Kiwanis Conventions, moose get-togethers and the Democrats!
Daily Reckoning
Thursday July 29, 2004
<snip>
All its frauds, excesses and self-aggrandizing delusions are on display at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Speaker after speaker rises to the immense, illuminated pulpit and hammers away as if he were desperately trying to break down a barroom door on a Sunday. Meanwhile, a crowd of onlookers - fat and foolish - clap and cheer, and rise to its feet when the lock gives way.
Never did a politician draw breath except to exhale a lie; and thousands of them were breathing heavily last night. The great circus carried on. Clown after clown rose to the platform: "Public service..." "Service to the nation..." "Serving this great country..." - every one of them claimed to be devoting his life to the sole purpose of helping his neighbors. Thus did every speech begin with a lie and end with a call to mischief. Vote for Kerry, listeners were told, and he will restore the integrity of the federal government...and also pick rich peoples' pockets on their behalf.
But, in the interests of fairness and balance, we remind readers that in less than 2 years, the incumbent president, George Bush, shuffled out so much loot, he turned a modest surplus into an extravagant deficit...a turnaround of $9 trillion dollars! He doubled the rate of government growth - so that Federal expenditures are getting dealt out 4 times faster than the GDP growth rate. And he's managed to issue so much new debt that the Congressional Budget office projects a national debt of $14 trillion in 10 years...with interest alone of nearly $1 trillion annually.
And he's done all this while lowering taxes. Here again, we admire the blinding, polished gleam of it. For now the burden of supporting the U.S. government's projects falls neither on the rich nor on the poor...but on the honest simpletons all over the world who were attracted by the shine of the world's most dynamic economy...and naive enough to believe its promises.
Our head spins.
It is an unflattering moment for America.
A national election is unbecoming at any time. But this year seems to bring out the worst in the American character. Americans are as susceptible to fraud and illusion as any people, but more ready to give into self- adulation than most. A long run of very good luck has made fools of them. They fly the flag from every lamppost and TV antenna and congratulate each other on what a fine country they've put together. But it is a Republic of happy morons - going deeper and deeper into debt with no clue how ever to get out; meanwhile, they sell houses to one another and believe they are getting rich. It is a Democracy of dolts, ready to believe that the world's most powerful nation is in a life or death struggle against a handful of Muslim fanatics; every speaker in Boston reminds us of what a patriotic soldier John Kerry was and how he will make such a good leader in the great battle ahead.
When times are really good, government is an inevitable but amusing flim-flam. In small, annoying ways, government bosses around its citizens, pretending to do so for their own good - that is, as a 'public service.' When times are bad, government murders people - either its own citizens or those of some other government - again, for the good of those who are left living.
"Government," said George Washington, "is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is force."
The Democrat's national convention might just as well be a huge group of Kiwanis members...or a Moose get-together. Attendees wear funny hats and have some vague intention of doing good for their fellow men...while also having a good time for themselves. What sets this reunion in Boston apart is that it is part of the process of government, which means that ultimately, should they prevail in the November elections, whatever these clowns want could become the law of the land.
It is an unflattering moment for America. |
