Our assumption of the common understanding was reinforced when Romney picked Ryan whose entire approach is based on the belief that an economic crash is inevitable if we do not reform. But somehow Ryan's message at first was channeled into a fight over Medicare and the issue of our economic peril was lost, perhaps because it was simply assumed. But the electorate does not share our set of assumptions about the state of the economy anymore, evidently, that shares our assumptions about social issues like free birth control.
I take issue with the author, though, about his scenario. He tells us that after the crash the pain will bring electorate to reality and they will turn to conservative solutions. I do not believe that for a minute. History tells us that with rare exceptions that the remedy for failed socialism is not reform but more socialism. For every Margaret Thatcher we have a counterreformation which puts socialism back into the British economy. For every Greece we have rioters in the streets in Athens demanding more socialism. For a great recession precipitated is not occasioned by socialist policies generating unsound home mortgages, we have federal programs for more unsound home mortgages. It is impossible to conclude that the socialist programs of Barack Obama which deepened the recession have been regarded by the electorate as reason to reform either him or the system.
We have academia and journalism telling the electorate they should always take the wrong lessons from history, from current events, from foreign affairs, and from economic conditions. I doubt if the next downturn will provide an epiphany to the electorate, most likely it will cause the country to lurch even further left.
Saul Alinsky is smiling.
I have posted many times during the election campaign but publicly withdrew the observation to the effect that Romney was not litigating the implications of America going bankrupt him him him him him him him him him him him on the assumption that his polling data was properly guiding him. We now know he was blundering about as much as we were. We conservatives assumed that message, that the America understood we were going bankrupt, because that is what we believe and it is, frankly, human nature to expect others to see the world the way we do. They simply do not.
Our assumption of the common understanding was reinforced when Romney picked Ryan whose entire approach is based on the belief that an economic crash is inevitable if we do not reform. But somehow Ryan's message at first was channeled into a fight over Medicare and the issue of our economic peril was lost, perhaps because it was simply assumed. But the electorate does not share our set of assumptions about the state of the economy anymore, evidently, than it shares our assumptions about social issues like free birth control.
I take issue with the author, though, about his scenario. He tells us that after the crash the pain will bring electorate to reality and they will turn to conservative solutions. I do not believe that for a minute. History tells us that with rare exceptions that the remedy for failed socialism is not reform but more socialism. For every Margaret Thatcher we have a counterreformation which puts socialism back into the British economy. For every Greece we have rioters in the streets of Athens demanding more socialism. For a great recession precipitated if not occasioned by socialist policies generating unsound home mortgages, we have federal programs for more unsound home mortgages. It is impossible to conclude that the socialist programs of Barack Obama which deepened the recession have been regarded by the electorate as reason to reform either him or the system.
We have academia and journalism telling the electorate they should always take the wrong lessons from history, from current events, from foreign affairs, and from economic conditions. I doubt if the next downturn will provide an epiphany to the electorate, most likely it will cause the country to lurch even further left.
Saul Alinsky is smiling.
Lyrics to Bright Sunny South :
From the bright sunny south to the war, I was sent, E’er the days of my boyhood, I scarcely had spent. From it’s cool shady forests and deep flowing streams, Ever fond in my mem’ry and sweet in my dreams.
Oh, my dear little sister, I still see her tears. When I had to leave home in our tender years. And my sweet gentle mother, so dear to my heart, It grieved me sincerely when we had to part.
Said my kind-hearted father as he took my hand: “As you go in defence of our dear native land, “Son, be brave but show mercy whenever you can. “Our hearts will be with you, ‘til you ‘turn again.”
In my bag there’s a bible to show me the way, Through my twelfth year on earth and to Heaven some day. I will shoulder my musket and brandish my sword, In defence of this land and the word of the Lord. From the bright sunny south to the war, I was sent, E’er the days of my boyhood, I scarcely had spent. From it’s cool shady forests and deep flowing streams, Ever fond in my mem’ry and sweet in my dreams.
Oh, my dear little sister, I still see her tears. When I had to leave home in our tender years. And my sweet gentle mother, so dear to my heart, It grieved me sincerely when we had to part.
Said my kind-hearted father as he took my hand: “As you go in defence of our dear native land, “Son, be brave but show mercy whenever you can. “Our hearts will be with you, ‘til you ‘turn again.”
In my bag there’s a bible to show me the way, Through my twelfth year on earth and to Heaven some day. I will shoulder my musket and brandish my sword, In defence of this land and the word of the Lord.
Sometimes I wonder what Zero, et. Al. Know that we don’t. Is there a giant asteroid coming soon and we don’t need to bother over who will pay the bills?
“I doubt if the next downturn will provide an epiphany to the electorate, most likely it will cause the country to lurch even further left.”
You’re correct. Until the election I agreed with the author, that in a crash people would come to their senses, but I’ve come to realize just the opposite. When the crash happens it will be blamed on CAPITALISM and most people will buy it.