The Observation Deck

Just found this in the CT Mirror (click here)….

“Connecticut House and Senate Democrats Tuesday recommended (among other things) deep cuts to municipal aid and public colleges and universities to balance the next two-year state budget.”

WHAT? When Kasich and Ohio Republicans actually did this to plug the budget hole left by Strickland, they were pilloried by Ohio Democrats. Hypocrites much? I guess it’s gotten so bad in Connecticut that even their Democrats can no longer propose meaningful tax increases, fearing that their wealthy hedge fund residents will “relocate” like Tepper did from New Jersey. So they are now proposing (gasp….) spending cuts! Coupled of course with modest regressive tax increases like casinos, tolls, and legal weed. Which is what happens I guess when you’ve completely tapped out your well-off residents. And when the major bond rating agencies dump on you, as also happened in CT very recently.

Now if you read my usually long-winded stuff, you know I’m no fan of either political party. Both are in it for power and LOTS of money. Ideology be dammed. Both will pretend to believe almost anything if it will garner the votes needed to get/stay in power. They’re the two ice cream sellers on the beach, shifting and jockeying for 51% of the customer base. Even trading places sometimes….

But my goodness, the Democrats make Republicans look like a model of ideological stability by comparison. And it’s not just that Democrats’ ideology shifts like the wind, which it does. Worse, their rhetoric tries to corner the Republicans into an ideological box. Russians! Democrats talk more about Republicans than they do about Democrats. Matt Taibbi talks about this in his new Rolling Stone article (click here). I haven’t read it thoroughly yet but it’s bookmarked for later consumption because I like Taibbi (the creator of the “vampire squid” narrative).

Since when did the Democrats become the party of spending cuts? When did Democrats embrace corporatism? Larry Summers and Tim Geithner? Or Hillary Clinton for that matter? What was the DNC thinking? Why did Democrats cede the white working class? Why are Democrats slowly trading places with Republicans?

I don’t know if this is becoming conventional wisdom or not, because I don’t read a lot about Democrat Party conventional wisdom (is that an oxymoron?) But it seems to me that the Democrat Party may be doomed. Certainly its current incarnation is floundering badly. And Taibbi is right, it needs a new message. But I think a Democrat Party centrist message, a “mainstream” message with 51% appeal, lacks credibility at this point. That ship has sailed. And turning Progressive is suicidal for them and for us. Maybe the Democrat Party should embrace more of a Libertarian message. Certainly on so-called social issues, Democrats and perhaps even Libertarians may be more mainstream these days than Republicans. But the Democrat fiscal ideology, to the extent that there really is one, is a trainwreck.

Anyway, just my two cents. Again, don’t mistake me for a Republican sympathizer. Both parties are just Clubs, the He-Man Woman-Hater's Club but with nice clothes and more money. I just couldn’t help but chuckle when I read about spending cuts to cities and universities in Connecticut. I’m headed outside to move some dirt around. Gorgeous day. I’d whip up some popcorn and kick back, but it would be long gone before this one plays out….

Jimmy Carter was the last fiscally conservative President. What he proved is that we don't like, our congressmen don't like it, and most of our think tanks don't really like it.

While I'm on a roll, I might as well report that Illinois has officially become a failed state. Prior to yesterday it was only unofficial, seeing as they haven't passed a budget in years. But yesterday they ordered all contractors to cease performing road repairs by the end of this month. Just leave the barrels and such, make sure drivers can get through one way or another, and get out. (Which seems like how it is usually, how often do you see work taking place in a work zone?)

A copy of the "Dear Contractor" letter, written by Illinois' head of Business and Workforce Diversity, is reproduced here.

Fortunately for Ohioans, we've been run by the Rep branch of the Rep/Dem duopoly, so it's less bad here.

Another thread asked which of two happenings was more insulting to voters. One local, one national. I don’t know much about 1) the local happening, and mostly don’t care. If I vote with my feet it won’t be because we don’t have a hospital here. It’ll be because living in Lakewood for another 30 years (as much as we like it here) is not worth an extra $150,000 or so compared to other places. The political process here is troubling for sure, yet entirely predictable and probably inescapable. Are politics in Rocky River or Wellington free from grift? Probably not. Politicians are grifters by nature. Plus, national-level issues, like our county’s abject insolvency and the financial legerdemain papering it over (literally) are way more important. Hospital = ho-hum. Sorry. Though it's good that others are paying attention. Their efforts are laudable….

As for 2) the national claptrap dispensed by the MSM, of course voters should feel insulted. By coincidence, Kunstler nailed it this morning (click here). Kunstler is a registered Democrat and one-time Obama voter who’s tired of the histrionics being heaped on people (non-“progressive” white men in particular) who are sick to death of the holier-than-thou Dems and their non-stop virtue signaling. And sick of the lack of attention paid to our real problems. Which is to say, Kunstler is sensible. Heck, the Dems were so dumb they couldn’t even beat Donald Trump for God’s sake. So stop blaming the Russians, figure out what really went wrong, and FIX IT! We need a viable option to the Rep branch of the Uniparty. Reps governing unchecked is a recipe for disaster.

And it’s pretty obvious what went wrong. First, rigging the nomination for a thoroughly unlikeable and corrupt warmonger. Then she single-handedly unleashes history’s biggest ever get-out-the-vote campaign by trashing at least a third of the electorate a week before the vote. It wasn’t “the Russians.” And it may be too late for the Dems, with Nancy Pelosi still leading them. She’s not only corrupt, but it appears she’s no longer coherent. My goodness. From both houses and the presidency in 2010 to blather about Russia….

PS…. Here’s a link (click here) to the Overton Bubble article that underlies Kunstler’s thesis this week. To me, he falls thru the Overton Window himself (“most of the guns on one side, and most of the brains on the other…” Really?) but it’s still very thought-provoking as political theory goes….