-----Original Message----- From: brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com [mailto:brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com] On Behalf Of Doug Pensinger Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 1:54 PM To: Killer Bs (David Brin et al) Discussion Subject: Re: Down with the government
> Leftists should recognize the right has a valid > argument about wasteful government spending. >I would argue that the right (the one that was in power anyway) was >the one doing all the wasteful spending. The idea that the right is >fiscally conservative _in practice_ is a farce. I'm not saying that >the left has it completely correct either, far from it, but if you >vote for the GOP because you want to curb wasteful spending, you're >barking up the wrong tree. That's what makes the Tea Party so interesting. They are actually small government believers. I don't say I agree with them, I have strong differences with them, but their candidates do have a self-consistent message. I think most folks at their rallies don't think through their viewpoints. > Progressives are maintaining Maintaining what? We are still putting everything on a credit card as a nation; the foundation of the job creation machine that was the US had it's last gasp in the 2000 internet bubble, and the progressives are offering no real solutions. Part of it is not their fault, anyone who stated the fundamental difficulties we faced and the real options we had would be regulated to a fringe candidate....or be electrocuted after touching 5 different third rails. >I miss the lively conversations we used to have here. They have disappeared elsewhere too. Lord knows, I've tried to write posts that I've thought about. But, I noticed that my suggestions of fundamental problems that both parties are ignoring seem to be ignored here. I've done analysis of this and see some difficulties that don't fit into either the left wing or right wing polarizing box, so they tend to be ignored. But, I know if I found the time (with my wife working 70 hours/week trying to turn a small church around and me working full time and spending hours trying to help her time is hard to come by) it would be ignored or I'd be insulted personally in response. Most internet discussions are either flame wars or self select for group think....which leads to few posts. >> the right-wingnuts are much better are swaying >> the electorate, however. >Well, they didn't do it in '08, and I'm still optimistic about this >year. I'm not. Nate Silver's fivethirtyeight.com has been pretty good at analysis and they point to a Republican house and the Democratic lead in the Senate down to 52-48 as the average number. He was within 2 electoral votes last time, he was a sabermetrics guru and his posts have the feel of good technical analysis. It's the economy, stupid, and this is the worst rebound from a recession since the Great Depression. I think this is outside of either party's control; the best that can be done is to support something that will help over the next decade. BTW, I think that California has just seen the tip of the iceberg with regards to its problems. For example, why should someone build a new high tech enterprise in pricy San Jose instead of cheap Raleigh-Durham or Austin? California has put itself in a box and I'd expect housing prices to drop another factor of before it can start to rebound. Now, there's a topic we can debate. :-) Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
