Literally none of that is true! This is the key, the linchpin, the Mother Stupid Idea, the Stupid (Classical Liberal) Idea of the Last Quarter-Millennium!
Wealth derives from natural resources and technological development of those resources. Capitalism, democracy, social democracy, liberalism, for the most part, have somewhere between “not bloody much” and “diddly” to do with it.
The great powers have gained wealth largely through military coercion and territory grabs, full stop. They could call themselves whatever they wanted, but controlling the land and developing the technology has been key.
I’m going to pretend for a moment that you’re talking about something in real human history, although I can tell that’s giving you a hundred times more credit than you deserve.
The recessions of the post-Great Society era have had nothing to do with the welfare state. They mostly have been a function of natural resource costs.
The Long Boom of the postwar period relied on cheap fossil fuels. At some point the old-fashioned wells pumping domestic petroleum couldn’t support any more increased consumption, and the economy had to correct. Booms don’t last forever; at some point growth has to stop, in a world of limited resources.
The 1970’s had some pretty bad price shocks, as the USA became a net oil importer (entirely because we were using so *incredibly much *petroleum that our demand went beyond the ability of our own *unusually vast *reserves to supply) and we had a drought year or two early in the decade. None of this is really LBJ’s fault.
Droughts were a problem for central North America already. With increased atmospheric CO[sub]2[/sub] and the greenhouse effect, they’ve become more common. And this is again due to massive fossil fuel consumption.
Absent a massive switch to renewable energy, starting ten years ago, our economy has to–rather, had to–collapse. It’s already going down. It will probably go down further. And the only hope on earth pro-growth capitalists have is new, more sustainable energy technology. And the jerks in power, who are gerrymandered in, probably until the mid-2020’s, keep getting in the way of that for some reason.
The GOP has made the bed for all mankind, and shat in it. Now they’re rolling around in the dungpile, and cursing anyone who says it needs cleaned up. If we don’t both kick them out and clean up their mess, we are really screwed.
That a senator doesn’t understand, or who purposely ignores, the concept of supersedence, is pretty frightening. Even more so that his lawyer does the same. Then there’s the fundamental flaw of believing you have such privilege that you can engage in dangerous activity without accountability. Even if he somehow won this case, there is no way he sees another term.
Adaher, feel free to take this to GD, instead of trying to run your Gish Gallop through this thread, where it doesn’t really belong. But when you come back, bring data, not empty and vague myths.
Something I’ve wondered more than once: has anyone ever seen adaher and ELIZA together? Both seem to be entities that select from a short list of canned responses when presented with a stimulus.
And then Clippy pops up and says “I see you are trying to understand the thought processes of a constipated conservative moron-bot. Would you like some help with that?”
NPR interviewed Huckabee this afternoon. They totally soft balled him on the whole Beyonce thing. No mention of Huck jammin’ with Nuge and Ted’s ephebophile lyrics at all.
Sandy Rios, a Fox News contributor and member of The American Family Association, claimed on her radio show that Obama used subliminal Islamic messages in his State Of The Union address:
I’m completely convinced that half these people don’t believe for one second the BS they’re selling. It’s pandering for votes and dollars to morons who buy into this shit.
I’m seriously considering starting a website to feed these assholes their daily hate and I’ll never have to work again.
