What do Conservatives Actually Believe?

What’s new today

Our # 1 story relates the differences between the TEA Party movement and the Occupy Movement and how they are treated by the press.  #2 is ten things Conservatives actually believe.  And #3 tells of how banks are preparing for a breakup of the euro zone.

1.  The TEA Party vs the Occupy Movement

Regardless of one's feelings toward the Tea Party or policies it advocates, Tea Partiers have at least, during their short existence, conducted themselves relatively peacefully and responsibly.

Of course, this isn't to suggest critics won't still cry foul whenever a Tea Partier shows up to a public event concealing a firearm, or a Tea Partier displays signs at a rally capable of being interpreted as derogatory.

BUT AT LEAST THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH, UNLIKE RAPE, VANDALISM, AND DRUG USAGE -- ALL SEEN AT OCCUPY WALL STREET PROTESTS -- ARE PROTECTED UNDER THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.

As local and national news stations have now reported, rapes and sexual assaults have been regular occurrences at Occupy Wall Street protests across the country, from Seattle to New York.

Protests in Portland, Ore., alone have resulted in more than $19,000 in property damages, as well as a Molotov cocktail attack, and in Vancouver, multiple people have died of drug overdoses.

By contrast, one is hard-pressed to find a single incident in which a woman has ever been raped or sexually assaulted at a Tea Party rally. One is hard-pressed to find a single incident where a Tea Partier has ever died of a drug overdose at a Tea Party rally. And one is hard-pressed to find a single Tea Party rally where thousands of dollars in property damage was maliciously committed.

THE OCCUPY WALL STREET MOVEMENT IN ITS INFANCY HAD THE CORRECT SENTIMENT: END CORPORATISM, END THE FED. This sentiment, however, has since been diluted by progressive populism.

Occupy Wall Street's dialogue is no longer about whether government should engage in favoritism, interfere with markets and provide bailouts; or whether the Federal Reserve has too little accountability.

But rather, whether someone makes too much money. IT IS NO LONGER GROUND ZERO FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF LIBERTY, BUT GROUND ZERO FOR COMPLAINTS ABOUT INCOME DISPARITY AND CALLS FOR THE REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH….

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2011/11/occupy-wall-street-has-vindicated-tea-party#ixzz1euCD4Rq7

OWS will be a loadstone around the Democrat Party’s neck in the coming election. 

2.  10 Things the Right Actually Believes

Chatting to some Occupy protesters this morning, I was struck by how wide of the mark were the beliefs they attributed to me as a Right-winger. In the interests of deeper understanding, here are ten things which – trust me – most of the Tory scum I hang around with think. Obviously, I don’t expect to turn my Leftie readers in a single post; still, they might get a clearer idea of what we actually believe….

…3. IF YOU WANT THE RICH TO PAY MORE, CREATE A FLATTER AND SIMPLER TAX SYSTEM. This is partly a question of closing loopholes (mansions put in company names to avoid stamp duty, capital gains tax exemption for non-doms etc). Mainly, though, it is a question of bringing the tax rate down to a level where evasion becomes pointless. As Art Laffer keeps telling anyone who’ll listen, IT WORKS EVERY TIME. BETWEEN 1980 AND 2007, THE US CUT TAXES AT ALL INCOME LEVELS. RESULT? THE TOP ONE PER CENT WENT FROM PAYING 19.5 PER CENT OF ALL TAXES TO 40 PER CENT. In Britain, since the top rate of income tax was lowered to 40 per cent in 1988, the share of income tax collected from the wealthiest percentile has risen from 14 to 27 per cent.

4. Those of us who believe in small government are not motivated by the desire to make the rich richer. We’re really not. We are, in most cases, nowhere near having to pay top rate tax ourselves; our most eloquent champions over the years have been modestly-paid academics. WE BELIEVE THAT ECONOMIC FREEDOM WILL ENRICH THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE. YES, THE WEALTHY MIGHT BECOME WEALTHIER STILL, BUT WE DON'T SEE THAT AS AN ARGUMENT AGAINST RAISING LIVING STANDARDS FOR THE MAJORITY.

5. We are not against equality. We generally recognize the benefits in Scandinavian-style homogeneity: crime tends to be lower, people are less stressed etc. OUR OBJECTION IS NOT THAT EGALITARIANISM IS UNDESIRABLE IN ITSELF, BUT THAT THE POLICIES REQUIRED TO ENFORCE IN INVOLVE A DISPROPORTIONATE LOSS OF LIBERTY AND PROSPERITY….

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100119741/memo-to-the-occupy-protesters-here-are-ten-things-we-evil-capitalists-really-think/

A nice summary of what the right actually believes.  Numbers 3-5 were the ones I found most important, but click the link and read them all. 

Banks Look to Plan B for the Euro

For the growing chorus of observers who fear that a breakup of the euro zone might be at hand, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany has a pointed rebuke: It’s never going to happen.

But SOME BANKS ARE NO LONGER SO SURE, ESPECIALLY AS THE SOVEREIGN DEBT CRISIS THREATENED TO ENSNARE GERMANY ITSELF THIS WEEK, when investors began to question the nation’s stature as Europe’s main pillar of stability.

On Friday, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Belgium’s credit standing to AA from AA+, saying it might not be able to cut its towering debt load any time soon. Ratings agencies this week cautioned that France could lose its AAA rating if the crisis grew. On Thursday, agencies lowered the ratings of Portugal and Hungary to junk.

While European leaders still say there is no need to draw up a Plan B, some of the world’s biggest banks, and their supervisors, are doing just that.

“We cannot be, and are not, complacent on this front,” Andrew Bailey, a regulator at Britain’s Financial Services Authority, said this week. “WE MUST NOT IGNORE THE PROSPECT OF A DISORDERLY DEPARTURE OF SOME COUNTRIES FROM THE EURO ZONE,” he said.…

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/business/global/banks-fear-breakup-of-the-euro-zone.html?hp

One of the reasons the US dollar hasn’t fallen more in value. 

The Euro,Oil, and Constitutional Conservativism

What’s new today

Our # 1 story describes how the Euro appears to be doomed.  The back and forth on whether or not it can survive may be at an end.  Story 2 is something to be thankful for, as Goldman Sachs predicts America will become the largest producer of oil in the world by 2017.  Story #3 tells us what is going on between liberals and conservatives. 

1.  Is the Euro Doomed?

The defining moment was the fiasco over Wednesday's bund auction, reinforced on Thursday by the spectacle of German sovereign bond yields rising above those of the UK.

If you are tempted to think this another vote of confidence by international investors in the UK, don't. It's actually got virtually nothing to do with us. Nor in truth does it have much to do with the idea that Germany will eventually get saddled with liability for periphery nation debts, thereby undermining its own creditworthiness.

No, WHAT THIS IS ABOUT IS THE MARKETS STARTING TO BET ON WHAT WAS PREVIOUSLY A MINORITY VIEW - A COMPLETE COLLAPSE, OR BREAK-UP, OF THE EURO. Up until the past few days, it has remained just about possible to go along with the idea that ultimately Germany would bow to pressure and do whatever might be required to save the single currency.

The prevailing view was that the German Chancellor didn't really mean what she was saying, or was only saying it to placate German voters. When finally she came to peer over the precipice, she would retreat from her hard line position and compromise. Self interest alone would force Germany to act.

But THERE COMES A POINT IN EVERY CRISIS WHERE THE CONSENSUS SUDDENLY SHATTERS. THAT'S WHAT HAS JUST OCCURRED, AND WITH GOOD REASON. In recent days, it has become plain as a pike staff that the lady's not for turning….

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeremy-warner/8913884/Death-of-a-currency-as-eurogeddon-approaches.html

The only reason the dollar hasn’t dropped significantly in the world markets is there is not replacement that is readily available.

     2.  Goldman Sachs predicts that U.S. will be world’s largest producer of oil in 2017

Goldman Sachs made a prediction on Sunday, September 11, that THE UNITED STATES WILL BECOME THE WORLD'S LARGEST OIL PRODUCING COUNTRY BY 2017. This significant production boost will occur as a result of utilizing a new definition of oil and generous estimates for the amount of liquids-rich shale production that can occur, The Oil Drum reports.

The investment bank has claimed that THE COUNTRY'S DAILY PRODUCTION OF OIL WILL GROW FROM 8.3 MILLION TO 10.9 MILLION BARRELS OF OIL PER DAY (Mbopd) by the year 2017, according to the media outlet. This level of production would exceed both Saudi Arabia and Russia, which is currently the top oil producer. The European and Asian country should only increase its oil production by 100,000 barrels during this period, which would result in a total output of 10.7 Mbopd, according to Dow Jones Newswires….

http://oilandgas-investments.com/2011/top-stories/goldman-sachs-predicts-that-u-s-will-be-worlds-largest-producer-of-oil-in-2017/

Good news.  Actually the United States has the most energy resources in the world, but we seem adverse to drilling, mining, etc. for it. 

    3. What is Constitutional Conservativism?

The Tea Party

….But the Tea Party has been very unusual for an American populist movement. It has not been focused on soaking the rich, as left-wing populists always have been. It has not even been primarily focused on reducing the tax burden on the middle class, as right-wing populists usually are. Rather, the TEA PARTY HAS FOCUSED ON RESTRAINING GOVERNMENT. It originated in outrage about federal bailouts, and has directed its energies toward pulling back the cost and reach of the state. IT HAS ASKED FOR FEWER GOVERNMENT GIVEAWAYS, NOT MORE. It has even given voice to a tight-money populism, criticizing the Federal Reserve for inviting inflation — a far cry from populists of old. And the Tea Party has also been intensely focused on recovering the U.S. Constitution, and especially its limits on government power (and therefore on the public’s power) — another very unusual goal for a populist movement.

Progressive

And the PROGRESSIVES GENERALLY DID NOT SEE A CONTRADICTION BETWEEN THEIR TECHNOCRACY AND THEIR POPULISM. THEY EXPECTED THEIR TECHNOCRATIC IDEAS TO BE POPULAR, AND SO THEY EXPECTED POPULISM TO LEAD TO MORE EXPERT GOVERNMENT. Technocracy and populism would together undermine the power of the moneyed interests, freeing our government from corruption by the wealthy and thereby making it both more democratic and more rational. THOSE MONEYED INTERESTS, THE PROGRESSIVES ARGUED, WERE PROTECTED BY OUR CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM, WHICH, WITH ITS SLOW-MOVING MECHANISMS AND COUNTERBALANCED INSTITUTIONS, MADE ANY KIND OF CHANGE VERY DIFFICULT TO BRING ABOUT. As the progressive theorist Herbert Croly put it in 1914, the desire of the American people for a government that serves them rather than the rich and powerful was constantly thwarted “not by disconnected abuses, but by a perverted system.”

The simultaneous populist and technocratic appeals of the progressives’ successors in today’s politics seem to echo this premise. THEY AT LEAST IMPLICITLY SUGGEST THAT TECHNOCRACY AND POPULISM ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN.

Founding Fathers

 

AND THE FRAMERS OF OUR CONSTITUTION SEEMED TO THINK SO TOO. But whereas the progressives championed both technocratic government and direct democracy, the Constitution stands opposed to both. AS THE FRAMERS SAW IT, BOTH POPULIST AND TECHNOCRATIC POLITICS WERE EXPRESSIONS OF A MODERN HUBRIS ABOUT THE CAPACITY OF HUMAN BEINGS — BE IT OF THE EXPERTS OR OF THE PEOPLE AS A WHOLE — TO MAKE JUST THE RIGHT GOVERNING DECISIONS. The Constitution is built upon a profound skepticism about the ability of any political arrangement to overcome the limitations of human reason and human nature, and so establishes a system of checks to prevent sudden large mistakes while enabling gradual changes supported by a broad and longstanding consensus. EXPERTS SHOULD NOT GOVERN, NOR SHOULD THE PEOPLE DO SO DIRECTLY, BUT RATHER THE PEOPLE’S REPRESENTATIVES SHOULD GOVERN IN A SYSTEM FILLED WITH MEDIATING INSTITUTIONS AND OPPOSING INTERESTS — a system designed to force us to see problems and proposed solutions from a variety of angles simultaneously and, as Alexander Hamilton puts it in Federalist 73, “to increase the chances in favor of the community against the passing of bad laws through haste, inadvertence, or design.” …

…THUS EXPERT OMNISCIENCE COULD NOT BE TRUSTED TO CHECK THE EXCESSES OF POPULAR PASSION, AND PUBLIC OMNISCIENCE COULD NOT BE TRUSTED TO CHECK THE EXCESSES OF EXPERT ARROGANCE. In the view of the framers, there is no omniscience; THERE IS ONLY IMPERFECT HUMANITY. We therefore need checks on all of our various excesses, and A SYSTEM THAT FORCES US TO THINK THROUGH IMPORTANT DECISIONS AS BEST WE CAN. This may well be the essential insight of our constitutional system: Since there is no perfection in human affairs, any system of government has to account for the permanent imperfections of the people who are both governing and governed, and this is best achieved through constitutional forms that compel self-restraint and enable self-correction.

This emphasis on moderating forms – that is, THE FOCUS ON ARRANGEMENTS THAT IMPOSE STRUCTURE AND RESTRAINT ON POLITICAL LIFE — IS CRUCIAL, and it has always been controversial. Indeed, it is WHAT TROUBLED THE PROGRESSIVES MOST OF ALL ABOUT OUR SYSTEM, and what troubled many other technocrats and populists before them. But as Alexis de Tocqueville noted a century before the New Deal, “this objection which the men of democracies make to forms is the very thing which renders forms so useful to freedom; for their chief merit is to serve as a barrier between the strong and the weak.” And he added, with his usual prescience, “FORMS BECOME MORE NECESSARY IN PROPORTION AS THE GOVERNMENT BECOMES MORE ACTIVE AND MORE POWERFUL.” IN OTHER WORDS, WE NEED THEM NOW MORE THAN EVER…

…THAT DIVISION IS EVIDENT IN MANY OF OUR MOST PROFOUND DEBATES TODAY, AND ESPECIALLY IN THE DEBATE BETWEEN THE LEFT AND THE RIGHT ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION. This debate, and not a choice between technocracy and populism, defines the present moment in our politics. THUS THE LEFT’S SIMULTANEOUS SUPPORT FOR GOVERNMENT BY EXPERT PANEL AND FOR THE UNKEMPT CARPERS OCCUPYING WALL STREET IS NOT A CONTRADICTION — IT IS A COHERENT ERROR. And the Right’s response should be coherent too. It should be, as for the most part it has been, an unabashed defense of our constitutional system, gridlock and all.

Because the Left has been so much more technocratic than populist these past few years, the Right’s response has naturally drifted into populist tones. That is appropriate, and it has been effective, but the tone must not overwhelm the substance of the Right’s critique. IN THIS TIME OF GRAVE CHALLENGES, CONSERVATIVES MUST WORK TO PROTECT THE FUNDAMENTALLY CONSTITUTIONALIST CHARACTER OF THE TEA PARTY, AND OF THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT — avoiding the excesses of both populism and technocracy as we work to undo the damage done by both, and to recover the American project.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/283326/what-constitutional-conservatism-yuval-levin

This is a very insightful article about what is going on in America between the left and the right. 

Parity?

More troubles for the Euro?

European leaders meet in Brussels today amid growing fears that Spain,
Europe's fifth-largest economy, is preparing to ask for a bailout which would dwarf the €110bn (£90bn) rescue plan for Greece.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/spain-the-new-crisis-in-euroland-2002676.html

Other reports predict parity between the US dollar and the Euro by the end of the year. With the red ink from the Obama Administration this shows us just how bad the Europeans are doing. Part of the problem with Spain is that they pursued the path President Obama laid out Tuesday evening as they attempted to become the alternative energy capital of Europe. Although alternative energy sounds good, the technology isn't there and Spain has pretty much gone broke trying to subsidize it.

TEA Party goes international

“I think the message of the American Revolution is global. The message of
natural, unalienable rights, the message of opposition to tyrannical government
— that’s not just well-known, that’s universal,” Boris Karpa, organizer of the
Israeli Tea Party"

http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/14/international-protest-groups-take-up-tea-party-flag-in-moscow-tel-aviv-and-the-hague/#ixzz0r7NcuJ4y

Jobless claims increase

"Jobless Claims Rise, Unexpectedly

Usually you have to work a bit to stretch something like this into a cliche. But given the word unexpectedly is used so often in these stories, perhaps it's time for the experts to review their expectations?

June 17 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans seeking jobless benefits last week unexpectedly rose to a one-month high, indicating firings are staying elevated even as the U.S. economy grows. "

And this comes just as VP Joe Biden kicks of a public relations gambit entitled 'Recovery Summer.' Talk about bad timing.

"BREAKING -- OBAMA, BIDEN DECLARE “RECOVERY SUMMER”: Vice President Biden today will kick off “Recovery Summer,” a six-week-long push designed to highlight the jobs accompanying a surge in stimulus-funded projects to improve highways, parks, drinking water and other public works."

http://www.politico.com/playbook/



Lies my government told me.


An interesting opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal.

Which brings us to President Obama's many claims about his health-care
reform. Take his oft-expressed statement that if you like the coverage you have, you can keep it. That sounds good—but perverse incentives in his new law will cause most Americans to lose their existing insurance

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704198004575310773636609374.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_BelowLEFTSecond




Another nail in the coffin of Global Warming

The British Royal Society recently released a statement on global warming that “Any public perception that the science is somehow fully settled is wholly incorrect,” thus contradicting its own former president, and true believer, Lord May. And if the science isn’t settled, there can hardly ever have been “consensus” on the issue.

Lessons from all over

Lesson from PA12

The Democrats are crowing about their holding on to John Murtha's old seat. I think the lesson from this election is that if you have a 2-1 registration advantage and you campaign as a Democrat who is against the Obama Agenda (against healthcare, cap and trade, etc), you have a chance.

Other lessons from PA.

Arlen Spector lost the Democrat primary even though he had President Obama's backing and the backing of the rest of the Democrat establishment. I'm not sure if this is bad news for incumbents, or simply bad news for turncoats. In either case it isn't good news for President Obama.

The Christmas Bomber and Intelligence failures

The Senate Intelligence Committee report identifies fourteen “points of failure.” Failure No. 2 is the decision not to put Abdulmutallab on the “no fly” list, which the intel committee attributes to “the language of the watchlisting standard, the manner in which it was being interpreted at the time, or both.”

So what happened? Why was Abdulmutallab not on the no fly list? We can thank the ACLU who in 2008 led a campaign to make it more difficult for the government to put names on the list. I guess those who would trade security for liberty also end up with neither.

A Question about Democrats

After seeing the Democrats pass a 2000 page healthcare bill without reading it (Nancy Pelosi's famous "We need to pass it so we can see what's in it") and now seeing both Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano criticize the new Arizona Immigration law but then admitting they hadn't read it, you begin to wonder is the reason the Dems don't do much reading because the don't want to spoil their liberal preconceived notions, or that they aren't intellectually curious enough to read something they might not agree with.

I at least appears that the Democrat party agrees with Don Quixote when he said "Facts are the enemy of truth."


Richard Lindzen says it is time to abandon climate skepticism

Richard Siegmund Lindzen is an American atmospheric physicist and Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lindzen is known for his work in the dynamics of the middle atmosphere, atmospheric tides and ozone photochemistry. He has published more than 200 scientific papers and books. He recently suggested that it is time to abandon climate skepticism or at least the term skeptic.

“One suggestion I’d make is we stop accepting the term ‘skeptic,’” Lindzen said. “As far as I can tell, skepticism involves doubts about a plausible proposition. I think current global warming alarm does not represent a plausible proposition.”

Lindzen told the audience the alarmists have simply failed to prove their case.

“For 20 years –more than 20 years unfortunately, 22 by now, since ’88 – of repetition, escalation of claims does not make it more plausible. “Quite the contrary,” he continued. “I would suggest the failure to prove the case of 20 years makes the case even less plausible, as does the evidence of ClimateGate and other instances.”

In fact, the claims of the AGW crowd that seem to link everything even contradictory things to being consistent with Anthropogenic Global Warming doesn't make the theory more robust but less robust. A robust theory explains why something happens and what can't happen. AGW after 22 years explain almost nothing and reject even less.

Meanwhile, back in the Jungle

The plan by Democratic Senator John Kerry and independent Senator Joseph Lieberman to reduce U.S. carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming is not the subject of any committee hearings; it's not being debated on the Senate floor; it's not even been formally introduced. (Reuters)

Blumenthal claims he misspoke

Connecticut Attorney General and Senate Democratic hopeful Richard Blumenthal held a press conference yesterday claiming he only inadvertently said -- repeatedly -- that he served alongside America's bravest and most selfless in the Vietnam War. He explained that he misspoke and then said that he wouldn't let a few mistakes on his part allow others to disparage his record of service.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/time_for_war_story_windbag_to_surrender_nIlF6rQQDdjwci5eNkccEM#ixzz0oNW95hvs

Now one of two things are true about Blumenthal. Either he is a liar or he is delusional. In either case, the people of Connecticut have a choice to make on whether this is the kind of man they want to send to the Senate of the United States of America.

Update. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Connecticut finds Blumenthal with just a three-point advantage over Linda McMahon, 48% to 45%. Two weeks ago, he led the Ms. McMahon by 13 percentage points.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/electio

I think what makes Blumenthal's statements really unacceptable is he represents himself as someone who served in Vietnam when the story the NYT broke showed he did everything in his power to avoid that service and succeeded.

Future of the Euro and the EU

The Euro continues to decline in value and this morning as I write this stands at 1.224. Here is an article that see the Euro as a symbol of the entire EU experiment.

"The European experiment has failed and is only artificially being kept alive on a life-support system of taxpayer-funded bailouts. The euro is now a zombie currency: only the political will of the European nomenklatura keeps it nominally in existence. That is the exact reverse of the proper relationship between a currency and the state: the currency should be the expression of a healthy economy testifying to the legitimacy of the government it represents. Instead, a synthetic European super-state is showing its non-viability and moribundity through the implosion of its currency."

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geraldwarner/100040178/the-eu-is-as-doomed-as-its-currency-lets-get-out-from-under-this-collapsing-monstrosity/