Mass Democracy Bankrupting America

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

In the post election analysis the usual blame game is sure to ensue on with different factions of the party casting blame on eachother. Moderate Republicans blaming the Teap Party. Tea Party blaming the establishment and all, of course, to the delight of the Democrats who benefit from Republican and conservative infighting all of which is counterproductive at a time when we need to have a united front and common purpose.

I think Mitt Romney ran on the whole an excellent campaign. By and large very well funded, organized, disciplined,focused like a laser beam on the economy vastly superior in execution to the McCain campaign in every respect. Mitt Romney in every respect was well qualified, an attractive candidate with an attractive family, and impressive business background with an in depth command on all of the issues. From a conservative pont of view, although Romney changed his position on some issues it was to our way of thinking across the board on EVERYTHING: Pro-life, Pro-traditional marriage, lower taxes, less government, pro-growth, pro-business,pro-drilling, against Obamacare, against Dodd-Frank, against Sarbanes-Oxley, against the Porkulus, agaiinst illegal immigration. The only major issue Romney was at odds with some conservatives (and Paul Ryan as well) was the TARP. Well, no one is 100% perfect and we cannot expect that. It now seems evident that none of the Republicans running for president this year could have defeated Obama.

In 1992 James Carville, explaining Bill Clinton's election strategy for unseating an incumbent president said famously, "it's the economy.stupid." Assuming that formulation is still correct, Romney should have won a landslide victory last Tuesday as the current economy is in deplorable shape and Romney was focused on that subject with little exception. So there must be another explanation: Two days after the carnage and listening to the strategists and pollsters pour through the exit polling data, one can only come to just one conclusion: It's the demographics, stupid. Romney won about 60% of the white vote. Several decades ago, that would have given him enough votes to win a Reagan or Nixon-like landslide. But no more. Welcome to the world of identity politics which the community organizer has mastered like no other. Demographics did Romney in pure and simple.

Romney, though pilloried for it, was actually on to something when talked about the 47%. We have too many people dependent on welfare, entitlement, and government support programs, and not enough people paying taxes to support them. Such an unsustainable state of affairs is largely responsible for our massive national debt. The US is essentially following the exact same path which has plunged much of Europe into bankruptcy, too many people on entitlements, too few taxpayers funding it all. Our $16 trillion national debt is simply beyond insane and it exceeds the debt level of all of the EU countries combined. One could plausibly argue that the US is ALREADY effectively bankrupt. The only thing keep the US afloat are the periodic government bond buy backs by the Federal Reserve---Quantitative Easing as it is called. In 2011, the Fed purchased an astounding 61% of all federal government debt issued that year. This is like the water pumps on the Titanic. It can buy a little time, but that's all. Quantative Easing has also had a narcotic effect on the body politic lulling us into sweeping it under the rug and constantly kicking the can down the road in pure denial that we are plunging deep into abyss of unsurmountable debt drowning in an ocean of bonds and paper Monopoly money. The Fed policy is really the most massive Ponzi scheme in the annals of recorded human history. A massive shell game, essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul.

The basic problem is that we have an electorate voting for itself more benefits at the expense of others creating massive public debt in the process---same as in Europe. Our Founding Fathers were well aware of such a possibility. This is precisely why they established a limited government constitutional republic with lots of checks and balances and an Electoral College to elect the president. The Founders at the beginning of the Republic only permitted property owners (people with skin in the game and a stake in the nation) to cast votes in federal elections. In retrospect a wise move indeed! They were horrified of the prospect of mob rule and mass democracy which is why they put so many checks and balances in place and outlined the specific responsibilities of the federal government in the Constitution. The ENTIRE purpose of the Constitution was to LIMIT the power, size, and scope of the federal government, concentrating most powers at the state and local level, while protecting individual liberty, private property rights, and commercial activity.

In short, we need to move AWAY from mass democracy and unlimited government, follow our US Constitution and move back to the concept of a limited government constitutional republic, which is what the founders intended all along. If we did that, we wouldn't have half the problems we have today nor would be mired in trillions of unsurmountable debt.

The problem with getting where need to be is not just in our politics, but perhaps more importantly our CULTURE. Declining church attendance and religious affilition, practice, discpline, moral development, and observance have helped contribute to this sorry and pathetic state of affairs but there are three additional factors which are contributing to the massive breakdown of discipline, civil society, rule of law, fiscal responsibility, and observance of the Consitution:

1) Education: Anyone who has youngster enrolled in public schools knows full well that are run by neo-Marxist teachers unions where children are inculcated in left wing propaganda at an early age. More is taught about Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez, and social justice than is taught about the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, George Washington, Thomas jefferson, James Madison, Bejamin Franklin, and all of the rest so critical in understanding why our nation was founded to begin with. After completing high school, our kids are then off to college where there is further indoctrination by even more radical left wing ideologues posing as college professors.

2) The Media: Every Republican and conservative in this nation knows full well that the professional media establishment in this country with few exceptions is in the tank for the Democrats and has been for quite some time making our task doubly more difficult. How do you fight the power of the establishment media other than simply tuning it out?

3) Pop Culture and Enteratinment: It bad enough that our young people are indoctrinated so thoroughly in our public schools and by the mass media, but the depraved Hollyweird entertainment and music industry greatly shapes youthful views and attitudes with so many celebrities like Lady Gaga, Madonna, Bill Maher, Letterman, Beyonce, Jay-Z, and countless others rocking the vote for the Democrats and contributing to the debasement of the culture. Sure, the Dems will cite Clint Eastwood, Jon Voight, Dennis Miller, and the few other conservative celebrities helping the GOP, but once again we are hopelessly out gunned in this area especially with respects to younger and non-white youth.

So in sum, we have the problems of mass democracy, people with no stake in society voting for benefits for themselves at the expense of others, demographic factors which support the entitlement and welfare state, a dismal and pathetic educational establishment, a one sided media establishment, a culture of entitlement, not responsibility, and last but not least a depraved entertainment and pop culture (with few exceptions) influencing the young and naive to their causes.

I don't have all of the answers, but I do know that going forward, ANY Republican presidential candidate will have to get past these seemingly insurmountable barriers. Some basic things could help including school choice, following the Constitution, reining in the unions (especially the public service unions) but this has proven to be especially difficult.

If the economy does not make some significant improvement over the next two years, the GOP will make significant gains in the 2014 midterm elections just as it did in 2010 (the mass electorate is generally much smaller in midterm elections than in presidential contests). The presidency, I suspect, will remain out of reach for the GOP barring a total economic collapse and more importantly a significant change in our cultural values toward the concept of individual responsibility over collective entitlement.

Just days before the election, Venezuela's brutish Marxist president, Hugo Chavez, offered and enthusiastic endorsement of Obama's re-election. Given that Chavez has taken over the key industries in his country (most notably oil), raised taxes massively, redistributed wealth, making more than half of the people in Venezuela dependent upon government support programs, no doubt Chavez saw a kindred spirit in Barack Hussein Obama. Whether our destiny is Europe, or some Third World hellhole like Venezuela has unfortunately become---thanks to Chavez---the future looks very bleak in all honesty.

King George III, with his taxes on tea and stamps, as well his Parliament in a far off capital, today, in retrospect, seems relatively benign and almost saintly compared to the oppressiveness and massive taxation we must today endure from our OWN government in Washington D.C.

[Buckeye McFrog]

and yet Romney drew FEWER VOTES than Capt. Queeg (who ran one of the WORST campaigns in all of human history)

[Logical me]

Bottom line, the Republicans shot themselves in the foot. Stupid jackasses acted like their lost their brains. Now the rest who got it will suffer with these Republican jackasses. Damn fools.

[I Drive Too Fast]

Could it be the stay at home to “show them” protest again? Well I sure hope the Supreme Court justices don’t retire anytime soon.

[txnativegop]

Unfortunately, Justice Ginsberg will either retire or die during Obama’s second term. She is very ill, and has been for some time.

I shudder to think who Obama will appoint to replace her.

[morphing libertarian]

Could her replacement be any worse?? Just younger.

[markman46]

ding ding ding we have a winner