This sign in my neighborhood literally popped up over night. And it's yuuuuge. Which is interesting because I'm deep in enemy territory. There are starting to be huge Trump flags all over town.
It's pretty fascinating because I voted for Trump and for a couple of years you couldn't tell anyone. I still catch myself and moderate even though it's not quite the nervous place it was the first few years.
I see the "preference cascade" a bit differently now that I'm somewhat on The Outside, and it comes down to something that isn't all that digestible to Circle R.
ReplyDeleteTrump supporters are not necessarily Republicans ... but they certainly aren't Democrats.
Charles Hugh Smith is a puff piece writer most of the time, but even puff piece writers can get it nearly entirely right one time.
CHS: "... corruption is cost-free in America because most of it is legal."
Of course, since journalism in America and most of the world has turned into a form of legitimized plagiarism, let's go to the original sources.
Lynn Parramore: "Americans so crave a good-guy-bad-guy story, now more than ever."
How about a bad-guy-worse-guy story? That's totally believable.
Not that Switzerland is immune: substitute UBS for JP Morgan Chase and it mostly works.
Back to Trump then: the Trump supporters want to imagine an America that can be less corrupt, more accountable, and actually value things that are worth something.
Circle D and Circle R are both essentially make-work and skills inflation schemes that allow the less competent to appear more competent because they have more voices supporting their people.
But they're in for a rude surprise.
Trump also functions like Circle D and Circle R by wanting to pick his own winners instead of those who can win by more natural means. Some of that isn't the man himself, but instead the people he surrounds himself with in order to do the things he wants to do.
And so when I heard a story about a would-be subversive blonde "beauty queen" in an EU country taking a pot shot at a Trump beauty contest by asking the judges whether they take cash or checks?
Well, she'd already seen who the designated winner was going to be, and the designated winner had her own separate VIP-level dressing room and all sorts of exceptions to the rules.
I see what Americans want ... but Ludwig von Mises was right.
Despite what you want, with very few exceptions Americans are Socialists.
Most Americans want to pretend they can win at rigged games, and so they join forces with the people who are rigging the games, which makes them Socialists by default.
Most Americans want to pick the winners rather than having actual winners, because Democracy By Gang Signs.
Seriously, Trump is the best that America can do because America can't get John Wayne?
"Acted like an actor ... Hollyweird."
Oh, but the numbers of discontented are few, you say.
Is playing "Millionaire Chicken" a game you really want to play at a national level?
Real change in America starts when everyday people stop behaving like Socialists.
"... I'm deep in enemy territory ..."
Are the borders open in Azerbaijan?
You should visit Baku, it's really incredibly nice.
Lots and lots of shopping, just avoid the civil war with the Armenians.
But you've probably never been shopping while there's a war going on, have you?
"Despite what you want, with very few exceptions Americans are Socialists."
ReplyDeleteTrue. But that is not unique to America. That's the whole world. So, it doesn't really feel that bad, Even I started out as a socialist. I'm a product of the system. I've seen the system from the inside and there is a reason they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
I have already learned in life it doesn't matter what you want. I accept the world as it is. Not the way I want it to be. Flaws and all.
The problem of the people is that people don't have to live by their choices. And that will never change. Humanity never really changes.
"Real change in America starts when everyday people stop behaving like Socialists."
That is not a real ask. I think you are just doing that thing you do where you throw things out to see if they stick. If we are all being honest, you know that will never happen.