Change has come to the offices of power. Nothing more.
We see off a horrow show presidency and welcome one from fantasy land.
My fellow Delaware Libertarian, Brian Miller, embodied the heart of the matter behind the obscene monarchical pomp, gushing self-indulgence, and orgy of self-congratulation we see with the quasi-coronation of a new (better!) Dear Leader (for some of us, anyway).
Well done, Brian. Our country was founded on throwing off the chains of heredity, official excess, institutional stagnation, personal megalomania, and abusive force attendant to an all-powerful central state dictated by the whims of men rather than guided by the rule of law.
In a diverse world of individual dreams, one man's messiah can become another man's tyranny - one man's utopia another man's hell.
Call me a wide-eyed skeptic, but I'm not buying the idea that our country should have more of the same messianism that George W. Bush brought to Washington D.C. with his detestable overseer/interventionist national government.
But that is exactly what Messrs. Obama and Biden will continue, only with their own renditions of exuberantly over-self-confident grandiosity and paternalism.
Their answer to : "ENOUGH!" is "MORE!"
Transcendent elitists, they sincerely believe in their own moral, social, and political superiority such that we should all join their "cause"...because they know what's best for all of us. Hail Caesar!
I don't need to wait around to know that what we will see will be serious exertions to force upon this country a nationalistic redux of essentially what we just saw for 8 years : all roads lead to Pennsylvania Avenue, where the Solons have it ALL in hand.
If our Constitution and this country endure, it will not be because but rather in spite of the denizens of all those heavily-armored, excessively-but-necessarily-secured marble palaces in that gleaming insulated bubble on the Potomac.
I, for one, will not be cowed nor bludgeoned into accepting the inevitability of our country's slide further towards crushing collectivist mediocrity and blundering national socialism...disguised and paraded as "change".
I will not stand by silently while my rights and liberties are the subject of social experimentation and economic engineering, thrust on us all through the (black) "art of politics" masquerading as reason acting upon necessity.
God save us all.
UPDATE : Mat Marshall writes an optimistic statement that could be the flip side of my own harsh skepticism. Perhaps I should note that I would love nothing more than to be proven wrong about what I expect will really happen under our new president and the grandiose designs at hand.
But Obama would have to move away rapidly from what he has already been pushing hard (planning, controlling, and manipulating our economy through massive central government intervention) for me to believe he isn't already running afoul of the constitutional limits of federal power.
Nonetheless, I cheer Mat's optimism, even if my own is quite muted and severely tempered these days.
We see off a horrow show presidency and welcome one from fantasy land.
My fellow Delaware Libertarian, Brian Miller, embodied the heart of the matter behind the obscene monarchical pomp, gushing self-indulgence, and orgy of self-congratulation we see with the quasi-coronation of a new (better!) Dear Leader (for some of us, anyway).
Well done, Brian. Our country was founded on throwing off the chains of heredity, official excess, institutional stagnation, personal megalomania, and abusive force attendant to an all-powerful central state dictated by the whims of men rather than guided by the rule of law.
In a diverse world of individual dreams, one man's messiah can become another man's tyranny - one man's utopia another man's hell.
Call me a wide-eyed skeptic, but I'm not buying the idea that our country should have more of the same messianism that George W. Bush brought to Washington D.C. with his detestable overseer/interventionist national government.
But that is exactly what Messrs. Obama and Biden will continue, only with their own renditions of exuberantly over-self-confident grandiosity and paternalism.
Their answer to : "ENOUGH!" is "MORE!"
Transcendent elitists, they sincerely believe in their own moral, social, and political superiority such that we should all join their "cause"...because they know what's best for all of us. Hail Caesar!
I don't need to wait around to know that what we will see will be serious exertions to force upon this country a nationalistic redux of essentially what we just saw for 8 years : all roads lead to Pennsylvania Avenue, where the Solons have it ALL in hand.
If our Constitution and this country endure, it will not be because but rather in spite of the denizens of all those heavily-armored, excessively-but-necessarily-secured marble palaces in that gleaming insulated bubble on the Potomac.
I, for one, will not be cowed nor bludgeoned into accepting the inevitability of our country's slide further towards crushing collectivist mediocrity and blundering national socialism...disguised and paraded as "change".
I will not stand by silently while my rights and liberties are the subject of social experimentation and economic engineering, thrust on us all through the (black) "art of politics" masquerading as reason acting upon necessity.
God save us all.
UPDATE : Mat Marshall writes an optimistic statement that could be the flip side of my own harsh skepticism. Perhaps I should note that I would love nothing more than to be proven wrong about what I expect will really happen under our new president and the grandiose designs at hand.
But Obama would have to move away rapidly from what he has already been pushing hard (planning, controlling, and manipulating our economy through massive central government intervention) for me to believe he isn't already running afoul of the constitutional limits of federal power.
Nonetheless, I cheer Mat's optimism, even if my own is quite muted and severely tempered these days.
Comments
McCain lost. Get over it.
You're just making yourself seem sad.
I will question power as I see fit.
Sorry I don't want to take a day off to join in on your premature and rather pie-eyed triumphalism.
No offense, no one's better off today except a differently-aligned set of power elites...and handsomely so.
I'd rather stick with being a revolutionary when it comes to power.
Obviously you think we should all kneel before it.
I think you need to get over it.
They're going to spend another $350 billion of TARP money just like Dubya did -- to the same effect (continued losses and even more debt for our grandchildren).
They're already pandering to social conservatives, and there's every indication that will continue.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will continue apace for some time, yet.
There will be more money spent on a bailout of irresponsible mortgagees.
Taxes will increase long-term due to deficit spending.
Government will get bigger.
Ironically, the whole "get over it" rhetoric is even borrowed from the Bush people -- it's the same line they used to address Gore supporters in 2000.
Factual criticism is "bitterness." Policy disagreements are "ruining the good will of the day." (Ironically, these arguments were also used by Republicans in both 2000 and 2004.)
Pardon me, but I'm just not feeling the "unity" here. I'm not even feeling much "change" -- it's just smug Democrats who are using 50 cent throwaway criticisms now rather than Republicans. Hell, even the anti-gay shit is identical.
Obviously you think we should all kneel before it."
Yup. We haven't elected a Messiah. All we've done is replace one power-hungry authoritarian who liked to wipe his ass with the Constitution and installed another "dear leader" with a different set of priorities but the same propensity for ass-wiping.
At the very least Obama's not a fan of the 1st or 2nd Amendments.
And Dana - somehow I don't think Tyler's a big McCain fan.