Friday, September 19, 2008

With a bang and a whimper?


"What we are witnessing today is how empires end..." 
--- Pat Buchanan

Pat Buchanan has the guts (and the economic understanding) to say what needs to be said. Wall Street, the Democrats, and the Republicans are clueless.  Congress is going on vacation.  The Fed is pledging money not appropriated by Congress - in fact, the money doesn't exist.  It's printed out of thin air!

The sad part is this was all completely avoidable - if we had had a conservative party in Washington.  There was a period of six years in which the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and the presidency - but of course, government grew and grew, spending went up and up, the borrowed-money joyride rolled on, and if that weren't enough, Roe vs. Wade needlessly continued to be the "law" of the land, and now the GOP has the unmitigated gall to point the finger at anyone other than itself for its failures.

Meanwhile, real conservatism is going to take the blame because of what the counterfeit conservatives have been doing and calling it conservatism.

I think Buchanan called it.  Real conservatives are frugal, they pay their bills, they obey the law, and they mind their own business.  But what do the folks who have co-opted the term do?  They spend like there's no tomorrow, they borrow from what amounts to a printing press, they run roughshod over the Constitution, and they involve the United States in conflicts all over the world that we have no business being involved with (let alone the obvious fact that we can't pay for it).

The real beneficiaries of the current Republican joyride and economic crash (not counting the politically well-connected, those who have already become rich at our expense, and the massive network of lobbyists) will be the Democrats.  And the Republicans have no-one to blame but themselves.  Meanwhile, we, the American people are going to have to pay, and pay, and pay - in blood, in taxes, in a devalued dollar, and in the inevitable international blowback that we, our children, and grandchildren will have to suffer for the hubris of these politicians who think "conservative" means making the government bigger, spending more money, borrowing more - while criticizing the Democrats for doing the very same thing.  And of course, neither major party will move in a conservative direction.  Both are proposing more government tinkering and more "bailing out."

We think these people in Washington are smart.  We think they're well-read and highly educated.  We think they understand economics and history and the Constitution.  I should have figured it out when I lived in Philadelphia and was set-up at a booth at a community fair with a bust of Thomas Jefferson.  I asked Representative Jon Fox, a highly touted "conservative" Republican U.S. Congressman, what he thought of my "friend" on the table.  Before he could draw a breath, his lackey, latched to his side like Smithers to Burns in the Simpsons, almost in a panic, whispered in the Congressman's ear: "It's Thomas Jefferson!"

I really do believe most of our politicians in Washington would fail miserably at "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?"  

Also in Pennsylvania, I remember a visit to my State Rep's office (she was a Democrat, but I don't remember her name).  I asked her if she could sponsor a piece of legislation on the floor of the Statehouse in Harrisburg.  I read the short proposal to her and asked her to read it over for herself.  She said she could not.  She was opposed to it.  You should have seen the look on her face when I told her she had already agreed to it - it was a verbatim quote from the State Constitution.  She feebly offered that maybe it should be changed - but as I pointed out to her, that passage was from a part of the Constitution that was not permitted to ever be amended (it was from the State's version of the Bill of Rights).  Why didn't she know this?  What the heck to we pay these people to know - if not the bloody Constitution?

These folks are simply not very bright.  Some probably are.  But I believe the vast majority of them are hucksters and Bull Artists, people who would fail in the private sector.  They demand junkets, per diems, lucrative retirement packages, special privileges, and deference from the rest of us - when they are more fit for picking up litter off the side of the road.  And now we are approaching an economic meltdown, and there they are, like deer in the headlights.  Clueless, pointing fingers, and scurrying like roaches for cover.  I shouldn't be surprised, but I still can't help being appalled.  

Thanks a lot, Washington.  Thanks Democrats, and thanks Republicans.  I'm beginning to think Thomas Woods' definition of bipartisanship makes a lot of sense: "the Stupid Party getting together with the Evil Party to do something both stupid and evil."

But I suppose the old saying is true: we get the government we deserve.  Man, have we scraped the bottom of the garbage dumpster, or what?

5 comments:

Rev. Paul Beisel said...

Amen!

I couldn't agree with you more.

I am still in awe of how "conservatives" are now flocking to the McCain side just because Palin has been added to the list. McCain hasn't changed who he is, which is a "social conservative" but everyone can forgive that as long as Palin is #2. People do not possess the depth perception that is so needed this campaign cycle. Will it improve? Probably not. Short-sightedness seems to be the craze these days.

I'm beginning to feel like a loner, even on the conservative front.

The Common Sense Mom (not Pastor Beisel)

Anastasia Theodoridis said...

Fro two people who so disagree on theology, we are eerily alike in politics! The only thing here I take issue with is whether the politicians are the only stupid people in the country. Okay, some may be. But the awful fact is, most of them know EXACTLY what they are doing! Ignorance and stupidity is not their problem. Greed, profound cynicism, and corruption are. They know very well what things will line their own pockets, and they do those things. At our expense.

More and more, I'm thinking I may switch and vote for one of the third party candidates or write in someone...

Rev. Larry Beane said...

Dear Common Sense Mom:

Thanks for your Common Sense comment.

Ironically, Gov. Palin's selection was a kind of "affirmative action" selection, as a man with the exact same set of qualifications would not have made the same splash. In fact. Sen. McCain might have been run out on a rail had Gov. Palin not been a woman. Politics is all about strategy and winning.

But the bottom line is that real conservatives would not have given us a federal reserve in the first place, and real conservatives would not be looking for a left-wing solution to the problem. McCain and Obama are both blurting out talking points about symptoms instead of saying anything intelligent about cause and solutions.

Hang in there. You're not a loner. There are a lot of us who haven't drunk the Kool-Aid. We need to keep our wits and teach the younger generation history, economics, the Constitution, and most importantly, how to think critically when politicians are "selling" them something.

And that's what common sense moms are best positioned to do. The hands that rock the cradle...

Rev. Larry Beane said...

Dear Anastasia:

Well, how about that?

I think you make a great point about those who *know* what they are doing. I think certainly those at the top of the pyramid know exactly what's happening (those who have dibs on the newly-created "money" for example - since they get the benefit before the inflation happens - quite a racket!).

I'm sure the Fed chairman understands full well what's happening - and no doubt some leaders in Congress and in the administration. But I do think there is also a large army of "useful idiots" that make it all possible.

And it is funny how politics can actually unite a disparate group of people - if it is rooted in true conservatism.

I used to attend meetings of one of the third parties years ago. It was always interesting what a diverse group it was: tax protesters, business men, hippies, gun-toting 2nd amendment advocates, secessionists, patriots, military veterans, anarchists, hard-money advocates, soft-spoken academicians and bull-in-the-china-shop hell raisers.

Most of these people might not have a lot in common in their interests, type of music they like, religion, etc. But what bound everyone together was a love of liberty and the desire to see our elected government obey the Constitution. The "radical" notion that we are not slaves and the government ought to obey the law really brings people together. I think it makes people respect one another more as well, and destroys petty prejudices.

I just don't see that same kind of (for lack of a better term) "diversity" (not to mention integrity and erudition) by and large in the mainstream parties. Sadly, I think a lot of people get involved in the political parties because they are themselves looking for handouts or favors. And who can blame them? Remember the answer the bank-robber gave as to why he robs banks? "Because that's where the money is."

I do hope that young people learn true conservatism and start demanding hard currency, obedience of Constitutional boundaries, real federalism, small government, an end to social engineering, and a rollback of the empire before the country has thrown itself into total bankruptcy.

Time will tell. Kyrie eleison!

WM Cwirla said...

Time to bury the two-party system which promotes the mediocrity we see today.

You are spot on, brother! Theology, economic, constitutional history and law. The trivium of freedom.