The Deuce...Bread and Circuses

It's been three days since we all received our terminal diagnosis and I have refrained from commenting about it until now, hoping that a few days of thoughtful consideration would reveal a strategy I could cling to that had a chance to raise the dead...but I have failed. So, I think, have all the champions of conservatism that have spent the last two days pontificating on the reasons Obama won a second term and what Republicans can do about it in both the near and far term. Their words ring hollow to me, and I believe they are just whistling past the graveyard, unable to accept the paradigm shift that took place in America on November 6, 2012.

‘Bread and Circuses’ is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader—the barbarians enter Rome.”

                                                       Robert Heinlein

Those of us who opposed Obama in 2008 thought his election was the result of Bush exhaustion, never-ending war in the Middle East, the disastrous economic downturn just before the election, a complicit liberal media, a weak Republican candidate and the desire of many to make history by electing the first black president. While all of those reasons seem to have been true to varying degrees, they hid the underlying, fundamental reason Obama won in 2008...and with the election three days ago, that reason was finally exposed for all to see, whether they accept it or not.

America now has more people dependent upon government for their very existence than it has people who are not, and they will believe anything, vote for any candidate and support any policy or legislation that ensures and enriches their existence.

The "safety net" that began with Social Security some seventy years ago has expanded and morphed into Liberation Democracy...the duty of government to liberate the "oppressed" from whatever and whoever "oppresses" them. And in America  the oppressed suffer at the hands of us who believe in liberty of thought and expression, capitalism, faith, self-reliance, self-restraint, charity and honor. In other words, conservatives.

In today's America conservatism is mocked and ridiculed as the way of the Old White Man...racist, homophobic, misogynist, greedy and cruel. And it's dead. All hail the New American Way!

Both God and Uncle Sam have been replaced by Almighty Sugar Daddy.

Worst of all, four more years of Obama and Liberation Democracy will have so infected America that there can be no coming back. America has finally gone over the proverbial "cliff" and we're all now in free fall...and the landing will be fatal to the former Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, for we are neither any longer.

Conservatism and the traditional way of life will survive in scattered enclaves for awhile. Pockets of like-minded people here and there will continue to send conservatives to Washington and some State Houses, but they will be grossly outnumbered and in the long term will be ineffectual at the national level. We will do what we can, knowing that like the famed 300 Spartans, we are ultimately doomed to fail.

Empty the National Archives of all the founding documents. Take the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the combined works of Washington, Adams, Madison, Franklin, Hamilton and Jefferson, and bury them deep under the Rockies. Perhaps they will be discovered centuries from now by some future generation of people longing to be free. America has little use for them now.

Love your family and friends. Enjoy your life as best you can. Continue to live your values. Pray.

Godspeed.


     

Everything That Needs To Be Said.

Mr. Quarter read this opinion and wants to share as it truly expresses his own feelings and opinions better then he could himself.  This article is partially excerpted from a post by Dean Kalahar on Real Clear Markets this morning:

Today the foundational pillars of civilization that have sustained America have been voted insignificant and will be allowed to collapse. The result is a New America for sure, but it is not a greater America. It is an America that has sown the seeds of its own demise, blinded by self inflicted wounds, disguised by false compassion, and based on trust in a human condition that is not in our nature.

 A callous society focused on self has been defining deviancy downward, as the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan warned us, for a long time. Sometimes covertly and other times overtly, a cultural war was being raged in America by a progressive "tolerance" movement that is intolerant of institutional traditions, principles, and laws that were created and tested over thousands of years of trial and error. Those who have lectured us have shown a condescending hypocrisy of moral relativism towards any concept that might interfere with their self-anointed sensibilities of creating a utopia so as to avoid self awareness. The walls of the republic have been crumbling for some time. Now the collapse is all but inevitable because, and let's be clear, they have won.

America's religious institution has been eroded by the secularization of society, the welfare state, the misguided belief in the separation of church and state, and attacks toward any outward expression of religious passion. The church has lost the culture war.

Our public education institution has been decimated by bureaucracies and unions that have failed to teach children how to read, write, or add, while choice, accountability, rigor, and our nation's history have been forsaken for self esteem and multiculturalism. The schools have lost the culture war.

Our family institution has been redefined into a bizarre amalgam of gender, sexual, and parental proclivities. 40% of children are born out of wedlock and 25% of teenagers have a sexually transmitted disease. The overt-sexualization of our society has created confusion and despair among our children, while infanticide has become an all too easy choice. Biological and psychological realities for sanctioning marriage between a man and woman for the sake of our posterity have been ruthlessly attacked by those seeking to re-define the universal order. Our families have lost the culture war.

Free market entrepreneurial principles no longer guide our economic system.  Efficiencies, life saving economic growth and opportunity based on the laws of human nature and scarcity have been forsaken by an ever encroaching government institution that believes a command and control approach of central planning can better answer the questions of what, how, and for whom. Our economic system has lost the culture war.

The winners of this battle have handed over America's keys to the government. A government that no longer sees its role as providing for the steady rule of constitutional law and unwavering protection of the basis of morality found in the steadfast protection of personal property. The New America government will direct the collapses of what they deem are antiquated institutions of society like life, liberty, and property. They will smugly orchestrate the demise of the bedrock principles that sustained our family, education, religious, and economic institutions that have held us together and allowed us to thrive as a country; naively believing a nation can sustain itself after its foundations are removed.

Progressive ideology has destroyed the social fabric of the nation from within. Ignorance has sown the seeds of our own destruction. As the Romans did long ago, our fate will be written in the epilogue of history. Gone, a nation whose torch was smothered when a complacent arrogance forgot who they were, what made them great, and the humility to stand vigilant in defending liberty was lost.

There is no upside for America or its people; and it is going to get ugly out there. But for those who have been fighting the good fight for so long, honoring those who have died fighting for the same providential cause, my suggestion is to pull in, relax, live, and love your families. The New America is the reality; just have peace of mind knowing the winners of the war, and the choices they made, will be held personally responsible for the severe costs that are to follow.

Media Corruption

Mr. Quarter is reporting this as it was presented on the Breitbard website this morning.

"CBS unveiled additional footage from its 60 Minutes interview with President Obama, conducted on Sept. 12 immediately after Obama had made his statement about the attacks in the Rose Garden, in which Obama quite clearly refuses to call the Benghazi an act of terror when asked a direct question by reporter Steve Kroft:

KROFT: Mr. President, this morning you went out of your way to avoid the use of the word terrorism in connection with the Libya Attack, do you believe that this was a terrorism attack?

OBAMA: Well it’s too early to tell exactly how this came about, what group was involved, but obviously it was an attack on Americans.  And we are going to be working with the Libyan government to make sure that we bring these folks to justice, one way or the other.

CBS News held onto this footage for more than six weeks, failing to release it even when questions were raised during the Second Presidential Debate as to whether Obama had, in fact, referred to the Benghazi attack as an act of terror before blaming it falsely on demonstrations against an anti-Islamic video."

Nothing less than journalistic malpractice and a completely corrupt attempt to assist the Obama campaign by concealing Obama's duplicity until it could not impact the election.

Mr. Quarter's Early Warning of Obama's October Surprise

Read this nugget this AM courtesy of The Ulsterman:  

Insider information says that "military intelligence may have tracked location of a guy called “Khattalah” who apparently organized the Benghazi attack.  Obama to order drone strikes or possible all out bombing operation."  The Insider says that it appears imminent.  The Insider says that "Obama will then make claim “perpetrators brought to justice” to squash Benghazi questions and play part of hero.  “Bin Laden Version 2 “ "  

Some speculate that the earlier incident in Benghazi was planned as an October surprise rescue operation scenario that went south.  

Stay tuned.

Mr. Quarter Admires An Elegant Trap

An elegant trap indeed.  Let's begin with a review of  some relevant factoids of the Bengahzi attack:

• The attack occurs, apparently the third attack on this station in the past several months.  President Obama immediately declares that it was the result of a spontaneous demonstration over a video, indicates his regret that anyone would profane the Prophet while exercising their right to free speech, then winds up with a global statement that acts of terror and violence will not go unpunished. 
• Obama visits two TV interview shows within the next 4 days and repeats that the attack was the result of a spontaneous demonstration over a video. 
• Obama's ambassador to the United Nations (Susan Rice) makes the rounds of the Sunday talk shows the following Sunday and repeatedly asserts that the attack was the result of a spontaneous demonstration over a video - In her words, "our best information.".  
• Two weeks later the story starts to leak out from Department of State and CIA that, well, that wasn't exactly right. During congressional hearings on the matter, two State Department officials state under oath that it was a planned Al Qaeda attack.  
• On October 11, Vice President Joe Biden asserts with great vigor, again it was spontaneous and no one ever asked for more security help - "it was what we were told" and, "we were never informed." 

So the stage is set.

Meanwhile Bill Clinton is out on the hustings, doing what the Democratic Party expects if he wants their support for Hillary in 2016.  But after VP Joe blabbed to 60 million viewers that State must have dropped the ball, apparently Bill thought it was time to cut the losses and drop Barry down the pipe.  So I imagine that  he and Hillary huddled and came up with the most elegant trap of all time.  Hillary, in the mature adult statesmanlike manner will step up to the microphone, the day before the 2nd presidential debate and one week before the final debate dedicated to foreign policy, and announce that enough is enough because the buck stops with her!. Media stories abound on her falling on the sword for Obama.  She is a hero.

And what of poor Barry?  He had to step in it and then on to a debate with his fly undone.  Bill/Hillary left him with a perfect no win  situation.  If he doesn't now step up, leaving the "buck" so to speak with her, then he looks like a leader that isn't willing to take responsibility and will throw very senior people under the bus to save his own skin.  Bad within the Party and really bad optics for the public to see.   On the other hand, if he takes responsibility, the entire affair then falls on him including all the appearances of a cover up.  Bad optics for the public.  Got to hand it to the Clintons, they really came up with a sweet, sweet response that sinks Barry no matter where he goes and got Hillary next to sainthood status.

The Deuce and Perfection

My mother was a perfectionist, my dad slightly less so. You'd think that being an only child I'd grow up to be a perfectionist too. Didn't happen. Maybe perfectionism skips generations, or maybe I consciencely rebelled against my parents perfectionism...or maybe I learned, as some wit once said, that 'perfection is rarely worth the effort.'

I'm a practical guy. For me, "good enough is good enough." If it works, if it accomplishes what I want, then it's all that is required and I'm free to move on to the next task, trading unreachable perfection for saving time, effort and resources. Certainly some things need to be closer to perfection than others. If I over cook my steak, it's still pretty tasty and 'perfectly edible.' If I undershoot my approach to the carrier while attempting to land my F-18 Hornet I'll be dead. Neither cooking my supper or landing my Hornet has to be perfect, but the approximation to perfection in the Hornet has to be much closer.

I am not arguing that improvement is undersirable or unobtainable. What I am arguing is that there comes a point in any endeavor when continuing to seek improvement becomes counter productive.

So what, you say?

Well, it turns out that seeking perfection as a society leads to some very destructive behavior.

      "Perfection spawns doctrines, dictators and totalitarian ideas."
                         Antonio Tabucchi

Understanding this, the authors of the U.S. constitution devised a system of government that was designed not to seek societal perfection (as one could argue the French revolution did), but instead to maximize individual liberty thereby enabling Americans to enjoy their liberty by pursuing happiness in their own ways through voluntary associations with each other and the peoples of other nations, whether by free trade or travel or the exchange of ideas.

Americans have embraced this view, to varying degrees, throughout most of our history as a nation. World history, life experience and common sense proved to most Americans that people will never be the same, or 'equal', and that attempts to force them to be are at best ridiculous and at worst destructive. Some people will be more successful at finding happiness than others. The best that can be expected is to make the laws of the land equally applicable to all, ensuring as best as is humanly possible that the opportunity to find happiness is open to all.

Communism, socialism and fascism are attempts to reach societal perfection by making everyone the same, or equal. If everyone is the same, the theories go, then there is no competition and hence no conflict.  If everyone is the same then there are no rich or poor, no oppressors or oppressed, no majorities or minorities. No religious differences, no competing economic plans, the same amount and quality of education, health care and housing. No one is better or worse than anyone else. Equality. Closer to perfection.

But not even Americans are free from the delusion that what is simply good can be made perfect. There have been several waves of 'progressivism' designed to bring America closer to societal perfection. FDR's New Deal was arguably the largest and most pervasive...until now.

The election of President Obama and the last four years of his administration are the latest, and I would argue the most damaging, of all attempts to make us all 'equal'. Not just equal with each other but also as a nation equal to all other nations. Wealth is redistributed, health care is socialized, the military is reduced, NASA is crippled, GM and Chrysler are nationalized to save the United Auto Workers union, international terrorists are appeased, foreign aid continues to flow despite what would be massive budget deficits if we had a national budget (the last federal budget having been passed in April, 2009), 49% of Americans don't pay any federal income tax, racial strife is increasing, government employees earn more than their private sector counterparts, more Americans are receiving food stamps than ever before and the unemployment rate has been over 8% for longer than at any other time in American history.

Not all of these ills can be laid at the feet of Obama, but many can be and those that can't have been made even worse by the President's disdain for free market capitalism, his seeming desire to see the U.S. 'humbled' in the international community and his delusional desire to 'perfect' America.

"Good enough is good enough" most often equates to "As good as it's gonna get."

Unlike my own parents, I  learned early on the difference between the obtainable good and the unobtainable perfection. Communists, socialist and facists need to learn the difference. A large number of Americans do too.  

  
   

The Deuce and the "Arab Spring"

The good and just Arab Spring, over flowing with democracy and diversity and religious tolerance (unless you're an infidel or a woman), yesterday produced it's first poisonous fruit when four U.S. diplomats at the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, were murdered either by a mob of Muslim tards or a coordinated attack by Al-Qaeda assassins, depending upon the media outlet reporting the news and the current state of intel America has been able to acquire regarding the killing.

As a relatively minor side-show Muslims in Cairo, Egypt, stormed the U.S. embassy compound, tore down the American flag and ripped it to pieces, and replaced it with a flag associated with Al-Qaeda while chanting, "Obama...we are all Osama!"

And to think president Obama supported the Arab Spring, and even went so far as to help the Libyan rebels by firing somewhere between 50 and 100 cruise missiles at Libyan government military installations during the revolt (against my advice I might add...see previous post The Deuce Effects U.S. Foreign Policy!).

According to Fox News, America has given away $150 billion dollars to middle eastern countries in the last 20 years, calling it "foreign aid". A great deal of that taxpayer money went to Libya and especially Egypt. As of now that foreign aid continues to grease the skids of democracy in the Muslim world and enable them to enjoy their free time by exercising their sharia right to kill infidels.

So far, the Obama administration's reaction to the murders in Benghazi is the predictable "Man, that really sucks" and "Rev. Wright says it's probably our fault" and "My administration will work with the Libyan government to make sure we bring these poor, misguided and under-appreciated future Democrats to justice just like we're doing with Army Major Hassan, the Ft. Hood traitor who murdered 13 fellow soldiers OVER TWO YEARS AGO and has still not been brought to trial 'cause he's got this beard see and the judge said he had to shave it for his court martial but Hassan doesn't want to and the appeals court hasn't ruled yet on whether or not Hassan can be forcibly shaved and there are just so many religious freedom issues and THIS IS ALL REALLY REALLY HARD!"

Who knew the Arab Spring wouldn't be full of butterflies and song-birds and cuddly little lambs prancing in the oasis?

Anybody with a brain.