Posted on 11/03/2008 9:08:52 PM PST by jazusamo
The truest thing that Senator John McCain said during this election campaign is what got him into the most trouble: "The economy is sound."
"Sound" does not mean bullet-proof. Nor does it mean that everything is going wonderfully at the moment or that nothing needs to be done.
You may be as sick as a dog from having eaten the wrong thing. But that does not mean that you need to have your arm amputated or to receive massive doses of morphine. In other words, your body may be perfectly sound-- and radical medical treatment can do more lasting damage than your temporary suffering will.
The political left has always known how to exploit temporary economic problems to create lasting institutions reflecting their ideology. The "progressives" did that during the brief time that America was involved in the First World War, less than a year and a half.
In that brief time, they clamped on all kinds of economic controls and even restrictions on free speech that led to landmark Supreme Court cases.
When the Great Depression of the 1930s brought many of those same "progressives" back to power, led by one of the "progressives" from Woodrow Wilson's administration, Franklin D. Roosevelt, they brought the same mindset to government again, calling themselves "liberals," now that the label "progressives" had been discredited by their previous actions.
By the end of the 20th century, "liberals" had again discredited themselves, to the point where they went back to calling themselves "progressives" to escape their past, much as people do when they declare bankruptcy.
Wars, economic crises and other disruptions all provide opportunities for the left to seize on current problems to create enduring changes in the institutions of society. That is what we are witnessing today.
The media have hyped current economic problems to the point where you might think we were heading for a replay of the Great Depression of the 1930s. They have been dying to use the word "recession" but there is a clear definition of recession-- two consecutive quarters of negative growth-- and we have yet to reach that.
If the meaning of words can be changed to suit political convenience, then discussions become an exercise in futility.
Official data show that the output of the economy in the most recent quarter is down-- by less than one-half of one percent-- but at last the media have one of those two quarters required to qualify as a recession.
Whether they will get the other quarter that they need, in order to start using the word "recession" legitimately, is another story. In fact, the data-gathering process is by no means so precise that we can expect the one-half of one percent decline to hold up, since such statistics often get revised later.
It is not just a question of being able to put scare headlines on newspapers or alarmist rhetoric on television. Such things are just the prelude to massive political "change" in fundamentally sound institutions that have for more than two centuries made the American economy the envy of most of the world.
If the left succeeds, it will be like amputating your arm because of a stomach ache.
To add to the painful irony, many of those who are most eager to have a massive government intrusion into the market are among those whose previous intrusions into the market are largely responsible for the current financial crisis.
It was the left-- the "liberals" or "progressives"-- who led the charge to force lending institutions to lend to people whose credit history made them eligible only for "subprime" loans that were risky for both borrowers and lenders.
It started way back in the Carter administration, with the Community Reinvestment Act, and gained momentum over the years with legal threats from Attorney General Janet Reno and thuggery from ACORN, all to force lenders to lend where third parties wanted them to lend. Now we have a bad stomach ache-- and now the left wants to start amputating the market.
Ego and Mouth
A Perfect Storm
Taxing Times
Obama and the Law
Obama and “The Left”
Polls and Pols
Believers in Obama
Negative Advertising
The Real Obama: Part IV
The Real Obama: Part III
The Real Obama: Part II
The Real Obama
Do Facts Matter?
Idols of Crowds
Changes in Politics
Whose “Special Interests”?
The Galbraith Effect
…As Well As Several Other Issues
Are Facts Obsolete?
Conservatives for Obama?
Cocky Ignorance
Obama and McCain
Irrelevant Apologies
Success Built on Work Ethic
An Old Newness
A Living Lie
Obama’s Speech
Race and Politics
Non-Judgmental Nonsense
Well said :
started way back in the Carter administration, with the Community Reinvestment Act, and gained momentum over the years with legal threats from Attorney General Janet Reno and thuggery from ACORN, all to force lenders to lend where third parties wanted them to lend. Now we have a bad stomach ache— and now the left wants to start amputating the market.
I was hoping Dr. Sowell would express himself on this and he saved until the eve of the election, this shoots down the doom and gloomers.
Ping to one of the best minds we have.
I wish the Republicans could find someone as brave and bright to run for President. But, I know what the left would try do if someone would be brave enough to run.
They would get the Clarence Thomas treatment from the dems.
We should all be so grateful that Justice Thomas had the courage to stand up to scum like Joe Biden.
I still get sick remembering those hearings, and it is one very big reason why Joe Biden doesn’t even deserve to be a Delaware dog catcher.
Biden should suffer in hell for what he tried to do to Justice Thomas, a truly brave, courageous, and dignified man.
I was just thinking how I would gladly vote for Mr. Sowell before voting for McCain. Skin color is not the issue to me — it is the Muslim Kenyan candidate that I cannot vote for.
I love the fact that we cannot get into a recession until after january.
Ha ha
I couldn’t agree more, you said it beautifully.
Right on the mark.
Well, yes, the Dems will viciously attack anyone we run for any office in the land, but a minority candidate gets the "traitor" treatment from them.
But, have no fear. Sarah's here. She's broken into the presidential realm, and will most probably become our first female President four years from now. I really believe that.
That being said, as much as we dislike Hillary and Obama for their politics (among other things), they've also helped to dissolve the last barriers to the nation's highest office, just by participating in the race, and for taking their campaigns so far.
I think we're going to see some fine conservative leaders emerge from the minority ranks in the near future. There's a load of talent out there right now.
I am praying, Windflier, that you are right.
But, I fear that some of the very best will be discouraged by the past Dem attack machine. And, I can’t blame them, for we conservative polite people haven’t been willing to stand up and shout down the loony left.
There is a saying about bad money driving out good, and it seems to pertain to politics and social issues as well. When loony cranks start a ruckus designed to get media attention, we sensible people all sit on our hands, and figure that nobody in their right mind would support such lunacy, and that is our mistake!
We must start standing up, making noise, defending what is in our common interest, and decrying those who attack our values and beliefs. We can’t be the silent majority any longer. We must stand up to racism (black or white), socialism (class warfare), and the brain-dead media, who only want to carry whip up emotions.
Someone once said it best... and I forget who...
The media reports that someone, somewhere, cr@ps in their pant, and immediately Congress passes a law that we all now must immediately don Depends!
It was the left-- the "liberals" or "progressives"-- who led the charge to force lending institutions to lend to people whose credit history made them eligible only for "subprime" loans that were risky for both borrowers and lenders."
The policies of the left create the problems, and then the left exploits the problems they create to impose more leftist policies.
Absolutely. The left has only gained the power they have in America because we've let them.
It's in our nature to "live and let live", and so they've made inroads. Maybe even freeways.
But --- as patriots, it's also in our nature to stand up and knock some teeth out when we've had enough. Courage is also one of our attributes.
bttt
The best thing I’ve seen written on the economic crisis.
Don’t forget Anita Hill. She should be right there, with “stand up Joe”, in the lowest level of Hell!
What he’s saying is, McCain is right! The foundation of our economy is sound. And what you DO NOT DO is “bad mouth” a bad situation. There is ALWAYS a bad reaction to that kind of thing. On the other hand you wouldn’t want to over glorify the situation either. But what McCain was saying was appropriate for the moment. Things were beginning to happen. A “panic” was about to happen.
It has always been known that “words” hurt when it comes to the economy. Stock markets can tumble by mere words.
Senator McCain has had a history of being correct on a multitude of things in his career.
1) Getting out of the cockpit of his plane that was on fire in time.
2) When captured and becoming a P.O.W, not being released earlier than his fellow P.O.W’s. Then, enduring his torture with dignity and humor, so as to help his fellow P.O.W’s endure it too. (All while no one back home was watching. No TV reporters, no liberal media. He just did the right thing.)
3)Sadly, he didn’t agree with President Reagan in sending military and cilvilian peacekeepers to Beirut. 61 civilian and 241 military troops died.
His disagreed with;
3)ACORN
4)Warned about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac/AIG
5)And, ... warned we needed more boots on the ground “The Surge.”
He wasn’t “popular” because he “dared” to talk to the other side!
We aren’t going to get ANYWHERE as a nation unless we can do that.
Which is exactly why he was the man for the job, and why Barrack Hussein Obama isn’t.
But, as usual, conservatives cut their noses off despite their own faces.
It drives us crazy watching this insanity.
McCain has wanted to cut spending repeatedly in his career.
But NO ONE wanted to listen.
They went on a wild spending spree... “R’s” and “D’s” included.
So, come election time, we had Rush “L”, Hannity, Laura Ingrham and the likes saying how much they hated him!
Now they all LOVE HIM and want him as their President!
Words are like feathers in a mighty wind...
Once you throw them out there... you’ll never get them all back.
The people I feel sorry for are our children and those immediately affected “our troops!”
And it was NOW’s infomercials during Superbowl Sunday - declaring that every 13 seconds a woman is being beaten (to death) which led to the passage of VAWA during the Clinton years — VAWA, an uncivil piece of legislation, costing the American taxpayers untold billions of dollars mostly involved with building liberal bureacracies so more crapola legislations could be built to hire more crazies to abrogate the civil rights of all Americans, bankrupt households, jail men.
And why would Thomas Sowell wish for such abuse? What's going on in American politics is "symbolism over substance". There is no substance to Obama, only symbolism. John McCain continues to try to bring substance to the table, and continues to get slammed from all sides of the aisle on his "symbolism".
We are in the age of the cult of "personality". This requires neither brightness nor braveness.
Both John McCain and Sarah Palin are bright and are brave, proven by their records. Obama is brave only in that he is friends with thugs, terrorists, murderers, promotes infanticide. To the cult of personality "groupies" this means he's "brave". He's their "bad boy".
Herein lies the bottom line on this year's election in the eyes of majority of the MSM.
John McCain has put on the table policies which will benefit all American households. When Americans can see past the chimera of symbols, they see this. And of course, the foreign presses wish for a symbolic President for many self-interested reasons....
“They would get the Clarence Thomas treatment from the dems”
No, they would get the Sarah Palin treatment!
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