Karl Denninger of the Market Ticker says that the republicans learned nothing from the recent Massachusetts election:
Bankruptcy “reform”, that left the common man chained to his debts, while big banks and other corporations use the bankruptcy court as a “get out of debt free” pass issuance device? That was a Republican bill.
Removal of the leverage limits from the investment banks, without which the housing bubble would have been stopped dead in 2004? That was a Republican (Paulson) going to a Republican SEC.
A Department of Justice that sued states to prevent them from enforcing anti-predatory lending laws and those that curbed (or outright banned) stated income and other “liars” products? That was a Republican Administration that did that, at the direction of George W. Bush.
Let’s not kid ourselves: The looting is bipartisan and so is the responsibility.
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But now The Republicans are threatening to completely misread the message of Massachusetts and wind up literally destroyed, where Massachusetts gave them the opportunity to take back The House and Senate, becoming the majority party for the next 20 or more years.
Sadly, The Republicans learned nothing from the message in these special elections, of which Massachusetts was just the last. These folks seem to think that the people will tolerate the bankster bailouts, bankster bonuses and the raw theft and scams embedded through our so-called “financial system” – and that the system will both remain stable and not collapse anew if they do not fix it.
Mr. Denninger is right in that the republicans didn’t win in Massachusetts because the voters agreed with their party platform. Republicans won because the voters were sick of the direction Washington was going. Massachusettensians knew, instinctively, that having a completely unchecked Legislative and Executive branch was the problem, and they acted to correct it.
As I pointed out in DC, Are You Listening? The American People Have Roared!, I suspect the republicans still will not get it:
In 2008, when the system collapsed, it was John McCain and Barrack Obama who suspended their campaigns to return to Washington to save the country from economic meltdown. Even when 90% of the people were calling, e-mailing and writing their representatives opposing the legislation, none of them got it, and moved forward with passing a $700 Billion bailout for too-big-to-fail institutions.
They didn’t get it then, and considering that the faces in DC haven’t changed all that much in the last decade, chances are, they don’t get it now.
A third party movement for 2012 has been forecast by Trend Research founder Gerald Celente. As of this moment, the movement is in its infancy. Much of America is still leaning either left or right, red or blue, republican or democrat.
The 2010 election, which will likely end with a bludgeoning of the democrat party, will leave it up to the republicans. If by early 2012 the American people don’t see real change they can believe in, the republicans will have set themselves up for an ousting similar to that of their political rivals.
It’s not that I have a problem with conservative ideas. It’s that conservatives often talk a big game of balanced budgets, tax cuts and individual liberty, while they continue to institute socialist policies and dismantle the very foundation of America. The conservative ideology meshes well with many of my personal views, but republicans in action are anything but conservative.
I have no illusions about the Republican party, and frankly, the republican politicians in DC are just as dirty as the democrats. These people that are supposed to represent us, each individual American, have been bought and paid for by lobbyists, special interests and political promises.
As Tom of the North pointed out in his recent essay The Cardboard Manifesto, Americans aren’t upset at just democrats or just republicans. They are upset at the culture in Washington, regardless of the party associations of Congressional members:
Whereas we recognize that the current National System does usurp State & Individual Rights, is ridden with corruption, deceit, malfeasance & mismanagement, and by that has effectively caused the current Economic Depression and perhaps irreparably damaged our Nation’s future, the Economically Depressed Legal Citizens of the United States of America strongly express our rejection of such circumstances and announce our Assembly In Opposition to those systems, entities and individuals whose existence & actions result in our Continued & Increasing Economic Depression.
Over the course of the last century, both parties have held the Presidency and Congress, yet the system continues to rip away individual liberties, and in recent decades it has accelerated, with republicans and democrats to blame equally.
We can continue to play these games with eachother and blame Bush, or Clinton, or Bush, or Obama, but we’d be much better of admitting that all of these Presidents, as well as the Congressional leaders who have served (if you can call it that) are to blame. Moreover, we should take a look in the mirror and admit to ourselves that we’ve been bamboozled, and we voted these people into office, thus the ultimate blame falls not on the politicians, but on ourselves.
Until we get away from this idea of one party vs. another, and continue to argue our positions in the context of republican and democrat, we will not move forward. It will be more of the same, regardless of which party controls what.
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Amen. Ron Paul in 2012.
Exactly! A third party seems to be the only hope for the USA although it’s probably too late already.
Comments…..DUH!
You should of seen my husband’s face today when he had to pay for some of my “Preppin”. Priceless…..
:oP
You’re absolutely right Mac, they are ALL liars, crooks, cowards and thieves; and worse, they are TRAITORS to the US Constitution and the American people whom they have sworn to serve and protect, while they have lined their own pockets and raped the national treasury. Where is Robspierre when you need him? We need a PEOPLES TRIBUNAL and STAR CHAMBER TO CONVICT THEM OF THEIR CRIMES AND EXECUTE JUDGEMENT. Maybe then they would get the message. A third party candidate in 2012 is NOT the answer, it would just deny a more conservative voice (which we need) in the White House. What the country REALLY needs is a strong third party in every state with quality candidates for US House and Senate races. The middle class must control the middle ground in the center, at the Federal level, so that the lunatic fringe on either end of the spectrum cannot claim a “mandate’ to take us down a path that we don’t want and cannot afford.
ISN’T THERE A DEATH PENALTY FOR TREASON?
Agree with the previous comments. Good article.
The main problem is most every single senator and representative is Keynsianist. Doesn’t matter whether they’re red or blue. Therein lies the main crux of the problem.
Combine that with an all-too-obvious plan to subvert the US Constitution and relegate the United States to 3rd world status in just a few decades, and you have the ingredients for disaster.
Sorry but this country does not need a more conservative voice in office. What we need is the exact opposite so that our government is brought back to the center. Why? A lot of our problems are due to the “conservative” mind set. The conservative philosophy was created by aristocrats, for aristocrats in a time of relative peace and prosperity. William Buckley and the men who started the modern conservative movement are all Ivy league Aristocrats (See the American Conservative Union Site for details) who wanted to spread an alternative to the “liberal” policies of Roosevelt and a framework to oppose communism. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams in doing this.
The problem now is that the notions of individual responsibility, limited government, and free market solutions for everything have morphed into a justification for greed, selfishness, the destruction of institutions that bind us all as Americans, an acceptance of social immobility, a rigged market that doesn’t work for everything and Latin American style fascism(There are many conservatives, WSJ reporters among them, that believe in capitalism over democracy. Not a good thing).
Our situation now requires a philosophy of government that emphasizes both individual and shared responsibility, putting people and communities first and teamwork. We need representatives that believe in a strong, lean government that works for people.
By the way, Our constitution has already been subverted and you can thank the Republicans for that.
Marc, this is a very good read. I am always flabbergasted when Republican friends think that if the Republicans were in power things would be different. I remind them to turn the clock back 30 years and calculate who has been in the White House the majority of the time, and who signs the spending bills! If my memory serves me correctly both Ronald Reagan and George W Bush were both more than halfway through their second terms before they vetoed a spending bill. Both parties are at fault and both parties like to spend money, though in different ways. The future looks very sad. We are not going to be able to grow or spend our way out of this depression. It is not mathematically possible.Â
This is a well-reasoned article. I am hoping enough Americans can get the concept that there is corruption and unconstitutional procedures in both parties.
Vote them All out!!! Send them a message that we are not playing the game any longer. Americans are educating themselves, and are not impressed with the fast talk.
Shogunole,
No! You are wrong. You are talking FAKE CONSERVATIVE. They say they are conservative then they are actually something else. That something else ends up being more damaging that ever because, unlike the left, they get the blessing of the people who think they’ll do good. Like Bush. He had me fooled. But, like all puppet presidents, he failed and screwed us all.
No, we need conservatives in the offices but not corrupt ones, not fake ones, not ones that say “conservative” but then “do marxist”.
I’m just afraid that we are going to have to do something drastic. I don’t know what but I’m afraid people are going to get hurt. All because these criminal bastard thieves refuse to give up their power.
Net Ranger,
You are going to have to get your lantern out, like that Greek philosopher that spent his life looking for a truthful person, and start looking for a real conservative then. Good luck finding one too. They are all fake, just like the philosophy.
Go look at the American Conservative Union web site and learn about the history of the conservative movement. It is enlightening to say the least.Â
In terms of being wrong, please show me where I am. All I am doing is comparing the conservative ideology to what is actually being done under conservative policies. We live in the mess that we do because we have taken something good and virtuous(being responsible for one’s own actions) and used it as an excuse for selfish and psychopathic behavior. We have forgotten that the notion of limited government only works when we the people act together for our common good and we are not preyed upon by more powerful special interests. We don’t get that capitalism is not a cure all and does not work in every situation. If you are making widgets, it works wonderfully. If you are trying to care for the sick or educate people, it does not work so well. There are such things as market failures you know and we are experiencing one now.
If we are going to get through this crisis without tearing this country apart, we must find a way to balance individual responsibility and government authority in a way that works without shredding the Constitution (The Constitution Party platform does not work either).Â
As far as I am concerned, the only way to restore the balance is to move leftward in what we do. We have too little government where we need it( regulations on business) and too much of it in areas where we do not(Privacy, Civil Liberties). If we move anymore to the right in our policies, we will have a US version of Spanish and Latin American Fascism. All it will take for us to go there is a spark….
There is no conservative party in america , there are alot of people who think and claim they are conservative, but in reality They could not live conservativley… …..Its a joke. THe fact that people get all hung up on these labels that they give themselves is kooky as well… There will never be a perfect government however the only fair way to govern is from the center. Myself, if I had a gun held to my head , I would label myself a libertarian , however I acknowledge the flaws in this thinking too. There is no perfect way to govern but coming to a consensus in the center is the only fair thing to do. ANd to keep government as small as possible.People are so brainwashed and ingrained in there own ideology that nothing can ever be done this way without a total collapse. sad sad world
Democracy was sold to the public as “Government for the people by the people” Try Roget’s Thesaurus, item 737. If you look up Bolshevism, it refers you to 737 , all have nothing to do with what might have been fed to the gullible public. Whilst 737 may be a revelation, ask yourself, is a politician accepted as an honest person. If the answer is “Yes”, keep them, if “No” emasculate them and send them on their repective ways rejoicing! Can a government not run with responsible PUBLIC SERVANTS, sworn to serve the public as a soldier who is subject to extreme penalties for desertion,treason,betrayal. In South Africa, according to the Aljazeera news, the water table of the Witwatersrand has been POISONED by the mining groups and in my opinion, if the government is obliged to clean up after them, then all mines and subsidiaries become the property of the goverment and people. As in your country, your goverment appears to have gifted a crowd 154 or 145 million to purify urine for the astonauts or ??? when John W Armstrong wrote “The water of life” isbn  0091906601, because it saved his and many,many others, death by medicals. As a first step in righing wrongs, everyone should read this book before it ‘may’ dissapear? Â