“The evidence … however properly reached, may always be more or less wrong, the best information being never complete, and the best reasoning being liable to fallacy.â€
Thomas Huxley was a defender of Charles Darwin back in the 19th century. The quote was given in the context of global climate change models, but I think it is equally applicable to market economics versus central planning.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Common Sense on April 17th, 2009
It’s about securing “the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”
Anyone who reads this blog knows that I support the tea party movement.The media has tied themselves into knots trying to figure it out. Bruce Bartlett write for Forbes (not a left wing rag) saying:
I strongly suspect that many of those that loudly denounced the Obama stimulus package for its impact on the deficit would have cheered the McCain stimulus package even though it would have increased the deficit by about the same amount.
He couldn’t be more wrong. This has nothing to do with party. I was suspicious of John McCain in the first place. The only reason I voted for him is because I thought Obama would be worse. I was proved correct (in my own mind) within the first 2 months.
Bartlett then claims that:
Proof of this proposition is that there were no tea parties during the years when George W. Bush was turning the surpluses of the Clinton years into massive deficits.
Again, he misunderstands our position. George Bush’s debt was caused by
A recession and reduced revenue
Excess spending that Republicans paid dearly for in 2006
An expensive war that I supported and would support again.
Not until the last months of his presidency did George Bush increase the debt by meddling in the markets. These moves (TARP), I was hesitant to support at first. We were told we were on the brink of collapse. Since I don’t have all the data that is privy to the powers in Washington, I was on the fence. It seemed wrong, but maybe there was some information that I was missing. I still don’t have all the information, but it seems more and more likely that TARP was a huge waste of money.
The stimulus bill passed this year wasn’t about avoiding a collapse. It was about stimulus. That’s how bill got its name. It is an Obama bet that massive debt now is better than feeling some economic pain. He says he believes in the free market. He clearly does not. Like Thomas Jefferson, I believe this to be generational tyranny. In essence, this is taxation without representation. These debts will be repaid by future generations that have no say in the matter.
The bailouts weren’t about avoiding a collapse, they were about keeping people from feeling the pain of the recession. The government has no money to bail out these companies. Failing companies were put on live support by borrowing. GM may disappear soon, but the debt payments will remain.
These Bush policies I did not support. Why were there no TEA parties protesting George Bush? Because he was leaving office and we could make our voices heard through the ballot box. What is the point of protesting during or immediately following the election. The problem from the Tea Party point of view is that our choices were between bad (John McCain) and horrible (Barack Obama).
What this Tea Party supporter hopes to achieve is to strengthen our liberties by make government smaller. Mr. Bartlett thinks Tea Parties are a partisan event. To some degree he is correct. Most of the participants were Republicans. If Democrats would support smaller, less intrusive government then I would support them…but that’s not going to happen. My goal is to energize new people who support the Constitution and the spirit of or Founding Fathers. We don’t need to re-elect RINOS or big spenders. We need to elect new Republicans fight for individual liberty.
Top Democrats and the media are portraying the TEA parties as “organized by the GOP“. Nancy Pelosi even learned a new buzz word…astroturf. Isn’t she so hip?
Does anyone believe these people? The approval rating of both of these groups is embarrassing. When people witness a Tea Party (whether they attend or just drive by), they will notice that it’s not violent skin heads. They will see their neighbors peacefully petitioning their government. The parties were too big for the media to slip under the rug…although the tried awfully hard.
If this movement has staying power and the Democrats continue to act as if this is a fringe movement, then they will proceed to their own doom. It could be that they realize this is a grass roots movement and they are being deceptive…or it could be that they live in a fantasy world where they are morally and intellectually superior. It’s hard to tell if a Demorats is lying or hallucinating. It would be funny if they weren’t in charge.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Common Sense on April 16th, 2009
Rep Jan Schakowsky is blasting the tea parties. She thinks they are Republican protests against higher taxes. She is wrong. It was a protest against an out of control government. The Obama Administration is spending like there is no tomorrow and they are destroying private business in their wake.
The ‘tea parties’ being held today by groups of right-wing activists, and fueled by FOX News Channel, are an effort to mislead the public about the Obama economic plan that cuts taxes for 95 percent of Americans and creates 3.5 million jobs
So he has a plan that creates 3-5 millions jobs. Well la-dee-da. I have a plan that creates 100 billion jobs and gives everyone a Corvette. Anyone who doesn’t agree with me is left-wing activist fueled by MSNBC.
Actually, my ridiculous hypothetical position is better than hers. I don’t represent anyone but myself. She was elected to go to Washington to represent all the people in her district…not just the Democrats. She should have the decency to at least listen to the people who took time out of their lives to be heard instead of demonizing and discounting them.
The tea parties were not a Republican event. The one I went to in Phoenixville did not have a single Republican official there….not even local officials. On Glenn Becks show, he said the Republicans suck as much as the Democrats and the crowd roared. In California, a Republican was booed when he was introduced.
Don’t let the facts get in the way of a predetermined position.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Common Sense on April 16th, 2009
I attended the Tea Party in Phoenixville, PA today.
It was a chilly, rainy day but we got a break. The rain stopped for the first hour of the Tea Party. Attendence was good, but I wonder if the weather kept some away. It would be my guess that about 400 to 500 people showed up. I counted 100 people on the corner I staked out and all four corners of the intersection at Main and Bridge were filled will patriotic Americans.
There were no counter protests. There were no acts of violence or contentious banter. Many cars that drove by beeped their horns and gave an approving thumbs up. This would always get the crowd going.
After the rally, as my son and I were walking to my truck, a man walking his dog asked me who organized the tea party. I told him it was just some woman. I did meet her, but I didn’t get her name. I wanted to let him know that any media reports that suggest it was the Republican party are dead wrong.
There were discussion of future tea parties. I think people like knowing there are others out there that think like they do. For too long we have sat silently while the radicals shouted for attention. We are tired of being taken for granted.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in PA Politics on April 16th, 2009
We all know the story of the tea party. American patriots dressed up as Indians and dumped tea into the Boston Harbor to protest taxation without representation. But there is more. The problems that culminated in the tea party where driven by an over reaching Parliment that threw a monkey wrench into the free market
As early as 1698, the English Parliament awarded the East India Company the monopoly on tea importation into England. In return the Company paid Parliament a 25% ad valorem tax on the tea imported. Now, at this stage the Company was not allowed to import tea to the American colonies, so it sold the tea it had imported into England on to other merchants, who sold it in the colonies. So even at this stage, government was distorting the tea market, by granting a monopoly to a rent-seeking company in return for revenue.
The result should be obvious. Dutch merchants, paying no tax, were able to undercut the East India Company by exporting tea directly from Holland. This meant smugglers made a fortune importing the cheaper tea into the colonies and England as well. The result was that the rentseeker actually suffered. Now, did government take the simple route and abolish the monopoly and tax, allowing the free market to operate? Of course not. They complicated matters further.
When Republicans took power from the Democrats in a historic election of 1994, Peter Jennings said that the American public had a temper tantrum (LINK). Expect the same “reporting” from the Main Stream Media(MSM) about today’s tea parties.
Liberal protests are always grass root efforts by concerned citizens (even when they are funded by George Soros), but when the silent majority finds its voice, it’s a temper tantrum.
Our response has been to turn them off. Check out the TV ratings of the MSM news.
There will be Tea Parties all over the county today. People who have never protested will be out to let the government know that they are outraged at the expanding government and loss of freedom. In preparation for the event, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow giggled her way through a report to dismiss the whole thing as a joke.
Don’t let liberal condescension get you down. What is truly hilarious is MSNBC’s and Rachel Maddow’s ever shrinking ratings.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Liberal Bias on April 15th, 2009
I don’t know if there are any Democrats in this room. If there are, I’m going to need you to become Republicans, Republicans at least for a day. (LINK)
This should outrage every Republican. Our Senator is asking Democrats to take your voice away. Specter wants you to have a choice between two liberals…himself and somebody just a little closer to Karl Marx.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in PA Politics on April 14th, 2009
Jonathan Alter has a long, boring piece on reconciliation (LINK). Don’t read it unless you need a cure for insomnia. There was one thing I took out of it. Alter points out,
Sure, the Democrats are hypocrites now, too. They blasted Bush’s use of reconciliation when the GOP controlled Congress. But the supposed damage to “comity” (a fancy word for politicians getting along) is exaggerated, especially considering that not a single Republican in either chamber voted for Obama’s budget. Not one.
OK. They are all hypocrites. What a big surprise. Alter then pushes the Democrats to ignore the Republicans.
George Bush went to Washington as a “uniter, not a divider”. It didn’t work. Obama went to Washington as a post-partisan. He’s not.
Let’s drop the “let’s all get along” nonsense and get down to a real debate about what is better for America. Is bigger government better then individual freedoms? Should we reinvigorate the welfare state? Is the Constitution still relevant? These are big question where conservatives and liberals…or progressives…or whatever they call themselves these days…need to discuss. Let’s just agree that we are not going to agree.
The Democrats like to point out that they won. Fine. It is their prerogative to move forward without any Republican input. Just remember, all problems going forward will be 100% Democrat.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Congress on April 14th, 2009
Probable candidate for PA Senate Seat Pat Toomey says:
lawmakers must now guard against five major mistakes made in the 1930s, which he said worsened the Great Depression despite being designed to solve it: trade protectionism, overregulation, tax increases, favoritism for unions and massive spending. (LINK)
I think he is right. These are 5 problems that extended the Great Depression until the start of WWII. There is one aspect of the depressions that is missing that we are doing right.
Back in early days for the FED, the prevailing theory said that the money supply should grow during boon times and shrink during recessions. This led to deflation.According to Amity Shlaes’ book, The Forgotten Man, whole towns seemingly ran out of money. People were forced into a barter system.
Our current policy assures that the Great Depression will not reoccur exactly as it happened in the 1930s. Our problem may soon be too much money. You get inflation when too many dollars chase too few products. My fear is that we will have out of control inflation that makes us long for the days of Jimmy Carter.
Think about it this way. The government has passed a budget and a stimulus. Neither one of these policy changes have hit the economy yet. When they do, government will have to start writing checks. We don’t have the money, so the treasury will need to create it. We will have a growth of the money supply needed to pay for make work projects (President Obama calls them investments).
We can deal with inflation. We have tamed it before. In the 1980′s, double digit inflation was brought under control with monetary policy. The prime rate was raised to shrink the money supply. This sent 30 year mortgages up to the 20% range and threw a big wet blanket over the economy. The 1982 recession was one of the worst of the post WWII era.
Pat Toomey is right. He understands that economy, unlike Specter who sent me a nicely worded form letter explaining his vote for the stimulus. We needed to do something…becuase something is better than nothing. I really hate when politicians act like the electorate is ignorant.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was set up in the wake of 9/11 to to defend us from our enemies. Democrats see Republicans as enemies. You can find countless examples liberals who think that Republicans and conservatives are dangerous. LINKLINK
It only makes sense that a Democratic administration would therefore use the Department of Homeland security to protected against the real enemy…Republicans. Michelle Malkin has a good run down on the DHS report (LINK)
From the DHS manual,
Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely.
So if you support state rights and federalism you are lumped together with racist hate-oriented groups. Supporting local control of your public school is synonymous with being a Ku Klux Klan member.
Do you think that the government won’t get out of control to intimidate descent? Think again. A “progressive” president has already done it. As Johan Goldberg explains
Under the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918, Wilson’s administration shut down newspapers and magazines at an astounding pace. Indeed, any criticism of the government, even in your own home, could earn you a prison sentence. One man was brought to trial for explaining in his own home why he didn’t want to buy Liberty Bonds. (LINK)
Democrats have dreamed of war powers without the war. They are using the economic downturn for their power grab. As Rahm Emmanual said,
You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.
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