Democracy in the Middle East- I think not!

I started this blog to explore my own, and the beliefs of Americans in general, about liberty and what liberty means in our Representative Republic called the United States of America.

Fundamentally rooted in the founding and development of our system of governance is the concept of Individual Liberty.  This is what made and makes us unique among the nations.  This is the basis of the seemingly arrogant notion that we are exceptional. No other nation is founded on the premise that the Individual is preeminent at that she/he loans his/her power to the government,  regardless of race, religion, or creed. 

The belief that the individual is supreme and endowed with rights by their creator has been under attack in America and slowly transformed into a belief that groups are more important than individuals, whether racial groups, gender groups, religious groups, socio-economic groups, sexually oriented groups, or "whatever" groups,  our policies and governance today have become centered around group identity. Politicians are successfully dividing the American Dream into american dream(s). Your power and portion of success in society depends on which group you belong to.  This is a result of the progress of progressivism (sorry).

Against this back drop and drama of the American political scene we have the specter of transnational progressivism and the naive belief that "democracy" is a cure for all oppressed peoples.  We especially like to dream about what a wonderful world it would be if middle eastern Muslim dictatorships could be turned in to democracies.. 

The hard cold reality we will increasingly face is that Muslim nations are fundamentally Islam, and Islam represents a strict code of conduct and punishment as well as a spiritual system of belief.  The only successful examples of Islamic Democracy have been in nations where the military had suppressed core tenets of Islamic belief (see Turkey). (Turkey is now regressing from liberty).

The Arab Spring, Islamic Democracy, whatever you call it, it is not about individual liberty, nor is it about justice, most depressing of all is the increase in the repression of women that will accompany increased sharia implementation and compliance.

Watching media coverage of events as they have unfolded  in Arab nations, and the commentaries made by White House officials, leading progressive Republicans like Lindsay Graham and John McCain, or leading progressive Democrats like John Kerry could almost convince you that good outcomes were possible for the citizens in these Muslim dominated cultures.  

Most Americans would equate the toppling of dictatorships with an increase in democracy.

Most Americans probably think most Muslims are moderate in their views and cherish the same values that Americans hold.

America and Americans will be wrong. This week the truth began to shine through the nearly impenetrable clouds of progressive hope.  We helped to "free" Libya only to see our ambassador, a representative of "democracy" brutally murdered by adherents of Islam in a coordinated terrorist commando raid consisting of overwhelming force and committed to killing Americans specifically because the spread of democratic ideals, particularly the ideal of individual liberty, is Satan's creation.  

Our progressive politicians and appointed bureaucrats denied a systematic ideological attack, and instead proffered the excuse that the attack was the result of the anarchy of mob violence.  After all, aren't we mostly loved?

Our response to the truth will be further obfuscation and rationalization as more Americans are killed and brutalized by the march of Islam unwittingly guided by Trans National Progressive Americans and Europeans. 

BOOK of the MONTH

Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy by Andrew C. McCarthy

Before the night is through...

a roster of distinguished speakers will have presented their case for the nomination of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan as the Republican Party candidates for running the executive branch of our government.  Noticeably absent from these oratories, with the singular exception of Rand Paul, are libertarian leaning public figures.

Mainstream Republicans must figure they are too extreme and scary for mainstream Americans.  They might say things like "legalize drugs" or "leave choice to the states" or "shrink the military".

Yet, buried within the subtext of each and every speech given thus far are the precepts of fiscal responsibility, individual liberty, smaller government, and opportunity that are the hallmarks of classic liberal economic thought.  I heard it from women, Black, White, Hispanic, and Indian.  I also heard it from men, and between the two they covered nearly all of the spectrum of judeo/christian religious belief and even one who grew up Sikh.

A great portion of tea party philosophy has gone mainstream, assimilated, and slipped in the back door disguised as common sense.  AT LAST.

We are at a point in this nation where all of our desires to quibble must take a recess, while we focus on saving our republic from the ash heap of failed experiments in political theory.

Our fate is tied to economics, and our population is mainly ignorant of primal cause and effect.  Too many of our brethren believe in the notion that the smartest of us must decide for the rest of us and that if we just create the right rules, everything will be fine.  We have followed this course now for a century and the end result of the incessant creep of progressivism is that today in America we are nearly bankrupt in every conceivable sense of the word,  our economy, our governance, our education, and most importantly our well of eternal optimism as represented in the hopes and dreams of our young people.  This is the result of the slow and inexorable decline of liberty for one hundred years!

We must elect leaders who believe in the power of each individual to make her own choices, who believe that the combined potential power of 300 million Americans each making their own decisions in their own interest, so far surpasses the potential wisdom of elite central planners that the comparison is laughable.

We must elect leaders who believe in the principle of equal justice and equal opportunity, not social justice and not selective opportunity. Social engineering as a concept has long outlived any semblance of usefulness, and has now reached such a position of predominance in our society we no longer even perceive it's cumulative corrosive effect.

If you think you understand economics, I'll wager 10 to 1, you have a confused notion, probably influenced by the drinkers of Keynesian Kool-Aid who have propounded the notion that positive interference in the market by the government can right the ship of free enterprise. It is a false hope, proven time and time again in the annals of history.  Look it up.  Your country is depending on you making informed decisions at this time of extreme peril.


Old Whig Book of the Month:  Financial Fiasco by Johan Norberg  - How America's infatuation with homeownership and easy money created the economic crisis.

American's Blind Spot - Understanding Liberty

You know about your blind spot, right?  Even with perfect vision and without cataracts there is is point  in your vision where you are unable to detect what is really there. Try this test to prove it to yourself:

If you are a Republican close your left eye, move your face to within a hands width from the screen, and focus on the R.  Now slowly back away from the screen while staying focused with your right eye on the R.  You will see the D disappear.



      R                                  Liberty                                  D 


If you are a Democrat, close your Right eye, move your face to within a hands width of the screen, and focus on the D.  Now slowly back away from the screen while staying focused with your left eye on the D.  You will see the R disappear.

Note: Before either the R or D disappeared,   Liberty went missing.


Psychologically an example of this blind spot is manifest in today's American politics by both the left and right whenever the subject of Women's Rights/Abortion and/or/all of the above are discussed or become our focus.  If the issue is Liberty, the right spins until it is about protecting the unborn and they therefore have to impose their morals, and the left spins about taking away hard earned "women's" rights.

The sanctimonious tending of the evangelical right is transformed by the left leaning media into hate, the dialogue spins out of control and Americans are caught in the blind spot, once again missing the proverbial forest for the trees.  We have to stop obsessing about lessor evils unless and until we get our house in order.

The focus of every voting generation of Americans alive today needs to remain with "laser" like attention on reducing our national debt and increasing our global competitiveness. Very little else matters, all the rest of the visceral appeals and rationalizations out there, are, or are close to, evasive chaff ejected by nominally well meaning but wrong minded personalities seeking gain for themselves, their party, or a special interest group.

We are perhaps more vulnerable today as a Republic than ever before, yet we don't see it because European debt problems coupled with aggressive Federal Reserve and Central Bank tactics, and China and India's lack of a better alternative for their cash, have flooded the US with currency, driving up demand for US debt and equities.  American's listen to the daily ticker and say to themselves:  well the stock market is strong, things must be improving.

And then we are distracted:  Syria, Iran, North Korea, Mexico,  "gun runner", voter ID,  and a million other issues which are peripheral to the main issue of getting our fiscal house in order take up our time, money and attention,.

The President is paralyzed by the specter of losing popularity by making any choice, and so continues to vote "present".  The Senate refuses to make tough choices, and has decided that voting "present" seems to work for the President and so will not pass a constitutionally mandated budget.  The House is attempting to act responsibly, but getting chewed up and spit out by most of the media who sincerely want the President to succeed, and are hell bent on bending the curve in his direction,  even at the cost of the experiment we call America.  We have become so accustomed to our wealth and invincibility we have lost sight of the basic concepts that made us who we are.

There are no more bucks to pass.  Total US debt per citizen exceeds $182,000, and remember only half of the US citizenship pays taxes.  http://www.usdebtclock.org/

The need for bold solutions and actions is upon us now,  up close, personal and frightening.

For America to succeed in remaining the champion of the world in Human Rights, Ecology, or any other endeavor, we must remain the leading economy,  producing enough wealth to enable continued innovation in every field.  Taxing more won't do it and cutting spending won't do it alone.  The Prime Factor is growth.

The US and Europe now have political economies.  Major investors today make bets on what will be the latest political decree, not what is the most efficient utilization of assets.   We have moved from making economic policy to making political economy.  This is just plain wrong.

We need: Tax Reform,  Education Reform,  Energy Reform,  Labor Reform,  Legal Reform,  Judicial Reform, Environmental Reform and Legislative Reform.   The answer to competitiveness is faster and flatter.  The key to faster and flatter is Individual Liberty.  No technocratic bureaucracy can match the speed of the market, nor the combined intelligence of 300 million individual Americans making their own decisions.

With both eyes open and focused, and  knowing about our "blind spots",  America can continue to improve the world,  no other system in history has shown itself as capable.

We're stupid about the economy

The morph of James Carville's "it's the economy stupid" rant has gone down in history as one of the most adroit synopsis of political clime in recent memory.

 "We're stupid about the economy" is my title for this blog.

The economic conditions in this country are at the absolute forefront of the minds of Americans.  Politicians are clamoring for a perch on the precipitous wall of economic recovery.   Economists have trumpeted we are on the way to recovery, just one more bend in the road and everything will be OK. Pundits are braying "do more" or complaining about "the do nothing congress" in the feverish belief that if only the government could and would act everything would be fine at last.  The "working class" feels besieged and betrayed as the best laid plans of the brightest advisers and administrators yield woefully little benefit, and in fact have begun to erode what little economic security remains through food and fuel inflation.  Indicators of economic performance are justly suspect, the reciprocal of unemployment numbers do not indicate how much of our population is employed, just as "core" inflation numbers do not represent the actual increase in the cost of living.

Most of America now expects and anticipates and hopes that the latest scheme to "fix" the economy by applying the best and brightest minds will lift the rampant sense of dispair.  We just have to have the "right people". Some believe we need a former successful business exec, others like economist Paul Krugman firmly espouse that we just didn't spend enough money to create the necessary jolt to the nations cardiac system.

This faith on the part of Americans, that we can apply evolved thought processes to solve macro socioeconomic problems is based on the fact that in virtually every other arena of science or technology, we have proven ourselves extraordinarily capable of arriving at new and innovative solutions given enough time, money, and brainpower.  So, if we can solve all those other challenges, why should it be any different for an economic challenge.  This is the paradigm in which we are stuck.  This is the universe in which we bang our collective heads against the stars.

The problem you see, is not one of coming to grasp with mathematical or technical solutions.  The problem is our very conceit in believing that we are capable of solving macro socioeconomic problems.  The very simple, almost unbelievable concept, that human enterprise freed of all but the basic governance needed for the protection of private property, and contract, will over the course of time yield the greatest benefit to all of society is really hard for most people to swallow.  The concept for politicians that they can be a hero by stepping aside rather than actively interfering is anathema to their training.  You may have heard an executive in private enterprise protecting a star performer by getting obstacles out of their way.  A hero politician would do this today for our economy instead of promising future programs.

This nation does a very poor job of educating our populace about economics, and what we do teach follows the precept of most other sciences.  We teach economics today with the notion that we understand the combined micro economic decision tree of over 300 million Americans interacting with several billion more people in hundreds of countries around the globe. F. A.  Hayek called it the "fatal conceit".

We're stupid about the economy and woefully ignorant of the unintended consequences of our executive rule making, legislative directives, and administrative arrogance.  Unless and until we pledge to stop the spiral of conceit we will continually sabotage our own success.

I have attached a link to the Cato Institute website.  In this link John A. Allison outlines his view of the causes of our Great Recession.  John was the CEO of BB&T Bank, one of the top 10 banks in the country and I think the only bank and one the few CEO's with courage and compassion enough to talk plainly about the state of our politics.  He outlines his dissertation beginning with the FDIC.

http://www.cato.org/pubs/catosletter/catosletterv10n1.pdf

Steve