When the Revolution Comes to America

I have been making the claim for some time now that Obama is a radical but I have never really taken the time to explain myself. First let me describe the character of revolutions in general and then Obama’s revolution in particular.

When revolution comes to America it will not be in the form of an AK47 toting, cigar chomping, beret wearing radical. Although Obama is outwardly atypical of the radical’s persona his ends are identical. The goal of the revolutionary obviously is to overturn the status quo and replace it with some alternative.

It is probably fitting that one of Obama’s first stops was Turkey and it was humorous when he praised Turkey’s long rich history. The long rich history that Obama was paying homage to is barely a century old. Following World War I Mustafa Kemal Ataturk buried the Ottoman past , sometimes brutally, and installed a western style democracy.

Other examples include Iran during the 1920s when the Shah likewise undertook a revolutionary project to replace the Persian culture with a western culture; modernity was the buzzword of the post Ottoman Middle East. In more recent memory Iran rejected modernity and replaced it with Islam. In Africa most nations replaced imperialism with communism. In colonial America, monarchism was replaced by a liberal republic. Etc.

There is little doubt about Obama’s radical intentions but socialism has never played well in America. Therefore Obama has a special challenge before him; how to replace the status quo in America without openly declaring what will replace it. The closest that any democrat comes to full disclosure is the ubiquitous phrase “leveling the field”. (Google - level the field Obama” 25 million hits)

The first phase of the revolution requires the dismantling of the old order. Outwardly this has been largely rhetorical. America is not exceptional; America is not a Christian nation, capitalism has failed, etc. The second phase is Obama himself; the Obama blitzkrieg, all Obama all the time, the continuous campaign. World Tours, television appearances, speeches overloaded with self adulation are just tactics in the larger strategy.

It may look on the surface look like a “cult of personality” or narcissism but Obama is at least for now the face of the revolution which explains why he was so quick to accept the Nobel. It is a persona builder much like the recent attempt at using the NEA for new Obama iconography or getting the president into the classroom.

On the other side of the battlefield however, and what makes this strategy so precarious, is the persona wreckers. Rush Limbaugh was an obvious target early on. More recently, “tea baggers”, Fox News, and particularly Glen Beck have been not just criticized but openly attacked by the administration.Obama may appear thin skinned when the administration lashes out but the revolution demands it.

Like a vampire, sunlight could be fatal to the revolution so from the administrations perspective anything that damages the persona must be extinguished immediately and forcibly. Its up to the counter revolutionaries to increase the wattage on this revolution to shatter the ediface which is Obama.

The Road to Dystopia: As Darkness Settles Over America

While perusing the "dark side" of the blog o sphere I came across the above photo at the DailyKos site and my immediate impression was one of impending darkness.

It was 1984 when we were last recovering from an economic downturn similar to our current events. We were only 4 years removed from the Carter induced malaise/embarrassment of the late seventies but because of Ronald Reagan's steely resolve and an unparalleled conservative optimism we experienced a resurgence, a new dawn so to speak, which he called "Morning in America". It was a transformation that unraveled 40 years of failed progressive policies, ended 30 years of Cold War politics which eventually brought freedom to millions, and ushered in 25 years of unprecedented economic growth and prosperity.

Barrack Obama and his fellow travelers consider themselves the new revolutionaries and they see an opportunity for a counter transformation. They too want to unravel the old order and usher in a new age. How do they tout this transformation? With a metaphor of an eclipse, a darkness being cast over light. Unwittingly their metaphor is all too appropriate to our current moment in history.

After all Reagan is famously remembered for confidence in America's Exceptionalism and our system's ability to weather any storm. As he once said "Let us remember our heritage and, with it, our destiny – the destiny of this shining city on a hill, this beacon of freedom for all the peoples of the Earth." Liberals reject our heritage and exceptionalism. They reject the successes of capitalism despite the proven failures of the alternative. They reject liberty in exchange for social justice. Sadly under this assault America's light is indeed being eclipsed.

The Road to Dystopia

GM CEO resigns at Obama's behest

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed, a White House official said.
On Monday, President Barack Obama is to unveil his plans for the auto industry, including a response to a request for additional funds by GM and Chrysler. The plan is based on recommendations from the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry, headed by the Treasury Department.

The White House confirmed Wagoner was leaving at the government's behest after The Associated Press reported his immediate departure, without giving a reason.

General Motors issued a vague statement Sunday night that did not officially confirm Wagoner's departure. "We are anticipating an announcement soon from the Administration regarding the restructuring of the U.S. auto industry. We continue to work closely with members of the Task Force and it would not be appropriate for us to speculate on the content of any announcement," the company said.

The administration needs to explain under what authority the Executive branch can take this action. When President Truman tried to take over the steel industry the court in YOUNGSTOWN SHEET & TUBE CO. V. SAWYER found that the President had overstepped his bounds.

Even if it be true that other Presidents have taken possession of private business enterprises without congressional authority in order to settle labor disputes, Congress has not thereby lost its exclusive constitutional authority to make the laws necessary and proper to carry out all powers vested by the Constitution "in the Government of the United States, or any Department or Officer thereof."

I am afraid that I don't have the words right now to express my outrage at this development. Just days before the One jets to Europe to meet the Queen and dazzle the Continent he takes over a major manufacturing entity. If this doesn't send the peasants into the street with pitchforks then I have to believe we have reached the point of no return on our road to dystopia. Heaven help us.

On the Road to Dystopia IV

"STIMULUS" BILL PASSES BOTH HOUSES.

63% of AMERICA GROANS

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$1.9 Billion from the Obama Honey Bucket(1) Flows Into Iowa:

Less than 24 hours later Iowa Senator Tom Harkin throws B.HO under the bus.

Washington, D.C. - ... Iowa's U.S. senators complained that the deal could have been better but they were kept out of negotiations of the $787 billion spending package, despite their seniority on key committees...Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, criticized President Barack Obama for allowing the Department of Agriculture to receive no money for developing renewable fuels...It was very shortsighted, very shortsighted for them to do that," ... "Somebody was asleep at the switch in his shop down there."

Tom Harkin is being disingenuous to vote for this boondoggle then whine that he didn't have any input. Perhaps he should be explaining to his constituents in Iowa why as a senior member of the democratic caucus was shut out of writing this bill. He is looking more like the Democrats attack dog than a serious member of the policy team.

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What's Next? Taking us back to 1978. It seems like only yesterday.

Honey Bucket

Photo Courtesy: IowaHawk

On the Road to Dystopia III

President Obama signed the Bush Vetoed S-Chip legislation yesterday. He obviously sees this as a foot in the door to universal health insurance.This newest entitelment will be paid for through a 65 cent increase in the cigarette tax which by my estimates comes up about 5 billion dollars short of the Schip 32.5 billion dollar increase.

I want to personally thank every single member of Congress who is here, abipartisan group who worked tirelessly worked tirelessly for so long that we could see this day. And I want you all to know that I am confident that, if we work together, if we come together, we can finally achieve what generations of Americans have fought for and fulfill the promise of health care in our time.

For those starry eyed conservitives that fawned over Obamas cabinet choices as proof that he was a closet post partisan centrist, his actions the last three weeks should be proof that he is truly an partisan egalitarian liberal to the nth degree.

Update: From Big Lizards: "President Obama offers symbolic post-partisanship only in style, never in substance. He invites Republicans to his pad to watch the Superbowl; but he doesn't invite them into the process of crafting the misleadingly labeled "stimulus" package. No, that minor trillion-dollar boondoggle will be written entirely by the Democrats, of the Democrats, and for the Democrats."

On the Road to Dystopia II

As if nationalization of the banking industry wasn't enough B.HO just announced that he is taking steps to cap the pay of Wallstreet executives at $500,000 per year. Admittedly Wallstreet has been less than discrete in their actions as the democrats made an effort to sytematically demonize Wallstreet and ferment class envy.

For those toiling away in the middle class the knee jerk reaction to this is easily, "screw them" but the reality is that this is the first step onto a very slippery slope. Unlike the Wage and Price controls of the 1970s (which did not control inflation as intended) these controls are strictly punitive plus if this is not challenged it sets a precedent that could be wide ranging. Interfering in the operations of private industry by presidential fiat has been found unconstitutional in the past and this order must be challenged.

The Oligarchy

An unabashedly honest look into the oligarchy of the Democratic Congress.

Via Politico: Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) -- one of the lead Blue Dogs -- made a startling admission to lefty Liberadio on Sunday, suggesting the White House quietly encouraged him to buck House leadership on the stimulus.

On the Road to Dystopia

If you have listened to the Democrats for the last three years you may have come to believe that the US has descended to the gates of hell and they are the only ones that can lead us back from the brink of destruction. They have offered up a savior to do just that. History has shown that when citizens cling to a savior at times of crisis (real or imagined) they eventually end up as slaves.

I am reminded this observation by Jean Jacques Rousseau,

Tyrants, the enemies of the very people it was their duty to make happy, maintained regular troops, apparently to withstand the foreigner, but really to enslave their countrymen. To form such troops, it was necessary to take men from the land; the lack of their labour then diminished the amount of provisions, and their maintenance introduced those taxes which increased prices.

This first disorder gave rise to murmurs among the people; in order to suppress them, the number of troops had to be increased, and consequently the misery of the people also got worse; and the growing despair led to still further increases in the
cause in order to guard against its effects.

On the other hand, the mercenaries, whose merit we may judge of by the price at which they sold themselves, proud of their own meanness, and despising the laws that protected them, as well as their fellows whose bread they ate, imagined themselves more honoured in being Caesar's satellites than in being defenders of Rome. As they were given over to blind obedience, their swords were always at the throats of their fellow-citizens, and they were prepared for general butchery at the first sign.

It would not be difficult to show that this was one of the principal causes of the ruin of the Roman Empire.

"A DISCOURSE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY" by Jean Jacques Rousseau

In this next video the Democrats are once again portrayed in Orwell's "1984" its not hard to imagine the Orwellian world came about because of what Rousseau described. For the last seven years the left has used this comparison as proof that the Bush administration has turned us into the Orwellian world of Oceania. In fact I recently caught socialist financier George Soros waving an edition of "1984" on Cspan to make this exact point.

What they always fail to note however is the fact that Orwell's world came about because of IngSoc" or English Socialism. The very type of worldview that Obama is openly espousing in this campaign.