Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog

Dying Democrats?

December 5, 2011

What we are witnessing today as 2011 turns the page, is a slow, agonizing death of the once proud party of the people. In decades past, the Democratic Party was the party of the working man. It was the party that fought to even the playing field with unscrupulous and an all-too greedy American industry. Over time, real progress was made and working folks were paid a decent wage and afforded a lifestyle that many today would envy. I was fortunate enough to grow up in the America of the 1950s and 1960s that molded me into what I am today. In 1968, I was proud to cast my first ballot for Hubert Horatio Humphrey. Things have changed a bit these past 45 years.

Today the Party of the working man has become the Party of the non-working class. The Democrats have devolved to become the Party of moochers, leeches, and victims. And this Party of hope and change has morphed into a Frankenstein that would turn FDR in his grave. The Democratic Party is an abomination that is slowly strangling the greatest country in the world: The United States of America. …

Democrats don’t have a lot of faith in the everyday humble guy. Democrats think they know what’s best for us and are continually sticking their bureaucratic noses into our everyday business. That’s why the Party of the Donkey is slowly succumbing to an ugly demise. I can’t say I will miss the Democratic Party after it passes away, next year.

Indeed, we are a divided country. There are those like me who believe passionately, “ I know what’s best for my family and me.” I loathe this over-government bureaucracy which, as it swells larger and larger, becomes less and less efficient. Is there anyone in the room who thinks the Federal government can or will handle the health care needs of this country of 307 million, without adding a single new medical doctor? Of course not. The party cannot even dole out a $529 million dollar loan to a fraudulent “green” company, without losing track of YOUR precious taxpayers’ funds. The Democratic Party has been hijacked by the grifters, con men, and hustlers who should be behind bars rather than behind the Justice Department, the EPA, the National Labor Relations Board, or countless other useless, worthless agencies which serve no purpose and have long overstayed their usefulness.

Ken Gardner has a more succinct version of the same point:

The bases of the two political parties have changed. The Dem base is the bottom 20% income class and people with college credentials — the types we are seeing at OWS rallies. The GOP base is essentially people of all economic classes who do productive private sector work. For the GOP, this means it should focus on policies that help or reward these people — a combination of lower taxes, lower borrowing and spending, fewer regulations — in sum, getting government the hell out of their way.

That brought up this interesting comment:

See, I’m thinking the eggheads are right…we have jobs that HAVE to get done, and some of those jobs do require a degree, or at least an education you can acquire only through institutionalized advanced-education (not hands on experience) means. …

In this process of earning advanced degrees, there is a fraction … numerator is, coursework that is functionally useless, denominator is total coursework. It seems this fraction has started out as something like 10-15 percent back in the 1960’s or so, and now is more like 80%. We’ve got all these precious snowflakes graduating who can tell you all about how we’ve oppressed Indians and gay people but can’t even begin to describe how to build a bridge. And … our bridges are falling apart now.

I find it unlikely that the Democratic Party is actually dying. (And the discussion of the proper role of in-your-major coursework to outside-your-major coursework cannot be resolved in this blog.) But there is little question that the Democratic Party is increasingly abandoning those who do not “do productive private sector work” in favor of those who get paychecks or other largesse from government (including politically connected businesses). The connections national Democrats made with business in the 1990s are almost completely gone.

Meanwhile, Democrats’ BFFs, the unions, are offended over an assertion of Wisconsin Club for Growth:

From my email inbox comes this gem from the Wisconsin Club For Growth:

“Government unions exist chiefly to enable those who seldom produce anything of value to the real economy to take freely from those who produce value every day.”

Apparently the folks at the Wisconsin Club For Growth aren’t big fans of the services provided to society (and the contributions made to the real economy) by firefighters, police officers, probation & parole agents, corrections officers, trash collectors, nurses, and teachers, just to name some of the government employees represented by government unions.

The last time I checked, the protection against widespread fires breaking out – fires that would no doubt negatively impact the economy – certainly seems to provide something of value to the real economy.

While I’m at it, what about police protection? Does police protection provide something of value to the real economy? To borrow a phrase from Sarah Palin, “You betcha!” After all, without police protection businesses would no doubt fall prey to robberies, burglaries, etc., which would obviously negatively impact their ability (and willingness) to do business and grow the economy.

For Solidarity Wisconsin (a name that is a tremendous insult to those who put their lives on the line to defeat Communism in Poland) to assert what will “negatively affect their ability (and willingness) to do business and grow the economy” is amusing given that Solidarity Wisconsin apparently is confused over what grows “the real economy.” (Hint: It ain’t government.) If police and fire agencies didn’t exist, someone would create a police or fire business, charging customers for service. There already are private sanitation companies and private schools, and there are few government-owned hospitals in Wisconsin. Other than national defense and a few other areas, it is a failure of imagination or ideology sealed in concrete to assume that everything government does can be done only by government, and specifically “government employees represented by government unions.”

Even if that wasn’t the case, it is indisputable that those who do “productive private-sector work” are paying for all of the government services we get, whether or not we want them. (And since our taxes pay government employees’ salaries, and “government unions” are funded by employees’ union dues, our taxes are paying for the “government unions” too.) The more “productive private-sector work” there is, the more money there is for employees and for government.

Solidarity Wisconsin is also being deliberately obtuse when they equate “government employees” with “government unions.” The former perform public services, though those public services do cost money. The latter deserve to die.

3 comments

Presty the DJ for Dec. 5

December 5, 2011

Music

The number one album today in 1960 was Elvis Presley’s “G.I. Blues” …

… which is probably unrelated to what Beatles Paul McCartney and Pete Best did in West Germany that day: They were arrested for pinning a condom to a brick wall and igniting it. Their sentence was deportation.

The number one single today in 1964:

The number one single today in 1965 wasn’t a single:

The number one British single today in 1981:

The number one British single today in 2004 was a remake of the original:

The number one British album today in 2004 was U2’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”:

So who shares a birthday with our youngest son? “Little Richard” Penniman:

Eduardo Delgado of ? and the Mysterians:

Jim Messina of Buffalo Springfield and Loggins and Messina:

Jack Russell of Great White …

… was born the same day as Les Nemes of Haircut 100:

Two deaths of note today: Doug Hopkins, cofounder of the Gin Blossoms, in 1993 …

… and in 1791, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:

1 comment

Presty the DJ for Dec. 4

December 4, 2011

Music

Imagine being a fly on the wall at Sun Studios in Memphis today in 1956, and listening to the Million Dollar Jam Session with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.

The number one single today in 1965:

The number one British album today in 1971 was Led Zeppelin’s ” “, alternatively known as “Four Symbols” or “IV” …

… while here it was T Rex’s “Electric Warrior”:

The number one British album today in 1982 was “The John Lennon Collection”:

Today in 1988, Roy Orbison played his final concert, in Cleveland.

Birthdays begin with Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon:

Chris Hillman of the aforementioned Byrds:

Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys:

Gary Rossington played guitar for Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Rossington–Collins Band:

One death of note, today in 1993: Frank Zappa, who was survived by his wife Adelaide and their four children, Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuuhkha Rodan and Diva Thin Muffin Pegeen.

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Presty the DJ for Dec. 3

December 3, 2011

Music

We begin with what is not a music anniversary: Today in 1950, Paul Harvey began his national radio broadcast.

The number one song today in 1956:

The number one British single today in 1964:

The most ironic anniversary comes today in 1969, when John Lennon, who famously said the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus,” was offered the lead role in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

Birthdays begin with Andy Williams:

John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne:

John Michael “Mickey” Thomas of Elvin Bishop, Jefferson Starship and (Jeffersonless) Starship:

Don Barnes of .38 Special …

… was born the same day as Duane Roland of Molly Hatchet:

Paul Gregg of Restless Heart:

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No words necessary

December 2, 2011

Music

Today’s subject is music without words.

The instrumental has been popular on and off throughout the history of rock music, particularly at the beginning.

As it happens, the first record I purchased was an instrumental, Rhythm Heritage’s “Theme from S.W.A.T.”:

The record, which got to number one, did better than the TV series, which was canceled after one season.

Anyone who’s played in a high school marching band has probably played all of these instrumentals:

The challenge with instrumentals is that it’s hard to find them if you don’t know the title. As far as I know, there is no software that allows you to hum the song into your computer to identify the name of the song.

A few acts were known for nothing but instrumentals:

Other groups have used instrumentals (technically different songs) as the open for better-known songs:

Some groups have used instrumentals to show off the playing skills of their members:

Movies and TV shows were the source of instrumentals that sold records as well, either in their original or adapted versions:

Billy Preston played on the Beatles’ “Get Back.” Though his biggest hit was “Nothing from Nothing,” he did two instrumentals that got radio airplay, both with an outer space theme:

These next two are from groups that did record songs with words, but they decided to extend themselves with interesting instrumentals (particularly the second one):

Many radio or TV stations used instrumentals as bumper or theme music. For instance, WLS in Chicago used these two instrumentals for, respectively, top-of-the-hour music and contest music:

CBS-TV used these as theme music for its “CBS Sports Spectacular”:

Music from within movies (that is, songs other than the themes) can make great sports music too:

This piece just scratched the surface of rock instrumentals, so we’ll end by demonstrating the heights or depths to which someone — even one person — recording an instrumental can go to:

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Presty the DJ for Dec. 2

December 2, 2011

Music

Today’s blog is brought to you by Charter Communications and whoever severed said cable, Internet and phone provider’s fiberoptic cable, thus cutting off said cable, Internet and phone provider’s cable, Internet and phone service in Ripon for most of Thursday, thus inconveniencing said cable, Internet and phone providers’ customers.

The number one album today in 1967 was the Monkees’ “Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd.,” the group’s fourth million-selling album:

The number one single today in 1978:

Today in 1984, MTV carried the entire 14 minutes of “Thriller” for the first time:

The first birthday to note is Dr. Peter Carl Goldmark, inventor of the long-playing multigroove record in 1945 — first in 78s, then in 33⅓ albums, then in 45-rpm singles.

Tom McGuinness of Manfred Mann:

Ted Bluechel Jr. played drums for The Association:

Rick Savage played bass for Def Leppard:

Nelly Furtado:

One death of note, today in 2006: Mariska Veres, the lead singer of the Shocking Blue:

To coin a phrase, more music next hour.

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The alternative to Walker

December 1, 2011

Wisconsin politics

That rarest of things, Madison conservative David Blaska, wrote two columns for Isthmus about who may run and what would happen should Gov. Scott Walker lose a recall election.

The Democrats’ own polling shows no one can beat Walker except declared non-candidate Russ Feingold — and he, only barely. Even if Russ Feingold repudiates his serial denials and takes the bait, what will the Democrats’ platform look like? I asked that question last week. (What would Russ do?)

Clearly, government employees will want all limits on collective bargaining overturned. (They already have more collective bargaining rights than President Obama’s federal employees.)

Make no mistake, they will demand the immediate revocation of contributions toward their health insurance and pensions required by Walker. (Which remains half of what private sector employees pay, on average.) Sure, Madison city, county, and school employees made a few concessions — but only with Walker’s reforms looming. Instead, they rushed, arm-in-arm with local liberals beholden to union election muscle, to ratify contracts that avoided most of the shared sacrifice. Milwaukee’s teachers infamously scuttled 350 of their fellow union members rather than concede a dime.

It is fair to ask, just how high will Democrats raise taxes if Walker is recalled?

That’s a question that everyone who is asked to sign a Walker recall petition should be asking. Here’s the other: What, exactly, is not working?

Government employees would argue they have a God-given, or Gaia-given, or given-from-somewhere right to collective bargaining. Such right exists nowhere in any founding document for this country or this state. The law that established public-employee collective bargaining in the late 1950s was a grotesque mistake, should never have been passed, and should be repealed. In collective bargaining, there is no representation at all for the taxpayer, because taxpayers are not represented by the “management” side of government. That is how Rolls–Royce benefits are awarded to public-sector employees.

Those who oppose Walker’s reforms also argue they haven’t been listened to. I’m guessing those people, whose candidates lost left and, well, left in November 2010, can recall no instances where Republican input was used in the disaster that was the state’s 2009–11 budget. Democrats’ rejoinder to the billion-dollar deficits Democrats approved was to (1) deny that those deficits existed and (2) propose raising taxes. Those answers go a long way to explaining the state’s consistently bad business climate rankings, something for which Democrats consistently have no answer.

Regarding Feingold, Blaska says:

The former U.S. senator remains a super hero to the Left: Spiderman with a PAC. But he is still trying to digest the rancid meat of his defeat one year ago. …

Whether Gov. Scott Walker’s challenger is Russ Feingold, Jon Erpenbach, The (Former) Kathleen, or the Charismatic Firefighter — the question is the same. What would they do different? Put another way, how much would they raise taxes?

Not even Russ Feingold hath the powers to bring the statewide teachers union to heel. Does anyone believe the Milwaukee teachers union, the one that demands taxpayer-subsidized Viagra, would wear sackcloth just because Russ said pretty please? They want their political muscle back. You think they won’t exercise it after putting a Democrat in the East Wing?

Having invested what is left of their compulsory dues into the recall and subsequent election, if successful, the unions will thrust sharpened knives into the fatted bird. Government workers and their chattels in the service-provider industry will have restored the circle: government of, by and for government employees! …

Walker and the Republican legislature:

balanced the budget

did so without raising taxes

restored power to local elected officials vis-a-vis their employees

continued essential services (unlike Minnesota)

without layoffs (unlike Michigan and Illinois)

enabled government employees (not the union bosses) to decide for themselves if they want to contribute to political campaigns

helped break the power of the anti-reform teachers unions.

Ask the nearest Progressive and Liberal what, exactly, is not working? And why are government employees entitled to better perks than the private sector and more collective bargain[ing] rights than federal employees and 90 percent of the private sector? Remind them that you do not speak drum.

Feingold is an interesting case. Wisconsinites discovered in 2010 that, contrary to his image during his three terms in the Senate, he wasn’t a maverick at all. His “listening sessions” were opportunities for input from only his left-leaning constituents. The same senator who touted his courage for voting against the Constitution-shredding Patriot Act also touted his sponsorship of the Constitution-shredding McCain–Feingold campaign finance deform law. Had Feingold been the financially responsible maverick he claimed to be, there is no way Feingold would have lost the 2010 election.

Unlike Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (who has already lost a run for governor), Feingold has no experience running in an executive-level election, let alone running a unit of government as its CEO; nor does the aforementioned Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D–Middleton). The one candidate Blaska mentioned who does have said executive experience is former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, who nonetheless is 0-for-her-political career in statewide elections, and for good reason. Wisconsin voters have decided they do not want someone who represents the worst excesses of the People’s Republic of Madison to wreak havoc over the entire state.

So if you sign a recall petition, your choices to run against Walker may include someone who already lost to Walker (Barrett), someone who lost during the same election (Feingold), someone who has lost two statewide races (Falk), and a member of the Fleeing Fourteen (Erpenbach), all of whom can be counted to be wrong on the issues affecting the state — the issues (see Blaska’s bullet points) on which Walker was elected.

Moreover, the idea that removing Walker from office will lead to a new era of comity and compromise for the common good in Wisconsin is, frankly, nuts. The 2009–10 Legislature, the last one in which voters saw fit to give Democrats complete control, fit the definition of “compromise” only if that means compromising between left and way-left positions. Republicans will control at least the Assembly until the November 2012 elections. Note the rhetoric and death threats occurring from the Recall types, and remember that’s who you’ll be voting for when the recall election takes place. A Walker defeat will meant that the era of bad feeling, which will be the case in our politics for the foreseeable future anyway, will get only nastier.

6 comments

Presty the DJ for Dec. 1

December 1, 2011

Music

The number one single today in 1958:

The number one British single today in 1966:

The number one single today in 1973:

Today in 1987, a Kentucky teacher lost her U.S. Supreme Court appeal over her firing for showing Pink Floyd’s movie “The Wall” to her class over its language and sexual content.

Birthdays begin with one-hit wonder Billy Paul:

Lou Rawls:

Drummer Sandy Nelson (who played drums on the aforementioned 1958 single):

(All those instrumentals … maybe I should write something about instrumentals …)

Eric Bloom of Blue Öyster Cult …

… was born the same day John Densmore, the Doors drummer:

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Progressives vs. progress

November 30, 2011

US business, Wisconsin business, Wisconsin politics

Tim Nerenz again nails this comparison between Wisconsin’s Progressives of the 20th century and the people who should really get credit:

We used to make things here in Wisconsin.

We made machine tools in Milwaukee, cars in Kenosha and ships in Sheboygan. We mined iron in the north and lead in the south. We made cheese, we made brats, we made beer, and we even made napkins to clean up what we spilled. And we made money.

The original war on poverty was a private, mercenary affair. Men like Harnishfeger, Allis, Chalmers, Kohler, Kearney, Trecker, Modine, Case, Mead, Falk, Allen, Bradley, Cutler, Hammer, Bucyrus, Harley, Davidson, Pabst, and Miller lifted millions up from subsistence living to middle class comfort. They did it – not “Fighting Bob” La Follette or any of the politicians who came along later to take the credit and rake a piece of the action through the steepest progressive scheme in the nation.

Those old geezers with the beards cured poverty by putting people to work. Generations of Wisconsinites learned trades and mastered them in the factories, breweries, mills, foundries, and shipyards those capitalists built with their hands. Thousands of small businesses supplied these industrial giants, and tens of thousands of proprietors and professionals provided all of the services that all those other families needed to live well. The wealth got spread around plenty.

The profits generated by our great industrialists funded charities, the arts, education, libraries, museums, parks, and community development associations. Taxes on their profits, property, and payrolls built our schools, roads, bridges, and the safety net that Wisconsin’s progressives are still taking credit for, as if the money came from their council meetings. The offering plates in churches of every denomination were filled with money left over from company paychecks that were made possible because a few bold young men risked it all and got rich. Don’t thank God for them; thank them that you learned about God.

Their wealth pales in comparison to the wealth they created for millions and millions of other Wisconsin families. Those with an appreciation for the immeasurable contributions of Wisconsin’s industrial icons of 1910 will find the list of Wisconsin’s top ten employers of 2010 appalling:

Walmart, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Milwaukee Public Schools, U.S. Postal Service, Wisconsin Department of Corrections, Menards, Marshfield Clinic, Aurora Health Care, City of Milwaukee, and Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs.

This is what a century of progressivism will get you. Wisconsin is the birthplace of the progressive movement, the home of the Socialist Party, the first state to allow public sector unions, the cradle of environmental activism, a liberal fortress walled off against common sense for decades. Their motto, Forward Wisconsin, should be changed to Downward Wisconsin if truth in advertising applies to slogans.

There is no shortage of activists, advocates, and agitators in this State. If government were the answer to our problems, we would have no problems. The very same people – or people just like them – who picketed, struck, sued, taxed, and regulated our great companies out of this state are now complaining about the unemployment and poverty that they have brought upon themselves. They got rid of those old rich white guys and replaced them with…nothing.

Wisconsin ranks 47th in the rate of new business formation. We are one of the worst states for native college graduate exodus; our brightest and most ambitions graduates leave to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Why shouldn’t they? Our tax rates are among the worst in the nation and our business climate, perpetually in the bottom of the rankings, has only recently moved up thanks to a Governor who now faces a recall for his trouble. …

Look again at the list of our famous industrialists and the list of our current employers. Who would you wish your child or grandchild to grow up to be? Who do you think will do more good on this earth — Jerome I Case and his tractors, or the Coordinator of Supplier Diversity at MPS.

I would not like to go back to the days before computers, antibiotics, microwave ovens or air conditioning. But you look at the contributions of those listed in Nerenz’s third paragraph, except for the last name, and the contributions of Fighting Bob and his ilk, including union leaders, and there is no comparison. I’m not sure if “Downward Wisconsin” or “Backward Wisconsin” is more appropriate, but don’t hold your breath waiting for what now are Wisconsin Democrats to own the damage they have done to this state.