25/05: Memorial Day
Category: American Culture
Posted by: an okie gardener
The Remittance Man has this post commemorating the taking of Monte Casino in WW2 by Free Polish Forces.
The inscription on their memorial reads:
WE POLISH SOLDIERS
FOR OUR FREEDOM AND YOURS
HAVE GIVEN OUR SOULS TO GOD
OUR BODIES TO THE SOIL IN ITALY
AND OUR HEARTS TO POLAND
Today, as we honor our own war dead, let's remember also our allies from The Revolution to Afghanistan.
The inscription on their memorial reads:
WE POLISH SOLDIERS
FOR OUR FREEDOM AND YOURS
HAVE GIVEN OUR SOULS TO GOD
OUR BODIES TO THE SOIL IN ITALY
AND OUR HEARTS TO POLAND
Today, as we honor our own war dead, let's remember also our allies from The Revolution to Afghanistan.
21/05: Obama and FDR
Don't miss this wonderful analysis from Charles Kesler, senior fellow of the Claremont Institute and editor of the Claremont Review of Books.
I love this great one-liner from the piece:
It was the unreformed Supreme Court's "horse-and-buggy" constitutionalism that saved the country from that ugly experiment [some of the more draconian elements of the New Deal], and thus allowed future generations to praise FDR's moderation.
Brilliant!
Read the essay in its entirety here (via RCP). It is brief and worth your time.
I love this great one-liner from the piece:
It was the unreformed Supreme Court's "horse-and-buggy" constitutionalism that saved the country from that ugly experiment [some of the more draconian elements of the New Deal], and thus allowed future generations to praise FDR's moderation.
Brilliant!
Read the essay in its entirety here (via RCP). It is brief and worth your time.
Category: American Culture
Posted by: an okie gardener
On down the road from Hico is Evant. In the Texas dialect it is pronounced EEvant, the accent tending to move forward and lengthen the vowel. The story of Evant is the story of West-Central rural Texas in miniature. Settled in the 1850s, growing to its maximum population by the 1950s, then a steady decline since then. Before the Corps of Engineers "stabilized" them, rivers such as the Missouri and Mississippi wandered over their bottoms, changing course gradually by cutting sideways on the outer side of bends, and changing course suddenly during floods. The U.S. population and economy also have "wandered," cutting new channels slowly or suddenly. Centers become peripheries, and vice versa. I doubt that attempts to stabilize populations and economic networks will be as successful as river control. Bad news for West Texas, and Michigan, but security is rare in this world.
South of Evant the terrain begins to look like the Texas Hill Country: ridges and knolls of limestone, covered in mesquite and cedar. Hard to believe that when white settlers arrived in the Hill Country it was covered with grass, except along the creeks. But, overgrazing and ill-advised attempts to grow cotton, depleted the soil and grass cover. No longer contained by wildfires the brush claimed the land.
With Lampasas we are entering the region of Texas explored by the Spanish. Lampasas is the next town of any size (sorry Adamsville), its economy largely dependent upon nearby Ft. Hood, home of armor. Though I would not promote military spending as a jobs-creation program, or an economic stimulus, I think it is important to realize that much of the military budget is spent within the American economy.
Burnet had a role in the construction of the Texas State Capitol Building. A narrow-guage railroad was built from Granite Mountain to Burnet to haul (wait for it) granite to a finishing yard on the south edge of town, whence it was loaded onto railcars for the trip to Austin. A waste of money? I don't think so. There is a place for beauty in public life, and the Texas State Capitol is beautiful. Messages are conveyed with symbols, and the solid, imposing beauty of capitol buildings, and courthouses, preaches without a voice that life together is possible when law is solid and respected, and is the product of citizens meeting together in council.
South of Evant the terrain begins to look like the Texas Hill Country: ridges and knolls of limestone, covered in mesquite and cedar. Hard to believe that when white settlers arrived in the Hill Country it was covered with grass, except along the creeks. But, overgrazing and ill-advised attempts to grow cotton, depleted the soil and grass cover. No longer contained by wildfires the brush claimed the land.
With Lampasas we are entering the region of Texas explored by the Spanish. Lampasas is the next town of any size (sorry Adamsville), its economy largely dependent upon nearby Ft. Hood, home of armor. Though I would not promote military spending as a jobs-creation program, or an economic stimulus, I think it is important to realize that much of the military budget is spent within the American economy.
Burnet had a role in the construction of the Texas State Capitol Building. A narrow-guage railroad was built from Granite Mountain to Burnet to haul (wait for it) granite to a finishing yard on the south edge of town, whence it was loaded onto railcars for the trip to Austin. A waste of money? I don't think so. There is a place for beauty in public life, and the Texas State Capitol is beautiful. Messages are conveyed with symbols, and the solid, imposing beauty of capitol buildings, and courthouses, preaches without a voice that life together is possible when law is solid and respected, and is the product of citizens meeting together in council.
Category: American Culture
Posted by: an okie gardener
Mineral Wells is near the Brazos River, along the John Graves Scenic Waterway. Before the current lakes were dammed, Graves canoed the upper Brazos and recorded his experience in the book Goodbye to a River. A great read, a thick narrative of the region.
Crossing the river, U.S. 281 a few miles farther south crosses the modern trafficway of Interstate 20. Travel farther, faster, and see less.
South of I-20 is Stephenville, in Erath County. Erath has the largest concentration of dairy farms in Texas, affecting water quality on the Bosque River from manure run-off. Economics drive producers to larger and larger dairy farms so that the economies of scale can make the investment of money and labor profitable. But, concentrate large dairy operations and the resulting manure produced harms the local envirnment. Government regulations to curb pollution tend to force farmers either to quit the business, or to get even larger to sustain profitability in the face of regulatory requirements. Larger and larger dairy farms produce more and more manure . . . You see the dynamic. But, in a creative effort to solve the problem, Erath County dairymen are engaging in a program to compost the manure and then market it--turning a problem into a profit.
Next in turn is Hico, a town with a couple of problematic claims to fame. Years ago an old resident claimed to be the real Billy the Kid. Not to lose an opportunity, the Chamber of Commerce created a small bandwagon to draw tourists: putting up a billboard on the edge of town claiming to be the home of Billy the Kid, and opening a small museum. Another instance of the desire for dollars trumping self-respect. More troubling is the local reputation of the town as a stronghold of the KKK. True or not, Hico is believed by central Texas blacks to be a place to avoid. We didn't stop.
The next town of any size is Hamilton. Like almost all the towns in this area it was founded in the 1850s as the Comanche Empire (called by the Spanish Comancheria) began to wane under the pressure of Anglo settlement and the Texas Rangers. After 1700, having been introduced to horses through their allies the Utes, the Comanche had moved onto the southern plains and within fifty years had driven out the Apaches, killing many and selling large numbers as slaves to the French in Louisiana. When the Comanche arrived, the Apache had just established themselves as the rulers of the southern grasslands all the way to below the Rio Grande, wiping out their main enemies the Jumanos. Apacheria, as the Spanish called it, was short-lived. Ironically, the Comanches, with whom the Anglos fought a genocidal war, were indirectly responsible for the American presence. Spain, and then Mexico, had been unable to dislodge the Comanche to allow settlement, and so invited in settlers from Europe and America. Give human beings the technology to dominate our neighbors, and history shows we will do it, whatever our race or ethnicity.
Crossing the river, U.S. 281 a few miles farther south crosses the modern trafficway of Interstate 20. Travel farther, faster, and see less.
South of I-20 is Stephenville, in Erath County. Erath has the largest concentration of dairy farms in Texas, affecting water quality on the Bosque River from manure run-off. Economics drive producers to larger and larger dairy farms so that the economies of scale can make the investment of money and labor profitable. But, concentrate large dairy operations and the resulting manure produced harms the local envirnment. Government regulations to curb pollution tend to force farmers either to quit the business, or to get even larger to sustain profitability in the face of regulatory requirements. Larger and larger dairy farms produce more and more manure . . . You see the dynamic. But, in a creative effort to solve the problem, Erath County dairymen are engaging in a program to compost the manure and then market it--turning a problem into a profit.
Next in turn is Hico, a town with a couple of problematic claims to fame. Years ago an old resident claimed to be the real Billy the Kid. Not to lose an opportunity, the Chamber of Commerce created a small bandwagon to draw tourists: putting up a billboard on the edge of town claiming to be the home of Billy the Kid, and opening a small museum. Another instance of the desire for dollars trumping self-respect. More troubling is the local reputation of the town as a stronghold of the KKK. True or not, Hico is believed by central Texas blacks to be a place to avoid. We didn't stop.
The next town of any size is Hamilton. Like almost all the towns in this area it was founded in the 1850s as the Comanche Empire (called by the Spanish Comancheria) began to wane under the pressure of Anglo settlement and the Texas Rangers. After 1700, having been introduced to horses through their allies the Utes, the Comanche had moved onto the southern plains and within fifty years had driven out the Apaches, killing many and selling large numbers as slaves to the French in Louisiana. When the Comanche arrived, the Apache had just established themselves as the rulers of the southern grasslands all the way to below the Rio Grande, wiping out their main enemies the Jumanos. Apacheria, as the Spanish called it, was short-lived. Ironically, the Comanches, with whom the Anglos fought a genocidal war, were indirectly responsible for the American presence. Spain, and then Mexico, had been unable to dislodge the Comanche to allow settlement, and so invited in settlers from Europe and America. Give human beings the technology to dominate our neighbors, and history shows we will do it, whatever our race or ethnicity.
Category: American Culture
Posted by: an okie gardener
On Friday we traveled to San Antonio for the graduation of our youngest from Trinity University. From the end of our driveway to Trinity it was U.S. 281 for about 400 miles.
First past Ft. Sill, the U.S. Army's large base just south of us, the home of Field Artillery. Most days we hear the thump of cannon fire from our yard. Sounds like freedom.
Ft. Sill is adjoined on the south by Lawton, hometown of 2007 Miss America Lauren Nelson. About a year ago I ran into her at a pow-wow. I did not recognize her as I walked by until she smiled at me from about two yards away. When Miss America smiles at close quarters you notice.
South of Lawton we passed Walters, Oklahoma, site of the annual Comanche Homecoming. (This year July 17-19). A camp ground just north of this small town hosts this large gathering and dance.
Across the Red River into Texas. If you've never seen the Howard Hawk's movie of the same name, you've missed one of the best westerns--John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. Another movie in which Wayne plays a character whose "manliness" nearly undoes him and everyone else. If Shakespeare had written a western, this would have been it.
South of the Red River is Wichita Falls, home of Shepherd Air Force Base. The falls on the Wichita have been no more since the late 19th century. But, in true American Chamber of Commerce fashion, an artificial falls have been created to show tourists.
cont. below
First past Ft. Sill, the U.S. Army's large base just south of us, the home of Field Artillery. Most days we hear the thump of cannon fire from our yard. Sounds like freedom.
Ft. Sill is adjoined on the south by Lawton, hometown of 2007 Miss America Lauren Nelson. About a year ago I ran into her at a pow-wow. I did not recognize her as I walked by until she smiled at me from about two yards away. When Miss America smiles at close quarters you notice.
South of Lawton we passed Walters, Oklahoma, site of the annual Comanche Homecoming. (This year July 17-19). A camp ground just north of this small town hosts this large gathering and dance.
Across the Red River into Texas. If you've never seen the Howard Hawk's movie of the same name, you've missed one of the best westerns--John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. Another movie in which Wayne plays a character whose "manliness" nearly undoes him and everyone else. If Shakespeare had written a western, this would have been it.
South of the Red River is Wichita Falls, home of Shepherd Air Force Base. The falls on the Wichita have been no more since the late 19th century. But, in true American Chamber of Commerce fashion, an artificial falls have been created to show tourists.
cont. below
16/05: The Fall of Obama?
VDH pens the latest conservative prediction that the American electorate is finally on the verge of seeing through the Barack Obama facade.
Is he right? Not likely.
His thoughtful analysis is worth reading (and mostly correct in terms of substantive objections to the ill-conceived Obama policy agenda). However, his mistake--and it is the same fatal mistake that most conservative analysts make in these pieces--lies in his assumption that the public will see the folly of the President's plan in advance of its implementation.
This is mostly wishful thinking.
Dramatic and overwhelming buyer's remorse is not the fashion in which political tides turn in America. The People are invested in this president and are determined to give him the benefit of the doubt. The Public is unlikely to wake up one day soon and "come to their senses."
Why? A critical mass of Americans do not follow national politics and policy regularly. Voters have made their big decision. They are now otherwise occupied, perhaps glancing at Washington intermittently while waiting optimistically for good things to happen. Obama enjoys a friendly media and a relatively unengaged (and hopeful) citizenry. How would a significant majority gather enough information to experience a collective epiphany in the near term?
Yes. This radical change in direction most likely will be disastrous--but not enough voters are going to believe it until the disasters are actually upon us.
Therefore, the fall of Obama is not mere months away. The slow reappraisal of this President is actually years and years in the future. For that reason, I continue to counsel patience and long-term planning. America will find itself in desperate need of principled conservatism at the conclusion of this sanguine interlude. We need to be ready and credible.
Just for kicks (and fodder for a future post):
When are we actually viable again?
My best guess is 2014.
Is he right? Not likely.
His thoughtful analysis is worth reading (and mostly correct in terms of substantive objections to the ill-conceived Obama policy agenda). However, his mistake--and it is the same fatal mistake that most conservative analysts make in these pieces--lies in his assumption that the public will see the folly of the President's plan in advance of its implementation.
This is mostly wishful thinking.
Dramatic and overwhelming buyer's remorse is not the fashion in which political tides turn in America. The People are invested in this president and are determined to give him the benefit of the doubt. The Public is unlikely to wake up one day soon and "come to their senses."
Why? A critical mass of Americans do not follow national politics and policy regularly. Voters have made their big decision. They are now otherwise occupied, perhaps glancing at Washington intermittently while waiting optimistically for good things to happen. Obama enjoys a friendly media and a relatively unengaged (and hopeful) citizenry. How would a significant majority gather enough information to experience a collective epiphany in the near term?
Yes. This radical change in direction most likely will be disastrous--but not enough voters are going to believe it until the disasters are actually upon us.
Therefore, the fall of Obama is not mere months away. The slow reappraisal of this President is actually years and years in the future. For that reason, I continue to counsel patience and long-term planning. America will find itself in desperate need of principled conservatism at the conclusion of this sanguine interlude. We need to be ready and credible.
Just for kicks (and fodder for a future post):
When are we actually viable again?
My best guess is 2014.
16/05: God Bless Dick Cheney
For several days I have struggled to find the time to write a defense of Dick Cheney as a principled American statesman exercising his right to publicly disagree with the government without being nearly as disagreeable as so many of his opponents over the years. You think Cheney is dead wrong? God Bless America! Let the debate begin.
Today Carl Cannon offers this MUST READ explanation of Cheney's character, his motivations, and his sacred right to speak freely.
From Cannon:
[W]e...do damage to ourselves when we substitute political debate with name-calling and ad-hominem attacks. I think Dick Cheney is wrong on important matters. I also think he is a patriot. And I hate to think that we have lost the ability to hold two such opinions in our heads at one time.
Excellent. Read the whole thing. The essay offers some much-needed perspective to the mob-driven anti-Cheney orgy.
One more essential thought: if not for Dick Cheney, this necessary conversation regarding the tensions between liberty and power (as well as national security and national morality) would be mostly one-sided and/or completely outside the public consciousness.
Today Carl Cannon offers this MUST READ explanation of Cheney's character, his motivations, and his sacred right to speak freely.
From Cannon:
[W]e...do damage to ourselves when we substitute political debate with name-calling and ad-hominem attacks. I think Dick Cheney is wrong on important matters. I also think he is a patriot. And I hate to think that we have lost the ability to hold two such opinions in our heads at one time.
Excellent. Read the whole thing. The essay offers some much-needed perspective to the mob-driven anti-Cheney orgy.
One more essential thought: if not for Dick Cheney, this necessary conversation regarding the tensions between liberty and power (as well as national security and national morality) would be mostly one-sided and/or completely outside the public consciousness.
14/05: Is Nancy Pelosi Up a Tree?
You will remember a few weeks back that the President held a reception in the East Room for the Washington press corps celebrating his triumphal first one hundred days as chief executive. During the merriment, the President related a story that attempted to associate Winston Churchill with the administration policy on "enhanced interrogation techniques."
President Obama:
I was struck by an article that I was reading the other day talking about the fact that the British during World War II, when London was being bombed to smithereens, had 200 or so detainees. And Churchill said, "We don't torture," when the entire British -- all of the British people were being subjected to unimaginable risk and threat.
And then the reason was that Churchill understood, you start taking short-cuts, over time, that corrodes what's -- what's best in a people. It corrodes the character of a country.
The moment I heard that bold assertion, I immediately thought two things:
1. He better have this right.
2. It sounds wrong.
I was correct on one count. It was not a very reliable story. The historical account did not stand up to scrutiny. However, as it turned it, I was wrong on my first thought; it really didn't matter if he was right. For the most part, the members of the mainstream media were so grateful, evidently, to be invited to the nice party that they felt it awkward and impolite to criticize the host and guest of honor for his imprecise illustration.
Save for the conservative media (and, really who listens to them, anyway?), the President received a complete pass on his sloppy (perhaps even disingenuous) historical assertion. Oh, well.
New Question: does Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi merit the same protection?
I wonder. Speaker Pelosi finds herself in an utterly indefensible position in which her public statements on torture and her actions as a key member of the House of Representatives look to be completely irreconcilable.
Will it matter? Could Nancy Pelosi actually be in some political danger? Hard to say. But the press is asking some tough questions. Even Jon Stewart gave her the "hypocritical political gas bag" treatment on his show (see here via RCP video).
Stewart's surprising reaction is perhaps indicative of the dilemma Obama-boosters face.
True, they are fierce loyalists to the President and remain intent on going to any lengths to ensure his success; however, and here is the rub, they are also desperate to maintain some moral rectitude in their own eyes--and it gets harder every day.
How to square their unquestioning fidelity to this President and their journalistic integrity?
Maybe you take down a non-essential player on your own team. Perhaps then you can sleep better at night, look yourself in the mirror in the mornings, and view yourself as an independent agent solely intent on safeguarding the public interest.
Am I saying that Nancy Pelosi is in danger? YES--maybe. Her downfall still remains extremely unlikely (she belongs to several protected classes--Democratic leadership being the most sacred). However, the NYT and Jon Stewart have her in their sights. They can pull the trigger on her if they want to. Will they want to? MAYBE. If this goes much farther, they may have to choose between their political inclinations and their tortured self image as fair-minded denizens of the Fourth Estate.
The fall of Nancy Pelosi may be just the tonic the mainstream media needs to revive their own beloved self delusion.
President Obama:
I was struck by an article that I was reading the other day talking about the fact that the British during World War II, when London was being bombed to smithereens, had 200 or so detainees. And Churchill said, "We don't torture," when the entire British -- all of the British people were being subjected to unimaginable risk and threat.
And then the reason was that Churchill understood, you start taking short-cuts, over time, that corrodes what's -- what's best in a people. It corrodes the character of a country.
The moment I heard that bold assertion, I immediately thought two things:
1. He better have this right.
2. It sounds wrong.
I was correct on one count. It was not a very reliable story. The historical account did not stand up to scrutiny. However, as it turned it, I was wrong on my first thought; it really didn't matter if he was right. For the most part, the members of the mainstream media were so grateful, evidently, to be invited to the nice party that they felt it awkward and impolite to criticize the host and guest of honor for his imprecise illustration.
Save for the conservative media (and, really who listens to them, anyway?), the President received a complete pass on his sloppy (perhaps even disingenuous) historical assertion. Oh, well.
New Question: does Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi merit the same protection?
I wonder. Speaker Pelosi finds herself in an utterly indefensible position in which her public statements on torture and her actions as a key member of the House of Representatives look to be completely irreconcilable.
Will it matter? Could Nancy Pelosi actually be in some political danger? Hard to say. But the press is asking some tough questions. Even Jon Stewart gave her the "hypocritical political gas bag" treatment on his show (see here via RCP video).
Stewart's surprising reaction is perhaps indicative of the dilemma Obama-boosters face.
True, they are fierce loyalists to the President and remain intent on going to any lengths to ensure his success; however, and here is the rub, they are also desperate to maintain some moral rectitude in their own eyes--and it gets harder every day.
How to square their unquestioning fidelity to this President and their journalistic integrity?
Maybe you take down a non-essential player on your own team. Perhaps then you can sleep better at night, look yourself in the mirror in the mornings, and view yourself as an independent agent solely intent on safeguarding the public interest.
Am I saying that Nancy Pelosi is in danger? YES--maybe. Her downfall still remains extremely unlikely (she belongs to several protected classes--Democratic leadership being the most sacred). However, the NYT and Jon Stewart have her in their sights. They can pull the trigger on her if they want to. Will they want to? MAYBE. If this goes much farther, they may have to choose between their political inclinations and their tortured self image as fair-minded denizens of the Fourth Estate.
The fall of Nancy Pelosi may be just the tonic the mainstream media needs to revive their own beloved self delusion.
12/05: Chick Corea--Jazz Musician
Category: American Culture
Posted by: an okie gardener
I have been a fan of pianist Chick Corea since the early 70s. He was around before that, I just was not aware of him. In the 70s he was on the cutting edge of Fusion music--jazz and rock, experimenting with the new possibilities offered by electronic technology. For those of us who remember that decade, and that hybrid genre, we know there was a lot of crappy sounding stuff. But not with Chick. Chick always made music. To paraphrase someone whose name I can't recall: often when jazz musicians move toward rock, it sounds as though they are slumming, (and when rockers edge toward jazz, it sounds as though they are reaching above their station). But not Chick, he always made music. Electronic music in the 70s often was bad, bad stuff. But not with Chick, he always made music.
Listen to an early version of his group, Return to Forever, playing Crystal Silence. From 1971.
Return to Forever, RTF for short, evolved toward a more fusion sound. Here is a 1974 recording of the new quartet--Chick, Stanley Clarke on bass, Bill Conners on guitar, and Lenny White on drums.
By 1975 Al DiMeola had replaced Conners on guitar in RTF. Here is Beyond the Seventh Galaxy. And Vulcan Worlds.
The guys never forgot how to get acoustic. From 1976, The Romantic Warrior.
By the late 70s the members of RTF were into solo albums, but I think each one never again achieved the heights they reached together.
Return to Forever also functioned as a kind of "outreach band" for Scientology. In the 70s all four were Scientologists (though I have heard that Clarke left the religion), the album covers directed listeners to sources of more information on that religion, and the music itself, in my opinion, evokes a Scientology feel.
The music I recommend, though not the religion.
UPDATE: RTF has reunited for a tour. Here is Stanley Clarke talking about RTF in the 70s.
Vulcan Worlds from last June on the Reunion Tour.
Listen to an early version of his group, Return to Forever, playing Crystal Silence. From 1971.
Return to Forever, RTF for short, evolved toward a more fusion sound. Here is a 1974 recording of the new quartet--Chick, Stanley Clarke on bass, Bill Conners on guitar, and Lenny White on drums.
By 1975 Al DiMeola had replaced Conners on guitar in RTF. Here is Beyond the Seventh Galaxy. And Vulcan Worlds.
The guys never forgot how to get acoustic. From 1976, The Romantic Warrior.
By the late 70s the members of RTF were into solo albums, but I think each one never again achieved the heights they reached together.
Return to Forever also functioned as a kind of "outreach band" for Scientology. In the 70s all four were Scientologists (though I have heard that Clarke left the religion), the album covers directed listeners to sources of more information on that religion, and the music itself, in my opinion, evokes a Scientology feel.
The music I recommend, though not the religion.
UPDATE: RTF has reunited for a tour. Here is Stanley Clarke talking about RTF in the 70s.
Vulcan Worlds from last June on the Reunion Tour.
12/05: The Farmer Returns
Category: Thinking Out Loud
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
I have been thinking a lot about the Republican Party (and, hopefully, a post will be forthcoming soon). However, Pat Buchanan gets to the heart of things today. Save for the part about things turning around by the midterm elections, Pat has it almost entirely right (and you don't hear me say that about him very often).
Read here.
Pat correctly points out that all this Democratic euphoria is personality and media driven. President Obama is remarkable and on top of the world--but he won't be president forever. The Democrats are still the Democrats. And, when Obama leaves, his New Deal 3.0 programs will have us in a world of hurt.
While Pat does not emphasize this quote from Robert Menzies quite enough in my view, I appreciate the mention and applaud the sentiment. Everyone should read it carefully and take it to heart:
"(T)he duty of an opposition ... is to oppose selectively. No government is always wrong on everything. . The opposition must choose the ground on which it is to attack. To attack indiscriminately is to risk public opinion, which has a reserve of fairness not always understood."
What to do in the present: Republicans need to take a breath and look to the future. We need to rally around our true conservative principles and be patient and rational.
Read here.
Pat correctly points out that all this Democratic euphoria is personality and media driven. President Obama is remarkable and on top of the world--but he won't be president forever. The Democrats are still the Democrats. And, when Obama leaves, his New Deal 3.0 programs will have us in a world of hurt.
While Pat does not emphasize this quote from Robert Menzies quite enough in my view, I appreciate the mention and applaud the sentiment. Everyone should read it carefully and take it to heart:
"(T)he duty of an opposition ... is to oppose selectively. No government is always wrong on everything. . The opposition must choose the ground on which it is to attack. To attack indiscriminately is to risk public opinion, which has a reserve of fairness not always understood."
What to do in the present: Republicans need to take a breath and look to the future. We need to rally around our true conservative principles and be patient and rational.
