As one born in the (late) 50s I am a child of the 60s. I remember the hippies. At one point I even considered myself among their ranks. I wore tie dye and elephant bells and my hair all the way down. I hated Nixon because all my friends did. I repeated 'Tricky Nicky' and 'Phase 4, Phase Out Nixon' and all the rest. I have since reconsidered my opinions about President Nixon but that is for another day.
Since the election the question for conservatives keeps being asked. What now? My answer? Bring back the hippie movement.
Consider where we as conservatives are right now. In the 60s the counter culture movement was pretty unpopular. Republicans and conservatism, while feeling heat, were still ascendant. Nixon won in 68, defeating the Democrat Humphrey who was nominated because Johnson surely saw the writing on the wall and declined to be crushed in a bid for re-election. In later decades Nixon's disgrace still only resulted in one term for Carter. Then Reagan twice and Bush senior. In the 60s and 70's and well into the 80s Republicans and conservatives were 'The Man'. Hippies protested and sat in and generally fought against the Establishment. They preached Free Love and Turn On, Tune In and Drop Out. They burned their draft cards and bras and sometimes whole city blocks. The rioted and planted bombs and killed people.
Well, now they got what they always wanted. Now they're 'The Man' with all that entails. Now we're in the same position they were in the 60s. On the outside looking in. At least to an extent. Lest anyone forget, the election was very close and the GOP still maintains control of the House and with it the nation's checkbook. Now is the time to do to them what they once did to us.
The Tea Party movement was a nice start but we need to take things to the next level. The Tea Party has allowed itself to be controlled and manipulated by the GOP old guard. Their fire and passion squelched by a slate of RINO candidates and the age old choice of either staying home or holding our noses and voting for the least objectionable ticket. It's time for the Tea Party to morph into Tea Party Hippies.
The hippie movement was true grassroots. Oh, we can discuss and argue on who the movements organizers, financiers and provocateurs were but the sandals on the ground were disaffected people who were agitating for political and social change. Obama himself used that very idea to propel him into office the first time. Hope and Change, a true hippie sentiment. It was enough to overcome a disastrous economy, failed foreign policy and a weak GOP candidate for a second term. The 1960s hippies are alive and well and they and their ideological offspring are voting in large numbers.
But politics are cyclical as Roosevelt through Bush II has showed us. At one time the accepted understanding of the American political electorate was a preference for a Democrat House and a Republican President. That has now changed and the potential for the election of a King every 4 years is very real. Whether that president has a D or an R beside their name it's a frightening thought. Hippies may be the answer.
Oh, I don't mean dirty, stinking flag burning hippies singing bad folk songs and smoking dope in the back of a crapped out van. That's the liberal hippie but there's no reason why they get to define what a hippie is and isn't. It's part and parcel of refusing to let the liberals and the media (but I repeat myself) define things. The Tea Party are just as much hippies, in the truest sense of the word, as any bead wearing, patchouli smelling counter culture protestor in 1968. They just dress better, pick up after themselves and have to go to work on Monday morning. Those with limited political power protesting for greater freedom and more limited government influence in and power over their lives. That's all a hippie really is.
What they did was make themselves heard in every home in the country. Media conservatives (and there still were a few even then) talked about them in much the same way the modern liberal media talks about the Tea Party. Un American, violent and out of touch with the mainstream. But the hippie movement nonetheless touched something in the American psyche. They may have been dupes in the larger communist/statist move to change America fundamentally (sound familiar?) but they were also viewed as underdogs and as everyone knows Americans love an underdog. And they spoke some truths that we as conservatives would do well to understand. Less government intrusion and greater freedom. Yes, even now those who participated in the Love Ins may not realize that was what they were chafing for but it was. Conservative values.
So let's all become the hippies of the new millennium. 21st century counter culture protestors. The business suit and work clothes will become our tie dyed uniforms. The Town Hall our protest venue. Patriotic music our protest anthem. The media will cover our protests reflexively in the hope that we'll seem desperate and objectionable to society. But they will cover us and our message will resonate, especially as the economy tanks and the American Dream dims.
In 50 years the hippie movement went from Woodstock to the Whitehouse and political control of the country's future. Or maybe I should say potential control because nothing is forever. And the 'Liberal Man' had better remember that because now we're the hippies and we're just as angry and just as motivated as those who braved the water cannons and dogs way back then. And our contempt for 'The Man' is every bit as bitter and encompassing as any counter culture warrior of the 60s. We also understand what the stakes are and what the cost of failure is.
Using the opponents tactics against them is deliciously ironic and fills me with a soft, warm glow. I even saw a really cool VW van on E-Bay just the other day....
We're all hippies now.
Six
Showing posts with label election. Show all posts
Showing posts with label election. Show all posts
26 November 2012
28 September 2012
21 September 2012
Borepatch Is On Fire
Borepatch (one of those very smart folks I mentioned in my last post) has been on fire with his political writing. It's said that one's measure of a persons intelligence is inversely related to how closely they agree with you. In that light I am bathing in the radiance of a man who could out think me while he was comatose.
Read this and consider what you're hearing from the dinosaur media. I've always been leery of public polling, especially when done by those who have a particular axe to grind. Remember, no one, no matter how pure of heart is completely unbiased. That goes up by two orders of magnitude when talking about the media and polling results. Watch for a sudden and 'unexpected' change in the poll numbers a week or two out from the election. At least from those pollsters who make their living by being right.
I'm feeling better and better Dug. This year I'm gonna win.
Six
Read this and consider what you're hearing from the dinosaur media. I've always been leery of public polling, especially when done by those who have a particular axe to grind. Remember, no one, no matter how pure of heart is completely unbiased. That goes up by two orders of magnitude when talking about the media and polling results. Watch for a sudden and 'unexpected' change in the poll numbers a week or two out from the election. At least from those pollsters who make their living by being right.
I'm feeling better and better Dug. This year I'm gonna win.
Six
22 August 2012
It's Election Prediction Time (Updated)
Four years ago my buddy Dug and I made a bet on the presidential election. I picked McCain and he picked Obama. Yeah, that didn't turn out so well for yours truly. The payoff was that I had to wear an Obama t-shirt and publicly post some pictures to ensure my shame was forever. If you're interested you can find them and the back story here, here and here. The score is Dug 1, Me 0.
Well, it's that time again. I sent Dug an e-mail and he agreed to another challenge. Same rules.
Before I get into my pick and reasoning a few words about Dug. We've never met personally but I consider him a buddy. Without categorizing him I think I can say, with little fear of contradiction, that he's center left in his political outlook. He's also a father, husband, friend, hard worker and church goer. In other words he's a fine man. If a little addle pated politically (Love ya Dug!). He's also one of those on the left side of the spectrum you can have an honest conversation with. He never takes things personally, refrains from name calling and ad hominem attacks and is as honest in his outlook as the day is long. He's logical, consistent and really, really smart. I'd like him to do a guest post but he may only respond in comments.
And for those on the right who are either meh on Romney or who hate him totally and completely, this isn't a treatise on his positives or negatives. It's my prediction on who's going to win the election and why.
Ok. On to the meat of the issue and the smack talk. I'm picking Romney to win in November. Here's why.
You don't have to look any further than the economy. Remember the misery index? It's the unemployment rate added to the inflation rate. Take a look at that chart. While the index under Obama is no where near Carter's in 1980 there are a couple of comparison points I'd like to highlight. Bush Senior had a 10.52 and was hammered by Clinton who, wait for it, ran on It's The Economy Stupid. In the final year of Bush Junior's administration it was at 9.65 and the Republicans were hammered by Obama on, admittedly among other things, the economy. Obama's current misery index is 12.1, the highest it's been since Reagen in 83 who was still trying to pull us out of the malaise of Jimmy Carter's 20.76. Obama himself said that if he didn't turn things around he'd be looking at being a one termer. The current debt is just a tick under 16 Trillion and counting. The current unemployment rate is 8.3 and I don't for a second believe that's the real number. That's just what the current administration is willing to admit to.
Obama ran on Hope and Change. He promised the most transparent administration in the history of America. How's that worked out? Where did all that stimulus money go? Fast and Furious anyone (if you scroll through Attkisson's site you can find all her reports on the subject)? Solyndra, Tesla, the list goes on and on and on. Prevarication, deflection and equivalism. Honesty seems to be missing from this administration and the people have taken notice.
Obama and his supporters are running as negative and dishonest a campaign as I have ever seen. Remember Joe Soptic? Get ready for more of that from a campaign that's becoming increasingly desperate. Gone are the lofty speeches and calls for unity. Now it's "you didn't build that." Obama seems to be running on race and economic status. You can't criticize him without someone calling you a racist or a rich, greedy hater. Jobs? He hasn't met with his job creation council since he created the thing. They're going to try and beat Romney over the head with medicare? Good luck with that.
Let's talk about polls. Right now Gallup and Rasmussen have Romney up by 2 and AP has Obama up by 1. Any way you cut it that's a dead heat at best and for the incumbent President a disaster of the first order. And let me throw in a tickler, the University of Colorado, Boulder analysis. The authors have called every presidential election since 1980 and they're calling 2012 for Romney by a landslide. By both the electoral and popular vote. May be specious but with their track record it's worth considering. Heck, Romney's ahead of Obama in Michigan!
Romney has negatives, no argument from me. Romney Care scares me but the day the Supreme Court returned it's 5-4 verdict on Obama Care's constitutionality he vowed to repeal it. He's a strong, upstanding man who has shown more and more fire as the election cycle has progressed. He picked a good man for Vice and is confronting Obama on substantive issues. He has the answers American voters seem to be looking for. He also has a hell of a war chest that he can't even tap until after the nomination process is done. The blitz to the election should be a doozy. I may have to cancel my cable until it's done and I'm a political wonk. He's moral, as honest as a politician seems to be capable of in these days and straight forward. He's likeable and photogenic. I know, I know things that shouldn't count. But they do and I'm talking about why he's going to be elected not the ethics of our election process.
I'm of the opinion that the numbers of undecided voters is much smaller than many are saying. Or hoping. If that's the case I see a low Democratic turnout. Democrat enthusiasm seems to be low and turn outs for candidate appearances favors Romney. Indicators are that Obama has
America has been paying attention. The Tea Party is busy nominating and electing true conservatives with plans to take the Republican party back. The elections of 2010 were only a harbinger. Here's the bottom line for me and I'm just going to say it as a layman. Barack Obama has done virtually nothing positive in three and a half years and he's going to get his metaphorical ass handed to him in November.
Romney will win and become the 45th President of the United States.
Dug? You're up my friend. I've got a nice t-shirt all picked out for you.
Six
Update:
Dug responds in comments but I thought it best to go ahead and put it here in the original post. With his permission I put in a link to his blog so you can see he's not a slavering monster but if you do go over there to comment please be kind.
eric, you are a credit to your "warrior" class. a real saladin. also, you are kind beyond measure, and i'm proud to "know" you .
i am not the polling data ninja you are, nor a student of the misery index, except when it falls in my lap. i've got my own misery index to worry about. and my predictions are more like when someone picks their fantasy football wins based on uniform color.
on the other hand.
on the other hand, as much as you laud our good friend and well-haired governor romney, who made a much better governor than he would (not will) make a president, he is no stranger to lies, damned lies, and statistics himself. let's not put him on too high a white horse.
i don't think i need to cite lots of articles and such (mostly because i'm a lazy liberal, not one of those fervent, researching liberals), but i suspect you know as well as i do that continuing to regurgitate sound bites like "you didn't build that" is disingenuous at best, and outright deception at worst. the quote obviously refers to infrastructure that supports and enables business, and not the businesses themselves. the quote works. the quote is true. just as an example.
i'm not defending the joe soptic ad. i'm just saying, let's not decide our election based on who we think is running the most honest, fair, above board, no bullshit campaign. no such thing. unless you really do believe obama is a muslim (not that there's any religious test in this country or anything). then maybe we should just shake hands and go our separate ways.
i'll leave you with two things.
1. the stimulus didn't just work pretty well, but it actually saved the country. and it wasn't big enough, because congress wouldn't vote for anything over 800.
2. obama/biden in a squeaker in november. i will wear my hair like romney (i'll need a wig for that), his t-shirt, and sarah palin underpants if i'm wrong.
Well, it's that time again. I sent Dug an e-mail and he agreed to another challenge. Same rules.
Before I get into my pick and reasoning a few words about Dug. We've never met personally but I consider him a buddy. Without categorizing him I think I can say, with little fear of contradiction, that he's center left in his political outlook. He's also a father, husband, friend, hard worker and church goer. In other words he's a fine man. If a little addle pated politically (Love ya Dug!). He's also one of those on the left side of the spectrum you can have an honest conversation with. He never takes things personally, refrains from name calling and ad hominem attacks and is as honest in his outlook as the day is long. He's logical, consistent and really, really smart. I'd like him to do a guest post but he may only respond in comments.
And for those on the right who are either meh on Romney or who hate him totally and completely, this isn't a treatise on his positives or negatives. It's my prediction on who's going to win the election and why.
Ok. On to the meat of the issue and the smack talk. I'm picking Romney to win in November. Here's why.
You don't have to look any further than the economy. Remember the misery index? It's the unemployment rate added to the inflation rate. Take a look at that chart. While the index under Obama is no where near Carter's in 1980 there are a couple of comparison points I'd like to highlight. Bush Senior had a 10.52 and was hammered by Clinton who, wait for it, ran on It's The Economy Stupid. In the final year of Bush Junior's administration it was at 9.65 and the Republicans were hammered by Obama on, admittedly among other things, the economy. Obama's current misery index is 12.1, the highest it's been since Reagen in 83 who was still trying to pull us out of the malaise of Jimmy Carter's 20.76. Obama himself said that if he didn't turn things around he'd be looking at being a one termer. The current debt is just a tick under 16 Trillion and counting. The current unemployment rate is 8.3 and I don't for a second believe that's the real number. That's just what the current administration is willing to admit to.
Obama ran on Hope and Change. He promised the most transparent administration in the history of America. How's that worked out? Where did all that stimulus money go? Fast and Furious anyone (if you scroll through Attkisson's site you can find all her reports on the subject)? Solyndra, Tesla, the list goes on and on and on. Prevarication, deflection and equivalism. Honesty seems to be missing from this administration and the people have taken notice.
Obama and his supporters are running as negative and dishonest a campaign as I have ever seen. Remember Joe Soptic? Get ready for more of that from a campaign that's becoming increasingly desperate. Gone are the lofty speeches and calls for unity. Now it's "you didn't build that." Obama seems to be running on race and economic status. You can't criticize him without someone calling you a racist or a rich, greedy hater. Jobs? He hasn't met with his job creation council since he created the thing. They're going to try and beat Romney over the head with medicare? Good luck with that.
Let's talk about polls. Right now Gallup and Rasmussen have Romney up by 2 and AP has Obama up by 1. Any way you cut it that's a dead heat at best and for the incumbent President a disaster of the first order. And let me throw in a tickler, the University of Colorado, Boulder analysis. The authors have called every presidential election since 1980 and they're calling 2012 for Romney by a landslide. By both the electoral and popular vote. May be specious but with their track record it's worth considering. Heck, Romney's ahead of Obama in Michigan!
Romney has negatives, no argument from me. Romney Care scares me but the day the Supreme Court returned it's 5-4 verdict on Obama Care's constitutionality he vowed to repeal it. He's a strong, upstanding man who has shown more and more fire as the election cycle has progressed. He picked a good man for Vice and is confronting Obama on substantive issues. He has the answers American voters seem to be looking for. He also has a hell of a war chest that he can't even tap until after the nomination process is done. The blitz to the election should be a doozy. I may have to cancel my cable until it's done and I'm a political wonk. He's moral, as honest as a politician seems to be capable of in these days and straight forward. He's likeable and photogenic. I know, I know things that shouldn't count. But they do and I'm talking about why he's going to be elected not the ethics of our election process.
I'm of the opinion that the numbers of undecided voters is much smaller than many are saying. Or hoping. If that's the case I see a low Democratic turnout. Democrat enthusiasm seems to be low and turn outs for candidate appearances favors Romney. Indicators are that Obama has
America has been paying attention. The Tea Party is busy nominating and electing true conservatives with plans to take the Republican party back. The elections of 2010 were only a harbinger. Here's the bottom line for me and I'm just going to say it as a layman. Barack Obama has done virtually nothing positive in three and a half years and he's going to get his metaphorical ass handed to him in November.
Romney will win and become the 45th President of the United States.
Dug? You're up my friend. I've got a nice t-shirt all picked out for you.
Six
Update:
Dug responds in comments but I thought it best to go ahead and put it here in the original post. With his permission I put in a link to his blog so you can see he's not a slavering monster but if you do go over there to comment please be kind.
eric, you are a credit to your "warrior" class. a real saladin. also, you are kind beyond measure, and i'm proud to "know" you .
i am not the polling data ninja you are, nor a student of the misery index, except when it falls in my lap. i've got my own misery index to worry about. and my predictions are more like when someone picks their fantasy football wins based on uniform color.
on the other hand.
on the other hand, as much as you laud our good friend and well-haired governor romney, who made a much better governor than he would (not will) make a president, he is no stranger to lies, damned lies, and statistics himself. let's not put him on too high a white horse.
i don't think i need to cite lots of articles and such (mostly because i'm a lazy liberal, not one of those fervent, researching liberals), but i suspect you know as well as i do that continuing to regurgitate sound bites like "you didn't build that" is disingenuous at best, and outright deception at worst. the quote obviously refers to infrastructure that supports and enables business, and not the businesses themselves. the quote works. the quote is true. just as an example.
i'm not defending the joe soptic ad. i'm just saying, let's not decide our election based on who we think is running the most honest, fair, above board, no bullshit campaign. no such thing. unless you really do believe obama is a muslim (not that there's any religious test in this country or anything). then maybe we should just shake hands and go our separate ways.
i'll leave you with two things.
1. the stimulus didn't just work pretty well, but it actually saved the country. and it wasn't big enough, because congress wouldn't vote for anything over 800.
2. obama/biden in a squeaker in november. i will wear my hair like romney (i'll need a wig for that), his t-shirt, and sarah palin underpants if i'm wrong.
31 December 2011
Happy Election Year
Happy New Year to you all. It's been a great year and a lot of that is thanks to you. I've made some friends and had a lot of fun. Thank you sincerely.
May the new year bring you health and happiness and may the Stupid Party find a way out of the darkness and into the light of true freedom. I really want obama to be a one termer who fades into history.
Six
May the new year bring you health and happiness and may the Stupid Party find a way out of the darkness and into the light of true freedom. I really want obama to be a one termer who fades into history.
Six
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