The View From 1776

The Majority Consensus

Jeff Lukens recaps our sufferings under anti-Constitutional, atheistic, materialistic socialism.

Stimulating, Shovel-Ready Projects

Editor Paul Greenberg makes an interesting point.

Obama admitted that there really were no shovel-ready, major projects awaiting his stimulus spending in 2009. Domestically that remains true. Obama wants to waste billions on uneconomic and unneeded projects like California’s high-speed railroad that runs through sparsely populated areas and will never be able to cover its out-of-pocket operating costs.

In the Depression of the 1930s Franklin Roosevelt admitted around 1939 that he had poured massive amounts of deficit spending into every project he could think of, all to no avail. Unemployment remained in high double digits. What finally began to shrink unemployment was Roosevelt’s decision to begin building up our military forces in anticipation of entering World War II.

Today we have Obama’s quixotic and dangerous policies, on the one hand, of throwing money away on “green” energy projects, and, on the other hand, cutting back an immediately shovel-ready project: rebuilding our depleted military forces.

The Constitution And Electing The President

Robert Curry continues his exposition of the influence of the Scottish Enlightenment on the founding of our nation.

Atheistic Socialism vs. Classical Toleration

The classical version of toleration was exemplified in John Locke’s 1689 letter on toleration, in which he wrote that it is no business of the sovereign to interfere with any of his subjects’ individual right to believe and to worship as he pleases.

Our sovereign Barack Obama parts company with that ethic, which underlies the Bill of Rights First Amendment. Mr. Obama and his liberal-progressive-socialistic confreres work tirelessly to undermine Judeo-Christian values, promoting a no-limit hedonistic society as the desirable endpoint of personal licentiousness (without personal responsibility.)

Read about Obama’s latest outrage in Michael Gerson’s op-ed article, Obama plays his Catholic allies for fools.

Fed Feeds Distortion

Bernanke’s press conference announcement again booted the stock and bond markets, but did nothing to boost employment.

Kodak vs. Solyndra

Liberal-progressive-socialist state planners are not as successful as private investors in satisfying consumers’ wants.

Ramifications of MF Global

I’m indebted to Barton Bennett for the link to this, albeit extreme, assessment of what happened when a far-left leader of the Democrat-Socialist Party was allowed access to other people’s money.

Transcript for Ann Barnhardt Interview

Quote:

We are now living in a lawless, Marxist, Communist, usurped, what used to be a representative republic but is no more. This is no longer a nation of laws. This has now transformed into a nation of men. It doesn’t matter what crime you commit. In the case of Jon Corzine, this man has stolen in excess of a billion dollars. I think by the time it is all panned out it is going to be closer to $3 billion of customer funds that he stole. Why did he do it? Is he stupid? Well, of course he’s not stupid. This is a former head of Goldman Sachs. This man doesn’t have a low IQ per se. Why in the world would a man wake up in the morning one day and say you know what, I think I am going to steal all the customer seg funds in this FCM that I’m running, which is the biggest FCM in the country. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. No. Why would a man like that even engage in a nefarious plot like this? Because he knew going into it he could get away with it. And the reason he could get away with it is he is in tight with the Obama regime. He is one of Obama’s highest fundraisers. Earlier this year Jon Corzine had a fundraiser dinner at his New York City apartment for Barack Obama where it was charged at $35,000 a plate.

The Roots of Environmentalism

Luddite environmentalism springs both from baby-boomer pagan mythology, and from blind selfishness.

Environmentalism and the Leisure Class

Quote:

In turning down Keystone, however, the President has uncovered an ugly little secret that has always lurked beneath the surface of environmentalism. Its basic appeal is to the affluent. Despite all the professions of being “liberal” and “against big business,” environmentalism’s main appeal is that it promises to slow the progress of industrial progress. People who are already comfortable with the present state of affairs—who are established in the environment, so to speak—are happy to go along with this. It is not that they have any greater insight into the mysteries and workings of nature. They are happier with the way things are. In fact, environmentalism works to their advantage. The main danger to the affluent is not that they will be denied from improving their estate but that too many other people will achieve what they already have. As the Forest Service used to say, the person who built his mountain cabin last year is an environmentalist. The person who wants to build one this year is a developer.

The So-called Stimulus Is Over, But The Crushing Debt Burden Remains

The fabled Keynesian “multiplier” boost to the economy from government deficit spending once again, as it always has since the 1930s, failed to produce promised results. Now even more wealth, via taxes and currency inflation, will have to be sucked from working citizens to pay off the trillions of dollars of debt Obama fecklessly dumped on workers.

Managing The Economy

The Federal Reserve, among other things, is charged with managing the economy to prevent unemployment. Recently released transcripts of Fed meetings in 2006 demonstrate that even a well-informed elite group of regulators cannot do the job.