Tag: politics

We Were Warned

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A government which robs Peter to pay Paul, can always count on the support of Paul. – George Bernard Shaw

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The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money. – Alexis de Tocqueville

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A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. “Alexander Tytler”

So the news is out that this year 47% of households in this country pay no income tax. One (AP) story (which I won’t link) states:

The bottom 40 percent, on average, make a profit from the federal income tax, meaning they get more money in tax credits than they would otherwise owe in taxes. For those people, the government sends them a payment.

In other words, the government “redistributes wealth” from the upper 60% to the bottom 40%. (And it’s still not enough!)

And what is the result of this?

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 31% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11. . . Overall, 48% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance.

CNN reports that 46% approve of Obama’s job performance. CBS puts his approval rating at 44%. Gallup says 48%.

Ladies and gentlemen, I think we’ve hit rock-bottom on Obama’s popularity unless and until he’s caught in bed with either a live boy or a dead girl, as the old saying goes.

That 44-48% is bought and payed for – with my tax money and yours.

According to the George Mason University US Elections Project, about 62% of the voting-eligible population in the US turned out for the 2008 election. More than a third of the eligible population didn’t vote.

I am going to be fascinated to see the results of the 2010 election. But almost definitely not happy. Billy Beck is right – we’re not voting ourselves out of this.

I’m Gobsmacked – in a GOOD Way

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Amazing.

Arizona’s House of Representatives voted today, 36-19, to allow permitless “Vermont” concealed carry. The Senate passed the bill on March 29, 20-10. Jan Brewer, our Republican governor who took office when Janet Napolitano was elevated to Secretary of Homeland Security, is running for election, and running hard.

I think she’ll sign it.

I’m shocked. Arizona will probably become the third “Vermont Carry” state in the nation at the end of July.

Like Alaska, Arizona will still offer permits that allow reciprocity with other states, and our recent “guns in restaurants” legislation requires anyone who carries into a restaurant that serves alcohol to be a permit holder. The AP reports that more than 154,000 permits are currently on issue in the state. Our population is about 6.6 million, so about 2.3% of us have permits, which is about par for the course among the states with “shall issue” laws.

Quote of the Day – ‘We’ve Met the Enemy’ Edition

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From a comment to a WaPo piece, Obama’s 17-minute, 2,500-word response to woman’s claim of being ‘over-taxed’ from yesterday:

The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency. It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president.

The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.

Posted by: Grandpa2 | April 3, 2010 11:24 PM

But what if he’s not? A fool, that is.

I’ve been arguing since about day one on this blog that the unannounced but obvious purpose of our public school system over the last 100 years has been the deliberate dumbing-down of the electorate so that they would be easier to lead around, said purpose justified by a philosophy that made its end game the destruction of the capitalist West – a philosophy still around even after the collapse of its spawning ground, the Soviet Union. “Grandpa2” believes Obama a fool that the country can survive, but 95 year-old Harold Estes is concerned that he’s not a fool, but a determined enemy. Lou Pritchett shares that concern.

So do I.

But “Grandpa2” has hit upon the problem: we elected him. Not only that, but we settled for John McCain as his opponent. And before that, George Bush and John Kerry, and before that George Bush and Al Gore. And before that….

Comedian Lewis Black had it right, back during the run-up to the 2000 election. “In my lifetime,” he said, “we’ve gone from JFK to Al Gore. In my lifetime, we’ve gone from Ike to G.W. Bush.

“If this is progress, in a few years we’re going to be voting for PLANTS!“

And not wondering why.

They’ve trained us well.

But Can it Survive Emnity?

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That was a question I asked last August when I wrote Restoring the Lost Constitution. I quoted from Orson Scott Card’s recent book Shadow of the Giant:

(America) was a nation created out of nothing – nothing but a set of ideals that they never measured up to. Now and then they had great leaders, but usually nothing but political hacks, and I mean right from the start. Washington was great, but Adams was paranoid and lazy, and Jefferson was as vile a scheming politician as a nation has ever been cursed with.

…

America shaped itself with institutions so strong that it could survive corruption, stupidity, vanity, ambition, recklessness, and even insanity in its chief executive.

But, I asked, can it survive enmity?

Today I received an interesting email from a coworker about a letter sent to The Won by a WWII veteran. Here’s that letter in its entirety:

Dear President Obama,

My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me for the first time don’t believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert. I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos’n Mate. Now I live in a “rest home” located on the western end of Pearl Harbor, allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.

One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man. So here goes:

I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do, but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.

I can’t figure out what country you are the president of. You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:

“We’re no longer a Christian nation”

” America is arrogant” – (Your wife even announced to the world,” America is mean-spirited. ” Please tell her to try preaching that nonsense to 23 generations of our war dead buried all over the globe who died for no other reason than to free a whole lot of strangers from tyranny and hopelessness.)

I’d say shame on the both of you, but I don’t think you like America, nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do, for the obvious gifts this country has given you. To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.

After 9/11 you said, “America hasn’t lived up to her ideals.”

Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British? Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man, that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War? I hope you didn’t mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers, husbands, and a lot of fellas I knew personally died for in WWII, because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around, because we stand for freedom.

I don’t think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.

Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man.

Shape up and start acting like an American! If you don’t, I’ll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue .. You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.

And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don’t want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts , who was putting up a fight? You don’t mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don’t want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.

One more thing. I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life, but you’re the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you’re not in this fight to win, then get out. The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you’re thinking of.

You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president.

You’re not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That’s not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now. And I sure as hell don’t want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.

Sincerely,

Harold B. Estes

Neither do I, Mr. Estes, but I’m wondering how hell I could tell the difference?

This letter reminded me of another, written by a former vice-president for Procter & Gamble, Lou Pritchett:

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don’t understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and ‘class’, always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the ‘blame America’ crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer ‘wind mills’ to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use ‘extortion’ tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O’Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

But then I tell myself that these are both obviously heterosexual white males and are thus racist homophobes and xenophobes and probably almost definitely Republican Palin-supporting teabaggers, so I can safely dismiss their concerns – the Media tells me so.

Symbology

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Our President has used a lot of symbology both in the run-up to the election, and after. There’s his well-known “O” –

There was, of course, the iconic “Ché” poster:

Then there was the “Office of the President-Elect” symbol:

And more recently the “Obama Health-Care” symbol:

Now there’s a new symbol out there that, at least as far as the “Health-care bill” is concerned, says it all:

All it needs is that Obama ““ on top instead of the ball.

(h/t to Alan)

UPDATE2 – Here we go:

Reader Gregory generated that image. I think he’s going to offer it on a t-shirt.

I’ve Never Heard of This Guy

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But I LIKE HIM. Reader DJ DC pointed to this YouTube clip in comments:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pte_2vEnX8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&w=640&h=505]

Here’s the text of the speech:

So this is what change looks like. If he were here, Mr. Speaker, in this time of momentous national distress, I would remind the President of the United States that he is not the leader of a party or an ideology; he is the leader of our country—one founded, not to emulate others, but to inspire the world.

As families lose their jobs, their homes, and their dreams for their children; as our troops fight and sacrifice in foreign fields for our liberty and security, President Obama’s obsessive-compulsive pursuit of an abominable government takeover of health care has defied the public’s objections, despoiled this, “The People’s House,” and further alienated Americans from their representative government.

As President Obama’s campaign mantra of “hope and change” has degenerated into “tax and hate,” reputable surveys prior to this vote report: the public overwhelmingly thinks that the U.S. Government is broken. Only 21 percent of the public thinks it is being governed with its consent. Only 26 percent of the public trusts the Federal Government most of the time or always; 56 percent of Americans think the Federal Government has become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedom of ordinary citizens; 70 percent believe the government and big business typically work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors; and 71 percent of Americans think the Federal Government is a special interest.

In the wake of this health care debate’s despicable, dysfunctional process and product, it is clear: The most dangerous special interest is Big Government and President Obama is its lobbyist.

In contrast to Americans’ faith in themselves, every major piece of legislation proffered by the President and his Democratic Congress expands and empowers Big Government at the expense of the people. Possessed of a smug, cynical, patronizing view of Americans as dependents desiring State benefits, this arrogant administration and its enablers have defied the American people and bi-partisan opposition in Congress to unilaterally jam through a trillion-dollar government takeover of health care.

Why? For so many Americans, the answer is that this President and his Democratic Congress think they are smarter than you; want to run your life; and want to make government your ruler, not your servant.

Such hubris threatens not only our health care system but it tears the social fabric and political contract of our Nation. Instead of working for a more perfect Union, the President’s ideological obstinacy exacerbated the disorder and divisions within our Nation, and wrought a crisis of consent—one that puts America’s exceptional experiment in human freedom and self-government on the precipice of implosion.

To do so the President has the power, but not the right. Thus he has merely scored a Pyrrhic victory over the American people. Ultimately, his government-run medicine scheme will be repealed and replaced with free- market, patient-centered wellness, because America’s strength and salvation remains her free people, not a person.

And this November, America’s sovereign citizens will remind the President and his Democratic Congress that We the People do not work for government; the government works for us.

No, the President and his Democratic Congress will not break us beneath Big Government. Devoted to our freedom and a more perfect Union, we will keep the faith, trust the public, calm the times, and heal our country.

Edited to add:

Here is Rep. McCotter’s one-minute on the floor of the House during discussion of the bill – another winner:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXvxzkyFtp8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&w=640&h=505]

The Democratic Party believes that you can take an imperfect health-care system and fix it by putting it under the most dysfunctional and broken entity in the United States today: It’s called the Federal Government.

That proposition is insane.

Phil B. Finds Another Gem

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Reader and UK expat Phil B. (now living in Middle Earth – aka: New Zealand) sent me a link to an interesting piece in the Daily Mail‘s online edition, from one Mary Ellen Synon, an Irish-American living in Brussels. Ms. Synon’s Mail-sponsored blog Euroseptic (catchy name, that) apparently serves the same function over there as Ann Coulter’s writings do here (there was a bit of a flap over Ms. Synon’s take on the Paralympics a while back, for example.)

Yesterday’s piece, Barack Hussein Obama and Indonesia: there’s no place like home, will, I’m assured, have certain parties over here coming unglued. A taste:

One of the reasons a lot of Americans find Obama oddly foreign is that he had an oddly foreign childhood: his formative years were spent in Indonesia. His half-sister, Maya Soetoro Ng, was born there. The rest of Obama’s childhood was spent in Honolulu, a Pacific Ocean capital soaked in East Asian culture.

What’s this got to do with Britain, or indeed with Europe? Plenty. Obama is the first US president who was raised without cultural or emotional or intellectual ties to either Britain or Europe. The British and the Europeans have been so enchanted with ‘America’s first black president’ that they haven’t been able to see what he really is: America’s first Third World president.

If you doubt it, remember the kick in the teeth he gave Britain over the Falklands just a few weeks ago. Obama had his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, fly to Buenos Aires to give American support to President Kirchner’s call for international negotiations over the Falklands. Amazing. What was more amazing is that all we’ve heard out of Number 10 and the Foreign Office since then is that it doesn’t mean anything.

Oh, yes it does, and Washington insiders know it does.

Like that? Here’s a little more:

What we have shaping up, but what the British Government doesn’t yet grasp, is that Obama has a conscious policy of down-grading America’s relationship with, first, Britain and then with the rest of Europe.

He believes that the US — yes, his own country — and Britain, and the leading European countries, too, for that matter, are imperial powers who ruthlessly exploited the Third World for their own profit.

And Obama is America’s first Third World president.

Forget Obama’s Chicago black cadence. It is a fake. He copied from the kind of black preachers that were unknown to him until he was a grown man and inventing his political image.

What the Obama administration has near-wiped from the president’s personal history is that his only childhood links with America were as a schoolboy in a fashionable private school in Asia-dominated Hawaii, where he was raised by his white, bank executive grandmother.

Chicago is not Obama’s homeland. It never was his formative influence. The president’s world view is more aligned with that of Indonesia.

You can be sure the gift Obama gives the President of Indonesia will be something more than the dvd box-set of old Hollywood movies he gave to Gordon Brown. The US president’s manner on the trip to Indonesia will be more the manner he showed to the King of Saudi Arabia last year. The king received a deep bow, something never done by any US president before. Obama also kow-towed to the Emperor of Japan and to the Chinese premier.

Give it a read.

And then reflect on the fact that no American flags fly over the American disaster-relief facilities in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Why?

The Obama administration says flying the flag could give Haiti the wrong idea.

“We are not here as an occupation force, but as an international partner committed to supporting the government of Haiti on the road to recovery,” the U.S. government’s Haiti Joint Information Center said in response to a query about the flag.

Hey, that’s change you can BELIEVE IN!

UPDATE: Gerard finds further evidence that Obama’s audacityofhopenchange is wearing thin with our allies.

Quote of the Day – Victor Davis Hanson Edition

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(T)he present attempt to remake America is the effort of the liberal well-to-do — highly educated at mostly private universities, nursed on three decades of postmodern education, either with inherited wealth or earning top salaries, lifestyles of privilege indistinguishable from those they decry as selfish, and immune from the dictates they impose on others. Works and Days, Reflections on the Revolution in America

Quote of the Day – Politics Edition

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This one’s from Alger:

The Slaughter Rule…

AND THE DISCUSSION of it at the Volokh Conspiracy persuade me ever more thoroughly of my hypothesis that the Dems do not intend to pass “Health Care,” but that they are convinced they must be seen to have tried. As the solutions to the deadlock and the statements made about it become ever more risible, one is forced to conclude that they don’t really want this one. They’re just faking it.

One more thing they can blame on the Republicans for not being “bipartisan” about come election time.