The Tea Party faction within the Republican party was demanding that, before any further steps were taken, there must be a debate about where all this was going. They had seen the future toward which they were being pushed, and it didn’t work. They were convinced that the entitlement culture and benefits programmes which the Democrats were determined to preserve and extend with tax rises could only lead to the diminution of that robust economic freedom that had created the American historical miracle.
And, again contrary to prevailing wisdom, their view is not naive and parochial: it is corroborated by the European experience. By rights, it should be Europe that is immersed in this debate, but its leaders are so steeped in the sacred texts of social democracy that they cannot admit the force of the contradictions which they are now hopelessly trying to evade.
H/T: HotAir
OMG so much to catch up on on TCKT today - just a quick comment...
ReplyDeletebut its [Europe's] leaders are so steeped in the sacred texts of social democracy
To be fair, social democracy is as rooted in the founding canon of the modern European states as Liberty and Freedom is in the US. It's authentic and part of their DNA.
Bismarck and Louis Napoleon in the 19th century formulated the roots of social democracy partly in response to the challenges of early collectivist politics (see e.g. the revolutions of 1848). It was a political formula that melded the modern idea of the State with the more ancient idea of the Nation, where ideas around the natural limits of State authority were more diffuse and permissive with regard to what was the legitimate domain of the State.
HT: Jourdan, in private conversation.
So while the contradictions are there, I give the Europeans a wide berth when it comes to confronting them. It's who they are, and seeing contradictions which strike at the core of identity are notoriously difficult to cultivate awareness of.
Actually, she said nothing that would lead to surviving the crisis, as no-one in Europe is actually going to even talk seriously about the points she made.
ReplyDeleteBut before it seems like too much finger-pointing on my part, the 'Debt Ceiling Crisis' certainly showed that no-one in a position of power in the US is going to do any more than give it lip service.
Think of it.
As Bill Whittle's commentary showed, we have the world's wealthiest 'poor' people.
As the continuing stories about the violent mobs of young blacks show, we also have among the world's least law-abiding.
Does anyone really believe that reduction in benefits is going to do anything other than engender levels of American vs American violence greater than any seen since the Civil War? Soon to be called, in history classes, The First Civil War.
Turbo Timmy is going to stay!! Oh, yeah, he's still da' mouse that squeaks...
ReplyDeleteimgw:"http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y128/aridog/geithner-timothy-sell-now.jpg"
Obama is reported to have asked him to stay ... small wonder, the Jug Eared Messiah needs at least one person who can count to eleven without removing a shoe to count toes, too. Not that it helps his ability to manage anything or forecast events. He swore there was no danger of any rating agency downgrading US debt. Whoops.
I don't care if he stays at this point. Who would replace him? Another inept bungler mired in broken Keynesian theory? Bah.
ReplyDeleteObama plucks his czars from a singular rotting barrel. It doesn't matter which village idiot warms the treasury chair.
In other news, the Dow is continuing the plunge it begun last week, with a drop of over 340 points before 11 AM, today.
ReplyDeleteLady Red ... I don't care if he stays, for the same reasons as you. The goal must be to remove the MICOTUS ... the Moron In Charge Of The United States. Until then reality is not going to be on the table for any executive inside the beltway.
ReplyDeleteThe points Lewy made on another thread, with input from Jourdan, are another thing ... I think he's right. Europe may very well be statist in nature, but there is no earthly reason for the US to emulate them in any way ... or even make comparison to them. We began as different, as leaders and innovators (the very idea of a system of truly "united states"), and need to stay that way.
One of the things that irritated me most as a "Fed" was the insane tendency of my compatriots to immediately look at what others are doing to resolve a problem on their plate. No innovation or original thinking if it could be avoided.
The goal must be to remove the MICOTUS
ReplyDeleteYup.