Category: Politics

Where’s the ACLU?

Via Glenn, I noticed this article talking about the entire Texas polygamy fiasco, and asking where the ACLU is in all of this.  The answer to me, is pretty clear.  It’s not George W. Bush perpetrating this outrage against people’s civil rights, so who’s to care?  If it can’t used it to beat those warmongering Republicans over the head, why does it matter?

The progressives’ defense of civil rights has become an utter joke, and it’s not just their willingness to throw the second amendment under the bus.  I’m not happy with Bush’s record on civil liberties at all, and for letting a weasel like Gonzalez run around for as long as he did.  But civil liberties violations don’t start and end with the Bush administration.

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How to Affect Change

Peter offers a good guide on how to get involved to get more pro-liberty candidates in the political mix:

We need to get more active, and at all levels of government. We look at the state and local races as closely as we look at the national races. We need to start reform at the ground level. The person that is running for dog catcher may become the Mayor. The Mayor’s office to the Governor’s office isn’t too far. And a lot of Governors have run for and become president. We need to take a long view, and work on our local officials, letting them know how we feel, and helping the good ones to make the leap to the next level. While not many of them will make this type of leap, we will benefit from elected officials that better represent us at all levels. Also consider how much easier it is to deal with someone at a lower level in the political process, and how much harder it gets as they rise through the ranks. Who would be in this race was largely determined years ago.

Read the whole thing.  The big problem most of us pro-liberty types have is that we’re too busy enjoying it.  We have wives, kids, jobs, baseball games, and beer, which leaves little time for activism.  But there are many things that those who are short on time can do.  Put out a sign, donate money, beat up a hippy, conqueror Berkeley, or whatever you can find the resources to accomplish.

Another thing to consider, if you have maybe a little extra time, is look at whether your local congressional district has an EVC.  Some areas are seriously deficient of volunteers, and many are deficient of EVCs, including my district, and I’ve been thinking about stepping up.

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Hillary By Ten

It’s important to remember that Barack Obama was closing the gap on Hillary rather aggressively when he stepped on a land mind in the culture war and blew up his campaign.  While “Bittergate” may have cost Obama the Pennsylvania primary, I think the cost to the Democrats in general is probably greater.  The Democrats can’t be the party of large urban centers and still win national elections, and their attitudes toward, not just rural, but ordinary people and their lifestyles have been a big part of what’s holding them back.

Bittergate wasn’t broken by conservative digging.  It wasn’t some intrepid reporter who uncovered it.  It was a lefty blogger, who had little idea of the significance of what she was revealing.  But how could she have?  She was part of the same intelligentsia that Obama was trying to appeal to in the first place.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the urban left, it’s that many are very insulated from lifestyles and opinions of those outside their parochial social circles.  This is a trait most commonly attached to rural people, but mass media and the internet have largely ended that.  Rural people are learning what life long urban dwellers like Barack Obama think of them, and they don’t like it.

I believe Wretchard of The Belmont Club summed up the issue best:

Americans in contrast, opted to leave that responsibility with individuals. The phrase “In God We Trust” is often attached by wags to the words, “all others must pay cash”. It’s a restatement of the belief that there are no special people, no natural overlords, no entitled class upon the earth. Bureaucrats are just people doing a job in uniform clothes. At the end of the day the world consisted of you and your Maker.

God and guns are a talismanic connection to the idea that the individual is supreme.

And that is what Democrats have been failing to understand for quite some time now.  Democrats of the past often had lofty goals in terms of progressive reform, but respect for the people they thought they were helping was generally there.  The more the Democrats look like they are a bunch of wealthy, educated, city dwellers trying to feel better about themselves by helping those poor ignorant indigents run their sad, pathetic lives, the more they are going to lose.  Barack Obama just learned that lesson the hard way.

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Overheard at Obama Headquarters

*ring* *ring* *ring*

Bob: Hello, this is Bob Ricker of American Hunters and Shooters.

Obama: Hey man, you told me if you guys endorsed me, all those crackers outside of Philadelphia would cast their vote for me.  What the hell?

Bob: Look Barry, we’ll help you out in Indiana, for sure.  My buddy Paul tells me we’re sure to deliver Fort Wayne.  And there’s Gary Barry, don’t forget about Gary!

Obama: Indiana?  Are you crazy?  Those guys are even more bitter than Pennsylvanians.

Bob: We’re confident we can deliver the rich Perazzi shotgun vote.  Those guys love us.

Obama: How many of those guys are in Indiana?  Can you really deliver?

Bob: Can we deliver?  Can we deliver?  Is your name Barack Hussein Obama?

Obama: YOU SAID THE MIDDLE NAME!  NEVER SAY THE MIDDLE NAME!

Bob: Sorry Barry.  Look, it’s not our fault that Pennsylvania has so many whacko gun owners.  We think we can get you to within at least 5 points of Hillary in Indiana.  At least.  Trust us on this.

Obama: I’m starting to think you guys are full of crap Bob.

Bob: A group called Hunters and Shooters endorsing you?  What gave it away?

Obama: You just better help me out in Indiana!

*click*

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Exit Polling

So far what they are saying:

Three in 10 Pennsylvania Democratic voters were union members or had one in their household, and they favored Clinton over Obama. Four in 10 had a gun owner in the household, and gun-owning households also went mostly for Clinton.

Bitter enough not to vote for you Barry-O!  Two fold message here: rural Pennsylvanians hate being condescended to, and AHSA’s endorsement isn’t worth elk piss (I don’t know what Elk piss smells like, but I’m guessing pretty bad.)

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A Novelty

This is the first time that I can remember people paying so much attention to my state’s primary.  Usually by the time we come around, we’re just reaffirming what the rest of the country has already chosen for us.  In terms of primary politics, Pennsylvania has never mattered.  I’m glad to hear that the gambling industry has Hilly up by 7-10.  I think Obama is pretty much a lock in at this point unless he seriously bombs all the remaining states, which is a possibility.  A Hillary win will drag the fight to the convention, and if Hillary does manage to pull it out, it’ll be because of something shady that’ll piss a lot of Democratic faithful off.  That makes it less likely I have to worry about either of those two being president.

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We Elected This Guy?

I continue to not believe we elected this guy Governor of Pennsylvania.  I blame suburban voters who think he was a great Mayor of Philadelphia, so he’d surely make a great governor!  He was a lucky mayor of Philadelphia.  The city, like most other cities, benefited from the .com boom and the nationwide drop in crime in the 90s.  But it benefitted to a lesser degree than most other cities, and when the boom turned to bust, Philadelphia’s problems, which Rendell didn’t really fix, came roaring right back, falling on the feet of a corrupt and ineffectual John Street.  Now it’s Mike Nutter’s mess, and while I think he’ll certainly be less corrupt than John Street, the jury’s still out on the ineffectual part.

Hat tip to David Bernstein

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