Die, Republican Scum

Submitted by vinteuil on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 11:22am

Politics

The great but not powerful Mencius Moldbug makes what strikes me as a salutory suggestion:

"Sometimes I wonder if the Republicans could man it up and propose a Great Compromise with the Moloch of progressive America. We'd call it a compromise - but I'm really thinking more of a surrender. The compromise (a consent decree, even?) would run as follows:

"We, the undersigned Republicans, admit that we are foul kulak racists and deserve only to lose. We shall therefore crawl back into our holes and cling bitterly to our guns, etc. We henceforth dissolve the Republican Party and all its organs, especially Fox News. All future elections will be won by the Democrats, who are winners and golden in the light of Allah. May they enjoy eternal diversity.

"We, the undersigned Democrats, accept with a heavy conscience the burden of world domination. We agree to admit that we are the ruling party in a one-party state which controls the entire freakin' planet. We promise that we will never whine that we're being oppressed when some stupid worthless kulak thinks he can fight back, which he can't, for five minutes."

&c.

Works for me. So far as I can tell, the sole purpose of Republicans, these days, is to provide the American left with a feeble excuse for pretending that they still face meaningful opposition.

btw...

(#298507)

Submitted by vinteuil on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 11:34am.

(1) I'm in Napoli, Italia, for Capodanno, just now, so, whether I'm right or wrong, I'm living better than anybody in the world who ISN'T in Napoli, just now...

(2) http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.it/2012/11/adore-river-of-meat....

Divine Spinoza, forgive me. I have become a fool.

btbtw...

(#298508)

Submitted by vinteuil on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 11:45am.

My hotel here in Napoli provides several English language "news" channels: BBC, CNBC, Al-jazeera...

The weird thing is how hard it is to tell which one I'm listening to, without looking.

Divine Spinoza, forgive me. I have become a fool.

Vincent R. Capodanno? Now Sevant of God?

(#298512)

Submitted by Traveller on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 12:30pm.

...regardless, it is always....Always...good to be in Italia....enjoy (take some pictures for us, will you?)

Best Wishes, Traveller

Nice wordplay in the first line. n/t

(#298511)

Submitted by mmghosh on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 12:28pm.

literally anything can become right or wrong if the dominant class of the moment so wills it

Mr. Ghosh, the part of you...

(#299394)

Submitted by vinteuil on Mon, 01/21/2013 - 3:41pm.

...that envies the moral clarity of the vegetarian needs to die a quick (and preferably painless) death.

Vegetarians are, if possible, even less excusable than the Republicans of 2013.

Divine Spinoza, forgive me. I have become a fool.

If vegetables = boiled greens and roots, certainly.

(#299403)

Submitted by mmghosh on Mon, 01/21/2013 - 9:05pm.

I picked up that sig that after a fabulous vegetarian barbecue (this horror especially for Darth Cuddly) recently.

The music of Edwardian middle-class Britons was nice, but today you don't have to eat what they did, whatever Nietzsche might have said.

literally anything can become right or wrong if the dominant class of the moment so wills it

BTW....

(#298513)

Submitted by Traveller on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 12:33pm.

...the Republicans could consciously choose to be something other than scum.

You know this, don't you?

An active and open choice of being bought by the Oligarchy is never a good choice in a democracy.

They deserve all the sputum they collect in this odious role of theirs.

Best Wishes, Traveller

Y'know, Traveller...

(#299395)

Submitted by vinteuil on Mon, 01/21/2013 - 4:00pm.

I might almost agree that the Republicans have been "bought by the Oligarchy."

But what's the relationship between the Democrats and the Oligarchy?

Are you really under the impression that it's in any serious way adversarial?

Divine Spinoza, forgive me. I have become a fool.

I think this belongs in the Predictions diary nt

(#298518)

Submitted by HankP on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 3:49pm.

I blame it all on the Internet

I was thinking the exact same thing.

(#298524)

Submitted by mmghosh on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 7:24pm.

Conservatives everywhere should be glad, at least, that liberal policies keep them alive.

I was born two years before Unsafe at Any Speed was published. The first car I rode in had no seatbelts and a metal dash. The next car had seatbelts, and a padded dash, but nobody wore the seatbelts, because back then nobody did, besides which they were inconvenient to use. The next car had three-point shoulder and lap belts for the driver and front-seat passenger. Then there were three-point belts for the back seat, and airbags. Today every car we own has three-point belts for everyone, front and side curtain airbags, and we knew the crash ratings when we bought them.

That’s less than 50 years to go from basically nothing to what we have today. The auto industry fought it tooth and nail in the 60′s, but in the end they were forced by regulation to do something that turned out to be for their own long-term benefit, and now it’s inconceivable that “safety” isn’t one of the prime features of a new car.

Last night one of my friend’s daughters, a girl I’ve known since she was 3 years old, had a head-on collision when a kid driving on slippery roads spun out and entered her lane. Her car is an absolute mess – it’s totaled and the front end is basically obliterated. She and her front seat passenger, all wearing seatbelts, of course, walked away from the crash. Her only injury with a little bump on the head from where the airbag deployed. The boy driving the other car also walked away.

If this had been 1962, or probably 1972, she’d either be in the hospital or the morgue. Because of government regulation and good engineering, the only aftermath in 2012 is mark that can be covered with makeup. The reason she’s alive is Democrats and Republicans (even in the Reagan Administration) compromising to continually increase safety regulations on cars.

literally anything can become right or wrong if the dominant class of the moment so wills it

Because, of course, nobody has....

(#298533)

Submitted by Bernard Guerrero on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 9:50pm.

...ever improved the safety of a device based on the customers' desires for same. ;^)

"Unfortunately the universe doesn't agree with me. We'll see which one of us is still standing when this is over." -- Eliezer Yudkowsky

Enough customers choose freedom over safety

(#298539)

Submitted by mmghosh on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 10:29pm.

to warrant legislation.

literally anything can become right or wrong if the dominant class of the moment so wills it

But that's not what happened in this case nt

(#298546)

Submitted by HankP on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 11:37pm.

I blame it all on the Internet

hey, what can I say?

(#299396)

Submitted by vinteuil on Mon, 01/21/2013 - 4:10pm.

For a moment, I dared risk an uncharacteristic moment of optimism.

Surely, I said to myself, my fellow Americans can't be *that* stupid!

The more fool I.

Divine Spinoza, forgive me. I have become a fool.

We Already Have This

(#298519)

Submitted by M Scott Eiland on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 4:37pm.

In daily doses marked "By David Frum."

The universe may well have been created without a point--that doesn't imply that we can't give it one.

M Scott - Wha-huh?

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Submitted by vinteuil on Mon, 01/21/2013 - 4:41pm.

Any resemblance between me and the deeply evil climber David Frum is purely coincidental.

Divine Spinoza, forgive me. I have become a fool.

The "left" doesn't have

(#298522)

Submitted by heet on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 7:18pm.

The "left" doesn't have "meaningful opposition"? Let's take a look at what is actually happening -

The "left" doesn't control the WH, Congress, or the SC. The "left", as it is traditionally understood, doesn't have much clout at all except to demand minor concessions that are occasionally entertained. Conversely, the far right (anti-tax and pro-gun extremists) has the final say in what gets through Congress. And, they are using their power to completely stymie the boringly moderate policies that the majority of Americans agree upon. As a result, it is the "moderates" in this country that have an opposition. But it isn't the GOP, it is the batstink crazy extremist wing of the GOP. Arguably, the left's opposition is the moderate Dems who won't support them.

Of course, all of this hinges on definitions of left and batstink crazy. I'd point you to the fact that George HW Bush and Ronald Reagan advocated and signed bills that would have made the teaparty freak right out. That Overton Window, she is a B.

Edit - Glad to see Poppy Bush out of the unit, always a good sign.

Or, more succinctly

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Submitted by HankP on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 7:29pm.

there is no left (in the traditional sense of the term) in US politics today.

I blame it all on the Internet

Proof there is a God.

(#298535)

Submitted by Darth Cuddly on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 10:07pm.

In the medical community, death is known as Chuck Norris Syndrome.

The GOP: Proof there isn't a God nt

(#298537)

Submitted by HankP on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 10:19pm.

I blame it all on the Internet

Nah, the GOP is proof of a very tolerant God.

(#298538)

Submitted by Darth Cuddly on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 10:28pm.

In the medical community, death is known as Chuck Norris Syndrome.

it's that Allah bit

(#298541)

Submitted by Wagster on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 11:02pm.

That lifts the passage from clumsy, stilted parody to vitriol-speckled diatribe. Happy New Year!

"I don't want us to descend into a nation of bloggers." - Steve Jobs

haha

(#298542)

Submitted by nilsey on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 11:10pm.

these vinteuil diaries every four to six months are like the blogosphere's longest death rattle (unless you count josh trevino).

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
-George Bernard Shaw

And it isn't really even a "vinteuil diary"

(#298543)

Submitted by Jay C on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 11:30pm.

Vint has merely taken time out from what I'm sure is the far-more-pleasant task of seeing Naples (note v: please don't die) to re-post some other hack blogger's sour-ass maunderings. Myself, I tuned out at "kulak"....

I admit that name piqued my interest

(#298547)

Submitted by HankP on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 11:41pm.

isn't that a character from the Harry Potter series?

I blame it all on the Internet

Moldbug? Probably one of Dolores Umbridge's flunkies

(#298555)

Submitted by Jay C on Mon, 12/31/2012 - 12:25am.

He certainly knows how to expend pixels though: rarely does one see so many words used to prop up so thin a set of propositions. Though, probably, like vinteuil does, I would imagine that any critiques would be dismissed with a lofty "read it again, you obviously don't get it" response. I did like this bit, though from vint's link:

You can't compare election fraud convictions to UFO sightings. You have to compare them to UFO interceptions. It's true that only 13 Americans have been convicted of election fraud in the last decade. Yet in the last decade, not a single UFO has been convicted of trespassing in our solar system. When I sit down and do the math, I find that American election fraud is infinitely more dangerous than an alien invasion.

Yep: 13 vote-fraud convictions vs. zero alien invasions. Infinitely more dangerous.... (technically true!)

And who still uses Blogspot any more???

Sure, you say that now

(#298544)

Submitted by HankP on Sun, 12/30/2012 - 11:34pm.

but ten years from now, when the end is just as imminent and the dusky hordes are still just below the horizon, what will you be saying then wise guy?

I blame it all on the Internet

Right

(#298569)

Submitted by Bird Dog on Mon, 12/31/2012 - 8:54am.

Because moving in the direction of the Tea Party has really, really worked out well for the GOP. So has obstructing without offering superior alternatives. The GOP lost the debate on taxes, by dint of Obama getting reelected. All that's left is hammering out the extent of the tax increases. Boehner's failed Plan B ensured a less desirable outcome for the Republicans, thanks to the "pure" who foresaked compromise.

Government is merely a servant – merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn’t. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.

"moving in the the direction of the Tea Party"

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Submitted by vinteuil on Mon, 01/21/2013 - 5:08pm.

Well, yeah, BD. Nominating McCain in '08 was "moving in the direction of the Tea Party" - and nominating Romney in '12 was also "moving in the direction of the Tea Party.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Divine Spinoza, forgive me. I have become a fool.

"moving in the direction" = "being the 20th insanest TPer"???

(#299401)

Submitted by brutusettu on Mon, 01/21/2013 - 10:15pm.

look at the House of Representatives
Look at how much Romney had to change to win the GOP primary
Look at other prominent GOP candidates for POTUS compared to the past
Didn't the Tea Party start in 2009....which wouldn't that be after that '08 McCain thing?
yada yada yada

"I’m to believe that North Korea is so dangerously unhinged that they would attack without warning – yet so meek and easily cowed that they will sit quietly and not retaliate when we start bombing them."

Major Kong

I see brutusettu has already brought up the chronology

(#299404)

Submitted by Jay C on Mon, 01/21/2013 - 11:16pm.

of the McCain '08 campaign and the subsequent emergence of the "Tea Party", so we'll drop that point: but SRSLY, vint? You don't think that the Republican field of Presidential candidates in 2012 made, in general, at minimum a concerted effort to at least placate, if not cater to, the most extreme elements of the Party? Yeah, they finally DID nominate Mitt ("Money Boo-Boo") Romney: but I've read too much commentary (from all wavelengths of the political-commentary spectrum) about how a significant and non-trivial percentage of the Republican voter "base" were going to be voting for the Mittster figuratively holding their noses to think it a mere reportorial canard.

Huh

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Submitted by Bird Dog on Wed, 02/06/2013 - 7:19am.

Your comment belies that the fact that congressional candidates were aggressively primaried by the Tea Party, most notably being Lugar, a sure-fire GOP win. I agree that GOP presidential candidates were not of that ilk.

I'm disappointed

(#298573)

Submitted by AndrewSshi on Mon, 12/31/2012 - 10:18am.

I was actually hoping for a lengthy post on how Django Unchained is merely the latest example of the knee grow tyranny under which we all labor.

But enjoy Naples!

I don't believe you read many prominent progressives

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Submitted by catchy on Tue, 01/01/2013 - 3:15pm.

I believe you mostly read conservative presentations of progressives.

Even so, this particular article is stunning in its illogic. n/t

(#298633)

Submitted by mmghosh on Tue, 01/01/2013 - 5:13pm.

literally anything can become right or wrong if the dominant class of the moment so wills it

Is That Why it Was Virtually Unreadable?...Ahhh, Sigh...nt

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Submitted by Traveller on Tue, 01/01/2013 - 6:23pm.

Traveller

It reads as if it's some "American Thinker" blogger

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Submitted by brutusettu on Tue, 01/01/2013 - 7:00pm.

~~trying to be funny~~ attempting to make a good faith effort to write something one of teh liberals would write.

Major Kong

catchy, dude, you can't be serious.

(#299399)

Submitted by vinteuil on Mon, 01/21/2013 - 6:08pm.

Like it's even conceivable for an American academic to spend years of his life reading anything *other* than "prominent progressives"?

Can you really be that clueless?

Divine Spinoza, forgive me. I have become a fool.

Of course it's possible

(#299400)

Submitted by catchy on Mon, 01/21/2013 - 6:59pm.

And the reason I suspect you've basically lost grips with this part of reality, is that liberals and progressives love thinking of themselves as being reasonable, as reaching across the aisle, and thus are usually very willing to compromise.

Witness their toleration of Barack Obama.