Democrats and disaster

The State of Liberalism today

….“PUBLIC SECTOR LIBERALISM" represents the logical terminus for a movement that began in an effort to redraw the boundaries of government action in order to bring industrial capitalism to heel and grew in tandem with the expansion of government….

….The conflict today between democrats and republicans increasingly puts PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS AND BENEFICIARIES OF PUBLIC PROGRAMS AGAINST THE MIDDLE-CLASS TAXPAYER AND BUSINESS INTERESTS LARGE AND SMALL…

….How this standoff is resolved between popular conservatism and public sector liberalism is a legitimate subject for debate and speculation. It is obvious, however, that LIBERALISM CAN ONLY PROSPER IF IT CAN CONTINUE TO BUILD COALITIONS THROUGH PUBLIC SPENDING, PUBLIC BORROWING, AND PUBLICLY GUARANTEED CREDIT. These are the resources that underwrite their institutional advantages. Should those resources dry up, as they are now doing as a consequence of the long recession, LIBERALISM WILL UNWIND AS A POLITICAL FORCE AS PUBLIC PROGRAMS ARE CUT, PUBLIC EMPLOYEES ARE LET GO, AND RETIREMENT ARRANGEMENTS WITH PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS ARE RENEGOTIATED. In some public sector states, such outcomes now appear inevitable. Conservatives are in a position to hasten this process along by refusing to approve the spending, borrowing, and federal bailouts that will be required to keep public sector liberalism afloat, though at the price of being blamed for the pain and suffering associated with its collapse. But this is undoubtedly a price worth paying to guide the nation through an adjustment that will otherwise take place later and under circumstances far less to anyone's liking

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/02/21/is-liberalism-dead/1


An excellent article which gives you a lot of insight into the stakes at play in Wisconsin and other states in the Union. Liberals are fighting for their lives. The recession combined with drying up of money in government coffers thereby neutering the left’s ability to buy support is the biggest challenge liberalism has faced in the past 100 years.

Rubicon: A river in Wisconsin

The magnificent turmoil now gripping statehouses in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and soon others marks an epic political moment. The nation faces a fiscal crisis of historic proportions and, remarkably, our muddled, gridlocked, allegedly broken politics have yielded singular clarity.

At the federal level, PRESIDENT OBAMA'S BUDGET MAKES CLEAR THAT DEMOCRATS ARE DETERMINED TO DO NOTHING ABOUT THE DEBT CRISIS, while House Republicans have announced that beyond their proposed cuts in discretionary spending, their April budget will actually propose real entitlement reform. Simultaneously, in Wisconsin and other states, Republican governors are taking on unsustainable, fiscally ruinous pension and health-care obligations, WHILE DEMOCRATS ARE FULL-THROATED IN SUPPORT OF THE PUBLIC-EMPLOYEE UNIONS CRYING, "HELL, NO."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/24/AR2011022406520.html

The lines are drawn.  Democratic lawmakers are fleeing their state rather than accept reality.  In 2008 they told us that elections have consequences.  Now they are in denial of that fact.

New Study: Developing Alaska’s OCS

A new study says DRILLING ON ALASKA’S OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF (OCS) COULD MAKE ALASKA THE EIGHTH LARGEST OIL RESOURCE PROVINCE IN THE WORLD -- ahead of Nigeria, Libya, Russia and Norway.


The report -- by the consulting firm Northern Economics and the University of Alaska-Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research -- says that developing Alaska’s OCS could produce almost 10 BILLION BARRELS OF OIL AND 15 TRILLION CUBIC FEET OF NATURAL GAS, create around 55,000 NEW JOBS and produce $145 billion in new payroll nationally, generating a total of $193 billion in government revenue through the year 2057.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/new-study-shows-offshore-drilling-alaska


Too bad that liberals don’t want us to drill, produce the energy and the jobs.



Where has all the leadership gone?

…But after telling Tea Party Americans that HE WAS GOING TO "CALL THEIR BLUFF" AND PROPOSE "DIFFICULT CHOICES" to get our runaway deficits under control, what did the president offer in terms of a budget? HE PUT FORTH A PLAN THAT WOULD SEE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BORROW MORE MONEY IN HIS FOUR YEARS THAN UNDER THE PREVIOUS 43 PRESIDENTS COMBINED. And what tough choices did he recommend to rectify the massive unfunded liabilities that are preparing to devour our economy? None.


The president's budget is such a disgrace that EVEN EVAN THOMAS, THE NEWSWEEK WRITER WHO ONCE COMPARED OBAMA TO GOD, CALLED IT A "PROFILE IN COWARDICE." Obama has called for a scalpel to be taken to federal spending when a fleet of jackhammers and buzz saws are in order. Knowing the calamity that awaits us, HE PREFERS TO MORTGAGE OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURE IN ORDER TO AVOID THE NECESSARY CUTS THAT MIGHT JEOPARDIZE HIS OWN RE-ELECTION BID. That's not hope. That's not change. That's not leadership.


But all is not lost. Despite the miserable failure in the Oval Office, THERE ARE LEADERS AMONG US. THEY ARE EMERGING IN MIDWESTERN STATES LIKE WISCONSIN, MICHIGAN AND OHIO. Indeed, while most political analysts were focusing on the historic turnover in the U.S. Congress, the most significant impact of the 2010 midterm elections is proving to be what happened in statehouses and governor mansions around the country. There, the people handed the machinery of government over to the Republican Party with one demand: STOP TELLING US WHAT WE WANT TO HEAR SIMPLY TO GET ELECTED, AND START TELLING US WHAT MUST BE DONE TO SAVE OUR REPUBLIC.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/02/leaders_among_us.html

Glad to be a Republican

Gloomy outlook say voters

More bad news for the Democrats. Even as Obama and Biden celebrate recovery summer, it appears they may be the only ones who are doing so.

One-out-of six American workers (16%) consider themselves to be among the working poor. Eighty-one percent (81%) of American adults know someone who is out of work and looking for a new job. Only 14% now believe the labor market is stronger than a year ago.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/jobs_employment/august_2010/14_say_job_market_better_than_year_ago_46_say_worse

More on the Democrat strategy for 2010

In view of the story above, do you think this will work. I doubt it, but desperate measures for desperate times.

Instead they’d like to reduce each race for the House and Senate to the
personal level. Their aim is to emphasize the individual flaws of
Republican candidates. In the Democratic game plan, the economy and
national issues are taboo.

This microstrategy is one of pure desperation. It’s all that’s left when macro-political trends are going against you. Indeed, Democrats start with two strikes against them. A midterm election is usually a referendum on the president’s performance, and this year’s is no exception. And the most important measure of the president’s success or failure is the condition of the economy.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/desperate-democrats

Wonder why Democrats are so nervous?

The answer is independents.

Only 32 percent of those citing no allegiance to either major party
say they want Democrats to keep control of Congress in this
November's elections, according to combined results of recent Associated
Press-GfK polls. That's way down from the 52 percent of independents who backed
Obama over Republican Sen. John McCain two years ago, and the 49 percent to 41
percent edge by which they preferred Democratic candidates for the House in that
election, according to exit polls of voters.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100815/ap_on_el_ge/us_ap_poll_defecting_independents;_ylt=A0LEaoEKPmhMtbgA4xis0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTQxNWo5aTEzBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwODE1L3VzX2FwX3BvbGxfZGVmZWN0aW5nX2luZGVwZW5kZW50cwRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzIEcG9zAzcEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2FwLWdma3BvbGxzcw

Satire: A look at the future if the Democrats stay in Control

What does the future look like? This is a cute parody.

"Ice cream production ceased with the Rocky Road Elimination Act of 2022,"
said the man.
"They banned ice cream!"
Another man was tearing open packs
of strawberry Zingers and stuffing them into his mouth, four at a
time.
"Zingers, too!" I said.
"Yes," said the man, nodding, "as part of
the Dolly Madison Cessation Act of 2024."

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_694857.html

Dems demonstrate who is and isn’t important in recent votes

Foods stamps for the poor are taking a hit from the democrats. It appears teacher’s jobs and now the first lady’s “Let’s Move” initiative both trump hungry people.

Democrats who reluctantly slashed a food stamp program to fund a state
aid bill may have to do so again to pay for a top priority of first lady
Michelle Obama.

The House will soon consider an $8 billion child nutrition bill
that’s at the center of the first lady’s “Let’s Move” initiative. Before leaving
for the summer recess, the Senate passed a smaller version of the legislation
that is paid for by trimming the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,
commonly known as food stamps

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/114271-dems-consider-more-food-stamp-cuts-to-fund-child-nutrition-bill

Bring it on!

Back in July of 2003, President Bush "taunted the Iraqi groups waging a guerrilla war against US and British troops, saying "bring them on" and vowing that the coalition would not be forced into an early departure."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0703-01.htm

On Groundhog Day in New Hampshire at a high school President Obama told the GOP to “bring it on." He taunted the GOP "I’ve said to the Republicans, ‘Show me what you’ve got. You’ve been sitting on the sidelines criticizing what we’re proposing; I’m happy to defend insurance reforms,’” he said. “‘I’m happy to have these debates; I just want to see what else you’ve got.’”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/32426.html#ixzz0eZVBFdNU

I see a lot of Democrats talk about how Obama has tried to change the tone in Washington. It appears his definition of change and what the electorate thought he was going to do is vastly different.

And did you notice we no longer have Healthcare reform. We now have "insurance reform?"

Alice in Democratland

The more I hear from the Obama Administration, the more I feel like Alice when she found herself in Wonderland. It's a place where nothing seems normal.

The Obama Administration, after a year of protests, of anger from the populace, finally admits they were wrong. They promised change and "they just didn't do it fast enough."

• Somehow they take the lost of three major offices (two governorships and a Senate seat) as a sign the people really liked what they were doing, but they thought they were just taking too long to do it.

• Somehow electing a Senator who campaigned against the President's healthcare reform calling himself number 41, was a "double secret message" sent by the voters that they really wanted that reform, only they wanted it done faster!

• Somehow, this administration has taken a clear sign that people were unhappy with the direction and the cost of going in that direction as a message of people being unhappy with the amount of time it was taking to get there.

This isn't simply a question of people rationalizing things to themselves. This is a case of a political party in fundamental denial.