Cowboy Socialism

Open Thread: “Cowboy Socialism”:I prefer “welfare ranchers”, but that’s because as a citified coastal elitist I have no allergy to the word socialism. Excellent read — even if you know all this already, it’s nice to have all the links in one place. Ryan Cooper, at The Week, on “The secret history of cowboy socialism”:

… Bundy’s ideas are nonsense — but they’re no more wrong than the entire creation myth of the American West. Though there have been Americans who could survive completely unaided in the West — men like Kit Carson and Jim Bridger — there were only a handful of them, and most were at least half-crazed. No society on Earth has ever functioned wholly on self-interested individualism — and that holds doubly true for the West. From the very start to the present day, Big Government has been the very bedrock of the settlement of the American frontier.

Obama And The Crazies

Barack Obama strikes me as being rather intelligent. I wonder why it has taken him so long to notice the "crazies"?

Do you remember the Jeremiah Wright controversy I think this was the first time that Obama had the opportunity to confront the "crazies", but instead it seems that he "went down to the crossroads" and sold his "soul" in order to be elected president. I don't understand why the truth is controversial. In my opinion Jeremiah Wright was simply speaking the truth back in 2008. Even though I am not a fan of politics in the pulpit, we still have freedom of speech. I also think that discourse is extremely important, and that sometimes the most important things to listen to are those that you disagree with.

Back in 2008 Obama was "outraged" by what Wright had said and Obama resigned his membership in Wright's church. To me this was a bad sign for someone about to swear an oath to “...solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Now, I know that freedom of speech is a two-way street. You may have an opinion or thought about something, and my opinion may be completely the opposite of yours. However, we both have the right to express ourselves, so technically Obama did nothing wrong, except metaphorically stab his pastor in the back for his own gain. So much for "hope" and "change". Jeremiah Wright's position back in 2008 was basically anti-war. It was a position shared by many leftists, liberals and progressives. Barack Obama chose to take the side of the war-mongering right wing "crazies" in order to be elected.

If only Obama had been feeling "feisty" back in 2008...