Great.
Right from CW McCall to Bobby Sherman.
I don’t know what’s worse, having the song stuck in my head, or remembering him acting like he’s dancing in the stupid video.
As of yesterday, only Nathan and Ed seemed to understand that it is possiible to reverse the tide of liberalism in a non bloody manner using the slow and steady tactics of the enemy- lobbying, paying off the right people, etc. The Gun nuts have been doing so successfully for years, though it is a constant and uphill battle. Creeeeping incrementalism got us here, and can get us out, though it might well take a hundred years. When a normal person encounters something ignorant, like the EPA, your immediate reaction is “Hang all the bastards” but “How about letting them exist but removing their power, just making them a reporting agecny” is something even the unwashed could think “Well, that seems reasonable” even though it is clearly NOT.
Replacing your normal instincts to kill and maim with a new set of plans that slowly ratchet back the stupid, by doing the opposite of what the morons have been doing all these years, creeping incementalism and choking thier “reasonab;e” ideas in equally “reasonasble” regulations.
Freedom is in our DNA, most of us. We can make this work.
17 comments Og | Uncategorized
Well said. I believe the biggest problem we have is not a flaw of the elite or our government. Both of those are seriously flawed, and we need to fix them.
The biggest problem is that the governed are out of hand. We all spend money like there’s no tomorrow, and we wonder why the officials we elected do the same damn thing.
My employer doesn’t offer a pension plan. My retirement depends on Social Insecurity and my pitifully underfunded IRA. That is bad enough, but most Americans have even less.
We have a massive $300 set aside for our daughter’s college education. Is this enough? No! But lots of people have older kids and even less set aside.
We also forget what freedom is. Here is something I thought up that illustrates the point. I’m reluctant to share it because it’s blatantly in your face Christian, but here goes.
God’s Version of the Miranda Warning
You have the right to burn in Hell.
Should you choose to give up that right, you won’t believe the miracles that are possible through Me and My Son, Jesus Christ.
I think one of the most important things we could do to limit the EPA is simply to make their regulations subject to the takings clause in the Constitution.
If the EPA says you can’t build on that piece of land you own–for whatever reason–they must buy it from you at a fair price.
This would tend to limit them to stopping work on parcels which actually are swamp (“wetland”) or which actually have endangered critters living on them. “Somebody saw a Hobson’s Spotted Muskrat there” wouldn’t be enough for the EPA to swoop in and destroy the value of someone’s property.
They won’t do it voluntarily; they’ll have to be forced into it.
I think the EDA might have counter-productive consequences. Any intelligent landowner could take steps to ensure an endangered species is never found on his land. But if the landowner were free to develop his land without restriction, he might not take steps to eradicate the species, thereby helping it to survive.
The EDA was voted on by people thinking of a world without whales, and Bengal Tigers (things that live somewhere else). None of them were thinking about rare bugs and rodents.
Indeed, all. The point being that we can easily declaw these moronic agencies by making what on the surface seem to be “Reasonable” restrictions, and bury them in the same burocracy that created them.
Quote: “The Gun nuts have been doing so successfully for years, though it is a constant and uphill battle.”
Not sure what you consider a “gun nut” but if you apply that term to the NRA, you may want to rethink your definition. I’ve been a member for over 30 years and can assure you that were it not for our battle, you would not have been able to build your new AR “assault weapon” nor own any semi-automatic rifle.
If you are not an NRA member, may I suggest you join so you will be able to own your “evil assault weapon that will accept a magazine of over five rounds” in the future.
Remember: First they come after your assault weapon; then they come after your double 45-70! ;-)
mk1: You have obviously never read anything here before, nor have any idea who you’re speaking with, but trust me, not only am I the very definition of a gun nut, but I belonged to the NRA when you were but a gleam in your old man’s eye. I have given this as an example because it is a successful one. Way to miss the point so entirely as to assume I’m one of the enemy, instead of one of the few people who know what the fuck is actually going on.
Come on Og…
I’ve read your blog for years, and its one of my favorites. I was just a little surprised at the “gun nut” term, and only asked what you meant by it. Glad you cleared that up.
As you say frequently… “Only asking.”
Never assumed you were one of the enemy; given all you have written it seemed an anomaly that you would use that term which seems to be a favorite of the Brady bunch and the main stream media.
Still friends… hope so. I very carefully made no accusation in my comment since I have read your blog for a long time.
Glad you have been a member of the NRA for over 67 years! Not sure my old man had a “gleam” when he came back on leave from WWII; suspect it was more of a serious hormone problem after being in the Jap theater for 18 months!
Best wishes
Reading Sebastian’s revisiting of the Battle of 1968, in comments it’s aptly noted that the NRA were about to get hooked and ensnared by the trap of *regulatory capture* – “…the reason the NRA supported the original Dodd bill was that they were told covertly that they would get to administer (in some way) whatever federal gun control program was put in place.
That is plausible, because we need to remember that at the time the NRA administered the Director of Civilian Marksmanship (DCM) program on behalf of the government. You were required to be an NRA member to purchase surplus military arms and equipment.”
That’s freaking scary, and as the commenter points out, reliably Fascist.
The NRA has had enough of its own problems for years- that’s why I never got a lifetime membership, and occasionally let it lapse when I think they’re fucking up.
MK1: You gotta learn not to jump to conclusions.
“MK1: You gotta learn not to jump to conclusions.”
The “gleam in his old man’s eyes” agrees with you! [irony intended]
Take care
mkl
“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts.”
Personaly I want all the money those bastards have stolen from my 401k over the last 10 years. 30k in the last month. I don’t know who I am madder at, my broker, or the whole crooked lot of bankers and brokers.
I am all for creeping it back, I just don’t know if there are enough of us left to do the job. It takes a really long veiw and a major change to the infrastructure of this country, such as it is.
The very first step isn’t the alphabet agencies.
If we have any chance at all of turning the tide we must regain control of public education.
All the lobbying and underhanded shit in the world won’t make a bit of difference when the overwhelming mass of people have been programmed against the cause since age five.
This is not an unattainable goal. Even ignorant products of the public education system get really pissed off when THEIR kids graduate without being able to read past a 5th grade level. Make sure they have the option of that not happening, and make sure that option is one the educates instead of programs, and that’s three quarters of the battle right there.
supposed to be “is one that educates” instead of “is one the educates”.
Why yes, I am a publik skool graduate :)
Paul,
While you are right to be angry at the mediocre performance of the schmucks from New York, your 401K issues are more the fault of the bozos of both parties in Washington DC. Although most of the blame rests on the Democrats, the Republicans are hardly blameless.
Dave,
My spleen will not stand the rage I feel at elected officals at all levels. My broker I can change. Those pissants not so much. I am eternally thankful that Barney Frank is not running again although those idiots in his home state will most likely elect another of his caliber.