The Democracy Litmus Test - Even though Woodrow Wilson was
another horrid president, we continue to operate under a lie which he
famously promulgated - that democracy is beneficial, that anybody knows
how to do it well, and that you can fight wars to deliver democracy.
Firstly, the USA is not a bastion of democracy - our ruling class only
give lip service to democracy as part of the lipstick on a pig that we
call government. Secondly, no democratic form of government has ever
been established. Every government which claims democracy starts off by
excluding great swaths of the people from having a say in government.
Our "government," for instance, excluded all but white European males
from the vote. The colluders who cook up governments may put on a show
of being democratic, strictly among themselves, but the fix is in and
the fancy footwork abounds. And the quality of the decision making
actually goes downhill as we graciously admit new voters to the flock.
See above, where Mencken impales the presidency, he also skewers the
electorate.
So, I have an extremely jaundiced view of anybody who claims to bring
democracy to someone else. Are we really fighting in Iraq (and yes we
are really still fighting in Iraq) to bring democracy to the Iraqi? If
you have bought that proposition, then I have a historic bridge over the
North Fork of Benson Creek I would like to sell you.
Do you storm your next door neighbors' houses to demand of them not only
that they should vote on it, but that they must decide thereby to have
the same thing for dinner that you do?
Politicians who tell you that they are supporting our country's holy
mission of bringing democracy to the world have taken advantage of your
good intentions. They use this as a cover for the most egregious
imperialism ever practiced by human kind. Our politicians and the
military industrial complex take no backseat to the Mongol Horde, Great
Britain, Spain, the USSR, nor even the Nazis and the legions of Rome.
Why is such a cover chosen? It is because the manipulators have
discovered that it works. The American populace has been dumbed down to
accept anything under the banners of God, country and Mom's apple pie -
but the state is none of the above. The federal government is not God.
The Federal Government is not this bounteous land. And the Federal
Government sure ain't my Mom nor her great apple pie. The Federal
Government is not democracy in any form.
What would we call it if one group claims to deliver to another that which it does not practice for itself? Hypocrisy.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Nixonism
Nixonism - In the piecemeal way that we are taught history, as
fables, we slip into the lazy proposition that history is made by great
events performed by great men. But the sad fact is that our foreign
policy actually grows out of an accumulation of lapses. Where we are
today is just the logical point on the slippery slope of where we have
arrived through a chain of errors and their cover-ups.
I don't know when it became the constant of U.S. government to preserve itself through lies, but I have the strong opinion that it reached a height under both the vice-presidency and the presidency of Richard M. Nixon. Nixon made the arrogance of oligarchs public, but most probably not by design. To be a really perverse abuser of the government process requires a monumental incompetence and a gargantuan narcissism.
Although Nixon just barely outclassed such ignoble presidents as Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, he nevertheless excelled as a crook. His estate is the imperial presidency, rampant lying, using ends to justify means, paranoia, the tail wagging the dog, megalomania, narcissism, the misuse of government, the metastatic spread of government, and warmongering under the guise of peace seeking. Nixon combined all of the bad attributes of every mediocre-to-bad president we have ever had. And let's not forget Watergate - the idea that presidents were above the law.
In my view, there has been only one good president, Thomas Jefferson. And that is not saying that he performed well as president; it is just saying that he was most likely the greatest man who was ever president. So while, in my mind, the affliction of having a bad president could have been named after any one of 43 bad presidents, somehow Nixon always leaps to my mind as the worst of the worst.
Remember the words of Henry L. Mencken:
I don't know when it became the constant of U.S. government to preserve itself through lies, but I have the strong opinion that it reached a height under both the vice-presidency and the presidency of Richard M. Nixon. Nixon made the arrogance of oligarchs public, but most probably not by design. To be a really perverse abuser of the government process requires a monumental incompetence and a gargantuan narcissism.
Although Nixon just barely outclassed such ignoble presidents as Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, he nevertheless excelled as a crook. His estate is the imperial presidency, rampant lying, using ends to justify means, paranoia, the tail wagging the dog, megalomania, narcissism, the misuse of government, the metastatic spread of government, and warmongering under the guise of peace seeking. Nixon combined all of the bad attributes of every mediocre-to-bad president we have ever had. And let's not forget Watergate - the idea that presidents were above the law.
In my view, there has been only one good president, Thomas Jefferson. And that is not saying that he performed well as president; it is just saying that he was most likely the greatest man who was ever president. So while, in my mind, the affliction of having a bad president could have been named after any one of 43 bad presidents, somehow Nixon always leaps to my mind as the worst of the worst.
Remember the words of Henry L. Mencken:
"When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental - men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost... All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."Someday, I will share with you more thoughts on bad presidents, but today I will share with you my current worst five: 1) Richard Nixon, 2) Franklin Roosevelt, 3) Andrew Jackson, 4) Abraham Lincoln, 5) Lyndon Johnson.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
The Shatners
Here's Daniel Drezner's list of bad foreign intrigues from Foreign Policy Magazine
10) Operation Continue Hope in Somalia.
9) 1983 Beirut bombing.
8) Bay of Pigs.
7) Sponsoring the 1953 coup in Iran.
6) Operation Iraqi Freedom.
5) Crossing the 38th parallel in Korea.
4) Expansion of the war in Vietnam.
3) The War on Drugs.
2) Refusal to join the League of Nations.
1) 1920s Economic diplomacy.
See his reasons at http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/08/29/the_shatners_of_american_foreign_policy_0
10) Operation Continue Hope in Somalia.
9) 1983 Beirut bombing.
8) Bay of Pigs.
7) Sponsoring the 1953 coup in Iran.
6) Operation Iraqi Freedom.
5) Crossing the 38th parallel in Korea.
4) Expansion of the war in Vietnam.
3) The War on Drugs.
2) Refusal to join the League of Nations.
1) 1920s Economic diplomacy.
See his reasons at http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/08/29/the_shatners_of_american_foreign_policy_0
The Euro
This past Saturday I began a new adventure. I attended the first session in my first attempt at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, under the auspices of the University of Kentucky. The choices of experiences, intended to encourage continuing education among seniors, is breathtaking. I almost didn't know where to start, but through a combination of inclination plus opportunity I came to sign up for two offerings: The Great Decisions discussion program promulgated by the Foreign Policy Association, replicated countrywide, and a local topic, Italian Verismo and the Opera of Giacomo Puccini.
It was the Great Decisions program that I have already begun, and about which I will share some thoughts here with you. The Verismo course starts this Thursday and there is a chance that it may inspire a few reports as well.
First, the Great Decisions group will meet 8 times and watch, then discuss, 8 videos on various topics. This past week the topic was about the future of the Euro, and by extension, the European Union. Here are some of my observations on the event and on the topic.
It was the Great Decisions program that I have already begun, and about which I will share some thoughts here with you. The Verismo course starts this Thursday and there is a chance that it may inspire a few reports as well.
First, the Great Decisions group will meet 8 times and watch, then discuss, 8 videos on various topics. This past week the topic was about the future of the Euro, and by extension, the European Union. Here are some of my observations on the event and on the topic.
- No shortage of enthusiasm for lifelong learning is apparent. This group of a dozen or so shows a keen intellect and impressive resumes, academic, professional, experiential and avocational.
- I do see, however, a tendency to relate through indoctrinations rather than analysis.
- One of the problems is that there is not much time to get beyond the shallow end.
- On the other hand, we have not been blighted with the presence of any "experts" in monetary policy. It is to be hoped that this blessing will continue into other discussion topics.
- International financiers are hammers, therefor all problems look like banking and public administration nails.
- The presentation and the subsequent discussion seemed to beg a critical question -- are the travails of the Euro, or any currency for that matter, solely in the wheelhouses of bankers and politicians.
- Not once was there a question as to whether the state is where a solution lies.
- The only inquiries I heard were concerning the immediacy of upping the level of central planning in the long term vs. imposing sink or swim expectations on the little guys (Greece, Spain, Ireland, Portugal, and Italy) in the short term. Have these people not been watching the USA, UK, and the Russias? And we all know in advance that none will be allowed to sink. Bailouts, anyone?
- There is an interesting parallel between the Delphi Technique that the movers and shakers present in this case, compared to the sort of false dilemma claimed as the reason for replacing our Articles of Confederation with the Constitution.
The 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act
I
will explain these “Winnies” in the coming weeks from bottom to top:
The Volstead Act was, you will recall, the act of Congress which implemented the amendment to the Constitution which was unique in that it removed a liberty from the people. The only other negative amendment in terms of freedom was the 16th, which established an income tax, not a right or its removal but the placing of an obligation. The 18th amendment was also the only one ever repealed.
I have been binge watching Boardwalk Empire for the past two weeks. That show has made it clear to me that organized crime metamorphosed from a localized, specialized, urban phenomenon to a national, and perforce international, scourge – and the same could be said for corruption in government, overzealousness in government, and rampant growth of the federal government.
Some may argue that prohibition demonstrates that anarchy evolves into chaos, because the government was not made strong enough to deal effectively with the upsurge in crime. My response is that such will always be the case. The legislative process makes it impossible to either foresee or to respond to errors in planning. This is a feature, not a flaw, in the American public life system. One of the reasons for this dynamic is that no politician will be forthright about the costs of any program that he or she supports. Another reason is that politicians are never really serious about the window dressing they inflict upon us. They created prohibition to quiet an extremely noisy part of the electorate – to them prohibition was just another case of “giving the voters what they wanted,” but then letting it slip into the cracks. It is clear that politicians everywhere regarded prohibition as a vast money making opportunity.
And make no mistake; American prohibition was of world wide scope. The economic ripples circled and re-circled the globe. But I cite the Volstead Act as a major calamity not just because of its short term economic effects, but because of its role in establishing a cynicism in American politics and public administration that has grown malignantly and enormously to this day.
I will work my way up the list in future weeks.
The Volstead Act was, you will recall, the act of Congress which implemented the amendment to the Constitution which was unique in that it removed a liberty from the people. The only other negative amendment in terms of freedom was the 16th, which established an income tax, not a right or its removal but the placing of an obligation. The 18th amendment was also the only one ever repealed.
I have been binge watching Boardwalk Empire for the past two weeks. That show has made it clear to me that organized crime metamorphosed from a localized, specialized, urban phenomenon to a national, and perforce international, scourge – and the same could be said for corruption in government, overzealousness in government, and rampant growth of the federal government.
Some may argue that prohibition demonstrates that anarchy evolves into chaos, because the government was not made strong enough to deal effectively with the upsurge in crime. My response is that such will always be the case. The legislative process makes it impossible to either foresee or to respond to errors in planning. This is a feature, not a flaw, in the American public life system. One of the reasons for this dynamic is that no politician will be forthright about the costs of any program that he or she supports. Another reason is that politicians are never really serious about the window dressing they inflict upon us. They created prohibition to quiet an extremely noisy part of the electorate – to them prohibition was just another case of “giving the voters what they wanted,” but then letting it slip into the cracks. It is clear that politicians everywhere regarded prohibition as a vast money making opportunity.
And make no mistake; American prohibition was of world wide scope. The economic ripples circled and re-circled the globe. But I cite the Volstead Act as a major calamity not just because of its short term economic effects, but because of its role in establishing a cynicism in American politics and public administration that has grown malignantly and enormously to this day.
I will work my way up the list in future weeks.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
In the next edition of Finding the Challenges, I will discuss "The Winnies," my sporadic lists of monuments along the cattle drive trail of statist policy.
- The Yalta Conference
- The Treaty of Versailles
- The Manhattan Project
- The War on Terror
- The War on Drugs
- Income Tax
- Imperialism
- The Democracy Litmus Test
- Nixonism
- The 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act
Rants, the March for Freedom, Podcasts
Finding the Challenges by Verbal Vol aka Kilgore Forelle
Sometimes I will use this column, begging your indulgence, for an old-fashioned rant. My inspiration is beginning to lose its edge since I am not standing in some bureaucrat's line anymore. The real reason I am showing some restraint (I do not easily lay aside a rant) is that on leaving that bureaucrat's lair, I began to listen to a podcast in my vehicle which brought up items that out-outraged my prior complaint. So today I will write about two outrages in the man's inhumanity to man league (MIML), then I will give a few strokes to the one, now diminished, lesser complaint from the pain in the derriere league (PITDL). That's right it is a PITDL'ing rant.
I cannot pass this date without recognition of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the fiftieth anniversary of his “I have a dream” oration. Then, coming back to podcasts, I will begin my continuing reviews and opinions of more-or-less voluntaryist podcasts and other WWW resources.
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