Only this time, I’m not on the hot seat.
Let me just say this, quickly: if we as conservatives are not willing at this point — having been called enemies, racists, murderers, potential terrorists, et al., by our own government — to accept that what we’re dealing with is indeed a malicious attack on our individual sovereignty and an intentional plan to undermine our constitutional republic and replace it with an beneficent police state peopled by industrious worker bees, helpfully directed and nudged toward happiness by a permanent ruling elite, then we have already lost the game.
Of course Obama doesn’t see what he’s doing as malicious. But that’s only because he believes what he’s doing — and it’d be God’s work, if there were such a thing as that ridiculous man-made construct — is helping eradicate what is: namely, classical liberalism, Enlightenment thinking, individual liberty, and a competitive free market capitalist system wherein there are no permanent classes for us to settle comfortably into.
That is, because he believes it to be good and right, and is so confident that he can run the world more adeptly through his natural brilliance and charisma than can some invisible hand, he’s out to demonize and then destroy the foundational principles of this country as envisioned — and to so he’s willing to demonize and destroy those in principled opposition to his ideology. For the greater good, of course.
One of his mentors, Bill Ayers, thought that might require some camps and maybe 25 million dead.
And as I happen to be one of those, I take offense. Pardon fucking me.
Of course Obama doesn’t see what he’s doing as malicious.
Narcissists don’t think in terms of right and wrong the same way most people do: for them, “right” is what they want, and “wrong” is being thwarted in getting what they want. They’re frozen at the emotional age of six (or less) and operate by that same childish logic.
Obama sees himself as a Savior Figure of Extreme Historical Significance, and everything he does and says is calculated to perpetuate that illusion. You and I get to play the role of the adoring crowd ONLY; he is incapable of seeing other people as autonomous human beings who have an existence independent of his glorious psychodrama.
So when we refuse to play our adoring-crowd role, he erupts in narcissistic rage, just as a child does when you take away a toy (or when you stop him beating his kid sister). We thereby become Enemies Of The State, because, after all, l’etat c’est Obama, and we must be destroyed. The fact that his desire to destroy his enemies falls outside everything America is built on is irrelevant. No outside standard will govern the Narcissist in Chief. He’s too grand for mere mortal standards.
Again, people like Obama—megalomaniacs—are NOT motivated by the desire to do good. They are compelled to stoke their insatiable egos and bottomless desires by any means necessary. Because you and I aren’t fully human to him, it’s impossible for him to treat you poorly; malice is only something you do to HIM.
He’s working for a world without sin.
It’s been thrown around a lot lately, but it’s worth repeating:
A tyrant who honestly believes that he’s acting for the betterment of the masses is still a tyrant. Even if we set aside the arguments about how the new order inevitably accrues to the benefit of Obama and his cronies, we’re left with the fact that he’s behaving as a tyrant.
Now I, personally, find tyranny to be a great evil. I don’t care whether the tyrant wants to crush me for my own good, or for his personal enrichment, or because he gets off on the thrill of power, or for any other reason. Anybody who aids and abets the cause of tyranny is acting to promote a great evil, and their motivations don’t matter a whit.
Further, I don’t care if my erstwhile allies on the right are uncomfortable describing our would-be overlords as evil. At the very least, they need to define the goals as evil, and leave the reader to draw his own conclusion about the players.
We’re up against a movement that describes every one of us and every one of our principles as evil. Guns aren’t for defense; they’re just evil. Dissent isn’t patriotic; it’s evil. Personal liberty isn’t a laudable foundation of our nation; it’s evil. Flat, fair, minimal taxation isn’t smart or just; it’s evil. Breaking the State education monopoly isn’t the best way to offer real choice and competition and improved outcomes to our students; it’s evil.
Seriously, why is it so hard to find people who will fight back? To take off the gloves, stand tall, and tell these creeps that they can take their redefinition of words, concepts, principles, and history, and cram it all up their asses?
Treating people as wards of the State is not noble, or generous, or compassionate — it’s insulting and demeaning and harmful. Shouting down and shutting down anything you conveniently define as ‘hate speech’ is not brave or civil or respectful — it’s bullying, it’s hypocritical, and it’s cowardly. Disarming law-abiding citizens is not protecting them, it’s leaving them defenseless and at the mercy of lawbreakers who may show up at any time and law enforcement who will surely show up too late.
I will not be treated as a child. I will not submit to ever-heavier shackles “for my own good.” I will not turn over every last dime that I earn so that some pencil-pusher can divvy out the fruits of my labor to those he thinks are more deserving. None of this makes me evil! And yet the talking heads on “my” side of things seem apologetic about bringing up these issues at all, and halfhearted about any defense of our most fundamental rights and principles.
We really, really need to promote a better class of talking head. Maybe we can start with those who’ve embarrassed Piers Morgan over the last couple of weeks.
One of his mentors, Bill Ayers, thought that might require some camps and maybe 25 million dead.
I bet that estimate is outdated – he would probably up it to 50 million or so now. Can’t be having the Russians or Chinese with a better death toll with their implementations of the Marxist state.
“Of course Obama doesn’t see what he’s doing as malicious.”
Quick question: Do you think Huey Long thought he was corrupt or was it a case of “because he believes it to be good and right”. Because maybe it’s just me, I’m not seeing the altruism here.
their motivations don’t matter a whit.
They matter only if you’re trying to persuade them to stop. A decent person who is blind might be made to see the light. A megalomaniac cannot be persuaded but only stopped.
[…] Jeff chimes in […]
Seriously, why is it so hard to find people who will fight back?
Because if Obama’s goals really are as bad as we think they are, then we have to abandon our comfortable lives (and high positions) and do Unpleasant Things, such as incur the scorn of the cool kids.
Waging war against the Nazis was obviously right but it was also extremely ugly and awful and obscene. The Greatest Generation lost life and limb to put down the rabid dog, and nobody in their right mind wants to be in the position to have to do that.
But like cancer, which doesn’t become detectable until it’s really hard to eradicate, the soft tyranny that envelops us hasn’t been widely identified until now, when its tentacles are everywhere and getting longer and more numerous.
We are all Spoiled Americans, hothouse flowers living in the greenhouse our ancestors built. We failed to maintain the supports and now the panes are cracking and falling in. The cold is uncomfortable enough, but wait until the killing frosts set in.
Exactly. Fighting back means getting in the streets, it means civil disobedience, it means making a very great mess of things. We would not be conservatives if we did not pause at the thought of that.
Which puts us at a disadvantage. Either we’ll get over it or Leviathan will triumph.
“We are all Spoiled Americans”
You got a mouse in your pocket?
““my” side ” What “side” would that be?
“Shut up, they said” And my particular favorite, “INEVITABLE!”
Those are wonderfully accurate and horribly depressing analogies, dicentra.
Camps are only bad when other people set them up.
“Exactly.”
Three types of people in this life; those that ride, those that push and those that steer. Which type are you?
“it means making a very great mess of things.”
Where, “Exactly.” do you think you are now?
http://tinyurl.com/7ohnfn7
Because if Obama’s goals really are as bad as we think they are, then we have to abandon our comfortable lives (and high positions) and do Unpleasant Things, such as incur the scorn of the cool kids.
The cool kids already hate us, and openly show their scorn at every opportunity. All I want is a handful of fighters, who will show the rest of the nation just how shallow and stupid and evil the cool kids really are. To puncture their assumptions about how noble and generous they are. To redefine the arguments in our terms: liberty vs servitude; responsibility vs negligence, charity vs theft. I’m not asking anybody to take to the streets; I’m just looking for somebody who can make a good showing on Meet The Press. Is that so much to ask?
“Camps are only bad when other people set them up.”
I thought you said “cramps” and I was wondering where you were going with it. I figured you were on a roll.
Let’s check the RSM wayback machine and see what side of the argument he was just a few short months ago. (almost forgot to close the tag)
I see some inconsistency here. Taking ol’ EriK to task after lambasting conservatives a few months ago is confusing. Maybe RSM should make up his mind?
The only good camp I know of is THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS.
Yes, I’m afraid it is.
I’ll explain why if you need me to.
[…] None whatever. “Fool” and “monster” aren’t by any means mutually exclusive, anyway, any more than “cunning” and “stupid” are. Via Jeff, who adds: […]
I’m just looking for somebody who can make a good showing on Meet The Press. Is that so much to ask?
cf. “We have to abandon our comfortable lives (and high positions) and do Unpleasant Things, such as incur the scorn of the cool kids.”
* I don’t care if my erstwhile allies on the right are uncomfortable describing our would-be overlords as evil. At the very least, they need to define the goals as evil, and leave the reader to draw his own conclusion about the players.*
This This THIS. Why Republicans don’t call Obama, Reid, Pelosi and the whole lot of them liars, I do not know. The man on the street understands when someone says “That guy is lying. Here’s why”. Calling them liars is important- it grabs the attention – “them’s fighting words” kind of attention. The same man does not understand taking a meandering, vague nuanced approach, taken so as not to offend, which seems to be the GOP approach to everything.
Christie, for all his Rhino like qualities, did this early in his term – I remember him pwning the teacher’s union- he was blunt, he was confrontational and he was right. He probably offended people but sometimes, offending people is effective and if you offend the right people, you rally YOUR people to your cause in greater numbers, because most likely, you’ve said what they’ve always wanted to say.
Because D.C. Republicans tell half-lies. And liars, like Democrats, merely hide the truth, whereas half-liars can’t remember where they left it.
(I think I got that right)
I see Patterico is saying that all along, what he meant by his “good man” comment is that Obama was a good, decent human being with bad intentions.
“Christie, for all his Rhino like qualities, did this early in his term – I remember him pwning the teacher’s union- he was blunt, he was confrontational and he was right. ”
The real trick to riding a tiger is getting off.
Heh heh heh! You said getting off. Heh heh heh! Coooll !
[…] Jeff Goldstein reacts to Andrew J. Patrick, describing Obama’s agenda as “a malicious attack on our individual sovereignty and an intentional plan to undermine our […]
How can you be both a good, decent human being and have bad intentions?
“a good, decent human being with bad intentions.”
The jury’s still out on that one. I am of a mind to believe that anyone that has an actionable hitlist of enemies is in any sense of the words “good or decent”. YMMV.
Then Patterico is an even bigger fucking idiot and a more dishonest hack than the one I took him for.
And for those of you who still care.
http://tinyurl.com/29wzawa
In the exact same way that you can be a good person who honestly doesn’t see cheating as wrong, Cranky.
Inverse of: She wasn’t good but she had good intentions.
It’s a line that sounds cool when you say it, but doesn’t stand up well when confronted with reality.
Most folks will tell you that ol’ Niccolo would disagree.
Still, I’m more sympathetic to the idea of a bad person wanting to do good (and failing) than I am to the idea of a good person wanting to do bad (and succeeding).
You know who else is a good man? Ray Lewis.
Phil Mickelson not so much.
Gulermo,
A sadly underrated classic, that one.
Erick Erickson is just another cnn propaganda slut he can go out front with his boobies all he wants
obama still a piece of shit
Ray Lewis the murderer? Great guy. Really loves Jesus these days.
Yeah, but not like that asshole Tebow.
Jesus is the reason for the season Mr. Pablo
he got the whole whirl in his hands he got the little bitty baby in his hands he got you and me brother in his hands
Mickelson was getting blasted today on ESPN because he is complaining at how much his Fed. and CA taxes are.
Manti Te’o is a good man. At least according to his fake dead girlfriend.
it costs an extraordinary amount of money, the privilege of living in California
unless you on the welfare
california nightmare on such a winter’s day
Ray Lewis the murderer?
I thought that was Rae Carruth?
Mickelson found it necessary to apologist for even hinting about moving to greener pastures. For some reason.
I was with him until then, but now I have no respect for the whiner.
Besides, I thought he was from Arizona…
whaaa? he backed down?
oh.
sounds like he’s just sick of hearing everybody’s shit
like these deep thoughts from “Greg Ogilvy”
Hey, ubiquity is after all ubiquitous, and collaterally, not negotiable.
Paula Creamer can move in with me
yo mr. golfer
Hey, when you can hit a little white ball into a cup all day long, you can make Phil Mickelson kind of money too.
Ain’t no thing according to the snotty professor at Syracuse University.
I’m sure he feels that way
fucking market!
Golf Courses are good for
letting ur chained up dog loose
Sledding[in winter]
outdoor sex
I was ready to scream at the radio today, fucking ESPN jock sniffers talking about how easy golf is.
Then I realized if I were some barely literate moron who gets paid huge money to talk about things he knows nothing about I would probably think income was a matter of luck, too.
Every shot[Ive golfed twice]
I put a ‘tee’ in the ground-cuz I wanted to see the ball uppy air
My opponents/friends said
” You can’t do That!”
My reply was
“Fuck you-I paid just like you-so
..mmm..u win’
But really-I won
Barely literate morons who all want to be political commentators
because that’s where la Gloire really is.
it is sad that i find more useful info in the pw comments than mbm news. so i turn off mbm “news”
Hell, BMoe anyone can play MLB, too. Listen to all the play-by-play.
“What the hell is he swingin’ at?!”
“I coulda hit that!”
“Get under it! Get under it! Damn!”
Mickleson is from San Diego and lives there now. He went to college at Arizona State.
cnn I couldn’t even use it for sleeping last night
it was just nasty
and then they would do obamahymn singings from people like the alicia keys (sp?) you never listen to in real life
the cnn propaganda sluts all had their hair down so to speak and it was like you were seeing them like they behave when they hang out with their friends when they get time off
it made for an awkward and sad and uncomfortable five minutes
Richardson was fouled but made it. Talley charged. Ack.
Oops, sorry, too many pages open.
Me-chelle looked like she was wearing the bordello curtains in that red gown last night. I made better Barbie doll clothes than Jason Wu. And those bangs are the suxxor.
And, Beyonce lip-synced the national anthem and wore several million dollars worth of emeralds and full length fur in the middle of the day.
As you do.
baracky & co leading the revolution wearing choo shoes.
A lip-synched anthem for a lip-service inaugural oath.
Fitting I’d say.
beyonce did not make texas proud
girlfriend needs to dab a little grow the fuck up behind her ears I think
Why is she trying so hard to look like a white girl? Blonde weave. Bleached skin. New nose.
All that conspicuous spending she and her fugly mouth-breathing husband do is tsk-tsk worthy. They could be helping young bloods stay in school and stop living the thug life.
Graze on my lips,and if those hills are dry
Stray lower where the pleasant fountains lie
gotta think like a well dressed grifter. keep the scam going. since ’08 i be saying “the sting”
There are three fouls on the comment: Impersonating a liberal by suggesting somebody could be spending their wealth in more socially aware ways.
Impugning a liberal by suggesting that their conspicuous consumption was the same thing as that practiced by the greedy rich, when they’ve be pre-deemed via cheap grace and voting for Barak Obama (blessings & peace upon his name)
Judging a minority community according to white heteronormative bourgeois standards.
player leigh is ejected from the comment thread.
Found out. Damn. ; )
“Why is she trying so hard to look like a white girl?”
Michael Jackson was the first thing that popped into my head.
That may be today’s dumbest sentence.
JOURNALISM!!!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go load some high capacity clips for my assault shotgun.
beck’s show tonite, with the 19 year old girl, loading 8 shotgun rounds in 5 seconds was fun to watch
i hit a fairway in the air it fell to erf i know not where
things is getting tarded
“climate change” doesn’t fracture shit
not even meghan’s coward daddy is gonna look up from his sippy cup to give a good goddamn about “climate change”
they’re gonna have to work porky porky chris christie and that slimy greasy fuckstain colin powell to the fucking bone if they want to be able to pretend that “climate change” fractures anyone living in our food stamp economy
get. fucking. real.
Happy, you have to be the only person I know that can go from annoying fuck to comedy gold in the space of a few sentences.
“dab a little grow the fuck up behind the ears” indeed.
That sentence should become the industry standard response to all the annoying hipster douche beta metrosexual libs out there.
you are very kind
I shot an arrow in the air
It fell to earth I know not where
Then my neighbor screamed and fell
I guess his day’s not going well
Burma Shave
I would argue no one that routinely strikes the Mussolini pose is good. But I’m simple that way.
raindrops keep fallin on my head
so i just did me some talking to the sun
he blew me off
[trumpet]
Well, now that we’ve Gone There with Beyonce: hasn’t anybody noticed that the head of NAACP is a white guy?
Yes. The founders of the NAACP were white socialists.
The ashes of Dorothy Parker are in an urn somewhere in their headquarters.
When is this lip syncing thing going to get old? The dirty little secret is the music at almost all Big Events is lip synced. Football stadiums and huge outdoor crowds it is just too big of a pain in the ass to get decent sound live, so when you have an event of that magnitude with TV further complicating the deal it just makes sense to record it ahead of time and lip sync it.
Happens all the time.
It will get old when the singers stop trying to sell it as a live performance.
Kelly Clarkson sang live shortly before Beyonce didn’t.
Untrue. National Anthem is almost always NOT lip-synched.
I think Springsteen declined to lip-synch. Also: the Stones, possibly. If Black-Eyed Peas lip-synched, it was the worst lip-synch in the long, colorfully bad history of lip-synching.
Sting and Gwen Stefani did an emphatically live duet, a few years back.
This notion that performing live is less usual than lip-synching is just not really well thought out, I think.
The question is “good” for who?
Die Weltgeist, natürlich!
If true, tell the big stars to sit down and just play the record.