In the Nixon era there was the great bumper-sticker response to William Safire’s line spoken by Spiro Agnew about how the “silent majority” supported Nixon, and not anti-Vietnam war protesters:
The majority isn’t silent; the government is deaf.
Same thing applies to hard-head conservatives and tea-partiers who assume they have God on their sides and so do not need to pay attention to anyone else.
Latest incarnation: Anchor Rising, who send to spam even milquetoast comments that don’t cheer their heresies and blasphemies against the nation.
Is this really so offensive? I said:
People who wish to label things “socialist” do it because they think the word pejorative, not because they understand it, and certainly not because what they label is socialist. By von Mises and von Hayek’s definitions, the U.S. government isn’t socialist at all — no production quotas, no significant control of wages or prices. We do have some regulation of industry, but no nationalization — not even defense quotas any more. Since Eisenhower, we have pushed farther and farther from socialism, and our economy has tanked a couple of times as a result.
We could use some more socialism, a decent safety net for the poor, ill, old, and uneducated. It’s the sort of safety net George Washington would have approved of — and it’s not really socialism.
The questions we should be asking are, “Is this the right thing to do?” “Is this the best way to do it?” “How can we pay for this?”
Labeling things socialist, and then quibbling about the misdefinition, only drives us deeper into the mire.
I got this response:
Thank you for commenting.
Your comment has been junked as inappropriate or spam; if you believe you’ve received this message in error, please contact the administrator. adm
Oh, skroom. A reaction that swift suggests no gray matter involved in the decision process. It’s worse than “press 2 for Spanish.”
How many conservatives actually can dance on the head of a pin? Isn’t that pinhead cannibalism or something?
That anchor ain’t rising, and it’s dragging Rhode Island down with it.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
The truth about modern day conservatism as spoken by Governor Walker:
In the recorded call, Walker praised centrist state senator Tim Cullen as “about the only reasonable one” among the 14 Democratic legislators who fled the state to deny Walker the quorum he needs to destroy public-sector unions. But when the fake Koch offered to call Cullen, Walker discouraged him:
“He’s pretty reasonable, but he’s not one of us. … He’s not there for political reasons. He’s just trying to get something done. … He’s not a, he’s not a conservative. He’s just a pragmatist.”
“Just a pragmatist” – as if it were an epithet. “Just trying to get something done” – as if this were evidence of a character defect.
~~~~~
“He’s not there for political reasons. He’s just trying to get something done.” Walker in reference to a Democrat.
So David and Morgan, your precious conservatives are there just for political reasons and they’re not trying to get anything done?
Tell me…do you two know what happened to the last political party that started acting like how yours is right now? I’ll give you a clue. Your party was born from the death throes of that party.
Expect the Democrats to spend the next two years using that conversation Walker thought he was having with one of the Koch brothers for all its worth.
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Goodness me, that Anchor Rising post was pretty ignorant, wasn’t it? I’m still scratching my head over the purpose of it, too; other than taking an ignorant pot shot at the author’s misconception of socialism, I don’t see any much reason for it.
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David writes:
or does that only apply to mobs ( of a specific political persausion).”
So all those teabaggers and right wing people who showed up at Democrat’s offices or town hall events protesting were thugs, mobs and were trying to intimidate democratically elected leaders, right?
Or you going to put your hypocrisy on display again?
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Good afternoon, David!
I like your comment, “Jim, congrats , you have just solved the homeless problem… just open up those gov buildings and lay some mattresses in the corridors…as you say they “have every legal right” or does that only apply to mobs ( of a specific political persausion).”
That’s not half bad. I think I would support that. It wouldn’t solve the prohlem, of course. But it would serve two purposes. It would provide shelter for our brothers and sisters who lack it, and it would remind our legislators of their obligation to their fellow human beings.
Huzzah for consensus!
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David writes:
Their complaint is that they have to pay for the increasing size of government and at a State level – ballooning public servant union generated employee liabilities …
Yeah except for the fact that you can’t point to any state’s budget having problems because of the union. Not even Wisconsin’s.
ANd as for the Democrats running..oh you mean like how the Republicans used similar procedural rules, like the fillibuster, in order to stop the democratically elected Democrat majority from 2006-2008?
And then you mean like how the Republicans bitched that the Democrats were being unfair and trying to force bills through Congress “too fast” but then the Republicans tried to push Walker’s little union-busting measure through the Wisconsin Legislature in under 3 days? You mean how the Republicans in WIsconsin were acting undemocratic when they tried to ensure that 1: there would be no public meeting on the subject and then 2: announced the meeting a half day before by posting a piece of paper to the Wisconsin state-house wall and nothing else? But that curiously..a whole bunch of “tea baggers” somehow knew what was going on days before Walker announced it?
yeah sorry, it’s your party that’s trying to upend democracy there, child.
Sorry, you’re not going to win this one because you’re on the wrong side of what’s right and what’s wrong. Walker created Wisconsin’s “budget problem” intentionally and he did it intentionally so he’d have an excuse to bust the unions. It’s not about Wisconsin’s budget really…it’s about him ginning up an issue so he can steal people’s rights away from them.
According to the Wisconsin Finance Bureau, David, Wisconsin would have had a surplus if it hadn’t been for Walker.
So it’s time, David, that you start bothering to accept the truth instead of spouting stupid right wing bullshit.
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Too many of them, yes. They need to get out and pound the sidewalk to talk to people. They need to join the political process early on, in the primary season. They need to volunteer some of their deck chair sitting time at the local women’s shelter, the local food pantry, their church, a local Girl Scout Troop, a local Boy Scout Troop. My experience is that people who sit in deck chairs inevitably become concerned about the position of their deck chairs, and they engage in deck-chair re-arranging, never looking out for that iceberg over there.
That might have been a valid concern 20 years ago. Before Bill Clinton declared Big Government dead, they might have had a point.
Most state governments have not been “ballooning” since the Eisenhower administration. We have a different problem now, instigated by 40 years of cutting public employees out of work — we have roads that need to be fixed, increasing numbers of kids who need to be educated, and complex businesses that need watchdogs. Cutting those services is like smashing your face into the pavement to fill a pothole you think unsightly.
Unions can make smaller, leaner, more efficient government. Unions are organized and provide a trained, efficient workforce — look at the achievements of the late Saturn Corp., or Ford Motor’s turnaround with the original Taurus. Look at Southwest Airlines.
Cutting union bargaining rights has nothing to do with any of those things, except in keeping the frontline workers out of any redesign plans. Any corporate turnaround expert will tell you that’s a prescription for disaster — and that’s exactly what Gov. David “Ahab” Walker wants: Disaster.
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Jim
“No, I am referring to the citizens who have every legal right to use the public property their tax dollars pay for the upkeep of”
Jim, congrats , you have just solved the homeless problem… just open up those gov buildings and lay some mattresses in the corridors…as you say they “have every legal right” or does that only apply to mobs ( of a specific political persausion).
Nicky
The townhall events were actually forums, you know for talking etc , and yes a couple of nutter 2nd amenders had guns but by and large the tea partiers are just middle aged folk who sit around in deck chairs. Their complaint is that they have to pay for the increasing size of government and at a State level – ballooning public servant union generated employee liabilities … they want smaller , leaner , more efficient government. Unions want bigger more generous government… and there lies the rub. I think the tea partiers are the more ethical and principled as Public service unions seem to be parasitic in nature… the public purse is bottomless to them and their sense of entitlement is breathtaking.
Am I hypocritical? No that’s the State Democrats , who believe democracy only works one way, their way. When Republicians are elected and try and implement policy , the Democrats do a runner. Its pathetic. But on a lighter note , it makes great drama …
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Howdy David!
You ask — “Would those be the citizens who are illegalling occupying the Statehouse with the porpose to intimidate democractically elected politicians…to the point that police cannot ensure the safety of these politicians.”
No, I am referring to the citizens who have every legal right to use the public property their tax dollars pay for the upkeep of. Unless you know something about maximum occupancy laws in Wisconsin. I suppose there could be a fire hazard; but I presume the State Fire Marshal would have already opined about the matter. Since he/she has not, I presume everything is perfectly legal.
No, I am talking about the attempt (illegal, I presume, but will gladly retract if corrected) to censor organized labor’s attempts to file reports on the event. You can read about it here: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/02/22/wisconsin.budget/index.html
This is wrong. Has this man no moral compass?
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Wow, I’m laughing so hard I can barely comment, very funny stuff Jim!
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David writes:
Would those be the citizens who are illegalling occupying the Statehouse with the porpose to intimidate democractically elected politicians…to the point that police cannot ensure the safety of these politicians.
So you have independently verifiable evidence that they were threatening those politicians safety? Because so far the only ones threatening violence, David, is your side.
Secondly..do you remember all those times that various tea-bag protestors showed up in protest at Democrat’s offices and town hall events? And you remember when they started showing up armed to said things and also showed up armed where the President was, David?
Yeah in other words, child, your hypocrisy is showing.
And the next time you utter the words “democratically elected representatives” better be when your side’s protestors is trying to intimidate “democratically elected” Democrats from doing something your side doesn’t like.
Apparently, David, your side can dish it out…but can’t take it very well.
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Since when is the Capitol of Wisconsin closed to Wisconsin taxpayers? Ahab Walker thinks he owns it now, does he?
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“That’s why Wisconsin’s tea party governor would never do anything like block wi-fi reporting of pro-collective bargaining citizens at the statehouse.”
Would those be the citizens who are illegalling occupying the Statehouse with the porpose to intimidate democractically elected politicians…to the point that police cannot ensure the safety of these politicians.
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Serves you right for trying to insert intelligence and compassion into their non-sensical rants. For shaaame…
It is frustrating when even people I love sneer when they use the word socialist – or when they condemn someone as a socialist when they clearly have NO idea what it means.
Jim… that’s funny stuff.
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In a naughty mood, tonight. ;-)
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Jim, I can’t tell if you’re getting more cynical, or if your humor is getting better. I think it’s time to go home and grade papers.
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Ed,
I believe you received that message in error. I think you should contact an administrator. I am sure they will quickly repost your comment in its entirety.
Because tea party conservatives believe in freedom.
That’s why Wisconsin’s tea party governor would never do anything like block wi-fi reporting of pro-collective bargaining citizens at the statehouse. See, they love the freedom. And the Declatution of Infederation. And the Lord Jeebus Koch.
I am sure it was an innocent mistake.
Jim
PS: I am still praying that you will refudiate the Satan and ask the Lord Jeebus Koch into your heart to be your personal lord, savior and investment counselor.
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