Category Archives: Democracy

Before the First Debate

Aside

BEFORE THE FIRST DEBATE:  After tonight’s domestic-policy debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the outcome of the November election will be settled. That’s what I’m thinking. Romney’s ace has always been the economy,  but a growing consensus says things are improving. If Mr. Romney can’t find a way to break that mildly optimistic economic consensus tonight, he’s done.  — John

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A Brief History of (Re)Distribution

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(Re)distribution.

Mitt Romney is willing to go straight to the heart of issues that politicians usually avoid. Whether you agree or disagree with him, he’s helping us understand.

Economics is the study of the distribution of scarce resources. (I think that’s a valid statement.)

Isn’t it always about distribution?

Isn’t all of history about distribution? The distribution of scarce resources, of wealth, of power. Who owns what? Who has a right to what?

Aren’t most wars fought to redistribute land, wealth, and power? Land and the resources on or under the land are the fundamental scarce resources.

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Mitt Romney’s Economic Divide, Part 2. Lash Yourself to An Oar.

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We used to have the upper class, middle class, lower class, working class. Most of us in America pretended that class wasn’t an issue.

Retired folks living on Social Security and pensions were in a separate category. As elders and retired, they were deemed “entitled” (gasp) to the Social Security and pensions they received. They had, after all, worked long and hard to earn those Social Security and pension checks.   Continue reading →

Mitt Romney Clarifies the Economic Divide in America

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Mitt Romney is to be commended for finally bringing into focus the economic divide emerging in America.

Mitt Romney Steve Pearce event 057

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the Winner’s Camp are people who own and control the wealth. It starts with the very richest, a tiny sliver at the top, less than one percent.  This camp also includes the affluent classes, the bankers, accountants, lawyers, executives, innovators and politicians who preside over the modern economy. They provide the brainpower to monitor, preserve, and increase the wealth.

You also find in the Winner’s Camp a large number of people who are crucial for the operation of the economy.

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Austerity Is A Lead Brick in Elections

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Takeaways from the provincial election in Quebec last week, in which the separatist Parti Québécois ousted the Liberal Party from control of the Quebec government:

  1. Voters don’t like “Austerity.” Not in Europe, and not in North America.
  2. If  there’s some friction or resentment along generational lines, the cost of college education might be a flash point, both in Europe and in North America.

You could see Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for president, distancing himself from the dreaded Austerity on Sunday, Continue reading →

Student Protest Against Tuition Hikes Helps Bring Parti Quebecois to Power in Quebec

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Remember the “Arab Spring?”

In Canada, something has just occurred  that might qualify as the “Quebec Summer.” South of the border, the U.S. media is totally unaware.

Seems the Quebec provincial government, run by the Liberal Party, imposed a huge tuition increase on college students. I know next to nothing about Canadian politics, but it would appear that the tuition increase was a foolhardy and arrogant decision. The right to a college education has long been a cause celebre in Quebec, a French province in an otherwise English-speaking country. You might say the right to a college education is a cause with “class” overtones. I recommend an analysis by Richard Seymour, “Quebec’s students provide a lesson in protest politics,” in today’s UK Guardian.

Quebec students, having a long history of organizing and protest,

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Parti Quebecois Wins Election in Quebec

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UPDATE QUEBEC: One man was killed and another injured in a shooting outside a victory celebration for Pauline Marois, the Associated Press is reporting. Ms. Marois, leader of Parti Quebecois, was not injured. Police arrested a 62-year-old businessman, who will be charged today.

The MSM is definitely irrelevant!

They held an election in Quebec this week, and the Parti Quebecois won with 33 percent of the vote, enough to form a coalition government and run the province. The only reason I know all this is because of a post and a thread of comments on Clarissa’s Blog. Blogging beats MSM, again.

Français : La chef du Parti québécois, Pauline...

Pauline Marois. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Seems to me the Quebec election ought to be newsworthy in America, if only because the Parti Quebecois allegedly advocates separation of Quebec from the rest of Canada. Possibly many U.S. citizens would need  a map to find Quebec, or even Canada. Hint: Canada spans the continent from Atlantic to Pacific, directly north of the U.S.

Hard for me to say how serious Parti Quebecois is about separation, since the myopic U.S. media totally ignored the election. The consensus appears to be: It ain’t going to happen. Howsoever, the French-Canadian party apparently has some interesting positions, not limited to preservation of the French language. Their platform makes many Canadians downright distraught. Continue reading →

Sub rosa racism

Aside

sub rosa racism.  I’ve been casting about for a way to explain the great divide in American politics. Thanks to Jonathan Yardley, a Washington Post book critic, for getting to the root of the problem: sub rosa racism. I looked up “sub rosa.”  Sure enough. I’m thinking sub rosa racism explains most of the anger in American politics. Simple economics explains the rest.

English: No racism Lietuvių: Ne rasizmui

Worshipping False Gods — Americans Bow Before Business

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Americans worship at the altar of BUSINESS.

The faith was renewed at the Republican Convention. Nearly every speaker gave praise to BUSINESS, voicing both devotion and reverence. Blessed be BUSINESS.

The delegates, all devout practitioners of BUSINESS, rose to their feet and clapped their hands in spontaneous outbursts of adoration. Many are converts from the wretched status of employee. They were more than willing to  share their testimony — how they broke free from the chains of sin and employment, overcame great adversity, and gained salvation through BUSINESS.

Speaker after speaker repeated variations on the central dogma, that everything good  flows from BUSINESS. Only those who join the church of BUSINESS and diligently practice BUSINESS shall be blessed with prosperity all their days. Their children and their children’s children shall inherit the riches of the Earth. Nor shall they fear the Death Tax. Continue reading →

Business Owners Only

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Based on the rhetoric, I conclude that all delegates to the Republican convention in Tampa were business owners. Specifically, men and women who built their businesses themselves, from scratch, with their bare hands. Proud people! Independent people who neither need nor accept help, not from God or anybody. The delegates do acknowledge, however,   the positive influence of their parents — impoverished immigrants all — who sacrificed everything so the next generation could be free, business-building Americans. Also allowed on the convention floor were qualified spouses, those who stay at home for the benefit of their home-schooled children.

— John

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