Hysterical

Hysterical rending, gnashing, and clutching is a gift for the inspiration of hours and hours of mockery. Every four or eight years we are treated to endless raw material as a partisan minority bemoans its defeat at the hand at another minority.  In terms of population, each tribe of political partisans is dwarfed in size those who do not participate in elections, or at best vote for candidates they hate the least.  Funny how this is never discussed by the press...

The Dying Days of Liberalism

Suggested reading: The Dying Days of Liberalism:How Orthodoxy, Professionalism, and Unresponsive Politics Finally Doomed a 19th-century Project

I think decadence is ultimately killing political liberalism.  However, social liberalism is still kicking, but its time will come.  It has become too reactive in terms of economics for anything else.  Economic insecurity is the bane of social justice.

At the same time, ravaged by the same decadence, social conservatism appears to be largely extinct.  Political conservatism is still a force, but will meet its final reckoning as well.  It's reactionary impulses cause it to ignore basic economic realities.  Economic insecurity is the bane of tradition.

Donald Trump, a thoroughly decadent public figure, embodies this overall downward trajectory.

Broken

Being no fan of political parties, I enjoy mocking the losers (and winners, too).  As was true four years ago, I find it is more entertaining (to me) to do so in song:

More

If you lose to Donald Trump, you really deserve nothing but mockery.  How anyone can take Democrats for anything but corrupt and incompetent is telling.  For people who told everyone how "smart" they are, they really are not. I also find celebrity arrogance telling. They do not seem to understand their condemnation is an endorsement. I suppose it is all one can expect from people who surround themselves with lackeys and sycophants.

Say Stuff

The insecure, the stupid and politicians always seem to feel a need to "say stuff" for its own sake. Which one are you?

Drones

Voters are drones.

Friends

In politics, supporters are often more of a detriment than enemies.

Don't Believe the Tripe

From Here's Proof That Most Pundits Don't Know What They're Talking About:

Tetlock interviewed 284 people who made their living "commenting or offering advice on political and economic trends." He asked them to assess the probabilities that certain events would occur in the not too distant future, both in areas of the world in which they specialized and in regions about which they had less knowledge ... Respondents were asked to rate the probabilities of three alternative outcomes in every case: the persistence of the status quo, more of something such as political freedom or economic growth, or less of that thing.

The results were devastating. The experts performed worse than they would have if they had simply assigned equal probabilities to each of the three potential outcomes. In other words, people who spend their time, and earn their living, studying a particular topic producer poorer predictions than dart-throwing monkeys who would have distributed their choices evenly over the options. Even in the region they knew best, experts were not significantly better than nonspecialists.

Don't believe the tripe.

Truth

For the deluded, truth is not reality.

Election Year Propaganda Links

Every four years I've noted this theme is taken up by some, probably because the constant election year drone of propaganda stimulates the discussion.

Why are Americans so easy to manipulate?  Ring the bell and they start to drool.

Manipulated America: One Theory of How They Control US.  Control is accepted by legitimacy. The author could benefit by learning about 4GW Theory.

Romney's Rise in Polls vs. Electoral College Map.  Not specifically about propaganda, but it shows how the expectations of entertainment influences votes. We elect the jesters.  The electoral college does mitigate this tendency a little bit.  For example the republicans can pick up 100K votes in Texas, but it does not change anything, because they were going to win Texas anyway.

Shrinking Horizon

A shrinking horizon is obscured by smog.

Don't Take The Money

As I've stated before, I do not believe economics is a real science.  It appears at least one Political Scientists believes the same of his discipline.  From Political Scientists Are Lousy Forecasters:

It’s an open secret in my discipline: in terms of accurate political predictions (the field’s benchmark for what counts as science), my colleagues have failed spectacularly and wasted colossal amounts of time and money. The most obvious example may be political scientists’ insistence, during the cold war, that the Soviet Union would persist as a nuclear threat to the United States. In 1993, in the journal International Security, for example, the cold war historian John Lewis Gaddis wrote that the demise of the Soviet Union was “of such importance that no approach to the study of international relations claiming both foresight and competence should have failed to see it coming.” And yet, he noted, “None actually did so.” Careers were made, prizes awarded and millions of research dollars distributed to international relations experts, even though Nancy Reagan’s astrologer may have had superior forecasting skills.

When first reading the above paragraph, my initial reaction was such lousy forecasting is the result of a combination of telling politicians etc. what they want to hear, because they are paying the bills, and intellectual inbreeding.  The author appears to agree (although not in those words):

Alas, little has changed. Did any prominent N.S.F.-financed researchers predict that an organization like Al Qaeda would change global and domestic politics for at least a generation? Nope. Or that the Arab Spring would overthrow leaders in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia? No, again. What about proposals for research into questions that might favor Democratic politics and that political scientists seeking N.S.F. financing do not ask — perhaps, one colleague suggests, because N.S.F. program officers discourage them? Why are my colleagues kowtowing to Congress for research money that comes with ideological strings attached?

This sounds much like what has occurred in the field of economics (although I would be shocked to hear a economist admit it).   The N.S.F. may stop giving grants to political scientists, and this is a good thing.  If a practitioner desires to develop a real science, then there is a price: to be intellectually free, do not take the money.  As pointed out later in the op-ed piece:

These results wouldn’t surprise the guru of the scientific method, Karl Popper, whose 1934 book “The Logic of Scientific Discovery” remains the cornerstone of the scientific method. Yet Mr. Popper himself scoffed at the pretensions of the social sciences: “Long-term prophecies can be derived from scientific conditional predictions only if they apply to systems which can be described as well-isolated, stationary, and recurrent. These systems are very rare in nature; and modern society is not one of them.”

Stop trying to be something you are not; maybe then political science (or economics) can become a real science.

On Politics

1. Politics is a disease inflicted on the stupid by the opportunistic.

2. Politically, If you get something you'll probably find you don't want it.

3. Politics undermines the state by making it look like a corrupt circus.

4. A crooked used-care salesman is someone too honest to succeed as a politician.

Democracy?

The West claims to be democratic, but the reality is far different as discussed Here. It's all about money, which is the definition of a Plutocracy.   A system with the trappings of democracy do not make it one. (Note that Pluto was the Greek god of death, which is very apropos considering the present state of Europe. Foreshadowing?)  Perhaps it is impossible to sustain a large scale democratic republic as it is destined to degenerate into a plutocracy.  Maybe it only works in small scale, where it is easier to hold those in power accountable.  In the US, this would generally imply that nothing larger than a county government could be democratic.

Austerity

Austerity is only good for someone else.

Culture Wars

Culture Wars are not just a distraction from economic issues, but also a big cash cow for both "sides."  If culture wars were to end, the groups who champion one side or another would have no reason to exist, and they would need to get real jobs.  Of course, they would be unemployable.  Who would want to hire a fear-mongering zealot otherwise?

Youth Are Getting Screwed

..and they know it.  The Twentieth Century is long over.  How long before the dinosaurs realize their stupid geezer hippie/conservative crap is not going to fly with this generation,and therefore has no future?

Leadership Is Dead

From Americans’ Confidence in Its Leaders Hits New Low:

The 2011 National Leadership Index indicates that Americans’ confidence in its leaders has hit new low points: the overall index has fallen from 101.4 in 2005 to 89.4 in this month’s survey, even below the 2008 level in the midst of the financial meltdown. (100 is the normative level of confidence.)

The index is highly reliable as it is based on interviews of 1,065 Americans and conducted by the Center for Public Leadership, headed by Professor David Gergen at Harvard Kennedy School. These results are very worrisome to me, as without trust and confidence in our leaders, America cannot recover the energy and optimism required to restore its domestic economy and global leadership.

The survey indicates that 77% of Americans believe the U.S. has a leadership crisis. Without better leaders, America will decline as a nation, according to 77% of those interviewed. Seventy-six percent disagree with the proposition that our country’s leaders are effective and do a good job.

Among leadership categories, military and medical leaders continue to top the list, scoring at 112 and 105, respectively. At the very bottom are Congressional and Wall Street leaders, with ratings of 73 and 71, both down sharply from the upper 90’s in 2005. Business leaders fare slightly better at 87, with the White House at 84.5 and media at 84.

Although the results are not unexpected (what the hell is wrong with the other 23%?!?), the editorializing about the results is the typical tripe one has grown accustomed to the last few years.  (It gets worse than the above quote.)  For one thing, the angst about the decline of America fails to take into account that supposed better "leaders" in the past, since World War II, ran the country into the ground by supporting the domination of the military-industrial complex, allowing infrastructure to decay, sent jobs overseas, debased public eduction, nurtured the financial system to become a blood-sucking parasite, etc.  The current crop of "leaders" is the end result, not the cause of these policies.  It also fails to ask the one question that cannot be answered: where are the supposed better "leaders" to be found?  The answer, of course, is that they do not exist.  The climate will not allow their development, and only a complete idiot would think otherwise.  Hence, anyone who is not a craven coward pining away for someone to come and tell them what to do, and has given it some thought, will conclude that people will need to do things for themselves.  This thought scares the weak and feeble minded.

One of the reasons the OWS movement is viewed with trepidation is its rejection of "leaders" and demands of "leaders".  This is an example of true cultural evolution, and should not be taken lightly as the inevitable backlash is authoritarianism.  Thankfully, there are no "leaders" who are in a position to take advantage of it, but, like any decadent instinct, it can still be destructive as it degenerates into nihilism.

The Assholocracy

The assholocracy pretty well defines the elite worldwide.

Propaganda Lesson

From How Republicans are being taught to talk about Occupy Wall Street:

"I'm so scared of this anti-Wall Street effort. I'm frightened to death," said Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist and one of the nation's foremost experts on crafting the perfect political message. "They're having an impact on what the American people think of capitalism."

Luntz offered tips on how Republicans could discuss the grievances of the Occupiers, and help the governors better handle all these new questions from constituents about "income inequality" and "paying your fair share."

Yahoo News sat in on the session, and counted 10 do's and don'ts from Luntz covering how Republicans should fight back by changing the way they discuss the movement.

1. Don't say 'capitalism.'

2. Don't say that the government 'taxes the rich.' Instead, tell them that the government 'takes from the rich.'

3. Republicans should forget about winning the battle over the 'middle class.' Call them 'hardworking taxpayers.'

4. Don't talk about 'jobs.' Talk about 'careers.'

5. Don't say 'government spending.' Call it 'waste.'

6. Don't ever say you're willing to 'compromise.'

7. The three most important words you can say to an Occupier: 'I get it.' 

8. Out: 'Entrepreneur.' In: 'Job creator.'

9. Don't ever ask anyone to 'sacrifice.'

10. Always blame Washington.

BONUS:

Don't say 'bonus!'

Luntz advised that if they give their employees an income boost during the holiday season, they should never refer to it as a "bonus."

"If you give out a bonus at a time of financial hardship, you're going to make people angry. It's 'pay for performance.'"

As well they should be scared.  I doubt it is enough.  If this sort is sweating, it shows OWS strategies are working.

The above illustrates the importance of staying away from the political process.  Politicians are combated by denying them legitimacy, and refusing to engage them in any way shape or form is the best expression.  Nonentities should be ignored.  It's not about Washington, because the real power is obviously not there.  Issuing no demands just keep the issues hanging around, and focuses people's attention on this rotten system.  It does not matter if some disprove of OWS tactics.  There is no such thing as bad publicity.

Only 7 US Senators Are Not Scum

There are

• Coburn
• Harkin
• Lee
• Merkley
• Paul
• Sanders
• Wyden

Link.