Great One From Erickson

Posted on | November 8, 2012 | 68 Comments

by Smitty

There is no permanence in politics. All is fleeting. All is cyclical. We find comfort in our cycle and distress when others rise to the top.

Right now, conservatives are bitterly disappointed. Some choose to check out mentally. Some have decided to throw in the towel. A few blame the American people. Many think the gig is up, the show is over, and destiny is undone.

Demography is not destiny and neither is the ever growing leviathan. Many think so now, but they forget the ebbs and flows of the tide of history. Conservatism is not done. The message of freedom and opportunity is not done.

No immigrant comes to the United States wanting to be on welfare. They come for a better life of hard work and success. What conservatives forget is that people forget.

And conservatives have done a terrible job reminding people.

Read the whole thing, as it’s a needed dose of perspective.

In a way, the results are Obama’s best possible punishment. The bad news is that there will be substantial collateral damage, and damage to your collateral. Great time not to be too attached to your toys.

My worry is that, as FDR II rolls us on through the Even Greater American Depression (EGAD), the saga climaxes in WWIII.

Category: Barack Obama, Blogging

Comments

68 Responses to “Great One From Erickson”

Mortimer Snerd
November 8th, 2012 @ 8:22 am

“A few blame the American people.”
You’re damn right I blame the American people. The 50+ percent who voted for Jugears, that is.
Bob Belvedere
November 8th, 2012 @ 8:29 am

-Erickson writes:

No immigrant comes to the United States wanting to be on welfare. They come for a better life of hard work and success….

While many may come here for the financial opportunities, way too many of them refuse to assimilate. One of the reasons is that The Establishment [legal, political, and social] tells them they don’t have to and makes it easy for them not to.

Prediction: Erickson goes all ‘Big Tent’ in 4…3…2……

-A general point: We certainly cannot surrender because it is our duty to our ancestors and our posterity to continue the fight to restore The Constitution. However, like The Founding Fathers, have we reached a point where the only possible course is to effect a separation?
Bob Belvedere
November 8th, 2012 @ 8:33 am

Don’t be of good cheer – summon the determination to do what is right ‘with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in’.

Compromise of what we know is right will only lead to a failure to do our duty as Americans and children of a loving God.
SantorumTwibe
November 8th, 2012 @ 8:40 am

RT @smitty_one_each: TOM Great One From Erickson http://t.co/z86ATiu3 #TCOT
Maybe This Will Make You Feel Better | The Lonely Conservative
November 8th, 2012 @ 9:12 am

[…] job reminding people.Read the whole thing.I don’t know. I still feel pretty crappy.H/T to SmittyTweetvaso linkgoogle_ad_client = "ca-pub-1395656889568144"; /* 300×250, created 8/11/08 */ […]
Blake
November 8th, 2012 @ 9:13 am

Eric Erickson is whistling past the graveyard. The structural damage to the Republic is beyond repair. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves.

Things are going to get ugly and anyone who thinks otherwise is in denial. The current administration has continuously flouted Congress and the rule of law. Now that Obama does not have to worry about re-election, the administration will really go to work on what’s left of America.
smitty
November 8th, 2012 @ 9:30 am

Hopefully you grasp that the conservative movement is not the GOP.
Chuck
November 8th, 2012 @ 9:41 am

A distinction with no meaningful difference. That’s as dumb as saying the left isn’t the democrat party. In the realm of legislation, it is. Just as in the realm of legislation, the conservative movement is the GOP. It’d delusional to pretend otherwise. That’s precisely the kind backward ass thinking that just got Brak elected. Muddying the water with these ridiculous lies about Romney being a “liberal” and whatnot is the primary reason we’re where we’re at right now.
Mike Tuggle
November 8th, 2012 @ 9:48 am

It’s good to read these comments and see conservatives aren’t buying the happy-happy nonsense.
For too long, we’ve glutted ourselves with unreality. It was served up by our handlers in the Establishment who assured us it was what we really wanted. And we cheered on wars that gave us nothing but a ruined military, a busted budget, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Now we have a commander in chief who was raised to despise Americans. And he has the power of indefinite detention or even life and death in his hands, thanks to the NDAA.

And guess what? He has an agenda.

You have to be delusional to think that’s an outcome a conservative could support. But DC’s policy of endless war has accomplished what all wars do, and that is to expand the power of government.

We should have been more suspicious, seeing as how Government Supremacists such as Hillary Clinton, Lindsey Graham, Christopher Hitchens, Andrew Sullivan, and Charles Johnson joined us in surrendering power to the chief executive in the name of liberating the world.

Who won? Hint: Not us.

Now that reality has smacked us in the face, maybe – JUST MAYBE – it’s time to quit letting ourselves be fooled.
Let’s all write the following on the blackboard until we get it: DC is our enemy.

And let’s not be fooled again.
Wombat_socho
November 8th, 2012 @ 9:59 am

“a distinction with no meaningful difference.”

Wrong. In case you hadn’t noticed, the GOP contains a number of factions, and not all of those are conservative; there is the GOP Establishment, there is the TEA Party, there are Republicans who have a foot in both camps, and there are those who don’t hold with either group. If you don’t get this, you’re the one that’s delusional. Or ignorant; choose whichever offends you less.
Jackie Wellfonder - Raging Against the Rhetoric – ‘Conservatism Is Not Done’
November 8th, 2012 @ 10:02 am

[…] definitely need to read the whole thing. H/T The Other McCain. Share this:More Blogging SHARE THIS Twitter Facebook Delicious StumbleUpon E-mail […]
atticusfinchus
November 8th, 2012 @ 10:17 am

The tide goes in and goes out. And when it goes out is when you get the clams. Or oysters. Some even get mussels.
Thane_Eichenauer
November 8th, 2012 @ 10:22 am

If I had to prefer any given immigrant paying his own bill or assimilate I would rather any given immigrant pay his bill.
Preparing For the Crisis | Daily Pundit
November 8th, 2012 @ 10:30 am

[…] For the Crisis Posted on November 8, 2012 7:30 am by Bill Quick Great One From Erickson : The Other McCain My worry is that, as FDR II rolls us on through the Even Greater American Depression (EGAD), the […]
smitty
November 8th, 2012 @ 10:42 am

I guess I can agree with Chuck a little in that, for example, there isn’t much useful distinction between the 57 States and DC.
WJJ Hoge
November 8th, 2012 @ 10:52 am

WW1 was essentially the Western Democracies v. Central European Monarchies. WW2 was the Western Democracies v. the Fascists. We’ve already had WW3. The West v. Communism was fought mostly via proxy wars, although Vietnam was hot enough for me.

Our “War on Terror” may be analogous to the practice wars (Spain, Japan v. China, etc.) of the ’30s. The next war will be WW4, the West v. Totalitarian Islam.
jwallin
November 8th, 2012 @ 11:07 am

“No immigrant comes to the United States wanting to be on welfare”

They do when it’s a better life than what they had in their own country.

They don’t seem to have any problems signing up for anything and everything. And it’s easier than getting a job. The welfare worker speaks spanish or will provide a translator. Forms are available in spanish.

Every single mother hispanic that I’ve ever known is on section 8. They get here and their first stop after greeting any family already here is the local welfare office.

Section 8 can be received by certain individuals (single mothers with children, older people) even if they work.

Food stamps are available even if they have a job.

Plus given that many hispanics do part time or by the job labor that is paid in cash, they can get full benefits and their pay. The Hispanic “community” is close knit and discriminates against whites and sometimes blacks when it comes to hiring and knowing what’s going on.

P.S. if you’ve ever been around some hispanics at work or elsewhere and got a feeling that you were being talked about? You’re probably correct. I would hide that I understood spanish when I had to work day labor and such and later when I was the line boss for a bunch of hispanic women doing assembly. They WILL talk about you (and very nastily sometimes and not just me) behind your back but to your face in spanish. (they kept quiet once they knew I knew spanish)

They are very insular and selfish people. They think only of their immediate family (which is normal) and disregard any harm they may do to the host country.( they don’t care and if they think about it, they think that whites stole the country from them or are discriminating against them)

I know there may be some who’ll berate me and say that what I’m talking about doesn’t apply to ALL hispanics. Maybe so but it applies to all the ones I knew for 40 years working in manufacturing at different levels and places all across the country. How does that gibe with what you think? Plus, I’m not the only one who’s experienced this.

Look at the attitude in Puerto Rico. They finally voted that they should become a state. Why? the consensus on the street and interviewees was they would get MORE BENEFITS than they do now. Puerto Ricans have to move here to get all the benefits that are handed out. That’s because the Federal Govt mandates that States pay for it. Puerto Rico isn’t a state and doesn’t have the money.

On their going for Obama, I say they broke it, they bought it. Let’s see if they can do better than they did in their own country. My guess; lots of reverse immigration as the jobs keeping getting cut. Amnesty or not. They’re here only for the money and not dreams of freedom or liberty. That takes too much responsibility. Something they’ve shown themselves to be lacking in their home country.

(I’m mainly talking about those who are illegals or have come here due to family being here. not those born here but there’s some of those even so.)
Evi L. Bloggerlady
November 8th, 2012 @ 11:08 am

http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/2012/11/time-to-get-plumb-mad-dog-meanthats.html Time to get plumb mad dog mean.
Chuck
November 8th, 2012 @ 11:13 am

That’s exactly the kind of blind stupidity that elected Brakabama. Parties have factions? Go figure. You figured that out on your own? Name a faction in the democrat party that isn’t to the left of every faction in the republican party. You can’t, but I’m sure you’ll ignore this and think up a snide comeback as a pathetic defense mechanism, Ready. Go.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
November 8th, 2012 @ 11:26 am

http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/2012/11/are-hispanics-natural-conservatives.html This is very depressing. How do you fix this?
Finrod Felagund
November 8th, 2012 @ 11:43 am

I seriously cut back on reading RedState when their most recent site design took the recommended diary box, the list of user diaries, and the list of user comments, and crammed them all into one tiny little box. They showed what they think of their readers, so I’m just returning the favor.
AngelaTC
November 8th, 2012 @ 11:51 am

Yes, but there are different factions in the Democrat party too. And while they’ve been wailing about the right moving to the right, they’ve been quietly replacing moderates with socialists. Not only is the GOP is still playing defense – they’re still playing in a game that’s over. We’re trying to fend off (and pay for) Obamacare, while they’re marching gay marriage through.
AngelaTC
November 8th, 2012 @ 11:52 am

Anytime you have to use the word “you” in a post, it’s pretty clear that you don’t really have anything to discuss.
AngelaTC
November 8th, 2012 @ 11:53 am

Agreed. I’ll go one farther – I’d rather live with open borders and no welfare state, but that’s not a choice we’re going to get.
Couranto
November 8th, 2012 @ 11:58 am

“No immigrant comes to the United States wanting to be on welfare”

Oh, really?

Has Erickson seen the polling on Hispanics put up by Drew over at AOSHQ?
http://minx.cc/?post=334774

In short, the idea that Hispanics are naturally a conservative voting bloc is laughable.

Pew polled Hispanics: “Do you prefer bigger government or smaller government?” (The voting public at large is 48/41 for smaller govt).

1st generation Hispanics want Big Govt 81-12

2nd generation Hispanics want Big Gov 72-22

3rd generation Hispanics want Big Gov 58-36

So even after assimilating for 3 generations (50-60+ years) they still go 2 to 1 for a statist economic philosophy.

Well but they are at least socially conservative, right? Um, wrong.

They are now 52-34 in favor of gay marriage (in 2006 it was flipped the other way.

Hispanics in general come from marxist countries. They are not conservative by nature so stop blowing smoke (Jeb Bush, Rubio, etc).

Turn out the lights.
Finrod Felagund
November 8th, 2012 @ 12:12 pm

Don’t just get mad, get even. We can take the Senate in 2014 and the White House in 2016.
Wombat_socho
November 8th, 2012 @ 12:47 pm

I have a better idea. Why don’t you take your bad attitude somewhere else?
Wombat_socho
November 8th, 2012 @ 12:49 pm

Doesn’t mean they don’t post worthwhile stuff now and again, although I find it easier and more pleasant to read Moe Lane’s stuff at his place.
Wombat_socho
November 8th, 2012 @ 12:52 pm

Lumping us all together is a good way to stay confused about what Hispanics want. It’s really irritating, and I think a big step forward in outreach to the various Hispanic communities would be to stop acting like we all have the same opinions and preferences just because our ancestors came from Spain back int he 15th century.
Finrod Felagund
November 8th, 2012 @ 1:02 pm

That is true, however RedState is still nothing like what it used to be, and I’ve been there since 2004. I’ve been reading Moe’s site more than RedState lately.
Wombat_socho
November 8th, 2012 @ 1:10 pm

I’ll take your word for it. I never got into the habit of reading the site; most of what I read there was linked from somewhere else.
Jaynie59
November 8th, 2012 @ 1:15 pm

The Republican Party is done. Put a fork in it. It’s over. Voting was down because for many people it was a choice between voting for Obama and not voting at all. So they didn’t vote. There are millions, if not tens of millions, of people out there who will never vote for a Republican for any reason, at any time, no matter who they are or what they stand for or what they say.
Those of you who call yourselves “conservative” or Republican can’t seem to grasp the simple fact that there is a huge difference between the two, and that both have been villified to such an extent that some people will never vote for anyone associated with either label. Liberals/Progressives/Statists/Moderates, whatever you want to call them, see all conservatives as Evil with a capital E. You are the only Evil they know and understand. You are racist/sexist/homophobic/Nazi/ White supremicists who, by the way, can’t wait to bomb poor countries all over the world. You start all the wars and the Democrats have to clean up your messes.
You think I’m kidding? Conservatives are the most naive people on the planet. They constantly admonish their own side to be “courteous and respectful” to people who hate their guts and want them to die slow painful deaths. They claim to have liberal friends but apparently never bother to talk about politics with these “friends” because if they did they’d know what hateful, horrible people the average liberal is. And stupid? You can’t get much stupider than a liberal. Yet you conservatives still crave their approval.
Conservatives will never win until they fight back with the passion the fight deserves. Defending yourself against hate is not whining, or being thin skinned. Joking about it doesn’t work.
Wake up, wise up, and fight back. You can start with Alan Grayson. He’s back and he needs to be taken down. Attack him with as much vervor as he attacks you.
Adobe_Walls
November 8th, 2012 @ 1:15 pm

And therein lies the problem. In our political world we keep pretending the GOP is conservative when in fact on the whole, it is not. The only thing Eric gets right is that conservatives do a terrible job selling our ideas. The “ebbs and flows” of political history have consistently gone against us. Even Reagan only managed to relieve some of the regulatory and tax burdens but accomplished nothing by way of dismantling the regulatory state. He succeeded in a temporary conservative coup within the GOP that many mistake for a successful revolution. Would Reagan have won on Tuesday? Has this Nation sunk that low?

Daniel Greenfield writes about the left playing the long game and submits conservatives must also. He is correct but I fear it’s too late. We needed to start playing the long game decades ago.
Adobe_Walls
November 8th, 2012 @ 1:37 pm

Quite so.
Zilla of the Resistance
November 8th, 2012 @ 1:43 pm

You know what fights demographic marginalization? Breeding. Go forth and multiply! Hey Smitty, wouldn’t WYB like to be a big brother?
Zilla of the Resistance
November 8th, 2012 @ 1:45 pm

I can do mean, in fact I am quite good at it when I need to be! They call me Zilla, not “Barney”!
Adjoran
November 8th, 2012 @ 2:47 pm

Hispanic Catholics went for Obama 75-21. They are willing to go to hell to support him. That’s not very conservative.
K-Bob
November 8th, 2012 @ 2:48 pm

I sure wish we had decided to have more kids.

Fortunately we had boys.
K-Bob
November 8th, 2012 @ 2:49 pm

(from a pure, mathematical perspective I mean. I would love to have had some daughters, too)
K-Bob
November 8th, 2012 @ 2:51 pm

Exactly. “Hispanic” is about as culturally meaningful as “right-handed.”
CPAguy
November 8th, 2012 @ 2:54 pm

Good save…lol…
Finrod Felagund
November 8th, 2012 @ 2:57 pm

It used to be when the frontpagers there turned stupid (happens to everyone now and then), there were the Recommended Diaries that were right there at the top right of the page, where there could be a counterbalance. Now there’s nothing keeping the frontpagers from going down whatever futile road they want to. It’s sad to see, especially since I’ve been there 8+ years now.
K-Bob
November 8th, 2012 @ 2:58 pm

The Boogie Southern Compound is in a Democrat state that is in Big Coal country. (UMW = Democrat, that’s why the place has been Dem so long).

When they boosted the amount of money folks could get on welfare in this state, the welfare immigrants showed up, big time. This started a vicious cycle, and expanded the whole thing further, to provide housing, etc.

We’ve already seen this nationally, too. Lack of enforcement plus expanding benefits creates negative pressure that just sucks them in.

Oh, and Ericsson is a squish.
Finrod Felagund
November 8th, 2012 @ 2:59 pm

What he said.
K-Bob
November 8th, 2012 @ 3:02 pm

This is exasperating. On thing for sure is that you cannot win a war of ideas when you allow the left to determine the language.

Even Rush was doing this today. He kept referring to “immigration.”

It was never about immigration. It is not about immigration now. it is about illegal aliens freely crossing the border. Period.

Immigrants are an entirely different thing. We don’t have an immigrant problem. We have a law enforcement problem.
K-Bob
November 8th, 2012 @ 3:06 pm

Yep, I screwed up!
Adobe_Walls
November 8th, 2012 @ 3:55 pm

We do have an immigrant problem, the illegals are merely the worst of it. We don’t need more Somali or Pakistani cab drivers. The 1965 immigration law needs repealing.
K-Bob
November 8th, 2012 @ 4:56 pm

That crap always sorts itself out over time. We should definitely make it easier for intelligent, productive people to emigrate (particularly, we need faster turnaround on E1 visas), but I seriously doubt anyone in congress would argue against that. No, they want to keep up with the nonsense about pretending that the word “immigration” is more dog-whistle BS for “Republicans hate Mexicans.” Or whatever they are selling today.

Fine. Fix the immigration laws. That won’t affect very many people either way.

But we simply do not have an immigration problem, when it comes to the borders. We have a law enforcement problem.
Adobe_Walls
November 8th, 2012 @ 6:12 pm

We have at least two immigration problems the law enforcement problem is only one of them.
Quartermaster
November 8th, 2012 @ 6:42 pm

Wombat, you just proved him right. You do know that don’t you? You are far too loose with the ban hammer, and you are going to end up hurting Stacy rather than helping him in any meaningful way. I don’t agree with him, but he wasn’t any harder on the one he answered than I’ve been on Adjoran’s foolishness.