In a Democracy, The People Get The Government They Deserve

The post title is one my favorite all time quotes. It is the perfectly pithy expression of my own thoughts and feelings about the non-stop clown parade the American people seem content to send to the nation’s capital every election cycle. This simple ten word sentence is also positively dripping with sarcasm, which any reader of this blog will know would have made it an instant favorite of mine from the moment I bumped into it.

My first exposure to the quotation remains lost in the swirling mists of my personal memory. Whatever it was, the moment of exposure surely connected the quote to Alexis de Tocqueville – prominent 19th Century French politician and political scientist – because until today I was certain he was its’ author.

But today is the day I began researching the facts around fleshing out the general idea for this post. While I browsed the Intertubes for information on deTocqueville, I certainly did confirm, as expected, he was the author of the great work of political and social science that nailed a profound examination of the American character – Democracy In America (1835).

However, his connection to my beloved quote was severed by this:

The statement is often quoted as "In a democracy, people get the government they deserve," and often attributed to Alexis de Toqueville ... but it's hard to verify where he said it, and even whether he really did.
…
But I doubt that de Toqueville said it, simply because it doesn't sound like him. The tone of the remark is sarcastic or cynical, and de Toqueville's writings weren't like that. It wasn't his style.

Ack! (Bill the Cat) How could I have gone on for so long so mistaken? What failure of gub’ment education policy has allowed me to carry this ignominious badge of ignorance with me all my life! OK, I’m over it now.

==

I kind of remember asking in an earlier post something like “what the hell are these people thinking?” This question was re-constituted in my brain, courtesy of two recent polls local radio man Chris Plante discussed over the AM wavelength this past Thursday and Friday morning.

In the Thursday morning poll, a majority of Americans expressed, incredibly, the belief that deposed President George Walker Bush is more to blame for today’s economy than sitting President Barack Hussein Obama.

In the Friday Morning poll, at least half the country expresses the belief, incredibly, Martin Luther King’s dream of racial equality remains unrealized. Most interestingly, white Americans are slightly more pessimistic than black Americans on this question.

What the hell are these people thinking?

Well, upon long and careful consideration of this existential question – I, LibertyAtStake, have come up with a two part answer. Part 1 = The Power of Propaganda. Part 2 = White Guilt.

==

The Power of Propaganda

There is by now a very strong case to be made for a Leftist bias in today’s mainstream media (MSM). The case for MSM bias has been articulately made on this blog, if I don’t say so myself. I won’t belabor the point of this case. I will simply stipulate what should by now be obvious to the most casual observer – the MSM is actively working on behalf of the Progressive Left.

The agenda of the Progressive Left is, at rock bottom, an agenda of identity politics. The furtherance of this agenda involves the continuous stoking of divisions between wealth, gender, and race classes – with certain of those designated victim and the certain others designated oppressor.

The political party owned and operated by the Progressive Left is the Democrat Party. The Democrat Party’s well-heeled propaganda organ is the corrupt and biased MSM. Any American that is only getting his or her information from the corrupt and biased MSM has been barraged with a steady one-sided drum beat pounding home the Leftist agenda. The messaging for this agenda includes, among other things, the messages “George Bush evil” and “Blacks victim class.”

==

White Guilt

I’ve spent less time on this blog examining the effects of “white guilt” on today’s republic. I am not susceptible to its deleterious effects, as I was born into a low socio-economic status (as measured by the class warriors of the Left) and spent time as a toddler in one of LBJ’s housing projects. I clearly remember how George Wallace’s snarky label “limousine liberals” resonated with my parents, friends, and neighbors shortly after the family escaped said projects.

In the subsequent decades, however, I have become something of a bemused observer of privileged liberal whites seemingly willingly to turn off their cognitive functions when confronted by questions of race.

Take, for example, the legions of privileged white voters who were willing to suspend disbelief on a (non) record of (non)accomplishment coupled with a fully demonstrable record of radical associations for this numb nuts in 2008.

I tell the “victims” (full sarcasm entirely meant) of 2008’s outbreak of “white guilt” the only cure is affixing this bumper sticker to your Prius or Smart Car immediately.

Update 1/27/12

LAS has noticed a pattern of visits directly to this post, by Intertubes users searching on phrases closely approximating the post title. Therefore, since this post is apparently destined for Intertubes fame, I made a quick editorial pass to correct a couple of grammatical errors. My Grandmother apparently told my father a lot to wear clean underwear every day because you never know when you'll be in an accident and have to be picked up by an ambulance. Basically, I'm applying that advice toward cleaning up this post before it takes off into true Intertubes fame and fortune. And since I pride myself on remaining the Most Transparent Blog In History, the original errors remain with strikethrough notation.

Commentapalooza II

Every serious blogger will use a real-time traffic analysis utility as a tool to acquire valuable feedback on how the marketplace of ideas known as the Intertubes is absorbing the incredibly important concepts the blogger has to express to the world at large. Some use something that goes by the name Site Meter, some use something called Get Clicky. My utility of choice is Feedjit. My selection process was very complicated and scientific. It was the first one I tried and it met my very basic requirements.

Feedjit allows me to see the general geographic locations of my visitors, and I have seen some interesting patterns.

For example, I believe I have seen a relatively high proportion of foreign national visits in relation to my relatively small total visit population. Especially since I configured the Blogger utility to focus on the continental US - "Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive."

I think - through observation, not precise measurement - a majority of the foreign visits come from foreign capitals. It gives me great satisfaction to know it's at least possible the Intertubes has given me a direct channel to dispensing advice to Benjamin Netanyahu or mocking taunts to Hugo Chavez.

Feedjit also affords me the opportunity to become aware of who seem to be the most regular visitors from our great republic to my humble little blog. Hello Glenwood, Maryland; Duluth, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; Phenix City, Alabama; Plano, Texas; Houston, Texas; Carlsbad, California; Eugene, Oregon; Vancouver, Washington; North Las Vegas, Nevada; and others. I sometimes play a little game with Google Maps or Mapquest to find these places and learn about the geography of our great republic.

A pretty significant percentage of my visitors seem to be taking advantage of the easily discovered practices to mask their location from Feedjit - resulting in their location being reported simply as "United States." Why so paranoid? It's not like [city],[state] is actually enough information to find anybody in this great big world. Mine is Alexandria, VA. Find me if you can.

Feedjit also gives me minimal data regarding how visitors link to my humble little blog. In combination with my little habit of signing comments on other blogs with this url, I can make some very interesting, if ultimately useless, observations.

For example, there is a very curvacious model named Petra Verkaik and a blogger named Robert 'Bob' Belvedere providing the proof of one Robert Stacy McCain's Rule 5 of blogging (Sex sells). This December 15, 2010 throwaway comment of mine has generated a steady stream of traffic to my blog - and mostly from the continent of Europe to boot!

==

I've also lately noticed a trend toward older LAS comments generating hits here. My criteria for assembling the following sample is simple: at least 90 days old, and (re)brought to my attention via Feedjit. Enjoy the advanced snark.

March 27, 2010 - LAS lays down a marker for one of the MSM's most biased hacks - the NYT's resident hack for failed economic theory, Paul Krugman.  15 months later, who can deny LAS is 'Winning!'?

August 24, 2010 - LAS sticks his nose into Paul family business.  No repercussions yet.

August 24, 2010 - LAS explains his motivation, again, for those slow on the uptake.

September 23, 2010 - LAS lectures on priorities for the Conservative Ascendancy.

October 11, 2010 - LAS identifies and classifies the fire BHO and his corrupt gang of Progressives are playing with.

December 5, 2010 - LAS identifies and classifies the fundamental source of conflict between Islamists and western civilization.

January 13, 2011 - LAS remembers the good times of the early 90's, when the Soros paid hack known as David Brock was doing real journalism in Slick Willie's old Arkansas stomping grounds.

January 29, 2011 - LAS lays down an 'Arab Spring' marker.  Still 'Winning!' by any rational calculation.

April 7, 2011 - LAS all of sudden remembers how the dumb kids got to school.

April 19, 2011 - LAS has lost his patience with a regular Daily Caller troll.

April 26, 2011 - LAS facilitates scientific discussions amongst the unwashed massed ruled over by the EPA bureau-weenies.

May 29, 2011 - LAS explains just who Barry's sugar daddy really is.

==

And now, Daddy needs a nap.

d(^_^)b
http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
"Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive"

It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

(AP) – Jack Wiley Dithers reporting.

When a transponder fell off of Marine One into the fairway of a public golf course, from which one member of our crack investigative journalism team was playing his sixth shot, we knew we had something special. We gave the critical task of decoding its secrets to one of our interns. When I saw him in the mailroom, re-enacting Al Pacino’s parking meter robbery scene from “Donnie Brasco” (Open Sesame!), I took over the job myself.

I detected four voices in a conversation, over the constant thwaka-thwaka background noise I have determined with my highly expert ears to be the sound of rotating helicopter blades. Using state of the art voice recognition software, I was able to identify two conclusively as White House political advisors David Plouffe and Valerie Jarrett. The third clearly had a Romanian accent, but other than Plouffe and Jarrett referring to him as ‘Vlad,’ his identity remains a mystery. The fourth apparently holds the rank of Major as well as a helicopter pilot’s license.

==

Major: Hey, that’s my house down there. How cool is that?

Vlad: Just maintain your prescribed flight pattern, Major.

Jarrett: Approaching LAS’ address.

Vlad: I like to start by learning something about the target’s immediate neighbors. What do you have on them?

Plouffe: Grey house across the street is owned by a class C troll on the payroll. He goes by the screen names ‘doncicciofitapaldi’ and ‘Joe Steel’ on the Daily Caller site.

Vlad: Any interaction with LAS we can leverage?

Plouffe: Nope – he’s even more reclusive and drinks even heavier than LAS.

Vlad: Who’s that guy walking the big white dog?

Jarrett: Navy Admiral. We actually have him on surveillance tape throwing his back out helping LAS’ neighbor move a couch through a second story window. Through a second story window! How stupid is that? It’s hilarious – we use the threat of posting it to Tosh.0 as leverage with the Major.

Major: I’m right here, you know.

Vlad: Can you use it as leverage with the Admiral?

Jarrett: We tried. He told our agent to take a long walk off a short pier.

Vlad: Who’s that guy on top of the white house? And what the hell is he doing?

Plouffe: It looks like – he is - he’s power washing his roof! Jeez.

Jarrett: Yep, that’s what he’s doing. We’ve noticed he’s quite the meticulous homeowner. Talks to LAS a lot, too.

Vlad: Anything we can use?

Plouffe: Apparently not. He’s completely taken in by the Alinksy play – he’s pissed off at everybody and everything. We’ve got his 2012 vote locked in, but there’s no talking to him about anything political. Win some, lose some.

Vlad: Who’s in those trucks that just pulled up to LAS’ house?

Jarrett: Oh, that’s his Mexican lawn crew.

Vlad: Are they all legal?

Plouffe: We decided against trying to find out. Even if they aren't, we wouldn’t use it. The agenda comes first.

Jarrett: There – LAS walking his dog.

Plouffe: Did he just – he did! He just gave us the finger!

Vlad: Mr. Soros will not be pleased with my initial report.

==

*This post is a work of satire. Any resemblances to LAS’ real neighbors are solely due to LAS’ lack of creativity.

Footnote

While 'Vlad' and Barry's Abbott and Costello political team stalk LAS from the air, Barry leads the ground assault on Middle America.

More on Turning the Corner to ‘Treasonous’

It’s been one full week in Barry’s dysconomy since I labeled the 44th POTUS a ‘traitor’ … and BHO’s Progressive regime has yet to attempt to arrest me. LAS finds this (non) development somewhat puzzling, given the totalitarian impulses that are so ingrained in the Progressive DNA – as demonstrated by the call from one of their leading unhinged gasbags to arrest the executives at Standard and Poor's.

http://www.conservativecommune.com/2011/08/michael-moores-inner-totalitarian-peeks-out-as-he-calls-for-arrest-of-sp-ceo/

==

Perhaps this means the explanation in my August 7, 2011 post for applying the ‘T’ word to the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama was sufficiently persuasive to avoid the Regime’s wrath. Or maybe not – BHO did, after all, take nine months to arrive at the no-brainer to off UBL when he had the chance. Plus, while inherently lazy (previously explained), my other character flaw is an obsession with perfection in the use of words. So, there are things on this topic I left out of the previous post I simply must add to the thread. Just for clarification.

==

At some point you just have to take what’s happening before your very eyes at face value.

As I explained in my August 7 post, the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back (for me) was BHO blowing up his own so-called ‘Grand Bargain’ debt ceiling deal. So grandly inept, it had to be on purpose. The only remaining question, therefore … why?

And it’s not like we haven’t had ample opportunity to ask ourselves this question in the two and one half year rolling clown car disaster that has been BHO’s reign.

1) Why would the President of all the United States, and his entire political party apparatus, immediately react to citizens exercising their 1st Amendment rights (the TEA Party patriots) with repulsive ad-hominem attacks?

2) Why pursue foreign policies in the Middle East that all seem to have only two common denominators: (1) diminishing Israel’s power, and (2) enhancing the Iranian regime’s influence?

3) Why pursue energy policies that only deepen our national dependence on Middle East dictators?

4) Why keep the administration’s boot on the neck of the Gulf oil energy economy for so long?

5) Why “phone in” a 2012 spending budget so silly and unserious even Dingy Harry Reid’s Senate rejected it 97-0, then scrap that budget for a speech CBO can’t score, and use the same empty speech to excoriate the only serious budget plan in town (Paul Ryan’s)?

6) For that matter, the day after receiving the mantle President Downgrade, why step out to the podium and offer up nothing to a nervous public than a petulant whine with no policy solutions?

==

Well, dear reader, it could be because President Downgrade is merely a spokesman for a movement that has a long history, a definite goal, and a tactical playbook. Now I shall attempt to summarize this history and how President Downgrade fits into it. Then you can decide for yourself if the ‘traitor’ shoe fits President Downgrade’s foot.

And who better to use as a source than a reformed sixties New Left radical doing great work on behalf of the Conservative Ascendancy. David Horowitz knows what’s wrong with the Left.

Mr. Horowitz runs a web site one can easily mine to quickly come up to speed on everything that’s wrong with the Left. I thought about carefully breaking down the taxonomy of this site. But I think you, dear reader, are perfectly capable of following the link and digesting the information using your own individual cognitive capacity. That’s what makes me a Libertarian Conservative. So, instead, I’ll pull a full few quotes merely to flesh out the narrative of this post.

This page on Horowitz’s site is a good “Cliff Notes” on the history of the American Progressive movement.

The ability of scientific ingenuity and expertise to master the physical world, suggested that similar mastery might be achievable in the realms of politics and economics; i.e., that an intellectual elite might be able to assess society's defects and prescribe appropriate remedies. That belief was part and parcel of the progressive vision that flourished in America from the 1890s through the 1920s.
…
As progressives saw things, most societal flaws were attributable to capitalism's inherent injustices.
…
By progressives' reckoning, solving the foregoing problems would require government intervention on a very large scale.
…
In the progressive worldview, the proper role of government was not to confine itself to regulating a limited range of human activities as the founders had stipulated, but rather to inject itself into whatever realms the times seemed to demand.
…
Consequently, the progressives called for a more activist government whose regulation of people's lives was properly determined not by the outdated words of an anachronistic Constitution, but by whatever the American people seemed to need at any given time.
…
R.J. Pestritto writes that the Progressives “detested the Declaration of Independence, which enshrines the protection of individual natural rights (like property) as the unchangeable purpose of government; and they detested the Constitution, which places permanent limits on the scope of government”
…
Whereas classical liberalism saw government as a necessary evil whose involvement in social and private affairs needed to be limited wherever practicable, progressivism saw the state as the rightful overseer and regulator of significant portions of American social and economic life.
…
As its name indicates, progressivism suggests movement toward a goal – in this case, bigger government and increased state control.
…
To facilitate this evolution, progressives have sought, ever since their entry into the pages of American history, to infiltrate society's power structure and its key institutions – the schools, the media, the churches, the entertainment industry, the labor unions, and the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judiciary).

==

Saul Alinsky was a Chicago “community organizer” who became a player in the history of this movement beginning in the 1930’s, when American Progressives were playing ideological footsie with Uncle Joe Stalin’s Bolshevik Marxists. (Stalin was, of course, a brutal Russian dictator and prolific mass murderer) Alinsky’s most influential contribution to the American Progressive movement was a tactical playbook under the title Rules For Radicals.

This page on Horowitz’s site offers a quick read (56 pdf page read, that is) summarizing the influence of Rules For Radicals on the career of the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama.

[Alinsky’s] entire life was devoted to organizing a revolution in America to destroy a system he regarded as oppressive and unjust. By profession he was a “community organizer,” the same term employed by his most famous disciple, Barack Obama, to describe himself.
…
Like leftists who came of age after the Soviet collapse, Alinsky understood that there was something flawed in the Communist outlook.
…
Alinsky identified the problem posed by Communism as inflexibility and “dogmatism” and proposed as a solution that radicals should be “political relativists,” that they should take an agnostic view of means and ends. For Alinsky, the revolutionary’s purpose is to undermine the system and then see what happens. The Alinsky radical has a single principle - to take power from the Haves and give it to the Have-nots.
…
Guided by Alinsky principles, post-Communist radicals are not idealists but Machiavellians. Their focus is on means rather than ends
…
Within the framework of their revolutionary agenda, they are flexible and opportunistic and will say anything (and pretend to be anything) to get what they want, which is resources and power.
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For Alinsky radicals, policies are not important in themselves; they are instrumental - means to expanding the political base.
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Three of Obama’s mentors in Chicago were trained at the Alinsky Industrial Areas Foundation, and for several years Obama himself taught workshops on the Alinsky method
…
On Barack Obama’s presidential campaign website, one could see a photo of Obama in a classroom “teaching students Alinskyan methods. He stands in front of a blackboard on which he has written, ‘Power Analysis’ and ‘Relationships Built on Self Interest,…’”
…
the focus of Obama’s political activities was the largest radical organization in the United States, Acorn, which was built on the Alinksy model of community organizing.
…
Alinsky begins his text by telling readers exactly what a radical is. He is not a reformer of the system but its would-be destroyer
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In his own mind the radical is building his own kingdom, which to him is a kingdom of heaven on earth
…
the radical’s only real world efforts are those which are aimed at subverting the society he lives in. He is a nihilist.
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Deception is the radical’s most important weapon, and it has been a prominent one since the end of the sixties.
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The issue is never the issue; the issue is always the revolution.
…
[Alinsky writes,] “…advance your radical goals by camouflaging them; change your style to appear to be working within the system.
…
Alinsky’s advice can be summed up in the following way. Even though you are at war with the system, don’t confront it as an opposing army; join it and undermine it as a fifth column from within.

==

Let’s recall the most disingenuous presidential campaign ever, shall we? Why did BHO run essentially as a blank slate mystery man in 2008? What were they really hiding? It wasn’t the proof of place of birth, the college transcripts we’ve not yet seen, the twenty years listening to Rev. Wright’s Black Liberation Theology rantings, the connections to the mob, or the political ties to convicted domestic terrorists. These were merely indicators, in the way that rotten egg smell indicates a paper mill is nearby. What they successfully obfuscated was BHO’s devotion to the political tactics prescribed by Saul Alinsky - which I will argue are essentially treasonous in relation to the patriotic goal of maintaining the republic’s civil society.

I can’t believe the citizens of my republic can be duped into re-electing the Saul Alinsky candidate a second time. Not a second time.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

 If you place any value whatsoever on individual liberty, if you believe in the opportunity and achievement society the original patriots risked everything to found, if you’ve had quite enough of self-appointed progressive ruling elites screwing up everything on colossal scales - the defeat of the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama in 2012 is a fundamental imperative.

Update 8/15/11

The "Great One," Mark Levin, channeled through Doug Ross, sums up the stakes neatly.

Sure To Earn a Barosckar

Earlier today, I left a 'Random Dropping' on the excellent Gateway Pundit (GP) site.  I have since decided it is worthy of elevation to archivable post, and not just because it's an unusually long bit of comment board snark.

The set up is a GP post concerning a portrayal of BHO's singular achievement - the UBL assassination - that Hollywood has in the works.  The end product is sure to be a propagandist hack job worthy of mention alongside 'Reefer Madness.'

Jack Wiley Dithers has an advance copy of the screenplay outline. 5:45 AM 5/1/11 – Report comes in identifying UBL’s location. 6:00 AM 5/1/11 – BHO directs the Navy to create an elite unit to be called the SEALs. 11:45 AM 5/1/11 – BHO and FLOTUS conduct SEAL tryouts at Camp David. 2:45 PM 5/1/11 – BHO and FLOTUS begin planning the operation. 3:05 PM 5/1/11 – BHO and FLOTUS call meeting with summon national security staff to reveal the operational plan. 4:00 PM 5/1/11 – BHO to Andrews for a quick round of 18. 7:00 PM 5/1/11 – BHO calls commander on the ground to make last minute tactical planning adjustments. 10:00 PM 5/1/11 – BHO dons X-Box headset and gives the ‘Go’ order. 10:00 PM thru 11:00 PM – BHO gives specific real-time orders to SEAL operatives through the X-Box. 11:15 PM – BHO calls in summons national security staff for after action report. 11:30 PM – BHO calls in summons David Plouffe and Valerie Jarret to prepare heroic statement to the serfs. Fade to black …

Update 8:30 pm

Three minor, but vitally important, after the fact edits in line.  Because I can.  I'm the Editor here.

So, How’s ‘President AA+’ Workin’ Out Fer Ya?

‘Historic.’ ‘Unprecedented.’

That’s what the corrupt and incompetent MSM told you the 2008 election of the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama would be. And the corrupt and incompetent MSM was only the most subtle part of the, largely Soros Inc. funded, Progressive propaganda machine, that convinced you the empty slogan ‘Hope and Change’ was a policy of governance.

Well, now there’s a record. How do you like it? Historic and unprecedented enough fer ya? Do you wish you paid more attention to what was behind the curtain in 2008?

==

The blogger known as Doug Ross has made deft use of this clever graphic to make two salient points:

(1) The Empty Suit’s economic record certainly sucks (raw data published April 12, 2011)

(2) It is not at all unreasonable to conclude it sucks on purpose (persuasive opinion published March 4, 2009)

I have maintained a small series of posts myself, known as the ‘Stupid or Treasonous’ series, since January 4, 2010 – in which I ask myself essentially the same question: are Barry and his corrupt gang of Progressive hacks intentionally wrecking the whole damn place? (note: Simply type ‘Stupid or Treasonous’ into this blog’s Search Box to explore how I’ve explored this question)

==

There are fresh updates in the news feeding into the ‘Stupid or Treasonous’ thought process.

On the economic record front, the reliable (that is, always on schedule) bureau-weenies at the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) came out with their mandated quarterly GDP projection – which demonstrates the Empty Suit’s economy certainly does still suck.

I’ll take this opportunity to update my own graphic tracking the (non)progress of Barry’s dysconomy. (Side note: Anticipating a subsequent update, pending the by now completely expected downward revision of this quarter’s projection)

My method is to compare and contrast rates of economic growth under the gub’ments officially designated ‘Reagan Recovery’ and the gub’ments officially designated ‘Obama Recovery’ (soon to be known as Obama’s double dip recession, IMHO).

This comparison is about as black and white as it will ever get. Reagan pursued supply-side economic policies almost exclusively, whereas Obama has pursued demand-side gub’ment spending policies entirely exclusively.

LAS Conclusion: The inflexible Progressive ideologues in your current administration are stuck on Keynesian stupid (read my May 11, 2011 post for further exploration).

In the always unpredictable sphere of foreign affairs, we have the sad news of the greatest single day’s loss of American life since we’ve been in Afghanistan.

LAS Conclusion: The clueless Progressive ideologues in your current administration have never understood how to wage war. The sad truth is the Taliban is energized and mobilized because BHO was stupid enough to broadcast to them his politically motivated withdrawal timeline. Twice!

We also have news from Syria and Egypt demonstrating the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ isn’t going so well for the interest of democracy.

LAS Conclusion: The clueless Progressive ideologues in your current administration have never understood how to conduct foreign affairs to the long term furtherance of democracy. They were stupid enough to throw a valuable ally for maintaining regional stability under the bus in Egypt, stupid enough to waste the military intervention option on a poorly defined engagement in Libya, and now find themselves with no effective options for opposing a brutal dictator in Syria. This brutal dictator in Syria will now essentially become a proxy for the Iranian mullahs, who are emerging out of all of this with a newly ascendant hegemony in the region. The Iranian mullahs have zero interest in democracy, you can be sure of that much.

==

Well, dear reader, now I must report there was a specific turning point in the Great Debt Ceiling Debacle of 2011 that made me turn the corner from ‘stupid’ to ‘treasonous.’ It was when BHO blew up the so-called ‘grand bargain’ he was negotiating with Speaker Boehner at the eleventh hour. When the deal was practically closed – with total ‘deficit reduction’ numbers totaling up to Standard and Poor's $4T cut line – BHO sandbagged Boehner with a 50% increase in the 'ask' on his side of the deal (gub’ment revenues). This negotiating move was breathtakingly ‘stupid’. But only if you maintain the assumption BHO wanted a deal. So breathtakingly ‘stupid’ I had to conclude he *never did* want a deal. He *must* have wanted to blow up the deal. This conclusion is only supported by the plain fact BHO never put a written plan on the table through the entire ‘negotiation’ (debacle).

AA+: Mission Accomplished, Barry!

==

So, now I must attempt to explain in writing what I mean by labeling the President of the United States a ‘traitor.’ Otherwise, I might have to waste a lot of time explaining it to gub’ment agents (some of whom may even be friends and neighbors) in person.

It’s bigger than him. It’s the ideological crowd he runs with. This cabal is the American Progressive Left -now effectively running the Democrat Party, holding a practical monopoly over the biased MSM (save Fox) that so willingly carries Democrat Party water, directing the Leftist indoctrination camps so many of your public school and university systems have become, and infesting the regulatory bureaucracies that have their boot on the throat of your economy.

This cabal is essentially ‘treasonous’ for the following reason: they are *not* ‘patriotic’ in the traditional sense of the word. If we were to define ‘patriotic’ as putting the interest of the citizens of the United States above all other considerations, they are manifestly *not* patriotic. Their ideology is manifestly ‘post-patriotic’ in that it seeks to heal the entire world (as impossible as this pursuit is), proceeding from the basic assumption the citizens of the United States of America are the source of all the world’s ills (as misguided as this analysis is). You, dear reader, are the problem – and the American Progressive Left is the self-appointed ruling elite that simply *must* fix you, to save the world. It is their self-appointed ideological mission.

Their archetype is Obama’s Red Diaper Baby Sibling in the White House’s inner sanctum, Valerie Jarrett.

Thusly, they will *not* relax their practical moratorium on Gulf oil drilling (aka the biggest driver of the Gulf States’ economies). Thusly they *will* have to be dragged kicking and screaming into every red cent of deficit reduction on the gub’ment spending side – because their ideology is in effect the religion of gub’ment spending. This religion requires ever increasing amounts of wealth confiscation (that is, gub’ment revenue) to sustain it.

This religion of theirs *requires* them to place tactical politics above any ‘patriotic’ (traditional definition) concerns. The still building ‘Fast and Furious’ scandal is the proof of this.

This religion of theirs is also extraordinarily cynical. It causes them to attempt to shift blame for the consequences of not reducing gub’ment spending on to the very people who seek to reduce gub’ment spending.

Today’s Leftist talking point to blame the TEA Party movement for being in total agreement with Standard and Poor’s downgrade decision is just the tip of the iceberg for the 2011-2012 Leftist Watch outlook. This outlook is ugly. This religion of theirs instructs them they *must* *never* voluntarily relinquish political power. LAS once again predicts a growth economy for his JAUL Gallery.

Footnote

Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Tiny Turbo Tax Tim has To Go!

LAS Mid Year Review, 2011

Report To the Board of Directors
(me)
From the General Manager and Proprietor In Chief
(me)


August 4, 2011

d(^_^)b
http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
"Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive"

---

The 2010 mid-year review was split into two posts - one devoted to the state of the republic (7/1/2010) and another concerning this blog project (7/4/2010).  I gave me the feedback this approach was tedious and unnecessarily self-adulatory, and I should tighten it up next year.  So, I will cover both sides of the review for me in a single post this year.

I also expressed disappointment to me that I had neglected to provide a fully detailed financial report to me last year.  I reminded me the bottom line is everything; there can be no stimulus without revenue and investment - everyone knows that.

So, after me and I almost broke up over a falling out in the heat of an argument over the balance between creativity and financial discipline (I really hurt me with that 'Scrooge' slur, btw), here's the full report for our cloud hosts at Google and the IRS vultures always on the look out for more revenue to stimulate additional gub'ment investment.

($0) - Capital Cost
($0) - Salary, Benefits, and Employee Expenses
$0 - Revenue
55% - Obscene profit margin
------------------------------------------------
$0 - Record Breaking Profits


As you can see, I am looking forward to being hauled before Congress for a show trial to explain why I'm keeping all of my golden eggs to myself - which is the true mark of outlaw success in the modern crony capitalist culture.

==

Last year I was more or less on time with my mid-year report to me - no more than a single week after the sixth month of the calendar year.  This year, several factors conspired to prevent me from achieving this same level of performance.  First of all, I'm a lazy bastard that will sometimes (even often) procrastinate.  Especially in summer.  I hate the heat.  It makes me want to take a nap. 

Then, my good intentions to keep this report on schedule already destroyed by my annual summer induced stupor, the report was Overcome By Events (OBE) - namely the Great Debt Ceiling Debacle of 2011, in which the irresistible force known as the TEA Party movement slammed into the immovable object known as the DC Establishment.  In the middle of summer, for chrissake! 

My several posts since 7/18/2011 - the day I kicked my lazy ass into gear to get going, because, well, it was time - document my contemporaneous reactions to this historic Newtonian political collision.

And my mid-year review starts on the heels of this historic event.  I am taking an emergency mini-vacation with my nuclear family on Chincoteague Island, which lies perilously close to Algore's rising oceans off of Virginia's eastern shore.  Quite unexepectedly, I discovered the house I'm renting 4 hours drive away gets the same local channel 5 Fox News feed as my zip code 22308 nuclear family HQ.  On this feed I have received reports there is a new political dispute in DC - with familiar dimensions.

It seems the House GOP has passed a temporary measure to keep everyone at the FAA, and all of its contractors, working - pending the resolution of a political dispute over the size and scope of the nanny state.  The Senate DemoHacks, sworn protectors of the nanny state, are making a national issue out of the unresolved issue - with overheated rhetoric that includes Senators pointing finger guns at their very own heads.  (Most deliberative body in the world, my ass)  The DemoHacks have calculated they can score political points for their long game on their issue (subsidies to airports that aren't economical on their own) by riling up independents over the non-issue (FAA paychecks).

This manufactured FAA flap - breaking literally the day after "resolution" of the debt ceiling debacle - provides the template for the republic's outlook between now and November 2012.  It's not a pretty outlook - but you can wrap your brain around it by reading the "bible" guiding the corrupt gang of Progressive hacks presently in charge of the Senate and Executive branch: 'Rules For Radicals' (Saul Alinsky).

Barry's corrupt gang of Progressive hacks seeks to keep you, dear reader, in a constantly agitated state - the better to 'redistribute' more of your wealth down the social welfare state rat hole, unchallenged.  Absorb this lesson and you will understand the news every day over the next 17 months.  Completely.  Mark it.

==

So, having efficiently dispensed with the republic's outlook (how did I do, me?) - let's move on to the midyear review of the blog project. The project itself is in a far more more sublime state.

First and foremost, the zeitgeist motivating it has only intensified - see above. We, dear reader, are living through an epic battle between Liberty and Tyranny - and this project is my humble and meager contribution to the fight.

I began the project with a general idea to write a sort of book that could be archived for my kids and their descendants. Along the way I noticed a trend of approximately 2000 vistors a month to the blog. I reminded me this is a pathetically low number for commercial success. When the trend dipped to around 1500 visitors a month, I briefly took notice, but reminded me I'm still writing the book, after all. Now that the trend decline has leveled off and shown signs of growing again, me told I there still may be hope for commercial success - and I told me come back when somebody hits the tip jar.

And so I still write the book. For my kids. I explained to my twelve year old this afternoon how he can read the archive backups at any point in his lifetime. For some reason, the relative permanence of the written word (as long as its verifiable and fact based, that is) is a foreign concept to him even at this relatively late age of his development.

My first thought was to edit and publish the book after the 2010 mid-terms. I was too ambitious. The lazy bastard that is me never got around to it. I keep telling me it will be a better book after 2012 anyway. We'll see. If I was more ambitious, I might have two books. Damn.

Since the previous mid-year report, the following developments have occured on this blog:

'Sites That Make Sense To Me' has essentially been archived. It remains well down the right sidebar, but is basically just a record of stuff I was reading online before all hell broke loose in the republic (marked by the election of BHO and his gang of Progressive hacks).

'The Blog Roll' has greatly expanded and been forever memorialized as the 'Bob Schieffer Blog Roll.' Mr. Schieffer receives this honor for using "I was on vacation" as his bullshit excuse for not asking Eric Holder about the New Black Panther voter intimidation scandal the very week it broke into the national discourse. Schieffer is forever the symbol of MSM bias and incompetence on this blog. There are literally hundreds of other worthy candidates, but he is the lucky lottery winner here. ('Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner,' Bob!)

The size of the roll is about where it should be to fit my template, I think. It's around 100 or so patriots who have something useful to say on a frequency no longer than a month or so. If I sought to make it all the patriots with something useful to say on this frequency, my sense is it could easily be ten times as long. The order of magnitude larger list could easily be documented by any "detail oriented" researchers who wish to examine the rolls of the patriots on my roll.

My Heading section has evolved from something I can't even remember the title of, which was solely focused on numbers charts - to Snark U. (University). Snark U. still includes high impact numbers charts, but more often includes cartoons, sometimes enhanced by my own low fidelity mark ups. The Snark U. label refers to my own God-given talent, probably given one full generation too early. Damn.

My God-given talent, given to me one full generation before the pathetic public abomination that is Twitter, is the snarky one or two liner. I use this talent to generate the vast majority of my pathetically low commercial number of hits on this blog. It is the snarky comment with blog url linked technique transparently documented by my 'Random Droppings' feature.

My writing voice has consciously evolved into the anti-Obama. That is, supremely confident and arrogant, but - every word can be factually verified without the help of a Soros, Inc. funded propaganda outlet.

I have played with two characters in the course of this project.

Francis Charles Hamilton has made the fewest appearances. One, to be exact. The three part name comes from personal influences. Francis from Francis Marion, the South Carolina Colonel who kept a large part of the British army pinned down in the South while Geo. Washington pursued the main engagement in the North. Charles is for Charleston, SC. Hamilton is for Alexander Hamilton - the leading Founding Father from my birth state of New York. The composite character is based largely on a personal mentor who lived in an old Charleston townhouse when I pursued my studies in Computer Science at the Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. Many moons ago.

Jack Wiley Dithers (JWD) has had a far greater impact on this blog, at least as appearances will measure it. Picture Hunter S. Thompson (specifically as depicted by Johnny Depp in the movie 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'), but dressed as George Will. Rum and coke in both hands instead of a .38 caliber in the right hand, and a joint in the left. And instead of going out into the country to find things that should be lived to report on, falling ass-backwards into news stories manufactured by your life-long buddies. Gonzo journalism for the 21st century.

You Can’t Always Get What You Want (But If You Try Sometimes You Might Find You Get What You Need)

After Action Report on the Great Debt Ceiling Debacle of 2011

I never could fully embrace the Rolling Stones as an act. Their most listenable period is the 1969-1974 golden age that was blessed with Mick Taylor’s lead guitar playing. The early days with Brian Jones in that slot were good, too. Everything since 1975 … not so much. My main problem is I have always found Mick Jagger to be unwatchable. He always manages to do something on stage or in the video that makes me go ‘WTF?’ – and not necessarily in a good way. Keith Richards’ solo projects since 1975 were always tighter bands anyway. But I digress. It has occurred to me the Stones’ song title that serves as this post title neatly sums up what has been a useful – but by no means conclusive – victory for the TEA Party movement.

==

The spending cut numbers definitely do nothing, really, to bend the debt and deficit curve. But at least, for the first time ever, the DC sausage factory has come up with something that is all cut and no tax (at least for now). That’s “progress” for the Conservative Ascendancy.

I find the uber stupid super commission to be at best the usual DC establishment cop out. I fear it could be far worse – a trap set by the Left that they will close by obstructing the commission’s work to ‘trigger’ steep defense cuts they care deeply about acquiring. The parallel provider-side Medicare cuts are a speed bump to them, and they probably already have a secret plan for making it whole with their new credit limit out of this deal.

There has been some optimistic talk on the Right about this commission yielding real tax reform – simultaneously lowering rates across the board, broadening the base, and removing loopholes. That is, simplifying and flattening the code to grow the economy. Charles Krauthammer said so on Fox last night. Larry Kudlow said so on WMAL this morning. I am very dubious - because the Left does not believe in any of this. The Left only believes in soaking the “rich” (whoever they are as of today) and “redistributing” the spoils. If you don’t believe me, just muster the attention span to watch the work of this commission in detail.

If I had the privilege of a vote in the House last night – I would have been a ‘No’. The explanation is complicated. I still think we could have won the argument if it went to the brink – but it was by no means certain. I’m up for that fight, TEA Party patriots are – the establishment GOP clearly is not yet. The final deal is a way of walking away with a smaller, but certain win, in the all-important perceptions game leading up to November 2012.

As I have explained in previous posts – I was for the Boehner bill before I was against the mess the sausage factory made of it. I could reasonably stand behind the Boehner bill on basic principle (if not the totality of the math).

In the end, I would have voted ‘No’ to play the part of guardian of the truth inside the sausage factory. It was completely clear the leaders were getting their so-called ‘bi-partisan’ Potemkin bill to play to the clueless independent crowd, which still seems to value ‘compromise’ at any price above all else. These are the people we need to motivate in the no-shit-this-is-for-all-the marbles-election-for-the-future-of-the-republic, and walking away with half a loaf is still the preferred establishment path. But somebody needs to keep the flame burning to illuminate the corrupt kleptocrats in the Democrat party we are up against.

So we move forward with the center of the debate moved to the right, and an uber commission made necessary by the political deadlock I predict will be the norm until the next election. The same climate of political deadlock puts this commission on greased rails running downhill to the automatic defense and Medicare cuts written into the ‘trigger.’

Moving the center of debate is useful to Conservative Ascendancy, and a huge testimony to the history shifting power of the TEA Party movement. The uber commission represents a huge risk to the Conservative Ascendancy, because it has all the earmarks of a Leftist kleptocratic trick. You could hardly imagine a better setup for the kleptocrats. They get a new blank check in deficit spending – more than enough to make the trigger’s Medicare cuts whole – and a mechanism to gut the Defense department, all in one little neat package. All they have to do is obstruct adult decision making in DC. Have you noticed they are pretty good at that?

You Can’t Always Get What You Want (But If You Try Sometimes You Might Find You Get What You Need).