The Democratic Field is Unacceptable, Or, Why It All Matters

 

From a friend, who nails it:

Most of the legitimate extreme objections to Trump are “personal” — to his rhetoric, his personality, his style. Sure, people of good faith can object to this policy or action or that — but that’s true of any President. Trump has not fundamentally changed or transformed the country, and 90%-plus of his policies and actions fall within the window of what could easily have been done by one or more of his predecessors. My objections to most of the Democratic candidates are not personal (except maybe in Schoolmarm Liz’s case) — they are rooted in policy. Policies rooted in collectivism and “social justice theory” (the bastard child of Frankfurt School Marxism and postwar French deconstructionism), that no credible candidate seems ready to disavow, are (a) repugnant to me, and (b) well outside this country’s historical norms. Four more years of Trump will not fundamentally change the country. Four years of a semi-moderate Democrat with a Republican Senate probably won’t either. But four years of Liz or Bernie or (probably) Joe, without a GOP Senate, probably would. I do not want my children to have to grow up in a bigger, worse version of 1970s Britain.

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  1. JamesSalerno Inactive
    JamesSalerno
    @JamesSalerno

    Great post. The Trump rhetoric/emotional stuff is overplayed. Because you have the choice to be offended. You don’t have a choice when your rights are taken away.

    • #1
  2. Hang On Member
    Hang On
    @HangOn

    There is one very large difference (advantage) 1970s Britons had versus Americans as well. Britons had the possibility of moving abroad and avoid the tax burden if they could. Americans may move abroad, but they cannot avoid the tax burden even if they do. 

     

    • #2
  3. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    Shocking. 2020 is going to be a binary choice? Who knew?

    • #3
  4. David Foster Member
    David Foster
    @DavidFoster

    In the days of the Holy Roman Empire (“neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire,” as Voltaire said), there was a set of people called the Electors…all of whom were members of the nobility…who got to choose the Emperor.

    In America today, we have a set of people…national journalists, tenured academics, senior government officials…who think they are the Electors, who should get to decide who is and who is not an acceptable candidate for President.  They expect all candidates to visibly submit to their importance.

    This is what much of the hate for Trump…and hate is not too strong a word…is really all about.

    • #4
  5. Peter Meza Member
    Peter Meza
    @PeterMeza

    EJHill (View Comment):

    Shocking. 2020 is going to be a binary choice? Who knew?

    “Binary choice” trigger warning – Can you imagine the amount of ink that will be spilled revisiting this topic all over again? Maybe we can just cut and paste all of the old posts and tweets and update the date stamp by four years.

    • #5
  6. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    JamesSalerno (View Comment):

    Great post. The Trump rhetoric/emotional stuff is overplayed. Because you have the choice to be offended. You don’t have a choice when your rights are taken away.

    Correct.

    • #6
  7. David Foster Member
    David Foster
    @DavidFoster

    Expanding on my previous comment…there is also a class of people who are not themselves Electors, but are serfs and vassals of the Electors:  financially-struggling adjunct professors with little hope of promotion, for example.  Many of these people identify strongly with the power/influence of the Electors they serve, and deeply resent any challenge to the authority of same.

    • #7
  8. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Peter Meza (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):

    Shocking. 2020 is going to be a binary choice? Who knew?

    “Binary choice” trigger warning – Can you imagine the amount of ink that will be spilled revisiting this topic all over again? Maybe we can just cut and paste all of the old posts and tweets and update the date stamp by four years.

    That will save time.

    • #8
  9. Reformed_Yuppie Inactive
    Reformed_Yuppie
    @Reformed_Yuppie

    Trump is a shallow, vain, dimwitted, ignorant, nepotistic, crony-enthusiastic, hubristic numbskull. And I’ll be voting for him. Because seriously, how would President Freaking Warren be any better for me or the country? All the Dems had to do was field a candidate who was moderate and not insane and they’d have gotten people like me to just stay home (or rather skip the top of the ballot). And yet they will go full retard anyway. So people like me who despise Trump’s personality, demeanor, and a portion of his policies, will vote for him anyway, because I’m fine with a transactional relationship. He’s a prostitute. I get something from him and I don’t need him to be an angel, or even more than marginally competent. Just keep having Cocaine Mitch confirm more Heritage Foundation judges and keep the Dems from making any laws. I’m a man of simple desires. 

    • #9
  10. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Reformed_Yuppie (View Comment):

    Trump is a shallow, vain, dimwitted, ignorant, nepotistic, crony-enthusiastic, hubristic numbskull. And I’ll be voting for him. Because seriously, how would President Freaking Warren be any better for me or the country? All the Dems had to do was field a candidate who was moderate and not insane and they’d have gotten people like me to just stay home (or rather skip the top of the ballot). And yet they will go full retard anyway. So people like me who despise Trump’s personality, demeanor, and a portion of his policies, will vote for him anyway, because I’m fine with a transactional relationship. He’s a prostitute. I get something from him and I don’t need him to be an angel, or even more than marginally competent. Just keep having Cocaine Mitch confirm more Heritage Foundation judges and keep the Dems from making any laws. I’m a man of simple desires.

    How did it come to this? 

    Government Is How We Steal From Each Other™

    • #10
  11. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    I have several recommendations. Follow @shabbosgoy on Twitter (James knows him) and listen to this podcast:

    The Chris Buskirk Show: Episode 16—Democrats Push Impeachment, Senate GOP Writes Letters Full of Empty Threats; Julie Kelly Joins http://bit.ly/2MOvffP 

    People need to stop being idealistic for a whole bunch of reasons. 

    Listen to Angelo Codavilla, David Horowitz, in the Ludwig von Mises Institute. All is revealed.

    Ep. 843 The Roots of Political Correctness, with Angelo Codevilla https://tomwoods.com/ep-843-the-roots-of-political-correctness-with-angelo-codevilla/

     

     

     

    • #11
  12. Reformed_Yuppie Inactive
    Reformed_Yuppie
    @Reformed_Yuppie

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Reformed_Yuppie (View Comment):

    Trump is a shallow, vain, dimwitted, ignorant, nepotistic, crony-enthusiastic, hubristic numbskull. And I’ll be voting for him. Because seriously, how would President Freaking Warren be any better for me or the country? All the Dems had to do was field a candidate who was moderate and not insane and they’d have gotten people like me to just stay home (or rather skip the top of the ballot). And yet they will go full retard anyway. So people like me who despise Trump’s personality, demeanor, and a portion of his policies, will vote for him anyway, because I’m fine with a transactional relationship. He’s a prostitute. I get something from him and I don’t need him to be an angel, or even more than marginally competent. Just keep having Cocaine Mitch confirm more Heritage Foundation judges and keep the Dems from making any laws. I’m a man of simple desires.

    How did it come to this?

    Government Is How We Steal From Each Other™

    We grew apart. We stopped having strong communities. We made politicians into some version celebrity. We stopped caring. We started caring too much. We stopped looking at each other and we started suspecting one another. 

    In a normal world someone like Warren would have zero chance of getting the nomination. The money base of socially liberal Wall Street guys would have had her taken out months ago. They’d back someone boring who’d leave the economy alone. Those days are gone. Wall Street—which has contempt for Trump but also likes profiting off of his presidency—will back him, full stop. Warren is an existential threat to them (and me). So what choice do any of us have? The gyre has widened. Things will eventually revert to the mean. But until then it’s a long, slow slide into mediocrity. If we’re stuck with mediocre leaders it might as well be one who gives me what I want. 

    (You have no idea how depressing this is to me)

    • #12
  13. Franco Member
    Franco
    @Franco

    Not bad, but not exactly “nailing it”.

    I take issue with two points: most of his policies, fall within the window of what his predecessors easily could have done….

    Notso fast, kemosabe . Because they didn’t. So either it wasn’t easy, or they didn’t really want to do any of those things. That’s the illusion some would like to believe and promote. I have come to think it was mostly the latter. 

    That four years of a semi-moderate Democrat with a Republican Senate probably wouldn’t fundamentally change our country is the second miss. The hammer just hit our collective thumb with that one. Ouch!

    What’s happening is that many Democrats are no longer worrying about openly proclaiming their socialist ideas. They used to think they couldn’t win elections promoting such policies, now a good number think they can. The others want to remain in stealth mode. The battle is over tactics and strategy, policy not so much.

    Hillary would have transformed us quite a lot. So would empty-suit Biden because he’d have to go along with the socialists or else. He’s not a smart or strong man. 

    The other problem is that at some point incrementalism pushes us over the cliff. It’s not as though there doesn’t exist something called a “tipping point” in politics. Some of our Republican friends don’t seem to understand this simple but important concept.

    • #13
  14. Unsk Member
    Unsk
    @Unsk

    “But four years of Liz or Bernie or (probably) Joe, without a GOP Senate, probably would. I do not want my children to have to grow up in a bigger, worse version of 1970s Britain.”

    Fine Post. I agree with Hang On’s sentiment.  A Brit in 1970’s Britain had options. An American in a America led by a Warren, a Biden or a Saunders with a operating Democrat majority in Congress would not. Yes the entire world economy, already teetering on the brink and incredibly overextended , would collapse very quickly with basic necessities in very short supply, but for those who have not been paying attention to what Schiff, Mueller, Comey et al have been doing ,  the Democrats have gone already full Authoritarian, not just Marxist,  with a Gestapo like respect for the Bill of Rights.  

    No legitimate conservative would be exempt in the new regime for the contempt and the punishment the government would hand out with Stalinist like efficiency and glee. Amid a Venezuelan like depression, we  would see a  new American Purge of the Republican Kulaks on a massive scale  with full scale appropriation of wealth ( already virtue signaled by the Democrat front runners) in a  Marxist Reign of Terror . This terror would just get worse and worse because a Wealth  Appropriation would never come close to generating anywhere near  the cash needed to pay for all the insane Democrat Magical Thinking promises, so there will be a need to double down, again and again in the vain hope of finding a way to pay for it all in an era of epic and devastating economic collapse, severe malnutrition  and much death. 

    I would expect a very bloody, harsh, ruthless and perhaps long Civil War ( only if nukes aren’t used) to soon follow with millions of casualties.  A defining factor of whether America survives at all will be what side the Police and the Military choose to be on. 

    • #14
  15. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Reformed_Yuppie (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Reformed_Yuppie (View Comment):

    Trump is a shallow, vain, dimwitted, ignorant, nepotistic, crony-enthusiastic, hubristic numbskull. And I’ll be voting for him. Because seriously, how would President Freaking Warren be any better for me or the country? All the Dems had to do was field a candidate who was moderate and not insane and they’d have gotten people like me to just stay home (or rather skip the top of the ballot). And yet they will go full retard anyway. So people like me who despise Trump’s personality, demeanor, and a portion of his policies, will vote for him anyway, because I’m fine with a transactional relationship. He’s a prostitute. I get something from him and I don’t need him to be an angel, or even more than marginally competent. Just keep having Cocaine Mitch confirm more Heritage Foundation judges and keep the Dems from making any laws. I’m a man of simple desires.

    How did it come to this?

    Government Is How We Steal From Each Other™

    We grew apart. We stopped having strong communities. We made politicians into some version celebrity. We stopped caring. We started caring too much. We stopped looking at each other and we started suspecting one another.

    In a normal world someone like Warren would have zero chance of getting the nomination. The money base of socially liberal Wall Street guys would have had her taken out months ago. They’d back someone boring who’d leave the economy alone. Those days are gone. Wall Street—which has contempt for Trump but also likes profiting off of his presidency—will back him, full stop. Warren is an existential threat to them (and me). So what choice do any of us have? The gyre has widened. Things will eventually revert to the mean. But until then it’s a long, slow slide into mediocrity. If we’re stuck with mediocre leaders it might as well be one who gives me what I want.

    (You have no idea how depressing this is to me)

    The excessive centralization of government is dysfunctional. It started under Woodrow Wilson and it got out of control after the Soviet Union fell. Way too much Federal Reserve and way too much Washington D.C. Act accordingly. Stop being idealistic.

    • #15
  16. BastiatJunior Member
    BastiatJunior
    @BastiatJunior

    Peter Meza (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):

    Shocking. 2020 is going to be a binary choice? Who knew?

    “Binary choice” trigger warning – Can you imagine the amount of ink that will be spilled revisiting this topic all over again? Maybe we can just cut and paste all of the old posts and tweets and update the date stamp by four years.

    Yup.  I’m looking for mine right now.

    • #16
  17. Reformed_Yuppie Inactive
    Reformed_Yuppie
    @Reformed_Yuppie

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Reformed_Yuppie (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Reformed_Yuppie (View Comment):

    Trump is a shallow, vain, dimwitted, ignorant, nepotistic, crony-enthusiastic, hubristic numbskull. And I’ll be voting for him. Because seriously, how would President Freaking Warren be any better for me or the country? All the Dems had to do was field a candidate who was moderate and not insane and they’d have gotten people like me to just stay home (or rather skip the top of the ballot). And yet they will go full retard anyway. So people like me who despise Trump’s personality, demeanor, and a portion of his policies, will vote for him anyway, because I’m fine with a transactional relationship. He’s a prostitute. I get something from him and I don’t need him to be an angel, or even more than marginally competent. Just keep having Cocaine Mitch confirm more Heritage Foundation judges and keep the Dems from making any laws. I’m a man of simple desires.

    How did it come to this?

    Government Is How We Steal From Each Other™

    We grew apart. We stopped having strong communities. We made politicians into some version celebrity. We stopped caring. We started caring too much. We stopped looking at each other and we started suspecting one another.

    In a normal world someone like Warren would have zero chance of getting the nomination. The money base of socially liberal Wall Street guys would have had her taken out months ago. They’d back someone boring who’d leave the economy alone. Those days are gone. Wall Street—which has contempt for Trump but also likes profiting off of his presidency—will back him, full stop. Warren is an existential threat to them (and me). So what choice do any of us have? The gyre has widened. Things will eventually revert to the mean. But until then it’s a long, slow slide into mediocrity. If we’re stuck with mediocre leaders it might as well be one who gives me what I want.

    (You have no idea how depressing this is to me)

    The excessive centralization of government is dysfunctional. It started under Woodrow Wilson and it got out of control after the Soviet Union fell. Way too much Federal Reserve and way too much Washington D.C. Act accordingly. Stop being idealistic.

    Pretty sure we’ve already done that one. 

    • #17
  18. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Reformed_Yuppie (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Reformed_Yuppie (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Reformed_Yuppie (View Comment):

    Trump is a shallow, vain, dimwitted, ignorant, nepotistic, crony-enthusiastic, hubristic numbskull. And I’ll be voting for him. Because seriously, how would President Freaking Warren be any better for me or the country? All the Dems had to do was field a candidate who was moderate and not insane and they’d have gotten people like me to just stay home (or rather skip the top of the ballot). And yet they will go full retard anyway. So people like me who despise Trump’s personality, demeanor, and a portion of his policies, will vote for him anyway, because I’m fine with a transactional relationship. He’s a prostitute. I get something from him and I don’t need him to be an angel, or even more than marginally competent. Just keep having Cocaine Mitch confirm more Heritage Foundation judges and keep the Dems from making any laws. I’m a man of simple desires.

    How did it come to this?

    Government Is How We Steal From Each Other™

    We grew apart. We stopped having strong communities. We made politicians into some version celebrity. We stopped caring. We started caring too much. We stopped looking at each other and we started suspecting one another.

    In a normal world someone like Warren would have zero chance of getting the nomination. The money base of socially liberal Wall Street guys would have had her taken out months ago. They’d back someone boring who’d leave the economy alone. Those days are gone. Wall Street—which has contempt for Trump but also likes profiting off of his presidency—will back him, full stop. Warren is an existential threat to them (and me). So what choice do any of us have? The gyre has widened. Things will eventually revert to the mean. But until then it’s a long, slow slide into mediocrity. If we’re stuck with mediocre leaders it might as well be one who gives me what I want.

    (You have no idea how depressing this is to me)

    The excessive centralization of government is dysfunctional. It started under Woodrow Wilson and it got out of control after the Soviet Union fell. Way too much Federal Reserve and way too much Washington D.C. Act accordingly. Stop being idealistic.

    Pretty sure we’ve already done that one.

    No.

    • #18
  19. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Devine: William Barr explains how people who hate religion are ruining our country

    By Miranda Devine

    Judging by the spittle-flecked hatred coming his way, Attorney General Bill Barr scored a bull’s-eye on the intolerant left with his speech at Notre Dame Saturday defending religious liberty.

    For 50 years, he said, militant secularists have been waging deliberate war on the Judeo-Christian morality that underpins our system of government, with terrible consequences for the health of our society, including family breakdown, alienated males, drug addiction, depression and suicide.

    He explained that the Founding Fathers set up America as a unique “experiment” in which they trusted the people to govern themselves.

    But for this to work it needed people of virtue and moral discipline, capable of imposing internal restraints over their own base instincts rather than having restraints imposed by the state.

    Religion helps form those internal restraints and “teach, train, and habituate people to want what is good.”

    Barr quoted John Adams: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”

    No secular system of values has yet been found that replaces the role of religion. What we call “values” today are just the “vapor trails of Christianity.”

    The Founding Fathers knew the greatest risk to America would not come from external foes but would be because its people couldn’t handle freedom, said Barr.

    It’s a brilliant, clear-headed speech, and you don’t have to be religious to appreciate the historical logic.

    https://nypost.com/2019/10/16/devine-perverse-william-barr-bashing-makes-little-sense/?utm_source=twitter_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons

     

     

     

    • #19
  20. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    I’m watching Special Report / Martha McCallum right now. Trump is stepping in it because he lacks civic executive experience. 

    This is what we voted for.

    The Never Trumper’s and the Democrat party are getting off on it.

    • #20
  21. aardo vozz Member
    aardo vozz
    @aardovozz

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    How did it come to this?

    Government Is How We Steal From Each Other™

    Not exactly. More like this:

    Theft is how we steal from each other. Government is how we make it legal. 

    <sarcasm off >

    < cynicism always on >

    • #21
  22. aardo vozz Member
    aardo vozz
    @aardovozz

    Reformed_Yuppie (View Comment):

    Trump is a shallow, vain, dimwitted, ignorant, nepotistic, crony-enthusiastic, hubristic numbskull. 

    And  was elected precisely because those supporting him thought that when it came to dealing with powerful people in D.C.(and around the world for that matter) he would fit right in.

    <sarcasm off >

    <cynicism always on >

    • #22
  23. aardo vozz Member
    aardo vozz
    @aardovozz

    Unsk (View Comment):

    “But four years of Liz or Bernie or (probably) Joe, without a GOP Senate, probably would. I do not want my children to have to grow up in a bigger, worse version of 1970s Britain.”

    Fine Post. I agree with Hang On’s sentiment. A Brit in 1970’s Britain had options. An American in a America led by a Warren, a Biden or a Saunders with a operating Democrat majority in Congress would not. Yes the entire world economy, already teetering on the brink and incredibly overextended , would collapse very quickly with basic necessities in very short supply, but for those who have not been paying attention to what Schiff, Mueller, Comey et al have been doing , the Democrats have gone already full Authoritarian, not just Marxist, with a Gestapo like respect for the Bill of Rights.

    No legitimate conservative would be exempt in the new regime for the contempt and the punishment the government would hand out with Stalinist like efficiency and glee. Amid a Venezuelan like depression, we would see a new American Purge of the Republican Kulaks on a massive scale with full scale appropriation of wealth ( already virtue signaled by the Democrat front runners) in a Marxist Reign of Terror . This terror would just get worse and worse because a Wealth Appropriation would never come close to generating anywhere near the cash needed to pay for all the insane Democrat Magical Thinking promises, so there will be a need to double down, again and again in the vain hope of finding a way to pay for it all in an era of epic and devastating economic collapse, severe malnutrition and much death.

    I would expect a very bloody, harsh, ruthless and perhaps long Civil War ( only if nukes aren’t used) to soon follow with millions of casualties. A defining factor of whether America survives at all will be what side the Police and the Military choose to be on.

    Interesting comment, but in my opinion overly optimistic.

    • #23
  24. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Please listen to / watch that stuff I posted. 

    • #24
  25. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    Every single Democratic candidate proposes to dictate requirements upon the American people, requirements based on little more than the personal preferences of the candidate. In other words, every Democratic candidate proposes to create a tyranny.

    So yes, the entire Democratic field is unacceptable to those of us who do not think a tyranny is healthy for the well-being of people.

    • #25
  26. Valiuth Member
    Valiuth
    @Valiuth

    Unsk (View Comment):
    I would expect a very bloody, harsh, ruthless and perhaps long Civil War ( only if nukes aren’t used) to soon follow with millions of casualties. A defining factor of whether America survives at all will be what side the Police and the Military choose to be on. 

    Truly you hold a perfectly rational and sane view of the world. I for one look forward to the future blood letting and hope my extensive lists of Ricocheti Trump Colaborators will earn me a plush position in the future Revolutionary Government of Frist Citizen Warren.  

    • #26
  27. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    RufusRJones (View Comment):
    People need to stop being idealistic for a whole bunch of reasons. 

    Right. Idealism is fine for immortals, I guess 

     

    • #27
  28. J Ro Member
    J Ro
    @JRo

    Peter Robinson:

    From a friend, who nails it:

    Most of the legitimate extreme objections to Trump are “personal” — to his rhetoric, his personality, his style. 

    At this point, my mind is naturally thinking, “Praise be to Trump for slaying the Clinton dragon!”

    Remember? It was like watching the Wicked Witch of the West, surrounded by her loyal guardsmen and flying monkeys, melt and disappear into the stone pavement. What a shocking relief! 

    But watch out, the flying monkeys are still out there…

    • #28
  29. Peter Robinson Contributor
    Peter Robinson
    @PeterRobinson

    JamesSalerno (View Comment):

    Great post. The Trump rhetoric/emotional stuff is overplayed. Because you have the choice to be offended. You don’t have a choice when your rights are taken away.

    Beautifully put.

    • #29
  30. tigerlily Member
    tigerlily
    @tigerlily

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Devine: William Barr explains how people who hate religion are ruining our country

    By Miranda Devine

    Judging by the spittle-flecked hatred coming his way, Attorney General Bill Barr scored a bull’s-eye on the intolerant left with his speech at Notre Dame Saturday defending religious liberty.

    For 50 years, he said, militant secularists have been waging deliberate war on the Judeo-Christian morality that underpins our system of government, with terrible consequences for the health of our society, including family breakdown, alienated males, drug addiction, depression and suicide.

    He explained that the Founding Fathers set up America as a unique “experiment” in which they trusted the people to govern themselves.

    But for this to work it needed people of virtue and moral discipline, capable of imposing internal restraints over their own base instincts rather than having restraints imposed by the state.

    Religion helps form those internal restraints and “teach, train, and habituate people to want what is good.”

    Barr quoted John Adams: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”

    No secular system of values has yet been found that replaces the role of religion. What we call “values” today are just the “vapor trails of Christianity.”

    The Founding Fathers knew the greatest risk to America would not come from external foes but would be because its people couldn’t handle freedom, said Barr.

    It’s a brilliant, clear-headed speech, and you don’t have to be religious to appreciate the historical logic.

    https://nypost.com/2019/10/16/devine-perverse-william-barr-bashing-makes-little-sense/?utm_source=twitter_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons

     

     

     

    This was a great speech.

    • #30
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