Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

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Presidency

Self-Destructive GOP

I'm not talking about Newt and Mitt, but about the "class warfare" complaint hurled against Obama. This attack in fact affirms Obama's point--that there are classes, two (or three) Americas, as it were. Such rhetoric reflects the victory of the Progressive mentality, which was to reject the individual rights and limited government language of the American Founding, in favor of talk about the progress of history and a ruling class of civil servants--nonpartisan, scientific administrators. That is the real "class warfare" that needs to be fought, but Republicans flunked American history. In fact Progressivism got its political start under the popular president TR.

Theodore Roosevelt supplied the rhetoric for this swindle, Woodrow Wilson (and Calhoun) the political science, and now Obama a potential coup de grace. The liberal version of Mt. Rushmore--what might this be? we need a Howard Roark for this purpose--would feature Wilson, FDR, LBJ, and Obama.

 

Categories > Presidency

Discussions - 11 Comments

On the contrary, the progressivism/liberalism/blue state mentality is is falling apart at the seams. States like California, Illinois, and Micighan are going broke and are laying off state, local and city workers by the thousands. These workers are also seeing reductions in pay, retirement benefits and health benefits because state, local and city governments are broke due to costs of high salaries and benefits that the progressive mentality supports.

Illinois raised their taxes by 67% and have seen tax revenues plummetted $8.5 Billion. People are leaving Illinois in droves to the red states to avoid the amount of taxes they must pay. The number of cities and counties going broke in California the Stupid State and the Bluest of States is beyond belief. It will only get worse because the Progressive idiots running California are cluelss that what is not working are their ideas, not the amount of taxes they need to raise.

Class warfare is here thanks to Liberalism/Progressivism.

Cowgirl assumes that the Progressives judge the current situation with the same criteria as she does. Unfortunately, they do not. At its heart Progressivism is about beggaring your neighbors, not about the promoting the general welfare. For a Progressive, confiscatory taxes and explosive debts are a feature, not a bug. Progressives view CA and IL as successes to follow rather than failures because bankruptcy is not a function of reality telling us to spend less or earn more. Instead, it is those nasty, rich bankers having the temerity to actually expect a debt to be paid back.

Well, using cowgirl's observation that states are shedding state, local, and city government workers by the boatload, it seems that the 'real class warfare that needs to be fought' (according to Ken Thomas) is succeeding quite well.

Walter Russell Mead has a good essay that relates to this topic: The Once and Future Liberalism

https://www.the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=1183

For an instiutional perspective on the current GOP nomination battle, go to my commentary here:

https://www.desertdispatch.com/opinion/party-12262-designed-workings.html

Or skip the pointless articles and check out Romney and Me - it'll warm your heart!

https://romneyandme.com/

If one is going to categorically state that "classes" are bad if the largest one feels that the smaller ones with more perceived power are acting in ways enemical to the largest's interests, then the Democrats may wish to take pause, for if their are economic classes, then there most certainly are cultural, political, and legal ones also, and by the left's own logic, the largest has the right to take action against the smaller as it deems fit/fair.

P.H., are you referring to tyranny by the majority?

Do you mean, "inimical"? Enemical makes me think you are referring to something having to do with enemas and, while that is funny in context, I cannot think it is what you meant to write.

Inimical, indeed. My apologies. It's "known but not often enough used words day" here at stately Horatius manor. My SAT verbal score hangs its head in its usual shame.

And consider the entire thing a twist on tyrannies of majorities--one can be a member of a majority in one area and a minority in another. And what saves you from being hoisted on your own petard when in the second is not acting with abandon while with the first, merely because you have numerical strength to do so.

Or when membership in a minority is what allows you to, like a pilot valve, manipulate things in the majority. I believe that is the argument used against corporations and the rich, but it could equally logically be used against Hollywood and the MSM and should be if the argument against the first group is used. What is good for the goose...

I just picked myself up from the floor after reading your post. With all due respect TJH this has got to be the first time you have read this blog or at least any of the comments I have posted here in the past couple of years

I live in the Stupid State of California near some of the Stupid Cities in California including Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco - all failing and crumbling cities due to progressive mentality. If progessives thought or judged like me The Stupid State would not be crumbing in little blue chucks of crap. I live and work in a place where progressives out number people like me 10 to 1.

My latest encounter with a progressive a couple of days ago:

Progressive: Things are really bad here economically.

Cowgirl: They are worse in Europe.

Progressive: Yes I have been hearing that also.

Cowgirl. The problem with the countries in Europe is that many decades ago they went down the path of socialism and socialism like communisim does work. Obama wants the United States to be a socialist country, but he does see that it doesn't work - just look at Europe, most of South America, Russia, California, New York, Illinois and Michigan. They have all gone down the road of socialism and now they are broke...

Progressive: That is because none of those countries or states did socialism right.

Cowgirl. Falls off her chair.

Liberalism is a mental illness and when you have a mental illness your ability to make sound judgements goes out the window.

Yes--tyranny of the majority can be a real majority or a minority claiming to speak for the majority (as with PC). In either case, the assumption is that the majority is enlightened, when of course it might not be.

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