DakotaT
10 years ago

Wade, I greatly admire your idealism, but didn't Paine or any of those other shapers of ideology ever say anything about "the lesser of two evils", not "throwing out the baby with the bath water", "half a loaf is better than none"?

Will you not concede at all that one political side is EXTREMELY more prone to enable "statism" by either half of the definition? And that by stubbornly dividing conservative pro-American people/voters, your side is putting that side in position to run rampant in the direction you don't want the country to go?

Back to your earlier post about Bentham and "the greater good for the greater number". IMO, it makes a helluva large difference whether that statement is mere false rhetoric designed to get votes/support OR whether it actually is the greater good for the greater number. What if it is the latter? That could easily imply a lack of fairness - grabbing from the smaller number of achievers in order to make life better for the larger number of consumers. People can argue about whether that is a good thing or not - that is the essence of the liberal v. conservative debate - the self sufficiency/self serving v. humanity/kindness debate. For purpose of this post, I'm not gonna come down on either side of that debate. I'm simply gonna say, there are a whole lot more of the consumers than there are achievers/producers. Therefore, it is a losing proposition politically to go against "the greater good for the greater number". If it's all just false rhetoric, that is another matter, but even then, the falseness must be defeated, and that is definitely an uphill battle when all the effective "educators" i.e propagandists are on the other side.

Maybe all of us "statist" conservatives should heal the rift by coming over and joining your side - supporting God damned Ron Paul - or at least Rand Paul or whatever. But IMNHO, that would just do too much harm for the country - sacrificing homeland security for phantom rights and freedoms which are threatened only in the minds of a paranoid few. And throwing away American world dominance and letting the chips fall in terms of not combatting the evil which America has saved the world from for nearly 100 years. Neville Chamberlain would have been a big Ron Paul supporter. So would Hitler hahahaha - and all the proponents of Communism too.

Nope, we, the Pro-American conservatives just can't throw away American security and dominance. Instead, we NEED the help of you, the anti-statism conservatives. With that help, we have a solid chance of "half a loaf" of anti-statism - the domestic side. Without it, we are split, and we get whatever Obama and the radical left decide to inflict on us.

Originally Posted by: texaspackerbacker 



What the hell difference does it make, the Republicans aren't winning the White House back for decades. Poor Americans are sick of the bull shit trickle down economics that created the haves and have nots. Go beat your head against the wall, Texas. Really, why should it matter anyway to a guy on the dole like you?
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Wade
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10 years ago
Re: half-a-loafing. Paine probably would have been the last of them to settle for half a loaf. (Either him or Sam Adams). We know him for "Common Sense" and (occasionally) "The Rights of Man", but to a lot of those of the time, even those who were on the same side, he was the scary guy, sort of a combination between Edward Abbey and G. Gordon Liddy.

The half-a-loafers were Hamilton, Jay, to a lesser extent J Adams, then a couple generations later, Lincoln, and, finally, a century after that, Nixon.

To my mind, of the group, the strongest historical case for your "security" argument would be Nixon.If there was a time it was necessary for a lesser-of-two-evils approach, it was the Cold War.

But IMO we have nothing like the threat that the Soviet Union posed today. It's not even close, all the NBC worries notwithstanding. Since the Wall fell and the USSR crumbled has been our best opportunity ever to get past "lesser of two evils", to choose something other than Realpolitick OR social democracy. Instead, we've contented ourselves, for over 30 years now, with the lesser of two evils approach.

And where has it got us? We're so damn ignorant as a nation that we not only elect Obama once, we elect him twice, despite his having not a single real idea of his own, despite his spouting the same crap that 1945-2005 showed to be the hubris of the yammering over-educated residents of ivory towers.

We're so damn ignorant as a nation that the best we can can come up with as "Presidents" for nearly a quarter of a century is Clinton I, Bush II, and Obama? The best we can come up with to be one step away from the presidency are Gore, Cheney, and Biden?

The best "lesser of two evils" we could come up with in 2012 was Mitt Romney?

John McCain was a bona fide hero, I'll grant that. He is someone with more integrity in his little pinkie than our current Prez has in his entire body. And perhaps he could, like Washington and Eisenhower before him, have transferred from the battlefield to the Oval Office and been what the nation needed. Maybe. As the Palin selection made clear, he sure wasn't afraid of potential negative reaction when he did something other than the usual Washington cynicism.

On the other hand, Americans showed themselves not at all ready for someone willing to truly go outside the box. Instead, they chose a Facebooking babbler of nonsense with "oratorical skills" and marketing cynicism. And despite a first term that featured "new ideas" like spending 80K of taxpayer money for a car worth 3000, a petulant child who pandered cynically to the lowest-common denominator while taking a bigger tithe than the most shameless televangelist, the American people did what? They re-elected him.




And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)
DakotaT
10 years ago



The best "lesser of two evils" we could come up with in 2012 was Mitt Romney?

John McCain was a bona fide hero, I'll grant that. He is someone with more integrity in his little pinkie than our current Prez has in his entire body. And perhaps he could, like Washington and Eisenhower before him, have transferred from the battlefield to the Oval Office and been what the nation needed. Maybe. As the Palin selection made clear, he sure wasn't afraid of potential negative reaction when he did something other than the usual Washington cynicism.

On the other hand, Americans showed themselves not at all ready for someone willing to truly go outside the box. Instead, they chose a Facebooking babbler of nonsense with "oratorical skills" and marketing cynicism. And despite a first term that featured "new ideas" like spending 80K of taxpayer money for a car worth 3000, a petulant child who pandered cynically to the lowest-common denominator while taking a bigger tithe than the most shameless televangelist, the American people did what? They re-elected him.



Originally Posted by: Wade 



Mitt Romney is not the "lessor of two evils", he is the poster child for what is wrong in this country. A man given his whole life on a silver platter, but instead of giving back, all he accomplished was making more money, or should I say stealing more money.

I'll grant you that John McCain is a war hero, but come on, deifying a war monger - that's pretty low Wade.

Barry was re-elected because of Mitten's 47% speech, where he basically told things the way he really felt. I am totally convinced of that. I don't care for Barry either, but I like him better than McCain and Mittens.

I have something for you two to chew on: Jesus absolutely hated rich people, but loved the poor and oppressed with all his heart. There's going to be no reward for the wealthy in heaven, in fact they may very well be in deep shit come Judgment Day!
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texaspackerbacker
10 years ago

I'm not sure how I "divide" conservative voters. Are you confusing me with Ron/Rand Paul?

As for one side being worse statists than the other...I think it's a tossup. Oh, if I have to settle for "lesser of evils" I probably would go to the conservative side of things. But that's because I'm as bad as everyone else -- it doesn't bother me as much when the rules restrict others more than they restrict me.

But if you look at the so-called conservatives/Republicans since I've been paying attention -- Nixon, Ford, Reagan (who I voted for twice), Bush I (who I voted for), Bush II-A (who I voted for), Bush II-B (who I didn't) -- they have increased the reaching/sticky/manipulating/forcing/regulatory fingers into our lives just as much as the Carters and Clintons did. Government didn't get smaller under either of them. Intrusion into our lives didn't get smaller.

And the reason it didn't get smaller is, again, that that's what the American people demand of them. "There oughta be a law" is our natural reaction to just about any problem.

Sorry, but I am no longer a conservative of any kind.

If you want the state, any state, to solve our problems, you are part of the problem. Not part of the solution.

The problem isn't splitting the vote. The problem is thinking voting is the way to solve the problems. The problem isn't that the other side gets power. The problem is thinking that getting power is the way to solve the problems.



Originally Posted by: Wade 



I guess I should have repeated, when I said "you", I meant you plural all of those with this "anti-statism above all else" mindset. Hell, I am anti-statism, but I just don't see most manifestations of it as a big deal.

Would you consider the possibility that Reagan, both Bushes, and probably Nixon and Ford also had virtually no chance to reverse any statism because of Dem/libs in Congress? Yeah, I know for some of those years, there was actually a Republican majority, by using the need for a 2/3 vote to cut off debate, the Dem/libs kept anything substantial from happening. At any rate, I'm sure the Obama/ultra-left wing crowd thanks you (plural) very much for enabling them to get elected and inflict horrible crap on America and Americans.

I can sympathize also with the Dakota types who really do eat up that shit about the "greater good for the greater numbers". The Republicans really have practiced political FUBAR by selling out to the rich and failing to take advantage of the clear will of the people - right down to today's news - the continuing resolution thing.

Myself, I have found peace in this whole apparently screwed up situation by becoming more and more of a believer in the conspiracy theory about "Insiders" - "Illuminati" or whatever they would be called, controlling things from behind the scenes and maintaining the Status Quo - that magnificent Status Quo that has America on top and Americans' security, freedom, and comfort level well in hand.


Expressing the Good Normal Views of Good Normal Americans.
If Anything I Say Smacks of Extremism, Please Tell Me EXACTLY What.
DakotaT
10 years ago



I can sympathize also with the Dakota types who really do eat up that sh!t about the "greater good for the greater numbers". The Republicans really have practiced political FUBAR by selling out to the rich and failing to take advantage of the clear will of the people - right down to today's news - the continuing resolution thing.

Myself, I have found peace in this whole apparently screwed up situation by becoming more and more of a believer in the conspiracy theory about "Insiders" - "Illuminati" or whatever they would be called, controlling things from behind the scenes and maintaining the Status Quo - that magnificent Status Quo that has America on top and Americans' security, freedom, and comfort level well in hand.

Originally Posted by: texaspackerbacker 



You're finally getting a little smarter. Now it's time to work on that evil heart beating in your chest and your obvious lackthereof a conscience. God hates Republicans, count on it.
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texaspackerbacker
10 years ago

You're finally getting a little smarter. Now it's time to work on that evil heart beating in your chest and your obvious lackthereof a conscience. God hates Republicans, count on it.

Originally Posted by: DakotaT 



hahahaha Uh, thanks, I think. I'm the same as I've always been, Dakota. Having a heart does a whole lot more good for whatever beneficiaries there might be for your benificence if you combine that heart with good sense and pragmatism. And hell yeah, sometimes a conscience does get in the way - even more so when you are doing good for others.

God actually LOVES Republicans because they blindly try to do good for everybody - a forgotten little thing called "fairness". I suppose in some ways, I am more like a Democrat - picking and choosing - trying to do the "greatest good for the greatest number" - just with a different way of approaching that. I've got a better grip on practical reality than they do. Then there's the Libertarians (no offense Wade and the plethora of others in this forum in that category - maybe even you, Dakota) who don't want to do good for anybody. I say "maybe" for you, Dakota, because probably you have the heart to do some good, but you just have a total lack of any grasp of reality.

The clear way to achieve that greatest good for the greatest number is by maintaining the status quo - AMERICA dominating the world, protecting against Nazism, Communism, Islamicism, or any other evil isms that may come along, and enabling the world to become freer and more prosperous by following our lead. Only a self-hating reverse ethnocentric fool would deny that - the greatness and benificence of America, right? I sure can't think of anybody like that - can you, Dakota?
Expressing the Good Normal Views of Good Normal Americans.
If Anything I Say Smacks of Extremism, Please Tell Me EXACTLY What.
Zero2Cool
10 years ago
I dunno what could possess someone to think tossing a firecracker anywhere near the White House is a worthwhile idea to carry out.
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Wade
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10 years ago

What the hell difference does it make, the Republicans aren't winning the White House back for decades. Poor Americans are sick of the bull sh!t trickle down economics that created the haves and have nots.

Originally Posted by: DakotaT 



You're assuming that the White House is going to be around for decades.

That to me is a highly debatable assumption.

Texas is much more optimistic than I am.

Every day I'm more convinced that the only reason the revolution doesn't happen in my lifetime will be that I end up dying earlier than most people my age will.


And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)
Wade
  • Wade
  • Veteran Member
10 years ago


I have something for you two to chew on: Jesus absolutely hated rich people, but loved the poor and oppressed with all his heart. There's going to be no reward for the wealthy in heaven, in fact they may very well be in deep sh!t come Judgment Day!

Originally Posted by: DakotaT 



Actually, Jesus didn't hate rich people. He didn't even hate wealth. He didn't hate anyone.

He merely pointed out that it is harder for the rich to get to heaven. Not because they are rich, but because their wealth convinces them they (and their wealth) are more important than they should be. Not because they are rich, because, being rich (with all the "comfort, power, and fame" that greater wealth confers) makes it much easier to commit idolatry of man and his works, and therefore easier to break the Great Commandment.

Wealth isn't the problem. It's what wealth does to us.


And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)
Wade
  • Wade
  • Veteran Member
10 years ago

I dunno what could possess someone to think tossing a firecracker anywhere near the White House is a worthwhile idea to carry out.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 



Do you know why we started doing the firecracker/firework thing on the fourth of July?

I remember going to 4th of July fireworks when the last one was always a big multi-color explosion in the shape of the US flag.

Firecrackers are a lot older than the United States, but in this country they have long been connected to our politics. And not just to our politics, but to the way we constitute ourselves as a nation and why we constitute ourselves as a nation.

I'm not ascribing high motives to the person who threw these fireworks. My guess is he's probably another zombie American. However, it does seem to me that throwing things at the White House, especially something with a historic relationship with the essence of "US", might be a form of political "speech" we might be wise to have more of rather than less.




And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)
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