One more thing...a financial reckoning is not far off. I don’t mean it will occur tomorrow or next year, but within 5-10 years at the most our government will be in a position of the worst of the PIIGS. The bond markets will not lend to us except at rates that will eat the budget. Printing money won’t help because at that point confidence in the dollar will have disappeared (any confidence today is misplaced), setting off a significant inflation and an catastrophic economic downturn. It isn’t necessary for checks to stop entirely for civil unrest to result. All that’s needed is a significant decrease in buying power and attempts to reign in “social spending” or to reduce the bureaucracy. Moreover, the civil unrest probably will start regionally because the problem is not merely national. State and local governments in most places have made unperformable promises. They can’t print money, and you are going to see more municipal bankruptcies and even states needing massive financial restructuring (there is no bankruptcy provision in the Code for state bankruptcies).
The financial situation is far worse than you imagine, and most conservatives wouldn’t support doing the right things because almost all love their little piece of the welfare pie.
I like Levin and his passion. His analysis of problems is generally excellent. But, like some other people that I admire, he has the “lawyer’s disease” - if only we pass the right laws things will turn around. The corruption is in the hearts of the people. Without destroying the government school establishment by removing our children (the system can’t stand the financial stress or the public delegitimation that would cause) and defunding the MSM by cutting the cable/satellite, we are finished. We will just be swatting flies instead of draining the swamp. All that the left has to do is wait for this generation of semi-conservative to pass from the scene, and the great mass of voters will consist of drones thoroughly conditioned by gramsian Marxism.
I think 5 to 10 years is way to early. But I can’t see the future either. I would rather it come sooner than later. I hope it comes while there are some real patriotic conservatives left in the citizenry. You are right about a generation down the road.
I just think no matter how bad the financial situation really is, the books can continue to get cooked and massaged for decades to come. It happened in Europe (and is still happening). You are talking Zimbabwe scenarios in the next 5 to 10 years. I just can’t see that yet, but don’t doubt it is coming.