The Tipping Point

" The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings;

the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”

Winston Churchill

Are We There Yet?

Some of my fondest memories as a child were those trips to visit relatives out of state and the vacation to places unfamiliar. The wonder of it all, the landscape flashing past the window in staccato repetition as if riding in a train.  Of course the physics of time operates differently on the mind of a child with minutes protracting into hours, giving rise to the universal expression of fatigue and anticipation - "are we there yet"?  The question was never asked once, but at ever increasing intervals until the ultimate arrival at the destination.

Sixty years later I find myself asking this childhood question again and at ever increasing intervals. The landscape now is again breezing by ominously as our nation is in transition.  So where is the "there" that I wearily and forlornly ask about? 

Malcolm Gladwell's 2000 bestseller The Tipping Point, popularized the very specialized term “tipping point” from epidemiology to a broader context - the moment of critical mass where the unexpected becomes expected, where significant change is more than a possibility, but a certainty.  

Today, as a nation we stand at the tipping point threshold.  Among the tens of millions of voting Americans who are suffering from PED (post election depression) the Obama victory represents the next step to the euro socialization of America.  We all know how well that works in Europe.

It was going to be difficult enough had Romney won to unwind the mess that Obama has left at the nation’s doorstep.  The fiscal precipice is painfully real and ominously looming, the stock market responded Wednesday by dropping 1.9%, the DJIA slipped below 13K for the first time since the day after Labor Day, the S&P down 5% and the Nasdaq 7% off since then.  

One thing for sure, had Romney been victorious the market would likely have had a substantial boost on the confidence that he would be able to manage down the $16 Trillion debt.  No such confidence even remotely exists in the incumbent.

So here we are, as divided a nation in my lifetime, all promulgated by a president that has led only in the areas of class warfare, racial tensions, welfare expansion, shamelessly squandering an $800 billion “stimulus”, creating a monstrosity of government controlled health care that most Americans didn’t want or need that will keep the U.S. in permanent debt crisis, and unprecedented domestic (fast & furious) and foreign policy (Benghazi embassy massacre) prevarication and cover up.  The next four years should cause any thinking American to shudder at a president who handles economic crisis with “I won” and foreign policy with “I’ll have more flexibility after I’m reelected,” and all without a mandate.  Look for Obama in his 2^nd term to govern by executive order rather than seek bipartisanship. Welcome to Europica.

Meritocracy as An Anachronism

Much of America became resigned to the fact that our president had too much mystery and too little achievement that would qualify him for president other than an educational path remarkable in its paucity of details…such is politics.  It became painfully evident that the president was woefully inadequate for the position in virtually every facet of the job as all meaningful metrics continued to worsen. Entering the presidential campaign the president had increased the debt by $6 trillion, 30 million unemployed, 7.9% unemployment rate, and 100 million people receiving means tested welfare payments.  Staggering evidence of complete failure by the president in the economy, not to mention foreign policy. 

The man who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize before even taking office and won it later in the year, “For his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” responded to the award: “I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments but rather an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.”  Pretty well sums up what the president is all about - “affirmation” and “aspirations.”

With no record of positive accomplishments to run on Obama hung his hopes on women’s reproductive rights, big bird, and demonizing Mitt Romney.  And as we all know now, it worked.  Any management level person, or for that matter any person, would be summarily fired with a comparable workplace performance, giving credence to the notion that the long promoted cornerstone of socialism equality of outcome has taken root in the minds of many Americans leap frogging equality of opportunity. 

It’s difficult to find solace in the fact that Obama is the first re-elected president since World War II not to improve his margin of victory and to get fewer Electoral College votes in re-election.

Stranger in a Strange Land

 “The best argument against democracy is a 5-minute conversation with the average voter.”

Winston Churchill

Like Mike Smith the protagonist in the scifi classic novel Stranger in a Strange Land, many of my generation (the very first baby boomers) feel like a stranger in a strange land.  Only worse, Mike Smith was a Martian on earth.  The election numbers are both revealing and disturbing – in the most critical election of our lifetime 11 million fewer citizens voted than 2008, 9 million fewer Democrats and 2 million fewer Republicans, with the margin of popular vote victory at 2 % points, 5% points less than 2008.

From my perspective there are several fundamental reasons for the Obama win and Romney loss. 

First, let’s start with Postmodernism.  Postmodernism is a theory that began in the early 20^th century that involves radical reappraisal of modern assumptions about culture, identity, history and language.  The French philosopher Jean - Francois Lyotard called it “incredulity towards meta-narratives.”  Postmodernism has had significant influence on many disciplines including education, art, literature, ethics, morality, architecture, history, religion and politics.  For example in education, history is taught through reappraisal, seminaries teaching of Jesus as a historical figure rather than the son of God.  These influences shape our culture and how we view the world and events.

Second, Demographics, including the “browning” of America and how it has changed the electorate.  The famous Hudson Institute’s Workforce 2000 introduced America to the dramatic demographic changes in the workforce forthcoming in the 21^st century, e.g. females and minorities will compose the majority of the workforce in 2000, a no brainer today but in the 80’s this was big news.

Election exit polling reveals Democrats dominate in the demographic categories of young voters (18-39) gender (women in general and single women in particular) race (all minorities) income (<$50K) population area (50K & & >), excluding suburbs.  Republicans strongly led in white male voters aged 40 & & >, earning > $50K.  Simply stated, if you voted for Romney like me, there are more of them than us.

Next, Government entitlements are a direct threat to our nation’s solvency, sovereignty and viability.  FDR kicked things off with the New Deal in the 40’s and things haven’t been the same since. It has slowly eroded our ability to cultivate a motivated workforce and compete internationally.  The welfare state since created by LBJ’s the Great Society has served to institutionalize and entrench poverty at the cost of over $3 trillion.

Currently a staggering 70.5% of federal spending goes to dependency creating programs.  Obama dramatically gutted the welfare eligibility requirements of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Expect the half of TANF recipients currently receiving a welfare check without performing any work at all to significantly rise.

The current arithmetic of America’s taxation system is simply not sustainable – 47% of all tax filers pay no federal income tax, while the rest of us foot the bill.  When almost 50% of American’s are exempt from funding the most basic constitutional functions of government, plus welfare, education, energy, veteran’s benefits, housing, foreign aid, etc., we sadly have half of the country with no interest in changing their tax status.  64 million Americans , about 1 in 5, is receiving direct government support Social Security, welfare, or Pell Grants, the highest level ever.

You can expect the situation to spin out of control over the next 10 years with the $716 billion that Obamacare cuts from Medicare to fund other entitlement expansions mandated by Obamacare.

Finally, the Öffentlichkeit has been corrupted.  The German language is remarkable in its affinity to capture an entire concept in a single word.  Take for example the feelings of Schadenfreude (delight in another’s misfortune) by many Democrats over the Republican defeat.  Öffentlichkeit is the climate of public opinion.

If you were to restrict your news information exclusively to the mainstream media of broadcast networks ABC, CBS, NBC and the overwhelming majority of newspapers, you would have an incomplete and slanted view at best, of the world and events.  
This is not a current or even recent phenomenon, it’s existed throughout the 20^th century but has reached an unprecedented level today.

Why is it that surveys consistently show that over 90% of journalists and reporters are democrats?  Well first, all except a precious few colleges and universities are liberal in their leadership, faculty, and curriculum and therefore have significant influence on their students.  Why are these institutions of higher learning so liberal?  

Academicians are by and large enamored of being regarded as the intelligentsia which places them in prominent positions within the social, cultural and political elite.  Academicians are attracted to new ideas and theories so that they may be on the cutting edge in their writings developing and advancing their own areas of expertise.  

This is why postmodernism has been so prevalent and effective in academic circles – it allows complete freedom to not only expand the envelope, but to leave the envelope entirely, all under the aegis of an accepted theory.

The highest reward for a teaching academician is to have legions of dedicated acolytes, creating a cyclical process.  The bias was more subtle in the early years of TV news with Cronkite, Huntley, Brinkley, who were all of liberal democratic persuasion; the next wave of Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and many others continued the tradition. 

Today, the bias is hardly subtle and is exercised by commission – heavily weighted and slanted or omission – simply not reporting negative news e.g. black out of Benghazi massacre cover-up efforts. The internet and the Fox news network have stepped into this vacuum over the past 20 years, providing full disclosure which has been enthusiastically and successfully received.  It is extremely difficult to overcome decades of bias.

The Öffentlichkeit is further corrupted through the entertainment industry – movies, TV shows, music all feverishly dedicated to promoting a new social agenda.  An entire library could be dedicated to this corruption.  For example, the seemingly innocuous HGTV network blatantly promotes an agenda through the couples they choose to include in many of their episodes.

Public opinion has been definitely and purposefully shaped through no less than an assault via education including laws schools and seminaries, media – broadcast and print and entertainment – movies, music, TV, and yes sports.

Perhaps after 225 years our great republic may have run its course.  The Republicans lost the election, but America may have lost its soul.

Perhaps a better epilogue will follow.