As Kurt mentions below this is a dark day for America and specifically those who cherish its founding documents and principles and who held out hope that we could one day return to an embrace of these ideals.
Tonight’s GOP debate surely will carry special gravity as perhaps finally we can begin to take the choice the Republicans now have more seriously.
If anything good can come of this tragedy, perhaps it will be an awakening within the party that they alone hold the one chance our Nation has at returning to one of Laws rather than men. This truly is the moment I hope the Republican voters will begin to see the gravity of the choice they will make, and the severe consequences it will have on the future trajectory of our beloved America.
For perspective, when America chose in 2008 to elect a completely unaccomplished socialist Senator who bemoaned the “clingers” he’d have to rule over, telegraphed his plan to “spread the wealth around”, and vowed to “fundamentally transform America” as President, I was, to put it mildly, disappointed.
At the time, surely, I considered, after having endured Barack Obama’s world for a term, American’s would see their way in four years.
And sure enough, in those four years, divisiveness grew, race relations deteriorated, the economy never grew (and slowed in fact), while unemployment increased along with the debt and deficit, the most comprehensive socialization of a major sector of our economy was overtaken by the federal government on a strictly party-line vote with no input even from the opposition—a program put into place that utterly failed at every turn and never once was above water in public opinion, public opinion by the way that also held at the time of the 2012 election not only Obama below water but also had a +13 wrong-track leaning as far as where our country was headed.
The stimulus failed. The bank bailouts didn’t stem the risks. The auto bailouts were failing. Healthcare.gov was failing. The ACA itself was making healthcare more expensive. We’d just had the our first ambassador murdered in three decades. Solyndra. The deficit. Fast and Furious. The VA. I could go on, and believe me, in 2012, I did. We all did.
Government itself seemed to be failing… forget for a moment (if you can) how much broader and expansive was Barack Obama’s vision of what the Federal Government should do. Hell, his administration was failing at doing even what we considered government should do.
So there’s this guy who “saved the Salt Lake City Olympics.” That’s a helluva turn-around story and quite a feather in his cap. But that’s not just this one time where a former governor knocked it out of the park. No, this is a true turn-around artist… whose JOB IT IS to fix shit. And he’s been an ENORMOUS success in that… AS A CAREER! Yes, no shit. This isn’t a guy who took a failing company and turned it around successfully. This isn’t a guy who did that a few times. This is a guy who consistently and for many years did that every day after breakfast. How often does a country so deeply stuck in the mud of incompetence and break-down get the chance to have a guy with a pedigree like that to run its Executive Branch?
Opportunity missed, America. Whiff, big-time.
I basically punched out about then. I so lost faith in a Nation that succumbed not just to the Obama hackery and class (and race) envy and divisiveness the first time when he at least seemed some sort of patina of specialness about him, but also having seen how bad he was passed up on a guy with a proven track record of fixing shit for the same chump who had so royally effed everything up in the first place.
Fool America once, and it’s a huge facepalm. Go back to that well and we’re in abused wife territory, seriously.
Anyway, all this came to mind with Scalia’s death today and the fact that Republicans seem ready to send a man forth with their banner who has at best a thumbless grasp of the basics of the Constitutional foundations of our Nation and at worst (and often-times a demonstrative) an active disdain for such formalities.
Here’s a somber prediction: Whomever the Republicans nominate will beat Hillary Clinton this fall. Yes, I’m saying it now. I wince to consider that it may be Donald Trump.
Here’s a guarded hope: Now with the death of Antonin Scalia, Republican voters will consider the type of Supreme Court Justices (of which there will likely be two or perhaps even three, Scalia notwithstanding to be replaced in the next four years) the GOP contenders may nominate.
If that sort of weighty consideration still doesn’t convince GOP voters (y’know, the members of this Nation’s “conservative party“) to put forth someone who respects the Constitution, maybe I’m done altogether… Because hope, simply put, is lost.
– Nick (ColoradoPatriot, from HQ)
Good post–but it looks like you meant to write “As V the K mentions below.”
Actually, the news made me think similar kinds of thoughts and it all got me thinking about how I would like to get back to blogging here again, mainly because it is useful to continually make the case for things I (and others here) believe and to document the kinds of things that continue to happen under Obama and which can hopefully change under a different president next year.
If anyone wants an example of how the gay community should behave in light of Scalia’s death, look no further than Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in the infamous marriage equality case:
http://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/269396-lead-plantiff-in-gay-marriage-case-mourns-scalia
Mr. Obergefell sent condolences to Justice Scalia’s friends and family.
Expect the mainstream media to agitate for an immediate Obama Supreme Court appointment and to snipe at the Senate for a quick confirmation. The MSM does not report the news so much as they censor it and manipulate it.
Back on January 18 in 2013, John Dickerson wrote this in Slate:
John Dickerson “moderated” the CBS “debate” this evening and he is the host of Face the Nation.
That Dickerson quote from Slate is hardly “quaint” and certainly not inconsequential. A leading mainstream media figure can hardly make any claim to objectivity when he declares that a president must go for the jugular and destroy the opposition political party.
For those of us who pay attention, the presidential election in 2016 is a definitive one in terms of the road we take as a country.
The loss of Scalia is overwhelming. Our lower courts are riddled with judges who advocate for causes and legislate from the bench. If this form of judicial malpractice gains a majority on the Supreme Court we will all be subject to the reading of the zeitgeist tealeaves by a panel of oracles with a lifetime tenure.
The liberal mainstream media is going to full throttle on this one.
Of course the democrats will keep screaming for a Supreme Court nominee and of course Emperor Barack (I) will comply. Once again, after last night’s disgusting performance by El Trumpo re: Bush II we are on the verge of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory come next November. No one does that better than the GOP. My fervent hope is that El Trumpo maintains his 30-35% and someone else gets the nod. Then there is Bloomberg, then the shock of Scalia’s death. Is there any realistic hope at all we can save this nation?
And just what constitutes “saving” the nation?
The is no single political culture which informs the electorate in the United States. There never has been one. Our history is rife with examples of the clash of credos. Nor does the Constitution define our economic system.
If we believe that the Constitution is the controlling force of government, then we also believe in three honest guardians: public servants who obey the Constitution, the Supreme Court which applies the Constitution when challenges arise and the amendment process.
However, when we elect and ignore those who reach beyond the Constitution by way of extending the grasp of the government into myriad ambiguous areas of culture and commerce, we have set in motion the process of eroding the primacy of the Constitution.
We have reached the point of questioning just how much underlying order in our system of government separates us from the fact of an upsetting national confusion which is the harbinger of political upheaval.
The Republican field of candidates is being winnowed in the opening days of the 2016 run for the nomination. It is playing out as it always has. But there is something remarkably different this time. The country has long been attacked and divided by skillful demagoguery, but, now the wizards of smart have lost control of their divided allies. As a result, many single interest voters are looking beyond the political party and even their single interests and are looking toward the candidate they believe can pull order out of the confusion.
Historically, this is the exact same spot where a dictator emerges. But, dictators are more like Obama than Trump. Obama hid in the shadows and manipulated his way toward his goal. Trump is a very well known self-promoter who has stepped forward and said: “Here I am.”
A large number of people have looked at Trump and found that he meets their needs. He is not part of the political “establishment” nor is he for sale and he does not accept the pressures lobbed in the guise of political correctness. Those who dislike him started out seeing him as a joke and then discovered he had gained an annoying following and now they fear his accumulated clout. Meanwhile, every other candidate in the Republican stable of would-be nominees has all but given up trying to neutralize him.
My candidate of choice is NOT Donald Trump. But, for the life of me, I can not find anything about his candidacy that gives me pause for despair. He is not a lunatic or a dilettante or some instant wonder who fell out of obscurity.
If there is ample reason to be gloomy about Trump, we should have something more substantial to discuss about him other than stirring a cauldron of invective.
Finally, we can not “save this nation” by wringing our hands in despair.
Trump is the only one on that stage with a halfway sane foreign policy. And I love how he called the Bush Family and Miss Lindsey out right in South Carolina! That was GLORIOUS! Not even my hero Ron Paul had BALLS like Trump did to do that!
You make a number of good points about Trump, Heliotrope. I’ve got a number of issues with Trump as a candidate, but my attitude about this election has always been that the Democrats better not win, and if Trump is the Republican nominee, so be it. He’s not my first choice, but despite his flaws, I’d prefer him to Hillary or Bernie or Joe Biden. If he’s elected, I think he’d share a number of characteristics with Obama, most notably a tendency towards petulance and a large amount of intransigence, but I do appreciate your suggestion that unlike Obama, he is very open about himself and his intentions, and he’s not trying to hide an elaborate agenda. Likewise, when Trump doesn’t like someone, he is very open about it, unlike Obama who won’t necessarily say much directly, but will instead use the powers of his office to go after them.
As to “saving this nation”…two words define what that means to me…”limited government.”
@ Kurt: Trump’s brutal honesty is actually something of a plus in my book. I certainly don’t like his stance imminent domain and ethanol subsidies, though.
Sean L,
The tentacles reaching out from the ethanol subsidies reach into so many different areas of our economy and related foreign economies that it takes a specialist in chaos theory to even begin to imagine its diverse avenues of impact.
In The Log from the Sea of Cortez John Steinbeck captured a bit of outstanding dialog. In reading the following quote, it is an even more interesting insight if you swap the “children” for the “represented” and the “adults” for “those who govern”:
To the point of ethanol subsidies, they have become a “yuge” (in Trump terms) part of economic reality and all manner of financial structures and deals have been erected because they exist. In essence, they have reached the status of “too big to fail.”
Now we “children” may defiantly say “so what? Let it fail.” After all, Obama is choking the coal industry. The whale oil industry got zapped. Fracking (hydraulic fracturing) is almost entirely responsible for the collapse of OPEC price controls.
We don’t go down these roads of change nor are we led down these roads because of great wisdom and social justice and because we are bent on doing good. These roads are cut and paved because of “greed” and the self-interest of making financial gain. (Milton Friedman explained this point brilliantly.?
Ethanol is hard on motors, or so I am led to believe. That is “good” for mechanics, suppliers parts and the whole motor and car industry. There is an ecology to be studied in this weed we call ethanol. It has built houses, provided shoes, made tacos more costly in Mexico, enriched bankers, generated tax revenue, and created an ethanol protection Mafia.
So, we “children” patiently or even impatiently stand mute as the “adults” in the establishment lecture us to death ad infinitum.
Mia Love, (black, female, Republican Congresswoman from Utah) is proposing H.R. 4335 which would:
Congress has stumbled into the “modern” practice of passing ginormous bills which give birth to countless regulatory appendages that no one can read, comprehend or even diagram. It is out of such legislative machinations that such a mess as the ethanol subsidies was released and eventually has become a runaway viral force not unlike a super strain of an STD.
I suggest that Trump is pretty sharp concerning the unintended economic consequences that result from the failed economic planning schemes concocted in the halls of Congress. Of all the economic failure in this country today, not much of it is because of the ethanol side show.
From its listing, “Archer-Daniels Midland Co is a processor of oilseeds, corn, wheat, cocoa, and other feedstuffs and is a manufacturer of vegetable oil and protein meal, corn sweeteners, flour, biodiesel, ethanol, and other value-added food and feed ingredients.” It stands at #34 in the 2015 Forbes Top 100 U.S. enterprises. Slaying crony capitalism dragons is not without its concomitant costs.
Trump has bigger, more important fish to fry before he would start pulling ethanol subsidies out by the roots. But I am fairly confident that he is completely aware of the whole chaos theory embedded in the games which are played out in the arena of crony capitalism. He has been such a player himself.
This YouTube clip of Donald Trump in 1991 may show some of the man’s ability to converse on thecomplex cause and effect relationships embedded in the manipulation of the economy. His statements clearly reflect the theory embedded in the Laffler Curve and its application to tax incentives.
@ Heliotrope: Yet another reason to love Mia Love.
A number of years ago a 60 Minutes report pointed out how, at that time, the entire ethanol industry revolved around one company: ADM [“Supermarket To The World”]. It has only slightly diversified since that time. Of course, ADM sponsored several of the Sunday morning public affairs programs (which are predominantly viewed, as a class, by Washington insiders and policymakers). So that, the ethanol subsidy primarily propped up the largest privately-held company in the US.
Aside from all the other harms of adding ethanol to existing fuel sources, there’s something head-scratchingly wrong with using a food source in a time of increasing global food insecurity to produce a fuel source, one which is inefficient to produce, at that.
So what makes The Donald’s ‘brutal honesty’ different from that of Dan Savage (other than the former’s lack of doorknob-licking)?
RSG @ #12 recalls valid points about the ethanol debate. In addition to those points is the very disturbing issue of the depletion of the Ogallala aquifer.
From my perspective, the whole ethanol program is a bust. That said, the ethanol niche is but one part of the entire “price support” scheme of government.
Supposedly, the “incentives”/subsidies in supporting prices helps to create an equilibrium so that necessary products are “properly” positioned in the whole supply and demand market equation. A great deal of the commodities market is underpinned with floor and ceiling prices, storage subsidies, and, ultimately, the effects of futures pricing.
Now, step aside from ethanol and look at Elon Musk and Tesla and the real costs (before subsidies) of all electric cars. Then recall Solyndra and the bird shredding wind farms. There would me no hybrid market if the consumer had to pay the actual (non-subsidy) price of the product.
Jimmy Carter signed the Energy Security Act of 1980 that created the Synthetic Fuels Corporation. The government subsidies involved made it “profitable” for the oil companies to go after the shale oil locked up in the Western Slope areas of Colorado. Now that those subsidies are no longer in play, the oil companies have left and the region has suffered a huge loss in employment and suffered the inability to fund a solid infrastructure.
GE made out like a bandit when it got rid of its aging, union organized incandescent light bulb plants. Now GE manufactures CFL bulbs in India and China where they do not have to “subsidize” the workers with social security or union wages. Off shore labor savings far exceed the added transportation costs.
This whole cycle of government intrusion into the market economy will always create an artificial force complete with chain reactions and unintended consequences. But that is the inescapable fact every time a choice is made and all of the other options are left untaken. Economists refer to this reality as “opportunity costs.”
The tax code has long been used as a way to discourage or encourage economic decision making. It enhances choices or discourages choices. Denny Hastert was a high school teacher who rose to high power in the House of Representatives. He used an Illinois trust to invest in land that would hold a 1,600 home development along a corridor connecting to the Prairie Parkway. Just as a “coiniydink” Hastert earmarked appropriations for the highway project. You get the drift. Power does not corrupt. Corrupt people use power to their private advantage.
Here is Adam Smith on the government restraints and subsidies:
What has followed these words is two centuries of fooling around with mercantilism, communism, socialism, price controls, protectionism, industrial policy, social engineering, public corporations, affirmative action, antitrust laws, infrastructure priorities, worker’s rights, national interests, credit markets, trade treaties, tariffs, trade wars, currency manipulation, prohibitions, economic incentives, tax manipulation, public debt, government loans, inflation, stagnation, negative interest and on and on and on.
We can target ethanol because it is as good a target as any. But, picking ethanol as the ox that needs to be gored is a bit disingenuous. It may be an obvious target, but only because we encounter it so regularly at the pump. What do we gain by choosing to make ethanol a statement of our core frustration? This frustration is actually centered on an entire universe of interconnected strands highly influenced by a debtor nation spending $3Trillion a year in a willy-nilly, haphazard manner.
Pulling a lower tile from the Jenga tower and successfully balancing it on the top may win you one more round, but we all know that the tower is coming down.