Blog Posts

Feb 16

2012 Battle Lines: Relative vs. Absolute

By Constitutional ...

FRAMING THE ISSUE SERIES:  2012 BATTLE LINES Part IV

Even to the casual observer, it is apparent that we in the United States are in a time during which national public policy agreement on most substantive issues is difficult to achieve.  We have submitted in these pages that the reason for this impasse is that a chasm has opened within the electorate between competing visions for the Country and the Federal Government's role in it.  We further assert that, between these competing visions, compromise is impossible.  We assert that we must choose.  In a several-part series of Framing the Issue, we explore the Battle Lines.

Relative vs. Absolute

A large swath of the electorate has come to see the world from a pronounced relative viewpoint.  Most everything is grey, muddy, complex, debatable.  Examples are all around us.  A man is sentenced to death for a brutal murder; pleas are made on his behalf in light of abuse that he may have suffered early in life.  A child is deficient in academic achievement; excuses are made in light of

Feb 2

Buying Votes with OPM - Other People's Money

By Constitutional ...

Bill Whittle does a great job of making the complex easily understandable:

Jan 27

2012 Battle Lines: Populism vs. Pragmatism

By Constitutional ...

FRAMING THE ISSUE SERIES - 2012 Battle Lines - Part III

Even to the casual observer, it is apparent that we in the United States are in a time during which national public policy agreement on most substantive issues is difficult to achieve.  We have submitted in these pages that the reason for this impasse is that a chasm has opened within the electorate between competing visions for the Country and the Federal Government's role in it.  We further assert that, between these competing visions, compromise is impossible.  We assert that we must choose.  In a several-part series of Framing the Issue, we explore the Battle Lines.

Populism vs. Pragmatism

The elections of 2012 are shaping up to pit Populism (the politics of popular opinion, poll majorities, and class envy) against Pragmatism (the politics of leadership and course correction).  Indeed, one may find elements of this conflict even within one candidate.  The election must be won (populist) even though almost everyone can see that the current course is not working (pragmatist).  Unfortunately for any individual candidate, the two make impossible companions.

Exhibit "A" in the bright battle line must surely be the potential recall election concerning Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin.  He was elected for the apparent purpose of delivering pragmatic change

Jan 24

1000 Days Without A Budget

By Constitutional ...

Tonight is the State of the Union address and no doubt we'll be hearing a lot about taxing the rich, fairness, etc.  What the President probably won't mention is that the United States has gone 1,000 days since the Senate passed a budget for our country..... 

Jan 21

Cartoon of the Week!

By Constitutional ...

Cartoon of the Week

Jan 12

2012 Battle Lines: Free-Market Capitalism vs. Crony Capitalism

By Constitutional ...

FRAMING THE ISSUE SERIES - 2012 Battle Lines - Part II

Even to the casual observer, it is apparent that we in the United States are in a time during which national public policy agreement on most substantive issues is difficult to achieve.  Further, we notice that our Federally-elected officials find it impractical to reach agreement on even basic legislation governing the finances of the Government.  We have submitted in these pages that the reason for this impasse is that a chasm has opened within the electorate between competing visions for the Country and the Federal Government's role in it.  We further assert that between these competing visions compromise is impossible.  We assert that we must choose.  In a several-part series of Framing the Issue, we now explore the Battle Lines.

Free-Market Capitalism vs. Crony Capitalism

The social populists have been consistent in pointing out income and wealth disparities.  They like to cite Crony Capitalism (meaning the grant of special favors and advantages by the government to a specific person or group, i.e. picking the winners and the losers) as a central reason.  The attempt is to allege fairly directly that most people with wealth came by it wrongly.  This sophistry is handy to the "Lean Forward" crowd as it lays the groundwork for confiscatory taxation of wealth.  While there is little doubt that some among the top quartile in wealth may have come by their winnings wrongly, it is more correct to assert that almost all of the top quartile have come by their wealth substantially upright in the eyes of both law and mores.  Thus, the allegation must be about something else.

Jan 2

2012 Battle Lines: Freedom vs. Equality

By Constitutional ...

FRAMING THE ISSUE SERIES - 2012 Battle Lines - Part I

Even to the casual observer,  it is apparent that we in the United States are in a time during which national public policy agreement on most substantive issues is difficult to achieve.  Further, we notice that our Federally-elected officials find it impractical to reach agreement on even basic legislation governing the finances of the Government. 

We have submitted in these pages that the reason for this impasse is that a chasm has opened within the electorate between competing visions for the Country and the Federal Government's role in it.  We further assert that between these competing visions compromise is impossible.  We assert that we must choose.  In a several-part series of Framing the Issue,

Dec 10

Vision Collision: Here We Go

By Constitutional ...

FRAMING THE ISSUES SERIES

The President came out in a speech from Kansas on December 6, 2011 with his roadmap for his campaign for re-election in 2012.  He's a clever, formidable electioneer.  And, he has absolutely no idea what he is talking about.

In reference to personal freedom, free market policies that led directly to the greatest rise in multi-generational societal prosperity in history, this gem: "It doesn't work.  It never has worked.  It didn't work when it was tried in the decade before the Great Depression.  It's not what led to the incredible postwar booms of the '50's and '60's.   And it didn't work when we tried it during the last decade.  I mean, understand, it's not as if we haven't tried this theory."

Excuse us please, "theory"?  The United States of America was built on a yearning to escape from

Dec 3

The Fine Print of Unemployment Stats

By Constitutional ...

Headlines trumpeting the drop in our nation's unemployment rate from 9.0 in October to 8.6 in November fail to mention a somewhat important fact in the lead.  You'll  have to read through each article and get to the last paragraph or so to see what is really new.......   

Statistics are all about how numbers are crunched and this month's number had a new divisor.  In this case - the number of new jobs created was divided by a smaller number of people seeking work.  Guess what?  The number of people seeking work (known as  "Workforce Participation") has fallen by 315,000!  Not because they have found work, mind you. They have just left the workforce - given up on finding work. 

Perhaps this video released by Government Gone Wild will provide a clue or two........ 

Nov 17

Joint Select Commitee on Deficit Reduction: Crunch Time

By Constitutional ...

Framing the Issues Series

The Joint Select committee on Deficit Reduction (the "Super-Committee") has a looming deadline of Wednesday, November 23rd, to deliver its recommendations to Congress on the method to reduce the Federal deficit by $1.2 trillion over ten years.  Those recommendations then face a simple up or down vote.  Failure to deliver recommendations or failure of those recommendations to pass Congress will trigger automatic deficit reduction mechanisms previously established.  And, it is difficult to find anyone who likes that blunt-instrument method.  This all sounds mighty urgent and mighty important.  So, why can one hardly find mention of it in the news just