Article

2009-12-12 Home Front: Politix

All this failure? It's not Obama's fault; America is ungovernable

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Mike 2009-12-12 09:12|| || Front Page|| [11129 views ] Top

#1 The elephant in the room ( no pun intended ) that no one wants to talk about is that the size of the federal government itself has been unmanagable for at least 20 years, some would argue 50 years.

No one person, nor one group of people can effectively manage the levithan the federal government has become, not should they even try, yet, there they are believing that with a combination of computer technology and a socialist stiffie they can manage the government and between 10 and 20 percent of the US domestic economy.

Yglesias wants us to believe that the Senate as it is now, stands in the way of "progress" and thankfully, he is absolutely correct.

What he is confused about is the idea that changing the rules in the senate would magically make everything better.

They won't. They'll make everything much, much worse.

If democrats want to rule for the next 20 years they should take a good strong look at reducing the role of the government and therefore its size.

But, because they are leftists we will have see-saw battles for control for the next 100 years, so, the government will grow is size and grow in sheer incompetence.

Posted by badanov 2009-12-12 10:09|| http://www.freefirezone.org 2009-12-12 10:09|| Front Page Top

#2 He's just test-polling the excuse for failure that Bambi and the progressives will use when the health care bill and the cap and trade bill go down.

Carter talked about malaise, Bambi will talk about ungovernable ...

Posted by Steve White 2009-12-12 10:13|| 2009-12-12 10:13|| Front Page Top

#3 Sorry Matt, but you're an ignorant boob. Preventing "the tyranny of the majority" is one of the reasons this nation's government is set up the way it is. Read Madison and the Federalist Paper #10 and learn.

The ultimate minority is the individual. And as long as we can keep this a Republic, that is where the rights and powers should remain. A just government gets any rights from the consent of the individuals, not the other way around.

We do not consent to this massive expansion of government power and intrusion into our lives that Pelosi and Reid want to force upon us. We are not sheep to be herded, nor slaves to be kept on the plantation in exchange for favors from the overseers in DC.

Regarding the abominable "healthcare" bill that triggered this, and the bogus AGW/Energy bill, and other collective nonsense the hard left is pushing: I cannot express it any better than this...

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. C.S. Lewis

Posted by OldSpook 2009-12-12 10:16|| 2009-12-12 10:16|| Front Page Top

#4 There is a huge federalist sentiment out there, and it is reaching beyond the 10th Amendment movement with the States. The realization is dawning that the US is being forced to hold another constitutional convention.

What used to be considered unthinkable may now become essential to save the republic. Importantly, it will not happen until there is no other choice. But a lot of thought is going into how to conduct a convention.

There are now lists of the constitutional changes that need to be made, large and small, along with the assumption that the convention will not only have to write the new constitution, but remain seated until the required changes have been carried out.

So the convention may last a year or two, with the federal government just trying to keep the status quo until the 3/4ths of the States have voted to approve the new constitution.

This likely means that candidates will need to run for office with or without a letter "C" next to their party affiliation, to show that they swear by oath to carry out the will of the constitutional convention once it is done.

Posted by Anonymoose 2009-12-12 10:32|| 2009-12-12 10:32|| Front Page Top

#5 Tale of Two Cities -It depicts the plight of the ~~French~~ American peasantry under the demoralization of the ~~French~~ Democrat aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former Democrat aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and a number of unflattering social parallels with life in ~~London~~ San Francisco during the same time period (hence the work's title). It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events, most notably Charles Darnay, a ~~French~~ American Republican once-aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated ~~British~~ San Francisco barrister who endeavours to redeem his ill-spent life out of love for Darnay's wife, Lucie Manette.

Posted by Joger Munster5243 2009-12-12 10:42|| 2009-12-12 10:42|| Front Page Top

#6 Hint - there's a reason it's titled the UNITED STATES of America. Centralization of power, regulation, and taxing are unsustainable over the long haul for a country the size of the US. Just look at the geometric growth of the national government and its laws and regulations since WWII. There is no perfect. You divide responsibility and authority, and shove execution to the lowest level of government. There will be shortcomings and failures, but not on the grand scale the we are witnessing with the centralization. California is the model of attracting and then repelling that mitigates across 50 state boundaries. Pick and choose those things that work, avoid those things that don't. However, it doesn't take everyone down at once. The body has the ability to self adjust. It's a feature, not a bug of the federal system. The Socia!ist drive to centralize only makes sure the old democratic system will die. For them, that is a feature, not a bug.

Posted by Procopius2k 2009-12-12 11:11|| 2009-12-12 11:11|| Front Page Top

#7 I would be scared out of my socks at the thought of a new constitutional convention. We wouldn't get Madison or Jefferson or Hamilton this time. We'd get the same set of boodlers and mafiosi who're running things now -- while contemptuously ignoring the existing constitution.

Nor am I in favor of third parties. We may have a conservative-libertarian majority, but it's not a 2/3rds majority. So when that majority splits that leaves the pickings to the Dems, who've actually changed very little since the days of the Tweed Gang. The place for the Tea Party is in the primaries, filtering out the crooks and the nut cases and the vanity campaigners.

Posted by Fred 2009-12-12 11:57|| 2009-12-12 11:57|| Front Page Top

#8 The country is indeed ungovernable.

By Democrats.

Moe Lane

Posted by Parabellum 2009-12-12 12:06|| http://sidemeat.wordpress.com/ 2009-12-12 12:06|| Front Page Top

#9 You can have a system in which a defeated minority still gets a share of governing authority and participates constructively in the victorious majority's governing agenda, shaping policy around the margins in ways more to their liking.

Which is essentially what you had up until the late 1960s (it was really and most sincerely dead by the mid 1980s). It was called 'bipartisanship' or 'civilized politics', a.k.a. "Liberalhawk's Good Old Days", and had the GOP as the permanent minority.

If you hadn't become seduced by the delusion that Obama is a "progressive" and that last year's election represented some kind of historic realignment in favor of "progressive" policies you might have seen this coming

It gets better - there's talk in progressive circles about pushing for 'proportional representation' a la the Germans, the Israelis and the Italians. Supposedly that would allow groups like the Greens a toe-hold, instead of having to weasel their way through the Democrats.

Posted by Pappy 2009-12-12 01:10|| 2009-12-12 01:10|| Front Page Top

#10 I'm with Fred - it would be a disaster. The best way to fix things is to present better ideas, plans, and win elections. Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, hear the lamentations of their women

Posted by Frank G 2009-12-12 01:22|| 2009-12-12 01:22|| Front Page Top

#11 We'd get the same set of boodlers and mafiosi who're running things now ...

Don't forget the academics and the apparatchiks ...

Posted by Steve White 2009-12-12 13:25|| 2009-12-12 13:25|| Front Page Top

#12 Translation: Obama = Epic Fail, time for some feeble excuses.

Posted by DMFD 2009-12-12 02:01|| 2009-12-12 02:01|| Front Page Top

#13 Just remember the last Constitutional Convention happened after the revolution. That has a tendency to remove the vipers from the nest before the gathering.

Posted by Procopius2k 2009-12-12 02:11|| 2009-12-12 02:11|| Front Page Top

#14 Re #7,10 and 11: I fourth the motion to table a constitutional convention. We would not end up with a better constitution than the one we have now. It would be hundreds of pages long, and probably guarantee everything on the wish lists of all the grievance groups in the country.
If you think Obamacare is bad, imagine what it would be like if it were enshrined in the constitution.

Posted by Rambler in Virginia 2009-12-12 04:54|| 2009-12-12 04:54|| Front Page Top

#15 Agreed on the convention. Progressives won't abide by the current constitution, why would we think a new one would restrain them? A convention would only give them a new opportunity to wreck America.

Posted by Skunky Angeack7024 2009-12-12 05:31|| 2009-12-12 05:31|| Front Page Top

#16 Fred has it pinned.

When someone starts to call for revolution make sure you verify who the "leaders" are. It can be a scary wake-up call. Our Constitution is fine if it were followed but it is up to the individual citizen to insure that it is.

Posted by tipover 2009-12-12 07:06|| 2009-12-12 07:06|| Front Page Top

#17 The Republicans need to go into the next election pushing for states rights. Forget the Civil War analogies but hammer home that there are very few things Salt Lake City and San Francisco will agree upon and it is not the Federal governments job (and the political party in power) to force one or the other to accept opinions and laws they find abhorrent.

They also should run on a pledge to eliminate every Czar position. We are not imperialist Russia and the whole concept of people outside the standard balance of power is stupid.

They should also push a balanced budget amendment in time for the 2010 election. Even if they don't get it through they'll get people talking and have a better chance to get it through for 2012.

Posted by rjschwarz 2009-12-12 09:02|| 2009-12-12 09:02|| Front Page Top

#18 We're sorry, but only human beings are allowed to comment on Rantburg.

Prejudice, I tell you, prejudice!! You should consider rephrasing it to "biological sophonts."

Getting back to the subject at hand... it's occured to me that Mr. Yglesias is right, but for reasons other than he thinks, or the people here have offered as alternate reasons.

The plain fact of the matter is, in the preferred embodiment of the governmental system the tranzistocracy has been inflicting upon the rest of us, the emperor, or the elected officials, don't really have much power to _create_ freedom or to _do_ things; power is based mainly on the ability to limit things or to deny permission for something to happen.

The Chinese, with a variant of this system that claimed to select the smartest subset of the population to be in charge of running this system, couldn't get it to work well.

What do you think are the chances Obama or Matt Yglesias would be able to succeed where they failed?

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-12-12 11:00|| 2009-12-12 11:00|| Front Page Top

11:13 Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division
11:00 Thing From Snowy Mountain
10:30 Rambler in Virginia
10:21 Barbara Skolaut
10:19 Barbara Skolaut
10:18 notascrename
10:06 Procopius2k
10:06 Barbara Skolaut
10:02 notascrename
09:58 Thing From Snowy Mountain
09:40 Besoeker
09:34 SR-71
09:02 rjschwarz
08:57 rjschwarz
08:56 3rd World Minister
08:54 rjschwarz
08:28 Zhang Fei
08:18 dorf56
08:14 Thor Shosing9682
08:05 Thor Shosing9682
07:37 Thor Shosing9682
07:36 crosspatch
07:23 Northern Cousin
07:19 746