The Tax Monsters are loose

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/03/with-spending-cuts-only-deal-passed-dems-seek-new-revenues-in-online-sales/?test=latestnews

Now that the State is threatened with a debt crisis and government is limited in what it can spend, statists are seeking every tax they can find. Hold on to your wallet and go to the polls in droves in 2012 -- every politician who's a tax and spend politician, send them home. Washington DC needs an enema.

Those radical Tea Party representatives!

It's all the rage in media -- who can most harshly excoriate the "Tea Party" conservatives -- and now they aren't even getting creative, just spewing forth the talking points. It's understandable, though. About fifteen years ago I had to go to Washington DC for a couple of days each month to deal with Amtrak human resources. I stayed in a nice hotel near the capital and ate at some very nice restaurants. I attended a few meeting in the Capital from time to time. Some of the architecture was impressive from an aesthetic perspective, but most of the muscular gray building were merely intimidating. You don't have to spend much time in DC to understand that many influencial people are dependent on a powerful, interventionist government -- lobbyists, defense contractors, pundits, intellectals, political operatives, unions, Whitehouse correspondents, media in general, special interests of all sorts. 

I would sit in the restaurants and listen to political discussions, each sounding important and vital -- important stuff happens in DC. When you think about the federal reach across the nation, the picture is magnified greatly. Most of these people make their livings off a powerful government, and they can't imagine how the world can exist without Washington DC. But a world does exist outside government, and, as a matter of fact, a poor, crime-riddled world exists just blocks from the nice restaurants in which I dined.

When the Tea Party came into prominence on the national scene, many statists dismissed it as a temporary puff of steam from the public kettle, but it grew legs, and in the midterm elections the Tea Party made a loud and clear statement -- new representatives came to DC with the purpose of limiting government, so one can imagine how the status quo political class felt about this aggravating invasion of yahoos from southern and mid western states. At first they fell back on their standard weapon to defend the status quo -- denigrate and marginalize -- so media did their patriotic duty and started hammering the Tea Party and their representatives. Media is still at it, but the old tactics aren't working like they did in the past -- the Republican establishment hasn't squashed the goober tyros who dare threaten the mighty State machine. In fact, the Tea Party representatives have held their ground and had more influence than anyone expected, so now talking heads are warning the nation that this type of ideological influence on government is dangerous and could put the nation into a financial spin that robs old ladies of SS checks and poor sick people of medical treatment-- to top it off, our soldiers who are risking their lives in a war to protect democracy and freedom could go without pay.

This little band of limited government conservatives could bring down the whole country if something is not done, and done quickly. The country isn't buying the hyperbole so far, but with this much propaganda it's only a matter of time before the Tea Party is vilified to an extent they are national security threats requiring government action. Everything being done now to save the status quo, all the justifications for the 80 million checks that must go out, all the warnings of imminent collapse, all of it simply makes the Tea Party point -- the government has become too damn powerful and the American people too damn dependent.

Morning Joe 6/29/2011 -- Failure of Statism

On Morning Joe today the crew and guests like Tina Brown, Ezra Klein and Al Sharpton talked about the breakdown in Washington DC -- they can't get anything done on the debt ceiling, spending cuts or raising taxes -- they're frozen in a partisan divide -- Obama can't make bold decisions and lead the way -- politicians are too worried about the next election -- so on and so forth. Tina Brown either lamented the fact, or simply stated the fact, that people are beginning to take matters into their own hands to solve problems. Imagine that.

I will say this -- if the inadvertent result of Obama's presidency is that Americans take responsibility for their problems and creatively find solutions, then I will declare Obama's presidency as the most important in our history. Seriously, what Morning Joe was discussing this morning is the failure of statism. Many of us know that statism always fails -- it has to -- it can't end any other way. In the history of mankind there has never been success from central planning and social engineering. Domination has always led to decline -- freedom rises for a minute, then domination returns.

The challenge of the 21st century is not to fix statism/domination short-term so that interventionist governments can prop up a coercive State machine and stretch out it survival for another decade or two -- the challenge of the 21st century is to finish and do right what our Founders attempted in the beginning -- truly limit government and establish an authentically free market. Unless we apply fundamental solutions at this point in time, we will continue our decline, and collapse won't be far away. Statism has been pushed to the breaking point -- we have even surpassed the USSR's long run, but mainly because we had a measure of freedom. Now, we need to do the hard thing -- oppose statism, defeat statism and place real limits on government power. The State machine is powerful, but if the American people want change, we can make it happen -- even if we have to vote every current politician out of office and start over.

Joe Scarborough and Mika said they were tired of Sarah Palin news then spent ten minutes talking about how the media should quit talking about Sarah Palin. I have an idea -- Joe and Mika can use their influence and get the producers to establish a Sarah Palin black-out on Morning Joe -- no discussion at all about Sarah Palin, to show how Sarah Palin is not news-worthy -- yes, make a statement about Sarah Palin, that she's not a player, not important, not worthy of further discussion -- no more Sarah Palin news, seriously, no more, because even though Sarah Palin went to Iowa, it's not...

Private sector stardom -- Chris Matthews can't stand it

On Hardball, Chris Matthews had as his guests, Eugene Washington and Howard Fineman, to tear down the stardom of Sarah Palin, and to wonder what's going on with Palin, the media and the public. Matthews said something to the effect that he and his guests possessed a lot of brain-power for something so trivial, but the result was actually fantastic. They can't stand the fact that Palin is on the outside of the political class doing her thing. It's the same with Beck -- the political class pundits and insiders can't stand it because they can't touch Beck or Palin, or Limbaugh, or John Stossel, or anyone at Fox.

I wrote about this awhile back, and it's coming to fruition. The Right is starting the transformation, while the Left is still stuck in a stale, statist collectivism. The private sector stars are giving the statists fits because they want these people in the political game where the game is rigged. I think that the rise of personalities in the private sector is a very healthy and interesting development, and it could lead to changing Washington from without, if enough pressure can be put on representatives to limit government. Now, we need some libertarian stars, another Mencken, someone comparable in wit to Mark Twain -- we need rabble rousers. The Left should loosen up and play with an Abbie Hoffman-like personality, or another Norman Mailer.

It's not that I agree with everything Palin, Beck, Limbaugh, etc, say, but it's not necessary in a free society -- we can debate the issues in the Information Age and ascertain enough facts to make judgements and changes. In the statist, political realm, those with whom you disagree have the power to enforce their ideas, but in the free market of ideas, we can all discuss the issues and let the best ideas emerge and rise to the top. This is the America that approached greatness -- the America of true diversity and a strong desire for radical freedom.

Poor Chris Matthews -- this potential new world of unsanctioned ideas and chaotic freedom and private sector stardom can't be controlled -- what is a statist to do? Perhaps, he and Fineman and Washington consoled themselves over a few glasses of fine wine after the show.

White House Correspondence Dinner

There is no level too low to stoop for this President in his attempt to co-opt popular culture and defuse all criticisms of his presidency. By attempting to eviscerate Trump, Obama elevates Trump and further diminishes himself. Humor is a good thing, but this staged political spectacle reflects the ugly game beneath the facade of respectability still afforded the presidency out of habit.

This combination of Saturday Night Live and traditional Washington aggrandizement is appropriate for the demeaning reality of DC culture and America's statist infection -- it reflects the sickness of government's spreading influence into every nook and cranny of American life. Never before has the country been fed so many images of the President and government officials around the clock.

By legitimizing Trump and defusing his attacks, we see the skit from behind the scenes -- the joshing and silliness that went into the skit -- the bloopers and comaraderie of the actors. We can forget our problems -- it's only a skit -- soon the actors will come forward and assure us that all is well in the economy, and that they had a blast solving the problems. You should have seen Geithner as he was wrestling with the numbers one night, when Obama showed up wearing green shades with a six pack of Old Milwaukee under his arm and asked "Need any help?" I thought Biden would split his gut.