The GOP is the party of no, as president Obama claimed, and no "No!" has been louder than that of Tea Party evangelists. It is their way or no way, you have religion, or you are a traitor to the cause that must be rooted out. Etcetera and so on.
One of their beliefs is that government should be smaller. Another is that Americans should have more personal freedom. The trouble is, their path to making government smaller is to cut at it stupidly with broad brush-clearing strokes. This is akin to cutting down a forest without regard to where you are standing in relation to where the trees are falling. You might get a field or you might get hit over the head by a falling tree. These two outcomes are not equally desirable, except maybe from the point of view of the trees.
Here is an idea that both cuts government and increases personal freedom and which would have political allies on the left and the right. Here it is, decriminalize non-violent drug use and make the law retro-actively apply. Then, follow this up with targeted cost-cutting to eliminate everything drug-chasing from government. That would accomplish both goals and it would put a halt to unnecessarily oppressive and expensive laws.
What's wrong with that approach?
"Nothing!", sez I.
Are religious fanatics about to destroy the planet in a moronic game of good guys vs. evil? Will global warming kill us all first? Have the cows gone mad? Look here for news headlines and advice on facing the curtain with a bow.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Rotten apple
We all know that US companies use every tax-dodge there is, profiting billions while tucking vast sums of money in speck-island banks. Apple is just one such corporate looter:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/business/making-companies-pay-taxes-the-mccain-way.html?pagewanted=all&gwh=C5380FB4EFBCD8B358D840FB0768DCF0
But, that doesn't stop these same companies from turning loose an army of lawyers and tying up our court rooms at great expense every time the wind tussles their hair:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/09/us-apple-samsung-patent-idUSBRE9780QP20130809
Taken together how are companies like Apple anything but a drain on the US economy? Shouldn't we say that without taxation there is no representation, and that if you want to shirk all of your responsibilities we will shirk all of our duties?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/business/making-companies-pay-taxes-the-mccain-way.html?pagewanted=all&gwh=C5380FB4EFBCD8B358D840FB0768DCF0
But, that doesn't stop these same companies from turning loose an army of lawyers and tying up our court rooms at great expense every time the wind tussles their hair:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/09/us-apple-samsung-patent-idUSBRE9780QP20130809
Taken together how are companies like Apple anything but a drain on the US economy? Shouldn't we say that without taxation there is no representation, and that if you want to shirk all of your responsibilities we will shirk all of our duties?
Friday, August 09, 2013
Moe Shrugged
Here is my synopsis of Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
An 1100-page tedious fantasy novel in which Russian-born Ayn Rand envisions a totalitarian final solution that rids the technocratic elite of the "looters" (loosely defined as everyone else, but particularly the compassionate).
An 1100-page tedious fantasy novel in which Russian-born Ayn Rand envisions a totalitarian final solution that rids the technocratic elite of the "looters" (loosely defined as everyone else, but particularly the compassionate).
Here is a link to a more thorough crucifixion:
One cannot help but note the similarities between Mitt Romney's use of "takers" and Ayn Rand's use of "looters". When today's GOP embraces this beast-ethic it countenances fools gladly.
Monday, July 29, 2013
All the president's men
If Wall Street wants it, then Obama wants it, plain and simple:
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/17802-no-more-second-chances-for-larry-summers
The trouble with the "Obama is a tyrannical, black-skinned, socialist" meme is that it blinds people to the truth. As I heard it put recently, "He is a black Nixon, not liberal in the least."
Look at the aversion to whistle-blowers (truth tellers I like to call 'em).
Look at his slavish devotion to the tycoon class.
Look at the people he surrounds himself with.
This is no liberal, not even close.
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/17802-no-more-second-chances-for-larry-summers
The trouble with the "Obama is a tyrannical, black-skinned, socialist" meme is that it blinds people to the truth. As I heard it put recently, "He is a black Nixon, not liberal in the least."
Look at the aversion to whistle-blowers (truth tellers I like to call 'em).
Look at his slavish devotion to the tycoon class.
Look at the people he surrounds himself with.
This is no liberal, not even close.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Reviving history
"We know now that government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob."
Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=D9yoZHs6PsU
Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
https://www.youtube.com/
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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin