Quote of the Month

Wrote Mr. David Warren:

Democracy itself can be primitive and barbaric, or highly civilized, or decadently post-civilized, or totalitarian. The latter two trends are easily visible throughout our Western world. "The people" are capable of electing monsters, as we have seen in Palestine, where they elected Hamas, or in Zimbabwe, where they once elected Robert Mugabe.

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Poll Results: What Will Be the End Result of the Ongoing Financial Trouble?

The results for the poll, asking what will be the end result of the ongoing financial trouble, ending at midnight between 2008 and 2009, are as follows:

Total votes: 78.

• The United States (paper) dollar will survive this crisis: 36 (46 %)
• The Wilsonian World Order will come down: 15 (19 %)
• The euro will take over as world reserve currency: 10 (12 %)
• The politicos of the world will set up a world paper currency: 10 (12 %)
• Gold will return as a basis for money: 7 (8 %)

A new poll will be up shortly.

Rubber-Stamping

Here in the Kingdom of Norway, we were presented our very own “stimulus package” this Monday.

There was of course something wrong with it, but most pundits don't have a clue about what's wrong with it. We'll leave that here, however.

What we are concerned with here is procedure. The public and the media had known for quite some time that it would be presented on January 26. There was, however, no official package proposal before Monday morning. There was an extraordinary meeting of the Council of State at the Royal Palace of Oslo, where the package was approved as an official proposal.

There is apparently little time for questions in the process. The proposal is presented for His Majesty for rubber-stamping, and this rubber-stamping is apparently not only taken for granted, but there is no room for questioning that may delay the process. Of course, His Majesty could have called the Prime Minister or the Treasury Secretary to the Royal Palace, as did happen with a Church matter last year. However, this concept of formally approving a parliamentary proposal from His Majesty just minutes before it is due to be presented to the Parliament is troublesome.

More on the Spender-in-Chief

Jon Stewart compares Obama to Bush (H/T: Anthony Gregory, the LRC Blog):



Over at Taki's Magazine, Patrick J. Buchanan gives a comparison of Obama's speech to the rhetoric of Ronald Reagan.

Also at Taki's Magazine, Daniel Flynn debunks the “new New Deal.”

Over at the Daily Telegraph, Gerald Warner denounces the new POTUS and his spending.

The Southern Avenger at Taki's Magazine warns against spending those United States into oblivion at supports standing for principle rather than merely being against Obama:

Renaming in Honor of Obama

Streets, schools, etc. are being renamed in honor of the new POTUS. Some changes were even made before inauguration. So USA Today reports, and J.H. Huebert comments at the LRC Blog.

Here in the Kingdom of Norway, no one, not even the King, gets a street named after him before he has passed on.

The Dominion of India Ended

A year short of three score years ago today, the Republic of India was proclaimed, replacing the Dominion of India.

Vertical Money Supply Curve

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, USD supply increased about 94 % in just 4 months (August 1 to December 1):



Something not so pretty is about to happen, I'm afraid. I hope I'm wrong.


H/T: The Western Confucian

Bush Was a Big-Government Disaster

So says Nick Gillespie over at the Wall Street Journal.

Change

Lots of people complain about Obama not representing change.

However, if you don't specifiy what you want to change and how you want to do it, chances are you can deliver on your promise of change. Most things change is some way or another.

If you change the rate of growth of government, that is change.

If you introduce online hearings on bills or other measure on the Presidential table, even if the right advice is not heeded, that is change. Some may argue that it is just a change on the surface, but it still is change.

We could go on for quite a while. Change there will be.

Deeper into Trouble

Peter Schiff on CNBC:



Over at the Wall Street Journal, Peter Schiff comments United States debt and deficit. The previous week he wrote on the lack of pain-free cure.

And an excellent video with Ron Paul and Peter Schiff predictions (H/T: Chris Brunner, The LRC Blog):

Churchill

44 years ago today, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill passed away.

I wrote this four years ago.

This quote:

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

I regret to say that there is no documentation for it. It is commonly attributed to Churchill, but the Churchill Centre has no documentation Churchill ever said this. The Churchill Centre even believes this statement does not reflect the positive attitude Churchill had towards the average voter.

Amongst what Churchill said was (October 31, 1944, The House of Commons, courtesy of the Churchill Centre):

At the bottom of all the tributes paid to democracy is the little man, walking into the little booth, with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper. No amount of rhetoric or voluminous discussion can possibly diminish the overwhelming importance of that point. The people have the right to choose representatives in accordance with their wishes and feelings, and I cannot think of anything more odious than for a Prime Minister to attempt to carry on with a Parliament so aged, and to try to grapple with the perplexing and tremendous problems of war and peace, and of the transition from war to peace, without being refreshed by contact with the people.

And in the House of Commons on June 5, 1946 (also courtesy of the Churchill Centre):

With all their virtues, democracies are changeable. After a hot fit, comes the cold. Are we to see again, as we saw the last time, the unjust severities inflicted upon the vanquished, to be followed by a period in which we let them arm anew, and in which we then seek to appease their wrath?

Of the more skeptical view (Fifty Years Hence, Strand Magazine, December of 1931, courtesy of the Churchill Centre):

Democratic governments drift along the line of least resistance, taking short views, paying their way with sops and doles, and smoothing their path with pleasant-sounding platitudes. Never was there less continuity or design in their affairs, and yet towards them are coming swiftly changes which will revolutionize for good or ill not only the whole economic structure of the world but the social habits and moral outlook of every family....Democracy as a guide or motive to progress has long been known to be incompetent. None of the legislative assemblies of the great modern states represents in universal suffrage even a fraction of the strength or wisdom of the
community. Great nations are no longer led by their ablest men, or by those who know most about their immediate affairs, or even by those who have a coherent doctrine.

My view remains that Churchill is neither amongst the soundest on democracy nor amongst the hopeless worshippers.

Colonial Constitution

Eighteen and a half score years ago today (Jan 14 in the Julian Calendar), the first American colonial constitution, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, was adopted.