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I Am Still Voting Against the One Party State
No, this is not an endorsement of the Libertarian ticket. I am not about to make the stale dorm room argument I’ve been hearing for decades – that our political system is a Republicrat cartel operated by Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
No, what I mean is that America in 2016 is, in every way that matters, indistinguishable from a One Party State.
Of course, I understand that there are still some Republicans in Congress and elsewhere. But I am not talking about narrow political power. I am talking about power in a deep sense, power that permeates through the sinews and tissues of everyday public and private life. Almost all of the institutions of power and influence in this country are dominated 10 to 1 by Democrats. Partisan Democrats are in a position of hegemony over all organs of education and opinion, virtually the entire state and federal government bureaucracy, the economy, the legal profession and all of popular culture.
Elite academia – the gateway to political and economic power – is a Republican-free zone, where loyalty to the Democrats hovers somewhere around 97%. Outside of one or two eccentric econ departments and business schools, our academic intelligentsia displays a range of political opinion that runs the full gamut from far-left to radical-left. Not surprisingly, academia is a fetid cesspool of institutionalized insanity that seeps into the education establishment generally.
Wall Street and Big Business used to be traditional Republican strongholds. No longer. In the Wall Street banks, Democratic dominance is not as overwhelming as in academia – it’s only about 2 to 1. But that’s enough for Goldman Sachs to prohibit its partners from contributing to the Trump campaign (the Clinton campaign is still OK though). In the tech giants that bestride the information economy the situation is much worse. On questions of public and private morality, these companies give the universities a run for their money in the area of bone-crushing conformity. Almost all the big tech CEOs are Democratic party cheerleaders and bundlers. When Facebook or Google deliberately blacklist trending topics favorable to Republicans—Lois Lerner, Chris Kyle, Scott Walker, whatever—it’s standard One Party State operating procedure.
But it’s the traditional old media that is the chief propaganda organ of the One Party State. The media elite and the Democratic Party establishment are fused into one incestuous mass. Turn on the TV any Sunday morning, and you are practically guaranteed to see a former Clinton aide “interview” Joe Biden, and the wife of Al Gore’s ex-chief of staff “interview” Barack Obama. Our elite political journalism possesses all the ideological diversity and investigative courage of the DPRK News Service. Its wholly uncritical, sycophantic embrace of our shallow, cynical, self-obsessed ideologue of a president has brought us a Cult of Personality worthy of Cuba or Venezuela. The newspaper that exposed Watergate today turns a blind eye to one cover-up after another, any one of which makes Richard Nixon look like an amateur. So, Bill Clinton’s wife can destroy reams of federal records to hide how she used her office to shake down foreign governments for cash for her slush fund, and Obama’s IRS can destroy federal records to hide how it targeted conservative groups to swing the 2012 election, all to the yawning indifference of the prestige press.
How do they get away with it? The same way Nicolae Ceaucescu got away with it: it’s a One Party State. They know there are no consequences, as long as the Party controls the State. In a One Party State the newspapers, the TV, the IRS, the DOJ, the FBI and all the rest of the alphabet soup become the private playthings of the Party, or worse—the personal playthings of the crime family in charge. If this does not terrify you, then you are either a Democrat or a member of the New York Times editorial board (but I repeat myself).
The only national institution not dominated by partisan Democrats is the military. But because the American military is steeped in traditions of civilian control and strict non-interference in political questions, it is politically irrelevant, except to the limited extent that it remains the only public institution that enjoys any kind of popular esteem.
In addition, there remain some isolated pockets of Republican political power, such as in some of the state legislatures. But, because Democratic judges and lawyers have abolished federalism, the states don’t matter much when it comes to big national issues—they are shriveled, superfluous pieces of political tissue, completely dependent for their blood supply on federal largesse. If my home state of Virginia wanted to move its capital from Richmond to Farmville, maybe, just maybe, it could do so without having to go groveling to Uncle Sugar for permission. Every other state decision involves the feds, which is to say, the party of Andrew Johnson and Al Sharpton.
This astonishing stranglehold on power must be resisted. Even without knowing anything about the candidates or the Democratic Party’s substantive policy ideas or ideology, I would vote against any presidential candidate dredged up by that party on principle – because such concentration of power is a terminal malignancy on the country.
But as it happens, I do know something about the Democratic Party’s ideology. I know that to vote for Bill Clinton’s wife is to affirmatively choose to live under a regime whose power over me will never be subject to any structural or legal limits. It would be a vote of confidence in the wisdom, impartiality and benevolence of the Democratic ruling class and its permanent one-party administrative dictatorship. To vote for Clinton is to write a blank check to the party whose senate caucus in 2014 voted unanimously to abolish the first amendment. To confirm the Democratic Party in its monopoly on power is to condemn myself, my children and their children to a life of grievance politics, hysterical racism witch hunts, unrestricted warfare against the mainstream, deranged hatred of private enterprise, and the politicization of every zone of public and private life. It would reward and validate a limitless expansion of the administrative state, contempt for the rule of law, undisguised contempt for the values of ordinary Americans, open borders, and a racial spoils system that makes a mockery of civil rights. It would condemn the United States to life under the banner, “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state”.
Donald Trump is a constitutional illiterate who can be counted on to trample on every principle conservatives hold dear. Isn’t he every bit the menace to constitutional democracy and limited, law-bound government that Clinton and Obama are? No. If Trump is elected, every Democrat in the country will be transformed instantly into the world’s foremost constitutional expert. All of a sudden, the Constitution will be rediscovered and we will find ourselves lectured ad nauseam about how it limits executive power by legal geniuses like Nancy Pelosi and Sally Kohn. Every Democrat in media and government will suddenly find himself appalled at the slightest hint of executive impropriety. You see, we still have laws and a constitution when a Republican is in the White House.
I detest Donald Trump. I weep for my country when I think of the electoral choice it has presented me and consider what has become of the party of Lincoln and Reagan. I promised myself back in the summer, after the carney freak show of the Republican Convention, that I would stop participating in electoral politics. But I have reconsidered. The monopoly power of the Democrats needs to be broken with whatever imperfect instrument we have available. Without resistance, there will be no going back. The entire country will become like Illinois or Turkmenistan. And probably much worse.
Published in General
Well written post. Thx for this.
A-freaking-men!!!
That’s exactly how I feel.
Great post.
This is one of the most perfect posts I’ve read in a while. My god, how you nailed it. I just still can’t pull the lever for either candidate. Argh, what terrible times! Still, your every word makes sense.
Thank you. Beautiful post.
It’s too bad more people refuse to notice that this election (probably) is the last gasp for this Republic, this Noble Experiment.
Trump won votes BECAUSE he isn’t a politician — not part of the “Inside the Beltway” crowd.
Boiled down to its essentials, this election is Establishment/Statists/Govt Addicts/Political Correctness vs. Flyover Country.
I love Jonah Goldberg, for example. But he and his NeverTrump ilk (both media & politicians) are prime examples of the Establishment. Most of the Establishment types find it easier — financially, socially, career-wise — to oppose the Establishment Outsider.
Many members of the Ricochet Community are also of The Establishment variety. So it’s not surprising the tenor of the Website the past 24 hours.
And the other Anti-Trump “True Conservatives?” They are the Hulkans from Star Trek, The Original Series espisode, “Mirror, Mirror.” They would rather die as a race, “to preserve what we are,” instead of giving up some dilithium crystals to aliens.
Or, if you prefer, they are the obnoxious lead singer of the justed-busted-up band The Wonders at the end of the movie, “That Thing You Do!” — “going up to his room to write his next hit, “Alone With My Principles.”
The natural lives of democracies begin their death-plunge with the transition to socialist/statism. A Democrat taking the Oath of Office in January 2017 probably ensures the end of The United States of America, if for no other reason than federal bureacracy entrenchment and consolidation of power will move past the critical point.
Yeah, Trump is a vulgar boor. But if you don’t keep the Democrat out of the White House this election, you are complicit. And you get what you deserve.
I blame Mitch McConnell, those who vote for him, and those who fund his campaigns, for the fact that there is no opposition party.
Well written post but you’re being too hard on The Donald. He’s no illiterate and he knows plenty about the Constitution. Read his thoughtful editorial on emminent domain, which I believe was published during the primaries.
I would also say that Trump’s list of Supreme Court nominees was greeted with universal approval. Experts on this site praised his choices. That shows respect for the Constitution and the rule of law.
Whoever wrote this is a good writer. Did he attend the University of Chicago, by any chance?
Takes one to know one?
Little Red Schoolhouse baby!
I could have written this. If I could write.
Geeze, Oblomov, why don’t you tell us how you really feel?!
I’m standing and saluting you, sir. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
I am more pessimistic. Trump won’t save anything.
We have to inspire the few true constitutionalists left.
Which is why I am for #Texit. Which may well be the silver lining of a Hillary presidency.
This is one of the best arguments for voting against any Democrat.
Well said!
I love this upvoting feature. It’s just like Article V of the Constitution: you go right over the heads of the powerful elites straight to We the People! It’s awesome.
Beautiful! Like @JustinHertog, I think Trump is not a total negative – maybe +5%, but your point still carries the argument.
I think many of the “talking head” #NeverTrump’ers have their own attachment to the establishment in mind.
Thanks for this.
Wow — just look at that reasoning!
Nice article but quite saddening that we are at this point.
Excellent post. I have long been Never Trump, but I agree with everything you said, except for the conclusion. I’ve always said it takes a Republican in the White House to make the DC press corps do its job.
However, I think Trump could do irreparable harm as surely as Clinton can. In fact, I suspect he already has.
Why do you detest Trump? Your visions of electoral choice misunderstand who it was that you were dreaming of. I am certain that the status quo would continue downwards with the standard Republican politician. They are malleable and controllable by the MSM. Trump has the earmarks of a real man in that he punches back when hit. And he’s pretty effective about it. The primaries were easier for him because 1) the media always helps Republicans go after other Republicans and 2) he used many of the tactics of the left — isolate, denigrate and eliminate one at a time. I think he just saw them for what they are: weak and blown by the MSM winds. The Republican Party needs to get off the metrosexual carousel and man up.
-continued-
-Continued from #19 above-
Trump has made some serious enemies on the left and more to come. He is forced into the tender embrace of the angry Republicans (me and many more) and the new Republicans that he can entice into helping him fight against the state.
Ball Diamond Ball just coined a nice new term for the GOP: the Government’s Other Party. The GOP is fast becoming just for show. You can see it in the media: Jonah Goldberg (or one of the other brilliant conservative intellectuals) goes into the lion’s den and shows them how smart he is. But, the Ceausescu crowd (love that allusion you supply) don’t care how effective our window dressing conservative is — he has a mortgage and family and if he gets really difficult he will lose his spots and then where will he be? He will not bite the hand that feeds him. These conservatives are invited for show purposes only — and maybe a little nostalgia for the old America.
Trump is in a different realm entirely. He is cornered by all of them right and left. He only has the voters on his side and a few politicians. He has to perform and things are coming to a head. This is the election of our lifetimes. Nothing like it ever. Now is the clinch. Now or never time!
Very well put. Government has been weaponized to the point where this may be our last chance to elect a President who is not a Democrat. If you doubt that, make a substantial contribution to a conservative organization and see how long it takes you to get audited by the IRS.
click-o-mania. Sorry!
Brilliant article. Would like to see more from this writer!
Congratulations on an awesome post! To all of you who are not from California, it can get much, much worse.
Your wish is my command:
http://ricochet.com/members/oblomov/blog/main-feed-posts/
Ok, but how does this apply to him?
He has given no indication that he intends to do so. He has given every indication he seeks to jack up the Republican party. And has. He says he’ll be better at running the machine than Dems and that they’ll hate him for it. But he’s never indicated he intends to dismantle the machine he says he can run so well.
If you hate the machine then deciding which thumb you prefer to put on the scale is wasted energy. Stay home. I hope everyone stays home. It’s the only sensible thing to do.
He will jack up America more than she will. The Republican Party is going to have to sit on the sidelines if he’s elected. Too bad — their own fault.
I should have added that there are two Democrats on the November ballot to replace retiring Senator Barbara Boxer and no other candidates- No Republican, Libertarian, Green or otherwise.
In 2000 the Republicans nominated another incoherent candidate, one who did his best to put down the Republican party. (Compassionate conservativism , indeed. Talk about destructive, back-stabbing tendencies.) He was little different from the Democrats, and the Democrats hated him for doing their policies under a Republican banner. The only good thing is that it kept the actual Democrats somewhat at bay.
Trump can’t be any worse than that one.
If you think he’s done his irreparable harm, vote for him. No sense piling Hillary’s irreparable harm on top of his.