Thomas Sowell on the grim prospects that face us
[Hat tip: commenter “Alan F.”]
Thomas Sowell is probably the conservative writer I respect the most. I discovered him during my political change process, and his clarity of thought and economy of expression helped to give me a philosophical framework for the political point of view that was coming to seem more simpatico to me than the one I’d previously held. Throughout the years I can’t think of a topic on which I’ve disagreed with him.
Sowell is a changer. In his youth he was trained as an economist and was a man of the extreme left, but he abandoned the leftist point of view when facts seemed to contradict his belief system. He is black, was raised poor and academically brilliant, and I highly recommend his autobiography A Personal Odyssey
And so he’s written another column that elegantly and simply—and sorrowfully—expresses what I feel now, facing the choice of Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump. Please read the whole thing—it’s not long. Read it, and weep.
I might quibble—just a little bit, anyway—with one thing Sowell says, though. When I read “This year’s general election will offer a choice between a thoroughly corrupt liar and an utterly irresponsible egomaniac” my first thought was “Okay, which is which?” Yes, I know the answer, but I could make an argument that that sentence should be amended to “This year’s general election will offer a choice between a thoroughly corrupt liar and utterly irresponsible egomaniac, and a thoroughly corrupt liar and utterly irresponsible egomaniac.”
Great article. Quote of the year: “. . . can people who cannot be bothered to look up from their electronic devices expect to remain a free people?”
It’s rhetorical and we already know the answer, unfortunately.
neo,
“I could make an argument that that sentence should be amended to, “This year’s general election will offer a choice between a thoroughly corrupt liar and utterly irresponsible crony capitalist egomaniac and, a thoroughly corrupt liar and utterly irresponsible Marxist egomaniac.”
There, I fixed it.
A classic rock and a hard place choice for conservatives.
Hope I am not being too repetitive, but I see DOJ indicting Hillary after the convention. Polls will favor Trump. Then it will be Biden-Sanders or Biden-Warren.
Other than being an idiot, Joe doesn’t have any baggage.
Geoffrey Britain:
No, you didn’t fix it.
Both are capitalists. Both are statists. Hillary is definitely more to the left than Trump, but Trump is of the left on many issues. Both are Alinskyites, Trump perhaps a natural one and Hillary a schooled one. And Trump (as Sowell points out) seems much more personally unstable as well as far less knowledgeable about foreign affairs.
Now, Sowell used to be a Marxist. He knows Marxism (as an economist). He doesn’t call Hillary one.
I hold Thomas Sowell in similar high regard.
Sowell states, “Seeing the freedom for which generations of Americans have fought and died eroded away by judicial sophistry in the coming years is certainly a grim prospect.
But nuclear annihilation is one of the few prospects that are even worse — and a man with a runaway egomania may not have the finesse or the depth to steer through troubled international waters that include a nuclear Iran and a nuclear North Korea.”
That’s certainly a valid and vital concern. It presumes however, that “the finesse or the depth to steer through troubled international waters that include a nuclear Iran and a nuclear North Korea” are the fundamental criteria for avoiding nuclear conflict, as Sowell mentions no other preventative factors.
N. Korea’s ideological fanaticism has repeatedly proven itself to be immune to diplomacy. And, given their ‘religious’ fanaticism and totalitarian ideology, diplomacy will and is already proving to be inadequate in dissuading Iran from pursuit of nuclear weapons capability.
History demonstrates that fanatical, totalitarian regimes ONLY recognize superior force of arms, wielded by an opponent willing to use them, as a deterrent.
IMO, it is a given that a Pres. H. Clinton will NOT rebuild our military and will at best, neglect it. Hillary’s response to international challenge will not be to meet that challenge militarily.
Trump claims to support a strengthened military. And it is his ego that is most likely to result in that promise being kept. Trump wants to be, “the most powerful man in the world”.
IMO, Putin has no desire whatsoever to get into a nuclear war. China is not yet ready for one but is obviously preparing militarily for the day when the dragon can depose the eagle.
So, while Trump may well be “the more dangerous President to have in the White House” during his time in office, there is no doubt in my mind that when long term consequence is considered, it is Hillary who is the more dangerous.
Sowell observes that, “The most a third party could hope for would be to take enough votes from both Democrats and Republicans to deny either party’s candidate a victory in the Electoral College. That would throw the election of the President of the United States into the House of Representatives.
No one knows who would then become President. But it would be hard to find someone worse than either Hillary or Trump.”
I agree that to be the ‘best’ result of a third party. And while its true that no one knows who would be chosen in such a case, we can predict the category within which they would reside; it would be a RINO… since that is the largest political group in the House and they would align with the democrats to get their man. Jeb Bush, Kasich and Rubio seem the most likely. But a RINO is simply a slowing down on the path to the collective.
And I would argue that both Sanders and Warren would be worse than Trump because like Clinton, it is the forces at their back who present the real danger to the republic.
Finally, in considering Trump both pro and con, Sowell fails to reflect upon illegal immigration and Muslim migration, both mortal threats to the republic. In fact, if those threats are not overcome, there won’t be an America vulnerable to nuclear annihilation. Just an open borders society that once was known as America.
Geoffrey Britain:
Sowell writes very short columns, and naturally cannot address all the issues in them. In this one, he picks the biggest ones, and since he thinks Trump is potentially a disaster in the international sense, a disaster of major rather than minor proportions, this would make all other argument FOR him moot.
I am pretty sure I have read in the past that Sowell is very tough on immigration, so I’m assuming he would basically support Trump there. But I think he considers it irrelevant because he thinks the short-term dangers are rather major.
Nor does Sowell say he would choose Hillary over Trump. He merely sets up the dilemma, and it’s a doozy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNHQYPhdPlE
Sometimes there’s a fascist with blue eyes,
not cute and not funny,
With golden hair combed over
and plenty of money
And just when you vomit
at the last candidate in the race
Your heart gets stolen
by some hag from outer space.
And then you know you better make up your mind
And give a vote to one and kick the other’s behind
It’s not often easy cause changing’s not kind
Did you ever have to make up your mind?
“Both are capitalists. Both are statists. Hillary is definitely more to the left than Trump, but Trump is of the left on many issues. Both are Alinskyites, Trump perhaps a natural one and Hillary a schooled one. And Trump (as Sowell points out) seems much more personally unstable as well as far less knowledgeable about foreign affairs.
Now, Sowell used to be a Marxist. He knows Marxism (as an economist). He doesn’t call Hillary one.” neo
Hillary is NOT a capitalist. She is a thief, a con man, an opportunist with an entitled, progressive elitist mindset, among other things but she is not a capitalist. Nor is she a statist, she’s a trans-nationalist, dedicated to a one world, leftist society.
Trump is indeed a crony capitalist and a statist, not out of genuine patriotism but out of self-interest. His ‘gut’ tells him that under the democrats, the rich live on borrowed time.
I’m on the fence about Trump being a ‘natural’ alinskyite and I suspect that, if in different ways both are equally unstable. And, what good is knowledge in foreign affairs, placed in service to basically harmful ways? As example, I offer Sec. State John Kerry…
When I label Hillary a Marxist, I refer less to her conscious positions and much more to both her inclinations and the end point of the path down which she would lead us.
Let me know how many have heard these things during this election cycle… (it took me quite a bit to find what i remembered to look up) when reading, note that donations to individuals not charities are NOT tax deductible..
Sowell
for some reason i dont think someone who can run 560 subsidiary companies and 30,000 employees is irresponsible…
[he has also seen restructurings where his investors got their money and he has not been bailed out for it as its all his reponsibility and he has fulfilled it. IF you want to know why he donated in a dem city, just see Blasio and the new scandal over donations from a company making garbage bags to repell rats!]
then there is this:
Philip Kirschner, a 9-11 first responder who is struggling with his health in the aftermath of his service, spoke to Breitbart News about how Donald Trump helped him during a time of need.
you would think an egomaniac narcisist would be listing out all the stuff he has done, but he has barely done so, and the press that hates him isnt telling you or sowell or anyone about these things… (and they go back to when i was a teen)
[edited for length by n-n]
Correction; Hillary is a statist if by that you mean centralized control. Trump much less of one, since he dictates and cares less how it gets done. Think what you will but do not oppose him. Those of Hillary’s ilk demand that we agree that 2+2=5.
“Hillary Clinton in the White House means a Supreme Court packed with justices who will undermine the Constitution for decades to come.”
This is not a given. If we can maintain the senate, which becomes less likely with Trump at the head of the ticket, this effect can be muted. It’s a can of worms they opened with Bork, and that Republicans can exploit.
Geoffrey:
“N. Korea’s ideological fanaticism has repeatedly proven itself to be immune to diplomacy. And, given their ‘religious’ fanaticism and totalitarian ideology, diplomacy will and is already proving to be inadequate in dissuading Iran from pursuit of nuclear weapons capability.”
It’s really poorly done diplomacy that has caused NK to be immune to diplomacy. The US made agreements t prevent a nuclear NK that didn’t include any way of verification, and handed them a bunch of money. Once the money ran out, they showed that they’d never stopped development. With Iran, well, with all know that tale.
want to know what snopes says of Harold Ten?
A story about Donald Trump’s private jet carrying a critically ill 3-year-old Jewish boy from California to New York for medical treatment is true, but old
this is to hide his being responsible… and anything good he has done… with all manner of special rules just for him… like its old… (so i guess he became an irresponsible monster of a billion dollar empire after what?)
dont believe me? well snopes decided to add more to it: This is also a story Donald Trump might now want to distance himself from because in 2014 the sick boy’s father, Harold Ten, was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of taking part in a scheme that “allowed a ring of brokers, investment advisers and their clients to profit from the deaths of terminally ill patients”
so the story is too old for it to count and 10 years later the dad is in trouble, and so trump is also guilty by association?
there is tons of that crap… and its crap, because compared to the new or old stuff of many on the left its a joke
its all a game of ignore the lefts issues, while coming up with bizarre reasons why something he did in his lifetime doesnt count cause its old, while at the same time, crowing about his old divorces which count cause they are negative, or the lady in atlantic city which predates the 1988 harold ten child thing by a decade!!!
atlantic city in the 1970s is not too old
harold ten in 1988 is too old
and people will argue that they know him? how? if this is the kind of treatment he has always had from the press over the past 45 years?
so i give up… as you can see that when its bad and serves the left, its not too old.. as they went back ot his days in military academy…
and when its good or shows him in a better lite, then its too old to count… but if its recent, then he did it to trick you for the election…
regardless, every point HAS to be negatived..
and no one notices it…
heck… going back to his granfather as immigrant trumpf is not to old… its totally duplicitous and the funny thing is that many people remember these things and dont think that they are too old to show his character because they happened way before his election desires and he did not use them in his election and the press has ignored them.
much like a decent christian is admonished to do every easter sermon on the hypocrites who want their rewards in this life and brag of the work they do, even if its with others money… and then you have someone who people say has no character, and doesnt brag much about these things, but does brag in pride over his business from his family history.
i give up..
besides, its moot…
GB:
Trump often says the equivalent of 2+2=5. And he is very hard on and vindictive towards those who oppose him.
And that’s as a private citizen and candidate. We have never seen what he would do with political power, particularly of the magnitude of a presidency.
However, if Hillary Clinton is to gain nation-wide elected office her incompetence and inability must be shielded. This is the basic motive for a growing gender-based narrative as injected into the 2016 presidential race. The latest attempts by the Washington Post and New York Times are ultimately evidence of this intention.
[or at least make Trump seem as incompetent as she is… as irresponsible as she is… artfldgr]
This preferred and carefully scripted gender bias presents a challenge for candidate Donald Trump who arguably has grown a business career by demanding excellence regardless of any check-box filled by an applicant to the enterprise.
Businessman Donald Trump has demanded excellence within his organization, period. The gender, age, race, background and all other protected social categories of personage are not parts of the organizational evaluation, his evaluation. Instead questions of competence -what are the outcomes- are the filter through which Trump evaluations are determined.
It is not accidental the Trump empire remains a private company under the control of the family of Mr. Trump, and Mr. Donald Trump himself. Those familiar with the business world well understand the benefit of remaining private, and not initiating an IPO to make the company a public stock offering.
An IPO (Initial Public Offering — of stock) would most likely have made Trump Inc worth ten to fifty times more than current valuations. Easily the Donald Trump empire might have made him worth $100 to $300 billion instead of the current $10 billion. However, that same IPO would open Trump to a loss of control over the enterprise he created.
that sure sounds different than sowell who despite being an economist thinks a person can run a billion dollar empire with no effort, skilla and be irresponsible..
sorry, that dont cut it…
i have never known a irresponsible busines owner who was able to keep his business (or home life) going
article quotes are from:
Megyn Kelly: We Want Donald Trump Painted Into That Inescapable Box of Sexism
Artfldgr:
Giving some money to charity does not preclude being a narcissist and an egomaniac.
Trump brags that he’s given much more to charity than he ever has, by the way. And compared to others with his kind of money (or the kind of money he claims he has), he gives comparatively little. If you care to see the details, they are here.
Tom,
If you think that a Senate controlled by McConnell is going to persistently block a Pres. Hillary’s appointments, forcing her to nominate truly moderate justices, I have some ocean front property in Kansas to sell you.
Nor was there any quality of diplomacy that could have persuaded a N. Korean client regime, protected by China, to actually honor any agreement. Remember the fable of “The Scorpion and the Frog”…
neo,
I fully agree that Trump can be “very hard on and vindictive towards those who oppose him”. That is the nature of a Caesar type.
And I accept that “Trump often says the equivalent of 2+2=5″. But he could care less whether you believe it. The Left can never rest until you believe it. All MUST be part of the collective…
And that is why, if he becomes our President, I can fully acknowledge the damage that a Trump/Caesar can do, while also recognizing that those of Lenin’s ilk are far, far worse.
Neo, in the name of Thomas Sowell: Trump is never going to start a nuclear war, because it would destroy all those buildings with “TRUMP” written in big letters on them.
Geoffrey B — I have to make an amendment to you post:
“Nor is she a statist, she’s a trans-nationalist, dedicated to a one world, leftist society” — AS LONG AS IT’S ONE THAT SHE CONTROLS. There, all fixed.
Vanderleun – out-fracking-standing!
GB, They seemed to be holding together right now against Garldand. I also seem to remember the Obamacare vote being along straight party lines even with people like Murkowski, Snowe, and Collins in the senate. I like my chances better on that, than the idea the Trump will be a good president, and that he will nominate justices who are conservative. In regard to NK, do you think we should just invade then? I personally think a policy of complete isolation might have been more effective. It seemed to be working to some degree with Iran.
The equation that matters>>>
Trump vs Clinton machine ++ the stormtroopers inside the IRS, EPA, DOJ, HUD — on and on.
These are CIVIL SERVICE stormtroopers.
They are the ticks on the body politic that give America Lyin disease.
cf Lois Lerner.
THAT’S the equation.
I can’t imagine Trump energizing the stormtroopers the way vindictive Hillary would.
Further, the WORST tyrants in history have ONE thing in common — terrible childhoods.
Hillary’s was terrible, indeed. She had an abusive, alcoholic father.
So, naturally, she’s an abusive alcoholic woman.
That ought to put a chill down your spine.
Whereas, as brash as he is, Trump has the profile of a grandiose CEO of a start-up.
He’s MUCH more like Steve Jobs — not a fella well liked — than Adolf.
He’s also like these other jerks, total jerks:
Bill Gates
John D Rockeffeller
Andrew Carnegie ( think Jonestown flood )
Cornelius Vanderbilt ( hyper monopolist of the worst sort )
Henry Ford
( get a load of Ford’s comprehension of global politics — zilch )
What all have in common is PLENTY of nasty as a honey badger personality traits.
They did not destroy the nation.
And, amazingly, were able to stay out of prison. ( think $$$$ )
Rockefeller “owned” Ohio. ( both legislature and court system )
Hillary’s track record is baleful — unrelentingly baleful.
There is NO comparison.
Trump has improved his Fall odds — all the way to 99:1 underdog.
The thin gruel from the WaPo and NY Times gives me pause.
Is that all there is ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sWTnsemkIs
The idea that Iran or North Korea is going to blow up the planet in the next five years — is too absurd.
Behind the scenes, Putin is sabotaging Tehran’s program — same as Israel.
Barry Soetoro has taken America out of the picture.
Sowell expresses in different terms what I’m getting at with Trump being the candidate of chaos.
With Trump we risk the destruction of the country DURING HIS TERM.
With Clinton we continue down a path that has much lower risk of doing so during her term, but inevitably leads to destruction, if we were to continue after her.
We can recover from a Clinton admin, but we may not ever from a Trump admin.
.
The call for party unity is B.S..
It once made sense if we were talking about candidates who were notionally “>50% conservative” (or however one chose to label the ideas the GOP held – they were much better than 50%, but never “perfect”, IMHO).
But, with a candidate who is so far from the original principles, and promises chaos to boot. Absolutely no way!
Once you see Trump for what he is, you cannot un-see it, though many seem to be pretending so.
Saying HRC would be elected otherwise is a selling point, not something that is nearly as threatening.
blert:
I think you have a failure of imagination if you can’t imagine it.
Trump energizes plenty of storm troopers. They’re just not the same ones as Hillary does.
PLEASE!!!!!! Trump is nothing like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. Trump is a trust fund baby., who’s never worked a day in his life for anything. His personality would, to me, indicates a horrible childhood as well. He exhibits attributes of someone who did not come from a stable and loving home life.
Off topic but fascinating article; “What lies beneath?”
For those less scientifically inclined, keep in mind that “dark” matter and “dark” energy do NOT refer to color but to it being undetectable. We literally cannot ‘see’ or detect this matter and energy but its presence is scientifically undeniable.
Perhaps of even more interest are the historical implications of the anthropological discovery of “Gé¶bekli Tepe”.
It seems obvious that no hunter gatherer tribe could have constructed something so extensive. It would have taken a major civilization to do so. And how did they know of alien animal species unknown in that part of the world? That presupposes extensive trade routes.
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” – Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio
Here is a link to pictures of the excavation.
Sowell: But nuclear annihilation is one of the few prospects that are even worse – and a man with a runaway egomania may not have the finesse or the depth to steer through troubled international waters that include a nuclear Iran and a nuclear North Korea.”
Yep, and Hillary’s noticed. She’s starting to hit Trump’s recklessness re nuclear weapons and foreign policy — here she was this past Sunday:
I imagine Democratic PACs are right now coming up with updated versions of Lyndon Johnson’s daisy ad. In any case, the emphasis on recklessness and instability will have great appeal for women, much more so than feminist-slanted ads.
Clinton said “And along comes Donald Trump and says, well, he doesn’t really care, let them all have nuclear weapons. He says he would use nuclear weapons.”
Trump has come under fire for suggesting that he would allow Japan and South Korea to have nuclear weapons.
“This is scary, dangerous talk. This is the talk of a loose cannon who is making statements and creating confusion. We can’t afford that. We need to keep the country on the right track, and we have to keep the world as stable as possible,”
Notably absent from Clinton’s comments was that Obama has engineered America’s retreat from the world stage and that China senses this is the time to gradually seize control of the S. China sea. A region critical to oceanic trade routes.
The S. Koreans and Japanese are starting to talk about the necessity for obtaining nukes in the face of China’s increasing aggression. Given Hillary Clinton’s abandonment of our Benghazi personnel, what confidence can they have that she wouldn’t do the same thing to them?
So too with the Saudi’s and Turks.
Putin is laughing at Obama, knowing he’ll back down. Russia and China are displacing America’s global influence and Hillary is certain to do the same. Pacifism and appeasement always result in war. Predators view a refusal to physically confront them, as an invitation to aggression. Which is why, “if you would have peace, prepare for war” – Publius Flavius.
The way to keep out of a nuclear war is to leave no doubt in your enemy’s minds that America will not hesitate to use them and, that we are the 800lb gorilla in the room. But of course, we have no enemies, only those we haven’t yet persuaded of our good intentions.
I wonder if any public figure in the 30’s accused Churchill of “scary, dangerous talk” about Hitler?
There is no possibility of keeping the world stable under a Clinton administration.
Tom,
I’ve never suggested that Trump will be a good president or that he will nominate justices who are conservative. I do admit to the possibility. I think Trump is America’s ‘Caesar’ and I think he’ll most probably nominate justices like Kennedy and Roberts.
In regard to N.K., sooner or later, we’ll end up nuking them in a retaliatory strike. They’ll leave us no choice. Invasion isn’t a practicable strategy.
A policy of complete isolation could never be achieved. China alone wouldn’t allow it. There’s a reason why the Chinese value N.K. as a client state.
“It seemed to be working to some degree with Iran.”
Regretfully, I can’t agree. Oh, it slowed them down but the Iranians were making steady progress even before Obama befriended them. BTW, the same dynamic applied before Bill Clinton surrendered.
IMO, the only strategy that the West could have used to stop N.K. and now Iran from their pursuit of nukes was to announce a policy that the day either one conducted a nuclear test would be the day they ceased to exist. While privately sending the message to the Chicoms and Russia that whatever the consequence, we would meet it.
Faced with that kind of resolve, its highly likely that they would back down. Predators do NOT welcome a fight to the death. The needed resolve comes from accepting a truism; the greater the evil, the greater the sacrifice required to defeat it.
It’s not coincidental that the day Reagan was sworn in, that the mullahs released the embassy hostages.
neo-neocon Says:
May 17th, 2016 at 5:31 pm
blert:
I think you have a failure of imagination if you can’t imagine it.
Trump energizes plenty of storm troopers. They’re just not the same ones as Hillary does.
&&&&&&&
His faithful are not inside the IRS, EPA, HUD, etc. etc.
Whereas DOJ troopers are raising campaign funding for Hillary AT THIS TIME.
He is NOT trying to create a new and perfect society.
His ambit is to dial the clock back to 1991 — or some such.
It’s also notable that Trump’s ‘rabble’ are against Washington — and its intrusions — and its corruption.
The Red Guards, SA, Bolshies ALL came into being from the FAR LEFT. ( See also Castro, Chavez )
Their universal goal was to throw over the card table and invent a whole new game.
Don’t confuse bombast with devilry.
Trump is CENTRIST, pragmatic, — in many ways — a blank slate.
Yeah, the good guy lost. But that ship has sailed.
Geller has a piece up on the matter. ( Horowitz ) I largely ditto her take on the matter.
I find Hillary FAR more alarming than Trump.
He will find — like Jimmy Carter — that he CAN’T micromanage the flow of events. He’s certain to be so busy with ‘stuff’ that his ‘input stack’ will be overflowing.
The schemers of this world are ‘relaxers’ — like Barry — or Stalin. They prioritize big schemes — and pay scant attention to effective results — blaming others is sufficient management as far as they’re concerned.
The fella that MOST matches the Leftist fantasy is obviously Bernie Sanders. You might note that HE’s the fella rabble rousing the youth.
ONLY the youngest adult generation can form the nucleus for activist fanaticism that you fear.
Trump’s crowd largely starts at age 35. There can be no storm trooping with that crowd.
Heh.
GB,
That sounds like a strategy to start a nuclear war. It also sounds like something Trump might actually try, which is one of the reasons I won’t vote for him. It also speaks to what Sowell is saying. Trump as president could easily lead us to nuclear war, because he’s thin skinned and arrogant enough to think that kind of strategy will work. Having been in elementary school during the “duck and cover” days I can tell you I’m not anxious to return to a world where there are bomb shelters under every building, and kids are taught that somehow they might survive a nuclear strike by hiding under a desk.
Blert:
You seem to underestimate the damage that 35 yr old red necks with attitude can do to civil order. Some get their jollies beating people up. Some in the civil servants just follow orders no matter who gives them.
Geoffrey continues to carry Donald’s water, what claiming that he really doesn’t really wanting to. Referring to Winston Churchill and Trump in the same comment borders on satire.
Must edit before submitting.
Some in the civil service will just follow orders no matter who gives them.
Geoffrey continues to carry Donald’s water, while claiming that he really doesn’t really want to. Referring to Winston Churchill and Trump in the same comment borders on satire.
“kids are taught that somehow they might survive a nuclear strike by hiding under a desk.”
If they were outside the radius of impact, they would. If they looked at the glowing fireworks, they would get radiation burns on their face and eyes, and would probably soon die afterwards.
Leftists and Democrats will follow orders. It doesn’t matter if the white trash are jumping ship to the Trump mobile. Their tendency to follow the orders of cowardly slave lords, hasn’t decreased in the generations since.
When people start saying Trump might start a nuclear war, they’re in the Bizarro world, into which I will not tread. I think some conservatives WANT Hillary to win so they’ll have something to bitch and moan about for the next fifty years. I’m not going to live that live so I’ll leave that to the NeverTrumpers.
Holding my nose, I go forward to vote.
Further deponent sayeth not.
Richard Saunders:
I don’t think most people who say that (certainly not Sowell) think this nuclear war would be purposeful on Trump’s part. I think they are meaning to say that he is so much of a loose cannon in terms of international relations, so unpredictable, and so out of his depth that it is a possible result of the chaotic world that might result from a Trump presidency.
Geoffrey Britain Says:
May 17th, 2016 at 7:15 pm
DIttos.
Taiwan already has atomics.
But, like Israel, Taipei refuses to admit or deny a thing.
Seoul and Tokyo are now being COMPELLED to acquire atomics.
I expect that this is already under way, as they too, see Hillary as the victor in the Fall.
OM Says:
May 17th, 2016 at 8:37 pm
Must edit before submitting.
Some in the civil service will just follow orders no matter who gives them.
&&&&
Barry has STUFFED the DOJ with True Believers.
They’ve got their own script.
And — you can scarcely fire them.
The IRS, DOJ, EPA, HUD are BASTIONS of activist Progressives.
The zany idea that they’re waiting to follow a Republican president’s policies has been disproved by prior events.
I’m speaking of the NIE WRT Iran’s nuclear prospects — 2007 — which TOTALLY deflated G.W. Bush’s diplomacy.
Since that date — all have come forth — all life long Democrats — admitted that screwing Bush was their primary motivation.
It was a classified document at the time — standard fare for ANY NIE.
GB,
There is a way to make others, such as NK and Iran, fall to their knees. It is a robust navy and the will to use it to blockade their ports and enforce no fly zones. Starve them out. Personally, I would prefer to start with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 6 months, 12 at maximum and they starve. It only takes the will the West lacks. Personally, I would willing to cause the starvation of millions to prevent the slightest harm to me and mine or my lap cat Prudence. I can be a very heartless bastard.
Upstream neo has a post about feral dogs, she wants to put them down, and I agree. I see NK, for example as a feral dog…. not the ordinary NK peon, but the monsters that rule them. Those peons are complacent in allowing the monsters to continue to rule. They out number them by a factor of 10E6 to 1. Better to die in the attempt to kill the monsters than live a miserable, malnuristed life under their thumb. I can be a very heartless bastard.
OM…
Check out the historical footage.
The SA, Red Guards, et. al. — no-one marching in the ranks is over the age of thirty-five — most are under the age of thirty.
Such is the nature of mass movements. They ride the bliss of the young adult, the teenager.
That’s what all armies are made of… and always have been.
The old farts are just a sprinkling on top.
Blert:
Selective evidence, there are a lot more apolitical “webees” in the civil service than true believers, IMO. The “weebees” go with the flow. For example in France. Holland, the civil servants were very cooperative with the German occupiers for the most part.
You assume that Trump has no youthful, useful idiots, to provide his muscle.
Ever heard of the term “NCO.” They are older than the young’uns. That’s what makes an “army” function, that
s one of the distinctions that separate a mob or rabble from something more effective and dangerous. So much for your “old farts.”
Blert:
Do you actually know anyone who works for the “Feds,” one of the many alphabet agencies? I do, not all liberal or conservative, many apolitical. Have you worked professionally with any? I have.
Tom,
It certainly has its risks. But risks become certainties, when predators detect weakness. Priorities as always are key, first rebuild the military, then get tough. Nukes offer no deterrent when your enemy is convinced you won’t use them, that is until its too late. Obama has publicly stated that even in the case of a nuclear attack, retaliation is not necessarily on the table. BTW, I too remember the ‘duck and cover’ days, I was a 14 yr old boy during the Cuban missile crisis living in the Ft Lauderdale area, just north of Miami.
OM,
If I cared about your opinion, I’d be hurt by your slander. Disagreeing with you, while opining that Trump is another Caesar, who may well end the republic is not the M.O. of a “water carrier”.
neo,
“they are meaning to say that he is so much of a loose cannon in terms of international relations, so unpredictable, and so out of his depth that it is a possible result of the chaotic world that might result from a Trump presidency.”
That is certainly a valid concern but it rests upon a questionable perspective. If China is set to get into a nuclear war over trade relations, it was coming anyway. If Putin is set to launch nukes at us because we shot down a plane buzzing one of our destroyers in international waters, (something that happened in the cold war) then he already plans to do so. In addition, Trump getting us into a nuclear war with either China or Russia presupposes that their leadership is as unstable, as those fearful of Trump suppose. Most tellingly, under Clinton this country will be so weakened as to make nuclear war, whether directly or through an EMP attack a predictable certainty. Predators smell fear and smell sickness.
parker,
I don’t think that China would allow the N.K. leadership to be starved to death. Overland supply. Iran is more problematic in being able to resupply itself overland. Of course, once they grow nukes, the ballgame changes. And yes, the majority of the N.K. people long ago decided to live on their knees, rather than die on their feet. “Give me liberty or give me death” does not resonate with that populace.
GB,
The peoples republic is not monolithic. NK is a leech Beijing can not afford in their present circumstances. I suspect they would rather trade with a unified Korea goverened by Seoul. Iran is easy. But first make an example of the KSA. Once that is done all the rest go weak kneed. All it takes is the will. Alas, that is lacking.
I appreciate GB’s wisdom and thank him..
I appreciate GB’s wisdom and thank him.
The old debate about whether Obama is fool or knave has been replaced with who is worse, Hillary or Trump.
It makes for some interesting comments and debate.
I’ve decided, at least for now, that Hillary is worse. The Donald may do something between now and November to change my mind.
What’s mare likely is that the dems will use the Goldwater gambit. “Look he’s insane! Can’t let him anywhere near the nuclear button!” Unfortunately, it will probably work. So all our debating will be just so many pixels under the bridge. Sigh!
J.J….
I see that hustle already building.
Parker…
North Korea is owned by the PLA — not the CCP.
Most primitive nations permit their armies to DIRECTLY own the productive assets of the nation.
Egypt
Pakistan
Red China
North Korea
Iran ( see IRGC — it’s clone of the Nazi SS )
Algeria
USSR
and so forth.
In the case of North Korea, her economic needs are supplied by the PLA’s economic arm. Yes, it’s that huge.
Red China also runs a fantastic 80,000,000 soul slave empire — aka its prison system.
You are paroled when you are physically broken.
It’s this slave empire that makes the ultra low ball pricing so commonly seen in Red Chinese manufactures.
Even if the prison empire does not directly produce export goods ( it exports tons of stuff ) it establishes an ultra low cost structure for the rest of the economy.
In this, it replicates the economics of the Antebellum Old South.
Even Whites that did not own Black slaves benefited by the overall macro-economics of slavery. The cost of generic goods produced was held to the floor.
eg Stoop labor for the rail roads. It was so cheap that the Old South never was incentivized to get up to Northern standards. The extreme example being the seven different rail gauges that met in Atlanta. Countless thousands of Black slaves were misused hustling freight from one line to the next.
With Red China you’ll find everything from penal gold mines on up. This always makes sense — as the trapped prisoners can’t smuggle any gold out, can’t bitch about appalling working conditions.
OM Says:
May 17th, 2016 at 11:08 pm
Blert:
Do you actually know anyone who works for the “Feds,” one of the many alphabet agencies? I do, not all liberal or conservative, many apolitical. Have you worked professionally with any? I have.
&&&
The minions that count are clones of Lois Lerner. Heck, she ran an entire team of female activists — ALL were dedicated to The Cause.
The DOJ’s attorney hires for Civil Rights are 100% Progressive Activists — under the 0bamination.
The top players at the EPA are ALL True Believers… and yet Civil Service.
What we are seeing is the wholesale politicalization of the Civil Service ranks.
Nothing less.
When Trump declares Global Warming sounds like a hoax — the EPA is aghast. It’s their number one mission right now.
Hence, the collective war on coal.
OM…
What world are you living in ?
“we risk the destruction of the country DURING HIS TERM.”
Nuclear war, like the ending of WW II, is not the destruction of the country.
Iran gets the bomb, nukes Tel Aviv. What does Israel do? What does the US do?
The US is not destroyed. This future is closer thanks to Obama-Clinton support for Iran & their program.
Or perhaps the Shiite Iranians don’t nuke Tel Aviv, but threaten to, while also threatening Saudi Arabia — which then also starts getting nukes. The local arms race continues until … some side uses a nuke.
The US is not destroyed, tho there is bigger chance of small nukes killing a few million.
I am absolutely certain this will be the trajectory of history with anti-war big spending cronyism Dems. It’s also possible with Trump and more Reps in Congress, but less likely.
Sowell’s fine note doesn’t discuss how support for the Dem or Rep president helps the Congress bids of the same party. We need more Reps & conservatives in Congress.
Blert::
The working world. Not the posting world.
The working world, that’s the place where the regulations and diktats from the upper level try to get implemented. That’s where costs and consequences get sorted out.
You have stated the obvious (upper level civil “servants”) and declared it the rule for all employees. How wise and prescient.
As posted before I’ve worked in the coal and petroleum industries (exploration and extraction). Uranium (mining), environmental remediation (Superfund, RCRA). So I know a thing or two about regulators and regulations beyond just posting opinions as fact.
It’s far more likely that US traitors will nuke the US and blame it on the patriots, than Iran or NK.