A cudgel by another name
By Chris Clancy
web posted July 23, 2012
In 1956, President Eisenhower told the British to get out of Suez or he'd destroy their economy. He wasn't bluffing. The British did as they we're told. They got out. There was a new kid on the block – America snapped its fingers and the British government jumped – it was end of empire.
Is this the kind of humiliation which America will have to endure at some point down the road?
Another four years of Barack Obama and there's every possibility. By then his constituency of rich useful idiots, ivory tower loons, media morons, sycophants, bundlers and millions of no-hopers hooked on welfare, will be so large, the GOP will never get a sniff again.
If so, then at some point, secession amongst traditionally GOP states will become more than just a talking point. In increasing numbers, those who can are already getting out. Ditching their American citizenship and taking their money with them.
So much hangs on the result of this election; undoubtedly, it is the most important in any of our lifetimes.
This is not just a straight fight between the conservative Right and the liberal Left. It's a fight between the conservative Right and a radical and extremist Left.
Up until last week the result was too close to call. Then President Obama went off-prompt during a speech and delivered an unexpected gift for the opposition. If used properly it will put Romney in the White House.
Obama said, in effect, that those who had been successful in life had not done it by themselves. That by constructing things like roads and bridges, it was the state, via the taxpayer, which had provided them with the means to accumulate their wealth.
Therefore they were under some kind of moral obligation to share their wealth with everyone else. There is so much in this – and none of it good. Not only does it tell us what he is really about, but also that he has little or no understanding of what is meant by American Exceptionalism or the American Dream.
Especially the latter.
It was the strength of belief in this idea which, above all, transformed America into the most powerful and richest economy the world has ever known.
Using his own example the question has to be asked. Have we not all benefitted from the relative handful who, using these roads and bridges and more, put blood, sweat and tears into building businesses which brought wealth, prosperity and jobs for everyone?
Should we think of them in same the way we think about those who, say, are behind organized crime – that they've done something wrong – that they should be punished?
And staying with organized crime as an example - according to Obama's way of thinking the mafia could never have made it by themselves – not without the wisdom and benevolence of the government.
Oh yes - this is the dubious logic of the bird flying in ever decreasing circles – and we all know where it finally ends up flying!
His words demonstrate an unbelievable ignorance of what the real world is about – of the crucial role played by entrepreneurs - of what is actually meant by "real" jobs and how they come about. I'm sure his own people must have physically cringed when he came out with this - his latest and greatest gaffe.
In a single swipe, he insulted and diminished the incredible achievements of a great swathe of American society and their forebears - the very people who drive the economy - the only people who can actually bring about a real recovery.
Printed money, debt and transfer payments just won't cut it.This is something which, even after nearly four years of failure, he still fails to grasp. But then how could he?
He's never had a "real" job – one that pays for itself.
His comments resemble those of an out-of-touch academic. Someone who has never understood what people in the real world actually do. What they have to go through each day in order to pay his salary every month.
And who's to say these roads and bridges etc. wouldn't have been built anyway – far more cheaply and far more efficiently – by the private sector?
Romney described what Obama said as, "foolishness". I dare say there are many out there who would use stronger language. Every close election has a turning point and Obama's speech last week could well be it.
Let's coin a new word:
Def:inition: obamanism / noun / a belief system or mind-set which is consistently at odds with reality.
For Romney and his camp it's a potential game-changer.
If they've got any sense they won't let this one get away. It attacks the very core of what it means to be an American. It can be used again and again over the next three months - and in many and varied powerful ways.
Romney has not so much been handed a political advantage as a cudgel with which to hammer the Obama camp.
Pick the damn thing up and start using it.
There are still enough voters in the middle to swing this election for Romney. They know what's at stake. They accept there must be a period of austerity. Wisconsin proved this.
It's now or never for Romney. Time to stop being Mr. Reasonable. Time to stop using soft words like "foolishness".
Time to start swinging that baby like you really mean it. 
Chris Clancy lived in China for seven years. Most of this time was spent as associate professor of financial accounting at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan City, Hubei Province. He now lives in Thailand where he spends his time reading, writing, lecturing and, whenever he gets the chance, doing his level best to spread Austrian economics.