Casting about for post-election topics
Ever since the election it’s been harder to write this blog. Not that there’s any lack of topics—au contraire; the ideas come fast and furious. I’ve got so many unfinished drafts for new posts that it feels overwhelming.
Why so many unfinished? Well, they’re all pretty gloomy. And somewhat redundant, in a way. I’m torn between putting them all out there and depressing my readers, and writing about fluff or art or so many of the other things that interest me and are more pleasant topics to take up.
For example, not long after the election it occurred to me that Hillary Clinton would be unbeatable in 2016, and why. I wrote a big long (as yet unfinished) draft about it, and was waiting for a slow day to publish it. While I waited, “Hillary’s unstoppable in 2016” seems to have become the meme du jour. So others beat me to it.
I still might publish it some time. But what stays my hand even now is that it may just be more of the same “woe is us, all is lost” business that doesn’t seem the least bit helpful. I’d rather point to possible solutions (for Hillary’s candidacy, by the way, that might be trumping her as the possible “First Female President” with the possible “First Female and Hispanic President Combined, and Younger As Well” card, in the form of Susana Martinez. Remember, you heard it here first—I think.)
And boy, how I hate identity politics, and how I hate playing that game. And maybe it’s a losing one. But Martinez has a lot going for her in addition to being a Hispanic woman: articulate, personable, and even charismatic. I can already see the coming Democratic attack though: she’s pro-life, anti same-sex marriage, and against medical marijuana.
I know this is a rambling post. But I’m in a rambling mood. And I don’t see what purpose it serves to continually beat our breasts and rend our garments. I’d rather cast about for solutions, and also enjoy a bit of levity and distraction in the meantime. But sometimes I think people think that means I don’t get how dire things are.
I get it. Believe me, I get it.
[ADDENDUM: I just saw this. Pretty relevant.]
Neo,
Things aren’t dire.
We’re alive.
Fondly,
Jamie
My wife and I have been tuning out as well. It’s just too depressing. And we’ve also gone Galt. As predicted in earlier comments, one of our two businesses has closed as of 12/1. The Chosen One will no longer confiscate 35% of the fruits of our labor (50% when you count self-employment tax).
But Rush is correct. We’ll be back. We need to grieve for our country first. But we’ll be back. For the sake of our children and grandchildren, whose future looks pretty bleak right now, we’ll be back.
I just don’t know when.
Me, on November 21: “I say the way to go is Susana Martinez. From what I’ve seen of her, she’d have wide appeal – smart, savvy, tough, attractive, quick on her feet. What’s not to like?”
Great minds? 😉
I felt this same way four years ago. It passes. Good things – 1). We’re alive (thx, Jamie!). 2). What can’t continue, won’t continue. 3). We’re at the caboose of a global slow-motion train wreck. There will be time yet, and the cost of mocking the Gods of the Copybook Headings will become increasingly obvious. I think. 🙂
I think a fun blogging day for you would be to write from the perspective of a liberal blogger. But do it sincerely. As you’re a changer, it should actually come naturally to you. You’ll feel better as a result when you see that everything is going as planned. Trust me. 🙂
Jamie: that’s the bottom line, isn’t it? 🙂
Happy holidays to you!
Surellin: well, I sure didn’t feel this way four years ago.
Of course, I was four years younger 🙂 (lots of smiley faces in this comments thread already, aren’t there?)
But I had thought if Obama didn’t do well, America would vote him out, handily. That’s the difference—it didn’t happen, and that told me something.
Neo: have you considered just putting out those posts under some rubric such as – “unfinished”, for example? Bet your readers would like it. It could also serve as a type of open thread for when you’re too tired, busy, etc. That way you wouldn’t be sitting on something you wanted to write about.
KLSmith: interesting idea. I’ll think about it. Problem is, they’re not necessarily all that intelligible to others.
Also, I keep thinking I’ll finish them—maé±ana.
Neo, I hate to be contrary, but Hillary would not be a good choice. In some way, shape, or form, she has been around since Bill’s first term in 1993. That would be 24 years in the limelight–enough to accumulate enough baggage (including her husband’s) that would make her a huge target. Of course, with Obama’s election we can’t take anything for granted…
Seriously, though, when some of these candidates have given their best shot (e.g., Hillary herself, Bob Dole, John McCain, Al Gore), maybe they need to voluntarily move off the stage for others who don’t have the negatives the current group of candidates have.
sheldan: well, that’s what my post was about—why, despite people’s saying that, she’d be unbeatable.
You’ll have to wait for the post—and then you might still disagree.
After the election the last thing I want read about is the 2016 presidential race. Especially with Hillary’s role in the recent Benghazi murders and subsequent video-blaming farce. In a just world she would have been asked to resign and removed from future political consideration. It makes me ill.
I’m focusing on local, non-political pursuits, enjoying my family and the Christmas season. So I’m siding with more positive topics.
I have been seeing the same kind of sentiments everywhere. In his e-newsletter Jonah Goldberg said he wasn’t sure he’d be able to continue with his commentary..said he was burned out, depressed, etc. It’s a lot harder than 2008 for me because, as Neo said, I thought surely once people had 4 years to evaluate Obama’s track record they would vote him out. I never thought I would see the day when the concept of “failing upward” would apply to the POTUS.
I have little confidence that anyone on the right will be able to match the Obama data mining triumph but for our sake I hope there are some right wing, white knight nerds who are up to the challenge for 2016:
http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/obama-nerds-2012-12/
We are all in a ‘holding pattern’ waiting for ‘the other shoe to drop’.
Nowhere to run, Nowhere to hide. Being dragged ever nearer to the cliff’s edge by our liberal brothers and sisters, who’ve bought into our leftist ideologue’s assurances that they shall do, what they know God would have done . . . had he only had, all the facts of the matter…
NeoNeo, when I read the very same piece on the invincible Hillary I had the same thought: Martinez of New Mexico.
Are we going to hesitate on this (because we fear identity politics)? I hope not. Let’s just nominate her already. What do I care? She is Republican and she is fully qualified. Let’s roll, as Todd Beamer said on 9/11.
But first, look back and see the way the MSM and the DEMONcrats treated Condi Rice and Colin Powell (back when he was a sentient human being and not a plantation kapo).
The point being that no matter whom we nominate, that person will still be crucified.
1. Ignore me when you think I’m being pissy and/or pedantic. I probably am.
2. More dance. We can never have enough dance.
3. More music retrospectives. Ditto.
4. Literature? Prove to the idjits we can read, too.
5. TV? (I’m discovering via Amazon Prime smart series that were cancelled years past after a season or so; they’re extremely beguiling during this season of confusion, and a good distraction – with an evening glass of Shiraz – for the healing soul.) Hmm. Make the wine list while watching mandatory.
6. “Brainstorm series” posts. Explain the problem (keep it limited), ask for discussion, close the problem delineation phase, and open it again for solutions. We’d all get off on it.
7. Humour. Throw in an absurdity every once-in-awhile. Intentionally. Don’t be obvious. Make us work for it. 24 hours only. More fun for you. HUGE puzzlers for us. Hilarity will ensue. A bruised ego every so often will sharpen our wits.
Yeah. I got more.
…the stuff I’d do if a) I was half as motivated and tenacious as you, and b) I wasn’t totally lazy. (Aren’t those the same? – No. Shuddup.)
Don’t be disheartened by the last election. I’m coming to think that was the real point.
We fought the wrong war: we thought it was the issues. It wasn’t; it was the culture. We didn’t recognize it, and we’re still only at the coming-to-grips with it stage.
So we lost. Life goes on.
If our Canadian cousins can get through this insanity, so can we.
…so says the guy who moved to Spokane partially due to its proximity to the promise of sunshine beaming across the northern border LOL.
“Why so many unfinished? Well, they’re all pretty gloomy. And somewhat redundant, in a way.”
Step 1. Clear the decks and cleanse the palette. Delete them all from the drafts folder. They’re just weighing you down with the gloomy inertia of it all. Lots of writers have this sort of stuff hanging around like the chains upon their feet. Keeps you from moving forward. Just tear them up and make them disappear. Trust me that this will clear your head.
Step 2. Don’t worry that deleting the drafts will somehow diminish your writing. Important notions, no matter how “gloomy” will return and in a fresher, better, and clearer context. It serves no purpose to chime in with your own Hill is Unbeatable variation after so many others. It might have been fresh in the draft but now it is so much blah blah. Relax, there will be huge chunks of crap emitted by Hillary between now and then.
Step 3: Learn the truth of
“If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:”
And rejoice. You’ll be a stronger writer after a bit of controlled demolition.
And you’re mind and soul will feel better too.
“your”
Regarding Hillary in 2016 – If she gets botoxed, slims down, smiles more, and has good hair days most of the time, we’ll know she’s running. If Bill behaves, no bimbos erupt, and Chelsea stays out of trouble, she could win easily. The MSM is willin’.
I am with Lizzy. Totally burned out on politics. In the grande scheme of things, I think we are now up the creek without a paddle. (that seemed nicer than saying “totally f–ked.”). I was one of the multitudes who really really believed that the there was no way the worst President of my lifetime could be re-elected.
We had one last chance – one chance only – to possibly stop the total transformation of our government and its relationship to our citizens – Obamacare……(how many new Federal agencies does it now create? how many new IRS regs and agents?). That chance has been blown – forever….when is the last time a federal agency was actually DISBANDED? Answer – never…. and I haven’t recovered from the reality of what that means and will mean to my wife and my kids. Not sure when I ever will.
So I have withdrawn from it all. At least emotionallhy, since I really don’t know what “going Galt” even is, or can be, for a husband and wife team that relies on regular salaries/paychecks; and does not have the means to chuck it all and buy 25 acres in Kansas and start growing our own food or whatever.
I am for now (and possibly forever more) not into politics. Yeah, I will still go vote. It’s too inbred in me to stop. But I think the game is rigged – it’s fixed. If not by voter fraud, then by the statist propaganda machine that will ensure the “correct” outcome is achieved. So I don’t think I can ever invest any more real emotional energy or enthusiasm in the process.
So we are just focused on being thankful for our health, for the fact that the grocery stores are at least for now fully stocked and that we can afford to eat and to also put gas in our cars….and thankful for family, Christmas and non-material spiritual aspects of life.
My oldest daughter is returning home for break after her first semester in college (1200 miles away) tomorrow. I am going to be happy for a few weeks
🙂
Had to add to the growing number of smiley faces. 😉
Not to worry: she’s self-stopping.
Sheesh. 69 year-old Hillary in 2016.
The country is truly done.
Paul A’Barge: Yes, indeed.
I would like to see the post you mentioned on Howard Zinn’s “The People’s History of the United States”.
I’d say put things out there when you can. You can tell from the replies whether people mean what they say. The comments on this blog are priceless!
As far as deleting the unfinished posts, I wouldn’t. Maybe put them in a pending folder (not drafts) and come back to them in a couple of weeks. If they still move you, then finish them and post them. This is what they tell hoarders to do… well, maybe not those at the hoarder level, but perhaps those who over-clutter. Maybe all those posts are emotional clutter at the moment?
I don’t write (although I’ve though about it many times) but I would probably feel an attachment to my articles if I did. Not that I would be overly emotional if people disagreed, but that I would feel a sense of ‘my baby’ over my writings. How could I kill one? I’m in software implementations, and I have felt that way about interfaces…. I’m a bit of a loser that way!
How to handle feeling burnt out? There was a comment either at Belmont Club or VDH in which a person told of their new outlook. He stopped placing an inordinate amount of focus on 2012 being the tipping point, whether this was the point it was ‘too late’. Instead, he said we passed the point a long time ago. He said that if he had told his parents back in ’59 about Clinton and Obama, and of our society now, they would have considered us to be too far gone.
For some reason, I found this to be refreshing and freeing! Perhaps we’re over that hump, and now we can focus on rebuilding, or maybe even just coping. Or have I just twisted hopelessness inside out, and both he and I are fooling ourselves?
This too shall pass…
how abut the new findings that have them stumped how the men and women who happen to be a certain color and lack college, are the first to have their life expetancies drop. that is, without yoru mate, and shared experiences in stress, and so on… you dont live as long.
the original article was about men but all the follow ups are about the women.. .
seems that when you kick out your provider, and the state takes your money for others, you dont live as long.
Life Spans Shrink for Least-Educated Whites in the U.S.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/us/life-expectancy-for-less-educated-whites-in-us-is-shrinking.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Life expectancy for poor white Americans drops sharply… but increases for blacks and Latinos
White female high school drop-outs lived to 78.5 years in 1990, 73.5 years in 2008
Females who finished college lived for 83.9 years, males for 80.4
White males who didn’t finish high school reached 70.5 years in 1990 and 67.5 2008
Black and Latino life expectancy rose, regardless of education
The average Latin American life expectancy rose 45 years from 29 in 1900, to 74 in 2010
American women are now 41st in the world life expectancy league table
They were 14th in 1985
feminism is killing them, destroying their families, and so on…
Falling Life Expectancy In the United States
This is a bit of a problem. It’s being reported that among a certain section of the population in the United States life expectancy is falling. Specifically, among white women without high school diplomas.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/09/22/falling-life-expectancy-in-the-united-states/
as you can see… its both, but most of the articles dont give a damn about those white men that dowd just said were dying out like apocalypto..
and all the researchers dont understand why!!!!!!
but all you have to do is look to people not caring after each other… lower poverty for dumping your mate and believing he can then afford both places. doing the liberated feminist thing and having lots of diseases and dysfunctional relationships, and so on.
and the funny thing is you can also read articles that both cant be right… ie. successful women like marriage, and successful women are divorcing stay at home dads…
and there are TONS of things the news doesnt cover…
you didnt write about china and russia now cooperating
about clinton saying she will oppose the neo soviet union
lots and lots of stuff…
but none of it ok if your on the bandwagon, and dont want to set the course yourself…
I’m slowly emerging from the crash and burn mood and paying a little less attention to the debt clock and the ‘fiscal cliff’ charade. Its still there, but after 3 days in the Rockies visiting kids and grandkids I feel invigorated. Nothing like sitting on my eldest son’s deck (their house is at 8,108 ft.) and watching the sun sink behind the Continental Divide to put me in a good mood. Try a little walking on sunshine: http://tinyurl.com/rxbrjw
We are alive, we have family and friends, and the we have the satisfaction of knowing we are (for the most part) on the right side. 😉
Would be nice to have revenge on those who put O back in office. Some Englishman (don’t tell me if it was a Frenchman), or somebody, said the best revenge is to live a long time, well.
Damn. I have already lived a rather long time, and quite well, by my tastes. So, I’ll live yet longer, yet better, again, according to my tastes … that’s a good part of what this freedom idea is all about. And it’s deeply enjoyable.
I think that what people are actually mourning here is the evaporation of a number of comforting illusions; and, the prospect that our lives are probably going to change one way or another as we become a resource for others: either those of our own choosing, or not.
(I’m imagining with this prospect that reactive violence directed against the intrusive, importunate, and insistent, on the basis of mere “principle” and limit setting, is off the table; and that no trend of pasting clueless liberal relatives hard in the face just to issue a wake-up call, begins)
The illusion is that we can behave as pleasantly bland partial liberals. That is to say as socially liberal (or permissive and tolerant) and fiscally conservative, while somehow, the dysfunctional behaviors condoned by our permissive society will fail to drag everyone into a statist hell-hole of shared misery and cost redistribution – once the heart stirrings of the “caring”, and the calculated self-interest of the hedonic, are manifest in the polling place.
But why should this nightmare necessarily result? After all, our own manifest indulgences seem on the whole quite reasonable, and mostly of our own business.
And who is anyone else to tell us who we should select for personal services, or what we should expend our resources on in the quest for fulfillment and “self-actualization”, or imply that we probably should have more children? – (Though we seem not to have too much of a problem when they say we should have fewer.)
Well, unfortunately, polities, like nature, seem to abhor a vacuum. And maintaining a comfortable classically liberal vacuum, wherein the right of each to pursue and be responsible for his own interests remained unmolested or subverted, is what we have been striving, and on the emotional cheap and without serious social and interpersonally costly conflict, to maintain.
When acheived, this lucky state of affairs can as we all know, for a time lead to a very pleasant and even forgiving life. The trouble is, that what looks to be a pleasantly productive and uncrowded garden to the insider looks like a convenient nesting spot to others. And if you are committed to tilling that garden in a manner which leaves a significant surplus, some have no moral compunction about moving in to reap some or most of what you are willing to sow.
Until productive people really feel the power of their own “No” as impelled by an existential necessity, and a natural right, i.e., the unquestioned need and right of their own families to their efforts, they will tend to drift along and complain about the demise of the comforting and pleasant good old days instead.
But the truth is that in the old days, Grandma and Grandpa, or most of them, never had it so good. We, their children, did.
I think we have four years of some interesting history to live before Hillary’s prospects become clear.
A lot can happen in four years.
And regarding identity politics that’s something the other side specializes in. If the first merit that comes to mind regarding someone’s candidacy is their race or gender then move on.
‘We fought the wrong war: we thought it was the issues. It wasn’t; it was the culture. We didn’t recognize it, and we’re still only at the coming-to-grips with it stage.” davisbr
Benjamin Franklin pointed out that, “Reason cannot change the minds of people, who’ve reached their positions through emotion.”
We lost the culture war quite some time ago. The re-election of Obama and the demographic opinions of the young voters demonstrate that conclusively.
The opportunity to reform our culture more in keeping with classical liberal values may yet arise but whether we shall be able to capitalize on that opportunity is problematic.
Ideally, what we would now do is begin to position ourselves so that Obama, the democrats and the left’s ‘solutions’ are in the minds of the public, undeniably responsible for the next four years.
Not to dismiss them but the greatest difficulty we face in doing that is not the MSM or even the ignorance and gullible acceptance of the public for the left’s memes.
The greatest difficulty we face is the internal conflict between the Republican leadership’s major big donors and conservatives. Big donors to the Republicans wish to maintain the financial status quo. Limited government and open free markets favor dynamic, opportunistic markets, not stable, predictable markets.
Conservatives have the majority of the votes, big donors the majority of the money. Money and votes wins elections. We do need each other but the prior paradigm is no longer working.
IMO, the primary argument that conservatives in a position to make to the big donors is that while with limited government, they shall have a reduced playing field with initially, smaller returns, the alternative is worse. They must accept that in life and a healthy economy, there are no guarantees, only opportunity.
In addition, they must accept that the election demonstrates that the historic allegiance between Republicans and big business and the wealthy is no longer viable. The incremental compromises that the Republican leadership has been engaged in for the past 20 years has reached its tipping point and are now counter productive.
The alternative with democrats is the continued seizure of income, followed by nationalization and then, the seizure of the assets of the wealthy.
Socialism leads to communism because once the income of other people’s money runs out, socialism turns into communism, as it turns to the assets of the wealthy to maintain itself.
The death tax is only the beginning. It can be expanded from its current 50% to 75%, then 90%, then all. Its threshold can be lowered to whatever level is needed.
In 20-50 years they will have nothing to donate.
“The illusion is that we can behave as pleasantly bland partial liberals. That is to say as socially liberal (or permissive and tolerant) and fiscally conservative, while somehow, the dysfunctional behaviors condoned by our permissive society will fail to drag everyone into a statist hell-hole of shared misery and cost redistribution — once the heart stirrings of the “caring”, and the calculated self-interest of the hedonic, are manifest in the polling place.
DNW
Yes it is an illusion. Here’s one example of how Obama will start to redistribute wealth, in this case from the middle class suburbs to the inner cities;
Burn Down the Suburbs?
Not exactly, but Obama is already working to get rid of them.
“Socialism leads to communism because once the income of other people’s money runs out, socialism turns into communism, as it turns to the assets of the wealthy to maintain itself.”
A few minutes ago the national debt clock showed federal debt to be 105% of GDP. Add in state and local debt and we’re at 126%. Add in private debt and we’re looking at 225% GDP. We are beyond the tipping point. There is no way to tax or grow our way out. We might be able limp along like Japan for a decade with helicopter Ben monetizing like a bee, but I am doubtful. The USD will, within a few years, no longer be the benchmark currency. Soon the FED will have to buy 100% of all T-bonds up for auction. Ashes, ashes.
Hug your grandchildren and take care of personal business.
I was in a state of disbelief when I heard Obama won. I have been pondering what it all means while reading everyone’s morose feelings of “all is lost!” I have morose feelings as well, but I fight them.
I don’t think we lost because the message was rejected. IMO, two things happened. The MSM went totally in the tank and persuaded low information voters to vote for Obama. The second was that Obama’s ground game, getting out the vote, was far superior to Romney’s. Even with those factors, it was close. Conservatism is not dead, the message has not been totally rejected.
This country and our way of life is not doomed. Not yet, anyway. I was in Argentina earlier this year. Though smaller, Argentina is a country much like ours. They have fertile land, a huge cattle industry, mineral and energy resources, excellent ports, good fisheries, attractive tourist destinations, and more – all things that can be the basis of wealth. At one time (early 1900s) they were one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Unfortunately for their wealth, they have been experimenting with socialism and military dictatorships since the thirties. All with bad results. When I was there, it was hard to tell the country had just gone bankrupt in 2000. Life went on. Oh yes, the people are undoubtedly poorer than they were before 2000. But you couldn’t tell. Life went on just as it does here. People went to work, ate out, laughed, drove cars, flew on airplanes, – all the normal activities of a modern country. Unfortunately, they have elected a charismatic socialist woman leader (Christina Kirchner) who is probably going to make them poorer again. With all that, I had the distinct impression that, with some free market reforms, Argentina could become wealthy once again. Unfortunately, they don’t have a true free market party in the country. It’s either the socialists or those who want a strong man (military dictator type) to choose from. So, the prognosis is not good for Argentina.
On the other hand, we still have a great many people who believe in free markets, private property, and the rule of law. At least that’s what most Republicans give lip service to. I still believe most of them understand it. Romney ran on that idea and just barely lost.
That is why I am not as morose as many. I think we can recover, but not if we leave the field of battle. I’m sending daily e-mails to my Senators and Congressman. It feels like I’m shoveling sand on a beach with an incoming tide, but it’s what I can do. I’m old and getting more feeble, but my heart’s still beating – still willing to try. As William Wallace said, “Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you’ll live… at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin’ to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take… OUR FREEDOM!”
Well, that’s the way I feel.
Otiose Says:
I think we have four years of some interesting history to live before Hillary’s prospects become clear.
A lot can happen in four years.
I think Hillary will only run if she isn’t primaried in 2016. She put so much into her 2008 effort, only to have Obama “steal” the nomination from her, that I just can’t see her summoning up the kind of energy needed and risking a loss in the primaries again.
This is probably why we’re already seeing pieces like the NY Times article by Jodi Kantor. Both smoking out and warning away possible contenders.
I think it’s time for a post about Jello. You, not to mention the rest of us, know you love it. It’s been a while hasn’t it?
Oh Hillary is running in 2016. Why do you think the UN ambassador was sent to explain the Benghazi attacks on the Sunday talk shows? The Secretary of State should have been in front of the cameras then and now. Obama and the media wing of the democrat party is giving her cover making sure she doesn’t get any blame for this…….. So that she is shown to have done a wonderful job as SoS giving her that last bit of knowledge to make her a great president in 2016. Since we all hate women and want to take away all health care from them (2012 media meme) she’s a shoe-in.
The 2008 theme “It’s time we had black president” will be resurrected for Hillary by inserting the word woman for black.
I am frustrated and fearful for my children and grandchildren.
“If–”
By Rudyard Kipling (1895)
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream–and not make dreams your master;
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!
Jimmy J., thanks.
This is something I haven’t seen anyone seize on (maybe they have, but I haven’t seen it) — that many voters in the exit polls credited The Jackass in The White House[TM] with ideas and viewpoints that are actually held by conservatives: e.g., that he would lower taxes; boost the job market; etc. My nieces had No Idea that moslems have a habit of amputating little girls’ private parts, for another example. My friend Vinnie, blue-collar lifelong Dem, thinks Obozo is trying to improve our economy: she also hadn’t heard squat about the threat to take over our 401Ks.
I suspect strongly that this big old country’s “support” of Leftism, at least, is largely illusory: it is, at best, a mile wide but an INCH DEEP.
What we need is a fleet of Fact-Checking Trucks to go around the country and tear down the Edifice of Lies the Dems have built.
I will lay you money that if we can blow a huge HOLE through three of the Left’s whoppers, it will get the citizenry to start thinking, “What else have they lied about?” At least, that’s the way it worked for me.
IOW, the Obama voters are, yes, in part the avid moochers; but the balance are in large part the people who have been duped.
Remember, too, that the low-information/ignorant voter believes the bad economy is all Bush’s fault; they have No Idea that their boyfriend is out in the bushes cheating on them like crazy.
The Left have a grip on the nation, but it’s far from a stranglehold.
Remember, too, the patriotism that rose up 11 years ago after the fiendish attack on 9/11.
Cheerio, dearios.
And boy, how I hate identity politics, and how I hate playing that game.
Identity politics (a form a tribal hatred) most closely conforms to human nature. That’s why the Nazis won in Germany (racial identity), why the Fascists won in Italy (national identity), why the Communists won in Russia (class identity), and why Feminism won in American (sexual identity).
Any politics of the future which ignores these fundamental truths will fail. Only a religion with a universal God can unite disparate peoples. There are only two candidates: Christianity and Islam.
Maybe we should concentrate on the states for a while. California is broke. New Yorkers have seen how well the Feds (FEMA) can take care of you. Michigan just passed a right to work law. Pennsylvania is embracing fracking. Let’s see which ideas are working best and ask why others aren’t trying them. Forget the next presidential election for now. Hillary already looks worn out. Will she begin to keep up with our energetic younger governors, or will she simply be the most uncool person on the planet?
Considering that I often enjoy your posts as a sort of time capsule (your writing down what happened so that later people could look back and see what the non left was seeing from their POV)… and that you are willing to do research… I’d love a few federal spending posts.
Crunch the numbers and write about general deficit spending & proposed offsets.. then more targeted posts on social security and medicare.
I did some research on entitlement spending back in the late 80s. It helped cement in my mind that, not the left, but liberal democrats were in total denial about facts when it came to econ. Flat earthers if you will. Same as now.
One thing we can do is have more of the spirit of this cartoon dating from the Battle of Britain days:
http://www.punchcartoons.com/–Wars-&-Conflicts-Cartoons-World-War-2/c200_220_52_120/p879/Laid-back-nature-of-British/product_info.html
Geoffrey Britain Says:
“Burn Down the Suburbs?
Not exactly, but Obama is already working to get rid of them.”
On the plus side; Obama is planning to fight against the enemy from the last war. Employment for the suburban middle class is no longer mainly in the adjacent city. There are corporate offices, industrial areas, media studios with editing facilities, et cetera in the suburbs now. Raising gasoline prices will not make it seem cheaper to many in the suburbs to move to the city.
beverly Says:
“also hadn’t heard squat about the threat to take over our 401Ks.”
Oh yeah, I’ve been thinking about this and meaning to bring it up. Start planning for this. If your already old enough to do it without a penalty; get your money out now and into something else…