Spengler on the Tea Parties

[Simple Minded]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/LL07Aa01.html

Excellent article!

Spengler writes about the economic effects of demographic cause. The Elliott Wave theorists have written that birth rates are the effects of social mood cause. While it is interesting to speculate "Which came first the chicken or the egg?" the results seem apparent over time.

I think the Tea Party is only the anvil, Generation We may very well prove to be the hammer that will re-shape the political parties. Once that hammer starts swinging, IMO, lots of people are going to be surprised.

I think the enablers who are currently working to provide Generation We with the infrastructure to wield political power will be genuinely shocked a few years down the line to learn Generation We does not share their ideology.

As one would expect, the MSM is working feverishly to preserve the status quo and the existing power brokers.

It will be ironic if history records Obama as the icon of what is currently wrong with American politics (heavy handed Chicago coercion, back room deals, late night secrecy, and UAW/special interest payoffs), fiscal responsibility as the "change we can believe in," and the Tea Party members as "the people we have been waiting for!"

[Booklady]

Very perceptive, Simple Minded. A very informative essay. Spengler's description of the Tea Party is diametrically opposite to the idiotic descriptions the left wing media has been trying to paint of the Tea Party folk. That is why they lost so badly in the 2010 elections. As Spengler said, hopefully these people will vet better candidates in 2012, who will be able to trounce Frank, Reid and even Pelosi.

[ellens]

It does all come back to demography, ultimately, but in the short term I think what we see today in the US and in Europe is a fatigue with the inadequacies of democracy. Especially in a media-driven society, where reputations can be made and lost with amazing speed, politicians want to please their constituents at all cost. This is in spite of the abundant evidence that the constituents are mostly ill-informed and myopic. California is now going bankrupt because its voting public decided decades ago that they wanted lower taxes and more services. That is exactly the situation at the Federal level, writ large.

After WWII, the writer Bertold Brecht was informed that the communist party of East Germany had lost in an election. His response was not that we need to change the leadership in the communist party, or a new party altogether, but rather, we need to change the people! We need a new voting public.

So, in that spirit, I vote for replacing the American electorate with a new group of people who will be more sensible and far-sighted in their approach to politics.

[charleston]

It does all come back to demography, ultimately, but in the short term I think what we see today in the US and in Europe is a fatigue with the inadequacies of democracy. Especially in a media-driven society, where reputations can be made and lost with amazing speed, politicians want to please their constituents at all cost. This is in spite of the abundant evidence that the constituents are mostly ill-informed and myopic. California is now going bankrupt because its voting public decided decades ago that they wanted lower taxes and more services. That is exactly the situation at the Federal level, writ large.

After WWII, the writer Bertold Brecht was informed that the communist party of East Germany had lost in an election. His response was not that we need to change the leadership in the communist party, or a new party altogether, but rather, we need to change the people! We need a new voting public.

So, in that spirit, I vote for replacing the American electorate with a new group of people who will be more sensible and far-sighted in their approach to politics.

You want a dictatorship of YOUR betters?

Why do you live in a democracy?

"Politicians want to please their constituents at all cost"? What do you think the role of the politician is, if not to reflect the agenda of those who elect him AS REPRESENTATIVE?

Your thinking is very bizarre and muddled. Get help!

[Simple Minded]

..................... we need to change the people! We need a new voting public.

So, in that spirit, I vote for replacing the American electorate with a new group of people who will be more sensible and far-sighted in their approach to politics.

Hear Hear! Seems a age old solution to a timeless problem......

In the last two days the Republicans have been shown to be a do nothing party of hostage takers, and the Democrats have been shown to be a weak kneed party of racists, at least according to the president and the MSM.

That leaves the Tea Party and the Independents as the only viable voting blocks.... even with modern technology, cloning and genetic engineering will take decades to produce better people of voting age....

[Simple Minded]

Very perceptive, Simple Minded.

Book Lady,

Thanks for the kind words.

I gnerally find that women who appreciate my opinions are not only extremely intelligent, but extraordinarily sexy!

[Booklady]

..................... we need to change the people! We need a new voting public.

So, in that spirit, I vote for replacing the American electorate with a new group of people who will be more sensible and far-sighted in their approach to politics.

Hear Hear! Seems a age old solution to a timeless problem......

In the last two days the Republicans have been shown to be a do nothing party of hostage takers, and the Democrats have been shown to be a weak kneed party of racists, at least according to the president and the MSM.

That leaves the Tea Party and the Independents as the only viable voting blocks.... even with modern technology, cloning and genetic engineering will take decades to produce better people of voting age....

Once again, I agree with EllenS and Simple Minded on this idea. We need a return to common sense, and solid civic education. Unfortunately, our schools have stopped teaching the three R's and are teaching socialistic social justice nonsense, that has gotten us into this particular mess. We need an educated saavy electorate, who are willing to toss out the predators in the political class.

[ellens]

Welcome back, Booklady, and a very happy Christmas to you.

[CognitiveDistoibance]

It does all come back to demography, ultimately, but in the short term I think what we see today in the US and in Europe is a fatigue with the inadequacies of democracy. Especially in a media-driven society, where reputations can be made and lost with amazing speed, politicians want to please their constituents at all cost. This is in spite of the abundant evidence that the constituents are mostly ill-informed and myopic. California is now going bankrupt because its voting public decided decades ago that they wanted lower taxes and more services. That is exactly the situation at the Federal level, writ large.

After WWII, the writer Bertold Brecht was informed that the communist party of East Germany had lost in an election. His response was not that we need to change the leadership in the communist party, or a new party altogether, but rather, we need to change the people! We need a new voting public.

So, in that spirit, I vote for replacing the American electorate with a new group of people who will be more sensible and far-sighted in their approach to politics.

This is nothing that a global depression and a world war won't fix.

[Booklady]

Thank you, Ellens, good to be back.

[ellens]

CD,

I totally agree with your conclusion, and that is very much a Collingwoodian approach to politics. The people will get the spanking they deserve.

The problem is, people who behave responsibly get dragged down by the ones who behaved irresponsibly. The current deep recession caused by irresponsible hyperconsumption perhaps is a "punishment that fits the crime" (another Gilbert and Sullivan ditty) but it seems to me, the investment bankers and mortgage brokers who engineered this mess still laugh all the way to the bank.

[Marcus]

Welcome back, Booklady, and a very happy Christmas to you.

Nice to see you, Booklady . . Merry Christmas . .

[CognitiveDistoibance]

CD,

I totally agree with your conclusion, and that is very much a Collingwoodian approach to politics. The people will get the spanking they deserve.

The problem is, people who behave responsibly get dragged down by the ones who behaved irresponsibly. The current deep recession caused by irresponsible hyperconsumption perhaps is a "punishment that fits the crime" (another Gilbert and Sullivan ditty) but it seems to me, the investment bankers and mortgage brokers who engineered this mess still laugh all the way to the bank.

Yes, a dose of reality is a bit less discriminating than we might prefer. The responsible folk will at least adapt and survive, I hold out less hope for those dependent on the nanny state. Some will accept the correction of the spanking, but many who have subordinated their humanity and freedom to vote for "get-even-with-em-ism" will be unable to escape.

Personally, I'm waiting on a few developments, but I'm hoping to relocate as rural as I can. (Which is to say the very limit of what my wife can stand. She's the extrovert. I found a place in eastern TN that doesn't even get cell phone reception, which is very, very attractive to me--and not so coincidentally, is about $1K an acre. But I know that won't work if my marriage is to survive... ) Wherever I go, I hope to go as self-sufficient on food and energy as possible. What I don't need to spend on basic living expenses, I don't need to make.

I'm obviously ignorant on such things, but it seems that Orthodox Jews would have problems doing that (needing walking distance to religous gatherings & such).

[Marcus]

. . The current deep recession caused by irresponsible hyperconsumption . .

. . Wherever I go, I hope to go as self-sufficient on food and energy as possible. What I don't need to spend on basic living expenses, I don't need to make. .

While probably most of us are guilty of irresponsible hyper-consumption, I'm not sure that's the root of the problem . . such indulgence is more likely the result of the problem. The real problem, at least as I see it, is the larceny in our hearts that makes inflation an expected and even welcome part of our social order. What home-buyer hasn't considered that, over time, his house payments will decrease as a result of inflation? Easy money in terms of inflation and usury are more the cause of our current condition, and I think we're all guilty. Over-indulgence is simply the result. Some obviously more guilty on that count than others.

Too, while simplification of one's lifestyle is a worthy goal, we all live at the end of a very long food chain, Self-sufficiency in any sense beyond growing a garden, doing with less, turning down the heat and such is pretty much an illusion. We're all in this boat together. Take it from one who has lived farther off the grid than most.

There are, it seems, two muses: the Muse of Inspiration, who gives us inarticulate visions and desires, and the Muse of Realization, who returns again and again to say "It is yet more difficult than you thought." This is the muse of form. It may be then that form serves us best when it works as an obstruction, to baffle us and deflect our intended course. It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.

— Wendell Berry

[CognitiveDistoibance]

. . The current deep recession caused by irresponsible hyperconsumption . .

. . Wherever I go, I hope to go as self-sufficient on food and energy as possible. What I don't need to spend on basic living expenses, I don't need to make. .

While probably most of us are guilty of irresponsible hyper-consumption, I'm not sure that's the root of the problem . . such indulgence is more likely the result of the problem. The real problem, at least as I see it, is the larceny in our hearts that makes inflation an expected and even welcome part of our social order. What home-buyer hasn't considered that, over time, his house payments will decrease as a result of inflation? Easy money in terms of inflation and usury are more the cause of our current condition, and I think we're all guilty. Over-indulgence is simply the result. Some obviously more guilty on that count than others.

To be honest, I hadn't. I had, on the other hand considered when I bought my home (some 24 or so years ago) that my earning power would increase through increased productivity on my part. (As I was then just starting what I thought would be a "standard" career.) I had also considered that real estate values would go up, and indeed, our house roughly doubled. I doubt I attributed that to inflation, strictly speaking. (In hindsight, the housing bubble.)

Too, while simplification of one's lifestyle is a worthy goal, we all live at the end of a very long food chain, Self-sufficiency in any sense beyond growing a garden, doing with less, turning down the heat and such is pretty much an illusion. We're all in this boat together. Take it from one who has lived farther off the grid than most.

Yeah, that's where the "as possible" part comes in. For now, stuck inside the city limits, I'm looking at putting in a fairly large raised garden bed (about 18' x 4', 3' high--in consideration of my bad back) with about 1,000 gallon (downspout collected) irrigation water underneath. (So I don't have to pay for city water, nor be subject to water restrictions on city water use.) I think I can do it (infrastructure) for under $300, tanks included. While I should recover that expense next summer in grocery savings (my wife loves salads--I think she must be part rabbit), it's somewhat of a pilot project if I can pull of the rural relocation--again, that due to some other dependencies.

Up till now, I never cared about a garden. But with the underlying inflation going on in commodities, especially food, now I do.

One problem will be keeping the deer off the garden. Sadly, in the city limits prevents turning that problem into meat production.

But I saved the old batting cage net, thankfully, and it will be re-purposed.