It may be about to get ugly. And I don’t just mean tonight’s election results.
In today’s Wall Street Journal, conservative Fred Barnes posits that the Obama presidential win, combined with big gains by the Democrats in the House and Senate, are about to propel the country into a leftward “lurch.” The days of a centrist America may be over for some time to come.
Barnes says that with a big House majority, and a possible filibuster proof margin in the Senate, President Obama completes the picture: For the first time since the 1960s, liberals are in nearly unstoppable control, and enactment of key provisions of the liberal agenda “are all but inevitable.” Even though tax hikes and massive spending may have to be put off for a few months until the economy stabilizes, Barnes says that will not stop the Democrats from ramming through some of their most idealogically-pure dream programs:
[M]uch of their agenda — the “card check” proposal to end secret ballots in union elections, the Fairness Doctrine to stifle conservative talk radio, liberal judicial nominees, trade restrictions, retreat from Iraq, talks with Iran — doesn’t require spending. And after 14 years of Republican control of Congress, the presidency, or both, Democrats are impatient. They want to move quickly.
Barnes recognizes that there have been other periods when Democrats firmly controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. However, he also notes that in the Carter and Clinton years, there was not the same vast number of far-left Democrats, and there will be few, if any, of the moderate to conservative committee chairmen as in the past. Further, the leftists running the Congress will be cheered on by their long-frustrated constituencies:
Another important change is the enhanced power of liberal interest groups. The influence of organized labor, environmental activists, militant pressure groups like MoveOn.org, left-wing civil libertarians, teachers, trial lawyers and feminists is stronger than it has ever been in Washington. Democrats are leery of bucking them on even the smallest issue.
When the hardly critical liberal press is added to the Democratic mix, Barnes suggest we ought to brace ourselves for a very different America.
The view from some in Europe is even less optimistic. A piece by International Business Editor Ambros Evans-Pritchard in today’s Telegraph of London argues that the US election results will show at least a temporary repudiation of ”free trade and free market catechisms.” The writer laments that though “statist policies” were responsible for the global crisis in the first place, he holds out no hope that we will draw the right conclusions about the causes. Instead, he reluctantly concludes, “The universal verdict is that capitalism has run amok.”
Those observations may be depressing, but what comes next is chilling. The seemingly long-lost Marxist prediction of an end to U.S.-style capitalism may, after all, be on the horizon.
In any case the damage caused as credit retrenchment squeezes real industry is likely to be so great that Barack Obama may have to pursue unthinkable policies, just as Franklin Roosevelt had to ditch campaign orthodoxies and go truly radical after his landslide victory in 1932. Indeed, Mr Obama – if he wins – may have to start by nationalizing the US car industry.
For those who missed it, I recommend Edward Stourton’s BBC interview with Eric Hobsbawm, the doyen of Marxist history.
“This is the dramatic equivalent of the collapse of the Soviet Union: we now know that an era has ended,” said Mr Hobsbawm, still lucid at 91.
“It is certainly greatest crisis of capitalism since the 1930s. As Marx and Schumpeter foresaw, globalization not only destroys heritage, but is incredibly unstable. It operates through a series of crises.
“There’ll be a much greater role for the state, one way or another. We’ve already got the state as lender of last resort, we might well return to idea of the state as employer of last resort, which is what it was under FDR. It’ll be something which orients, and even directs the private economy,” he said.
Delusions of a dying Marxist? Perhaps. Then again, they may be no more delusional than the continued insistence, after today, that the U.S. is a “center-right” country.
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SCARY!! But very true.
This is not a good day for America.
Don’t forget the Eurpeans, marxists, et al have been wishing for this for years. That doesn’t mean it is going to happen.
Fear not ye of little faith, we shall prevail.
or I am moving to Balize.
How’s about North to Alaska? Grin. Nope I think Texas will survive quite well, but we do share true grit with Alaskans.
“let your hearts not be troubled”
When many start filling out their income tax returns
they will realize there is a price to pay for veering to the left
that does not stop at the “rich” in paying for their free government cheese.
3. cc
Yeah, but so have many of the American leftists.
I hope you’re right. But the far-left here has never been in such total control in our lifetime, so I’m holding my breath.
I’m glad the bars are open today.
If Hussein wins, we will know how the Dimwits felt in 2000 and 2004 when they felt they felt they got cheated. But in our case, we will have been robbed by ACORN, the liberal media and the likes of George Soros and any other ultra left wing organization out there who were determined to win at any cost, fairly or unfairly. We will have a President, in Hussein, who was not honest with the American people and won purely on promises with no substance to back it up.
I heard on KSEV this morning a woman from Korea who summed it up pretty well. All the talk about how Obama realizes that we “are all in this together”. Well, North Koreans are all STARVING together. But hey, they are all starving TOGETHER, so that makes it okay, right Ozambies?
#6:
Yes, I think I will find just a friendly place and quaff some ale and quietly scream at the news at the top of lungs with a bunch of other people that won’t be able to afford to do that much longer.
#7 Robert 1:
I think you’re right on, but McCain didn’t help his own cause much either. A good tough campaign demanding answers and naming names could have made a world of difference. As far as that goes, the Repubs didn’t help themselves from the very start. Very poor campaign from start to finish.The good news is….we will survive. Maybe a little poorer, but we will survive!
Why so depressed so early? The conservative resistance/underground folks are not wailing into their crying towels but rather are determining how best to combat and eventually exile the worst.
#11 Adee I agree, I don’t have my head in the sand and will NOT be surprised no matter who wins because I just don’t know. The polls don’t seem right to me and I still wonder if there is a silent majority that just don’t do polls. Also I think the P.U.M.A.s may still be in the mix.
http://gretawire.foxnews.com/2008/06/30/puma-party-unity-my-a/
Why so glum, chums?
My favorite lesbian says McCain WILL win.
http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/11/03/tbruce_11103/
re Gloom: On open comments. A Kenyan witch doctor threw the bones and declared Obama the winner. How can you argue with that?
Then there’s this;
Who will win Pennsylvania’s 21 electoral votes?
McCain 64
Osama 36
http://www.politickerpa.com/danh/2486/who-will-win-pennsylvanias-21-electoral-votes
Little Mike, Tammy Bruce is my favorite lesbian also. ;=)
From the article;
#14 crazy canuk–Not to worry, that doesn’t count ’cause 1) we aren’t Kenyan and 2) don’t belong to his religion. So his reading of the bones doesn’t mean he speaks ex cathedra. /Grin/
If Hussein gets elected, where do we get in line to be able to tell all the Hussein people, we “TOLD YOU SO” but you wouldn’t listen and now look what kind of a mess you got us into.
Super Dave — Well said. Did anyone catch the blurb on O’Reilly last night when the civilian militia Obama supports and wants to make as powerful as our military was discussed? Wonder what that plan is all about? Could it be Brown Shirts?
#18 Robert 1
They’ll just blame Bush! It’s ALL his fault, don’t you know.
# 16 Super Dave: Hope Tammy’s right.
There’s reports on Drudge of Black Panthers blocking the entrance to non-blacks at one polling location, and another of Republican observers being thrown out by election judges in Philly.
That will accomplish two important goals. One, it will make the citizens safe against all forms of protest against the state, and two, it will obviate the need of citizens to keep and bear arms. I feel so much better knowing that Obama is looking out for me. Now please excuse me while I reload.
Maltboy #22. I think they may be more proactive than that. They will probably visit each of us personally to see if we are clutching our guns and Bibles. Why not? It has been done before in other countries — some of our new friends in South America for instance.
Note from liberals to Bush 7 years ago: ” We didn’t say you were at fault; we said we were going to blame you”!!!