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I’ve concluded that my life is dominated by the dialectic of eclecticism.
HA!
Okay, my life is explained by what is known as “jack of all trades, master of none.”
Better?
I have no “hobby”, I enjoy a lot of things from cooking to cross-stitch. I entered a profession (law), which essentially leads you to know a few things about a lot of subjects (for instance I can tell you a fair amount about paranoid schizophrenia and conversely about barrel rifling and firearms identification).
Now I identify myself as a “political pundit” albeit far down the scale from the illustrious names we all know. And that requires, again “knowing a little bit about a lot of things.”
Whoever thought that I would progress beyond the ultra-limited knowledge I once had about economics. I mean one college course does not make an economist. I never cared, since all that addin’ and subtractin’ seemed rather a bore to me.
However, as the economy has stalled, and the Republicans have limited their “answer bank” to “stop regulating business” and “give the rich all the money since they are the only ones who know what to do with it”, I’ve had to learn a bit more.
At least I’ve learned enough to know that I probably should find me some very good economists and then listen to them. So I skip a fair amount of the rhetoric, even from the left (where I feel all warm and fuzzy) and venture out into the cold deep waters where the likes of Robert Reich and Paul Krugman reside.
Now I admit, I don’t know a lot of other economists as well as these two, but I am bolstered in my opinions, (admittedly based on their opinions) that “most” mainstream economists pretty much agree.
They agree that the trickle-down theories (which are the base I believe of Herm’s 9-9-9 nonsense) did not work in the late 1890’s and won’t work today. They agree pretty much that the only thing wrong with TARP was that there wasn’t enough of it. They pretty much agree that the deficit, while troubling, will basically take care of itself if we re-invigorate the economy. They pretty much agree that big public works, are the answer to unemployment and that drives consumer demand, and that drives business to hire.
And as much as the Republicans don’t like this stuff, since wealthy people would rather invest their money in diamonds, paintings, yachts and the eleventeenth house in Tuscany, they must on some level understand the facts.
And as much as they rightly believe that most Americans are too busy and too uninterested, and too unable to think critically about much beyond the point-spread for the next Packer-Vikings game, they do over time, begin to look for the CAUSE of what the f**k is irritating them so bad. (Translate: you poke them in the back long enough and they will look around at who is causing their misery.)
And they will wake up and realize that the GOP has not offered a damn thing in the way of jobs or relief, but is shilling as usual for their Masters. And they will re-act.
And therefore Mitch (turtle-man) McConnell can wring his hands and declare that his prime job is to “make Obama a one-term President”, and he will find that his words fall on deaf ears, more and more. And he can claim that “what the America people want” is less spending, but they don’t, and one day that phrase will stick in his throat and he will choke to death on it.
When a party is so unpopular that it relies on the lowest common denominator (i.e. the TeaNutz®), this kind of implosion must happen. The zoo that continues to be the “Republican field” makes this most clear. Rational candidates (Romney and Huntsman) are pushed aside so as to worship at the feet of the irrational but flashy (all the rest). This will result in the utter obliteration of the GOP as we know it, or a splintering of it into the Old Party and New Party. Either way, it is defunct as a true alternative to the Democrats.
It is as if the collective mind of the GOP has been wiped clean. I once, sadly and painfully hit a pheasant in the road which ran in front of me at the last minute. As I looked in the rear view mirror, I saw its foot, slapping at the road, in its final death agony. That is what the GOP reminds me of these days. They have no mind, just a mindless mouthing of trite phrases uttered by faces pasted with what passes as a smile, but looks more like the awful paint of the Riddler.
They are kidding no one. They just keep peddling faster trying to outrun the tsunami that is about to engulf them.
Such is my opinion. And by the way, read this rather clear editorial in the NYTimes which I think says pretty much the same thing, though not nearly as eloquently as moi. HA! Okay, that was a joke.
Existential Ennui 