Overstepping
The Media (with its heavy liberal focus) has a new, and Democrat lead, rallying cry: the Republicans and the activists have gone too far. They are racists radical right-wing bible thumping lunatics.
The danger is this - there is enough truth to the statement for it to hold some some sway over those who really matter: the middle. In the middle are a lot of republicans, a lot of democrats, and a whole heck of a lot of independents. There are not many who really see themselves as "libertarian" (in a large part because of the radical associations of that party I would believe) but I would posit that the majority of those in the middle are sensible, economically conservative (as in there is something wrong with a $1.5trillion deficit), socially liberal (let everyone have rights and leave people to live their lives), and scared of both sides of the political spectrum. Obama showed himself to be a socialist, and the middle ran to the right. The Right then showed a vocal minority tied up in religion and possibly (to the best of my knowledge, not a single one of the claims of racial epithets being hurled around has been verified or caught on camera, which is surprising if they were real or in any way common) racism.
So the left is screaming that the right is crazy and all thinks that Obama is the antichrist, while the right is shouting that Obama will destroy this great nation and make it look like something out of an Ayn Rand novel, or perhaps Orwell. Whats the middle to do?
The thing is, Obama is a socialist. Americans dont like the word, because they think it means communism, which means red russia, which means they hate it. Socialism is none of these things. It is completely wrong, but it is not inherently evil. The idea is more or less that you trade some of your success and growth in order to achieve greater security. Individuals make this decision all the time (start a new job, a new career, or stick with the safe one?) and I would not fault them for it. However, the issue is that in the long run, as a nation, it makes everyone less safe, less well off, and with fewer opportunities. But it does not make you Putin, Stalin, Hitler, or "the antichrist." What the hell is the antichrist anyway? Is that even anywhere in the bible? Is any of this crap that people make up actually in the bible anyway? Then again, I suppose if you looked at the constitution and then at our government you would be confused.
At the same time, the left is really scared of the fact that the new activists have a very legitimate concern. America is going bankrupt and they are going to take money away from just about everyone in order to pay for their programs. You can ask: "doesn't someone benefit?" And my answer is "No." With a government involved the idea that money spent necessarily has to do anything beneficial is a joke. One of Obama's works projects just installed a major new sidewalk in my hometown in NJ. The sidewalk goes around the inside of a major traffic circle. There is no pedestrian crossing onto or off of the sidewalk. I am not kidding. Building it blocked up traffic for months.
So the activists have a point. Why is our solution to a broken Medicare to expand Medicare? Why is our solution to a national debt crises to expand the national debt?
These are scary questions for liberals, because there is no good answer. There are a lot of think tanks and academic papers which guard the periphery of the truth like a barbed wire fence of words, but inside the compound is the the dark pit: these policies are about assuaging feel-good liberal sensibilities based around the belief in the inherent inability of man to take care of himself. Deep down the logic is simple: all those people are not smart enough to make decisions, so we will make the decisions for them.
This truth must be protected at all costs. The American public has edged ever nearer to the full-blown belief that these policies are a dangerous sham: the election of Scott Brown says all that needs to be said.
My hope is a simple one. I would like to see the complete collapse of the American political system. I want to see a realignment of the parties, or the emergence of new ones. Right now we have two sectors of an x,y plane: increasingly, Americans find themselves in the empty sectors. I know I do. I cant stand bible thumping gun-loving Republicans any more than I can stand bullshit thumping bullshit loving Democrats. Granted, there are moderates from both parties - thankfully - but increasingly they seem left out in the cold. Moderate Dems were thrown to the wolves in order to pass healthcare, with Obama going so far as to come out and say he did not give a damn if seats were lost mid-term. Moderate Republicans are lost in a sea of voices taking the Bush (Rove) success of using religion and going too far.
And the frustrating thing is that there is a very strong, very American, very Patriotic fundamental root to much of the anger over the past two years. Leave us the hell alone. Let us be. Let the American people be. We don't need hand-holding. We don't need new regulation. We don't need new spending. We don't need new works programs. We don't need new government agencies. We don't need to new heathcare rules. We don't need to be told what we can and cant do, what is and is not safe, what is or is not in our best interest. America is a nation built on a foundation of freedom, built by an enterprising and driven desire to always do better, go further and achieve more. Please let us do just that.
The fundamental cause of the financial collapse was government regulation and involvement in the mortgage industry. The fundamental cause of the issues this country has with healthcare are because of inept and useless US government regulation and the bankrupt and ineffective medicare program. There is a large and growing portion of the American public who now see this truth, or at least catch a glimpse of it shimmering beyond the fences, forests and flashing lights set in place to hide the truth. Do I believe all this is some big conspiracy? Of course not. It is the spontaneous assembly of millions of weak minds working together to protect themselves from the truth that they are not as intelligent and successful as they think they are. To make themselves believe that measures they support because they "believe in helping others" are really just to protect themselves.
Have the Republicans and the activists overstepped? Absolutely. But so have the Democrats. Like so many other Americans I find myself presently disgusted with the American political system. So easily this disgust turns into a desire to simply shut it out, ignore the idiots, and go back to getting your work done whatever they do. Its what Americans are best at anyway: working hard. But today there is also an opportunity to register your dislike and distrust of the American political system, to help break the lock of the two squabbling children on the future of this country. How exactly it will be done I am not sure, but a wedge has been driving into the cracks and it is time to hammer it home.
The danger is this - there is enough truth to the statement for it to hold some some sway over those who really matter: the middle. In the middle are a lot of republicans, a lot of democrats, and a whole heck of a lot of independents. There are not many who really see themselves as "libertarian" (in a large part because of the radical associations of that party I would believe) but I would posit that the majority of those in the middle are sensible, economically conservative (as in there is something wrong with a $1.5trillion deficit), socially liberal (let everyone have rights and leave people to live their lives), and scared of both sides of the political spectrum. Obama showed himself to be a socialist, and the middle ran to the right. The Right then showed a vocal minority tied up in religion and possibly (to the best of my knowledge, not a single one of the claims of racial epithets being hurled around has been verified or caught on camera, which is surprising if they were real or in any way common) racism.
So the left is screaming that the right is crazy and all thinks that Obama is the antichrist, while the right is shouting that Obama will destroy this great nation and make it look like something out of an Ayn Rand novel, or perhaps Orwell. Whats the middle to do?
The thing is, Obama is a socialist. Americans dont like the word, because they think it means communism, which means red russia, which means they hate it. Socialism is none of these things. It is completely wrong, but it is not inherently evil. The idea is more or less that you trade some of your success and growth in order to achieve greater security. Individuals make this decision all the time (start a new job, a new career, or stick with the safe one?) and I would not fault them for it. However, the issue is that in the long run, as a nation, it makes everyone less safe, less well off, and with fewer opportunities. But it does not make you Putin, Stalin, Hitler, or "the antichrist." What the hell is the antichrist anyway? Is that even anywhere in the bible? Is any of this crap that people make up actually in the bible anyway? Then again, I suppose if you looked at the constitution and then at our government you would be confused.
At the same time, the left is really scared of the fact that the new activists have a very legitimate concern. America is going bankrupt and they are going to take money away from just about everyone in order to pay for their programs. You can ask: "doesn't someone benefit?" And my answer is "No." With a government involved the idea that money spent necessarily has to do anything beneficial is a joke. One of Obama's works projects just installed a major new sidewalk in my hometown in NJ. The sidewalk goes around the inside of a major traffic circle. There is no pedestrian crossing onto or off of the sidewalk. I am not kidding. Building it blocked up traffic for months.
So the activists have a point. Why is our solution to a broken Medicare to expand Medicare? Why is our solution to a national debt crises to expand the national debt?
These are scary questions for liberals, because there is no good answer. There are a lot of think tanks and academic papers which guard the periphery of the truth like a barbed wire fence of words, but inside the compound is the the dark pit: these policies are about assuaging feel-good liberal sensibilities based around the belief in the inherent inability of man to take care of himself. Deep down the logic is simple: all those people are not smart enough to make decisions, so we will make the decisions for them.
This truth must be protected at all costs. The American public has edged ever nearer to the full-blown belief that these policies are a dangerous sham: the election of Scott Brown says all that needs to be said.
My hope is a simple one. I would like to see the complete collapse of the American political system. I want to see a realignment of the parties, or the emergence of new ones. Right now we have two sectors of an x,y plane: increasingly, Americans find themselves in the empty sectors. I know I do. I cant stand bible thumping gun-loving Republicans any more than I can stand bullshit thumping bullshit loving Democrats. Granted, there are moderates from both parties - thankfully - but increasingly they seem left out in the cold. Moderate Dems were thrown to the wolves in order to pass healthcare, with Obama going so far as to come out and say he did not give a damn if seats were lost mid-term. Moderate Republicans are lost in a sea of voices taking the Bush (Rove) success of using religion and going too far.
And the frustrating thing is that there is a very strong, very American, very Patriotic fundamental root to much of the anger over the past two years. Leave us the hell alone. Let us be. Let the American people be. We don't need hand-holding. We don't need new regulation. We don't need new spending. We don't need new works programs. We don't need new government agencies. We don't need to new heathcare rules. We don't need to be told what we can and cant do, what is and is not safe, what is or is not in our best interest. America is a nation built on a foundation of freedom, built by an enterprising and driven desire to always do better, go further and achieve more. Please let us do just that.
The fundamental cause of the financial collapse was government regulation and involvement in the mortgage industry. The fundamental cause of the issues this country has with healthcare are because of inept and useless US government regulation and the bankrupt and ineffective medicare program. There is a large and growing portion of the American public who now see this truth, or at least catch a glimpse of it shimmering beyond the fences, forests and flashing lights set in place to hide the truth. Do I believe all this is some big conspiracy? Of course not. It is the spontaneous assembly of millions of weak minds working together to protect themselves from the truth that they are not as intelligent and successful as they think they are. To make themselves believe that measures they support because they "believe in helping others" are really just to protect themselves.
Have the Republicans and the activists overstepped? Absolutely. But so have the Democrats. Like so many other Americans I find myself presently disgusted with the American political system. So easily this disgust turns into a desire to simply shut it out, ignore the idiots, and go back to getting your work done whatever they do. Its what Americans are best at anyway: working hard. But today there is also an opportunity to register your dislike and distrust of the American political system, to help break the lock of the two squabbling children on the future of this country. How exactly it will be done I am not sure, but a wedge has been driving into the cracks and it is time to hammer it home.
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