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The Revolt of the Masses (Electorates are casting a global no-confidence vote in their leaderships)
The Wall Street Journal ^ | September 3, 2009 | Daniel Henninger

Posted on 09/02/2009 7:16:50 PM PDT by St. Louis Conservative

When the political world arrives at the point where even the Japanese rise up to toss a party from office after almost 54 years in power, it's time to see something's happening here, Mr. Jones.

The ever-entertaining Karl Marx described a society's least politically engaged people as the lumpen proletariat. Well, it's beginning to look as if the globe's lumpen proletariat has decided they've had about enough of the lumpen bureaucratariat. It could be a revolution under way, though not the one predicted by the boys at the barricades.

To Mr. Marx, the lumpen proletariat (often slurred into a single word, lumpenproletariat) was the most marginalized, hopeless, faceless swath of the underclass. Were he alive at this moment, it is not beyond imagining that Karl would have joined the charge against what has become a lumpen bureaucratariat—the permanent, often faceless overclass of gerrymandered politicians, bureaucrats for life and the public unions and special interests that swim alongside like pilot fish.

The vote in somnolent Japan suggests that electorates are casting a global no-confidence vote in their leaderships. The same weekend the Japanese unloaded the Liberal Democratic Party, German voters withdrew Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling majorities in the state legislatures of Thuringia and Saarland.

In the U.S., political handicappers are predicting heavy Democratic losses in the House next November. This just four years after ending GOP control of Congress in the 2006 elections and two years after sweeping into office Barack Obama and his Democratic partners.

Congress's approval rating remains stuck around 30%. This number may be more important as an indicator of public sentiment toward the nation's leadership than presidential approval.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: democrats; elitism; obama; plutocracy
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To: St. Louis Conservative
That was the most insightful article I've read in months.

The guy nailed it.

21 posted on 09/02/2009 8:18:17 PM PDT by Mariner
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To: Panzerlied
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing!

Well I do. It looks like we're going back to the right in the country. Whereas Germany and Japan are electing commies.

22 posted on 09/02/2009 8:18:29 PM PDT by SeeSharp
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

“Not only that, politicians running for office speak in vague generalities instead of clearly outlining a vision. How many times have you heard candidates who’ll go to Washington to clean up “waste, fraud, and abuse?” I think people are on to the 2-party schtick and will vote for the candidate that best represents the Constitution.”

Or my favorite, especially in local elections, “Hold the Line on Taxes!”


23 posted on 09/02/2009 8:18:31 PM PDT by headstamp 2 (Question Marxist Authority)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

BFW


24 posted on 09/02/2009 8:19:45 PM PDT by eyedigress
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To: rbg81

Yours is a VERY good way to say why every nation deserves the government it has.

The current global situation suggests to me, contrary to the author’s conclusion, that many nations have simply lost their way and don’t really know what they want. If they did, they wouldn’t be overwhelmingly voting for one party and two years later for another. This appears to be the case here at home.


25 posted on 09/02/2009 8:31:56 PM PDT by TopQuark
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To: St. Louis Conservative

It is worse than that now. Sacrifice means seniors will lose benefits then are transferred to illegals, union members and ACORN/Black Panther thugs.

This is followed by higher estate taxes to insure the seniors children get nothing.

This is aggressive redistribution of wealth and reparations.


26 posted on 09/02/2009 8:32:04 PM PDT by Frantzie (Lou Dobbs & Glenn Beck- American Heroes! Bill O'Reilly = Liar)
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To: Bullish
"This hopey-changey admin is polarizing this country like we've never seen since the civil war"

Yep, but the geographical component is less well defined.

For instance, there are cities in both Texas...and California...that that could burn due to conflict between the "two armies". 55% in one city would be 45% in the other.

27 posted on 09/02/2009 8:44:15 PM PDT by Mariner
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To: Frantzie

You’re on to something there, definitely.

It IS a kind of egalitarian utopian worldview packaged to sell to the radical left, but in actuality is a money/political power grab.

I just watched the Steny Hoyer townhall meeting on CSPAN. What a complete joke. Hoyer was just beyond stupid. I can’t believe someone that dumb has been in office as long as this schmo. If anyone gets the chance, the broadcast is entertaining and highlights the Dem mindset. Drudge has a headline parroting one of Hoyer’s more stupid statements.


28 posted on 09/02/2009 8:45:07 PM PDT by khnyny (Barack Obama and Chauncey Gardiner: separated at birth)
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To: St. Louis Conservative
Never their paychecks, just ours. ObamaCare Jokes Obama Jokes
29 posted on 09/02/2009 8:47:25 PM PDT by tbw2 (Freeper sci-fi - "Humanity's Edge" - on amazon.com)
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To: khnyny

Somebody used to post here was a moderate Dem atty in a S. state. He was pretty plugged in but went off the rails a bit (unstable).

He considered running for office but told me how the Dems work. It is pretty much blackmail. They make you, then have the goods on you and blackmail you to vote for what they want. Watch the (second?) Godfather where the Senator from NV thinks he owns Michael Corleone (Al Pacino). Al then shows him who is boss.

The Godfather movies also talk about Michael’s old man (Brando) owning the unions, newspaper people, judges, cops and politicians. This is how the Democrats work.

Steny Hoyer is a puppet. Probably slightly less evil than Obama, Pelosi and Reid. He is a useful stooge like Joe Biden.


30 posted on 09/02/2009 8:52:35 PM PDT by Frantzie (Lou Dobbs & Glenn Beck- American Heroes! Bill O'Reilly = Liar)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

Lots of talk of action lately, even suggestions of blood flowing.

Y’all falling right into the Marxist trap. Marxists love blood. It advances their chances of gaining total power. They love civilizations splitting up into little bits.

Read some histories of Russia, China, Cuba.


31 posted on 09/02/2009 9:30:35 PM PDT by lurk
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To: rsobin
The republicans , even Rino’s, are way better than what we have now. This is no complement to the republicans either. Remember the “contract with America” ? Remember that thing about term limits in the platform?

C'mon. One sentence, you're saying Republicans are 'way better' than what we have now, and the next you're saying that they weren't batting 1000 in following through on their promises, so they're not really better after all. This illustrates the problems with the squishy equivalence viewpoint. There's always something to criticize, so criticize - don't throw the good out with the bad and invite all bad in.

I think the big revelation is that Republicans often are talking about and trying to 'reach across the aisle', be bipartisan, etc. and Democrats seldom if ever do that. This is because Republicans generally (still) think like adults and Democrats think like children who cannot respect or even understand any differing viewpoint. I say, just don't vote for (reward) politicians who are likely to think like children, and give the adults in politics who pander to the kiddies to gain votes a hard time. Hold both parties to the same standards. For instance, Zero is far more a unilaterist non post racial out and out liar than any Republican since the Civil War. Call him and the party he rode into Washington on it in 2010 and 2012.

32 posted on 09/02/2009 11:02:35 PM PDT by Post Toasties (Conservatives allow the guilty to be executed but Lefties insist that the innocent be executed.)
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To: ExTexasRedhead

Hello Red,
Boy, don’t ya know I’m hoping there is one big turnover in the congress this election.
FIRE em all.
Put them all in jail where they belong along with a slew of judges while we’re at it.


33 posted on 09/03/2009 12:30:17 AM PDT by Joe Boucher (google; operation garden spot and REX84)
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To: TopQuark

Personally, I DO NOT want higher taxes. Nor, do I support the expansion of entitlements being pushed by the Obama administration. But, at the end of the day, if that’s what the majority wants, we will do it.

In that case, I would RATHER taxes went up on everyone to pay for these goodies. The reason is so that we would feel the pain and understand the tradeoff. Part of the problem now is that the electorate wants all the benefits in the world for free. Most people don’t like the deficit, but its kind of an abstraction to them and (therefore) easy to ignore. Paying higher taxes is a lot less abstract.

It would be even better if we could somehow break a person’s taxes down in terms of specific Government program. Healthcare costs you $4000 per year. Welfare costs you $3000 per year, etc. That would focus people’s attention real fast.


34 posted on 09/03/2009 4:47:59 AM PDT by rbg81 (DRAIN THE SWAMP!!)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

I think some-—not all-—but some of this is a global rejection of “Global Warming” BS. Whether people have seen the taxes it involves, or the actual cooling trends, they’ve started to reject this part of the leftist agenda. In Europe, there is also tremendous concern about Islamification and sharia law, with no one doing anything about it.


35 posted on 09/03/2009 5:46:38 AM PDT by LS ("Castles made of sand, fall in the sea . . . eventually." (Hendrix))
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To: Joe Boucher; al baby; freekitty; Piquaboy; sheik yerbouty; unkus; flat

Two-term limits

One term in OFFICE
One term in PRISON

Neuter them in 2010
Clean the rest out in 2012


36 posted on 09/03/2009 6:20:06 AM PDT by ExTexasRedhead
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To: khnyny

Just take a look at Maxine Waters if you want to regard too dumb to live...


37 posted on 09/03/2009 4:47:59 PM PDT by GregoryFul
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To: rbg81

If an itemized bill were to be drawn up for federal taxes, at least 50% of the electorate would now see a $0 charge for every item. The takers now exceed the payers, and will until a new order is established.


38 posted on 09/03/2009 5:01:27 PM PDT by GregoryFul
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