Imagine Clarence Thomas as a centrist on The Future Court.
Can't happen here?
That's what we said when Thomas was nominated...
Dear Tig,
Thanks for donating to the
Obama campaign.
Last night, in response
to Joe Biden's post-debate appeal, I made another contribution.
Remember: On November
6th, we elect The Supreme
Court for the next thirty
years.
The prospect of a Supreme Court with a political center to the right of Genghis Kahn deserves widespread circulation among libertarians and
"undecideds" who, if ignorant of this potential outcome, might be easily seduced by Romney and Ryan's laissez
faire fantasy.
Laissez faire worked well enough in the days of
"the wild frontier" --- back when the United States had a lock on
"free" markets.
However, without significant
regulation and socialization, unbridled laissez
faire has become a
destructive phenomenon.
Adam Smith was keenly aware
of laissez faire's downside although "The
Right" (joined by sundry libertarians) do their level best to conceal the
fact.
In brief, Smith tells us
that "Nothing but the most exemplary
morals can give dignity to a man of small fortune."
Elsewhere
Smith says: "Among civilized and thriving
nations... though a great number of people do no labor at
all, many of whom consume the produce of ten times, frequently of a
hundred times more labour than the greater part of those who
work; yet the produce of the whole labour of the society is so great,
that all are often abundantly supplied."
Check out
Smith's Wikiquote page at http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adam_Smith This
compilation of quotations is filled with eye-poppers, particularly Smith's view
-- identical to Lincoln's - that "labor" was categorically more
important than capital.
I also recommend a long
article (from Wheeling Jesuit University) that focuses Smith's sine qua
non call for the restraint of disciplined morality and the
indispensable need for Justice (defined by Smith in a fundamentally
Judeo-Christian way). https://www.wju.edu/academics/bus/iscm/LTwigg.pdf
Enter the 21st century.
To glimpse what has become of
America's "disciplined morality" and "passion for Justice,"
see "Inside Job" at https://vimeo.com/27292661
What has taken place under
aegis of predatory capitalism is not just scandalous, but putrescent - frankly
nation-destroying.
It beggars belief that
contemporary self-indulgence leaves us immediately seduced by any goddam
"principle" -- even in the absence of a single real world
"specific."
Then, our intellectually
indolent (non-elitist) fellows "think" that by "filling in the
blanks," "everything will be all better." (See "New York
Times Fact Checks Biden-Ryan
Debate" - http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/10/new-york-times-fact-checks-biden-ryan.html)
The upshot of Romney-Ryan?
Unless Etch-a-Sketch reverts all the way back to his
policies as Massachusetts governor -- and unless he pushes his own
stimulus package (as George Soros predicts he will) -- the Republican ticket is
a recipe for disaster.
If R&R are elected, there
will be no need to cheer their failure like Republicans cheered Obama's failure
from the Day One.
Indeed, catastrophic failure
will be assured. (See "Republican Rule and Economic
Catastrophe" - http://paxonbothhouses.
Love
Alan
Abraham Lincoln: "In my present
position I could scarcely be justified were I to omit raising a warning voice
against this approach of returning despotism. It is not needed nor fitting here
that a general argument should be made in favor of popular institutions, but
there is one point, with its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to
which I ask a brief attention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal
footing with, if not above, labor in the structure of government. It is assumed
that labor is available only in connection with capital; that nobody labors
unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces him to
labor. This assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that capital
shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy
them and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded so far, it is
naturally concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers or what we call
slaves. And further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer is
fixed in that condition for life. Now there is no such relation between capital
and labor as assumed, nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for
life in the condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and
all inferences from them are groundless. Labor is prior to and independent of
capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if
labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves
much the higher consideration." Read more: State of the Union
Address: Abraham Lincoln (December 3, 1861) — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/t/hist/state-of-the-union/73.html#ixzz17XlRsbev
On Fri, Oct 12, 2012 at 12:21 PM, NH:
--- On Fri, 10/12/12, NH wrote:
From: NH
Subject: Fw: Thank you for your generous phone pledge!
To: MB
Date: Friday, October 12, 2012, 9:20 AM
I really can't afford this, but this race is too close for comfort. I plan to go to head quarters and make calls to Nevada.
Love to you & J,N
--- On Fri, 10/12/12, Patrick McConville, BarackObama.com <info@barackobama.com> wrote:
From: Patrick McConville, BarackObama.com <info@barackobama.com>
Subject: Thank you for your generous phone pledge!
To: NH
Date: Friday, October 12, 2012, 3:13 AM
Nancy --
Thank you. On 10/9/2012, you took the time to speak to our representative and made a generous pledge of $100 to the Obama Victory Fund.
Will you take a moment to fulfill your pledge online today?
We are facing one of the most critical moments of the election. Every day, we look at the money we have in the bank and make decisions about how we'll spend our resources in the next few months.
A lot is riding on these decisions -- including how many offices we can open, and how many organizers we can have on the ground. They're the decisions that could win or lose elections in 2012.
We want to reach out to the folks who we know are most committed to making sure we win in November. Resources right now will pay off big on Election Day. That's why I'm following up with you today.Will you stand with President Obama and Democrats across the country by fulfilling your phone pledge online today?
If you have already completed your pledge via mail, please accept our deepest thanks.
Sincerely,
Patrick McConville
Marketing Assistant
Obama for America
P.S. None of us wants to see this country go back to the policies that drove our economy into the ditch. The simple truth is we can't do this without you. Please fulfill your $100 pledge to the Obama Victory Fund today to help us build for victory in November.
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