I Disagree With Rush Limbaugh

Respectfully, from the viewpoint of a young Republican,

Rush Limbaugh made headlines several weeks ago for commenting that he hopes Obama and his policies fail. What could have been spun as an unfortunate slip of the tongue or misunderstanding was instead clarified and repeated beyond any doubt. But, there was a glimmer of hope that the GOP might finally put Rush in his place. Michael Steele, RNC chairman, remarked on CNN that Rush was an entertainer, not the de facto leader of the Republicans and that his show was “incendiary… ugly.” Unfortunately, Steele lost his backbone, and apologized for his comments saying, “I respect Rush Limbaugh, he is a national conservative leader, and in no way do I want to diminish his voice”. He went on to apologize for distracting Americans and the party from the real issue, the irresponsibility of Democrat backed expansion of government.

This is disappointing. An opportunity was given to Republican leadership to truly distance and differentiate themselves from such a controversial character. And that’s what Rush has become really, a character; or maybe more accurately, a caricature. True, he does espouse and embody the main principles of the conservative, but they are massively amplified and extreme versions of these beliefs. Add in a nearly self delusional sized ego, and you have the makings of the lightening rod that Rush Limbaugh has become.

At the same time, he has been incredibly important to the conservative movement for these exact reasons. His high profile is critical in directing the spot light on the issue of the day. His comments and views are repeated and debated in living rooms, break rooms and chat rooms nationwide. A national dialogue might be considered incomplete without the two cents, or more often ten cents of his radio show. What’s my problem then? The guy gets the ‘job’, as it were, done. Who cares about his tactics?

My problem, my disagreement with Rush Limbaugh is that these tactics have overstayed their usefulness. Like it or not, politics in America has reached a new era. The fact that the audacity of the idea of hope won an entire election should put to bed any ideas that confrontational negativity and arrogance have any place in the political debate. In a Jesse Jackson-esque sort of way, Rush Limbaugh continues to make incendiary remarks in an apparent effort to stay relevant. No doubt, Rush scares the hell out the opposition. They often find his comments and views jaw droppingly appalling, ingratiating and pathetically polarizing. A fact that some consider a badge of pride. And it would be if politics were a zero-sum game, but it isn’t.

If the Republican party hopes to survive the next several election cycles, we must be courting the center and moderates. Offering new innovative ideas and prove that they work better and make life better for Americans. This will not happen if a person like Rush Limbaugh is considered the leader of the party, either by fellow conservatives or those we wish to bring into the party. Popping off that he hopes that Obama fails simply highlights his shallowness and supreme ego, and by association makes conservatives look like bitter and selfish sore losers. Wanting Obama, and in turn America, to fail; wishing continued suffering on millions just so that he can be right, is plain awful. More worrisome to conservatives, is that it is the rallying cry of defeat. It’s praying that the team who beat us loses in the finals out of spite, instead of regrouping and proving we’re better next season. Practically, it simply adds ammunition to the liberal case against conservatism.

I do not think that Rush Limbaugh speaks for the Republican party, and certainly does not speak for me. I think he is a shining example of what is wrong with the current state of the party. I also find it hard to believe that ignorance and arrogance are homophones by chance. There will be many who will say, ‘screw the opposition, we don’t want their company anyway’. And that would be exactly wrong. The Republican party is by nature an inclusive party, and it is saddening to see so many of its members embracing rhetoric designed to mock and ridicule those who disagree.

With Rush Limbaugh’s immense audience and following, he has the ability to influence the direction the the GOP’s base will take. I hope that in the future he would influence the national dialogue in a positive way, instead of making headlines for selfish and unfortunate comments. I also hope that the party leadership has the spine to take control of the ship, instead of leaving it to the winds, or the gusts of an aging icon.

Matthew

From Pretend You Read The News

Because of the rainbow of different media flavors in this country and around the world, many people, on both sides of the political parties, are far too selective and discriminatory in their news sources. We seek out material that affirms our beliefs and points of view, and shun those that do not. Much has been said recently on the future of the Republican party and the conservative movement as a whole. There have been calls for adaptation, altering strategies or adopting more progressive versions of our beliefs. Right or wrong, that’s to be decided by the party as a whole on a case by case basis, and probably a much more organic process than simply saying yea or nay. But, one thing that I believe could do an outstanding amount of good is if we as conservatives would broaden our sources of information.

Certainly conservative blogs (like this one) have their place, but mostly as commentary, mobilization or for the conservative community’s enrichment. They should be supplements, pointing readers in the right direction and presenting the issues that should be being discussed. They should not be sole sources of information. Nor should any single news outlet or pundit. I may agree with Fox and Wall Street Journal op-ed’s, but I do not lull myself into thinking they are the only opinions or view points out there. There are a myriad of differing opinions. Daily Kos will have a far different point of view of Republican opposition of the stimulus package than will Hot Air.

Because I believe that Daily Kos is wrong, whether intentionally or not, is irrelevant. It’s the information that I am interested in. It’s understanding why this opinion exists. These things don’t materialize out of thin air, after all. There is a reason. If you can understand as many viewpoints as possible you can gain a better understanding of why you hold the one that you do. Your motivation for doing so can be as varied as the sources you read. Whether its ammunition for argument, curiosity, education, or for molding your own opinion, it really doesn’t matter. Personally, I check all of the above.

The reason I say this is very often on conservative blogs (and liberal), comments sections and posts are caught up in that new buzz word, ‘echo chambers’. Everyone is repeating what they heard someone else say. It serves very little for a group of people to simply be reassuring each other of their ‘rightness’. This phenomenon is called confirmation bias, and has been studied extensively. A person put into a room with other like minded people will leave that room with a far more hardened and extreme version of their original viewpoint, simply by hearing others with the same ideas. Confirmation bias is deadly to innovation and the enemy of original thought. Innovation and original thought, coincidentally, are several of the pillars of the conservative movement; and more necessary now in the wake of dual election losses than ever before.

Knowledge is power, a trite saying maybe, but nonetheless true. And the key to knowledge is information coupled with thought.

So, I challenge conservatives everywhere to begin reading Al Jazeera. Many of you will cringe at the thought. An Islamic news website? Yes. The viewpoints and bias will challenge you, maybe even anger you; but I guarantee that you will leave enlightened to the way we are viewed by billions. Read the Focus and Your Views sections to hear the voices of Muslims around the world, maybe even join the conversation. I’m not asking you to agree with any of it, I certainly don’t agree with most. My hope, however,  is that you leave with a more humanistic understanding of the issues that we face in the Middle East, and in doing so, we can advance the national dialogue into it’s next chapter.

For those that need more motivation, I leave you with this:
What are you, scared? Don’t be a baby about it, the link is right up there.

Matthew

From Pretend You Read The News

Stretching back into the election, the idea of ‘Wall Street’ has been flung around with little regard as to what is actually being referred to. Because of the depersonalized nature of an abstract concept such as “Wall Street”, it has become a convenient catch-all for our economic woes. Search op-eds and commentary sections of blogs, newspapers and other publications and you’ll find a plethora of like minded shouts all echoing their disgust with Wall Street CEO’s, greed, irresponsibility, corruption, and on and on. But what is this Wall Street, what is this glistening metaphoric cancer that so seemingly fed upon dreams of wealth and power, only to find itself killing the host? Maybe part of the problem is the way in which the question has been approached; everyone seems to refer to Wall Street as a thing. Maybe the question isn’t what is Wall Street, but who.

To begin with, further defining the ‘what’ sense might make it easier to reach who. The term Wall Street acts as the umbrella of the financial industry. Everything from the evil hedge funds and derivatives traders, to fund and capital management, down to your personal financial advisor with many in between. Often left out are the financial departments of virtually every company, listed on the stock exchange or not. (Yes hippies, even Apple) The term ‘Wall Street’ has become synonymous in its operational context with the term ‘The Man’. Both denote intangible single identities, an aura, a presence, a force that possesses its own will. Personifying an entire industry (or in The Man’s case, the government) makes a much bigger target for which to wag the finger and place blame. People crave an answer to ‘why’ during times such as this, its far easier to point at a concept such as Wall Street and say, “that’s why”. But whatever, this isn’t English class or philosophy. The point is this perception is twisted and biased, and personally, I believe that the personification of concepts and ideas has become the worst problem in American politics, but that’s for a different piece.

Wall Street, in its realest and basest sense, is just people. People who get up and go to work every morning, just like you. They’re your neighbor, your golfing buddy, your sister, your college roommate, hell, even you. It’s an important concept to grasp and understand. Deceivingly simple but easily overlooked in the stampede to explain Just. What. Happened. Behind the graph, the ticker, the rating; inside every Morningstar and Yahoo Finance analysis and beneath every earnings and performance report is a person or persons doing their job. To be sure, it is not the evil conspiracy to rob you and this nation blind that many seem to make it out to be. It simply so happens that these people’s job is to trade on the markets. Whether it be stocks, bonds, commodities, interest rates, derivatives of these or anything really. These markets and their products are not inherently dangerous as many persuade us to believe. Yes, they require steady trained hands to produce the desired positive results, but tell me a profession that doesn’t? From a lawyer to a welder, the same concepts of training, education and personal experience combine to produce their respective final products. An elegant defense of a defendant, or the strong skeleton of an automobile; or, in the Wall Street man or women’s case, the well diversified portfolio. To be certain, something went wrong in the financial markets, but that detours from my purpose here, and not only requires the next decade’s worth of economic research and publications, but far more expertise than I possess. Funny that in the middle of a swirling hurricane of economic factors, so many claim to know the exact direction the winds came from, even funnier that the winds come from different directions depending on your political sensibilities. We’ve only begun to understand the Great Depression in the last few decades, and our knowledge of the last small recession are just now coming into focus; how could we possibly fully understand a recession we’re currently in the middle of? But, I do know where something went wrong in the way that we describe the idea of financial markets, the idea of Wall Street.

You see, it’s very hard to demonize a person, especially when that person happens to look just like your neighbor. You know him, John down the street. His wife Ellen and him both work on ‘Wall Street’…in Chicago, Illinois at the CME. They met as financial analysts for an investment bank when they were younger; two kids now, they might even play with yours on the weekend. They throw a barbecue or two in the summers, even go to church sometimes. Good People. But wouldn’t you know, their insatiable greed and appetite for power has brought an entire world economy to its knees. Their evil plan backfired, or so pundits and politicians would have you believe. There are certainly people who’s greed and judgment are to blame and were wrong, but this isn’t about the Bernie Madoff’s of the world. Putting a face to misfortune, invoking the ‘us versus them’ mindset and sprinkling a bit of a post apocalyptic potential future is not only a great way to get elected, but its a great way to drum up support. A great way to get ratings, to push through policy and an even better way to get what all the preceding perpetrators really want, to be the loudest voice in the room.

That’s what this entire national blame game and lambasting of an industry is really about. The masses want to see blame, trials and punishment; and that’s just what they’ve been getting. Watching a bank CEO squirm in a seat while a Senator from such and such sub committee scolds him like a child makes for great entertainment. The gladiator matches of class warfare. Meanwhile, these show trials have given the proper atmosphere to pass through half assed and fully assed legislation with merely a wince from a public far too convinced that soup lines are in their future. With a Congress this inept, vindictive and selfish, a media only too happy to be their bull horn, and a public either too ignorant or too willing that they believe both, maybe a soup kitchen isn’t so improbable after all.

So next time you hear someone blast Wall Street for their evil and greed, ask them a simple question: By who do you mean Wall Street? Their answer’s impersonal vagueness might surprise you, and should concern you.

Matthew
Pretend You Read The News

From www.pretendyoureadthenews.com

The Top 10 Things I’ll Miss About Capitalism

Well, we’re all aware by now that Capitalism as we know it is coming to end. In these trying times I find it might be better to celebrate its life, than to dwell on its death. And in that, I think we can find at least some solace. So I present to you, as we enter into the era of the preamble of the death of the American Capitalist, the top ten things I will miss about Capitalism:

10. Working
Yes, working. Working in its worst form can be baseless, trite, and boring. But in its best forms it provides a sense of purpose, forward progress and a lasting effect on the world around you. In the traditional Protestant sense, hard work is the path towards a virtue worthy of God. The other sense is best summarized by 50 Cent, Lil Flip and Lloyd Banks- ‘Let’s get that money man’. In the new socialist order, I won’t have to work anymore. Someone else, probably some fat cat Wall Street elitist, will be paying my way. And that’s the way it should be, I’m entitled to a good living, after all. Either way, working stays at number ten; because I mean come on…its work.

9. Unbiased Media
Unbiased Media is up here at number nine cause its going to be difficult to miss what you’ve never experienced in the first place. With the rise of liberal ideology working hand in hand with the government, it will become more difficult to see the dividing line between the two. Lack of accountability and transparency will increase as both entities begin to see they’re on the same ‘team’. It’s quite easy to see this in practice already, as most media outlets now take the White House’s Press Releases and essentially disseminate it accordingly, with little care for investigation. See: Daschle, Geithner, Killefer, Richardson (people who would have been publicly crucified…had they been evil Republicans)

8. Educational Potential Limited Only By My Drive To Succeed
I hold no illusions about my blessings, however I also recognize that ultimately education is a direct product of one’s drive and effort to learn. It’s a real shame drive and effort will become synonyms for greed and arrogance. It has already become a staple of the educational system here in America, judging students’ performance by the lowest common denominator. In an effort to further academic achievement in the fairest and most socially acceptable way, this common denominator will gradually fall and fall… and fall. In the name of equality and democracy our educational system will become a populace of dunces, with exceptional being held back as to not hurt another student’s feelings. (See C.S. Lewis’ The Abolition Of Man, short summary here)

7.The Stock Market
As we all know, the financial instruments of the banking and corporate systems are the root of all evil in this country. Unchecked greed and manipulation are the natural course of this system. So, in an effort to stabilize the economy, financial trading of any kind will cease. After all, who’s going to need a futures contract* when the government sets the price of everything anyway? I feel safer already.

6. Canada/France/Russia Jokes
I almost placed this higher in the list, because I’m really going to miss being able to just say ‘Canada’ and someone laughs. Same goes with the French and Russian jokes. They are practically endless. Why will they no longer be endless? Because for a comparative joke to be funny, there need to be amusing differences between the two parties. i.e.: ‘John is lazier than France’. Its funny because there’s irony in the fact that, while John is certainly lazy, its doubtful he is lazier than a Frenchmen. Well, say adieu to your frog jokes, because America will become increasingly similar to these three countries, proudly so in fact. And so eliminate some of your best comedic material.

5. Immediate Emergency Room Treatment
This seems important, and the only reason its not higher on the list is because you won’t really miss it…you know, until you really miss it. I’ve got a kidney stone moving through my ureter causing excruciating pain and my kidney feels like it might burst. Unfortunately, by mandate of the new health czar, I’ve been classified as an outpatient and might get a doctor’s appointment in a month. In addition, any treatment I get must be weighed by an expensive bureaucracy to determine if its economically viable; taking into account my age, overall health, life expectancy, nutrition and medical history. Only then might my doctor be allowed to give me CAT scan to find the little bugger and determine if ultrasound treatment is necessary.** Meanwhile, a guy across the waiting room who got impaled on a road divider while riding his bike is rushed into the ER after waiting for 4 hours. Lucky bastard. See: England

4. Consuming What I Want
With the institution of socialized medicine (see number 5) consuming whatever I want will become increasingly more difficult. You see, the State will do whatever it can to limit the costs associated with taking on the massive burden of the health care and insurance industry. One of those programs would undoubtedly be a nutrition program designed to promote a healthier population, aimed at decreasing costs through preventative care. Oh, and it would have to be mandatory. A burger twice in one week? I’m sorry, but you’ve already met your trans fat limit for the week; why don’t you try a whole wheat based meal? You’ve yet to meet your fiber quota for the past 3 weeks and the NNAPCA (National Nutritional and Preventative Care Admin) will be notified if this continues. Oh, hold on guys, I’ll be right back; I think my ABAC (Alcoholic Beverage Allowance Card) just got refilled.

3.Incentive
We could also call this one Motivation, but either way, I’ll miss both. With the government telling me most of what I’m supposed to be doing and erecting red tape around the other half I’m free to do, I’ll find myself very discouraged to do much of anything. Putting in more effort at work (Wait, I’m working? Psh, chump.) is only going to get me promoted and a raise, which places me in a higher tax bracket, and with the new extremely progressive taxes (is that graphical representation of the tax system…exponential!?***) I might even achieve a lower real wage. Start my own business? Forget about it, have you seen how much business licenses and permits cost now? When the states began seeing budget deficits from declining tax revenue *coughLafferCurvecough*, they needed a way to raise more. Its too much work, too expensive, not worth it, I earn more by being unemployed thank you very much.

2.Freedom
Oh, he went there. Yes I did. The fundamental problem with socialism that many fail to see is that it is an infringement on the rights of citizens by the government, with the support of other citizens. Class warfare through legislation is no different in principle than outright theft. In addition, the enforcement of many social programs entails huge pushes into personal privacy with the ultimate (and stated) goal of taking away your right to decision. Capitalism and self determination are of the same body, if one dies, the other quickly follows suit. The idea that someone knows how to live your life better than you is preposterous on face value, but that is the blatant attempt of Socialism.

1. The United States of America
It is ironic coincidence that the year 1776 saw not only the birth of a new nation, but also a revolutionary publication that would epitomize the driving economic force behind the growth of that nation, Adam Smith’s The Wealth Of Nations. The ideas of the free market, meritocracy and free trade were extraordinary and revolutionary. They would drive innovation, the key in the driving cogs of the American economy, for the next 200+ years. Together they would form the lighthouse that is America today. It’s disappointing then, that we would throw away the ideas of success, and replace them with ideas proved time and again, destined for failure. Worse still, capitalism has become connotated with evil, with insatiable greed and selfishness. What then does that say of the system that intentionally places the ‘have nots’ against the demonized ‘haves’. How are greed and selfishness absent in a system voted in by a populace who wishes to see the successful torn down and themselves built up with their remains? If we are going to personify economic systems with deadly sins, would Socialism not be driven by envy, sloth and arrogance?

*Fun fact: If you’ve ever purchased a home, and taken the offer to lock in your interest rate instead of risk taking the market rate in 45 days, you are a derivatives (forward specifically) trader. Congratulations, capitalist pig.

**Yes, I’ve had a kidney stone.

***Math joke. In come circles also called a ‘nerd joke’. Whatever, I don’t have to impress you.