My good friend and former partner have a good give and take when it comes to discussing economic and current political events. He is far brighter than I when it comes to economics and being able to predict the actions of people and the resulting impacts. I am better at sensing feelings and intents when dealing with bad guys. I was able to get inside their heads.
As I have stated before, my friend predicted much of the economic debacle more than a year before it imploded last spring. He is great at putting all the pieces together and getting a good look at the whole picture from an analytical point of view. He warned me about Bush’s policies and the nationwide mortgage fraud hoisted upon us by both political parties (Freddie and Fannie). He also explained, and frankly I didn’t get totally, a number of other factors that led us to where we are today.
That said, one of his weakness is he works real hard trying to force a square peg into a round hole. It is the weakness of a person strong in logic butr not so strong in getting into the minds of the ruthless. For years, when we was confronted with what seemed to be the inexplicable act of violence or an unusual mindset of a criminal he would just throw his hands up in disgust. He understood them, just didn’t like dealing with them. Me, I could get in their shoes. I would take the time to figure out their motive, what makes the bad guy tick. Some, I realized, didn’t have a motive or a deeper goal. They did what they did simply “because they can.” That basic disconnect from how their actions impacted others was key on how I saw some of the more sociopathic people I met and how I felt you needed to deal with them.
When we discussed the decisions and the apparent agendas that came out of the White House he was amused at first, saying not to worry, “they can’t govern.” Basically, he was right. They cannot govern. This has been proven again and again by repeated missteps. However, like some sort of accident prone juggernaugt, they continue to push onward, crashing into what was once fundamental principles of economics and politics and shattering the same.
More than once, we have all said, “Are they just crazy or stupid!”
Lately, my relatively upbeat friend seemed a little unsure. He was having trouble understanding exactly why he was seeing a phenomenon he described a “water running up hill.” As he explained, “In economics and other areas there are certain principles that apply. These principles have always held steady, like gravity.” Without going into great and boring detail, what he was trying to say was those principles are working anymore. And that made him spooky. Which makes me even more spooky, because if he is uncertain, then things are a whole lot worse than I thought they were.
Why is the water running uphill? History is important here. Never before has things acted like they are acting now, nor are our leaders acting like they are acting now. My friend seems to have trouble getting a handle on the motives and agendas, as he tries to desparately force the square peg of what they SHOULD be doing into the round hole of what they ARE doing. No longer can he say as a reason, “they can’t govern.” It is beyond that now. No, they aren’t governing, which demands things like compromise and tolerance of other views, they are dictating. The question is why?
The Democrats and Obama (and his backers) are acting like they have no restraints. Or at least none they care to concern themselves with. That is partially due to the nearest election of consequence being over a year out. Or it may be deeper. Much like the committed suicide bomber, perhaps they believe reaching the ultimate goal of total control is worth sacrificing some smaller lives.
Or it could be arrogance, or silliness of the classroom theory taught by university professors being applied to our real world crisis almost as though all of this was some experiment. But that doesn’t explain some of the other actions, or the intense effort the left has exhibited in capturing areas or our society such as education, the environment or the government bureaucracies.
As I thought about his comment, “water running up hill” I decided to send him a challenge, the same challenge I offer to those who visit the site here. Think outside the box. Stop trying to push the square peg into the round hole. Instead go at it backwards. Start with the fact the water now runs up hill and try to explain that without trying to hold onto the established principles. For example, it has always been accepted that the President, no matter how stupid or incompetent, would never harm his country. If you hold to that, you can’t explain why Obama does what he does. However, if you throw it out and accept that this President may want to do intentional harm, then you are no longer trying to explain water running up hill, you are explaining that, in fact, the water is running in the direction it is being forced to run in. Simple. As I said before, sometimes they do it “because they can.” But that doesn’t explain everything they are doing.
I want you to imagine, to plan, to conspire and come up with steps you would take in order to destroy a Democratic Republic and the free market that drives it. What would you do first? What would you do after that? Make a list of what you would do, keep it to five or six steps and let me know. Let’s discuss it. Here’s a hint- look to the south for inspiration.