I suspect Tag Romney is telling the truth

Romney never appeared motivated by a passionate zeal to become President, but this is common of most present political players. I watch Fox and MSNBC and CNN and the politicians are flat -- they go through the motions. Obama has had a few moments of passion, but mostly he's just saying the words moving across the monitor. I don't hear any politicans passionately present ideas that are alive -- there's a lot of policy talk and platitudes but nothing close to the political poetry of a Reagan or JFK.

I suspect the grind and baseness of modern politics kills any political spirit that might be there in the beginning when a person decides to serve the public. Plus, modern media is so vicious, superficial and dishonest, it's hard, I imagine, to let yourself go and be natural in interviews. When political spin is placed on each word, politicians become careful and bland.

Aside from the great benefits of being a Senator or President, I can't think of much else that emanates from DC which is inspiring. The public has a very low opinion on Congress, and members of Congress don't do much to improve their image. It appears to me that government is in decline, caught up in a system they don't even try to fix anymore, just going through the motions, taking what they can with one eye on a lucrative way out when they see their careers coming to an end.

Hmm, it's higher than 47%

When Mitt Roimney and others said that many Americans fell for Obama's promises that the public can have their cake and eat it too, Romney and the others were exorciated repeatedly. How dare anyone say that Americans are...moochers! Well, I agree with the CATO author who said it's not a moral issue as much as an issue of ignorance regarding government policy. Of course people vote for spending on education, Medicare, SS, Medicaid, unemployment extension, auto bailouts, stimulus, etc, especially when the political realm and media don't make a point of telling Americans that if they get the spending they'll have to pay more in taxes, hidden or in the open taxes. The American people don't have the time and energy to study these issues in depth and to know the numbers that Obama and others in DC know only so well. Perhaps the American people should know, but we can forgive them when we look at how most people have to grind out a living in this poor economy, and when we consider public education.

Soon, Americans will be forced to acknowledge that all this spending has to be paid for and that the rich don't have enough to pay for it themselves. It's a con game and the American public has been had.

Update on Monday, December 10, 2012 at 11:14PM by M. Farmer

http://mises.org/daily/6313/The-Santa-Claus-Principle

Morning Joe 11/21/2012 -- More on Romney

The Left can't quit talking about Romney and Republicans. Morning Joe had Dan Senor on, and Senor rightly called out Republicans who were on the Romney wagon until he lost, then they abandoned Romney like cowards. Democrats should move along, though, since they believe they have a mandate to govern. I would like to hear Morning Joe put forth the Progressive agenda the Left says the American people are clamoring to pass. Instead, it's just one bit on Romney and the GOP after another.

I think the Left is anxious now that they have momentum -- they have to act. But what will they do? What can they do? The only thing that will turn around the economy is to release private sector business forces to grow the economy, coupled with a plan to cut spending significantly, but Democrats have no plan for either of these. Democrats seem to think if they can get a tax hike on the rich, they'll be sucessful. I don't hear any serious plans beyond raising taxes.

There was a discussion regarding Israel and Hamas with Mika's dad as a guest. The Left tends to blame Israel, but this is becuase it's politically correct to support Palestinians. I support the innocent in all of this, but, realistically, Israel can't sit by and let missiles fly into its cities. If it gets down to might is right, then Israel will be right. Hamas is led by terrorists who aren't right any way you look at it, so if this is the game that is to be played, then Hamas is responsible for all civilian deaths in Gaza. History and inequities can't be sorted out while missiles are flying.

Morning Joe 11/16/2012 -- War in the Republican Party

It's pretty obvious why Romney didn't do better in the 2012 election -- the Centrists in the party were working against him. David Frum had his little E-Book written and ready to go when they called the race for Obama. Scarborough, Jindal, Boehner, Barbour and all the other Centrists were waiting for the loss in order to pounce on Romney and make power plays for 2016. The Centrists are also attacking Limbaugh, Beck, the Tea Party and the rest of the Republicans they think have ruined the party.

Centrists want to manufacture their version of what went wrong with the GOP and why Romney was the wrong candidate. Scarborough and Jindal and Barbour all jumped on Romney for making a statement about Obama using the welfare state to buy votes. Scarborough said that Reagan never talked like this, that Reagan told the country how to succeed through principles. Scarborough is not only creating his own version of the election, he's white-washing what Reagan said about welfare and dependency. This is the most pitiful political gamesmanship I've seen in a long time. There are so many things wrong what the Centrists are claiming post-election it would take a book to make a complete rebuttal.

Centrists are following the Democrats down the populist road demonizing the rich. Scarborough made a big deal over Romney's wealth and how he's out of touch. Scarborough went back to his often self-aggrandized, populist, political career and how he could talk to the little people. The Centrists are making the claim that Romney has insulted 47% of the voters, but the Centrists then turn around and insult Republican voters. Democrats, including  Obama, not only insulted Republican voters, they demonized them with implications of racism, homophobia, and misogyny, and accused them of hating the poor -- these insults didn't hurt Obama, though. The Centrists imply that Republican voters are so stupid and gullible they believe everything Limbaugh and Beck say. It can't be that these millions of viewers hold the same ideology as Limbaugh and Beck -- no, they're bamboozled. The Tea Party was demonized terribly by the Democrats, the Centrist Republicans and the media, but this is obviously okay.

The Centrists say that conservatives don't have to give up conservative principles, they just have to change the tone. Romney's tone was mild compared to Obama's tone but reality doesn't seem to matter when you're creating a political narrative. So, let's get this straight -- the Centrists say that Reagan, conservative principles, at least the stated principles, limited government, personal responsibility and a free market, can be joyfully presented to the American voters, and many who voted for Obama will come over to the Republican side? What happens when the joyful, nice Centrist is asked about ACA, which goes against everything limited government stands for? Also, limited government advocates want the private sector to handle much of what government is now handling. So, what do Obama voters say when Democrats accuse the Republican Centrist, say a Chris Christie, of wanting to shrink government services and, thus, throw vulnerable Americans into the jungle of the market with no safety net?

One of two things happen -- Christie refutes he wants to dismantle welfare/safety net programs and embraces statism, or he becomes demonized by media as a secret far-rightwinger. How joyful. When a Centrist Jindal is confronted with what he'll do with entitlements, and Jindal takes a joyful, Reaganesque position of reforming entitlements and perhaps creating private solutions, what will Jindal then do when the ads come out showing a brown, Indian-looking man clubbing granny in the head with a baseball bat?

Scarborough and the centrists are shamelessly politicizing the Romney loss and pretending that they have a way that will please social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, moderates, and many who now vote for Democrats. Sure they do.

The other part of the program barely addressed the Petraeus/Benghazi affair. Saxby Chambliss came on and said that Susan Rice "softened" the account of the Bengahzi attack that killed 4 Americans. Senator Chambliss is being a politician -- what he means is that Rice and Obama and many others lied about the attack. No one on Morning Joe has the courage to seek the truth -- they're too busy developing false narratives, toting Obama's water and trying to empower Centrists to protect the status quo in DC. Big Government Interventionists to the bone, all of 'em. Talk about out of touch -- oh boy.

The Left has lost the private sector

Although Republicans have their share of statists, too many, the Democratic Party and the Left in general are now associated closely with interventionist government. The Left was sure that the march of social democracy was such that collective concerns outweighed private interests, and that our era of abundance had ushered in the economy of free time, universal efforts for social justice and the end of capitalism. The idea of planning and markets as inseperable in the US has led to large, unfunded entitlement programs, failing public education, a too-close relationship between government and the Fed, politicized unions, State capitalism, tight, irrational and over-reaching regulations and a welfare state which doesn't effectively move the poor into the middle class. More and more Democrats are associated with these flaws and failures of Big Government.

As soon as Hurricane Sandy did its damage, politicans and statists of all stripes, mainly on the Left, were hailing the virtues of FEMA and Big Government and rebuking the "limited government" crowd as insensitive to social needs such as disaster relief which only, of course, Big Federal Government can provide. Ask the residents on Staten Island what they think about FEMA. Democrats are quick to embrace this Big Government narrative, so now they are facing the problems that the premature praise of government action has wrought. Chris Christie is likely wishing he had not kissed Obama quite so lovingly.

Big Government is failing at all levels, and Benghazi is a case in point that even our national security is threatened by a government that has grown too big, too secretive, too entangled in foreign affairs, and too powerful. The Afghanistan War, the "good war" as Obama called it, is a failure, but media will not properly report the failure because they're protecting Obama's image. Now that Romney will be President, perhaps media will tell the truth about Afghanistan and Pakistan so Romney can end these wars and get our troops home.

Romney has a big challenge lying ahead -- turning around this Leviathan while whittling it down to appropriate size. Will Romney meet this challenge? He has to, and the American people must insist on it. The Republican Party is best positioned to present a true opposition to statism, because no third party has shown any success so far. The success of the GOP in cutting government and creating the rational playing field for a free market depends on the American people not accepting anything less than limited government and a free market. The GOP's past history of free market rhetoric and statist governance can not be repeated. The two principles of limitations and liberty have been the heart of the American idea that's never been realized. It's time to realize the idea completely. The principles of equality and justice are part and parcel of limited government and a free market -- equal opportunity and justice for all, no favoritism, no protection of large corporations or unions or special interests, no power elite.

The Left has lost the private sector as it, the Left, has embraced interventionist government, and this is the cause of the downfall of the Democratic Party. It might not be apparent to everyone, but anyone paying attention has to realize the failures of Big Government and the need for limits on power. It will soon be painfully obvious, if we don't quickly change.