Posted on 01/11/2019 8:13:59 AM PST by ek_hornbeck
Last Wednesday, the conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson started a fire on the right after airing a prolonged monologue on his show that was, in essence, an indictment of American capitalism.
America’s “ruling class,” Carlson says, are the “mercenaries” behind the failures of the middle class — including sinking marriage rates — and “the ugliest parts of our financial system.” He went on: “Any economic system that weakens and destroys families is not worth having. A system like that is the enemy of a healthy society.”
He concluded with a demand for “a fair country. A decent country. A cohesive country. A country whose leaders don’t accelerate the forces of change purely for their own profit and amusement.”
The monologue was stunning in itself, an incredible moment in which a Fox News host stated that for generations, “Republicans have considered it their duty to make the world safe for banking, while simultaneously prosecuting ever more foreign wars.” More broadly, though, Carlson’s position and the ensuing controversy reveals an ongoing and nearly unsolvable tension in conservative politics about the meaning of populism, a political ideology that Trump campaigned on but Carlson argues he may not truly understand.
(Excerpt) Read more at vox.com ...
Southerners have always been social conservatives
It’s about where they come from and the homogenous nature of it
From the Huguenots and second and third sons of the 1600s onwards
The abolitionists were the radicals of their day
bump
I didn’t say, “Socialism will never go away.”, it always ‘pops up’ again and again and again..............As long as there are AOC’s there will be sowers of socialism seeds..............
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This monologue did not happen on Wednesday. What did happen on that day was a monologue on the ineffective usage of Federal law enforcement. He made a strong case for Trump falling down on the job of protecting Free Speech on campus, in the general public, and specifically his supporters.
He actually said “Would Obama allow one of his supporters to be beaten for wearing a shirt with his name on it?” “For donating money to his campaign?” or “Fired from Google/FB/Apple for openly supporting his opponents?” HELL NO, was his assessment, and he was correct. DJT has done NOTHING to enforce societal norms respecting Free Speech, and actually siccing the US Justice Dept on violators of it.
His monologue was at the approximate 30 minute point, and hit home with me. I supported President Trump, and still do to a point. I am tire of waiting for Justice to be served on the many who have committed Felonies. Whether they be using a bicycle lock as a weapon, setting up a server to ease the transfer of Top Secret documents to our enemies for money, or weaponizing the NSA, CIA and FBI.
Socialism will always pop up, as long as it is possible to vote money out of your neighbor’s pocket and in to yours.
Democracy is doomed when the citizens realize they hold the keys to the treasury - De Tocqueville.
A free country must also be a moral country, as paraphrased from Benjamin Franklin. Capitalism is a fruit of our freedoms and must also be moral. As we’ve become a largely unchurched/unbelieving country, capitalism has taken some wrong turns.
The Rich -- they own land. People pay them rent. They don't have to do much of anything. They have automatic wealth which never diminishes, and as landowners they have political power (in the UK anyway).
The Bourgeoisie -- they own a business. Maybe a small enterprise, maybe a big factory. They don't "work" but they oversee the business and have a direct interest in growing that business. Their wealth grows or diminishes based on their level of effort. They have independence because they own their own means of production.
The Proletariat -- they don't own much at all. They have no independence. They work on farms, they work in factories, they work in shops. They think that if they could (collectively) own the means of production, then they would achieve independence and some degree of wealth.
In a dynamic country like America people move between classes with great frequency -- but Marxism is largely based on the idea that you are stuck within your class and only a political revolution can change your situation.
I think there is some accuracy to say that America doesn't have a rich land-owning class (although maybe the Deep State is something like that). We basically have a "middle class" of rich people at the top who grow some sort of business and a working class that tries to become rich (and often does).
“Net: godless, amoral capitalism *IS* a problem.”
YRS! We should have been using anti-trust laws on the mega companies decades ago. And today, we should be in the process of breaking up and regulating ALL the social media companies as they have the ability, and the will, to destroy our Republic, starting with Facebook!
There is truth in this statement. My wife wanted to get a new washer/dryer about a decade ago. Both have had multiple problems and the dryer was replaced with a $30 Craigslist model. The washer is still limping along and needs some welding done (again: it keeps shaking itself apart). I haven't welded the washer back together yet because I haven't gotten around to fixing the Hobart wire feed welder I bought a few years ago.
She wanted a new stove: The oven doesn't work and I need to fix it, but haven't gotten to it yet.
We bought a new riding mower 11 or 12 years ago: The transmission only made it about 5 years. The lawnmower has now been replaced by a 1953 Massey-Harris Pacer with the Woods belly mower and a 20 year old Craftsman riding mower as well as the old lawn mower getting combined with a couple of other donor mowers into one working mower.
I'm finding that I have better luck keeping the vintage stuff running than I do most of the new stuff. The vintage stuff also needs constant attention, but since it is old, I don't get nearly as aggravated when I have to make repairs.
“I thought it was great monologue, and I agree with him.
Part of the reason this country has gone downhill is because of people whose only goal in life is to collect as much money as possible before they pass away. Consequently, just about everything we buy these days is cheap garbage and our quality of life has deteriorated a LOT in the last half century.”
Essentially, he is lambasting a corruption of true Capitalism, in which certain key players are able to buy influence with lawmakers and guarantee both their success and the failure of any up and coming competition. The same thing happens with predatory pricing...which is why Standard Oil’s practice of having price wars until competition went bankrupt, then jacking up prices once it bought out the assets of that competition, resulted in the Sherman Antitrust Act. As well it should have. Crony capitalism and predatory pricing that is permitted for one reason or another are just corruption - and that corruption benefits the very, very few at the pinnacle of society, at everyone else’s expense. That destroys countries and cultures, and must not be allowed. Essentially, it is feudalism, but gussied up with some fine-sounding words like “freedom” and “opportunity.”
Not just the "libertines".
Marriage rates have been going down for a while. Why are guys not interested in marriage any more? Because it's increasingly a bad deal for guys.
Why is marriage currently a bad deal? Because as soon as the wife decides she is unhappy, she gets to blow up the marriage, take the kids, take the house, take the assets. Having a succession of girlfriends seems far less risky.
But see what happens when a guy even brings up the subject of reforming divorce laws to be more fair to guys, even from supposedly conservative women.
Since retiring, my hobby has been “Old Arn”. The acquisition, restoration and use of older woodworking machines of US, Canada and UK manufacture. None of that Chiwanese for me, except for the SawStop.
Today, I brought home a Rockwell Delta L40C 14” radial arm saw that I acquired via an online IRS auction. It needs some work, and I plan a total restoration, but unlike what you buy today, it is repairable a good for a long time.
Also, I get a real sense of satisfaction rescuing these old warhorses from the scrapper.
I ‘m with you, don’t like thinking in class system. As far as the general angst, thing I can’t out of my head is in 1971 (end of gold standard) the average family debt/salary ratio was 85%. Now it is about 240%. So a lot of the asset “wealth” was created through credit expansion, which makes things economically fragile. Not sure how we get off this treadmill without damage though. Any disturbance in credit really rocks markets, and how do you pump wages with global and illegal labor?
And those capitalists be eventually be devoured by other capitalists who have no such compunctions.
The colonists who came through danger to these shores in the 17th Century understood what lack of religious freedom meant; they understood what it was like for themselves and their kin to labor and have the fruits of their labors confiscated; they had understood the denigration associated with not being able to express deeply-held convictions and religious beliefs; and they longed to be free from the burdens of oppressive government.
At any rate, they came to America, and without any government in that vast wilderness to command them, to advise them, to restrict them, they played out their role in what has been called "the making of America," or, by others, "the miracle of America."
Just think of it: from 1620 or so until 1775, individual colonists who survived the harsh conditions in their new land had established an economy that was feeding the Old World.
If any do not believe that, they have not read Edmund Burke's Speech of Conciliation . . . delivered before the British Parliament in 1775.
Every Democrat and Republic leader today needs to read Burke's summary of the unheard-of economic achievements of that British Colony known as "the Americans."
What does all this have to do with Trump and the reluctant Republicans and the resistant Democrats?
Well, if they understood how and what the Years 1775 and 1776 meant, and how that band of strangers in a relatively new society dealt with the situation they found themselves in, and how they responded to courageous and outspoken fellow citizens who appealed to their love and desire for individual freedom and prosperity, then perhaps we could break this cultish and stupid ideology which self-identifies as being "Progressive," when, in fact, it is the most oppressive ideology to take root in the minds of American citizens! It is so oppressive that if allowed to continue, such authoritarian and group-think control will destroy the Constitutional Republic the men and women of 1776 and 1787 left to us and all of humanity.
"“Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it.” - John Adams, letter to Abigail, his wife
Your comments are dead on, and very smart. We saw firsthand how doctrinaire conservatism is not the answer, no matter how often Rush said it. Trump has gathered up the threads of traditional populism and nationalism that sparked the first revolution, and may well be the tinder for the next.
The radial arm saws can be purchased very cheaply today. I bought a DeWalt from the late 50’s at an auction for $50 a few years ago (it could use restoration). I have since inherited the same model in pristine condition (my uncle really took care of his stuff).
Yours sounds like a more professional model than mine. As you say, this stuff is no longer appreciated and is subject to being scrapped. At the same time, I have to be careful not to turn into a hoarder.
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