As metaphors go, the phrase "between a rock and a hard place" can present some interesting implications that can easily apply regardless of whether your participation is active, reactive or passive. I suppose the absolute down side to being forced between a rock and a hard place is, no matter what decision you make to relieve yourself from that spot, "you'll be damned if you do and / or damned if you don't." Understand fully, no matter what you do next Tuesday, we are and we will remain between that rock and that hard place.
It appears to me that there are a lot of folks who are of the opinion that sweeping the Gypsies, tramps and thieves (and socialists) out of government will put us (you, me, the country as a whole) on the road to fixed. Call me the harbinger of bad news if you like but, no matter how you vote, or if you even vote at all next week, we're damned. We are painted into a corner between a rock and a hard place with no way out AND the rock is moving in on us. To be brutally honest, we are so screwed, the only recourse God would have available to help us would be to press the universal reset button.
The "road to fixed" requires jobs and we don't have them. Between the economy forcing businesses out of business, and work force greed forcing businesses to pack up and move out to countries where the minimum wage is the equivalent of nickels and dimes here, the once greatest industrial nation on the planet is now the greatest consumer nation. But consumption can get real expensive, especially when so many are out of work and can no longer afford to, well, consume.
Of course, the political "luminaries" from all parties are out there making those big promises about creating jobs and putting folks back to work. It would be a pretty neat trick if any one, or the whole crew together, could pull it off. However, business creates jobs, and politicians don't create business. Make no mistake, though, even if it were possible, it would take years to re-employ all of those currently out of work, and to have jobs available for the next employable generation.
The next major problem we can not fix or escape is the national debt. I can't believe the number of candidates who are running on the promise of slashing government spending and getting folks to listen and build hope on that snake oil. Considering the amount of damage already done by spending, the problem in need of serious resolution is paying back what's been borrowed against. And right now, we can't even afford to make interest payments on that note. (even if every man, woman and child in the country had jobs)
Have you ever watched a bus load of Chinese tourists taking hundreds of photos of buildings, and monuments, and museum art collections and the such? They aren't caught up in the rapture of a Kodak moment. They are documenting the inventory!!! Do you honestly think for a moment that China can be convinced to reduce, forestall or outright forgive the U.S. debt they hold? I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that those are 1. some odd billion thumbs we will never get out from under. We are far more likely to become prisoners of war or voluntarily submit to indentured servitude first.
Whatever it is that we are hoping to restore is long gone. We have nowhere to go but farther down., no matter who we put in office. If we banned together and took control of the government by force, it will still do no good. All it might do is give China cause and / or an opening to slip in and begin a massive repo operation. And with all the mouths they have to feed, I doubt they will find it necessary to hire local workers.
Yes sir, there is no doubt about it; we are for sure caught between a rock and a hard place.
MikeH. (and I approved this message)
It appears to me that there are a lot of folks who are of the opinion that sweeping the Gypsies, tramps and thieves (and socialists) out of government will put us (you, me, the country as a whole) on the road to fixed. Call me the harbinger of bad news if you like but, no matter how you vote, or if you even vote at all next week, we're damned. We are painted into a corner between a rock and a hard place with no way out AND the rock is moving in on us. To be brutally honest, we are so screwed, the only recourse God would have available to help us would be to press the universal reset button.
The "road to fixed" requires jobs and we don't have them. Between the economy forcing businesses out of business, and work force greed forcing businesses to pack up and move out to countries where the minimum wage is the equivalent of nickels and dimes here, the once greatest industrial nation on the planet is now the greatest consumer nation. But consumption can get real expensive, especially when so many are out of work and can no longer afford to, well, consume.
Of course, the political "luminaries" from all parties are out there making those big promises about creating jobs and putting folks back to work. It would be a pretty neat trick if any one, or the whole crew together, could pull it off. However, business creates jobs, and politicians don't create business. Make no mistake, though, even if it were possible, it would take years to re-employ all of those currently out of work, and to have jobs available for the next employable generation.
The next major problem we can not fix or escape is the national debt. I can't believe the number of candidates who are running on the promise of slashing government spending and getting folks to listen and build hope on that snake oil. Considering the amount of damage already done by spending, the problem in need of serious resolution is paying back what's been borrowed against. And right now, we can't even afford to make interest payments on that note. (even if every man, woman and child in the country had jobs)
Have you ever watched a bus load of Chinese tourists taking hundreds of photos of buildings, and monuments, and museum art collections and the such? They aren't caught up in the rapture of a Kodak moment. They are documenting the inventory!!! Do you honestly think for a moment that China can be convinced to reduce, forestall or outright forgive the U.S. debt they hold? I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that those are 1. some odd billion thumbs we will never get out from under. We are far more likely to become prisoners of war or voluntarily submit to indentured servitude first.
Whatever it is that we are hoping to restore is long gone. We have nowhere to go but farther down., no matter who we put in office. If we banned together and took control of the government by force, it will still do no good. All it might do is give China cause and / or an opening to slip in and begin a massive repo operation. And with all the mouths they have to feed, I doubt they will find it necessary to hire local workers.
Yes sir, there is no doubt about it; we are for sure caught between a rock and a hard place.
MikeH. (and I approved this message)
...they do own alot too,if we fracture,they would be foolish not stake a claim...
ReplyDeleteThe "road to fixed" requires jobs and we don't have them.
ReplyDeleteThat's the key that the MSM conveniently sidesteps. They blow the Barry-smoke up our collective skirts that this is up and that is good and the other is not as bad as expected, but nothing will change until people are back to work.
As you noted, what happens on Tuesday won't change a damned thing.
Yeah, so everybody just stay home and clean your guns. That's the spirit. How more defeatist can someone get. There's no hope, just give up.
ReplyDeleteThese are not the kind of Americans I hope to stand and fight beside.
Diamondback
All true. It is made so much worse because it is literally impossible to get a majority in congress of real conservatives who would take on the hard tasks that will begin to get us out of this. Make no mistake no matter who gets elected we will have punishing new taxes (and not just on the rich) and more, not less, public employees. This will not get fixed and it is physically impossible to pay off the debt. And as soon as the interest rates rise, and they will, it will be physically impossible to pay the interest on the debt. At that point we will be in default. It is at that point I fully expect our politicians to rise to new heights and make all the wrong moves and make the entire mess worse.
ReplyDeleteDiamondback,
ReplyDeleteIn some ways WE ARE defeated. At least as it pertains to the current inhabitants of this country. And the reason I say that is; there are no quick or easy solutions to the current problems. And the point I thought I was making mostly has to do with the attitude of folks who believe that after next Tuesday, the clouds will part, the sun will come out and life will be all warm and fuzzy again.
The folks above mentioned are short sighted and grasping at fairy tale wishes. No matter what happens, no matter who is in control, no matter how hard we work and fight; it will take years to bring back the jobs lost and pay off the debts owed. And before it can get better, IT WILL get worse. The bottom line to that statement is; we will not see blue skies and sunshine in our lifetime. Nor will our children / grandchildren.
The only fight we are likely to wage is against the frustration of not seeing the fruits of our labor sustaining us in the here and now. Damn few will find fulfillment in the hope that what we must endure will secure the benefits of freedom for our posterity. Hopefully, without them ever being compromised to the space between a rock and a hard place.
As for me, I'm not giving up. I'm just not pinning my hopes on any politician(s) to do the work for me.
MikeH.
@MikeH: Thanks for the clarification. I agree with much of what you had to say in your response to my post but I refuse to give up the fight. The fight WILL CONTINUE beginning the morning of Nov. 3rd, 2010.
ReplyDeleteHowever, we need to be encouraging every possible conservative/libertarian to vote in the upcoming election next Tuesday. We NEED EVERY SINGLE VOTE and it seemed to me your article was encouraging them to believe their vote won't count anyway.
All I know is that your vote won't count for sure unless you vote.
I will fight to my dying day to restore the Constitutional Republic envisioned by the founders for the benefit of my grandkids. I can hardly look at them without breaking down anymore.
I'm mad as hell!!!!
Diamondback
Even if we correct the government problem of income vs. spending we and our children still have a huge debt to deal with. This is the kind of situation that makes Dave Ramsey wake up screaming in a cold sweat. It should do that to everyone, but it wouldn't do any good.
ReplyDeleteThe way to solve that problem is to stop spending, sell everything that isn't nailed down, get a second or even a third job, and put every penny towards paying off the debt.
That would involve a lot of pain for everyone if it were possible. Stopping spending is possible. What national assets do we have that we could sell besides military equipment and bases? Getting a second job (raising taxes) would be a terrible thing to do now.
If we decided as a nation to not pay our debts then I suspect various debt holders around the world would try to extract some payment from us.
Hence the rock and the hard place.
Hard times are indeed ahead regardless of the results of the election and whether or not the economy recovers.
Diamondback, tell me: If every "conservative" that is running for federal office were elected, what would change come January when they take office?
ReplyDeleteNot a damned thing.
In my 51 years, I've seen this cycle too often. One party in, one party out. Promises made. Promises broken.
Repeat.
I am focusing my efforts locally and in my state (California). I can make a difference here. Washington is gone. Broke and broken. Unrepairable IMO. I quit.
I will not legitimize their existence any longer. I'll work for states rights and nullification efforts, and fight if need be.
Here is what would change: We wouldn't have had Obamacare if the Republicans had the house. What you are arguing is it doesn't matter because neither side have any desire to restore a full constituional style much smaller federal government and that is true. But one side wants to plunge has headlong into a Marxist/socialist government and the other side does not. If the Democrats retain the house and senate we will get cap and trade which conservative estimates say will add an additional $3000 to everyones energy costs. All $3000 of that is taxes not cost to bring us energy. THAT is what differnece it will make. Until we can get a majority in both house of real constitutional conservatives and a constitutional conservative in the White House we need to protect our asses from a very real threat of a total loss of what we have left. THAT is what the difference is. Make no mistake, no one is going to be happy and jumping for joy from what these few new Republicans do. There are a few true constituional conservatives among them but not many. What we will be happy about is what the Republicans DON'T do. Don't increase our taxes. Don't pass cap and trade.
ReplyDeleteThat's IT!!! The absolute best we can hope for, out of republicans, is no tax increases and no cap and trade?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the progressives in the republican party, are wise enough to know better than to use phrases like tax increases or cap and trade, so they will find some other "cause" to fund but by a different name. And of course, we will still be the ones paying into that fund.
Just a thought... What would a full house of republicans do to obamacare if given those seats? They might make a few MINOR changes as a "show" of good faith. But do you think they would fight tooth and nail to have the whole thing repealed as unconstitutional? Never happen.
Do ya think a whole house full of republicans could fix the financial troubles this country is in? Let's be honest... republicans are just as guilty as democrats when it comes to causing the problems in the first place.
How about the nine million plus jobs that we will never see again in America?
Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong. Maybe I should hope the dems win it all. Because, just maybe if they do, and they increase taxes and push through cap and trade, then maybe we will see if the American people will get pissed off enough to fight instead of bitch.
MikeH.
I will vote for certain. And I know it will be for naught. But I have a responsibility to do all in my power (including voting) to prevent the catastrophe that I firmly believe is heading our way.
ReplyDeleteI love my nation (I despise my government) and I love my children and my grandbaby. I stay in a funk all the time at the prospect of what their lives will be like in the not-too-distant future. But until the baloon goes up and the chaos begins in the street, I MUST continue with every attempt to rectify the situation within the system.
But when the gloves come off... I tell you one and all ... there is GOING TO BE SOME PAYBACK!
Mike; your cynicism is justified. But let me correct one thing in your arguement. All Republicans are not conservatives. Our problem is we think one party will save us but we have the responsibility to punish that party or at least members of that party who are lying about their beliefs. People like McCain, Snowe, Murkowski and others. SO the correct answer to your question is that yes I think a whole house full of constitutional conservatives could fix this country's problems. Or better yet a true conservative president and a true conservative congress (both houses) could fix this country's problems. Make no mistake I agree we will NOT fix this country's problems with even the best we could hope for from this election. The reason is simple, not enough people understand the issues and not enough good people run for office. I predict that illegal immigrants will get some form of amnesty with this new congress (or at least a good effort will take place to do that) and people like McCain will eagerly vote for it even though he made his sudden conversion against amnesty the main point in his reelection campaign. Our problem is we elect professional politicians and not citizen patriots.
ReplyDeleteAnon 10:24 - right, we wouldn't have ObamaCare, we'd have McCainCare, just like we had BushCare with the drug and Medicare BS.
ReplyDeleteThey're all the same, they just have a different set of bosses.
This country will NEVER elect a party that comes out and says, "We're going to cut the federal government by 60% or 70% and put all of you government workers out on the street. Medicare, Social Security and all of the other socialist entitlements are toast. Yep, many of you dumped your money into this black hole. Tough. We're broke, and now we're all paying.
"Every federal drug law, every federal food law, every federal gun law - ANY federal law that has bastardized the 'commerce clause' and doesn't have to do interstate commerce or international commerce is hereby rescinded. Buckle up, it's going to be bumpy for a while."
It will NEVER happen. The only way we're going to get change is if it comes from the states. The states reasserting their supremacy over the federal government. The states are the only entities big enough and strong enough to have any sort of a chance to realistically stand up to the feds.
You are correct we would have McCain care if we elected McCain. I did not suggest that we should have elected McCain, I suggested that we should never have given the Democrats both houses. McCain would have been a disaster I am glad he was not elected. If he had been elected we would have had most of the same problems but without the clear cut choice we have today. Today we can throw some of the bums out.
ReplyDelete