The problem which our civilized world is facing cannot be about money: Americans and Europeans were affluent and, with only modest restraints, would still be comfortable and secure. The problem we face cannot come from some wicked military enemy: Desert Storm proved that our armed forces are incomparably more powerful than any rival, and our troops each day in Afghanistan are winning battles easily.
The scary cliffs we see today -- and our world is full of cliffs -- is that too many people blessed to be born into the wealth and protection of the Western World have stopped believing that they are blessed at all; they have stopped believing in loving God or in ordered liberty or even in such simple moral rules as "don't eat your children's seed corn." Our only hope, if we have any hope in the world today, is to forget about goodies and to embrace first goodness.
Is this simplistic? Yes, and it says much that we view simplicity with jaded eyes -- even when it's profoundly true.
"For those who stubbornly seek freedom, there can be no more urgent task than to come to understand the mechanisms and practices of indoctrination. These are easy to perceive in the totalitarian societies, much less so in the system of 'brainwashing under freedom' to which we are subjected and which all too often we serve as willing or unwitting instruments."
-- Noam Chomsky
Why Boehner Lost the Fiscal Cliff Battle
House Speaker John Boehner was dealt a lousy hand in the fiscal cliff negotiations; it’s also fair to say he played that bad hand badly. Very badly.
Both sides came to the negotiations with a goal: Democrats wanted to raise taxes, Republicans wanted to cut government spending. If a deal is cut, Democrats will get their tax hikes and the only thing Republicans will get is the blame.
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