THE POST MY DETRACTORS WISH I HAD WRITTEN ABOUT THE TEA PARTIES
I can’t believe it. My prayers have been answered.
Conservatism is back, brother. We are taking names, kicking ass, and putting the Hussein Obama regime on notice that we’re as mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore!
Today witnessed something I never thought I would see in my lifetime; hundreds of ordinary Americans - part of a mass movement made up probably of many, many millions except they’re invisible and you can’t see them unless you wear some special glasses -saying “no” to Hussein Obama and his policies that will eventually bankrupt us.It’s the beginning of the Second American Revolution and golly geewhillickers, I’m right smack dab in the middle of it!
The “tea parties” that are taking place all over the country today are a turning point in the history of human civilization. It’s obvious that tens of millions of Americans are enraged at Hussein Obama and the symbolic tossing of tea bags is one of the greatest political gestures in the last 200 years. If I were the organizers of these protests, I would contact Lipton immediately and ask them to up production considerably. We don’t want to run out of tea because after all, how can you have a tea party when the many, many millions who will eventually, probably take part in these protests don’t have any tea to toss?
Yes, it’s true that only a couple of hundred people showed up at almost all of these tea parties. But there are many reasons why the vast majority of Americans who are ready to throw the Hussein Obama regime on to the ash heap of history couldn’t make it. Just think about how many had dentist appointments? Or had to walk the dog? Or had the sniffles and couldn’t get out of bed? Or who chose to imbibe one too many Tequilla Sunrises before noon and were too sh*tfaced to walk straight? Or were seduced by hippie chicks and wanted to have consequence free sex instead of stand out in the cold and toss tea bags?
There are a lot of reasons conservatives didn’t show up at these events and I challenge you tell me that many millions meant to come - wanted to attend the tea parties with all their hearts - but couldn’t manage it for one reason or another. Anyone who claims that the small numbers reflect the actual interest of most Americans in opposing the Hussein Obama regime is a dirty rotten liar and a Moron to boot. When dealing with our movement, you simply cannot accept reality as a fair yardstick to measure support for the tea parties. If you do, you are part of the problem - not part of the solution. Much better to fantasize about what our movement will be rather than accept what it is now.
The Naysayers have been proved wrong! The tea parties were a smashing success and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. So what if there were only about 12 people at one of them? Those 12 represent the tens of millions of citizens who are so enraged at the Hussein Obama regime that they are too paralyzed with anger and unable to make it.
By next summer, we expect a tsunami to roll over the Hussien Obama regime as perhaps dozens or hundreds more will show up at these tea parties and become an unstoppable force that will crush liberalism, turn out the Democrats, and overthrow Hussein Obama and his spendthrift ways.
Anyone who doesn’t believe this should keep their mouths shut.
Insufficiently immersionist, I think. I believe Mr Moran should have spent at least an hour getting into the proper mix of conviction, disdain, excitement, and outrage before he attempted this parody.
Still, a credible effort for an oldish guy who never roleplayed.
Comment by Frivolous — 2/28/2009 @ 10:34 am
Yes indeed! Just what the doctor ordered. We do not need a continuing fiscal disaster fueled by th Obama liberal camp. I will join the tea parties in my area pronto. We need to turn these spendthrifts out as quickly as possible!
I am often criticised for my thorough and adamant dislike of liberals, but we see now what happens when they come into power and diddle with the financial world. Forewarning did absolutely no good, and we are now many trillions of dollars poorer, with the debt ballooning daily. Our children will suffer for this. In Newt’s words, this is “generational theft”.
Obama owns this mess now, fully and completely. Forget the fact that Bush was running down the same road; he was a real piker compared to Obama at 13 trillion dollars and counting.
Obama lied, the economy died!
Comment by mannning — 2/28/2009 @ 10:37 am
And while you are gleefully admiring your current posting, sitting in the corner at CPAC’s bloggers row, the Obama administration just increased spending another trillion.
But don’t worry about that. The enemy is Michelle Malkin and JP. Take ‘em down, Rick! Take ‘em down!
Comment by sara in va — 2/28/2009 @ 10:42 am
Anf if this was a Moran parody, it is he who will be very surprised to see this actually blooming over the year.
Obama lied, the economy died.
Comment by mannning — 2/28/2009 @ 10:44 am
Your enthusiasm is remarkable for a movement that thinks it can reinvent itself after years of expanding government, nation building and corruption nine layers deep. Rehab conservatives. Please rally against Obama doing the exact same things you all sat and denied were happening for 6 years while Bush, DeLay and Frist ran the government in the name of conservatism. I can’t wait.
Comment by the Fly-Man — 2/28/2009 @ 10:50 am
All that is needed, friend, is a bit of organization and ample notice to bring the attendance up to a critical level…in a few months.
Obama lied, the economy died.
Comment by mannning — 2/28/2009 @ 10:52 am
The Folks have short memories. What everyone is seeing is the tailspin that is happening right now, not the past sins of the previous administration. Sticking it to Bush is way out of synch with what the body politic is thinking at this horrendous moment. Obama owns the problem now.
Obama lied, the economy died.
Comment by mannning — 2/28/2009 @ 10:56 am
Sara in VA:
I dunno, is it really that important that the tea parties have unanimous support from all conservatives? I have read Mr Moran for some time now, and I think he is conservative enough. What’s the harm in his being cynical and pessimistic about the efforts to drum up public outrage against the Obama initiatives? At least it’s a somewhat original position for a conservative.
I do wish that Mr Santelli or Ms Malkin had chosen a different term besides ‘tea parties.’ It sounds so frightfully haut and British.
Comment by Frivolous — 2/28/2009 @ 11:00 am
Frivolous
Unanimous support? No way do I expect that.
But, point #1, Rick is tweaking movement leaders during CPAC. If he has an issue with them, take it to the hallway. They are probably walking by, right now! He doesn’t need to air it in public, unless he just wants attention for himself.
#2 It really is easy to sit in a chair hiding behind a computer. There are people on “our side” who are working to fight the good fight. Not everything we try is going to work. Risks may not always pay off. But the tea parties are a start. I protest those who simply analyze and opinionate and don’t effect.
#3 If you’ve been here awhile, you’ll know I come here often, too. I enjoy reading Rick’s point of view, often don’t agree, and have been labeled an ignoramus by Mr. Moran more times than I would like to admit. I don’t need 100% agreement. But anyone who calls himself a conservative should at least agree with 50% of the movement, don’t you think?
Comment by sara in va — 2/28/2009 @ 11:14 am
All fine and dandy but why not just pass over the whole event with a comment and leave it at that? What’s wrong with a simple, “I’m no fan of the current Tea Party efforts, but best of luck to them” and then move on? Why the deriding?
This is why the Left so often triumphs: they refuse to throw their own under the bus until they absolutely can’t ignore it anymore (think William Jefferson, Barney Frank, Geithner, Rangel, etc., etc.). Conservatives throw anybody and everybody under the bus on the first sign of even potential failure (think Tom McLintock, Pat Toomey, and lately Jindal and this Tea Party effort).
I don’t see anything “…frightfully haut and British” about Tea Party at at all.
Comment by Stephen D. Oliver — 2/28/2009 @ 11:15 am
Sara in VA:
Mr Moran is a writer. I think that it’s possible he might be too shy or something to actually talk to people. It requires a totally different set of skills. Plus a lack of stagefright.
Plus, what’s wrong with wanting attention?
Perhaps I exaggerated when I said I’ve been here for some time. Is a few months a long time? My time sense is strange and perhaps dilated when it comes to the Internet.
I’d never seen you been scolded by Mr Moran, so I guess I wasn’t looking at the right times. I’m sorry you felt harassed, but I do think he agrees with at least 50% of conservatism.
Stephen D. Oliver:
Being witty about ephemeral little things is what a writer does. You can’t fault someone for doing his job.
As for your third paragraph, I’ve never liked tea, even though I probably should. It just doesn’t have the richness and flavor (and masculinity) of coffee. The phrase tea party sounds effeminate to me, though I acknowledge mine is a totally subjective and probably irrational judgment.
Comment by Frivolous — 2/28/2009 @ 11:32 am
When the Republican party tore up the Contract with America you should have had the ‘tea party’, you’re eight years too late. Here is what I suggest for a rally. Make gigantic portraits of Limbaugh, Coulter and Hannity. Parade around the city square chanting their more famous remarks like “We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed too.”- Ann Coulter or “I’ll tell you who should be tortured and killed at Guantanamo - every filthy Democrat in the U.S. Congress. ”- Hannity. Then gather around a speaker who will tell you that the good honest hard working folk farmers will loose their subsidies if they don’t virulently denounce the ugly hideous liberal Jews that ruined the banking system. During the speech everyone should yell “Ditto, Ditto” repeatedly. Whatever you do don’t say anything positive about the creativity of capitalism and the exciting dynamism of the private sector. Don’t show how rejecting the blame game and being a responsible citizens translates into having no need for government solutions to problems. Just denounce liberals over and over and over again.
Comment by grognard — 2/28/2009 @ 12:11 pm
Grognard is being ironic, right? I have such trouble detecting irony on the Internet.
Comment by Frivolous — 2/28/2009 @ 12:16 pm
HAHA! Conservatives don’t know how to hold a protest because they have no experience at it and shy away from making asses of themselves in public.
Nope, to run a real protest you need civil disobedience, bullhorn operators screaming rhyming drivel, police in riot gear, tear gas, dobermans. Throw in a group of preening transvestites or two and there’s the recipe.
Photos of local “Tea Parties” I have seen look like class reunions with protesters wearing dockers and Sperry Topsiders holding illegible signs. That’s not going to cut it.
With a little practice we’ll get it right. I, for one, will be in Chicago on the Fourth Of July with Santelli. Watch the news that night. I will be the one handcuffed, holding the Obama voodoo doll loaded with pins screaming “Free The Markets, Not Free Loaders”
Get real pissed off then get involved. Drive it like you stole it.
We’ll get the hang of it. Eventually.
Comment by CZ — 2/28/2009 @ 12:24 pm
Rick gets in trouble because he tells it like it is. Some people (on both sides of the aisle) just like to hear the party line and never any critique. I come here as a Democrat because Rick is brutally honest and doesn’t pull punches. Conservatives shouldn’t think liberals don’t rip one another or Obama, they do. This site encourages healthy debate and I like it, even though Rick generally rips my party and ideology. I’m a big boy and can take it, but sometimes I wonder if the other side can take it when Rick rips them. From the comments I have my doubts.
Comment by Joe — 2/28/2009 @ 12:28 pm
First of all, I am not against the tea party protests in any way. They have historical significance and tap into the rebellious aspect of the American spirit. All good.
Second, the protests were organized at short notice and not logistically thought through. Point taken.
Third, in time, a small spark can ignite an enormous bush fire. Patience is a virtue. Got it.
Fourth, anybody can criticize. What are YOU doing about it? Stop being a jerk.
Fifth, man does not live on bread alone. We need red meat on occasion to keep our anger and motivation at effectively high levels. Agreed.
Yet, I did not go to a tea party and I am concerned these tea party protests are happening too soon because we are not addressing our fundamental problems with the GOP.
Responsibility. The Republican party is largely (not entirely) responsible for the huge mess we are in. Insisting that our current crisis is the result of Obamanomics is just not credible and smart Americans know it. We look like self serving hypocrites. Almost everything that we blame exclusively on Democrats, we had a hand in creating. A party that preaches responsibility without taking responsibility for its own mistakes looks childish and ill prepared to lead.
Principles. Small government. Responsiblity. Tax Cuts. Balanced budgets. Our principles are not addressing real issues. The primary issue right now is that the economy is in free fall. These principles do not address the real economic concerns of real Americans. Right now Americans do not want smaller government, they want effective government that addresses real human needs.
Accountability. Americans need to believe that America is a just society. Right now the perpetrators of the largest malfeasance in 100 years, in both the public and private sectors, are not being held accountable. We imprison ordinary criminals. Why not our leaders when they commit crimes?
Credibility. Republicans are not credible. We want smaller government, so we expand medicare. We want balanced budgets but we start a war on two fronts, cut taxes, and use accounting gimmicks to conceal the debt we create. (Maybe the tax cuts were not big enough?) We want people to invest in Wall Street and manage their own retirement accounts, while wealthy sophisticated investors are being defrauded on a daily basis and sometimes committing suicide after being punked.
Our response, Caveat Emptor! Republicans say, “We will keep you safe from harm!”, then we get 9/11, and “Heck of a job!! Brownie”. How about “Mission Accomplished”? Credibility is crucial for a political party. We don’t have any.
You may not agree with everything I have posted here, but the point is valid. We need to remove the plank from our own eyes before attempting to remove the speck from our bother’s eye. I feel like some of this tea party stuff is Santelli magic. It is a slight of hand designed to make it easier for us to delude ourselves. When we act responsibly, admit our mistakes, apply real principle to real problems, demand accountability from OUR OWN PARTY, we will have credibility. We will also be ready to lead, and we will get elected.
Comment by bsjones — 2/28/2009 @ 12:55 pm
I’m going to side with Rick and say that snark is exactly the right response.
We have spent decades telling the public that the private sector allocates money & resources better than the public sector and yet we have just seen the private sector engage in one of the most massively incompetent misallocation of resources in history.
I still think we are right, but as a rational person I understand how others might be be, however misguidedly, questioning this idea.
Comment by angulimala — 2/28/2009 @ 1:13 pm
Angulimala,
If you are right, the credibility of the GOP and conservatism have been damaged.
What should be done? How do we win back credibility?
I’m really interested.
Comment by bsjones — 2/28/2009 @ 1:32 pm
bsjones
You cannot possibly be referring to Obama’s spending spree as a speck? Can you?
Totally clear your brain for a minute and defend the budget, the stimulus spending Obama has announced. Stop talking about yesterday’s news (Bush) it’s over now.
Comment by sara in va — 2/28/2009 @ 2:59 pm
Sara in VA,
I think Republicans need to admit to massive failure for the sake of responsibility and to regain credibility. Only when we take responsibility and regain credibility will we win elections.
There is and always will be disagreement among economists as to the best way to handle massive recessions. Keynes is on one side of that debate. No matter what some people insist, his ideas are not completely discredited. If anything the idea that tax cuts always get the economy moving again is the belief that is now on shaky ground.
The real debate among economist right now is about how much “crowding out” public investment will do to private investment.
Look at these graphs:
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/02/february-economic-summary-in-graphs.html
How many businesses are willing to invest in this climate?
Keynes point was that when an economy is producing WAY below its capacity because of insufficient demand, government can stimulate that demand through spending and investment. As the economy recovers, the government pulls back on spending, thus, allowing the private sector to resume its rightful place in the economy.
All protestations to the contrary, this is not crazy talk. Obama also included massive tax cuts in his porkulus to get Republicans on board.
I may be proven wrong, but I genuinely believe that hoping for or facilitating an Obama failure will lead us deeper into the wilderness than an actual successful Obama presidency.
Comment by bsjones — 2/28/2009 @ 3:22 pm
I still think the tea parties get credit for their fun signs. You have to admit the signs ARE fun.
Comment by Jane — 2/28/2009 @ 3:37 pm
Was Mr. Moran always a writer? I was led to believe that he picked this up as a hobby, and only lately has become fairly compensated for it.
Regardless, if you’ve read here long enough, you can see what’s coming next: the extended benevolent hand up for the peons of the tea parties, provided they tug their forelock hard enough, instead of the contemptuous back of the hand they’ve received so far, thus covering all bases and all peoples as well as his own rear, in case it actually turns into something worthwhile.
It’s an interesting pathology, anyway. Very writerly.
Comment by Scott — 2/28/2009 @ 3:53 pm
I wasn’t there because I had a hippy chick tea-bag me. I thought that was enough.
Comment by lionheart — 2/28/2009 @ 3:57 pm
bsjones -
I appreciate your thoughtful responses. I do not mean to nitpick, but I guess I will. You mentioned that the private sector is responsible for the misallocation of resources. What role did government policies with respect to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play in this misallocation? What role did the Fed’s historically low interest rate policy over roughly the past decade play in this misallocation?
The conventional wisdom that their has been significant deregulation during the past decade and little to no government intervention during that time are simply not true.
I haven’t heard too many government (esp. elected ones) or Federal Reserve officials take responsibility for any mistakes. I would argue that it would almost be impossible to quantify their portion of the misallocation. I could also argue that the markets these organization’s operate in are hardly free of government intervention.
Comment by Gregg — 2/28/2009 @ 4:01 pm
Gregg,
That point about the mis-allocation of resources belongs to angulimala (post #17), although I do essentially agree with it.
The point of all my recent posts is this: I simply refuse to live in a world of fairy tales anymore.
Government is not simply a helpful and “benevolent” older sibling, any more than big business is a mean spirited and spiteful step mother. This is a childish narrative concocted by Democrats that (primarily) serves that party and its masters.
Government is not an evil ogre that always wants to create dependency and destroy America’s greatness, which, can only be combated by the gallant knights of the GOP who will slay the evil ogre with tax cuts, finally freeing the oppressed peasants to explore their God Given freedom. This is a silly narrative concocted by the GOP to serve the party and the interests of the party masters.
I’m tired of false narratives that, when believed, pit American against American while the country sinks into the swamp.
I’m railing against this simple minded retreat from the reality that our senses present to us on a daily basis when we embrace silly, simple minded narratives that are designed to stupefy us.
As most of my posts clearly state, the current mess required complicity by all the parties involved including: business leaders, government leaders, ordinary citizens, regulators, and every other “elite”. I have never said, and never will say, that this is the fault of any one group.
Yet, if we do not acknowledge the colossal screw ups of Bush, figure out what went wrong, and then correct it, we should move in next door to Shrek and his donkey.
As to your specific point, Fannie and Freddie were massive enablers to the ridiculous CDO market and the crisis that followed. They, along with everyone else involved, neglected their responsibilities and jumped on board the gravy train. All parties then bribed members of both parties in Congress with campaign contributions and fact finding trips to ensure Congress looked the other way.
So,I disagree that this is a case of too much or too little regulation. It was a combination of bad regulation, bad legislation, negligence, sticking the head in the sand, story telling and fraud.
In other posts, I have said citizens use the ballot box to hold government accountable for their actions and government holds business accountable for its actions. We could add that the press also helps hold government and business accountable by properly informing citizens about what their government and business are doing.
THIS ENTIRE SYSTEM HAS COMPLETELY BROKEN DOWN.
There is a huge trough of wealth created by American citizens. Political elites working with (and often on behalf of) business elites do there damnedest to drain the trough. When it is empty, you and I will have to fill it back up.
That’s my three little pig narrative.
Comment by bsjones — 2/28/2009 @ 5:09 pm
Gregg,
I want to summarize.
Business and government elites work together to pass and repeal legislation as needed to ensure that ALL OF THE ELITES (both public and private) have a place at the trough. Many fairy tales get told to prevent citizens from looking at the system in its entirety in an attempt to prevent them from seeing what is happening. The press does its part in retelling the false narratives of the Ruling Classes in an effort to curry favor and stay in with these “master’s of the universe”. The secret they do not want let out is they are all in it together. The adversarial relationships we sometimes see are just another part of the fairy tale.
Comment by bsjones — 2/28/2009 @ 5:43 pm
Gregg,
I try to be as articulate as I possibly can, but I realize words often fail. I saw a movie last night called, WHO THE #$&% IS JACKSON POLLOCK. It demonstrates perfectly well how this system operates.
Please rent it from NETFLIX. You won’t regret it.
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Who_the_Is_Jackson_Pollock/70064699?lnkctr=srchrd-sr&strkid=218500358_0_0
Comment by bsjones — 2/28/2009 @ 6:01 pm
Poor Rick. You keep trying to use the paddles, (clear! Bang! Clear!) trying to shock conservatism and the GOP back to life. And the commenters all want to die.
Why are you with these people, Rick? The Democratic Party is more than just the fringe and the Kossacks. We need people to strengthen the DLC wing of the party.
Why do you hang out with idiots when you’re not an idiot? You’re the Gary Cooper of loserville, trying to get the brain-dead populace to realize that the danger to the party and the movement is real. Trying to get them to strap on their six-guns and fight the good fight.
It isn’t going to work because they don’t want to live. They don’t want to be reborn. They don’t want to win. They’re happiest in their paranoid fantasy world. They are exactly where they want to be: in angry, impotent exile.
Comment by michael reynolds — 2/28/2009 @ 7:26 pm
[...] Rick Moran offers a stirring defense of Tea Party Mania that has me this close to reconsidering my [...]
Pingback by Tea Parties Protest Stimulus — 2/28/2009 @ 7:37 pm
They don’t want to be reborn.
“Come to the light, Rick. Dammitt, no — we’ve told you 1000 times - you can’t bring your principles. We’ll give you a new ethos.”
Comment by Scott — 2/28/2009 @ 8:32 pm
While back at CPAC, Coulter flip-flops on Afghanistan, Ziegler calls for a Jihad against anyone opposed to Palin, and Limbaugh, while trashing Newt, lays claim to the new Conservative mantra, to hell with new ideas, we will be the movement with no ideas. At this rate we should keep an electoral death grip on Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas.
Why the hell did Ron Paul agree to appear at this clown convention?
Comment by Hyde Park Libertarian — 2/28/2009 @ 8:43 pm
Greg:
Unfortunately the great charade, or fairy tale as you call it, has managed to works its magic and indoctrinate the vast majority of the population. They pull the stings and “we the people” dance like good little marionettes.
Comment by Hyde Park Libertarian — 2/28/2009 @ 8:49 pm
Hyde Park
And the strings will become chains. Then we will no longer dance. We will grovel.
Comment by sara in va — 2/28/2009 @ 9:41 pm
Sara in VA,
Am I missing something?
Are we in agreement?
Comment by bsjones — 2/28/2009 @ 9:57 pm
Sara in VA,
I just saw your new website. I saw some funny photo shop. Loved the clip of Obama’s wife calling black college kids ignorant right to their faces!!
You should allow responses on your site. It would make things more lively.
Comment by bsjones — 2/28/2009 @ 10:12 pm
bsjones,
Im not going to pretend that I have all the answers but here’s a small list.
1) Let’s go back to the fundamentals re: “Deregulation”. “Deregulation” started off as the rightminded attempt to reduce the level of governmental “micro-management”. It has since morphed into the wrong-minded attempt to dismantle even those basic small core of regulations that are absolutely necessary for the free market to function properly.
The “Free Market” requires a certain baseline level of trust among participants. A pseudo-Free-market system where fraud and gross material deceit are tolerated won’t function because investors will be wary of trusting their money to people who might just steal it or con us into making a bad investment just to make themselves a quick buck off the trade. When “deregulation” began to mean a desire to eliminate even those rules whose primary purpose was to check against fraud, and cripple the ability of the relevant agencies to actually enforce the rules against it, we lost footing in practical reality and set ourselves up for something like this.
Now, we’re complaining about homeowners who took out loans they didn’t have a realistic chance of paying back if the market turned, but ignoring the bankers who promised to pay insurance policies on the mortgage-backed assets that totaled hundreds of times their market capitalization. There was NO WAY these banks like Lehman Bros could pay back even a fraction of their obligations if the market turned. They were simply betting that they would never have to pay back the obligations (after all Lehman Bros will never go under)s and so they sold as many of them as they could as fast as they could. This was as irresponsible behavior as any deadbeat homeowner who simply bet that he could always “roll-over” his mortgage, with amounts of money that DWARFED the money we’re talking about with the homeowners, and we have NOTHING to say about it?!?!?! No wonder our protests about personal responsibility fall on deaf ears! We’re blaming the small fish (the deadbeat homeowners) and ignoring the big fish (the deadbeat bankers who irresponsible with much larger amounts of money).
I’m not an economist, so correct me if I am wrong, but I understand they were able to do this because they didn’t have to tell ANYONE how much their outstanding obligations were! They were able to promise, in secret, to pay back multiple parties in total amounts far exceeding their actual ability to make good on their promises. A simple regulation requiring them to disclose to the people buying these CDOs how much their already had in outstanding obligations would probably have kept the bubble from getting as bad as it did because it would have allowed CDO buyers to know, before they bought the CDO, if they really had a decent shot of getting paid if/when they had to call it in. As the size of the outstanding obligations grew, investors would have been more and more wary of trusting the bank to be able to pay off an additional obligation, and demand for the CDOs would have tapered off. This kind of publication regulation hardly seems like odious business-stifling micro-management to me. The banks didn’t oppose it because it was an undue burden on them. They opposed it because they didn’t want to do anything to dam the river of cash flowing into their pockets. The were making good short-term profits on the irrational exhuberence and they didn’t want investor to know any information that might make them action more rationally. We investors who aren’t masochistic lemmings, do want to have the information necessary to act rationally.
We have nothing to say about the incestual relationship between the banks and the ratings agencies? Banks paid big money to have their securities rated. The ratings agencies gave them AAA ratings. Now we find out that they are objectively FAR from AAA in their actual degree of risk. I can’t be the only non-lefty to smell quid-pro-quo and want to know if this wasn’t a f***ing con-job on the investors!!!
For God’s sake! We’re the “Law and Order” and “Personal Responsibility” people and, in the middle of the biggest financial screw-up in history, with more stories of outright fraud, irresponsibility, and incompetence coming out every day, we are bitching about the people responsible for only a fraction of the total problem. We look petty and vindictive and like we are more concerned with making sure our neighbor doesn’t get to keep the new kitchen he got with a second mortgage than with the people who made millions putting us in this mess (“I get clock radio. He cannot afford. Great success!”).
Maybe a good place to start rebuilding some credibility is to take the lead in both investigating and punishing any fraud and deceit that contributed to this and earnestly looking for a system to keep this from happening again without succumbing to the liberal desire for governmental micro-management. Personally, I think good disclosure rules allow investors to act more rationally and reduce the need for odious intervention.
What certainly won’t help us is pretending that this massive wasteful blunder by the private sector isn’t going to make a serious impression on the average person and simply repeating the same lines about Government wastefulness. People already know Government is wasteful. The problem for us is that they are beginning to question if the private sector isn’t worse. We need to stop treating Private-sector superiority as a simple dogmatic truth and realize that it requires certain conditions to be true on the ground. If these conditions are not met, then it is not more necessarily more efficient and can be just as inefficient as the stupid commies. As long as we tout the virtues of the Free-Market but neglect to foster the conditions under which those potential virtues become actualized, we are going to have a hard time convincing people we are serious
Comment by angulimala — 2/28/2009 @ 11:17 pm
Is this guy always such an a-hole?
Comment by Marko — 2/28/2009 @ 11:49 pm
LOL. Good post.
Comment by Brad — 2/28/2009 @ 11:54 pm
That’s alright Rick, not all see the beginning of a revolution…
Comment by Deagle — 3/1/2009 @ 12:00 am
“Tea Parties” are symbolic nonsense. You know, the kind of thing leftists without jobs living with their parents while taking goverment loans to attend college so they can work for the U.N engage in. The radical agenda of B. Hussein Obama and this loser Congress run by Pelosi and Reid will do more to destroy the utopian Marxist dreams than these silly gatherings. The greatest danger was that Obama and his crowd actually would have taken a Clinton style approach and tried to have at least to appear moderate in some regard. His economic approach is indefensible and his foreign policy approach as confused as Rosie O’Donnel reading Popular Mechanics. These mistakes will cost him with the 1/3 of voters that put both him and Pelosi in power. The rhetoric of Rush and Ann simply fires up the Conservative base. Together, this will cost Obama dearly. The spending under Bush and the Republican controlled Congress cannot be defended. It could not be defended then as the Obama spree cannot be defended now. The difference is that no one ever expects Democrats to care about spending. They expect it of Republicans. If Republicans don’t deliver as was the case during the tenure of Bush and the Republican Congress we can expect losses again. Conservatives and Republicans will gain in 2010 and 2012. We must hold them accountable when they do.
Comment by Robert — 3/1/2009 @ 1:16 am
Wow Rick you really rub their noses in it!
The tea parties will shortly speak of forming militias.
After all a “well-regulated” militia, being necessary for the defense of “the state”…uh…when you read it makes as much sense as the Bible.
If only my faith were stronger there would be no fear. Jesus will pull my nuts out of the fire!
Comment by bobwire — 3/1/2009 @ 2:38 am
From the urban dictionary:
Tea-Bag - 8 definitions - Dipping your testicles into the open mouth of another person
Could this explain attendence?
Comment by bobwire — 3/1/2009 @ 3:10 am
Think what you want to about the tea party protesters, they at least got out from behind their keyboards and did something.
Contrast this with Mr. Moran in his 26th February post, “sitting in the darkened study of [his] sister’s beautiful home in Bethesda….” and advising us to pay heed the profound thoughts of a 17 year old.
I’ll put my money on the protesters in the streets rather than Mr. Moran in the darkened study.
Comment by Person of Choler — 3/1/2009 @ 5:07 am
lionheart Said:
Um… you do know the definition of tea-bag, right?
Comment by Chuck Tucson — 3/2/2009 @ 10:08 am
Michael,
For one the DLC is dead, when you have Harold becoming a cheerleader of the entire stimulus package, you know it’s dead.
It took what 30 years for your party to really get it’s act together, why do people think the GOP will get back in six months? Reforming a party isn’t easy and I applaud Rick for trying. Who wants just one party rule?
I don’t agree with your strident anti-religious or that the party is in that much control of them. It’s more a combo of them and plain greed during the Bush years of fiscal cons giving up all cred. But you are correct that the party has to give up some of it’s hardcore policies. I don’t see that happening soon. But looking at your party it took 14 years from when Clinton banished Casey at the convention to start getting pro-lifers back in your party. And like I said 30 years to really get even a more than half way liberal pres. Once Clinton’s health care blew up he pretty much sailed the middle for six years, worked well too.
So even though it sucks to try to reform it takes time, history does repeat. In the meantime we might get someone that I, you and Rick might like a more moderate GOP leader. Congress and Senate might be Dem for quite awile (thinking at least a decade)but we just might get a moderate president in the mold like Ike in 8 years. But mostly like 12 years.
Comment by bubbaquimby — 3/2/2009 @ 10:53 am
bsjones:
You have suggested that the party take a large share of the failures of the past 8 years, and openly admit their sins under an official party letterhead, so to speak.
I suggest to you that such an act would be virtual suicide for the party. Just what do you think the Democrats would do with such an official admission of our sins at each election cycle for the next decade or two? Trot it out and tell the voters yet again how we admitted our enumerated sins over and over and over. Such a club would bury us, even if most of it was wrong, or only half right.
In my view, you regain credibility by creating a legislative program with high integrity and with provisions that preclude the sins of the past from reoccuring, but without a mea culpa to go with it. If this program is properly designed, it would appeal to a large percentage of the public, would provide sensible corrections to our pressing needs, and would reaffirm our principles of conservatism.
With that program design in hand, we take it to the people over and over again and show them how it works in their best interest. We show the people the set of legislators we will champion and their commitment to all of those provisions in the program that benefit the public and correct past flaws.
If we beat this drum well, it will penetrate and be rewarded at election after election until we are back in control.
In fact, I have never seen a campaign whose manager would allow the candidate to apologize for anything. No negatives at all, but positives all the way. We will correct the flaws in our system, etc. and we will have the talented people to do it in DC.
Comment by mannning — 3/2/2009 @ 12:32 pm
manning,
Great post!
It’s well thought out and well written.
Comment by bsjones — 3/8/2009 @ 1:05 am
angulimala,
# 36 is a great post.
I hope to hear more from you.
Comment by bsjones — 3/8/2009 @ 1:15 am