Election Lessons

 

On this day:

1865
American Civil War: CSS Shenandoah is the last Confederate combat unit to surrender after circumnavigating the globe on a cruise on which it sank or captured 37 vessels.
1865
American Civil War: CSS Shenandoah is the last Confederate combat unit to surrender after circumnavigating the globe on a cruise on which it sank or captured 37 vessels.

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Excellence is a habit, not an act..--Aristotle

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16% of Americans are on food stamps. How is that possible?

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When socialists fail, they always blame a domestic enemy.

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No Kings report: Is a senator or representative who has been in office for a generation sort of a member of the House of Lords?

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Election Lessons

There will be a lot of talk about the election. Great truths will be gleaned from Supreme Court elections in Pennsylvania, a political outlier getting one million votes in a city of eight million, the third defeat for a gubernatorial candidate. But democracies have meaningful voting. Some thoughts:

--Any number of Americans voting for Mamdani is significant. Intelligence and experience have never been crucial in candidates but some baseline is assumed. That generality is now gone. It is not, however, a criticism of Mamdani. There has always been a 'make-work' element in government, but usually not at this level. Those days are long gone. Chicago, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia are all electing people who could not run a toll booth. Government can be shielded from incompetence in government for only so long, especially if the society is rich. But a society under any stress needs some element of competence. That does not seem to be a priority anymore.

--The goal of democracies is to have the government reflect the very nature of its people, not their desires. The Americans created the first lasting democracy based upon basic, agreed-upon principles that protected free people to express and improve their lives. Militant philosophies and beliefs that do not tolerate dissent are incompatible with the nation's philosophy. This is a problem with collectivism because it assumes disparities are the undeserved consequences of a conflict inherent to the culture. Often, that conflict is resolved with righteous violence. It is crucial to understand that this cleansing violence is, in many redistributionist philosophies, an inevitable part of the 'economic change.'

--The Democrat party has no actual political beliefs other than political success. This does not discourage voters from voting for them. Citizens discouraged with the status quo vote for the people and party that has been in power over them for years, in some cases, decades. 

--The education system's problems are beginning to show. The peculiar voting patterns of what used to be called the educated class should be a worry to all thoughtful people. But maybe not if that poor education benefits you.

---The Left's basic belief is that hatred of others and demands of self-gratification motivate all social and political interactions and contaminate all governing concepts. This demands faith-based equality that requires force and overrides law, punishment of criminals, and gender sensibilities. It trumps philosophy, logic, science, history, and, therefore, thought and judgment.