Bernie Trump

With the convincing victory by both Sanders and Trump in the New Hampshire primary, it actually seems possible that the election this fall will be Trump versus Sanders. I still think that it will be "Carpet Bomb Them" Cruz against "What Difference Does it Make" Clinton, but that possibility has dropped considerably in probability. Of particular interest is the unexpected rise of Governor Kasich. It seems that the anti-Trump vote is solidifying around him, but Kasich is not polling well in the South. Rubio just looks too young, and for "the powers that be," Cruz is a madman.

I disagree with Madeline Albright. You won't go to hell if you decide not to vote for Clinton.



Nor do I think God wants you to vote for Cruz:



Or not just from Cruz's father, also from the horse's mouth.



Cruz's comment about executive orders certainly fell on my receptive ears, but other parts of this I thought dumb. I found his promise to tear up the Iranian agreement troubling. If he does this, no one in the world will go along with him, and the net result will be Iran will get all the benefits of the agreement, no more sanctions, while from their perspective have none of the obligations they undertook in the treaty. It might be emotionally satisfying to tear up the treaty, but it is very immature and will lead to many asking the question, "What other treaties will America tear up?"

The main point I have in this post is not political. Instead I want to comment on the messianic nature of modern politics. This is why the title of the post is Bernie Trump. Both candidates are messianic pretenders of the worst sort. Oh, if only we elect the right person America will become that promised "City on the Hill."

Nonsense.

American has never been, nor ever will be that city. Do you doubt this? I suggest you look at the treatment of the Cherokee by President Jackson--talk about a special place in hell! I suggest you look at the history of this at Pam Dewey's, the beloved editor of this blog, website. 

I can just hear some responses to this. "But we are not as bad as those other guys! We're Americans!" Paul (you know, the Bible Paul) had an interesting comment about this attitude in 2 Cor10:12:

Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

Yes, modern American politics can easily be described as being without understanding. Any measuring we do needs to have a higher standard of measurement.

So if as an evangelical I am supposed to vote my values, why does Ted "Carpet Bomb" Cruz think that means voting for him would accomplish this? 

This is a basic misunderstanding of government and religion. This is not God's world, it belongs to another god. While selecting which demon will rule over me does have a certain appeal--I like the Trump demon best--ultimately picking a demon is what I am doing. I think I will pass. The only way to change America is to change the hearts of Americans. I have blogged on this before. You might also look at what has been my second most viewed blog post where I talk about the rah-rah nature of politics from the last election. Have I really been blogging that long?!

I thought that in conclusion I would actually have a clip by Rubio I agree with, no politician is a savior. The beginning of the clip is all I am referencing, the end is more political nonsense, I turned it off. I suggest you turn off all the messianic pretenders on your television. There is a better savior.

Lower Class Angst

This is the third in a series about the popularity of Trump. Even with his recent downturn in the polls because of a reverse bandwagon effect, he is still quite popular. For what I mean by the bandwagon effect click here. 

The two early parts in this series are upper class angst and middle class angst. 

 
First I want to make clear what I mean by lower class. This term has unfortunate connotations. I am not implying that members of this class have no class, nor am I saying they are "lower."  Often the term "working class" is used, but this has unfortunate connotations as well as it implies that those not in this class do not work. What I mean by the term lower class is that they have a lower income.

Why are low wage employees feeling angst?

It is a simple matter of supply and demand. If the supply of such workers goes up though immigration, legal or illegal, the wages of such workers goes down. This is why you see unexpected support for Trump among Black and Hispanic voters. They are not stupid and know that immigration reduces their job opportunities. While it is not a one for one reduction in job opportunities, as supply tends to create its own demand, immigration does reduce jobs for those already here.

What is going to happen when the illegal aliens go home as they self-repatriate as they no longer can get jobs? This will result in an artificial shortage in such jobs and wages will go up.

Trump seems to be the only one who is addressing the most important issues of our day and playing into the angst that is felt by many. I still expect Cruz to lose to Clinton in November. Click here for my predictions for 2016.  Why do I think Trump will not be the nominee? Trump is just too big a threat to "the powers that be."

Angst is driving the Trump and Sanders' campaigns. It is real, as the economic pressures on all classes are a lot higher than is generally admitted. It may be even higher than I think, and either Trump or Sanders will be the nominees, or maybe both. Wouldn't that be amusing.

How Information Is Controlled

"Perhaps, when a nation’s press is like this, controlled by oligarchs, the political drift towards and into fascism is inevitable. A ‘democratic’ fascism results if the public are deceived by an oligarchy. Racist fascism becomes then the way to build a passionate reactive compliance among the public, so they’re devoted to destroying what the oligarchs want them to fight and kill, thus to grab for the oligarchs land and resources the oligarchs want to conquer. Such a reactive passion among the public produces for oligarchs cheap soldiers. It cuts oligarchs’ costs, and thereby increases oligarchs’ profits. The idea that the press is merely a passive component in the body-politic is false; maybe it’s actually an oligarchic fraud. But, in any case, a press like this doesn’t merely result from racist fascism; it produces racist fascism. And maybe that explains what is happening in our time. Maybe that’s it. Maybe this press doesn’t merely result from fascism; maybe it causes fascism. Maybe that’s why Hitler posthumously is winning the ideological war he waged against America’s President in his time, FDR. Maybe that’s how fascism is taking over America, at last." 

Note the date of this quote is Nov 2014. I ran across this quote when I read an article that one of the suspects in the downing of MH17, Ukraine,  wrote the official report that blamed the separatists. I found this difficult to believe. However a quick Google search gave strong indication that this was the case. At least they controlled it. And I ran across this quote. 

I still think that the separatists shot down the plane using captured Ukrainian missiles thinking it was one of the bombers attacking civilians. It was at least criminal neglect by Ukraine to route the plane through a war zone. In addition the Ukrainian government has in the past shot down a civilian airliner by accident, as has Russia, as has the US. 

The main point of this blog post is not the airline tragedy. Instead I hope you will focus on the control of the world media by, as the quote puts it, the oligarchs. The "powers that be" control the standard news outlets. You can be assured that if you see something on the news--you are meant to see it. Yes, there are right- and left-wing media sources. But they are wings of the same airplane. 

A good example is pharmaceutical ads I used to see on Faux News when I had cable. These companies are advertising relatively rare medical problems. It cannot really be designed to increase sales. Although with the horrendous markup for these drugs, it might make more economic sense than I am implying.  But the main reason for the ads is to prevent the News from talking about the price that these companies are charging wealthier countries in Western Europe. This is the true market price, and it is much lower than what US medical consumers are charged. As the old saying goes,"He who pays the piper, decides the tune." 

While the alternative media world is better, the obvious ideological blinders make that source also suspect. Not to mention the weirdness of such sources. Actually I will mention it--no matter what you've read on some alternate news source, Michelle Obama is not a man. 

On a recent trip I listened to some talk radio. It has declined dramatically in quality in my old stomping grounds in the Ozarks. One recent guest on talk radio I heard was promoting her book, How to Talk to Aliens. I quickly returned to my iPod music. 

If you do decide to watch traditional media or alternative media, remember that you are being played. I find myself reading less and less of both. I would rather watch old Charlie Chan movies on YouTube. 

Why I Won't Vote For Hillary

Why would I vote for someone who does what God hates? (Yes, I realize that means I won't vote this year.)

 

Proverbs 6: 16-19:

16 There are six things the Lord hates, 
    seven that are detestable to him:
17         haughty eyes,
        a lying tongue,
        hands that shed innocent blood,
18         a heart that devises wicked schemes,
        feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19         a false witness who pours out lies
        and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

Middle Class Angst

Trump is benefiting from the angst the middle class is feeling. The middle class has been hammered for 30 years, and while the middle class may not understand it, they feel it. 

First, what do I mean by middle class? This would be what used to be called blue and white collar workers. Here is one definition from a small business website: 

The terms "blue collar" and "white collar" are occupational classifications that distinguish workers who perform manual labor from workers who perform professional jobs. Historically, blue-collar workers wore uniforms, usually blue, and worked in trade occupations. White-collar workers typically wore white, button down shirts. and worked in office settings. Other aspects that distinguish blue-collar and white-collar workers include earnings and education level.

There are differences between these two groups. The office and lower managerial part of the middle class, white collar, have not been affected as much by the generation-long malaise that the statistics say the middle class is experiencing. The office staff does not care where the widget their company sells is made, New Jersey or Taiwan, they just don't care. The worker making the widget obviously does care.  

The obvious solution from the blue collar perspective is tariffs against the lower wage countries.  Trump and Sanders are the only ones talking about this, and the other Republican candidates are opposed to tariffs for ideological reasons. Of course the fact that those who give money in Republican primary elections tend to be of the class that benefits from a lack of tariffs is just a coincidence.  

The ideology advanced by free trade advocates is supported by what was called "comparative advantage," invented by an Englishman 200 years ago. Of course it is again a coincidence that the country that invented it at the time had all the trade advantages. 

What is comparative advantage? 

Concept in economics that a country should specialize in producing and exporting only those goods and services which it can produce more efficiently (at lower opportunity cost) than other goods and services (which it should import). Comparative advantage results from different endowments of the factors of production (capital, land, labor) entrepreneurial skill, power resources, technology, etc. It therefore follows that free trade is beneficial to all countries, because each can gain if it specializes according to its comparative advantage.

While this is "settled science," I am not at all convinced. First it needs to be pointed out that the playing field between countries is not at all level. I am not talking here about the low wages, although that is a significant factor. A good example is the fact that a modern industrial society's that does not have to properly dispose of its toxins has a much lower cost factor. Health and safety, the lack of worker's compensation, and lower taxes all play a part. Modern economic theory has turned American manufacturing into a wasteland of abandoned factories. 

Russia has also learned that relying on others for essential goods leads to economic dependency, and when sanctions are installed, essential products are no longer able to be purchased. We will see how this plays out as Russia implements a policy of import substitution, where domestic goods are used instead of foreign imports. 

As for the coming election, the number of people that are hurt by free trade are greater in voting power than those that benefit. It is, of course, just a coincidence that those that are hurt are powerless and those that benefit hold the reins of power. Trump is tapping into the angst of the middle class, and Trump will receive a lot more votes from this angst than anyone realizes. This includes tripling the black vote that Romney received in 2012. Ridiculing this phenomenon as "angry white men," in addition to being inaccurate, has increased the alienation felt by the middle class. 

While I still expect another President Clinton in our future, Trump is being lifted up by real economic trends that the establishment refuses to recognize, or gives lip service to without any intention to act on it.