93 Comments

1. wildernesscalling:

Mr. Hanson, I greatly enjoy your writings and blogging, they are top notch! I just don’t understand why it took you so long to discern the truth of Obama? How could anyone believe that Obama would be a good with his short resume of experience, then to see those he surrounded himself with was another danger sign and to top it off the every so frequent miss-statement of facts where too much for anyone to not miss. I admit I had to bite the bullet to vote for McCain (I am all for Ms. Palin)

Mar 9, 2009 - 1:14 am 2. Sullihan:

Does it not seem that the USA is following the path pioneered by California? Huge deficits, major legislation crafted in secret by the leadership, narrow tax base, increasing expenditures, and all depts. of the Executive Branch managed and mismanaged by the Chief of Staff.

David Saltonstall? Of the Mayflower, Boston Brahmin, Saltonstalls?

If he does not get from the Congress what he wants, he will get angry, very angry.

And if he does not get what he wants oversees, he will be very philosophical.

Mar 9, 2009 - 1:30 am 3. Works and Days » Oh, the debts we will see! at Bydio:

[...] Works and Days » Oh, the debts we will see!. [...]

Mar 9, 2009 - 3:07 am 4. Principal Chair:

Love it, but you forgot option “D” – All of the above.

Mar 9, 2009 - 4:40 am 5. Pajamas Media » Oh, What a Debt!:

[...] Read the entire piece here. [...]

Mar 9, 2009 - 4:49 am 6. John B:

“I’ve come rapidly to the point where I simply do not believe that what our President says is at all accurate.”

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

I’ve rapidly come to believe our president is not only incompetent, he is evil.

Mar 9, 2009 - 5:18 am 7. marijuanalobby:

Dear President Obama Decriminalize Marijuana:
See how much your Cities, States, Country and households could save on taxes if Marijuana were decriminalized, then sign the petition:
MarijuanaLobby.org

MarijuanaLobby.org: Change we can engage in…

Mar 9, 2009 - 5:26 am 8. Craig:

…or another DMV-like national health care center…

Classic. That is indeed a nightmare.

Mar 9, 2009 - 5:36 am 9. Raincoat:

Obama and the Democrats in Power are so so drunk in power.

Somehow their math got blurred.

All Americans unite!

Mar 9, 2009 - 5:48 am 10. Maurice:

Obama and his band of merry professors are finding out that the real world they have avoided for so many years is a much different place than theoretical one they are subjecting to this disastrous experiment. God help us if a real foreign policy crisis arises, or the terrorists hit us hard. This guy is completely out of his depth, still clings to a messianic vision of himself, and is beginning to recognize that he may indeed be completely wrong. Dangerous.

Mar 9, 2009 - 6:05 am 11. MarkD:

The impossible will not happen. The full faith and credit of the United States will man nothing within my lifetime. When you cannot repay, you are bankrupt. This government is bankrupt. There isn’t enough wealth left to seize.

Mar 9, 2009 - 6:11 am 12. ate mely:

God have mercy on us and the whole world!

Mar 9, 2009 - 6:12 am 13. TLM:

VDH:

Rethinking Obama: The evolution from (a) to (b) to (c) has taken less than 2 months. I agree with your assessment here. The independent, upwardly mobile, entrepreneurial 250K – 600K earners have been targeted for extinction. The gap between them and the super-rich is huge and few will cross it during this downturn. They are the supposed engine of our capitalist economy, and right now they are sitting ducks. Break them and you can remake America any way you want. That seems to be the plan.

I don’t know if Obama has a mean streak (Michelle certainly does). It doesn’t matter. This is a power play, pure and simple, designed to consolidate Democrat/Socialist control of Washington indefinitely. The usual power brokers in this country are bankrupt, the rich capitalists financially and the media moguls morally. The only check on this madness is John Q Public, and he seems to finally be rousing from his slumber.

Mar 9, 2009 - 6:24 am 14. AThinkingPerson:

My personal mission is to educate every young person I come in contact with that this is the Democrat party in action. Taking care of the immigrants before citizens. Taxing wealth instead of encouraging it. Taxing small business instead of promoting more to open. Focusing on saving whales instead of families. Printing more money instead of figuring out how to best save it. It’s becoming quite easy to point out the lack of knowledge and common sense in the Democratic party right now. I’d advise everyone else to take advantage of this gift from the liberal left! It hasn’t come along this nicely wrapped since Carter!

Mar 9, 2009 - 6:32 am 15. Public Stoning:

#7:
At first I thought, what the hell is that post about, when slowly I realized that a big fat spliff might be just what the doctor ordered! It will not erase the huge debt, but will definitely put the blinders on for a time and will make eating “that cake” much easier.

Mar 9, 2009 - 6:51 am 16. formwiz:

It’s mostly (a) with (b) and (c) as the motivations. But Doc hit it on the button when he said, “I don’t think any one knows what is quite going on.”. And that’s the scary part.

What will do Obambi in is the old line, “There’s no such thing as a poor, white liberal”. The same lefties who fled Massachusetts for Vermont and California for Nevada are the ones about to get their ox gored. And they won’t stand for that.

Mar 9, 2009 - 6:53 am 17. Allison Aller:

My nightmare is that will take a huge national tragedy to wake everyone up…

Mar 9, 2009 - 7:05 am 18. FairestWitness:

For Americans with an IQ above 50, the Congressional elections in 2010 can’t come soon enough. We will have to stop this dead in its tracks and must replace Congress with fiscal conservatives. The Republicans who have cooperated with and earmarked the budgets need to go too.

WE NEED TO CLEAN HOUSE, BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS.

We must elect a big enough majority in both to override Obama vetoes. I hope the Republican Party gets its act together immediately. So far they’re wasting time piling on the “get Rush” bandwagon.

For the love of God, start doing your jobs or everything predicted in VDH’s column with come to pass. Stand up and fight, America. We can stop this march to ruin. Resist the temptation to follow the herd instinct. Just turn around and go back to the truth!

Mar 9, 2009 - 7:06 am 19. geoffgo:

VDH,

Who’da thunk 5 months ago, you and me and the “conspiricist” would all be sharing the same bunker—mentality? And, so soon.

The shift Leftward (see velocity-of-takeover) has been truly astounding, and it’s orchestration a thing of beauty.

Tactically analysis: one might deduce in hindsight that the plan was long afoot. Here we all thought elections were all a healthy bi-partisan political rivalry, a real and uniquely American thing – and all the while the Left knew it wasn’t. Dupe is too genteel a term for US.

Now we see that re-electing anyone from the Left is both encouraging and enabling the recidivist. Ignoring this, we’ve instantiated the joke. Your taxes will increase until the howling stops, which naturally leads to the thuggery, no? All US “obstructionists” will need be silenced. They grok the procedures too well.

The cabal of WH schemer-in-chiefs you single out, is merely laying the foundation for the Ministry of Information. Now “we” need a communications Czar, unconstrained by Duma oversight, to advise the President… on who should be targeted next.

So, if it’s your third option – mean – and I’m just peering over the top of the foxhole here for a quick recon, but I’d suggest that if we are ACTUALLY suffering from “intentionally maliciousness” by the President of US and his criminal coterie, with the implementation being rushed through by our elected officials (lower level overseers) at the local, state and federal levels, then a writer of your caliber and erudition can find more appropriate terms for what’s happening. Mean is too civil, about now.

I contend if Option 3 is actually the case, that I’ve by breeding, historical perspective and hard knocks been led to believe some large majority of our Founding Fathers would have taken to the streets, far sooner – armed, outraged and full of Judeo-Christian wrath – because one AmeriKan party was even contemplating what they are rapidly suceeding in doing.

Result? One party political system, either way it turns out. Cause, if we should be so fortunate, at this very late date, to win back the nation and caste off the chains of socialism, that US can never allow the Left a seat at the trough again. Never again.

Why? The Left knows and insures that majority rules; especially at the expense of anyone they can make a minority, which is just another way of saying “might makes right when you are the law and have the guns.”

So Comrade Doktor Hanson, do we just surrender to the meanies? Or, can you help us see through the fog of this inevitable battle…perhaps for many of us, to the death? The fallen warriors from your family and mine are just askin.

Mar 9, 2009 - 7:16 am 20. Flipside:

Just wondering if all those know-it-all liberal elites that supported Obama and lost all their retirement savings to Madoff’s ponzi scheme will be supporting Obama’s socialist agenda, including higher taxes…especial now that they have to go back to work?

Mar 9, 2009 - 7:20 am 21. HatlessHessian:

There are many Americans who are pleased with President Obama. A former associate of mine, one of the descendants of our nearby major metro’s founding families, is overwhelmed with excitement about the President’s agenda. As one with a net worth in the hundreds of millions, he’s well protected in his tax-exempt municipal bond portfolios and in fact, is using the current downturn to buy up future investment assets cheap. The loss of homes and businesses of the middle class is an exciting time for him as he snaps up buildings for pennies on the dollar.

And of course, Obama’s economic plan is a boon for the bottom class, rewarding complacent underachievers with even more government goodies. For my former associate, this is exciting since it represents the Democrats final attainment of a permanent bi-modal society, where the rich get richer, the poor are appeased and voting Democrat, and the middle is left to take what is offered to them.

Thank you for voting for Obama and putting the nail in the coffin of the middle class. Two hundred years of experimentation was enough for the elites to tolerate of the merchant class. Now quit reading this blog and get back to work.

Mar 9, 2009 - 7:25 am 22. geoffgo:

“I don’t think any one knows what is quite going on.”. And that’s the scary part.

If you’d like to experience “even scarier,”
imagine that someone does know what’s going on; it’s just not you.

Mar 9, 2009 - 7:27 am 23. geoffgo:

Who’da thought we’d be listening to hundreds of our very own Baghdad Bobs?

Mar 9, 2009 - 7:41 am 24. Ms. Attitude:

Nothing he does surprises me. The fact that so many Americans are still awed by him surprises me. He’s turned our country into a really bad joke and he’s not done. I’ll be fine but I worry about my children, they will be the punch line of this very bad joke!

Mar 9, 2009 - 7:51 am 25. Bruce:

Why is anyone surprised by all of this? Obama, through his books, speeches and associations made it perfectly clear what he was planning to do.This is only the beginning. Wait until we see the fruits of his foreign policy ideology. I just can’t wait.

Mar 9, 2009 - 7:52 am 26. Charles Gordon:

Our historic first Islamic apostate president made a follow-up call to a NYT reporter to clarify a statement he made after the police academy graduation of “25 men and women who will soon be protecting the streets of Columbus [OH]” (yes, 25: what was the urgency, or propriety, of that Air Force One escapade?).

He called the reporter out of fear that he would be labeled a “socialist.”

Deceit betrays the malevolent designs of the deceiver.

The majority of Americans do not live in a place where the issue of dysfunctional parents loot their neighbors, rob the elderly, and accept government dependency like opium for the people.

Instead of taking the man as he is, a pathological fraud, we are still projecting the framework of idealized American traditions onto a president fearful of having his designs for despotic government control exposed.

We are in denial because we fear the consequences of his deliberate deceit.

Mar 9, 2009 - 8:20 am 27. bear:

He won’t back down. He believes he has the mandate from the vote count to implement any and all of his programs, since he ‘won’. He just doesn’t get the fact that our votes don’t include a line item veto.

Mar 9, 2009 - 8:27 am 28. cfbleachers:

VDH, if someone with your intelligence and grace is even contemplating the issue, it begs the question…where are the Republicans? Are they building an underground resistance and speaking sotto voce about how to save the Union?

The entrenched media has been MIA since the early days of the primaries.

But the Republicans have been DOA since.

It is with great sadness that I read this morning your pondering of the unanswerable question to the impenetrable fraud.

IF…we are staring down not unintended negative consequences, but rather…intended consequences. And which consequences do we see and which remain still shrouded.

I say this, VDH…that the question is unanswerable… because I believe, as anyone who reads my comments well knows, that our information stream has been stolen. Those who have the resources and access (”permission to approach”) are part and parcel of the scam…they are insiders gang raping the truth. They not only have no intention of uncovering the fraud, they are willing co-conspirators in perpetrating it.

Sadly, those who have little resources and even far less access (”denial of permission to approach”, and worse, kicked off the plane if they dare expose the fraud)cannot fully uncover the intent of the consequences, and are left to guess…by deductive logic, missing all the key components that would be relentlessly dug out of the dirt if this was a REPUBLICAN administration.

Left to the far sidelines, the very nature of the act of contemplating whether these horrific consequences are intended or unintended…leaves the sideline sitters open for the coup d grace. “You are a tinfoil hat wearing, paranoid, not-to-be-taken-seriously…”right wing nutjob”. Voila, instant marginalization.

Look, I don’t know how deeply anyone has followed how Soros took down the Bank of England, but I have read what he thinks and why.

In an Essay titled “The Capitalist Threat”, Soros said the following:

The term “open society” was coined by Henri Bergson, in his book The Two Sources of Morality and Religion (1932), and given greater currency by the Austrian philosopher Karl Popper, in his book The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945). Popper showed that totalitarian ideologies like communism and Nazism have a common element: they claim to be in possession of the ultimate truth. Since the ultimate truth is beyond the reach of humankind, these ideologies have to resort to oppression in order to impose their vision on society. Popper juxtaposed with these totalitarian ideologies another view of society, which recognizes that nobody has a monopoly on the truth; different people have different views and different interests, and there is a need for institutions that allow them to live together in peace. These institutions protect the rights of citizens and ensure freedom of choice and freedom of speech. Popper called this form of social organization the “open society.” Totalitarian ideologies were its enemies.

THE NEW ENEMY

POPPER showed that fascism and communism had much in common, even though one constituted the extreme right and the other the extreme left, because both relied on the power of the state to repress the freedom of the individual. I want to extend his argument. I contend that an open society may also be threatened from the opposite direction — from excessive individualism. Too much competition and too little cooperation can cause intolerable inequities and instability.

Insofar as there is a dominant belief in our society today, it is a belief in the magic of the marketplace. The doctrine of laissez-faire capitalism holds that the common good is best served by the uninhibited pursuit of self-interest. Unless it is tempered by the recognition of a common interest that ought to take precedence over particular interests, our present system — which, however imperfect, qualifies as an open society — is liable to break down.

I want to emphasize, however, that I am not putting laissez-faire capitalism in the same category as Nazism or communism. Totalitarian ideologies deliberately seek to destroy the open society; laissez-faire policies may endanger it, but only inadvertently. Friedrich Hayek, one of the apostles of laissez-faire, was also a passionate proponent of the open society. Nevertheless, because communism and even socialism have been thoroughly discredited, I consider the threat from the laissez-faire side more potent today than the threat from totalitarian ideologies. We are enjoying a truly global market economy in which goods, services, capital, and even people move around quite freely, but we fail to recognize the need to sustain the values and institutions of an open society.

Although laissez-faire doctrines do not contradict the principles of the open society the way Marxism-Leninism or Nazi ideas of racial purity did, all these doctrines have an important feature in common: they all try to justify their claim to ultimate truth with an appeal to science. In the case of totalitarian doctrines, that appeal could easily be dismissed. One of Popper’s accomplishments was to show that a theory like Marxism does not qualify as science. In the case of laissez-faire the claim is more difficult to dispute, because it is based on economic theory, and economics is the most reputable of the social sciences. One cannot simply equate market economics with Marxist economics. Yet laissez-faire ideology, I contend, is just as much a perversion of supposedly scientific verities as Marxism-Leninism is.

What allows economic theory to be converted into an ideology hostile to the open society is the assumption of perfect knowledge — at first openly stated and then disguised in the form of a methodological device. There is a powerful case for the market mechanism, but it is not that markets are perfect; it is that in a world dominated by imperfect understanding, markets provide an efficient feedback mechanism for evaluating the results of one’s decisions and correcting mistakes.

Whatever its form, the assertion of perfect knowledge stands in contradiction to the concept of the open society (which recognizes that our understanding of our situation is inherently imperfect). Since this point is abstract, I need to describe specific ways in which laissez-faire ideas can pose a threat to the open society. I shall focus on three issues: economic stability, social justice, and international relations.

The laissez-faire argument against income redistribution invokes the doctrine of the survival of the fittest. The argument is undercut by the fact that wealth is passed on by inheritance, and the second generation is rarely as fit as the first.

If one views capitalism as the “New Enemy” of “open society”…and that “income redistribution” via “state control” is an objective to be achieved, then one must factor in words, acts and deeds that appear to manipulating the repeated, consistent and wholesale “short selling of capitalism”…to create an intended consequence.

Would this be any different than short selling the British pound for 10 billion dollars? The creation of the “manufactured short sell of an entire economy” …is it a wholly unprecedented and fantastical notion?

Left merely to deductive reasoning and historical facts, I am the penultimate sideline sitter. I don’t have the resources or access to find out. I can only raise the questions.

And those who do have access and resources are too busy gang raping our information stream as co-conspirators in the fraud upon my country. We simply do not know what we do not know. Because of the conspiracy of silence and shrouding of the truth by our entrenched media…the fraud is impenetrable…our turncoat town criers have abandoned their posts and have left us vulnerable to attack…and NOW, VDH, and ONLY NOW…we can begin to ask the question of intended vs. unintended consequences in earnest.

Mar 9, 2009 - 8:30 am 29. Monday morning roundup | And Still I Persist:

[...] some saner voices on the continuing crisis, here’s Victor Davis Hanson and Thomas [...]

Mar 9, 2009 - 8:37 am 30. Charlie Martin:

Wilderness, I’ve got to admit I don’t recall Dr Hanson at any time saying anything much favorable about Obama.

On the deficit-and-debt question, though, the actual math is more favorable than people think. I wrote about this last year in PJM, assuming we started with a 25 percent increase in spending — which, purely by accident, is about the trillion dollars we’ve actually spent. Even given that, and assuming nothing other than the rate of continued growth in spending is less than the rate of growth in GDP (or, strictly, in receipts driven by GDP) will eliminate the debt over time.

The trick is to make sure that condition holds.

Tea, anyone?

Mar 9, 2009 - 8:39 am 31. Jeff K:

Here’s a different premise. May be he’s doing exactly the right thing? (Google CLOWARD-PIVEN STRATEGY)If your design is to crash the system and create a crisis then he seems to be right on track. If the country is in crisis and the media sells it as the Republican’s fault then the majority will turn to the “Anointed One”(Obama)for a solution. His solution, divide and conquered the republicans and marginalize opposition. Then slowly erode personal freedoms until he can manage the media and control the national agenda. It would make a great novel…hope it’s fiction.

Mar 9, 2009 - 8:42 am 32. FairestWitness:

You’re right Bruce, it is not a surprise to me in the least. But, then again I wasn’t one of the dumb asses who voted for Obama.

Mar 9, 2009 - 8:43 am 33. Chemman:

There was a bill board advertising campaign a number of years ago that used several of the Judeo-Christian 10 Commandments. We should consider reviving one portion of it in light of the demonizing of those who have worked hard to reach a higher rung on the economic latter. What part of “Thou shalt not Covet” don’t you understand? God. Why? Because class warfare is the enshrinement of Coveting as a virtue not a vice.

Mar 9, 2009 - 8:44 am 34. steve macdonald:

As I have said in previous comments, only a Republican tsunami lead by a group willing to roll back these idiocies will save us from unimaginable problems.
However the situation does lend itself to a great business idea for a switched on international entrepeneur. there are dozens of low cost, high standard of living countries and sites for boomers to retire to & live well on even shrunken incomes. Someone could make a lot of money facilitating peoples moves – and be could easily based offshore to avoid the astronomical taxes that are coming.
I am going to retire early to the Philippines at the end of 2010 in just such as situation. I would rather play golf/scuba dive/tennis etc. everyday, have a nice house with pool, 2 maids, driver & gardner all for a pittance, than have our President pick my pocket for his socialist utopia – yes I fit his definition of rich, if not my own.

Mar 9, 2009 - 9:03 am 35. WestWright:

Speak up VDH! Your voice must be loud and heard!

Mar 9, 2009 - 9:40 am 36. Jeff Z:

A variation of b; what he’s doing is precisely what every person who attends an Ivy League school is told repeatedly, and many believe: That European soft-socialism is the best form of government.

The two problems he’s going to encounter are:

1) For all its Potemkin pseudo-sophistication, socialism is, as probably everyone reading this knows, a form of secular millennialism. No matter how bad things seem to look and worse they are getting, Obama will “know” that they will get better–very much better–in the long run. This belief will persist regardless of events, and when the whole thing crashes, he will go to his grave convinced that if only given more time and a more thorough implementation, his policies would have worked. He won’t change his policies.

2) He doesn’t know what to do when things get tough. This doesn’t mean that he may not have the capacity to, but that he’s never has had to deal with the incredible pressures that’s he’s starting to face now. There’s no time to learn, so he’ll probably just retreat into a pure reactionary state.

The whole Limbaugh thing is a disgraceful, hilarious example of this. Clearly having no idea what to do, and unwilling–probably unable, at this point–to make brutal, imperfect decisions, he and his cohorts think that going after Limbaugh and the Republicans will…will…will what?

After all, Obama and the Democrats have near-total power over the government,a complacent press (though a bit less so), and overwhelming popularity (until a few days ago), and have already greatly increased their power by passing gigantic spending increases and creating new laws. Well, now the fun’s over, real problems have to be dealt with, and they simply don’t know what to do. HOWEVER, they do know how to do ONE thing when there’s a problem to overcome, so they attack Rush Limbaugh,and they did good job of it. For some reason, though, it hasn’t had any affect on the terrifying economic crisis. Huh.

Now what?

Mar 9, 2009 - 9:44 am 37. AThinkingPerson:

#36 Jeff Z….Interesting post! My take on Obama’s use of Rush Limbaugh is that every GOP’er out in this great country should come out en masse in support of Rush (whether we believe everything he says or not). Truly shove Rush into the mainstream and tout everything he says as the gospel. The liberal left moonbats are just using Rush to divide and conquer the GOP. It’s not working of course but wouldn’t it be great for this to blowup in their faces? Personally, I’ve always enjoyed a good does of Rush on occasion. Sometimes I wonder if it’s the delivery, not the message that offends some. I, for one, am investing in a “Rush is RIGHT!” bumper sticker. By the way…what happened to all of those “Obama 2008″ bumper stickers? Haven’t seen one in a while. Hehehehe…..

Mar 9, 2009 - 10:12 am 38. Delia:

Ugh. I’m so depressed but I refuse to let the 0bama administration break my spirit and the spirit of my countrymen. I’m ANGRY…no, FURIOUS and I don’t want to be defeated emotionally or financially by this slime-ball and his henchmen.

“The One” and his cronies can’t ruin our country in one fell swoop! Said in meek, little girl voice, “right?”

Who us going to be left holding the ball when the producers stop producing and our money isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on? The gravy train is already running on fumes.

:\

Mar 9, 2009 - 10:15 am 39. DougWright:

Dear Professor: The only peaceful solution is to have a “do over” election. We’re getting close to that point for Minnesota’s senatorial election, why not for president.

After all, President Obama is not what many thought he’d be (although many always believe he’s worse than we’d thought!) and not doing much more than providing the media with occasional photo opportunities. So, what’s the big deal, eh? Do over time!

Ah, if it were only that easy, eh? Still, there’s 2012 if we can hold out til then.

Mar 9, 2009 - 10:17 am 40. rvastar:

Now the New York Daily News prints a derivative hit piece by a senior correspondent David Saltonstall…

Dr. Hanson, you’re surprised that a Leftist’s “argument” consists mainly of ad hominem attacks and red herrings?

Tell you what: when you find one that isn’t completely rooted in ad hominem, red herring, or straw man “arguments”, let us all know.

Mar 9, 2009 - 10:59 am 41. JD:

Economic and financial reality does not matter to President Obama. In his eyes, he has a public mandate for his transformative mission. And this takes clear precedence over all else.

I’ve never been able to comprehend how those of the Left can so easily ignore every aspect of economics that they’ve ever learned:

http://trackacrat.com/2009/03/03/help-needed/

Mar 9, 2009 - 11:35 am 42. liberty4usa:

# 17 My nightmare is that will take a huge national tragedy to wake everyone up…

I agree, even then however, we have had decades of social indoctrination where the children are not taught to think for themselves, but rather to rely on what the popular culture group think says.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for Letterman or Oprah to admit they blew it, and in that sense it will take a major event or two to wake up people to reality.

” Although all men are born free, slavery has been the general lot of the human race. Ignorant—they have been cheated; asleep—they have been surprised; divided—the yoke has been forced upon them. But what is the lesson?…the people ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united, that after establishing a government they should watch over it…It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently free.”

— James Madison

http://thenma.org/blogs//index.php/libertyforusa/2009/03/08/parents-don-t-let-your-children-grow-up-

Mar 9, 2009 - 11:38 am 43. Marc Malone:

This article makes me laugh. VDH is a smart, educated, worldly mand, but he’s also a good man, and good men are essentially unable to recognize true evil when they see it. They want to believe in the innate goodness of other men; to give them the benefit of the doubt.

We right-wing nutjobs are being proven right in our prognostications in every single case. Others are rapidly coming over to our point of view, as they come face-to-face with the monster. Thus, VDH’s comment about sharing the bunker mentality.

Only, he’s confused. The right-wing nutjobs don’t have a bunker mentality. They are seriously preparing themselves for the inevitable open warfare. Ayers and friends were not kidding when discussing years ago that they would have to kill 25-30 million people. They were talking about the right-wingers. It has happened in every communist country, the killing of the right-wing.

One last thing… I said this in another thread. The attack on Rush is not an attack on rush. It is an attempt to further isolate the Republicans by tying them to a controversial figure. If they can succeed in painting all Pubs as fringe-dwellers, they can get our voices ignored, however bad things get. This could backfire because of their over-reaching. They could, instead, empower the far-right, but it’s a small chance.

Mar 9, 2009 - 11:57 am 44. All about "whitey?":

There’s the other possibility Professor.

One you didn’t mention, perhaps you haven’t considered it.

It’s not a particularly pleasant possibility, nor thought for that matter.

But with his associations, Ayers, et al, and because of his LONG-STANDING devotion to the world view of Wright, it needs at least to be considered.

To wit, what if what we’re seeing is a policy of financially “wiping out whitey.”

What if this is nothing more than a vast effort at making “whitey” pay for his centuries of greed, centuries of exploitation, centuries of environmental degradation.

“Whitey must pay.”

Recall that signature line of Wright: “White folks greed fuels a world in need.”

Note the word “fuel,” which in this case means drives, propels.

If Obama and his wife believe that “whitey” is to blame for the suffering of much of the world, then that would explain Obama’s Olympian indifference to the suffering of those getting pounded and pulberized on Wall Street. But that assumes we’re seeing “indifference,” when it’s much more likely we’re seeing glee.

Obama is no friend of ours, nor is Obama a friend of anyone remotely “normal.” All of his friends, all of his close associations are with radicals and muslims. He hasn’t a normal friend to his name, and what’s more, probably never had one since the time he was a boy.

Mar 9, 2009 - 12:10 pm 45. RedFred:

Quick point out how Chavez is so different in how he started down the path to socialist utopia…

Mar 9, 2009 - 12:21 pm 46. bear:

#43: My fear is that you are right and a national tragedy will be used as cover.

Mar 9, 2009 - 12:28 pm 47. Paul M Hupf:

Alas, all too true. Who is the real President of this country? Is it Barack Obama? Or is it one or more members of his White House staff, who have his ear? The President has quickly revealed himself as hollow, capable of reading from a teleprompter but incapable of addressing real issues intelligently. His tenure as President will be judged a disaster, but, alas, we, the people, are the ones who will suffer loss of our independence and self reliance.

Mar 9, 2009 - 12:31 pm 48. Bridget:

As usual, Dr Hansen speaks truth sanely. However, he is much too nice in his summary: he nicely says President Obama is lying to us. Frankly, I ceased listening to what Obama said early on and watched what he had done and is doing all along. His rhetoric doesn’t match his actions. His actions are socialistic bordering on totalitarian. His mouth tries to cover up, sugar-coat or prevaricate on his actions.

What’s really astonishing to me is he and his staff don’t seem to care about the rapidly vanishing 401K/403B balances – I’m beginning to wonder if they want that to happen so they can point to ‘the failure of the privatization of retirement funds.’ So instead we get to invest *more* through our “fatherland” into the SSN Ponzi scheme. Don’t these people see it affect them, too? Or does it?

I was reading about the wunderkind speechwriter for Obama – at 27 these policies will affect him more than I. At 27 he’s got access to the highest reaches of power, but it seems more like a Svengali mechanism—and yet what he drafts for the President will profoundly affect him unless there is some type of balancing or re-direction soon.

Mar 9, 2009 - 12:49 pm 49. MightyMonarch:

This president strikes me as the dog who finally caught the car he was chasing, and now has no idea what to do with it.

Mar 9, 2009 - 12:54 pm 50. therealist:

Obama’s policy agenda is clueless. It is based on simplistic and naive thinking that sees America the country as imperialist and America the economy as exploitative. Obama, himself is contemptuous. He sees other people, like the Republicans, the Clintons, industry, etc as undeserving of their power and popularity. He’ll throw anyone under the bus if he thinks they are a liability.

Obama’s fatal flaw is that he wants to be a loved like a celebrity. The guy wrote two books about himself before he had ever done anything. He will be obsessed about his approval rating, and if it falls below 50% he might even self-destruct. He will see his popularity synonymous with political capital, and that means he can be pushed around by a fickle public or a frustrated press. Not right away, because we’re still in the honeymoon phase, but soon.

Mar 9, 2009 - 1:17 pm 51. Cornhead:

Yeah, the 27 year old speechwriter with the line borrowed from an old song,

“Pick yourself up/

Dust yourself off/

Start all over again.”

I laughed when I heard the new President utter those words.

I couldn’t understand why no one else laughed. The whole speech was childish.

Mar 9, 2009 - 1:28 pm 52. Delia:

48. Bridget:

“I was reading about the wunderkind speechwriter for Obama”
~

LMAO! Yeppers:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/20/barack-obama-inauguration-us-speech

Your whole rant was on point and I concur wholeheartedly.

We have coddled, pinko prats running loose with our government and the powers that be. We are watching our country’s untethering from everything she stands for.

Mar 9, 2009 - 1:32 pm 53. Jay-Z:

All I know is my album sales are down and my Obama T-shirt is losing value fast.

Mar 9, 2009 - 1:41 pm 54. davidt:

Reagan chose the Republican Party as the vehicle for the Conservative political movement, and the Republican Party Establishment never stopped resenting being taken over. They enjoyed the benefits, but never liked being in the back seat. They have now succeeded in retaking control their party, putting the conservatives ‘in their place’. The time is ripe for a successful Conservative Party to form. The Reagan landslides of 1980 and 1984, the Perot Candidacy, the popularity of the Contract With America, the popularity of people like Limbaugh and Palin and Jindal and other conservatives, the need for politicians like Obama to pretend to be conservative or centrist to be elected, and the growing discontent with the Lib/Prog/Soc/Com Democrat policies show the potential is there. The majority of Americans are still conservative and need a true Conservative Party to represent them, rather than a Republican Party which merely pretends to be conservative. More than in 1992 and 1996, when the American people were so fed up with both the major parties that Perot could come close to winning, so now a true Conservative Party can be formed and represent the people.

Mar 9, 2009 - 1:50 pm 55. Gary j:

I always enjoy your writing and make it a point to read all your columns.Although you are totally wrong about Bosnia and particularly Kosovo, you provide a great perspective through historical lenses on the tragic American situation.

Mar 9, 2009 - 1:55 pm 56. Kevin:

“Germany paid off its war debts to France in the 1920s, with deliberately inflated German marks”

This is actually a misunderstanding of the reparations Germany had to pay after World War 1. Germany had to pay France and Great Britain with gold and not German notes.

Mar 9, 2009 - 2:06 pm 57. Still Bill:

Victor: I’ve made this point before. Obama has a half-brother living in a large dog-house somewhere in Kenya, Obama’s country of birth. If someone worth millions can’t help a family member in need, I don’t want to hear flowery speeches when Obama is looking a teleprompter square in the eye. This man is a con man. Unfortunately for the USA, the greatest country on the face of Mother Earth, 52% of my fellow Americans bought into his con job.

Mar 9, 2009 - 2:22 pm 58. Tomp:

Wishful thinking: Perhaps General Petraeus could lead a new surge into D.C. and rout the thieves. President Axelrod..oops..Obama should go first. Just who is the string puller here? Obama is just the silver tounged front man.

Mar 9, 2009 - 3:01 pm 59. geoffgo:

Steve MacDonald@34

I recall the movie Blow, wherein the narcotics smuggler-in-chief from the US deposited his ill-gotten $75M in a Panamanian bank, where it was then immediately “nationalized” by a better armed smuggler-in-chief.

Mar 9, 2009 - 3:12 pm 60. geoffgo:

davidt@54

Perot came no where close to winning; although his campaign insured the Republicans lost.

Mar 9, 2009 - 3:27 pm 61. BC:

More proof, as if we needed it, that Obama bashers are utter fools:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aZ1kcJ7y3LDM&refer=home

Mar 9, 2009 - 3:48 pm 62. Boots:

Here in the Land of Lincoln, the Civic Federation released a report today on the financial state of Illinois. The unfunded public pension obligations alone are $73Billion. Illinois’current fiscal year budget is $2Billion in the red, so the state borrowed $1.4Billion to fix that, and there’s between $4Billion-$5Billion in unpaid bills sitting in the comptrollers office.
http://civicfed.org/articles/civicfed_292.pdf
We are being spent into bankruptcy at every level of government. What happens when we run out of money?

Mar 9, 2009 - 4:02 pm 63. D Foster:

VDH

So, I have always been confused as to why the Hi-Tech Exec’s, Wall Street Investment Bank and Trading Exec’s, Hollywood, Large Corporation Exec’s and the North East Trust Fund Individuals, ALL CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEMOCTRAT PARTY, AND EXPECIALLY THIS GUY OBAMA.

Just what happens to Warren Buffett that he sees Obama as something other than what he is. A Chicago Political thinking LIBERAL. What is he thinking.

Do these people think they will be excluded from the anti business Liberal movement. What could they be thinking. Add this to the dying Print Media and you have to ask do they not know, no one is reading their weekly magazine, no one.

But yet, all of these various groups contribute Millions of Dollars to Elite Liberal causes. Millions. Every election.

What is wrong with these people. Are they all willing to pay 50% to 70% Tax, if they live in New York or California. And if they have a Manufacturing business, Cap and Trade will run them out of business.

Here we are in 2008, and we still have Bill Clinton’s Political cronies operating in the White House and on Network TV. As in the past, they will crucify anyone that presents a position in opposition to their cause. They will not allow debate or review of their Left Liberal Positions.

The desire for POWER is a powerful desire, a drug that will destroy everything, if not curtailed.

There is a backlash brewing in the investment and business community, it will spread to the small business and individual or family business. We can only hope there will be enough time before the economy sinks into a Global Depression. Hopefully.

Mar 9, 2009 - 4:44 pm 64. proreason:

This is the key point…”effectively destroying the idea that anyone from the lower classes can ever achieve wealth in a single lifetime”

Obama is neither clueless or mean….he is the talking head for an oligarchy that aims to do the above…make sure they can never again be threatened by those annoying capitalists who actually think they can become somebody.

It’s not about ideology. It’s about power.

Mar 9, 2009 - 5:28 pm 65. karen:

My 20 something family members who’ve graduated from Harvard don’t want there to be wealth. They’ve been brilliantly educated to hate capitalism, success, western civilization — in other words, themselves.

Mar 9, 2009 - 5:41 pm 66. Ron Kean:

Yes. It appears to be a conscious effort to deceive and destroy and the media kowtows.

For years we’ve heard that college students can’t write. Is the reader as smart as a 5th grader? We are a nation who’s been sedated by Bonanza, The Addams Family, The Jeffersons, Three’s Company, Momma’s Family, Friends, and a couple of dozen more from the imagination of a few score drugged up Los Angeles TV scriptwriters.

So Obama must be Dr. Huckstible and Rush Limbaugh must be Archie Bunker.

So what’s next? Huge bags of rice and a basement full of canned goods?

Who’s in charge anyway?

Stay with us professor. I’m always happy to be here.

Mar 9, 2009 - 5:44 pm 67. Steeple:

62 Boots Simple. We won’t run out of money. Because the easiest solution out of this (and guys like Obama love easy solutions) is to fire up the printing presses and debase the currency. Costs nothing initially, other than the damage it does to those who have behaved well financially over the past years. Don’t have to get Congress’ approval to do it. Just let ‘er rip.

He’ll try to inflate his way out of this. Great for heavily indebted borrowers like the Federal and State governments, who can repay their debts with less valuable dollars in the future. Terrible for those who have saved over time, not that it isn’t terrible already for savers.

The best fighting chance we have in that scenario is that Europe and Asia are in even worse shape financially. Does the Euro, a currency without a country, survive this downturn? How does a country like China, which levered up to invest in capital industries that were barely generating a fair rate of return a year ago, manage through not only the capital losses but the unemployment that comes with it? If you think our unemployment is bad, keep an eye on theirs.

So currency strength is a measure of relative, and not absolute, strength. Maybe we’ll still end up being the tallest small guy in the room. But do you want to bet on that?

I wonder what Volker must be thinking right now.

Mar 9, 2009 - 5:58 pm 68. Fantom:

test

Mar 9, 2009 - 6:36 pm 69. Dr. T:

I don’t believe in the naivete of President Obama. Personally I believe the wealth of the nation is being intentionally targeted. And as for the debt, I believe there may be no intention to pay it off. Bankrupt the system or disrupt the international system to the point that it all collapses. As an American I am extremely offended and worried.

His foreign policies, or lack thereof, including abandoning Iraq prematurely, exiting Afghanistan, supporting Hamas in Palestine, cease pursuit of missile defense of our allies in Europe, offend the British Prime Minister. Where does it end?

I think the only hope is a very early march on Washington and insistence that Congress reverse the damage it is causing. I know it sounds naive, as it would be very unlikely to happen, but the longer the citizens of this country wait, the harder it will become. Frankly, it makes me depressed.

The economy would have recovered on its own, although it may have been painful, if we had not had our government so aggressively intervene. Now, I am not so sure.

Mar 9, 2009 - 6:41 pm 70. Will:

What happens when the rich no longer pay the revenue needed to pay the debt as they go overseas hmmmmm?

Mar 9, 2009 - 6:43 pm 71. The Historian:

SUBPRIME TO RECESSION IN ONE EASY LESSON
Here’s the short story of the time bomb that blew our economy apart.

http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/03/subprime-to-recession-in-one-easy.html

Mar 9, 2009 - 7:55 pm 72. Sara123:

I’ve been active in fighting the Left politically for decades now. We never ferret them out of controling our institutions and lives and curtailing our constitutional rights. Even when we “win” elections, we lose ground at a steady pace everywhere else.

Don’t want to sound “hopeless” but I don’t see much chance for “change” without some serious organization and a merciless, life long committed fight like the Left did to the establishment in the 1960’s. Conservatives won’t do that. Republicans and libertarinas surely will not demand and support cultural and social institutional change. That includes getting rid of socialist programs.

Mar 9, 2009 - 8:03 pm 73. Svend:

VDH is the smartest guy in the room on any day of the week anywhere you want to go.

I have never disliked Obama, it is just that from the very beginning (long before he was even considered a ‘Contender”) he was obviously very inexperienced, very unqualified, and somewhat odd in his views of the world, most notably by his associations and background. I was and am astounded that he is our President, EXCEPT for the fact that McCain was so confoundedly so inept in his campaign.

Anyhow…I don’t believe for a moment that Obama will go too far as I still imagine that at our core we humble citizens will rise up either in a vote of renunciation or with arms to prevent this amateur and his co-horts from destroying this great experiment.

Someday this wonderful country, this amazing experiment in human freedom may end, but I don’t think that time is now.

I’m thinking and I can’t stop thinking about this inner belief that one day soon or in the not distant future a nerve is going to be touched that should not have been touched and “OLD GUYS (& Gals)” like myself and you are going to jump in the Buick and start our drive to D.C.

I don’t plan on having any holes cut out in the trunk for my .223 caliber rifle, and I wish no ill will and make no threats. But by Gawd the likes of Mr. Obama are NOT going to bring this country down without taking me out first. If he thinks that by merely destroying my portfolio and putting me to work again through my 60’s will keep me in his regard, he and Nancy and their followers will be sadly mistaken

Thanks for listening, So when do we start the March on Washington, I’m ready when the call goes out. Svend.

Mar 9, 2009 - 8:13 pm 74. Ray Jones:

Mr. Hanson talks about a DMV like healthcare.

A few years ago when Bill and Hillary were trying to get “her” healthcare plan through I had a discussion with a gentleman about a national healthcare program.

He made the typical off hand comment about how I would of course characterize such a plan as DMV like healthcare.

I sized him up by age and temperament as probably being a veteran and told him “NO, I don’t believe national healthcare would be like the DMV. It would be like the VA.”

Not expecting that answer he paused, thought for a minute and said “Yes, your right”.

Mar 9, 2009 - 8:31 pm 75. Linguist:

Unfortunately, Obama is simply not good enough.

http://smokebreak.blogshevik.com/2009/03/07/sorry-its-not-good-enough/

Mar 9, 2009 - 8:45 pm 76. DaveinPhoenix:

In an article by Jerome R. Corsi of WorldNetDaily, he points towards the “2008 Financial Report of the United States Government”. According to that report (which I have read) the total Federal obligations using generally accepted accounting practices amounts to $65.5 TRILLION.

At what point do these numbers start scaring Americans and our “leaders” ?

Mar 9, 2009 - 8:52 pm 77. Ric Williams:

As usual, VDH, you are completely right and right on point; and I would add just this: I agree that the correct answer to your multiple choice test is ALL OF THE ABOVE. After all, the evidence is overwhelming that we are dealing with a vicious, vengeful, envious inexperienced and incompetent hard-core leftist ideologue who is doing eveything he can to carry out what “Progressives” for over a century have been attempting: to replace the market economy which they detest with what they persist in calling the “moral economy,” in which the job of allocating all of our nation’s scarce or economic resourses, products and services would be funded by the Beltway’s ever-rising taxes and micro-managed by an ever-expanding and ever-more intrusive army of GSEs.

Mar 9, 2009 - 9:07 pm 78. davidt:

geoffgo@60, I can’t remember whether it was ‘92 or ‘96, but Perot suspended his campaign when his polling became too good and threatened Clinton, then resumed when things settled down. Also, a Conservative Party wouldn’t need to win a majority, just a plurality.

Mar 9, 2009 - 9:23 pm 79. Marie Claude:

Steeple, don’t worry you’ll be not left alone, your in and deeply too

Mar 9, 2009 - 10:23 pm 80. smutna:

Must read-Cloward/Piven strategy. Tax increase on the “wealthy” or simple revenge tactic on the voter, that most likely voted against the Dem ticket?

Mar 9, 2009 - 10:26 pm 81. Robohobo:

VDH – I am glad you have some faith in the usurper-POTUS. I do not. This is all planned destruction of the US as a world power. I believe he is malevolent and evil.

Mar 9, 2009 - 10:27 pm 82. GGA - Dublin, Ohio:

Bravo, Dr. Hanson, Bravo!! So, where are the grown-ups when you need them? Someone needs to be minding the country…

All this talk of spending and grand schemes to solve all that ails us is just oh-so wonderful, and yet, where are the solutions to the core problem of banking and lending?? Six weeks and counting, and there is still nothing…unless you count talking points and good intentions. The silence could not be more deafening, but Wall Street hears it loud and clear. The proof is in our retirement account statements.

The poor hospitality shown the British Prime Minister is simply a telling sign of the arrogance and incompetence of this new administration. Consider: If they can’t execute an elementary Presidential duty such as how to properly host one of our best allies, how can they cut the gordian knot of the banking and credit crisis? Honestly: some DVDs vs. thoughtful, historically relevant artifacts and items? What a towering embarrassment for our nation…

Indeed, we will be fortunate to only suffer embarrassment at their hands rather than the host of nightmares now possible under their stewardship. Elections have consequences, and now we must suffer them. Sadly, new elections simply cannot come soon enough…

With most of the news ranging between bad and worse, the talk of tea parties is one of the few hopeful signs that the real strength of our country – the decency and common sense of ordinary Americans – may yet get us out of this mess. Now, THAT is hope and change you can believe in!

Keep up your great work.

Kind Regards,
GGA – Dublin, Ohio

Mar 9, 2009 - 10:45 pm 83. Marc Malone:

A tax tevolt could set off the conflict.

I had to laugh today. Hannity had film of Whoopi Goldberg crying about the tax increases. Phone, Electricity, City, State, Federal… all are going up. Being at the top income bracket like her, she’s getting it “coming and going”.

What’s the joke? A conservative is a liberal who was mugged yesterday.

Mar 9, 2009 - 11:48 pm 84. Gary Rosen:

“the Republicans have been DOA since.”

There isn’t much else they can be. The Dems have all the cards – they hold the White House and with only a couple of RINOs a filibuster-proof majority in Congress. Unfortunately there is little to do except wait for BO to screw it up and hope that some of the people who voted for him come to their senses. I only hope it isn’t already too late by then.

Mar 10, 2009 - 12:13 am 85. Daily Blogger - Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 | Jack’s Newswatch:

[...] Pajamas Media | Victor Davis Hanson: Oh, the Debts We Will See! [...]

Mar 10, 2009 - 5:44 am 86. Carl Sesar:

It’s possible to get this con man out of office right quick, if we insist that he release his birth certificate. But no, all the smarty pants say that’s a dead end, etc. Bull! David Horowitz is actually afraid of this tactic, and if even he can be that, well, dumb, what can one do? Some reporter at a press conference ought to confront him about his refusal to release the document and prove his eligibility to the office of president. The Constitution is quite clear about it; no person except a natural born citizen, is eligible. There’s no statute of limitations on this provision. It’s the law of the land. When Barry goes into his snooty high horse act and tries to slough it off, the whole room of reporters should keep on hassling him with the same question, and boo him when he starts to hem ‘n haw and brazen it out. That’ll set some wheels in motion, I betcha!.

Mar 10, 2009 - 10:48 am 87. TLM:

After his first fifty days in office, has the schematic picture of President Obama been filled in with any significant detail? Maybe, however, I think he still cloaks himself in a miasma of postmodernist pablum designed to hide his true agenda. Is he inept, calculating, mean? Don’t know, but, reading between the lines, a few things are clear:

His personal ambition seems to be to limit that of others. As VDH implies, his economic policies have targeted for extinction the goal directed ambitious upper middle class. By applying punitive tax measures to them in order to fund government handouts to society’s slackers, he apparently wishes to bury for good the can-do spirit that leads to upwardly mobility in America. Oh well, our society was never a true meritocracy. Just the closest thing to it in the last 2500 years.

Ever the idealist himself –when it comes to remaking America — Obama wishes to kill the influence of idealism on how Americans perceive themselves. We will no longer be a force for good in the world, as exemplified by the fact that we will no longer be a force at all. Too difficult to sort out the good guys from the bad guys, so why bother. In fact, better to focus on how bad we’ve behaved ourselves in the past 8 years. (N.B.: This mea culpa ought to be sufficient consolation to you really “bad guys” out there, whoever you are, to leave us alone until Obama gets re-elected). Pragmatically speaking, American idealism is what Obama says it is.

Hopenchange for the future means nopenchange for the past. No historical ties that bind. No cultural affinity with our cousins across the pond. No shared glory for the One who walks on water. Thus, the Mau-Mauing of Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of…uh, one of those 190 countries at the UN. So, forget the joint press conference. Obama might trip over his English again in public. Change we can believe in? Not even a dirt poor Third World ex-colony of Britain would treat the UK PM so contemptuously. In fact, not even the Irish would.

Fifty days to go until the presidential honeymoon period is over. Thank God. Then we can really unload on Obama and his Administration.

Mar 10, 2009 - 10:58 am 88. deguello:

VDH:
It’s not the debts we will see that will be impressive,but the civil war that this debt will set off!REGARDS!

Mar 10, 2009 - 11:13 am 89. Steynian 333 « Free Canuckistan!:

[...] OH, WHAT A DEBT! by Victor Davis Hanson: “The numbers are so fantastic, so absolutely crazed, that the [...]

Mar 10, 2009 - 2:20 pm 90. Richard Gregg:

More of the same “sour grapes commentary” and sadly so predictable. I question the comment:”…In some cases, the lawyer or contractor who a year ago had $400K put away in retirement funds and $300K in home equity has effectively lost half, if not more, of his hard-won wealth…” That was not hard earned wealth, but cheap and sleazy inflated wealth based on unrealistic expectations. I took a hit too but knew all along that “the party could end at any moment”. (Nothing lasts forever that is based on fantasy.) He is suddenly so defensive about Rush’s extravagant private lifestyle, but wrote hit pieces about Al Gore, John Kerry, Barbara Streisand and other liberals and their extravagance. Time to put divisions aside and come together as Americans..or we might all go “down with the ship”…!

Mar 10, 2009 - 11:26 pm 91. whyyeseyec:

Maybe when we get through borrowing from the Chinese we can start borrowing from other planets………..

Mar 12, 2009 - 2:11 pm 92. Gaisan:

In 2008 with Obama on the campaign trail, I wrote on these pages that we were dealing with a CULT! In 2009, with President Obama, we are still dealing with a CULT! Trying to figure these people out is as insane as they are… they aren’t rational… they’re true believers through and through. Our only hope is that enough of them will wake up before it’s too late.

There have been several documentaries about cults… about Jonestown and the murder of Congressman Ryan and the mass suicide of almost 1,000 people in 1978 under the direct orders of Jim Jones. His followers called him Father and God and to them he was the messiah come to lead them to the Promised Land. He led them all right… to their deaths!

MSNBC also ran a documentary last November called “Witness to Jonestown”. See it if you can… a sobering account of how so many people can be taken in by a charismatic leader. One of the survivors, Tim Carter, Viet Nam vet and member of the Jonestown community said, “I’d been playing Peace and Love and woke up to find the leader was a murderer.” When asked by a reporter what took him so long to “wake up” he said that he couldn’t… didn’t want to believe that everything he had believed, pinned his hopes on – paradise on earth – was all a lie.” It was only at the very end, when people were dying, that he couldn’t deny the truth any longer.

Remember Jonestown!

Mar 15, 2009 - 5:53 pm 93. Confused in Virginia:

Dr. Hanson, thank you once again for your brilliant writing. I have to agree with #44 that it is about race. That is one issue that seems to scare so many people, that no one seems to want to touch it with a 10-foot pole.

President Obama’s most ardent suppporters are African-Americans (AA’s), who happen to be as racist, if not more so than the rest of the population.

I am Hispanic, married to an AA, and I can tell you that I have never in my life (I’m in my early fifty’s) dealt with people that are as racist as my in-laws. My father-in-law told me through tears how he never imagined that in his lifetime, that he would ever have the opportunity to vote for a black man. He didn’t, and still doesn’t care that Obama is the most unqualified person to ever hold this office. What counts is that he is black, and that he will do anything and everything in his power to take from the rich and give to AA’s, regardless of what that will do to the country.

I personally believe that it is Michelle, with her hatred of whites, who is running this country. My big fear is that if Obama and Congress go down the path of retroactively taxing the bonuses given out by AIG, they may then turn their attention to those making less than $250,000 when they realize that those taxes don’t bring in the revenue they projected. However, I am at a loss in thinking of what can be done to reverse the course that this country is on, with the exception of waiting until 2010 to vote out the Dems in power.

I will continue to read your posts, and the comments of other conservatives in the hope that something can be done.

Mar 28, 2009 - 5:07 am

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