“Or Else”

To complete my title…for it’s the “or else” I’ll be writing about here.

When your mother tells you not to put your fingers on the stove, there is an implied “Or else” which you will learn in due course. When your friends say don’t try to drive home when you’ve had too much to drink, there’s also an implied “Or else” and if you’ve noticed, the ante has been raised a bit. Jail. Maybe death. Yours or some innocent soul. Finally, when the preacher talks about a whole host of moral do’s and don’t's, there are implied “Or else’s” there as well, only suddenly “Or else” becomes more problematic the more it becomes judgmental.

Be very careful with that word, friends, for it has been conditioned in our minds to mean something it really doesn’t. For as we’ve seen, there seems to be an inverse relationship between our willingness to heed an “Or else” and the seriousness of the punishment (judgment).

While those “or else’s” are delivered as a teaching tool when we are children, as the potential danger (the ante) increases they are offered out of love, more often as not. But they are also offered out of duty, (see Ezekiel 3:18), for when “or else” means “Or you will surely die” they don’t want that burden on their shoulders. The duty to warn even exists in our common law, it is so entrenched in human survival.

So, by the time the preacher gets around to issuing a very judgmental “or else” we’ve been conditioned to blow it off, without even the smallest amount of self-inquiry. There’s a reason we’re conditioned this way, for it causes us NOT to stop and think. Accepting what that preacher has to say depends on whether you believe in all that superstitious hocus pocus in the first place, and if not, well, that’s your business. Or so you think.

This is dangerous, even suicidal behavior, unless you have examined the threat underlying the “or else” clearly and logically implies, and are fully willing to accept the consequences of Being Wrong. (Few are, I’ve found; alcoholics, smokers, gays.) I’ve rejected all the “or else” proclamations of radical Islam, but do not reject their underlying “or else” acceptance of an all-powerful Creator. Just under their terms. See how this works?, for if it should happen that someday I find myself and my head laid over a chopping block and that fat knife of Damascus sings out, “Repent or else” I won’t have to then cram for my final exams about things that had been taught to me for years.

Rarely do spiritual choices and life-and-death choices actually merge, but the old saying there are no atheists in foxholes wasn’t coined for nothing. It just pays, as Socrates once said, to know what we are all about…just in case something comes up.

Davy Crockett said “Be always sure you’re right, then go ahead” and that makes sense to me. So when a man tells me I’m going to die if I don’t do such and such, I’m going to make sure I’m right, for at the bottom of every threat of “or else”, and one which, in this political context, I think most people forget, is the inescapable logic that…

“One of us is right and one of us is wrong…but only one of us can afford to be wrong.”

After all, that preacher can afford to be wrong. All he’s done is go around being nice all his life.

Every registered Republican, conservative or moderate, or even liberal, who stays home or votes against the choice of the members of the Republican Party in this election, and probably the next, have voted for suicide, and they may surely die because of it.

Since those decisions may affect my House and my new grandson’s house, i have a dog in this fight…even in Delaware and Alaska.

Take what you can from this. I’m writing this for voters who won’t read it. I’m just throwing out some notions so that some of you who are more clever with the turn of a phrase and far more savvy than me, and can take a few of these things and prevent a terrible…I mean really terrible thing from happening, in that I’ll likely be a beneficiary of the stupidity, if some heads aren’t screwed back on straight.

If you disagree, I may be wrong, but you can’t afford to be wrong. That’s a fact.

More specifically, I am writing this for voters whose candidate may lose on Tuesday in Delaware or isn’t even on the ballot in Alaska. I’m not here to make an offering of proof as who was or will be the best “R” in either of those states. (And this applies to at a least a dozen other congressional districts.) I have only one question, which is rhetorical, and which i will try to answer in short order:

Just what part of suicide do you not understand?

By that I mean real suicide. Muerte, morte. The death of a civilization, a way of life, of Liberty, Freedom, and all Hope for all Mankind. Most people who kill themselves actually do want to end it all. They’re tired, or anything to make the pain go away. Maybe shame. My best friend did it for that (he was a doctor who got caught prescribing himself drugs), but also to get as far from that insufferable wife of his as he could. If he’d known for sure she was going to heaven he’d have carried a coal bucket into the elevator just to make sure there wasn’t a mistake on which direction he was headed. I think Moses Sands took the way of the cowboy, just lay down in a patch of cold snow at elevation and fall asleep. (Jack London, To Build a Fire).

So I’m not making judgment of suicide here, except for those who don’t know what it really means. If I’m offending anyone here, sorry. This needs to be said this way, for others do kill themselves sometimes out of spite, to punish others, only with a delusional notion that they can be Tom Sawyer and come back and watch their own funeral. Way too many young kids die these days with this selfish notion that they get to smile that final smile, that final gotcha, as they watch their enemies, real and imagined, try to deal with that last idiotic note they left.

The Natural Laws of Suicide are not the same as the Laws of Political Suicide.

We use “suicide” as a metaphor all the time, and “political suicide” is one of our most popular. But I’m not talking about that, not Gerald Ford’s pardon, Jimmy Carter’s bungled Iran hostage situation, or Larry Craig’s wide stance. I mean real suicide, as the Menshiviks and liberals of Russia misunderestimated it to be, for it was they who gave Lenin and the Bolsheviks a stage where one of their first acts was to take their enablers out to be shot. This is a law that goes back as far as ruling classes go, that once a new ruling class takes over, it does not share power with the old one. The same for the rival parties, including the churches, of Germany who, by their incessant nitpicking and bickering, brought Hitler and the Nazis to power, simply because they could not allow themselves to see what was easy and clear to see. They had forgotten that they could not afford to be wrong. So, for the most part, they were also taken out and shot. For this “type” only at that last moment is it plain what the Bolsheviks, or Nazis, or Fascists, or Sandinistas, or Chavez, or Castro, or the Ayatollah Khomeini really had in store. How far back do I need to take this chain of proof?

So please, any of you, all of you, (and you know who you are) disabuse yourself of the notion that the Democrats and The Left, once in total power, have any intention of ever sharing power with any of you, and that you will be allowed to remain as faithful members of the Ruling Class. The Political Class you know now, and aspire to hold onto, will be destroyed and replaced by another one. You are useful idiots and will be rounded up accordingly…long before they begin to deal with us still out on the hustings here with our lean and hungry looks. Death by stupidity is also suicide.

This also is not a position for argument here. One of us is right, one of is wrong, but only one of us can afford to be wrong…and that is the “real politics” of it.

The O’Donnell-Castle case, Opening up a Can of Whup-Threat.

In Delaware, there’s Christine O’Donnell’s baggage versus Mike Castle’s baggage.

When I was in college I also considered a run in politics but chose developing a shady past instead. I did that on the run, so to speak. These days that kind of choice seems to matter less, for the number of candidates, even elected members, who it turns out had puffed up their resume or phonied up some background; well, the number is staggering, to say the least. Anyway Christine decided to risk it, some of that old baggage creeping out of the closet as the campaign progressed.

But there are shady pasts and there are shady pasts, and by my yardstick, Christine’s doesn’t amount to as much as say a few Article 15′s (that’s Army talk for misdemeanors) would have had in my day, to the careers of some of our finest top sergeants. In fact, that extra inch of gravel proved a special worthiness to lead men into battle at one time. Like Billy Sunday, who preached against sin from personal knowledge, I tend to lean towards those who actually have grabbed the bull by the horns versus the one’s who only read about it in a book. I can find no moral turpitude in Christine’s flaws, so will withhold judgment as to what kind of senator she’d make. I’m not so sure about some of her advisers, though, only that should also sort itself out if she’s able to win, for she will not be entirely in charge of sorting it out. We will, as a newer and wiser GOP leadership have ways to keep newbies like her on a short leash and under a microscope until they can prove themselves. There will be carrots a’plenty to do well but one stick will be sharing Lindsay Graham’s broom closet for an office. That’s hardball politics, not philosophy.

On the other hand, Mike Castle is an unrepentant, Big Government, Ruling Class liberal. So, to update Mark Twain, there are liars, and there are damned liars. I prefer the simpler type. As a bona fide Republican, he is finished, win or lose, for he has been very honest, and even proud, to say the least, he will help facilitate the current Democrat agenda. That sounds pretty suicidal to me, doesn’t it you? Only as a Democrat can he be saved this fate, so you folks in Delaware have to decide if this is what you really want, for the Democrats have always assumed you to be one of their more quiescent and cooperative states, doing what you’re told and always falling in line. Consider yourselves warned.

So I have no problem supporting Christine O’Donnell, but if she loses, will hold to my previous promise (and exhortation)

From where the sun now stands, there is ONE THING, and ONLY ONE THING for the next sixty days…and that is getting every possible Republican elected to Congress. I didn’t say Conservative although I wish it were so. I said Republican. Had Bob Bennett won in Utah I would have included him. Had Charlie Crist not pussed out against Marco and gone on to beat him in the primary, I would have included him. The same for Lisa Murkowski and Mike Castle…

If Mike Castle wins, I insist we all support him as well, if by doing nothing more than keeping our mouths shut. At least don’t come crying in my ear space. We on the Right are people of our word. I don’t live in Delaware, but if I did I’d vote for him in the general, and as I wrote recently, I’ll speak no ill of him…until after he’s sworn in and belittles his oath to the Constitution. We will support him because we understand national suicide. We understand the stakes. We understand stupidity…and we ain’t stupid.

My real question here is to the Castle supporters. Do you also understand suicide? Do you understand stupidity? For if you don’t, and we can eke out a win over the the Left the next 26 months…despite you...get prepared to pay the reaper.

The Joe Miller (Palin)- Scott McAdams (Murkowski) caser, opening a can of Whup-Guilt

We have a little more time with this race, so I’ll be more brief. I have a few friends in Alaska, not just AChance, but Ay God, Woodrow, can Art kick up a dust? I’ll make no effort to pretend to dissect Alaska politics here. The news out now, just 3-4 days ago, is that Lisa Murkowski is considering even more strongly a run as an independent.

I only have on question: What part of suicide do you not understand, Alaska?

I can’t mention Joe Miller without someone mentioning Sarah Palin, usually in the negative. I’ve covered this ground before, about Sarah that is. What I know about Sarah Palin, and quite frankly, ALL I CARE ABOUT SARAH PALIN, is that at this place in American history, the greatest scourge to face America (at least in lower 48) hates Sarah Palin as i only hate bad manners, and fear her as I only fear God. So tell me again how she busted up so many sweeeet political arrangements in Alaska. I don’t care if she lied, wrote bad checks, and had a secret affair with the sainted Moe Lane, all I know is that she is the most feared person (not woman, but person) to the most evil wannabe empire ever to step on these shores, so once again What part of suicide do you not understand?, Alaska. I don’t care if she can’t spel potatoe. Hell, folks, this is the Senate for God’s sakes. When did ever knowing how to balance a budget or meeting a payroll matter to qualify to sit in one of those seats. Good God, half the Congress are too lazy to read, or can’t, or can’t understand what they read…just ask John Conyers. He’s proud of it. It’s not like they do something that requires any real skills. If it did, lawyers wouldn’t even apply. All I know is that awake, asleep, drunk, sober, even sane (Franken) former KKK or current plantation manager, they get to, by a single Aye Vote or Nay vote, decide the entire future of every single citizen in this country…all the way up to the North Slope (where once upon a time a friend of mine and I had considered running a string of hookers in the early 70s, back when I was working on my shady resume.) Get over Sarah.

The simple Natural Law of Dynasties

Every person who ever gets elected to public office, even down to the country court clerk in Jackson, Mississippi, begins to dream of dynasty. It’s a sweet gig so they try to get their brother, cousin, wife’s brother, and eventually the whole family into the office. That was called the spoils system, only as far as I’m concerned I don’t care. I can find counties where the same family has been running the same office for three generations. In Detroit I think they’re working on five. As long as they do the job and do it well, so what?

But there is a natural accretion of power in that system, almost imperceptible to the eye, that signals when it’s time for that dynasty to go. Usually from corruption, although it starts out small. As costs and fees go up continually to pay for this corruption, the people just don’t get to march in tell them to stop. Only in a very few countries can you simply vote them out. Force of arms is usually required as even democratic peoples usually wait until it’s too late. Still sure enough, in the changeover period, people quickly begin to complain that no one knows how to make the trains run on time, or keep the power grid up. (Duh). The Manchus ran China for 300 years with emperors who could barely count the toes on their feet. Who stood to gain by their presence were that army of factotums (bureaucrats) and eunuchs (we don’t use this word near enough in the current climate) who had created for themselves their own personal dynasties in their little corner offices across the country.

Does anyone see a parallel? I know people in Alaska whose future fortunes went down with Ted Stevens in that plane crash. And the same with Lisa Murkowski and the whole Murkowski dynasty.

I don’t give a single damn. Too bad. Time’s up. Move on. New era. It is the first law of politics that people try to build little dynasties, but it is the first law and first duty of a free people to eventually step out and squish them like bugs when they get to big or out of hand. I like that way of doing things…a lot. You want real dynasties, sell yourselves back to Russia, they’re back in the dynasty business. I like Lisa Murkowski, she’s certainly no Mike Castle, but the clamor I hear against Joe Miller really seems to be about Sara Palin, and the clamor I hear for Lisa seems to have to do more with the old dynasties and settling of old scores. But if Lisa declares as an Independent, she’ll be my biggest enemy….even over Pelosi, for that day she declares herself to be no patriotic American, and certified suicidal.

As I’ve said before, I care about ONLY ONE THING, and ONE THING ONLY, from now til November. Republicans win. With the new leadership of men like Benishek in the House, to insure (as a new caucus, there could be 70 of them!) that the new Speaker doesn’t go all wobbly, with maybe Pence as the new #2, and a overdue but final bow to the hard work, dedication, and power of men like Coburn and Demint in the Senate, I don’t have to worry about the potential self-indulgences of a Christine O’Donnell or the inexperience of a Joe Miller. It’s the stewards that matter, and that is a 26 month, not 50 day operation, ONLY WE HAVE TO WIN THE FIRST ROUND. And yes, there are some exciting leaders out there, I even know one. And it ain’t Sarah, and it ain’t Newt. I like them right where they are.

So this is addressed to those of you who are looking in all the wrong places for leaders, What Part of Suicide do you Not Understand?