compulsory public education was conceived as a form of indoctrination and championed by folks like bismark to inculcate loyalty to the polity as a prime mover.
that's because, when so weaponized (and it inevitably will be) it does its job very well.
education is much too important to be left to the state.
When I was young and stupid, I did Teach for America. I quickly realized how corrupt public education was, and I came to the conclusion it could not be reformed. I asked to meet with the head of the district for TFA, and told him TFA was the wrong approach: schools had to be privatized. He was aghast. He couldn’t even conceive of the idea. People think public education is all that has ever been and all there can ever be. They have to wake up.
Thank you for trying, and yes, I believe you are correct. Public Education works when teachers and parents are on the same page, and the kids are healthy.
I remember in the 1990's a Harvard Professor retiring and stating that the kids graduating today from Harvard couldn't have passed the entrance exams when he started teaching.
They deconstructed the educational system in the 1970s. I was in it and witnessed it. All intentional, IMHO.
Without Wisdom, (the application of Truth with Compassion,) the People die.
It has always been so. I tremble for my Nation and the World.
We cannot even get republicans to do vouchers and school choice. And it’s not like they would reduce our taxes even if fewer people were using public schools.
We have been fortunate enough to be able to send our children to private schools. Due to an intolerable situation, we had to pull our youngest out for a year and put him into a government school, which is among the highest rated in California.
One day I picked up my son and he told me that one of the many "administrators" at his school came into his classroom with a large picture of sand dunes, presumably from the Sahara.
She (they are almost invariably all "she") proceeded to solemnly tell the class that that is what our town would look like in less than ten years if "we" didn't "do something" about "climate change".
Having inoculated my son against this nonsense, he was just amused, but he said that many, if not most, of his classmates were terrified.
One was so terrified that he ran away from school and hid in the woods until he was found by a search party.
When he returned to private school the following year, he was behind in nearly every subject and needed tutoring to catch up. Well, except in the most important subject, equity and diversity.
The government is destroying the nation, one child at a time.
Everyone is paying higher prices and more taxes on things that are valuated higher and working enough hours that they have to outsource their children's education to those playing capture the flow. Most that go to public school cannot afford private school on their own. Home schooling isn't an option if both parents are working to keep up with the fiat printing game. Sound money wehn.
My argument is that "where there is a will there is a way." Freedom and Liberty came at very dear price to many. Americans have fought and died for it by the millions. I would go join the Amish, if that's what it took!
Or simply move to New Hampshire, where freedom and education exist simultaneously, or Florida, in a conservative region.
There always are Soulutions. We just never look hard enough, IMO.
Listen to the immigrants who fled Communism for the USA.
Those are tough lives. But their children often thrived! Solutions exist. Always.
I'm speaking "tongue in cheek," about the severity of our situation.
However, if you research the health of the Amish, you realize two things--in children born in Amish families and who follow traditional lifestyles, which do NOT include vaccination, there are NO autistic children! This created a firestorm a few years ago when an intrepid reporter decided to to write a book about this interesting truth.
Secondly, the Amish do not have any of the modern diseases that we struggle with, it appears, and simply die of old age, mostly.
This should make us think a little!
I personally come from the New York settlers who built farms and homesteads in the wilderness 100s of years ago, and find life close to nature, with the ability to feed yourself and a community around you that comes together to build houses, barns and help one another not that bad an idea.
Also, I do have Christian "underpinning" and believe that reading the Bible with prayer can be beneficial.
So while I don't think everything in the Amish world is perfect, I do see some concepts that work. So no, I'm not joining any cults today.
But in the train wreck of Modernity, I wouldn't mind living next door to that one.
And if the bio-fascists cornered me with their GMO injections, and that was an option instead, I'd take the Amish as the lesser of the two evils!
I can envision 'public education' devolving into tax funded football & basketball feeder camps for the 'community's' entertainment and students' lottery aspirations--and not much else. Private sector will out compete & take over actual education, assuming logic itself isn't banned outright.
You are conflating actions with results, Ryan. Step 1 can take a very short time -- to get rid of all state run schools, education departments, subsidies, taxes to pay for it all. This can be done basically overnight, at least in gov-time.
Undoing the consequences of the gov schools, OTOH, will take a while as you correctly observe. But that is no reason to delay the implementation of step 1.
Yes we do agree on principle, as do I think a lot of our fellow Gato-heads.
As for the 16th, the best solution I know of is to replace the income tax with a national sales tax on pretty much everything, including services. The states have the infrastructure already to collect it, so the IRS could be gotten rid of. The fair tax (fairtax.org) would be a good way to go, Huckabee supported it but it has not gotten much wind behind its sails yet. Hopefully soon. Write your critters and ask them about it.
ps. Also remember that once the DNC is no longer in control, just because there is a 'budget' for something, does not mean it must be spent. There will be a lot of unspent budget appropriations, if the good guys shut down the alphabet soup agencies wholesale. And that's OK. It goes toward balancing the budget.
Increase it a factor of 1000; that would make you happy! So, you want the private corporation known as the IRS disintermediating the States in collecting direct Tax! (And in the form of an "Excise" to boot!)
Unnecessary and counterproductive. The "16th" amendment affords no new power of taxation. Just find the actual definition of "income", and restore the restriction of Excise Taxes to "uniform". Regardless what Hucksterbee support, don't need no damned "Fair Tax" (anything but fair); use the State Rate Tax; aka direct Tax. Let States collect it however they want, but lose popular Election of Senators, as that removes all constraint on federal expenditures.
You can think of it however you want. A flat rate sales/GST tax in place of the income tax gets rid of the IRS. Existing state tax authorities can collect it on behalf of the feds.
There are other significant advantages to this tax approach, one of which (and not normally mentioned) is that since it gets rid of all corporate and business taxes (only people, who can vote, are taxed), it puts US companies on an equal footing with foreign competitors, who often get tax-advantaged treatment of exports. With a sales tax, both domestic and imported products are taxed the same.
I am not in love with the name 'fair' as 'fair' is a value judgment, and people will differ on their opinions as to fairness, as your comment makes clear. But that's what they call it, fair or not.
I expect public education to collapse. Home owners can't bear the tax burden anymore. College simply doesn't present value as it once did. Inflation is a disincentive to teachers and money lenders. Colleges are losing money. Professors are increasingly poor. It could collapse dramatically or more likely it's going to peter out over the next few years. Home schools present competition to the current model.
decentralize all the data and let the kids compete outside of the constraints of these antiquated systems, tada no more tax money needed to print the same fucking books every year
it's a toss up for me, because step 1 or 1 needs to be recapturing the money/finance industry from the state. we won't ever be able to educate enough people to get them to understand.
Did someone say conflict of interest? Never forget SECDEF Austin is still holding millions in Tenet Healthcare and Raytheon stock while presiding over vaccine mandates and billions in arms shipments overseas!
My niece was a marine in the 90’s . First class in the Crucible program. She’s tough and unjabbed. Married a marine. Whole family unjabbed. We have a wimp in charge it seems. I don’t engage in MSM so have missed that telling image.
OMG I’m creeped out by this. It looks like some Star Wars expeditionary force—snd not in a good way. Does the force have to polish their clear visors too? “Sergeant-your screen has fly 🪰 specks on it”. “ Yes sir. Cleaning it now Sir. “ (No disrespect meant to the hapless soldiers—just following orders.)
Passed by Congress on May 13, 1912, and ratified on April 8, 1913, the 17th Amendment modified Article I, Section 3, of the Constitution by allowing voters to cast direct votes for U.S. senators. Prior to its passage, senators were chosen by state legislatures.
i think this is very much the case. it broke our entire form of government.
the roles delegated to the senate were designed to protect state sovereignty from federal predation. the states themselves were intended to pick people who would guard their power. moving it to direct election broke this and made federal primacy inevitable. it put the foxes in charge of henhouse security and doomed us to a deferential scotus with fools like wendell holmes who spent a century contriving convoluted pretexts to enable federal overreach and encroachment instead of resisting it.
have been meaning to write a substack in this for ages but have never quite gotten around to it.
I never thought about it like this but I think you are exactly right. States are semi-sovereign entities under the Constitution, not simply administrative divisions of the federal government. Electing Senators reduced the Senate's role to nothing more than another national politics partisan spat.
In California's early days the state senate was made up of a representative from each county. This was ruled unconstitutional as it violated equal representation (i.e. small counties had the same voice as large counties). The hard left likes to trot this out as justification for abolishing the US Senate. However, unlike the US itself, states aren't a federation of semi-sovereign counties, but counties are simply lines drawn on a map.
This entire subject of state sovereignty is fascinating and big reason the US didn't go full on authoritarian during the Covid hysteria (compared to other "democracies"). Yet it's hardly taught in government schools and most people have little to no idea how it works.
Most "schools" have long since abandoned civics and history, (as well as literacy and numeracy). As far as I can tell, curricula have devolved to diversity, marxism, and critical race theory.
Fixing the House at 435 happened about the same time. Until 2021, my 80% white, mostly Christian country was represented in Congress by a male and female Jew, the latter of long-standing. Since 2021, the county has been represented by two black men, with blacks being 16% of the total population. Obviously, all Democrats, who are the majority, though the county had a Republican executive as recently as 2018. This year one black Democrat has carpetbagged to another district, making his seat likely occupied by a white male Democrat, and the other one is fighting a primary fight against two whites who seem to have the advantage in money, as well as votes.
With about 900,000 people, it would be fair to estimate that if representation was per 100,000 people instead of 750,000, you'd have three Republican and six Democratic representatives, and real competition might spur better government. More than anything the limit on Representatives and the all-or-nothing results that it causes makes for increasingly polarized living. Eventually all the Republicans leave places they cannot compete for Congressional Representation, and the Democrats do likewise.
it can, but the cuts are going to have to run deep.
whole agencies need to be abolished.
schools must become entirely private and kids/parents given free choice.
and we probably need a constitutional convention to undo the damage to the republic.
it's definitely possible, but it will take time, pressure, and the incremental gains that beget more gains.
we just need to start the rollback and let people see how well it works.
i suspect this is why the established power is so desperate to prevent any steps away from them. but this very posture makes them increasingly vulnerable as they have to defend more and more insane ground.
Yes, I agree, in theory, if we can overcome the headwinds, this is how to approach it. But I am not sure that any of that is practically feasible given the depth of entrenchment of the interests against such actions. I don't disparage these efforts; I've not interest in the black pill. The problem that I've seen with any small rollback efforts is that the inevitable growing pains create instant tinder for the flame of demagoguery to light. I just wonder if it isn't more important to focus on the alternatives so that there is infrastructure in place when people find themselves homeless. I look around me and I see that there is tremendous *demand* for the nanny state, just only in the way that *I* want it.
Several generations have been educated to believe the government can, and should, provide safety. Younger generations have chosen security over freedom for decades, saying those exact words without hesitation. Of course, the past few years reinforced and validated that view, deepening the divide within nations.
I agree that it is almost an unfathomable task to change the course of this massive stack of rotten and corrupt agencies. Schools appear to be the most susceptible right now. There's enough publicity and apparent support on the center and right to effect some change. Possibly complete, open school choice is the best we can hope for now. It will take generations to succeed, and I'm not sure we'll make it past our other issues, but I have trouble seeing any more happen.
The problem this all faces is still the people. Take schools as an example; there are generations of parents brought up in the easy times of the safety nanny state. Yes, sure, they love their children. They want what is best; they are into the concept of raising children. But, as I've seen with friends and immediate family while raising my children, this often means defaulting to schools as babysitters and arbiters of morals. It means yelling at the principal about their precious child getting an F rather than spending hours every evening to ensure their child learns. They result being kids with no job prospects still living at home in their 20s and 30s. Literally lost generations.
Regardless, we have to push forward. We have to be clear-eyed about the obstacles. We must understand it is incremental and will take decades to reverse entirely. And we 100% have to focus on alternatives in our personal and local lives. It is incredibly encouraging to see the Stacker community grow. The University of Austin is another excellent example.
How does it do that? Under the "ranked choice" or "instant runoff" system, don't voters get the same chance to rank their preferences whether they live in high-population or low-population areas?
Yes, of course. But there are so many more voters proportionate to the geographic distribution, that they can influence the slate of candidates. One candidate per district means that each district has equal representation regardless of population size.
Look at Massachusetts. They have nine Representatives, all Democrats. I remember back in 1992 or 1994 when disgust was so high that they elected two Republicans. The state has a Republican Minority at 20%, and currently has a Republican Governor. Ranked choice might mean SOME representation for that political minority.
I live in Massachusetts. Watching ranked choice voting in Maine, it virtually assures that there will be no republican representation here. Maine used to have republicans in its very northern section. Ranked choice voting took care of that since its easier for democrats to overwhelm their system. After all if you run 3 dems and 1 republican who do you think wins? Even if the republican gets more votes (but doesn't get to 50%). It's based off of pure democracy and its mob rule...
Ah, I've confused ranked choice with district voting. Ranked choice theoretically allows minor party candidates a chance to win. You're correct about Maine.
District voting allocates nine votes, e.g., to every MA resident and then they can cast one or more votes each for the candidate of their choice.
Progressivism, perfectly encapsulated. Never forget that this is exactly who these people really are:
"We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, to prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
How much wealth accumulated through income tax versus inflation tax to the Federal Government? 16th, 17th, 18th, and Federal Reserve: thanks, Woodrow Wilson. Let's also credit him with Bolshevism, because the Germans sprung Lenin on Russia in response to his declaration of war.
Oh that is so crazy, I was JUST looking at that top chart yesterday, didn't get there from a substack but from my own research for a post for my newsletter. Dang, I love synchronicity--thanks for this link!
That was the purpose; unlimited funding for warfare, which seems to also include anything and everything else the regime want. (BTW, "income" is something of a misnomer. It was supposed to be corporate profits and a few other things like rent and lawyer profits, but the Social Security act (by implication) and the 1942 Victory Tax act converted it predominantly to wages and salaries.)
Here in NM, that would never fly (unless you're a dem). This is one of the most corrupt states in the union. Have a look at our place on education (last), number of late-term abortions (first), per capita violence (highest), etc. If there's a list of good qualities, we're at the bottom, and if the list is one of deficits, we're at the top. I wouldn't trust a member of the legislature here to flip a light switch in a beneficial fashion!
They're kinda dumb. Most of those late-term abortions are people from out of state. They throw a lot of money at the education system - more than many - but it doesn't do any good. Teachers' union, teacher shortage, and we've had some truly impressive embezzlers means that homeschooling is really your best bet here. It's the one benefit of Covid - parents now know what's going on at their kids' schools!
I respectfully disagree. There is no technical fix for what's ailing us. As Judge Learned Hand wrote:
“Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it."
I agree and disagree a bit. Wouldn't 16A take precedence? Seems like that is the catalytic event that allowed the abuse, in an indirect way, of 17A - well and just about all the other abuses of the state. At least as it relates to this posting.
Without 16A, for the most part, would've rested the power with We The People - as our Founders intended.
Maybe I'm missing something.
I'm interested to hear why abolishing the 17th is more important than the 16th?
This is why I get SO frustrated/infuriated with the ”Red Wave Will Save Us" crowd, and even the MAGA crowd. If you're still thinking of things in terms of getting my guy in charge, your failing to see the systemic illness. Your taking a Tylenol to treat a headache caused by a metastisized and growing tumor. Trump failed to drain the swamp. He just curated his own brand of swampiness (with significant overlap.) And people who said/thought that because he was so independently wealthy, he'd be unable to be swayed or manipulated by grift don't know how human nature works.
So what is your plan? Bannon is at least trying, through his Precinct Strategy. It makes sense to me, to start cleaning out at the local level. He has fascists running around with their hair on fire, because they do not want that to happen. Both parties hate him FOR A REASON. He has a plan, and people are actually getting on board with it. The Alt-Left and the RINOs have to go. They won’t go without a good mud wrestle.
If we can manage to overwhelm the ability to cheat, a Red Wave is possible. But if Republicans, Independents, and crossover Democrats use mail-in ballots (versus voting on Election Day) and vote for RINOs/GOPe, we will end up with more of the same, i.e. UniParty Senators and Representatives.
Your comments about The Swamp make me think you, just as President Trump did, underestimate the extent/power of the Deep State.
Trump (his legal team) figured out a way to give him power to fire (deep staters) people, but not until near the end of his term. Too late for then, but not in the future.
People underestimate how much a President's hands are tied. The deep state has metastisized for many decades. It's not going down in a single term. Trump figured out a lot & laid some important groundwork. And he came out still alive. That alone is a huge win.
You think it is a miracle to ensure the availability of life saving medications?
The Indian State of Utter Pradesh can do this but the President of the United States cannot?
Please.
I didn't ever say the Swamp could be drained overnight. What I did say is Trump failed in places he should not have, if he wasn't also a part of the problem.
But, I'll still take him any day over anyone other than Ron Johnson or, perhaps, DeSantis.
"Trump failed to drain the swamp. He just curated his own brand of swampiness (with significant overlap.)"
"Drain the swamp" was what Trump ran on in 2016-17 against Clinton, & refers to the massive corruption in the cia, fbi, state & justice depts. as they scrambled to hide the Clinton's illegal activities.
On his failure re: covid, people with medical degrees who passed professional medical bars were also scammed. It is very easy to distort & lie re: medical research. As I posted the other day, I don't expect a President to know medicine, any more than I would expect them to know rocket science. They have to rely on others & unfortunately, Trump had an infested pool to draw from.
Yet millions like me saw through the Covid lies. Why didn’t he? Why didn’t he just send every household Ivermectin like Mexico did? Why wasn’t Hillary prosecuted? Why on earth did he surround himself with swamp monsters? Why the millions to big Pharma when he knew there was already a safe and effective inexpensive treatment? Why did he demand the biggest spending bill in the history of this country? Why did he incentivize hospitals to diagnose everyone with Covid and murder hundreds of thousands? And John Bolton??? Sorry, while in many ways he was less evil than Biden, he does not deserve the worship his followers lavish upon him.
You would have to ask him that. I would guess he was kept very, very busy with the mess he was handed by Obama & the entire deep state trying to do him in. But that's just a guess.
Having lived thru JFK, MLK & RFK, my fear is the deep state will stop at nothing to get their way.
Eg, a lot of people aren't aware that the military wing of the deep state is currently trying to turn a Russia-protected nuclear power plant in Ukraine into a dirty bomb.
Agreed, but it is intended to be a means to an end, not a final destination. The red wave will not fix the problem, and may only slow the destruction. But hopefully it will clear the beaches for a freer nation, as long as we do our parts, stay vigilant and hold tight the reins of OUR Country.
And while not being in the president’s party may be enough to win midterm elections, it’s certainly not enough to reverse the perilous situation in which small-government libertarians find ourselves. Free speech is under attack from multiple angles, but most dangerously from the unholy alliance between government and media companies — including the social variety. We’re still coming out from year three of unprecedented covid restrictions, despite the complete failure of said restrictions to control the virus. Overwhelmingly these restrictions (and emergency powers) weren’t even properly passed via state legislatures — an attack on our democracy Republic if ever there was one. Government spending is overheating the presses and leading to massive inflation — if not the end to the dollar as the reserve currency of the world — and the only idea the ‘leaders’ have is to print and spend more. Dire straights, indeed.
However, looking up and down the 2024 GOP lineup, the sad truth is that freedom-loving ‘public servants’ are few and far between. Rand Paul took Tony Fauci out to the woodshed a couple times, but Fauci keeps spewing lies on TV and getting paid for it. Ron DeSantis ‘followed the science’ better than nearly all governors, but (to my certainly imperfect knowledge) Kristi Noem was the only governor who (correctly) proclaimed to not have the power to close your business. Ron Johnson has been holding covid hearings and allowing ignored voices to be heard. And…….that’s everybody?
And realistically, even the people I mentioned — the ‘best’ of the GOP — don’t really have a freedom-first mindset. Over time this creates a huge problem, as generally “both sides” agree that government should be DOING MORE. And while this works out great for government officials and their families, regular people are stuck paying the bill for the trillions of dollars rained down on the politically connected — who proclaim the only way to fix this problem is with government DOING MORE…..
Yup! My analysis also. But at least he did not destroy the entire United States in 2 years, a la Biden...
He did strengthen the economy. And the military WITHOUT creating more wars on our Earth.
But he rolled out the kill shot, presided over the Remdesivir and Vent lethal kill grandma for Money scheme, and did not stop the lockdowns that destroyed our independent incomes and family businesses.
With a stroke of his pen he could have made HCQ and Ivermectin available to all.
I really wish Ron Paul was 30 years younger. His son is OK but Ron was and is a true prophet of freedom and railed about the menace of state control for decades.
Freedom is popular. With decentralized media (despite the censoring), now is a great opportunity for true champions of freedom to rise up and seize the day. It is most difficult because the people that want to be left alone are less incentivized than the people that are dependent on the plunder that is generated by coercive government power. But the time is right to shed the shackles of these parasites.
We all have different goals and different perspectives on life. We all want our freedom for different things, and that’s perfectly fine! Just because I want you to have the freedom to make your own choices doesn’t mean I have to agree with the choices you make. The cause of freedom brings us together. Here’s somebody who understood this:
(Ron Paul video)
"You don’t have to compromise, what you have to do is emphasize the coalitions that want their freedoms for different reasons, and bring them together."
And that’s the key. My freedom protects you, your freedom protects me.
A perfect example of this is when CA instituted lockdown where everything was shuttered except Target, Walmart, and “essential businesses.” This effectively forced all small business owners to close and pack up. It gave preference to the big corporate stores and crushed all the rest.
Entirely ludicrous rules like outside seating for bars and restaurants…some of them complied until a new rule showed up after spending thousands to accommodate outdoor seating. For certain there was big business conflicts of interest behind the scenes.
I’m in Commifornia and it was absolutely INSANE! I feel so sorry for these business owners! What if every single one of them said “NO! I’m not closing down!” And people stood by to support them. In a perfect world. Right? The last two years made me REALLY REALIZE that I despise my government. AND I’m surrounded by Americans that have no courage, integrity or strength to fight for FREEDOM. These are not people I would want in my foxhole in war.
I'll never forget the video of the restaurant owner who built outdoor seating but wasn't allowed to use it showing the nearly identical setup 500 yards away for a movie, and it was perfectly fine because movies were essential but restaurants were restrained by bureaucrats .
"the CEO’s are not bad people, but they must respond to systemic impetus and if some will go “darkside” and seek to use the state to coerce, then a prisoner’s dilemma is created. it’s hard to compete with cheating when the refs are in on it."
To the contrary, I'd say that's the definition of bad people. People that go along with a corrupt system just because, "that's the way it is" are far more of a problem than Mafia kingpins.
On top of that, the traits currently sought in CEO's all but guarantee their ranks will be filled with sociopaths. The ruthless pursuit of a vision leaves a lot of victims in its wake yet these people are celebrated. Bancel being exhibit A.
"...The belief that order must be intentionally generated and imposed upon society by institutional authorities continues to prevail. This centrally-directed model is premised upon what F.A. Hayek called “the fatal conceit,” namely, the proposition “that man is able to shape the world according to his wishes,” or what David Ehrenfeld labeled “the arrogance of humanism.” That such practices have usually failed to produce their anticipated results has generally led not to a questioning of the model itself, but to the conclusion that failed policies have suffered only from inadequate leadership, or a lack of sufficient information, or a failure to better articulate rules. Once such deficiencies have been remedied, it has been supposed, new programs can be implemented which, reflective of this mechanistic outlook, will permit government officials to “fine tune” or “jump start” the economy, or “grow” jobs, or produce a “quick fix” for the ailing government school system. Even as modern society manifests its collapse in the form of violent crime, economic dislocation, seemingly endless warfare, inter-group hostilities, the decay of cities, a growing disaffection with institutions, and a general sense that nothing “works right” anymore, faith in the traditional model continues to drive the pyramidal systems. Most people still cling to the belief that there is something that can be done by political institutions to change such conditions: a new piece of legislation can be enacted, a judicial ruling can be ordered, or a new agency regulation can be promulgated. When a government-run program ends in disaster, the mechanistic mantra is invariably invoked: “we will find out what went wrong and fix it so that this doesn’t happen again.” That the traditional model itself, which is grounded in the state’s power to control the lives and property of individuals to desired ends, may be the principal contributor to such social disorder goes largely unexplored..."
"When a government-run program ends in disaster, the mechanistic mantra is invariably invoked: 'we will find out what went wrong and fix it so that this doesn’t happen again."'
A governement-run program is never declared a disaster, unless at least one of the two following are met:
Enough time has passed that the culprits are out of the race, or:
A new regime intends to use the failed program as a weapon against their opponents.
Otherwise, all governement programs tend to be huge successes, soon (TM) and any temporay failure only proves the need for further funding.
I wish you could. Just one example of civil service or politician in charge of some project saying outright "Well this sucks, let's not do it anymore, we done fouled up!" would be not only a little hope but also potentially a method could be gleaned from it, as to how to manuever them into realising that we don't respect or trust them less for owning their failures.
I mean, when they tout everything as a smashing hit, all us who are old enough hear is "This five-year plan was even better than the last one" meaning we know they probably fail at even more than we can find out.
“As Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher living in the fifth century B.C. once said, ‘The truth often evades being recognized due to its utter incredibility.’ So just because you cannot fathom your government having ill meanings towards you doesn’t mean it is not true.” (https://odysee.com/@VeritasIustitiaNemesi:b/VID_20211211_160736_393:a)
as soon as you allow politicians to determine what is bought and sold, the first thing bought and sold will be politicians. there is no exception to this, merely degree of egregiousness and scope of piracy as “governance.”
Yeah except she was one heckuva manipulative cult-adjacent sort of gal too. But anyway.
I mostly trust your judgment on almost everything, but CEOs have been known to pour teflon into our waterways and poison the soil for generations when nobody's watching, and I think some minimum safety regulations are necessary because the wisdom of crowds sometimes leads them to want nonstick cookware and end up inadvertently killing the birds unfortunate enough to live in cages in their parlors.
How do we keep 'em from putting the melamine in the baby formula if we don't have rules to protect against at least some of those initially invisible crimes?
If the corporation is going to do that, the first thing they will do is buy off the regulator. Now you can't sue because the melamine is within legal allowable limits.
Real enforcement comes from the market. Mostly by voting with your wallet, but also the ability to directly sue those who harmed you.
Perhaps none of us are looking at this in the complete way.
The market is often quite ignorant of what they're being offered. Those nice fiberglass curtains you ran through the family washer and now everyone is getting rashes from teeny bits of glass in their undies.
Crease-free clothes off-gassing forever in your nice closet. Smooth silky asbestos-laden talc.
There's no perfect answer. And yeah, I know minimal levels of oversight turn into--now. But the enterprising will attempt to sell anything to anyone and until we cultivate psychic abilities from birth, the average person can't be expected to be wise enough to survive in that lovely blue ocean full of sharks.
"The market is often quite ignorant of what they're being offered."
Of course -- government is supposed to handle this. Why would I worry, they're on it! In the absence of government regulators, you won't have no regulators, they will simply be private and have incentive to actually be truthful instead of rolling over for the corporations.
You're right that there's no perfect system, but I'd much rather have Consumer Reports-style companies looking out for me than the government. :/
And Consumer Reports sure ain't what they used to be.
I do feel that better living through chemistry has proven to be a serious prevarication and I wish someone had headed them off at the pass.
Anyway I'm much closer to your and gato's ways of thinking than ever I was before, though I'm a little late to the light of redemption, but I ain't yet too old to learn.
Sinclair Lewis "The Jungle". People will do all sorts of crap to make money. As someone in the food industry I think a lot of regulation is crap (I can't remember a mom and pop poisoning anyone, even the greasy diners. But I've noted quite a few chain places having regular issues). Small has something to do with it. Gary down the road selling beef is ensuring his future income by selling good product and being a good neighbor. When it is a conglomerate with a major office in china, do they GAF?
I don't want my sky to look like China's It bad enough with dickhead g@T3's poison being sprayed everywhere by the USAF, apparently
I'm pretty sure I've read accounts from as long ago as writing has been around, about bad stuff being sold as good. A certain sort of person will always attempt as much as they can get away with. We haven't managed to breed that out of the stock.
True, and I don't even think it's necessarily a bad trait. But I think part of all the general welfare stuff in the preamble might have meant that it would be expected that sausages would be free of sawdust and those who persist in cutting costs by augmenting sausage sawdust percentages should be open to legal procecution.
I'm old enough to remember when that trusted name "Beech-Nut" was selling colored sugar water labeled as baby apple juice. Imagine my naivete, that it shocked me.
On the same basis, that it cannot be successfully reformed, I’m prepared to recommend the wholesale closure of so-called “ethical pharmaceuticals”. Patent law has been vital to the rapid advancement of inventions but it’s much abused & many lately available drugs I don’t trust & don’t see have widespread application. There is a handful of genuine exceptions, such as the anti-IL-17 biological science for psoriasis, but for much of the rest, I’d rely on the prior spin offs from the patent system. The forest floor is thickly carpeted with low cost, well understood generics. Let’s reshore all of these.
This will also enable us to dispense with most medical doctors, and taking a wrecking ball to the monoculture of careless, over testing, unthinking fools, known as the national medical associations. Simplification will save a great slice of costs, reduce dangerous practises (which will reduce iatrogenic injuries & deaths (astonishingly commonplace).
To those who say “this will destroy trust in the medical system, doctors & drug companies”, I say “It’s about time”. They’re not to be trusted. Just look at them all right now.
Oh, and I’d eliminate DTC advertising, it’s a cancer.
Ps: I didn’t have a good relationship with my dad. A medical doctor who didn’t like people much, especially sick ones, he joined pharma, emigrating to the US while leaving me & my sister behind in our too young teens. I developed a retrospective grudging respect when I learned recently that he left the industry before retirement age & spent the last decade as an expert witness for drug injured patients, mostly in oral contraceptives & HRT. The lawyers liked his supercilious attitude. Looks like he discovered some inappropriate practises & wasn’t having it.
Smart Kitty, but- with Zero Government Regulations people die in droves from Arsenic and Mercury "medicines" food dipped in DDT and more Arsenic, guns that explode in your face, and cars that suddenly turn somersaults with no obstacles in the road!
Government Regulations are a neccessary evil, IMHO, but they must be written by honest and intelligent individuals, and they must be written to control Corporate, not individual behavior.
Bringing back liability law and full accountability for Malfeasance will go a long, long way to clean out the Swamp.
Ending the revolving door between industry and those tasked with regulating industry is FIRST STEP out of the darkness.
Raising the quality of education and food, meaning no more Glysophate soaked Americans, and basic biology, history, and psychology, will also go a long way to helping us claw back to dry land.
Ending the Monopolists, and Sociopaths in high places,, especially Bill Gates, Klaus Scwab, Joe Biden, Tedros, George Soros, Xi, etc., plus their WING MEN, Bezos, Zucherbucks, etc., with insatiable grabs for POWER, POWER, POWER AND MORE POWER, is absolutely required.
We need quality government regulation!
Less? Yes, for small businesses and private individuals. But for the Tech monsters, banksters, pHarma executives, and 100% lying media??
HELL NO!
We need to bring back all the Regulations designed to rein in Evil Profiteering that were created by a wiser generation post The Great Depression and destroyed piece by piece by Bought Out Politicians during the Golden Years of Greed and Graft beginning in the 1980s.
Regan gave pHarma full indemnification for all vaccine deaths and catastrophic harms in 1986, and also made companies not liable for the toxins and environmental harms their businesses created.
His administration determined that they could not be forced to pay to clean up the Catastrophes they created.
Now EPA covers for the chemical industry & FBI is the Mob enforcement for anyone getting close to exposing the corruption in our political system.
They create "terrorist" activity for the Politicians to justify their rape of our rights and civil liberties.
It was not always this way!!
I say CLEANING CORRUPTION is our #1 TASK, and high integrity individuals in government is the only way to make it happen.
And the only way to make that happen is for the PEOPLE to DEMAND IT.
Deregulation has wrought the banking crisis of 2008, and is about to blow the Entire US monetary system into a trillion tiny bits.
Indemnification for pHarma created the nightmare we now witness in human health, and freedom.
Chemical companies free pass by government allowed Glysophate to wreak another holocaust. Read Dr. STEPHANIE SENEFF, MIT PhD, if you don't comprehend me.
The laws which prevented media monopolies also was shredded, leading to the uni lying face of today.
Good Government is Priceless. As are Decent Human Beings exercising Good Judgment and Wisdom. Something AI is NOT to be trusted with!
Deregulation is just an endless free for all for the most corrupt......
Stand for the Bill of Rights and US Constitution for PEOPLE, and Regulation for soulless corporations hell bent on a "profit only" mentality.
I like that idea....Use the govt to reign in the corporations, let them have no application for SME's ..unable to make regs...get rid of foundations imho also...and hold corporations not equal to persons.
Yup - that's why it's sheer folly to try to "reform" a criminal protection racket. It must be done away with.
Step 1 is to recapture the education industry from the state...
very much so.
compulsory public education was conceived as a form of indoctrination and championed by folks like bismark to inculcate loyalty to the polity as a prime mover.
that's because, when so weaponized (and it inevitably will be) it does its job very well.
education is much too important to be left to the state.
Good education is priceless. Indoctrination is lethal.
www.johntaylorgatto.com
You're welcome
Is Gatto related to Gato??
When I was young and stupid, I did Teach for America. I quickly realized how corrupt public education was, and I came to the conclusion it could not be reformed. I asked to meet with the head of the district for TFA, and told him TFA was the wrong approach: schools had to be privatized. He was aghast. He couldn’t even conceive of the idea. People think public education is all that has ever been and all there can ever be. They have to wake up.
Thank you for trying, and yes, I believe you are correct. Public Education works when teachers and parents are on the same page, and the kids are healthy.
I remember in the 1990's a Harvard Professor retiring and stating that the kids graduating today from Harvard couldn't have passed the entrance exams when he started teaching.
They deconstructed the educational system in the 1970s. I was in it and witnessed it. All intentional, IMHO.
Without Wisdom, (the application of Truth with Compassion,) the People die.
It has always been so. I tremble for my Nation and the World.
We cannot even get republicans to do vouchers and school choice. And it’s not like they would reduce our taxes even if fewer people were using public schools.
Republicans are all mouth and no action.
BINGO!
We have been fortunate enough to be able to send our children to private schools. Due to an intolerable situation, we had to pull our youngest out for a year and put him into a government school, which is among the highest rated in California.
One day I picked up my son and he told me that one of the many "administrators" at his school came into his classroom with a large picture of sand dunes, presumably from the Sahara.
She (they are almost invariably all "she") proceeded to solemnly tell the class that that is what our town would look like in less than ten years if "we" didn't "do something" about "climate change".
Having inoculated my son against this nonsense, he was just amused, but he said that many, if not most, of his classmates were terrified.
One was so terrified that he ran away from school and hid in the woods until he was found by a search party.
When he returned to private school the following year, he was behind in nearly every subject and needed tutoring to catch up. Well, except in the most important subject, equity and diversity.
The government is destroying the nation, one child at a time.
Abolish government "education". All of it.
I agree. Educate your kids at home. Or in a private school. State run indoctrination has reached insanity in the USA.
Too many private schools just follow the leader of public school policy.
Everyone is paying higher prices and more taxes on things that are valuated higher and working enough hours that they have to outsource their children's education to those playing capture the flow. Most that go to public school cannot afford private school on their own. Home schooling isn't an option if both parents are working to keep up with the fiat printing game. Sound money wehn.
My argument is that "where there is a will there is a way." Freedom and Liberty came at very dear price to many. Americans have fought and died for it by the millions. I would go join the Amish, if that's what it took!
Or simply move to New Hampshire, where freedom and education exist simultaneously, or Florida, in a conservative region.
There always are Soulutions. We just never look hard enough, IMO.
Listen to the immigrants who fled Communism for the USA.
Those are tough lives. But their children often thrived! Solutions exist. Always.
You would go join a cult to escape a cult?
I'm speaking "tongue in cheek," about the severity of our situation.
However, if you research the health of the Amish, you realize two things--in children born in Amish families and who follow traditional lifestyles, which do NOT include vaccination, there are NO autistic children! This created a firestorm a few years ago when an intrepid reporter decided to to write a book about this interesting truth.
Secondly, the Amish do not have any of the modern diseases that we struggle with, it appears, and simply die of old age, mostly.
This should make us think a little!
I personally come from the New York settlers who built farms and homesteads in the wilderness 100s of years ago, and find life close to nature, with the ability to feed yourself and a community around you that comes together to build houses, barns and help one another not that bad an idea.
Also, I do have Christian "underpinning" and believe that reading the Bible with prayer can be beneficial.
So while I don't think everything in the Amish world is perfect, I do see some concepts that work. So no, I'm not joining any cults today.
But in the train wreck of Modernity, I wouldn't mind living next door to that one.
And if the bio-fascists cornered me with their GMO injections, and that was an option instead, I'd take the Amish as the lesser of the two evils!
Now look up genetic disorders in the Amish, too. They're a highly inbred population. There are no magic cultures living the Edenic life.
I can envision 'public education' devolving into tax funded football & basketball feeder camps for the 'community's' entertainment and students' lottery aspirations--and not much else. Private sector will out compete & take over actual education, assuming logic itself isn't banned outright.
I like you're comment.
But step 1 will take at least 2 generations to undue the harm inflicted on our country from the indoctrination of the previous 2.
IMO it's a multi-pronged asymmetrical strategy that could work more efficiently.
Just a thought.
You are conflating actions with results, Ryan. Step 1 can take a very short time -- to get rid of all state run schools, education departments, subsidies, taxes to pay for it all. This can be done basically overnight, at least in gov-time.
Undoing the consequences of the gov schools, OTOH, will take a while as you correctly observe. But that is no reason to delay the implementation of step 1.
I think we agree in principle. I don't think it can be overstated how important step 1 is.
I could argue that abolishing the 16th is the most important. Which I do on occasion. But, I know that that is not likely at this point.
I just think we are in a time sensitive period.
I want to deploy all the tools in the box...so to speak. We have to get STARTED wherever possible imo.
Schools being one of the most important steps, but perhaps the most difficult. If for no other reason, the average Joe is lazy.
Yes we do agree on principle, as do I think a lot of our fellow Gato-heads.
As for the 16th, the best solution I know of is to replace the income tax with a national sales tax on pretty much everything, including services. The states have the infrastructure already to collect it, so the IRS could be gotten rid of. The fair tax (fairtax.org) would be a good way to go, Huckabee supported it but it has not gotten much wind behind its sails yet. Hopefully soon. Write your critters and ask them about it.
I do often. Even for reps outside of FL, where I live.
I love that idea of replacing the income tax with a national sales tax on pretty much everything, including services.
I think that pragmatic and feasible.
How about the fact these rat bastards have quadrupled the "budget" for the IRS?!
ps. Also remember that once the DNC is no longer in control, just because there is a 'budget' for something, does not mean it must be spent. There will be a lot of unspent budget appropriations, if the good guys shut down the alphabet soup agencies wholesale. And that's OK. It goes toward balancing the budget.
Well, the Fair Tax allows the gov to get rid of the IRS...
Increase it a factor of 1000; that would make you happy! So, you want the private corporation known as the IRS disintermediating the States in collecting direct Tax! (And in the form of an "Excise" to boot!)
Unnecessary and counterproductive. The "16th" amendment affords no new power of taxation. Just find the actual definition of "income", and restore the restriction of Excise Taxes to "uniform". Regardless what Hucksterbee support, don't need no damned "Fair Tax" (anything but fair); use the State Rate Tax; aka direct Tax. Let States collect it however they want, but lose popular Election of Senators, as that removes all constraint on federal expenditures.
You can think of it however you want. A flat rate sales/GST tax in place of the income tax gets rid of the IRS. Existing state tax authorities can collect it on behalf of the feds.
There are other significant advantages to this tax approach, one of which (and not normally mentioned) is that since it gets rid of all corporate and business taxes (only people, who can vote, are taxed), it puts US companies on an equal footing with foreign competitors, who often get tax-advantaged treatment of exports. With a sales tax, both domestic and imported products are taxed the same.
I am not in love with the name 'fair' as 'fair' is a value judgment, and people will differ on their opinions as to fairness, as your comment makes clear. But that's what they call it, fair or not.
Yup. I'm homeschooling my son. The nonsense being taught even in the youngest grade levels is shocking. No thanks.
I expect public education to collapse. Home owners can't bear the tax burden anymore. College simply doesn't present value as it once did. Inflation is a disincentive to teachers and money lenders. Colleges are losing money. Professors are increasingly poor. It could collapse dramatically or more likely it's going to peter out over the next few years. Home schools present competition to the current model.
decentralize all the data and let the kids compete outside of the constraints of these antiquated systems, tada no more tax money needed to print the same fucking books every year
it's a toss up for me, because step 1 or 1 needs to be recapturing the money/finance industry from the state. we won't ever be able to educate enough people to get them to understand.
The key is to get started. There are dozens of ways we can dink and dunk the establishment to death.
But it has to be started.
That's why the UK is proposing a new bill that makes home schooling, new church schools and non-state directed education almost impossible.
Did someone say conflict of interest? Never forget SECDEF Austin is still holding millions in Tenet Healthcare and Raytheon stock while presiding over vaccine mandates and billions in arms shipments overseas!
Who’s that?
The honorable Lloyd Austin is the 28th and currently serving Secretary of Defense of these United States of America.
Replete with two mask a visor and gloves.
Doesn't instill much confidence in his bravery or intellect.
My niece was a marine in the 90’s . First class in the Crucible program. She’s tough and unjabbed. Married a marine. Whole family unjabbed. We have a wimp in charge it seems. I don’t engage in MSM so have missed that telling image.
Here is the image of the fit and fearless warrior ready to defend our land against foes both foreign and (especially) domestic:
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/07/30/12/46082167-9843021-Pictured_United_States_Defense_Secretary_Lloyd_Austin_seen_left_-a-62_1627644231879.jpg
Clown world.
OMG I’m creeped out by this. It looks like some Star Wars expeditionary force—snd not in a good way. Does the force have to polish their clear visors too? “Sergeant-your screen has fly 🪰 specks on it”. “ Yes sir. Cleaning it now Sir. “ (No disrespect meant to the hapless soldiers—just following orders.)
Sure. Thanks. I have enough trouble with all the alphabet disease shortcuts BTW. 🤣😁
General Patton would have a FIT! Lol! I wonder how Patton would feel about the military training of today?
I'm sure backhanded face slaps would be involved.
Ya think????
Blame is on the 17th amendment
Passed by Congress on May 13, 1912, and ratified on April 8, 1913, the 17th Amendment modified Article I, Section 3, of the Constitution by allowing voters to cast direct votes for U.S. senators. Prior to its passage, senators were chosen by state legislatures.
i think this is very much the case. it broke our entire form of government.
the roles delegated to the senate were designed to protect state sovereignty from federal predation. the states themselves were intended to pick people who would guard their power. moving it to direct election broke this and made federal primacy inevitable. it put the foxes in charge of henhouse security and doomed us to a deferential scotus with fools like wendell holmes who spent a century contriving convoluted pretexts to enable federal overreach and encroachment instead of resisting it.
have been meaning to write a substack in this for ages but have never quite gotten around to it.
I never thought about it like this but I think you are exactly right. States are semi-sovereign entities under the Constitution, not simply administrative divisions of the federal government. Electing Senators reduced the Senate's role to nothing more than another national politics partisan spat.
In California's early days the state senate was made up of a representative from each county. This was ruled unconstitutional as it violated equal representation (i.e. small counties had the same voice as large counties). The hard left likes to trot this out as justification for abolishing the US Senate. However, unlike the US itself, states aren't a federation of semi-sovereign counties, but counties are simply lines drawn on a map.
This entire subject of state sovereignty is fascinating and big reason the US didn't go full on authoritarian during the Covid hysteria (compared to other "democracies"). Yet it's hardly taught in government schools and most people have little to no idea how it works.
Most "schools" have long since abandoned civics and history, (as well as literacy and numeracy). As far as I can tell, curricula have devolved to diversity, marxism, and critical race theory.
Fixing the House at 435 happened about the same time. Until 2021, my 80% white, mostly Christian country was represented in Congress by a male and female Jew, the latter of long-standing. Since 2021, the county has been represented by two black men, with blacks being 16% of the total population. Obviously, all Democrats, who are the majority, though the county had a Republican executive as recently as 2018. This year one black Democrat has carpetbagged to another district, making his seat likely occupied by a white male Democrat, and the other one is fighting a primary fight against two whites who seem to have the advantage in money, as well as votes.
With about 900,000 people, it would be fair to estimate that if representation was per 100,000 people instead of 750,000, you'd have three Republican and six Democratic representatives, and real competition might spur better government. More than anything the limit on Representatives and the all-or-nothing results that it causes makes for increasingly polarized living. Eventually all the Republicans leave places they cannot compete for Congressional Representation, and the Democrats do likewise.
And now we have ranked choice voting and we’re teetering on national popular vote. This ship cannot be saved. But I feel a little powerless.
it can, but the cuts are going to have to run deep.
whole agencies need to be abolished.
schools must become entirely private and kids/parents given free choice.
and we probably need a constitutional convention to undo the damage to the republic.
it's definitely possible, but it will take time, pressure, and the incremental gains that beget more gains.
we just need to start the rollback and let people see how well it works.
i suspect this is why the established power is so desperate to prevent any steps away from them. but this very posture makes them increasingly vulnerable as they have to defend more and more insane ground.
Yes, I agree, in theory, if we can overcome the headwinds, this is how to approach it. But I am not sure that any of that is practically feasible given the depth of entrenchment of the interests against such actions. I don't disparage these efforts; I've not interest in the black pill. The problem that I've seen with any small rollback efforts is that the inevitable growing pains create instant tinder for the flame of demagoguery to light. I just wonder if it isn't more important to focus on the alternatives so that there is infrastructure in place when people find themselves homeless. I look around me and I see that there is tremendous *demand* for the nanny state, just only in the way that *I* want it.
Several generations have been educated to believe the government can, and should, provide safety. Younger generations have chosen security over freedom for decades, saying those exact words without hesitation. Of course, the past few years reinforced and validated that view, deepening the divide within nations.
I agree that it is almost an unfathomable task to change the course of this massive stack of rotten and corrupt agencies. Schools appear to be the most susceptible right now. There's enough publicity and apparent support on the center and right to effect some change. Possibly complete, open school choice is the best we can hope for now. It will take generations to succeed, and I'm not sure we'll make it past our other issues, but I have trouble seeing any more happen.
The problem this all faces is still the people. Take schools as an example; there are generations of parents brought up in the easy times of the safety nanny state. Yes, sure, they love their children. They want what is best; they are into the concept of raising children. But, as I've seen with friends and immediate family while raising my children, this often means defaulting to schools as babysitters and arbiters of morals. It means yelling at the principal about their precious child getting an F rather than spending hours every evening to ensure their child learns. They result being kids with no job prospects still living at home in their 20s and 30s. Literally lost generations.
Regardless, we have to push forward. We have to be clear-eyed about the obstacles. We must understand it is incremental and will take decades to reverse entirely. And we 100% have to focus on alternatives in our personal and local lives. It is incredibly encouraging to see the Stacker community grow. The University of Austin is another excellent example.
Yes. I agree. You are a pragmatist, as am I.
Asymmetric "warfare" is the key imo.
And now the states separately have no power and votes and be bought and sold ad nauseum. Passing this is when it made it "us" against "them" !
What do you think about a Constitutional Convention??
Constitutional Convention*
We're due.
article after article of "new opportunity with fiat federal $$$"
it's going to be hard for the producing people to compete with the printing press
Are you sure that ranked choice voting is a step in the wrong direction?
Yes, because it consolidates the votes in the higher population areas. It reduces representation.
How does it do that? Under the "ranked choice" or "instant runoff" system, don't voters get the same chance to rank their preferences whether they live in high-population or low-population areas?
Yes, of course. But there are so many more voters proportionate to the geographic distribution, that they can influence the slate of candidates. One candidate per district means that each district has equal representation regardless of population size.
Look at Massachusetts. They have nine Representatives, all Democrats. I remember back in 1992 or 1994 when disgust was so high that they elected two Republicans. The state has a Republican Minority at 20%, and currently has a Republican Governor. Ranked choice might mean SOME representation for that political minority.
I live in Massachusetts. Watching ranked choice voting in Maine, it virtually assures that there will be no republican representation here. Maine used to have republicans in its very northern section. Ranked choice voting took care of that since its easier for democrats to overwhelm their system. After all if you run 3 dems and 1 republican who do you think wins? Even if the republican gets more votes (but doesn't get to 50%). It's based off of pure democracy and its mob rule...
Ah, I've confused ranked choice with district voting. Ranked choice theoretically allows minor party candidates a chance to win. You're correct about Maine.
District voting allocates nine votes, e.g., to every MA resident and then they can cast one or more votes each for the candidate of their choice.
Isn’t that the latest Project Veritas sting? Murkowski is winning this way.
Progressivism, perfectly encapsulated. Never forget that this is exactly who these people really are:
"We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, to prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
~ Oliver W. Holmes
17th Amendment...
Part 1, The Solution - Deconstructing the Fourth Branch of Government
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/09/03/part-i-the-solution-deconstructing-the-fourth-branch-of-government/
Blame it on the 16th - without the Income Tax, government could never have grown as large and powerful as it is today...
How much wealth accumulated through income tax versus inflation tax to the Federal Government? 16th, 17th, 18th, and Federal Reserve: thanks, Woodrow Wilson. Let's also credit him with Bolshevism, because the Germans sprung Lenin on Russia in response to his declaration of war.
Abolish it! Step number one IMO
And Nixon and the gold standard
The day before the idea of the Tricky Dick Fiat Fix was the zenith of America imo.
I got another one for ya. Check out wtfhappenedin1971.com
Oh that is so crazy, I was JUST looking at that top chart yesterday, didn't get there from a substack but from my own research for a post for my newsletter. Dang, I love synchronicity--thanks for this link!
You're welcome. Amazing all the economic things that bit the dust once we went off the gold standard.
Did you notice in that Butler Shaffer quote I posted, that he referenced F.A. Hayek in regards to his “the fatal conceit" concept/book?
Look who's quoted at the bottom of the link you posted here!
Wow. #SimpaticoGatoHead.
Lol, nice. Truth always links together and gets stronger while lies are always disjointed and need support.
There's an argument I agree with. Starve the Hogs out!
That was the purpose; unlimited funding for warfare, which seems to also include anything and everything else the regime want. (BTW, "income" is something of a misnomer. It was supposed to be corporate profits and a few other things like rent and lawyer profits, but the Social Security act (by implication) and the 1942 Victory Tax act converted it predominantly to wages and salaries.)
Here in NM, that would never fly (unless you're a dem). This is one of the most corrupt states in the union. Have a look at our place on education (last), number of late-term abortions (first), per capita violence (highest), etc. If there's a list of good qualities, we're at the bottom, and if the list is one of deficits, we're at the top. I wouldn't trust a member of the legislature here to flip a light switch in a beneficial fashion!
I give; why can't Nuovo Mexicars decide they need an abortion until late-term?
They're kinda dumb. Most of those late-term abortions are people from out of state. They throw a lot of money at the education system - more than many - but it doesn't do any good. Teachers' union, teacher shortage, and we've had some truly impressive embezzlers means that homeschooling is really your best bet here. It's the one benefit of Covid - parents now know what's going on at their kids' schools!
I respectfully disagree. There is no technical fix for what's ailing us. As Judge Learned Hand wrote:
“Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it."
It needs to revert to original.
Interesting. I didn’t remember that
I agree and disagree a bit. Wouldn't 16A take precedence? Seems like that is the catalytic event that allowed the abuse, in an indirect way, of 17A - well and just about all the other abuses of the state. At least as it relates to this posting.
Without 16A, for the most part, would've rested the power with We The People - as our Founders intended.
Maybe I'm missing something.
I'm interested to hear why abolishing the 17th is more important than the 16th?
This is why I get SO frustrated/infuriated with the ”Red Wave Will Save Us" crowd, and even the MAGA crowd. If you're still thinking of things in terms of getting my guy in charge, your failing to see the systemic illness. Your taking a Tylenol to treat a headache caused by a metastisized and growing tumor. Trump failed to drain the swamp. He just curated his own brand of swampiness (with significant overlap.) And people who said/thought that because he was so independently wealthy, he'd be unable to be swayed or manipulated by grift don't know how human nature works.
So what is your plan? Bannon is at least trying, through his Precinct Strategy. It makes sense to me, to start cleaning out at the local level. He has fascists running around with their hair on fire, because they do not want that to happen. Both parties hate him FOR A REASON. He has a plan, and people are actually getting on board with it. The Alt-Left and the RINOs have to go. They won’t go without a good mud wrestle.
If we can manage to overwhelm the ability to cheat, a Red Wave is possible. But if Republicans, Independents, and crossover Democrats use mail-in ballots (versus voting on Election Day) and vote for RINOs/GOPe, we will end up with more of the same, i.e. UniParty Senators and Representatives.
Your comments about The Swamp make me think you, just as President Trump did, underestimate the extent/power of the Deep State.
Trump (his legal team) figured out a way to give him power to fire (deep staters) people, but not until near the end of his term. Too late for then, but not in the future.
People underestimate how much a President's hands are tied. The deep state has metastisized for many decades. It's not going down in a single term. Trump figured out a lot & laid some important groundwork. And he came out still alive. That alone is a huge win.
Stop expecting miracles.
You think it is a miracle to ensure the availability of life saving medications?
The Indian State of Utter Pradesh can do this but the President of the United States cannot?
Please.
I didn't ever say the Swamp could be drained overnight. What I did say is Trump failed in places he should not have, if he wasn't also a part of the problem.
But, I'll still take him any day over anyone other than Ron Johnson or, perhaps, DeSantis.
I didn't reply to your post.
AM Schimberg
5 hr ago
"Trump failed to drain the swamp. He just curated his own brand of swampiness (with significant overlap.)"
"Drain the swamp" was what Trump ran on in 2016-17 against Clinton, & refers to the massive corruption in the cia, fbi, state & justice depts. as they scrambled to hide the Clinton's illegal activities.
On his failure re: covid, people with medical degrees who passed professional medical bars were also scammed. It is very easy to distort & lie re: medical research. As I posted the other day, I don't expect a President to know medicine, any more than I would expect them to know rocket science. They have to rely on others & unfortunately, Trump had an infested pool to draw from.
Yet millions like me saw through the Covid lies. Why didn’t he? Why didn’t he just send every household Ivermectin like Mexico did? Why wasn’t Hillary prosecuted? Why on earth did he surround himself with swamp monsters? Why the millions to big Pharma when he knew there was already a safe and effective inexpensive treatment? Why did he demand the biggest spending bill in the history of this country? Why did he incentivize hospitals to diagnose everyone with Covid and murder hundreds of thousands? And John Bolton??? Sorry, while in many ways he was less evil than Biden, he does not deserve the worship his followers lavish upon him.
You would have to ask him that. I would guess he was kept very, very busy with the mess he was handed by Obama & the entire deep state trying to do him in. But that's just a guess.
Having lived thru JFK, MLK & RFK, my fear is the deep state will stop at nothing to get their way.
Eg, a lot of people aren't aware that the military wing of the deep state is currently trying to turn a Russia-protected nuclear power plant in Ukraine into a dirty bomb.
Agreed, but it is intended to be a means to an end, not a final destination. The red wave will not fix the problem, and may only slow the destruction. But hopefully it will clear the beaches for a freer nation, as long as we do our parts, stay vigilant and hold tight the reins of OUR Country.
And it starts at the local level. Over the last several years, I've come to find out that that may be the key to saving our Republic.
This is the way.
Well said.
You are correct. :(
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/democrats-have-gone-crazy-but-freedom
And while not being in the president’s party may be enough to win midterm elections, it’s certainly not enough to reverse the perilous situation in which small-government libertarians find ourselves. Free speech is under attack from multiple angles, but most dangerously from the unholy alliance between government and media companies — including the social variety. We’re still coming out from year three of unprecedented covid restrictions, despite the complete failure of said restrictions to control the virus. Overwhelmingly these restrictions (and emergency powers) weren’t even properly passed via state legislatures — an attack on our democracy Republic if ever there was one. Government spending is overheating the presses and leading to massive inflation — if not the end to the dollar as the reserve currency of the world — and the only idea the ‘leaders’ have is to print and spend more. Dire straights, indeed.
However, looking up and down the 2024 GOP lineup, the sad truth is that freedom-loving ‘public servants’ are few and far between. Rand Paul took Tony Fauci out to the woodshed a couple times, but Fauci keeps spewing lies on TV and getting paid for it. Ron DeSantis ‘followed the science’ better than nearly all governors, but (to my certainly imperfect knowledge) Kristi Noem was the only governor who (correctly) proclaimed to not have the power to close your business. Ron Johnson has been holding covid hearings and allowing ignored voices to be heard. And…….that’s everybody?
And realistically, even the people I mentioned — the ‘best’ of the GOP — don’t really have a freedom-first mindset. Over time this creates a huge problem, as generally “both sides” agree that government should be DOING MORE. And while this works out great for government officials and their families, regular people are stuck paying the bill for the trillions of dollars rained down on the politically connected — who proclaim the only way to fix this problem is with government DOING MORE…..
Because both "sides" are inside of the beast. We need a "side" on the out-"side".
But the moment that side gains power. It is no longer outside. I agree with Tolkien, the ring must be destroyed.
YES! You sum this up perfectly.
Amen.
Yup! My analysis also. But at least he did not destroy the entire United States in 2 years, a la Biden...
He did strengthen the economy. And the military WITHOUT creating more wars on our Earth.
But he rolled out the kill shot, presided over the Remdesivir and Vent lethal kill grandma for Money scheme, and did not stop the lockdowns that destroyed our independent incomes and family businesses.
With a stroke of his pen he could have made HCQ and Ivermectin available to all.
I think he's part of the Cabal.
Wish I didn't, but there it is.
I agree. This is like reading a book or seeing a movie with a plot twist. Everyday it’s something crazy!
I really wish Ron Paul was 30 years younger. His son is OK but Ron was and is a true prophet of freedom and railed about the menace of state control for decades.
Freedom is popular. With decentralized media (despite the censoring), now is a great opportunity for true champions of freedom to rise up and seize the day. It is most difficult because the people that want to be left alone are less incentivized than the people that are dependent on the plunder that is generated by coercive government power. But the time is right to shed the shackles of these parasites.
We need a Ron Paul type figure to lead the way.
It's all true!
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/my-freedom-protects-you-your-freedom
We all have different goals and different perspectives on life. We all want our freedom for different things, and that’s perfectly fine! Just because I want you to have the freedom to make your own choices doesn’t mean I have to agree with the choices you make. The cause of freedom brings us together. Here’s somebody who understood this:
(Ron Paul video)
"You don’t have to compromise, what you have to do is emphasize the coalitions that want their freedoms for different reasons, and bring them together."
And that’s the key. My freedom protects you, your freedom protects me.
I listen to Dr. Paul on Rumble. He knows what day it is!
Dave is missing DEI and ESG commissars to manage his diversity and carbon
The Government subsidizes anything and you get a mess.
Covid for an example.
We do not have a free market.
Regulatory agencies and corporatism is the name of the game.
I am at the moment reading the Austrian Economist Ludwick Von Mises, Human Action.
Brilliant!
Also love the Ayn Rand quote.
I love that throughout Atlas Shrugged Rand refers to politicians and bureaucrats as looters and parasites. Spot on.
The Mises Institute has some great articles! You probably already subscribe.
A perfect example of this is when CA instituted lockdown where everything was shuttered except Target, Walmart, and “essential businesses.” This effectively forced all small business owners to close and pack up. It gave preference to the big corporate stores and crushed all the rest.
Entirely ludicrous rules like outside seating for bars and restaurants…some of them complied until a new rule showed up after spending thousands to accommodate outdoor seating. For certain there was big business conflicts of interest behind the scenes.
I’m in Commifornia and it was absolutely INSANE! I feel so sorry for these business owners! What if every single one of them said “NO! I’m not closing down!” And people stood by to support them. In a perfect world. Right? The last two years made me REALLY REALIZE that I despise my government. AND I’m surrounded by Americans that have no courage, integrity or strength to fight for FREEDOM. These are not people I would want in my foxhole in war.
I'll never forget the video of the restaurant owner who built outdoor seating but wasn't allowed to use it showing the nearly identical setup 500 yards away for a movie, and it was perfectly fine because movies were essential but restaurants were restrained by bureaucrats .
"the CEO’s are not bad people, but they must respond to systemic impetus and if some will go “darkside” and seek to use the state to coerce, then a prisoner’s dilemma is created. it’s hard to compete with cheating when the refs are in on it."
To the contrary, I'd say that's the definition of bad people. People that go along with a corrupt system just because, "that's the way it is" are far more of a problem than Mafia kingpins.
On top of that, the traits currently sought in CEO's all but guarantee their ranks will be filled with sociopaths. The ruthless pursuit of a vision leaves a lot of victims in its wake yet these people are celebrated. Bancel being exhibit A.
yeah, not bad people at all..
how about their lawyers? you heard how Pfizer's lawyers are defending them in court?
"Ok... well yes, our clients did fraud, but its OK cause the govt knew about it...." .
psychopats every last one of em
"...The belief that order must be intentionally generated and imposed upon society by institutional authorities continues to prevail. This centrally-directed model is premised upon what F.A. Hayek called “the fatal conceit,” namely, the proposition “that man is able to shape the world according to his wishes,” or what David Ehrenfeld labeled “the arrogance of humanism.” That such practices have usually failed to produce their anticipated results has generally led not to a questioning of the model itself, but to the conclusion that failed policies have suffered only from inadequate leadership, or a lack of sufficient information, or a failure to better articulate rules. Once such deficiencies have been remedied, it has been supposed, new programs can be implemented which, reflective of this mechanistic outlook, will permit government officials to “fine tune” or “jump start” the economy, or “grow” jobs, or produce a “quick fix” for the ailing government school system. Even as modern society manifests its collapse in the form of violent crime, economic dislocation, seemingly endless warfare, inter-group hostilities, the decay of cities, a growing disaffection with institutions, and a general sense that nothing “works right” anymore, faith in the traditional model continues to drive the pyramidal systems. Most people still cling to the belief that there is something that can be done by political institutions to change such conditions: a new piece of legislation can be enacted, a judicial ruling can be ordered, or a new agency regulation can be promulgated. When a government-run program ends in disaster, the mechanistic mantra is invariably invoked: “we will find out what went wrong and fix it so that this doesn’t happen again.” That the traditional model itself, which is grounded in the state’s power to control the lives and property of individuals to desired ends, may be the principal contributor to such social disorder goes largely unexplored..."
-Butler Shaffer
This is where Shaffer is wrong:
"When a government-run program ends in disaster, the mechanistic mantra is invariably invoked: 'we will find out what went wrong and fix it so that this doesn’t happen again."'
A governement-run program is never declared a disaster, unless at least one of the two following are met:
Enough time has passed that the culprits are out of the race, or:
A new regime intends to use the failed program as a weapon against their opponents.
Otherwise, all governement programs tend to be huge successes, soon (TM) and any temporay failure only proves the need for further funding.
What, me jaded?
If the program didn't work, it needs more money.
If the program DID work, it needs more money!
Lol!!!
BTW. I agree with your post. Not just your last sentence.
Well I can't disagree with that
I wish you could. Just one example of civil service or politician in charge of some project saying outright "Well this sucks, let's not do it anymore, we done fouled up!" would be not only a little hope but also potentially a method could be gleaned from it, as to how to manuever them into realising that we don't respect or trust them less for owning their failures.
I mean, when they tout everything as a smashing hit, all us who are old enough hear is "This five-year plan was even better than the last one" meaning we know they probably fail at even more than we can find out.
And that's bad.
they're going to outdo Solyndra 10x and nobody even cares :D
See also Thomas Sowell, The Vision of the Anointed.
I adore Thomas Sowell!
I have. One of my favorites.
Should be required reading for this Stack.
Not that I like requirements...but for opening eyes
I've read your comments on many stacks. You're obviously well read and intelligent. I enjoy your comments.
I always try to mention connected writing since you never know who may read our comments and find something new.
And Shaffer is new to me, so thanks. I have some new required reading, lol.
Have you read, "Mistakes Were Made, But Not By Me." ? If not, I think you'd enjoy it.
Don -
I picked this book up this afternoon. I'm 20 pages in.
What a fantastic recommendation.
Glad you like it.
Thank you.
I haven't. But now I will.
Thanks for the recommendation!
Shaffer is still my intellectual hero. Such a great thinker and communicator. Boundaries of Order is a great read.
Your opening paragraph reminded me of this fierce speech by bona fide Badass German (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/are-you-a-good-german-or-a-badass) Christine Anderson:
“As Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher living in the fifth century B.C. once said, ‘The truth often evades being recognized due to its utter incredibility.’ So just because you cannot fathom your government having ill meanings towards you doesn’t mean it is not true.” (https://odysee.com/@VeritasIustitiaNemesi:b/VID_20211211_160736_393:a)
“We need a change. So the shitstem we got to rearrange.” - Peter Tosh
Nice!
and so once more we return to gato’s first law™
as soon as you allow politicians to determine what is bought and sold, the first thing bought and sold will be politicians. there is no exception to this, merely degree of egregiousness and scope of piracy as “governance.”
#FollowTheMoney
Yeah except she was one heckuva manipulative cult-adjacent sort of gal too. But anyway.
I mostly trust your judgment on almost everything, but CEOs have been known to pour teflon into our waterways and poison the soil for generations when nobody's watching, and I think some minimum safety regulations are necessary because the wisdom of crowds sometimes leads them to want nonstick cookware and end up inadvertently killing the birds unfortunate enough to live in cages in their parlors.
How do we keep 'em from putting the melamine in the baby formula if we don't have rules to protect against at least some of those initially invisible crimes?
You're looking at this the wrong way.
If the corporation is going to do that, the first thing they will do is buy off the regulator. Now you can't sue because the melamine is within legal allowable limits.
Real enforcement comes from the market. Mostly by voting with your wallet, but also the ability to directly sue those who harmed you.
Perhaps none of us are looking at this in the complete way.
The market is often quite ignorant of what they're being offered. Those nice fiberglass curtains you ran through the family washer and now everyone is getting rashes from teeny bits of glass in their undies.
Crease-free clothes off-gassing forever in your nice closet. Smooth silky asbestos-laden talc.
There's no perfect answer. And yeah, I know minimal levels of oversight turn into--now. But the enterprising will attempt to sell anything to anyone and until we cultivate psychic abilities from birth, the average person can't be expected to be wise enough to survive in that lovely blue ocean full of sharks.
"The market is often quite ignorant of what they're being offered."
Of course -- government is supposed to handle this. Why would I worry, they're on it! In the absence of government regulators, you won't have no regulators, they will simply be private and have incentive to actually be truthful instead of rolling over for the corporations.
You're right that there's no perfect system, but I'd much rather have Consumer Reports-style companies looking out for me than the government. :/
And Consumer Reports sure ain't what they used to be.
I do feel that better living through chemistry has proven to be a serious prevarication and I wish someone had headed them off at the pass.
Anyway I'm much closer to your and gato's ways of thinking than ever I was before, though I'm a little late to the light of redemption, but I ain't yet too old to learn.
Sinclair Lewis "The Jungle". People will do all sorts of crap to make money. As someone in the food industry I think a lot of regulation is crap (I can't remember a mom and pop poisoning anyone, even the greasy diners. But I've noted quite a few chain places having regular issues). Small has something to do with it. Gary down the road selling beef is ensuring his future income by selling good product and being a good neighbor. When it is a conglomerate with a major office in china, do they GAF?
I don't want my sky to look like China's It bad enough with dickhead g@T3's poison being sprayed everywhere by the USAF, apparently
Yes this is true. Or mostly.
I'm pretty sure I've read accounts from as long ago as writing has been around, about bad stuff being sold as good. A certain sort of person will always attempt as much as they can get away with. We haven't managed to breed that out of the stock.
True, and I don't even think it's necessarily a bad trait. But I think part of all the general welfare stuff in the preamble might have meant that it would be expected that sausages would be free of sawdust and those who persist in cutting costs by augmenting sausage sawdust percentages should be open to legal procecution.
“Love Canal”…and I’m sure there are many more examples. So underhanded.
I'm old enough to remember when that trusted name "Beech-Nut" was selling colored sugar water labeled as baby apple juice. Imagine my naivete, that it shocked me.
THIS is the change we are looking for.
One of your best!!
On the same basis, that it cannot be successfully reformed, I’m prepared to recommend the wholesale closure of so-called “ethical pharmaceuticals”. Patent law has been vital to the rapid advancement of inventions but it’s much abused & many lately available drugs I don’t trust & don’t see have widespread application. There is a handful of genuine exceptions, such as the anti-IL-17 biological science for psoriasis, but for much of the rest, I’d rely on the prior spin offs from the patent system. The forest floor is thickly carpeted with low cost, well understood generics. Let’s reshore all of these.
This will also enable us to dispense with most medical doctors, and taking a wrecking ball to the monoculture of careless, over testing, unthinking fools, known as the national medical associations. Simplification will save a great slice of costs, reduce dangerous practises (which will reduce iatrogenic injuries & deaths (astonishingly commonplace).
To those who say “this will destroy trust in the medical system, doctors & drug companies”, I say “It’s about time”. They’re not to be trusted. Just look at them all right now.
Oh, and I’d eliminate DTC advertising, it’s a cancer.
Ps: I didn’t have a good relationship with my dad. A medical doctor who didn’t like people much, especially sick ones, he joined pharma, emigrating to the US while leaving me & my sister behind in our too young teens. I developed a retrospective grudging respect when I learned recently that he left the industry before retirement age & spent the last decade as an expert witness for drug injured patients, mostly in oral contraceptives & HRT. The lawyers liked his supercilious attitude. Looks like he discovered some inappropriate practises & wasn’t having it.
Powerful, Dr Yeadon. Couldn't agree more (objectively) with most that you stated.
Interesting about your father.
Smart Kitty, but- with Zero Government Regulations people die in droves from Arsenic and Mercury "medicines" food dipped in DDT and more Arsenic, guns that explode in your face, and cars that suddenly turn somersaults with no obstacles in the road!
Government Regulations are a neccessary evil, IMHO, but they must be written by honest and intelligent individuals, and they must be written to control Corporate, not individual behavior.
Bringing back liability law and full accountability for Malfeasance will go a long, long way to clean out the Swamp.
Ending the revolving door between industry and those tasked with regulating industry is FIRST STEP out of the darkness.
Raising the quality of education and food, meaning no more Glysophate soaked Americans, and basic biology, history, and psychology, will also go a long way to helping us claw back to dry land.
Ending the Monopolists, and Sociopaths in high places,, especially Bill Gates, Klaus Scwab, Joe Biden, Tedros, George Soros, Xi, etc., plus their WING MEN, Bezos, Zucherbucks, etc., with insatiable grabs for POWER, POWER, POWER AND MORE POWER, is absolutely required.
We need quality government regulation!
Less? Yes, for small businesses and private individuals. But for the Tech monsters, banksters, pHarma executives, and 100% lying media??
HELL NO!
We need to bring back all the Regulations designed to rein in Evil Profiteering that were created by a wiser generation post The Great Depression and destroyed piece by piece by Bought Out Politicians during the Golden Years of Greed and Graft beginning in the 1980s.
Regan gave pHarma full indemnification for all vaccine deaths and catastrophic harms in 1986, and also made companies not liable for the toxins and environmental harms their businesses created.
His administration determined that they could not be forced to pay to clean up the Catastrophes they created.
Now EPA covers for the chemical industry & FBI is the Mob enforcement for anyone getting close to exposing the corruption in our political system.
They create "terrorist" activity for the Politicians to justify their rape of our rights and civil liberties.
It was not always this way!!
I say CLEANING CORRUPTION is our #1 TASK, and high integrity individuals in government is the only way to make it happen.
And the only way to make that happen is for the PEOPLE to DEMAND IT.
Deregulation has wrought the banking crisis of 2008, and is about to blow the Entire US monetary system into a trillion tiny bits.
Indemnification for pHarma created the nightmare we now witness in human health, and freedom.
Chemical companies free pass by government allowed Glysophate to wreak another holocaust. Read Dr. STEPHANIE SENEFF, MIT PhD, if you don't comprehend me.
The laws which prevented media monopolies also was shredded, leading to the uni lying face of today.
Good Government is Priceless. As are Decent Human Beings exercising Good Judgment and Wisdom. Something AI is NOT to be trusted with!
Deregulation is just an endless free for all for the most corrupt......
Stand for the Bill of Rights and US Constitution for PEOPLE, and Regulation for soulless corporations hell bent on a "profit only" mentality.
I like that idea....Use the govt to reign in the corporations, let them have no application for SME's ..unable to make regs...get rid of foundations imho also...and hold corporations not equal to persons.