RedStateEclectic

Silver (or should I say gold) lining for Ron Paul’s 2nd place finish

 

With all the talk in the media about how important the Ames Straw Poll results between Bachmann and Pawlenty were going to be (while at the same time hedging their bets by minimizing the meaning of a possible Ron Paul win) a VERY close second place finish by the good doctor is probably the best thing that could have happened.  The media can’t say this is a huge plus for Bachmann while at the same time saying that the 152 vote difference second place finisher means that the poll is meaningless...especially when the separation to third place was well over 2,000 votes.

Another huge plus is that the predictions were that a large turnout was going to be bad for Paul because of his “devoted grass-roots army of supporters who are unlikely to support other candidates, but ALWAYS has trouble expanding beyond that hard-core group.”  He came within an eyelash of winning WITH a large turnout, which by the media’s own reasoning means his “small but energetic base” is in fact growing!

 

Back to See You - Je Reviens Te Chercher

Some of us are leaving for a while, which brings to mind this song by Gilbert Bécaud:

I can't find a translation on the internet, so I venture my own, confining it to the first eight lines:

More literally: "Je reviens te chercher - I'm coming back to search for you," but I render it:

I'm back to see you

I knew you would wait for me

I knew that both of us could not

be without one another for long,

I'm back to see you

Well, you see, I haven't changed all that much,

And I can see that you, too

have managed fine.

 

Je reviens te chercher
Je savais que tu m'attendais
Je savais que l'on ne pourrait
Se passer l'un de l'autre longtemps
Je reviens te chercher
Ben tu vois, j'ai pas trop changé
Et je vois que de ton côté
Tu as bien traversé le temps

{Refrain:}
Tous les deux on s'est fait la guerre
Tous les deux on s'est pillés, volés, ruinés
Qui a gagné, qui a perdu,
On n'en sait rien, on ne sait plus
On se retrouve les mains nues
Mais après la guerre,
Il nous reste à faire
La paix.

Je reviens te chercher
Tremblant comme un jeune marié
Mais plus riche qu'aux jours passés
De tendresse et de larmes et de temps
Je reviens te chercher
J'ai l'air bête sur ce palier
Aide-moi et viens m'embrasser
Un taxi est en bas qui attend

{au Refrain}

 

More of Gilbert Bécaud here at RedStateEclectic: Atmospheric and Moving (Gilbert Bécaud), Le train d'amour, L'important, c'est la rose, Quand il est mort, le poète (Gilbert Bécaud).

Another Blogger Going Off To War

Not only is our resident military man, Ben, headed overseas, Smitty over at The Other McCain has received his marching orders too.

Smitty's post is here - be sure to go read it and wish him well.

Me, I always cry when I hear someone is getting deployed to a war zone, and this is no exception. 

Smitty, stay safe, and if you see Ben, make him share his cookies.

 

George Winston Plays ...

... variations on the Kanon by Pachelbel. Thanks to our fellow blogger Ben Reisterer for making me aware of George Winston's wonderful music.

 

Also, compare Pachelbel's Canon in D Major, as rendered by Jacques Loussier, whom I admire greatly.

Post election RSE PSA

 

"An election cannot give a country a firm sense of direction if it has two or more national parties which merely have different names but are as alike in their principles and aims as two peas in the same pod"

 - FDR

Here's hoping this means less now than it did 48 hours ago.

 

 

Does the center referee equal and opposite reactions?

 

I have a confession to make.  My morning news of choice is MSNBC's "Morning Joe."  I know, I know...but in my opinion they have the most well rounded group and I do enjoy the format and humor.  Plus, I like to keep up on the way the "other side" spins events.

Anyway, Joe Scarbourough made a comment this morning that I caught in passing that I found interesting.  He stated that there is a misconception that in American politics the people are a pendulum that swings from right to left.  He contended that this was false, that America always stays "center" and it's the politicians that move the pendulum and whenever it gets too far to one side the people will force it back.  It reminded me of a Milton Friedman quote:

“I do not believe that the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. Unless it is politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing, the right people will not do the right thing either, or if they try, they will shortly be out of office.”

The first time I came across this quote was in my friend Isaac Morehouse's blog post where he was making the case that elections don't matter.  It is a very good (and quick) post and well worth the read, as is most of his writing. 

Now I am sure this congress believed that what they were doing was the right thing, but America did not so they were "shortly out of office" courtesy of "the center."  But what IS the center?  Can the center move?  If it can't then we are stuck and we will never be any more or less free.  How depressing is that?

I agree with Isaac's point that ideas are the most important thing and that what gets done is dependent on what ideas have taken root; however, I disagree that elections don't matter.  I think the Ron Paul 2008 presidential run proved that.  His campaign has done more to advance ideas concerning liberty than Cato, Reason, Mises, etc combined.  So elections CAN matter, but sadly they often don't.  I don't believe that education/ideas and politics have to be in two separate compartments, they are intertwined and influence each other.

The point I'm trying to make is that Scarbourough only got it half right.  Indeed, like Friedman alluded, our government won't be able to do anything more than what "the center" is comfortable with.  But the center can, and does, move through education (which can happen with or without politics).  So Joe, there are two pendulums in American politics and they work with and against each other.

This has been a RSE PSA

Quotes are funny things. When engaged in a heated debate nothing makes you feel better than a good "zinger" from your favorite politician, philosopher, religious leader, athlete, etc. I use them all the time and I hear other people use them at least as often. In school there are specific rules on how/when you can/should quote someone as a support in your papers or debates. However, the trouble is rarely does it have as much influence on the person who's world you just rocked as it does yourself, unless the person is already on your side. Yet we still use them all the time and feel good about it...at least I do. Quotes are kinda like PSA's, they sound great but rarely does it ever inspire anyone to actually change. So with that in mind I will occasionally post a favorite quote under the heading RSE PSA (an admittedly lame attempt at some fun). Hopefully they can bring others as much satisfaction as they have brought me.   ;-)

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"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."

 – George Washington