“You Don’t Trust Me?”

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Claire McCaskill asked that question of her constituents at a Town Hall meeting, insisting that a “single-payer” bill wouldn’t pass. The response was swift. I’m going to pick on Markadelphia some more, because he is such a stereotype that he lends himself to it.

We’ve been discussing the ChOsen One’s enthusiasm for rushing “Health Care Reform” through the Congress with as little delay, transparency, and discussion as possible, and just why that might be. As many here have objected (me included), it’s a plan that will lead to “single-payer” / “Socialized medicine.”

Markadelphia denies this. For example:

I don’t know for certain what system we will have. So why are you so certain that it will be a single payer system and be as bad as GB?

And:

I didn’t answer the question because the solutions that are out there don’t have the government as a single payer. What they have is the government as one option and private insurance as another.

And from his own blog:

And speaking of the single payer system, the final bill floating around DC is the United States National Health Care Act. This bill is a single payer system, similar to Canada’s health care system, that was put forth by John Conyers. Of the three bills that seek to overhaul health care in the United States, this is the one that is being taken the least seriously. Although, you wouldn’t know it by listening to hyper paranoid voices on the right.

In fact, virtually all single payer advocacy groups have been screaming at the top of their lungs that they are being excluded from the process…other than a pity meeting with Max Bachus. The fact is that this bill is never going to pass because our country, despite what the flat earthers will have you believe, is center right. Private industry will never be shut out of the process. It’s too integral to our economy and our future as a nation. This is very true when it comes to health care. I do agree that competition spurs innovation and with a single payer system, we would not have that.

And that’s why out of all three bills, I favor HR3200 out of all three. Primarily, it offers the best of both worlds and addresses the issue of how to pay for all of this. Wyden’s bill relies too heavily on the private sector and Conyers bill will, in all likelihood, break the bank. We need to strike a balance and that’s what this bill does. And this balance allows for traps and pitfalls that are going to occur along the way where the other two really don’t.

Yes, Markadelphia trusts the government to come up with a “third way” that will provide a “public option” without eliminating private insurance.

Neo-Neocon found a video I’ve been waiting for. I’ve seen all of these clips spread around, but someone took the time to compile them into a coherent whole:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ-6ebku3_E&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&w=640&h=505]
Why are we “so certain that it will be a single payer system and be as bad as GB?” Because they’ve told us what they’re doing. It’s not a Trojan Horse, it’s just right there!

Why should we trust them? “It is not a principled fight!” Indeed, it is not. The fact that they are confident enough to admit it publicly, proudly, should frighten you.

It does me.

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

Another comment by reader “GrumpyOldFart” only this one’s all his:

Since Mark is making all these declarations about what the Republican base must obviously believe, let’s examine the actions of the Democrat base and see what they must obviously believe.

Let’s start with what they know. As always, the right will be held to a higher standard than the left, so I’ll limit myself to things that “I didn’t know _________!” on a given subject would be as absurd as saying, “I didn’t know professional wrestling was fake!”

1. They know that their party’s House Financial Services Committee Chairman, House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Chairman, House Speaker, Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Chairman, Senate Rules Committee Chairman, are all flat-out crooks, and make very little attempt to hide it.

2. They know that one of their primary fundraising organizations is wholly owned by a multibillionaire who makes no attempt to hide the fact that he manipulates the organization, and thus Democrat Party policy, for his own purposes.

3. They know that that one of their primary “activist” organizations is under indictment for voter registration fraud in a dozen states, and that this same organization is going to be given quite a bit of authority over the census, which determines what? Oh, just unimportant things like Congressional districting, electoral votes, stuff like that.

4. They know their party’s current leader chose someone as Attorney General who declines to prosecute people caught on video engaging in blatant voter intimidation. Whether it’s because the thugs in question were his same party or his same ethnicity is immaterial, it’s quite obvious that the AG has neither the desire nor any intention of impartially enforcing the law. They also know this same leader nominated a Supreme Court Justice who demanded a case be judged on the race of those involved rather than on its merits.

5. They know that nothing the aforementioned leader says can be taken at face value. Nothing. I was for Single Payer before I was against it, the stimulus was not intended as a stimulus, you can start blaming me for the economy right now but it’s your mess, there will be no lobbyists in my administration except for almost the entirety of my cabinet, it’s time to embrace science rather than superstition even though my “science czar” is a eugenicist, everything will be discussed on C-SPAN and there will be a full debate and five full days for the American people to see the bill cos it’s all about transparency (although the Republicans will be locked out of most of the process, I’ll refuse FOIA requests, and I’ll insist that the bills are too important to actually read them before I demand your unequivocal support), we must have a full and open debate on the issues while my senior advisor unleashes union thugs on my opponents, we have to get clear of the lies, disinformation, misinformation and distraction even though I’m pressuring the CBO to fudge their figures when they disagree with me….

…I could go on, but you see the point.

6. They know that this same leader produced more deficit in six months than every other President combined in the entire history of the Republic, all while preaching fiscal responsibility.

Okay, that’s the highlights of what the Democrat base pretty much cannot help but know. And yet what quality, more than any other single factor, defines the difference between Republicans and Democrats? It is this:

When Republicans find out one of their leaders is making no real attempt to “walk the walk” (Ted Stevens is a good example) the base calls for him to be thrown out.

When Democrats find out one of their leaders is making no real attempt to “walk the walk” (Pelosi, Frank, Dodd, Murtha, Jackson, Rangel, Waters… sheesh, pick one) the base either defends him by demonizing his/her critics or says “So what?” and ignores it.

I’ll do links if you ask, but this is already very long and 5 seconds on google will provide you all you want.

What conclusions can we draw from this? There are really only two choices:
Either

a) The Democrat base fully shares the corrupt, “it’s all about my power, my perks, screw everybody who gets in the way, I don’t give a shit if it’s legal or not” mindset of the leaders they choose, or

b) The Democrat base considers ethics, honesty and the rule of law at best indifferent if not actually destructive to the process of good government.

Were there any justice in this world, that would leave a scar.

How much is it the insurance companies are paying you? Well deserved, sir! Well deserved!

Another Blast from the Past

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Another Blast from the Past

Recently, perpetual commentator (and personal “reactive target range”) Markadelphia has made noises about how the Left just isn’t as mean and nasty and violent as the Right.

Orly?

I invite you to read an op-ed printed in an “alternative” weekly immediately after Bush won re-election in 2004. (The link to the original piece is still good – I checked.) Remember: This is something they printed. What do you think they didn’t put in ink?

There’s this, too, but the link to the original is now broken.

And these are the people with their hands on the levers of power. Don’t doubt it.

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

Hat tip to commenter GrumpyOldFart who found it in a comment thread at HotAir

It’s darkly amusing to watch them fumble across this new, less slanted landscape, shrieking the devil words they think will scare voters out of questioning them. If you look beyond the squalid little insinuations about swastikas and un-American fifth columns, even the less hysterical challenges to the legitimacy of their opponents are revealing. The accusation that people asking questions at town hall meetings are paid operatives of the insurance companies supposes the superior virtue of politicians to private industry. When Obama’s political staff sends out marching orders to supporters, along with scripts for how to look credible and concerned while advocating state-run health care, it is considered to be noble “community organizing.” If insurance companies were to assist with any kind of organized resistance to Obama’s agenda, it would be denounced as sleazy and sinister.

To appreciate this mindset, you must embrace the central tenet of socialism: the State is caring, compassionate, and wise, far beyond the vile and money-grubbing businessmen of the private sector. The insurance industry couldn’t possibly know anything useful about insuring people, could it? Of course not. Only their greed prevents them from showering Americans with cheap, universal coverage. The same dynamic is at play when liberals sneer at the idea of allowing energy companies to have any say in energy policy. It’s also why the Left loves to extol the virtues of “working Americans,” while offering only hatred to the business owners who employ them, and arrogant contempt for the consumerist culture that purchases the products they create. On any given topic, the only legitimate voices belong to politicians and their supporters. Businessmen are expected to sit quietly in their cells and await judgment. — “Doctor Zero”

And this seems an appropriate place to repeat a couple of quotes from Jonah Goldberg’s best-seller, Liberal Fascism:

Progressivism, liberalism, or whatever you want to call it has become an ideology of power. So long as liberals hold it, principles don’t matter. It also highlights the real fascist legacy of World War I and the New Deal: the notion that government action in the name of “good things” under the direction of “our people” is always and everywhere justified. Dissent by the right people is the highest form of patriotism. Dissent by the wrong people is troubling evidence of incipient fascism. The anti-dogmatism that progressives and fascists alike inherited from Pragmatism made the motives of the activist the only criteria for judging the legitimacy of action.

—

This has been the liberal enterprise ever since: to transform a democratic republic into an enormous tribal community, to give every member of society from Key West, Florida, to Fairbanks, Alaska, that same sense of belonging – “we’re all in it together!” – that we allegedly feel in a close-knit community. The yearning for community is deep and human and decent. But these yearnings are often misplaced when channeled through the federal government and imposed across a diverse nation with a republican constitution. This was the debate at the heart of the Constitutional Convention and one that the progressives sought to settle permanently in their favor. The government cannot love you, and any politics that works on a different assumption is destined for no good. And yet ever since the New Deal, liberals have been unable to shake this fundamental dogma that the state can be the instrument for a politics of meaning that transforms the entire nation into a village.

—

All public policy issues ultimately boil down to one thing: Locke versus Rousseau. The individual comes first, the government is merely an association protecting your interests, and it’s transactional, versus the general will, the collective, the group is more important than the individual. Everything boils down to that eventually. And the problem with “compassionate conservatism” is the same problem with social gospelism, with Progressivism and all the rest: it works on the assumption that the government can love you. The government can’t love you. The government is not your mommy and it’s not your daddy, and any system that is based on those assumptions will eventually lead to folly.

Malice vs. Stupidity

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Heinlein’s (or, if you insist, Hanlon’s) Razor:

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don’t rule out malice.

Then there’s Grey’s Law:

Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.

And Rick Cook‘s admonition:

The key to understanding the American system (of government) is to imagine that you have the power to make nearly any law you want. But your worst enemy will be the one to enforce it.

One more on top of that, from my comments recently:

Congress does two things well – Nothing and Overreact. — Adam Putnam

The topic of the 2008 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act has once again arisen in the blogosphere. Megan McArdle brought up one unintended consequence of that particular overreaction, and that was picked up in a couple more places, like Tam’s View from the Porch (not a good idea to get Tam mad at you), and The Washington Examiner. But these pieces were primarily about children’s books, and the CPSIA covers a lot more than just books.

Walter Olson of Overlawyered has been on top of this since the legislation was introduced. From a Forbes piece from January:

Self-congratulation makes for bad law.

If someone you know volunteers at a thrift store or crochets baby hats for the crafts site Etsy or favors handmade wooden toys as a baby shower gift, you’ve probably been hearing the alarms about the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).

Hailed almost universally on its passage last year–it passed the Senate 89 to three and the House by 424 to one, with Ron Paul the lone dissenter–CPSIA is now shaping up as a calamity for businesses and an epic failure of regulation, threatening to wipe out tens of thousands of small makers of children’s items from coast to coast, and taking a particular toll on the handcrafted and creative, the small-production-run and sideline at-home business, not to mention struggling retailers. How could this have happened?

I find the title to Olson’s piece particularly interesting, since it echoes a particularly fine book, Thomas Sowell’s Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy. Professor Sowell’s book was published back in 1996 and it covers thirty years of history, so the CPSIA has a lot of company. I strongly recommend it, if you haven’t read it.

Malice, or “sufficiently advanced incompetence”?

Does it really matter?

For example, let’s look at the McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection Campaign Finance Reform Act. It passed in the House by a fair margin, and squeaked through the Senate, and was signed into law by G.W. Bush, even though Bush said he thought parts of it were probably unconstitutional. Shortly after passage, training seminars were instituted to instruct incumbents on the nuances of the bill they had just passed.

The general response when told what they could and couldn’t do under the restrictions of the new law? “I didn’t know it said THAT!“

The tradition of not reading bills (a book on the law and its meaning runs a mere 457 pages) has a long, rich history. The War on (some) Drugs™ has resulted in numerous unintended consequences from poorly thought-out legislation and laws enforced with either malice or incompetence sufficiently advanced so as to be indistinguishable. Radley Balko has made a career out of reporting on those. But there are others that people know less of. I wrote about the prosecution of Christopher and Trudy Sherburne for the possession of ten rounds of tracer ammunition. The state of California destroyed their home and business – literally – over those ten rounds, and sentenced Christopher to five years in prison.

I’ve written about George Norris, whose business was raided and in effect destroyed by gun toting, body-armor clad agents of the Fish & Wildlife Service over some rare orchids that he insisted were legally imported, but the Feds insisted were not. The Feds have unlimited funds with which to persecut, er, prosecute. Mr. Norris did not. He plead guilty at the advice of his attorney and got a 17 month sentence. Read the update to the story here. Store all breakables before you do. Then read the story of Krister Evertson and his persecution by the Feds.

And it’s not just laws, look at a recent regulatory change. The EPA has now classified carbon dioxide as a pollutant, and the EPA has the power to regulate the production of pollutants. I’m unsure where, exactly, that power comes from under our Constitution, but it’s a fait accompli. What will the unintended consequences of this decision be?

I’ve quoted Rand’s take on this several times (do read that link). As others have noted, as time goes on she seems more and more prescient.

And now the Obama Administration wants to shove a 1000+ page bill that totally reforms the American health-care system through Congress, and Congresscritters aren’t even shy about admitting that they don’t know what’s in it.

At some point it becomes immaterial whether the laws were due to incompetence or maliciousness. That point is when their implementation is indistinguishable from maliciousness. I submit that we’ve passed that point, and the only thing preventing even more massive public blowback is our general ignorance and our well-established general respect for the Rule of Law. As I’ve said, the .gov has done a good job of practicing such persecution on a retail level, rather than wholesale, but it’s getting to the point where the abuse is going wholesale and the stories are getting out to the mass audience.

I’ve also stated that I know where my personal “line in the sand” is. I suspect that the number of others reaching their own conclusion on that subject is growing.

Too bad it won’t result in a restoration of the Constitution. Entropy doesn’t work that way.

And I need to cheer the hell up.

UPDATE: PolyKahr has a related post up.

Open Carry ≠ Public Panic

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Open Carry ≠ Public Panic

Long ago another blogger (I won’t link to it now, but you can search this site if you’d like) said about citizens carrying firearms:

I just…I just blink my eyes in amazement everytime this crops up – actually watching people feel the need to carry a concealed weapon in public…

If I were to take a live, armed weapon and carry it on my person, in public, it would eat away at my sanity just as if it were emitting lethal radiation. To know that I carried an instrument of sure and certain death on my person, available and ready to be pulled out and used at a moment’s notice to possibly kill…a child. A homeless person. An innocent.

Tonight I had dinner with about thirty people at a packed Golden Corral restaurant in Phoenix.

And almost every one of us was open carrying. About half of us (me included) were toting 1911s. At least another third were carrying revolvers of various types, from Single-Action Army models to modern Smith & Wessons. Then there were a smattering of the various plastic-fantastic pistols – Glocks, Springfield XDs, etc.

There was no public panic. Lots of children running about the place. (I damn near stepped on the cutest little girl – so much for my situational awareness in a crowded restaurant! She came around me like John Force at the WinterNationals, only without the blast of nitromethane exhaust to warn me.) Lots of families. No one got shot at the salad bar. No one was winged at the dessert buffet. There were no duels over the last popcorn shrimp. No wild-west shootouts over the last parking space.

No one ran screaming from the restaurant in fear. No one (to our knowledge) complained about all the armed people in the place. The police were not summoned. The FBI did not put in an appearance.

And nobody robbed the place either. (Can you imagine what an epic failure of the victim-selection process that would have been?) All in all, it was a pleasant meal with good company – all members of The Gun Counter. And me. I’m not a member, but I got an invite anyway. It was a much bigger turnout that I expected.

UPDATE – 8/16/09: INSTALANCHE!! Welcome! Please do spend a little extra time perusing the site. I recommend checking out the “Best Posts” on the left column.

<——— (Over there! Scroll down a bit.)

But get a beverage and a snack first. Some of them run a little long. I call them “Überposts.” One reader, for example, said Of Laws and Sausages was a “13,000 word wall of text, but I assure you, it’s worthwhile.”

Thanks for visiting!

OK, How Did I Not Know About This?

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OK, How Did I Not Know About This?

I’ve lived in Arizona now for 28 years, moving here from Cary, NC in July of 1981. How did I not know about the bi-annual Big Sandy Machine Gun Shoot? It’s been going on almost five years!

I don’t own any NFA items, but I will be the first person to tell you that full-auto hardware is the finest mechanism for turning large volumes of cash into noise and smiles. The next shoot is scheduled for October 16-18.

Here’s a short promotional video of the inaugural 2005 event:

http://img.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v99/smallestminority/mgs_2005tzr.flv

Remember that op-ed I fisked a bit back where the moron Marc Rubin asked about privately-owned cannon? I bet he’d leave skid-marks in his drawers if he watched that clip.

I think I might have to take a drive up there that October weekend. It’s only about five hours . . .

Because Bank of America Thinks You’re Stupid

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Because Bank of America Thinks You’re Stupid

Now we have three bloggers in my office. The Obama supporter I’ve written about? While his worldview remains left of center, recent events have altered his thinking a bit. The world may not run on unicorn farts after all! I’ve even gotten him to put up an 11×17 full color poster of the Obama-as-Joker image in his office! And he has decided that everyone deserves to know what he thinks – thus a newbie joins the blogosphere.

His first post is a worthy one. Bank of America has had three advertising slogans recently:

Bank of America. Higher Standards
Embracing ingenuity
Think what we can do for you
Perhaps those would be better stated thus:

Bank of America. Higher Lower Standards
Embracing ingenuity (in how we screw our customers)
Think what we can do for to you

If you have a BofA mortgage (like I do, since they bought it from Countrywide), perhaps you should look very carefully at the multiple payment options BofA offers. Specifically, the terms of those options.

Bill did. He was not amused.

Neither am I.