Inagua1970
82p106 comments posted · 1 followers · following 0
10 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Iran Passes the Point ... · 0 replies · +2 points
10 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Iran Passes the Point ... · 2 replies · 0 points
He is also wrong about the Buckley Rule, which he incorrectly restates as "conservatives should always back the most electable conservative, not the most right-wing candidate." The Buckley Rule actually posited that conservatives should support "the rightwardmost viable candidate." There is a huge difference between electable and viable. Buckley himself ran for mayor of New York knowing he was not electable. But he was viable. This is a distinction that even a faux-conservative like Tobin should be able to grasp.
10 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The Tea Party Mindset · 0 replies · +2 points
Perhaps if I had phrased it as, "the majority of people who will purchase health insurance from an Obamacare Exchange will be subsidized, then you might agree with me."
10 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The Tea Party Mindset · 2 replies · +8 points
10 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The Tea Party Mindset · 1 reply · +9 points
10 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Tea Party Despair and ... · 1 reply · +11 points
10 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The Tea Party Mindset · 3 replies · +20 points
You are correct that this is not an existential threat. It is nothing like the Great Depression, WWII, or Communism. But it is the slow acceptance of the creation of a European style welfare state, which some of us consider deeply sad. We consider it sad because we care about ordinary citizens, and we know that it is ordinary citizens who suffer the most from the low growth and high unemployment that the Welfare State produces. Surely you know that the standard of living for the average, ordinary European is far below that of the average, ordinary American. Are you willing to stand by while America moves in this direction? What, specifically, do you propose to do about the growth of the Entitlement and Regulatory State?
And, by the way, adding large numbers of low skilled workers, which is what Comprehensive Immigration Reform will do, will not help average, ordinary American citizens. Most of them do not benefit directly from cheap house cleaning, child care, or lawn maintenance. Some Americans still do these chores themselves. Do you personally know any of them?
But government policy is not the determinant factor in quality of life; human ingenuity is. And human ingenuity has given us the cheapest and best food in human history; dependable automobiles at reasonable prices; air conditioning; flat screen TVs; smart phones; good clothing at cheap prices, etc. People like Norman Borlaug and Sam Walton and many unrecognized engineers and computer geeks will continue to make life better despite our poor public policy decisions.
10 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Who Lost the Shutdown ... · 0 replies · +2 points
Nationally the Democrats will pretty much always get a solid majority consisting of 95+% of Blacks; 70+% of Hispanics; 70-ish% of Asians; 70-ish% of Jews; and 40% of White Christians.
But because many of these Democratic voters cluster together, they have a lock on only about 45% of the Congressional districts. Republicans will continue to control the House, and the Senate will see-saw.
The best the Republicans can hope to do is run some states well, which they do; and to slow the growth of the Entitlement State, which they do poorly, in part because of tacit collusion (Bush) and in part because of lack of unity (the Shutdown setback.)
Republicans will have very little input into foreign policy, although a unified objection to a nuclear Iran might exert some influence on Obama and Kerry, whose Iran actions so far frankly terrify me.
10 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Who Lost the Shutdown ... · 1 reply · +5 points
Contrast McCain's and Tobin's behavior with the Tea Party types who warned that Romney might not be the best candidate to carry an anti-Obamacare message, but worked and voted for Romney after he became the candidate.
10 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The GOP Chooses Surren... · 1 reply · +8 points
Two Congressmen, Sean Duffy and Tom Cotton basically said, in effect, "all we are asking is that Congress live under the laws it enacts for ordinary citizens, and that Congress treat ordinary citizens as it does Big Business." This message might have had a chance of gaining public support if the Republicans had all adopted it.
It was the lack of a unified message, plus the criticism without even the suggestion of an alternative policy by RINOs like Tobin that produced this defeat.