The GOP Establishment we keep hearing about is real, and it is also doomed.
That will not change whether the Establishment’s candidate Mitt Romney wins in November or not. After the election, the battle really starts; what is happening now are just skirmishes in a fight for control of the Republican Party. Not the soul of the party – if it had one, it auctioned it off long ago – but the mechanism of the party. The Grand Old Party matters only as a vehicle to carry our banner forward.
To do that, we need to seize control, and we do that by destroying the Establishment starting next November 7th.
Well, we can try, certainly. But in the immortal words of George Lucas, the empire strikes back.
Plus, like, clones and such.
The upshot being, if your plan is to blow up the Death Star, it’s probably best if you aren’t one of its inhabitants.
And no, I have no idea what any of that means. But there could might be a metaphor in there somewhere, if you squint.
One among the troubles we face is the collapse, not solely of the still reigning power structure, but preeminently the theoretical grounds on which that power structure was built. Regular folks like us don’t really care to swim in the morass of political theory, but come the flood, would seem to have little choice. What to do? Practice drownproofing? I reckon.
I don’t think not voting for Romney is a vote for Obama but I think the rest of this is very apt.
Head for the high ground.
I figure my vote not going to Romney will be made up for when Ron Paul sells out and sends his followers to vote for Romney.
High ground and politics are kinda oxymoronic, I think, especially after Machiavelli and Hobbes got through with them. The gentlemen too, lately, have been displaced — by and large — in our striving for gender-neutrality. Egalitarianism over all things tends to lower all things to a level. Anyhow, just a thought.
So they have taken the low road, eh?
If it’s a fight that’s worth having, why not fight it out now instead of later?
Indeed. The element of surprise is an excellent tactic.
No credit for backing Romney if he wins, blame for not backing him sooner or backing him wholeheartedly if he loses. Looks like a sucker bet to me.
Is Ross Perot old enough to be Yoda?
HAHAHAHAhahahahahahaha…
Such “insightful” commentary. Love the dismissive “sold it’s soul” line.
Isn’t squinting somewhat racist?
Oh, great. I’m an effin EWOK now?
“Eventually … over time”. [Sigh] If only we had time for a long game, but with the establishment running up trillion dollar annual deficits I doubt we do. At best I think we may have time for two more election cycles before the whole fiscal house of cards comes crashing down. Even that timeframe may be overly optimistic and even if we could replace the entire Congress with fiscal conservatives tomorrow I wonder whether there’s anything they could do to turn the ship of state before it hits the building iceberg of debt, rolls on its side, and goes down like an Italian cruise ship.
Frankly, I think we’re in for a period of extreme pain no matter what we do and I wouldn’t give long odds on something resembling the USA coming out the other side.
At least the hair is covering more than just your feet in my scenario.
Count your blessings.
It’s not just the debt, Swen: it’s the artificially low interest rates that are suppressing the extent of the debt and the extent of the coming crisis.
Which is why we have the establishment working hard now to get theirs and get squared away before the system breaks down. They’re taking their golden parachutes out of what’s left of our revenue and dispersing it among themselves.
That there hasn’t been an insurrection yet is frankly remarkable.
Mug shots of the 99%
link
“They’re taking their golden parachutes out of what’s left of our revenue and dispersing it among themselves.”
What good will that do if/when it all comes crashing down? A person can still be hanged from a lamppost by his golden chute. Where does the establishment think they will run to be safe?
That there hasn’t been an insurrection yet is frankly remarkable.
I think so, as well. Since we will now have to fight them on our own soil as opposed to the Colonists fighting the Red Coats who were imports, it would be useful to look to the French Revolution for pointers on what not to do. We have our own Louis XVI, after all.
The King is dead, long live the King!
Seriously?
The only way conservatives win is by eliminating about half the offices, not installing new management in as many officers as possible.
Where the heck is everyone? Put buying Superbowl snacks?
Waiting on pins and needles for you to produce Augustine’s “songs” to his mama leigh, that’s where.
Happy found that for you, Ernst. I don’t have a copy of Confessions and undergrad was 30 years ago.
Yo!!!! Saturday night at PW!! Do I have a life or what?
leigh, I’m not waiting for Oedipus or Godot or anything tonight.
But you do make a point at 20, with which I’ve been struggling. Needs exploring.
Hi, Red! Yep, nothing like Saturday not in front of the computer, eh?
I think it needs exploring, as well. I am not a historian, but we have one in residence and I was hoping he’d help us out.
not=night
I need to trim my mails.
Early returns have Paul beating Newt bu 10 points. Yowza.
I suspect the fighting is going to be minimal and confined to the areas where the looters live. The rest of us will be left figuring out how we’re going to unfuck/rebuild things after we hit the wall. The really smart crooks will all be in Costa Rica with the loot by the time that happens.
Isn’t that bh’s plan or was it yours, Pablo? The Costa Rica part, I mean.
Actually leigh, he found that for you.
And anyway, I have no idea what he found on page 25 of Foster’s Confession and complicity in narrative, Google books disliking my old slow web browser almost as much as does Google’s You Tube.
That’s a whole lot of metropolitan population looters, Pablo. The unfuck/rebuild phase could have to done while keeping them at bay.
Then there’s that whole Tale of Two Cities thing. There would be a lot of hungries looking to affix blame and take retribution. I’m having a hard time imagining a mostly civil restructuring.
Yes, he did find it for me, Ernst.
It’s too bad you can’t read it since it confirms what I said and also what you said about Psalms.
The lesson of the French Revolution is to not have a “French” Revolution.
Red, I’m afraid we are going to have a Mad Max period to live through before we can rebuild. If we can.
If it confirms what I said, I think that probably refutes what you said.
Have it your way, Ernst. I am not as invested in being right all of the time as you are.
I’m more invested in showing your clever little quip about Augustine and family values wasn’t as clever as you thought it was than I am in being right.
But yeah, if I didn’t think I was right, I wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.
Yeah, but by the time they make it to the burbs/sticks, they’re way out of their element, and they’re not particularly skilled. I don’t suspect they’d fare well.
Ernst re 34: I think a 2d American revolution would be orders of magnitude greater than the French Reign of Terror.
leigh, Mad Max presumes that it would happen in a vacuum. As I am constantly reminded, we are an inter-connected world.
There’s some great “apocalypse pron” reading out there that look at scenarios. Try One Second After or The Last Centurion.
Leigh, it might serve you better to be more invested in being right when you say stuff, instead of just saying stuff.
Just saying…
It is common knowledge that St. Augustine was, as you say, a mama’s boy. Commentary about the incestous imagery invoked in Confessions in particular the reimagining of St. Augustine’s birth is also quite prevelant in literature about theological texts.
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Part of the reasoning behind our moving to the wide open spaces was a foreshadowing of the dark days to come, Red and Pablo. You are correct about the looters having zero skills when out of their urban element. We’ll have the drop on any intruders who are thinking about liberating our stuff.
Lee, see above.
The comforting thing is that they’ll first get busy eating each other.
Belize, if I had to guess.
Scenes from the Apocalypse, beta test run, Greek edition.
Why would I think that Oakland will be first to start off the American Spring?
I appreciate Schlicter’s desire to destroy the Establishment, but how in the hell did he get here so fast? Romney has 81 of 1144 delegates needed. Santorum is tied head to head with Obama right now. Lets have a conservative presidential candidate, helping elect conservative House and Senate candidates next year, and controlling the party apparatus after Nov 7.
Yeah, escaping to Belize with the loot sounds like a great idea.
Of course, if making the escape to Belize depends on the pilot making it to the airport, people being available to get the Gulfstream ready for flight and runways remaining free of debris for takeoff, there might be a problem.
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/02/03/the-last-republican
Some of us said “never again” after McCain.
How many meant it?
I said it but I didn’t mean it
Obama is stale like like when you leave bread out
You are well known for not meaning the things you say
purplepablum prose and all thatBelize is a British Colony. Kind of an ironic choice of a place to flee to.
I think Guyana would be more suitable. It’s also English speaking and they have experience with cults and their various forms of worship.
Isn’t that where Jim Jones took his followers, geoff? As long as no one offers us any Kool-Aid, I guess it might work.
I thought we were talking about where the Gulfstream set was relocating to.
Well that let’s me out.