Where Did the Tea-Party Anger Come From?
Why is the Angry Public so Angry?
I think we all know why the Tea Party movement arose — and why even the polls do not quite reflect the growing generic anger at incumbents in general, and our elites in particular.
Anger at Everything?
There is a growing sense that government is what I would call a new sort of Versailles — a vast cadre of royal state and federal workers that apparently assumes immunity from the laws of economics that affect everyone else.
In the olden days, we the public sort of expected that the L.A. Unified School District paid the best and got the worst results. We knew that you didn’t show up at the DMV if you could help it. A trip to the emergency room was to descend into Dante’s Inferno. We accepted all that in other words, and went on with our business.
But at some point — perhaps triggered by the radical increase in the public sector under Obama, the militancy of the SEIU, or the staggering debts — the public snapped and has had it with whining union officials and their political enablers who always threaten to cut off police and fire protection if we object that there are too many unproductive, unnecessary, but too highly paid employees at the Social Service office. In short, sometime in the last ten years public employees were directly identified with most of what is now unsustainable in the U.S. The old idea that a public servant gave up a competitive salary for job security was redefined as hitting the jackpot.
The Tea Party is not over
There is another Tea Party theme that those who play by the rules are being had, from both the top and bottom. The Wall Street bailouts and financial help to the big banks smelled of cronyism, made worse by the notion that liberal “reformers” like Obama got more from Big Money than did the usual insider Republican aristocrats. (The continual left-wing trend of wealthy elites is an untold story, but it suggests a sort of noble disdain: “We make so much that we are immune from the hurt of higher taxes, but like expanded entitlements as a sort of penance for our privilege.”)
Emblematic of the anger at both top and bottom was the 2008 meltdown: those who had not played by the rules still got their mortgages, then defaulted, and left the taxpayer with their bills; those who made the loans and profited without risk took the bailout money, and left us with the cleanup. Those in between with underwater mortgages and higher taxes pay the tab.
We are not 19th-century poor
Somehow we forget that we are in the 21st century with our multitude of cell-phones, laptops, no-down-payment new car leases, big-screen TVs, cheap food, and accessible rent that have permeated all society and given the proverbial underclass appurtenances that only the very rich of the 1960s could have dreamed of. Yet the Dickensian rhetoric has only intensified. There is rarely any acknowledgment of the public’s investment in anti-poverty programs or of its efforts to promote social equality. Instead, an overtaxed electorate is constantly reminded of its unfairness and its moral shortcomings. (I just left a multimillion dollar ICU unit in Fresno, where I was visiting a relative. Over a third of the visitors there did not seem to speak English, and so I was impressed by the public generosity that extends such sophisticated care to those who that day seemed largely to have arrived here recently from Mexico. The notion that a visitor to Mexico could walk into such a unit in Mexico City and get instant, free — and quality — care is, well, inconceivable. Yet politicians talk of our heartlessness, not our generosity.)
Existential Blues
There is a sense of futility: new higher taxes won’t lower the deficit and won’t improve infrastructure or public service. Much of it will go to redistributive plans that, the middle believes, will only, fairly or not, acerbate social problems. In California there is a sense (born out by statistics) that we lack a civil and humane public culture brought on by two often neglected facts: a small cadre of overpaid public employees ensures that we don’t have the money for continuance of basic public services; and, second, we feel our tax money is going to redistributive entitlements rather than focused on improving a collapsing infrastructure of dams, canals, freeways, airports, and trains. The idea that a California could ever again build its share of the transcontinental railroad, recreate its Sierra network of dams, copy the Central Valley Water Project, or match the 1960s standards of the UC and CSU university systems is laughable. (But we surely could write a position paper on why the above are either ecologically unsound or in fact counterproductive.) In short, our intent now is not achievement, but equality by any means necessary.
Law — what law?
There is an anger that the law is now malleable. Creditors are bumped at Chrysler, violating contractual agreements. We hear of rumors that cap and trade and amnesty can be accomplished by administrative fiat rather than by law. Of course, BP is demonic in its Gulf performance, but where does Obama obtain the legal right to demand $20 billion in confiscated capital (why then not $50,100, or 200 billion?).
Federal immigration law — as Labor Secretary Hilda Solis recently demonstrated — is not to be enforced, since it is now a race/class/gender issue, or rather a question of demography as seen in purely political terms. Most accept that “government” goes after the misdemeanors of the law-biding citizen to justify its existence, while ignoring the felonies of the lawbreaker, whose enforcement requires expense, and occasional danger. (Why else would the federal government declare some border spots as “no-go” areas in the style of Sadr City?). Are we in Jacobin times, when revolutionary fervor determines which laws are enforced and which not, as if their validity is a political matter alone?
Success in not an accident, but then neither is failure
For some reason, our elite classes either cannot or will not explain openly and without artifice why it is that innately wealthy countries like Mexico or those in the Arab world or in Africa cannot adequately feed, educate, house, and employ their own citizens. Instead, we are to assume that some sort of ubiquitous oppression exists that that makes us wealthy,and others thousands of miles away poor, and requires apologies rather than exegesis. (Don’t dare suggest that the age-old causes of wealth and poverty still apply everywhere: either one ensures the rule of law, private property, an open economy, a free press, independent judiciary, constitutional protections, and religious tolerance, and allows science to evolve free from government and religious interference, or one does not and stays impoverished).
The Wages of Never Waste a Crisis
All of which brings us back to Obama. Why has he crashed in just 18 months, or, better yet, why still at 47 percent approval? Perhaps many don’t want to be accused of racism in openly stating their disappointment. Others feel that to admit his failures is a sort of self-incrimination of having voted for him; others still believe in a honeymoon and want to give their relatively fresh president a fair shot. All that said, I think his polls will soon reach historic lows, largely because he did not address middle class unease, but instead manipulated it to press for a transformational neo-socialist agenda, when most wanted less not more government.
The point is not that Obama is ipso facto as president responsible for the recession, the 10% unemployment, the ongoing wars, the congressional corruption, or the BP spill, but rather that he sold himself on the notion that he was not merely a different politician (originally, distinct from Hillary and Bush, and then McCain), but an entirely new sort of public figure altogether, beholden to no one, eager for bipartisan 21st century-change, ready to address long-festering problems in untraditional ways.
You were had
After 18 months, the people feel they have been had — in the way that a blow-dried mansion living, philandering John Edwards is hardly an advocate for the “other America,” or a green-scheming, instant multi-millionaire Al Gore is hardly a disinterested advocate for welcoming reasonable debate about a sustainable planet. Prophets fall harder, especially when “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for” prove to be a reflective of the Chicago way, the snooty ineptness of the Harvard lounge, and the shrill leftism of SEIU.
Rangel, Dodd, Geithner, the Blago mess, the lobbyists, the earmarks, and the political bribes to pass health care together have convinced half the electorate in just a few months that Obama is not merely not a reformer, but perhaps the most ethically compromised president since Bill Clinton or Richard Nixon.
Stimulus is Still Borrowing
His massive borrowing and poorly focused “stimulus” simply squandered federal cash and made things worse. As we go over the cliff, we are told by some that the stimulus was too small or we need to be bolder still and print ever more money — sort of like the madman who screams he needed wings as he jumps into the abyss. By constantly demonizing business, and libeling everyone from surgeons to investors, the administration scared the private sector. If that were not enough, serial loose talk of new taxes, health-care surcharges, income tax increases, caps coming off income exposed to FICA hikes, rumors of federal VAT or excise taxes, all coupled with the states raising income and sales taxes, has persuaded employers either to hold off buying equipment and hiring, or to look for part-time workers only. Psychology, of course, matters.
War on the war on terror?
The war on terror is seen not as a war at all, but a showcase of good intentions, and so constantly renamed, punctuated by apology, and characterized by complete hypocrisy and contradiction, whether flip-flopping on Guantanamo or the KSM trial, the politically correct new euphemisms, the appointments like Janet Napolitano or John Brennan, or the Orwellian adoption of the very Bush protocols (Predators, renditions, tribunals, wiretapping, intercepts, etc.) that Obama not long ago demagogued as unconstitutional. I fear the threat has grown, not passed.
Reset Nauseas
Abroad, there is a general rule: any nation that was well intended toward the United States between 2001-09 (e.g., Britain, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Germany, India, Israel, Poland, etc) is now suspect; those that clearly were anti-American in that era (eg., Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Palestine, Russia, Syria, Venezuela, etc.) now earn American outreach and deference. Is it better to have been a friend or enemy of the U.S? The Russian spy ring, the Chavez socialist tour, the Syrian sale of missiles to Hezbollah, the Iranian full speed ahead on nuclear attainment, the increase in foiled terrorist plots at home, the China snub, and the Turkish furor all suggest that both neutrals and our enemies are not swayed by magnanimity as much as emboldened by tentativeness.
The recession, anger with Bush, deficits, the furor at Wall Street, unease with the long wars abroad — all that put the American people into a restive, herd-like mood by 2008 to the point that they were liable to charge at any given target. Barack Obama, however, focused that anger by using their hoof-stomping to sneak in a neo-socialist agenda that he knew in normal times had no public support. But he thought the current crisis of public confidence and the fawning media together might help him get it through.
Horns lowered
Instead, the herd turned, roared, and now with horns lowered is charging at Obama — and of all people!
Dr. Hanson:
Indeed, however, I suspect that the final straw, or straws, have to do with American self image. The majority of Americans clearly still see America as the one truly exceptional, indispensable nation, and the last, best hope of Mankind and civilization. They know that despite our flaws, America stands head and shoulders above whoever is in second place. And they also know that compared with every other nation, our flaws are microscopic. Americans are willing to work and provide a reasonable portion of their incomes for the benefit of the genuinely destitute and to aid those of other nations less fortunate than ourselves, in fact, we take justifiable pride in so doing.
But we are not fools. We know the media is a subsidiary of the Democrat party and is not to be trusted. We expect a certain amount of corruption in our politicians, but only a certain amount. We expect that politicians will lie to us, but not too much and not when it really matters. We work hard and in return expect things to work and expect to be able to purchase goods and services at the reasonable and affordable prices a free market economy provides. We expect government to be responsive to our needs and collective wishes, particularly when substantial majorities hold the same needs and wishes, foolishly believing this to be the expression of democracy. We expect logic, rationality and practicality to reign, so that if we need oil and we have our own oil, we produce that oil.
And above all, we believe in the Constitution, in the rule of law, even if many of us can’t quote it verbatim. We take seriously the notion that no man is above the law and that equality comes from our dedication to the principals of the Constitution, to fair play and to playing by the rules. We believe that there can be no defacto royalty, no ruling class. Sufficient Americans still know, even if they can’t quote Marx or Lenin, that Communism and all of its offshoots are evil personified and are, in every way, anti-democratic and anti-American.
And then comes Obama, a man who violates, in every way, everything we believe. Yes, most Americans took some genuine satisfaction in electing a black man merely because he was black, and for that arguably noble act were willing to put aside some initial unease in the hope that he would grow in office as many American presidents have. We know and unconsciously accept that not everyone has the same intellect and abilities, that there is always someone smarter, faster, stronger, prettier. Such is the reality of equality, equality before the law, not in genetic endowment. But we anger when one of our hired hands, one of our politicians, even the POTUS, so blatantly postures to be our better, to be so much more moral and smarter than the little people in flyover country.
We watch him partying and golfing as the French kings of old. We watch him lie and double down on his lies. We understand that he has no intention of representing America and American values and interests. We feel that he does not consider himself to be an American, but something more moral, something better, and that his superiority gives him leave to dictate to us all. We watch his hapless Vice President take offense at the mere suggestion of lowering taxes and insult the businessman who moments earlier gave him a free snack. We watch him rule by edict and ask ourselves how a declared enemy of America could do any more damage than he has done and is determined to do even as he insults our friends and kisses our enemies, undoing centuries of hard, diplomatic work by untold Americans.
Ultimately, his undoing and the undoing of every craven politician who has forgotten or chooses to ignore the nature of America and Americans, will be their very forgetfulness or ignorance. Ask Ben Nelson who was actually run out of a Nebraska restaurant by the common rabble for his deceptions and support of Obama. Americans are unlike the citizens of every other nation. Revolution is our national heritage and in our blood and we will not stand idly by and allow statists to destroy that which is our individual and national nature.
Only two primary questions remain: Which usurpation will be the last straw (Blanket amnesty for illegal aliens by executive order? Gasoline at $10 a gallon while Obama shuts off domestic production? Obamacare death panels deciding to euthanize Grandma?)? And when and what degree of force will be required to sweep those intent on their glorification and our destruction from power? Obama has awakened a sweeping giant and is filling him with a terrible resolve. As we took satisfaction in his election for laudable personal reasons, greater satisfaction based on our common image and heritage will be taken in his (and his coat tail rider’s) political demise.
YES, YES, YES. your response to, and, Dr. HAnson’s comments. To beat a dead horse: OBAMA is NOT ALONE.He is the culmination of the plans/ plots? for the past half century of the so-called Democratic Party/RINOs AS THE ARHCHITECTS OF THE DESIGNS/BLUEPRINTS OF the “monarchists of the political LEFT” of the twentieth century. Since it got the bit between its teeth by convincing voters that they CAN get something for nothing, the highwaymen (Stand and Deliver) of freedoms via economic manipulations “for the good of the people”. The buy now, pay later (or someone else pays), the socalled “welfare” paid by Peter to pay Paul which imprisoned entire populations of American Citizens in the false safety of dependency.
He/they institutionalise THEIR CHANGE in a mighty rush to do so, while thumbing collective noses at the American People. Those who did not agree to his programs. AND to the entire American Ethos by contempt AND ABROGATION of Rights protected in the Constitution.
SO WHAT? Criminals and gangsters do not by definition obey the law but use terror, intimidation with the ultimate threat, and that effective tool LIES LIES LIES. WHAT then can law-abiding essentially honest citizens/suckers do to forestall further damage and roll back that already done. November is a long time hence.These DELIBERATE DESTROYERS of AMERICA can do unforetold damage in that time and ALL within the LAW THAT THEY AS LAWYERS INTERPRET. Lawyers know that it is easier to enact than to repeal law.
Obama is a symbol, and was selected by the “Democrats” hierarchy (in its meaning as priesthood) as such . Even dubbed by their barkers the MSM the “New Kennedy” and the Messiah. To accommodate the rage expressed by the spokespersons Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton at the loss of the Millenium election. My surmise because it was to be the date to symbolise their NEW WORLD ORDER. THAT SYMBOL now lost to them through historical time. So a NEW SYMBOL, a NEW MESSIAH, for their NEW WORLD ORDER.
Too bad electors, AND THOSE WHO SAT IT OUT, forgot the SCARIEST WORDS in the language: WE’RE FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND WE’RE HERE TO HELP”.
mikemcdaniel- The article was one of the best I have read in awhile and your comments were of equal importance. Thanks for taking the time to frame our nations problems so well.
November can not come soon enough.
apparently there are more fools among us then you care to contemplate. Remember obama was elected without vetting.
and even now enjoys more support then is logically conceivable.
To paraphrase el Presidente de Mexico: “America is where Americans live.’ True, and Mexico is where Mexicans live. Get it straight — NYC and San Francisco?Hollywood are not America. Althouh some Americans still live there, they have no power or influence, and are treated like serfs. Google “Curley Effect” if you want to understand how human social systems work. In a nutshell, in any one place, one (and only one) group, race, language-group, religion, or whatever, can be dominant. Only one — no ties, no taking turns. Once you get this, all Left-wing politics makes perfect sense. The Left wants to displace Americans (descendants and relatives, in the broader sense, of the original/early Colonists) as the dominant group in the USA. I don’t know why Leftist Americans want to do this, but most Leftists are not Americans, and for them it’s just natural human behavior.
To sum up:
The Kenyan has thrown freedom and liberty under the bus. As expected.
I do not think things will end well.
Just trying to figure out who to shoot first when habeas corpus is suspended.
War has done more good for humankind than any other method in the history of civilized society.
I am really perplexed how things went wrong so fast. Of course the Marxist takeover has been in the works for about a hundred years.
We are now at this time at the cumlative epicenter of it all. The Marxist have been fighting for so long, they will not go down without death as part of the equation. They beleive this to be their God moment.
Why now?
A sense of loss is upon the taxpaying American public. Freedom and all.
We have institutionalized Marxist idealology in our schools, media, and government.
That was the plan for the subversives all along.
The war is coming.
Pretty much garanteed.
Aim straight with extreme prejudice. Otherwise, we become them.
charles
I hope and pray that there will NOT be blood.
At the same time, there’s no getting around the point you make, that after working so hard, so long, to get all this power, the Marxists will NOT simply roll over and give it back.
I cannot imagine violence–but then, neither can I imagine that the Marxists will allow there to be fair elections four months from now.
Mother of God, pray for us!
Mike McDaniel, did you do a house bible study a few years ago at the D’s house, and does your wife’s name start with that same letter, by any chance?
No, sorry.
Thank you mr.mikemcdaniel for a most worthy read on our current plight. So much whirls around us ,it is difficult to bench it all for repair. But, you sir have rightly done so. Thank you , i`ve enjoyed you.
Exactly where ARE the 3.5 million jobs Obama promised us would be “created or saved” by his “Stimulus” bill?
They can be found almost exclusively within the Public Employee Union payrolls. The “Stimulus” was nothing more than a tax-payer funded bail-out for the collapsing Bureaucratic Political Machine. Which is STILL collapsing. Even after $862,174,500,000. Not to mention the obligatory long term interest payments to countries like China, Saudi Arabia, & Quatar to service the new debt – as much $350,000,000,000.
This will be recorded by historians as the greatest boondoggle ever perpetrated on humanity.
& the full-scale economic disaster that IS the Obama Presidency is now in the process of destroying the modern Democrat Party.
38% approval among Independents means a Wave Election that dwarfs even the 1994 Republican revolution. Like millions of new Libertarian-minded voters, I’ve come to realize the massive spending, anti-growth, interventionalist & collectivist policies of the party in power are wrecking HAVOC on the private sector, small businesses, the jobs market, the National Debt.
Democrats are marching straight into a meat grinder this November.
Dems will loose 10-12 seats in the Senate, & 50-70 in the House.
So let the electoral butchering begin. In the Senate:
NV, Reid: Loss – Bye-bye Harry, you corrupt wretched filth.
AR, Lincoln: Loss – See ya, Blanchie!
CA, Boxer: DONE! – This condescending elitist ideologue with a room temperature IQ is finally gonna get the BOOT!
CO, Bennett: Loss – Should’ve held out for a better gig in the Obama Regime.
CT, Blumenthal: Never! – The Fake Vet – What a lying, posturing, dishonorable scumbag.
DE, Coons: Not a chance, & Biden Jr (for Gov): Son of the ViceTool?, don’t make me laugh.
IL, Giannoulias: Nope – & your daddy’s bank has gone belly up. Better dust off your phony resume’.
IN, Ellsworth: Sorry – you won’t be able to demagogue your way out of THIS one.
ND, Potter: Ain’t gonna happen.
OH, Fisher: Adios!
PA, Sestak: Fail! – say it ain’t so, Joe.
WV, Byrd: The ancient & senile Exalted Cyclops is FINALLY filibustering nonsensically in Hell. Good luck holding on to THIS seat, Dems.
WI, Feingold: Maybe we can finally put a stake through THIS bloodsucker.
And the House looks much, much worse. Collectivism has always and will always fail. It’s course correction time, here in America.
This fall the Dem majority will be obliterated beneath the HURRICANE of righteous voter fury.
116 days
My apologies, MikeMcDaniels. I have no idea how my post ended up as a reply to yours.
Very insightful, both you and Dr. Hanson.
… either one ensures the rule of law, private property, an open economy, a free press, independent judiciary, constitutional protections, religious tolerance, and allows science to evolve free from government and religious interference, or one does not and stays impoverished.
I will add that, when “one does not”, they also leave their nation (particularly if they do have innate wealth) highly vulnerable to being hijacked by tyrants, and exploited by them to expand their tyranny to other nations. Conversely, when one does ensure the effective and efficient exercise of the above attributes in their nation, they immunize their nation against the vulnerability of such hijacking.
The characteristics Prof. Hanson delineated in the quote above all comprise what I call “rights-respecting governance” … and the establishment of that in dysfunctional nations is the most direct path to establishing a sustainable peace.
The problem is, support for the establishment of rights-respecting governance requires a confidence in its intrinsic moral virtue that those steeped in relativism (particularly the multiculturalist strain) can’t seem to exhibit. It requires declaring that some societal systems are intrinsically better than others with respect to their effect on the human condition … and acting upon that declaration.
Ironically, the relativists themselves have come up with their own “absolute” moral viewpoint; the view described by Prof. Hanson of America and the West as oppressors who must (perpetually) apologize, because they have advanced beyond other nations instead of always staying close to the least-common-denominator of the community of nations. This view and its corollaries make up much of the conventional wisdom regarding foreign relations/national security of the last 50 years … and its acceptance allowed tyrants to grow stronger and bolder while leaving millions oppressed and billions threatened.
Unnecessarily.
The actions of our enemies … they are not chickens that are coming home to roost for this Administration and their allies in Congress … they are ostriches and albatrosses.
Well written as always Professor. I would only add that the power and abuse of government employee unions is pushing us to the breaking point. Even cursory reflection shows that this is a power that should be outlawed. Private sector unions, for all their faults, are less dangerous in that there is still a balance in the equation bewteen management and union. Ultimately, if the union demands become too unreasonable management cann pull the ‘nuclear tirgger’ and close up shop or move overseas. The mere existence of this option makes everyone more reasonable.
That balance doesn’t exist when it comes to public sector unions. Technically we, the taxpayers, are the management but the reality is that management is actually the Democrat Party, which as a wholly owned subsidiary of the unions, is particularly unsuited and incapable of representing the interests of the taxpayer. Hence the crisis we face. JFK, if I’m not mistaken, passed the law allowing public employees to organize. I wonder what he’d think if he saw the monster he’d created.
It occurs to me that there exists a high degree of moral hazard in public sector unions since the risk falls to a third party, the taxpayer, to pick up the tab for excessive demands on the employer, the government. Therefore, public sector unions should be outlawed since the government employer has every reason to accede to union demands in return for votes, votes that would cancel out the vote of no confidence by the taxpayer who finally comes to his senses that he is being robbed blind.
Public sector employee unions are a win-win for employee and employer and a no-win situation for the taxpayer. The Republican Party, if they have any balls at all, which is highly questionable but for the single example of New Jersey’s Chris Christie, should make the repeal of the law establishing PSUs one of its top platform items.
But, alas, the Republican Party, like its most notorious brown-nosers John McCain and Lindsey Graham, and its insipid McConnell Senate leader, are more worried about how they’re portrayed on CNN than they are about fixing the truly enormous debt problems we face. If CNN said BOO, they’d crumble like crushed leaves. There’s not a backbone among them. “Hey, John, which way’s the wind blowing?”
It is my understanding that Pres Kennedy signed an order allowing the existence of public employee unions. If so, then can’t a future president revoke that order?
Public employees are already represented as taxpayers and citizens. They do not need the representation of a union.
PS I am a retired federal worker.
It is true that Kennedy signed an EO authorzing unions in the federal government. Unfortunately, it was made into a statute in 1978. It is actually rather a weak law in that it does not permit a closed shop in federal agencies, which is the case most everywhere else that has a union.
AMEN.
The whole concept of workers essentially organizing against other taxpayers is completely absurd. This is one of the chief subjects we really need to try to educate our friends and acquaintances about.
Dr.Hanson-
People are starting to wake up to the fact that even under the best circumstances, government really doesn’t work very well at tending to its most basic functions. You mentioned the decayed infrastructure in California.
When I hear ads on radio promoting the “Rebuild California” initiative with its exhortations to fix our aging infrastructure it only makes me sneer. As I’m hearing this while driving down the boulevard on buckled pavement that hasn’t been touched in 25 years I’m thinking “how come this road didn’t get fixed during plush times when we had the means to do so -and now they want more of my money to do the job they’ve has consistently failed at?.” It’s a credibility issue.
“….we feel our tax money is going to redistributive entitlements rather than focused on improving a collapsing infrastructure of dams, canals, freeways, airports, and trains.”
Doesn’t matter. Most of the contracts for heavy industrial & construction projects end up stimulating foreign economies and their workers anyway. For example all of the steel for the Bay Area port infrastructure and bridge projects are fabricated and shipped here from China. High Speed rail? I’d bet most of those dollars will go overseas. Steel rails themselves have come from Asia for many years. We’ve been sold a global economy bill of goods for decades now by both parties.
We focus on government workers these days because they are the only ones left making a decent living now that we have destroyed our industrial base. Obama is only a figure head. Does Mitch McConnell have a better idea? The American electorate is pissed at all of them. Where is the alternative to the status quo? Not sure November will make much difference.
yeah, and there’s all those chinese over here, building our railroads.
perhaps you exaggerate un peu…and darn who do you think worked for Arabian-American Oil Co – arabs?
Actually the US is still the number one manufacturing economy in the world today – however China is set to surpass us in 2011 or 2012.
The ‘culprit – if you will – is our level of productivity (take a look at the countries with ‘quality of life’ – a who’s who of teetering economies) which is far and away higher than China – and higher than the rest of the world to – we employ fewer workers for a given task. Much of this has to do with automation and manufacturing methods.
And thereby hangs the tail. Can American productivity be re-applied to all the industries which we have lost or invent new ones to carry the day? What we need to do is invent and produce in America a video game…or any product which the average Chinese consumer learns of, wants to buy, and can come close to affording. Anyone who can pull this off can become the next Bill Gates/Steve Jobs.
Such developments (or lack thereof) will affect our future a lot more than whether we have an Obama or a GWB as President, but such a development is way past the ability of anyone but our geniuses, so what is left for us to do but to mutter, grumble, rant, and curse whichever administration happens to be in power. Yeah, there is a lot of collective frustration and anger, but I don’t see that anyone has significantly better alternatives.
Er, tale.
1) We haven’t lost any industries.
2) The average Chinese consumer can barely afford to buy food.
What a horrendous summary after 18 months! So accurately stated, as per usual, Herr Hanson. If this expression of fact is not reflective of most American citizens, God help the United States.
And by the way, writing from Toronto, after all the money blown on security for the political elites to have their meetings, and miscreant vandals trashing our city, I am actually very proud of our Prime Minister Harper.
He challenged all countries to halve deficit levels by 2013, and debt levels by 2017(? on the timeframe). That, and our country with a current 4% of GDP deficit level, a banking system long criticized as too conservative that weathered the financial crisis beautifully (since it never participated in the first place) could actually be a leader.
Now, with the U.K. actually taking a balanced approach to restore fiscal sanity, with a very well structured combination of tax cuts (corporate) and increases (VAT +2.5% to 20%!! yikes), with reduced spending (public sector wage freezes for 2 years) and other cuts (except for health and defense I believe it was), we actually have a country taking action.
Canada has taken the Brit’s lead, and made it a public focal point for all countries at the G20, only to have Obama more or less sluff it off, as “heh.. we’re already doing that” (except that in the U.S.’s case, it needs to be cut by 60% or 80% from an astonishingly high absolute level).
Let’s hope from now to November, this kind of perspective that Dr. Hanson, in his usual exceptional manner, puts forth, becomes the order of the day for most Americans. It’s time to get down to business, roll up our sleeves, and make room for the individuals and entrepreneurs of our countries to drive the economy, innovation and business activity to productive and prosperous levels again.
Well said David, glad to see another Torontonian on P.J media. I sent John Oakley at A.M 640 this latest VDH bit of brilliance this morning. I heard him interviewing John Bolton. He is a voice of sanity and common sense in this once great city.
Maryann, in Markham
This post was a great snapshot of the day and a true representation of the feelings of most of us I’m sure.
1. The *real* unemployment rate is much higher than 9.7%. I’ve seen numbers of 16-20%.
2. VDH hits the nail on the head with his discussion about the selective enforcement of the law.
The President and his Cabinet officials just pick and choose what laws to enforce and the prime example is immigration.
Congress has also failed to pass a budgetthis year. A federal law *requires* Congress to do so and even sets the date. But the Dems just ignored it.
So I got to thinking, can’t a citizen go to federal court and request a writ of mandamus compelling the other two branches to follow the law? Putting aside standing issues and other technical legal problems, my conclusion is that the judges have no real power or authority to force the other two branches to follow the law.
As one president reportedly said, “Tell Mr. Chief Justice Marshall to enforce his own order.”
The crux of the problem is that if the executive and congressional officials are essentially lawless, then the whole Republic falls apart.
At its core, much of the United States is about the rule of law. If the President and Congress won’t obey and enforce the laws as written then we are in big, big trouble.
Excellent summary. I especially agree with the bait-and-switch aspects of Obama’s first year. He ran on an anti-Bush platform, yet what was his first, almost obsessive concern from the moment he took office? Health care reform. I didn’t think I was the only person in America scratching his head and wondering where the hell that came from.
Dr. Hanson:
Please hear my cry. Let the people know that you would consider running for President in 2012. Support would follow.
Why would VDH want to suck up to big money guys and inevitably compromise a belief for extra support.
Personally, I would not like to be deprived of his stream of conciousness essays here, NRO, City Journal, and a whole bunch of other publications.
RON KEAN:
PERHAPS BECAUSE VICTOR DAVIS HANSON WOULD NOT COMPROMISE HIS PRINCIPLES. PERHAPS HE WOULD REMAIN AN HONEST MAN WILLING TO WORK FOR THE PEOPLE AND SALVAGE WHAT REMAINS OF A ONCE GREAT NATION. A MAN WITH THE COMMON SENSE TO PUT EFFECTIVE LEADERS INTO POSITIONS OF POWER AND GIVE THEM THE TOOLS TO DO WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO CLEAN OUT THE CESSPOOL THAT WASHINGTON D.C. HAS BECOME OVER THE PAST 50 YEARS AND THEN RESTORE THE NOTION THAT PEOPLE LIVING IN FREEDOM ARE QUITE CAPABLE OF MAKING THEIR OWN WAY IN THE WORLD WITHOUT BEING ATTACHED TO THE TEATS OF GOVERNMENT.
AS A CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY, PERHAPS HIS CONSISTENT VOICE OF UNDERSTANDING AND REASON WOULD BE HEARD OUTSIDE OF THE BUBBLE OF BLOG COMMENTERS WHO PREFER TO PROMOTE THEIR OWN EGOS RATHER THAN LISTENING AND CONSIDERING WHAT THE MAN HAS TO SAY.
MAYBE A PATRIOT, NON-POLITICIAN, COULD LIGHT A SPARK AMONG THE SHRINKING NUMBER OF AMERICANS WHO SEE A CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC WORTH THE EFFORT OF AT LEAST TRYING TO SAVE.
PERHAPS SIMPLY TO SHAME BY COMPARISON, THE LIKES OF BILL O’REILLY AND THE STREAM OF MIDGIT POLITICAL FUGURES HE PROMOTES ON A DAILY BASIS ON FOX NEWS.
OR PERHAPS TO SHOW A TRUE COMPARISON OF THE INTELLECT OF DR. HANSON AND THE LIKES OF JOHN MCCAIN, MIKE HUCKLEBERRY AND THE ENDLESS STREAM OF MINDLESS RINOS CONSTANTLY BEING PROMOTED BY THE MAIN STREAM MIND NUMBED ZEALOTS AS ALTERNATIVES TO OBAMA IN 2012.
PAJAMAS MEDIA AND PAJAMAS TV ARE GREAT PLACES TO VISIT IF ONE IS INTERESTED IN SEEING PROBLEMS BEING DEFINED OVER AND OVER. HOWEVER, DELIVERING SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS AND METHODS OF ACHIEVING THEM SEEMS NOT TO BE THEIR STRONG SUIT.
MAYBE THAT’S WHY A GREAT THINKER SUCH AS DR. HANSON WOULD SERVE HIS COUNTRY IF SUPPORT FOR HAS EFFORTS HAD A CHANCE TO BEAR FRUIT.
OTHER THAN ENDLESS BLOVIATING, WHAT SIR IS YOUR CONCRETE IDEA AS TO HOW BEST GET ON WITH THE WORK OF PRESERVING THIS NATION AS SOME OF US HAVE KNOWN IT FOR FIFTY, SIXTY OR MORE YEARS?
One problem. So many Americans, including many of the “best and brightest” role models for “lesser” Americans are beholden to the powers that be in all major civic institutions. In legal, local/federal politics, educational from nursery school through university with “Professors/clerics” at “elite”/prestige colleges (whose expenses are paid to some extent – proportion? – from taxes local and federal imposed on “lesser” Americans by these “elite”), information and entertainment Media private and government, ALL the agencies of the Executive including the Department of Justice, Defense Department, State Department etc. Given the history and development of these “public service” institutions’ winking at the idea of “public” service, their motto “charity begins at home”/home is what they are/do, are there enough voters who would elect a man of principle / probity? It’s been a very long time in the development of the USA where such a man is considered anything other than relic. Just review those who have been “elected” with rare exceptions during the past century, into Congress and the Executive. (and the Judiciary?)
Look who’s talking about endless bloviating.
My simple answer to you is ‘anybody but a democrat’ is my choice for any office now.
On second thought, maybe Secretary of Defense.
Ron Keane:
Pat Buchanan said “Obama’s Democrats go to the wall in November. Republicans will inherit the windfall. Yet, few harbor great hopes that the GOP has the cure for what ails America.
Perhaps the answers lie beyond the parameters of our present politics.”
Other than bloviating about hope and change, what is your concrete plan to save this nation? Who among the Fox News promoted political liars do you believe will step up and get the job done?
Where will you find a true American Patriot with the mental capacity in the same ballpark with Dr. Hanson?
Bill Whittle says that the iceberg is hollow and he promises answers in future presentions. That won’t get the job done either. The time is here and it’s now. Who do you think could do what needs to be done? And what sets he or she apart from the political gangsters that are now running this country?
Is it your belief that there is not an honest person left in America who would be willing to fight for their country? Please reconsider your short sighted outlook for the future of our country and try to come up with a course of action to preserve the greatest nation on the face of the earth. I look forward to reading you ideas.
And what is Dr. Hanson’s platform?
Sometimes I enjoy his stuff, often not, but if there is presidential timber here, I have missed it.
I suspect being “Not Obama” will be more than enough for anyone.
Are you talking to me?
Rudy Guliani would be great. Jeb Bush would be great. Heck, I’d take Bill Clinton again if he could hide his record as well as Obama has. I’d still vote for McCain again, Lieberman, Cantor, or yes…take a zanax first…Sarah Palin!
Excellent summary overview of the Zeitgeist! Thanks as always Doc.
“Apres moi, le deluge!”
we are truly in a fin siecle period… all the sureties of the afterglow of the 20th century are gently fading. i still place my hope in the American people to turn the ship around.
i also see this as a defining moment for the Xers (of which I’m on the tip end). We’ve heard sanctimonious boomers perscribe this socialistic garbage for years. we’ve always known it would inevitably fall over on our watch. and we’ll be the only ones around to sort it out. and we’ll be excoriated for it.
right– to work!
Bravo VDH. You hold a mirror in which we see ourselves, and you do it on a regular basis.
November cometh and then 2012.
Fear not – we’re Americans and given the chance, we do great things for ourselves and others and we do it gladly. Decline is not as guaranteed as our current leaders would have us believe. I can’t wait!
Well said. Like you I am puzzled not that his approval rating has fallen to 47%, but that there are still that many people who still approve of what he has done. I voted against him (and was a heavy McCain donor) because I was afraid that Obama would be just as bad as Carter. I’ve revised that view since — I think it’s very likely that he will turn out to be worse.
I would be interested in who is still approving of Obama…what groups, where..then why?
not just an answer of “democrats”, “liberals” etc.. but what do they do for a living, where do the live and such..
The right questions to underline your thought: WHY do, why should, polls be credited? We are not given information without personal research into the methods, of collecting the data, i.e the questions and their physical relationahip in the “surveys”, the populations being polled.We are expected to believe the statements that the data are “random” whatever that is in this kind of polling.
It’s safe to be sceptical if you care. Polling is a busines and depends on clients. WHO are the clients?
Polls as indicators of populations’ preferences are just circus barkers using “science” to gull and direct large populations. Without the details of the methods they are just the commercials between the scenes in TV shows.We already have some evidence just how safe are statistical reports from the recent exposure of the politically charged dishonesty of the data from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) on the global warming.
Well-stated, Dr. Hanson.
Obama and the Ozombies will do down in history as the idiot-mob that almost ruined the best nation in history.
America has raised more people from poverty throughout the world, rescued more people from the despot’s calculated extermination, and promoted the cause of individual liberty and inalienable rights granted by the Creator and not a government.
And now it is time for those evil souls who promote the eminence of the state to succumb to the righteous vote of an awakened and passionate citizenry.
VDH – you hit a home run with this. Right on the money.
Excellent, doc. People have had it, although I think it’s been building since the 60s. Finally, however, the Left has gotten all it wants and it’s turned into an incredible mess that the people are going to have to fix if this country’s going to be saved.
Some time ago, you compared the divisions in this country to the 1850s. I think you’re right and the struggle to put things right may not end in open warfare, but the Left isn’t going to give up their place as the ruling class without a fight.
Getting us out of this fiscal mess is going to require lots of pain for many of us. It is also going to require good public policy.
Good public policy probably looks like fiscal tightness (cutting back on spending) tied to monetary looseness (the Fed printing money).
If the vast public wishes to pay down debt and increase savings, that requires liquidity injections (ie – printing money) by the Fed. Not doing so would be tragically deflationary. So from now on, you should not equate public spending with money printing. They are two different topics, and may very well go in opposite directions as we work through the crisis.
There seem to be self-perpetuating bureaucracies in the new Versailles. In many European countries, driver’s licenses are good for life. Even in much hated Arizona, they are good
until age 65. Why do Californians have to renew their licenses at regular intervals? Perhaps it is to fund the DMV employees who deal with license renewal? Vehicle registration renewal can be done online in Arizona as well. I believe it was found to be cheaper (a lot cheaper) to hire a contractor to run the online services that to employ another legion of DMV workers. The only reason I can think of for California not to emulate these kind of money saving changes is the power of the government employee lobby.
Here in NJ, if you do any DMV work on line (such as registration or licence renewal you are charged extra!
It’s a no-win situation for us: be abused by apathetic and surly DMV workers or pay extra to avoid them.
Early on, Arizona and IBM (the vendor) found that service fees were discouraging the use
of online services. So the legislature got rid of them, which caused a large jump
in usage. If you search for “servicearizona history”, you will find an article entitled
“ServiceArizona: overcoming the obstacles to e-government” that describes the development of the system. Perhaps Gov. Chris Christie needs to focus on fixing
the NJ DMV next.
You are a racist!
THE Jeaneane Garofalo??? WOW…It seems to me that the only negative characterization regarding race that has been interjected…has been by you!?
Mr. Hanson has presented a well-reasoned thesis regarding Mr. Obama’s tenure in office and it’s affect on those that actually WORK for a living and will be REQUIRED BY LAW via the tax code, to pay for all of his redistrubitionist welfare programs, union “back-to-work” programs, as well the 13 trillion dollar national debt he’s left for my children and their children to repay.
So please understand if I don’t take your “race” bait…the color of a person’s skin means nothing to us who consider the content of a person’s character the most compelling reason to admire them.
Really…racist…is that the best you can come up with!? It’s 2010 already…
You beautiful people in LA…the starving artists…you who are paid to “pretend” for a living…you crack me up.
Nice article Mr. Hanson…no truer words were said…keep up the good work!
Of course he is. The Petulant Left has re-defined “racism” to mean “principled opposition to Dunham and his puppeteers”.
Of course, you now no longer have a word for Klansmen and Nazis. But that’s your problem.
They have a word for klansmen…….Senator.
You owe everything you have and every success you’ve enjoyed to the personal freedom our Founders established for you and to the free-market system that allowed America to become the most free, most prosperous, most generous nation in the history of the world. If you had been born in Stalin’s Soviet Union, Mao’s China, Hitler’s Germany, Castro’s Cuba, Idi Amin’s Uganda, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Chavez’ Venezuela, or any other place where tyranny and oppression reign, you would be just another snotty-nosed, starving, good-for-only-one-thing female scrubbing around in the dirt looking for the next crumbs to stuff into your face. There would be no career, no living in Hollywood-style luxury for you. And, no opportunity to speak out against, or change, your situation either.
Why don’t you just pack up and move to that mythical “better” country that you so pine for? Let’s see…. Where would that be? Countries in Europe, which are collapsing under the unsustainability of the welfare state? African countries? Japan? Putin’s Russia? South America with its machismo? I know. How about a nice, peaceful Muslim country, where women are treated so well and have so many rights? I’m sure there are many flights leaving today for these havens of freedom and economic prosperity. The officials will meet you as you deplane with tape measure in hand, ready to fit you for your brand-new burqha. Please, please, leave today.
That’s the best you can do? I always wondered why actors had such high self esteem.
I don’t know, I’m not seeing it. I’m looking at Rasmussen’s Daily Presidential Polls and the numbers are at the same level they were 6 months ago. I don’t see the herd turning. I want to, but I don’t. The numbers fell low during the last weeks of the ObamaCare offensive. Once the bill passed, the approval index jumped up. The same happened around the BP shakedown. The same pattern happens over and over again: the administration dithers on something, the numbers go down; they resolve it in the most heinous way, the numbers go back up. Which tells me, that most of those dips on the graph are due to the left getting angry over the administration not going far enough. The number of people fundamentally dissatisfied with the direction of this administration seems to had topped last winter.
I agree dmitryb, I don’t believe this November will be a blow out. The MSM will be in full preserve Democrat mode in September.It is amazing how a minority has gained control of all the critical communication outlets,education,news and culture.
People who don’t — and can’t — THINK let CNN do their thinking for them. As long as CNN and friends act as the democrat/administration propaganda machine, a sadly large number of voters will continue to be duped. And then we also have the roughly 20% of the nation who are confirmed Leftists.
For a generation or more, traditionalists and constitutionalists have been successfully marginalized by the rabid Left, most recently through both the tacit and the overt demands of PC language. This could not have happened had WE been more confident of who we are; we were, time has shown, asleep at the switch. We left a vacuum for evil to rush in. Our current situation is as much an indictment of us as it is the near successful culmination of careful planning and relentless action on the part of the deconstructionists, the marxist globalists, in all their permutations.
They killed off God, and we let them.
take your point…a calculated approach makes sense
still…the jobs part is the BIG part of this equation
obama’s policies (like ideological grampa jimmies’)… cannot create jobs
everyone knows this…which is why approval will dive (and look at the split here– take out the overwhelming afro-am part of the amen chorus…)
Professor Hanson: Under “Law, What Law?” you left out the Black Panther voter intimidation scandal:
The Obama administration has sent a clear message that it does not believe in equal protection under the law.
It approves of violent black fascists and intimidating and assaulting voters and poll watchers. (Peaceful Tea Party protesters, on the other hand, are “dangerous” and “racist” and “fascist”.)
I agree. The disconnect is between the “have-it-made’s” v. the “strugglers”. What’s worse is the purple-shirted thugs aren’t even smart enough to figure out when to dial it back a little, and preserve as much of their status quo as possible. After the Tea Party votes in November I think we’ll see massive voluntary retirements all over the nation-wide civil service spectrum. Maybe we can even get back to “normal” some day, but public-sector economic “blood” must still be spilled before the people will be satisfied.
where’s the thumbs up button?
“Somehow we forget that we are in the 21st century with our multitude of cell-phones, laptops, no-down-payment new car leases, big-screen TVs, cheap food, and accessible rent that have permeated all society and given the proverbial underclass appurtences that only the very rich of the 1960s could have dreamed of.”
Oddly, back then a college education was affordable, even cheap. And you didn’t pay for left wing indoctrination with tuition.
“the 2008 meltdown: those who had not played by the rules still got their mortgages, then defaulted, and left the taxpayer with their bills; those who made the loans and profited without risk, took the bailout money, and left us with the cleanup.”
Perfect !
Thank you Prof. Hanson. So good I wish I had written it.
Obama certainly won the election with the best promises. He promised to tame the deficit, be the most tranparent, eliminate the waste in the budget “line by line”, make the country safe from terrorism, make America loved by our allies and effective against our enemies, and eliminate the power of special interests and lobbyists. (If I had thought he had any plan or way to do these things, I would have voted for him too.)
Obama’s problem now: It’s hard to make the same promises twice, 18 months apart, after breaking all of them the first time. Does he have a completely new and independent set of promises stashed away for the coming elections? It would be funny to watch this, if it did not affect the life of our country.
The Best Promises Win
It seems that politicians are deep thinking philosophers. When they break their promises, they explain that there are subtle problems in understanding their language. You can only determine what they meant earlier after they explain it to you later. Honest men, misunderstood.
So, it is meaningless to pick the politician with the best promises. He must explain the best programs, in detail, that have worked somewhere at some time before.
And the INVASION continues… http://www.BorderInvasionPics.com
Professor Hanson: Under “Law—what law?” you should have noted the Obama administration’s quashing of the prosecution of armed Black Panther members who insulted and threatened voters and poll watchers on election day in 2008.
This clearly shows that the Obama administration has only contempt for the Constitution and is willing to protect violent racists and fascists–as long as they are not white.
Tacit approval of violence at the polls? The conclusions are obvious.
Near-universal liberal silence about this? The conclusions are obvious.
Moderator: Please delete the first of my two comments above: I only re-commented because the first comment never appeared.
Why is the Angry Public so Angry?
Because they cannot admit that they should be angry
about the cumulative result of their own bad decisions,
starting with Liking Ike’s TV campaign ads rather than
taking the time to listen to Adlai’s Perotesque lectures.
If McCain had been elected, the “tea party anger” would hardly exist. They’d grumble here and there, but at the end of the day they’d support him the same way they supported Bush.
All the things that VDH identifies existed in various forms during the Bush admin, yet instead of complaining the tea party types are the ones who were saying the Bush Pledge (remember that?) If you disagree, you’ll need to a) account for the absence of anything approaching a larger-scale-than-libertarian-loons teaparty movement during the Bush admin, OR b) present some sort of huge cataclysmic event that just happened during the Obama admin but didn’t happen under Bush, OR c) provide some sort of “Rip Van Winkle defense” where the teaparty types were forcibly asleep during the Bush admin.
Since we’re dealing with ‘partiers, I fully expect “c”.
d. The temperature in the pot increased markedly, rather than slowly. The frog, awakened from the torpor of his steam bath (increased spending yes by Bush), seeks to still the boiling water RIGHT NOW!
Help me understand your problem with that.
Since Reagen we have had 3 Bush terms. Painful.
No new taxes promise was broken. Bush #2 expanded entitlements in agriculture, education and drugs. He also went along with the easy housing credit that crated the bubble.
Conservative anger is very much directed inwards. We have failed to keep entitlement pimps like Karl Rove out of power. Liberty, free-market capitalism works but we put a central planner in power ourselves.
Count me as one of those folks who dutifully pays his underwater mortgage every month. Property taxes go up every year (firt they went up as values went up, now they go up as values go down!)and now a “fire service” tax to make up for the “budget shortfall”. Meanwhile, I learn the public library offers pilates classes for free (and all these years I paid for a gym memborship – who knew!)
I’m surrounded by massively overweight people covered in tattoos dragging filthy overweight kids around while they all slurp down some type of 150 ounce beverage.
The public sector are in it for themselves and we have serious cultural problems. The Onion did it best with a spoof on Americans leading the world: “Before Americans can lead the world in anything they must first stop going to Denny’s and eating 3500 calories for breakfast.” And they show a pic of dozens of massively overweight people waddling into Denny’s. I never even have time for breakfast.
“surrounded by massively overweight people covered in tattoos dragging filthy overweight kids around while they all slurp down some type of 150 ounce beverage”
Delicious! And you hit right on the reason why, despite all the butt slapping “hubba-hubba” let’s go team crap you hear on the right, what you see is what you will get:
——————— an extensive Versailles elite at the fin d’siecle vs. the “slurpers”.
It will take a lot more than team spirit. VDH and others need a megaphone but the press won’t provide any.
And thanks, VDH, for the explicit analysis of why OilBama’s stats are still so high.
“shrill leftism of SEIU”
“shill” leftism also works…or *doesn’t work*, as it were…
Outstanding piece…may be cited by future historians looking for a pithy summary of the American collapse.
And a big hello to our new Chinese overlords…
“I think we all know why the Tea Party movement arose—and why even the polls do not quite reflect the growing generic anger at incumbents in general, and our elites in particular.”
That term “elites” really should be in quotes, because it’s not like these people are really elite, except in their own minds. These are not our best and brightest…
This is why I refer to them as “enlightened elites’”, always parenthesized. They are, in fact, an “elite’”, defined as a class or group set apart from the hoi polloi and “above the herd” largely by their own devices. They also are, by their own definition, “enlightened” because they not only do not share the opinions of the Great Unwashed, they feel free to openly express contempt for same based upon their perception of their own “superior consciousness”.
The parentheses clearly indicate that these are their own self-perceptions, that show no actual evidence of reflecting objective reality.
In fact, their behavior, and their motivations for same, bear a remarkable resemblance to that of UFO contactees. I can’t help thinking there may be a similar cause. Namely, delusional ideation on the part of both groups.
cheers
eon
24AheadDotCom, your lies are exposed right here: http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/93683/
I had this day-dream of VDH and Kaus creating a Banner behind which the State could rally for its future under honesty and unity (public and private). It is in the best interests of the state and the People that the unions offer to renegotiate their extraordinary benefits, otherwise we need to start a movement to undo them (JFK’s bandaid). but I dream again.
@31 can only speak for myself but at least I knew GW was at least trying (too hard if anything) to defend this country and didn’t have too many anti-private-sector policies*. I was told at a young age, like many I suppose, that I would not receive any SS and that the national debt was only going to increase, so, you are right, I never paid an overly large amount of time worrying about the given. Plus, they never forced me to buy anything which was pretty cool.
This guy, however, is destroying the inside before my eyes. No one seems to point out that all this stimulus spending has enlarged the public sector at the sake of the private sector (from which ALLL monies come* . duh) and that next year… well lets just say we are going to have to put the biggER bill on the smallER card (I mean like obviously public sector is where its at right boys? NN columns later, -XXXX dow points later, -YYY,YYY,Y jobs later, -ZZZ,ZZZ,ZZZ,ZZZ dollars later, still no consensus? wow you guys are useful thanks alot, how hard can this be? – I say SCRAP IT (economists should learn qft/probability distibutions with interactions (neurologists too)) – just my opinion (oh yeah – what does he mean we aren’t gonna recover 8 million jobs? should we start killing babies or something?)). cant wait to hear that explained in an NYT gg column.
So, your blaming the wars, torture, gitmo, deficit spending, financial meltdown in 2007, lack of affordable healthcare, taxes, unemployment and the recession on OBAMA, because he was elected president a year and a half ago? Wow, you must adhere to a “different” set of historical facts than the vast majority of historians and economists do. I will have to do some further research on this ! In reality, I believe that the T party and their leaders, like Sarah Palin got upset because their side lost the election…hence, felt that they were losing their country… could that be? Thanks for the article.
Blah blah blah blah Sarah Palin blah blah blah blah. Crack a book, get a life.
Sorry Bear, but I just dont get it. Take away the sour grapes and America has no real opposition. All you got is a bunch of weeeners with no real meat. I have an opposition to the left and a real gripe, but unlike yourself and the good doctor, its based upon fact, history and reality. Sorry dear, ur blah, blah blah just dont cut the mustard………get an argument…
BINGO!
And you wonder why the rest of us laugh every time you call yourself a centrist.
And just who are these majority of historians and economists to whom you refer. Do they really write their histories based on events from 2000. Does history begin with you. I can’t imagine that the “majority of historians and economists” would agree. All their time spent on useless data from years before 2000 in places other than parochial America /New York /Washington / California and the “blue states” useless? They could just do as you have here, prate the litany, the “history” of those well-known scholarly truth-seekers from the establishment print and TV Media, and “elite” professors in prestige academies, of which B. Obama is a shining example. Et voila, international prestige and praise. And- as customary with what are apparently your models of civil discourse, stoop to nursery school argument.
Tea-Party Anger? We are just getting started.
We have a president who is anti-business, cannot tell international friend from foe, and has declared war on achievement, and favors social justice (a “newer and cooler” form of discrimination?). A student and lecturer of the law who does not even believe all laws should be respected or enforced. A quick-witted guy who decides on day 70 of a crisis to accept international assistance. Duh!
Most of us working types, we can’t afford to support too many of these philosopher kings. Politicians whose “value” is measured in just words, in support of the perpetual campaign. I’m hoping that next time we elect someone with a proper respect for enforcement of the law, innovation, and an understanding of economics and job creation. Someone who meets more often with 4-star Generals than with union leaders.
It’s going to get uglier still as we head to 2012. My hunch is many people are hunkered down and have kept their anger in check. Bring on the elections.
Well put, Leigh. I agree entirely.
That’s what I’m talking about.
Dr. Hanson: Sir, thank you for your extraordinary insight. The weight of the lies are collapsing this administration. There are lies papering over other lies and it is clearly shown. Most of us rational and logical Americans are not fooled by this cotton-candy, empty calorie rhetoric put forward by this administration. Americans are feeling the passive malevolence of this administration and I am certain that the active form is not but a step behind. Thank you sir, we need you in the trenches.
The simple answer to why Obama has not yet sunk lower in the polls is that the Black community still supports him overwhelmingly. He enjoys 91% approval among Blacks largely because of his skin color but because as the recipient of much of the wealth transfer what would you expect them to feel. When you back the Blacks out of the 47% approval of Obama currently on national polls, he currently has a 34% overall approval rating among non Blacks. That is about what you would expect when you take into account the number of liberals who think he is moving too slowly in transforming America.
The Tea Party movement started because of two things: First, it seems the that Federal Government can no longer be trusted with other people’s money. They will spend it, waste it, run up enormous debt, and constantly ask for more money to subsidize this endless bureaucracy. Second, the Federal Government is no longer listening to the people who hire them, which is us. The Health Care debacle is the primary example of that. A clear majority of Americans NEVER, EVER, supported the health care bill yet it was still passed on a Senate technicality (Reconciliation). So with runaway spending, no accountability, and a government that no longer listens to the people, is anybody surprised that we have a Tea Party movement? November is coming, ladies and gentlemen. MAKE IT COUNT!
It was great to see the Professor on FNF this morning. Nice work!!
well done VDH
if the main stream media had reported the truth about candidate obama, he would not have been elected. he would not have even been the democratic candidate.
if the truth was known by the average voter they would would see that obama is a small minded clown. he is the Mugabe of the USA.
I hope that the people with a public voice start calling it as it is. obama is a dangerous lying narcissist.
his intent …by words and deeds is to destroy the american way of life.
“In short, our intent now is not achievement, but equality by any means necessary.” See Atlas Shrugged
24AheadDotCom,
I can’t speak for all Tea Partiers, but my wife and I were quite dissatisfied with GWB’s domestic spending regime. We understood the Patriot Act’s strictures, but were queasy with the overreach. The spending was anathema, but what was the alternative? He was President, his opponents had promised even greater government largesse, ala the DNC talking points, so we quietly suffered, hoping for a better day. We howled at the bank bailouts, TARP fund, etc. The “tea party” type resistance, then unnamed, was born then, during GWB’s final year.
The McCain nomination doomed us to BHO. A modestly competent campaign would have exposed the radical nature of BHO, but McCain refused to be aggressive, even muzzling his VP nominee, who, while electrifying, was not yet ready for primetime. (More so now!)
BHO ran as a moderate unifier, but has governed as a genuine radical, and not a competent executive either. He ran against GWB policies, but only extended or multiplied the questionable ones, and changed the “good” ones, for the worse! The disgust amongst the productive sector that is not subsidized in “the game” became palpable.
Santelli made his rant, and the name of the movement was adopted. But the movement is not a top-down style, no matter how much the GOP tries to coopt it. The DNC doesn’t “get it” at all, and is in hateful denial of its support, while the handmaiden MSM continually strives to tamp it down and demean it. Yet the election results show that something is happening. GOP incumbents are being unseated and Dems are losing special elections too frequently to deny it. If their programs were truly embraced by the populace, the naysayers would simply be swept away in an electoral gush of support. Not so.
The question is, will the GOP ever truly “get it” and harness the power that the grassroots movements are providing. The grassroots movement is not pro-GOP, other than as a contrast to the anti to progressive radicalism. The GOP has to earn their spurs before the Tea Party types will pledge fealty of other than tactical nature!
Again Professor Hansen is right on the money about the absolute venality and corruption of the Obama-Pelosi regime. However I am not quite sure that he is right about the American people turning on the dictator. In many cases the American people are stuck to their reality shows; their inane sports teams and their gluttony to care about anything except the ephemeral good life that they think they have. Just stroll in any American mall and look at the degraded populace that now inhabits a once great country. Go into any public school or even better visit any Americanized university and you will see the slovenly self centered vapid progeny of a dying people. It seems to be too late to rebuild the country and do not forget these are the people who rushed out to vote for Obama because they thought he would give them something for free.
RE: “The old idea that a public servant gave up a competitive salary for job security was redefined as hitting the jackpot.”
The story of FEPCA (Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990)
may shed some light on this subject.
FEPCA set up the “locality pay” system in which Federal employees in high cost-of-living localities get extra pay to maintain “comparability” with private sector employees in the same area. If you work in the Boston area, you get 24.8% above your base pay. However, there is a “Rest of the US” category for all non-high-cost-of-living areas, and Federal employees in those areas get 14.16% above their base pay. So every Federal employee in the US makes more than the supposed base pay.
FEPCA also scheduled pay increases above cost-of-living. Essentially feds were to get an extra 3% per year for 10 years, with the usual proviso that the President could suspend the increase by declaring a financial emergency. The Clinton administration formally declared the US to be in a state of financial emergency each of the last 7 years of his Presidency, and suspended the FEPCA boost for those years. Not a peep out of the public sector unions.
This suggests that much of the increase in Federal pay is Republican administrations buying off the bureaucracy, where Democrats don’t have to.
VDH:
The 20 mile high view of the U.S. and the West is that we have contracted a flesh eating infection and now we are at the point that serious surgery is required to remove the infection most likely amputation. Ideology aside we have nothing but crooks running the country stealing from Americans like there is no tomorrow. No matter what excuse the crooks use at the end of the day, all of this is simple robbery by evil men and women. When we remove the infected parts we will be different but at least we survive and have the opportunity to achieve good health.
Only the truth will save us, facing the truth is the hard part.
Dr. Hanson: excellent article!! however you left out another majoe reason for tea party”s anger..
most Neo Cons are sexyally frustrated!!
There she goes again, bringing her all consuming anti-semitism into every single discussion.
Sexually frustrated? I dunno, the “crazed sex poodle” makes me think this might be a bipartisan issue.
quite a statement…maybe you could explain how you know this to be a fact?
you must entertain yourself to the point of delirium..
“Where did the Tea-Party anger come from? We are now the “Whigs”, abusive government shall not go unanswered.
VDH – Zero sum argument . . . ’twas ever thus . . . the blame game . . . who, me? . . . situational ethics . . . arbitrary principles
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/30/stewart-blame-clinton-not_n_630471.html
And so, in the absence of our better angels, we resort to political amnesia, grasping desperately at the only remaining shred of intellectual dignity . . .”but it’s worse now.”
There is no right or left, no conservative and liberal, there is only us and them . . . and them want you to live in fear and hate and distrust and anger . . . and so . . .
More from king gibberish
Great response, Mike McDaniel, to an exceptional piece of writing by Victor Davis Hanson! For all of you who are inspired after reading Hanson’s article, may I suggest you take the next step and buy, beg, borrow or steal Newt Gingrich’s new book, “To Save America.,” which not only catalogs the abuses and sins of the Obamanation and its “Progressive” co-conspirators, but what we “ordinary” Americans can – and urgently need to – do about it.
After reading “To Save America.” one of the take-away messages for me is that defeating the Progressives in November and in 2012 is only the beginning. The real work will begin when we start to expunge the cancer of Progressivism from the body politic. This will be no easy task. So, roll up your sleeves, buy the book, read it, study it, live it and brace yourselves for the long war to wrest America back from its existential enemies.
So, are you an “ordinary” American or a “real” American? I can’t quite keep up with the parlance of division coming from the Dick Armey. You now we just finished wresting America back from Republican hegemony. But that didn’t mater, did it? That didn’t have a disastrous effect on “genuine” Americans, did it? I know . . . but it’s worse now.
That’s like saying a bear just wrested the hiker free from a wolf- problem is, a bear is much more dangerous than a wolf is.
GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS TO YOU, O VDH !!!
I WAS VERY MUCH AFFECTED BY THE TITLE OF YOUR ARTICLE, “WHERE DID THE TEA-PARTY ANGER COME FROM?”
MY OBSERVATION IS THAT ALL THE LETTERS COMING FROM YOUR READERS WERE VERY, VERY, VERY WIMPISH; ‘TSEEMS EVERYONE WERE BEHAVING LIKE “GENTLE SCAREDY-CATS”, SO VERY AFRAID TO WRITE THEIR OPINIONS EVEN IN JUST “A WEE BIT STRONGER” LANGUAGE, LEASTWISE OBAMA AND HIS THUGGIES WOULD GET MAD AND SEND THOSE SNARLING BLACK PANTHERS AND INTIMIDATE EVERYONE WITH THEIR MENACING BILLY CLUBS.
SO, WHERE’S THE RAGE? WHERE’S THE ANGER?
GUESS ‘TIS OH-SO-TRUE THAT ALL AMERICANS ARE REALLY, REALLY CRAVEN COWARDS AND YOUR POTUS IS NOTHING BUT A MULATTO BULLY !!!
FOR ALL OF THESE THINGS, I “LAUGHS” ONLY. LOL !!!
========
I guess you want us to act like “Sovereigns”. We are not like that. We use our votes not unnecessary bravado or bullets. We will have our day. And, you can keep your smug comments in your main pocket next to your vertical smile.
Though I think the majority of Tea-Party members have been true conservatives from Day 1, a huge minority are the ones many, including me have labelled as too stoopid to vote. Many of them actually voted for Obama. The Too-Stoopid-To-Vote crowd is a dangerous bunch, as with all slow thinkers, they don’t realize they’re slow.
Let’s hope against hope they remain in the fold not only through this fall’s vote, but for 2012 also. Obama swayed their pea brains once, he surely will take a mighty swing at doing it again.
Where did it come from? From people angry at nobs like Hanson, who covered for the previous administration while they flushed trillions of our dollars away on useless wars that have done nothing but endanger our citizens and cause misery. Where did it go? People like Hanson have made sure that it gets directed only at their own enemies and not at their legacy, which maintains the status quo. Are teabaggers waking up to this reality? Oh yes. The short lived teabagging revolution is dead, killed in its crib by over-eager manipulators who thought that their suckers were far dumber than they’ve turned out to be.
There’s this radical new concept. It’s called reality.
Perhaps you should try it some time.
You’re a real card, Levine, “…who covered for the previous administration while they flushed trillions of our dollars away on useless wars that have done nothing but endanger our citizens and cause misery.”
But why do you hate warmakers and war enablers like Obama, Palosi, and Reid so much? They now have the total power you wanted for them, you, Mr. Scuzneck, and Poor Folk. They are only trying to protect the country from our enemies. So what does this cursed trinity do? Close Gitmo? No. No. End renditions? No. Defund the wars? No. End international listening to terrorist-supporting callers? No. In short they bravely carry on the policies of Bush II. Gee, I guess they deserve your hatred.
i was against the war before I was for it…bad strategy. I didn’t vote for Bush, but in hindsight would take my votes back. The war is really all you have to be all that angry about. get over it. At the end of the day whether you want to believe it or not, Islam is a religion of retribution, and the war really began before Bush, back around 700 AD…Occupation was never a good idea. It is what it is…Obama on the other hand, is a blithering idiot or a pathological genius. I haven’t decided yett
You’re not equipped to decide. You can only guess. Kind of like the rest of life for conservatives . . . guesswork.
Silly, silly, silly. Obama has taken not one step back from any of the defense policies of President Bush. On top of that he has generated deficit spending greater than all other presidents combined. All this money seems to be like water pouring into sand. It just sinks away to no effect.
The Tea Party movement will swallow Obama whole because lies only go so far when he starts denigrating the media who helped spread them and covered for him. Cracks are appearing and his feet of clay are crumbling as we watch.
For an (apparent) educator this is a rather illogical post:
“Where did it [angry Tea Partiers] come from? From people angry at nobs like Hanson…”
Hmm, don’t think so. I’ve never heard this theory of their origin before, but it smacks of psychological projection on your part. I think the Tea Partiers are autochthonous, sprung from the sacred ground of Middle America. They seem to be angry at the dereliction of our feckless government leaders during a time of crises. That’s sort of the CW anyways.
“Where did it [angry Tea Partiers] go?”
Nationwide, actually.
“The short lived teabagging revolution is dead…”
More a movement than a revolution, don’t you think? Quite possibly, an attempt at a real revolution was being planned for us by the Leftist trifecta Obama/Pelosi/Reid. Fortunately, the Tea Partiers may have squelched any such silly notion on their part. And they did so without resorting to a demonstration of Mao’s dictum, you know… the one that says a revolution is not a tea party.
Of course, next time they may not be so circumspect. As an educated educator you catch the drift, right? I don’t think they’re quite dead yet.
There is a strange phenomena going on. In social settings, here in California, when I admit I’m a tea partier, I get peppered with all kinds of questions. There was a time when I admitted that I was a conservative I would get howled at by the crowd. Now there is respect and inquiries about things. People are hungry for the truth not an Obama sound bite. What I love most is to turn them on to PJM or Atlas Shrugs. The worm is turning and I love it.
The behavior of spendthrifts, especially with other peoples’ money, is maddening to anyone who lives in reality and therefore MUST practice economy.
I work with the poor and disenfranchised every day. I have yet to find a ‘poor’ person white or brown or black who is not decently dressed, well fed, and always, always with a cell phone at the ready. Do they live in upscale homes/apartments? Certainly not that often. Do they draw SSI? I figure about 40% draw SSI (many strapping 24 year old males, ‘with a bad back”)and food stamps. Many have obviously by their own admission learned how to game the system to great effect, while earning discretionary income from a variety of off the books legal and illegal side work.
Five overriding elements permeate the poor who I work with (there are many more elments but this is often what I see). 1. They live in a self-perpetuating culture that tells them this is how you must live as there is no other way out. 2. Every morning, afternoon, evening, depending on when they get up they immediately begin to make bad decisions as a regular course of action to every event in their lives. 3. Many are just plain unlucky 4. Parenting is usually abysmally poor to non-existent, they were or are raising themselves. 5. Education is derided.
The constant diatribe from the left about the starving homeless masses is a great myth that needs to take a rest. I have never encountered a starving poor person talking on their cell phone or sitting in front of their 50 inch plasma TV munching doritos, or playing with their playstation 3 (yes this has happened many times). And homeless beds go unused in most cities in America.
This is not a race sensitive issue but a way of life for both white, brown, black people in the bottom 11% of income.
Please look up the poverty level in 1900 and I believe you will find that it was around 30% in the U.S. Meanwhile since the 1960′s beginning with the Great Society it has hovered around 11% and refuses to go down. You will find this to be true in much of Europe as well. Not so much in Sweden, but relatively high in many Western countries.
The working poor, let’s give them a hand up to the next level of employment. Equal opportunity, YES. Equal outcome, NO. Those working the system….not a thin dime.
Well, since you are on the front lines on this one, any other suggestions? Workfare, a progression of benefit reductions, benefits based on certain “progress” eugenics, what?
I think Obummers greatest and most undoing mistake was to undermine and then castigate the military. Every thinking person in this country knows he was never legally vetted. If 10,000,000 Americans show up in Washington D.C. this summer with a one way ticket to Kenya whos going to have his back?
“Are we in Jacobin times, when revolutionary fervor determines which laws are enforced and which not, as if their validity is a political matter alone?”
Yes.
Very well done. While I think equality and redistribution are good ideas, even I can see the reek of cronynism and waste inherent in the way we are doing things. Far too many things that matter are falling apart while money is squandered at home and abroad.
Bottom line here: It is an illusion to think that getting rid of Obama cures our problems. What we need are better ideas. Going back to the Founders presupposes that we are in a time somewhat like their era, where we were an EMERGING power in a world of aging super powers.
We are now a slightly declining power, up against emerging, but still very vulnerable powers of China, and to a lesser degree, India. Neither side in our political debates that I can see, has new ideas to move us to a better position here. I will wait until I hear that new idea, before I do anything other than hunker down and live off my apparently decent decisions about employment and savings. Time to move the sprinkler to the other side of the grape arbor.
It is also interesting to compare Tea Party anger to Michael Moore “Capitalism: A Love Story” anger. He is bitter that the huge TARPS bailed out most of the big players, but left his beloved Flint and all the folks who have had their homes repossessed in ruins.
What percentage of Americans believe that it would have been a good idea to let all those big boys fail, with whatever repercussions would have followed? A clear majority (including me) are too a-scared to let Goldman, AIG, Citibank, etc. and throw in BP too,…FAIL!
In retrospect, an increasing percentage grumble about those bail-outs, but at crunch time, most of us caved. Obama kept the ball rolling with with his TARP, his stimulus, and his healthcare. Things aren’t much better now. We did not fall off a cliff, but are still damned close to the edge. We all kick our least favorite dogs in the hunt, but where does that get us?
“He[Moore] is bitter that the huge TARPS bailed out most of the big players, but left his beloved Flint and all the folks who have had their homes repossessed in ruins.”
My parents lived in small apartments all their working lives in Chicago. They wanted to own a house but knew they couldn’t afford one. Now we are supposed to weep in this modern era for those who bought a house that the government forced a bank to issue a mortgage on and who then walked away from their mortgage because they tired of paying for it when the house’s value dropped? This is the weepy/feely nonsense conservatives are sick and tired of. Get bent, Fat Mike hard by Torch Lake. I got your beloved Flint right here.
While I believe in helping the poor I am starting to come to the assumtion that the govt should not be allowed to take money to help them. Why? First you have a govt who now has the perfect reason and ablity to tax away all for the”benefit” of the poor. There becomes very little accountability and it always neems like it is not enough. Next you are automatically taking it from people who may not be able to afford the loss themselves thereby causing them to take from public coffers in other areas thus perpetuating the cycle. And finally you have the recipients who are now garunteed money for nothing. There become no real reason to improve. Its usually harder to improve than to just take free. Cash. Charity should be a private matter and limited. Only then will the situation improve. Communism is equal poverty for all
VDH:
“…better yet, why still at 47 percent approval?”
For the reasons you mention, and because the bar for this president has been “reset” by the MSM, to about a half inch off the ground. The affirmative action mindset among liberal media-meisters is as prevalent as it is insidious. They will never hold Obama to the historic standards set for presidents. And if he falters and trips over their low set bar, it’s because you and we are racists.
The US has not been a nation since Reconstruction. Subsequently, the need to replace the dead and never born from the War Between the States, millions upon millions of Huddled Masses were resettled here, whose only common denominator was, well, a lust for the Almighty Buck.
Guess what, friends.
The Dollar is fast becoming worthless and all that Neocon twaddle about “propositional nations” (an oxymoron if ever there were) is proving to be as phony and Obama’s bona fides.
If you want to have American society, with American institutions and American values you need to have AMERICANS to LIVE THEM.
What we have now is the net contribution of penniless peasants who wanted their piece of the pie and didn’t particularly give a damn how they got it or why.
If you don’t like this simple truth, don’t yell at me. Ask yourself why you are afraid to admit the awful truth and then ask yourself what you’re going to do about it.
As for me, I’m moving my family as far away from Megalopolis as I can and still live among the descendants of the Pilgrims. I don’t want to be here when it all flies apart.
“I think we all know why the Tea Party movement arose…”
Well, I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that it’s because in the last 100 years or so, government spending has gone from about 5% of GDP to over 35% of GDP (and it looks like it’s going to go way higher under the rule of Obama & Co.).
Folks are just plain sick and tired of getting robbed blind by the government, especially since those huge government expenditures don’t seem to benefit the people forking out the dough.
The fact that the people spending these vast sums tend to be snotty as hell (recent examples: Etheridge, Stark) in their relations with the plebs who are financing the spending spree probably isn’t helping matters any.
It’s pretty much the same thing that drove the original Tea Party, and provoked our rebellion against good King George.
Well 4% of that is the military. Lets start with cutting there. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost 136 billion so far. Were you against going into Iraq? People here are just an echo chamber for the likes of Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh. I find it funny when you think everyone else is brainwashed, but you have been brainwashed to believe that is true. The tea party is DOA, it has no positive views on issues just negative. I am constantly thankful you people are such a giant minority. otherwise I would be afraid for this country. I am sorry, but the country is going to continue to become more liberal, that is how things work. You get old, and things are different from before, but it is shown that human memory skews memory towards a happier past, so you are unhappy with the future. You are a bunch of misinformed angry old white people. We are not going to take this country back 200 years. The founding fathers had foresight to let us continue this great country with an ability to change. We have the oldest constitution in the world. No one expect the government to stay static. If you are unhappy with the direction of the country I suggest voting or moving.
…”those huge government expenditures don’t seem to be benefitting the people forking out the dough”.
Look around. WHO is benefitted from “huge government expenditures”? The people who work for the government. THE NEW ROYALTY in a COUNTRY OF LAW, which DOES NOT PERMIT ROYALTY, de facto or otherwise. Might be a Commissariate if you care to make the comparison. Congressmen, Department bureaucrats, Judges and Chief Executive with their “aides” from prestige law schools, gorgeous women as “secretaties/personal assistants. The ASSISTANTS of the high government muckamucks. ETC. ALL travelling first class all the way. AND the generally non-working population, e.g. students with government loans. (check how many of these from the beltway with parents who work for the government at relatively high salaries and know the game, with the necessary “networks”). Further, with all the money spent by the government for aid to the poor, WHY is there a single poor person in the USA. WHY is a TV series such as the WIRE possible as even fiction on America? AND with all its overstatement, observers KNOW it is fiction based on FACT. You get the drift.
Damn – where have you all been? This is the most cogent and interesting set of comments that I’ve seen on any subject for a very long time.
Well, the reason real intelligent folks (like me), come out of the woodwork is because folks (like VDH) require a good talkin to. Only real patriots (like me) are prepared to put their words (and deeds) on the line for the sake of reality. Remember that. Marines never lie, they just lay down alot when they are tired… ha ha…
“Damn – where have you all been?”
Why right here. What took you so long? We’ve been waiting for you. :-D Pull up a chair and join the conversation.
(But first, go to Amazon.com and order all of Dr. Hanson’s books. Then bookmark such blogs as Instapundit, Eject! Eject! Eject!, Blackfive.net….)
Oh–and check out Ricochet.com: Dr. Hanson is a regular contributor. Their weekly podcasts are particularly good.
We might not be 19th-century poor, using your terminology, but we are far more vulnerable to the breakdown of our technological infrastructure through natural disaster, enemy activity, or simple bungling. Considering the fact that this infrastructure is needed to support a larger world population than that of the 19th century, we are in some degree of danger of this happening.
“Words Matter” is given real depth by Dr. VDH !
If you think that being kidnapped in Mexico is a horror story then take a look at SEIU holding us all hostage. They grow like a cancer and are causing a slow death under the direction of Obama and friends.
I suspect it will take more than insightful words to take back our country. Our one-party system needs to go. Incumbents need to go. The liberal’s biggest fear is the Second ammendment. Their greatest strength is the media. Keep your powder dry. Another American Revolution is en route.
I have zero sympathy for Tea Partiers. As far as I’m concerned, their inexcusable gullibility and lack of real curiosity about what’s really going in the world is mostly to blame for our economic mess and why walking disasters like Bush Jr. not just get elected, but even re-elected, and why idiotic misinfotainment like Fox News has become so popular, and at the expense of real news outlets, or at least the remaining ones that haven’t completely become timid and insipid corporate lapdogs. Most of the stuff they babble is confused rubbish that would get a high school senior a failing mark if presented in class.
Everything. Every scrap of evidence, points to a rather massive and successful plan, to infiltrate and seize power within the US. Pointing it out makes you a kook! Or are you only a kook because the Marxist/Socialist/Communist news and entertainment media say you are, and would they lie about the matter?
Yes, they would. They’d lie about anything and anyone to achieve their goals. Always have and always will because it works. The quest seems to be, ‘will it work here’? Answer, there is no one but the people to stop it. All other obstacles have been or are being removed and our children are educated to their mind set and not ours, to servitude and not freedom and individual self worth.
“Abroad, there is a general rule: any nation that was well intended toward the United States between 2001-09 (e.g., Britain, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Germany, India, Israel, Poland, etc) is now suspect; those that clearly were anti-American in that era (eg., Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Palestine, Russia, Syria, Venezuela, etc.) now earn American outreach and deference.”
Obama’s friendly to our foes, and hostile to our friends. Yes. Truer words were never spoken.
“Abroad, there is a general rule: any nation that was well intended toward the United States between 2001-09 (e.g., Britain, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Germany, India, Israel, Poland, etc) is now suspect; those that clearly were anti-American in that era (eg., Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Palestine, Russia, Syria, Venezuela, etc.) now earn American outreach and deference.”
Yes. Obama’s friendly to our foes, and hostile to our friends. Truer words were never spoken.
But “Palestine” is not a nation. To include “Palestine” in a list of real nations is disinformation.
Who is John Galt?
#18 James: “good public policy probably looks like fiscal tightness (cutting back on spending)….” Good thought, but one that Dr. Hanson misses. Spending has to be cut across the board. News several months ago that the Air Force was getting 5 more C-17 transport planes that they neither want nor need. Cost was over $1 billion. Rationale from congressional Republicans was that it saves jobs. My question is that many of these same politicos opposed the auto bailouts. Why then are defense contractor workers more important than auto workers? How come Dr. Hanson rarely criticizes Pentagon waste?
#52 Dave Smith “buy, beg, borrow or steal Newt Gingrich’s new book, ‘To Save America’…….” Not a good idea. Newt is part of the problem, not part of the solution. The country needs fresh ideas. I give far more credibility to Bill O’Reilly on Fox than I do to Newt or Rush.
#57 larsky: your comments are too long to repeat, but well said. I also spent a lot of years working in government social service programs and saw the same crap you see. Instead of putting 24 year olds with “bad backs” on SSI and food stamps, a good kick in the behind from a qualified vocational rehabilitation counselor is a better answer, as in “back to work with lighter duties.”
A friend of mine has worked in Ukraine from time to time, and she found that she, the American, was far more concerned about following the rules that the Ukranians. Indeed, they would take the opportunity to break whatever rule was handy at any time they were not being monitored. Their attitude toward all kinds of rules was complete disrespect.
This story from her told volumes about both her and her Ukranian friends, as well as their different systems. My friend grew up as a nonconformist in the United States. She has always been comfortable with challenging authority and has learned to do so without getting into (much) trouble. She has learned that she can challenge authority and win, if she shows that her position is reasonable. And so as an adult she automatically follows most rules, which she presumes to be reasonable, unless she already has a good reason not to do so.
Her Ukranian friends complied with no rules unless forced to do so, as did the rest of the local population. I doubt that she would even have noticed, if it hadn’t involved safety and environmental issues. They would tell her “XXXX, you’re being conspicuous” when she was trying to follow the rules, which in some cases could be life-saving.
America is essentially a law-abiding society, mostly because we have a habit of constructing our rules as best we can to give a fair and reasonable result for all of our people. Our system, imperfect as it may be, has won the consent of the governed because of a continuing, diligent effort toward fairness, justice, equality and freedom for each of us. My friend the nonconformist learned to respect the rules over a lifetime of challenge because she had found that they tend to be based on reason.
This administration is acting like a bunch of feckless Russians who have been put in control of a system they neither understand nor appreciate. They don’t follow those precious rules we fought and argued over to get our more perfect union. They think they have the arbitrary power to make decisions without regard to any facts, agreed rules or input. They oppose laws passed by the states without knowing the content of the laws; they grant safety waivers in dangerous situations to companies with poor safety records. They are acting like Ukranians under poor supervision instead of Americans in responsible positions. They are trying to remake our wonderful country into the image of that failure across the ocean.
The Tea Party anger is well-founded. Americans hate waste, and they hate injustice.
“Abroad, there is a general rule: any nation that was well intended toward the United States between 2001-09 (e.g., Britain, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Germany, India, Israel, Poland, etc) is now suspect; those that clearly were anti-American in that era (eg., Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Palestine, Russia, Syria, Venezuela, etc.) now earn American outreach and deference.”
Yes. Obama’s friendly to our foes, and hostile to our friends. Truer words were never spoken.
But “Palestine” is not a nation. To include “Palestine” in a list of real nations is disinformation.
“Abroad, there is a general rule: any nation that was well intended toward the United States between 2001-09 (e.g., Britain, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Germany, India, Israel, Poland, etc) is now suspect; those that clearly were anti-American in that era (eg., Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Palestine, Russia, Syria, Venezuela, etc.) now earn American outreach and deference.”
Yes. Obama’s friendly to our foes, and hostile to our friends. Truer words were never spoken.
But “Palestine” is not a nation. To include “Palestine” in a list of real nations is disinformation.
Dr. Hanson, I’m sorry, but I believe you’ve missed the real reason: our children.
Tea Partiers likely have children, or grandchildren.
I’ve been resigned to the fact that I won’t get Social Security, although I’ve overpaid for years. But when I think of the ever escalating debt being heaped on my children, I look to my guns.
Pretty good list doc, but you missed the biggest one of all.
The crook occupying the White House is a fraud of unimaginable proportions.
If we knew where he came from and we understood his background and he proved to be incompetant, like Jimmy Carter, we would be angry, but would chalk it up to a lesson learned, make sure he was booted out at the first opportunity and would move on the wiser for it. Like we did in 1980.
But this mentally unstable thug has deliberately hidden his past, has criminally distorted his history and associations, has flagrantly lied about what he intended to do as president, and hasn’t changed one single thing, even though every criminal action has failed miserably.
That doesn’t make for resigned indignation, as VDH is so excellent at portraying, it makes for the kind of red-hot, adrenline-fueled anger anyone would feel if a criminal broke into his home and began assaulting his children and wife.
This isn’t going to end well.
“There is rarely any acknowledgment of the public’s investment in anti-poverty programs or of its efforts to promote social equality.” Thank you for stating what has been glowingly obvious to me for years, Mr Hanson.
One thing, I can say with certainty, that PREZBO, and his neocommie buddies in the media, and academia, plus all the useful idiots of Hollywierd have accomplished is the creation of a new type of hyphenated american; the ANGRY-American.
Ann,you’re absolutely on target … I especially liked #49 — and the responses to it … Now, to answer your question: Where have you all been? We’ve been waiting, quietly, for a leader. Some have been afraid to speak out.. This fear is being replaced by knowledge that ‘sitting this dance out’ is not a luxury we can afford. Encouraged by the internet, and sites such as RightBias.com and this one, there is a ground-swell of rebellion building amongst Americans.. We’re ready to retake our Nation! Remember November!! Make it count!!
I can maintain faith in America unless and until the Islamic call to prayer goes out five times a day at the site of Ground Zero. Should that disgrace actually occur, Gd forbid and Tea Parties notwithstanding, then I will consider Game OVER. I have a pact with others that should a mega-mosque be allowed to tower over the site of Islamic mass murder in New York City, we will move to Israel. It should come as no surprise that the Jewish state may very well become the last bastion of freedom on earth.
Hello,
I heartily agree with this article. I agree with some of the comments that encourage support for limited government, voter action to scale back or reverse taxpayer funded programs that are ineffective or too costly, and work to persuade the nation to set a more reasonable set of expectations and pay for government employees.
Name calling and cruel descriptions of various populations that do not support these goals are distressing. They detract from the call to action for the critical work at hand.
Dear Fellow Americans, Real wealth lies not in banks, the deficit is fictitious as is all the super imposed federal reserve concepts. We are the wealthiest nation, most liberated, greatest the history of the world has ever seen, and will remain so as long as we have these: 1. The land and natural resources to meet our needs 2. The skills and the work ethic to meet our needs 3. The moral understanding and faith in an all powerful God. 4. The rule of Law of the Constitution. 5. A people that recognize the previous #’s 1 and 2 are enforced by #4, and actually granted by #3. All of these belong to us THE PEOPLE and no one can take it if we stand our ground. If we loose sight of these we will then be impoverished and enslaved by a great falsehood. Keep your eye on the the prize and do not be swayed, know what you are truthfully moving towards and fighting to keep then you will have what you have earned, true wealth and legitimate liberty.
My major issue with the Obama Administration is the constant deception and misdirection practiced. Our own President has in his way declared war on who we are as a nation.
D’s will be quite sorry they lined up behind this tool. Establishment R’s need fear as well. They opened the door for this Obamanation.
Why the Tea Party Movement? The answers are many, but how this one: our public institutions, and many of our private ones, are broken. They are not simply corrupt, which is bad enough, they are dysfunctional and ill-equipped to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The levianthan of the federal government breaks or makes more expensive everything it touches. The same is true, perhaps to a lesser extent, of most state and municipal governments. In times past, government had been incompetent, indifferent, corrupt, even criminal – but most Americans never had cause to view our senior political leadership as hostile to America and our interests, values and aspirations. There was a line between these things and treason, and the members of government (with rare exception) did not cross it. Political partisanship stopped at the water’s edge. That is no longer the case. A case in point: arguably the most dire security threat facing America – the de facto invasion of our nation by illegal immigrants from Mexico – exposes this for all to see. The government for years has mouthed empty platitudes and then done nothing, while the fat cats on Wall St. and elsewhere laughed all the way to the bank thanks to cheap labor that undercut the domestic labor market. But under the anti-American Obama, things have gone much, much further; the government now aids-and-abets those who favor open borders, and threatens those states and municipalities which attempt to enforce anti-immigration statutes already on the books. Obama and company may not be above stealing an election by forcing a generalized amnesty upon us.
The fiscal and financial nightmares which await us if the madness of out-of-control govt. spending isn’t stopped, are well-known to your readers.
That is why there is a tea party movement!
Andrew_M_Garland, “Obama certainly won the election with the best promises…”
Mr. Garland, I beg to differ. Obama and company stole the election. Oh, the appropriate election boards and courts “certified” it as being true-and-fair, but that isn’t what I saw. I saw a man of murky, unproven eligibility and uncertain provenance, and his crew of thugs from Chicago collect hundreds of millions in illegal foreign campaign donations and proceed to steal an election with the help of open voter fraud by SEIU and other criminals, complete with Black Panther thugs and their clubs at the polls. This man, whose associations with former terrorists and Marxist radicals of all sorts, would disqualify him from joining any law enforcement agency or the military, waltzed through our system w/o being vetted in the slightest, and neither the press, the DOJ, the national political parties, the GOP candidate for POTUS, Congress or the SCOTUS moved a finger to stop it. So, now we have in the Oval Office a man who very well may be ineligible under our constitution to hold the office in which he sits, commanding the most powerful military machine in world history, with access to nuclear weapons. He is currently running amok, tearing down what is left of our nation, as quickly as he and his communist pals can do so. Granted, I am biased and despise Obama – but that’s what I saw unfold. How about you?
In short, just in case you have any doubts about my position, let me make myself clear: I do not view the current holder of the office as POTUS, but as a fraud, a fake, and a usurper who should have been impeached yesterday. Ideally, indictments and criminal proceedings to follow in short order, followed by those of his confederates and accomplices. The fact that such a man can attain, even illegitimately, the highest office in the land, is enormously troubling, and does not portend well for us. Have we become a post-Constitutional republic? Time – and events – will tell. My dearest hope is that I am too cynical and pessimistic, but as Dr. Hanson will testify, history is replete with examples of nations and peoples selecting leaders who then led them off the cliff into ruin.
Of course, while I am a cynic, I am also a realist. The chances of principled leadership arising and taking the course of action I suggest to remove Obama seems pretty remote right about now, but this patriot will continue to hope…
Where did the Tea-Party Anger Come From? If I may, I’d like to add my two cents…
While I admire VDH and his writings, I don’t believe editorial space allowed him, regrettably, to delve deeply into underlying rationales for the current political environment. Instead, he left that for us to decide, something akin to the old Mike Meyers’ Saturday Night Live skit that urged we “talk amongst yourselves.”
I believe Tea Party anger is the culmination and manifestation of long-simmering, pent-up frustration with politicians in general. It seems that regardless of which party is in power, the programs undertaken, the taxes levied–and paid!–the benefits provided, the generosity shown, ad infinitum, there never is enough to satisfy the raveness craw of government. Add to that the ever-present scandals that plague both parties, the implicit or even explicit cronyism seemingly always on display, repeated lawlessness, the disregard for our nation’s symbols and traditions, politicians’ learned (innate?) inability to appear and/or be forthright, et cetera, it all adds up to widespread confusion and frustration since these behaviors are so anethema to what most perceive as truly American values. These include: honesty, morality, charity, frugality, industriousness, respect for the law, respect for individuals, and a deep, abiding appreciation for what makes–and has made–America the envy of the world, amongst numerous others. With respect to questionable behaviors, those seem to be in abundant supply, whereas the traits we universally respect and admire are rather sparse–if not missing altogether–whether they be Democrat or Republican politicos.
Somewhere along the line our nation, be it through ignorance, apathy, benign neglect or other, watched impassively as government at all levels slowly and inexoriably sought and seized evermore power and we said nothing. Through slick presentations, rhetorical facility, propaganda, public relations, campaign stump speeches and advertsing, or favorable news coverage, we willingly suspended our disbelief and then repeatedly entrusted the “best and brightest” to lead us on towards even greater heights than before. Now, however, we are witnessing the charade that so many politicians have so successfully played, namely, that we can have everything we desire and at no cost whatsoever. Obama is only the latest incarnation of such a spellweaver to have risen to the heights of power.
In some respects, and despite my utter abhorance for his now clearly statist–and yes, racist–policies, I believe Obama’s tenure may serve an extremely useful purpose. The totality of his broken campaign promises, the contempt he has repeatedly shown for the public and the law, the cavalier manner in which he and his administration have run roughshod over GM bondholders, the absolutely questionable appointees, and so many other visible transgressions has resulted in Americans far-and-wide being awoken from their stupor. We now see a resurgence of interest in our Constitution, our Declaration of Independence, our Founding Fathers, and perhaps most importantly, are (belatedly) rediscovering what it is–and means–to be an American.
We believe in American exceptionalsim because history has proven we are exceptional. We (increasingly) reject notions that we are not or somehow undeserving of that moniker. Moreover, were this not the case, why then do so many people the world over continue to flock to our shores?
We are risk-takers and innovators, be it in business, athletic and academic endeavors, and yes, even in the manner in which we fashioned our government, a great and profound experiment never before seen (or replicated) on the face of the Earth…ever. It is the envy of oppressed peoples everywhere.
We respect the rule of law for it is what has likewise set us apart from the dictators, statist thugs, and aristocrats who, throughout history, have endeavored to oppress, ransack and destroy those whom they rule over.
We acknowledge, respect and pay homage to American values, traditions and history, knowing that to do otherwise is to risk losing the very essence of our people and nation.
We welcome all who, like our forebears, risk life and limb to come participate in the American experiment/dream, knowing that in doing so we become a stronger people and country and an even more-prominent beacon of light for those who aspire to maximize their human potential.
We are charitable beyond compare both domestically and abroad. The world has never seen the equal of our inherent generosity and concern for our fellow man wherever he is found.
These and many more define us as Americans but in only a mere 18 months, we have been repeatedly lectured, talked down to, been chastised and told we are neither exceptional nor is America an idea, a place worthy of special note. Instead, we daily witness the most powerful man on Earth forsake our allies, curry favor with tyrants, bow to despots and repeatedly excoriate the American people for sins long ago committed and long ago addressed, in law and in blood shed. And a growing multitude of citizens are coming to vehemently reject such venal charges and behaviors, particularly from one to whom we entrusted our safety, our way of life and future.
Adding insult to injury, we likewise see our President eschew responsibility for containment of an epic oil spill, a wholly misguided and ineffective economic policy, a strident idealogue who against public opinion, pushed through an unwanted and costly healthcare “plan” that no one bothered to read before adoption, a man who finds time for golf, vacations, date nights and parties but cannot be bothered with reading–and comprehending in a manner befitting (presumably) a Harvard Law grad–an Arizona anti-immigration statute the mirror image of federal law, and on and on and on…
Perhaps most-galling of all though, is Obama’s thorough inability to take responsibility for matters and actions occuring on his watch. Instead, he lays blame at the feet of everyone but himself, meanwhile castigating, bullying and threatening those who (intially) refuse to dance to his tune. Not only is this unbecoming a man of his position, it is an utter rejection and repudiation of the responsibility, care and trust Americans expect of our leaders generally but particularly, our President.
Americans are largely a forgiving lot and have great patience for those in whom we have placed our trust–it is in our Judeo/Christian heritage. But we do have a limit, a threshold, if you will, that abused too often or taken for granted becomes, once turned, a dagger that slays even the most-powerful of men (King George, Hitler, Mussolini, et al, come to mind). I rather suspect Obama has exhausted–or soon will–his allotment of patience from our citizenry.
But you see, even were we not the people or nation we so cherish, despots, tyrants and idealogues throughout history have always failed to comprehend man’s underlying, fundamental nature, namely, that we yearn to be unencumbered and free to pursue our respective destinies and potentials. Infringe upon that urge and we throw off our chains, revolt and destroy our alleged masters.
Obama has walked us periously close to the chasm from which such actions incubate and spew forth. And evermore are coming to see and believe exactly that.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH Mr. Hansen, for taking your time to detail & elaborate on the pathetic conditions that “We the people” have allowed ourselves to slide into.
But, it must be said that this present state of U.S. affairs is not due to simply Mr.{zero’s} O’s incompetence, but is the resultant consequence of 100+ years of apathetic social awareness, & popular populace inattention to the significant details of both National cultural affairs, as well as ignoring many social principals & standards, being undermined, (by cleverly disguised “social programing” projects), such as, (but not limited to), the removal of both prayer & the Bible from our public Educational system, {not to mention our utter failure to scrutinize the moral/ethical standard of the founder of that very system, (John Dewy)}; the establishment of a Central Bank; and the establishment of a “corruption mill” known as “Lobby interests”; as well as the degradation of the moral standards upon which Western Societal mores are founded.
We ALL chose to either sleep through things and events, or flip to another channel; pay more attention to the latest sex, Sport, or social scandal than to realize & admit the causes of the same.
And, we permitted our Politicians to lie in bigger ways, (Tonkin Bay incident & Vietnam come to mind), and we failed to demand that they, who (supposedly) represent our will, represent the higher standards, rather than a ‘standard of compromised’, in their dealings, both with us, AND with Corporate interests.
Now, here we sit, bleary eyed, slightly confused, not quite sure which T.V. screen to buy, or which DVD to rent, and, in a tizzy about what seems an unbelievable debt load being foisted upon us, while our Armies expend the lives of our “next generation”, and those in the District of corruption drive every helpful Nation away in disgust, but firmly assure our most determined enemies that we REALLY ARE the wretches & orges they’ve always claimed we are.
And, we sense, (deep within), that the growing feeling of both inadequacy, as well as incapability, to “turn this great Ship of state around”, is, in fact, the actual state of our affairs, and we have, indeed, reached a precipice over which our headlong charge will, (as with any lemmings misguided charge), pour us out over the edge, to then propel us down into the abyss of disintegration of our own making.
And, as the learned Arnold Toynbee warned: “I do not think the danger before us is anarchy, but despotism, the LOSS OF SPIRITUAL FREEDOM, the totalitarian state, perhaps a universal world totalitarian state…”, [Book V, "The Disintegration of Civilizations", Chap. XVII, "The Nature of disintegration"; Sect. I]. In this same section, Toynbee quotes his good friend, Dr. Edwyn Bevans in a letter written in response to having read the rough draft of this chapter. Dr. Bevans summed up his opinion & fear thusly:
“It seems, to me, possible that in such a Totalitarian State, while philosophy and poetry would languish, scientific research might go on with continuous fresh discoveries…and, I think, generally speaking, natural science may flourish under despotism. It is to the interest of the ruling group to encourage what may increase their means to power. That, {my note:science providing the means to powerful controls}, not anarchy, is for me the nightmare ahead, if we do not find a way of ending our present fratricidal strife”.
Thus, I feel it is this deep, inner sense of despair & of danger which is driving the “TEA PARTY” movement forward towards in search of a tangible method of turning our Lemming herd towards saftey, rather than headlong into oblivion.
THANK YOU again, Mr. Hansen, for a very stimulating & thought provoking post!
Excellent article. I don’t know why it is I am new at discovering this site, inasmuch I track most of the more predominate Conservative sites–but this has now become my favorite. That being said, I see many posts that expound on elucidating ‘the problem’ with great erudition, but not much in the way of how to resolve ‘the problem’. It seems to me we have some major problems in store for this country unless we find a way to communicate more effectively in ways that may even garner support from the more tempered Liberal.
What concerns me most is the moral dilemma that will ultimately have to be faced when it comes to parenting. We are all aware how the educational system is being used to foist this new-age paradigm upon our children. The fact of the matter is that resistance to these new educational programs of propaganda are not working so long as the Dept. of Education is endorsing these ideals as espoused by such things as The Earth Charter. The peer pressure upon our children is going to be great, and the way things are going, the fundamental transformation of America is going to be wholly, or at a minimum, partially successful. For our children to succeed economically and psychologically are we to raise them to stand outside this movement that is the wave of the future? Are we supposed to isolate them so as to preserve our ideals? How do we balance the economies of the past with the dynamics of the future in such a way to insure our children’s future success while maintaining core values and principles?
The news is resplendent with the state of our economy and the rate of unemployment. However, what the news fails to point out is how other sectors are thriving, indeed, actually booming! Government employment is certainly on the rise, but more importantly, various NGOs (non-government organizations) are being infused with billions of dollars as they align themselves to this Administration to help foist their agenda. Many companies are benefitting from these ‘public-private partnerships’ (PPPs). An excellent example of this is how the Stimulus package included $80 billion to build broad-band communications in rural areas. This means that some company will be given our taxpayer dollars to provide cable services…and then that company then reaps the benefit of the profits it brings! This is the new way of conducting business in this country, and only those companies/individuals that ‘play ball’ with the Administration are allowed to participate. So how do we prepare our children for this ‘new tomorrow’ so that they can lead happy and successful lives?
It seems to me that in order to stop this machine, we must either debunk the myth of their agenda (such as how we generally debunked AGW to the extent we greatly slowed down or possibly even brought to a halt legislation embracing that curricula which would equate to societal slavery essentially). Man-made climate change though is not the only ulcer in their belly, for they have a litany of complaints a mile long.
If we simply remain dismissive of the issues because we wish to “keep things the same as they have always been”, then the best we can hope for is to appear ignorant–-intellectually rooted by dogmatism. If we are to be honest with ourselves then logic would dictate that spiraling consumption patterns, modernization of mining, fishing, agriculture, etc., coupled with greater industrialization; just might have some impact on either ecological balance, the environment, and/or the biosphere. Their political machine marches on largely due to the fact that the ‘noble’ aims of the Progressive movement give rise to the axiom ‘the ends justify the means’. Since many of these ideals are truly a ‘life or death’ situation in their minds, then even that flawed rationale has some merit. After all, if one of your beloved was threatened with great harm, would you not do anything to protect him/her?
So, it is for the sake of our future generation that I suggest we begin to seriously consider the oppositions point of references, and then address those issues with some REAL hard data to debunk them, or provide some thoughtful alternative methods to resolve them. It seems their recurring predominate themes are:
Combating Poverty: This warrants lots of research and discussion because this area of concern is multi-dimensional. For example, developed countries have historically gone into underdeveloped third-world countries and offered the local tribal chief some Snicker Bars in exchange for their cobalt, magnesium, and other resources without proper remuneration or usage rights. Now where you and I might think this is just “smart negotiating”, others tend to think this is exploitative. Also of concern is “how” these countries might go about mining for these minerals–ravaging the host country ecology and rendering 1,000′s of acres of land unusable for these cultures to either thrive economically, maintain personal health, and a host of other issues that lives in the wake of serious exploitation.
Changing Consumption Patterns: “Although consumption patterns are very high in certain parts of the world, the basic consumer needs of a large section of humanity are not being met. This results in excessive demands and unsustainable lifestyles among the richer segments, which place immense stress on the environment. The poorer segments, meanwhile, are unable to meet food, health care, shelter and educational needs. Changing consumption patterns will require a multipronged strategy focusing on demand, meeting the basic needs of the poor, and reducing wastage and the use of finite resources in the production process. Growing recognition of the importance of addressing consumption has also not yet been matched by an understanding of its implications. Some economists are questioning traditional concepts of economic growth and underlining the importance of pursuing economic objectives that take account of the full value of natural resource capital. More needs to be known about the role of consumption in relation to economic growth and population dynamics in order to formulate coherent international and national policies.” This aspect of consumption patterns is economical in nature, but additionally there remains the question of environmental impact and resource depletion.
Demographics, Consumption, and Sustainability: “The growth of world population and production combined with unsustainable consumption patterns places increasingly severe stress on the life-supporting capacities of our planet. These interactive processes affect the use of land, water, air, energy and other resources. Rapidly growing cities, unless well-managed, face major environmental problems. The increase in both the number and size of cities calls for greater attention to issues of local government and municipal management. The human dimensions are key elements to consider in this intricate set of relationships and they should be adequately taken into consideration in comprehensive policies for sustainable development.”
Conservation of Biodiversity: “Our planet’s essential goods and services depend on the variety and variability of genes, species, populations and ecosystems. Biological resources feed and clothe us and provide housing, medicines and spiritual nourishment. The natural ecosystems of forests, savannahs, pastures and rangelands, deserts, tundras, rivers, lakes and seas contain most of the Earth’s biodiversity. Farmers’ fields and gardens are also of great importance as repositories, while gene banks, botanical gardens, zoos and other germplasm repositories make a small but significant contribution. The current decline in biodiversity is largely the result of human activity and represents a serious threat to human development”. Inclusive of this broad topic are issues of desertification, deforestation, water and air pollution, etc etc.
All we seem to be offering is our resistance to this bill or that bill, without understanding the contextual framework giving rise to these legislations and demonstrating that there is either no need, (such as climate change) or acknowledging the need but offering more “American-principled” alternatives.
I think we need to do our homework in a more constructive manner, irrespective of the fact that this entire agenda is being orchestrated to secure a power base for the few Elitists while reducing the rest of the world into servitude as they stand on the Mountain and hand out the alms. Most of us are aware that none of what we see transpiring around us is just some happenchance accident, but the “conspiracy” is so deep and wide and so thoroughly embedded that dissecting Agenda 21, or the Earth Charter, or some other ‘master-plan’ will be of little use. We need to address the issues!
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