1 I'm waiting for the "it's all a joke!" part.

2 To solve the serious problems facing our country, we need to minimize the harm from legislative inertia by relying more on automatic policies and depoliticized commissions for certain policy decisions. In other words, radical as it sounds, we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic. Radical? Why so modest? It sounds Communist. These Leftists are scary.

3 By the way... yet again MORE proof that our Liberals of today are just yesteryear's Loyalists/Tories. They SO eat up the whole European Elites Rule shit, it's disgusting.

4 This won't surprise anyone but it seems like Ol' Bev could* be facing some criminal charges stemming from possible campaign finance violations.

_{* prosecutor is still investigating - no smoking gun...yet}

5 "depoliticized commissions for certain policy decisions." Depoliticized? Will the commission be comprised of robots?

6 You know what MY favorite joke is? What we need is - as radical as it sounds - a bit more REVOLUTION in America. I really think a few people like Orszag strung up from street lamps in Washington D.C. would motivate liberal politicians to see things in a more American Way. Ha, ha! Street lamps... get it? It's just a joke!!!

7 and they're doing such an AWESOME job ruling by fiat.

8 The coming elections are crucial. Even more crucial than that would be taking back our schools and our family. There are generations of American youth who have absolutely ZERO knowledge of how this country is supposed to be governed. If they could fall for teleprompter Jesus once, they can fall for someone just like him again; and someone who won't be a SCOAMF, but someone who will be able to dissolve government and rule by decree because no one will understand that that is not the way things should be. G-d help us all.

9 Um, we don't have the ability to change the government at the ballot box. About 99% of the government stays in power regardless of election cycles -- it's the federal bureaucracy. And the bureaucracy is staffed with people at best unfamiliar and at worst antagonistic to the world outside government.

10 They can see it coming.  Four years or more of being marginalized.  They are not looking forward to it at all.

I won.  Remember that, asshole?  Who said it?  There was one of those election things, and by jiminy, there will be another one.

11 Posted by: CoolCzech at September 28, 2011 05:28 PM (niZvt) He couldn't say that on Hot Air and not be banned!

12 Depoliticized? Will the commission be comprised of robots? Yes. Democrats. You de-politicize something when you remove conservatives.

13 5 "depoliticized commissions for certain policy decisions." Depoliticized? Will the commission be comprised of robots? Posted by: nightwitch at September 28, 2011 05:28 PM (11j7G) He just means more Obamacare/Harry Reid Style Death Panels answerable to no one, that can only be overturned by an unachievable supermajority. See, the REAL joke, what this scumbag that cheated on his own fiance is really calling for... is already here.

14
Remember when the Left went ape-shit over President Bush's "I'M THE DECIDER" remark?

15 This was big news yesterday, fattie.

16 9 Um, we don't have the ability to change the government at the ballot box. About 99% of the government stays in power regardless of election cycles -- it's the federal bureaucracy. And the bureaucracy is staffed with people at best unfamiliar and at worst antagonistic to the world outside government. Posted by: Ella at September 28, 2011 05:29 PM (DmnMk) That is a money quote right there. Absolutely fucking-A right.

17 Awesome post.

18 The left has already decided that elections are a formality at best and an obstacle at worst. TheyÂ’ve already learned how to use the courts to overturn elections (Prop 8, for example), and Obama is certainly content to circumvent Congress and the Constitution by bombing Libya or repealing No Child Left Behind by Executive Order; by refusing to enforce immigration laws and prosecuting those who do.

19 But, that would make us EUROPE!!!!  They're welcome to go over THERE and live life.  Really.

I'm sure they're welcome and can even renounce their US Citizenship.

20 I'm ready for a candidate who lists the multiple federal departments they plan to close - not streamline, not make more efficient, but close.

21

All these elitist intellectuals that think they know the answer, and that we are the dumb ones, are ingnoring the failure of thier dream policies across the continent of Europe and in the blue states.  If global warming is so obvious to them, I am surprised they cannot recognize that liberal central planning doesnt work. 

22
But the Left knows best.

We'll just sit quietly while they take care of everything.

Because they are The Deciders.

23 Yeah we need less democracy so I can read this headline and think "what are you kidding?"

24
Who doesn't love the idea of a politburo...American style?

Eh, comrades?

25

"What we need, then, are ways around our politicians. ..."

Who is this "we" he is referring to?

26 Spot on "translation", Ace..

"radical as it sounds"..  That this douchenozzle even has the balls to put this into print shows you how far down the rabbit hole this country has gone.

27 arm-chair totalitarians, every liberal is one. Except for the ones in power, they're inches away from being totalitarians for realsies. Also, Orzag, it should be noted that you dumb fucks spent more money than anyone has ever spent and gave us the WORST recovery since the last time they tried your dum-dum ideas. Also, I'd like there to be a conservative disputing center where I could put my IQ up against these geniuses. Really, you, me, or Ace are not smart enough to fix this stuff? prove it. To wit, you're not that smart, lefty.

28 They're just rubbing this shit in our faces, aren't they? 

29 22 But the Left knows best. We'll just sit quietly while they take care of everything. Because they are The Deciders. Posted by: Soothsayer at September 28, 2011 05:31 PM (sqkOB) Many of us have, shall we say, "persuaders" in our possession IYKWIMAITYD.

30
Rest assured, peons.

Everything will be decided on a nonpartisan basis. Trust us.

31

Here, let me translate that for you: "This would be an awesome country if you rubes would just lie back and think of England while your betters fix the mess you made."

That makes sense. I wouldn't go so far as label people as "rubes" and "betters" but yes, this is a sensible presription for our country.

32 Anyone who thinks that the $1.2 trillion dollar deficit of 2010 was too small shouldn't be allowed to make change for the parking meter, much less have a say in fiscal policy.

33 I would rather see this country go the way of ancient Rome, than be governed by a bunch of technocrat do gooders.

By the people and for the people, assholes.

34 aw come on, hannity just had some chick on who was making excuses for ol bev, even though now it's clear she was dead serious.  As is this guy and there will be many others echoing this.  And when I said that there would be no elections last year, you guys jumped all over me.  If they have their way, there won't be.

35 Nice post ace.

36 O/T, but oh, god, I hope we don't get Romney.

37
This post is very Glenn Beckian.

38 I said earlier today that the dickhead's central assertion that we need automatic policies to counterbalance too much democracy is right. It's right in the wrong direction. We had a damned good set of automatic policies in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It was too much democracy and "up is down" lawlessness that destroyed the safeguards the founding fathers built to keep us from ever getting to where we are today.

39 More from Peter Orzag: FACING THIS PROBLEM is crucially important because our current legislative gridlock is making it increasingly difficult for lawmakers to tackle the issues that are central to our country’s future—issues like climate change, the hard slog of recovering from a financial slump, and our long-term fiscal gap. It is clear to everyone that a failure to act will lead to undesirable outcomes in these areas. But polarization means that little action is possible. This is why I believe that we need to jettison the Civics 101 fairy tale about pure representative democracy and instead begin to build a new set of rules and institutions that would make legislative inertia less detrimental to our nation’s long-term health. **** Sure now they are wringing their hands over "grid-lock". And shouldn't Thomas Friedman sue Peter for cribbing his- China-One Party-Cure AGW -so much easier-Theory?

40 Posted by: joeindc44 at September 28, 2011 05:32 PM (QxSug) Your observation reminded me of Elliot Spitzer before the Client 9 affair. He was using the NY State Police as his own personal security force to spy on political opponents. The venom he spewed out made me think that if he had his way, he would be lining people up a against a wall and shooting them. These people are dangerous, rabid and driven by the belief they are doing things "for our own good."

41 80

Cut him some slack, maybe he's just ornery because he needs some ass.

pssst....it's Andy

42
My malaise speech?

It was a joke.

43 Oh and, well DUH!!!

44 I'n jos' kiddeeeeeeen'!

45 In Chicago gulag, you get Val-U-Rite ration at end of day!  Now, back to work, Komrade!

46

Virtually all responsible economists agree that we should be aiming to reduce the deficit in the long-term but not in the short-term.

Uh, we've had unprecedented deficit spending for the past three years, a never-before-tried-at-this-level experiment in Keynesian stimulus.   The experiment failed:  not only did economic growth and higher employment not ensue, it has gone in the opposite direction.   When experiments fail in real science, "responsible" scientists conclude that the hypothesis they were trying to prove has been falsified.   How you know that economics isn't really a "science" is (as the philosopher Karl Popper would be happy to explain) that it apparently isn't falsifiable.   If Keynesian stimulus (read: short-term deficits) don't work, well, then, it's not the economists fault.  It must be we just didn't go big enough.

Sheesh!  These self-appointed geniuses in the Obama Administration make me want to wretch.

Oh, and by the way, here's some logic for Mr. Orszag:  if long-term deficits are bad, and long-term deficits are the result of aggregating a lot of short-term deficits, then how exactly is it that short-term deficits are good?   Does he really think that investors who are choosing to put their money at risk in American companies rather than elsewhere don't notice the connection?    (Pay no attention to that $14 trillion dollar stack of IOUs behind the curtain!)

Obama '12:  If We're So Smart, How Come You Rubes Have All the Money?

47 I'm afraid we may as well brace ourselves for months and months of this crap from the Left, as they realize the REAL "joke" is Obama's reelection bid.

48 My malaise speech?

It was a joke.

Yes, it was. ON YOU.

49 Orszag's always been a sneaky cocksucking weasel whom I wouldn't trust as far as I could kick his bony ass, so this is no great surprise.

50 #42 Oops....FAIL.  Was responding to #36.

Jeebus.  I'm not even drinking....

51 I say we appoint a commission, named the Committee Devoted To Dipping Liberal Economists In Chocolate And Staking Them Out On Fire Ant Hills, to handle our overpopulation problem in this critical area.
 
Because otherwise, some namby pamby voters or judges will not be willing to do this very necessary environmental cleanup.

52 ooops.. Andy, not Ace!  Well, done, Andy.

53 We must abandon Democracy to save the Republic!

54 I'm not even drinking....

There's your problem.

55 Take, for example, mass transit, which involves moving herds of people from point A to point B on a fixed schedule. Had an argument with the family this weekend about Rick Scott cancelling the "high-speed" rail project in FL. Their main point was that they wouldn't be wasting so much time driving from Tampa to Orlando, which they never do. I tried to point out that any time saved would be lost again waiting for the train to arrive, departure delays, delays due to impediments on the tracks, etc...

56 And when I said that there would be no elections last year, you guys jumped all over me. 

Posted by: oh brother at September 28, 2011 05:34 PM (k1rwm)

oopsie! i was confusing you with that whole bar full of guys that i let pull a train on me last year. sorry!

57
Have to put this out there, too:

"I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system."

I know you all know who said it and when. This is shit we get from the Ruling Class. They all suck.

58

It's not even an appeal to authority. It's an appeal only to those authorities that support his position. The other authorities are "irresponsible." He thinks that HE gets to decide who is responsible and who is irresponsible. So his purported argument is:

Let the experts decide.

If someone disagrees with me, that person is not an expert.

I get my way.

 

My argument is: Go fuck yourself, you arrogant prick.

 

59 Did anyone see any of the Wall Street shindigs today?  CNN (I know) was trying to interview some of the hippies this morning.

They interviewed one guy who told his boss he had "family issues" and needed time off (and of course was so proud of himself that he lied).

I hope to hell his boss saw the sorry douche.

60 In Soviet Russia, unelected commissions control YOU!

Oh, wait ...

61 This administration no longer has my consent to govern. 

62 remember when i said that boehner and nbc were checkmated and rickrolled and bamboozled and they'd have to move the debate and you guys jumped all over me? And then when i said obama wasn't going to do his jobs speech and you guys jumped all over me? and when I said weiner wasn't going to resign and you guys jumped all over me? well, let me come up with something i imagine i predicted , and then pretend i was correct because it hasn't happened yet.

63 Posted by: J.J. Sefton at September 28, 2011 05:28 PM (UlUS4)

Even 2 years in Evin Prison couldn't make a dent in 20+ years of leftist "education" for this knucklehead: http://tinyurl.com/3dqaqcd

64 I would never sue Peter for stealing my one party idea! In fact, China has the One Child Policy, we're doing them one better- The One Mind Policy!

65 "This would be an awesome country if you rubes would just lie back and think of England..."



Ironically appropriate, considering the political and social state of present-day England.

66

 We took a great first step in November 2010, and now we need to complete the clean sweep of these statist SOB's in 2012, 2014, 2016, just to get started.

 

Just a small modification because DC is rife with these little bitches.

67 Actually, there are two entwined problems here. The left is correct that we have a problem with too much democracy which makes it impossible to actually resolve issues, but that is only a secondary problem - the original problem is we've inserted government into what should have stayed individual decisions.

So, the solution is not to simply take away the public's collective right to make these decision and hand it over to some bureaucratic nobility, but to return the decision making to the people on an individual basis.

Let me give an example - the government should not be deciding on which "charities" they are funding with my money. The central problem is not the gridlock we see because liberals and "compassionate conservatives" want to fund different types of charity, the problem is the government is taking my money and making that decision in the first place.

Get the government out of the way, and suddenly decisions will get made in a rational manner. Inefficient companies will go out of business. Bubbles will burst. Technologies that people *want* will be developed.

Unrealistic and unaccountable government bureaucrats got us into this mess - making them less accountable certainly isn't going to resolve the issue.

68 I say we appoint a commission, named the Committee Devoted To Dipping Liberal Economists In Chocolate And Staking Them Out On Fire Ant Hills Chocolate should not be wasted like that. How about melted ice cream from McDonald's trash cans?

69 Remember how we all joke about "the camps"? 

These assholes aren't screwing around.  I'm putting on my tinfoil hat now.

70
Will no one rid me of this troublesome democracy?

71 Their main point was that they wouldn't be wasting so much time driving from Tampa to Orlando, which they never do. I tried to point out that any time saved would be lost again waiting for the train to arrive, departure delays, delays due to impediments on the tracks, etc... Posted by: supercore23 at September 28, 2011 05:38 PM (bwV72) Not to mention schlepping it to their final destination from wherever the train drops them off. Because as every village idiot knows: What good is a train ride that leaves your miles from where you need to go?

72 OT but Outstanding! Per Politico --

Not everyone knows how to prepare for a dinner like this. As someone who's eaten countless meals with my husband, I want to tell you the one thing to do if you're selected to join him...

Just relax. Barack wants this dinner to be fun, and he really loves getting to know supporters like you.

I hope you'll take him up on it before Friday's deadline.

Will you donate $3 or more today and be entered to have dinner with Barack?

These dinners mean a lot to Barack. They're a chance for him to talk with a few of the people who are driving the campaign — and a chance for him to say thank you.

So come prepared to tell your story, and say whatever's on your mind.

Don't miss the opportunity to be there. Donate $3 today, before the September 30th deadline:

https://donate.barackobama.com/Dinner

Thanks,

Michelle

Hey, remember when 'when a date night w/Barack was $5'. Good times, good, good times.

73 How about melted ice cream from McDonald's trash cans?

DQ. It's owned by Buffett.

74 Freedom Through Subservience!

75 Hmmm...new campaign slogan- Get One with the One! Zero for Two!

76 Try term limits. That removes the weight of re-election from their puny shoulders. If they don't have the strength to solve problems and get re-elected, they shouldn't be there in the first place.

77 The problem with sweeping these bastards out of office is that the MSM will do anything in their power to get a liberal elected. 

ANY liberal will do, including Romney.

78 Hitler thought the same thing.

79 It always comes to this with the left.  Has the right ever really gone full on fascist anywhere?  I mean Franco was conservative in the old sense, but did he ride roughshod over Spain and try to do central planning and stuff?  I don't think so. 

80 Posted by: lu at September 28, 2011 05:42 PM (pLTLS)

Jeebus.  I have a permanent headache from beating my poor noggin on my desk.

81 Hey, Orszag. Yeah, uh, that Democracy thingy? Keep your fucking liberal hands off of it. We've sort of grown fond of it, and like it just fine the way it is. Buh bye now. 

82 O/T, but a Denver loss will help the Broncos this weekend.

83 At least Obama made the trains run on time! Oh, wait! He DIDN'T!

84 So come prepared to tell your story, and say whatever's on your mind.

I'm tempted to give him $3. I'd like to say 'whatever's on my mind.

85

5 term limits for congressmen. 2 term limits for senator.

I think that is more than fair. If you can't accomplish what you came to do in a decade, you are a rotten failure and shouldn't be re-elected anyway.

86 Posted by: muggedbyreality at September 28, 2011 05:40 PM (eUGzR) Yeah. They should rot. Then again, they'll claim "we were just joking" or "post-facto Stockholm Syndrome" or some shit like that. Sometimes I think, fuck it; let them piss it all away and then see how they like it. But I still have another 25 or 30 odd years left and I will not let these bastards destroy MY country.

87 It's no wonder these cocksuckers are against the 2nd Ammendment.

88 What is this "democracy" you speak of?  And that Constitution thingy was written by a bunch of old white guys.  I think I'll make some changes.

89 eh, Franco was a prick too.. nevermind.

90 Posted by: King Obama I at September 28, 2011 05:41 PM (nTmke) "If only all of Amerikkka had but one neck." Caligulus Scoamfulus

91 Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...wha?

92 Notice how we always say "climate change" is the biggest problem? That's just to distract you from what we are doing...

93 Let's see, Obama suggested it would be easier to be President of China. Perdue wants to forego congressional elections. Orszag things we need less democracy. Hm. Seeing a pattern here. Hope no one tells the SCOAMF about Marshal law.

94 . I'd like to say 'whatever's on my mind.

Posted by: lu at September 28, 2011 05:45 PM (pLTLS)

You can do that for free when he is an ex-Prez come January 2013

95

And this is surprising why?  When nearly half of the country pays no taxes and wants Daddy Obama to pay their mortgage and fill their car with gas, you're surprised that the people who take care of those people, who have the same philosophy of HUGE government, think they know better?  The Democrat overlords make a very fine living doing the thinking for other people.  Of course we conservatives are repulsed by this, it's one of the subjects that defines who we are.

96 What good is a train ride that leaves you miles from where you need to go?

You don't need to go where the train doesn't go.

Or you need to go there once, then stay there.

97
here's an anecdote:

Last year I was talking to a bunch of Haitian immigrants who loved Obama. I asked them the same thing I ask every stupid Obama supporter, "If Obama is so smart, why is everything getting worse?"

Their answer: Because the Republicans aren't cooperating. (This was before the 2010 elections, btw).

They, and most deluded Democrats, believe that every time a Democrat fixes or attempts to fix the country (i.e., impose socialism) the Republicans come along and screw it up.

This is how they think.

98 I'm reading Sowell's Intellectuals and Society and this is what he describes to a tee.

99 69 I say we appoint a commission, named the Committee Devoted To Dipping Liberal Economists In Chocolate And Staking Them Out On Fire Ant Hills

Chocolate should not be wasted like that. How about melted ice cream from McDonald's trash cans?

Better yet, use drippings from out back of a Ben & Jerry's. Mmmm...irony.

100 Well..you guys go first with that term limit idea-so we know you're not joking.

101 From Berlin to the SCOAMF

Butt Out, Your Comments Are ‘Arrogant’, ‘Absurd’, And ‘A Cheap Search For A Scapegoat’

102 Posted by: lu at September 28, 2011 05:42 PM (pLTLS)


The Obama emails to subscribers have taken on a pronounced creepiness.

103 Remember how we all joke about "the camps"? 

These assholes aren't screwing around.  I'm putting on my tinfoil hat now.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at September 28, 2011 05:41 PM (UOM4

 

Like I and some others have said.  This election is going to get ugly.  Really ugly.  I mean like early 1860's ugly. 

104 We need an even larger deficit in 2011 and 2012, to support a weak economy—but a much smaller deficit in 2020 and 2050, to put the nation back on a sustainable fiscal course.

Look at for what Mr. Bad Hairpiece emphasizes undue haste and for what he advocates glacial restraint ... uh-hunh ...

105 What about tri corner hat girl?  Can we at least have her?

106 I think I'll set up the camps in one of those middle-thingy square-shaped states.....Wisconsinsota maybe.

107

These assholes aren't screwing around. 

And keep in mind that whatever they accused us of yesterday is what they're planning to do tomorrow. That's why their sense of history is so important.

Remember: Governor Jeb Bush ordered state troopers to forcibly stop people in Florida from voting in 2000.

108 Your choice at the ballot box is larger, more socialist govt, slow or fast.

109 You can do that for free when he is an ex-Prez come January 2013

Not good enough. I'd like to look into his eyes and see if they're as dead as I think they are. And I'd like to see him squirm. I'd be polite as I still have respect for the office he holds even if he doesn't.

110

Young liberal hotness: Don't trust anyone over 30!

Same liberal, now older hotness: Because shut up, that's why!

111 My dentist told me yesterday that what we needed was a benevolent dictator. He jabbed me in the gum with a 4 1/2 inch needle before I could speak.

112 What good is a train ride that leaves you miles from where you need to go?

It's not the ride, it's what awaits you at the end of the line- cracker.

113

Let me be more specific in the context [...] which was at the heart of the[...]. 

The voice of obfuscation. This guy is a bad writer.

114
I'm tempted to give him $3. I'd like to say 'whatever's on my mind.
Posted by: lu at September 28, 2011 05:45 PM

What percentage of those dinner tickets d'ya think are from righties who'd love to give him a piece of their mind? Hell, maybe that's part of the whole $trategy.

115 112 My dentist told me yesterday that what we needed was a benevolent dictator. He jabbed me in the gum with a 4 1/2 inch needle before I could speak. Posted by: jeannebodine at September 28, 2011 05:50 PM (nvlAW) Your dentist wouldn't be Dr. Christian Zell, and did he ask repeatedly if it was safe?

116 I can't believe I'm going to say this, but........

This is not a failed experiment in Keynesian economics from the standpoint of true Keynesian policies.  The current administration spend over a trillion dollars in an "effort" to correct the economy, per Keynes, but a vast majority of it went to unions and failed 'green' organizations, i.e. CRONYISM.    That's why effort is in quotes.  This was NOT an attempt to recover the country, it was to make them richer and more powerful.  That's IT.  No ifs, ands or buts about it.

There's a chance we would've seen a boost in the economy were even 1/2 of that money put into the actual economy, but it wasn't.  It was put into the pockets of the liberal elite and union bosses.

Until someone with INTEGRITY takes the WH back, then it spreads through government that fleecing the nations taxpayers just won't work anymore, we're FUCK*D.

117 Young liberal hotness: Don't trust anyone over 30!

That's Mick Jagger's line.

118

Peter Orszag grew up literally 6 houses up the street from me in Lexington, MA -- this was during the 1980s, when his father was on the MIT faculty. I babysat occasionally for his younger brother Jonathan.

The Orszag family was pretty breathtaking in its haughtiness, and this on an already well-to-do street with quite accomplished neighbors.  (Many, like my dad, with Ph.D's in difficult branches of the sciences, or MD's, etc. -- and many of whose offspring were similarly apt academically as well as often entrepreneurially.)

One thing about Lexington (at least in its post-WWII incarnation) is that the public schools have been pretty well-run, indeed they are a major reason the residential real estate market has always held its ground even when the frothiness has dissipated. While there's no question that the majority of teachers in the Lexington schools system tilt Leftward, and it took a bit of effort on my part to carve out a Reaganite path for myself against general peer-pressure, on the whole I got a solid education. I'm not denying that being the son of an alumnus helped my case, but my education via Lexington High School (and the LHS reputation with the Admissions folks) got me into Harvard.

But LHS was quite baldly insufficient by Orszag family standards -- they were/are as Jewish as I am (in other words, their blood is no redder than mine), but it was clear that they found me and my public high-school ilk wanting. This despite the fact that my "ilk" included other offspring of MIT and Harvard professors!

So Peter went to a nearby boys' prep school, Belmont Hill.  And the pattern seems to have repeated itself when the Orszag's moved away from our street in Lexington and headed down to Princeton, NJ.  (Peter's dad jumped from MIT to Princeton's faculty.)  Rather than go to the perfectly excellent Princeton High School, Peter Orszag went off to Phillips Exeter (in NH). I mean, WTF, I had Harvard classmates from Princeton HS who hailed from far more eminent backgrounds than that of the Orszag mishpocha.  (For example, my Harvard classmate who was tennis team captain and a Princeton HS alum was the son of the then-CEO of SmithKline Beecham.)

I'll probably catch a lot of "lashon hara cooties" for posting this about a fellow Jew on the eve of Rosh Hashana, but it has to be said -- Peter Orszag was groomed from the beginning, from home and heath, to be an authoritarian-leaning snot-in-a-suit.  A mensch he is not; given all he has benefited from in our democratic republic, the more apt term is "mooch."

119
they should (and eventually will) just come out and say it:

We need an American Fidel Castro.

120 We consent to govern you toothless knuckle-dragging rednecks and that is all the consent we need.

121
Fidel Castro is the Left's hero. He is the ultimate warrior for social justice.

What he did to Cuba in the early '60's is exactly what the Left wants to do here in the US.

122 I've never been so afraid for my country and the future of our children and grandchildren.

If we don't take back the WH from the Marxist f*ckwit and his minions, the U. S. is toast.

I'm just glad my parents aren't around to see what's going on.  Hope my lib in-laws are pleased.

123 We need an American Fidel Castro.

And Che Guevara to "persuade" the reluctant.

124 Here! Here! Andy! The freedom of driving travel is absolutely American. ROAD TRIP!

125
Their answer: Because the Republicans aren't cooperating.

If Obama's so smart, how come he can't outmaneuver the Republicans? It should be easy; that chimp Bush managed it for eight years against the Democrats, who let him invade Iraq and pass FISA among other feats.

126 ; font-style: italic;">Let me be more specific in the context which was at the heart of the

DRAGON.  No more unicorns for you.

127 That's "from home and *hearth*" -- not "from home and heath."  My bad.

128 Posted by: nerdygirl at September 28, 2011 05:47 PM (ZuP96) Martial law. And as Twinkletoes Rahm used to say "never let a good crisis go to waste." Even after almost 3 years of this insanity, I am only now starting to think that I would not put it past them to try something like this. They are playing with fire. And they are going to get burned.

129 The best part about thinking like this is that assholes like this are often the ones that end up getting their heads on a pike. Screaming at the mob, "Listen to me, I am your better!!" never seems to work.

130 **Has the right ever really gone full on fascist anywhere?** no, the left conflates fighting back against liberal assholes as fascism. Fascism is totalitarianism which is opposite to rightwing ideals. They also conflate the nationalism that fascism emeshed iteself in as staining all other forms of nationalism (except for nationalistic appeals to totalitarianism, natch, like the palestinians).

131 122
Fidel Castro is the Left's hero. He is the ultimate warrior for social justice.

Actually, I think the murderous Che is their hero.  My head nearly explodes when I see some hipster douche sporting a Che t-shirt. 

132 forget the camps, they'll just import a whole new population into your country.

133 124 We need an American Fidel Castro. And Che Guevara Harry Lee Oswald to "persuade" the reluctant. Posted by: WalrusRex at September 28, 2011 05:54 PM (Hx5uv) I keed, I keed...

134 It always comes to this with the left.  Has the right ever really gone full on fascist anywhere?  I mean Franco was conservative in the old sense, but did he ride roughshod over Spain and try to do central planning and stuff?  I don't think so. 

Posted by: jeanne! at September 28, 2011 05:44 PM (GdalM)

No, fascism is just another type of leftwing politics.

Looking back about 100 years ago, there were *three* political movements in Europe.

The Socialists - pretty much the same then as now

The Liberals - believed in representative and small government. This group would generally be considered American conservatives with a libertarian streak - think Clarence Thomas

The Conservatives - They wanted to maintain the old Aristocratic order. They believed in a tightly managed economy with a strong, paternal control over the middle and lower classes.

Now, we run into a lot of confusion because European Conservatives would eventually ally, and join the Socialists to keep the liberals down. The clearest case of this would be in Germany where the Liberals tried to get the Prussian Kaiser to form a constitutional Monarchy over all of Germany (like the UK), and the Conservatives rejected this in horror, but within a few years they were implementing the first welfare state to assuage the concerns of the Socialists.

By the way, how many people know that the welfare state came out of "ultra-conservative" Prussia?

135

"depoliticized commissions" = unbiased media = unicorns

Sorry for the math.

136 **Fidel Castro is the Left's hero. He is the ultimate warrior for social justice. ** because social justice is code for stealing money and making everyone poor.

137
Hope my lib in-laws are pleased.
Posted by: Jane D'oh at September 28, 2011 05:53 PM

The most fun for me in the Republican administration starting Jan 2013 will be watching libs scream in agony as the country is returned to prosperity and freedom. "Black employment rates going up! Noooooo! More homeowners?! What is this country coming to? $2.50 for a gallon of gas? SAVE ME!!!!"

138 My head nearly explodes when I see some hipster douche sporting a Che t-shirt. Posted by: Jane D'oh at September 28, 2011 05:55 PM (UOM4 No need, really... hipsters think Che was a movie star from the 50's.

139 Posted by: RamonAllones at September 28, 2011 05:52 PM (ha+6S) No need to be ashamed. Peter Orszag has about as much yiddishkeit as George Soros and Noam Chomsky. Vayr gehargit (I find myself writing that quite a bit lately on AOS)

140 18-1 gets it right, from Robert Conquest, the problem with socialism is that only asshole elitists like it, so they tried to infuse it with some nationalism to make it more palatable to hoi polloi. Same formula, different bottle.

141 Less Democracy is more Democracy.

142 By the way, how many people know that the welfare state came out of "ultra-conservative" Prussia? Posted by: 18-1 at September 28, 2011 05:56 PM (7BU4a) Just good old fashioned European Aristocratic Paternalism taking care of the peasants!

143 My normally level-headed, cool, calm and collected husband asked me not too long ago if I would think he's crazy for being concerned that SCOAMF will try to cancel the Nov. '12 election by using some "crisis" as an excuse.

After Gov. Perdue's comment and Orszag's, I don't think he's crazy at all.

144 First Perdue, now Orszag? I question the timing.

We should already have learned that pronouncements like theirs are not at all coincidental in the stuttering clusterf*** of a miserable failure's regime.

I'd love to think the Constitution will triumph, that there will a) be an election next November and b) that there will be a country to heal after we get rid of the America-hating treasonous hordes. As of now I'm not all all sure on either point.

145 Dark clouds have gathered over the American president. The gloomy state of the economy is putting a dampener on ObamaÂ’s future prospects. The optimism of the past is gone, replaced by a cheap search for a scapegoat.

Europe! Europe! Why you ungrateful bastard of questionable origin! Not two months ago I was the apple of your eye when it came to scapegoating. And now I'm just another pre-owned condom in your waste basket of former best buddies.

146 Totalitarian is Democratic Party.

147

The only way to fix some problems is to empty the clip.  Just to be sure.  Commies - by any name - are definitely 'some problems.'  Because they aren't going to just go home and become responsible, peaceful, live-and-let-live, productive kind of neighbors on their own.  If they were so inclined, they wouldn't be commies.  They are a cancer on humanity, and must be destroyed - like all cancers.  This is why our grandfathers shot them wherever they found them.  Smart men, our grandfathers.

148 They also conflate the nationalism that fascism emeshed iteself in as staining all other forms of nationalism (except for nationalistic appeals to totalitarianism, natch, like the palestinians).

Posted by: joeindc44 at September 28, 2011 05:54 PM (QxSug)

Yes, it is amazing to watch the left argue that National Socialism and International Socialism are perfect opposites. There is a difference, true, but National Socialism is merely a socialist heresy.

It would be like arguing, in a world with Buddhism, Animism, Hinduism, and all the rest, that Methodism and Lutheranism are polar religious opposites.

149 145 First Perdue, now Orszag? I question the timing. Exactly. Perhaps it's not all just desperation... maybe it's a warning to the American people.

150 Gee,

It sounds as though those on the left believe in, er, uh, what's the word,

Totalitarianism.

Wudda' shock.

151

Posted by: RamonAllones at September 28, 2011 05:52 PM (ha+6S)

 

OR...Peter was an unintelligent loser that didn't meet the requirements of the schools you mentioned.

152
You know what our biggest problem is? Seriously.

The Right's biggest problem is that we don't vilify the villains. The Left vilifies all of our guys, and none of them are villians.

The same people who hang Mao ornaments on the White House Christmas tree made 'Dick Cheney' and 'Don Rumsfeld' dirty words. The party of David Wu, a rapist of teen girls, attach a stigmatic shame to people like Sarah Palin and Geroge Bush.

Meanwhile, our side tries to play nice with the Left's fecal matter such as Chris Dodd, Henry Waxman, etc.

153 mass transit, which involves moving herds of people from point A to point B on a fixed schedule I'd be a whole lot happier with mass transit if it actually did that; my experience is that it moves people from point A to point B well behind the published schedule.

154 yeah, someone said orszag isn't even appealing to authority, it's like I've noticed with SCOAMF, SCOAMF verbally clears his throat with "as i've said before, etc.," as if the groundwork had already been laid down before, and what he's saying is just a continuation of the intellectual basis he never laid down. They have no idea what they're doing, they just think they're fucking swell and smarter than everyone. Except, oops, they spent more money than anyone has ever spent and they gave us the WORST recovery since the last time they tried it.

155 ;">When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.

156 More homeowners?! What is this country coming to?

So long as they can afford their mortgages. No Bail-Outs!

The ever mushrooming inflation is nothing to cheer given TIGHT credit and massive unemployment.

157

145  I question the timing.

I time the questioning.

158 Fox is reporting Cain has entered the top tier of candidates.

Romney
Perry
Cain

159 Posted by: MrScribbler at September 28, 2011 05:58 PM (YjjrR) If they really try to pull something, will the Joint Chiefs go along with this? Now we know what he meant by that Internal Security Force that was to have as much funding as the DOD. Bloods and Crips and Panthers, oh my!

160 Posted by: RamonAllones at September 28, 2011 05:52 PM (ha+6S)

Outstanding post; I got more insight into Orszag from what you wrote than I ever could elsewhere, especially from the salad-tossing MFM..

161 I really think the Tea Partiers should consider changing their moniker to The Sons of Liberty. I'd LOVE to see Chris Matthews's bare fat ass get tar and feathered, for a good cause. Ha, ha! Get it?? It's a joke!

162 @159, great, so who among those three are going to repeal Obamacare and close the border and revise immigration laws?

163 Hayek's "knowledge problem"? - never heard of it. They lack knowledge of the knowledge problem! Seriously, they know of it. I think Obama's mentioned that he's read Hayek. But these bozos think they're special! They're the ones with the Big Brains and the Clever Computers and a Fat Internet Pipe that Hayek didn't have so they can manage the economy. And if we say they can't they call us anti-science.

164 160 Posted by: MrScribbler at September 28, 2011 05:58 PM (YjjrR)


If they really try to pull something, will the Joint Chiefs go along with this?

Now we know what he meant by that Internal Security Force that was to have as much funding as the DOD.

Who would that be?  SEIU thugs?  Union goons? 

165 So this is the green light to throw Obama out of office before the election.  Right?

166 Bloods and Crips and Panthers, oh my!

Behind every blade of grass there is a rifle.

167

But don't any of you crypto-facist bastards dare try to pass any laws making it more difficult for dead illegal aliens to vote as many times as they want.

That would be undemocratic.

168 166 So this is the green light to throw Obama out of office before the election.  Right?

Riiiiight.

169 It's a good thing that aircraft design is not left up to a committee of elected officials. Economics the same thing. Take all the liberal democrats out of it and use policies that are known to work.

170 Now we know what he meant by that Internal Security Force that was to have as much funding as the DOD. Oh, ok... I always thought the ISF was just Moochelle's posse on the trip to Spain...

171

By the way, how many people know that the welfare state came out of "ultra-conservative" Prussia?

Posted by: 18-1 at September 28, 2011 05:56 PM (7BU4a)

Just good old fashioned European Aristocratic Paternalism taking care of the peasants!

===================

An ancestor of mine left Prussia because owning farm land was for the Junkers, working the farm was for people of his ilk.

172
I'd be a whole lot happier with mass transit if it actually did that; my experience is that it moves people from point A to point B well behind the published schedule.

Posted by: Iowa Jim at September 28, 2011 06:00 PM (N+9a4)

If Acme Inc consistently offers poor service, they will find their customers all using Smith Corp instead.Acme will either fix the issue or go out of business.

On the other hand, if the government offers poor service, who else can you turn to? Those incompetently performing their job will pay no price, and can often turn it into a demand for more funding.

By its very nature government will only rarely offer good service to its customers...

173 Hope no one tells the SCOAMF about Marshal law.

Posted by: nerdygirl at September 28, 2011 05:47 PM (ZuP96)

A pet peeve: it's 'martial.'  You can berate me for being pedant.

And if it happens, the proper spelling will be the least of our worries.  People say that Fast and Furious is about an attempt to revoke 2A--and it is about that, but they have a larger goal in mind. 

Heavily-armed drug cartels with a penchant for decapitation and mutilation of anyone, set loose in the US, would have horrified, grieving and, understandably short-sighted Americans crying out for martial law and why not?  If what is happening down in Mexico were happening here, we'd want the feds to take care of it.  And a leftist-controlled US government will impose ML (and suspend elections) and put down the cartel mayhem in the name of order.

After that, they will put down liberty-loving citizens in  the name of order.

The imposition of ML would allow tyranny to take an iron grip on this country; and that's what the end game of F&F is.

174 Can anyone imagining the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock, only to be met by an EPA bureaucrat asking to see their environmental impact statement?

175
Fox is reporting Cain has entered the top tier of candidates.

If Sarah doesn't run, I'm switching to Cain.

176 This is why our grandfathers shot them wherever they found them.  Smart men, our grandfathers.

Except in Hollywood ...
and in the White House.

/Scholars write that FDR and Stalin had a long standing political man crush on each other.

177

An ancestor of mine left Prussia because owning farm land was for the Junkers, working the farm was for people of his ilk.

Posted by: fluffy at September 28, 2011 06:05 PM (3SvjA)

That's terrible! There should have been someone in the government, with no accountability, who achieved his title by being part of a particular social group group, controlling the land instead!

178 A pet peeve: it's 'martial.' You can berate me for being pedant. Martial, Martial, Martial!!!

179  My normally level-headed, cool, calm and collected husband asked me not too long ago if I would think he's crazy for being concerned that SCOAMF will try to cancel the Nov. '12 election by using some "crisis" as an excuse.

After Gov. Perdue's comment and Orszag's, I don't think he's crazy at all.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at September 28, 2011 05:58 PM (UOM48)

 

We risk sounding like Kos kiddies prior to the 2008 elections when we say this.  But on the other hand, I don't remember anyone in W's administration saying things like Orzag or governor what's-her-name.

180 /Scholars write that FDR and Stalin had a long standing political man crush on each other.

Posted by: didn't take long at September 28, 2011 06:07 PM (lpWVn)

And Hitler based a lot of his domestic policy on FDR...

181 178 An ancestor of mine left Prussia because owning farm land was for the Junkers, working the farm was for people of his ilk. Posted by: fluffy at September 28, 2011 06:05 PM (3SvjA) Look at the bright side: if he hadn't, you'd be Polish right now.

182 Can anyone imagining the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock, only to be met by an EPA bureaucrat asking to see their environmental impact statement?

Yeah, I can. It ends poorly for the bureaucrat.

(The Pilgrims were not peaceful types like the Amish.)

183 Well done, baldilocks; you connected all the dots.

184 Orszag is right.  We only need one man do the thinking.  It saves wear and tear on everyone else brains.

185 yeah, but we're seeing that there are plenty of assholes with guns in the government that are not in the military.

186
Can anyone imagining the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock, only to be met by an EPA bureaucrat asking to see their environmental impact statement? Posted by: CoolCzech at September 28, 2011 06:06 PM

Environmental impact statement? Hell, what about their diversity disclosure (all white Protestants!?), their promise not to go starting any churches, and all paperwork on their weapons.

187 162 I really think the Tea Partiers should consider changing their moniker to The Sons of Liberty.
Posted by: CoolCzech at September 28, 2011 06:02 PM (niZvt)

Conservative bloggers ought to set up a network or web ring named the Committees of Correspondence. Get all pre-1775 on those fascists' asses to let them know where the lines are drawn.

188 Conservative blogger...

So, not this site.

189 Martial, Martial, Martial!!! Posted by: Jan Brady at September 28, 2011 06:07 PM Everyone speculates about the Brady Boys doing the girls, but the real nasty was Janice getting caught by Alice scissoring with Marcia. That was a really traumatic episode.

190

Re #140 J.J. Sefton

Funny that you should put Peter Orszag in the same company as George Soros -- maybe there's something very off in the genetic pool of the Hungarian Jewish sub-population.

(My ex-wife's family was predominantly Hungarian Jewish -- quite materialistic and somewhat predatory; not all of them, but many.)

Noam Chomsky used to live in Lexington, and his son Harry was 2 years ahead of me at LHS and again at Harvard.  Weird, weird dude.

191

The Pilgrims were not peaceful types like the Amish

The deuce, you say!

192 That dick Orszag holds a great deal of responsibility for the behavior of Frannie and Freddie with regard to the sub-prime fuck up and the ensuing economic meltdown.

There were actually some critics who were warning about the capital position of Fannie...and to fight back, Franklin Raines had Orszag dummy up some bullshit fucking nonsense report saying things were just fucking peachy.

At that time Screech Orszag was at the Brookings Institute...and fucking James Johnson was it's chairman. Screech was basically doing a cover job for Johnson.

...and Screech is now making tens of million of dollars per year at Citibank

seriously...this is the biggest fucking financial scam in history...and the media is helping to cover it up

193 the welfare state came out of "ultra-conservative" Prussia?

It was Bismarck's trick to gain totalitarian power while posing as a benevolent dictator.

And that era/region was revolutionary, not as if things were stable and settled and running along as they had been for centuries, "ultra-conservative".

Anything to keep the power within the elite. Propagandize, give candy or pie in the sky to the population, promise stability...blah blah blah.

194 Fuck it. The mask is off. They're just fucking evil, so no more trying to play nice.

Take these fuckers at their word. No more elections. Take it to the streets. Start stringing them all up until the last Democrat is hanged with the guts of the last Federal employee.

Then hold a new Constitutional Convention and start over.

195 The Right's biggest problem is that we don't vilify the villains. The Left vilifies all of our guys, and none of them are villians.

Posted by: Soothsayer at September 28, 2011 06:00 PM (sqkOB)

 

Amen - well said.  Our side is wrongly obsessed with "niceness" for which we will never get credit.  The constant limp-wristed refusal to go on the offensive is why we lose.  We are WRONG, tactically and morally, not to tar these enemies of the US.  We are failing in our duty to keep them out of power.  The truth is on our side, 100%. 

196 And Hitler based a lot of his domestic policy on FDR...

And Mussolini wished he had as much power in Italy as FDR abused in America.

197 One of the ironies of American history is that the Right decided to call itself "conservative." In the greater scheme of things, WE are the Revolutionaries of Human History, with our radical devotion to human freedom. It's the Liberals - now openly yearning for the very demise of Democracy itself - that are the Neanderthal Reactionaries. And we all know what happened to the Neanderthals... Ha, Ha!!! Neanderthals! Get it? It's a JOKE!!!

198 Then hold a new Constitutional Convention Firing Squad and start over. Posted by: Trimegistus at September 28, 2011 06:15 PM (zGmJz) FTFY *giggle!*

199

Has anyone here read Beck's "The Overton Window"?

As Ace was picking apart the mentality behind Orszag's comments I couldn't help but think of the parallel to the Arthur Guardner character.

200 From the end notes of Reckless Endangerment:
Peter Orszag - author of flawed paper minimizing Fannie Mae's potential costs to the taxpayers; resigned as director of OMB in the Obama administration in July 2010. Joined Citigroup as vice chairman.  Hey Peter: Go F yourself. You've done enough harm for one lifetime

201

The Pilgrims were not peaceful types like the Amish

"The deuce, you say!"

After drowning women as witches, burning some at the stake, banishing free thought, forcing people to the public stock for abuse, some forced to wear "the" Scarlet Letter forever, Alinksy didn't come up with anything new.

202 yeah, but we're seeing that there are plenty of assholes with guns in the government that are not in the military.

Posted by: joeindc44 at September 28, 2011 06:09 PM (QxSug)

 

Unfortunately, your right.  My mind keeps going back to which side the WI police took a few months ago.

203

203, you doing your PT? Because those who would carry out the order to kill the likes of you and me certainly are.

And I'm WAY behind on my PT.

204 184 Well done, baldilocks; you connected all the dots.

Posted by: Captain Hate at September 28, 2011 06:08 PM (OGZqf)

Well, there's some comfort it that, but it isn't as though this pack of totalitarians hasn't been broadcasting its intentions daily for all those who are paying attention.

205

Conservative bloggers ought to set up a network or web ring named the Committees of Correspondence. Get all pre-1775 on those fascists' asses to let them know where the lines are drawn.

Posted by: No Whining at September 28, 2011 06:10 PM (0AClR)

Name fail.  Sounds too communist.

I'd like "Of the People, For the People, By the People" but that's too long.

206

After drowning women as witches, burning some at the stake, banishing free thought, forcing people to the public stock for abuse, some forced to wear "the" Scarlet Letter forever, Alinksy didn't come up with anything new.

Posted by: didn't take long at September 28, 2011 06:20 PM (lpWVn)

 

Please read on in your history book.  You'll find out that better minds and behaviour did prevail.

207 Excellent post Andy.

208

_{After drowning women as witches, burning some at the stake, banishing free thought, forcing people to the public stock for abuse, some forced to wear "the" Scarlet Letter forever, Alinksy didn't come up with anything new.}

That was the Puritans, not the Pilgrims. But, yes, they were a barrell of laughs.

209 Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

210

Conservative bloggers ought to set up a network or web ring named the Committees of Correspondence. Get all pre-1775 on those fascists' asses to let them know where the lines are drawn.

Posted by: No Whining at September 28, 2011 06:10 PM (0AClR)

Name fail.  Sounds too communist.

I'd like "Of the People, For the People, By the People" but that's too long.

Posted by: Conservative Crank at September 28, 2011 06:23 PM (vNpDB)

 

How about the Constitutional Constitutionalists.  Too hard to say.  Okay....how about Ace of Spades.  That's it!

211 Posted by: beedubya at September 28, 2011 06:14 PM (AnTyA)

1. Plunder the state.
2. Impoverish the people.
3. Inflame racial animosities.
4. Arm foreign criminals and allow them into the country.
5. Profit!! (for the elite, anyway).

212

Bend over and think of England while your Betters are fixin' to bugger you.

 

It's almost as if all those John Birchers were right.

213 **After drowning women as witches, burning some at the stake, banishing free thought, forcing people to the public stock for abuse, some forced to wear "the" Scarlet Letter forever, Alinksy didn't come up with anything new.** Because the rest of the world is so great. The commies were having show trials in the 50's, not that starving tens of millions of people wasn't a bad thing either.

214 209 That was the Puritans, not the Pilgrims. But, yes, they were a barrell of laughs.

Not all Puritans were the same. They had their own disagreements and factions, which led to numerous splits and their eventual demise.

215 "And we would have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for you meddling Morons."

216

Not all Puritans were the same. They had their own disagreements and factions, which led to numerous splits and their eventual demise.

The Pilgrims, who founded Plymouth Colony, were not Puritans. The Puritans founds Massachusetts Bay Colony, centered in Boston. As for their demise, visit a Congregational church in New England some Sunday. I guarentee you will see numerous living fossils ;--)

217 There's a new thread up, isn't there?

218 Ah, but what does Romney think of us rubes.  Methinks he thinks he will simply be more benevolent and give you more control over your life than BO might, but of course there is still a segment among us who must be helped, assisted, controlled, whatever.  Yes the ballot box matters.  But electing another Hoover is not really a big benefit.

219 God, I hope that Romney just wants to leave us alone. That's all any politician should want. Maybe that's why we shouldn't get bent out of shape if a pol carouses. At least carousing keeps him from raising taxes...for Hillary, she can have her LBD to stay off our backs. So, that must be why the left hates Bersculoni so much, his 18 year old mistresses keep him from infringing on Italian rights.

220 217 The Pilgrims, who founded Plymouth Colony, were not Puritans. The Puritans founds Massachusetts Bay Colony, centered in Boston. As for their demise, visit a Congregational church in New England some Sunday. I guarentee you will see numerous living fossils ;--)

You were talking about the Puritans:
209 That was the Puritans, not the Pilgrims. But, yes, they were a barrell of laughs.

221 Wow just  read an article on Lucianne that Cain said he could not back Perry. Dog pile on Perry time.. Mitt in cahoots with Cain per chance?

222 Also, both the Puritans and Pilgrims were shared non-conformity and certain religious values but had different approaches towards the Church of England. Of the two, the Pilgrims were the radicals. 

223 #117 Of course, it wasn't proper Keynesian economics. It never has been. The man wrote a letter to FDR during the Depression saying essentially, "You're doing it wrong." The problem is the same as it is for Communism as laid out by Marx. Nobody ever does it right. Because it is impossible for humans to do so in groups larger than small tribes. We just aren't wired for it, especially the sorts attracted to political office.

224

Prove your commitment to "auto-government" by enacting a balanced budget amendment. Nothing reigns in government-gone-wild more than a law that requires them to execute their most basic function- keeping our finances fluid.

225 There is a reason the Left constantly claims when the President is a Republican that he is intent on suspending the Constitution. It's because that is what they would do given the chance. (And who came closer since the Civil War era than saint of the left FDR?) In the 60s they formalized this desire with the Cloward-Piven Strategy, which became the most requested article reprint of The Nation magazine in the pre-Web days. Push the entitlement system tot he point of shattering the national economy and then rebuilt the country in the Left's desired image. This wasn't something discussed in secret, it was out in the open for all to see. The authors were honored guests at the White House for the signing of the Motor Voter Law designed to get more welfare recipients to vote for yet more welfare. It appears some on the Left think their time has come and have lost all capacity for public discretion.

226

Well, there's some comfort it that, but it isn't as though this pack of totalitarians hasn't been broadcasting its intentions daily for all those who are paying attention.

Posted by: baldilocks at September 28, 2011 06:22 PM (T2/zQ)

Makes total sense to me.

227 We must have the most pathetic and ineffective politicians in the World if they are incapable of convincing people to take something for nothing.  Next thing you know, we'll hear about hookers unable to convince Las Vegas convention-goers that they want to have sex. 

228 Like I said: Trial Balloon.

229

You know what would be neat.  If we could use Social Security and Income Taxes to back lending for homes.  What could go wrong?

http://vimeo.com/29268251

230 Shouldn't that read, "authoritarian pudding"?  And instead of "rhetorical toe"...

231

"We took a great first step in November 2010, and now we need to complete the clean sweep of these statist SOB's in 2012 and salt the fields so this muddleheaded ideology never grows back."

I remember when I was this optimistic. I seriously doubt that the Leftist/Marxist/Statist Ideology is going anywhere after the election. These people already have plans in place when they lose, plans that stretch out 6-10 years at a time. They consider this last push over the past 6 years as a necessary small step in the overall goal, and losses in 2010 and 2012 are small roadblocks to be overcome.

In 2016....when they run Hillary...they will make another large push toward the cliff, and they will be successfull. The key is to gain control over the media, school systems, and the universities. They control these arena's with almost no opposition, and the planned (3) generation indoctrination cycle will complete before we could ever infiltrate and dismantle it.

232

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction"

 

Effin' Boomers.

 

233 So, we seem to have several different Lefty voices pushing for abandonment of Law and Principle.  Whaddya wanna bet that our Ruling Elites believe (= are arranging it to be so) that their Class-war, Race-war, Cloward-Piven-economic-chaos, piss-off-our-allies-and-embolden-our-enemies programs will bear fruit before Election Day?   That "Something Big" will happen and normal procedures will get put on hold ("just temporarily", of course)?

According to their deeply-held beliefs (which they've shown no inclination to abandon, despite Reality's best efforts at getting their attention over the last  nearly-3 years), when everything falls apart We-the-Proles will clamor for a "deliverer" who will promise to save us from the overwhelming emergency, and then we will support his call to reform our unbridled capitalist system "so that we can react more quickly and efficiently" to the next looming crisis.

(One thing to be cautious of:  This "Bold New Leader" could come from EITHER PARTY.  The old-guard Republicans love Big Government --and their exalted positions-- almost as much as the Progressive Left does.  I assume the most of the Tea Party types haven't been infected yet, but ...) 

234 Sorry to brag here, but I'm a professor of economics at a top 10 (in the world) university. Orszag's comment "Virtually all responsible economists agree that we should be aiming to reduce the deficit in the long-term but not in the short-term" is simply NOT TRUE. It's bullshit. Unless you play the game of declaring all those who disagree with you as not responsible.

235 Instead of Conservative/Liberal or Republic/Dem, I think we should label the parties/ideologies as Kids/Colleagues. That is one either views the "masses" as kids or colleagues. The donks view them as kids. Therefore it is ok to lie to "the masses" about their intentions (don't most of the donk's pre-election statements sound like your mom saying "eat your spinach and you'll get as strong as Popeye"?). Lies to your kids to protect them from the world or get them to do something they don't understand is ok. Lies to your colleagues, not so much. Rules to keep your kids out of trouble: ok. Colleagues: not ok. Kids thoughts on complex questions: not very useful and actually a bit of a pain to have to hear (Bev Perdue?). Colleagues: views are appreciated and solicited. Kids ability to manage their own affairs: uh no. Colleagues: you bet. More kids in the world: a big burden (note the donks view on population control and abortion). More intelligent colleagues in the world to help solve problems: a very good thing. Bottom line: I see everyone else as a colleague to be valued, and through solving their own problems as a source to solve societies problems. Dems see them as immature kids, not to be trusted, and a burden.

236

"current legislative gridlock is making it increasingly difficult for lawmakers to tackle the issues that are central to our country’s future—issues like climate change, the hard slog of recovering from a financial slump, and our long-term fiscal gap."

Don't worry Peter.  After the 2012 elections the new Marjority and new President will solve all 3 of those issues.  The first one being the easiest (nothing).

“the process is not less democratic than having nine unelected justices with lifetime tenure and no political accountability to anyone but themselves decide..." 

Political cowardice is no excuse for inaction (Medpac becoming IPAB).  And the SC issues Constitutional opinions, not edicts.  We are not ruled by the Robes. 

"He concludes that, despite the risks, rising polarization justifies the increased use of these types of commissions."

They won't be necessary after we elect Representatives with a spine. See 2010 and 2012 mentioned above.

237 no elections?  less participatory democracy?  I sense  that the really short haircuts  may be coming back into vogue...

238 Peter, Bev, boobie!  Call me!!  We'll do that lunch thing.

239 Posted by: RamonAllones at September 28, 2011 06:13 PM (ha+6S) 12 hours late, but I too am Hungarian Jew. To Soros and Orszag, as my late mother would say, "as anya pitchaya."

240
Wow i really found this to be an interesting read; thanks for sharing

241 Orszag wants "automatic policies and depoliticized commissions"...


And whose going to institute those policies and appoint those commissions?


Hmmmmmmmmmm?

242

To 195 and every one else here:

Speaking as one of many conservative federal employees, I'm frankly tired of being painted with the brush that you don't need us and that none of us are any good . In one capacity or another, I've always worked for the Federal government (Active duty, Reserves, civilian employee).  You want to string me up? Come and get me. By the way, I won't go down easy.

MOLON LABE!

243

I beleive that this was a trial balloon to see if calling off the next election, because of a national emergency would fly. Obama noes he can not win, so will try to become Chaves and declare himself dictator for life! But he needs something big to happen(Iran bombs Israel, Israel bombs Iran). He would then call for a state of emergency and suspend elections until the emergency is past. By then he would say see I was able top fix it and we really do not need an election for this country. Beware! Be very afraid of this guy.