Archive for the ‘Politicians & Their Ilk’ Category

PRESIDENT’S DAY

Monday, February 18th, 2013

This week, Presidents’ Day again befalls us. This paid-holiday for governmental employees and a few others derives from an Act of Congress in 1879 to honor the Father of our country on the anniversary of his birth, February 22nd not February 18th. After almost one hundred years, the politicians noticed that February 22nd always doesn’t fall on Mondays, so, in 1971, Congress passed the self-indulgent Uniform Monday Holiday Act shifting the observance to Mondays only (3-day weekends for governmental employees with cheering from the Service Employees International Union). Then, in the 1980′s, they further insulted the honoree by perverting what had been President Washington’s day into all-Presidents’ Day; thereby, lumping that great man with some rather questionable successors. Let’s consider some of the more recent ones as follows:

Bill “Slick Willie” Clinton: The president who brazenly lied to the American public about his extra-marital escapades; who intentionally ignored the North Korean lies about developing nuclear weapons; and who, for a measly few pennies in campaign-contributions, allowed two American corporations to sell our precious technological secrets regarding rocketry to the Chinese Communists. Today, America faces the consequences in the form of Chinese ICBM’s with multiple warheads targeting our cities. Thanks Bill although our military as well as the future victims of Chinese aggression might not agree. Oh yes, you did produce a so-called budgetary surplus, in Washington-speak at least, that was no real surplus if one includes so-called off-budget deficits.

George “Read My Lips . . . I Lied” Bush: The president who lied to the American public about raising taxes and who double-crossed our homicidal thug-ally in Iraq, Saddam Hussein . . . thereby, establishing the context for two, undeclared, budget-busting, losing, military conflicts and subsequently humiliating tens of millions of American travelers by forcing them to plodding about airports in stocking-feet. (See “Categories/Government/Foreign Relations/‘Did Bush Burn the Koran?’”.) Thanks George although all those Christians being persecuted in Arabic lands might not agree nor might Grandma Whitebread being frisked at JFK by a third-world immigrant speaking unintelligible, broken English (See LBJ directly below.).

Lyndon “Not-So-Great Society” Johnson: The president who lied to Americans about alleged North Viet Namese aggression in the Gulf of Tonkin in order to start an undeclared, losing military conflict that would kill 50,000 American men while he himself concomitantly was implementing multiple, massive, unconstitutional welfare-programs destined to bankrupt America and opening the floodgates to millions of non-European immigrants, mainly Mexican, who forever would change the complexion of America. LBJ prudently declined to run for a second term. Thanks Lyndon although an indebted posterity might not agree. On the other hand, as the Irish politician, Sir Boyle Roche (1736-1807), quipped, and surely American politicians today agree,”Why should we put ourselves out for posterity? What has posterity ever done for us?”

Franklin “I Admit I Don’t Know What I’m Doing” Roosevelt: The president who grievously, callously, and intentionally wounded the U.S. Constitution in order to pursue programs based upon self-admitted ignorance, thereby, bumbling his way into intensifying and prolonging an economic depression; whose economic follies inflicted consequences reversed only by World War II; who, nevertheless, displayed historic hubris by seeking and winning a third (promising America would avoid war) then fourth term elected by a devoted public gladly misled by a charismatic charlatan; and who caused the enslavement of half-Europe for 45 years under Soviet oppression. Thanks FDR although tens of millions of Eastern Europeans might not agree.

Currently, we have Barack “Guess Who I Really Am” Obama II: The president who was sired by who knows whom(1), was born who knows where, was reared partly as a Mohammedan in Indonesia, was steeped in Marxist doctrine, and was schooled by the radical “activist”, Saul Alinsky, and who brazenly is furthering the bankruptcy of America by unabashedly trying to transform it into a fascistic state controlled by Big Government and Big Business promoted by Big Media. Thanks Barack (or is it Frank Marshall Davis, Jr.?) although many Israelis might not agree nor small businessmen throughout America nor members of the National Rifle Association.

In glaring contrast to the aforementioned honorees, there was John Calvin “Silent Cal” Coolidge(2): The president of few words who actually practiced that which he preached . . . a Small Presidency in a Small Government allowing us Americans to do what we do best — get the job done; who understood that big profits make for good jobs with big wages; and whose photograph President Reagan hung in the Cabinet Room in The White House.

The memory of “Cal” Coolidge fans a weak but still-flickering flame of optimism that America can recover from the political, economic, and social damage inflicted by power-hungry politicians and self-serving bureaucrats with the electoral approval of short-sighted, self-indulgent voters. The late Will Rogers said of President Coolidge that, while in office, he did nothing, and that’s just what the country wanted, slyly omitting that’s just what the country needed. Combined with biobehavioral science, the memory of this humble man, despite his being a lawyer(3), confirms that, indeed, there still may be a better way (www.inescapableconsequences.com).

Notes

1. Gilbert, J: Dreams From My Real Father (DVD). New York: Highway 61 (2012).

2. Fuess, CM: Calvin Coolidge – The Man From Vermont. Boston: Little, Brown & Company (1940).

3. As it is said, 95% of lawyers give the other 5% a bad name.

AN INESCAPABLE CONSEQUENCE

Monday, November 12th, 2012

Election 2012. Mourning in America . . . for those who believe in the U.S. Constitution and American Tradition.

Master-puppeteer David Axelrod, a long-time socialist sympathizer and well-known crafter of vicious political attacks against those espousing capitalism and traditional American values, knew well his targeted market of fellow sympathizers . . . Negroes; Hispanics; “single moms”; those on the dole; naive, indoctrinated youth, primarily “of color” ; and self-styled, neo-liberal elitists. He had Mr. Barack Hussein Obama II (b. 1961) play particularly to those targeted, and play well Mr. Obama did while he launched a series of attacks against the opponent for being a successful businessman, which, in the past, Americans had believed to be a virtue.

Unlike their Republican opponent’s, their message never varied . . . redistribution of wealth from the makers to the takers. Mr. Axelrod’s challenge lay in getting his targeted audience to the polls. A highly organized effort with free assistance from labor-unions, especially “public service” ones, accomplished that feat.

In the end, the geographic mass of The USA, nevertheless, went Republican; had ownership of property been a requirement to vote, Mr. Obama never would have been even a passing thought, let alone become the president. In contrast, the demographic mass divided fairly evenly with the Democrats gaining a crucial edge, a reflection of voting patterns in the largest cities.

The Republican losers claim that Mr. Obama doesn’t have a mandate. So? In 2000, did Bush II? Consider that which he wrought during his eight years in office. No, Mr. Obama needs no further mandate. The power of the Office will prove sufficient.

Context
Past presages present. The outcome of Election 2012 represents an inescapable consequence of past behaviors, beginning in 1932 with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s election. Despite campaigning on a balanced budget and accusing the incumbent, Herbert Clark Hoover (1874-1964), of leading the nation down the road to socialism, once elected, FDR imitated his predecessor by promoting intervention by Big Government. Subsequently, every presidential successor, verbal behavior notwithstanding, has imitated in action President Roosevelt. FDR has functioned as the model for the federal government usurping the power to direct not only the economy but the entire social structure via legislation and regulation, taxes, and subsidies . . . the U.S. Constitution be damned.

In 1965 came President Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973). Under the direction of then-Senator “Teddy” Kennedy, a lopsided Democratic Congress, as later echoed in 2008, passed immigration-based legislation for “family-reunification”.(1) It opened the floodgates to a tidal wave of immigration, legal and illegal, mainly of people of non-European descent.

The majority of these new immigrants vote, legally and sometimes illegally, for candidates representing socialism through Big Government. Together with the increasing number of others made dependent upon governmental subsidies (e.g., food-stamps), by 2008, the Democrats had achieved a critical mass. As the demographers say, “It’s a numbers-game.” All the while, the Republicans fumbled and floundered like fish out of water.

PART TWO

The Republicans

Could the outcome of Election 2012 have been different? Possibly, had the Republicans nominated a credible, electable candidate.

Willard Mitt Romney (b. 1947) was not that candidate. From the start, Mr. Romney had the proverbial two-strikes against him. Firstly, he is a Mormon, a religion regarded by many as a bizarre cult . . . rightly or wrongly. Secondly, unlike President Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004), he held no steadfast set of political principles, a trait projected vividly and frequently during the campaigns and captured in Mr. Obama’s rhetoric under the term, “Romnesia”, for the many, previous, conflicting positions.

Couldn’t the Republican establishment have found a more suitable alternative? Yes. Clearly, there were credible, electable alternatives, all of whom chose not to seek the nomination. Why? Were they simply waiting for a weak candidate to lose in 2012, so they could run in 2016?

For the answer, one might try, undoubtedly without success, to ask Mr. Karl Rove and members of his cabal. Perhaps, they were predicting an imminent, economic “crash”; thereby, preferring that a Republican not occupy The White House.

Is there any evidence to support such a theory? No, not directly. Indirectly, possibly. Other than during the first presidential debate, professional commentary referred to Mr. Romney’s political handlers as “idiots” running an incompetent campaign against a politically and personally vulnerable incumbent. The Republicans’ combination of a weak candidate and a weak campaign proved politically lethal . . . reminiscent of the their campaign of 1996 running an older, politically weak then-Senator Robert Joseph Dole (b. 1923) against a younger, more charming but also politically and personally vulnerable President William Jefferson Clinton (b. 1946).

What To Expect?

A fragmenting USA has been in decline since the election of President Johnson in 1964 . . . politically, economically, and socially. The current trend appears even more ominous with an accelerating descent towards an abyss of debt, degradation, desperation, deprivation, and despair.

Scientifically, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Based upon his past behavior, one reasonably might predict Mr. Obama to perpetuate the current trend if not accelerate it further, using it as an excuse to usurp increasing power from Congress while “packing” the judiciary with sympathetic fellow-lawyers as judges, the way that FDR threatened to do in 1937.

If an economic “crash” does occur, for what subsequent, political behavior might it become the antecedent? Might Mr. Obama use it (or Iranian retaliation against American interests following an Israeli attack) as an excuse to declare a “national emergency” in order to seize more power. Perhaps,  total power? His rash of “executive orders”, thus far, suggests that he might.

Some theorize that Mr. Obama’s ultimate goal is to have destroyed “white America”. We might find a clue in his personal history. The theorists cite his uncertain origin; his early exposure to Mohammedan influence; his long-term, close association with a virulently anti-Caucasoid and anti-American church populated by Negroes; and his close association for many years with anarchistic, violent radicals such as William Charles Ayres. Mr. Obama himself never served in the military, never owned a business, and never even held a permanent job in the private sector. Yet, with these credentials, he became President Obama.

Are these theorists correct? Has the American electorate twice given power to an imposter, a total fraud . . . worse, an enemy of America as we’ve known it?(2)

PART THREE

Now, What To Do?

Were the authoress Ayn Rand still alive, she might quote the title of an old tune, “Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me.” Were we to hear, what might we hear?

To begin, she was of the opinion that a reversal of the socialistic trend in America would require the lights to be extinguished in New York City. Well, they just have been but as a direct consequence of meteorological events not political or economic ones. Whatever she might advise specifically, it surely would reflect her philosophical bent towards the American tradition of individual enterprise and responsibility . . . a philosophy the opposite of that of Messrs. Axelrod and Obama and of those who support them.

Some Americans now speak of revolution, a last resort under only the worst of circumstances. With the reëlection of Mr. Obama, has America reached that point? Hopefully, not yet.

Besides, who would lead such a revolution? Who would participate? Where is the organization? Wouldn’t the military oppose it with force?

In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville noted that the most potent, peaceful force resisting an oppressive central government is to be found in the provincial governments.(3) To what extent could the individual states, so disposed, refuse to submit to federal dictates? Could doing so lead to actual secession, the Civil War notwithstanding? Possibly. Several states already are flouting federal laws regarding the use of marijuana. A majority of states now have movements dedicated to secession (See, for example, www.texasnationalist.com.).

Secession, however, seems almost as unlikely as revolution, at least for the moment. What alternative is more likely?

Be Ayn Rand correct, a reversal of current, socialistic trends will require a drastic change of context . . . most likely, an extremely severe, economic “crash”; the impending “fiscal cliff” will not constitute such a “crash” despite the howling of the media. Paradoxically, in such a context, undoubtedly there will be calls from the usual quarters for even more of the poison now killing the country . . . more governmental intervention, more governmental subsidies; i.e., more socialism. The well, however, will have run dry.

Only then might the takers and their sympathizers change their demands and their votes. Only then can a credible, traditionalistic leader reverse the trend . . . but, even then, how?

Resolution of the situation-in-question lies with re-instituting traditional, American values and changing the U.S. Constitution to remedy the defects unintentionally embedded by the Founding Fathers . . . but changing it through science. Yes, science; biobehavioral science, to be precise.

Science and technology have given mankind the alternative to life that, otherwise, truly would be poor, short, brutish, and nasty.(4) Essentially, every advantage that we enjoy today making life longer and more pleasant is a consequence of scientific endeavor. Yet, we adamantly refuse to apply the same, basic guidelines of scientific methodology to our own behavior, societally and personally. Those basic guidelines are specificity, objectivity, and accountability.

Had Mr. Romney been elected, given his past behavior, probably he only would have slowed the current, socialistic trend not reversed it. After all, Republicans characterize a decrease in the increase in debt as an actual decrease. Given Mr. Obama’s past behavior, likely he will accelerate the trend further.

The consequences will be inescapable. The only benefit of a “crash” might be a change towards a context favorable to fundamental reform; hopefully, a scientifically-based and scientifically-driven reform.

Should such a context emerge, typically people mistakenly will concentrate on The Who (the person) and, to a lesser extent, The What (the promises). They should be concentrating on The How; otherwise, we shall witness merely a rehash of the same mistakes that created the current trend in the first place or worse, proving once again that we humans learn nothing from history while dooming ourselves to repeat compulsively the same mistakes over and over and over until we self-annihilate.

Fortunately, there is a better way . . . a scientific way. Shall we take it (www.inescapableconsequences.com)?

Notes

1. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 proved to be one of the most important pieces of legislation of the 20th century, directly leading to the “multi-culturalism” of the 21st. Senator Edward Kennedy promised that the legislation would not change the complexion of the country. In fact, he stated wrongly, “Our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually.” Prior to 1965, the average number of legal immigrants annually was approximately 300,000.  Thirty years later, it was more than one million. He also claimed wrongly that few would be from Asia. An argument can be made that the Senator and many of his supporters understood that the opposite of that which he promised would be the case; that they understood that most of the immigrants would be poor and uneducated; and that, once citizens, these immigrants would vote Democratic, as such groups tend to do. In essence, an argument can be made that, in the long term, Senator Kennedy and his Democratic allies were jeopardizing the entire Anglo-European heritage of America in exchange for votes to win elections.

2. Two, recent, cinematic releases, among other sources, allege that Mr. Obama isn’t who he claims to be. The first is 2016: Obama’s America and the second, Dreams From My Real Father. Taken together, be their allegations valid, we Americans are facing a frightening future.

3. Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859). French statesman and author, most notably of Democracy in America.

4. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679). English philosopher and author, most notably of The Leviathan.

DOES IT REALLY MATTER?

Monday, November 5th, 2012

Context: Politics.

Antecedent: Election-Day.

Behavior: Voting.

Consequence: Election of one of the presidential candidates from the two, major, political parties currently dominating American politics.

Question: Does it really matter which of the two wins?

Answer: Probably not.

Reason: Whereas each of the two candidates and his party largely, but not entirely, represent different demographic, political, economic, and social groups, the ultimate consequences of the actions of either candidate as president essentially will be the same, be the previous record of the Republicans a predictor of the future behavior of a President Romney. (Scientifically, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.) Neither politically represents the U.S. Constitution as intended by its creator nor traditional American values . . . although Mr. Romney probably does personally, at least to some meaningful extent.

In the future, unless technological advances such as “fracking” outweigh political, economic, and social declines, The USA only will continue to slide toward an abyss characterized by debt, degradation, desperation, deprivation, and despair . . . likely more slowly under the Republicans than the Democrats but just as surely. Either way, in the end, it really won’t matter which of the two wins in 2012.

Is there any cause for future optimism despite the causes for current pessimism? Yes. Remote as it might seem, a rise to power of a completely new, political party based upon the U.S. Constitution, American Tradition, and Science still remains a possibility (www.inescapableconsequences.com).

ANTI-CAPITALISM: LOSING BECOMES WINNING

Monday, June 11th, 2012

Indulge yourself in the following fantasy:

Imagine that, despite the votes among “single moms”, “minorities”, and other “takers” on the dole, Mr. Obama loses the election in November. Without his governmental job but with his governmental pension, he considers what next to do. After all, before entering politics, he never had owned a business nor held a job in the private sector. Even his educational background remains murky, at best.

Next, imagine that, despite lacking entrepreneurial experience and despite being a lawyer licensed, along with his colleagues, to parasitize America into paralysis, he decides to open a business . . . say, selling fertilizer to urban residents with rooftop-gardens in Harlem. With the advice of Larry Summers, he incorporates the enterprise and issues stock via an IPO hyped by some erstwhile allies at Goldman Sachs.

Imagine that one year later, his business shows revenues of $100,000.00, a sum that includes a federal loan of $90,000.00 at 1%/annum, “off the balance-sheet” for accounting purposes . . . hey, Congress, Democratic or Republican, does it every year in Washington, why not Obama in Harlem? Expenses “on the balance-sheet” amount to $80,000.00, leaving “liquid” assets equaling $20,000.00.

Imagine that, given this “liquid” surplus and again with the advice of Mr. Summers and hype from Goldman Sachs, Mr. Obama then issues corporate bonds with a face-value of $100,000.00 at 5%/annum to finance his real corporate deficit . . . unreasonable lot that they are, private creditors tend to want payment on time and in real money or what passes for real money here in the USA. Also, Mr. Obama plans to use the money to “grow” his business by expanding into the South Bronx; after all, he has plenty of unsold fertilizer on hand. One year later, his revenue has increased to $150,000.00, including new, federal grants totaling $135,000.00 for hiring the chronically unemployed and for promoting a “green” enterprise . . . no synthetic chemicals in his fertilizer, just pure bull-manure. Expenses “on the balance-sheet” now amount to $120,000.00, leaving “liquid” assets now equaling $50,000.00. The rising trend in corporate liquidity is mirrored ten-fold in the rising trend of his new “hot” stock, the latest favorite among the distorted, microsecond-based algorithms of “flash-trading” in the fun-house of stock-markets.

With the advice of the publicity-savvy, local congressman, Charlie Rangel, Mr. Obama slathers himself in his own fertilizer for an interview televised jointly on BET, CNN, and MSNBC. The concept was to project the safe green of natural brown, as it were. Unfortunately, the viewing audience mistakes the fertilizer for routine make-up; those in the studio, however, detect the difference.

During the interview, Mr. Obama proudly proclaims the value of governmental loans and subsidies, pointing to a 50% increase in his corporate “revenue”. Moreover, given that rise in “revenue”, the price of his corporate stock has risen 500%. Behind the scenes, upon the advice of Larry Summers, Mr. Obama surreptitiously has shorted the entire value of his corporate shares through an off-shore corporation controlled entirely by his wife, Michelle; who, by the way, has returned to her $300,000.00/year job of uncertain description at the University of Chicago while residing on Park Avenue in Manhattan although her mailing address is a fifth-floor walk-up in Harlem.

Okay, it’s just a fantasy . . . isn’t it? It doesn’t bear any relationship, whatsoever, to the current, real policies of the federal government . . . does it? Well, perhaps not. Then again, perhaps, the Democrats aren’t tyrannical socialists, the Republicans aren’t feckless hypocrites, and the Pope isn’t Catholic.