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Home Front: Politix
Crush and Replace the Left - 2012
2010-07-22
Part 1


Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5
Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC

#13  You can NOT succeed on a program of simply pointing out the faults of the opposition

As a strategy you are correct. However, as a tactic Queen Nancy did just that in the 2006 election. It worked.

The problem is when both parties point out the failures of the other all they keep building dividends on is the alienation of the people with the whole process. Votes are not 'consent'. If they were, then dictators in the 20th Century like Saddam had 'consent'. Consent is what Lincoln referred to when he articulated 'the last full measure of devotion'. Or as the old sarge used to say 'Are you prepared to die on that hill?' When the Germans were rolling towards Moscow, Stalin knew that the people weren't going to die for him or the party. He had to appeal to 'Mother Russia'. For a the parties and an administration that is fundamentally anti-American (can they even use the word 'illegal') that's going to be a real interesting card to try to play when the time comes.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2010-07-22 16:30  

#12  Unfortunately, what really needs to be done is to eliminate about 60% of all government agencies and the people that work for them. We're not going to be able to do that through elections. Something more drastic - and more powerful - will have to be done to get rid of the deadwood. That means firing 90% of all congresscritters, senators, glad-handers, current and former cabinet members, assistants, deputy-assistants, et. cetera, ad nauseum, and most federal employees at the SES-1 rating and higher. Getting rid of the unions won't do any good without a thorough and complete retooling of the civil service statutes, and that will almost take an act of God. I'm not sure there's enough rope in all of North America to do the job.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2010-07-22 15:39  

#11  Too bad the GOP is too stupid to figure out one of their candidates already has the answers.
Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar   2010-07-22 15:02  

#10  New way forward for the GOP? Like this from a Navy veteran?

(I first saw this on Rantburg by the way)

Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar   2010-07-22 14:58  

#9  Newt makes the same point I have been trying to make for a couple of years now. Republicans need a POSITIVE set of issues to run on. You need to set goals and say we want to do this and this and this and this. You can NOT succeed on a program of simply pointing out the faults of the opposition.

If the train is on the wrong track, you have to show people that there is a different train on a different track that is going to a different destination. You need to clearly describe that destination, not stand there on the platform telling people they don't want to go where that other train is going.

"We suck less than they do" isn't going to get people energized unless you tell them where you are going.
Posted by: crosspatch   2010-07-22 13:37  

#8  Newt still on the couch with Pelosi over AGW?
Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar   2010-07-22 11:42  

#7  An egregious example of the adverse consequences of tolerating unions of public sector employees, this one from Michigan.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2010-07-22 09:28  

#6  I have a feeling after the left is replaced, you're going to find out it's replaced with similar rent-seekers in the GOP

Yeah, the Republicans haven't shown that they have learned a thing over the past couple years. I don't think that they can win if their best slogan is, "We're not as bad as the other guys."
Posted by: Formerly Dan   2010-07-22 09:23  

#5  A couple of other needed measures:
Outlaw public sector unions at the federal, state and local levels. Invalidate existing contracts with them, even if that takes a constitutional amendment. Make it easier to fire public employees for cause.
Restrict public sector pension plans so that only retired military are eligible. The rest of the public sector employees can fund their own retirements (or not) like the rest of us have to.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2010-07-22 08:41  

#4  Gingrich wasn't so friendly with left not long ago?
Posted by: Phosing Big Foot3926   2010-07-22 07:28  

#3  Crushing, while pleasurable, isn't necessary.

The key thing to do is defund.

This will destroy both the left and the fake conservative rent-seekers who are RINOs.

Dems raise taxes. RINOs cut taxes. Neither does what must be done, which is CUT SPENDING, even if those cuts mean lost public sector jobs and fiefdoms. (Some would say "especially".)

Expose people to strong negative consequences for poor work and thought habits and eliminate government guarantees on income stream and you fix many of the nation's problems.

Target the cuts.

Any educators who promote collectivism and cultural Marxism lose all grant money and funding forever. States that continue to fund these types have matching money disappear for any program the Feds fund.

Ditto for bureaucrats and managers in public and quasi-public authorities.

No public sector arts funding, ever.

When the easy money is gone, when their propagandizing and indoctrination and influence become a bane which loses them their income stream instead of a "secret handshake" that lets them into the exclusive club, and they have to do some real work for a change, let's see how high and mighty they are.

Eliminate all funding for NPR and PBS. An entity in broadcasting which cannot exist in the market economy doesn't deserve to exist AT ALL.

Eliminate affirmative action. The president is a black man. The second most likely person to win in 2008 was a woman. The Repubs VP candidate was a woman, and the head of their party is a black man. Affirmative action and its huge associated costs are unnecessary.

Cut the draconian regulatory morass that exists, particularly for small businesses. Those rent seekers who cannot survive without those regulations will fail. Good riddance. Regulations whose compliance costs money are de facto taxes anyways. Just because some rent seeker who runs an OSHA compliance business or a "diversity education" business is receiving the money instead of the government itself doesn't make any difference to the guy running the business and paying the bills. Streamline and/or eliminate excessive regulations and you'll free up a lot of business capital.

Fix social security. Once a person has used up all the money they paid into it plus interest, call the money what they receive what it actually is - welfare for the elderly. Or raise the "retirement" age to what ever it needs to be to keep SS viable. Retroactively on some recipients, if necessary.

Cut back on unemployment. It's costing businesses a fortune, and if you were to force some of these folks who have been on it for nearly two years now to work, they would take jobs that illegal aliens now occupy, just to keep from starving ro becoming homeless. Two problems solved with one action.


Posted by: no mo uro   2010-07-22 06:20  

#2  I have a feeling after the left is replaced, you're going to find out it's replaced with similar rent-seekers in the GOP.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2010-07-22 05:45  

#1  Hey, I'm good with just "crush 'em".
Posted by: Rex Mundi   2010-07-22 02:01  

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