Rational Nation USA

California: A beautiful place destroyed by socialism by the Left Coast Rebel I hate to admit this but for the most part, I really don't follow California politics any more. Sure, my Once Golden State is a shining rusted-over and decaying example of what liberalism/progressive policy and the entitlement mentality does to a once-thriving society but the argument against further destruction is a useless enterprise. Their comes a day -- as with the parent of a spoiled child -- where one throws up his hands and says '' to hell with it, he has to learn by his own mistakes !" It's simply disgusting and even more disgusting is that the fools that inhabit this place want more of it because they have yet to pay the price! Remember, there was only one area of the country that didn't say Hell No! to the Obamanation agenda last November. And you know what? These people vote -- and outnumber productive earners twofold -- and they send fools to Sacramento that think "a...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Birthplace of Independent Conservatism And the class warfare goes on, and on, and on. The progressive Moonbattery {following} continues. You can tell something’s happening in the economic policy debate when you start reading more things like AEI’s Arthur Brooks explaining that it would simply be unfair to raise taxes on the rich. Harvard economics professor and former Council of Economics Advisor chairman Greg Mankiw has said the same thing. And of course Representative Paul Ryan is both a fan of Brooks and a fan of the works of Ayn Rand. Which is just to say that we used to have a debate in which the left said redistributive taxation might be a good idea and then the right replied that it might sound good, but actually the consequences would be bad. Lower taxes on the rich would lead to more growth and faster increase in incomes. Now that idea seems to be so unsupportable that the talking point is switched. It’s not that higher taxes on ou...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Birthplace of Independent Conservatism Seems certain political activists find the strangest and most inappropriate ways to express their activism. What's your guess on the political motivation of the caller in the video below? A Sheboygan gas station owner is baffled after a mystery caller tells a clerk it's a bad idea to do business with a Sheboygan-area state senator. It started Tuesday when a woman called Dick Hiers's Northeast Standard gas station after she thought she saw Senator Joe Leibham there. Her call was caught on the answering machine. "I think that this whole thing has to end. It has to stop," said Hiers. "This type of stuff is totally uncalled for." Hiers never thought his little gas station in the heart of Sheboygan would be the stage of political controversy. Then again, his week has been full of surprises. "I was working back here and the answering machine went off, and I was a...

I would pick up dog pooh for Barbara Stanwyck.

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Birthplace of Independent Conservatism It should surprise no one that republican Senator Susan Collins (D-ME) jumped out front and announced she doesn't support Congressman Ryan's plan to reduce the national debt by cutting 5.8 trillion dollars in spending over the next ten years. One of the Senate's most moderate Republicans she in reality is a Democrat with an R behind her name. While Collins commented that she respected Ryan for having the courage to put forth a detailed plan she immediately expressed her non support. For now Ryan's plan is the only plan that in fact addresses the long term structural problems of entitlements and wasteful bureaucratic spending. It seems to me that the prudent course of action for a supposedly republican senator to take would have been to wait until the issue came to the Senate floor for debate. At that time she could have debated her concerns with her colleagues in the Senate. Sen. Sus...

I'm going to be honest with you, folks. When Rachel Maddow finally got her own show on MSNBC, I actually kind of liked it. I mean, yes, it was totally bald-faced partisan and all but at least she 1) seemed pleasant and 2) unlike Olbermann, actually had some people on who disagreed with her (treating them quite respectfully as well). Bottom-line here, the show was tolerable........................................................................................Unfortunately/obviously, I've completely soured. I've soured, folks, because the show has gotten even more partisan (good guys and bad guys permeate the narrative nightly), Maddow herself more snarky, and nobody EVER gets a chance to defend themselves (she claims to still invite Republicans but, really, who in the hell would want to go on there and have to debate the moderator?)................................................................................................Of course, what really put me over the top was t...

by: es Carpenter Rational Nation USA Birthplace of Independent Conservatism It must come as a surprise to the chief executive officer of  the nation, President Obama, that the majority of Americans stand in opposition to raising the debt ceiling. Frankly American's of all political persuasions {except the extreme hard core leftists and statists}are getting fed up with the profligate government spending that began about thirty years ago and has  continued unabated. The national debt ballooned under the watchful eye of GWB {a bit of snark}and has exploded under the sleeping gaze of BHO {more snark}. The people are beginning to wake up and realize such irresponsible spending cannot continue forever. Sooner or layer we must get our fiscal house in order. By continuing to take the easy way out only minimzes the discomfort for awhile but increases it significantly in the future. The American people get it. And they have spoken. It ...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Birthplace of Independent Conservatism Five quotes that have significant relevance to our current national debate on the nation's debt and lack of fiscal responsibility, the value of restrained government and limited taxation, the rights of individuals to retain the fruits of their labor, and the importance of an independent and just judiciary. "The dignity and stability of government in all its branches, the morals of the people, and every blessing of society depend so much upon an upright and skillful administration of justice, that the judicial power ought to be distinct from both the legislative and executive, and independent upon both, that so it may be a check upon both, and both should be checks upon that." --John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776 "To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have...