RE: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/wehner/100152

Wehner’s kernel is that Glenn Beck’s belief in a greater organization orchestrating the destruction of what America stands for is angst-mongering and threatens the Conservative movement in addition to the Progressives.

Abso-freakin’-lutely. And not just because it doesn’t take a conspiracy for like-minded people to nudge an entire nation toward socialism. It just takes similar goals and patience. Think Comintern.

If you define the Conservative movement as the march to put more Republicans in Congress and the White House so that they may go back to doing what they have done over the last 50 years (spend like high sailors instead of drunken Democrats), you better believe Beck is a threat.

The real question is whether the Conservatives will wake up in time to see that Beck is correct when he says the parties are almost exactly the same in the big picture. Case in point: Both parties spend rather than cut costs. Government has not shrunk in size in my lifetime. There is NO honest argument that Republicans are significantly superior to Democrats in this respect. Of the two evils, Republicans are preferable. But they are only preferable if the question is “Shall we take both legs or just one?” I don’t think that is a particularly good choice to start with. Nor should you.

Republicans, even such as historical scholar Newt Gingrich, miss the goal here. There is a fundamental movement here. It is not to have another contract with America. It is not to restore mere fiscal restraint. It is to disembowel the Federal mafia all the way back to the destruction of the institutions created by the murderous Progressives of the early 20th century. At least that’s what I want you to think.

Death to the monstrous departments that exist because we have violated the rules given to us by our Founders; chief among them: allowing the populace to take others’ wealth for their own agendas.

There is almost no one alive who knows what NOT having an income tax and a large central government is like. Consider that. Consider that a significant percentage of every tax dollar that is taken goes to maintain the existence of the bureaucracies that spend those dollars (Cash for Clunkers apparently used HALF of its cash to PAY for the administration of the program - a program whose ONLY goal was to check a stack of forms for proper completion, accept or reject them, and send out checks. What about a truly complex system like Medicare? How high must the admin costs be there?* What about our tax code enforcement - whose laws and regulations are better measured by the pound than by the page?)

In all, 3 Trillion dollars are spent by just the Federal government each year, with more in the offing. That’s about $10,000 for every living human in the United States, every year.

So, what could you do with half that money if it was yours to keep? If you and every member of your household had an extra $5,000, right now, and every year? You could buy decent health insurance, including disability coverage, life insurance and still have money left over. You could invest for retirement. you could sock money away for the kids’ college days. You could take care of your parents when they need you.

What’s more, prices for things would either come down or become more profitable for you and your company. Government is the mooch that has been coming around and eating half your groceries even as you shop for them. Hidden taxes, fees, regulations, and imposed costs drive up the costs of goods. If some of those hidden costs go away, you can come out on the better end of the deal: either your company can become more profitable and you can ask for a better wage or prices for goods will come down, or BOTH.

Our founders knew that you were the best determinant of your own future. They knew that taxes were not only unfair, but actually sucked the will to succeed from those who paid them. They knew that letting the Congress get its hands into YOUR wallet was the biggest threat to the nation, and ran on quite long about the evils of factions (special interests in our day) who could manipulate the relatively small number of politicians who held the pursestrings. It was among the founders’ most strident warnings, both in the Federalist Papers and throughout many of their debates.

So we have a real revolution in the works. One to usurp the factional wrongs amended to our Constitution. This is completely kosher in Conservative thought, but likely frightening to those who like the system of bought power as it is. That’s okay. They will adapt to freedom when it comes.

I would also add this, for those who think such a proposal as this goes too far: I would happily negotiate away the current tax code in favor of a flat tax or national sales tax. Taking the position that the Income Tax must go, along with its amendment, offers you a chance to lure me back toward what you call sanity. I call it a good way of scaring you into doing exactly what I want while you think I am making a concession.

Remember: Moderation is a result, not a starting point.

* 2009 Social Security income is expected to be just shy of $700 Billion (Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) - NOT including Disability Insurance). The admin expense is predicted to be 0.6 percent (six tenths of one percent) of that $700 Billion figure. OASI is VERY efficient. Or is it? It’s fundamental job is to spend funds given to it by other departments. By and large, it does bank transfers and little else. I suspect that it is still inefficient by private sector standards and that only the extreme scale of the enterprise makes it look good. For the record, OASI costs $4.2Billion to run. $100 for each of the 42 million people on OASI. -Could you direct deposit to my bank once a month for less than $100/year?

Source: http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html

From Human Events’ own site. And a money quote:

Republicans, not surprisingly, overwhelmingly support replacing everyone in the Congress. Their views have not changed. But Republican voters are disenchanted with their team as much as the Congress itself: 69% of GOP Voters say Republicans in Congress are out of touch with the party base.

Conservatives have continued to put the GOP on notice that the Party must come to them, not vice-versa. Many, many people think that all Congresscritters are out to put money in the pockets of their contributors, their families and their business partners:

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Americans believe that when members of Congress meet with regulators and other government officials, they do so to help their friends and hurt their political opponents. Most believe that’s why politicians are able to solicit contributions from business leaders. Most, however, say it’s generally a good investment because political donors get more than their money’s worth. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of American adults say political donors get more than their money back in terms of favors from members of Congress.

And allegedly rigged elections account for why congress is re-elected again and again, according to half those polled by Rasmussen:

Despite these reviews, more than 90% of Congress routinely gets reelected every two years. It’s a shock when any incumbent loses. One explanation for this phenomenon frequently heard in Washington, D.C. is that “people hate Congress but love their own congressman.”

Voters have a different perspective, and 50% say ‘rigged’ election rules explain high reelection rate for Congress.

How do we gather the competent and honest folks in Washington when the rules of the game demand cronyism, graft and doubledealing?

Just askin’.

[Moderator speaking here.  We ask that you restrict brief diaries to the Open Threads that appear on the Front Page. The Diaries section is reserved for extended pieces of original research, reporting, or analysis.  Further diaries of this nature may be deleted without warning. – NS]

Is Apple’s iTunes App Store rejection policy.

They routinely, or randomly (who can tell?) reject apps for things like using a clock image to represent time. Reason? Because Apple uses a clock image to represent time on it’s apps. One problem: said rejection was the 3rd version of the app in question to go online — and all the previous versions had used the same clock icon.

They rejected apps because the apps allowed users to go online to sites that had bad words on them or age-inappropriate books, like the Kama Sutra. But the same sites are freely available via Apple’s own web browser, or any web browser, because they are simply web pages!

Apple has a complex set of rules used to internally vet apps. Not just technical things like does it actually work and not crash the iPod/iPhone, but aesthetic ones and esoteric ones that are quite subjective.

Apps that would pass inspection with inspector A might fail under Inspector B’s scrutiny, and have done so when updates were offered, but reviewed by different inspectors.

Why is this a perfect model for Pelosi-care?

Because it is a real-world, small scale model of the foilbles of central control.

If Health Monitor employee A is having a bad day, he or she could subconsciously reject (or approve!) treatments that day. Then, because the system is closed, even an appeal process is under the thumb of bureaucrats.

In Pelosi-care, you cannot sue the government or simply go buy the healthcare you want. It’s her way or the worm-farm.

Same with Apple’s App Store. There is no appeals process. You can write to them, but they don’t have to respond to you. Heck, until recently, they didn’t even give specific reasons for rejecting the app.

Now, such a approach is okay for market of applications that run on small handheld phones and entertainment devices. No one dies because tic-tac-toe can’t be downloaded today.

But these things are NOT okay when lives are at stake.

The American people do not trust you, either.

Until Republicans prove they can fight off the special interests and stop the wild spending, they are as untrusted by the masses as the Dems. So many Redstaters apparently think that the thing which is bad for the Dems is, de facto, good for Republicans. Sure, we may get elected in droves in 2010, but if we can’t keep the public’s money in the public’s hands, they will just kick us out on the heels of some Republican scandal.

Congress has had pitiful approval ratings for a very long time. This is because the body as a whole deserves it, including Republicans. I want statesmen and stateswomen, not hacks and favor-traders.

I want lobbyists and Congress critters to be forced to open all their financial books, and those of close relatives who make any business deals with the government. I bet that’ll scare some folks.

My Country First.

Just watched Michelle Malkin on Glenn Beck’s FNC show. And boy is she wrong about how the American people feel about politicians.

Malkin tried to link the radicalism, anarchy and bullying of the wacky left to the bad opinions Americans have about politicians. Democratic politicians, in her way of thinking.

I beg to differ. Sure, she is right insofar as she went, but she is wrong to leave out the Republicans.

Michelle, Americans have had it up to here (holds up hand two feet above head) with ALL politicians. We know they are all thieves, liars, thugs, whores, bastards, and untrustworthy in the extreme.

I will admit there may be half a dozen worthwhile polticians, but they are guilty for NOT taking firm action against the rest of them. Standing around while your gang kills someone makes you guilty. Standing by and letting your party sell us all out makes them just as guilty.

Stop trying to shield the Republicans, Michelle. Kick a few of them under the bus. Come on. It feels great to realize that the people have the power to TAKE the Republican party away from the scumbags who run it now.

Perhaps we need to push a few buttons, hard. The national socialists groups in America are attempting to drown out any September 11/12 protests by proclaiming there should be a national day of Service at that time.

Hm. I think maybe those of us who own businesses should simply shut them down and send our employees home for the entire week after 9/11, with the question in their minds: Do I like getting paid?

Let’s see just how hard we can hit the Democratic Congress’ economy and the Obama dream of lefty protests all around.

In a previous diary, I touched on the disconnect between (mostly) Federal representatives and the American public. I think the roots of this disconnect are almost completely tied to the social and economic structure of Washington DC, and that of the major state capitals’ political echo chambers.

This disconnect is largely a product of group-think spawned not-so-much by snobbish elitism as by living the life of a government wonk. I do not think Arlen Specter thinks he is better than you or I. I do think that he thinks we know little or nothing of the “way things are done” in government.

My evidence: Specter (and others) repeatedly mention that there “is no Senate bill.” In wonk-speak, he is saying that we cannot possibly criticize him for something that doesn’t exist and he cannot, in good conscience, swear to vote up or down on something that does not exist.

All that is true, and justifiable. But it is NOT at all related to what is really being said to Specter and any government official who will open his or her ears.

What is being said?

“We don’t trust you, government.”

The politicians heard all the noise about death panels (no, not explicitly in HR 3200, but they are the logical conclusion of thousands of years of human history any time the government is given as much power as it wants). The politicians heard noise about losing my Blue Cross Blue Shield Policy AA27849537448234-e to a supposedly unfettered Public Option.  The politicians heard old folks scared about Medicare cuts that weren’t supposed to be cuts because the government was supposed to keep giving the same service with fewer dollars due to improved efficiencies.

They heard those things and proceeded to tell us in wonk-speak exactly why we were wrong to see those problems in the bill: Because it will be changed in committee or in conference; because we elected officials would never vote for something that would have those results; because the evil GOP was lying to scare you and that trollop Sarah Palin was just trying to raise money and get rich.

Parse their answers and the disconnect becomes obvious. If we trust them, their answers are sensible. If we don’t trust them, there is NO answer they can give that will suffice.

Did anyone believe John McCain when he flip-flopped on Amnesty for illegal aliens? Did anyone believe Barney Frank when he said he had no part in causing the current recession due to his POLITICAL pressure to get poor loans given to homebuyers over the course of a decade or more? Did anyone think Chris Dodd really didn’t get a sweetheart deal on his Countrywide home loan? Did you believe the Congressional committee that cleared Dodd of wrongdoing? Did you believe that Tim Geithner really pulled an “oops!” on his taxes, even after taking money from his company to PAY those taxes? Did you believe Mark Sanford when he was on the Appalachian Trail?

And I have not even mentioned the half-truths Congress, the President and his staff have told about their health-care reform goals. Then, there are the wholesale lies on top of that.

And on and on and on, and on BOTH sides of the aisle.

And thus we go to a town-hall meeting and our elected representative tells us that the plan is a good one and we should support it. They said that about Social Security (now bankrupt and pimped out as collateral for spending). They said that about Medicare (same). They said that about MedicAid (same). They said that about Welfare (and then destroyed generations of poor by letting bureaucrats play social engineer).

There is precious little evidence that the government can do ANYTHING right in the realm of social justice, even though most of our taxes go to fix problems that should have been fixed decades ago. Surely the intent of the Great Society was NOT to perpetuate poverty, but to end it. Or was it?

History is clear on this. Government cannot be trusted with our money. Our representatives are blind to this.

And that is why young women in their 30s are wide-eyed with frustration when they address Arlen Specter about the Constitution. We do not trust you, government.

What the left (and right) is missing is the germ of WHY people are coming to town halls.

They think we are scared by rumors or misunderstanding. We are not scared. More of US have read the bill(s) and their assorted proposed amendments than members of Congress or their staffs or the wacky bunch of lobbyists who wrote most of it.

What we are is angry and insulted.

We are angry and insulted because the beltway crowd (figuratively and literally) thinks we don’t know the game and how it is played. We have known, since the birth of Progressive American politics, that the politicians are mostly thieves bent on lining the pockets of whomever can line their own pockets on the sly or after retirement or whatever. We have known that a large percentage of the money we pay in taxes is used to buy off people or blackmail them into submission. We know the “Chicago” way. It has been around much longer than Chicago.

We know the game. When you KNEW we knew the game, you didn’t play it as much. That you are brazenly trying to con us only shows your stupidity, dear Political Class. We don’t have to play the game to destroy you utterly. Our founding documents give us permission - NO - demand we exorcise pathos such as you from our nation.

We are angry and insulted because we thought we had a deal with you pols: We’ll pay a certain amount of taxes so you can have your little power games and whores and make yourselves feel like you are something special, and in return, you will leave us the hell alone. But enough is never enough for those who live in an echo chamber filled with their own PR agents. Fine. We can revoke the Income Tax and take our money elsewhere without a single law being passed. It’s called emigration. Keep the slovenly and the unproductive. See how well they can finance new jets and tropical trips.

The last 12 months or so of growing goverment, growing spending, bailouts for Goldman-Sachs (and almost NO one else- or do you think we can’t smell, too?), and the proposed eventual takeover of the healthcare system (in a decade or two, according to O’s own video records), means that you will come calling in the not-to-distant future for almost ALL our property just to keep up your interest payments. What if we simply refuse to pay or simply refuse to work to earn your pay?

We are insulted and angry because you all broke the only covenant worth keeping. And breaking that covenant entitles us to remove you all from power.