01/31/12 "They should look forward to a time, and that not a distant one, when a corruption in this, as in the country from which we derive our origin, will have seized the heads of government, and be spread by them through the body of the people; when they will purchase the voices of the people, and make them pay the price. Human nature is the same on every side of the Atlantic, and will be alike influenced by the same causes. The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered."

Thomas Jefferson, on “elective despotism”.

However, now the wolf is within the fold, as it actually has been for some time. Now the time has come to withdraw the wolf’s teeth and talons. JES

01/30/12 One day before the Florida primary and I feel compelled to make some observations before any total results are known. While 50 delegates will certainly be helpful to someone, they will not necessarily be decisive; there are still 46 states to go. The only thing the polls tell us today are that likely voters are in a state of great debate with themselves, which is healthy in the sense that a lot of folks are beginning to think about things.

What is important, at this point in the national discussion, is to recognize the fact that since the South Carolina primary, the Republican Establishment has nakedly abandoned all pretenses about their priorities and true ideological orientation. They are truly terrified by Heartland America, Traditional America, and those of us who identify ourselves with Joe the Plumber. Remember Joe the Plumber?

Rather, the Republican Establishment has long ago been subverted by the Leftist agenda of Secular Progressivism, and to date, has been largely successful in hiding under the fig leaf of a conservatism and capitalism that isn’t. Joe Sixpack has not been too far off base in observing, for many years, that the difference between Democrats and Republicans is a matter of tweedly dee and tweedly dum.

The process of subversion of traditional American values by Secular Progressivists has been ongoing for over 100 years. The pivotal point in the Progressive agenda was accomplished in 1913 with the Sixteenth Amendment authorizing direct taxation of individuals (the income tax), and the establishment of a Federal Reserve System under the control of the banking community, deliberately unaccountable to tax payers. From that point on, the politicians, the banks, and (after 1938) the lawyers have had a hammerlock on American tradition and culture.

Some of us have followed and observed this process of the devolution of traditional America for years, so what has been so recently exposed is no surprise. What I think is significant since the South Carolina primary is the nakedness of the Republican Establishment in co-participating with the Democrat Establishment (and its Alinski enablers) in the life and death defense of a soft fascism which is the only logical final outcome of the Progressive Agenda. So naked that any Joe Sixpack should be able to perceive the outlines of the tyranny descending upon us. This is not about Democrats and Republicans any more. This is about those who prioritize American values, in the Founding sense, as opposed to those who prioritize internationalist values in the European/Socialist/Statist sense. Benito Mussolini and Joe Stalin, in a sense, are alive and well.

It might be argued that the real battle in this year’s elections is that being waged within the Republican Party. The re-election of Baraka Hussein Obama will be instantly fatal to America; however the election of an Establishment Republican will only stretch out the time line, hiding the great deception further from view. Americans need to wake up; we are on a trajectory headed towards disaster. It will all be up to the voters, be they real Americans, tax payers, tax takers, multiple voters, registered, unregistered, dead or just faking life.

For myself, this all adds up to Newt Gingrich, with all his warts, as the only way to go. We need a real boat-rocker, unafraid to take on Progressives, be they Democrat or Republican. That’s why the D.C.- New York City Axis all hate him so; a feather in his hat. I suspect that a lot of ordinary voters will look at Newt and identify with the man as personally flawed as we all are. The priority now is about ideas and substance, and real issues, like the economy, jobs, the national debt and national defense. JES

01/23/12 Pope Benedict XVI wakes up the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “The Pelosi Problem”, as I call it, can only be ignored for so long. Go to Ideas/Pope Benedict XVI to USCCB. JES

Serious Recommended Reading:

How Do You Kill 11 Million People?: Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think

Andy Andrews

Thomas Nelson 112 pgs

Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America

Mark R. Levin

Threshold Editions 288 pg

Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century

Paul Kengor

ISI Books 497 pgs.

The Arab Lobby: The Invisible Alliance that Undermines America’s Interests in the Middle East

Mitchell Bard

Harper 432 pgs.
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Serious Considerations:

01/15/12 Austrian v Keynesian economics; it’s not complicated. Consumer spending and savings follows jobs. Jobs follow private entrepreneurial profits. Government taxation and over regulation serve only to suck the life blood out of private entrepreneurial profits and the freedom of action of the private sector. In free market competition, private entrepreneurial successes will shake out less efficient private entrepreneurial activity for the benefit of consumers. Just as businesses must adjust, or fail, in response to competition, so must labor. There is no free lunch; eventually the free market rules.

Any political intervention in these relationships only serves to distort the real short and long term interests of consumers, labor and business. Someone must pay for the bureaucrats, political correctness, and the consequences of Keynesian delusions about borrowing, spending and printing one’s way out of debt. The consequent tax increases, current or anticipated, get built into prices almost immediately; consumers pay for everything, including increased direct taxation now or in the future. Progressivity of tax rates (class warfare) only fogs the discussion, ultimately backfires, solves nothing and only makes matters worse.

Keynesian delusions are the anchor which weighs down healthy free markets and prosperity for everyone, and today we are ruled by Keynesians, both in Washington D.C., Wall Street, and certain union halls, feathering their personal nests at the expense of free markets. Do not confuse economic fascism with capitalism; two very different and opposed ideas. JES
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01/13/12 A few words about Newt Gingrich. Back on 10/28/11, I made the following comment about Newt: “Well educated history professor, but not a politician. Too arrogant and self-centered. Under [any GOP] presidency, might serve well as the last and final Secretary of Education.”

In recent days Newt has once again proved my point in his desperate attacks on Romney from the Left, not the Right. This is the same sort of difficulty that got Newt in trouble back in 1995. Too bad to see his talents go to waste; he is not exercising presidential level judgement, much less displaying any real solid or dependable Conservative credentials. So it is that I refer you back to my yesterday, (01/12/12) comment. JES

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01/13/12 Yes, I am now back online. JES

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01/12/12 Like many from my perspective on the political spectrum, I am quite frustrated with the line-up of prospective candidates for president on the GOP ticket. The years long ongoing battle within the GOP between the “establishment”, as currently represented by Mitt Romney, and those of us much more conservatively inclined, is beginning to appear to be leaning toward an “establishment” win, at least at the presidential level. Real Conservatives really do not have a convincing and fully qualified candidate actively running in this race.

The top priority in 2012 for all real Americans is the removal of Baraka Hussein Obama from the White House, and in the broader perspective of history it might be best for real Conservatives to accept a Romney candidacy and focus our real efforts on the House and Senate. Romney can take out Obama, and Conservative control of Congress can hold Romney’s feet to the fire. We should keep in mind that the Progressive Era in the United States is over 100 years old, and that it is just unrealistic to think that all things can be made right in one election.

As we all well know, broadly speaking there are immediately two huge priorities at the top of the list:

a) The economy and out-of-control federal spending, soon to drive us into sovereign bankruptcy if we are not already there, (Real world market dynamics will eventually fix this problem with or without anybodys "help".), and,

b) Persian, Chinese and Russian challenges internationally to peace and freedom; not separate from Obama’s deliberate drawdown of our military credibility and diplomatic commitments. (Ron Paul supporters: listen up.) Dictators and totalitarians eat peaceniks for lunch as we will soon find out if this nonsense is not reversed very soon.

With these observations I do not mean to brush off the real central problem of the modern age. One need only follow the current discussions about Tim Tebow to get my drift on this point. JES
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01/11/12 It is with some frustration that, as this is written on a borrowed computer, my own machine is “in the shop” for maintenance, service and upgrades.

It’s taking longer than I expected, so there will be a few days delay before we get back online. Meanwhile, while my thoughts are fresh, some comments on the world about us. JES
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01/01/12 So you think last year was not so good? Welcome to a new year much more likely to be worse; hang onto your wallet and pray frequently. JES

Jim

American Nationalist Conservative

Jefferson, Colorado Jim@FirstThings.us