Laughter is the best medicine when one is sick of the political class

http://reason.com/blog/2013/03/01/sequestration-a-cia-like-coup-a-shadowy

Of course, it's the Tea Party's fault. Robert Reich believes the Tea Party has inflitrated all levels of government and is now bringing it all down. Chris Matthews believes the Tea Party rightwingers are somehow behind a CIA coup which takes power from Obama and gives it to the Right. David Brooks simply thinks his base is stupid. Poor Brooks would rather associate himself with more sophisticated, intellectual types like Robert Reich and Chris Matthews. Oh, I forgot, there's a religious Leftist who  believes God hates the Tea Party, Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite -- David and Susan even share a name.

If you don't find this hilarious, then you have no sense of humor, or you're smarter than those of us who keep up with this stuff and have no idea what the political class is doing. Unfortunately, though, you need to keep up with it, because, although it's funny, it's also dangerous since these clowns have political influence. No, wait, on second thought, these clowns don't have influence -- nevermind. Just take my word, laugh, it's funny.

Sunday Morning News

I watched Hardball and Up with Chris Hayes this morning. Chris Matthews, like most MSNBC hosts, has spent most of his time on each program tearing down Republicans. Chris Hayes is one of the few hosts on MSNBC who goes beyond Republican bashing. I'm not a defender of Republicans, but I do think that most of our fundamental problems originate from both parties in a statist/militaristic system that's constantly empowering the State and destroying our economy and our freedoms. Our society has been politiczed and miltarized to the point that if changes aren't imminent, collapse will be. Although our society can allow government to continue beating down our economy, pushing the day of reckoning to another generation, it's a crap shoot when the whole house of cards (!) falls down. It's shameful that we continue to put off dealing with our problems.

Hardball and Chris Matthews represent, consciously or unconsciously, State propaganda and narrative building which keep the nation divided politically while the State expands its control. The political battle is stoked constantly by media, pundits, intellectuals looking for niches in the realm of political power, the President, party operatives, on and on throughout the political class. The public hasn't completely caught on, but many are waking up and condemning government in general, even if they still balk on matters of national security and patriotism.

Chris Hayes represents the progressive narratives, and how the current progresssive mindset is built on faith in government interventions, technocratic solutions which are coercive even if Cass Sustein tried to convince us it's more like nudging the people for the good of the collective. Hayes talked this morning about sequestration and then cyber-security concerns. The sequestration battle is another diversion that appears to be important government work, but actually reveals how our system is leading us to collapse. Before talking about the sequestration, Hayes had a panel discussion regarding media dissatisfaction with access to the President, especially when he played golf with Tiger Woods. This is all silliness but it reflects our unhealthy obsession with Presidents. It's worse than Britain's obsession with the Royals, because the Royals don't have the power we've stupidly given Presidents.

Concerning cyber-security, it appears to be another State ploy to expand power. One guest on Up with Chris Hayes said we need better systems to block hackers, but this is already happening in the private sector. The problem is that we can't trust our government to level with us.

On one hand we have Progressive intellectuals explaining the necessity of an interventionist government that might have to violate individual rights and the Constitution for the welfare of the collective, then on the other hand we witness the economy destroying activity that emanates from government interventions and expansion of State power and control. The State power players will naturally think that political and military power are primary in a dangerous, complex world, but as the Soviet Union discovered, when political power and military power are primary and the economy is sacrificed to politics and miltarism, countries collapse.

We can discuss spending cuts vs infrastructure investments, but it's all moot unless we make systemic changes to our government, end the mideast madness, and begin freeing up the private sector to heal the economy. The realist and the sophisticates will sniff haughtily at my idealistic ramblings, and if they're feeling generous will attempt to teach me about political realities, but all I have to say is that if the the statist/militartistic system is not changed, can't be changed, then we can't survive. If that's the verdict, then so be it, we'll all get together during the rebuilding, if we aren't under marshall law.

Morning Joe 8/26/2012 -- The Hysterical Left

The Morning Joe show is being held in Tampa at the Republican Convention. A group of Leftists sat around discussing the Republican Party with a few token Republicans thrown in for cover. Chris Matthews, David Gregory, Chuck Todd, Andrea Mitchell, Tom Brokaw and a few other Democrats made the point over and over that Romney hasn't really introduced himself properly to the American people, that he's not warm and cuddly, and all that irrelevant stuff these pseudo-experts talk about because they can't handle the heavy stuff.

Romney has said he's not going to make an effort to focus on the touchy feely. Maybe Romney should bite his bottom lip like Obama to signal his cute charm, but it's really not necessary. Gregory said in his interview that Romney talks like a business person and can't connect politically -- good. We need someone who understands economics and doesn't place politics over sound economic realities. It doesn't matter whether we like Romney. This is what the political class thinks of  Americans outside the political elite in the political realm -- they think that all Obama has to do is smile, play it cool and talk about what he likes on his pizza and all is well. Because Romney is a self-confident grown-up who doesn't play popularity games under the assumption that Americans are so simple and stupid they will fall for a facial expression and a cute chuckle, the pundits think he's out-of-touch?

Chris Matthews was allowed to throw a hate-bomb at Reince Priebus. Matthews was hysterical, like most are on the Left now that they see Obama is in big trouble. Matthews monopolized the time and talked over Priebus, saying that Romney played the race-card when he made the joke that no one has asked for his birth certificate. Matthews, like most on the Left, will take any comment that's a little off-track to twist into something of a racist or sexist nature. The only way the Left sees that Obama can win is to smear Romney as a racist, sexist homophobe who is rich and wants to destroy the middle class, for some reason, and for some other reason wants the poor to suffer. Matthews was spewing forth hate, and Scarborough only weakly asked him to let Priebus speak. The Morning Joe crew allowed Matthews to attack Priebus and it was shameful behavoir, but that's what the Left has been reduced to, hate, emotionalism, propaganda, bullying and lies.

Morning Joe 6/4/2012 -- Statist failure

Morning Joe, representative of the statist mindset in America, discussed Friday's awful jobs report, the European crisis and, then, with Chris Matthews, what Obama must do to overcome these "headwinds". Although Scarborough claims he's an analyst, and that when he's discussing what strategy is advisable for Obama to win, this doesn't mean he is stumping for Obama. I might believe this if Scarborough didn't speak with such conviction when discussing what Obama must do to win, and if he didn't speak of Romney with derision most times, and when charitiable with lackluster indifference.

I've said before that the Centrists is the GOP at first felt that Obama couldn't be beat, so they sat back -- then, when the Tea Party element appeared to make inroads, they panicked a bit and cried out for Jeb Bush, Mitch Daniels and Chris Christie -- when these Centrist saviors wouldn't run, Centrists began their intrigue, one week building up Gingrich and then the next saying how Santorum might be a tough contender. When Gingrich and Santorum imploded, and they had to accept Romney, they didn't, except some grudgingly. Scarbrough will be okay with an Obama second term, because he doesn't want the Tea Party wing gaining power in the GOP -- he even dreams of a run himself when the time is right. Scarborough has ranted a hundred times what it will take for a President to appear strong and in the middle, and that's what he advised Obama do to win.

Matthews took his gloves off. Matthews was all in on Obama, and still is, but he's very disappointed. Matthews wants Obama to fight, compromise where it makes sense, then go big. Matthews wants Obama to fight for infrastructure, government spending in the tradition of FDR. Matthews even admitted that Obama was the one who busted the deal to raise revenues when he upped the amount on Boehner. Matthews admitted that Keystone resistance was a mistake. Matthews wants Obama to agree with Republicans on a long term debt reduction plan, so that Obama can win short term spending big enough to do an FDR right away, thus catapulting Obama into a second term.

What Scarborough and the Centrists and Matthews and the progressives don't understand is that statism has failed. More government spending on stimulus will break the back of the nation. Even after the Morning Joe crew talked about lack of confidence among investors, they called for more government intervention in the economy that will misdirect capital and cause even more uncertainty. Even after the State Capitalism of China shows major cracks, the Morning Joe "analysts" call for strengthened State Capitalism. The Morning Joe crew recommends all sorts of State action, but none recommend that the State remove itself and allow the market to function competitively without interventions. One pundit said that the limited government right are saying government must do something, although they want no government. This is a diversion. The limited government faction is asking government to rollback what it has already done, stick to its basic duties of protecting rights within the rule of law, so that businesses have confidence to invest, and so that a free market can exist. Statism is dead.

Morning Joe 1/10/2012 -- Intellectual decay among political class

Some who read here may wonder why I comment on Morning Joe. I wonder the same thing after shows like the one this morning. I've been commenting on the show because it's a microcosm of the political class and represents what's wrong with government and media/political analysis of current events. There's a troubling intellectual decay in the political realm, mostly among liberals, but the decay is also present among Conservatives and Big Government Republicans.

This morning's show was a low point for Morning Joe, the hosts and the guests. They took an incident that happened with Mitt Romney yesterday and they played it dishonestly - to the point of corruption, really. They played a clip of Romney saying he likes the ability to fire those who provide services, like insurance companies, when they provide inferior services. I understood exactly what he was saying, and anyone listening, except braindead partisans, understood what he was saying. Then they showed a clip of Huntsman taking political advantage of the statement -- I like to fire people -- taking it out of context. Rather than excoriate Huntsman for such a weasel tactic, the Morning Joe crew criticized Romney for making the statement. It wasn't until an hour and three quarters into the program that Joe and Mika helped put the comment in perspective, but then Katty Kay and Eugene Robinson said that the statement is bad even in context, that no one should "like" to fire anyone, then Joe and Mika and the gang all laughed and agreed. This is intellectual decay. We should not only like the ability to fire those who provide inferior services, we should love and cherish this ability, if we want to avoid tyranny and the fate of the USSR where no one had any choices regarding services. The ability of voters and consumers to fire politicians and incompetent or unsrcupulous service providers is what makes the capitalist system superior. The sad fact is, even when you look at Romney's statement from a political viewpoint and criticize the use of words as tone deaf, if we live in a world where the public is too stupid to discern Romney's meaning, then it's all over -- it's a moot point. The political class believes the public is so stupid that they will fall for Huntsman's spin on Romney's words, and that speaks volumes about the political class and Huntsman. Huntsman is a weasel, and what he did by framing Romney's words as Romney liking firing people, as in a company-firing where Romney gleefully fires people, is despicable, and in my opinion it makes Huntsman unfit to be President. And Huntsman is talking about trust?

The Morning Joe hosts later interviewed Huntsman and said nothing about his dishonest spin on Romney's statements. It was a softball interview, and it became obvious that Morning Joe is pushing Huntsman. This is intellectual decay. It's media decay. It's the decay of the political class.

After interviewing Huntsman, they interviewed Newt Gingrich, and to Gingrich's credit, when asked about the Romney statement, Gingrich said it's ridiculous and wrong to take Romney's words out of context and use them against him when it's clear Romney was talking about the ability to choose a new service provider when the old one you've used is incompetent. The entire converstation surrounding this on Morning Joe was ridiculous, and this shows what the political class has come to -- game, lies, foolishness and intellectual decay. Where are the serious intellectuals?

There's a populist movement going on in the Republican Party, and while I don't support Romney, it's unfair to Romney. I don't support Romney, because I think he will continue statist policies if elected, just like all the other candidates except Ron Paul, but what's going on in the media and among Republican candidates is just more class warfare and, underneath, anti-capitalism. The Republican Party is joining the populist movement to further demonize and destroy capitalism. Capitalism was perverted by government interventions long ago, and now all remnants of capitalism are being destroyed.

Ron Paul is the only candidate who stands up with integrity to defend free markets, limited government and non-intervention. Paul was practically ignored on Morning Joe, even though Paul is polling in second place. Scarborough realized that Paul had been ignored in the conversations, so he asked Chris Matthews why Paul is ignored. Matthews disdainfully said it's because they are talking about who can realistically win the presidency. It was lost on the righteous Matthews and clueless Scarborough, but right after Matthews made this statement, they showed a CBS poll regarding which Republican does the best in a contest against Obama -- Ron Paul was second to Romney -- Huntsman was last in the poll. Neither Matthews nor Scarborough noticed this after claiming with authority that Paul has no chance to win the presidency. It's frigging incedible. Yes, intellectual decay.