Demockery

Reading about the new spending bill, it is tempting to get outraged. Even if you do not care about the spending, the other stuff tucked into it is outrageous. For example, there is a provision to limit border wall construction to a 33-mile stretch of nowhere. There is no money for the wall itself, as if it would matter. This means the project is dead, unless Trump goes Pinochet and starts throwing lawmakers out of helicopters. In this area, your vote in 2016 meant nothing. Suckers!

That is just one thing. In a 1.3 trillion dollar bill that is over 1,300 pages of unreadable government speak, you can be sure there are thousands of “screw you” provisions in the thing. Since the government now uses a special language known only to a handful of monks imprisoned in the capitol, the bill is unreadable. Take a look at the Ceiling Fan Energy Conservation Act and try to understand what it is. The absurdity of it is the only thing that is easy to grasp.

Of course, not a single comma is in any bill without a bribe to the legislator responsible for slipping it into the bill. The reason there is a such a thing as the Ceiling Fan Energy Conservation Act is the ceiling fan makers bribed a politician to make an alteration to the law that favors them in some way. The Alleviating Stress Test Burdens to Help Investors Act is one of those things that seems like a joke, but sadly, it is a serious effort to repeat the mistakes of the past.

The response from the slightly less Progressive chattering classes will be a form “these Republicans are setting themselves up for disaster in the fall.” That is true. The GOP is looking down the barrel of a wipe out in the fall election. This monstrosity of a spending bill will make it worse, but they do not care. The reason is the people running the GOP will retain their seats and positions. They will move into slightly smaller offices next year, but that is just how the game is played.

From the perspective of the ruling class, a Democrat House is the ideal solution to their Trump problem. For the remaining two years of his tenure, nothing will make it out of the House that can pass the Senate, and nothing the President wants will pass either house of Congress. Trump will go into his primary against someone like Ben Sasse, financed by globalist money, having nothing to show for his first term in office. The blob will attack Trump as a do nothing president..

Even if Trump does not face a primary, it may not matter. The interesting thing about how Washington has responded to Trump is they have mostly ignored him. Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are a click away from starting a cable channel where they laugh at Trump voters 24×7. They run Congress as if Jeb Bush won the 2016 election. Sure, they feign outrage in the media, but that’s just theater. For the most part, they have ignored Trump, making him a completely inconsequential factor.

It does not have to be this way, but Trump has proven himself to be strikingly incompetent at the basics of politics. Part of that is the professionals in DC have figured out that all they need to do is put a microphone in front of him and he will eventually harm his own cause, by blurting out something stupid. The political class has come to terms with the fact that the White House is now just a carnival they visit once in while to be amused and outraged, but otherwise they can ignore it.

This is part of a larger problem with cosmopolitan globalism. The people in charge ululate endlessly about democracy, but the political class is immune from the effects of democracy. In years with high turnover, incumbents will win 85% of the races and those that lose, lose to be people backed by the donor class. Democratic government has always been about representing monied interests, but usually those interests are diverse enough to create competition between the factions.

In the age of cosmopolitan globalism, the monied interest all agree on the big stuff and most of the little stuff. The Koch Brothers are cast by the Left as evil monsters, but they support all the same stuff the rest of the billionaires support. The difference between a Tom Steyer and a Charles Koch is purely aesthetic. The former likes to dress up as a man of the green people, while the latter wants to play libertarian. In reality, they both support post-nationalism. That means open borders and global piracy.

The funny thing is that even as both parties take turns giving their constituents the finger, the public engages even more intensely with the process. My rather mild and measured critique of Trump’s gun grabbing the other day, elicited howls of protests from the MAGA hat people. Post-national democracy is a group version of battered wife syndrome. The more the ruling elite abuses the public they claim tp represent, the more the public defends them.

Still, the voting public seems to have developed a biological trait that allows them to justify endless abuse heaped on their heads by politicians. Perhaps it was always there, but re-purposed for life in liberal democracy. Through the Middle Ages, peasants and townsfolk put up with the excess of the aristocrats, rallying to defend their lord, as if it were a noble thing to do. Maybe that is what we have today. Voting is the pageant, but the social relations are still the same.

That said, at some point, one has to assume the public will notice that voting makes no difference. Right now, voting seems to make things worse. If a populist candidate or party does well, the political class punishes the voters. The results thus far suggest staying home is the best way to promote your interests. Eventually, even Trump voters will figure this out and disengage. On the other hand, maybe at some level we know it, but politics is just a way to pass the time, like going to the movies.

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David+Wright
Member
6 years ago

I gave up voting when Bob Dole got nominated and only voted again for Trump. Back to apathy. This country, the West is, as we know, in a steady decline. One can act in accordance with dying principles because that is still rightly the way to live. But all around me I see the average American become increasingly the scammers and cheats that I loathe. Disability cheats, insurance fraud and making decisions only based on how it is an advantage to themselves. The political class is the culmination of everything wrong with us. Diogenes would find nothing here. We are… Read more »

revjen45
revjen45
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

The last time I voted FOR anybody was Jack Metcalf for Congress in ’96. Now I just vote AGAINST the lying weasels I despise more than the other lying weasels. It’s the Evil Party vs. the Stupid Party and I despise the Evil Party more. In fact I only vote at all because: 1) Those who don’t vote have no right to complain. 2) Heroes died for that right and I won’t waste their sacrifice. 3) My vote is worth 1 over infinity, but that’s MY infinitesimal. 4) When time comes to bust caps I can do so in good… Read more »

Rhino
Rhino
Reply to  revjen45
6 years ago

Eh. I don’t think whether you vote or not has anything to do with your right to object to this. If there is no one to vote for (the parties all being globalist) or I believe the system is corrupt and that voting merely serves to legitimize the corruption then I am right not to vote and I am right to complain.

I have no objection to your voting however. Do as you will, it certainly won’t harm you or anyone else.

Member
Reply to  revjen45
6 years ago

Still haven’t come to terms with reality, I see. There is no “evil party” or “stupid party” because the country is run by the civil service and largest corporations. Before that (i.e. before FDR), we had the spoils system, which was even worse because it was all of the above plus political violence on a much larger scale. 1. Subjects have every right to complain about their sovereign. They’ll be careful where and when they do so, if they know what’s good for them. 2. People sacrifice themselves for both good and evil causes. Democracy is the latter, although I… Read more »

fodderwing
fodderwing
Reply to  David+Wright
6 years ago

Better times await better people.

George+Orwell
George+Orwell
6 years ago

A 5 gallon jar of the tastiest red pills in the world do no good if no one is in the mood to swallow. For years, the Republican Party campaigned on repealing Obamacare. They regurgitated millions of emails to raise funds based on this. Finally, when they have a president that would sign a bill repealing that fiasco, what did they do? Nothing. Controlling both houses, they could’ve passed dozens of bills achieving decades old Republican campaign promises. Even small potatoes matters such as repealing funding for the national endowment for the arts or Planned Parenthood. They have the power… Read more »

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  George+Orwell
6 years ago

People do get it. More of them all the time. The Republican Party is dead party walking. What to do about it is the conundrum. Trump has been the only alternative to just rolling over, so far. Trump’s influence doesn’t pass down the Republican ticket, because Trump supporters rightly understand that the Republican Party stands against him, not with him.

At this point, I am beginning to consider that a Democrat Congress and impeachment proceedings might actually be instructive and constructive. The average person needs to be fully aware of the powers arrayed against him.

Buckaroo Banzai
Buckaroo Banzai
Reply to  George+Orwell
6 years ago

Of course the Congressional Republicans have done nothing since Trump was elected. They have been controlled opposition at least since Nixon was impeached, and arguably since a decade before that. Trump managed to expose the Republican lie, which in and of itself is a big accomplishment when you consider how completely gaslit the American population was right up until the moment Trump came down the escalator in 2015. Deep State is the Republican Congressional leadership, the entire Democrat Party, the entire CIA, at least half the FBI, and a good chunk of the Federal bureaucracy. Trump has his hands full… Read more »

Gen. Kong
Gen. Kong
Reply to  Buckaroo Banzai
6 years ago

Yes, Buckaroo, anyone with an IQ above room temperature should be aware by now that the whole damned system is rigged and has been for a very long time. Deep State goes down to even the local level (Scott Israel of Broward Country and his crime-coverup operations, for example). Mark Twain even noted well over a century ago that “If voting actually accomplished anything, it wouldn’t be allowed.” All this being said, Trump could actually veto the damned bill with a stroke of the pen. This is by no means the first time the Pelosi-Ryan uniparty has passed such nonsense.… Read more »

Drake
Drake
6 years ago

Unfortunately I don’t think Trump cares about the spending either, so he’ll probably sign this giant pile of crap.

He would be much better off vetoing this thing, then doing a few of his carnival rallies to explain what should and shouldn’t be in the next budget to reach his desk.

DLS
DLS
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

Trump has never been for reducing spending or the debt. It was the biggest flaw in his agenda. No one, including the voting public, cares about the debt until it overwhelms us in a decade or two. We probably will be better with a Democrat house, because Trump will fight them in a way he won’t with Ryan and McConnell.

Yak-15
Yak-15
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

Spending will decline once we can no longer afford it. Rising treasury funding rates as a consequence of Fed interest rate hike policy is going to force a dollar showdown in the next 2-5 years. This will especially be true if the Democrats are elected. The dollar system is extremely fragile at this point and the only thing preventing a breakdown is institutional momentum and the lack of a better alternative. Perhaps we need that to occur to return to sane politics and a sane state of fiscal prudence. Maybe the above commenter is correct in that we need to… Read more »

bad guest
bad guest
Reply to  Yak-15
6 years ago

That’s what we thought before the advent of QE. Don’t underestimate the creativity, resources, and skullduggery of Treasury and the Fed

Yak-15
Yak-15
Reply to  bad guest
6 years ago

This time they are increasing spending as rates rise. It’s a bit different.

A.B. Prosper
A.B. Prosper
Reply to  Yak-15
6 years ago

Doubtful. I’ve seen predictions of slowdowns and crashes since the 80’s and we’ve still puttered along just slowly getting poorer as percentage GDP and less fertile The fact is there really isn’t another choice but to back the US as reserve currency and accept that worse case scenario , they mint a few trillion more With the economy the way it is, minting say two trillion which should cause double digit inflation will barely budge the needle Wage arbitrage is a bitch Eventually idiocracy will get us but this could take decades if it ever happens Long and short, change… Read more »

Pimpkin's Nephew
Pimpkin's Nephew
Reply to  A.B. Prosper
6 years ago

This is it. US spending is underwritten by every investor, or government, that looks in vain for safer securities than US treasury bonds. Where do you go? China? Russia?

American securities still enjoy the best ‘collateral’ the modern world offers: The accumulated wealth of the white American middle class. We aren’t citizens, we’re collateral.

George Orwell
George Orwell
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

It can’t be repeated often enough: Republicans are the trailing edge of the progressive wing.

Darth Curmudgeon
Darth Curmudgeon
Reply to  George Orwell
6 years ago

I think it’s all pro wrestling. The Dems are the “faces” and the GOP are the “heels.” They both work for the same management and they are the same management. For the other half of the country, flip the face/heel labels.
Then there are the smarts and the marks. I don’t know which one I am.

ChanChanRight--ActivePooter
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

the Dems did the same thing in 2008–talked a lot about single payer…then once elected, oops, they gave us an insurance company healthcare bill

Darth Curmudgeon
Darth Curmudgeon
Reply to  ChanChanRight--ActivePooter
6 years ago

Obama was niggardly and figured Hilary would win. So he didn’t bother with the work of creating a proper bill for all of his executive actions and then Trump happened. I still think they want Single Payer but they wanted it on their schedule. That schedule, whatever you think of Trump, has been interrupted. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but the schedule has changed.

Buckaroo Banzai
Buckaroo Banzai
Reply to  DLS
6 years ago

“Trump has never been for reducing spending or the debt. It was the biggest flaw in his agenda.” Wrong. Literally nobody in this country gives a shit about spending, or debt, or government finances because they simply don’t matter. Did you forget that you live in a country where half the population has more credit card debt than savings? Someday, the country’s finances will collapse, and it will be dealt with when it happens. Did you learn nothing from the Tea Party fiasco? NOBODY CARES. NOBODY. Trump is smart enough to know all this, it’s why he got elected in… Read more »

Pimpkin's Nephew
Pimpkin's Nephew
Reply to  Buckaroo Banzai
6 years ago

Terrific comment. Trump has to step it up NOW; if the Commies win the House in November, that’s it for Trump.

DJT should veto the ridiculous omnibus bill, go on the national airwaves and clarify in naked terms what he wants to accomplish, and expose in everyday English a few choice examples of the kind of spending that gets approved in an ‘omnibus’ spending bill.

If this doesn’t happen, then I no longer see the point in supporting the man.

wheedle
wheedle
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

Just a conspiracy theory thought; Trump will be blamed for a financial meltdown and a oligarchy coup will build the new USA?
Reminds me of the TV show JERICHO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTeOYlO0UlQ
comment image/revision/latest?cb=20090520042823

Pimpkin's Nephew
Pimpkin's Nephew
Reply to  wheedle
6 years ago

Wow; I was thinking of that show while writing another comment here. It ran 1.5 seasons, and lapsed into silliness at the end, but the idea was sound – maybe prescient; a ‘deep state’ planning full takeover after massive national disaster. The chief weakness of the show’s premise was that NYC, LA, and DC all “bought it” among another twenty or so US cities. But then that was made necessary by the predictable anti-Right element; a Dick Cheneyesque “evil genius” ended up running things out of Caspar WY. My guess is that our rulers won’t set off the ‘national emergency’… Read more »

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  Drake
6 years ago

Real estate guys love debt, they see it as a tool to get things done, and I don’t think Trump is any different. Real estate guys are a different breed, too. They are vultures and opportunists, and good ones successfully pick their day and spot, swoop in and capture the deal, and then figure out how to work things out as they go. The other thing about real estate guys is that they are the ugly stepsisters of the financial community. Which means they either work hard to get a ticket into the “club”, or they take the “up yours”… Read more »

ChanChanRight--ActivePooter
6 years ago

it doesn’t matter who is in office in congress…dem or gop or incumbent or whatever…they do not have to vote the way they promised on the campaign…instead they vote the way big business wants them to vote…and big business will make them rich while are in office or after they get voted out…sweetheart contract deals, insider trading, IPOs…none of that is illegal anymore…so there is no political solution…we have to hurt the pocketbooks of the establishment in order to get them to do what we want…only then will they bend to our will…

Dutch
Dutch
6 years ago

Congressmen and Senators spend 4 HOURS PER DAY making phone calls to solicit political donations, like a bunch of bucket shop boiler room newbies. All to raise a few hundred thousand per year each. It is part of the job, as handed down from the Ryans and Pelosis of the world. So some sort of “higher calling” is going to change their behavior? Good luck with that. Trump is the fly in the ointment. He is the political black swan. Enjoy him while it lasts, because there is no broader political movement around him. The hive will close ranks when… Read more »

bilejones
Member
Reply to  Dutch
6 years ago

I was once astonished at just how cheap a Congressman is. The amount of reverse leverage they operate under is amazing. For Just a couple of grand they willingly do several billions of damage to the economy.

They really are $10 crack-whores.

Herrman
Herrman
6 years ago

You say Trump is strikingly incompetent at politics as if it is a bad thing. One of our core problems in this country is we are managed by professional politicians instead of ordinary citizens. The other core problem is the loss of morality. Combine the two and you get what you see now. Is there a solution to avoid the inevitable? Damned if I know. It’s not like this scenario hasn’t been played out many times in the past though, so the script is available if anyone cares to read it. As for me: provide for my own, prepare them… Read more »

Member
6 years ago

“The people in charge ululate endlessly about democracy, but the political class is immune from the effects of democracy. ” Sorta like Big Tech and the SWPL elites talk about integration, diversity, etc. but never have to actually do anything or suffer from the effects; that only happens to the Bad Whites..

George Orwell
George Orwell
Reply to  James_OMeara
6 years ago

I used to think that once people figured out that voting changes nothing, we would be in for a very tumultuous time. However, it seems people are not only aware of this, but they expect and demand nothing more. It is as if people consider voting an exercise in mere virtue signaling and nothing else. Stepping back, for many decades now this has been the only reasonable conclusion. Given how elections have for a very long time been an exercise in rewarding incumbency, who would bother to regard politics as anything more than baseball scores? Given that culture is upstream… Read more »

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  George Orwell
6 years ago

Voting is generally futile, because the Uniparty gives us only two choices, which differ almost not at all. Trump pierced the veil, but that was an anomaly. The Uniparty will make sure that doesn’t happen again. People get it, voting today is usually putting the stamp of legitimacy on the slate of nominees who will play the game as it is rigged, in exchange for personal wealth, comfort, and power. It is what it is.

Pimpkin's Nephew
Pimpkin's Nephew
Reply to  George Orwell
6 years ago

The 2016 election was the last free election in the USA. Normal people have given up; busloads of fanatics will overwhelm us this Fall. And the people in control will work out the bugs to ensure that Trump-like candidates will never turn up again.

We put a hot iron on the seat of the deep staters; they are adapting and they’re re-booted. Be sure that no more stunts from the lumpenproletariat will catch them napping again.

Pimpkin's Nephew
Pimpkin's Nephew
Reply to  Pimpkin's Nephew
6 years ago

Observation: I was trying to post a comment comparing the GOP to the Swiss Guard at the Vatican – all dolled up with ancient outfits and ceremonial weapons, but still on the same team as the SWAT boys raiding private homes, killing household pets, mowing down pregnant women and incinerating compounds filled with children; each time a ‘Hacker’ warning popped up, and disallowed my post.

Let’s see if I can post now…

(later)
Sure enough, here it is.

Rod1963
Rod1963
6 years ago

If Trump supporters had half a brain and a bit of guts they would hound Ryan and McConnell 7×24 at home and in D.C. Same with their subordinates. Harass them continually. Make their life hell. But as Denninger points out they don’t. Trump is a idiot by not pushing for the Wall and pounding on Ryan to include funding for it. It will be his undoing. Trump could refuse to sign the porkulus bill and he should. He should let Washington blow up. Tell them you either bring me a bill I can sign or it doesn’t get signed. Throw… Read more »

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  Rod1963
6 years ago

Making Ryan’s and McConnell’s lives hell will not change anything. They would simply up their Trumpy rhetoric slightly and govern in exactly the same manner. Animals that are trained to ring the bell for their dinner will never stop ringing the bell, even if dinner stops showing up. They’ll just ring it with more vigor.

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

If Trump made their lives hell, it might change things. If WE make their lives hell (which is what I am talking about), it won’t, because we are not feared, and never will be feared by them. Nothing short of pitchforks, torches, rope and lampposts, employed on a broad scale, would instill fear in them from the likes of us. We have neither the numbers, the will, or the desperation that firms up the will, to go that route. Not yet, anyway. Trump could get a lot more done, but he needs to go all in. All in. I hope… Read more »

George Orwell
George Orwell
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

This is paramount: the bureaucracy needs to fear Trump. He could exercise executive power with the casual abandon that Obama did. That alone might put the fear of Zod into them.

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

He should organize a 20m person march on washington. I’d go in a Baltimore second.

Buckaroo Banzai
Buckaroo Banzai
6 years ago

ZMan, the idea that Trump is “strikingly incompetent” at politics is absurd on its face. You can’t win the office of President of the United States without being good at politics even when you have the wind at your back. Given that Trump had literally the entire political establishment of both parties, and literally every mainstream media outlet, against him AND STILL WON makes for a convincing case that he knows what he is doing. Now, you can argue that, given that he was running in the face of such overwhelming odds, maybe Trump’s opponents didn’t take him quite as… Read more »

Buckaroo Banzai
Buckaroo Banzai
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

Uh…did you read my entire post? Blaming Trump for not “getting stuff done” is like calling the New England Patriots bad at football for losing a game when the other side is allowed to put thirty men on the field.

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

Trump needs to go all Slim Pickens riding the political nuke into DC. Perhaps when all the alternatives he sees get taken away, he can saddle up. The sooner, the better.

Buckaroo Banzai
Buckaroo Banzai
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

Just because you can’t see results yet, doesn’t mean that nothing is happening. As far as Bill Belichick is concerned, well, he doesn’t exactly control the rules committee, does he? Which was precisely my point. As far as Reagan is concerned, he got nothing done after his first year or two in office. What did get done after that, was done by Bush, who by 1983 had hijacked the administration and then operated the levers of the deep state to give us such gems as the 1986 Amnesty, or the laughably-titled “Firearm Owners Protection Act”, or the Iran-Contra mess. Reagan… Read more »

Ivar
Member
Reply to  Buckaroo Banzai
6 years ago

Did we vote for Trump because we thought he was a Miracle Man, or did we vote for him because he was a finger in the eye for Washington and that useless, nasty, ranting bitch?

How many of you lasted through more than ten minutes of one of his speeches?

Issac
Issac
Reply to  Ivar
6 years ago

He hasn’t put many fingers to eyes. This is the comic trajedy of the Trump admin. Apparently Mueller has him laced up tight enough that even lawful prosecution from the DOJ is too much to contemplate. He is therefor bereft of any bite to accompany his bark. Nobody in Sacramento fears him, much less DC.

It might be out of his power to change that but whether or not it’s a matter of will, he won’t be re-elected for sounding off on twitter and doing nothing as though he were just another civilian observer.

George Orwell
George Orwell
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

As you point out, the imperial capital is simply ignoring the Emperor. The bureaucracy is in charge, and we will only get what the bureaucracy wants. Furthermore, the mindset and even the composition of the bureaucracy seldom changes, an effect directly related to the incumbency problem you addressed previously. There will be no wall. This is as certain as the fact that there will never be a decline in spending. In our times, even an Andrew Jackson teleported from the 19th century would be rendered as toothless as a 14 year old toy poodle.

bad guest
bad guest
Reply to  George Orwell
6 years ago

Speaking of Jackson, if only duelling were still in fashion…

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  George Orwell
6 years ago

From what I am reading, the proposed budget prohibits spending on a concrete border wall. WTF? As if you need any more evidence that the Republicans stand in opposition to Trump.

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

Trump is not one to be able to build a consensus with people he despises (which is virtually all of them in DC). It is how he is wired. He was elected as the only hope and alternative versus the Uniparty political hive. The hive has responded, and Trump has no allies. If the best we get is a four year or eight year “up yours” to the hive, it will have to do. There is a lot of red-pilling that can be accomplished in that time.

George Orwell
George Orwell
Reply to  Dutch
6 years ago

This quote from William S Burroughs seems apt: “There will be no more Stalins, no more Hitlers.
The rulers of this most insecure of all worlds are rulers by accident. Inept, frightened pilots at the controls of a vast machine they cannot understand, calling in experts to tell them which buttons to push.”

David+Wright
Member
Reply to  Dutch
6 years ago

Update me on your views when he initiates Daca amnesty.

Gen. Kong
Gen. Kong
Reply to  Buckaroo Banzai
6 years ago

This goes back to the whole 16-D chess argumentation, the Q-anon fantasies about a great storm on its way to arrest all the traitors and pedos, etc. The bombshell memo – essentially proving open sedition if not actual treason by the FBI hierarchy – has been out well over a month. McCabe was fired (big deal) and not one arrest, or even an indictment. So now we have the gargantuan swamp sewerage potboiler of a spending bill from the GOP (Gay Old Pedobears) owned congress which includes (among many other things) *Obamacare funding *Sanctuary city funding *No border wall *Gun… Read more »

ronhan
ronhan
6 years ago

Maybe I am assuming too much, but your conclusion leaves legacy americans 2 choices. Either peaceful non compliance or violence. Of course the third option is slow irrelevance and eventual extinction.

wheedle
wheedle
6 years ago

We are an “Empire in Decline”. Once you wrap your mind around the fact a systemic collapse is inevitable, you can then grasp how long you really have left on this planet. When the U.S. Dollar begins to lose value, everything will become out of reach because you can’t afford it. https://www.peakprosperity.com/video/85850/playlist/92161/crash-course-chapter-15-demographics Watch the whole thing, then buy a dvd copy while you still have internet. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/03/health-care-dilemma-10000-boomers-retiring-each-day.html Remember, when people do decide to revolt against tyrannical government actions the MSM will call what does get reported “terrorism”. Odds are you are not prepared to live without fuel or electricity too.… Read more »

Ivar
Member
Reply to  wheedle
6 years ago

My great fear now is that, somehow, the system will hang together and we will enter a steady-state hell from which there is no escape.

MikeCLT
MikeCLT
6 years ago

You are right that both parties care only for their donors and not a bit for their voters. If Trump doesn’t veto this bill he is toast. Better to let Dems win and quickly go over the progressive waterfall into third world shitholedom while I am still young enough to recover.

ChanChanRight--ActivePooter
Reply to  MikeCLT
6 years ago

well, it’s more than just donors…just look at the finances of the people in congress…they are literally getting rich while in office, and then if voted out, they get even richer…insider trading for congressmen is no longer illegal…donations have nothing to do with this…they get sweetheart deals from rich and powerful people who want immigration continued, who want no budget cuts for the government (because the gov’t works for the rich these days, not the people), etc etc…and then once out of office, there are seats on boards of directors, sweet heart contracts…look at the 60 million dollar book deal… Read more »

JZs
JZs
Reply to  MikeCLT
6 years ago

I don’t think a veto is in the cards. Trump tweeted this morning that it’s the best we can do so it looks as if he’s going to sign it.

I’m more sanguine about November than Zman, however. It’s an eternity, politically speaking, until then. It doesn’t look good now but with Trump sentiment could change on the dime. Stay tuned.

chedolf
Reply to  JZs
6 years ago

“I’m more sanguine about November than Zman.”

I don’t know how to interpret that other than, “I feel good about the GOP’s chances to retain the House and continue stonewalling Trump and his voters on immigration.” If he can’t (or won’t) get wall funding and reductions in legal immigration now, it will never happen.

David+Wright
Member
Reply to  chedolf
6 years ago

Right. There is no point in us pretending this is the 80s and Reagan is in office. Been there, done that.

We need a major upset or catastrophe like an asteroid hit or zombie virus for a reset.

Pimpkin's Nephew
Pimpkin's Nephew
Reply to  David+Wright
6 years ago

A nationwide failure of the power grid would of course lead to “fewer but better Americans”. Ninety per cent of urban liberals would vanish within weeks, wandering bands of illegals and feral thugs would be eradicated by private gunfire, and the central government would no longer matter. It would be a tough time, recalibrating civil society to the technology of 1850, burying the dead using shovels. But given a few decades, our nation would emerge as a disciplined, unified, resourceful people of perhaps 150 million. No liberals, plenty of elbow-room, and a fresh start for a chastened people. That, or… Read more »

Darth Curmudgeon
Darth Curmudgeon
Reply to  David+Wright
6 years ago

Studying what the zombie genre “means” is always interesting. Not long ago zombies came to represent our instinctual fear of disease (perhaps why modern zombies are usually caused by a virus instead of magic). But I see it as a PC way for the Left to voice the fears that they share in common with everyone else but they can’t admit to themselves, the fear of a vast numbers of roving illegal invaders and/or inner city looters spilling out of the projects, not organized like an army but just wave after wave of fast-breeding looters. Zombies do “breed” quickly after… Read more »

Pimpkin's Nephew
Pimpkin's Nephew
Reply to  chedolf
6 years ago

I’ve pissed off my fellow right-wing friends since Trump took office, by offering bets that no wall will ever be built.

They were pissed, but they didn’t take my bet. Too bad for me.

Gregory Pierce
Gregory Pierce
Reply to  Pimpkin's Nephew
6 years ago

Zman isn’t quite up to speed on Trump chess. The wall will be built by executive order “for national security” He signed the spending bill because he knows he will ultimately preside over the biggest bankruptcy in human history. Trump’s the real deal get a fucking clue.

Pimpkin's Nephew
Pimpkin's Nephew
Reply to  JZs
6 years ago

If he doesn’t veto this bullshit, I’m voting for Maxine Waters as a write-in in 2020. Better a bullet to the head than being gradually buried alive.

Whiskey
Whiskey
6 years ago

Even oligarchs have to generate some popular consensus. Perhaps not an absolute majority but enough so that taxes are paid, laws generally obeyed, etc. For generations now, there has been non-trivial support for things like Illegal Aliens voting in all elections, Amnesty, Open Borders, not arresting illegal aliens for any crimes, exempting illegal aliens from norms of behavior by White people such as littering, animal cruelty, etc. This also applies to Blacks who are assumed to have the Divine Right of Blackness to rob and beat whoever they want for whatever reason and have no requirement to obey the law… Read more »

Epaminondas
Member
6 years ago

Without a genuine counter-revolution, expect more of the same ad infinitum.

Issac
Issac
6 years ago

Iron Law of Oligarchy. Votes do sometimes matter, to the extent that an oligarch or two cares what the proles like or will accept, but in the current case of immigration they are apparently unmoved.

The good news is you no longer have to invest any time in politics: the only issue that matters is predetermined.

Deplorable Black Man
6 years ago

Z – This part of your post stood out to me:

“Trump will go into his primary against someone like Ben Sasse, financed by globalist money, having nothing to show for his first term in office. The ads showing a wide open border with the sound of Trump promising a wall will cripple his campaign.”

Who, exactly would run such an ad? Sasse? The Democrats?

George Orwell
George Orwell
Reply to  Deplorable Black Man
6 years ago

Both!

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  Deplorable Black Man
6 years ago

McConnel and Ryan

Bunny
Bunny
6 years ago

“Trump was mostly right about the people who voted for him.”
Okay, today you’re cynical and depressing. I agree with most of what you wrote and I’ll give you that. But why should anyone believe hearsay from Elizabeth Spiers, founder of Gawker? Or Bernie Sanders and John Oliver, for that matter? Consider the source.

Bunny
Bunny
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

Truth vs. truthiness.

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

I guess that makes you zynical

JeremiadBullfrog
JeremiadBullfrog
6 years ago

I dunno..Trump never campaigned as a fiscal conservative, so I don’t see why I should get my panties in a twist over this. I voted for Trump knowing he’d do a lot of stuff I hate, but hoping he’d do some stuff I like. He’s come through on the latter far more than any GOP stooge in his position would ever have even pretended, so why pout and be pissed? sure, it’s a crap bill, but if we shit on Trump over this, cui bono? He’s gotta fight the Dems, the media, the deep state, AND the duplicitous assholes in… Read more »

A.B. Prosper
A.B. Prosper
6 years ago

The best way to imagine the current situation in the society we live on is that society is fragile granny someone is holding hostage slowly choking the life out of her. Make a move even to rescue her, she gets it . Even so she still gets it Unfortunately Democracy and Republics are complete failures and it increasingly seems the only option is the bloodiest global civil war in history with hundreds of millions dead and routine killings torture and disappearances. Throw in a good chance of a complete collapse of Western civilization in a mere few decades of that… Read more »

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  A.B. Prosper
6 years ago

They are not only holding fragile granny hostage, they are spending all of her savings on hookers and blow.

bad guest
bad guest
6 years ago

Voting only encourages them. 2016 was the first time for me in years. It will be my last too. I have better things to do with my time.

The NCAA basketball finals continue tonight and baseball starts soon. Sportsball beckons.

Backwoods Engineer
Backwoods Engineer
Reply to  bad guest
6 years ago

As Trump betrays us, I think I’m done with voting, too.

But instead of drowning my sorrows with sportsball or other fantasy entertainment, I am building a fairly self-sufficient country place far, far from the blue cities where the real troubles will surely start. And, I’m building tribe with my neighbors. Gravity-fed water, livestock, gardens, good fences, lots of ammo, and good neighbors that care for one another are all part of my solution to these political problems.

Din C. Nuffin
Din C. Nuffin
Reply to  bad guest
6 years ago

Watching “Trump vs. Washington” is far more entertaining than professional sports. It was worth the vote.

Jeremiah
Jeremiah
6 years ago

Oh, Lord Jesus. I once had hope, but now despair is all I feel. Not so much for me, because there’s a lot of ruin in a country and I’m turning 68 in a few months. But I have kids and grand-kids for whom I literally weep. They don’t know what’s coming. Maybe that’s for the best.

RedRiver
RedRiver
Reply to  Jeremiah
6 years ago

Buy a little cabin somewhere. Leave it to them. Stock it. I feel your pain, my niece and nephew, so like the little goats to slaughter. So many Judas goats to lead them.

David Wright
Member
6 years ago

Well the latest is John Bolton is replacing McMaster. Another idiot Neocon. How’s your day going now?

Issac
Issac
Reply to  David Wright
6 years ago

Oosh.

Whiskey
Whiskey
Reply to  David Wright
6 years ago

That’s to be expected. McMaster’s staff constantly leaked stuff unflattering to Trump (the call to the Aussie PM, “don’t congratulate Putin” etc.) McMaster did nothing about the leaks and protected the leakers. He got fired. Bolton is a good choice. He lacks a power base and is a Trump man — his only play is to back Trump because if Trump is gone so is he. Likely with plenty of prosecutions as well. Trump does not exactly have a lot of people to choose. There are no “Trump people” like there are for Hillary and her giant, decades old Patronage… Read more »

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  Whiskey
6 years ago

I see a pattern in Kudlow, Bolton, Navarro. Trump seems to be surrounding himself with people who are DC outsiders looking in (Bolton is kind of a hybrid insider/outsider). I don’t think Trump trusts anyone who is a part of DC.

thor47
thor47
6 years ago

” … unless Trump goes Pinochet and starts throwing lawmakers out of helicopters. ”
I hope that will be televised.

james+wilson
james+wilson
6 years ago

“Demockery” is very good. Is that yours? I hadn’t seen it.

Spud Boy
Spud Boy
6 years ago

I can’t really disagree with anything in this post. I’ve thought for a long time that voting doesn’t matter, because the people/groups driving real change do way more than vote. They use their money to purchase political influence.

Ron
Ron
6 years ago

Every government’s economic motto is to “tax and spend our way to prosperity”. The question is who are they referring to in the “our” in the motto?

Jennifer
Jennifer
6 years ago

The whole thing is a charade. The powers that be allow us to have about 10% of Congress that pretends to be with us, and they are allowed to act like they are our side. It’s a steam release. On days like today those 10% will be all over talk radio decrying the latest betrayal. Yet when it was time to select Congressional leadership none of them challenged Ryan/McConnell. If they were truly against what’s happening they would name names, they would tell everyone what’s really happening, and why nothing ever changes no matter who we elect.

Din C. Nuffin
Din C. Nuffin
6 years ago

A Constitutional Convention is cheaper than a civil war, and should occur while the country is still majority white. Stochastic Democracy may have some promise as a solution? If the “Article V” convention “runs away”, war can still be instigated, and perhaps that threat would keep the convention on point. There are two Article V movements currently underway, one of which has the approval of 12 states so far. Funny, you don’t read much about them in the MSM. The Balanced Budget movement came close to fruition, and got their attention in Washington a few years back.

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  Din C. Nuffin
6 years ago

Only one problem with having a CC…it’s the same fukking assholes (running it) that are causing the need for a CC!

Jonah Kyle
Jonah Kyle
6 years ago

We are screwed. Lock and load.

sirlancelot
sirlancelot
6 years ago

People are too damn busy working a couple of jobs and trying to raise their family. They want to vote for someone that’s going to run the country, protect their interests and be done with it.

Granted this hasn’t happened and unfortunately President Trump is surrounded by hostile enemies of the people ( or at least the ones that voted for him )

Should things get uncomfortable enough perhaps the revolution will begin and Americans will make the same sacrifices our forefathers did. We’re just not there yet.

Karl Horst (Germany)
Karl Horst (Germany)
6 years ago

Where would one find this Spending Bill? It it available online to the general public?

Karl Horst (Germany)
Karl Horst (Germany)
Reply to  thezman
6 years ago

Oh this is wonderful reading!

Page 606, about employee training…”None of the funds made available may be obligated or expended for any employee training that…contains elements likely to induce high levels of emotional response or psychological stress in some participants.” This must be the snowflake provision.

Page 608 “…an employee…has an obligation to expend an honest effort and reasonable proportion of such employee’s time in the performance of official duties”.

This is amazing stuff!

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  Karl Horst (Germany)
6 years ago

It has been said, that it is not a good thing to see how the schnitzel is made.

RedRiver
RedRiver
Reply to  Dutch
6 years ago

LOL so True! I helped my roommate’s dad in college make hotdogs once. Didn’t eat them for 25 years. Maybe 6 since then. Fuggly.

ifrank
ifrank
6 years ago

Voting won’t change the fact that we’re driving towards a cliff, it just influences how soon we get there.

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
6 years ago

Personally, while I am dismayed at Trump having signed the spending bill, I do not see any alternative than to keep supporting him. There is just too much “smoke on the battlefield” to know with any certainty what is going on. So I hold my position and wait. Having said all that, I will never vote for a GOP candidate — even Trump — again. If that causes him to fail, then so be it. In my mind, the GOP — and those who support it — are the single biggest threat to America (at this time).

RedRiver
RedRiver
6 years ago

Regarding the wall: I heard that the bill strictly forbids ever building ANY of the prototypes. Done

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
6 years ago

This is far more than a black pill day, this is a black dildo in the ass day 🙁

Rich Whiteman
Rich Whiteman
6 years ago

Voting is all we have, short of armed insurrection/overthrow. And voting is a waste of time and energy and passion. Votes mean less and less; the franchise is so degraded it’s laughable. But the only other choice is blood.
Or, we can all just suck it up, pretend it’s all good, and go on with our lives as if we’re free citizens of a mighty world power.
So – Get Out And Vote!
Even Though It Doesn’t Matter!
And Drink Beer and Smoke Legal Weed!
And Buy Stuff!

Armst
Armst
6 years ago

Congrats. Some of you are just not waking up to the fact that all this shit is just a way to screw Joe six pack out of his money, his life, and his freedoms. Voting doesn’t mean shit. It just like Chris Rock in Lethal Weapon 3..I think…they fuck you and then they fuck you and then they fuck you. Bend over America. Its coming for you hard.

Darth Curmudgeon
Darth Curmudgeon
6 years ago

The Zman, Please touch on your view that spending talk doesn’t matter. Are you saying that nothing anybody does will ever make anybody care about spending and that spending will never go down? I agree. But are you also saying that spending cannot cause a financial collapse? I’m less sure on that one. What will prevent hyperinflation? Or are you saying hyperinflation is irrelevant? If there is a post where you discuss this in detail please point me to it. I’m a new fan and although I’ve been trying to play catch-up I’ve only gotten so far in reading your… Read more »