Things I’m Supposed To Love, But Can’t Stand: Ideological Excess

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Don’t get me wrong.  I have nothing against being wealthy.  In fact, all I really want is the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.

But maybe it’s because I grew up one generation removed from the Dust Bowl in a place where wealth was something people kinda kept to themselves.  Perhaps it’s all the baggage of my obsessively-modest Scandinavian anscestory.  It might be that family life on a single middle-class income doesn’t allow for much in the way of excess.

But I’ve never much cared for conspicuous consumption.  And I suspect that even if Premiere Radio hired me to replace Limbaugh in 2016 (which would be a swell idea, if any Premiere execs are reading this!), I wouldn’t change a whole lot.

And by the opposite token, while I do like the environment (especially on weekends like thsi past one in the Twin Cities), the environmental movement is pretty much out of control in this country; the Global Warming scam is only the latest of the con games they’ve played to try to wrest control of society from  the democratic process (for a detailed chronology of the various scams, just look up Paul Ehrlich’s bibliography).   I believe mankind would have to work very hard indeed to destroy the environment.

But that doesn’t mean he should try.

In recent years, conservatives have found some wry ways to stick fingers in the eyes of their liberal nemeses.  I participate (enthusiastically) in things like National Ammo Day, the Tea Parties, and of course Talk Radio (which proves every day that liberals only care about the First Amendment when it comes to saying naughty things and waving ones’ privates in public).

And so I get the spirit behind things like “Carbon Belch Day“, and groups like “Minnesotans For Global Warming” – with a nudge and a wink.

But I get the impression that there are more than a few conservatives who miss the “nudge and a wink” bit.

Look – wealth is good.  Indeed, in the long run wealth, spread over the world, is the only thing mankind can do that will positively affect the environment.  Remember forty years ago, when the same crowd of people who are ramming “Global Warming” down everyone’s throat were doing the same thing with “overpopulation”  (I do.  It gave me nightmares when I was seven years old), and demanded the same sort of response (global government action)?  And yet the only thing that actually slows population growth is prosperity; when people don’t need to have kids to ensure their own survival, they have fewer of them.  Likewise – even if we assume that mankind does have an effect on global temperature, it is only generalized prosperity that will prompt the parts of the world that are doing the actual polluting (China and India) to worry more about smog and less about feeding their populations.

Still – and I’m going to take a moment to enforce my theocratic constructs on you – God does ask us all to be good stewards of His creation.  When you’re out hunting, not only should one not slaughter wantonly (state fish and game rules notwithstanding), but one should dispose of their beer cans and jerky wrappers properly.  Likewise, just because one can wreck something, doesn’t mean one should wreck something (a lesson that’s hard to get across to teenagers, but should be quite this hard for adults).

I talked with one “conservative” a few years ago who said it was every conservative’s duty to buy a Hummer, keep their homes at a constant 68 degrees, and create as much trash as possible.

I demurred – not so much because any of them “cause global warming” as…:

It’s expensive as hell, and when it comes to money, I put the “Conserve” into “Conservative”; Hummers are a lot of money that I’d much rather spend on other things. I don’t even have AC; at any rate,the free market has a way of moderating this sort of behavior, at least for me; it’s expensive as hell.

And excuse me but, um, why?  I mean, if spending money and time for the hell of it brings you joy, then knock yourself out, I guess, but I never quite got it.  I’m not going to tell you not  to do it, but it really has less to do with politics than with finding a high-sounding justification for “gluttony”, in the “seven deadly sins” sense of the term.  And naturally, since we have free will, you have every right to be a glutton.  Just tread carefully when trying to ennoble it with some higher purpose it doesn’t deserve.

After 9/11, as the US got ready to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq,the left launched any number of deeply stupid symbolic protests; “Naked Unicyclists for Peace” and the like.  As if unicycling naked – by any definition more of a narcissistic attention-getting exercise than an actual political act of any use – was somehow raised to a form of high political purpose by tacking “…for Peace” onto the end of it.  In other words, it falsely ennobled narcissism and self-centeredness (with, usually, hilarious-yet-nauseating results).

So in all honesty, what makes gluttony-dressed-up-as-politics any better (other than “not having ageing ex-hippies riding unicycles in the nude, of course)?

82 thoughts on “Things I’m Supposed To Love, But Can’t Stand: Ideological Excess”

  2. So in all honesty, what makes gluttony-dressed-up-as-politics any better (other than “not having ageing ex-hippies riding unicycles in the nude, of course)?

    It’s more fun and it drives lefties nuts. But since living life solely for one’s own amusement eventually ends badly, you are quite right.

  3. It’s more fun and it drives lefties nuts.

    Right – and as I noted in my references to Ammo Day and the like, driving lefties nuts is fun and always a growth market.

    But since living life solely for one’s own amusement eventually ends badly, you are quite right.

    Here’s the part I love; you get them just as exercised defending the right to drive a Hummer, own a gun, or listen to Limbaugh as actually buying, shooting or listening.

    Which isn’t to say I’m not going shooting or turning on Limbaugh on those rare days I”m near a radio between 11 and 2…

  4. You mean to say that you actively support the Evil Talk Empire? I assumed you were contractually obligated to only listen to Salem hosts. I’m telling Ed.

  5. “But maybe it’s because I grew up one generation removed from the Dust Bowl in a place where wealth was something people kinda kept to themselves. ”

    Nah. It has nothing to do with that. It’s called “class.”

  6. ..liberals only care about the First Amendment when it comes to saying naughty things and waving ones’ privates in public

    First Amendment…funny you bring this up, Mitch.

    Anoka Flush has taken a moment away from lecturing everyone about the joys of caring about teh poor, teh starving, teh children and about how crummy conservatives only care about themselves to start a bleg to send him to Scranton to march around in a pretty uniform tooting his little horn.

    Now, of all this hypocrisy I’ve rubbed in his nose, the fact that he puts his little marching band junket ahead of teh poor, teh starving, teh children (he’s never solicited donations for any of those victims) has put him over the top and he is now deleting any mention of anything that reminds him of what a smarmy, insincere mongrel he’s turned into.

    More proof that liberalism is a progressively degenerative disease….wash thoroughly if you ever get any on you.

  7. Swiftee,

    Enh, I’ll cut Flash a break on this one. A guy gets to have, and support, a hobby. Even DFLers don’t… – OK, well, even Flash doesn’t sit and fulminate about politics all the time.

    There is plenty of hypocrisy out there – and you and I will have a ton of fun jumping all over it! But a guy gets to have some fun, too, right?

    And a DFLer that’s marching in a drum corps (and a very good one, I might add) is too busy to cook up ways to confiscate your property. That can only be a good thing, right?

  8. “he is now deleting any mention of anything ”

    ‘mitch’ taught me how to turn ones back on the 1st amendment when someone goes off topic and furthermore makes up shit and lies like a fucking dog. He said it was the first step in the conversion to Conservatism! That step being complete ingorance

  9. Well, ah, thanks Mitch, I didn’t see your comment before mine went up. Not that I am still not ticked off at such blatant two facedness by the Swiftless one..

    Anywho, my apologies.

    Oh, and as long as Tom brought it up, you too can help here:

    http://firstgiving.com/anokaflash

    Flash

  11. Whoah! Time out, fellas!

    First of all, since none of us is a government body, the “First Amendment” really doesn’t apply. We can all gas comments. I very rarely do a matter of principle, but hey.

    Not sure what the squabble is, here, and even less sure why I’m in the line of fire.

    I urge those that are so inclined to support Flash; the band is in fact very good.

    I also urge people to shine a light on genuine hypocrisy when they see it.  There’s plenty of it out there – from the left’s organized misogyny over Sarah Palin to their whinging about unallotment.  Flash’s appeal for help is not it.

  13. Jesus, Shiftee, the guy just wants to go along on the Band Trip. To frikken Scranton, for goodness sake. And you’re making it political and getting all in his face? You really are a psycho.

  14. God knows that I do not want to try to explain Swiftee to anyone, but the way I interpret his comment is that he thinks that it is hypocritical for someone to criticize others for what he or she sees as extravagance while they reserve the right to spend their own money on what others consider to be an extravagance.
    In other words, one man’s trip to Scranton is another man’s third car or lake cabin.

  16. Wow. This is so cool. I am “typing” this comment, by speaking into a touchscreen that pops down from the ceiling in the back seat of my Bentley.

    Hummers are for neanderthals.

    Don’t worry, I’m not driving. I have two guys up front doing that for me.

  17. “A guy gets to have, and support, a hobby..”

    Sorry Mitch, I’m not letting our token mongrel off the hook that easy.

    Flush and his resident chorus of witless jag offs have spent the last six years squirting tears about how T-Paw is killing children, putting Grandpa and Grandma out into the streets, throwing terminal cancer patients under the bus, taking rattles away from babies…blah, blah, blah.

    These scumbags go on ad nauseam about the necessity to “invest” in community…it’s always just a few millions of dollars short from perfect. And that millions of dollars needed to complete the “investment” is only possible when it comes from those stinking wealthy bastards that write the checks that buy the food that gives the mongrels enough energy to asshat dance another day.

    Devastation and misery anywhere a fiscal conservative casts a shadow, right?

    But right smack in the middle of all that horror, Flush, the little puke, has the frickin’ balls to solicit donations for a trip to Scranton…Scranton for God’s sake. And then he craps his pants when I quite correctly rub his hypocrisy all into his beady little eyes (with a vigorous circular motion, hitherto unknown but destined to take the place of the sand shark in your mythology), yet again.

    But of course a mongrel doesn’t have any morals or scruples, so off to Scranton he’ll go, then he’ll return, all tanned and rested, and pick up right where he left off.

    Hey Flush, enjoy your little trip to Scranton…..teh children would have died and Grandpa and Grandma are old and busted anyway, right?

    *LMAO @ you*

  18. Tom, if it wasn’t for people like you, the GOP would still be in power and control, for that, I thank you!

    Keep up the great work!

    Flash

  21. Look at the bright side, Flash isn’t applying for a guvmint grant. Does he have tax exempt status?

  23. Deducting da taxes is stealing food from right out teh childern mout’s.

    Why to leftist mongrels hate teh children?

  24. Mitch, why not let’s start us our own bleg. Let’s see how much we can raise to feed the hungry and cure the sick.

    I got $50.00 to kick in right here and now.

  25. “Things I’m Supposed to Love But Can’t Stand: Defending Rage-Addled Hillbilly Wingnut-Retards in my Comments Section”

  26. Well Swiftee, you can always give to the NEAR foodshelf, or Second Harvest. Then there’s the Salvation Army if you really want to tweak the lefties.

  29. For a minute I thought Tim in StP had written ‘blacks’ or ‘spics’ instead of ‘hillbilly wing nut-retards’ in his comment. My mistake.

  30. Tom, if it wasn’t for people like you, the GOP would still be in power and control, for that, I thank you!
    If Flash was a little more introspective he’d realize that Obama is doing the same thing that lost the Dems the House & Senate in ’94.

  31. Maybe Swiftee should just give Flash $30 instead of $50. That way Flash would be stuck in Ft. Wayne.

  32. What does your tax deductable donation to Anoka Flush’s hobby buy?

    • Instruments and Equipment
    • Uniforms for All Sections [teh sparkly kind, I bet!]
    • Instruction for All Members
    • Practice Facilities
    • Lodging and Transportation
    • Low Member Dues
    • Feeding the Corps at All-Day Camps
    • Truck & Trailer Maintenance
    • Great Drum Corps in Minnesota!

    Who picks up the tab from the revenue our state loses because selfish moonbats would rather finance Anoka Flush’s hobby than do their part for the community?

    Sharing and Caring Hands:

    Sharing and Caring Hands is a compassionate response to the needs of the poor.

    We are set up to be a safety net organization to help with whatever needs are not being met. This includes but is not limited to providing meals, clothing, showers, shelter, transportation help, rent deposits, rent help, medical assistance, dental care, furniture, school expenses, funeral assistance, and other miscellaneous needs.

  35. Shiftee suggested: “Mitch, why not let’s start us our own bleg.”

    So Shiftee can get his mom that Brazilian wax job she’s been begging for.

  36. “”# Terry Says:

    If Flash was a little more introspective he’d realize that Obama is doing the same thing that lost the Dems the House & Senate in ‘94.””

    Terry, you are exactly correct!”

    Don’t think I am all to happy about the current state we are in, but I do know two things. 8 years of the GOP played more of a role in putting us in this predicament then anything the Left did (read, I don’t hold the Left, but they can hardly be blamed when they didn’t control much of anything) AND more of the same wasn’t pointing to make things any better.

  37. Sure Flash. Six years of steady job growth topped off by two years of Democrat control of Congress. Keep trying to blame the GOP. That saw is getting duller by the day.

  38. Kerm, by the end of 2004 job growth was at a net -800,000, yes NEGATIVE 800,000 jobs. I hardly call that 6 years of steady job growth. And according to the Dept of Labor, Job numbers showed a steady decline all the way through the bush years with only modest blips but certainly not steady increases.

    This isn’t about blame, its about getting the country back on track. I’m not sure, doling out a bunch of relief/recovery money is the answer, which is Why I didn’t support Bush’s, nor Obama’s recovery acts. But we do know that years of bleeding the coffers dry with tax cuts to the richest and wealthiest only inflamed an already overpriced stock market and certainly didn’t help matters.

    Flash

  39. Say Flush?

    I’ll toss in $50.00 into your vacation fund if you stinking hypocrites promise to play “Cry me a river” while marching in the formation of teh “pen of despair” that Tim Pawlenty used to sign the unallotment documents.

    Think about if Flush…$50.00 buys a lot of sequins!

    Hahahahahahahahahaha!!1!

  40. ,em>But we do know that years of bleeding the coffers dry with tax cuts to the richest and wealthiest only inflamed an already overpriced stock market and certainly didn’t help matters.
    Flash, you are being thick headed.
    US Government receipts increased from 1.9 trillion in 2001 to 2.5 trillion in 2008.
    The first step to intelligent political discussion is not to blather talking points.

  41. Well I recall many months of steady growth over several years. Hundreds of thousands of jobs being added, month after month. The talking point at the time was “they’re all just burger-flipper and coffee shop jobs”.

  42. Terry, the Anoka Flash of 5 years ago would have responded to your olive branch with a thoughtful response. Today’s Flush is busy right now, diving deeper into the Soros’ little red book for juicer quotations from Chairman George.

    The most humane thing we can do now is to keep reminding Flush and his mongrel pack that we’re laughing *at* them, not with them.

  43. “The talking point at the time was “they’re all just burger-flipper and coffee shop jobs”. ”

    Right…those are the ones that are receiving 100’s of resumes for each opportunity under bammy’s new Hopey/Changey economy.

  44. From January 2001 – October 2004 there was a net loss of over 800,000 jobs. It was quite the campaign buzz that G W Bush became the first President since Herbert hoover to reside over a net job loss during his tenure, Remember?!? or chose to forget, but facts are still facts

    The bls.gov report ( http://www.bls.gov/ces/highlights092004.pdf ) showed some rebound in the Spring of ’04 before rates dropped below the 150,000 a month needed to sustain new employees entering the work place.

    Can’t Obama gett he same pass that you expected Bush to have his first term . . . didn;t think so!

    Like I keep saying, you pick the standard, but then apply it consistently to both sides, you can’t give one a pass while condemning the other.

    Flash

  45. What kind of Jeddi mind trick software does Learned Foot possess that allows him to post a comment nearly a week prior to this post being er, posted? Or is it more of a time travel thing?

  46. Flash, Obama has quadrupled the national debt. Unemployment is at 9.5% and climbing. Any comparison between now and 2004 is just a sad joke.

  47. Oh, and you owe $184,000. So does every member of your family. Good luck in 2010.

  48. Kerm, don’t bother.

    Flush is busy digging through Senator Scumbags playbook right now, trying to learn how to empty those “March of Dimes” jars at SuperAmerica…..minibars are just as expensive in Scranton as anywhere else, you know.

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