Plunging Towards Gomorrah
Posts tagged Democrats
Democratic Leadership: So Much Fail
Jun 22nd
The big news today is the Rolling Stone article about General McChrystal. I don’t really have much to add about that situation. I think Jonah Goldberg’s take on the whole thing seems the most reasonable. Anyway, I’m not writing about that story. The real story for me today is that fact that the Democrat-led Congress isn’t going to submit a budget.
Finger-pointing has become the hallmark symbol of this administration
While this is hardly a new tactic, please remember that in 2006 the Democrats promised to run a more open and transparent government. Instead of improving on their Republican counterparts the Democrats have been a disaster running Congress, not to mention extremely opaque in their governance. Many of the Democrats elected in 2006 ran as fiscal conservatives. Since 2006, spending has skyrocketed. What exactly have the Democrats accomplished the past four years? Why would anyone vote to maintain this leadership?
Democrats seem intent on proving their unworthiness to lead Congress in even its most basic tasks. At the same time, their leadership wants voters to trust them to make the most personal of decisions in their health care, as well as believe that they can cool the planet and lower the sea level with punitive taxes on energy production and boondoggles in alternative energy. They can’t even govern themselves.
I know the Left doesn’t care but the Republicans should get their platform in order. While the Republicans were asleep at the fiscal switch the Democrats had no problem with spending us into oblivion. It was Congressman Barney Frank and other Democrats who fought tooth and nail to maintain the status quo at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Senator Chris Dodd and Rep. Frank belong in jail along with all the other criminals.
This is the face of change.
The Republicans aren’t much better, but bad always looks better when it’s compared to evil. The Democrat political agenda is at odds with most of the American people. Most Americans don’t want amnesty for illegal immigrants. Most Americans are opposed to ObamaCare. Most Americans are opposed to the Climate bill. These are the three biggest priorities for the Democrats and President Obama. Well, that and labeling anyone who disagrees with the agenda as racists wing-nuts.
Until liberals come up with some better ideas they’re not fit to govern the United States. Frankly, the progressive fascination with Utopia is a threat to the Republic and is sending us down the road to tyranny. The nation is already burdened with debt from Left’s old ideas. There simply isn’t enough money left to pay for everything bureaucrats have imagined. The reason Democrats can’t pass a budget before the election is because they know no one will like it. The Democratic majority in Washington is the greatest bait and switch in my lifetime.
Do Progressives Really Care About the Economy?
May 23rd
The right to free ice cream isn't spelled out in the constitution, but when has that ever been a problem for "progressives."
I have to admit I’m growing a little weary of politics. Perhaps it’s the Arizona controversy and the left’s ability to ignore logic and its apparent inability to read. It seems our population is fine with being ignorant. It’s easier to be angry and upset with Arizona than to actually realize that its law not only mirrors the federal law, but provides additional protection from racial profiling. So if we boycott Arizona, shouldn’t we boycott Washington?
Then, on the other side, there are those who spend time theorizing about the President’s birth certificate. The Republic has a lot of problems, but the President’s birth certificate isn’t one of them. The average American’s knowledge of our current fiscal situation is abysmal. Sure, most Americans can tell you that the economy is not doing well, but how many people cared before 2008? Most Americans are frustrated by the business cycle, not the 40-plus years of governmental mismanagement of finances.
For the United States to right this fiscal Titanic it would take a huge majority in Congress to do it. I don’t see how this is possible as long as the Democrats have the support of 40 percent of voters. The Democratic party doesn’t have a plan to balance the budget or reduce our debt, only plans to run us into the ground financially. Sadly, neither does the Republican establishment. Eventually this economic policy leads to California.
“So goes California so goes the nation,” or so the saying goes. California is our homegrown version of Greece. The citizens of California want big government, but they don’t want to pay for it. The indelible Mark Steyn has an article about the situation in Greece, but it’s just as relevant to California and the United States.
The problem facing the Western world isn’t very difficult to figure out: we’ve spent tomorrow today, and we can never earn enough tomorrow to pay for what we’ve already burned through. When you’re spending four trillion dollars but only raising two trillion in revenue (the Obama model), you’ve no intention of paying it off, and the rest of the world knows it.
Most liberals I know haven’t thought this far ahead. They’re in favor of free health care like they’re in favor of free Baskin Robbins ice cream. The ice cream tastes good, it’s available in 31 flavors, and no one really cares who’s paying for it. I too am in favor of free ice cream because providing it to Americans would be a helluva lot cheaper than free health care.
Eventually we end up like Greece, except there will be no one left to bail us out. There’s no Tea Party in Greece. It’s the Government Party there. Almost everyone is employed by the state and they all want to keep their 14-month annual pension (that’s not a typo; they get paid for 14 months of work in a 12-month period). Think that can’t happen in the United States? It’s happening already.
In Yonkers, more than 100 retired police officers and firefighters are collecting pensions greater than their pay when they were working. One of the youngest, Hugo Tassone, retired at 44 with a base pay of about $74,000 a year. His pension is now $101,333 a year.
It’s what the system promised, said Mr. Tassone, now 47, adding that he did nothing wrong by adding lots of overtime to his base pay shortly before retiring. “I don’t understand how the working guy that held up their end of the bargain became the problem,” he said.
“It’s what the system promised.” What happens if the system is broken? I apologize, but I really don’t feel sorry for able-bodied men who retired at the age of 40. What are these people contributing to society? Being a police officer is a respectable job, but it shouldn’t mean that 15 to 20 years service equals 30-plus years of pension. Obviously some of these pensions are related to disability, but not all of them. Until progressives take this problem seriously the United States is headed to bankruptcy.
November Elections Loom Large
Apr 28th
It’s only a few months until November and it’s not likely that any kind of economic rebound is going to save the Democrats in the Fall. The American public’s view of ObamaCare hasn’t gotten better (worse, if anything) and the Democrats do not have anything popular to offer. In fact, the two major pieces of their agenda, climate change and immigration, are political kryptonite. Some political observers are predicting an election tsunami:
That’s the projection of Republican new media maven Patrick Ruffini. Lest you write off his projection that a 70-seat Republican gain (which would leave Republicans with a 248-187 majority, larger than any they have won since 1928) keep in mind that Ruffini was one of the very first to predict that Marco Rubio could become the leader in the Florida Senate race and that Scott Brown had a very real chance to win in Massachusetts. Here I should add the usual caveats about how opinion can change and the balance of enthusiasm could change even faster. But the Democrats’ current tactic of prioritizing legislation to weaken Republicans’ standings (among all voters on financial regulation, among Hispanics on immigration, among young voters on cap-and-trade and the environment) doesn’t really address their current problem, which is that the Democrats’ standing among voters is at a record low and that they’re getting pasted in polls despite the fact that the Republicans’ standing among voters is not particularly high.
The question is what happens if this takes place? The Republicans don’t really have strong voice right now and I’m not sure what their prepared to offer if they’re ushered back into power. I know what the conservative/libertarian ideas are, but what does the GOP have to offer? Supposedly the GOP is small government, but what are they going to do?
Obama would have to meet in the middle to accomplish anything, but what would that mean? If the GOP wants to cash in on the current electoral landscape they need to come up with some populist ideas. Otherwise the White House is going to have a Saul Alinsky field day picking on various leaders in Congress. President Obama isn’t prepared for an ideological debate about fiscal issues.
Left Logic: Law Enforcement = Fascism
Apr 26th
This week’s Saturday Night Live Weekend Update segment briefly discussed Arizona’s new immigration law. The law has been declared “divisive” by the left because it actually enforces the law. Here is Seth Myers take on the law:
Seth Meyers: This week, Arizona signed the toughest illegal immigration law in the country which will allow police to demand identification papers from anyone they suspect is in the country illegally.
I know there’s some people in Arizona worried that Obama is acting like Hitler, but could we all agree that there’s nothing more Nazi than saying “Show me your papers”? There’s never been a World War II movie that didn’t include the line “show me your papers”. It’s their catchphrase. Every time someone says “show me your papers”, Hitler’s family gets a residual check.
So heads up, Arizona; that’s fascism. I know, I know, it’s a dry fascism, but it’s still fascism.
Obviously this is satire, but comparing this law to fascism isn’t funny or even logical. Requiring every driver in the United States to carry papers (a.k.a., a Driver’s License) must be a dry fascism. Requiring every worker to have a Social Security number must also fascist. Every time Club Soda is stopped for speeding, the local Gestapo asks for his “papers”. Every time I get a new job the Gestapo asks for my “papers”. This whole time, apparently, I’ve been living in a police state!
The left’s indifference to illegal immigration continues to puzzle me. Or maybe not. The Democrats seem most excited by the prospect that these illegals will become a voting bloc.
There will also be political repercussions. While Republicans may pick up a few more percent of the angry white vote in November 2010, they can kiss the Hispanic vote goodbye — and not just in Arizona. That may not have meant much in 1935, but in the years to come, it could seal the Republicans’ fate as a minority party. That’s at least one price they’ll pay for being mean and crazy.
According to John B. Judis, enforcing the law is crazy and mean. Forcing healthy citizens to get health insurance against their will, however, is perfectly fine. This is how the illogical progressive thinks. Judis would rather give illegal immigrants amnesty and free health care so they vote for Democrats forever. The law wouldn’t even be necessary if Democrats would get off this amnesty train and commit to common-sense reform. There’s nothing remotely fascist about enforcing immigration laws.
It’s odd that Saturday Night Live would highlight this piece of news and ignore what happened on South Park this week. Comedy Central’s capitulation to death threats from Islamic fundamentalists was easily the most disgusting development this week. When it comes to satire everything is fair game except Mohammad.
Harry Ried: All Talk on Immigration
Apr 13th
There isn’t a lot of common sense when it comes to the issue of illegal immigration. The two major camps on the issue fall into an isolationist policy vs. an amnesty policy. Neither one of those choices is intelligent. The Democratic party views illegal immigrants as a potential new voting bloc, though I’m not so sure that’s really the case in the long run. Senator Harry Ried of Nevada is still beating the “immigration reform” drum despite the fact it’s killing his reelection chances.
“We are going to pass comprehensive immigration reform,” Reid told the crowd. “We need to do this this year. We can’t let excuses like a Supreme Court nomination get in the way.”
Reid promised the legislation would include provisions to secure both the north and south borders, revisions to a guest worker program, and provisions to deal with illegal immigrants already in the country.
“There are no excuses. This is something America needs,” Reid said. “We’re going to do immigration reform just like we did health care reform.”
Yikes, just like health care reform? Is that a threat or a promise. I don’t even think the Democrats are crazy enough to push amnesty through Congress. I don’t understand why we can just crack down on illegal immigration and create a lawful way for Mexicans to become citizens. However, I don’t understand the isolationist position either.
The isolationist portion of the GOP don’t want anyone to move here. These people don’t understand free trade or basic economics. This is the more populist position at the current time, but it’s not one that should be encouraged. With the Democrats in power this is the best chance for immigration reform, but no one on the left is talking about creating a legal path to citizenship without amnesty.
If Harry Ried and company decide to push this over the summer the elections in November could be a bloodbath. I’m talking a Republican super majority. The Democrats decided to lose the majority by passing ObamaCare, but I don’t think that amnesty is worth the political fallout.
Right-Wing Reading List: The All-New Handy Dandy List of Verboten Words
Mar 28th
See what happens when you use words, particularly insensitive ones? Innocent people get hurt.
According to Democrats in the House and Senate, traditional media outlets, Chris Matthews and a host of other media watchdogs, the greatest threat to our national security is Words. Apparently, Republican leaders have been using words as a means of terror, inciting violence among the ignorant masses of the party’s electorate.
Since the passage of the health care reform bill – which will provide hassle-free and inexpensive medical care to every man, woman and child in America, Mexico and Nicaragua – there have been a rash of unsubstantiated attacks, slurs and threats made on our beloved saviors, Democratic lawmakers and the Chosen One himself, Barack Obama. Remember, the lack of any evidence is evidence that anything we believe, and therefore say, is true.
America’s elite in the media and the government have wisely decided to nip this virtual threat in the bud before it threatens to engulf the entire nation in a bloody civil war, or a hotly contested Scrabble game. So, if you’re considered right of center and oppose legislation like the health care reform bill, I’ve compiled the following All-New Handy Dandy List of Verboten Words. As you may recall, last year’s list was limited to two words: John Edwards. Since then, the political atmosphere has changed dramatically.
It is essential during out nation’s darkest hour that we refrain from using these words in speech, thought or written word since they may needlessly fan the flames of the pretend violence currently engulfing our once great nation: Aim, Ammunition, Army, Arrow, Attack, Barbed Wire, Bare, Batter, Battering Ram, Battle, Battleground, Bay of Pigs, Bear, Bomb, Bow, Brick, Budget, Campaign, Capitalism, Catapult, Chalk (a medium used to outline dead bodies), Charlie Rangel, Chop, Cigarette, Constitution, Crossfire, Crusade, Death, Debt, Deficit, Defense, Destroy, Election, Eric Massa, Explosion, Islam, First Amendment, Freedom, Gerrymander, Hanging (unless it’s attached to “Chad”), Harangue, Harass, Iran, John Edwards, Harpoon, Launch, Liberty, Maneuver, Masonry, Military, Militia, Mine, Minefield, Missile, Mohamed, Molotov Cocktail, Muslim, Muster, Mutually Assured Destruction, Nuclear (and especially Nuculer), Offense, Party (see Tea), Power, Re-arm, Re-district, Reload, Repeal (perhaps the most inciting of all these words), Republic, Rifle, Rock, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Second Amendment, Shoot, Shotgun, Sniper, String, Submarine, Superpower, Target, Tax, Tea, Threat, Throw, Torpedo, Transparency, Verizon, Wolf, Wussie.
As we get closer to the November elections, new words are sure to be added to the list. Check back regularly here at The Daily Plunge so you don’t accidentally speak, write or think any of the forbidden words. Let’s face it, life is so much easier when we simply allow others to think and act for us. I plan to spend the extra time finally mastering Mario Kart. Imagine all the people, winning every race. I hope someday you’ll join us…
Unintelligent Debate
Mar 28th
Whatever happened to intelligent debate? There seems like there’s less and less of it these days. Debating the common man has become almost pointless. Who has time to cut through the talking points, misconceptions, myths, and partisanship anymore? We live in the information age, but too many people have crawled into their caves.
Research suggests that conservatives are more likely to read “opposing views” than their liberal counterparts. Perhaps this is the reason liberals have such a difficult time understanding the arguments of conservatives. It’s just much easier to call conservatives names. The left’s angle on the tea party movement is very clear. Brand the entire group as mindless racists even though a majority of Americans are opposed to ObamaCare. Last week when Congressman Emanuel Cleaver claimed he was spit on and called names there was no evidence to support the claim. Even though there were thousands of people around and his staff was holding up phones to record everything that was going on (a point I’ve seen no one in the press make). What does it say about a political ideology and its supporters when instead of defending ObamaCare they’d rather call their opponents racists?
Four administrators of the “I bet we can find 10,000,000 people who think Sarah Palin is an idiot” group on Facebook go to Stanford. Is this how they practice intelligent debate at that prestigious university? Why is okay to dress up as a vagina at a Palin event, but it’s radical to oppose ObamaCare? For the hipster dufus, protesting anyone who is a Republican is cool. Getting your news from The Daily Show is cool. Plus, calling the opposition stupid is encouraged. Remember the left also hated and looked down at Ronald Reagan. Certainly 1/6th of the people who voted for the most unqualified person ever to become president might think Sarah Palin is an idiot. They have to do something to “feel good” about themselves.
Four six years the United States had a very vocal anti-war movement that was full of radicals and hate speech. The examples of radical behavior were a lot clearer back then, except I never heard about it on TV. I don’t remember the Democratic leadership calling for the crowds to “tone it down.” Now one Congressman yells fire in a crowded room and I’m supposed to believe him? If we’ve learned anything during this reform process it’s that the Democrats will lie to advance their agenda.
For an idea of how shallow these people are just read this column by Courtland Miloy that was published in the Washington Post:
I know how the “tea party” people feel, the anger, venom and bile that many of them showed during the recent House vote on health-care reform. I know because I want to spit on them, take one of their “Obama Plan White Slavery” signs and knock every racist and homophobic tooth out of their Cro-Magnon heads. I am sick of these people — and those who make excuses for them and their victim-whiner mentality.
How’s that for constructive dialogue about an alleged incident? Racism is a serious issue in this nation but why aren’t people like Courtland Milloy, Emanuel Cleaver, and Randall Robinson called out for making incendiary claims that are untrue? Are wolf attack victims allowed to cry wolf because they’ve been attacked in the past? What I’d love to hear from the wise minds on the left are some logical arguments. Branding the opposition with lies is a bit totalitarian for my taste and a certain sign they’re losing the debate.
Where Do We Go from Here?
Mar 24th
It’s time to put ObamaCare behind me and safely on the dusty back shelf I call my cerebral cortex. There are plenty of battles ahead, but other issues loom on the horizon, like the ever-controversial kickball postseason. The Democrats are busy giving themselves high fives and Tom Harkin is promising to add the public option in next year’s budget. Even under the rosiest scenario there are going to be less Democrats in Washington this time next year.
The problem Democrats have is that they just passed a massively unpopular bill and they don’t have anything they can offer the American people that’s popular. I guess they could try to pass the climate change bill (a.k.a., cap and trade), but that’s probably hung up forever in the Senate. They could tackle the immigration issue. However, the Democrats are in favor of amnesty, which is another unpopular topic. What about the Value Added Tax (VAT)? Mmmmmmmmm. That sounds good!
One pundit who has been absolutely outstanding in his predictive powers over the past year is Charles Krauthammer. He predicted early on that ObamaCare would pass and he never wavered, even in January after Brown’s election. Krauthammer believes that a national sales tax in inevitable.
I’m not exactly sure how the President is going to make this case to the American people. Passing a Utopian entitlement is easy. Passing a massive tax increase during a severe recession won’t be very popular. What happens if the Supreme Court strikes down ObamaCare? There’s a chance the individual mandate will be declared unconstitutional. Unless there’s a massive economic boom in the next six months things are likely to get worse for Obama and the Democrats.
The Danger of Endless Entitlements
Mar 22nd
This is what happens when the state finally goes bankrupt.
There’s a fundamental difference between conservatives and liberals. It was on full display this past week as the pillars of the liberal establishment rallied behind ObamaCare. Liberals who opposed the Senate bill for not being bigger decided something was better than nothing. The mainstream press (Washington Post, New York Times, etc.) endorsed the bill. It’s odd that anyone can be in favor of a bill that’s so bad. I won’t go into the details because I’ve written about it extensively over the past six months. Besides, I find myself looking at cardboard boxes wondering if I should start saving materials for when we’re living under a bridge if I think about it too much.
ObamaCare is bad from beginning to end. It’s the greatest gift ever given to the insurance companies in the short term, but signals the end of their business in the long term. Meanwhile, the President and his deranged followers act like everything is rosy. Liberals have fallen in love with the “idea” of heath care. I wrote about this a few days ago. Health care isn’t a logical issue to these robots; it’s a purely emotional issue.
The most common argument for universal health care is that Europe and Canada have it. This is a shallow and uninformed argument. When did the United States start looking at Europe for ideas? This is the continent we have bailed out of two horrendous world wars and who we defended during the Cold War. The only reason these States have been able to afford their massive entitlements is because the American taxpayer has paid for Europe’s defense. Furthermore, these European states are going bankrupt (see Greece, etc., etc.). They’ve reduced their defense budgets to shambles and they still can’t afford the entitlements, the pensions, the health care, and all the stuff the leftist crazies in our government would have us do.
If the left is committed to the idea of health care it will cripple the United States and the world will be a more dangerous place. The cancer of entitlements means the only place to carve out a temporary future is to cut defense. As the U.S. military weakens the world will become more unstable. Eventually, the economies of Europe and the rest of the West will cave under the weight of entitlements. It might be this generation, it might be the next, but unless there’s a change the inevitable outcome of the ignorance of the left is economic Armageddon.
