A Stunning Realization
While arguing with leftists this evening on Twitter about the 'occupy' movement, I had a realization: leftists don't actually care about 'money in politics' or 'corporate personhood' at all. If they did, they would be protesting loudly against Barack Obama, the largest recipient of corporate cash in history, and the guy who famously refused public financing for his 2008 campaign. No, the 'Occupy' movement, when stripped of all the clever rhetoric and sloganeering, is nothing more than a temper tantrum. A temper tantrum that's happening because everything these people believe about government, the welfare state, and what they've been told to expect out of life has come crashing down all around them. Normal Americans are coming to take their country back from the far left, and these people are losing their composure in the face of being stripped of their hold over our government.
I say it's about time!
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Comments:
Dec '10
Re: A Stunning Realization
A OK with me Kevin.
Jan '11
Re: A Stunning Realization
"While arguing with leftists this evening..."
Doesn't that presuppose something that is not possible?
Oct '11
Re: A Stunning Realization
How is this any different than the riots in UK this summer? Perhaps OWS is a bit less violent (for now) but ultimately it's all about the same thing; where's my free stuff?
Jun '10
Re: A Stunning Realization
As Rush Limbaugh keeps saying: "The message is not the message."
This is an old Cold War and Communist and Alinsky saying -- things that they tell their cohorts. And it goes back to Marx. He told his people not to tell the truth about what their party stood for. Instead -- lie.
But, it's really more subtle than that. The top tier of liars (the Commie party bosses) know the truth but inform the next layer down how to tactically go about their tasks -- Alinskyite lies. The middle layer gets microphones and riles up whatever group is on the bottom (or feel they are) and tells them who is to blame.
We conservatives are first confronted with the statements that are made in public and in the newspapers. We fall for the notion that this is a rational statement (whatever it is) and start engaging to show how ludicrous this line of reasoning is. We are diverted and sandbagged by this.
We simply must stop engaging with the troops on the frontline and even higher ups who are true believers. We have to use our wits to penetrate the fog to the Commies behind conspiring against us.
Mar '11
Re: A Stunning Realization
Mr Obama gets a free pass because he is a leftist, just like the people you were arguing with -- he is just better at hiding it with his classy Harvard accent and sharp-creased pants (it sometimes comes out a little when he is talkin to his fellow lefties).
I'd like to think Americans are seeing through him, but then I read James Lileks (another thread) and I despair. I hope Mr Lileks is wrong -- I think he is -- Americans are paying attention (I hope).
Jun '10
Re: A Stunning Realization
Why is communism so continually attractive? If you're inline to be the new Lenin, the new Mao, or the new Fidel Castro, it is great. It's wonderful. You can't climb any higher on the ladder of human success than be dictator to millions. It's good to be the king. And every hopeful little communist below the king thinks their new king will be their loyal friend. That's the part that NEVER happens. That part of the plan disappears immediately.
May '10
Re: A Stunning Realization
NOT THAT STUNNING...
Aug '10
Re: A Stunning Realization
Here at the University of Chicago, 'the Commies behind conspiring against us' are also known as 'my good friends'. My closest friend among them is an Englishman you could find this Monday herding buffoons to make a scene outside the Art Institute where the Mortgage Bankers of America Conference will be having their gala. He and I spend most of our time talking sports, women, and areas of philosophy where we tend to agree more, but once in a while designate a time to have it out over politics. I dare say I always start out strong, but I'm also determined to out drink the Englishman one of these days--no easy feat. A few pitchers in my wits for some strange reason become a bit less penetrating and I seem a little foggy myself. I can never quite remember the next morning if I saved the world or not. I'm working on it.
Aug '10
Re: A Stunning Realization
I don't think "stripped of their hold on government" accurately captures their disconnect. Most of them never felt in control of government in the first place; these are the anti-business crowd that believed corporations, lobbyists, or the military-industrial complex have owned the government for years.
Even when Democrats held Congress, or the most lefty President since FDR was elected, if you asked these protesters who controlled the distribution of the goodies you would get an answer closer to conspiracy theory than satisfied populism.
Mar '11
Re: A Stunning Realization
No surprise here. Reminds me of the old speech annotation: "Argument weak. Shout here!"
May '10
Re: A Stunning Realization
I have to object to your characterization of the Left's sloganeering as "clever." If anything, the Occupy Wall Street protests have laid bare the intellectual emptiness of the modern Left.
May '10
Re: A Stunning Realization
Amen! Kevin, thanks for putting it succinctly. I am going to use your words when I respond to my sister and one of my oldest, dearest friends, who actually believe this stuff.
Edited on October 10, 2011 at 1:43pmMar '11
Re: A Stunning Realization
Quite. As Jim DeMint recently said, Obama's administration is a study in "venture socialism".
One does note how the socialists at the top end of this scheme who do the redistributing invariably live high on the hog.