Morning Joe 7/13/2012 -- Smokin' Joe Biden

According to the Morning Joe Progressive Coffee Klatch, Smokin' Joe Biden's speech at the NAACP was a Big FU**ING Deal. I've been writing lately about the atrophy in the Democratic Party and the death of modern liberalism. Liberalism now is merely an old reactionary Progressivism reminiscent of Wilson and FDR. During the Wilson and FDR eras, true liberalism, what is now called classical liberalism, became infected by socialist ideas which were getting much attention from Moscow to Paris to New York. It was basically the formation of social democracy, a Third way between Marxism and (true) Liberalism. In the US, socialism was such a loaded word among the public, the reaction to free marketism was labeled "liberal" although the movement became very illiberal. The classical liberals who weren't influenced by socialism became known as libertarians. Conservativism was another reaction to free market capitalism (to the extent America had a "free" market), so the battle over State power was between conservatives and liberals, but in reality it's just two political groups of statists attempting to use State power for different purposes, or at least the stated purposes are different -- underneath is simply the desire for greater State power and control of the few over the many. The two party system just helps divide the country and prevent any revolutionary change in the private sector from arising.

There is a faction of conservativism now which has accepted the old classical liberal/libertarian ideas regarding economics at least, and the current establishment is reacting to revived calls for limited government and a free market. The Democratic Party is stuck in the past if Joe Biden is their best reactionary representative. Biden's speech was embarrasing in the 21st century. Biden's fear mongering is so out of touch with current reality, it's sad, just as the NAACP is so out of touch it's sad. Neither Biden nor the leaders of the NAACP are addressing the fundamental problems which have caused 15% unemployment in the African-American community, or whatever it's called now. I look at individuals, not groups, so it's difficult for me to talk in terms of group warfare. All I know is the people I see and know with dark skin color aren't being "helped" by the Democratic Party or the NAACP. A healthy economy which is generating new wealth, an open market for education, private assistance associations which deal with fundamental social problems, removal of regulations which cripple small business creation (especially in inner cities), all these will do more to help the unemployed than another government plan that creates even more dependence.

The Morning Joe Progressive Coffee Klatch is hopeless.

Morning Joe 7/12/2012 -- Political atrophy

On Morning Joe you can often witness the political realm in all it's decaying glory. Statists of all stripes are busily attempting to save and rebuild the political realm -- tv shows, movies, books, people like Joe Scarborough and John Meacham praising LBJ and FDR for their political prowess, leaving out the aspects that made them horrible indivdiuals unrepresentative of the best of America.

There's a faction of people fascinated by power, and Scarborough seems to believe that most people are awed by political power, and as long as a President is getting things done, people will follow like sheep. It doesn't matter that PPACA is another entitlement which will explode costs to taxpayers, just like Medicare and Medicaid exploded in costs, when Roberts helped the progressives give their stamp of approval to PPACA, the public swooned over Obama's power play and they are now throroughly seduced. This is how statist think -- it's all from a political perspective.

The crew on Morning Joe, Steve Rattner, John Meacham, Dee Dee Myers, Margaret Carlson and other Leftists, discussed Romney's NAACP speech, talked about healthcare and taxes, and then basically discussed the power of politics and how political perception trumps economics. America's political class is imploding. There are very few deep thinkers in politics presently. As they advertised a new TV program called Political Animals, the crew appeared to accept this as the glory of politics -- the games and lies. It's sad really.

It does matter that PPACA is a government white elephant, and the public will crucify all politicians closely associated with it, once the consequences are clear. There are many educated people in the private realm who disdain the political realm and are not impressed at all by games -- these people in the private realm far outnumber those in the political realm getting their jollies on propaganda and statist power-mongering. Americans, for the most part, want government to get out of their way. Romney was right when he told the NAACP that he will be better for the economy and their job prospects than Obama, because skin color doesn't matter except in politics.

Kudos to Romney: The NAACP speech

Romney gave a speech to the NAACP and he didn't pander. Romney told a booing crowd he would repeal Obamacare. Romney was booed three times, but it's unclear how many in the audience were booing. Minorities would be better served if they backed candidates who promise to roll back the interventions that have ground our economy to a halt. With black unemployment at 14%, what's good economically is good for all Americans, regardless of skin color, but growth will be a special relief for the African-American community. Minorities have been misled by the Democratic Party, so that now, as minorities make great strides in overcoming economic/education barriers, the policies which are ostensibly designed to "help" minorities are holding them back. Obamacare will cost all races the same, and the taxes will give them less money to spend on things they desire. There is nothing in Obamacare to give minorities better healthcare coverage and treatrment. Young minorities who choose to not buy healthcare coverage will have to pay a fine. Those minorities working for companies which choose to stop offering healthcare coverage will be forced into government programs which can prevent them from seeing the doctors of their choice, perhaps a minority doctor they've preferred for whatever reasons.

Progressives like to associate minorities with a strong welfare state, with a strategy of securing votes, but minorities are far more than recipients of welfare benefits. If this is what the Democratic Party thinks of minorities, then this is an insult. I believe minorities should at least send the Democrats a message that they aren't a monolithic voting bloc committed to the Democratic Party even though they are collectively doing worse under Democrats than they did under Republican control of government. Not that political parties should try to control the economy, but Republicans do try to create a better environment for companies, more business-friendly, to grow through their own efforts.

Romney told the NAACP crowd what he believes a President should do to allow economic growth, and he didn't treat them like dependents incapable of making it on their own. Good for Romney. With the 14% unemployment number as an introduction, Obama did not speak to the NAACP crowd.

The NAACP/Shirley Sherrod controversy

This has been interesting. Shirley Sherrod is with the government's agriculture department, and she gave a speech to the NAACP related to her struggles with racism. In the speech she relates a story of her dealings with a white farmer years ago in which she first didn't want to help the farmer completely because she thought of all the black farmers who'd lost their farms, plus the white farmer was acting superior -- but, she finally realized it was about poverty, not so much white and black, so she sent him to "one of his kind", a white lawyer. Andrew Breitbart got ahold of a portion of the tape and presented it on his website to show the NAACP audience cheering the parts which seemed to suggest reverse racism is something to cheer about.

Breitbart claims he showed the tape to reveal the reaction of the NAACP audience and not as an attack on Sherrod. However, Sherrod reports she got a call stating the White House wanted her to immediately resign because she was going to be on Glenn Beck. The NAACP condemned her speech. Then, there was a reversal at the agriculture dept and the NAACP and the White House said it was completely a decision made by the dept of agriculture. The reversal came about when the entire tape of the speech showed that Sherrod was talking about learning from her past mistakes, that the speech was about reconciliation.

If Breitbart simply wanted to show the audience's reaction, then he succeeded, and the context strengthens his point. Sherrod was speaking to the NAACP, so she was presenting a message she feels is important and one the NAACP needed to hear. She delivered the punch line after the audience was fired up with revenge-type emotions, deflating them by delivering the message of unity, class struggle, not racial division.

The idea, though, of class struggle is divisive in itself, and it's, ironically, a struggle against goverment protection of corporations and the wealthy, politically connected few who fight to keep competition at bay, thus harming minorities who mostly own and work for small and medium size businesses.

Sherrod's message would have been better if she realized that it's the over-reaching govenment for which she works (worked) that's causing class divisions to deepen. But, that's beside the point.

It's obvious that the NAACP enjoyed her story of the white farmer a little too much, and they weren't expecting the message of reconciliation. Does this prove that the NAACP is guilty of reverse racism. No, it just means that everyone living in a glass house ought to swear off rock-throwing. We've all got biases and prejudices we need to eliminate.

The other part of this story is that the White House is denying they had anything to do with Sherrod's firing, that it was Vilsack and the ag dept who fired her. Either Sherrod is lying or the WH is lying, or whover talked to Sherrod misled her.

I don't know who to believe, honestly. If I've got parts of the story, I apologize ahead of time, and I'll make corrections when I'm informed. 

Tea Party: A lesson in documentation

I once worked in a field where documentation was vital to protecting yourself from frivolus sexual abuse charges, or charges of neglect or incompetence. We were taught to document everything and to keep the possibility of these charges in mind.

Had the Tea Party seen in advance the coming campaign to smear them as racists, their first order of business would have been to ask a wealthy benefactor to fund hiring someone to document all the efforts to avoid racism. Then when the charges came, like the one from the NAACP, they could simply turn the documents over showing how they addressed the issue of race from the beginning. Now they have to scramble back and make a defense of every condemnation they've made regarding racism within their ranks.

It was foreseeable that this tactic would be used by their opponents. I wrote a post about it almost 6 months back. Even though they now have to prove they've condemned racism, it's still a stretch for the left to make the case. A few incidences of signs which can be construed as racist are not enough to justify the current hoopla. It's a political weapon used in desperation now that the mid-term elections are drawing near and it's looking bad for the Democrats. If I were a Tea Party leader, I'd be careful of fighting fire with fire -- fighting the accusations with the cool water of calm reason and proof to the contrary is enough.