Friday, March 17, 2017

A question for 'REAL Conservatives'™

I've got a question for my 'REAL Conservatives'™ friends out there. While I've come to think of myself as more as more of a Liberal Conservative - Politically Liberal (Not Leftist, but Liberal in the classical sense of advocating for liberty), and culturally Conservative (not socially conservative, but seeking to conserve the ideals and treasures of Western Culture) - I like to think of myself as someone who has an understanding of the nature of Principles, to the point of preferring Principled thinking, over attempting to think with prefabricated store bought 'principles' (IOW I can get a bit obnoxious over it).

Between Scylla and Charybdis


I like to think of myself as someone who has an understanding of the nature of individual rights, the vital role that property plays in upholding them under a system of justice based upon the Rule of Law, which restrains and restricts the necessary power of government to defending the lives and rights of its people from all enemies, foreign and domestic. I've spent a lot of time thinking through how those abstract rights, follow from perceptual realities, in a conceptual chain that is perilous to abridge. And while I rarely find politicians who think as I do, I do seek out and support those who at least show a deep regard for our rights, for the rule of law, and the structure and purpose of our Constitution.

Given that focus, I couldn't find a way to support Donald Trump in the Primaries, because I didn't see any evidence that he understood, or gave much thought or regard, for what I did. I couldn't exactly support him in the general election either, although I strongly advocated for casting your vote, as I did, with his name on it, as the most effective means of defeating the greater evil facing us, from the Pro-Regressive Left.

My question for 'REAL Conservatives'™, is this: Why is it, that with all the 'REAL Conservatives'™ we've supported and elected over the decades, why is it that this billionaire, Twitter headed, Reality T.V. star, Donald J. Trump, is the ONLY one to propose the type of budget measures he has, the ONLY one who's moved to slay the Hydra of the Administrative State, the ONLY one who's used his executive powers to attack it, the ONLY one whose told the hell hole of North Korea that the era of 'strategic patience' is at an end, and the ONLY one to begin to pull back from the Charybdis of suck that is the United Nations?

That seems like a question that might be worth giving some thought to.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Dear GOP: To Repeal Is To Replace; to Replace Without Repealing Is To Suck

When it comes to the question of what to do about ObamaCare, there once seemed to be clarity on 'The Right': Repeal it. That was soon, slowly, altered to Repeal and Replace it. Why?

Andrew Breitbart once made a remark along the lines of,
'If you can't sell Freedom and Liberty, you suck.'
Dear GOP: You suck.
(And yes, I understand that there's a mirror out there waiting for me)
I am forced to say that, because, if you do understand Liberty, Individual Rights, the Constitutional Rule of Law, then you'd also understand that "Full Repeal", IS to replace ObamaCare with the most superior option available: being at liberty to find the services, care, associations, charities, to be offered and chosen, in a free market.

There IS no better option available than that. There is no more moral system available, there is no more inclusive system available, and there is no more efficient system available. To give 'careful consideration' to all other available options, is to not understand the best available option!

The blatantly obvious, and supremely depressing fact is, that 'The Right' in general, and the GOP in particular, do not fully understand this, and so they have little enthusiasm or commitment to, capital "L" Liberty. Sure they like the sound of it, it has marketing utility for them, but they do not 'get' it, and so they can't sell it, and worse, Americans as a whole are obviously not clamoring for it, or the politicians would at least put more effort into faking it.

To recap: Repealing ObamaCare IS replacing it with a vastly superior option - the Liberty to act in a Free Market - and going any further with tweaking regulations, adding laws, manipulating taxation, forcing options and 'choices' upon patients, doctors, insurers and other providers, is restoring all of the essential evils that was, and is, inherent in Obamacare.

Worse than simply sucking at selling Freedom and Liberty, is not even trying to. Despicable.

Note: I'm disgusted with Paul Ryan & Congress on this, not Trump. Trump at least ran on this muck, he's doing what he promised to. Paul Ryan & Congress are the dishonest pukes who've pretended to be against this, have pretended to understand why this should be opposed, and yet have written and proposed this.

For my friends on the Right, a far more important question than the spastic 'How was Trump elected?!', is 'Why is this being accepted?', and until that is understood, your complaints about Trump, RINO's and the Left, are pointless.

(Libertarians: pipe down and keep your two cents, most of you suck just as bad or worse at it.)

Thursday, March 02, 2017

Jeff Sessions' Recusal: The GOP's continuing pursuit of publicly preening their political stigmata.

So Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself, in response to a spurious, baseless, charge. Was this an admirable act of selflessly sacrificing himself to maintain the appearance of justice? Is he rising above "... any semblance of a conflict of interest...", by appeasing the calls of those who have no concern for impartiality, or truth, or justice?

No (begin rant).

His action today lifts no one, ennobles no process, and is itself a form of injustice. It's a dereliction of duty, sacrificing that Justice which he has been put in office to defend. His action will reduce no political temperatures for the Trump administration, but will only serve as a means to turning up the heat. Why is it that the Right positively loves indulging in and bathing in these waters of judicial snake-oil, do they really think that they look good preening in them before the media, and the nation?

It is unsightly and obscene.

Am I going too far? I wish. There was no honest question of propriety involved here, only the Left's relentless pursuit of an opening, any convenient pretext, to gain political benefits for themselves by means of the media, which they have not been able to achieve through public elections.

This is the main exchange that is being manipulated against Attorney General Sessions:
"SEN. PATRICK J. LEAHY: Several of the President-elect's nominees or senior advisers have Russian ties. Have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after election day?" the Vermont Democrat asked in a questionnaire.

SESSIONS: No."
He was asked if he had been in contact with any member of the Russian government 'about the 2016 election', and he answered, 'No'.  Did that question, or his answer to it, in any way imply that he had not met with representatives of the Russian Govt at all?

No.

Why? Because as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, it would be not at all unusual for him to have met with ambassadors from other nations, including Russia, as a part of his job, and his having done so in that capacity, does not impact the answer he gave in any way, shape or form, not even if he were running for his own re-election, because it is part of such a senator's job. Even my own Senator from Missouri, Sen. McCaskill did, although she claimed that she'd never met with a Russian Ambassador in her position as a senator on that same Armed Services Committee, which Twitter and the Washington Post quickly showed to be a, by Democrat standards, blatant lie.

Are we to presume then, that, as a Democrat herself, that she now intends to tender her resignation in an attempt to live up to those same preposterous standards she demands of the Right?

No? Huh. Such a surprise.

Sessions should not have even offered a verbal 'PC Penance' of '... despite appearances, in fact...'. Instead, he should have called out these deceptive, dishonest, manipulative allegations, as being what they are, and continued on with the business he was put in office to do.

Did he?

No.

Instead, following the traditional GOP passion for publicly preening in ritual acts of political self mutilation, he chose to recuse himself from those duties that, if he cared about Truth and Justice, he should have diligently insisted upon personally overseeing, with extreme care and attentiveness, because that's what he owes, not to the media, but to the American people, on whose behalf he is now serving as Attorney General.

Instead, we're treated yet again to the GOP's preferred means of parading about in their political stigmata, by indulging, again and again, in actions that are the equivalent of those who cut and scar themselves for attention, offering up the plaintive cry:
'Aren't our wounds admirable and impressive?!'
The truly despicable truth is, that the GOP's indulging in these actions gives the left's deliberate lies and aspersions a sheen of credibility, serving to empower and embolden their efforts to increase their own ill-gotten political powers, by any means necessary. And this recusal will fuel and intensify their pursuit of those powers.

Will it accomplish anything at all for the GOP? No. Will it encourage the Pro-Regressive Left to treat them more fairly? No. Will it lessen pressure on the Trump administration? Hell no. Will it in any way shape or form enable the GOP to better uphold and defend justice for the people of the United States of America? No.

Will it weaken the GOP's ability to faithfully advance what they were elected by the people of the United States of America to do? Yes. Will that weakness encourage the left in its pursuit of even more power? Yes, it absolutely will do that.

For this, President Trump ought to tell Jeff Sessions: "You're fired!"

There are a lot of things that I take issue with Trump on, but in this case, I'd like to see a lot less GOP/Reince Preibus - Trump, and a lot more News Conference-Trump, something like 'This is a fake story and we're not going to treat fantasy as reality, so sit down!'

Instead...it's times like this that 'the Right' disgusts me, and I am so proud to Not be a member of the GOP.

/rant