The Romney Campaign reminds me of McGovern in 1972

I better explain what I mean. First off, I loved George McGovern then and I still do now. I think he would have made an excellent President. Second, no I do not believe that Mitt Romney will lose this election as badly McGovern as lost in 1972 either. That isn't the point.

The similarity that strikes me is this: Romney has been playing catch up in this race from day one; from before then actually if you set day one as his acceptance speech at the RNC. Romney got off on the wrong foot and he has never regained his stride, if he ever had one. That is what happened to George McGovern with the Eagleton fiasco. The problems with McGovern's campaign became the focus of the ccoverage he received.

When that happens it's like a ship loosing power and floating dead in the water in an area uinfested by pirates. The seige is certain to follow and a death spiral commences. Lots of other things may have changed, but in that key way this is feeling like 1972 agan.

It sounds familiar, doesn't it?

"My job is is not to worry about those people."

Thats Mitt Romney caught talking to wealthy donors about the "47% of voters who will vote for the President no matter what... there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them". That's damn near half the nation who Romney figures it's his job not to worry about while he runs for President

"I'm not concerned about the very poor".

That too was Mitt Romney speaking earlier this year, that time about people who presumably form a subset of the 47% of Americans who he thinks it is his job not to worry about. At least Romney is consistent in not worrying about tens of millions of Americans who almost certainly did not start out life with all the advantages that Mitt Romney had.

In admitting his lack of concern for the very poor, Romney justified that lack of interest in their needs by further stating; "We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it."
There Mitt Romney must be referring to all those entitlements that 47% of Americans, you know, those self identified victims, depend on. They ended up hooked on health care, food, housing, you-name-it. We all know the type; Veterans with disabilities. small children born into poverty, millions of retired folks getting by on Social Security, people whose jobs got outsourced to China when who can't find jobs paying a living wage to replace them with. Yup, the roll call of Americans who Mitt Romney knows will never take personal responsibility and care for their lives.

Somehow they all got the notion that their government is supposed to care about them. That to Romney is a problem. Their dependence on a safety net to survive is a problem, one that Romney no doubt intends to repair. You can’t depend on something that no longer is there.

The Politics of "Bring it On!"

That notorious quote from President George W. Bush continues to echo in today's Republican Party. The same macho posture, the same "our troops can handle anything the enemy throws at us, so let them try" invitation to even greater carnage. It was easy for George W. Bush to say, he sat 7,000 miles away from the action surrounded by the Secret Service

The last time I looked Mitt Romney wasn't stationed in the Middle East either. Nor does he have children stationed there. Nor does he work for an airline that flies there, or even an Oil Company that works there. For all of his devotion to the Mormon Church, Mitt Romney doesn't toil for Christ as a missionary in Africa, and he isn't an aid worker there either, feeding and caring for families at risk of dying from malnutrition.

No, Mitt Romney is safe here inside America, running for President of the United States. He isn't in physical danger when passions surge over religious issues in Africa or the Mideast. He can afford to act tough and try to score political points against the President while American lives are at risk. Because his isn't. It's only those who find themselves in harms way who have anything to worry about. The troops Romney so conspicuously failed to mention during his acceptance speech, for example, and our diplomatic personnel who risk their lives daily serving American interests in the four corners of the world. Yes Republicans love the military. It’s just the soldiers they can't bring themselves to support.

Does Mitt Romney condone hate speech against other religions? Does he favor sticking it to people of a faith that is not his own? That might explain his defiant rejection of any attempt to calm the waters as mere "sympathy for terrorists". Perhaps that is it. It's more likely though that Romney is just a politician trolling for votes during an election campaign, indifferent to the fate of innocent lives that his crass bravado puts at greater risk.

“More Of The Same” With Obama

Politicians spit it out like an epithet; “only more of the same!” As if that’s always the worst option possible, give us anything but more of the same. Democrats and Republicans instinctively belittle the day when nothing new is offered beyond the oft ridiculed more of the same. Except when times are good of course. When times are good the temptation sets in to change absolutely nothing, not even your jersey if you’re a baseball pitcher on a winning streak. Keep a good thing going and don’t tinker with success. Politics flickers like a bad fluorescent light bulb; change, freeze, change, freeze. What gets lost in the strobe lights is usually common sense.

We know better in our own lives, at least most of us do. Our personal decisions are less mechanical. Just because drinking that first vodka and tonic brought about generally desirable results is no reason to assume that drinking a second, third, or fourth one will do the same. Most of us resist that blind assumption. Common sense and experience kick in instead. Likewise with life’s adversities. You start running a high fever so you see the Doctor. She says you have a bad infection and prescribes antibiotics as a treatment. You go home and take a full dose but still feel absolutely awful. Same thing happens in the morning: Little or no improvement. What do you do that evening? You go for more of the same.

It is the nature of calamities that destruction comes in s relative blink of an eye, while recovery can seem to drag on for eternity. An assassin nearly took Gabby Giffords life. The world she knew was obliterated in an instant. It required drastic action to save her, but there was no rapid way to restore her health. Gabby is an inspiration and an American hero. Everyday she faces more of the same; more stressful physical therapy, more frustrating mental exercises. Over and over the prescription essentially remains the same, because slow as it may be, that is the best route to her recovery.

We have all been schooled well about the weather. We know the difference between a category one, two, or three storm. Hurricane Cindy struck Louisiana during the same year that Hurricane Katrina did. Recovery from the former was rapid, not so the latter. Americans understand that not all hurricanes are the same. Neither are recessions. Over the past hundred years the United States has experienced numerous recessions, but only one was a category 5, and that was The Great Depression. Recovery from that one dragged on for nearly a decade, and many believe it would have taken even longer had it not been for World War II.

The Recession that President Obama inherited the first day he stepped into the oval office might not have clocked in then as a category 5, but it certainly rated a high category 4, the deadliest economic storm our nation has faced since the 1930’s. When Hurricane Cindy first struck Louisiana in July 2005 it was initially categorized as a Tropical Storm, but was later upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane in the post-storm analysis. Something similar happened with The Great Recession.

While President Obama fought to prevent an economic slide into a second Great Depression, he assured America that we could turn adversity around; that our worst fears would be averted, and that strength would be restored to America’s economy. As FDR once famously stated, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself”, and Barack Obama worked hard to resstore consumer confidence in the American economy by proclaiming his own confidence in America’s future. He staked his political reputation on an economic recovery, and we are in one today.

Our recovery is slower than the President initially forcast, but it turns out that the recession itself was far worse than how experts were characterizing it when Obama actually made his recovery projections. That fact was revealed in revised figures documenting the actual GDP loss during the recession that were retroactively released by the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis:

“The overall pattern of quarterly changes during the downturn was similar in both the revised and previously published estimates, though the revised estimates show larger decreases for 2008:Q4 (-8.9 percent compared with -6.8 percent) and for 2009:Q1 (-6.7 percent compared with -4.9 percent).”
http://www.bea.gov/faq/index.cfm?faq_id=1004

Americans love Super Glue and Duct Tape, but there isn’t always a quick fix for every problem. Some solutions play out over time, and require perseverance to achieve. Sometimes it takes more of the same. Sometimes it even takes four more years. One thing though is certain. No disaster victim is ever well served by sending them back to a disaster zone. Wrong policies caused our economy to crash in 2008. Restoring those who advocated them to power in Washington would be a change from “more of the same”. It would be more of what caused the disaster in the first place.

This Democratic Convention has a Lord of The Rings feel for me

Emotionally, that's what just came up for me, with the emphasis on Part 3 "The Return of the King", and no I'm not making a specific reference to Bill Clinton here. I'm not tempted to assign direct character comparisons to actual real Democrats- with one possible exception.

There is something about Chris Mathews that is reminding me of the Dwarf; Gimli son of Glóin. It's the way Mathews has seemed transformed during both parties national conventions; from a grumpy one step removed commentator whose glory days were in the past, into a happy warrior with renewed purpose youth and vigor. It's become politics with conviction for a cause that he believes in again for Mathews, not just a game of Hardball.

But it is the feeling present at the Democratic National Convention that is evoking the Lord of The Rings trilogy for me - not similarities with a specific cast of characters. There is just something epic in the air, the struggle is joined, the outcome is momentous. The days of sleep walking are over; the days of shirking from conflict are passed. An ancient coalition, ragged from years of distrust and neglect, is reassembling for battle. The Elves are reengaged, Gondor is rising again. You can feel it in the crowd at the Democratic Convention. We can feel it in ourselves. Finally we confront the Right head on, in a fight for America's future.

There is a bigger than life feeling to what we are witnessing now. But that is what life feels like when, animated by core principles, we take on a battle with life or death implications for millions.

Some headers are priceless: "Purses that Cost More Than A House".

It's hard to come up with a populist political statement that even approaches the punch that this teaser for a empty calories video found on Yahoo carries. Purses that cost more than a house; when millions of Americans have recently lost their homes to foreclosures, and millions more have been living on the streets for years. We all know there are Super Rich people in the world. Usually we are numbed to what that means, but it's hard to avoid the implications here. The video itself is drivel but it does name drop a little if that type of thing interests you. Here is the full "text" for the story:


Most Expensive Handbags: Did you know that one purse can cost as much as a house?
Fri, Aug 31, 2012 - Who Knew? 2:02 | 376,933 views

Hobbies can be pricey, especially if you are into collecting expensive, luxury handbags. The most costly purses are covered in diamonds and are in fact a rarity. Check out some of the most exorbitant handbags and the celebrities who own them.
http://news.yahoo.com/who-knew/most-expensive-handbags-did-you-know-that-one-purse-can-cost-as-much-as-a-house-30465076.html#crsl=%252Fwho-knew%252Fmost-expensive-handbags-did-you-know-that-one-purse-can-cost-as-much-as-a-house-30465076.html

America is a nation that is said to celebrate wealth - even while children starve. Speaking for myself only, I wouldn't so much mind the super wealthy spending houses for a purse if we housed the homeless first and fed the hungry children who live among us.

I know, I know, the market doesn't work that way, and government is "heavy handed". There is some truth in both those claims. But there is also something wrong about a nation that smiles while the super rich stylishly carry the equivalent of a house or two off their shoulder to a party while children starve. There just is, and most Americans in their gut know it.

Our economy, our society itself, is constructed around the premise that wealth is an incentive to productivity. OK, fine. But how much incentive do the Super Rich need to contribute to our nation's productivity? I think at the point where they start purchasing $100,000 purses the potency of that incentive has already been spent.

No one within hiking distance of the mainstream in American politics advocates putting a cap on personal fortunes. I'm not advocating that either. But there is something deeply morally repugnant about the feverish efforts on the Right to LOWER the tax rates the Super Wealthy must pay in this country, one that gives them the liberty to burn through millions on impulse purchases while fellow citizens die from lack of affordable health care.

No More Halfway Measures: The 2016 Tea Party Platform

I just stumbled upons something I wrote a while ago that seems relevent right now in this Party Convention season. It's the 2016 Tea Party Pledge to Privatize Citizenship. Originally posted on July 4th, 2011:

Today as we celebrate the American Revolution, let us look forward to future milestones of freedom, independence, and the ultimate triumph of free market forces. Once again Americans will lead the way, when the Tea Party of 2016 unveils its manifesto. The road will be long and hard and resistance will be furious, but true freedom, profound individual capitalism, will not be denied us. Here now, reconstructed from the future through the science of guided interest group polling, is the outline of our coming liberation as seen and described by the Tea
party of 2016:

The true free market solution to government tyranny and mismanagement could not be more obvious. Privatizing citizenship in one bold stroke would modernize and improve the delivery of government services far more effectively than anything another century or two of compulsory democracy could accomplish; through unfettered competition. Perhaps even more important, privatized citizenship empowers the individual to select the choice that is right for him or her self, liberating us all to seek the leaders and legal system that best meets our own unique individual needs.
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Government after all is a service; a rather unpleasant one perhaps - akin to sewage treatment or garbage removal, but a service none the less. Throughout history, when left to his own devices, Man has always chosen to be governed in some sort of manner. Some chose tyrannical despots and others chose benign despots, while a few more esoteric sorts experimented with concepts like oligarchy. But in all cases people remained free to vote with their feet - or rafts if located in places surrounded by water. Heavy handed bureaucrats had not yet invented Passports and Visas. Individuals could search for their ideal community in any social grouping holding similar enough world views so as not to kill them upon their arrival.

In recent centuries so called Democracies have come into fashion as a means to deliver government services to individuals. They co-exist today alongside a broad array of more traditional time honored government models, such as monarchies and dictatorships. To each his own, as well it should be, but is it really? Compulsory citizenship makes a total mockery of that concept. It is the well spring of all tyranny, and the reason why government is held in such poor esteem by all thinking individuals. No matter what its outer trappings, at root compulsory citizenship IS Communism. What power can an individual really hope to have have when the government owns you rather than the other way around?

The answer, our ultimate liberation, lies in privatized citizenship. If true government is a service (unlike the communism we now live under) it should be agreed upon and arranged for by both parties, through a contract stipulating the actual rights and obligations of each party to the other through that contract. Governments should compete for citizens on the open market, much like health insurance companies here do for customers today. In that way will government become more affordable and responsive to our individual needs, under the threat of losing citizens to other more competitive nation states if they should fail in that effort. Compulsory citizenship provides no incentive for governments to improve.

On the open market over time it will become clear which nation states are generally more desirable to contract for citizenship with. Some may offer special amenities, such as warm weather, or good ski slopes, that prove popular with many perspective citizens. Citizenship in those nations, all other things being equal, will rise in value which would be reflected in the cost of a citizenship contract for that country. Some liberals might cry out that its unfair for poor people to be priced out of citizenship in, for example, nations with nice beaches. By so doing they only show their own lack of understanding of the power and ingenuity of unleashed market forces.

All men may well be created equal at birth, in that we all tend to have the same number of toes and fingers, but equality ends right there as even those born with but one eye can clearly see. One need only look at the natural state. Rabbits get lots of sex but they also get eaten quickly. Birds are able to fly but they then must contend with windmills. Nature is not socialist. Everyone has a calling, everyone has a burden, no one is truly equal. Privatized citizenship embraces the natural order and by doing so enhances it, for through it all are blessed by the bedrock of true liberty: choices.

With Privatized Citizenships, even the poorest benefit from increased choices. True they might have to shop for citizenship in land locked nations, but they could seek out the one boasting native music most pleasing to their ear. And if beaches really are that important to someone on a limited budget, perhaps a discount citizenship is affordable in a nation where the King can legally claim any women for one of his wives. There might even be a country so starved for forced labor that it would pay the poor to become citizens there.

While subject to the terms of a four year citizenship contract an individual would be legally bound to the rules of that State for the duration of that contract. Those rules would all be spelled out somewhere in the citizenship contract, which could make each one a fascinating weekend read. No reason to worry whether your first born female will be thrown into a volcano to appease an angy goddess, just look under "human sacrifice" in the index before signing a contract should that be a particular concern of yours.

What of those so lacking in personal initiative that they refuse to shop for citizenship during the designated open enrollment period you ask? Or the handful of social degenerates so loathsome by nature that no nation will offer them a citizenship policy? It seems to be a curse upon humanity that in any population that aspires to generate winners some will still resort to losing. There exist tested means to deal with this contingency, where stateless individuals could still live; Refugee Camps.

Acknowledged medical and religious experts will determine what is the bare minimum needed to sustain human life, and this shall be guaranteed to all refugees, regardless of the nation of their former citizenship. Conditions in these camps may indeed be deplorable but that in turn will provide compelling market incentives for all malcontents and slothful individuals to better themselves to become eligible for citizenship in one or more nations.

With privatized citizenship for all, the world will become a continuing free market test of efficient means for governing, unearthing constantly new cost cutting and profitable methods for limiting bureaucracy while still maintaining adequate levels of social control. No longer will the most productive members of society be burdened carrying the weight of the least able among us. The introduction of citizen choice will make that a thing of the past as peer groups naturally congregate in nations most suited to their personal gifts. Innovation will flourish as elites shake off the shackles that now now bind them to meritocracy. And all of humanity will be humbled to finally witness the greatness that lies within some of us. Privatize Citizenship Now!

One Crazy Too Many

No one exactly saw it coming, not then, not there anyway. And certainly not in the person of Clint Eastwood; who is widely viewed as a relatively down to earth and thoughtful man. .But it happened on prime time with the major networks watching – the Republican Party hit its crazy limit. Too many reckless charges made for far too long; Republicans finally maxed out on over the top, and the credit voters had given them is now overextended and in the process of being revoked.

The build up was slow, and steady. Rome wasn’t burnt down in a day, but the defining moment was precise and decisive; a uniform collective “WTF?” And though, in hindsight many could see it coming, the literal moment it happened was unsettling. That charge card had been used a hundred times before; often well beyond the normal limits. Why would it stop working now? That’s how it happens though. A clerk at a check out counter apologetically looks up one day and says, “I’m sorry sir but that account has been closed.”.

The Republican Party is branded now as just a wee bit unhinged. A large segment of the American people had been doggedly resisting reaching that conclusion for several years; But the Republican Party finally breached those lingering doubts, with a spotlight focused on center stage during the climax to their National Convention.

A point comes when thin ice cracks and it cracked that night. Mitt Romney thought he could skate past the danger, but he really should have known better. There were very recent sightings of Republican crazy, most notably in the persona of “legitimate rape” Akin, who believed “good girls” could shut it down. The public was primed for a Republican defining moment at the Convention, and it came. Unfortunately for Mitt Romney, it didn't come during his speech

Republicans have an old Party with a proud tradition. Getting pegged for being loony wasn’t easily accomplished. Republicans used to be thought of as the relatively sober team in politics, to the point of seeming staid at times. Wild eyes were seen as a Democratic trait. That hasn’t been true for a long time actually but conventional wisdom resists new data. It took a lot of new data on the Republican Party to set up that empty chair defining moment.

It took Pat Robertson blaming Katrina on gays, and Sarah Palin quitting as Governor with less than half of one term served. It took a 2010 Republican Senatorial Candidate warning about “Second Amendment Remedies” while another assured us she wasn’t a witch. It took Newt Gingrich calling Barack Obama a greater threat to America than al-Qaeda and Mitt Romney resurrecting the Cold War. It took Rush Limbaugh denouncing a young law student as a slut for defending the use of Birth Control, and Donald Trump sending private investigators to Hawaii to look for the President’s fake birth certificate.

It took all that and so much more but the hits never stopped coming in today’s Republican Party. As odd as Clint Eastwood’s performance was on Friday night, the oddest part was that somehow it did not seem all that out of place there once the initial shock wore off. The delegates in fact seemed to love it. It was just another crazy moment from a Party that rather predictably excels at them. But it was one crazy too many for a lot of Americans who tuned in to see whether they can trust Mitt Romney with the Presidency. The image of his Party is now an empty chair.

Of Course the Republican Convention Helped Romney - But Not Very Much

Every major party presidential year convention advances the agenda of the party holding it - they don't spend tens of millions for nothing - the only question is; how helpful was the Republican Convention that just ended? The answer this time should be reassuring to Democrats.

The Republican convention had been hyped for weeks as the first of 4 big chances (the debates are the others), that Romney will have to seize the narrative message of the campaign, to fire up his base, and to captivate undecideds voters with his leadership and with his vision for America. Instead the Convention warmed up Romney's base, gaffes and missteps partially muddied the Republican campaign narrative (think Clint, peanut throwing attendees, and speakers who glorified themselves as examples), and undecided voters know no more details about Romney's plans to change America's direction (other than changing the occupant of the White House) than they did before the Republican Convention. In other words they still know very little about Mitt Romney's plans.

Without Romney offering a compelling vision - something more distinctive and a little more specific than essentially loving America and hating unemployment, there is no strong reason for undecided voters to vote for Mitt Romney. Republicans are hoping they will be motivated by a desire to kick out the incumbent. Perhaps they will be but Mitt Romney has been counting on that dynamic since the day he officially declared for President, and the Republican Convention has come and gone with the President barely scuffed up by the proceedings. A good case can be made the Republican rising star new VP pick, Paul Ryan, landed as many blows against himself as he did against Obama by repeatedly and flagrantly distorting the truth and getting caught doing so.

For a supposedly good businessman Mitt Romney got a rather poor return on his investment in the Republican National Convention. Now Barack Obama gets to look forward to his own 4 day infomercial broadcast from Charlotte next week. The bar has been set exceedingly low for the Democrats to do better.

Some (my) Unsolicited Advice for Democrats

Just watched Stephanie Cutter being interviewed as a Obama campaign spokesperson this morning, and she is good, very good indeed. Can't fault her in anyway for how she handled herself in that interview. That said, she kept her emphasis focused on the Republican's gender liabilities; their extreme positions on birth control and no exceptions for rape and incest for abortions etc. Yes of course we have to hammer Republicans on that front - point granted.

But I believe that ultimately we will win or lose this election over Medicare and Social Security. The Republicans know that also. For reasons I went into in another DU OP Romney essentially had to pick Paul Ryan as his running mate. After doing so his campaign lost no time going on offense (always the best defense) regarding Medicare and Social Security. Ryan no doubt will do the same tonight. Every day that Democrats don't pound home our case regarding those two popular social programs we are giving the Republicans an opening to redefine themselves as the Party fighting to defend them.

Democrats are in danger of repeating the error made in 2004 regarding John Kerry's military service and heroism. We couldn't wrap our thoughts around Republicans turning that advantage around against Kerry. It just seemed too preposterous. Factually of course it was, but politically clearly it wasn't. It's as if our side never studied how the classic "Big Lie" functions. Democrats got caught flat footed then and we are in danger of having that happen to us again today.

Once a lie has legs it is difficult to run down and corner. Social Security and Medicare are the safety net for the Middle Class. They are the main event, and the battle over which political party emerges in the public mind as the one fighting to save them will occur in the center ring. Don't count on Republicans trying to run away from that debate. They will instigate it at every opportunity and by so doing attempt to define it on their terms. Forget the conventional wisdom that Democrats are viewed as the traditional defenders of those programs. Republicans will spend a billion dollars if necessary to turn that wisdom on its head.

Remember the Purple Heart band-aids Republicans used to mock John Kerry's heroism? Prepare for claims that Democrats are offering band aid solutions to preserving Social Security and Medicare while those programs hemorrhage red ink from potentially fatal budgetary wounds; one only Republicans are willing to address with the surgery needed to save them. Democrats need to focus our fire against the Republicans on this crucial front while we still hold the higher ground. Don't be lulled into a sense of false security by the republican prior track record. Tonight the Republicans begin in earnest to define themselves as the best friends Medicare and Social Security ever had.