The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Underscoring The Wisdom Of The Founding Fathers

Posted on | September 26, 2011 | 31 Comments

by Smitty

As we approach the endgame on this administration, the clear winners: the Founding Fathers, who recognized the frailties of human nature and poured so much wisdom into the Constitution.

The two-year turnover of the House of Representatives has done a marvelous job of checking the power of a President whose international credentials clearly mean he hasn’t had clue #1 about what really makes America tick. And tick off.

Jimmie Bise, amongst the mellowest fellows I’ve ever met, is Volcanically Pissed Off at the President’s antics in California:

I don’t like to use the word “lie” much when I write about politics, because the word has been so poorly-used by the left over the past eight years. In this case, however, I believe it is entirely warranted. Barack Obama said something he knew was not true. He did it intentionally and for his own personal political gain. What’s worse is that his lies were clumsy and delivered with all the political skill of a six-year old child explaining to his Mom that an invisible monster broke into the kitchen and stole the cookies from the jar.

Then again, consider the audience, and read the whole thing. Also take a glance at the Conservative Commune, who links Bise but offers a great deal more background on the President’s anti-American campaign.

Via WyBlog, Larry Jackson offers more background.

As of today, he is making a three-day campaign/fund raising swing on the West Coast, ending in Denver. He is going on the attack during this trip, pulling no punches.

Again, read the whole thing.

Now, the Founding Fathers gave us a Constitution that at least affords us the chance for something better. They knew, having just crawled out from under an authoritarian thumb, that a similar leader could arise in these United States.
Couple of points:

  • Don’t make it personal, no matter how personal the Bad Man gets. BHO is symptomatic, but he is not the disease. Merely voting him out does less good than you’d think.
  • Keep in mind: the problems are economic.US energy policy sucks, the monetary policy sucks even more, and the entitlement mentality has sapped the American zest for liberty to an alarming degree. You’ve had a Presidential candidate tell the truth about Social Security in a very big way, and now he’s being thrown under the bus. Can Americans handle the truth?

I think the country is still half-awake. The growing awareness of what is wrong is there. What is lacking is the leadership and guts to take the pain of correcting the mess.

You cannot take a moderate approach to cancer; hence the disquiet with the smooth-talking blue-state RINO possibilities for President. They either give good concession speech to BHO’s second term, or continue to expand the federal government, to the detriment of liberty.

We must restrain this federal government, as the Founders would have it.

Category: Barack Obama, Jimmie Bise Jr.

Comments

31 Responses to “Underscoring The Wisdom Of The Founding Fathers”

  1. Joe
    September 26th, 2011 @ 2:09 pm

    You’ve had a Presidential candidate tell the truth about Social Security in a very big way, and now he’s being thrown under the bus. Can Americans handle the truth?

    Smitty:  I liked your post, agree with the ultimate goal (which is to reverse these corrosive and dangerous policies), liked what Jimmie had to say and his observations about BHO, but let’s remember Perry did not get thrown under a bus over social security.  He got thrown under a bus over statements he made over immigration reform and other issues–which caused a reaction with conservatives. 

    Perry was rejected (for now, I do not believe it is over for him unless he gives up) for being perceived as too far to the left, not the right.  

  2. ThePaganTemple
    September 26th, 2011 @ 2:15 pm

    I’d rather see a military coup happen than to see things keep going like they have been. It would probably be better, and they might even go so far as to re-establish constitutional governance, over time. One things for damn sure. No matter what they did, it couldn’t be any worse.

  3. Richard Mcenroe
    September 26th, 2011 @ 2:22 pm

    You haven’t met enough field-grade officers and generals.  No, you really wouldn’t…

  4. Joe
    September 26th, 2011 @ 2:24 pm

    ThePaganTemple–really?  Come on, we are not South Americans. 

    I sometimes lose hope, then I see somethng like this. 

    Let’s put it in perspective and get the job done.  I have a deep love and faith in this country and its people.  Step by step Pagan.  A decent candidate to replace the current president, take the Senate, keep the house and get the job done. 

    H/T:  The Agitator on the video. 

  5. Joe
    September 26th, 2011 @ 2:34 pm

    Have you ever spent time in South America? 

  6. rosalie
    September 26th, 2011 @ 2:35 pm

    I don’t think we’re going to listen to the “experts” either.  Krauthammer telling us that Romney’s a Conservative.  Is he out of his mind?  He wrote speeches for Mondale so maybe, to him, Romney is a Conservative.  Let’s heed Palin’s advice and not just switch uniforms.

  7. ThePaganTemple
    September 26th, 2011 @ 2:37 pm

    Yes I really would.

  8. ThePaganTemple
    September 26th, 2011 @ 2:39 pm

    Is that really necessary? Why spend time in South America when more and more of South America comes here everyday?

  9. ThePaganTemple
    September 26th, 2011 @ 2:42 pm

    Yeah, I agree with you. Or I would. But I’m tired of waiting and the constant back and forth with leftists and RINOs. If we could get a real constitutional government, fine, that would be great. But if that don’t happen, allow me to repeat myself. I would rather have a military coup than another four years of Obama, or another four years of some RINO “compromising” with Democrats by giving them nearly everything they ask for.

    And for what its worth, I don’t put our military on the same level as the South American variety.

  10. Joe
    September 26th, 2011 @ 2:51 pm

    Pagan, You are missing the point.  South America has a tenuous grasp of rule of law and peaceful transfer of power.  You want to throw away more than two centuries of that for some coup?  Becareful what you wish for. 

    I understand your concerns about illegal immigration erroding the voting franchise and other vicious shennangins of the left. 

    We got in this mess on our own.  We have to get out of it on our own.  We still can vote, we still can change this.  Do it. 

  11. cowbelltg
    September 26th, 2011 @ 3:01 pm

    Amen!

     

  12. Anonymous
    September 26th, 2011 @ 3:08 pm

    Smitty, I enjoy reading your thought-provoking posts. We agree on a great many things. Neverthless, I believe that your Tea Party-esque approach to analyzing the underlying problem(s) has limited utility. We’ve been losing constitutionalist arguments, in the “court” of public demands, for 100+ years now.

    You clearly recognize the power of ideas. Well, as you know, the thinkers (elites, intellectuals, leaders, etc.) who interpret, repackage, and ultimately drive the big ideas are raised in “progressive” ideas-cultures in education, establishment politics, mass media, law, etc. In turn, those ideas-cultures shape the political terrain.

    Part of the “progressive” cultural project has been to reinterpret what constitutional liberty means and then spread that interpretation to everyday life. We tend to lecture “progressives” and left-leaning people as if they’d never heard of the Constitution. Actually, they’re so well versed in their own interpretation(s) of the Constitution that they’ve become impermeable to constitutionalist-based counter-arguments.   

    And, what it really comes down to – either we convert a certain segment of these progressive-influenced people, or we’re headed someday to civil strife. So, how do we turn the ideas-cultures in better directions? A lot of people on the left are hardcore ideologues that we’ll never reach. But some of the non-ideologues are reachable.

    We know these reachable, left-leaning people, too. They sit across the Thanksgiving table from us. They are deluded but not maliciously stupid. We also (ought to) know that constitutionalist appeals do little to help them see their own contradictions.

    The better way to reach them is to challenge them to defend their own arguments/promises, on their own terms – i.e., they claim to want to solve social problems, so we must demand that they rigorously demonstrate that progressivism knows how to solve them. It doesn’t and never has. (Sorry this comment is so long).          

  13. Joe
    September 26th, 2011 @ 3:09 pm

    Human nature is universal.  The problem with a coup is it is great if you get George Washington.  But chances are you will not get Washington but someone else.  When when you get him you are stuck with him. 

  14. Chris Smith
    September 26th, 2011 @ 3:23 pm

    I’m more confident of the impossibility of a military coup than I am about most things.

  15. ThePaganTemple
    September 26th, 2011 @ 3:24 pm

    Our military has taken an oath to defend and uphold the constitution, and I honestly believe that, for the most part, they take it seriously. Much more so than the vast majority of our elected officials, and probably more than most judges, and without a doubt almost all government bureaucrats.

    As such, I don’t think you have to worry about this scenario ever coming about. But, if it ever does, you can be damn sure it will only be because things have gotten so bad there’s no realistic hope of things getting better by normal means.

    And by the way, do you really think our government is abiding by the constitution now?

  16. Chris Smith
    September 26th, 2011 @ 3:25 pm

    I can grasp that the Progressive GOP would favor Romney; he’s read in, he knows how the sausage is made.
    Which is precisely why he would over-compromise.

  17. Chris Smith
    September 26th, 2011 @ 3:26 pm

    Don’t let them wear you down. The battle is mostly showing up and having stamina.

  18. Chris Smith
    September 26th, 2011 @ 3:27 pm

    You get a Washington when the Almighty ordains it.

  19. Chris Smith
    September 26th, 2011 @ 3:30 pm

    You need to read Volokh http://volokh.com/2011/09/19/the-subjects-of-the-constitution-2/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+volokh%2Fmainfeed+%28The+Volokh+Conspiracy%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
    Liberty ain’t dead. It’s just been restin’ during the Progressive era. I blame the internet for the intellectual resurgence. Oh, and Progress ran out of others’ money.

  20. Bob Belvedere
    September 26th, 2011 @ 3:45 pm

    If you don’t want to consider South America, consider The Fall Of The Roman Republic via Caesar and his army.

  21. Richard Mcenroe
    September 26th, 2011 @ 3:59 pm

    And Washington gets an army to stand behind him on the same terms.

  22. Bob Belvedere
    September 26th, 2011 @ 4:00 pm

    Fixing the economic problems is but the first small step.  We’ve all been infected with the Leftist way of thinking.  If we do not reprogram ourselves none of the temporal restoration will last.

  23. ThePaganTemple
    September 26th, 2011 @ 4:13 pm

    South America isn’t even close to being half of it. All you have to look at is things that go on here, and I’m not necessarily talking just about illegal immigration either. Even that is just a small part of it. It’s everything, really.

    Caesar happened because Rome was constantly facing on-going insurrections and civil wars. Caesar’s influence led to Augustus, which finally put an end to the chaos.

    And no, I don’t want that to happen here, but the problem is, we’ve only recently taken steps to restore the republic, and we’ve got a helluva long way to go yet. I honestly don’t think the left is going to give up without a fight, and when I say a fight, I don’t mean at the polls. That’s the real problem.

    Like I said, I don’t think there will be a military coup. I just threw it out there, not as a serious proposal, but just as a way of saying it would be better than more of the same shit. I didn’t intend for it to become a debate.

    But on the other hand, the way I see it, if it were to happen, its not like we’re going to have military personnel taking over every city and township in the country, taking over our homes, farms, businesses, etc.

    Things would probably go along like they always have as far as everyday life goes. People would get up in the morning, go to work or school, pay their bills, do their shopping, come home to dinner and plop down on the sofa and watch some stupid situation comedy with a barely disguised political agenda and jokes about reactionary military generals.

    Once the smoke cleared and the appropriate bodies were buried, everyday life would go on, probably a hell of a lot for the better.

  24. Anonymous
    September 26th, 2011 @ 4:38 pm

    I wholeheartedly agree that (our interpretation of) liberty ain’t dead.

    It’s just that the “progressives” ardently cling to their own interpretation(s) of liberty. They see themselves as the true defenders of liberty and freedom. Ordering them to read the Constitution aloud before they pass yet another piece of destructive legislation is pointless because they believe that their programme is the true emodiment of the nation’s founding principles. Hell, the “progressives” have about 100 times more “constitutional scholars” than they have auto mechanics, gunsmiths, and tobacconists combined. They are experts in their own interpretations of constitutional liberty and if you challenge such interpretations, they go into a defensive shell the unyieldingness of which would impress Scipio Africanus.

    So, how do we reach the reachable among them?

  25. Anonymous
    September 26th, 2011 @ 4:55 pm

    You’re right about him not getting thrown under the bus for his Ponzi scheme stuff, but that’s not for lack of people trying.  And I’m not even counting Democrat types.

    I think Smitty’s point was really just the reality of the conversation about SS, not really Perry at all, except as an example.

  26. Bob Belvedere
    September 26th, 2011 @ 5:21 pm

    Thank you, General James Mattoon Scott.

  27. Tennwriter
    September 26th, 2011 @ 8:58 pm

    And this is why ultimately Social Conservatism has to win, and even more so, Creationism.  I used to be a Libertarian.  It is not enough of a break with the Left.

    You have to get rid of the worldview of the Left, and take up the worldview of the Right. 

    The Materialist Superstition needs to be destroyed.  Once that happens, perhaps we can finally put a stake into the Leftist ideas (fascism, Naziism, Communism, and so forth), and finally destroy this snake about our neck that has tried to strangle Libery and Justice for the last hundred plus years.

  28. DaveO
    September 26th, 2011 @ 10:58 pm

    +1

  29. DaveO
    September 26th, 2011 @ 11:07 pm

    Military officers are rather well versed in the Constitution, and in society. Most officers, flag and field grade, would shart themselves mightily if the civilian overseers ceased to exist.

    Theoretically, the only way for the military to stage a coup would be at the NCO level. The officer corps eliminates independent thinkers with a ruthlessness we only wish we’d seen applied to terrorists in this long war.

  30. LD Jackson
    September 27th, 2011 @ 1:46 am

    First of all, thanks for linking to my post about Obama going on the attack. Secondly, I really hope you are right when you say there is a growing awareness of what is wrong with our country. I sometimes have my doubts.

  31. Anonymous
    September 27th, 2011 @ 4:16 am

    It’s the run out of other peoples money that will assure it’s demise, unfortunately that’s not the same as Liberty’s victory.