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Who Pays with a Biden Victory?
I’ll tell you who’s the poster child for who doesn’t pay: J.K. Rowling. Despite being as rich as the Queen of England, the author isn’t going to pay when the “social democrats” take over. The lefty mob can’t touch her no matter how un-PC she is. Heck, she could buy her own island nation and unfairly restrict immigration exclusively to Harry Potter fans and other TERFs (build a wall!) and the woke SJWs still couldn’t touch her, no matter how massive the twitter hate-tsunami directed at her. She’s in the protected class.
Now, as a Christian, a liberty-loving conservative, and an American, I don’t begrudge her her wealth and status. She used her time and talent to write those beloved books, and the payoff was yuuuge! Good for her. But, when she and others in the protected class advocate for further consolidation of power in government to enact statist “solutions” that ultimately hurt the rest of us? I get a little resentful. Bitter, even.
And that’s what this election is all about: who pays? Average Americans have had it pretty good for a while. I’m not discounting the despair economy under Bush and Obama and the unprecedented lowering of life expectancy that occurred with the opioid crisis, family dissolution, outsourcing of manufacturing jobs in the new global order, and the erosion of human dignity due to dependency. But, the middle class grew pretty big over several generations and we became comfortable in our lifestyles. Maybe too comfortable.
Middle-class privilege made some of us believe the government could fix the remaining disparities in our society. Having a job, a nice home in the suburbs, a car in the garage under ten years old, 2.5 kids, and a dog allowed us the luxury of adopting ideas antithetical to the founding principles that brought us to our relatively elevated status in human history. We stopped dancing with the one who brung us and elected lefty Democrats and Decorum Republicans who had no intention of simply preserving our pre-political, natural rights when they could be our earthly saviors. They had work to do! Important work.
But, now the jig is up. Those with eyes to see can tell who will suffer the consequences of this godless, materialist, anti-human leftward lurch in our society: it will be the Normals, not those in the protected class. Not the Mitt Romneys, or the David Frenches, or the Bill Kristols, George Wills, and Jen Rubins. And certainly not any Democrat pols. AOC is set for life! The Nevers will find some patrons willing to support them for their Great Orange Hate. Pierre Omidyar has been very generous to date. Maybe things will get a little tougher for them when commie takeover is complete, and Mitt might even lose one of his lakeside dachas. But, as long as they swear fealty to the uniparty, they’ll be fine.
When President Joe Biden and his puppet masters destroy the energy sector, flood the country with people from failed socialist and Muslim states, nationalize medicine, and bend the knee to Xi, we older, established Americans who’ve worked and saved and paid down our debts might get to keep our property and get by. But, our kids won’t have a chance at the American dream. Even the ones who manage to climb the professional ladder (I’m thinking doctors, for example) will be working for the state in one manner or another. Everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.
I suppose no one should take my predictions any more seriously than I take the prognostications of our political pundits (alliteration much?). Which is it? Polls indicate Trump has already lost the election, or voters don’t start paying attention until September? Historically, no candidate has won with numbers this low, or Trump’s 2016 win despite a 99 percent prediction of a Clinton victory was within historical norms? Nobody knows nuthin’.
Except … the trend isn’t good. By which I mean, Americans seem to have lost the thread of liberty and are distracted by all manner of other, lesser pursuits relating to “justice” — as in, social-, economic-, climate-, and racial- “justice.” And you know what they say about asking God for justice? Better to ask for mercy, or you might just get what you deserve.
In any case, it won’t be the ruling elites or other members of the protected class who bear the costs of foolish demands for “justice.” It never is. It’ll be the rest of us.
Vote Trump/Pence 2020 as if you’re kids’ future depends upon it, because it does.
Published in Elections
Them that has…gets.
Not necessarily. Antifa has found the homes of the Protected in Seattle and Chicago so far, and they seem to be equal-opportunity destroyers. Maybe they will get a taste of chaos.
You misunderstand what being wealthy is about. It is not about buying fancier food or healthcare. It is about buying adulation from sycophants. That is why (most) of the wealthy are progressives. The ultimate use of money is to buy the fawning of other rich and famous people. J.K. is forsaking that based on feminist principles. It is nice to see someone sacrificing something for principles.
I see much in this statement. I don’t see much in all the hoopla about racism in America. I just don’t think there is that much racism. Now, there is resentment and plenty of it. And it leads to despair, bitterness, and crime. Crime committed principally against neighbors. Just as you point out in the statement above would come upon the middle class if the Commies prevail because the elitists are enabling them. Urban minorities have been dealt such a hand for over half a century thanks to the legacy of Lyndon Johnson. There is a lot of resentment that shows through in the urban minority population. Their leaders try to convince them that middle class Americans (that’s a lot of whites) are racists and that is the problem. But the actual problem is the resentment caused by the Democrat policies that keep the minorities in that dreadful place they have been in for fifty years. The light shines when the rest of us can see the attempts to corral us into the same conditions inner city minorities have faced all their lives.
I can’t get too excited about the idea that the Left will “eat its own.” There’s a lot of death and destruction that comes to the proles before that happens.
I don’t think so. There are plenty of anonymous wealthy people out there. Their wealth still buys them protection from the vagaries of life, and I have no problem with that. My problem is when they, for example, decry President Trump’s tweets while ignoring (or worse, advocate for) progressive, globalist, interventionist policies that do damage to the Forgotten Man.
J.K Rowling speaks the truth about transgender women not really being women, and I credit her for that. But, even the devil quotes scripture back to Christ. And she advocates for progressivism in every other respect. She’s not a friend of liberty.
Get thee back to the plantation.
Klavan is so good on this stuff. He says the argument against socialism isn’t that it doesn’t work, although it doesn’t. The argument is it’s immoral!
It’s immoral to take the fruits of someone’s labor, no matter what “good” you think you’re going to do with it. Earnings come from work which consumes our time which is, by definition, human life. As Heather MacDonald says, “But to care about the economy is to care about human life, since the economy is how life is sustained.”
What do we call it when lives are consumed involuntarily in labor for the enrichment of others? Slavery. Socialism is slavery. If the progs are going to be made to own anything, this should be it: they advocate for slavery.
Capitalism (at least the large-scale kind) and socialism are both immoral. You can’t get away from it.
I would say capitalism is amoral. The morality of any voluntary exchange depends on the morality of the individuals involved, which is always a dicey proposition, but moreso in a society detached from its Jude0-Christian roots. But, capitalism doesn’t in itself impose a moral code, unlike socialism (from those who have. . .)
The Revolution does always eat its own, and will eventually come for them all. Too bad they don’t know history.
Capitalism, as a description of an economy, takes many forms affected by the political structure in which it is operating. Given most of us think the United States came to be one nation under a premise that individuals have an innate right to life, liberty, and property, we value a form of capitalism that functions in an environment where competitive advantages are not obtained by actions unrelated to market factors. In the United States today, there is a load of things such as requirements, rules, and regulations that fall into this category and many exist through the joint efforts of big business and big government. So these result from the moral code that our form of government imposes on our markets and it is very easy to conclude that much of the imposed code is immoral in many regards. And some of it is ok. The more things get involved the more immoral it becomes. Socialism takes one to the end of the line. The degree of slavery for individuals is determined by where your government is on this spectrum.
Capitalism is amoral. Socialism is immoral.
Update: And yet again I should have read down before making a reply.
This is true because these are two different classes of things.
America has capitalism
Europe has capitalism
China has capitalism
Each of those forms of capitalism functions differently and each of those has a different form of government involving greater degrees of socialism from top to bottom
Capitalism requires a moral society if it is to succeed. Socialism can only take root in an immoral society. There’s a gulf of conflict in between, but it’s a linear scale: every step towards socialism requires a corresponding fall in morality. Every step back up the ladder, not towards capitalism but towards a society in which it can function well, requires that we clean ourselves up just a little more.
I agree. The thing people should be recognizing in all of this is that even my incredibly weak and girly generation can cause a lot of damage when spaghetti-arm boys, who look like lesbians, and lesbians, who look like motorcycle cliques, get together. But even with the all of the silly changes, they’re still just a clique – where the popular kids aren’t actually popular.
I think they’re gonna find out whom they can and whom they cannot bully, and they’ll be forced to act accordingly. Who knows, it might even force the rest of my generation to finally grow up!
They still die when shot. That is where this will eventually go if they keep pushing and hurting people. Eventually they will hurt the wrong people the wrong way and the reaction will be spectacularly bad. Currently those that truly know violence, that understand how bad it is, that have killed and seen killing, are staying out of it hoping for a peaceful resolution. Eventually that may change.
This is my broken record response: At the height of the Soviet Union, only 10% of the population belonged to the Communist Party. Additionally , any formerly non-Muslim country where the Muslim population tops 10%, sharia law courts and no-go zones pop up. It doesn’t take a majority to fundamentally transform a country; it takes a ruthless minority and a complacent, “it can’t happen here,” majority.
It’s happening here. Bigly.
Check out Deerbornistan.
That contagion has already spread in the region. My sister has lived in the Toledo area for probably close to 50 years. The neighborhood park in her subdivision where her kid grew up playing has been taken over by Muslims — veiled women at one end and swarthy, macho men at the other. Doesn’t look or feel anything like the Midwest I grew up in. And it doesn’t feel safe for non-Muslims, especially unaccompanied, unveiled women.
I can’t get too excited about the idea that the Left will “eat its own.” There’s a lot of death and destruction that comes to the proles before that happens.
The Left in most of their biggest revolutions have “eaten their own” with regularity. Woke thought is a downward spiral to death of all who don’t agree with you including many who thought they were the “Woke” ones.
I’m not in the camp the says “capitalism is amoral”.
First of all, we left “Capitalism” far behind at least a couple of decades ago. The hallmark of Capitalism is the efficient distribution of capital to those activities that can use it best. That no longer happens in the US. Wall Street rapes most start ups and the Big Banks no longer lend to them in any meaningful way. Free Enterprise is being strangled. The distribution of capital is now in the hands of the Deep State Bureaucrats and their allies the Corporatist Oligarchs who both hate free markets, and who have acted accordingly.
I find a certain morality in lightly regulated “free markets”, that are regulated as America once was, to insure against monopolies and manipulation of the markets by the powerful who have undue influence on our political system. In those “free markets” , at least free individuals were free to follow their dreams and create something new that would help the general welfare. “Capitalism’ really didn’t get started until around the time of the American Revolution when free people were allowed to freely start new ventures. Economic activity and living standards took off like a rocket first here in America, then in Britain, followed by Europe and eventually around the globe as a result of your supposedly “amoral” Capitalism. Somehow an awful lot of good came from that “amoral” Capitalism.
I don’t disagree with any of these particulars. My only point is capitalism is non-coercive (free enterprise, voluntary exchange), but that doesn’t guarantee moral outcomes. It works best in a society of people who believe in objective truth and accountability to God, which promotes virtuous behaviors. But, the organizing principles of that society precede the economic ones. That is, if the people believe in individual sovereignty based on God-given natural rights, and limited, separated powers of government intended to secure those rights, capitalism works great. In other types of societies, it may make people wealthier, but it won’t make them free.
In the fight that is upon us now I will take allies from any quarter. They will all be needed. I disagree politically with most of those who signed the Harper’s letter, as well as with parts of the letter itself, but I am glad it was sent and glad they signed it. Some of the best work and most aggressive attacks on Wokism and its threat to liberty are coming from progressives with whom I have a lot of disagreements. There are plenty of others as wealthy as Rowling who have quickly folded after being attacked by the Woke so kudos to her.
Lie back and think of Mark Steyn.
When America’s golden age was occurring, 1950’s to 1972 or so, our form of capitalism was family capitalism. The middle class was respected by politicians, as there was not yet a fully formed political class. (Can’t remember the name of the 1950’s movie, but in it two Congressman inadvertently met on an airplane, both flying coach, and it was so interesting to think that this would most likely never happen these days.)
The major war we had fought in, World war II, had involved a lot of capital, but our military earnestly devised strategies to win against our enemies. We entered the war against Japan and Germany in early Dec 1941, and declared victory by mid August 1945. We took on two major enemies and one minor (Italy) with one of those opponents having a tremendous fighting force in terms of its superior land, air and sea based weaponry and personnel.
So in less than three years and 9 months, we managed this major victory. Yet Korea was a mere tie; Vietnam a 12 year quagmire, where poorly supplied troops faced an indifferent bureaucracy of military higher ups, who knew that there were payouts to come to them from Raytheon, Dow Chemical, Boeing and others in the MIC if the situation could be kept at a plateau. (Often in the modern era, payouts do not involve suitcases of cash handed over in dark alleys late at night, but campaign funds, or jobs for relatives.)
Iraq and Afghanistan are both Vietnam on steroids. Had we installed a decent Marshall Plan immediately after the Shock and Awe, the Iraqi people would have been supportive. Instead we destroyed the very things that kept that society somewhat cohesive. (Our excuse was that we never said we would help insure a stable society, but merely the capture of Saddam Hussein. If we had handled Germany in this manner in 1945, we most likely would still be there fighting terrorists in the hills.) By June 2003, Sunnis realized they were in a nightmare reality where Shi’a could and did kidnap their family members, including their young daughters. Both sides took money to rat out anyone on the other side whose names and addresses they knew, telling American military these people were “terrorists.”
I understand people on the Left being upset about how slanted our economy is these days. Even Centrist Tucker Carlson took on an explanation of “vulture capitalism.” His Dec 2019 presentation of what this form of capitalism does is still available for viewing. (Under 11 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdwH066g5lQ&t=7s
End of Part One
Pt 2 is inside reply # 26
##
Good points. I don’t mean to sound like I don’t think this is serious. I just think anybody who is scheming to truly destroy our country better be playing a really, really long game. Communists have to overestimate themselves and their objectives, and just like our homegrown commies, they don’t even have to deliver – and they don’t. It’s like Game of Thrones with those people. Russia, Venezuela, Korea or the Middle East aren’t models I’d relate to the US. Our country has been digesting plurality for a long time – not always well, but we’ve managed. We’ve got a lot of honorable people who’ve betrayed “their own.” Still, we aren’t short on true traitors either.
The left has been accruing small victories for decades, the only way they stop winning would be if things got worse. Now we’re seeing it come to fruition, and everyone (excepting the participants, and the obnoxiously proud) knows it’s a disaster. I think it makes sense that non-partisans are keeping quiet, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t thinking hard about this next election. Joe Biden will not inspire any major turnout, I doubt we’d have to peel that many genuine liberals from their favored party or political sloths from their sofas.
Part Two
So since 1969 or so, we have taxed the middle class of the USA for these massive and unending, never victorious wars, while shipping the decent paying manufacturing jobs over seas. I once posted on FB that we had not won a war since August 1945, only to be reminded that under Reagan, we actually did win our war against the nation island of Grenada. (Yippee!! USA! USA!)
In addition to the wars, the Biggest Players in our society set up a huge Economic Collapse that hit the middle class from 2006 to 2012 or so. And even in 2012, the economy was simply stagnant for the average person.
During the Depression of 1929 to 1942, middle class Americans who held on to their jobs could take advantage of their position and add to their wealth. After all, they could buy many things, as the costs of real estate and most goods were down drastically. But in 2006 to 2011, the American economy was so shattered that for the most part, the only economic activity going on was banks buying up smaller banks!
Trump has had somewhat of an understanding of some of these matters. His installation of Gen Mike Flynn as his National Security adviser was a huge tribute to his desire to keep us out of unnecessary wars, by having someone he trusted at his side, to feed him information that was clear and was. Although Flynn had been considered a hawk during the early Aughts, by 2016 Flynn was moderate in terms of war. He also understood ISIS was not what most in the public had been told it was – it was US/CIA created. Under Obama, ISIS could have been wiped out by the Russian military, but the American military prevented that from happening. (Despite Obama’s orders to the contrary.) Under Trump, this activity actually proceeded ahead, and ISIS became weaker, until Flynn was discarded due to the emergence of the damn Democratic “RussiaGate” scandal.
So our society does have a lot to answer for. Most definitely. But these discussions should be occurring about the endless wars, in which our national treasure, both monetary and in terms of flesh and blood, was expended for little in return. The discussion should also focus on the vulture side of capitalism, and not about 151 trillions of $$s as reparations for minorities who may or may not be descendants of people who were slaves on Southern plantations 155 years ago.
The discussion needs to happen & happen quickly. The worst aspect ever of vulture capitalism is now apparent: that of a locked down society, consigned to mask wearing & economic damages that are incalculable. Even 6 weeks ago it has been stated that 150 million people in 3rd world nations will starve, due to shut downs in USA, & Europe. We have been lied to about a virus whose survival rate is, in normal societies where the remedies are not suppressed but made available, most certainly stands at 99.096%
Whose point is not victory, but to spend public money to enrich corporations.
From the Grayzone:
So that’s another reason the Deep State would prefer Biden to Trump.
Capitalism is immoral. The three great western religions all have teachings against usury, yet capitalism couldn’t survive without it. There is somebody’s big immorality concern whichever way you turn.
I hate to make a big deal of it, but when somebody makes arguments against socialism like Klavan is described as doing, I roll my eyes. He will get exactly nowhere with that argument, and doesn’t deserve to do any better.
So there. I just made a moral assertion.
Dang! That’s a post worth of knowledge packed into comment-size.
Quote isn’t working. But, @reticulator, the Catholic church’s teaching, which, at one time was all of Christian teaching, has been fine-tuned on the charging of interest to say that usury is the exorbitant (exploitative) charging of interest, not all interest applied to a loan. Money became a commodity in itself, and the Church responded with a development of its moral teaching on interest and loans that made reasonable sense. Usury is still immoral, but usury =/= all interest charges.
I just listened to this yesterday discussed by Tim Staples. “Social doctrine changes over time in how the Church applies social teaching in a given situation.” And he gives the example of usury. Begin listening at 35 minutes.