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Founded By Geniuses And Run By Idiots
Originally posted at Monty Pelerin's World blog,
H. L. Mencken correctly observed:
Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man. There has never been a really good one, and even those that are most tolerable are arbitrary, cruel, grasping and unintelligent.
Mencken also was prescient:
As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
But this is not about Mr. Mencken. Rather it is about some unknown individual who committed the following to the email world:
Food for thought…
- If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for being in the country illegally … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
- If you have to get your parents’ permission to go on a field trip or take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
- If the only school curriculum allowed to explain how we got here is evolution, but the government stops a $15 million construction project to keep a rare spider from evolving to extinction … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
- If you have to show identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor, or check out a library book, but not to vote who runs the government … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
- If the government wants to ban stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines with more than ten rounds, but gives 20 F-16 fighter jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
- If, in the largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not a 24-ounce soda because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
- If an 80-year-old woman can be stripped searched by the TSA but a woman in a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
- If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
- If a seven year old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teacher “cute,” but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
- If children are forcibly removed from parents who discipline them with spankings while children of addicts are left in filth and drug infested “homes”… you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
- If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government intrusion, while not working is rewarded with EBT cards, WIC checks, Medicaid, subsidized housing, and free cell phones … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
- If the government’s plan for getting people back to work is to incentivize NOT working with 99 weeks of Unemployment checks and no requirement to prove they applied but can’t find work … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
- If you pay your mortgage faithfully, denying yourself the newest big screen TV while your neighbor buys iPhones, TV’s and new cars, and the government forgives his debt when he defaults on his mortgage … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
- If being stripped of the ability to defend yourself makes you more “safe” according to the government … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
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Nah, read the constitution some time, they left it full of loopholes for exactly what we have today. That is afterall, what the federalist papers were all about, a few of them saw what was comming down the road... others were working to get to where we are. I recomend reading both (fed & anti-fed) papers sometime.
You're trying to compare the contents and foresight (or lack of it) of the constitution written 226 years ago with what has transpired since. A common error. Try comparing apples with apples.
Is it not possible that the founding fathers did their best at the time and events since then - perpetrated by many successive governments - simply amount to the many ways that the political elites have found over the years to by-pass or wriggle around it?
Absent any material evidence to support your claim, you have to accept this possibility, else it is just an opinion.
FWIW: I believe the constitution would benefit from updating with modern day lexicon (without weakening it) but the only thing missing IMHO was an effective mechanism of oversight to prevent abuse/violation. This paved the way for the step-by-step trampling over the years. But there again, the founding fathers possibly assumed that the American people would never tolerate ANY violation and would take up arms to defend it. The evidence since then says they will not. Who's fault is that?
smacker, I agree with you on this, and would like to point you to the XVII amendment of 1913 - which imho completely changed the political structure of the US away from the original constitution
interestingly the first Tea Party requests contained comments in this direction
I put it to you that Iceland currently has a good government.
I beg to differ: Iceland has a good citizenship that went on the street to prevent the government's bailout of the banks is more exact, imho
I'd take idiots over satan worshippers every day of the week.
Do they really give people free cell phones now?
I've heard / seen this comment a few times recently, but never heard anything on the news about it.
It must be a joke, right?
Really? You somehow managed to miss the Obamaphone lady clip that was all over the news a week or two before election day?
I guess I should be ashamed to say I did miss it! Now I'll have to google it.
Yeah; it is a 2 Billion dollar ayear program run by the Dept of Agriculture. Like Food Stamps (mostly used for liquor, pot, and naked women) they just can't be left out in the rain with no way to communicate.
Thanks, I could have just googled it, but that isn't nearly as much fun as the responses here.
But I thought the govt was under a CR and couldn't start any new programs? So how did they get $2B in new spending auth under a CR?
And where did the $ come from to buy all the ammo they reportedly have been buying recently? I thought spending was frozen under the CR to the same level as last year. I guess laws don't mean anything anymore.
"I guess laws don't mean anything anymore"
Dependent on who you are.
Every moron with a cell phone plan pays for it, it's one of those add on taxes. Government don't have no money to give away they didn't take from you first.
Obama is definitely worse than an idiot, Full leftist retard!
You never go full leftist retard...everyone knows that.
Liberals have only a half of an idiot brain.
Conservatives have the other half.
Appreciate your disgruntled sentiment, but he is neither left, nor retarded. If anything, he's more like the Manchurian Candidate. His job is to placate the poor masses with confetti/fiat money, while the Elite are robbing the place blind with the transfer of wealth by acquiring real assets. The world over.
Or, if you prefer, he's like any good Vegas magician: A little distraction here, real action there! Got it?
www.snopes.com/politics/obama/lawlicenses.asp
Nice. A redneck post. We don't get many of those.
Bring on the domestic suicide pyromancers!!!!
Run by idiots? Try ice cold assassins.
http://www.amazon.com/Legacy-Gearge-Walker-Herbert-Kennedy/dp/B002Q79WMM...
Holy shit! Please forgive my French.
In a "debate" with my statist coworker over my claimed correlation with high fructose corn syrup and obesity which I also backed with data his responses ultimately devolved to this below response. I immediately stopped right there for threat over my life and of being "turned" in by this particular sociopath.
*******
You are in your own "logic" bubble. You say I only see what I want to see, but I can same the same thing about you. When did you come to these realizations in your life? Statements like, "You see a world which has provided you with blindfolds as it moves you ever closer to the edge of a cliff and you only choose to put the blindfold on." are conspiracy laden. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conspiracy_theories Do you really believe kids today are more physically active than you were? My personal experience is that kids today are less active by relative comparison to my generation. It doesn't take a study to see that in real life. How many kids do you see playing on the street in neighborhoods now? Is that the same as a kid being "active" playing a video game? Of course not. I have many friends who are teachers and they have all said that physical education has been cut drastically compared to when I was in junior high or high school. Can kids make that up somewhere else, maybe, but probably only the more wealthy kids. Not the poorer families who've relied more heavily on school sponsored programs. Same is true for parks and recreation programs in cities. BTW, Yin and Yang is not about good vs bad. It's about two sides that are interdependent. Which is why I say it's about two sides of the same coin.That, will always mean there is a grey line between these two states of being. Using the coin as a metaphor, the grey area would be the edge of the coin. It's about striving for balance in life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivalism Many of your "theories" are survivalist in nature. I wonder what recent experiences in your life brought that about for you. You definitely were not of that mindset when I first met you. I hate to say this, but you've reach the level of being paranoid. Why are you so worried about all this stuff that you believe is happening behind the scenes in our society? What is your goal with spending so much time and energy mired in all this "data" as you call it? You don't seem to get joy out of it. What are you searching for? Why do you always seem to have a need to take a contrarian view? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrarian Your behavior worries me. I considered myself a friend to you, but I'm not so sure now. I get the feeling that you no longer consider me a friend. I can accept that if that is what you want, but I don't understand it. Let's just agree to disagree on these matters.You've committed thought-crime. Please turn yourself in so that you may be vaporized.
Precisely, it often won't be the guys in blue costumes (police) who get you but instead it's all those who are around you in the "public."
“The real hopeless victims of mental illness are to be found among those who appear to be most normal. Many of them are normal because they are so well adjusted to our mode of existence, because their human voice has been silenced so early in their lives that they do not even struggle or suffer or develop symptoms as the neurotic does. They are normal not in what may be called the absolute sense of the word; they are normal only in relation to a profoundly abnormal society. Their perfect adjustment to that abnormal society is a measure of their mental sickness. These millions of abnormally normal people, living without fuss in a society to which, if they were fully human beings, they ought not to be adjusted.”
– Aldous Huxley – Brave New World Revisited
i warned my kids years ago that what i was teaching them might result in serious jail time in their future. my daughter is begining to get it. my son will probably live it.
i don't bring my thoughts out of the house except to torment my asshole brother in law. it is too much trouble for too little gain. i am devoting all my effort to convincing my wife and son(my daughter is leaving as soon as she can) to leave the country because we don't have a dog in this fight. i need this thing to hang on for a coupla more years before the shtf. i think i am cutting it real close. since my concern first arose in the mid nineties i can see the curve turning vertical.
Pray tell, where will you go? If America falls, what do you think will happen to the order of the world? Europe? Good luck. Africa? HAHA! Asia? I bet Japan and South Korea will be redoubts of liberty. Australia? I'm sure the largest land mass in the pacific ocean will be outside of China's sphere of influence.
The best place you can be is in the U.S. Just stay the hell away from any large cities. That oven is going to clean itself; in the aftermath, we'll be charged with founding the Second American Republic.
i have to take the lead of some of the wealthiest people on earth. jim rogers has a point when he say to go to a place with the least need for modern conveniences. i am looking in the southern hemisphere, latin america, south pacific, and asia.
the usa will be a post apocalypse nightmare on the mainland, 10 times worse than post katrina. i'm in rural hawaii now. we have plenty of water and farmland but inadequate food stock. the people are much more civilized. that will help tremendously if we are caught here. it will take 6 months to grow the crops necessary to feed everyone. ...gold will be worth it's weight in anything.
The farming country of the US will probably be the absolute safest place in the world. Assuming, of course, that the government's ability to project force completely collapses.
I live in a small town that has lots of retired military (young and old), local farming, etc. I'm staking my flag. Good luck.
"If America falls, what do you think will happen to the order of the world? Europe? Good luck..."
interesting assumption. why? did the Old World somehow not function before 1492 (and 1913)?
The End Of The World As You Know It - a concept that depends on what you know
and so on perspective
Europeans are by far some of the most violent people on the earth. They have enjoyed six decades of relative peace and harmony in large part because of the American military presence there.
What do you think happens when their happy, socialist paradise falls apart?
The Old World DID function, but not very well. That's why it is the old world.
Kinda Comes across as a bit smug, self centred drivel
Psychonormal syndrome. It's not in the DSM V.
@reTard
You've been counted, Thought Criminal #8407819
Write down this number and report to your Kommissar at the nearest railroad station.
Don't forget warm clothes and a shovel
/sarc
Sounds like your friend is still in the cave watching shadows.
Don't fret reTARD, you aren't the only one dealing with these situations. I've given up the "debates" with the statist co-workers. At times, it takes a lot of will power to bite my tongue and not interject when I hear them around me talking about what should be done to make this a better country (statist bs). Try to educate those around you whom matter in your life (family, friends); this too can be a burden, but you have to try with those you care about. I've finally got a few buddies checking ZH and my parents are finally listening to me more (since I look like a psychic predicting things to them that I learned from ZH and other places). I'm 31 years old, I'm finding out there are many others like myself out there keeping a low profile, for now. My EX-gf thought I was too "paranoid" as well, as she immersed herself in Real Housewives, shoes, and clothes. Its all perception management my friend; don't change what you are doing, but don;t waste your energy on those who don't deserve your time.
Agreed, brother! This time I got caught into the temptation. Keep seeking the truth. I know I'm continously being corrected and improved upon. I believe that in the end they will end up getting what they called for and I suppose deserved. Eventually there are consequences for their choices.
:)
Bingo! Sometimes I feel like I'm going to choke, I want to say something so badly. But I don't. I do my best with friends and family, gently mostly, because my family, at least, already thinks I'm nuts since I don't live near a mall. I'll spend time talking to the ones that want to listen, and a couple are starting to "get it." To everyone else in the world, I blend in. I view it as a safety precaution.
I guess I watched "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" one too many times as a kid.
Try this:
Should the debates occur and you be specifically asked your opinion simply state, then let them do the talking:
"I believe in freedom, the more freedom, the better."
Simple, easy to follow, easy to like, easy for others to get on the bandwagon.
Re: above on energy wasting--- energy is never really wasted. It's simply used up in a process whose outcome is not what you want.
--What was it you wanted again?
Cometh the Lamb, cometh the Slaughter.
Baaaa!
<<The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. ... God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion; what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms." -- Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787
Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined." -- Patrick Henry, Virginia's Ratification convention, 1788
"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." -- Samuel Adams
"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." -- Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800. Inscribed in the Jefferson Memorial.
"The right to revolt has sources deep in our history." -- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
Whenever the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience." -- John Locke, 1690>>
A collection of quotatons from an old article that I liked and filed.
http://www.examiner.com/article/the-blood-of-patriots-and-tyrants
Since we are all up in quotes today, those give me much thought. But then, I haven't been "normal" since I woke up at the beginning of this century.
I share, proudly, Jefferson's 'eternal hostility'. But I remind my close friends that it isn't Renfield they have to fear. It is Mme Defarge.
When you began to speak with this person on this topic, what was your goal?
Did you want to convert that person to your line of thinking?
Did you want that person's approval of your thoughts?
Why and to what end?
You don't always have to "Make a sale" for your particular side of an argument---let the other person find their way.
The gov't doesn't really need to monitor every aspect of our communication illegally because with a honeypot like social networking, users willingly give up minute and real-time details about their lives and the network of people they associate with, all due to people's innate narcissim and approval seeking.
Sometime's it's better to smile, listen and let other people do the talking. Once they have conveyed their thoughts, ask them a question about it, once they have responded, ask a second, deeper question. It's my been my general experience that people tend to regurgitate ideas and buzzwords they've heard from TV or talk radio. If you dig two questions deep into the details you will generally arrive at a "I haven't thought about that" or "I'm not really sure," or you'll find the person uses circular logic / reasoning at which point you should realize that talking further is a waste of time. Leaving people with unanswered questions may leave them with a dissonance, and may make the person go and find out more info on their own to clear that mental conflict.
Remember that no one listens anymore, yet everyone is seeking validation.
Be the listener.
.
nice
Your morality is arguing with his morality and those moralities define what each of you consider as an approved way for survival. It seems to me that your beliefs were a greater threat to him than fructose and obesity.
You are right to be cautious, most evil doings are justified using morality.
are you seriously insinuating that the founding fathers were some kind of geniuses?
You cant tell a teapartier when you see one?
Executive Branch = Ideological idiots
Judicial Branch = Well read idiots
Legislative Branch = Bought idiots
Then add...
Monetary Branch = Well-hung idiots (got brass balls and out to screw everyone, but should be 'hanging' themselves)
Entertainment & Propaganda Branch = Convincing idiots
Educational Branch = Well-meaning idiots
... = Tree Trunk
... = Root of all Evil
WoW, that is us in the Netherlands !
I think calling the political elites who create these shambles "idiots" is unfair to all self-respecting idiots.
Try "evil slimeballs".
If you believe that the same licensing laws for the hunting of bears and catching fish should be applied to human beings ...you ARE an idiot.
If you believe that abortions have any similarities with school trips...you ARE an idiot.
If you think kids should be taught that they are born with original sin and should spend their lives in religious shame and psychological distress as a consequence...you ARE an philistine idiot. (speaking as a recovering catholic)
If you think that asking everyone for ID because black people dont have them is going to improve the chances of republicans.... you ARE an idiot (and a rascal).
If you think using the diabolical state of the international arms trade is an excuse to let domestic manic depressives run wild with assault weapons...you ARE an idiot.
If you think having absolutely no policy response to obesity (other than “FREEDOM!” policy) is a good idea...you ARE an idiot.
If you think a seven year old boy being thrown out of school for calling his teacher cute, excuses your of hate fags...you ARE an idiot.
If you believe that ETB cards are a reward for being broke...you ARE an idiot.
If you believe that the fear of starving to death and losing everything would not linger in the mind for 99 weeks.... you ARE an idiot.
If you think that there is any economic benefit from having people permanently blacklisted for life in a consumer economy..you ARE an idiot!
Look, you're an idiot, your daddy is an idiot, your mom is an idiot, you came from a long line of idiots who are now either dead or dying. So for once in your life, stop letting idiots fill you full of shit.
A Kool-aid drinker that would make Jim Jones proud.
Umm, that’s some elaborate Kool-aid.
How much does the license to hunt human beings cost?
Fucked if i know; ask James Bond.
Fucking cunt.
"If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for being in the country illegally … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots."
Why is the immigration issue number one on this list? Anyone who believes that undocumented workers are a net negative to the nation is not being honest with themselves. And besides....Mexicans aren't going nowheres ese. And who don't like it?! Brock Lesner knows what's up. :-)
Like most Keynesians, you not counting all the beans (no pun intended). You also have to count all the "naturally born" illegal immigrants who become the means by which their parents siphon cash from the treasury.
The treasury has cash in it?
Meh. Some crappy old-man right wing talking points. How about,
1. If you live in a country where the Congress has to declare war, but the President can slaughter tens of thousands and spend trillions on wars without Congressional approval, you might live in a country founded by geniuses and run by idiots.
2. If you live in a country where unconditional support for a thuggish, fascist government of Israel is a result of a large percentage of citizens believing that Man In Sky will come down and prevent them from dying, sweeping them into heaven instead, if we support the Israeli government, you might live in a country founded by geniuses and run by idiots.
3. If you live in a country where you can get arrested for growing and ingesting a plant, you might live in a country founded by geniuses and run by idiots.
You get the point.
You get the point.
Yeah, but it'd be great if you kept going!
One more example of the revolving door:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/27/us-goldman-overton-idUSBRE91Q15R20130227?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FbusinessNews+%28Business+News%29
Reuters) - Citigroup Inc (C.N) lobbyist Amy Overton is leaving the bank for Wall Street rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS.N)
Overton, 43, will handle a broad range of issues for Goldman, a spokesman for Goldman said.
Overton spent less than two years at Citigroup, and previously worked as counsel to Senator Tom Carper, a Democrat of Delaware, during negotiations for the Dodd-Frank Act.
...
Overton also worked at Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) for seven years leading into the financial crisis, leaving as chief of staff for its government and industry relations department in 2008.
With Overton's joining, Goldman's D.C. office is now evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, with four of each.
Hahahahahahaaha. Brilliant! Here’s another funny blunder.
Donna Brazille Tweets: Why Did My Health Care Premiums Go Up?
"Fuck you 0-Cultists!"
That's some funny ass shit right there.....
The cult of Obama, they really are that stupid
And 'truthinsunshine's' earlier comment is worth re-posting:
-Alexis de Tocqueville
Idiots are ruining the Republic founded by geniuses: those who committed their mind, body, soul and material goods to a great ideal: the Constitution, and Declaration of Independence.
We are locked in the trunk and they are at the wheel.....
Who is the idiot?
"That's why I'm richer than you are" - Jamie Dimon
[sigh]... The peasants are at each other's throat, while the Ruling Elite laugh & plunder. /But don't let me stop you... keep slugging. /sarc
Idiots are not running the country; it's opportunists. Everybody has a price, and politicians are no different than the average businessman looking for the best deal.
Inspirational English Teacher Canceled Out By Every Other Teacher At School http://onion.com/13kLxlF via @TheOnion
OK, a couple of mildly clever points, but all credability was lost after number 3.
"If the only school curriculum allowed to explain how we got here is evolution, but the government stops a $15 million construction project to keep a rare spider from evolving to extinction … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots."
Yes well, if you think adding to or replacing that curriculum with the notion that there is some magic guy in the sky that grants wishes if you speak to him with ESP, and you can't grasp that the only reason you believe this particular fairy tale instead of one of the others is because of the random geography of your birth, then you are part of the reason the country is populated by AND run by idiots.
(and if you think you can make salient and powerful socio-political commentaries in a Jeff Foxworthy format, you are not smarter than a 5th grader)
You mean there is no magic guy in the sky that grants wishes?
Darn
simulation hypothesis if you prefer
In all of history, no government became more honest, less corrupt, or granted its citizens more rights as it grew in size. E.L. 2011
If you have a government that wants to put armed spy drones above you after an "axis of evil" country has already hacked and taken control of one … you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
Excellent post. Thx.