In 1928, when Al Smith, Governor of New York, mounted his unsuccessful campaign for the presidency, he quickly became nationally known for one of his favorite lead-ins: “Let’s look at the record.” Smith was an old fashioned Democrat, nearly as laissez-faire in his principles and policies as Grover Cleveland. His record in office testified to that. Had his opponent been anyone but Herbert Hoover, “The Great Engineer,” he probably would have won, and spared us the New Deal.
Looking at a politician’s record gives the best sense for what that politician will do in the foreseeable future: i.e., with the issues of the moment. Thus also with a political party: a party’s record in power is the best guide to its continued use of power.
And with that we turn to this cri de coeur from Erick Erickson:
We have passed the point where Nazi comparisons are inappropriate. In the latest video about Planned Parenthood, if you want to watch it, you will see an admission that some of the children are born alive before being killed and carved up — their bodies being sold essentially for scrap.These are children. They entered into the world alive and were killed, chopped up, and sold bit by bit....
The Party of Lincoln that rose from the ashes of a Whig Party that would not stand up to slavery must stand up to this evil. The American public is staring evil in the face and it looks a lot like them. It must end. [Emphasis added by FWP.]
Well, what’s the Republican Party’s record for standing on its supposed platform principles? Since it gained control of both houses of Congress, has it done any of the things its spokesmen said it would do? Extrapolating from its record since 2010, would you expect Boehner, McConnell, and their minions to mount a serious campaign to outlaw even partial-birth abortions, the most horrific and reviled of all kinds? Failing that, would you put money on whether they’ll submit a budget that defunds Planned Parenthood and stand firm on it?
To those who’ve answered yes to either of those questions: Don’t all rush forward at once waving your Benjamins at me. I’m not sure I’d survive the paroxysms of laughter.
Please, God, send us a planetoid. Before I get too old even to cheer for it.
This is why I am of the "burn it down" philosophy, at this point. In fact, I'd have already left this country if there were any place on this Earth that was actually any less degenerate.
ReplyDeleteSay what you will of the denizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, but at least they didn't do this, so far as we know.
I don't know, Francis. But the older I get, the more I think there's just no coming back from this. This is as bad as the Holocaust, and people are actually arguing like this is a topic for debate. Like, break out the coffee and tea and have a pleasant discussion about Planned Parenthood.
The hell they say.
You don't debate mass murder. You stop it.
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ReplyDeleteI think we have arrived in this country at a fateful Rubicon - the crossing of which will inevitably lead to civil war.
ReplyDeleteThe presidential election of 2016 may signal the beginning of a hot civil war from embers of the cold civil war the Right and Left have been fighting for decades.
In 1860, the election of Lincoln was the ignition system that set off the secession of states and opening of salvos of the 19th century's most bloody conflict.
I can see the same thing happening in 2016 if some stalwart patriot like Trump or Cruz gets elected...Like the reactionary Democrat Southern slave owners of the Old South, the equally reactionary Leftists elites will go absolutely ape if a determined, ant-socialist American patriot becomes president and leader of a movement that will roll back decades of socialism.