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Have they learned? Will they learn?
5 Comments · Posted by Stephen W. Browne in Uncategorized
Thomas Sowell’s latest column, ‘Are Republicans Due?‘ is, as usual for Dr. Sowell, well written and thought provoking.
When a baseball player has come to bat after failing to get a hit twenty times in a row, some fans say he is “due” for a hit. But statisticians say he is no more likely to get a hit in this at bat than at any other time. In other words, there is no such thing as being “due.”
I urge you to read it. It is a somber warning that on both the domestic and foreign policy fronts, our nation faces threats which could very well be the end of us as a nation, “conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
One of the dangerous disadvantages of the American point of view, is that we tend to assume America is eternal. We’ve never had a foreign conquest, never a violent overthrow of government, never even had an interruption of the more-or-less orderly electoral process. And we assume deep down that this is somehow historically normal.
Our European cousins in this respect at least, know better. (About their own nations, oddly enough many Europeans I know tend to assume America will always be here.) In particular, citizens of smaller nations in Europe are acutely aware that a hiccup of history could wipe their nation out – forever.
Who now remembers the Lusitanians? Who remembers the original Prussians were a Slavic people, wiped out by the Teutons who took their name?
Well, America seems to be waking up. Many people are worried, about our debt, about mad fanatics getting nuclear weapons, about everything Sowell talks about.
Some are pinning their hopes on a Republican “surge” in the 2010 and 2012 elections. That may be our only hope, third parties have a long history of not working in this country. Or worse, splitting the opposition and giving the election to a party that otherwise wouldn’t have won.
But, this could also be the time of the Truce of the Bear.
Here’s the comment I left under Sowell’s article:
The last time Republicans gained control of congress, to put it bluntly – they betrayed us.
They put their snouts into the trough as enthusiastically as any leftie.
That said, there’s still a difference between bad, and less bad.
The fact is, once political power is gained it takes a rare individual willing to give it up, much less a party. And it is generally political suicide to even attempt to repeal entitlements the public has gotten comfortable with.
I fear the problem is systemic, and not easily amenable to “throwing the rascals out” and installing the “good guys.”
Perhaps if enough people realize the consequences of our present course could be fatal to our country, there might be enough sustained pressure on our politicians to keep them reasonably honest.
And perhaps not.
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Joseph Moroco · January 16, 2010 at 5:24 pm
The only hope is that because we are getting closer to a point in time that there will be nothing left to steal, maybe someone will do the right thing.
I live in Massachusetts and will probably vote for Scott Brown, not because he is any great shakes, he isn’t. He supported Romneycare (our state plan with a public option). I can only bestir myself to the polling place because Coakley is far more vile.
Author comment by Stephen W. Browne · January 16, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Oh crap.
I know nothing about Scott Brown, but I do know that Coakley is unspeakably vile. She fought tooth and nail to keep a man she must have known was innocent in prison.
So the best we can hope for is socialism-lite?
Double crap.
dchamil · January 16, 2010 at 5:55 pm
My cynical comment is this: throw the rascals out — and get some fresh rascals!
Algernon · January 25, 2010 at 8:07 pm
The hyperlink to Dr. Sowell’s column is busted.
This works: http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2010/01/19/are_republicans_due
As for the Republicans, almost none of their politicians seem to get it — certainly none of the GOP leadership.
I fear that the country is too far gone to be fixed by votes. If nothing changes, the whole scheme will become unworkable — with disastrous consequences — in 5 to 15 years.
Alas, the Democrats, and far too many Republicans, are working to accelerate the coming collapse (not intentionally, some presume). I can think of no politician who is pushing for the kind of “rock the boat” reforms necessary to restore the constitution and individual liberty.
Author comment by Stephen W. Browne · January 25, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Sorry, I fixed it by linking to Sowell’s column at Jewish World Review.
You can find all his archived columns here:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell1.asp
I should know better than to link to Townhall. Their links are often broken, or their copy badly edited.
On odd days I think the coming collapse is unintentional, and even days I think a section of the “intelligentsia” is deliberately working to accelerate it.
Surely even stupidity can’t be that potent?