The American Spectator : A Society of Beggars? Obama Battles Reagan

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A Society of Beggars? Obama Battles Reagan

By Jeffrey Lord on 10.26.10 @ 6:08AM

For America, a time for choosing.

Obama or Reagan.

In the end, that's the choice.

As the country enters the final week of what may be the most important election in a lifetime, these two presidents and their starkly differing visions of America are at the center of what has become a political earthquake.

Barack Obama, of course, would seem to have the advantage. He is the flesh-and-blood sitting president of the moment, with actual, real-time command of the White House and all the accompanying assets that includes. Air Force One responds to his beck and call, along with the helicopters, shiny limousines, the staff and the entire executive branch of the United States government. Not to mention the total control his party has had over the House and Senate. The seal may have fallen off his podium the other week, but no matter. As he accurately pointed out, everyone does indeed know exactly who he is.

A bit late, some would say. Amid all the exuberance about electing a man because of his skin color was a deliberate refusal to understand that this particular man was a hard-core radical leftist. For some, the knowledge of just what then-Senator Obama intended to do if elected president was apparently hard to discern. For others, electing a man who had sat in the pews of Jeremiah Wright's church for twenty years and launched his first campaign from the living room of Weatherman terrorist Bill Ayers was an appallingly dangerous mistake.

What else, they now ask, could America possibly have expected?

The unexpected answer?

An infinitely better understanding of both Ronald Reagan and the conservative principles he championed. An understanding borne of new experience for this latest generation as it struggles to grasp the hard reality of what Reagan himself learned the hard way: if socialism, statism, and government planning had the necessary answers to America's problems, those problems would have been resolved long ago.

And Ronald Reagan, passed into death and history six years earlier, vanished from any active public life by Alzheimer's a full decade before that, would not be on the cusp of a mammoth centennial birthday celebration three months and four days from this election.

Obama and Reagan have become the face of each side's arguments in 2010, the personification of the now furious struggle between statism -- the supremacy of the state, as Mark Levin succinctly describes the goal of the left in Liberty and Tyranny -- and individual freedom and liberty.

The New York Times says that "Washington is on the brink of a substantial shift in the balance of power." Poll after poll after poll indicates the GOP is in some fashion on the edge of a tidal wave sweeping the country.

Which is to say Reagan is poised to beat Obama.

But if this turns out to be true -- if Republicans do in fact re-take the House and fire Nancy Pelosi, if they upend Harry Reid and begin flooding the Senate with conservatives -- why? Why will this have happened? And is that the end of this ferocious battle? Can we all just go home now?

The answers are as predictable as they were easy to reject by all manner of self-proclaimed political savants who really did think America had parted ways with both Reagan and conservatives.

Ronald Reagan saw America as a "shining city upon a hill." It was beyond foolish for Obama and Democrats to dismiss this as some sort of old news -- irrelevant, hokey, out of date. To dismiss Reagan and his vision is to totally misread America, its culture, and exactly how Americans see both their country and themselves. And more to the point, how Americans have seen themselves right from the moment the first Pilgrims stepped off the boat at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620.

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About the Author

Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (121) | Leave a comment

Booger| 10.26.10 @ 6:15AM

News item: Obama says Republicans to be relegated to the "back seat".
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/201.....r/us_obama

11/3/2010

From the desk of President B. Hussein Obama

Dear Voters,

As you are aware, just a couple of weeks ago I stated that Republicans will be relegated to the back of the bus. As you are aware, there are certain strong cultural connotations to that particular rhetoric. While some has suggested I misspoke, let Me assure you that what I said was indeed on My teleprompter, and hence exactly what I meant to say. Republicans are to be relegated to the back of the bus.

Obviously, by Republicans, I mean everyone who just voted in yesterday's election. Following the Republicans' pick up of sixty-five house seats and eleven senate seats, along with their fifty-six per cent of the popular vote, it is clear to Me that many of you have foolishly chosen to disregard My warnings to you in this matter, and must now be relegated to second-class, back of the bus citizen status.

First of all, as to those of you in the military. I am your commander in chief. That means I give orders and you follow them. Unfortunately, of those of you who somehow managed to get your grasping hands on a ballot (despite Eric Holder's best efforts; I am going to have to have a word with him about letting so many military ballots be mailed out) voted for Republicans by a three-to-one margin. I am hereby issuing an executive order making those votes a retroactive violation of the UCMJ. Please be aware that I am quite capable of tracking your votes, especially those of you who voted online. Courts martial will be convening soon to handle this matter. I suggest you accept any plea deal granted with you and testify against your misguided comrades. Remember, naming names will save your own skin.

Now, concerning those states which turned "red" this election cycle: I will be issuing executive orders shortly suspending all highway funds, education funds, Medicare and Medicaid funds and other Federal disbursements to your states. You want austerity, I'll give you austerity. In the meantime, please be aware that your full customary tax receipts will still be due to the Federal government. At least I'll have plenty of extra money to send to my good friend in California, the newly elected Jerry Brown, to bail out his state.

Now to all of you bourgeoise pigs who insisted on voting out My people will have a little surprise. Nancy and Harry have already agreed to My plan for their lame duck session. They will immediately pass my deficit reduction committee's plan for balancing the budget by 2015. You may look forward to the immediate revocation of the Bush tax cuts, the revocation of your precious child tax credits, the revocation of your mortgage interest deduction, the revocation of pre-tax deductions for health insurance, and a forty-five per cent decrease in defense spending. So laugh it up. All of this falls under "budgetary" items, so your pathetic Republicans in the Senate now can't even filibuster. My signature will be on these items before you can finish your post-election party clean up. Let Me know how you like the back of My bus.

Finally, I am issuing an executive order declaring the Tea-bagger movement a conspiracy to overthrow the Federal government. You can soon look forward to a lengthy visit from the officers I am assigning to Janet Napalitano's office. This order will make participation in, association with, and direct or indirect support for the Tea-baggers, their movement, their causes and their candidates a retroactive Class B Federal Felony. Ah yes, it seems the back of the bus looks an awful lot like the inside of a penitentiary, doesn't it? Well, you were warned. You have no one to blame but yourselves.

In the meantime, please be advised that Executive Clemency papers are available for a donation of $5,000.00 each to the DNC and my personal re-election fund. Full pardons are available for double that amount. I look forward to seeing your check in My hand soon.

Sincerely,

President for Life B. Hussein Obama

Petronius| 10.26.10 @ 8:51AM

Close but no stogie. This litany of lustful desires on the part of this President to inflict calumnies upon us for refusing proper homage is too calculated. If he had his head and the material means to behave as any central African despot, this country would already be like that hellhole.
We are getting a small taste of tyranny from the 60's trash. Contemplate if you would what Obama really wants to do to us. Remember what happened to the Rangers in Mogadishu?

Booger| 10.26.10 @ 9:24AM

But I NEED my stogie! The health Nazis keep taking them away! They already rationed away my meds, now no stogie! Oh the humanity!

Cordially,

Booger

Cigar Nazi| 10.26.10 @ 9:41AM

NO CIGAR FOR YOU!

Franklin| 10.26.10 @ 12:59PM

If you want to bow at little o's feet, maybe you can inhale some of his second hand smoke from his ciggies.

dw| 10.26.10 @ 1:39PM

From the desk of Mephistopheles

11/4/10

Dear Barack,

Let me get right to the point...what the hell is going on? I have more than lived up to my end of the bargain. I have cast conjurations, incantations, hexes and spells of all sorts. I have enlisted co conspirators like Reid, Pelosi, Kerry, Gore, Biden and many others. I have contracted with countless members of the print and television media in order to ensure you a free run at propagandizing to our bias on all issues and matters of policy.

But instead of further ingraining our hold on this nation with this last election, you have succeeded in quite the opposite. We lost significant ground and I hold you fully responsible. Do you realize what it has taken to get you elected and how easily it can be lost? You will not be President for Life if you keep up this performance.

Contrary to our agreed upon strategy of camouflaging our intent, you, with your evident impatients, have, in effect, shined a bright light on our ultimate goal which has brought resistance from those who have in the past paid no attention to our subterfuge and who, as it turns out, are particularly immune to my magical influences. Thus, as even you may see, we have taken a large step back in terms of reaching the final execution of my objective.

One thing I am going to do, effective immediately, is to replace your teleprompter writer with Lucifer. I had him with Gore and since he is the best I have and we are at such a critical point, I think it best to make this adjustment.

We will need to meet right away to adjust our plans given this horrendous election result, but in the mean time cool down your rhetoric until Luc gets there and for hells sake stop the car driving metaphor. Internal studies are showing that to be counter instructive.

I will let you know when I can meet this week so clear your schedule. You better make Biden availible as well.

Yours in dissappointment,

Meph

wodiej| 10.26.10 @ 2:28PM

I can't BELIEVE Obama said that. Ironically sounds similar to "get to the back of the bus"-no?

Alan Brooks| 10.26.10 @ 9:37PM

"Which is to say Reagan is poised to beat Obama."

A polite way of writing the two Bushes wasted 12 years between them.

blackwatch| 10.26.10 @ 11:51PM

The Bushes were the inevitable rebuttal to Reagan-ism by the GOP Ruling class. Their Epic failure greased the skids for One Term Barry. We shall soon neuter his ambitions and he will grow more revolting and dangerous at the same time.

"Death to the Ruling class" should be our cry--for its either their death or our yoke of serfdom!

Alan Brooks| 10.27.10 @ 1:00AM

Same old story. Read this carefully (NR, 10/26/'10:

"As Election Day nears, former House speaker Newt Gingrich is crisscrossing the country, stumping for GOP candidates and kindling relationships for a potential 2012 presidential campaign. He was in Lima this afternoon, where he rallied support for John Kasich, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, and Rob Portman, who’s running for U.S. Senate.

Before taking the stage at the town’s civic center, Gingrich spoke exclusively with National Review Online about the upcoming midterms and how President Obama will need to adjust in the event that the GOP takes the House.

To avoid being a one-term president, Gingrich says Obama would need to “change very dramatically, but he has that right.”

“Any president has enormous capabilities,” Gingrich says. “If [Obama] wants to, he can change. Bill Clinton was prepared to. It’ll take six months, but we’ll find out by June or July where Obama is.”

Gingrich predicts that Republicans will win “55-plus” seats in the House and eight or more in the Senate. “We’re probably at a solid eight in the Senate,” he says. “It depends on the wave. If the wave is moving right, we pick up Washington and California. If the wave isn’t moving right, we’re stuck at eight. But the odds, I think, are almost even money that we could win up to ten and have control of the Senate.”

“The level of resentment is unlike anything I’ve seen in my lifetime, from a conservative perspective,” Gingrich continues. “Maybe the liberals felt this way about Nixon during Watergate, but I have never seen this level of conservative anger at somebody, the way [they’re angry] with the president.”

“Radical elites are in such denial about reality right now, whether it’s the president, Speaker Pelosi, or Senate Majority Leader Reid,” Gingrich says. The frustration with Democrats, he adds, is “bigger and deeper than in 1994.”

Should Republicans take the House, Gingrich urges them, in the “very first week,” to pass a ‘no tax increase on any American during the recession’ bill and send it to the president in January.

“Then the president can decide: Does he love class warfare so much that he’s going to veto stopping tax increases on middle-class Americans, or is he going to recognize that in this recession, he ought to relax and accept the American people’s verdict,” Gingrich asks. “That should be the first big test.”

Indeed, even if the president can’t stand Republicans, Gingrich says, he’ll end up having to deal with them, like it or not. “The nice thing about the American constitution is that it doesn’t care,” Gingrich says. “If you end up with Majority Leader McConnell and Speaker Boehner, [Obama] can work with them or not, but they’ll be a fact, not a problem.”

Tim*| 10.26.10 @ 6:17AM

John Winthrop's City upon a Hill, 1630:

"...... the lord make it like that of New England: for wee must Consider that wee shall be as a Citty upon a Hill, the eies of all people are uppon us...."

The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates.

Rise Up In Rebellion!

Alan Brooks| 10.26.10 @ 9:40PM

"Rise Up In Rebellion!"

Rise up in rebellion against Israel, Tim*?

Alan Brooks| 10.28.10 @ 2:23PM

I pull the wings off of flies.

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 10.26.10 @ 6:40AM

Would it be a society of beggars? We already have that. Just stop at just about any stoplight around D.C. and the beggars are there. I also see them in heavy numbers down south.

No, what we will be left with is a society of idle serfs, who will serve the role of a political serf or mule. The few who work will have their paychecks picked clean by the government, reducing them to government mules, carrying their paychecks so the government can benefit.

The serfs will get their free government cheese, free substandard housing, and possibly a form of health care. If the serfs of the future suffer from anything serious, they will die. There will be no death chambers and for some death may be a welcome respite from their miserable serf bound lives.

What you will observe is a moocher class who finds out too late they have become serfs with few, if any, freedoms. Their freedoms will be defined by the ideologues who manage to grab power.

Daniel| 10.26.10 @ 7:20AM

I agree 100%. I will add that in between the time now and the total collapse of our economy, the Serfs with no education or experience will finish off our economy when they get injected into our government and public sector further. These non-productive failures of society are being given fake college degrees at an alarming rate. Think I am exagerating? Think again, I just quit my pursuit of a business degree, largely due to the ignorants in there dumbing down the rest of the school. Second year college students, that cant read and write at a 5th grade level! How did they pass the first year ?
These same unqualified loafers will be the next generation of Nurses and Doctors! Thats is how the Socialists think they will fill all those Doctor and Nurse positions under the H/C bill. Quality of care? Not so much. Look around you today. People working in stores that have some common sense or know their job are getting scarce. People are given jobs on the basis of the color of their skin, or through political affiliation instead of being qualified. For further proof, I saw a lady in the grocery store cashing 1700.00 of gov't checks ,(Middle of month) and when asked for her work number, she said oh I dont have one, I dont work. The taxpayer being raped to give to a freeloader once again. No it wasnt SSI or any other valid reason. She was in her 30's, with gold draped all over her like Mr. T.
Wake up folks, as Bill Stalin says here, serfdom is coming.

Eric Cartman| 10.26.10 @ 9:29AM

I used to feel the same way, O'Stalin. I used to hate the squeegee guy that operated off I 75 near my sisters house in Royal Oak, MI. I would yell at him "No! I'm good! No, thank you! Just cleaned the car! It's okay! Really! Um . . . uh . . . no . . . jeez . . . okay, here's a buck" But when my windshield WAS dirty, he did a good job.

So I started thinking, ya know, I get a pretty good service . . . the guy hits me up for a buck every now and then. . . there is no bureaucracy to pay . . . sometimes I don't have a buck and they guy does it anyway . . . HELL, it's better than welfare! He's an entrepreneur! An entrepreneur in need of a shave and a shower, but an entrepreneur just the same! So I started appreciating the guy more.

So what happens, he disappears and some rose seller takes his place! Ta da! Roses for the wife! He gets a buck or two, I get some cheap flora and a happy wife and maybe some snuggling later!

And still no bureaucracy to pay! I started appreciating these guys more. And if they get successful, they'll start voting Republican.

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 10.26.10 @ 10:29AM

I was referring to the beggars. You aren't begging if you are selling something.

Eric Cartman| 10.26.10 @ 11:35AM

Oh, I agree! The beggars - or Democrats, as they are known - are the children of the 60s. Let 'em starve.

Appleby| 10.26.10 @ 7:00AM

Meanwhile in the largest city in Canada, the right-wing candidate for mayor, who ran on a platform of STOP THE GRAVY TRAIN, was elected in a landslide last night, defeating a socialist from the last gang and an openly, blatantly gay man whose main campaign was I AM NOT ROB FORD, and who said Rob Ford was too fat, and Joe Pantalone was too short, to be mayor. Interestingly enough, a Tamil radio station ran ads that purportedly said that George Smitherman was too gay to be mayor. You stack your city with Muslims and they vote Muslim. Surprise.

The race was predicted by the left wing press to be *a dead heat* and in fact ten minutes after the polls closed, Ford had a 100,000 vote lead which he never lost. And from the night clubs and Mommys Basement crowd who were too busy hooking up or watching Halloween Marathons on cable to vote for anybody, came angry tweets that made the rest of us laugh out loud. I predict a sort of France Lite this summer as the NDP socialist crowd kicks and screams against the very idea of having to support themselves, sell their artwork to the public and not the government, and feed, clothe, shelter, educate, amuse, jail and bury the children to whom they gave birth.

If it can happen in Toronto, it can happen anywhere.

wodiej| 10.26.10 @ 7:05AM

love it...

Melvin| 10.26.10 @ 7:46AM

Huzzah O Canada. Just has Germany has openly rejected Multiculturalism, Canada rejects Liberal Socialism.
O happy day, the Tidal Wave is rushing South towards the United States. The people of the world have awoke and the sunshine of Conservativeness feels glorious upon thine face as the filth of Liberalism is washed down the sewer.

Eric Cartman| 10.26.10 @ 9:08AM

Congrats, Appleby! Let's hope it happens here, too. AND that the Republicans remember it is Reagan who righted this country and set it on a correct path - until it hit the Bushes. But I'm afraid the Stupid Party will just ebb back into the DC mud.

Appleby| 10.26.10 @ 4:06PM

However, our local city council rep who replaced the NDP (New Democrat Party/Socialist) rep we used to have, is also an NDP minion who intends to fight the new mayor all the way. I had a brief discussion with her this morning. In a neighbourhood where the houses range from $500,000 to $1.2 million, she is all for soaking the rich by keeping a huge "land transfer tax" which she assured me would be used to "maintain libraries" (oddly enough, when enumerating the things the library provides for The Poor, the one thing she didn't mention was BOOKS.) She said this was necessary also to "keep property taxes down." I asked her if she understood that taxes on apartment buildings are FIVE TIMES those of the expensive homes in our area. She said she did. I doubt she does. Then I had to head off to work by subway (there's an extra $60 tax on cars and parking costs $100 per month, plus 13% sales tax) to earn the money she plans to grab.

Some things change quickly; some things have to be dug out like dandelion roots.

Eric Cartman| 10.26.10 @ 11:54PM

Yeesh - good luck with that. Try Round-Up on that one :-)

Jobe| 10.26.10 @ 9:19AM

My question: Are we ready to support a politician who announces to the country that "the gravy train is over"? Where are we going to find a politician who will stand up and tell the people that "multi-culturalism and its footnote, diversity, do NOT work". If it isn't soon, there will be nothing left here to save.

Redstateboy| 10.26.10 @ 11:02AM

Nailed it clean... 70 years of Socialism is a hard, hard habit to break. We've got Generations! that've grown up figuring free Food, Free Rent, Free HVAC, Free Healthcare and in some cases even free Cable, free Cellphone and free Computer are normal.

Franklin| 10.26.10 @ 1:05PM

YES!! Light the fire, Canada!!

STOP THE GRAVY TRAIN, America!!!

Rick| 10.26.10 @ 1:25PM

Nice Job Toronto!

Ned| 10.26.10 @ 2:23PM

My God! Don't tell me that The Evil Bush hosed up CANADA, too! How can that be!?

Well, if Canada can do a Merkel, perhaps there's hope for these 57 states, after all.

Blackwatch| 10.26.10 @ 11:56PM

Snarky!

Barbara| 10.26.10 @ 2:42PM

Bless you for telling us! Our daughter did her Master's at York and turned into a left-wing, WalMart hating, underemployed nut. She lives in France where irrationality and ignorance of history reign.

RCV| 10.26.10 @ 4:50PM

Considering the way you speak of her to total strangers, I'm not surprised she moved as far away as she could.

Occam's Tool| 10.26.10 @ 8:02PM

RCV, I'm happy to discuss my left wingnut sister, who cheerfully took 7 years to get an MBA from a small University in Denmark, and now uses that degree as a baby photographer. She got that degree while leaching off my parents for all living costs---overseas.

She doesn't live as far away from me now as she used to live, but she lives far enough away so that her day to day life is a matter of complete indifference to mine.

My point being that an MBA is not a "furnishing of the interior life" experience (like, say, a degree in sculpture, or philosophy, etc.) but a "tool of work" degree, totally wasted by a left wing idiot. In the time it took her to get that degree (we graduated from medical school (me) and undergrad (her) 1 day apart) I finished my residency, established my private practice, and paid back all of my student loans of 80K.

So, I understand Babs completely. Liberalism, applied, is not good for people.

I do respect the fact that you're a Liberal who posts on a Conservative website. I do respect your disgust for Tim*. But I have to tell you, work makes for self-respect, and lack of work cuts into that self-respect. My 6 and 7 year old have chores around the house that earn them money. They are learning to appreciate hard work. I doubt my sister does that with her kids, and my kids are much better adjusted as a result. So much for the vaunted business degree she received (her undergrad degree was marketing, least rigorous of the business degrees---my wife's was accounting---summa cum laude).

Note to Tim*---see, RCV and I just disagreed without ad hominem arguments or cussing. Learn from this.

Occam's Tool| 10.26.10 @ 8:18PM

Sorry, RCV---"leeching."

RCV| 10.27.10 @ 12:20PM

Sibling rivalry is a terrible thing to behold. But I always appreciate the thoughtfulness of your postings. My path was similar to yours, and my liberal kids have chores, too.

idalily| 10.26.10 @ 3:07PM

That is stunning, truly stunning. Is this a sea change in Canada, do you think? Or just a momentary detour in the long, slow, Socialist march to oblivion?

Daniel| 10.26.10 @ 7:02AM

The "F" for freeloaders, Dem Socialist party is exactly the common begger party. They arent concerned with working for a living and paying taxes. Its just the opposite, which leads to the bankruptcy of our country. Unions are just speeding the collapse up. Also, Nobody deserves anything based on their race, period.

wodiej| 10.26.10 @ 7:03AM

This is an excellent article.

Our country was formed on freedom by a ragtag army of men comprised of farmers, small businessmen, butchers and the like. They were presumably far outmatched by the British Army. But we won anyway. They had commitment, determination, courage and faith in what they believed in with God by their side.

Yes, some of our ideals have been corrupted by the elites and beggars. But those who wear the armor of Christ will win and we must stand our ground. That is where the Tea Party came from. Surrender and defeat is not an option.

Jerry Bosh| 10.26.10 @ 7:48AM

I believe the painting illustraiting the essay was part of "ship of fools"Ship of fools" was more than a metaphor; it was 15th century welfare. Now-a-days we use Greyhound Buses. We've got to get off the boat and get to work.

rodeoamy| 10.26.10 @ 12:06PM

FWIW, it's Pieter Bruegel's "The Beggars".
Just showin' off... ;)

Timothy L. Pennell| 10.26.10 @ 7:50AM

He doesn't CARE what happens. Why would he care? He's not even FROM here.
Remember?

olainfree| 10.26.10 @ 8:33AM

The communists -- they prefer to be called progressives here-- have worked mightily to destroy the family through multi-generational welfare dependence and through a disdain for private property. The refusal to recognize the bondholders' rights during the automotive meltdown and the ignoring of contractual obligations in demonizing Wall Street executives are but two examples of the State trampling the rights of private property.

The Kelo decision was the tip of the iceberg in the erosion of our liberties.

I received a video yesterday of the appalling interview of ObaMao's Aunt Zeituni, who unabashedly claims that the largesse showered on her as an illegal is a "right" that she has since America is a "free country." The dolts who have always lived in our country have internalized that same idiocy. They think that they are owed life's necessities and life's extras because it is a "free" country.

Have we reached a tipping point where those who rely on the freebies outnumber the producers?

Franklin| 10.26.10 @ 1:09PM

What these people that want government 'free'-bees don't understand is that 'free' means you're free to work hard for your living without the government telling you how to do that or taking all your money to give to those who don't work.

davelnaf| 10.26.10 @ 8:45AM

Given what Obama has already done it might be a good idea for Democrats to start thinking along the lines of political self-preservation. If I were a Democratic office holder I would be living in deep mortal fear of what this Marxist narcissist and colossal ignoramus is capable of doing.

You Democratic office holders had better side with Republicans in Congress for the next two years to keep Obama in his box in the White House or you can kiss your party goodbye. Does the latter sound improbable? Maybe the thought of a Marxist in the White House sounded just as improbable to a lot of people back in 2008.

Oldefarte| 10.26.10 @ 10:30AM

Jeffrey's article says it all, and I only hope and pray that American taxpayer-voters understand it and vote accordingly on 11/2/10!!!!!!!!

Doctor Right| 10.26.10 @ 10:39AM

How is it possible that the same nation that produced a man like Ronald Reagan also produced a man like Barack Obama???

One loved his country, and respected its citizens.

The other despises bis country, and thinks its citizens are sheep.

Once revered the US Constitution; the other spits on it.

One spared no effort to protect this nation; the other actively seeks to weaken it.

One prosecuted terrorists and vanquished communism; the other embraces Marxism and plays footsie with terrorists.

One thought of America as a "Shining city on a hill"; the other sees America as just another place, nuthin' special...

Once was an eternal optimist who understood that even when things are good, America's best days are always ahead of us; the other tells us that the days of American exceptionalism are over.

One thought that America was a beacon of hope for oppressed peoples around the globe; the other thinks that America oppresses people around the globe.

Once left office after making our nation far, far stronger than it was when he arrived; the other weakens the very fabric of our nation each and every day, and actively seeks to make it worse for his own dark purposes.

One still captivates us 6 years after his death, and 22 years after leaving office; the other repulses us after less than 2 years in office.

The other must go...And quickly.

God bless Ronald Reagan, the GREATEST President of the 20th Century.

Franklin| 10.26.10 @ 1:16PM

Great post, Dr. Right.

"How is it possible that the same nation that produced a man like Ronald Reagan also produced a man like Barack Obama???"

It's exactly what people have been warning about since the creation of this great nation - we have to work to keep our freedoms. Too many of us fell asleep.

But we are awake now!

Barbara| 10.26.10 @ 2:46PM

Who says America produced Obama? He sounds like the president of a Third World, "non-aligned" aka Soviet dupe country. I'm predicting he won't finish his first term. Pelosi has the docs that prove he isn't qualified and she'll use 'em to get rid of him.

RCV| 10.27.10 @ 7:13PM

Sure, Barbara, you keep telling yourself that and maybe it will make it true.

Derrick Butler| 10.26.10 @ 10:58AM

Are you completely insane! I don't know what polls you are reading. The "tidal wave" that your speaking of will only be in the House and Mr. President Barack Obama will retain the Senate so that the incredible unjust that the Reagans, and Bushes have been doing to America can be undone. The horrible Reagan and Bush eras were nothing but a shift of wealth to the upper class. There whole aim to destroy the middle class. Look at the numbers, numbers speak louder than words. The deficits, and unemployment, and War that those Presidents brought to America will be the burden of the next generation. Obama is so much better than Reagan or both Bush's ever were.

Doctor Right| 10.26.10 @ 11:13AM

Do you realize what an ABSOLUTE idiot you are, Derrick??

Let's examine your stupidity up close:

First of all, how do you transfer wealth to "the wealthy"??? If they're already wealthy, that is??

Are you one of the lame-brained nitwits who think that "the wealthy" didn't actually earn their money??? That they suddenly woke-up and found it under a tree???

Are you one of the economically illiterate jack-asses who somehow think that the "rightful owners" of wealth are the people who didn't actually earn it???

Please explain, with all of your brilliance and eloquence, exactly how Reagan and Bush aimed to destroy the middle-class, especially when the middle class THRIVED during their Presidencies, you jackass!

You must be a college student. Only "the young" could utter such profound stupidity since they lack both experience and knowledge.

You're a clown, and so is Obama. He's as dumb as you are, but unfortunately, he's the President.

If you think that Obama is "better than Reagan" than you know nothing about:

1. Reagan
2. Obama
3. Economics
4. US History
5. World History
6. The US Constitution
7. etc...

In short, go pull the lever for a Democrat and then shut the hell up, you brain-dead moron. REAL Americans have had about enough from class-warrior nit-wits such as yourself, and we're coming with a vengeance.

Consummate V's| 10.26.10 @ 11:44AM

Sorry, Derrick, without the House, the Senate can only advise and consent on presidential nominees. The power to raise taxes and spend money resides in the House, and with a GOP House majority also comes subpeona power... be afraid, Running Dog Dems, be very afraid.

RCV| 10.27.10 @ 7:11PM

Appropriations bills are only initiated in the House. Any legislation must still pass both the House and the Senate, and be signed by the President. This will limit the damage the new GOP majority can do, and it will disillusion and frustrate the tea partiers who elected them. Life goes on.

Mimi| 10.26.10 @ 11:49AM

WOW... What a come-back , for the moron DOC!!

Occam's Tool| 10.26.10 @ 8:06PM

Mimi, ma'am---comma should have been after moron, otherwise, it looks like moron is an adjective. Otherwise, agree with sentiments expressed.

Occam's Tool| 10.26.10 @ 8:04PM

Well said, colleague.

Louis Jenkins| 10.26.10 @ 12:01PM

Derrick:

I don't see the Conservatives taking the Senate, rather it will be an even draw, but we will take the House. Yes, Obama will remain, but in a much diminished capacity. There is always the next election, and with the positive outcomes from this one we'll still be around. Get accustomed to it.

idalily| 10.26.10 @ 3:14PM

If I understand you correctly, you claim that Reagan, Bush 41, and Bush 43 "aimed to destroy the middle class" using unemployment, deficits, and war. I am intrigued. Please provide specific deeds by these men that you believe caused these things to happen.

Chris| 10.26.10 @ 3:40PM

how did wealth get transferred from one class to the upper class,Derick? did the middle class have wealth that was taken and given to the upper class? you assume the government owns the wealth and it gives it to people. individuals own the wealth and pay taxes.
you probably pay very little, if any, in income taxes. tell us how much you paid in federal income tax last year. tell us how much of the wealth that you own (money in bank,etc.) was taken from you by the federal government, and sent to rich people like the kennedys, jay rockefellr, harry reid, nancy pelosi, john kerrey, joe biden,etc. , all millionaires who share you ideology.

c| 10.26.10 @ 4:36PM

derrick,
are you obama's new chief economic advisor?

Petronius| 10.26.10 @ 4:57PM

Can't be. I doubt he's attended the ballet.

Derrick Butler| 10.28.10 @ 2:30PM

Where's my mommy? Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me!

Redstateboy| 10.26.10 @ 11:06AM

Is this guy serious or an Agent Provacature? If he's serious.. the Obamabots are more deranged than any of us could imagine. He probably even agrees with Nazi Pelosi that Food Stamps stimulate an economy.

Redstateboy| 10.26.10 @ 11:10AM

Will they demand Obama and the powerful, thuggish special interest groups who serve as his ideological Brownshirts stand aside and halt the process of nailing shut the gates to Reagan's Shining City Upon a Hill, denying access to the historic America ideal envisioned at the nation's founding?

Great line

Yosemeti Sam| 10.26.10 @ 11:21AM

" ... The human urge to grimly control others, to force, to dominate, to suppress personal freedom and individual excellence in the name of the common good has always been and will always be among us...."

" ... The human urge ...." ?

Nay: the psycho-maniacal urge among Sadists posing as humans!

Look to the Black Book of Communism - for psycho-maniacal URGES!

A book which should be REQUIRED reading in an 'educated' society.

Then let the minds behold the templative NATURE of psycho-maniacal URGES - as in, say, wearing Che T-shits to broadcast ones' plumed INTELLECT.

Mimi| 10.26.10 @ 11:45AM

JEFFREY LORD : This has got to be the very best that You have ever written for American Spectator. Had to catch a tear on the first page and then on and on as you PERFECTLY describe where AMERICA is at this very moment in History 7 long days to election, and decision. This is a TAS must read and a KEEPER. Creative writing..piece of GREAT ART! Thank you....MIMI

Jeffrey Lord| 10.26.10 @ 4:56PM

I knew I always loved you, Mimi!

Thanks!

Texas Mom 2012| 10.26.10 @ 11:50AM

Derrick, arm your self with facts...
Nearly half the citizens of this country no longer pay any income taxes and many of them receive tax credits i.e. cash for merely working not having paid ANY federal income tax at all.
The top 1% of wage earners pay 40% of all federal income taxes... These are not the uber wealthy like Soros, these are mostly wage earners. Trust fund and investment wealthy pay at a different rate than wage earners or small business owners. They simply structure their funds to avoid taxes or move their trust funds to another low tax or zero tax country.
The only way to tax these people is via a consumption tax, although John Kerry has recently proved that they will simply move their purchases to a non tax entity, re his recent yacht purchase. So basically you will never tax the truly wealthy, you are only able to punish those wage earners who are actually EARNING their wages though their own hard work and sacrifice.
My hubby is one of those who has worked his entire life to move up toward the top bracket although we are not there yet. He has had to work away from home for up to a year at a time, sacrificing time with his family while Derrick, you jerk, think he should pay more and more. You are ignorant and shameful. Try reading the ten commandments, they are on the supreme court. Take close notice of the one that says, thou shalt not covet thy neighbors possessions... That is all the class warfare pointy headed liberals do. They want to punish the successful hard working people of this country.
It is ironic that so many of the liberal elite such as Kerry, Kennedy, Pelosi etc are so very wealthy and donate so little of their wealth to charity at the same time they want to confiscate wealth from others in the form of higher taxation in order to 'give' it to the 'more deserving needy'. They prefer to do this with other people' money, never their own.

Ned| 10.26.10 @ 2:38PM

Mom - not only are the Kerry/Kennedy/Pelosi gang wealthy, few of them have actually earned a nickel of that wealth. Yet they feel completely justified in squandering what your husband has earned on the *undeserving*...

Barbara| 10.26.10 @ 2:51PM

Amen! My husband is the same. We're terrified Obama's going to loot everyone's 401K.
Wealthy Dems don't pay taxes - the write legislation that gives them lovely loopholes. Soros does all his business from 0ff-shore tax havens and makes his money manipulating currencies. How'd Reid get rich as a public servant?

jrjr| 10.26.10 @ 4:33PM

Just to put a fine point on your excellent post --- "Nearly half the citizens ... no longer pay .. income taxes and many of them receive tax credits i.e. cash for merely working not .. paid ANY .. income tax at all." There are millions who receive cash for -- not working, and who refuse to work. Someone please find the oldest continuous able-bodied food stamp recipient -- thank you LBJ.

Guy| 10.26.10 @ 11:54AM

Hello Mr Lord,

Sorry to be a stick-in-the-mud but every optimistic conservative writer ignores the 800 pound gorilla in the room. The moochers. They are the legions of people, by my estimate 35% to 40% of the population, who live in one way or another off the government. These people, some of whom are 3rd generation moochers, have been conditioned by the leftists to believe that government is their God, the One Source that supplies their every want and need.

It is very easy to point out the evil that is the Obama-Pelosi-Reid troika, but what good does that do if we ignore the people who elect them? The people who demand a mortgage without having to hold a job? The people who demand free health care? The people who demand free college education? The people who demand a job where they do not have to actually perform a useful function, yet get paid twice the amount of a person who works in the real world? I could go on and on and on and on but I think you get the point.

How do we convince the people who WANT the handouts, and believe that they are ENTITLED to them, that their precious handouts are only temporary? That once the free market has been successfully destroyed and the leftists have complete control that the moocher's vote will no longer be needed and once that happens we will all be slaves and that their precious handouts will cease?

How do we convince them that this has all been done before in places like the USSR and that living there was like living in hell?

Ned| 10.26.10 @ 2:43PM

Guy - you underestimate the depth of the moocher pool. Third generation moochers are late-comers to the party. Even here in Seattle (and we're by no means 'cutting edge' in the moocher department) we have many 'families' were no one has worked in 6 or 7 generations - that's a long time for a bad back to be holding people down. Three generations is usually just one household around here, with EVERYONE on the dole...

GKPAL| 10.26.10 @ 12:00PM

The day of reckoning for the beast called Democrats is finally upon us. We Conservatives must take our revenge against the Liberal/Progressives/Marxists Democrats on 2nd, November and finish them off for good in 2012. We will NOT allow our great country , and all it stands for, to be destroyed. The sleeping giant ie. the American people have awaken and they don't like what they see coming from Hussein Obama, Pelosi and Reid and is determined to stop them. But stopping them is not enough. We must bury them as deep down as we can, never to rise again. Fifty years ago when I first set foot in this great country, as a LEGAL immigrant I found a country full of freedom and opportunity to clime the social ladder as high as one wanted. Not long after I arrived here, at the age of twenty, I felt as American, as most native born do, and no one pressure me to be and feel like an American. It came naturally and without hesitation I embraced this country wholeheartedly and came to love it and its people because no where on earth you will find the goodness of America. So let's commit that we will NOT allow this country to become second rate and we will safeguard the American exceptionalism for generations to come.After all we are Americans.

Mimi| 10.26.10 @ 7:16PM

GKPAL....Spoken like a true PATRIOT....I know you are not alone...most foriegn-born patriots put some of us to shame.. for their GREAT-LOVE of this country!
From one who appreciates the APPRECIATION!!!

believer| 10.26.10 @ 12:21PM

The real Problem is the National debt, no matter what party wins the election next month no candidate has a platform to illiminate deficit spending. Whats the differance in going broke in one year or two? When this ship goes down all the welfare recipients and senors and gov. workers will be in the streets worse than the French. The time to demand a balanced is now! not next year.

Redstateboy| 10.26.10 @ 3:32PM

lot of naive people think the United States of America can't possibly degenerate in to Greece or France.. the Welfare State will stop at some point because the gravy train has run drive.. How does Hussien and his Rats even continue with their insanity?? They KNOW this is unsustainable yet they persist with this completely discredited notion of Socialism.. they're not Stupid.. are they? Are they trying to destroy the USA on purpose?

jrjr| 10.26.10 @ 4:45PM

Peter Schiff, who predicted the housing bust wrote a book in 2007 (Crash Proof) -- before the Obama, Pelosi, Reid thing -- stated then that we are completely relying on China to keep us propped up. We are now at about $13.7 trillion debt and $3.0 since Obama. believer says -- balance it now and I would like to agree but to do so will kill everything that we have developed in the past 250 years. It cannot happen over night and hopefully the Rinos and Republicans can stop Obama in his tracks now. Tis perhaps wishful thinking that the Republicans could get sufficient troops to kill an Obama veto.

Perusha| 10.26.10 @ 1:08PM

The given—gift of the God of Being + Becoming?---truth is that change is constant.

So, depending on the informed or misinformed state of any of us, at any given point of time, the most vital kind of change required for the most social good for the most members of society is---conversion.

Every belief system, if even a little bit coherent and consistent, wants to grow, and to do this the extant members of that system MUST gain NEW adherents, and that necessarily demands that non-members somehow become convinced of the truth of that system.

Hence, the dominant Christian admonition, usually mocked, like in cartoons with a guy in a sandwich-like “suit” with the words, “Repent, sinner!” on it. This is simply a form of the same need.

Just so---right NOW, on the changing margin, as always, there exists a swinging set of malleable humans ripe for the change of our time: CONVERT to freedom!

We must never forget that, despite the best efforts of too many American citizens with closed minds, this country STILL “converts” as many non-Americans in the form of legal and illegal immigrants, who desperately yearn to leave the mostly unfree places they come from in exchange for the freedom HERE.

Thus, is the tree of freedom watered, every day.

Likewise, those current Americans, who finally realize they have been mugged by liberal reality, reach the unavoidable tipping point of personal desperation and---CONVERT.

Exactly as hardly anyone LEAVES America---except, those who are already rich, and want to escape taxes---the same thing is true about politics. Very few people convert FROM the right to the left!

Another useful truth---experienced people rarely make mistakes. How do you become experienced? By making mistakes!

So, there is a huge pool of inexperienced people, in America. The up-and-coming younger cohorts have indeed been programmed by the pubic schools and the rotten culture that rules the entertainment and academic realms AND, they are sure to sooner or later notice how mistaken their brainwashing has made them.

Mass conversion is coming, and is absolutely happening as we live and breathe.

Let’s go underneath the “skin” of our fruit of taught belief system.

There is always a form. And, this form is always changing.

So, at any moment, one is to some extent informed, misinformed, deformed, reformed, and most especially, CONFORMED---to the prevailing CW.

Also, others are in the same mixed state of “form”, so their very existence in a wordless of wordy fashion ineluctably is informing those who see or hear or read them.

Well, these days, those on the left are actively MIS-informing us all, with the elites in this devilish camp fully aware of what they are doing---they KNOW they are lying, and take those who buy their dung to be the fools they certainly ARE. And, then there is the vast wrong majority on the left who are THEMSELVES fools and fooled by the bangles offered by these elites, who also do their plebian best to fool others---unwitting nitwits!

Therefore, while we all eschew the “horrible” change that bodily aging is, given the loss in vigor and the growing “edge” that an ever approaching death surely represents, the older mind MUST welcome, indeed embrace, the freeing change that experience offers.

Change is GOOD!

Lastly, “sin” comes from the Greek, “to miss the mark”. And, so, too many people do have SINFUL opinions, having been misformed into the deformed creatures they are, as they conform to so much that is NOT true. We are all like a shot arrow, at once hitting the target, usually NOT in the bull’s eye, and thus sinning, AND simultaneously in flight toward the next target.

Best is to CONFORM to the bull’s eye!

Note---the book, “Laws of Form”, by G. Spencer Brown, from 1969, was recommended to me by Alan Watts, right around 1971. It will blow minds, if read.

Here’s a money quote, that extends to the current political war---

“In mathematics, it becomes apparent, at some stage, that we have for some time been following a rule without being consciously aware of the fact. This might be described as the use of a COVERT convention. A recognizable aspect of the advancement of mathematics consists in the advancement of the consciousness of what we are doing, whereby the covert becomes overt. Mathematics is in this respect psychedelic.” Page 85

Since mathematics is just the most ordered “dance” of human minds, I posit that this above quote applies in CONVERTING spades to the ongoing human “war” of political idea.

Just substitute the word “Politics” for “mathematics”, and I think we can see what is NOW going on, especially wrt the Tea Party and its opponents.

Lesser Weevil| 10.26.10 @ 1:20PM

Jeffrey Lord makes a compelling case against Obama. I wish that he could make an equally strong case for the Republicans. Just watch--these guys are going to break our hearts, again.

michgander_sandusky| 10.26.10 @ 4:59PM

Lesser Weevil: I think you may be correct. If so, there will be severe hell to pay in 11/12!! I don't think a Republican failure post 11/10 will stop the current "revolution." It will serve only energize it even more!

Mimi| 10.26.10 @ 7:22PM

WE'll DO THE WEEDING, PRIOR TO 2012

aware| 10.27.10 @ 6:24AM

I'm with you , Lesser. They will be assimilated and after a brief hiccup, the march to complete tyranny will continue until bankruptcy, sovereign default, and currency collapse bring reality roaring back like a raging beast.

I recommend panic now to avoid being trampled at the exits later.

Bill| 10.26.10 @ 1:35PM

Our founding fathers told us that if we want to retain our liberties under this system, we must not only have a system that provides a moral underpinning, but we must also have a deep and involved interest in the political process.

Assuming the right wing takes dominance after this election, we must remain focused on their performance, and be prepared to (hopefully) vote the rascals out in the very next election, or (in the unpalatable extreme), to tar and feather them and ride them out of town on a rail and keep them from flouting the will of the people.

Conservative in Liberal Hands| 10.26.10 @ 1:46PM

Dear President B. Hussein Obama:

You are cordially invited to testify every Tuesday at 10:00 am. Failure to be present with all materials will place you in Contempt of Congress.

A schedule of committees and areas of inquires (under oath) for your testimony is attached.

Sincerely, the Republican Majority

RCV| 10.26.10 @ 4:45PM

Dear Congressman Issa:

The Executive and Legislative branches are co-equal.

Stuff it.

Sincerely, The President

Tim*| 10.26.10 @ 7:11PM

The word coequal does not appear in the U.S. Constitution.

Occam's Tool| 10.26.10 @ 8:09PM

No, the Prez is co-equal. His staffers are not necessarily so. And, if he doesn't testify---no mon, no fun, your son.

Tim*| 10.26.10 @ 8:25PM

The very term “co-equal” is meaningless and that those using it do so not out of any realistic claims to authority but to put forth a propaganda campaign to a populace largely uneducated with regard to constitutional powers and the structure of government. They simply make a claim and expect Americans to accept it. The fact is, no branch is equal to another branch. All branches of government are equally important but they are not equal any more than an apple equals an orange.

victor| 10.26.10 @ 8:36PM

Did you just cut and paste this or are you, accidentally on purpose, letting out your inner-Toddard?

Verrrrry Interestink!

But perhaps, not quite interestink enuff.

Tim*| 10.26.10 @ 10:05PM

Do Your Homework .

Then, Get Bent Apocalyptic Crank Lady Victor-Margie.

RCV| 10.27.10 @ 12:17PM

Tim, most of your postings make no sense, but this one reaches a new level of inanity.

Mike| 10.26.10 @ 3:00PM

People don't know how to be citizens in a Federal Republic (never mind know what one is) and the statist are reaping the rewards.

Kent Lyon| 10.26.10 @ 3:25PM

My contention has been that Barack Obama's vision of America is not as a shining city on a hill, but as a public-private partnership low income housing project, e.g., Grove Parc Plaza.

rdman| 10.26.10 @ 5:11PM

Recently, Gallup issued the following political demographic survey:

Conservatives 40%
Independents 35%
Liberals (Progressives) 21%

Ten percent (10%) of the surveyed Liberals can be counted as Extreme Radicals. These are the muggers who lied, co-opted and subverted (ala Alinsky) their way into our White House in 2008 to “rule” against the will of 80% +/- of We the People.

Now in 2010, despite the abject failures of the 10%ers, the hapless, spineless inside-the-beltway Establishment Republicans are not supporting certain Tea Party Candidates and making noises that they desire to reach across the aisles to work with the Obummer Administration after the election.

Given that 94% of the Congress and the White House are occupied by fork-tongue liberal lawyers (plus a bunch of academics with a total lack of common sense and real world experience), this has the distinct odor of the “Good-Old-Esquires” club.

With few exceptions, these people turned career-politicians and career-bureaucrats on both sides of the political cabal have never managed a P&L, never had to meet a payroll, never managed a company or corporation, never started and grew a company that created jobs, jobs and more jobs.

Instead, We the People are subjected to their unbridled and unprincipled pursuit for power and control, incrementally eroding our Constitution, destroying the private free market system, and stealing our wealth, freedoms and liberty with shameless arrogance:

“Pontification and condescension; elitism and egotism; unethical name calling and labeling; besmirching, vilifying, intimidation and insidious personal destruction; fabrication, lying and extortion; collusion and coercion; over-talk and double-talk; expediency, appeasement and placating; duplicity, deceit and deception.”

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obummer urged his useless idiot followers to “get in their faces, argue with them…” That’s exactly what 80% of We the People and our Republican representatives need to be doing. We need to shout down the 21%ers and their willing MSM accomplices, knock them down with facts, their failures and the Constitution, and knock them out. And when they try to get up again, knock them out again (metaphorically speaking, of course) until they can’t get up again.

Our so-called congressional leaders and members are well advised to set aside this ridiculous political expediency, correctness and collegial crap, understand “what” and “who” we are dealing with, read and reread the Constitution, grow a bunch of spine, balls and integrity, and institute principles and policies to stop Obummer et al cold in their socialist tracks and render them, to quote Marx, impotent useful idiots.

FTM| 10.26.10 @ 6:30PM

Sorry, I didn't read much of the article, I'm busy cooking supper.

I wanted to say though that the republicans have a tremendous opportunity and the odds are real good that they screw this all up.

Now...

If I were king, the first day on the job, a straight up or down vote on the following:

Defund...

National Public Radio
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The National Endowment for the Arts
The National Science Foundation
The American Civil Liberties Union
ACORN
La Raza

I'm sure that the list can be expanded.

Long term goals:

Get the US out of the UN
Get the UN out of the US
Get the US out of NATO
Get the US out of Japan
Get the US out of South Korea
Get the US out of NAFTA
Get the US out of the WTO
Get the US out of GATT

Basically what it all comes down to is re-entering America into the global marketplace as an equally qualified participant instead of being the place for the global market to dump whatever they like on our economy and the US does not have access to the global marketplace.

World War II is OVER, it's time for the EU to pay it's own defense bill.

The illegal immigrants have to go. Think about this for a minute, we have 12 to 20 million illegals in this country we are told, doing jobs that Americans refuse to do. Unemployed Americans on the other hand are paid unemployment for 99 weeks. How can that be? In the midst of this recessed (depressed) economy we are paying able-bodied people not to work? This can only make sense in Washington D. C.

Once again the list can be expanded.

In reality though, I betcha dollars to doughnuts that the republicans screw this all up.

Occam's Tool| 10.26.10 @ 8:13PM

FTM: I must agree---our enemies are in the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific now, not on the European landmass. Russia is dying; NATO is passe'. Let the ungrateful French and Germans pay for their own defence. South Koreans attack our soldiers who are defending them. I note that you wisely skipped Israel, as they are an ally in the war on terror, and Haifa is a necessary base.

amusing| 10.27.10 @ 1:10PM

idiot.

"World War II is OVER, it's time for the EU to pay it's own defense bill."

the second it's should be its

The Underwearinator| 10.26.10 @ 7:39PM

Your a rasist!

The Underwearinator| 10.28.10 @ 2:34PM

Notice I can't spell right? I'm a bloomin' idiot!

gary siebel| 10.26.10 @ 7:48PM

How utterly naive. Our economic problems of today are firmly rooted in Reaganomics, so there will be no turning back to him no matter how much the right wing may worship the charming half-wit.
Loss of manufacturing can be laid directly at the feet of the Reagan admin. What did we get from them to replace manufacturing? An explosion of gambling!

Joel| 10.26.10 @ 8:34PM

Baaaaaa!

Another Liberal sheep who doesn't understand the first thing about economics.

Baaaaaa!

joe sixpack| 10.27.10 @ 12:57AM

Oh really? Then why didn't Bubba Clinton UNDO all these (imaginary) misdeeds?

Joel| 10.26.10 @ 8:28PM

The underlying problem to ALL this mess is Keynesian economics. If socialism is looking for an economic system, it's found its perfect mate in Keynesian economics.

You don't have to know all the nuts and bolts of Keynes' (flawed) economic theory which the Grand Socialist Fn D-bag Roosevelt was all too quick to implement. But you should understand the falacies of it's fundamentals (using the phrase "falacies of fundamentals" just seems oximoronic).

In order for Keynes' economic theory to work, these precepts MUST be met:

1) 100% employment. Already, we see a falacy of absolutism (all must be employed). Even 1 person who quits a job to look for a better one is bad for the system. This is why you hear the Keynesians screaming about "Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!" Rather than productivity.

2) Employment is more important than productivity, costs, pricing, and a host of other things that are important to free market economics. It doesn't matter WHAT you make, HOW MUCH of it you make, HOW WELL you make it, or any of that "nonsense." Union workers who spend more time bitching about the idea they might have to do something resembling "work" instead of actually working are a prime example of this. (No. Seriously. Go try to get a truck loaded/unloaded on a union dock in Chicago. I *know* exactly of what I speak.) What DOES matter is that you go somewhere and they give you money. It doesn't matter if it's a work site (job) or the government (Nancy Pelosi's statement about welfare being the best economic boost we have). It's why we HAVE unemployment insurance, food stamps, and federal legislation that the government is responsible for ensuring there are jobs for all.

3) 100% Spending. Another fallacy of the absolute. All that change on your dresser? BAD. That coffee can with "rainy day" savings for a vacation? BAD. You HAVE to spend it on consumables (the less durable the better) or invest it. Any savings beyond investing back into the system is BAD. So, if you're not going to SPEND 100% OF YOUR INCOME, THE GOVERNMENT WILL TAKE IT FROM YOU (higher taxes) AND SPEND IT *FOR* YOU. This is why we have Keynesian / Liberals / Democrats talking about government spending its way out of debt. This is why dimwit Liberal sheep keep saying Bush's tax cuts are bad. To the normal person, this sounds ridiculous. To the Keynesian, this is "common sense."

4) The government controls pricing. Remember when gasoline shot to $5 a gallon? Remember when Hussein said, "I have no problem with gasoline costing $5 a gallon. I just wish it wouldn't have happened so fast. The government needs to set a price FLOOR on gasoline." Remember that? Yeah. Keynesian economics all the way, baby. Centralized control of the markets.

5) Government control of banks and lines of credit. Oh, wait, that's one of the 10 Pillars of Communism. Government controls interest rates. There we go. If people are spending, raise the interest rates to recapture that money. If people hold back, loosen up credit until they start borrowing. Yeah. That's Keynesian. Same thing as Communism? Yeah. That too.

6) Debt is wealth. Yup. If 100% spending is good (in this case, REQUIRED) for the system, then spending MORE THAN YOU MAKE is better! Fn D-bag Roosevelt took us off the gold standard where "wealth" was determined by a finite, tangeable resource and put us on Keynesian economics. While there's only so much gold to be had, ANYONE can have AS MUCH DEBT as the government will allow them to carry. And if it's too much? Eh. Bankruptcy. We forgive you. You may now start over again (with a higher interest rate). Or, hey, we can loosen up some credit over here and you can take out another lone. *wink wink nudge nudge*. Here's a toaster.

Do you think the idea of people buying their homes with no proof of income was a brainchild of dimwits like Carter and Clinton??? Think again.

========

If you think of the Free Market Economy as a race horse, Keynesian economics is a 500 lb jockey saddled on its back.

The horse is splayed on the ground, legs to the side, gasping for breath.

The Fed says: "Keep whipping the horse until it runs!"

Barney Frank says: "Keep feeding the jockey!" (What we need are more Keynesian economics.)

Nancy Pelosi says: "The horse is a failure!" (Failed Bush policies.)

Barack Hussein Obama says: "Shoot the horse!" (One of the reasons I am running for POTUS is to bring an end to this failed philosophy [of Capitalism].)

===========

There in a nutshell is the root of all our problems in America. It's not just enough to get the Liberals out (for they are the worst Keynesian dimwits), but we must hold the Republicans feet to the fire. Any aspect of Keynesian economics which they espouse should be greeted with a "THE HELL YOU WILL!" from the masses.

Give everyone $1 million today. No more, no less. Say, "Go!" It won't be long until there's a gap between rich and poor. Some people will use their intelligence and work ethic and make money. Others will break even. The stupid and lazy will spend like crazy on big screen TVs and 22" Dubs for their ride. And then they will cry how unfair it was when they run out of money. It was someone else's fault! Someone owes me more money! I demand a do-over!

The people who got wealthy off the gold rush weren't the prospectors. They were the ones who were smart enough to sell supplies to the prospectors.

Turn back Keynesian economics and we start to get our country back from the looters and mooches, the stupid and lazy who think the intelligent and productive owe them something.

Teach a man to fish; he has a skill to provide for himself.

Give a man a fish; he'll blow his lunch money on cigarettes and lottery tickets.

PROMISE to give a man a fish; he will vote for you.

Promise to give a man a fish while demonizing the "evil, greedy" fisherman for not surrendering his catch; you will remain seated in political office while the man dies for want of food.

If Keynesian economics worked, New York City and California wouldn't be bankrupt. There would be manufacturing jobs aplenty in Michigan and Ohio. Harlem (NY) would once again be a center of cultural arts. The economy would have rebounded the MOMENT Hussein took the oath of office.

Proof enough Keynesian economics doesn't work?

I leave you with this: "The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have." --- Vince Lombardi.

pigletrios| 10.26.10 @ 10:44PM

The saddest part of ALL of this is that the government has bene trying to social engineer this country for 40-50 years and they have done an excellent job of keeping the poorest of the poor at the bottom of the food chain. 3rd and 4th generation welfare recipients.......all that time and effort and money for what - no improvement, no ability or knowledge how to lift them up out of poverty - and so the band plays on

Lynn Robb| 10.27.10 @ 5:12PM

Care to elaborate on your suggestions for eliminating poverty?

Joel| 10.29.10 @ 8:02PM

Expect people to work and live within their means.

Seems pretty simple to me.

But, of course, the Liberal / Socialist / Keynesian will say that that's "unfair."

Blah, blah, blah. I've worked my entire life. I don't spend more than I earn and I'm not begging the government to give me anything.

Go figure.

Todd S| 10.26.10 @ 11:18PM

Bravo Joel! Simply one of the best comments I have ever read here and I read just about every day, the analogy with the jockey and horse was fantastic along with everything else. Keynesian economics is one of the most evil and deranged ideas to have been allowed general acceptance (second to its partner in crime in looting the productive, socialism-marxism-communism) and must be refuted once and for all as a completely discredited economic theory by all right thinking Americans and be ridiculed at every opportunity.

Unfortunately even with the huge victory coming next week, it is going to be another rough two years of having Keynesian fools like Bernake and Geithner contuining their disasterous policies at the Fed destroying the value of the dollar and setting the stage for devastating inflation and rising prices for basic commodities that will push more and more Americans to the edge of poverty. The productive Americans will just have to keep this country afloat for the next two years until we are able to completely remove the insanity of Keyesian economics when we are finally rid of Obama and his ship of fools. If we were in the ditch before Obama showed up, we will be at the bottom of the canyon when he is finally done. Move over Jimmy Carter, you will no longer be considered the worst president in living memory though you have set a very high bar for being the most obnoxious ex-president in history though no doubt Obama will provide stiff competition.

Also a shout out for another excellent article by Jeffrey Lord, I always make sure to read his columns for additional insights and this was one of his very best. I can only imagine was it would have been like to have known the great Ronald Reagan in person, such an inspirational figure that American should never forget like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

faye| 10.26.10 @ 11:34PM

We need to handle a lot of things at once.I agree about defunding NPR, but lets also abolish The Dept. of Education, which is not working to teach children about our great country and its history.Unions should be severly weakened especially in regards to teachers and public employees.I grew up in the 60's and 70's with great public school teachers and a love for my country and its unique history.Children are not being taught American History anymore.We need to worry about future generations learning about the American dream and the value of hard work.For now, until we get the radical Obama out of office, Republicans need to work to convince Blue Dog Democrats to defeat the Obama agenda for the next two years.We also have to work on the Muslim extremist groups that are here in the US trying to undermine our institutions(Cair), and Soros and all his nefarious groups as well.
Lots to do!!But we can do it!!

REB| 10.26.10 @ 11:35PM

Sooner or later and hopefully sooner) the law of the jungle will kick in...the lazy will starve and the industrious will stop allowing themselves to be robbed to benefit the lazy and no one will be able to do a thing about it,hopefully we see that beginning to come to fruitation.

Angry Amer-I-CAN| 10.27.10 @ 12:54AM

O'Icarus: the g0ddamned dirty commie c0cksucker.

Don Regan| 10.27.10 @ 2:16AM

This article is so delusional it is startling. Reagan? You mean "REGAN," right? Reagan didn't run the country, I DID!

Regan was merely a shill for Wall Street profiteers! A store front! A facade! Any fool could see that. Well I thought so anyway until I read this article.

You remember me, Don Regan, don't you? Don "let the bull loose" Regan? Sniff. The former chairman of the biggest retail brokerage in the WORLD? A little outfit called Merrill Lynch> Ring a bell?

Get your Regans right, pal.

And stop calling Obama a "radical lefitst." What a crockpot of steaming bull puck. Got scare tactics? Really, your grandiloquence speaks to the poverty of your intellect. Just because he sat in Rev Wright's church doesn't mean he is a "leftist," let alone a radical one. Look at you, you watch horror movies and listen to heavy metal. Shall we call you a demonic satanist?

This article is a duplicitous sack of dung and I really wish The Spectator would give us some more sophisticated and seasoned commentators. I could really do without the Palineqsque fodder dressed up as Oxford discourse.

Todd S| 10.27.10 @ 10:03AM

Go back to reading at posting at the Huffington Post moron, no one cares what you think here.

Don Regan| 10.28.10 @ 2:36PM

I'm stupid. Stupid is as stupid does!

Don Regan| 10.27.10 @ 2:23AM

Hey Joel, did you really just end that soapbox diatribe with a quote from Vince Lombardi? What are you, our frickin' life coach? What angle you workin', Joel? Broker? Financial Consultant? Real Estate "Guru"?

And don't try to tell us you don't have an angle because anyone who concludes a rant about the economy is working an angle.

Put the scotch down and go make some sales, Joel. Win that steak knife set already

Your friend,

Don Regan

Don Regan| 10.28.10 @ 2:37PM

I'm a communist tool.

Joel| 10.29.10 @ 7:54PM

Prove anything I said wrong and I might listen to you.

Call me names and I'll just laugh at you like the rest of the loser Liberals.

Right now...I'm laughing my arse off.

I'm not a Liberal. Thus, I can enlighten without playing an "angle." Something a tool such as yourself would never understand.

D. Singh| 10.27.10 @ 8:37AM

Sir

Mr Lord states: ‘It is often noted that Marx wrote "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need." But the origin of the phrase goes further back, to the ideas of a French Utopian communist named Morelly, who wrote a screed in 1755 called The Code of Nature.

"From each according to his ability; to each according to his need."

Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program, 1875

It is quite possible that Marx selected it from the Book of Acts:

"For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales lay them at the apostles' feet and they would be distributed to each according to his need."

Acts 4:34-35, the Holy Bible

However, the real insidious evil of the Marxists and their children the Socialists is to take a Judaeo-Christian ethic and snap it in half in the service of the State. For Marx, of course, the State would confiscate private property – for the Judaeo-Christian (in the Book of Acts) the sharing of private property was voluntarily entered into. One course of action is under State coercion. The other course of action is under love for one’s brothers and sisters.

One of the keys to understanding Socialism is that believes (falsely) it can invent a new system of ethics. It can do no such thing (invent a new system of ethics). What it does do is take the precepts of traditional Judaeo-Christian morality dissect them and implement through State policy that part of the decaying body it believes will serve its ideological program.

For example, the Judaeo-Christian ethic ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’ is snapped in half and becomes ‘love thy neighbour’ through State coercion by the excessive imposition of taxation and tax redistribution.

No one can invent a new system of ethics that will work reasonably well. To suggest, as the Socialists constantly do that they have invented a new system of ethics is to proclaim that they have created a new solar system. Nonsense will always remain nonsense.

This is why Socialism ultimately finds its expression in oppression: it believes it is morally justified.

Lynn Robb| 10.27.10 @ 5:06PM

Stirring words Mr. Lord! The only problem is they're heavy on concept and light on execution.

Obama was elected in 2008 courtesy of his soaring rhetoric and his bi-partisan/post racial thoroughly positive outlook. What we did not see was his road map of how to get there. When we finally got a look at his trip-tick we were justifiably horrified.

Now Republicans are guilty of the same thing. Having heard the "shining city on a hill" speech from Reagan since he was President of the Screen Actors Guild courtesy of growing up in Southern CA, I do not need an inspirational redux.

I want to know what legislation and/or mandates Conservatives are going to try to enact to restore average middle class homeowners' property values and 401k's. Exactly how are you going to repatriate the jobs which have gone overseas or create new jobs to replace them?

What are you going to do for people with pre-existing health conditions or who cannot afford private health insurance? How do you plan to increase both jobs and the wages of average Americans relative to the top 1%. I am a Conservative, but even I find the income gap between the richest quartile and the rest of us appalling.

And, last but not least, precisely what are you going to do to lower the deficit?