Special Pages

Saturday, August 11, 2012

A Deranged Lemming-like March into the Abyss


From Mark Steyn's latest, "Milquetoast Mitt", a possible campaign button for Obama, “Forward” is seen as sunny and optimistic rather than a deranged lemming-like march into the abyss.
The words “WE BELIEVE” appeared on the screen, followed by youthful hands raised to a clear blue sky at the dawn of a new day, shafts of sunlight gleaming through ears of corn, a puppy gamboling across a meadow, a kitten playfully pawing, happy green-T-shirted volunteers of many races unloading a recycling carton . . . and I thought, despite myself, “Well, say what you like, but the reassuring vapidity of the Romney campaign is at least getting more professional.” At the end, in the spot where the off-screen voice is supposed to say “I’m Mitt Romney and I approve this message,” it instead said: “Introducing Purina One Beyond: a new food for your cat or dog.”
("reassuring vapidity of the Romney campaign" - you just can't buy quality writing like that)  Mark makes the excellent statement that half the country is oblivious to oncoming disaster of the debt.
Half the country is entirely unaware of the existential threat Obama-sized government represents, and Mitt seems in no hurry to alert them to what’s at stake, save for occasional warnings that if we’re not careful America will end up like Europe. We should be so lucky.
I keep telling myself I'm going to write up a little quiz that we can send to friends and family to see if they understand this.  How many people know the Congressional Budget Office says the country will collapse in a few years if we stay on the same financial path we're on?  How many people know that every year we borrow more than the GDP of all but about ten nations every year?  How many people know the fed buys 70-80% of our long term debt - monetizing it - because the few nations that could finance our debt have enough problems of our own.

The CBO runs on a peculiar basis: when a bill is presented to them, they have to accept the assumptions in the forecast.  For an absurd example, if a bill is presented that includes the assumption "we will borrow more than the combined GDP of the planet, by making contact with the Zeta Reticulans", they must go with that, and not question whether there is even a snowball's chance in Florida that could happen.  That's why the cost of Obamacare came in at under a trillion dollars.  The assumptions were bogus.   In the case of predicting the collapse of the US, the assumptions were not far-fetched.  They were to assume "business as usual".  If things go along as they have been, the US ceases to exist.  To quote Treasury Secretary Geithner to VP Candidate Paul Ryan, "We don't have a definitive plan, we just don't like yours" (at about the 2 minute mark here).

The selection of Paul Ryan is not bad, but it's not great either.  It simply confirms what we've all been saying about Romney being a party insider, toeing the party line.  Contrary to what the MSM thinks, you and I know the tea party/9-12 Project/Freedomworks groups are not parts of the Stupid Party, they are dedicated to the overthrow of the current Republican party.  That's why someone who strongly appeals to this crowd, like Rand Paul or Marco Rubio, was not chosen.

Many of us have said many times that we are not voting out way out of this, and that is absolutely true.  However, voting is part of the process of getting out of this.  The first shot of chemotherapy or the first round of surgery does not cure your cancer: it's the first step in the process of getting rid of your cancer.  That's more like what we're facing.  Having gone through cancer with Mrs. Graybeard and many others, I've seen that getting through cancer is an enormous endurance contest - and getting out of the budget hole will try the endurance of us all. 

3 comments:

  1. Based on the campaign Romney is running, one almost wonders if the Republican Party isn't looking to throw the fight again, as it did with McCain (McAbel's brother).

    Cancer is an excellent metaphor for the Obama administration. Our government is going to require some radical surgery if we are going to survive as a country. Removal of some of the more destructive agencies - like the EPA, Dept. of Energy, etc. - will be necessary, just as Ron Paul has stated. But first, the main tumor, the source of all the filth and disease and mortification - Obama - must be removed. If he is allowed to remain, it will mean the death of this country.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As you said the other day, we unfortunately have the usual "lesser of two evils" option again. The problem has been that people have elected representatives and not paid attention. If Romney wins, we need to beat them as much as now, if not more. If Romney wins, the plane doesn't recover, it just changes from a powered dive into the ground over to flatter trajectory. It still crashes.

      The cancer analogy works here. Just as you're not cured of cancer until you wipe out every cell, we need to wipe out the over-reaching government. It means rolling back much of the last years' legislations.

      Delete
  2. In your lifetime, can you definitively point to any national election which resulted in a restoration and practice of supposed constitutional values and principles?

    Can you give any example anywhere in the world, from any time period when people voted themselves free? When any government voluntarily restrained & limited itself?

    With the upcoming national election we are presented the “choice” between the former governor of the most liberal state in the union, and a marxist homosexual. Both candidates support abortion, both support a state seizure of health care, both support cradle to grave meddling in the lives of free individuals.

    Perhaps the former governor embraces 98% of the marxists’ views. Maybe it is only 92%, or 85%. The point is that by voting for the candidate who is not (openly) the marxist homosexual, one is supporting 85%,92% or 98% of the marxist agenda.

    You have then unwittingly anchored yourself to marxist policies, creating a new beachhead, a new starting point for the next round. Just as with the previous election. By voting, not only have you endorsed and sanctioned policies abhorrent to your values, but have endorsed and sanctioned the entire process as well.

    Please consider – what substantive policies of the Bush administration has Obama overturned? Any? And what policies of Obama has his supposed former rival McCain railed against? Any? Why not? The answer is that we have been continually presented with false opposites. The entire system is designed to perpetuate itself, while pretending that a choice exists. Any supposed differences put forth are merely of degree, of style, not of kind. The growth is always in one direction, and that direction is worship of an all powerful state.

    How did this happen? It happened because our entire process of thinking, of acting, of viewing persons and events has been corrupted – by design. When we are opposed to X, we are conditioned to support those who are X-1, not realizing there simply is no real difference. A (mandatory) choice between A or B eliminates the possibility that we might otherwise choose none of the above.

    Time to quit playing the rigged game. Recognize the process, the system for what it is – a fraud. Voting for a new master every few years does not make us free. It does not promote our beliefs or values.

    It is false hope in a device that always disappoints

    End the fraud.

    Strike the root.


    itor

    ReplyDelete