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Posts Tagged ‘Roger Simon’

Reaping the whirlwind

by Mojambo ( 133 Comments › )
Filed under Democratic Party, Elections 2012, Media, Movies, Politics at November 8th, 2012 - 8:00 am

The three pillars of Democratic strength – the educational system, the media, and the popular culture.

by Roger Simon

I have to admit something. Unlike most of my PJM colleagues and many in the right punditocracy, deep down I never thought Mitt Romney would win.

I’m not bragging here, not in the slightest. I’m no Nostradamus of any sort and I wish to God it had been otherwise. But if you look back at the collective prediction post of the other day, you will see that mine was very short, almost terse. I was hiding behind Michael Barone, a friend whose knowledge I respect immensely, relying on his views and obfuscating my own, almost willing them away.

[……..]

Still don’t, but analyzing what occurred in any but the bleakest manner is to be Dr. Pangloss times ten. Anyone who continues to think America is a center-right country is chugging so much Kool-Aid he or she is in danger of turning into a blimp and floating off into space. (That includes me for listening to and believing my good friend Hugh Hewitt when he said this repeatedly.)

A country with 8 or who knows what percent real employment, headed for insolvency in a global meltdown, with a national debt reaching to Alpha Centauri, just voted for more of the same. Romney did worse than McCain in many areas.

[…….]

I don’t blame Mitt Romney. He wasn’t the greatest candidate, but plug in any of the others who were competing and it likely would have been worse. Imagine how Rick Santorum would have dealt with the bogus and repellent “war on women” and imagine an electoral map almost exclusively blue. And that’s just for starters. There was little anyone could do. The electorate had already been brainwashed (more of that in a moment).

Yes, the president has luck that makes the Irish seem like failures: A hurricane arrives in the nick of time to save him from his Libya lies (not that the media wasn’t already covering up for him, but still). And he gets a boost from a Republican governor more interested in his own survival than the country’s.

But even with that luck you would think the electorate would have the brains (self-preservation really) to put him out of office.

So we have a problem with democracy. It’s not working or, more specifically, has been turned on its end, with the masses manipulated against their own self-interest, creating power elites similar to those described in Milovan Djilas’ The New Class.

How did that happen? I think many of us know there are three pillars of our own destruction: the educational system, the media and entertainment (the popular arts).

Those three areas are so corrupted those who legitimately are on the center-right (or anywhere close to it) will increasingly find themselves swimming upstream against a current so great who knows where it will take them. (Think Hayek, Orwell, etc.) We must address ourselves to these three immediately before it is too late. In many ways, it already is. Culture is the mother of politics and mother is turning into Medea.

If it sounds as if I am depressed, I am. Extremely. We are indeed riding the whirlwind. The America we thought we knew was not there. The face of the globe just changed as well. The enemies of democracy are laughing.

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Read the rest – The Whirlwind is here

Simon must be Reading my Mind

by snork ( 132 Comments › )
Filed under Barack Obama, Communism, Economy, Patriotism, Politics at January 23rd, 2010 - 6:00 am

Mr. Johnson’s ex-business partner has a bit more sense than Mr. Johnson. A lot more sense. But it was a weird, almost scary experience to see my ideas in print, that I’d never even told anyone.

First, he says the obvious:

The scary thing is that many of us believe the President hardly knows much of anything, certainly not economics, and is surrounded by an increasingly paranoid and defensive group of advisers. It’s shades of Nixon, but worse. Tricky Dick, at least, knew what he was doing and could accomplish things. Obama is the biggest windbag to ever ascend to the presidency. He has no idea what he is doing and now things are getting rough.

That’s bad, because Nixon, with his wage and price controls, was one of the most economically illiterate presidents in history. Knowing what I know now, if I could go to 1960 and vote, I’d vote for JFK.

Frankly, I’m worried for our country because this man doesn’t really understand what the public is telling him. He just thinks we’re “angry.” He’s wrong – we’re furious and we’re furious because he blames everyone but himself and seems psychologically incapable of taking responsibility. One can imagine a ninety-year old Obama stumbling around in some rest home shaking his walking stick at George Bush. But for the moment Bush is being replaced. Now evidently it’s the banks fault. The evil bankers are to blame. It’s capitalism, stupid.

Like many people, I too was initially taken in by the clean, articulate black guy with no Negro dialect. But long before the campaign was over, it was profusely evident that the guy was as phony as a three dollar bill.

Problem is, we’ve been there, done that, a thousand times. The alternative to capitalism is socialism and it has never worked. Not once, in all its myriad permutations. In fact, it most often hurts those it was intended to help, bankrupting the society and leaving the lower classes destitute.

But empiricism isn’t Obama’s strong suit. As Roger said in the prior quoted paragraph, he’s incapable of learning anything. And here’s where it gets kind of creepy. Roger said exactly what I was thinking:

I am deeply afraid of that because Barack Obama has never had to deal with any personal adversity in his adult life. He has lived a completely privileged existence. This is a first for him. There’s no telling how he will behave. Watch out, buckle up and hold on to your seats.

Bullseye, Roger! That’s exactly the problem with this dangerous man. He’s never failed at anything in his entire life, because the games have all been rigged! That’s why he’s utterly incompetent at everything he does, and incapable of learning from failure. He’s managed to get almost to the age of 50 without anything ever failing, because the affirmative action elves were always ready willing and able to go in and fix everything. Now, he’s like a six year old going on 50. In charge of the federal government. With a video game concept of economics.

I’m also afraid that Roger’s right about his unpredictability. Nixon, for all of his flaws, was a gentleman, and when the jig was up, he walked away with grace. And for all of his ego, when it came down to putting the country through the kind of turmoil that Al Gore eventually did put the country through or giving the presidency to JFK, he did the right thing. What’s scary about Obama is that his idea of “the right thing” is a childish cartoon of Marxist heroes and Capitalist villains. There really is no telling what he might do when placed in a box. And I think when that time comes, the American people will find themselves pining for the old days of grace and patriotism under President Nixon.

Extra: A Canadian’s take on our Fearless Leader.

It has been a year of fecklessness, amateurism, and posturing. Less that is useful has been accomplished by this president in his first year than by any president since Herbert Hoover, and he was ambushed by the Great Depression after seven months.

However, he has a more upbeat ending than Roger:

For all the claims that the Republicans are too influenced by religious zealots and country club knuckle-draggers, the administration may be in the hands of ‘redistributive,’ pacifistic Kool Aid drinkers. If it is, the Republicans will have to elevate their 2012 presidential candidate this year. The office may, 213 years after the retirement of George Washington, actually seek the (wo)man, but not from what is conspicuously on offer now, from either party.

Amen.