Tea at Trianon: Biden’s Failed Presidency Is On The Ballot

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, November 4, 2022

Biden’s Failed Presidency Is On The Ballot

From Gregg Jarrett:

Every day brings fresh evidence that Joe Biden’s disaster of a presidency is finished. His name is not on the ballot, but his incompetence is. In less than two weeks voters have an opportunity to voice their rejection of Biden, his stewardship of a failing economy, record inflation, rampant crime, chaos at the border, and his “woke” progressive policies like the Green New Deal that have divided —not united— Americans. If polling data is accurate, Democrats will experience a trouncing in the House of Representatives. They could lose the Senate, as well. But make no mistake, the mid-term elections are a referendum on a president who veered insanely to the left and wrecked prosperity in the process.

Look at any poll. They are all similar —a condemnation of Joe Biden’s agenda and himself. Americans correctly blame the president for driving the U.S. off an economic cliff. His $6 trillion in reckless spending flooded the marketplace with dollars that drove up inflation to a record level. His war on fossil fuels caused gasoline prices to skyrocket as the nation lost its energy independence and became reliant on more expensive foreign oil. He never lifted a finger to tamp down raging crime that has terrorized major cities. He refused to even visit our southern border where millions have crossed into the U.S. creating an unparalleled crisis. Instead, he put a dunce in charge. Kamala Harris had no idea what to do, so she simply abandoned any attempt to deal with it.

Anyone who has ever followed Joe Biden’s political career knew this would happen. He has a long record of bungling everything he touches. Former president Barack Obama knew it all too well…which is why he infamously warned, “Never underestimate Joe’s ability to f**k things up.” Biden has the uncanny ability to ruin whatever is in front of him. He could screw-up a free lunch. His declining mental state only compounds his mess. (Read more.)

From The Federalist:

At this point, it would save everyone time if Democrats could simply point to a policy agenda item that isn’t going to save democracy — if such a thing exists. If Republicans vote, they are killing democracy. If they don’t vote, they are killing democracy. The only way to “save democracy,” writes The Washington Post’s Max Boot, is to empower one-party rule — a position that probably sounds counterintuitive to anyone with a middle-school education. “Now you need to vote to literally save democracy again,” contends President Joe Biden, or we will lose our “fundamental rights and freedoms like the right to choose, the right to privacy, the right to vote — our very democracy.”

Chilling stuff. But it doesn’t end there. You will remember that by failing to “reform” the filibuster, which would entail authorizing the thinnest of fleeting majorities to shove through massive generational “reforms” without any national consensus or debate, we are also killing democracy. This has been the position not only of left-wing pundits and the New York Times editorial board, but also senators tasked with defending their institution. I wonder if they will support this democracy-saving fix next session, as well?

Then again, if we don’t nationalize the economy to avert a climate crisis, we are also killing democracy. “We’ve got to save democracy in order to save our species,” Jamie Raskin explains. And if we don’t empty the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to temporarily keep gas prices low to help Democrats win in 2022, we are killing democracy. “We find ourselves in a situation, where keeping gas prices low is key to preserving and strengthening the future of our democracy,” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes says.

We must allow the president to unilaterally create trillion-dollar spending bills and break existing private sector contracts by fiat. For democracy. We must pack the court to “save democracy.” We must create a Ministry of Truth to help with “strengthening democratic institutions.” We must vote for a Pennsylvania candidate who can’t cobble two consecutive coherent sentences together because the “fate of our democracy” is at stake, says our former president.

If you don’t support a partisan congressional investigation that’s circumvented basic due process norms, you probably hate democracy. If you aren’t self-flagellating and holding yourself accountable for the actions of Jan. 6 rioters, you are also bolstering the coming autocracy. If the Supreme Court empowers the public to vote on an issue like abortion, unmentioned anywhere in the Constitution, it is “degrading” our “democracy.” If the court protects rights that are explicitly mentioned in the Constitution from the vagaries of the political process, it is also undermining democracy. Which is convenient.

The only way to save democracy is to allow one party (guess which one?) to federalize elections, so they can compel states to count mail-in votes that arrive 10 days late, legalize ballot harvesting, force the overturning of dozens of existing voter ID laws, allow felons to vote, create onerous burdens to chill speech, and empower bureaucrats to redraw congressional districts. Otherwise … well, you know.

You’ll remember last year, when left-wingers were arguing that Mike Pence’s support for basic voting ID — backed by around 80 percent of the American public and implemented in virtually every free nation — heralded a “Permanent Authoritarian Rule.” The president called Georgia’s moderate voter law, “odious,” “pernicious,” “vicious,” “unconscionable,” a “subversion” and “suppression,” the “21st-century Jim Crow” and the sure sign of an emerging “autocracy.” In 2022 early voting in Georgia is “shattering records.” (Read more.)