Nightmare on Constitution Avenue

The Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal ^ | November 14, 2008 | John Fund

[jhroberts]

With news that Democratic candidate Mark Begich has taken the lead from incumbent GOP Senator Ted Stevens in Alaska's Senate race, Republicans are beginning to visualize a nightmare scenario in which Democrats actually reach the goal of 60 Senate seats that would allow them to stop any GOP filibuster.

[uncbob]

Anybody still think this is a Right Center country ( hint it never was even under Reagan )

[MissEdie]

What is the current total of Senate Seats the Rats have now?

[uncbob]

The basic problem is that no office holder is willing to take one for the team.

You don't know much about politicians--they grave POWER --there is no TEAM

[uncbob]

Two years from now they'll be swept out of office. 2010 will make 1994 look like a whimper.

We had a roaring economy in 94

What the USA will look like in 2010 is the big question

[devane617]

We have KBH down here in TX about to resign the Senate to run for Gov of TX. Same scenario. But, she will NEVER do what is right for TX and allow a fresh conservative the opportunity. Voters are like sheep...willing to re-elect the tired old retreads like Stevens, and KBH.

[uncbob]

All civilizations have a shelf life- once enough citizens figure out that by electing the “right” representatives, they can use the power of the government to pick the pockets of others, ...it’s all over, except for the details.’

In won't be just here in the USA --the entire world structure will be returning to the Dark Ages as the world's technological infrastructure disintegrates

[Bernard]

Term limits are going to happen one way or the other. Too bad this guy Stevens had to take the party down with him.

[backhoe]

It won't be just here in the USA --the entire world structure will be returning to the Dark Ages as the world's technological infrastructure disintegrates

Unfortunately, I can see it happening- technology is a sort of big, inverted pyramid, balancing on a point. It depends on plentiful, reliable, relatively cheap energy to function and sustain itself.

Just think what falling back 50 years in time would mean- rotary dial phones, vacuum tubes, mechanical calculators...

A hundred years of regression? Steam ships & trains, little electricity, gas lights.

And it wouldn't take much to shove us back that far, or farther.

[backhoe]

...it’s all over, except for the details.

Linky Thing: My Sentiments as Well

My kind regards to you and yours... yeah, it's looking kind of grim, to me, too.

I always worried about us being older & childless, with no one to look out for us when we got old & disabled, but I suspect in the Brave New World we are being herded into, we'll just be euthanized, so no worries!

[FrogMom]

J.D. Hayworth. A pro-life family man who was gerrymandered out of his congressional seat.

[DarkWaters]

Unfortunately, I can see it happening- technology is a sort of big, inverted pyramid, balancing on a point. It depends on plentiful, reliable, relatively cheap energy to function and sustain itself.

Technology and energy production also require moral, principled, and ultimately free people and for any significant growth otherwise the best you can hope for is keeping things at the same level for a time only until even that fails.

Loose that foundation and things will decay and ignorance will reign supreme. Then of course the real 'fun' begins. Look at the rest of the world(except those that have adopted western principles’) riding on the coat tails of western civilization. They get the tech and manufacturing capabilities but never went through the process that was used to develop it in the first place. This means people have far less appreciation for it and of course are more likely to loose it when things go wrong. Then look at western countries cast away the very same principles and morals that they once embraced that allowed them to achieve this technology. It’s a bad recipe.

[Hawthorn]

>> Do yall think Obama will offer McCain a choice cabinet job in order to reduce our republican numbers in the senate? <<

Not a problem, since Arizona law would require the Governor to appoint another Republican to Mac’s seat.

(Arizona and four other states operate this way with regard to vacancies in the U. S. Senate.)

[19th LA Inf]

Hey, maybe I’m a Luddite, but 50 years ago I was pretty happy. I had a satisfactory job, a 1948 Smith-Corona typewriter for a “word processor”, a Detroit automobile and even a 65hp Piper Cub to fly for $10 per hour. Life was good!

[hoagy62]

What is the current total of Senate Seats the Rats have now?

57. And guess how many disputed Senate seats there are? Three.

The other two..the Saxby Chambliss run-off in Georgia, and the Coleman-Franken race in Minnesota...all three would have to fall the Democrats way.

[backhoe]

Technology and energy production also require moral, principled, and ultimately free people and for any significant growth otherwise the best you can hope for is keeping things at the same level for a time only until even that fails. Loose that foundation and things will decay and ignorance will reign supreme. Then of course the real 'fun' begins. Look at the rest of the world(except those that have adopted western principles’) riding on the coat tails of western civilization. They get the tech and manufacturing capabilities but never went through the process that was used to develop it in the first place. This means people have far less appreciation for it and of course are more likely to loose it when things go wrong. Then look at western countries cast away the very same principles and morals that they once embraced that allowed them to achieve this technology. It’s a bad recipe.

When I was a science-fiction reading youngster, there was a sub-genre of stories about "what would you do if you were cast back in time ( or on a primitive planet ) to re-create the technology you were accustomed to."

While the stories were entertaining, and sometimes insightful, truth is, it's well-nigh impossible to raise a primitive level up by its bootstraps.

So much is built on that inverted pyramid I mentioned.

And you're right about the moral, ethical, and legal foundations, too. One reason much of Africa remains a pesthole is a simple lack of enforceable, Western-style property rights, and laws.

[backhoe]

Hey, maybe I’m a Luddite, but 50 years ago I was pretty happy. I had a satisfactory job, a 1948 Smith-Corona typewriter for a “word processor”, a Detroit automobile and even a 65hp Piper Cub to fly for $10 per hour. Life was good!

I'm with you, philosophically- I grew up then, and we had one phone, one car, one TV. But lots of radios, because that was how you got the news fastest.

And the DDT truck...

But I've had people- younger, naturally, inform me "I can't imagine living like that!

Of course you can- it's just less convenient.

[uncbob]

And it wouldn't take much to shove us back that far, or farther.

I said the DARK AGES not the 50s --mass starvation etc etc will get us ther real fast

[MissEdie]

YIKES!! I know the 2 “Independents” always vote with the rats. This is scary.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Two of the three will fall to RATS for sure. They see to it that they win the close ones. They have methods and we won't stop it until we start getting prosecutions.

That will take a lot of spine.

We may get the one in GA, depending on if the RATS can destroy enough Chambliss votes and manufacture enough for the RAT.

If they get it close, we also lose that one. This is not coincidence that they always win the close ones.

[ebiskit]

kewl, did not know that...but never trust a dem to figure a way around that law...

when did the matter of law ever stop a dem?

tehDeets