PJ are trenchant and well stated. When I go to “The Blaze” they are peppered by trolls and estupido asinos who have one epithet in their quiver, and that word is “racist.” We have a constituency whose so called opinion is molded by the talking points of Al Sharptongue. Where they even connect with him and his disingenuous propaganda is hard to understand, since they probably glaze over absorbing any newscast presented to them, however slanted and manipulated.
Incredible and frightening.
Hanson compares medical care under Obamacare to being treated by DMV supervisors, TSA employees, etc. That’s a good comparison.
I think a good picture of what to expect can be gained by looking at Stalin’s collectivization of agriculture. Stalin took over the entire farming sector for the Soviet state, and they were never self-sufficient in food again. From that time on, finding a pound of edible sausage or a good slice of meat was like finding the Holy Grail, for Soviet consumers.
Peasant farmers were subjected to a “second serfdom,” just as our doctors will now become serfs of the state.
And patients will receive just exactly what treatment, from what doctor, at what price, the government decrees.
All the groupies and acolytes of our little skeevy wonder, our Mussolini for Morons, think it’s just wonderful that the federal government is in charge of our lives! Such born slaves and willing serfs make me want to puke.
Does Victor Hanson realize that the verb “to service,” used in the sense that he has used it, is an obscene vulgarism (not that it has any legitimate use that readily comes to mind)?
And, for that matter, no true conservative would use gay to mean homosexual.
“serviced’ is exactly what happened in the vulgar sense.
I have to agree with you, Stan S., about VDH’s choosing the reality-distorting term “gay” instead of homosexual. Part of the problem today is that too many writers who claim to be conservatives are, upon closer examination, infected with the PC virus that stalks the land.
How can we even begin to beat back the barbarians when we’ve allowed their PC Trojan Horse to shape our thinking about reality? Then we begin parroting their language and finally end up not knowing what’s up and what’s down, what’s right versus what’s wrong. And oh yeah, how do you like that new inclusive-language Bible, the 2011 NIV, that the anti-sexists and multiculturalists are trying to foist on our church bodies? Despite the tax versus penalty charade of last week, words have meaning, and we bastardize them at our peril.
Romney has a chance to win the election–but it’s going to be an uphill struggle all the way.
Gallup had an interesting analysis that I haven’t seen anyplace else. They asserted that the poll that best predicts who will win the Presidential election is NOT which candidate most voters favor–but which candidate most voters believe will win. (It’s possible for a voter to prefer candidate Smith, while still expecting candidate Jones to win.)
I believe that in 1980, for example, preference polls had Reagan and Carter fairly evenly tied right up to October–but polls also showed that most voters expected Reagan to win and Carter to lose. They were proven right about that.
And a Gallup poll taken last month asking “Who will win the Presidential election” had a majority believing that Obama would win. Meaning that some folks who aren’t going to vote for Obama, expect him to win anyway.
Because if they already have this expectation, they are less likely to go to the polls. We must change that.
That’s correct.
The message that the GOP needs to send is not just “Why you should vote for Romney,” but “Why Romney Can [or will] Win.”
What gives your theory more weight is that many people want to vote for the winner. If they don’t see much difference between the candidates (highly believable) but think Obama will win anyway, they’ll vote for him.
The only reason I can see to vote for Romney is that he is the ‘lesser evil’. I’m not sure I believe anything he says, but I see him as better than the alternative. Who knows? I may be in for a pleasant surprise.
meanwhile the big news all over the place is the TomKat split – remind me what F and F or ACA is again, or the poll which puts the O at 47% favorability…,
You’re absolutely right about Obamacare, professor. It’s been in operation for years in Massachusetts, and now you can’t even see your own physician…unless you make an appointment.
VDH writes,”…every person worried about the direction of the country will have to vote, donate time or money, or offer public or private commentary. We are going to see things in September and October that we have not quite seen before in an election, as our modern Borgia pulls out all the stops to do whatever is necessary to win.”
I think to reach the people in the middle, many of whom will jump on the bandwagon of what they think is the winning side, conservatives will have to overcome their nonconfrontational instincts and get out there and do street theater, ala Breitbart, and huge public meetings, like the Tea Party did in 2010. Only this will make the difference for the many people who don’t read or think but just look for which way the wind is blowing when they vote. Time to generate some wind, bring as much emotion as we can out into the public square.
VDH does himself what he says others should do. But he chooses to keep silent on some matters.
In this post, VDH finally did get a big toe wet on the birther issue by pointing out that Obama steadfastly claimed for many years that he was born in Kenya, thus showing Obama up as a possible liar, after Donald Trump forced him to present his Hawaiian birth certificate to a skeptical American public.
But VDH leaves it at that. How much more telling might these revelations have been had VDH also made note of Sheriff Arpaio’s investigation claiming the birth certificate to be a blatant forgery, and also alleging possible felonies committed in regard to Obama’s Social Security Number and draft registration?
he is distinguished as a commentator and a scholar, and held in the highest regard and with the highest respect.
That is why, if I take your point correctly, he should get his hands dirty delving more into the sordid aspects of Obama’s known and proven actions and questionable character, and call Obama out on them in no uncertain terms. Hanson has the dignity and standing to do so, and as a result, his remonstrances and charges will carry considerable weight with a a god many wavering, uncertain members of the general public, and have a strong impact upon them.
Obama’s a nasty guy. More people will be made aware of it coming from so reliable a source.
BOHICA: From where I sit the Republican party doesn’t seem to want to win any elections to President in November.
Give the Democrats and Obama enough rope (is this racist to write?) and they will hang themselves screw up the lives of average everyday American’s bad enough and the Democrats may never recover, a good plan except it’s doubtful American’s will survive and still be free.
Nope as Hillary said to the Russian’s after the Obama coronation, “I never did understand a two party system anyways” that’s the plan, the Republican’s will just be around to be the bad guys and the Democrats the good guys who always win.
VDH, we have devolved into an US vs THEM society.
The overthrow is in full bloom. Right now, THEM holds the White House, the Senate, 4 locked votes on the Supreme Court, the DOJ, the Dept of Energy, State Department, the mass media, academia, and entertainment.
The constant, unrelenting barrage of Propaganda and Lies against conservatives, Republicans, Judeo-Christian faith based people, the South, white heterosexual non-leftist males, has taken its toll.
The Big Lie is now cemented into our public conscience.
And…OUR side’s voice, the anti-Marxist vox populi…the Republican Party…fields probably the weakest possible team for combat in the framing of issues battles, the overcoming of distortion gambits, the whole leftist pack of lies and distortion. Republicans still believe that you can’t “go directly at Obama, he’s too personally popular”.
How stupid can one party be? If you allow him to skate because he’s popular, he’s going to remain popular. Look, we will NOT change the mind of the black community before November. They will vote for Obama if he was found to have been Jerry Sandusky’s twin brother and comrade in acts that would shock the head of NAMBLA.
The fact that the black community is getting pummeled the worst in the Obama train wreck, no budget shell game…is simply not going to move the needle. Obama is divisive on purpose…and those who respond to the message that they are “oppressed” by the evil cabal with an immediate nod of the head, simply won’t be convinced of the truth, no matter what is said or done. A couple of points would be the best that likely take place in “switched” voting. Whether some people stay at home or don’t get energized is a different matter.
Latinos, gays, and the Pandering Plot will be effective. Again, divisive and largely untrue, most certainly distorted…but, the Marco Rubio direct approach is a good one. Unfortunately, the rest of the Republican Party lacks the courage of their own convictions.
So, Obama has a built in base. If I wanted to tilt a poll, I would go to that base and ask weighted questions, then print the outcome of that poll. Repeatedly….
Here’s the nub of it, VDH. We need to message the truth, fight brilliantly against the distortion, point out the near criminal attempts of the overthrow…and we are stuck with the Republican Party as our vehicle for making the case. They lack the courage, the skill, the talent, the comprehension, the finesse and the strategic thinking to overcome the huge disadvantage…this lack of skill has allowed this disadvantage to reach its current epic proportions.
WE…basically, have to do their work for them. They will sit trembling in the background, nibbling around the edges of “safe” issues.
We have been dragged into the fight of our lives…and our side is being lead by the terrified.
This reminds me of some lines from Ian W. Toll’s Pacific Crucible, War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-19-42:
“Combat was a hard and unforgiving school, but the U.S. Navy was taking its lessons to heart. If the navy did one thing right after the debacle of December 7, it was to become collectively obsessed with learning and improving.”
We supporters of the Tragic View, of VDH and like-minded warriors… perhaps need to do the same as the USN post-Pearl.
Regarding Our Plastic Laws and Constitution
By Robert Winkler Burke
Book #9 of In That Day Teachings
6/28/12 http://www.inthatdayteachings.com
Our Constitution is plastic,
So, in fact, is our law!
Our nation’s become spastic,
Of this, I’m in awe!
We aren’t forced to buy something,
Unless it is, by say-so, a tax!
Illogic: our endless day-spring,
Minds tortured to the max!
The American Mind of our great Founders,
Thought freedom dictates sound thought, small government,
But we’ve become unstoppable rounders,
We’ve progressed so far, none asks where progress went?
Abraham Lincoln presciently told us,
From his Eighteen Thirty-Eight sagacious Lyceum speech,
Towering genius has mind-raped us,
Burning for distinction, Progressives enslave freemen each!
Abe’s tragic view proves true,
We will await an era of dis-enslavement!
‘Til then we slaves much rue,
Plasticizing our fixed Founders’ intent!
How can we collectively be so much dumber,
Than our good, wise, prophetic Founding Fathers who came before us?
We’ve lost a second battle at Fort Sumter,
How long our insufferable darkness, before freedom’s aurora borealis?
Yea, how long, indeed, will it take?
For progressives to see they do nothing but enslave?
They eat but yet have their cake,
As Aristocrats of the South, pride keeps them knave.
Must Progressives destroy the whole American country?
As plagues did Egypt and Sherman did the South?
Before Progressives admit they are a ruinous gentry,
Aristocrats who enslave with lie-narrative mouth.
Do you know about this: “The Obamacare ruling from a marketer’s perspective,” posted on June 29 over at legalinsurrection.com?
“Self-esteem,” “respect by others,” and “security of resources” were the three key emotions tapped into by the Obamacare ruling, among Obama’s supporters. If we could create ads that show Obamacare in a different light, one that cancels out those three emotions, we might move a good distance toward dispiriting those emotive voters who would vote for him, and maybe they’ll just stay home in November. All the statistics in the world won’t dissuade the feelers among us; they need to feel like crap about Obama; they need to be totally turned off by him.
One more thing, spectator.org has an important piece this weekend by Andrew Wilson called Undoing Obamacare: Suddenly, everyone wants out. There’s plenty of ammo there for the creative ad man to link with the findings of the research above to begin the work of making the feelers doubt their self-esteem, respect by others, and security of resources as it relates to the actual destruction Obama has wrought.
Sure, O is the worst president in the history of the Republic and he doesn’t even like this country and may even hate it. But no amount of sticking your nose in the air Bill Clinton style or looking cool and unruffled by scandal or a bad economy will work in the long run for President Accident—this kind of stuff is always on your tail and you never outrun it. The bells are tolling loud and clear for O. It’s just that we hope the reckoning comes before the election and this could well be the case.
Polls show that the race is close, but didn’t they say the same thing in Wisconsin? Just recall how worried we all were back in 2010 that some people were swallowing the dem Kool-Aid that a vote against the dems was really, uh, racist? The polls didn’t forecast the magnitude of the dem defeat then and they are probably right on course for this one, too. What they are perhaps reflecting is a hidden poll; one where a person seeing on their Caller ID that a polling org is trying to get in touch with them just doesn’t answer the phone.
Unfortunately, many American people are union supporters, dependent on welfare, or otherwise dependent on “the system” and are rooting for Obama. I’ve spoken to too many friends and relatives that simply cannot understand Governor Walker’s logic in Wisconsin, why AGW is flawed science, or why European style health care is a bad idea and that Obamacare is driving us towards it.
Long time reader, first time poster.
I was holding my sleeping newborn baby boy when the Obamatax ruling was announced; I cried. I looked down my baby’s sweet face, and was truly scared for his future, and our future. I wondered if our hard-earned savings would shrivel before our eyes in a mere four or five years under Obama’s burdensome taxes (NO, not penalties, Nanny P.).
I have scoured the websites, the posts, the blogs, Twitter, everything – for hope. Actually, what I’m really looking for is how the heck I can contribute. What can we all do to pitch in? I know we’re all fuming, but really – how can we help Romney (even if you don’t agree with him) remove the crown from His Majesty’s lying, despicable head?! Instead of feeling defeated, and *assuming* that the pieces will (or will not?) fall in our favor come November, what the F can we do? I think it’s high time that we all contribute something – time and/or money – to the most important cause of our lives, and our children’s lives. I lost faith in our country last Thursday… let’s get our faith back by ousting these MF’ers.
51%? The election can be won with less than 51% of the vote. I don’t know the actual numbers, but, it would be a good exercise in Civics Class to figure out just how few votes a candidate needs to win via the Electoral College.
Obama is a traditional Stalinist. No morals, ethics, laws, rules or regulations temper him. He is addicted to power and will use “ANY MEANS NECESSARY” to have his way. He has no compunction to use violence, lies, deceit and general subterfuge to destroy or overcome his enemies, real or perceived. It is a simple equation, should he win re-election we are screwed as a nation.
You’re more generous that I with your 50% because women & blacks, both gatherer’s, women by biology & balcks through both biology & choice make up over 70% of our society. While blacks only make up about 12 or 13% of our population, they are a 100% guarantee to support Obama & I believe women, OUR SINGLE LARGEST VOTING BLOCK & ALSO USUALLY GATHERER’S, WILL AGAIN RE-ELECT MARXIST(ANTI-CHRIST) OBAMA TO FINISH US OFF! WATCH!
I & my hubby are against Obama, I think all of our seven adult sons and daughters voted for him in 2008. I blame higher education, we sacrificed in order to have our offspring go along with crazy lefies
tell them what you told us of their poor schooling in college, and how they can’t think. And get angry, too.
Good luck. You’re not the only parents in that boat, believe me. I know.
My wife and I were against the O from the very start. Daughter, now age 24 voted for him. Son age 22 now, did not. Daughter recently told me that in ’08 many of her college friends were swept up in the mania, but prior to that they had no interest in, and knew nothing about politics. They attended rallies to socialize. This time around she said, these same people aren’t as engaged.
Well, on the plus side, I get to say, “I told you so in 2008” a lot. Another great column. I will link to this from my Old Jarhead blog.
Robert A. Hall
Author: The Coming Collapse of the American Republic
All royalties go to help wounded veterans
For a free PDF of my book, write tartanmarine(at)gmail.com
Let it come to a crescendo. If all this crap doesn’t wake up the slow-brained fence sitters, than nothing short of a civil war will.
And if the marxists somehow win in November, the course will be clear. America as it existed for 230 years will be over, and for that reason, there won’t be any reason to revere or even respect the country or in sacrificing for the greater good in the slightest way. Everybody will switch into the official and approved mode of the Democratic Party. Figure out for yourself what I mean by that.
Yes, pres. Obummer is moving backward to the dark ages with his radical leftist agenda. That’s what he and his flaming leftist associates always wanted, though he, and some of them are mildly annoyed the devastation of everything that made the USA good has not moved more rapidly and more extremely.
The good news is that most Americans see these policies as bad. If the illegal aliens and felons can be prevented from illegally voting, and Romney picks a better man or woman than himself for VP, one we don’t absolutely need in the Senate or House or judiciary to drive back the perversion, we may have a chance to recover from the devastation before it becomes too bad.
I’m glad to see some of the governors turning the tables on the Obummer admin, using discretionary enforcement against his evil just as he’s using it to push evil.
Mitt Romney is the Godfather of socialized medicine. Romneycare is his signature achievement. Yet we’re supposed to believe that he’ll attack Obamacare with the force of God? For decades Republicans allowed Democrats free reign. The Left received every destructive social program it demanded. They now control the schools and universities openly teach anti-Americanism. Republicans were harnessed by politically correct edicts – one-slip up will destroy you. Today Islamic terrorists have Constitutional rights and are treated like visiting royalty. The black family has been destroyed, the fathers removed, and thug rap fills white homes. Children today are sensualists. Kids have sex in class and people shut up about it. None of it mattered to the Right until they went broke – plummeting portfolios forced them to attention. Yet to this day, the Right’s only focus is on abortion and gay marriage. Our open borders remain open because Democrats made it racial. They imported 20,000,000 Democratic voters and no one said a word. But what’s done is done. The silent majority stuck it to America. They overlooked social destruction as long as the money was good. It’s difficult to sympathize with conservatives for allowing societal collapse – inaction breeds consequences. Today leaders are elected by welfare recipients and the unemployed. This ship has sailed and it’s not turning back.
Romney’s campaign manager just announced that Obamacare is not a tax!
We are doomed.
If Obama is reelected we need to schedule a separate election for President of the Republic of Texas.
John Roberts deserves to become a very lonely man. Conservatives are stung and outraged by his tortured decision making and will not forget his betrayal.
The Left, conversely, will see him as nothing more than a tool – doing their bidding like a dog, eager to please its master. And of course, they will have nothing but contempt for him since the only faith they know is bad faith.
For once in my life I’ve found common ground with the Left. For I share their contempt.
Sorry, Victor… but I believe that a good number of people are lying to the pollsters and that a good number of the polls are padded anywhere from +2 to +7 or more with Democrats. 2010 gave us a small glimpse.
And I also believe that most “undecideds” will again go for the challenger.
But you’re right, we have not seen the worst of this election. And knowing Obama, that could get unbelievably ugly. As usual, leftists do not go quietly.
What is most sobering and really terrifying, though… we will only get ONE chance at this. Only one.
Four more years of Obama, and America as we know it is gone… and headed straight for a fiscal train-wreck that will hit each and every one of us hard.
And Obamacare, once passed and implemented, is here to stay. All the pain, suffering and death from delayed, dimminished or witheld care won’t matter. Even death pannels won’t matter. Just ask the English how they’re doing in trying to reverse their state healthcare system with a constituency of 1.1 million members.
We really have no choice. The Roberts ruling has made it crystal clear… it is up to us the voters. No matter how angry, frustrated or dejected we are… it’s still up to us.
The only question is, are we going to complain, stay at home… or are we going to fight…???
November, 2012… make a statement America!!
Thanks for another cold, hard, slap in the face to wake up the masses Dr VDH. Yes,the more conservative media is living in a bubble for the purpose of keeping their viewers happy (cake and circus). The leftists are always trying to promote “free stuff for everyboby” and “down with the successful”. Somewhere Lenin is smiling along with Obama and Holder.
50% pay no federal tax and it is doubtful that they will vote for anything else. Divide and conquer lives. Mass stupidity and ignorance lives.
Things are as bad or worse than you say they are if one is willing to remove the rose colored glasses. John Roberts clearly made the point to even the most oblivious: bigger and more controlling government with less freedom for the individual. I seriously doubt that your wake up call will work. Prepare for four more years of Obama and further wittnessing the death of life as you have known it in the USA. Perhaps we will see the day of escaping across the border into Mexico.
Spot on KRC ! Obama remains ahead in the national polls with a bump up after the John Roberts betrayal. An organized minority will win over an impotent majority every time. Republican leadership, as with John Roberts, would rather be liked – re elected, than be respected. Supreme Court is rather like union thugs – you keep your job no matter how wrong or inept you are. Great to have a lifetime appointment without accountability.
Having seen NYC politics first hand it is never enough to assume that the polls about a racially charged candidate are correct. First of all statistics themselves describe and don’t answer. A political poll simply tells you the responses to what was asked in whatever way the pollster has decided to aggregate it. David Dinkins loss in NYC was quite similar. We were told he was still popular and that he had the minority vote and it was quite enough. Then it turned out hispanics were well aware about how badly they were being shafted by the Dinkins administration and down he went. One of the games played in these polls is to separate an issues voter from a racial voter artificially. Hispanic A does not like what is happening with the national debt. Hispanic B says its important for Hispanics to vote Democrat. Instead of a 50/50 split you get Hispanics believe in strongly supporting the President. Good political operatives look for where the holes are. They don’t take the oppositions spin at face value.
No matter what is happening one thing is clear. Obama is not running a winning campaign. He is conducting a losing campaign that may be enough for a second term.
Here is what we know in 2012 that we did not in 2008. Obama is a doper, writes books about himself that are false and has no intellectual accomplishments but passes himself off as the intellectual’s choice for president.
We also know he will allow powerful weapons to move to Mexico and will block inquiries into finding out why. We know Obamacare is a tax and that if we analyze it well enough we will know precisely who in society will be punished by it.
We know he will run programs such as cash for clunkers which are ridiculously expensive, wasteful, solve nothing and are essentially political payoffs.
We know that private citizens forming associations like the Tea Party are able to massively push back and change elections destroying incumbents from both parties.
We know that the willingness to stand up to an actual fight in a Republican candidate determines his overall success (a Scott Walker wins, a John Mccain loses).
All these things add to up to the ability for a conservative victory if strength is maintained and the truth told.
It has been a theme in Mr. Hanson’s work that nation-states like Athens fell when the collective will was not up to the task of what it could accomplish in the past even though the necessary resources were present. He must know that articles like this strengthens the barbarians while solving nothing for the civilized.
Great post, I agree 100%. My thought as I read this VDH article was why is he whining and hand-wringing? Of course, we are in a serious battle with Obama and the leftists he represents. So what? Fight on for God’s sakes!
We also know that his administration is corrupted by the Solyndra experience and a whole slew of loan guarantees to companies his donors and bundlers are involved in.
Despite this and all the things you named, what troubles me is the people who aren’t as aware of all this — or choose to ignore it all.
1) There are the hard-core lefties and racially motivated voters to whom none of this matters. This crowd can run the gamut from very well informed to hopelessly ignorant. Doesn’t matter, they’re going to vote for the Democrat no matter what.
2) Those who aren’t that plugged in to politics but somehow suspect or are convinced that the Democrats are more likely to keep the handouts coming, then would the Republicans. Some overlap with the group above.
3) Democrats/liberals who voted for him in ’08 and are “disappointed,” a term a relative of mine uses. That’s about as strong a criticism as I can get from her. Seems a portion of this crowd is blind to all the bad stuff this Admin has done, either intentionally because they don’t follow things close enough, or unintentionally, because they simply don’t read enough, aren’t inquisitive or they watch news that tends to protect this admin.
In my opinion, this third group is the one his campaign is going to go after, by portraying Romney in any way necessary to convince them that keeping the O is the lesser of two evils.
CBS News is reporting that Roberts changed his position due to political pressure. If that is true then double shame on him. I still remember vividly the contempt that Obama showed the court and specifically Roberts during the SOTU speech a year or two ago. That was unprecedented and unpresidential. Does Roberts think that Obama will think better of him now? The same guy who thinks nothing of using middle finger gestures in public debates? Are you kidding me? And Roberts wanted to please him? Again, are you kidding?
The more I hear of this the more my stomach turns. If I were Roberts I would have every mirror in my house removed.
http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/2012/07/more-ties-between-obama-administration.html I suspect you are right about lack of interest on this subject, but ties between the Obama Administration and Fast and Furious need to be pursued.
Everything said by VDH about Obama is true. BUT I am still voting for Obama, because I believe that if Romney is elected, we’ll be bombing Iran by this time next year, with boots on the ground soon after. America absolutely cannot afford another pointless war against a country that poses no threat to us.
Obama already cancelled Iran out by sending Raptors and F-16s to a permanent USAF base in Quatar earlier this year. We now own the air over Iran, a fact that the Ayatollahs are very aware of.
NATO is quickly developing ABM capabilities which will protect Europe and the North Atlantic region from Iranian missles. Royal Netherlands Navy frigates will be the first to be able to track AND eliminate incoming missles, with other Western European navies to follow.
Democrats = lots of spending; Republicans = lots of spending plus war. It is an easy choice, really. And if you really want to go to war with Iran, be prepared for $8 gas.
An no, I am not a Paulite.
If some omniscient being told me that a vote for Romney would roll America back temporarily to 2007 (but otherwise same status quo) or a vote for Obama would bring certain civil war that split America into two distinct geographic areas, one ruled and populated by today’s ‘Democrats’ and the other ruled and populated by today’s Republicans, then I would vote for Obama too. In fact the latter is far more likely and beneficial in the long run than the former.
Obama’s motives are to protect Iran from scrutiny and keep it out of the news, so that it can continue with its nuclear program unabated. Of course Obama will never bomb Iran no matter what Iran does – up to and including annihilating Israel – because Obama always throws in our lot with the most extreme Muslim side in every conflict.
Iran should have been bombed in the 1970s. It still should be.
Barry Soetoro aka hussein obama is a Manchurian candidate that came out of nowhere to win (steal) the 2008 election. Unless there are foreign observers brought in , the ‘democrats’ will again steal the election counting illegals, multiple state voters and dead people. Unfortunately there are very powerful globalist interests (Soros, the CFR,etc.) that are behind this deceitful incompetent. We have to fight hard to avoid the disaster of four more years of ‘change’. NOBAMA in 2012!!!
All this doom and gloom. All the polls, listed by state, at “RealClear Politics” show Obama currently under 50% in every swing State. In fact he is at 50% or less in states like Michigan, Oregon, Minnesota, and New Jersey. According to Dick Morris, history shows every sitting President with less than 50% polling support has lost the general election. (Smile Everybody)
Exactly right. It will be close or a large win for Obama.
Take one of the “popular” provisions of Obamacare, the one allowing 21-26 year-olds to stay on their parent’s plan. Their parents will have this via their job and will pay, on average 25% of the premium. Less or nothing for state and local government employees. So, in effect, the medical insurance for every 21-26 year old, regardless of ability to pay, will now be paid for by everyone above the age of 26 with a job. It’s free insurance for the vast majority of 21-26 year olds in the country, funded by the older employees.
When I tried explaining to a liberal couple I was chatting with during the power outage that the parents, once they dropped their dependent at age 21 from their employer sponsored plan, would be paying a bit less for that plan, and could very easily roll their son/daughter into an individual plan with the same provider, use the amount they are now saving via their employer to pay for part of the new plan, with the son/daughter kicking in the other half (maybe $100/month each), they had no concept of what I was saying. They seemed to think that each and every 21-26 year old in the entire country could not afford to pay anything at all for their own insurance. Not even $30 a week. IT’S HOPELESS, PEOPLE! I banged it home one last time that everyone in this age group will now get 100% FREE insurance paid for by everyone else age 27+, regardless of their own income levels, regardless of whether the employer of the 21-26 offers insurance, regardless of everything, and that they should be outraged. They weren’t blinded by ideology on the subject, they simply didn’t understand. That’s what we’re dealing with in these people. They’re just idiots.
Well, I certainly won’t dispute that at least 53% of Americans are idiots. That said, so long as the insurance is private or with a decently run plan, if the 21-26 year old will get off the sofa and get a job, not so likely these days, and the job has HI benefits, the insurance plans will coordinate the benefits with the “kid’s” plan being the primary coverage. For example, if the “kid’s” plan has 80% medical, the parents’ plan would pick up 20% and the “kid” would have 100% coverage, whereas if the parents only had one plan, they’d have 80% only because the “kid’s” plan wouldn’t cover them. Comrade Obama has that reward friends and punish enemies thing down.
It wasn’t so long ago that not only was a 25-26 year old considered a grown, mature person, it was almost inconceivable that s/he would still be dependent on parents for anything. Since I took the Greyhound off to college in the fall of ’67, I never spent another night in my parents’ house as anything but a guest and only for short periods. And even with short visits, we made each other happy twice. These days half the people I know have a “failed to launch” kid, some more than one. I have one that turns 26 tomorrow that is currently incarcerated in our house. After he got out of the Army, he spent a couple of years burning his savings, running up credit card debt, and generally being a degenerate. When he started to get in trouble and run out of money, we moved him in with us and made him get a job and actually go to it when scheduled to do so. He’s making good money now, but I don’t know that he could keep the job if he were on his own; I know he’d be late for work a couple days a week if I didn’t make sure he got up. What is it that makes young people incapable of operating an alarm clock – or turning off a TV? (A huge percentage of the discipline issues I dealt with when I was working were some young clerk claiming she was late because her alarm didn’t go off.) The plan is that he will stay with us paying token rent and paying his credit card debt off, stay through the winter layoff, and move out on his own at the beginning of next construction season when he goes back to fulltime work. We can hope!
Art C. you sound like loving long suffering parents. One can only hope that you generosity will come to some good. To state the obvious we now live in a society of entitlement with an underlying lack of shame and with an enabling government. At some point perhaps there is no better motivator than living under a bridge with no free lunch from home. Perhaps he should re-up. Thus far you have given far better than you have received. Best of luck.
Not sure I follow you logic there. It’s real simple. First, every 21-26 YO who has a parent working for govt (state,local, fed, whatever) will now get free insurance paid for by taxpayers. Their govt employee parent typically pays 10-15% of the premium at most, often nothing. These are often “cadillac plans” with low or no copays and out-of-pocket. Every single one of these 21-26 will get this at taxpayer expense. Makes no differnce whether they have a job or not, or whether their employer offers insurance.
The same principle will hold true for those with insurance through their employer, the only 2 differences are that instead of taxpayers picking up the cost, the employees over age 27 at all the businesses that offer insurance will, and the parent will pay a somewhat larger portion of the premium than a govt employee parent will. You could have a situation where 100% of the 21-26 YO’s in the country are employed by employers who offer insurance and very few of them will be on their own policy and paying anything. Everyone else, taxpayers for the govt employee parent “kids”, 27+ employees for the rest, will be paying for it all. Largest bribe in history, a grotesque act of criminality. Yet all we hear from the right these days is the babbling about “Obama said there wouldn’t be any taxes!” They AT LEAST ought to have enough sense to talk about the govt employee parent angle of this.
No, they are not idiots. They are the future. This is where conservatism fails, conservatives all wear backwards looking glasses.
This is why Obama wins, he, at least, can see what is coming. You expect the young to get a job…where is this job? It is your responsibilty, to PROVIDE ONE. The failure of the young, to get jobs, is the older generations failure! You have failed to provide!
Need I say, the world is changing? The “job”, IS GONE. Your PC took it. And it will continue to do so! NO AMOUNT OF CONSERVATIVE DENIAL WILL CHANGE THIS REALITY. No amount of tinkering with an obsolete tax code, based on an economic system that no longer exists, will fix this.
You job, Mr. and Mrs. Conservative…design a world, that has NO jobs, that will protect individual freedom. Or conservatism will go deservedly extinct, not able to deal with the new reality.
I take it economics and history was never your strong point?
heh
There are no jobs for idiots like you, and IF you get enough fellow idiots together to try to make me, I just go to the hills – or start shooting.
I can only respond to this claptrap by Xiaoding by quoting that brilliant libertarian, Harry Browne. “No one owes you anything.” Go find your own job. Find skills others are willing to pay you for. I don’t owe you squat. Grow the eff up and earn your way like the rest of us do.
The reason people look at the good news is because focusing on the bad news is a great way to lose heart and give up. It’s why the US had propaganda trumpeting minor victories in WW2 – you have to take victories when you can get them. You need a of Wake Island to be able to drive on to Midway.
I am constantly amazed that even the comments by Dr. Hansons readers while excellent and well thought out TOTALLY leave out the key element that must be included if we are to take back our country – and that is the spiritual element. Much, for example, is written and admired about the Founders political acumen but nothing is ever written about their spiritual acumen which they themselves acknowledged as a key factor in their success against the vastly superior military forces of the British. They even warned that the Republic they founded can only survive under a moral people. So, get with it people. Add positive sincere prayer and thought to your political arsenal. By doing so you’ll be tapping into the most powerful force in the universe. To help you wrap you head around this concept just visualize the painting by Friberg of George Washington kneeling in the snow praying at Valley Forge. If the Father of our country felt the need to pray for strength and guidance then maybe you should to.
To view the Roberts decision as a long term win for Republicans is akin to a chronically abused and battered woman saying that in the end she will be loved even more for having “stayed with her man”. Sick, dysfunctional logic. Dr VDH at least has the guts to call a spade a Fu–ing shovel .
Victor:
It’s not just dark in DC, it’s dark everywhere. Thanks for the testimony.
Michael Barone described the acts of this administration as “gangster government.” So far as I know, the White House has not objected. Whether driven by criminal mind(s), drug addiction, or some other pathology, these should be covered by the “High Crimes and Misdemeanors” clause. The catch here is that the Framers expected the separation of powers/checks and balances scheme to provide corrective actions. Apparently they did not anticipate such levels of collusion among the branches that we see now, or the divisions of political parties that developed. But we have one man to thank for a possible solution: James Madison, who proposed the articles comprising the present Bill of Rights. I refer specifically to Amendment X, citing reserved powers of the States and the People. Those who need further authority will find it in the words of Thomas Jefferson, from the Declaration:
Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes … But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Obama Takes the Week Off by KEITH KOFFLER on JULY 2, 2012
http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2012/07/02/obama-takes-week/
“More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.” – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Of all the words I remember from growing up in a home where the only thing more nourishing than the good food we shared at the family dinner table was the soul-satisfying conversation, the truest ones were, “If you ask God to help you, He will.”
Back when Thomas Hoving was running Tiffany’s, at his behest they created and sold a simple pin that said, “Try God.” Those two words could save us, if we let them.
Everybody chill already, the good doctor VDH needs some bucking-up as he has done for us many moons: soooooooooo
Accentuate the positive? Economy is tanking, job ads are dwindling, there is a capital/employment embargo developing, BHO numbers are terrible, there is no recovery, we are seeing erosion of BHO base, SCOTUS did provide a huge issue for Tea Party and similar thinking-voters plus all who believe the Constitution is in jeopardy, (while reigning in Commerce Clause and Medicaid state-coercion) House is Good, Senate attainable and we have a great candidate!!!!!!
Enjoy the Fourth of July and think how we proceed on the ninth!!!!
Thank you!!!!!!!!!
Jan 31, 2012 George Soros support Mitt Romney, investor/communist and Obamas supporter want Mitt Romney. It’s not a good day for a republican to get support from communists. On Fed 2 Donald Trump announced his support for Mitt Romney. It can’t be a good day for a republican when Obama supporters see Romney as a good option.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6aLQU_nYSM
Victor Davis Hanson is exactly right as he usually is. Is there a possibility that those in the Republican establishment, presently in a semi-euphoric state, might read, grasp the points made, and change behavior accordingly?
Yep. I went away from technology for a few days and came back to the SC ruling and Obama up in the polls and I feel like Hanson.
Obama had some really horrible things happen and he is still ahead and we lost on Healthcare again!
And the right seems intent on making sure Romney is soundly punished for his relience on the Heritage Foundation’s mandate idea… oh so long ago, everyone forgets the origins of it… punish Romney… not beat Obama.
I think there is a even chance Romney wins in the end. But I don’t see any really good news out there for us.
I hope that the first week of Nov. when people take a look around, they will conclude it is time to try someone else. That is my only hope right now.
June went out with a whimper for the GOP.
During the long struggle in the United States to adopt a national prohibition law – (18th amendment to the constitution in 1919), proponents knew then that such a colossal change in altering public habits under the guise of health, protecting innocent women and children from the abuse of alcoholics or diminishing the rate of violent alcohol related crime could not be passed by a simple majority of the Congress.
The enormous ratifications to the national economy and law enforcement were only remotely envisioned. Only a referendum to alter the constitution could justify such a radical measure – as radical as ObamaCare is today. No one imagined that the Congress could conjure up such a lame excuse as the “commerce clause” as was concocted for ObamaCare.
Only a constitutional referendum with its major hurdles of securing approval of three quarters of state legislatures would be sufficient. After 13 years of real life experience with this monstrosity that proved how it was a failure on all fronts, a subsequent amendment (the 21st) abolishing it was easy to achieve.
Let us hope and pray that it will not take as many years for the public to demand ObamaCare’s abolition. A simple change in the White House and Senate majority will be sufficient.
The law may have changed, to be immediately replaced by an edict by FDR and Mellon;
but the government class was permanently criminalized. It was a deep culture change.
Drugwar funds DemSoc globally, and has metastacized to many institutions.
Hidden economics have replaced capitalism with influence networks.
Capitalist monie has been replaced by ‘debt and derivatives’ scrip.
Our military protects asset colonies; cartels are often American GSE’s.
We invented a war on human nature, but others have copied it and other American innovations quite well.
Conservatives forgot what liberties were. They saw a chance at “power”.
We have been ruled by criminals who market to different audiences ever since.
This change came when Teddy colluded, with Democrat dynasty families, to create American Empire. Scientism and nationalist socialists on both the left and the right saw a vision, and eventually sparked a world fire to make it happen. Happen it did- shortly after Trotsky was sent out from New York.
Hearst and Volstead, Dewey, Morgan, and Wilson, amongst others, helped mold that vision here. FDR cemented it, with his ally Stalin. LBJ expanded it. Clinton saw his chance to take first position on the Communist pole and sent campaign managers to Europe, after the Republicans helped him change the electorate with imported NAFTA voters and Chinese factories… while he was grooming Obama.
National Republicans just make noise when they want to increase the size of their cut; second banana means all the the perks- a quick hit is easier than the long view, anyways.
The battle was won long ago, before a shot was fired.
The Revolution has already occured. Round II will finalize it.
It has been the ‘new norm’ for quite a while.
Obama is merely the young bulls knocking the old bulls off the hill.
Romney, or the Republicans, won’t change a thing.
Maybe we can build even more prisons, and get Democrats to staff them!
Been agonizing over this very problem, voter ignorance, since the 2008 election of a man, that by any measure, had more than enough troublesome revelations in his writings and gaps and connections in his resume, some intentionally obscured, some blatantly obvious to anyone paying attention; but who was?
The media was not disinterested or apolitical; they acted forcefully and purposefully to use their power to influence an electorate already convinced they were, or were being, objectively informed and successfully rendered them enamored with the hype, a historical precedent their votes would signify in electing the first black, albeit only by half, President of the “most powerful nation in the world.” What a “magnificent, noble” gesture, the once and for all final “proof” that the long civil rights war against segregation and prejudice against blacks was over. Kumbayah! The fact that race relations have seriously deteriorated since the election of the first “black” president, who promised to heal the divisions in America and bring us all together, goes largely ignored.
Forget all that’s occurred since. The man is still considered “cool.” He’s handsome, physically trim with a beautiful smile and a gift for oratory. That a teleprompter is required is of no significance. He plays golf, a negative for a conservative but apparently a big plus when those political stripes are in alignment with the “apolitical, objective” media and he plays basketball too and has a lot of very popular, personable Hollywood stars and starlets fawning over him and these are apparently what counts in today’s “more sophisticated, erudite” America. Many still read the NYT listen to NPR, watch Good Morning America and 60 minutes and are thoroughly skeptical, if not downright fearful, about anything that conservatives have to say about entitlement reform, personal responsibility, limited government, lower taxes, supply side economics, the private sector as the engine of growth, “drill here, drill now” etc.
For the Republicans to win in November, this is the electorate they must reach and do so while, at the same time, the so called “main stream, objective media” is vilifying them as selfish, cruel, ignorant bigots, obsessed only with starving the children, throwing grandma off a cliff, poisoning the environment, contributing to global warming, helping their “fat cat” friends and lining their own pockets with what they steal from the poor.
While the Republican voter is inundated with reams of news to the contrary, in doing so the Republican political establishment is essentially preaching to the choir. They will never get all of the indoctrinated but inundating their donor base with informative and often fear mongering commentary designed to solicit funds, will likely fill their campaign coffers but is not going to get any in the Obama camp who might otherwise be persuaded. They need a figurative megaphone with national coverage and will have to find a way to create their own. Whatever influence their constituents have over friends, acquaintances and fellow workers, the apparent inability of Obama to tarnish his image, despite the ever growing evidence of his ineptitude, says volumes about the effectiveness of relying on a grass roots strategy to achieve a Republican victory in November. If these polls are correct, it’s not working.
The current resident will likely be reelected, but not entirely because of his charm. He has added enormously to entitlements, and those receiving them are wary of losing them should a Republican be elected. If (somehow) Romney wins, and (also somehow) gets the Congress to repeal Obamacare, there will be no further repeal of bad Federal laws. It is in the conservative nature to leave them as they are.
What you are hearing from the fringes are cries for radical rollbacks of law: to summon delegates for a constitutional convention and replace our debased currency with gold. Search the Internet for these two topics; you will be amazed at the activism.
doesn’t mean that Obama’s sure to win election again.
He won’t win again if people with such entitlements are made to see they won’t have them anymore.
Why? Because there’ll be no money under Obama to pay for them.
Actually, Professor Hanson, the true image of Obama will only appear after his re-election victory coupled with a solid GOP control over both the House of representatives and the Senate. Then, and only then, shall we see the true Obama sail forth to excise his rule as never seen before in this country; yet very familiar to the peoples of Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and else where.
That is the stuff of my nightmare and that might be the only, unfortunate, way to wake up Americans.
revealed itself vividly in his 2008 campaign and has sharpened in ever higher relief and detail every day since.
But like Mussolini’s and Hitler’s, Obama’s image will finally become clear to a critical mass of blind, dimwitted Americans when it is too late, and our country has become a totalitarian wasteland.
Unless, by a great effort of will and determination, that critical mass can be made to see him by election day.
Yale’s Shiller to Moneynews: Home Prices Could Plunge Even Lower
Friday, 29 Jun 2012
http://www.moneynews.com/Headline/Shiller-Home-Prices-housing/2012/06/29/id/444010?s=al&promo_code=F5CE-1
After reading Dr Hanson’s litany of troubles, insults, and scandals foisted upon us Americans during this unusually awful administration of our Chameleon in Chief…..the horrifying possibility exists that he could be re-elected by those beneficiaries of his Ponzi-largesse, who apparently outnumber the rest of us here on a national basis.
Think how sensible (?) Americans were duped into voting for a melon-head that first go-around.
We find ourselves now in the sweaty situation of having to admit to ourselves that if this melon-head is re-elected…..we’ve only ourselves to blame.
“Think how sensible (?) Americans were duped into voting for a melon-head that first go-around.”
The sensible Americans voted for the former Navy pilot shot down over SE Asia and who spent 6 years in a POW camp. Personally I think McCain is a horrible politican (who puts himself first), but his loyalty to America was never in question.
I cannot speak for the other 52%, fools that they are.
…..that John McCain survived those very brutal conditions you describe for so long is of itself a huge tribute to John McCain and his personal strength as an American in very alien captivity.
So, in his case, having that honorable survivalist background combined with being the son of an Admiral is the very type of politician we need filling more seats in Congress.
John McCain is a walking compliment to America, and thus a distinct compliment to Congress having him included as a Member.
With that background in mind as a litmus, Obama is an even more sickening disgrace to our nation.
Agreed. I like the idea of first performing military service before holding a high level public position, but not many go along with a “Heinlein” concept.
We have an awful lot of people sucking off this great country while contributing nothing. And the shock will hit them in the not too distant future that it stops when they run out of other people’s money.
Rosie, that’s exactly right. All this talk of reaching and changing people’s minds won’t make it – it never has. When the money runs out, that’s when you’ll see change.
People start to see the light when their face is rubbed in the mud. Not before.
You speak truly, VDH. And that is why I am in a little d depression.
There is a pretty good chance that we are heading rapidly toward a constitutional crisis with Obama’s Executive priviledge claim. It looks like that subject may well be headed for the Supreme Court very soon. If that is the case, John Roberts may have wisely stored up his political capital for a very important decision. Had he been the one who ended Obama care the tide would already running fast against him. Now that he is the hero of the left and the media, There will be a little less chance of violent revolution the moment he tosses out the EP claim.
in no uncertain tones by average voters, like the tea party folks, and by tough-minded and hard-talking Republican Party figures like Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Rudy Giuliani, Paul Ryan, etc., and by no nonsense Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter and Diana West and Michelle Malkin, and such, that he better not pull a John Roberts act himself.
Romney has a habit of appeasing on small points to make himself sound like a regular, reasonable guy. He must be made to see he won’t win votes by presenting himself as nice, but by being tough. That’s what won over the crowds that gave sleazy, snot-nosed, lying Obama punk the shellacking he got in 2010.
I don’t think Romney understands that yet. He has it in him, I think, but letting it all hang out is something else.
Everyone has their pet problem which only laws and men with guns can solve. Left and Right. So here we are today.
We can all see what is coming at us. We have protested. we have lobbied. Yet the train keeps coming. The facts are that all in this Congress, in this administration and in this SCOTUS(with the possible exception of Justice Scalia) are corrupt and in violation of their oaths of office. Those whose job it is to charge them with being in violation of those oaths refuse to do so, in violation of their own.
As a nation, we no longer share the value set(Christian) that made us a great nation. We are about to reap the cost of that failure to pass on those values to our youth as well as our apathy in educating them.
Our nation works on trust. Our money is nothing more than trust. It was strong because, as a nation of shared values, we could trust one another to do the “right” thing. That is becoming less true as we watch. Unless Christian values are restored, they will be replaced by socialist/islamic values. I always used to wonder how Germany ended up where they did. Now I know.
The lesson of WI, from someone who lives here, is that most of WI still has a set of shared, mostly Christian values. (Tough winters will tend to do that.) We still value thrift, personal responsibility, self reliance, common sense, generosity and keeping your word. We still despise cheating and theft. The GOP no longer has those values, although they like to say that they do to reap the benefit of the trust of those still standing for the waning value set of Christianity.
Liberty without responsibility is not liberty, it is license, and there can be no true freedom where you cannot trust your neighbors.
If we continue on our present course, and it’s guaranteed if Obama wins, and 50/50 if Romney wins, our debt, and credit worthiness, will reach a point where the Chinese will become genuinely worried about ever getting payments on interest, let alone principal. When that happens, we’ll see China demanding active involvement in our finacial matters, probably to the point of holding veto power over policy and legislation. They would also probably demand repayment, not with worthless dollars, but hard assets like natural resources and with controlling interest in corporations that provide the basics of life. And if they’re feeling especially powerful, they might demand that we remove our military bases and fleets from Asia. All of this would enrage the American people, and it could result in war with China. At this point, imagination fails me.
Roberts has something in his past that Axelrod now carries on a thumb-drive in his vest pocket. I don’t know if it’s Sanduski-like, but who knows? Recall, Obama didn’t get where he is today without a few ‘sealed documents’ becoming unsealed just prior to elections. It’s the Chicago Way.
Dirty politics are just that, and they’re played to win. Again, welcome to Chicago politics. Roberts was ‘gotten to’, plain and simple. His job was to save Obamacare at any cost, and he did- with the ‘tax’ plan, or someone’s chicken was coming home to roast. Incoherent, stupid, but it worked. Now, the geniuses on the Right look for silver linings. Puke a lung out.
Does anyone vet our public employees? How about the higher-ups? To think our constitution has just taken a major hit by a man who may have had similar urges more common among the likes of Barney Frank and Friends is sickening. Justice indeed.
A Chance: After a temper tantrum like that, banging away with your spoon on your high chair, I have no interest in talking to you. Why would I want to? Yet you see yourself as the voice of reason. Good luck.
That reply function was just too intellectually demanding, huh? Just like that factual or logical rebuttal stuff is a whole lot harder than ad hominem and naked assertions. Oh well, stupid people are like slinkys; they’re not good for anything but it is entertaining as Hell to push them down a flight of stairs.
Q.E.D.
Others can decide what that makes you.
We did it to ourselves:
http://classicalvalues.com/2012/07/why-im-pessimistic/
Call me a troll, but why should I listen to anything this writer says when he writes stuff like, “Imagine DMV supervisors, TSA employees, someone like an Eric Holder running the show, and taking a number at the emergency room, and you have the formula of dealing with your rendezvous with a tumor or heart attack.”
None of this is factual; under the health care law you still go see your doctor when you want to and your insurance works the same way. Either the writer doesn’t know this, meaning he has taken his information on what the ACA is from Republican talking points rather than what’s actually in the law, or he’s lying to all of us. Also, “taking a number at the emergency room”? Uh, that’s how emergency rooms work; it’s a mix of who needs the most urgent care and the order you arrived in. The ACA doesn’t change this, like at all. Again, does this clown really thing the ACA says “when you go to the emergency room, you need to take a number now, like at a deli”? Seriously, I’d love to debate the merits of the legislation, but how can I do that when this writer would prefer simply to make stuff up about it?
You’re a troll. Wish granted.
Doctor Hanson, as well as some of the posters here, have lived in countries where socialized medicine is in place and the effects of same. This “tax” will cost you more for less quality care in the long run and the future impact of the availiblity of care providers will also take a hit.
There is a shortage of doctors in most western nations. Do you know why?
I dunno. Did they start up hedge-funds, and then get bailed out by GWB, Obama, or Romney? Is it that people who would have been doctors before, are doing something else now, or that because of many factors, we simply need more doctors?
Any way you slice it, a population that lives longer and has some access to all the newest, most expensive ways of prolonging life is going to need a higher percent of their total life’s earnings paid out for health care. I think that Romney would probably have better ideas about how to slice up the pie. It’s about that simple. Either way, there will be massive government involvement in healthcare.
(And to get in the spirit of the plethora of over-the-top responses here, here is my humble contribution:)
The conservative concept (via the King James) is that the lifespan of man is three score and ten. When dirty small c communists began developing their commie vaccines, wonder drugs, and artificial everythings, the Founders turned over in their graves and God began to punish us, because man was not made by his maker to live much longer than that. If disease won’t kill us, then the Lord will make certain that something else does. The only spiritual and patriotic thing to do is to cash in your chips at around 70. Think of it as God’s death panel.
“The only spiritual and patriotic thing to do is to cash in your chips at around 70. Think of it as God’s death panel.”
D-White. Does God play dice? Or maybe the Wheel of Fortune? So then we” do the same in the guise of “for the greated good”. With the others ending with a government induced, then forced choice. The very government tasked with the protecting of that now quaint notion of the individual.
Did you pick the Queen of Diamonds? You have no choice now, but to do as you are told. Join the Panel. Are Panels exempt? Many are exempt. Congress? Unions, favorites?
God said to Abraham kill me a son…
Abe said, “Lord, where do you want this killing done?”
My over-the-top response got your attention, eh? Well, help me think this through. There are now ever more expensive treatments and medications for our ever-expanding latter years. Health insurance plans pool your (and your employer’s) contributions to supposedly pay for the more expensive treatments. If you can’t afford (or simply refuse) health insurance, one can assume that even if you get emergency room care=x, you won’t get extended treatment like chemo, transplants=y etc. Then you likely die. If I have a cheaper health plan, it will likely cover x, but not y. If I need y, I likely die.
If I understand the objection to socialized medicine, it is that with so many people getting x AND y, you will have to wait a lot longer to get either. NOT giving/selling some people x or y, and giving/selling some people only y, the system works more efficiently because many people just die out on Highway 61 and then, there is more time and money to give the elect their x’s and y’s.
Are you with me so far?
“If I understand the objection to socialized medicine…”
D-White. It’s Socialism, not just the sugar coated, so called do good out of context wishes. “We” will be you for you. And then “they” expect a thank you. No thanks.
Go jump in a lake.
“I dunno.”
The most honest thing you have ever posted.
“Either way, there will be massive government involvement in healthcare.”
You’re wrong. It doesn’t have to be that way, however the govenements role has nothing to do with healthcare. It’s about distribution.
“Think of it as God’s death panel.”
And who gets to play G-d or at least claim to act on G-d’s behalf? That’s an easy one for you dwight.
I’ll punt you back to scroll-over-ville now. You still have a long way to go.
I don’t hear you answering the question either. You are high in snark and virtually content-free in you response. How about some substance?
“I don’t hear you answering the question either.”
State the question and I’ll consider giving you an answer.
“You are high in snark and virtually content-free in you response. How about some substance?”
I find all your posts exactly that with nothing behind your words, so snark is all you deserve.
“State the question and I’ll consider giving you an answer.”
Have you forgotten your own question? I’ll give you a hint; something to do with doctors.
Mine was how do you pay for healthcare in a world where people live much longer and have potential access to many very expensive drugs and treatments?
“Mine was how do you pay for healthcare in a world where people live much longer and have potential access to many very expensive drugs and treatments?”
Which people? Most people in the world do not have adequate healthcare to begin with. Those expensive drugs and treatments are only available in the first place due to pharmacutical companies ability to turn on a profit on those drugs which need government approval before they can be sold on the market. The patent is only good for 17 years which is why the initial entry of new drugs cost quite a lot of money. The company needs to recoup their expenditures (R&D, failed test lines, etc..) before their patent runs out and their product then generically produced the world over. It may only cost $.03 to manufacture per pill, but there is always a load of costs behind it that was amortized over the years. Most people don’t grok that.
Doctor shortages are due to caps placed on what they can recharge insurance companies for treatments, which they need to make up in volume to stay afloat with unhappy results for both patient and doctor. Socialized medicine adds no doctors to the roles, just more control and bureaucracy which tends to discourage people from entering the practice. Why become just another public servant. You could ask a few doctors yourself and see what they say.
In short. You seek out the best medical insurance you can afford. The costs won’t go away, but in a free market you can at least shop around. Forcing the public to kick into a single payer program isn’t going to make the costs go away, but it will limit availability to said treatment and drugs. Having insurance and access to healthcare are two different things.
Geez Buckeye, all D-White wanted was some “free” Ex-Lax to clear his “mind”.
Now look what you’ve done. He’s all full up with no place to go.
@Mr Lucky
From the few posts of dwights that I have read over the years, silence was always his best answer.
I don’t disagree with much of your (Abroad or Aboud’s?) analysis of the drug industry, but you ignore the demographics issue which is one of the major things causing the new problems. You have a general view that government cannot help, even in such life and death matters. A scant majority of people claim to oppose Obamacare, but they do like most of the provisions. They may not like the idea of getting them by force of government, but by rather by the free market…or magic; take your pick. The DO want to have them and will eventually get them.
So are the former doctors now becoming hedge fund traders, software writers, firemen, or teachers?
Here’s a wild guess for you and Mr Lucky: Romney gets elected and rescinds Obamacare on his first day in office; (which he may not be able to do anyway) by the time he leaves office there will be a very similar plan.
“…but you ignore the demographics issue which is one of the major things causing the new problems.”
Old people cause problems? I would hate to be your parents. As access to health care is narrowed through bureaucratic gates and the availability of doctors, the old and infirmed will die off. Death panels do exist as in deciding who gets to the top of the list and who waits.
“You have a general view that government cannot help, even in such life and death matters.”
I have personal experience there. Goverment only makes it worse by getting involved.
“A scant majority of people claim to oppose Obamacare, but they do like most of the provisions.”
Most don’t know the details or the projected impacts as most Congressmen who voted for it never read the legislative proposals.
“They may not like the idea of getting them by force of government, but by rather by the free market…or magic; take your pick. The DO want to have them and will eventually get them.”
“They” are free to go get it, but please justify forcing people to purchase something they don’t want. You put a gun to your neighbors head to help “purchase” something you want? Immoral and undefensible agruement.
“So are the former doctors now becoming hedge fund traders, software writers, firemen, or teachers?”
The ones I know run a quiet practice and have things on the side. All of them wish they went into another field.
“… by the time he leaves office there will be a very similar plan.”
Fine. All he has to do is propose where the funding is going to come from. The Swiss have a pretty good model, but as I mentioned earlier the issue really isn’t about access to health care.
BTW- in relation to the discussion, an extract from Ion Pacapa’s post.
“Mr. Lazarescu stubbornly refuses to give up, but at the fourth hospital, the evil bureaucrats win — he dies after a delayed and botched surgery. (The real Mr. Nica was in fact dumped by an ambulance onto a park bench and left there to die.) Mr. Lazarescu’s real enemy was not his illness, but the uncaring and authoritarian attitude so deeply ingrained in bureaucratic practice.”
That’s socialized medicine in the end.
I have an acquaintance in London who has a serious back problem. Disk slipped, out of line, whatever. Serious pain. Hard to walk, move around. Operation called for. The wait under the gov’t plan is 11-15 weeks. She will get whatever surgeon she gets, no choice allowed. Can go private, pay out of pocket and get the surgeon of her choice. Well, she can’t afford to pay for it all herself. Alex, why anyone would think our system will turn out much different is beyond me.
I agree the news from the court is pretty depressing. Basically we cannot depend on the court, or even on the constitution (since the court controls it) to protect our liberty, only we can, by winning elections. But then conservatives never could depend on the court to protect our liberty, so why is that any different.
Yes you have to wonder how, after this series of huge Obama disasters, how he can still be close, and even possibly leading, in the polls. I have a take on that:
1. Most polls do not filter for likely voters, and thus underestimate repub margins, because repub voters are more likely to vote.
2. The only poll that does filter for likely voters, Rasmussen, normally shows better results for us.
3. Even when polls show Obama with a lead, he never has over 50%. The undecided vote tends to break strongly for the challenger, so as long as Obama is well under 50% any apparent lead is not real.
4. I think there is a large intensity gap, also not well reflected in the polls, because there are lots of voters that passionately hate Obama, while his supporters are more tepid now. Intensity drives turnout.
5. Most of the polls still show Obama doing poorly among independents, the key swing vote. This has not driven the polls yet because most independents are still undecided, still uncommitted to Romney. But once they have to make a choice, I think they will vote against Obama.
6. The huge enthusiasm, organization, and manpower of the tea party, which did not even exist before 2009, will give us an effective ground game that we never had before. The effectivenes of that ground game was apparent in walkers win in WI, normally a dem state.
I am not saying all this means we have it in the bag, and we can never underestimate obamas ability to either move or steal votes, but that things are much closer than they appear, and we might even be ahead already.
[oops, I posted this earlier in the wrong place!}
When VDH & friends hike above Huntington Lake (east of Fresno) on August 4, they will be several dozen miles away from the little liberal Mammoth Lakes Town, located further east on the other side of the High Sierras. This famous, but rather bizarre, town of outrageous liberal shenanigans, just declared bankruptcy, following Stockton.
The town has tried every spending plan possible, including spending $3+ million on a summer bike path, from Obama’s 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. I am sure that taxpayers from 49 other states are glad Federal Funds went to something so infrastructure-fruity!
In fact, the same thing happened in my area of Reno. If you drive up Mountain Rose Highway (431) up to the top of the pass between Truckee Meadows (valley containing Reno) and Lake Tahoe, right at the summit is a neat campground. Nothing much seemed wrong with the existing campground. But for two years it was closed as it was redeveloped by, you guessed it, ARRA 2009 Obama funds. This 8,900 foot elevation campground is only open three months.
Another infrastructure-fruity concoction!
VDH loves to point out that real infrastructure involves things like making I-99 in California more than bottle-neck two lanes per direction. Or putting a real I-70 across the Sierras, which would give Mammoth Lakes and Fresno a real, permanent and inherently good infrastructure investment that pays good dividends 24/7 and 365/year.
But no, the liberals need to spend Federal borrowed dollars on campgrounds and bikeways at high elevations (Reno’s pass @ 8,900′ and Mammoth Lakes above 8,000′) where snow covers everything and makes the recreation-only investment dormant half of each year! Brilliant!
Waiting for a Mammoth, Volcanic: Liberal Awakening
By Robert Winkler Burke
Book #9 of In That Day Teachings
7/2/12 http://www.inthatdayteachings.com
Liberal paradise – Bankrupt,
Mammoth egos can’t be stopped,
Volcanic pride must erupt,
Unending spending has flopped.
Mammoth Lakes,
First in line for Obama’s ARRA stimulus bikeway!
On the takes, (What’s three million if others: willin’?)
Forty-nine other states pay for summer hike way!
But what now is this?
Town of Mammoth Lakes can’t pay?
Bankruptcy bliss?
How can liberal spenders say nay?
Poor liberal town of High Sierra Mammoth Lakes,
Not big enough to hide (or really grub) like corrupt L.A.!
It must pay (oh, the rub!) dearly for its mistakes,
But will liberals ever learn? Will they? Who can say?
Maybe they’ll learn this time,
I really do not know!
But God can mystery-rhyme,
With active volcano.
Obummer short of 1 billion? Where in hell do you think all the bail out and green money is going? It should be easy to hide a half a billion dollars when you jack the debt up a trillion at a time..
We must remember that the ‘silent’ majority from the 70′s and the 80′s is gone now. There is no majority of workers in the country to vote for taxpayers. Only 30% of the country was on the dole in 1980, getting some kinda help from the govt. Now it is close to 50%. Obama has an easy path to victory. Romney can’t run against Obamacare. Romneycare was its mother. The biggest issue in the campaign and Romney can’t even touch it. EVEN HE SAYS ITS NOT A TAX.
The only hope for the republicans is a collapse of the economy like in 2008, and don’t get your hopes up for a collapse in September like last time. That was unbelievable good timing that you can’t count on. And a campaign strategy that counts on and hopes for a disaster is immoral too.
Hondo…..
Going “Soviet”, as Rush Limbaugh has said, is what is transpiring before our eyes.
Dr. Hanson;
If you could combine your incisiveness with Michael Barone’s political wisdom, we could have as accurate a prediction for the next President as any short term weather forecast.
jbtx Sadly the readership of this blog is such a tiny percentage of the 2012 voters as to not matter much in the overall scheme of things. The vast majority of the voting public still get their news and commentary from SNL.–JB.
A modes proposal–I think? we -”US” – are missing something, even the folks, who have no special interest and are just toiling away at their jobs (if they still have one) at or in the very least know someone who this administrations policies or lack there of have caused those folk to fall on very hard times. I think! (might be wishful thinking) that a number of these folks will decide its time to move in a different direction. I for one will work to get this corrupt communist bastard out of office as soon as possible on nov 6 of this year.
Check “6″