I’m getting nervous about 2018
New Year’s Eve is coming up. But it’s not that transition I’m talking about.
I’m talking about the election of 2018. Every single day when I look at the news I see the articles about how well-positioned the Democrats are for the next election—how they are poised to take over both houses. I have no idea whether that will happen or whether this is just more of the relentless propaganda we see in the MSM. November is many months away, and there are a lot of events that could intervene—including a soaring economy, which could make people more favorably-disposed to the GOP by then.
You might ask why I care—after all, the GOP in Congress hasn’t exactly been a shining example of what I’d want to see. Nevertheless, I believe that a Democratic-run Congress would be far worse. Of course, we still have a Republican president who is more disposed than I thought he would be to promote and sign conservative laws (and, perhaps more importantly for this discussion, to veto liberal ones). But he’d better be quick at appointing more and more judges (and Congress had better be quick about approving them) because if Congress falls into the hands of the Democrats that entire process is likely to shut down.
A great many people on the right don’t seem to care what happens in Congress and/or to actively wish to punish the GOP members of Congress by not voting for them. But the right only hurts itself that way and one only has to think of the judges to realize that. This is an old argument we’ve had on this site for years (probably over a decade), and I’ve never changed my mind about it at all.
President Trump can veto any bill passed by a Democratic Congress—until 2020, that is, when all bets are off for the presidential election. He can also go about continuing to dismantle some of the more onerous examples of Obama’s executive orders, and Trump can do it by executive order. But that’s not the same as passing legislation, and then there are those all-important judges.
But the larger question—the one that troubles me—is the phenomenon of these wide swings in the behavior of the electorate. I still consider that we’re moving in a leftward direction. Each seeming victory by the right seems more temporary than ever, and the stock of the left keeps rising. The Gramscian march continues apace, and has been mostly victorious, as the young people who are the product of our educational system and a propagandist MSM grow to voting age.
Maybe I’m just having a gloomy day, which often happens at this time of year. But there’s good news—we’ve passed the day of the earliest sunset, and the sun is setting a tiny bit later each and every day. Hope.
Neo,
I’ve felt the same way. I’m VERY afraid the Democrats will take both chambers. One of my big concerns is that if they do, they’ll immediately move to impeach Trump. I know that they have a lot more seat to defend in the senate, but as we’ve seen in the past on both sides, a good strong tail wind makes it possible for a party to get both houses.
I’m done being held hostage by McConnell. I see no realistic way the GOP will lose the Senate. Now is the time to clean house.
P.S. Even given the predictions of mainstream handicappers like Cook, Roth, and Sabato, the GOP has maybe 4 vulnerable seats and the Dems have 9.
I also think these three are biased in favor of Dems. Take a look for yourself:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2018#Most_recent_election_predictions
Matt_SE:
Sure. Clean house—just like they did in Alabama. I’ve seen this sort of self-destructive thinking over and over.
I don’t believe the media.
Tom:
I agree that they wouldn’t hesitate to impeach Trump for anything or nothing. But I believe it would end up like the GOP’s efforts against Bill Clinton—stillborn in the Senate, where 2/3 is needed. They would get perhaps a few GOP votes there, but just a few.
I think. Unless Trump did something egrgiously awful, which at this point I don’t think is likely.
neo-neocon:
Alabama was lost because of McConnell. How many other races do you expect the OTHER SITTING GOP SENATOR to tell voters to stay home?
Obamacare will never be repealed while McConnell is in office. Other boondoggles like the Ex-Im bank will continue to exist while he’s the Majority Leader. Watch very closely in the next couple of months as abortion is funded by Republicans, then DACA (amnesty) is taken up again.
What will this be, the third bite at that apple now?
McConnell is actively sabotaging his own party to stay in power. If you don’t mind being a hostage, at least blink so we know where you stand.
Neo,
Even Nixon’s impeachment was as much a matter of politics, as it was anything else. The Democrats fostered a political environment where there was enough pressure on Nixon to resign. I hope you’re right.
Matt_SE,
I’m not McConnell’s biggest fan, but looking back over the Obama years, MANY times he was able to hold the GOP in lock step and stop Democratic legislation. The problem isn’t reall with McConnell, as I see it. It’s with Collins, Murkowski, McCain, and a few other liberal Republicans, who screw the party every chance they get. Please don’t forget that Murkowski LOST her primary, but then won a write in campaign.
Matt_SE:
A whole series of events led to the loss of Alabama. McConnell was only part of it, and IMHO
not the deciding or defining factor. You are inclined to blame him, but it’s not even close to being that simple, and it’s counterproductive and reductionist to think so.
Tom:
The GOP thought Nixon had done something terrible. He had no support in his own party, and that’s what turned the tide. The political climate now between the two parties is FAR more bitter.
And this is why I never bought the argument of The Flight 93 Election. If we take this pessimistic view (and I’m inclined to do so at the moment) then Trump’s victory will end up accelerating the march rather than stopping it, albeit with some minor victories on the way.
Oh yeah. I never felt a Trump victory was a reversal in an ideological shift and every bit certain his election would accelerate the leftward pull in this country.
Its not that its Trump’s fault, we knew who he was before we voted for him, its just that some people thought what he was somehow a vastly desirable choice (and many still do).
We’re screwed. Say hello to big brother cuz he’s coming.
I, for one, don’t think you’re paranoid; I’ve been watching this ferocious attack emboldened, if not initiated, by the MSM ever since RMN. Later we watched this same program every time G.W. opened his mouth.
Now, every day, we’ve begun to watch the Socialist-Progressives (as envisioned by George Orwell) attempt to turn Donald Trump into the “Monster-under -the-Bed.” I would like to use that analogy only because I find the Left’s attempts so puerile, convincing those who are unable to remember yesterday’s news.
neo writes,
“I have no idea . . . whether this [articles about how well-positioned the Democrats are for the next election] is just more of the relentless propaganda we see in the MSM.”
I think neo’s already nailed it right there in her blog post.
Much as I personally tend to be a glass-half-empty guy (pessimist), and much as I do think the Democrats may be able to take the House, I will be happy to contend that the mainstreamers are doing all they can to set up — create — an atmosphere in which it can happen. “Fake news” is already an overused (and often misapplied) term, but they *are* propagandizing us the voting public continually and relentlessly. In that sense, it is “fake news”, even if the polling is sound.
As far as any actual polling goes, to an extent, it’s the president’s obnoxious style [if any] and personality, and to an extent, it’s the Republicans acting like the Stoopid Party as usual for the past year. That’s already two strikes against the good guys going in. And of course the mainstreamers’ coverage of the president and his party is its usual negative self.
Glass-half-empty . . .
Kurt Schlichter has some similar thoughts.
“…Yeah, I know the Trumpaphobic True Conservativesâ„¢ are desperately trying to regain their power and prestige after we rejected them along with the rest of the Jeb!-loving Establishment Fredocons who never managed to conserve anything except the cash they raked in falsely promising to fight fight fight. But we’re not talking about them now.
We’re talking about us now. Let’s talk about what we did wrong. Let’s talk about what we need to change, because if we don’t change The Swamp is going to swamp us. Our opponents are motivated. They are organizing. They are targeting the weakest Republicans, and in Virginia and Alabama they snatched seats we should have kept or taken.
In Virginia, we had a huge, bloody primary fight that left the winner weak going into the general. Ed Gillespie is an Establishment meat puppet, but he would have been okay, and “okay” is better than any commie Dem. We need to pick our fights. Here’s a news flash — the most conservative candidate won’t win every time. We need to figure out who is the most conservative candidate who can win, and back him/her — that’s the old Buckley rule. The purge of the squishes must come later. We need raw numbers, and if that means accepting the occasional Susan Collins, fine. She’s the closest thing to a win in Maine, so accept that and move on….”
https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2017/12/18/some-real-talk-for-conservatives-about-2018-n2423833
Some realistic advice, even though McConnell is part of the Washington Club® and it seems at times he’s working against any conservative agenda.
I think the undercurrent that will affect Republican politics for the coming election cycle is the tension between the open borders/globalist/free traders and the nativist/protectionist/build the wallers. I’m hopeful that over time people will recognize the the former isn’t good for the country long term, in spite of the short term profits of globalism.
Just look at how many house and senate seats are safe for both parties. Then, especially when it comes to the senate how many dem senators in states won by djt versus repub senators in states won by hrc are up for reelection. It would take something monumental for gop reps in their districts to lose and nothing will change for dems in their districts… beyond a serious scandal such as a video of the dem barbecuing aborted baby parts while molesting a 10 year old (either sex or transgendered) and even that would not be enough. 😉
If economic growth keeps at the current pace or better, and people see more take home pay due to the tax cuts, I can’t see the dems taking control of the house or senate. The sky is not falling or likely to any time soon. IMO this fear is a MSM induced fever.
1. Incumbent Congress critters rarely lose re-election.
2. It’s the economy stupid.
3. The MSM predictions are wrong more often than they are right, especially so far in advance of the actual election.
“I have no idea whether that will happen or whether this is just more of the relentless propaganda we see in the MSM. ” – Neo
M J R Says:
December 20th, 2017 at 4:59 pm
…I will be happy to contend that the mainstreamers are doing all they can to set up – create – an atmosphere in which it can happen.
parker Says:
December 20th, 2017 at 5:16 pm
… IMO this fear is a MSM induced fever.
* * *
An induced fever is still a sickness. The upwelling of vigilante mobs in the sexcapades cases is proof-of-concept for the Left.
It’s what they hoped for with the Russia-collusion story, which hasn’t panned out as planned for the Left so far (and may take out some of their own troops along with the Republican victims), and they will try the same tactic they did with Moore anywhere they can find a “credible” story of some flaw in the GOP candidate.
Gary D. G. Says:
December 20th, 2017 at 4:58 pm
I, for one, don’t think you’re paranoid; I’ve been watching this ferocious attack emboldened, if not initiated, by the MSM ever since RMN. Later we watched this same program every time G.W. opened his mouth.
* * *
It happened with Reagan also (and he was also bad-mouthed by the Republican establishment).
“.. sexcadaces cases..”
Not working out for the left so far. Far more kings and one queen knocked down on the left than the right. Cannibalizing their own they are.
Not to get too morbid here, but even if the the Dems take both houses –unless the prospective impeachment is predicated on a lot more solidly demonstrable. “crimes and misdemeanors” than the egregious and bound-to-collapse Russian collusion fantasy– were President Trump to be actually deposed through a de facto coup d’etat by the progs, we’re talking about the emergence of a resistance from the right several orders of magnitude more real and furious than the opera bouffe resistance now being play-acted out on the left. Go check out any public shooting range and you’ll see that overwhelmingly, the weaponry being sighted-in (and the marksmanship being regularly sharpened) there these days is completely legal (i.e., semi-auto), military grade variants on the AK and AR platforms: not grandpa’s trusty ole Winchester model ’94 deerslayer. There are at least 300 million rifles, shotguns, and pistols out there now in private hands, amongst 90+ million US households. Anyone want to hazard a guess what percentage of those are held by pro-impeachment, never-Trumpers with first-hand military or law-enforcement experience? Notwithstanding Adam Smiths’s dictum that “there’s a good deal of ruin in a nation”, we’re already skating on very thin ice.
I think the WH tax celebration was good for the GOP. It was optimistic and showed a kind of solidarity we rarely see. If the REPs would just learn how to build on their winnings and take their message to the people, it could be good.
For instance, they could point out that regulatory reforms will make it much easier and cheaper for businesses to expand. They could say that getting rid of the individual mandate could incentivize insurers to come up with more options to attract young healthy people who may want health insurance plans that they can take with them when they change employers. They have to tie all this year’s accomplishments together to show that Dem objections to single items don’t show the whole picture.
They should also highlight people who are making changes locally because they have better insight into local problems and resources than people in DC or Boston. This is America’s entrepreneurial spirit, and it works in many ways. Think of Ben Franklin and his library and hospital. My hometown had the first bookmobile in America, though up by a local woman librarian who knew that rural locals couldn’t get to the town library.
Things are going so well for the Dems, I hear that Hillary will also win in 2018.
Google Scott Adams’ Trump pivot to see how this is really going to play out.
Dear Neo,
Sufficient unto the day and all that…
Quit fretting.
To expand on that for those who are Biblically challenged…
“34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
The Left only has to fool enough of the voters. Nor do the dems have to win control of either the House or Senate. All they have to gain is enough seats to block GOP control of one or both chambers. Anything more is gravy.
So I can see the possibility of the GOP losing control of both chambers based both on the LIV’s seeing it as a ‘safety break’ to counter Trump’s ‘craziness’… and on the GOPe RINO collaborators sabotaging strongly conservative nominees.
The RINOs stayed home in Alabama. Moore lost by slightly less than the number of registered republicans that didn’t vote. Their principles led them to elect a radical leftist supporter of infanticide, rather than elect an accused perderast.
I presume that same dynamic will hold true in other contests. If a strong conservative wins the party nomination, ‘principled’ RINOs will stay home. Collaborators know upon which side of their bread gets the butter.
Before Obama was elected in 2008, I predicted that he would damage the Democratic Party.
I haven’t gotten around to making a similar prediction for Trump, but I came to a similar conclusion before he was elected. He has already damaged the Republican Party, and will continue doing so, for years. (For example, I think it nearly certain that Kelly Ayotte would have won re-election had Trump not been at the head of the ticket.)
The Obama/Trump cases are so interesting because there are so many obvious parallels — and so few people willing to see them.
The single indicator I watch most closely in these elections is the “generic” vote. Right now, it is predicting disaster for Republicans.
Russell Kirk was a gentle conservative if there ever was one, and he was always more concerned about the dissemination and germination of conservative ideas more than the next election. He was really a man of another century, and probably several. Nonetheless, after he spoke some gloom, he’d always say, “Now I’ll let a little sun shine in.”
Most conservatives, whatever their religion, believe in some sort of transcendent moral order, sometimes almost undefined. Civilization has great capacity to right itself. Our hope is ultimately in something more lasting than politics.
Neo neo con: I enjoy your writing, especially your love of literature and art as they leaven the loaf of culture. Dr. Kirk said that in these times “the most revolutionary thing one can do is read a great story to a child.” Keep bringing your insights about humankind and life into what you observe as someone who stumbled into a more complete worldview. Shalom!
Jim Miller:
I disagree strongly about Ayotte. She wasn’t doing especially well even before Trump. On the other hand, she might have won even with him, because the election was very close (a difference of only about 1,000 votes). Hassan (the winner) had been a popular governor. Ayotte wasn’t perceived as a Trump supporter, either.
I think Ayotte lost for two reasons. The first was that Hassan was just more popular—she was very well-known in the state, too. The second is that NH is a semi-blue state now, and has been for some time.
BrianE (and anyone else who likes Schlichter’s writing):
May I suggest you re-read Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” — which everyone should do at least once a year.
Jim Miller,
Yes, if only Trump hadn’t thrown his hat in the ring, we could have continued our brisk & certain march to the collective…
parker:
The Alabama seat was considered extremely “safe.” And yet it wasn’t.
Geoffrey Britain – If you are interested in these questions, I would suggest you look at the United States budgets over time.
Right now, federal spending is at about 20 percent of GDP, a little lower than it was in Reagan’s early years.
Everything considered, it has been remarkably stable since about 1952.
You can find some numbers and charts, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget
(I think it likely that it will get a little worse under Trump, just as it did under the other incompetent, Obama.)
I don’t get nervous anymore. I made it 20 years in the Navy and didn’t suffer death or get badly burned or have a forklift cut my legs off at the knees on the hangar deck. I have enough hearing loss to expect significant bump in my pay when, as a retired reservist with 13 years active duty, I finally get a paycheck, but that’s a small price.
What’s going to happen will happen. Nothing to worry about.
The elections are 10 months away. A lifetime – or more – in politics.
“It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”
– Yogi Berra
For over a hundred years California was a predominantly Republican state. Governors, senators, congressmen, even mayors of San Francisco were Republican. It was only a little over 6 years ago that Schwarzenegger was sitting in Sacramento. Now there is not a single statewide elected Republican, and likely won’t be again. The few Republican congressmen are holed up in “safe” districts drawn that way to insure there are no swing districts that could diminish Democrat total control. They have super majorities in both state legislative chambers. And to put the final nail in the coffin of our two party system, they have a primary/general election platform of top 2 winners going to the general – which means that we will usually get to vote for only Democrats in general elections.
At the state level they can pass any tax increase they want, regulate any industry out of existence, social engineer public education into more of a farce than already exists, ban gasoline powered vehicles, and otherwise create a peoples state. The full sad story has been chronicled by Victor Davis Hanson for the last 20 some years.
Like any socialist paradise the basics are in decay. They can’t put out fires, store water, pave highways, or provide affordable housing. Thousands live in tents, under bridges, and in RVs without power, water, or sewage. Dysentery and hepatitis are so prevalent that streets are washed down with bleach. Rural towns in the north and the Sierra foothills are like something out of West Virginia, with meth labs and a growing population of heroin addicts. At the same time they are providing sanctuary to illegals and voting to provide them with free health care, hospitals are closing and doctors are fleeing or retiring.
The billion dollar agriculture industry which relies on irrigation water is on the precipice. Because millions of gallons of what was irrigation water is now flushed out to sea, crops like grapes, peaches, and walnuts have become dependent on a dwindling supply of ground water. During the drought so much was pumped out that subsidence has caused the failure of canals, so that after a record wet year the water from dams could no longer reach the fields.
Yet despite this litany of failure, the vast majority in this state support and reelect the people who are responsible for it. I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter how bad things get as long as there is D after the name the S.O.B. will get elected. It’s about the free stuff, the faux good intentions, and the laziness of a pampered self-indulgent lumpenproletariat.
Tom Says:
The problem isn’t really with McConnell, as I see it. It’s with Collins, Murkowski, McCain, and a few other liberal Republicans, who screw the party every chance they get. Please don’t forget that Murkowski LOST her primary, but then won a write in campaign.
Collins, Murkowski, McCain, etc. are all agents of McConnell. That’s why they are never punished after any of their betrayals, whereas Senators like Cruz are. Did you know that Cruz currently has FIVE primary opponents? We know that none of them came from Bannon, and Cruz is supposed to be rather popular in TX.
So how do you think that happens?
Also, the Murkowski write-in campaign was again orchestrated by the GOPe. She lost her primary, and this was how they got another bite at the apple. Just like what happened in AL.
The GOP establishment has a dozen tricks like this that they use to bias the odds in their favor.
Where do you think Murkowski got the money to continue her campaign?
It took 24 years only slowing down in bush’s 8 yrs but the dems got their base established and now look at how the people vote.
My god, can’t they see what will happen if xxx is elected or rule 22 is passed. The dems have laid their foundation well and it will not be dug up in a short time.
neo-neocon Says:
A whole series of events led to the loss of Alabama. McConnell was only part of it, and IMHO
not the deciding or defining factor. You are inclined to blame him, but it’s not even close to being that simple, and it’s counterproductive and reductionist to think so.
In every campaign, a thousand things can go wrong. These are the commonalities between normal campaigns.
Then there are other ways campaigns fail; ways unique to GOPe interference. For example, who gave Shelby permission to tell AL GOP voters to stay home? Can you remember that happening in any other GOP race recently? I can’t.
You’ve got the example of the Mississippi race in 2014 (which was absolutely interfered with by McConnell personally). The GOPe ran racist smear ads against McDaniel, and a bunch of other shady stuff I’ve forgotten the details of.
McConnell attacked Brooks first for a specific reason. I know you’re smart enough to know what that reason was.
Geoffrey Britain Says:
The RINOs stayed home in Alabama. Moore lost by slightly less than the number of registered republicans that didn’t vote. Their principles led them to elect a radical leftist supporter of infanticide, rather than elect an accused perderast.
Moore’s margin of loss was about 21,000 votes. There were 22,000 write-in votes for a 3rd candidate (which I would bet were 99% GOP — the Dems had no reason to boycott Jones).
In previous elections, between 795,000 and 1.3 million GOP voters turned out. Moore got 600+ thousand. His turnout was greatly suppressed by GOP voters staying home. As I said, the GOPe gave their more pearl-clutching voters moral permission to boycott, and they did.
I would bet Shelby’s denouncement alone was worth over 22,000 votes.
neo-neocon Says:
The Alabama seat was considered extremely “safe.” And yet it wasn’t.
And this is why I keep saying the GOPe was responsible, no matter how reductionist you think that is.
In every election, Republicans can count on the opposition of both the media and Democrats. The big difference here was that Moore (and Brooks) were also fighting their own national party.
I’m not sure who in America could win with all three aligned against them.
Matt_SE:
The GOP was responsible for the first step only.
After that, the voters of Alabama were responsible for nominating Moore, who was the iffiest in the general.
After that, Moore was responsible for either (a) not dropping out, if he knew he was guilty; or (b) not defending himself effectively.
Oh, and Collins and McCain et al are not “agents” of McConnell. They are in ideological and political agreement and alliance with him. That doesn’t make them “agents.” They are acting on their own behalf, not his.
Matt_SE, 12:27 am — “I’m not sure who in America could win with all three aligned against them.”
Donald J. Trump.
Ah, yes safe before the GOPe promoted Strange which led to a Moore primary victory. Then Moore, with issues, was out spent 10 t0 1 and lost by less to 1%. Wow return to the dark ages. Want to bet Jones retains his sear in 2020?
Vanderleun…I was with you in spirit…but the King James version had me for a minute. 😉
“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
I think they’re “agents,” and the tax bill demonstrates it (among other examples over the years). When McConnell wants something to get done, all the “mavericks” under him fall in line.
McConnell can enforce discipline whenever he wants. He just often doesn’t want to.
neo-neocon Says:
The GOP was responsible for the first step only.
After that, the voters of Alabama were responsible for nominating Moore, who was the iffiest in the general.
Voters aren’t exactly sheep, but they aren’t wholly independent either. They can be influenced to a good extent by their party leadership.
I’m certain the virtue signaling by the GOP accounted for the 1.5% margin, and probably was closer to 10% or 20% turnout depression.
For anyone who ever wondered how [unpopular Senator X] keeps getting elected, you just got shown how. The GOP engages in an array of tactics that each shave percentages off the vote totals. In sum, they don’t guarantee a GOPe victory every time, they just skew the odds heavily in favor of the house.
Coupled with rock-solid voter psychology like how they *really* don’t like voting for Dems, it makes it quite easy for the GOPe to hold onto power. All they have to do is present the voters with the lesser of two evils.
Right now, federal spending is at about 20 percent of GDP, a little lower than it was in Reagan’s early years.
Everything considered, it has been remarkably stable since about 1952.– Jim Miller
20% is growth stifling. Too much government competing for dollars. What little growth we have had is due to artificially low interest rates IMO, (although corporate interest rates, while below norms aren’t at historic lows).
Ideally it should be 15-16%.
All government spending is around 40% of GDP.
Matt_SE at 12:13 AM says:
“The GOPe ran racist smear ads against McDaniel, [in Mississippi]…”
Neo should do a deep dive on that campaign. I used to contribute to the NRSC, but no more. Just imagine that my dollars sent to the GOPe senate leadership was spent on advertising to promote the idea in MS that if a candidate is not joined at the hip to the GOPe (like Thad Cochran), then they must be racists or white supremacists. I could have just sent my money to the NAACP or Louis Farrakhan instead.
As a few commenters have suggested, institutional support and ad dollars are very important.
Now I send small bits of money to individual senate campaigns, and pray for the end of the McConnell era.
“BrianE (and anyone else who likes Schlichter’s writing):
May I suggest you re-read Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” – which everyone should do at least once a year.”- Jim Miller
Interesting. Yes, I cringe everytime I trot out some hackneyed phrase– but I’m just a commentator.
The examples Orwell used– Laski and Hogben were competitors/enemies?
I did run across this review of the book by Hogben, “Dangerous Thoughts”, from 1940.
The author Francis Neilson is certainly critical of Hogben and included this analysis of the New Deal:
“…Let us, however, become acquainted with the creed Hogben practises. He says:
“The social control of scientific humanism is the recognition that the sufficient basis for rational cooperation between citizens is scientific investigation of the common needs of mankind, a scientific inventory of resources available for satisfying them, and a realistic survey of how modern social institutions contribute to or militate against the use of such resources for the satisfaction of fundamental human needs.”
With little alteration this would do for a statement of the first intentions of the New Deal, which we nave had for eight years in this country and, up to now, to use the phrase of the man-to-the-street, “nothin’ doing.” Eleven millions unemployed and the national debt raised from nineteen billions to over forty billions! In this country scientific humanism which in its operations has had the benefit of Brain Trusters, Best Minds and specially drilled, college-reared advocates of change, has proceeded from failure to failure with a regularity that even the yes-men in Congress are beginning to notice. Of course, scientific humanism as it is to be practised by Mr. Hogben is proof against failure. He does not realize that Germany is today suffering from scientific humanism inflicted with an iron hand, forged in the furnace of hate. I hope he will not think I am pro-German when I say that I do not know how the scientific humanists of England could do better than the same cult working in Germany.
If Mr. Hogben really believes that the exercise of scientific humanism is all that is necessary for bringing peace and plenty to the people, I feel sure that the rest of his life will be charged with humiliation and disappointment….”
http://www.cooperative-individualism.org/neilson-francis_review-of-lancelot-hogben-dangerous-thoughts-1940.htm
Universal themes– the superiority of Scientism by the progressivist, and the real world failings when implemented.
Crawler’s Simple Rules for 2018:
1) Never, ever believe what the leftist infested, infected and controlled media reports. Never.
2) If one ever thinks that there may be a “smidgen” of truth in whatever the polls/headlines du jour are, see rule one.
By the end of Trump’s first term, the Socialist/Progressive Democrat party will have dug themselves a hole of insignificance and irrelevance so deep that it will take many years to crawl out of. A second Trump term will pretty much seal their well deserved fate for a score of years.
The Roman mob never left the city. They squatted in the ruins of that which was built by others, and rioted. To eat, f88k, s**t, and demand of others, is enough for about half of humanity. Unfortunately. But you know … feelinz, and all that.
Oh, I’ll get morbid. It looks like there’s going to be a slaughter between us and the Iranians. Millions will get killed. I hate the thought but I have to face it. Because if my life works out like I think I’m going to have to take part in it. So today I dropped and punched out 25 push ups. Not bad for 55, eh? Tomorrow I’ll see if I can punch out 50. That’s not probably realistic but 30 or 35 may be doable. And I can build up to more. A friend who was a Green Beret told me that no one can expect to be a leader of men unless they can do at least 100 push ups. I took that to heart.
We in the Navy don’t serve under the same conditions as the Army or Marines. But we’re still pretty good at killing people. I don’t like the thought. But it’s true; I joined the Navy shortly after Gulf of Sidra and Praying Mantis. If it’s necessary how can I ask another body’s son or daughter to do it.
Not bragging. It’s just that if there’s a war with Iran I expect to be recalled. And if I am I don’t want the younger guys to think I’m dead weight they have to carry.
https://www.usni.org/store/books/battle-midway/joe-rochefort
His crew worked around the clock popping speed to support the fleet. If I am recalled I hope I can meet that standard.
Except now they do random drug testing.
But I’m not worried. I’ll either grow old in peace or I won’t.
My life is a country song. Do want to hear about how my doesn’t left me and my dog doesn’t like me and my truck broke down.
ok, my dog likes me. I don’t know why. And I fixed the truck.
My wife did leave me back in 2003. And I don’t blame her. Because the Japanese don’t have a military culture anymore. And thank God for that. Not physically. Emotionally. I got back after 9/11 and she was like, Hi, OK you’re here. And I was only trying to make her care when I started the divorce proceedings. Didn’t work.
And the thing was, I did stay away for a long time.
I had to wonder and still do am I a Christian.
Maybe, Mr. 57, if you got back onto your meds, you’d be able to manage those 55 push-ups.
Sorry, 57, Forgive me for being a wise-ass. You don’t need or deserve that. And thanks for your service, as they say now, But maybe you should seek pastoral counseling ASAP, really. Can you speak straight with your minister or priest?
Hang in there
AP
Alan, I am hanging in there. Never got over losing my son back in 1995. I guess you never get over that kind of thing. Finally started grief counseling. Don’t worry about me. i kept this all bottled up for for over 25 years. And when it finally came to head i realized I needed help. I’m not above asking for help when I need it.
Also, feel free to be a wise @ss. Lord knows I do.
Also I don’t need meds to pump out 55.
Now a hundred is a different question. And thank you for your kindness.
I was being a reflexive jerk, in accord with my psychopathic leanings, and then repented as required.
You should check out Prof. Jordan Peterson. Here’s a very difficult, but especially brilliant place to start (scroll down to the video –42’43″–and watch it all the way through…
https://www.quora.com/What-are-Dr-Jordan-Petersons-religious-beliefs
Sorry about your son. There’s nothing, absolutely nothing worse than that.