Today I want to ask a few simple questions….just to see whether what I think is indeed the way the world works or whether I have truly disappeared down the rabbit hole and will be spending the rest of my life chasing white rabbits to tea parties.
Now, the answers to these questions could easily be very simple or very complicated. I am not looking for long drawn out discussions trying to rephrase the question so that the answers fit with what you perceive as reality….I just want you to blurt out the first answer that makes sense to you…ok?
Let’s start with this one….
What helps poor people most? Charity…or business?
When I first heard John Stossel ask this question over the weekend, my initial answer was business!! And that has not changed at all. The reality is that charity may help poor folk get back on their feet, it may help them temporarily but it cannot do anything to ensure that poor folk can gravitate from poverty to a more comfortable living. Only business can do that. Only business can provide jobs, only business can create wealth, only business can generate the continuous income to ensure that economic growth can raise all people’s boats just as a rising tide does. On the other hand, if business (and the wealthy owners) contributed all of their capital to be distributed among the poor, the poor would remain poor and the rest of us would join them in poverty in short order as the capita;l needed to create economic growth is distributed to keep the poor in their poverty.
OK…let’s look at another quick one.
Is it good for the country that more people vote? I mean, if more people voted, then the democratic process is better served and the chances of getting a better government based on the combined wisdom of the masses must be improved, right?
This is another question from John Stossel. My answer?
Hell no!!
At the last general election, approximately 90 million people voted. With 200 million eligible voters, it is clear that more people chose NOT to vote than chose TO vote. I say this is a good thing, not a bad thing. In fact, I would like to see fewer people voting than even this proportion. Why? Because so many voters have no idea what they are voting for. Few of them have any idea who the candidates are, what they stand for, or why they are voting. How can this be good for the country?
I believe that the only people who should vote are those who know the issues, follow politics closely and vote based on their belief in the their preferred candidates and the policies they promise to implement.
Voting based on family history (my family has always voted democrat and we will to the day we die), or based on job type (I am a factory worker therefor I must vote democrat) or on the freebies offered to the disenfranchised (I will vote democrat because they will make sure I don’t starve to death just because I don’t want to work) or based on color (I have to vote for the black guy)…are all the wrong reasons to vote!
Now…I have picked on the democrats in this example…but the republicans are just as bad. They do not get out of jail free.
This is why the current primary process is so screwed up. Conventional wisdom states clearly that approximately 40% of voters are mindless republican voters, 40% are mindless democrat voters and the balance are the thinkers in the middle…the ones who will ultimately determine who wins the election.
So…the republican brains trust has determined that in order to win, republicans must achieve a few solid things:-
1. They must not ever be derogatory to the opposition. They must NOT alienate any of the 40% democrats who may move to the independent group, and surely must not risk offending those newly minted independents by being too aggressive to the boy they may have voted for in the last election
2. They MUST not be socially conservative. They must not take a stand for the conservative beliefs that molded them for fear that the newly minted independents will find their stance on gays or abortion will be so untenable that they cannot possibly vote for them
3. They MUST not talk about the benefits of capitalism because most people do not understand what capitalism really is. Most of the center, the independents, are scared of capitalism…it just doesn’t feel right to them, so they could never vote for someone who proclaims free trade as the answer. Much better to talk in terms of “sensible” government regulation to make sure capitalism does not get carried away.
4. Do not talk about the conservative need to reduce government expenditure on freebies. Do not attack social security; do not talk about Medicaid or Medicare or the elderly or the hard decisions and actions that have to be made.
5. Talk ONLY about the fee-good things…the jobs you will create, the “bad” laws you will get rid off, the tax changes you would like to see. Talk about how you are the only one qualified to drive the Nation…blah blah blah.
And then, the Republican brains trust expects that on election day you will have the 40% brainless republican voters plus more than 50% of the independents because you have not scared them away…and in that result, you win.
Simple, huh?
If this is true, why is it that the democrats are taking a totally different tack? Why are they ignoring the 50% of the population that is middle class, and concentrating on the poor and the wealthy elite? Surely they know that they should be going after the independents? Surely they know that without them they cannot win an election?
Or is it more likely that they understand that elections are won by finding support amongst those potential voters that simply want to be told what to do?
In the case of the democrats, they are seeking the totally unthinking vote. They don’t care about anyone who needs to think about it. The rich elite have enough money that they don’t care about the result so they can afford to assuage their guilt by supporting the great redistributor of wealth. The poor just want more hand-outs and are more than willing to sell their vote for the promise of the next handout. The blacks want their guy in the whitehouse, and the unions want more free companies that only Obama will give them. So the democrat strategy will be to promise more free stuff…and to ignore the voters who cannot be bought.
At the same time, they will denigrate the conservative candidates at every turn. They will use the vilest language, accusations and lies. They will not hesitate to offend…because the people they offend are not their voters anyway. Their objective will be to paint the Republican candidate as unworthy…and to make people believe that voting is of no value. In a low turnout election, the democrats win.
Very simple math.
So we have the Republicans playing the game. Not going after Obama, not providing a seriously different option…falling into the trap of trying to get the 20% while the 40% are deciding not to even vote.
Wake up, you idiots on the right!!
Take a cue from Ron Paul…his popularity is not based on the fact that he is liberal light…..it is based on the fact that he is different…that he says clearly that government MUST change. I have no doubt that if Dr. Paul could better articulate his foreign policy and not get drawn into the petty “what if’s” of a nuclear Iran, he would win easily…against both the other republican candidates and eventually against Obama. Unfortunately, he will not get his foreign policy under control and the best he can hope for is to influence the conservative platform (not necessarily a bad thing.)
SO that leaves us with Obama Light, in Romney…the slick but somehow not believable candidate that is not prepared to simply say that free trade is good and that property rights are vital. Why doesn’t he say that whoever owns a company has the right to do with it whatever they want? End of story! He refuses to say this….because of rule number 3 above. Rather, he wants to appeal to the independents by proclaiming that their guy did something similar…so it must be ok. Pathetic!!!
We then have Perry accusing Romney of vulture capitalism. Why doesn’t he attack Obama as a Marxist? Again, simple…Rule number 1 and Rule number 3 above. If he attacks Obama as a Marxist he will offend the independents. If he doesn’t attack Romney’s capitalism, he will be seen as a supporter of a greater evil. Pathetic.
And Newt…as I predicted days ago, he is embarking on a path of self destruction with his continued attacks on Romney. Now Newt is smart enough to understand that he is following the Republican rules by doing this. He is also smart enough to know that every time he damages Romney with an attack, he also damages his own chances of success. But he simply can’t help himself. Pathetic.
Santorum is managing to stay at least partly out of the fray…he is playing it smart…he is calling on the other candidates to control their superpacs with the correct message that if they cannot control their supporters, how can they manage and lead their administration without the benefit of it being necessarily friendly?
Santorum is also breaking some of the rules above. His social conservatism is on display daily, but he needs to learn how to deflect the questions better. His positions are fine, but will not solve the nation’s woes. He needs to learn how to redirect the questions to the economy and Obama’s lack of credible performance if he wants to beat Obama.
And Huntsman is gone. No surprise there.
Back to the questions I started this post with….
As a reminder….
1. Business helps the poor more than charity – the candidates need to stand proudly on this truth….making a moment out of it every time they speak. The people they want to vote for them know this…they just need the logic of the fallacy that charity is better to be pointed out to them once again
2. The only voters you want are those that understand the implications. These are the voters that will go out in the snow storms, in the bad weather and in extreme circumstance to cast their votes. These are the voters that will mobilize and throw support behind you.
The voters that the democrats are after will not go out in the cold, in the storms…they are basing their thoughtless votes on “what’s in it for me”…and the republicans or conservatives will NEVER get those votes.
No…the votes the Conservatives need are the people who really care what happens to this country….and to get them they must offer a completely different alternative.
A proud and strong conservative with sound fiscal policies, reasonable foreign policies and strong convictions on social policies can win this election.
The electorate is crying out loud for a leader….and for moral certitudes…and for honesty and truth. The candidate that shows through his actions that these are his attributes can win in a landslide.
The candidate that waters these down in a mistaken belief that they need to portray a more moderate side, has no chance.
If that is what we display as an alternative to Obama…we will be soundly defeated….because our box of rocks that I believe could beat Obama is little more than a box of sand, ever moving under your feet, impossible to get a grip on, and presenting nothing that the country can be built on.
You all know the story of the man who built his house on the sand…didn’t end too well for him, did it?
…..devereaux
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