Morning Joe 5/10/2011 -- National debt and Afghanistan

Morning Joe today presented first thing Carl Bernstein, Jonathan Capehart, Mike Barnicle, Mika and Willie Geist discussing the budget battle. Bernstein wants to raise taxes on rich people to pay for what the "people need", so he thinks we have a revenue shortfall rather than a spending addiction. Everyone on Morning Joe agreed that the rich should pay more in taxes, but Willie, Mika and Barnicle at least admit that spending is out of control. This has been discussed to death, and progressives like Bernstein are oblivious to fundamental problems because they are the fundamental problem.

Even when they brought Jack Kingston and Jeff Blake on the show, two Republicans who give lip service to restricting the power of government, there was still no talk about our statist system which is geared to spend more and more money on social programs, wars, entitlements, and payoffs to corporations which partner with the State to ensure a free market never rises. The discussion considered tweaks and gimmicks to avoid financial collapse, but not one fundamental solution was mentioned.

Bernstein then began pontificating on the callous disregard of "too many people" when it comes to black unemployment. The camera showed Capehart looking down and smiling as if to ask what Bernstein had ever done to fight for greater opportunity for inner city blacks. Bernstein is the classic blowhard political class parasite who hasn't had a new idea in 40 years, and who promotes an anticapitalist ideology that has contributed greatly to government dependence, poor education and entrenched poverty.

Later in the show, the discussion was the Afghanistan War, and Michael Hastings from Rolling Stone was on calling for the end of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. We need many more such voices, and much more influential voices. One of the biggest problems we face is our foreign policy of intervention and this manufactured War on Terror. Even as some of the others around the table agreed that it's time to end the Afghanistan War, they questioned the wisdom of not dealing with Pakistan. This week I'm writing about this issue, so I will address all this later.

Meet the Press 5/1/2011 - Rubio and Bloomberg

On Meet the Press there were a surprising number of Republicans -- Michael Bloomberg, Marco Rubio and Bob McConnell, Governor of Va. Bloomberg is a Republican, but he is not of the Right -- Bloomberg represents a type of statist Republican which has practically made the Republican Party irrelevant. Bloomberg stated, during a conversation regarding the budget battle, that spending cuts should not be done without taking into account the need for government investment and what's necessary for a strong welfare state. The welfare state has failed, and it's time for new ideas.

McConnell talked about fiscal responsibility, but he didn't have any creative ideas. David Axelrod was on the panel, and he agreed with Bloomberg regarding government investment, which confirms Bloomberg's irrelevance -- we already have plenty of liberals and progressives.

Rubio was interviewed by himself, and Rubio was the most passionate about limiting the scope of government. Rubio did a good job answering David Gregory's questions about Medicare and the charge that Republicans will destroy Medicare as we know it -- Rubio said Medicare as we know it is going to be bankrupt in 6-12 years. Rubio challenged anyone critical of Paul Ryan's plan to come up with a better plan, and he said that the only ones proposing Medicare cuts so far have been supporters of Obamacare.

Rubio is the perfect Republican representative, except for his hawkish stance on America foreign policy. This has been a great disappointment, and I hope Rubio matures in the Senate and comes to realize that a non-intervention doctrine is needed, along with an innovative change in how we combat terrorism. I understand Rubio's concern that terrorist are plotting to harm America, but the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are not the correct responses. We have the intelligence and technological prowess to combat terrorism without ground troops in countries that hate us, suck us in, put young men and women in unnecessary danger and drain us of treasure and precious lives.

Rubio is a very smart man, and if he will put the same passion he has for limited government into innovating foreign policy, he'll be a great servant.

Morning Joe 4/20/2011 -- Same old same old

The Morning Joe show is deteriorating -- they have the same old guests on over and over -- Nora McDonnel, Howard Dean, Eugene Robinson, Jeffrey Sachs and a few others, mostly from the Left, and it's getting staid. The humor is painful to watch -- Joe Scarborough is inserting himself far too much and he just doesn't have the talent to pull it off.

This morning, for the hour I watched, there was about 50 minutes of boring silliness and a few minutes discussing one of their favorite topics -- the possible, insufficient Republican candidates. Then they talked about another favorite topic -- the politics of the budget battle. One interesting comment made by Joe S. was when he told Howard Dean that they agreed on a lot things and could find a compromise to entitlements and spending. If Joe S. agrees with Howard Dean on very much at all, then Joe S. is a modern liberal pretending to be a "small" government conservative, as he's fond of calling himself.

It's been obvious that Joe S. is a modern liberal, not that there is anything wrong with that except being wrong about everything political, but at least he should admit it and proudly own it. You know, I'm a little tired of hearing about the politics of the budget battle -- it's time for people to stand up to Obama and the Democrats, and unserious Republicans, who are blocking reform. Damn the politics, because the public is becoming a little too knowledgable for the politics of the past to work -- all the games are old games and most people are tired of games -- and this is why Obama is losing independents.

The New Right

Because "neo" has been damaged with terms like neo-conservative and neo-liberal, I'll use New Right to describe what I see as a redemption of the Right. In some ways, the New Right is similar to the Old Right of Frank Chodorov, Murray Rothbard and Roy Childs Jr., just not as libertarian, individualistic and non-interventionist. Rand Paul is representative of this New Right. I'm not too familiar with Mike Lee and Allen West, but both appear to be players outside the Big Government Republican status quo. The Tea Party is responsible for the rise of the New Right, at least the faction that pushes limited government and a free market.

The New Right doesn't lead with social issues, although I'm sure that pro-life and law-and-order are still personally important to most of them. It remains to be seen if this group can form a consistent set of values as they relate to governance, the economy and foreign relations. I hope Rand Paul is not an anamoly, and that the other representatives coming on board who are espousing libertarian ideas are not secret statists with their own list of plans to control and guide society and shape the destiny of other countries.

Many in the status quo political realm, like Harry Reid in congress and Chris Matthews in the media, associate this New Right with the caricature of the Tea Party as naive rubes who have no idea how sophisticated and complex and crucially important the American State has become. Reid believes they'll fade, and even old Republican guards like Trent Lott think they can be co-opted and managed.

During the budget debate the New Right took the brunt of the media's scorn, and they were accused of recklessly driving the government toward shut-down, regardless of the fact that the Democrats should have passed a budget last year. It's also a reality that most Americans want government to cut spending, and if not for the New Right, even the small, insignificant cuts wouldn't have happened. Paul Ryan still has to prove he's a part of the New Right, and his budget at least addresses issues no one else is addressing, except Rand Paul. Now, we'll see if Ryan can be as brave as Paul and call for major dismantling of statism.

Michelle Bachmann is also a question mark when it comes to libertarian values. Bachmann is saying a lot of the right things, but her tendency to bring religious dogma into politics is bothersome. If the New Right is real, it will stick to the serious business of limiting government, creating a free market, and getting us out of the Mid-East. There are plenty of forums in the private sector for the expression of religious values, and the private sector is where it needs to happen, just like the private sector is the place for economic activity and expression. We need economic freedom, spiritual freedom and freedom from overseas entanglements. If the New Right can lead the way, something wonderful can happen in America.

Morning Joe 4/8/2011 - Budget politics

Morning Joe likes to talk about politics rather than overarcing principles, and this morning the suggestion was to get past politics through politics, all of it a grand strategy that has to do with perception than with results and change. Joe Scarborough's call for compromise on principles has been the downfall of the few Republicans in recent years who seriously fought statism. I have seen these compromises time and again which are supposed to be short-term losses in order to win the war, but the compromises just continue with no big victory over statism. This is why we're over 14 trillion in debt -- over 14 trillion!

Morning Joe was stacked again with people from the Left, but they did have Pat Toomey from Penn. on, but even Toomey recommended giving in on the riders to get the cuts they can get. This potential government shutdown is not about riders regarding Planned Parenthood and EPA regulations -- it's about Democrats unwilling to cut spending as they plan to increase spending on infrastructure, educatioon and green energy schemes. Democrats can't afford to let the tide turn toward reducing the power and control of government -- they aren't finished with their social engineering, and their central planning calls for much more spending on pet projects they've promised their favorite corporations, unions and special interests. They need the support for the 2012 election. They certainly don't want to weaken EPA -- they'd rather shut down government and blame it on the Republicans than weaken EPA or lose the ability to subsidize Planned Parenthood -- surely everyone can see it's vital for taxpayers to support Planned Parenthood! No, we can't see that, not all of us, anyway.

This budget battle is about the Republicans representing the Tea Party and independents who want to reduce the power, size and cost of government so that more money is invested in the private sector to create economic growth and jobs, and the Democrats presenting GE, GM and other Left-friendly corporations, and the unions and the environmentalists and the Planned Parenthood crowd and the teachers and the government dependents, so that government can spur growth through central plans and technocratic engineering -- plus this keeps the voting base of the Democrats onboard.

Morning Joe plays the political strategy because no one understands a principled stand anymore. Statism will never be stopped with compromises, then, no one on Morning Joe wants to stop statism -- they are a part of the political realm which finds the status quo comfortable and rewarding. Oh, they know that spending needs to be cut and entitlements tweaked, but, good God, let's not get extreme and make big changes that might reduce the power of government -- they need that power!

Also, Morning Joe showed a clip several times of Jon Stewart doing his juvenile impersonation of Glenn Beck, and, like school kids, the Morning Joe crew giggled at the crazy Stewart, then joined in on the Beck bashing. What Beck is doing shadows the juvenile Stewart and the political hacks on Morning Joe -- Beck is reporting on the stuff that others are ignoring, and he's building something, not tearing down. They said Beck continues to scream "The world is ending!" -- no, Beck doesn't, but the world is ending for the old mainstream media and the status quo political class. Scarborough shouldn't show his envy so obviously -- it makes him look as petty as Stewart. Now that Beck is leaving Fox, I'll have to start reporting on the Daily Show and Jon Stewart -- Stewart gets away with a lot of irrational, ignorant smearing, and his humor is funny only to the niche which hates someone like Beck. Stewarts fart-humor is too easy. Stewart wants to be taken seriously but hides his flaws and lack of intellectual depth behind sarcasm. You can snark, but you can't hide.