tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952627.post7374130007486266338..comments2023-10-26T04:34:36.303-07:00Comments on Middle Earth Journal: Slimeing HagelRon Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04442030471061531104noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952627.post-73772088571251065562012-12-27T04:02:18.262-08:002012-12-27T04:02:18.262-08:00I so want to climb on a soapbox and preach a fire ...I so want to climb on a soapbox and preach a fire and brimstone sermon whupping up on Conservatives for being so pig-headed. Unfortunately I'm a three-time old-guy blog-looser reduced to Facebook, Twitter and assorted comments threads. <br />*sigh*<br />So here are three more links this morning that get my Liberal blood flowing. I never expected to get excited over anything in the American Conservative, but stranger things have happened. <br /><br />►http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/revenge-of-the-reality-based-community/<br /><br />►http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/bruce-bartlett-is-a-mensch/<br /><br />►http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/books/28conserv.html?_r=0<br /><br />►http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/a-conservative-case-for-the-welfare-state/?ref=economy<br /><br />This last link will warm the heart of any good Liberal. Bruce Bartlet (remember Reagan's chief economist, dean of American Conservative economists?) writes this...<br /><br /><i>Thus Republicans are now using the fiscal impasse to try to raise the age for Medicare and reduce Social Security benefits by changing the index used to adjust them for inflation. They know that such programs will be easier to abolish in the future if the number of people who qualify can be reduced and benefits are cut so that privatization becomes more attractive.<br /><br />This is foolish and reactionary. Moreover, there are sound reasons why a conservative would support a welfare state. Historically, it has been conservatives like the 19th century chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck, who established the welfare state in Europe. They did so because masses of poor people create social instability and become breeding grounds for radical movements.</i><br /><br />Whether Hagel sinks or swims, a rotting malignancy that has infected the Grand Old Party is clearly on the horizon. We will know after the 2014 mid-terms if it has metastasized or forced into remission.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11858939352263715787noreply@blogger.com