Friday, November 11, 2016

Will Progressives Re-think Their Struggle For Greater Federal Power?

I doubt it: Greater federal power is what progressives are for.

Several years ago -back in 2013, in fact- I started asking lovers of gun bans, particularly AR-type guns, who would contemptuously dismiss any claim for need for Americans to be armed as the ravings of the lunatic Right: "Would any sane German in 1913 have said it was even possible that within the remaining lifetime of an already middle-aged German, the German government, government of one of the most educationally, philosophically, and industrially advanced countries on Earth, would build extermination factories and run over 6,000,000 innocent people through them?"

Yet that is exactly what happened. It took only 25 years to descend from the pinnacles of European culture into the Holocaust.

I was interested to find that nearly all responded with "That cannot happen here, because THIS IS AMERICA!" Apparently the phrase "This is America" is a magic talisman against evil, even among those who like to harp on the evils that America has participated in, harped in some cases to the point that one might think they considered America the rightful predecessor and inheritor of Naziism.

Yes, chanting 'THIS IS AMERICA' will surely protect us forever from the all powerful state which has surveillance drones, satellite surveillance, GPS enabled cell phones, GPS enabled automobiles, self-driving automobiles which might someday be hacked by federal law to deliver us to the appropriate authorities, NSA recording all email and telephone calls' meta-data in the world (is it still only the meta-data? Was it ever? If so, must it remain so limited?), recording of all financial transactions involving a check, credit, or debit card -at the same time we are moving away from the financial privacy of cash, and $100 bills with less buying power than a $20 bill in 1973-, military armored vehicles distributed to police forces great and small, a political party already with a demonstrated history of claiming to the Supreme Court that the 1st Amendment allows criminalization of a movie criticizing a politician during an election campaign? And claims that the government could ban any such book as well? (If you doubt that, read about "Citizens United", for the Administration did in fact make the claim in oral arguments that they could ban a book criticizing Hillary Clinton, just as the movie criticized her.)

Will Progressives re-think their commitment to ever greater federal power? I doubt it, because ever greater federal power is exactly what Progressives want.

But of course, a Holocaust can't happen here because THIS IS AMERICA.

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Thursday, November 10, 2016

One Law For The Little People, No Law For The Ubermenschen?

I'll be very interested to see what Bill and Hillary Clinton can charge for speeches and books from here on out.

Even more interested to see if they are ghost written by their cell mates.

Many people will say that prosecuting and imprisoning the whole gang would tear the country apart. I agree, but confirming to the law-abiding middle class that the Ubermenchen are just too important to be held to the same standards as the little people would be far, far worse. Prosecution would be highly salutary.

My guess: Obama will pardon them before he leaves office. Maybe a few little people will see some prison time, but the Clintons will retire with scores of millions in crooked gains, proving again that there is one set of laws for the Little People, and no laws for the Ubermenschen.

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Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Election Day 2016

If you think the last year has been awful, wait for the next four to make it look like The Good Old Days. No matter who wins.

When government controls every part of the economy, every part of our lives, who is in charge becomes surpassingly important. Boys MUST be allowed to shower with the girls, Citizen, or else. Your inefficient 85 cent lightbulb is a federal offense, Citizen, because our donor's efficient $25 bulb hasn't been selling well. Your suburban street sign does not meet our specs, Citizen: Take them all down and replace them. Or else. Air a movie or publish a book criticizing Hillary Clinton, Citizen? To prison with you. Yes, that was what 'Citizens United' was about.

Either the people who are tired of dictates which have no constitutional authorization lose, in which case they will remain...tired, or they will win, in which case the people making a great deal of money off dictates will be screaming "Nazi slave raiders at the gate!" until they are back in control.

So it doesn't matter all that much who wins today: somebody will see themselves as losing something important, and the next four years will be far more hate filled than the last year. Plan on losing friends and family.

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