Obama: freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose
Four years ago it occurred to me that an Obama second term would be a fearsome thing:
Four more years! Four years in which [Obama] won’t have to answer to the electorate at all. He will be unleashed to do whatever it is he really wants. And does anyone think that would look moderate at all?
Well, that came true.
Then, in this 2014 mid-term election, it became clear that Obama still didn’t much care about the electorate. He wasn’t all that concerned if Democrats won or lost. Oh, it would be nice if they won; it would be helpful if they won. But he didn’t need them to win, because he intends to do what he wants to do without them. He’s free from any electoral consequences for himself, and he’s got an agenda. He doesn’t fear impeachment/conviction, either (the only way the Senate could convict him would be if a significant number of the remaining Democratic senators voted for it, which is highly unlikely to happen)
So fasten your seat belts, we’re in for a bumpy ride:
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jon Karl reported that according to WH officials “the president will move forward with an executive order on immigration reform “no matter how big a shellacking Democrats get tonight” during ABC’s Election coverage on Tuesday.
Karl said “White House officials are saying that you can expect the president to set an aggressive, and defiant tone tomorrow. You’re not going to see any mea culpas, no big firings, no change in direction.”
You know what? I believe them.
Charles Hurt agrees, and he isn’t mincing words:
It will not end at immigration. Unchecked power is addictive.
Disowned by Democrats and made to feel irrelevant in this election, President Obama’s enormous and unjustified ego is deeply wounded. He is frustrated and feels caged, cornered. This is when people like him are most dangerous.
Buoyant Republicans will make an effort to engage him.
But President Obama is not a listener. He is not a negotiator. He is not a learner. He will just take what he wants.
Those words “caged, cornered” echoed some thoughts of mine; I have been thinking of the rat that fights ever harder and more viciously when cornered. Watch out, America. You rejected his agenda and that of the leftists who stand with him, and you will have to pay.
I hope these words of mine will turn out to be overheated rhetoric.
I hope so. But I don’t think so.
[ADDENDUM: Obama has some support for this among his annoyed leftist apparatchiks. To wit, Brian Beutler of TNR, whose article is titled, “Obama Just Lost the Battle for the Senate. It’s Time He Waged War for Real.” I’ll summarize, in case you can’t stomach reading it: after 2010, Obama compromised and conceded to the Republicans, and now there’s no reason to do so, because this wasn’t anywhere near as big a wave election as that one. So it’s time to go full bore with the “big counterattack…[a] slate of legislative proposals and executive actions on immigration, infrastructure and early childhood education that are popular with the Democratic base and that he will dare the GOP to oppose.”]
[ADDENDUM II: Who really won last night? Why, Hillary, of course.]
Obama is a dedicated, determined, life long Marxist ideologue. Just as the great Marxist monsters of history didn’t negotiate or reverse course when losing neither will the great American messiah.
So gird your loins for two years of non-stop lawlessness.
Whoa! Isn’t this exactly what we want? The problem was never Obama but the dunces who elected him twice. It is through pain that the LIVs may learn. Let’s hope Obama does run amok, let the dunces see what leftism and messiahism really provide. As the Czech vice-President wrote in 2008, “America will survive Obama…but it won’t survive the confederacy of dunces who elected him.” Maybe the pain will even penetrate the insular bubbles of San Francisco, Ft. Collins, Boulder and uptown Manhattan.
Considering that the determinants of voting behavior are
survival,
self-esteem and
peer pressure
and that Obama owed his success to the absence of survival as a consideration it’s re-introduction may finish him and his movement.
I have to agree with Mr. Hurt’s assessment. Obama will be utterly ungracious, sullen like a teenager, and defiant. Reminiscent of Hitler, in his bunker in Berlin, the Russians closing in, saying how the German people were not worthy of him. Same type of ego. The same lack of concern for anyone or anything other than himself. Like I heard when I was young, “Show me someone all wrapped up in themselves and I’ll show you a small package.”
I am kind of thinking that there will be some Democrats in both houses who will be willing to do most anything to get reelected in two years including siding with the majority against Obamas policies. I also think Obama has a strong need to be loved by the people so that might affect his decisions. Last night we saw what a lot of the nation thinks about him right now.
Of course if he goes clear off the rails then that will be a big mess that I hope can be cleaned up later with even more public support. Anyway I feel better about the nation than I have in the past six years and I am going to enjoy this feeling until something bad comes along.
Every word in Mr. Hurt assessment of Obama is 100% applicable to Putin, too. This promisses no good in this new Cold War which actually is not exactly cold any more.
Look out, here comes the narcissistic rage.
Bob from V,
Good comment, you are correct about making the rubes aware of the consequences of their votes. But I have to disagree. Here’s why.
There is a limited time to work to try to undue the damage.
Over the next two years, the left, with the ‘all in’ aid of the main stream media will double down to paint the problems as being caused by the ‘obstructionist Congress’. Everything will be laid at Congress’s feet, and in every way imaginable.
You will see the return of actual investigative reporting, but against republican members of Congress.
The problems we will still face by election time in 2016 will have been completely, thoroughly and relentlessly fed to the public as Republican problems. There will be no memory of how they came into being in the first place.
This Congress will need to act, and act quickly.
They will need to continually send up bills that Obama will veto and show just who and what he is to the public.
They will have to initiate independent investigations of all of the scandals and keep them front & center.
They will need to zero out the budgets for the Corp. for Public Broadcasting ASAP. (Just another name for democrat media network).
They will need to enact voter ID laws and if Obama vetoes them, send them up again.
They may need to impeach him, even if they don’t have enough votes in the senate to convict.
By doing this, they accomplish two objectives.
first they try to enact the legislation they and the public presume to want.
Second they keep the bad news flowing in Obama’s direction for the next two years. They make him own it.
A third bonus they might reap is stopping, or at least slowing down the damage.
There are many other things I don’t mention because of time but you get the picture.
The window has just opened, but it will begin closing very quickly.
One last comment before I’m off to work.
Just as a century ago, there was concern of monopolies. Congress urgently need to act to break up the media monopoly. As I said, a century ago steel, railroads, the oil companies, and other industries were broken up with far less of a concentration of resources. THis would go further than any other single measure to level the playing field for all.
Like OldTexan, I feel a spark of hope that I haven’t felt in six years, but I can’t help a sense of dread on the outer edges. Can we agree that the new GOP-led congress should show up ready to fight on jobs, economy, immigration, corruption in the alphabet agencies and so on… and not lead off with blathering about abortion and gay marriage?
Congress controls the purse strings.
They were given this power by the Founders as the essential check against the power inherent in the office of the president.
They simply have to exercise the will to use that power.
The Imperial Presidency has arisen and gained power over the last several decades – to the detriment of the Republic – because of the lack of will and – too often – the complicity of Congress.
It’s time for Congress to resume its responsibilities.
The Founders foresaw the probability of some future president abusing the power inherent in the executive. They were learned men, familiar with the history of Rome, and the birth of the Empire – and the Caesars – from the ashes of the old Roman Republic.
They put in place firewalls to tyranny.
Hence “…a republic. If you can keep it.”
If Republican’s want the American people to view them as honest brokers, then one of the first things they should do is reverse the exemption from Obamacare they granted themselves, you’ll have my attention.
If nothing else we stand a chance of having a decent healthcare system if they have to live with the crap they handed us.
Beth: Amen! Congress should not be exempt from ANYTHING they inflict on the rest of us.
The first thing I would like to see is the Republicans in both houses come together and develop a platform of talking points about hot button emotional issues. Perhaps with abortion limiting it to the first trimester performed in a clean medical clinic with the safety of the woman paramount.
On any marriage issue they could just say they would prefer to leave it up to the states and anything relating to gay, etc. just shut up since that ship has sailed.
There needs to be a sensible simple stand on foriegn policy and reasonable support of our military. Don’t screw with retirements or social security except to put it back on solid footing.
I would suggest reducing concerns to one page of one small paragraph per issue and then teaching each politician how to avoid inserting their feet into their mouths and how to evade entrapment of entanglement questions. Learn the points and stay on track and keep their hands off of money that is not theirs and their zippers up.
In other words, become professional responsible grown ups and work for our nation and actually solve some problems without making more. If they want to be assholes and jerks they can wait until they are out of office and then go wild but in the meantime become a solid team of good guys building their legacy of honesty and all that stuff.
Now it is time for them to get to work and earn their positions by their actions. That crap sounds good to me so I hope I see more actual work and less stupid in the next two years.
davisbr:
The thing is, I don’t see how Congress can use the purse strings to check Obama’s executive action on immigration, because I don’t think it requires funding to do what he’s planning.
He wants to be a lefty Caesar, above the foundational political law. We have known that from the beginning. He said his aim was to fundamentally transform the polity. He said our traditional “negative liberty” constitution that only leaves you alone, rather than enables and envelops you, is not enough.
Plenty of the members of the leftist elite as well as their client class are all for it as well. At the very least, they see constitutionalism, a system of enumerated government powers, and limits, as something to be discarded in the name of “progress”; or, of evolving humanity in the direction they wish to see it go. We know this though. After all, “The Frozen Republic” was not written yesterday.
And as we all know, Obama is not concerned with destroying a constitutional republic in order to get his way. And his way is advanced either way in the attempt: by successfully overthrowing it in practice; or, by at least jamming the gears and helping to weaken and ultimately wreck it.
If he has to create a constitutional crisis through the importation of a politically pliant replacement population, so much the better.
The Republicans on the other hand are in the peculiar position that supposedly responsible people who task themselves with trying to preserve values and systems always are in: trying to fight back against the barbarians while preserving the property, freedom, and lives of the enemy who have already infiltrated and undermined the system; and, who constantly cry out that you are hurting them, as you try to wrench their grip from around your throat.
And what are the average “Republicans” going to do about it? They won’t even tell overbearing relatives and friends to piss off.
Old Texan:
I completely disagree that Obama has a strong need to be loved by the people. He actually has no need to be loved by the people; he has a strong belief that he ought to be loved by the people. It may sound similar, but it’s not. The first means he would change in order to be loved. The second means if the people don’t love him, they are at fault and need to be either ignored, or punished, or both.
Now,that’s narcissism.
Lots of heads need to roll. Lets start with hearings on the democrat plants in the pentagon who think global warming is our military’s #1 threat. Jeeeezzz. You can’t make this stuff up.
Unfortunately, Neo is probably correct.
The only way I differ from some other posters is that I believe Obama is an Islamophile first then a Marxist. Right now there is no conflict between Obama’s love of Islam and his love of Western Marxism since Marxists and Islamists share their hatred for Christianity. The Marxist welfare society is the only way Islamists can invade Western countries and legally seize their assets while they use their leisure time to prepare to destroy the societies they are parasitizing.
When the time comes for when the Islamists are strong enough to attack their neighbors and when the time comes for the Islamists and the Marxists to compete over the carcass of what used to be Western Civilization, Obama will undoubtedly side with the Muslims. The young boy searching for his African family discovered his Muslim heritage and has tied his personal identity with them.
Bob from VA–“The problem was never Obama but the dunces who elected him twice. It is through pain that the LIVs may learn.”
So true. The power hungry backers of Obama (because he is the empty suit George Bush was accused of being) have always existed. The electorate has stood between the republic and the totalitarianism of the ages. LIV’s and well-meaning liberal stooges–these are the ones responsible for bringing this man and his criminal administration into office. Without the complicity of the MSM, of course this probably never would have happened. But when people believe lies, and ascribe to unrealities…well “$hit happens”, as they say.
We must bring reality to the fore, and much of this is to reclaim the language. Why aren’t illegal ALIENS required to respect the same laws that the taxpaying citizens must honor? This President’s commitment to “amnesty” is nothing less than a complete abrogation of his oath of office and duty as President–the principle and most important one. So we must speak, and not allow the lies and deceptions to carry the day. For me, this begins at my church (Catholic) in the “sanctuary city” of Los Angeles. It has not been easy, nor successful, so far.
he now has the power to declare emergency and become dictator, if he has the hope and audacity to do so
Neo:
“I completely disagree that Obama has a strong need to be loved by the people. He actually has no need to be loved by the people; he has a strong belief that he ought to be loved by the people.”
I stand corrected and I am afraid you are right which is scary and if he gets the freight train going towards serious damage and destruction it will get real interesting.
neo –
Everything takes money. Everything. Even opening the borders by fiat is going to take cash. Cards will have to be issued. Rules printed. Bureaucracy created, and paid. The minutia of any federal diktat isn’t free.
That executive order is simply a piece of paper until there’s money to give it substance.
Congress can simply refuse to allot the necessary funds. The executive cannot tax, and his sole source of funds is through Congress.
There are alternative scenarios.
Say he signs his threatened executive order. Which will remain in effect exactly two years (and however many days). It is not binding upon the next president. It is temporary.
In the face of an even more massive influx than we’ve seen the past year, Congress will have to react.
There will be a bill. That bill will perforce have to be in stark contrast to the president’s action. It has to be. Every politician can read the polls (even if they actually favor amnesty, they have just been reminded that there are consequences to ignoring the polity).
Congress will not be happy with the man, and will have to openly display this to a public that have unequivocally signaled they aren’t going to accept a blanket amnesty foisted upon them.
Both parties will be VERY unhappy!
And with incentives to express their displeasure.
At this point, there’s no love lost between the Democrat Party and the president: the pundit class may still be in shock and thrall, but the DP absolutely knows whom in particular is responsible for losing this election is such a fashion.
And the GOP – granted they’re in opposition to the man anyways – will have been forced to impose harsh (in their mind) measures that they would otherwise have, given time, hoped to have been able to ameliorate (in forlorn hopes of making the GOP a more attractive alternative to the Hispanic demographic).
All he would’ve done is force the immigration issue. And forced Congress to do it in unmistakable terms of rejection.
I wouldn’t be surprised (and indeed, I’m hopeful) at such a point to see the federal bureaucracy itself rolled back.
It’s past time for the second American Revolution.
The more starkly Obama is forced to bare his true beliefs to the American people, the more likely that becomes.
With a reactionary Congress as a buffer (instead of an enabler), this so-called “second Revolution” could/would be bloodless, ending the era of the Imperial Presidency, and putting the republic back on track.
I pray it be so.
“[a] slate of legislative proposals and executive actions on immigration, infrastructure and early childhood education that are popular with the Democratic base and that he will dare the GOP to oppose.”
How very petulant. The President was not elected to carry out the Democrat agenda, particularly not after said agenda was given a shellacking at the polls. The President is elected to govern… and to be the leader, not of the Democrats, but of Americans.
Mind you, President Obama may very well do just that… which would only show how petulant he is.
Oops. Sorry, I should watch my closing tags better.
The Imperial Presidency… is the wrong term..
i explained a while ago, its a sovereign democracy
ÑÑƒÐ²ÐµÑ€ÐµÐ½Ð½Ð°Ñ Ð´ÐµÐ¼Ð¾ÐºÑ€Ð°Ñ‚Ð¸Ñ, suveryennaya demokratiya
Sovereign democracy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_democracy
a term describing modern Russian politics first used by Vladislav Surkov on 22 February 2006 in a speech before a gathering of the Russian political party United Russia. According to Surkov, sovereign democracy is:
you guys are never going to understand whats going on if you keep feeling your way like a blind man in a cavern with his eyes closed.
Obama is not a creative genius… he is copying what he believes.
so if you want to know what things are, how they work, where they go, and so on, look to what he is copying, and learn about the opposition..
知彼知己，百戰ä¸æ®†ï¼›ä¸çŸ¥å½¼è€ŒçŸ¥å·±ï¼Œä¸€å‹ä¸€è² ï¼›ä¸çŸ¥å½¼ï¼Œä¸çŸ¥å·±ï¼Œæ¯æˆ°å¿…殆
t is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
refusing to know the opposition is why the side loses..
there is not enough time to figure it out before they act.
so being a reactionary due to lack of knowing, puts one in a losing position in this game. EVERY TIME
是故百戰百å‹ï¼Œéžå–„之善者也；ä¸æˆ°è€Œå±ˆäººä¹‹å…µï¼Œå–„之善者也。
For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This term was used thereafter by political figures such as Sergei Ivanov, Vladimir Putin, Boris Gryzlov and Vasily Yakemenko. It is the official ideology of the Russian youth movement NASHI, created in support of Vladimir Putin
Sovereign Democracy in Russia was realised in the form of a dominant-party system which was put into place in 2007 when as a result of the Russian legislative election of 2007 the political party United Russia, headed by president Vladimir Putin, without forming a government, formally became the leading and guiding force in Russian society not unlike the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Concrete priorities and orientations of Sovereign Democracy were conceptionalized in Prime Minister Putin’s Plan.
I get nervous when people put labels in front of democracy. Sovereign democracy, managed democracy, people’s democracy, socialist democracy, Aryan democracy, Islamic democracy – I am not a big fan of adjectives. Managed democracy doesn’t sound like democracy. Sovereign democracy strikes me as meaningless – Daniel Fried – Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
I think Obama needs to be poked and ridiculed the next two years till he does go off the rails. It’s only through the undeniable exposure of him and his party as America hating leftist that sufficient shame and reflection will visit those who supported them. Then maybe we can right this ship.
Artfl? –
…given the risk of invoking a long, beside-the-point argument over minutia, with someone I’m never, ever going to be able to out-cite:
We’re not a democracy; we never were. The Founders were too wise for that bit of nonsense; they’d read their history, and they knew the problematic outcome of pure democracies.
We’re a democratic republic. A federal union. With a polity that elects electors for the executive office.
And. The term “Imperial Presidency” isn’t a descriptor for a polity or a political system (if it was, your insistence on use of “sovereign democracy” would be both apt, and acceptable).
“Imperial presidency” is simply used to denote the recent tendency (with a nod to the historical underpinnings) of the executive office to accumulate power without the bounds of the Constitution when the legislative branch abdicates its duties and responsibilities.
As such, the term is entirely apropos.
We’re not a sovereign democracy.
Well, not yet, at least.
I prefer political war between a Marxist-liberal executive power and a conservative legislative branch over the horrible crap that transpired over the last 6 years.
Repeal Obamacare. Block liberal judicial appointments. Vote to impeach. Then find 7-8 Dems to cross over and convict.
Have Cruz serve as Senate Majority Leader.
Block executive amnesty or defund it.
Fight! Fight! Fight! That’s the mandate for Political Conservatives. And Fight the Liberal Meanstream Media.
Nobody has * determined* how the *new media*
has/will begin to change the direction & outcome of
future elections.
We are in the *throes* of this constantly now, it s a work in progress, you have to step back to get a sense of it. Again attempts to *predict* were stymied. In some sense we are back to 1948 Dewey/ Truman. With all the *tech* available now they missed actual outcomes.
The ascendency of the *individual* is gaining a foothold again. Average people feel empowered not necessarily be the way they voted but by how they
can aggravate *the elite, so called rulers*
Both these standard *Parties are in trouble with people now* & neither party should *crow* about anything because *culture* is moving along fast &
faster, constantly ! Both these parties are in a time warp, the shakedown is that society will not function by their *blueprint* any longer.
“I think Obama needs to be poked and ridiculed the next two years till he does go off the rails.”
I like the way you think!
Maybe now that the GOP has won big they can overcome their intra-party pettiness and focus their attention on neutralizing Obama.
Obama needs to work on his golf game.
Sounds like the President may well be trying to brew up a civil war.
Well, why not? He’s been, after all, rejected.
Soundly.
Congress defy me? Moi? Well, screw Congress. (And he has lots of experience doing that, certainly.)
Of course, that might not be enough; so why not throw in a race war while he’s at it?
He sure has put the right man in the right position for that particular job.
Remember: the worse it gets, the better it gets.
davisbr:
I don’t see how opening the borders takes money.
All it takes is to desist from stopping people from coming over, and then desisting from prosecuting them if they are caught. It is inaction rather than action.
Neo–Those “children” that were sneaked into our country and likely brought in the Enterovirus…from my Aunt in Florida:
A “group” home, currently licensed for 16 beds, has gone before the pasco county commission to double the bed capacity to 32. Using bunk beds… they currently are being paid 1.5 million dollars for the 16 “children” and want to double capacity to get a 3 million grant from feds for kids here, ILLEGALY!!! WHEN I GO BACK TO TAMPA (OR ACTUALLY “LAND O’LAKES”), I WILL GET NAME OF HOME AND MORE PARTICULARS… IT IS IN THE NEWS BECAUSE MANY PEOPLE HAVE OBJECTED TO THE INCREASE AT HEARINGS HELD RECENTLY. Do the math, 3 million dollars for 32 kids.
neo –
My assumed point was that he cannot, and will not, be able to simply “throw open the borders”.
Ebola, anyone?
ISIS, anyone?
…etc.
I think “simply throwing open the borders” isn’t politically feasible, nor what O’ has in the works.
“Throwing open the borders” would alarm everyone. Even his enablers in the media would be alarmed at such a radical act.
No. Granting he goes down this route, he’s going to have to make this somehow palatable. At least to his [dwindling] base.
And that is going to cost money. Where’s that supposed to come from?
And the memory of Iran/Contra will (well, it should at least) give pause to any back-door sourcing of funding that executive order.
“I have been thinking of the rat that fights ever harder and more viciously when cornered. Watch out, America.”
America need only watch out if the GOP intends to fight only when it must and then defensively with the mind-set of hanging in till 2016 with their entire strategy hanging upon the premise that they need a republican President before they can be effective.
“it’s time to go full bore with the “big counterattack…[a] slate of legislative proposals and executive actions on immigration, infrastructure and early childhood education that are popular with the Democratic base and that he will dare the GOP to oppose.”” Brian Buetler
The democrats now lack the congressional leverage to get a “slate of legislative proposals” out of committee and before Congress. Time to use Reid and Pelosi’s tactics on them. An executive order on immigration is temporary and Republicans can force Obama to veto legislation overturning any executive orders. Obama could care less about America’s infrastructure. Tie early childhood education to vouchers…
I am not hopeful that the GOP will now strongly oppose Obama and think likely that, whether Obama issues an executive order granting amnesty or not, the GOP will pass an amnesty bill tied to another promise to enforce the borders. That will offer short-term political benefits to the GOP and doom the country in the long run.
Rush Limbaugh maintains that the message this election sent to the GOP is simple; stop Obama. No compromise, no bi-partisanship. Full bore ahead. IMO he’s right but I doubt they’re listening.
RE: Executive Amnesty
Isn’t that really a misnomer? Obama can’t change the law, he can just refuse to enforce it. (Of course, I agree once you have zillions more illegals in the country it’s hard to get them out.)
But will Obama continue to get a free ride for ignoring immigration laws and the border? Even more miserable employment rates for Black Americans, EV D-68, etc. are just the tip of the iceberg of negative externalities. Republican governors can also start making $$$ spent on illegals in their states a real issue. Maybe I’m a tad optimistic….
I’m with GB on this; the GOP has not proved that they have a spine to stand up to BHO. And with McConnell and Cryin’ John, I’m not sure these two will suddenly have the cojones to do what desperately needs to be done. The establishment GOP is still full of more RINOs than the savannah in Africa.
davisbr:
I disagree. To a large extent he has already thrown open the borders. The only reason there is any enforcement at all there is due to states like Texas taking up the slack. It’s nothing like it should be.
neo –
Anecdotes aren’t evidence. But still …
I have family in the Border Patrol, stationed in AZ …”boots on the ground” if you will (granted, they are trying to get transferred to the Canadian side, and we pray they’re successful: duty stations on the southern border aren’t safe, they are hobbled by the BP’s political appointees, and they’re not paid enough to face that kind of peril).
They would disagree with your assessment (though they would agree that they have been too often emasculated by the executive and his appointees and the ROE of the administration; they don’t approve of these changes – they want to do their jobs the way they originally understood their responsibilities when they signed on – but they still want to draw a salary).
So I’m comfortable with being in disagreement. Even though my point was focused upon the consequences of additional, more blatant and overt action by O’.
I see him digging a deeper hole if he does this ex parte, and I see – especially after last night – what I would characterize as “obvious” political incentives for Democrats willing to join Republicans in opposing any unilateral action he might take.
I do – and entirely – agree that “…it’s nothing as it should be“.
…so there’s that, at least. 😉
I hope people here won’t think I’m too off-topic when I use this post as an excuse to express my hope that the new Congressional Republican majority develops a coherent message of principles, upon which can be built a successful 2016 campaign for the presidency. Realpolitik and utilitarian tactics won’t be enough.
I just watched a good interview of Yuval Levin talking about the disaster of the welfare state and how Congress needs to correct that great mistake.
Levin repeatedly emphasizes the importance of reform conservatism’s principles and how they differ not just from the progressives’ urge to centralized autocracy, but also from simple tinkering with welfare programs created by the central state.
Anyway, this was a very interesting and timely interview, and I hope it’s widely seen. Here’s a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJDnwWX6SrY&list=UUnuMx_WuLa9v5eBIVf9BSzQ
I can be somewhat okay with McConnell as senate majority leader, but I am hoping someone like Gowdy challenges Boehner and if he/she is not able to replace him at least put a fire under his derriere.
From my pov the most important issues are borders, the corruption of the bureaucracies, and obamacare. The new gop majorities have to be united in quickly putting together an agenda and then flooding the messiah’s desk with legislation he will automatically veto showing his inability to compromise and put pressure on a few democrats to revert back to the types of democrats that loved country before party, exemplified by Jackson, Moynihan, and Tsongas.
Next, if Holder actually resigns, the senate has to demand that the new AG has to appoint special prosecutors to clear the air on F&F, Benghazi, and the thugs at the IRS. If Holder does not resign he must be impeached.
Heh …and entirely on-topic:
Youtube: Rusty Humphries “Sneakin’ into the USA”
…to the tune of one of the favorite songs of my wastrel youth. Did anyone not adore the Beach Boys?
Apparently Chuck Todd and Steve Schmid opined on MSNBC that in light of the big GOP wins that Obama would NOT pursue the executive order on amnesty:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/392043/chuck-todd-gop-sweep-put-end-executive-amnesty-brendan-bordelon
I think they’re wrong and he’s always planned to forge ahead on amnesty, regardless of the outcome of the midterms. Hard to imagine that these guys STILL think they are dealing with a conventional politician….
davisbr
i know we are not a democracy…
but the left says we are, as they are constructing a sovereign democracy, copying the latest and greatest (to them)
davisbr: “Imperial presidency” is simply used to denote the recent tendency (with a nod to the historical underpinnings) of the executive office to accumulate power without the bounds of the Constitution when the legislative branch abdicates its duties and responsibilities.
Imperial Presidency is a term used to describe the modern presidency of the United States. It became popular in the 1960s and served as the title of a 1973 volume by historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., who wrote The Imperial Presidency out of two concerns; first that the US Presidency was out of control and second that the Presidency had exceeded the constitutional limits
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Presidency
the point i am making is that if we dont use the terms that describe what one is doing, then we are doing each other a fault.
if obama is trying to turn a imperial presidency with jaret and others into a pseudo one party state a la what the soviet union has become, then call it that. as an imperial presidency a la the above definition is so much LESS than what the latter is
Given when the term was devised and used, and how far past that we are, until this election we were VERY close to that other thing. in fact, given the medias telling of the outcome before the outcome, it may have even worked to help push it over whatever line would have resulted in no going back. and we still are not out in the clear. even if obama leaves office, we are not in the clear as way too much power and ability on the left is available and in play.
i was not trying to make for minutiia.
if your name is richard, would you like people calling you dick?
its not minutea to get terms and such correct, and the obama presidency started with a near sovereign position and the left ALWAYS says democracy, ignoring the republic part. including obama… just look up the quotes.
The strongest democracies flourish from frequent and lively debate, but they endure when people of every background and belief find a way to set aside smaller differences in service of a greater purpose.
BARACK OBAMA, press conference, Feb. 9, 2009
nice obama, but we are a republic… not a democracy
We should be more modest in our belief that we can impose democracy on a country through military force. In the past, it has been movements for freedom from within tyrannical regimes that have led to flourishing democracies; movements that continue today. This doesn’t mean abandoning our values and ideals; wherever we can, it’s in our interest to help foster democracy through the diplomatic and economic resources at our disposal. But even as we provide such help, we should be clear that the institutions of democracy — free markets, a free press, a strong civil society — cannot be built overnight, and they cannot be built at the end of a barrel of a gun. And so we must realize that the freedoms FDR once spoke of — especially freedom from want and freedom from fear — do not just come from deposing a tyrant and handing out ballots; they are only realized once the personal and material security of a people is ensured as well.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Nov. 20, 2006
nice obama, but we are a republic… not a democracy
I always believe that ultimately, if people are paying attention, then we get good government and good leadership. And when we get lazy, as a democracy and civically start taking shortcuts, then it results in bad government and politics.
BARACK OBAMA, MSNBC interview, Sep. 25, 2006
nice obama, but we are a republic… not a democracy
see? if we dont hold people to the proper definitions, then they start to use other terms equvialently… then what?
how do you think the left has commandeered the language?
by using the wrong term over and over till the term is accepted, then applying the term correctly
tecnically a democracy is mob rule
and obama and others on the left would never allow mob rule
so their use of democracy is sovereign democracy
with the sovereign left out…
over time, the people on the let think we live in a democracy
then you can introduce the other part of it, claiming that a pure democracy was never waht was said or intended as that is crazy mob rule, and one needs some head at the table.
Obama Administration Claims “Sovereign Immunity” in Attempt to Dismiss Lawsuit Against NSA over Domestic Surveillance
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/4/16/obama_faces_deadline_today_over_release
where did obama get sovereign from? 🙂
thanks for the citing compliment..
and ultimately your correct as to what we actually are
what i am pointing out is what they think we are and are to become if not
Priority #1 is to fire up the investigating committees.
Even the MSM can’t resist a scandal.
With Barry, DC has a surfeit of scandals.
While it’s — at this time — impossible to target Soetoro, his minions are in season.
EOs don’t work without apparatchiks.
So, go after the slow Lerners of this maladministration.
Put the fear of Congress up their backs. Lesser officials can be impeached — and convicted — it happens.
You kill the pig to scare the monkey.
Very, very, quickly all of his apparatchiks will want get-out-of-jail missives (Clear and Present Danger, style) before taking their first steps.
Hitler, Stalin, Mao and every other tyrant utterly depended upon apparatchiks to carry out their wants.
Congress has to put the fire to every bum in the Plum book.
Further, many, many, many, Plum players will be young enough to look beyond Barry to the daze of Hillary. They will not want their careers destroyed by Congressional committee exposures of unlawful activities.
This is where Lerner (and slow) come in.
Very, very, few apparats have the bum to sit on a hot seat. Operating in the shadows is EXACTLY their style of politics. If it weren’t, they’d have run for office.
neo: I don’t see how opening the borders takes money.
All it takes is to desist from stopping people from coming over, and then desisting from prosecuting them if they are caught. It is inaction rather than action.
you need money to supress the people who will grab them and bring them back as citizens. to cart them to other parts of the US so that its hard to return them. to put them in some form of shelter so as to avoid 10,000 dead bodies all over the place. then there is food… water…
technically if the border was the only part of such a thing, perhaps you would be right as to that lack of funds being ok.
but, the idea is to get them here, and get them permanently…
if 100,000 came over the border, and there was no busses, food, water, or shelter, what would happen?
what if a million shows up?
the blowback would be so bad..
and THATS what the money is for, to prevent the blow back, to massage the situation to hide its nature, and on and on.
they are already linking the epidemic of enterovirus to obama action…
but if he opens the border, and there is no money, it will be a long time before a democrat under a democratic ticket will be elected… the blowback would be so ferocious as to knock them out…
Nothing I would disagree with there, Artfl’.
(And probl’y not from after the [assumed] “…what I am point out is what they think we are to become if not…” break, either lol.)
The cites compliment was entirely sincere; you put a lot of effort into your observations. (I’ve usually at least attempted – when I’ve time – to read through most of those cites btw.)
…and, as always, a pleasure.
Replace McConnell as Majority Leader with Jeff Sessions.
nice obama, but we are a republic… not a democracy
You have no idea how infuriating it is to me when I hear Republicans use the D word. Bush did it all the time, and he’s far from the only one.
davisbr,
I detest the Beach Boys’ music.
Rufus T. –
Whoa. Did not see that coming lol.
…I’d guess you weren’t an 11 year old, grade schoolin’, skate-boardin’, Stingray-ridin’, wannabe-surfer-too-far-from-the-beach-to-actually-er-surf, Californian in the mid-60’s, eh?
I wore out a couple of their tapes back then. Seriously. Played ’em so often they had to be replaced.
Even my favorite high school garage-band back in the day primarily did Beach Boys covers lol.
Personally, I’m picking up good vibrations. 😉
I do not understand how one man has amassed so much power and influence in our nation. He couldn’t punch his way out of a beauty parlor, he throws like a girl, he’s never had a real job, and he seems to hold everyone of his countrymen in contempt. Even those on his side. The decisions he makes NEVER affect him directly. He always escapes that, and we let him. I would not want to be in a fox hole, or on a job site, or in a board meeting with him. I did not want him as president of the nation I call home then, and I don’t want him now. I don’t care what color his skin is. I dislike his ideologies, and he is as full of shit as a Christmas turkey. All his old photos? He’s hanging with whites. And as often as possible (evidently) white females. Who is fooling who?
“Priority #1 is to fire up the investigating committees.
Even the MSM can’t resist a scandal.” blert
“What’chu talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” There ain’t no scandal! Just a bunch of rich, racist whiteys tryin’ to bring down another black man who got too uppity.”
Go on, prove you’re not a racist.
Now that pig won’t fly with you, me and any other conservative or even RINOs but… the audience for that meme are the LIVs and with the incessant propaganda of the MSM, they’ll buy into it, just like they did in 08 and 12.
And sorry to burst your bubble but the MSM has managed to ignore Benghazi, Fast & Furious, the IRS and now a WH network being hacked and crippled for two weeks by Putin’s hackers.
The GOP needs a persuasive, practical alternative but since they don’t believe in the founder’s principles… they don’t have one to offer.
And then, there’s the 800 lb Gorilla in the room; the founding fathers understood that the “the unequal sharing of blessings” is the only way to ensure that “a rising tide will lift all boats”. The 800 lb Gorilla is that without winners and losers, we all lose, except for our ‘betters’ of course.
You may not like the Beach Boys, but at least appreciate the genius behind them. Listen to the arrangement, the musicians, the vocals on this live version of “Surf’s Up”. Killer. No two ways about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJWuQV2u9ns
I do not understand how one man has amassed so much power and influence in our nation.” br549
It’s inherent to the office and the founders never envisioned the ideological far left, they never envisioned a ‘March through the Institutions’. They never envisioned a collusion between a President and treasonous Congress.
They’ve been turning in their graves since Woodrow Wilson said this; “We want one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class, of necessity, in every society, to forego the privileges of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks.” An Address to the New York City High School Teachers Association, January 9, 1909
“Who is fooling who?”
That would be those who invest their dreams and aspirations in Obama, the clean slate…
23% of Americans self-identify as consistently liberal. 60% of that 23% never take pride in being an American. 42% of Americans still support Obama. Do the math. The difference between that 42% and the 60% of the 23% who “never take pride in being an American” are the duped, low info liberals.
GB,
Where is the love? 😉
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” an obscure Jewish carpenter
‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Maimonides
“You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves. You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man’s initiative and independence.” Abraham Lincoln
“Goodness alone is never enough. A hard, cold wisdom is required for goodness to accomplish good. Goodness without wisdom always accomplishes evil.” ― Robert A. Heinlein
Clinical Description of His Infantile Majesty’s Pathology?????
Classic: King BABY.
Classic: Malignant Narcissist.
Truth: VTC: VAST Testicular Concavity.
CANDY CROWLEY, ABOARD THE OBAMA EXPRESS IN PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, 10:50 a.m. ET:[January 17, 2009] This is not just a march through history, and the Obama team certainly wants the Lincolnesque sort of symbolism to catch on.
But this is also a way to roll into Washington and try to keep that enthusiasm that Barack Obama saw on the campaign trail, because there are so many tough times ahead.
The themes he wants to fit here are not just “We need to get that spirit of patriotism, and we need to go back to what our forefathers believed in.” He also said, at the end of his speech, let’s make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America but the beginning.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/17/train.dispatches/index.html?iref=hpmostpop
This man envisions us in civil war if that’s what it takes to reshape America. The symbolism of the train ride, the swearing in on the Lincoln Bible, and the endless speeches with chin thrust up in defiance, are examples of his psychosis. He is quite mad with megalomania. Expect the unexpected. God save us all.
But exactly *HOW* does an Executive Order on amnesty have the force of law?
And,
If (– yes, big IF, considering the GOP is ALSO hot for amnesty), our duly-elected’s of both houses were to stand together and pass a Not-So-Fast-Buster law AGAINST the coming EO, do they have enough votes to override OBummer’s veto?
Even what is known as “Reagan’s Amnesty” was an Act of Congress and not an Executive Order.
“The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), Pub.L. 99—603, 100 Stat. 3445, enacted November 6, 1986, also known as the Simpson-Mazzoli Act, signed into law by Ronald Reagan on November 6, 1986, is an Act of Congress which reformed United States immigration law.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Reform_and_Control_Act_of_1986
“I completely disagree that Obama has a strong need to be loved by the people. He actually has no need to be loved by the people; he has a strong belief that he ought to be loved by the people.”
Very sharp.
No one here seems to wonder – or expect – that AGAIN Obama will call the opposition’s bluff, and refuse to concede anything.
I wish I could claim credit for offering this as the perfect theme song for the 2014 midterms, but I cribbed the idea from a commenter at Hot Air.
But it’s so deliciously appropriate …
So without further ado (and with apologies to Rufus T.):
The Official Theme Song of the 2014 Midterms
The Beach Boys (1963) Catch a Wave
Congress has to put the fire to every bum in the Plum book.
the comparing to lattimore and mcarthy and huac will just end it.
davisbr, you put a big smile on my face as the usual impression i get is that i wear out scroll buttons… 🙂
i try to cite so as to show that i didnt just wake up in the mddle of a corn field and start proslytizing. that i have good reasons to think things may or may not go a certain way or not. of course, this is not a recipe to 100% right, or else i would be as wealthy as buffet or Ichan, but its point is also not to muddy the waters of others thinking with opinon that sounds like fact.
if the facts do not support the argument, then what point is the argument? entertainment? self aggrandizing pap?
being empirical is harder than just spouting belief, but i find that over time, its worst side effect if people read is that they are more educated and have expanded their horizons, even if i am wrong. thats not a bad downside if you think about it.
the other thing is that i respect my fellow humans too much to piss crap into their skulls even if they are entertained. As far as i am concerned, God did not put me here to be the entertainment of others, or else i would charge for tickets and be on stage (And would not complain about the moribound position i am in with my wife as to work).
thanks!!!!!
br549
as to amassing power in socialism… its a group effort. and of course, he was to be a puppet. VJ pulls his strings, which is why he plays golf so much, and even more than tiger woods does. ie. there is nothing for him to actually think about.
See: boys from brazil
the boys in the movie/novel had a cadre of adults who were smarter, more well organized, and who were raising them – copying past conditions to repeat outcomes like in a science experiment (which is what i said the left does), for an end purpose.
pinnochio was groomed, and has not the common sense to play his part well, so they are stuck with their simalcrum.
all one has to do is experience the grandeur of a gothic cathedral to understand that groups of men can plan and create edifices of any type that span several liftimes to construct, making the idea of part of one lifetime spent doing so, something vastly easier.
notre dam was started in 1160, and it ended in 1345
the lifetime of obama is a short period compared to that, and all one has to do is understand that there ARE such people who would do that in the world. if you dont believe that, the idea becomes ridiculous – more so to people who cant organize a 3 year house budget.
Despite our Founders deep knowledge, real world experience and street smarts, their very informed, widespread discussions and debates about how to set up our government, when you think about it, our Constitution and our government, in essence, just assume and rely on the good faith and fidelity of our leaders for them to work, there are no really effective, built in mechanisms to prevent a leader from becoming a tyrant, and those weak tools we do have, also assume that a vigilant and courageous Congress will invoke and implement them.
The assumption is that our leaders–people who we just assume understand and love our country, its history, traditions, and form of government–will generally obey both the spirit and the letter of our Constitution, our laws, and our traditions, and have the vision and guts to implement them, no matter what.
Congress has only two Constitutional mechanisms available to block Obama; Impeachment, and defunding.
In this political atmosphere Impeachment–a la Clinton’s Impeachment–would just be a circus, one you can be sure will be spun by the Leftist MSM in the most damaging way for Republicans and Obama, and the Left can–I’m pretty certain–put a lot of angry Obamaphone recipients on the streets if they want to. Moreover, there are still enough Democrats in the Senate to make a conviction very unlikely.
Obama is forcing the first such Constitutional crisis in our history, and Obama is gambling that Congress does not have the stomach for another Impeachment effort, and although Obama certainly deserves to be Impeached–tried and convicted and removed from office–I think that his gamble will pay off, and despite deserving it, Obama will not be impeached.
As for defunding, does anyone think that a lawless President, intent on carrying out his agenda, wouldn’t be able to find ways around attempts to defund that agenda?
If, say, Obama calls up a member of his Administration and orders him to “reprogram” hundreds of millions or billions of dollars set aside for one purpose and to divert them to another, do you think that person will have enough guts to refuse Obama, or to blow the whistle on him?
I don’t think so.
I’ve often written here about how important a shield and weapon the MSM is for Obama & Co.
As an example, while I have certainly heard it said that Harry Reed had “bottled House bills up in the Senate,” allowing only a very few to be voted on, it was only in the last day or two, and then just in passing as part of the commentary on FOX, that the gigantic scale of what Reed has been doing–Reed having kept over three hundred such bills sent over to the Senate from the House from ever being debated or voted on by the Senate–was actually described.
I believe that had the MSM not constantly amplified Reeds mantra about the “obstructionist” Republicans but had, instead, made the fact widely known that over three hundred House passed bills were blocked by Reed from even being debated, much less voted on, and, moreover,the MSM discussed the implications of such deliberate blockage for our government, Reed would not have been able to get away with using this tactic.
Wolla Dalbo,
An excellent summation of the situation.
Even though the GOP cannot stop Obama’s lawlessness, it can use that lawlessness to lessen support for congressional democrats by exposing it both through legislative opposition and political ads that place responsibility for the failure to reign in Obama’s lawlessness upon the democrats.
Obama’s incompetence and unpopular policies resulted in congressional democrats getting beaten badly in 2014, there’s no reason why the GOP can’t use Obama’s lawlessness and democrat support for that lawlessness as political ammo in the 2016 election.
The GOP has to offer an alternative or they will be seen as ineffective and ‘the party of no’ and in 2016 we will see a reversal of majority status and another democrat President.
Wolla Dalbo,
I think we all agree as to the MSM’s influence and propaganda value to the left. We all know they’re not going to change, given that they are ideologues.
Re: “I believe that had the MSM not constantly amplified Reeds mantra about the “obstructionist” Republicans but had, instead, made the fact widely known that over three hundred House passed bills were blocked by Reed from even being debated, much less voted on”
Why must the GOP continue to vainly rely upon the MSM to make known the actual situation?
Why not run constant political ads on the major networks informing Americans of the fact that ‘over three hundred House passed bills were blocked by Senate Majority leader Reid from even being debated, much less voted on’ and that, now that the American people have revoked Reid and the democrat’s control of the Senate, the GOP will be sending those bills to Obama.
Why can’t the GOP run ads informing the public every time Obama vetoes a bill?
Short, pithy ads that make emotional accusations would be best. Time to fight fire with fire.
Orson:
I am puzzled by your remark.
It seems to me that just about everyone here thinks Obama will call their bluff and/or refuse to concede anything. He’s actually already done that, and said that if they do nothing in the next seven weeks (or some amount of time like that) he will absolutely have to do something about immigration on his own. And if they pass something he doesn’t “like” he’ll veto it and then issue the proclamation.
The real question is whether they are bluffing. The real question is how far they are prepared to go. Because he is prepared to go as far as it takes.
Unfortunately, I think we have a fundamental problem, one that directly effects the situation that we face vis a vis our understanding and approach to our entire world, including our understanding and approach vis a vis a would be tyrant such as Obama, and that is that we are not the people we once were, and our population size and location, mindset, general knowledge base, level of realism and toughness, value set, focus, preoccupations, and agendas have radically changed.
The men of 1776–and they were men, and educated, experienced, consequential, almost exclusively Christian, property owning men at that–who founded our country were representing the aspirations of a huge, an essentially wild country, lightly settled by just under three million people clustered along our East coast–our biggest cities in the 1770s New York with an estimated 25,000 inhabitants, Boston with 15, 000, Charleston with 12,000, and Newport with a population of 11,000 (total U.S. population in the 1770s roughly equaling, in their entirety, the number of people who now comprise our Federal bureaucracy).
We were largely a rural, agrarian society of survivors, students from a hard school, survivors of a winnowing that saw, for instance, things like a death rate of around 90% per year for the first few years of colonists at Jamestown. These people had “grit.” Moreover, they had just managed to wrest their freedom from England; it was a very close thing, and most knew it.
Reading history, my impression is that back then the average, at least nominally educated citizen–reading the broadsheet of news posted on a board in the town square and discussing the events of the day at the local tavern–was, beside trying to survive, focused on what their newly formed government was doing, and were very possessive of, and very vigilant about keeping their new, hard-won freedoms.
For them Patriotism was an unassailable, a bedrock principle, and our new class of American citizen-politicians, while naturally looking after their own interests in the process, were very focused on doing what was best for our country, and in trying for “the long view,” trying to at least give some thought to what the consequences down the road might be for any actions they might take or any legislation they might pass.
Need I lay out just how radically everything mentioned about us above has changed in these last 235 or so years?
Do we today, do our leaders today, have the necessary vision, grit, knowledge, patriotic fervor and belief, the courage, and the tenacity to fight and win the coming Constitutional crisis?
I have my doubts.
P.S.–One of the greatest changes, especially in terms of mindset and priorities, is that of going from a small, rural, agrarian society to a huge, more urban one.
Farming–the planning, prudence, discipline, and the hard, unrelenting, often brutal, close to nature and its realities, 24/7 work involved, the farmer’s quite frequent isolation and necessary self-reliance, and his dependence on very chancy weather, requiring the closest attention to the minutest detail in order to adapt to it–breeds a certain type of mindset, list of priorities, and way of life, a mind-set, list of priorities, and way of life almost entirely alien and antithetical to today’s huge, inter-connected, urban-focused population.
RE: me “Congress controls the purse strings.”
Here’s How Conservatives Aim to Stop Obama’s Action on Illegal Immigrants
I rest my case lol.
…while noting that apparently conservatives in Congress read NeoNeocon for ideas. ðŸ˜