Best of the Web, 2012: Parting Thoughts

Best of the Web, 2012: Parting Thoughts (Return to Main)

Tommy vs. Tammy:

Wisconsin Senate Race: Tammy Baldwin Wanted to Block Body Armor Funding for Troops

Ryan vs. Biden:

Paul Ryan and the American Character: The Republican vice-presidential candidate, Congressman Paul Ryan, is the Democrats' political version of the Anti-Christ. He believes in self-reliance; the left believes in reliance on the state. His moral values are shaped by religion (Catholicism); the left is frightened by religious Christian politicians (and athletes, and members of the armed forces, and talk show hosts, and, for that matter, clergy). He believes in individualism; the left believes in collectivism. He believes in small government and powerful citizens; the left believes in large government and dependent citizens.

“We are headed for the most predictable economic crisis in history,” says Paul Ryan. And he’s right. But precisely because it’s so predictable the political class has already discounted it. Which is why a plan for pie now and spinach later, maybe even two decades later, is the only real menu on the table. There’s a famous exchange in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. Someone asks Mike Campbell, “How did you go bankrupt?” “Two ways,” he replies. “Gradually, then suddenly.” We’ve been going through the gradual phase so long, we’re kinda used to it. But it’s coming to an end, and what happens next will be the second way: sudden, and very bad.

YouTube: Run, Joe. Run

General Thoughts:

America faces a new culture war between two competing visions of the country's future. In one, America will continue to be an exceptional nation organized around the principles of free enterprise -- limited government, entrepreneurship and rewards determined by market forces. In the other, America will move toward statism grounded in expanding bureaucracies, a managed economy and large-scale income redistribution. These visions are not reconcilable. We must choose.

We used to live in a country where people wanted to be successful. People wanted to be millionaires. Today, we live in a country where people want to receive a government check, and wanting to be a millionaire is said to be greedy and selfish. Well, what is more greedy and selfish than living off of other people?

What have I always told you about liberals? They categorize people. They make moral judgments on people on the basis of surface matters. They don't see the humanity of an individual. They see the skin color; they see the sex; the gender; the orientation. And from there they make their judgments on people.

Liberals really don't care if there's high unemployment (as there is now with Obama's 8.3%) hurting Americans. Or, in the case of 1980, if liberalism was producing 21.50% interest rates and 13.58% inflation. Liberals, you see, are all about "caring" -- even if the liberal version of caring in fact translates to a ruthless un-caring that ruins American lives every single day. The primary concern of liberals has for decades appeared to be all about feeling good about themselves -- not helping others.

Victor Davis Hansen: All Fall Down: In short, liberalism does not work, as it is contrary to human nature.

How Big Government Makes Life Worse: The problem is not with one agency, but with the vast expansion of federal and state government, which takes our money and freedoms and leaves a path of destruction wherever it goes. Sure the Occupy protesters are annoying. But the real surprise is why the rest of us aren’t at least as angry as they are.

Growing Out of Poverty: But Acemoglu and Robinson jump to a purely ideological conclusion: that social equality is a precondition for sustained growth. In fact, the reverse is true: Equality is the outcome of economic growth. Some Harvard academics are clearly not ready to reconcile themselves with observed reality when it doesn’t fit their agenda.

YouTube: Senator Rubio at The Reagan Library

Can Government Do Anything Well?: If Americans keep voting for politicians who want to spend more money and pass more laws, the result will not be a country with fewer problems but a country that is governed by piecemeal socialism. We can debate the meaning of the word "socialism," but there's no doubt that we'd be less prosperous and less free. But cheer up: Saying that government is not the way to solve problems is not saying that humanity cannot solve its problems. What I've finally learned is this: Despite the obstacles created by governments, voluntary networks of private individuals -- through voluntary exchange -- solve all sorts of challenges.