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Democrats Gone Wild!
Under single-party rule, the internecine battles are generally more interesting than their debates with their opposition. Partially because corruption is so easy and rampant under single-party rule. But also because, with no meaningful opposition, the ruling party can do whatever it wants. So under these circumstances, you really find out who these people are and what motivates them.
This presents a problem for the modern Democratic Party since it has no obvious ideological underpinnings. It’s not based on Marxism, or Socialism, or Communism, or Libertarianism, or any other over-riding political philosophy. The only reason the Democratic Party has to exist is simply the acquisition of power. And the people who are attracted to that, the ones who end up in charge when Democrats gain power, struggle with their lack of ethical guidance and their tendency to abuse the power they just gained. Or worse, they don’t struggle with it – they revel in it, given the chance. Once they control the White House, Congress, and our electoral process, you get “Democrats gone wild.” There are no brakes.
Symptomatic of the left’s lack of intellectual framework is the nature of their public intellectuals and other thinkers and writers. The right has Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Bill Buckley, and so on and so forth. The left has Bill Maher, Charlamagne Tha God, Don Lemon, and so on and so forth. There was a fascinating exchange between two leftist thinkers yesterday. In a discussion about whether Andrew Cuomo needs to resign, Bill Maher stated that he did not need an investigation to prove Cuomo’s guilt of sexual harassment, and that “… it’s always on a case-by-case basis …” and that “… I believe these women completely …” Charlamagne Tha God, who apparently differs from Mr. Maher in that he is capable of independent thought, had a different take on the matter:
Mr. God told Maher that it’s “kinda hard” to ask Cuomo to resign when “you voted for Joe Biden.”
He explained, “If you weren’t more upset with Joe Biden, who had more serious allegations–“
“No, he didn’t!” Maher exclaimed.
“Yeah, he was accused of actual rape,” Charlamagne said.
“No, he wasn’t,” Maher doubled down.
“What are you talking about?!” Charlamagne gasped.
“Are you talking about the hallway incident?” Maher asked.
“Tara Reade!” Charlamagne responded.
Please read the whole article. It’s fascinating. It’s hard for me to know who to root for, here. And apparently, Democrats aren’t sure, either. Understandably.
Another Democrat presidential hopeful in another one-party state, California’s Gov. Newsom, is probably watching all this with interest. He was a Democrat hero just a few months ago. And now his own party is trying to destroy him, too. Why? Hard to say. But it doesn’t matter.
But my point is that the infighting between power-hungry media mongers with no underlying ethical structure is going to make the next four years very, very odd. Just in the first month of the Biden administration, we have:
- Shut down construction of the border wall, which was there to keep illegal immigrants out. While using razor wire and thousands of armed military troops around the US Capitol, to keep Americans out. Why? Hard to say. But it doesn’t matter.
- No apparent plan to combat our enemies overseas, like China, Iran, North Korea, etc. While aggressively attacking Mr. Potato Head, Dr. Seuss, and sci-fi actresses. Why? Hard to say. But it doesn’t matter.
- The governor of New York State earns an Emmy for his news conferences about his COVID policies, which killed thousands of people. He remains a media darling and is widely considered presidential material. And now, the Democrats are attempting to destroy him. Why? Hard to say. But it doesn’t matter.
- Shut down the construction of a pipeline that America had promised to help build. So now, instead of transporting petroleum through an underground pipeline, we’ll be using trucks, trains, and tanker ships – all of which result in major spills from time to time. How does this help the environment? Hard to say. But it doesn’t matter.
I could go on and on, and you probably could too.
But this is only the beginning. With people like this in charge, it’s just hard to say what’s coming next. Joe Biden is famous for two things: Being not terribly intelligent and being spectacularly corrupt. Kamala Harris is famous for one thing: She will do anything – absolutely anything – for power. According to Willie Brown. And Mr. Brown’s wife. What have Mr. Biden and Mrs. Harris accomplished in their lives? What talents do they bring to their new jobs? Hard to say. But it doesn’t matter.
And these are the people in charge of the most powerful country the world has ever seen. So what will they do? Hard to say. What will they not do? That’s really hard to say.
Imagine being a lifelong Democrat voter, watching all this. I would think it would have to be disconcerting. Or at least, I really hope it is.
Because if a lifelong Democrat voter looks at all this and thinks, “Yep – this is what I’ve been hoping for…” then we have more serious problems than we think.
Mr. Maher, Mr. God, and millions of other Democrats are already struggling with how to handle this new reality. And when things are too strange for them, it certainly going to be very strange for the rest of us.
This would be fun to watch, if it was Greece or something. But the stability of the world depends largely on us – the most powerful country in the world. Everyone looks to us for security, stability, and predictability.
God help them.
Not Mr. God. But the real God.
God help them. And God help us.
Things are getting strange. We’ve been a one-party state for only six weeks, and things are getting really, really strange.
And you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet…
Published in General
So on the last day of creation, God turns to the old rabbi (don’t ask where the old rabbi came from) and says “well, what do you think?” And the old rabbi hems and haws and tugs his beard and gets really agitated, and finally says “I think it is good.”
And God says “Good? You think it’s good? Then why all the hemming and hawing and tugging at your beard and being agitated? What’s that about?”
And the old rabbi says “Well, I’m an optimist. But I don’t think my optimism is justified.”
I think it is good when a left-leaning government pulls away from the people, moving left faster and farther than the substantial majority of Americans — and even a majority of the government’s own party.
But then, I’m an optimist.
I don’t think it is fair to say modern Democrats have no intellectual framework for their actions. The fluidity of their opinions on actual policies and their willingness to throw any putative ally under the bus hides the solidity of their mindset from anyone with a conscience. Their intellectual framework can be boiled down to the simple goal statement:
It’s that simple. Taking up the charge for any convenient collection of the oppressed or persecuted gives them moral authority, and quietly limiting it to friends gives them the tools of tribalism in their pursuit of power. Marxism in its various flavors is simply a tool to be applied to gaining friends. So too with radical feminism and gay rights and transgenderism–approval of anyone else’s morally/societally questionable behavior is a quick way to gain their friendship.
The beauty (to its adherents) of this intellectual framework is that one need not keep the friends one uses to gain power, as long as new friends are recruited along the way. But hey, throughout it all, they can sneer at us oppressors and persecutors from their lofty “moral” heights.
Well, ok.
But reading your comment, you make it sound like the Democrats have no intellectual framework for their actions, other than the pursuit of power by any means available to them. So we agree.
Or do I misunderstand your point?
Interesting times. I’ve been waiting for some excitement all my life; this time offers better prospects than the gray cloud of quietly accepted lies that we’ve been living under since the media age began.
They are convinced they are fighting oppression and persecution. Not pursuing power for its own sake. That is what they say, and the family and friends I have caught up in it are sincere, as far as I can tell.
That they fight oppression and persecution selectively and illogically and hypocritically seems to be beyond their ken, which gives the appearance and effect of pursuing power for its own sake.
Ok. That’s a fair point. Thanks.
For the standard Democrat voter, your second paragraph above is probably accurate.
For the Democrat leaders, I’m skeptical. But I hope that paragraph applies to them too. I really do.
But I’m skeptical…
The point of closing down the pipeline construction to the US is to ensure it will be built to British Columbia so the Chinese will lock up the oil.
And that the right does not pursue power as relentlessly as the left shows who is going to win. It won’t be the right unless it starts to do so.
This is one of the hardest aspects for me to work out. You say they’re “convinced” – that implies to me that “they” are stupid at best and possibly morons. (I mean, they’re either in a self-induced stupor or their intelligence is permanently impaired. Stupidity is a moral flaw, not a physical one.)
I prefer the idea that they’ve fooled you, they’re not “convinced” like you or I would use the term. They’re just “going with it” because it works for them. I hold them to be on a spectrum from stupid to actively criminal.
So just how aware are they? Your phrasing implies you think the problem is that they’re retards. I think they’re liars and thieves. We’re probably both right.
One thing we need to keep in mind is that by any consistent measure, half of any population is below average.
Smart people can be fooled. Americans have so little contact with the harsh realities of life outside our societal machinery that Americans are easily deceived as to how it works. I would use ignorant in place of retarded. Confirmation bias means some of that ignorance is willful. A big chunk of that ignorance can be laid at the feet of our public schools. The long march through our institutions aimed at producing that ignorance.
I think they look at this and think everything is fine. Because they will be told that up is down and left is right. After Hunter Biden, I know they will get the news that reinforces the narrative and nothing else. And they will believe it because they want to- it’s their guys after all- so all must be well.
Bill Maher doesn’t have a large enough audience to matter and this spat will only be amplified by the right
Well, yes. I presumed your OP was in regards to Democrats as a whole. I have no problem thinking Democrats leaders are in it for themselves. They may not have started that way. I’m sure some really are as stupid as they appear (AOC….). Others may be twisting their pretty heads in knots as they rationalize away the contradictions. My white, straight, male, chauvinist privilege makes me want to give the benefit of the doubt to some of the women in politics. The pretty ones, at least. (:
Something about wishes and horses and beggars riding.
And apparently not short on faith in your countrymen. Or sarcasm. Either way I like your style.
Perhaps an emotional framework is more powerful and uniting than an intellectual framework. You think it is bad to ruled by emotions, but they don’t.
Rather, they (and we and everyone else for that matter) cling to old assumptions because they are familiar and because losing your world-view means a lot of work rebuilding.
Or perhaps they cling to assumptions because losing your world view means discarding millennia of proven beneficial societal structure.
True. What I mean is that a person can be neither a liar, a thief, nor a retard, and yet believe something because not believing it is simply too much work.
I prefer to think of the Democrats as the coalition of the fringes. Loyalty depends on payoffs. Sort of like the mob.
What’s the first group to be disappointed?
I’ve been thinking a lot about why thing have taken such an exponential turn for the worse, particularly over the last 12 years (since 0bama).
I’m now ruminating about lazy intellectual intransigence, blissful feel-goodness, ego-gratifying false virtue, personal empowerment (financially and socially), malignant persuasion imposed by others — all have some weight.
But one thing seems to stand out. I think a lot of this malignant hyper-partisan scolding, shunning, violence and hatred comes from a culture which accustomed people to immediate gratification with little actual work — work critical to survival — being done. And so they have never actually had to think hard, and work hard, for what they needed. And therefore they don’t have a proper respect for what people have worked for and earned — that is, private property. And this mental idleness led to petulance, vanity and jealousy. In other words, they don’t know what’s important in life. One could say they’re feral.
I believe you to be correct in this because I am one of them and have at least some of the symptoms.
Well, perhaps that’s a log in my own eye. But I still see I’m still one of the richest men that have ever lived. [I didn’t say this right. I don’t mean by modern standards, but by historical standards.] I see my ivory towered society come crashing down, and I’m yelling, Wait! What? I’ve never known what it is to grow up in a war zone. Or without running water. Or with hearth and candle being at the center of daily life. Or without supermarkets.
I am reminded of E. M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops”.
You are right, they are about gaining and maintaining power, of controlling the people, of needing to feel superior and wiser to the rest of us.
Tyrants have always been that way. These days, we assign names to their tools for controlling us and growing their power. These tools are the bad isms.
They are winning. I fully expect us to be a communist country by 2024. There is little left of the Constitution that was ratified over 200 years ago. If the feds can use their power to destroy a President, now past President, and get away with it, the Governors aren’t safe. They can rebel for a while, but the Democrats will destroy them, too.
And I thought my “my ivory towered society come crashing down” was provocative.
Yes to all the suggestions and comments.. Power accumulates to state and Washington bureaucrats and where there are divisions it’s between states and Washington politicians and state and Washington bureaucrats. Their strings are pulled by very big money, and they can’t do a lot about it because they only agree on one thing; more revenue and more power is better than less and the folks who call important shots let them have what they want. The people complain but pay taxes. We lost an election when we held the Presidency, stolen, but still lost. Are we changing the rules about elections as the disease goes down? No so we better start thinking about pulling out. They can have LA, New York City, a few others, and of course Washington, we’ll take the rest, but can’t do that if they change the senior military. We have to be ready by the next election. If it’s fair we’ll turn it over, if not, we’ll have to be ready to move. Just getting prepared may get enough attention to cause ordinary Democrats to wake up.
I wish things could return to the way they were before the rise of the left. They can’t. Too many people would have to give up their power. Those in power in the administrative state would have to leave lucrative jobs and move away from DC and live like the rest of us. They won’t. Too many bullies would have to quit bullying. They won’t. They need punching bags. Too much hatred has been curried. Too many things have been torn down and banned. Too many believe the country is evil and racist. The common culture that holds us together is fraying thread by thread.
Trump ‘s win and four years taught us winning an election is meaningless. It is only a temporary pause. In fact, while we were celebrating and thought it meant something, it didn’t. We learned we have no say. Those who try to give us a say will be destroyed. Our four years of achievements will be undone in under four months. They will turbocharge their agenda to make up for the four lost years. Those we thought were for us weren’t. They were in it for themselves. I know where we are headed. There are many examples in the Bible. The 20th century provided many warnings. They went unheeded. The left is unhinged, and, like a snowball rolling downhill, grows bigger as it rolls on. The left’s two-tiered justice system will come for all of us.
Anarchists don’t have the solution. They are part of the problem. You don’t fight the left’s tearing down of the country by tearing it down yourself. You don’t save the country by doing nothing but casting meaningless votes, so now what? I am out of ideas.
Seems a poll found that 1/3 of those polled feel the same way, so I guess we will see if that tempers the Dem behavior or makes them double down to punish people who think that way.https://www.theblaze.com/news/george-floyd-death-race-relations-poll?utm_source=theblaze-dailyPM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily-Newsletter__PM%202021-03-06&utm_term=ACTIVE%20LIST%20-%20TheBlaze%20Daily%20PM
And they are so drunk on power, it would be fun to kick back and laugh at all the wild ideas they come up with if it weren’t for the fact they have enough power to implement them . . .
The asymmetry of the battle is inherent, since a core principle of “the right” is not having strong central power, so people of the right are generally not interested in pursuing power – in fact, people of the right generally consider pursuit of power as bad. So, the asymmetry of the battle will continue.
I think the point made early in the post is the one most poignant to me, that Democrats seek power for its own sake, or their own sake might be better said. When I was young I wanted to become a powerful person. I think most kids do. I outgrew that ambition in my early 20s after receiving my commission in the Navy. Freshly minted as an ensign I was feeling pretty good until a chief petty officer who had been one of my training officers took me aside and told me, Sir, if you took a good poop ( I will use that word rather than the one he used), there wouldn’t be enough of you left to salute, Sir. I rapidly realized that power was totally illusory. Forays into actual combat completed the lesson.
On the other hand, our friends on the left possess the illusion that people are perfectible, societies are perfectible, and in the hands of the right person, perfection can be achieved. They see themselves as the right people. When their goals aren’t achieved, it isn’t because of any fault in them. It is the fault of those they lead. Not having to face death or the possibility of it due to their own failures, it is easier to assign blame and find other excuses. Humility is something they never learned, or, possibly, lack the capacity for. There is nothing more humbling than being the target for a total stranger who is trying to kill you or leading men into a place where that is happening. Or, standing in front of a group of children and knowing that their safety and their future may well depend on your ability to do your job competently. To understand, as a parent, that the parents of those children are expecting you to be as caring about their children as you expect your child’s teacher to be about your child. That kind of power is very humbling because it isn’t about the many. It is about every single one. As I heard Lucretia say, there are no group rights, minority rights, only individual rights. We are on the right care about individuals. The left only wants to deal with the masses.