In his latest post The Rise of the Paulistas, Booman wrote:
Ron Paul and his son Rand are clearly insane…
Hmmmm…
This sounds familiar.
Oh yes…I remember now. The last Republican primary campaign.
Non-personing those who seriously threaten the primacy of the PermaGov.
Assassination by media, essentially. So much less messy than old-fashioned wetwork, don’tcha know.
Lemme see…
A working definition of “insanity?”
OK…how’s this one?
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.-Albert Einstein
There is essentially no difference whatsoever in the economic imperialist strategic aims of the Clinton, Bush and Obama regimes. The only differences have been in the tactics used to achieve those aims and the effectiveness and efficiency…read “native intelligence,” basically…of the people tasked with carrying out those aims.
Read on.
There used to be an old beatnik joke that went like this:
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A beatnik was arrested for creating a disturbance in a restaurant. His crime? He wouldn’t stop snapping his fingers like he was listening to music. The police told him to stop and he wouldn’t, so they arrested him. He still wouldn’t stop when he was in custody, and after a couple of days he was referred to a psychiatrist.
Psychiatrist: Well, Maynard…can you tell me why you won’t stop snapping your fingers?
Maynard: Yeah, baby, I can tell you.
Psychiatrist: Ok…tell me.
Maynard: I’m keeping the elephants away.
Psychiatrist: Oh. And you think that’s working well, do you?
Maynard: Uhhh…look around,man. You see any elephants anywheres near here?
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Now the act that the beatnik is performing in this little story could be different…he could be clucking his tongue or flapping his arms…but the point would remain the same. The absence of elephants…the point of his act…has nothing whatsoever to do with his finger snapping. In point of fact what he was doing was only creating enmity among the people who were subjected to it…a much more dangerous problem than imagined elephants could ever be.
So too with the last three PermaGov regimes. While they seem to have been taking different tacks in their foreign policies…more or less violent, more or less technologically oriented, more or less bone-deep stupid, etc…the fact of the matter is that they have all been dedicated to preserving the exceptionalism (economically speaking) of the United States by militarily-enforced means. In the process of maintaining this policy the enmity caused by these actions has continued to ramp up at a geometric rate. One killing creates two enemies or more, two killings create four or more, etc. And this geometric progression (along with the trillions of dollars that have been spent running the military mechanism that continues to enforce those tactical decisions) has in turn pretty well broken the U.S. economy while the media pressure that is necessary to keep the U.S. population in a state of near catatonia regarding what is really going on has thoroughly tanked much of the country’s culture.
And here Booman and the rest of the PermaGov-dominated media are, snapping their fingers once again at someone who has actually stood up and opposed the situation as it stands today.
“SNAP!!!” He crazy!!! Jes’ like his daddy!!!
I am not necessarily a fan of Rand Paul…I don’t think that he can win the nomination let alone the presidency because he’s not telegenic enough, just for starters…but the points that he made in this filibuster?
Valid like a motherfucker, Booman.
Valid like a motherfucker.
Watch. (I can’t seem to embed this…it’s a short video excerpt from the Washington Post. Watch it.)
1-Barack Obama of 2007 would be right down here with me, Paul said at one point.
From the LA Times transcript of Paul’s filibuster:
Certain things rise above partisanship. And I think your right to be secure in your person, the right to be secure in your liberty, the right to be tried by a jury of your peers – these are things that are so important and rise to such a level that we shouldn’t give up on them easily. And I don’t see this battle as a partisan battle at all of the…I don’t see this as Republicans versus Democrats. I would be here if there were a Republican President doing this. And really, the great irony of this is that President Obama’s position on this is an extension of George Bush’s opinion. It basically is a continuation and an expansion of George Bush’s opinion. George Bush was a President who believed in a very expansive power. Virtually, some would say, unlimited. He was accused of running an imperial Presidency. The irony is that this President that we have currently was elected in opposition to that. This President was one elected who when he was in this [Senate] was often very vocal at saying that the President’s powers were limited.
—snip—
But when the question came up about going to war in Libya, there was the question of, doesn’t the Constitution say that you have to declare war? And so we looked back through some of the President’s writings as a candidate.
One of the President’s writings I found very instructive and I was quite proud of him for having said it, the President said that no President shall unilaterally go to war without the authority of Congress unless there is an imminent threat to the country. I guess we should be a little wary of this…now since we know imminent doesn’t have to be immediate and imminent no longer means what humans once thought imminent meant. But he did say that the President doesn’t go to war by himself. I think it would be fair to say that candidate Obama also felt that the President didn’t have the authority to imprison you indefinitely without a trial. I think it’s also safe to say that Barack Obama of 2007 would be right down here with me arguing against this drone strike program if he were in the Senate. It amazes and disappoints me how much he has actually changed from what he once stood for. But I forced a vote on his words. I took his exact words, we quoted them and put them up on a standard next to me and we voted on a Sense of the Senate that said no President should go to war without the authority of Congress. Which basically just restates the Constitution. You would think that would be a pretty easy vote for people. I think it got less than 20 votes. That is a sad state of affairs we’re in. Now some who probably actually believed that refused to vote for it because they said well, he is a Republican and I won’t vote with a Republican. But I honestly tell you, were the shoe on the other foot – were there a Republican President here and I a Republican senator – I would have exactly the same opinion. My opinion today on drone strikes would be exactly the same opinion under George Bush, and I was critical of George Bush as well. So were there a Republican President now, I would have the same instinct and the same resolution to carry this forward. And on the issue of war, it’s the same no matter which President.
Right on the money, Booman.
Right on it.
The question of “Republicans and Democrats” has fallen completely by the wayside now, and unless the media can further fog up this issue it is going to grow. Watch. It’s now “PermaGov”…yes, it’s McCain and McConnell standing right with Obama and Reid here, the designated tomato can party upholding the champ’s right to rule any which way he chooses to do so ‘cuz he won the fix…it’s PermaGov vs. non-PermaGov.
Watch. All of the finger snapping in the world will not hold up this house of cards in which we have been living for going on 50+ years, Booman. Only real change will do.
Watch.
Right-thinking Dems are going to start to defect.
Watch.
You done been sold a bill of goods.
WTFU
Watch.
Later…
AG
