It's Not Your Grandfather's GOP

I read an interesting op-ed peice:

One of the most negative things to have happened to the increasingly dysfunctional political system in the United States has been the transformation of the Republican Party over the last generation into the party of fiscal deficits. At one time, the bastion of balanced budgets and no free lunches, 70% of gross public debt through the last fiscal year was accumulated under the last three Republican presidents who ran deficits twenty out of twenty years averaging 3.9% of GDP.

This is one of the reasons I will not vote for an eestablishment candidate, as the writter points out they are not credible:

Republicans pontificate about the dangerous levels of gross public debt (now at 101.1% of GDP) and last summer set about playing chicken with a possible default on our financial obligations. In now trumpeting national debt as a paramount evil, the Republicans approach the debate by taking tax increases and defense spending off the table – which is somewhat like resolving to set about losing weight by eschewing dieting and exercise.

If it was your Grandfather's GOP, we would have had balanced budgets. If it was your Grandfather's GOP, we would not have troops scattered around the world. If this was your Grandfather's GOP, we would not be headed for a crisis in a few short years. 

The situation is not normal, we can not continue our current trajectory, we do not have the money. 

Hail La Jolla

Hail La Jolla, Alma Mater,

We will never fail,

Forward sails the good ship Viking

Hail, our high school hail 

One interesting aspect of Facebook is the reestablishment of contact with my high school classmates. This has naturally led to me thinking about high school, and in particular the pep rally. 

It will be 40 years next year so a lot of this is, thankfully, a vague haze. We would all buy ribbons to show our support of our impending football victory-not. In later years I understand the team did quite well. One of our "enemies" was Lincoln High. Why? I have no idea. Why was our school structured to encourage "school spirit." Again, I have no idea.  

Naturally the school was also divided into classes. During these Pep Rallies these classes would compete with each other to see who would be the loudest, and somehow this showed our spirit. Our class usually won. 

I was an athlete in my high school days. But for some reason they did not give me a letter jacket even though I was the best in the school. I was chess champion in my junior and senior years. 

We humans do form groups, but why do the "powers that be" encourage us to form these artificial groups? I think one reason is that it allows the elites to divide us into competing groups.  We are kept busy in trivia, like who will win the next big game. How "we" are better than "them." The Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party actually see the same problems. But it suits the elites for the two groups to hate each other, so they do.

While I do look fondly at my high school, was it a nourishing mother, an Alma Mater, for me? Not really. I am still trying to get rid of the propaganda I was taught there. The purpose of education is societal conformity. This is not all bad. But I do not want to be conformed to this world. 

My advice for those in the public education system is Paul's advice in Romans 12:2, here from the Phillips translation:

Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity. 

It Became Necessary To Destroy The Village In Order to Save It

Famously never said during the war in Vietnam was this gem: "It became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it." (Something similar was appartently said.)

Mish Shedrock recently listed some more current absurdities. Here are some of his: 

"We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt." said By Joe Biden

"I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system." said by President George Bush

"The central irony of financial crisis is that while it is caused by too much confidence, too much borrowing and lending and too much spending, it can only be resolved with more confidence, more borrowing and lending, and more spending."  said by Larry Summers 

Here are some that I remember. 

"My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize," said congressman Hank Johnson on the island of Guam. 

 "If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very very low crime rate." said by Marion Barry, former Washington mayor. 

"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do," Ronald Reagan. Trees do cause pollution. The combination of the ignoring of the positive net benefit of trees, and the word "more" is what makes his statement absurd. This link talks about what Reagan said. 

Of course, there was an obscure lay preacher reading from the Bible who thought that earrings hung from the eyes. I won't say who it was except that I see him in the mirror when I shave. 

Here is a classic dumb statement, at least for this one Obama mispoke:

Ron Paul On Face the Nation

As a follow up to yesterday's blog post, here is Ron Paul on Face the Nation. While I would not cut defense as much as Paul, I am in general agreement. We have little choice in the matter. We do not have the money. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire will enable us to not cut as much, but these cuts will happen as current trends can not continue. The cuts can happen now in a fair and rational manner, or they can happen latter in a crisis in an unfair and irrational manner. There is no third option. 

You Do The Math

Vox Day said this recently in his collumn:

As for those Republicans who believe Rep. Paul is sound on domestic policy but too naïve with regard to foreign policy, I suggest they consider the following question: Do you believe the United States is going to be in any position to project global military power when it is completely bankrupt? Even – no, especially – if you believe in the supreme importance of American maintaining the most powerful military in the world, Ron Paul is the only Republican candidate you can rationally support.

This is the basic problem no one is talking about, the "elephant in the room." Like the gorrilla video I posted a few days ago, we do not see the obvious. We are blind to it.

It really does not matter if our military expenditures are "needed" or not. We can not afford them. We need to cut spending right now by 40%. This includes Medicare and Social Security. If we exempt any portion of the budget from cuts, then the cuts have to be more severe on the rest of the budget. If we do not cut defense, then we need to cut all other spending by 55%. If we exempt Defense, Social Security and medical benefits from the cuts, then we need to cut the rest of the budget 120%. 

You do the math.