Am I happy with the state of our country? No! However, i will vote Republican, because I have no desire to see the Demon-crats and the DSA take over. People have to start bombarding the White House with phone calls.. (202)456-1111. Leave comments and state your views. The president is surrounded by syncophants and Big Pharma promoters...He needs to hear from the people.
Regulatory Capture rules the day. Regardless if the President is a Republican or a Democrat.
Concentration of Power and Money is continually being consolidated. Observing how the vaccine boys are going about maintaining control speaks volumes about this issue. Most of the rhetoric is political mudslinging. Will someone step forward and not insult the intelligence of the American people and speak the truth!
P.T. Barnum said nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.
I think that needs to be considered in what is an "insult to the intelligence of the American people". An average of the populace is implied, not the readers of this essay.
I have this fantasy I call the fix. Indulge me for a moment. The fix for fascism is this: at the federal government level, separate spending from funding. Elected politicians can and should propose spending BUT ONLY citizen taxpayers should APPROVE FUNDING . I.E. distribute decision making across the entire taxpayer population . This will tend to put a hard stop to fraud, waste, lobbying and stupid socialist ideas. In practice Every taxpayer must assign their tax dollars for or NOT for each spending bill proposed. Make a bill obtuse and unintelligible? Propose a tax on those that work and give to those who don’t ? No problem. Just say “no you can’t use my tax dollars for that.” Bills that taxpayers agree to fund get annual audits and review ie can the government continue to use my tax dollars for this? (That would have saved us all billions on the California high sped rail to nowhere.) The result: Budgets then shrink or swell based on performance and the will of THOSE who actually fund the government. If everyone with skin in the game did this, graft and political manipulation would approach zero. Nothing focuses the mind, and improves the IQ more than having one’s own hard work stolen and misused. And nothing would do more to unite Democrats and Republicans than everyone getting the governance they want TO THE EXTENT THEY WERE WILLING TO PAY FOR IT. Note: non-contributing citizens and non-citizens ARE NOT allowed in this assignment. Why? Because they get their say when they vote for or lobby their representatives who propose the spending. But if they aren’t actually paying taxes for government services, then they shouldn’t get to fund the government! This is the step change needed in our constitution! And would do a great deal more to secure our God given rights than all the pontificating party politics or all the social media complaining or all the useless dumb ass protesting or all the handwringing by weak powerless citizens. Last, anyone wanting to influence government spending would be most directly able to do it by getting a JOB and putting their tax money where their mouth is.
Interesting proposal. I suspect that the ultimate outcome would be almost no government because I think most people would choose to fund very little. I am a little unclear as to how that relates to fascism; but, then, there may not be much agreement on what is the proper definition of fascism.
I think the original statement defined fascism as a blend of government and corporations. Without government funding, corporations aren’t able to function. Thus by putting citizen taxpayers in charge of funding it either exerts control over corporations or encourages them to sever their government ties. I’m not the best politically educated so I could be wrong about that.
About my “big” idea, there is obviously a lot of missing detail about how it would work. Everyone has a tax liability which a holding tank gets so you can’t just say no to everything and keep your tax dollars. What you can do is exert population wide choice and oversight. Let’s take the California high speed rail. To start, plenty of people would say “no” because for example how does that benefit an orange farmer in Florida. But enough might say yes to kick off the project. The next year it’s up for renewal and a Doge report says planning and permitting has completed (I’m making this all up) and citizens (some of them) agree to go another year. Year 3 nothing got done. Now a huge bunch who said yes last year say no this year. Ten years later there’s no high speed rail, but there is also no money spent on fraud , waste and abuse. Good idea poor execution brought to a hault by the only people with a genuinely vested interest . Maybe an Elon will come along and taxpayers will pony up for it again. In any case, the people wanting it are the people paying for it and the rest of us are free to “invest “ our tax dollars where it does us the most good.
Ah, I think there is the problem. Why does everybody have a tax liability and who decides at what level? Whoever decides that would have total control including deciding it could be all income belonging to the government.
I'm tempted to agree with you on much of this; however, I think Trump was right on the threats Iran posed and if not for the war, the economy would be soaring, and not just for corporate America. It's also partly the narrative driven by the mainstream media that is far left now. And if the Republicans are not the answer, they sure as hell are better than the alternative. The GDP is up, wages are up, inflation would be down except for gas driven by the war, jobs are being created in the private sector, manufacturing is coming back. So I really don't like seeing articles like this that just benefit the left. Though there is truth in what you are saying, your articles have been reading like other influencers that want a following--if y ou can't have 100% of what they want they tear everything down and just helpl the worst people out there. The left does everything for power and if you think socialism will work better than corporate power over time, think again. I am all for breaking up monopolies especially in terms of organic farmers and small meat producers. But you don't have to tear down the whole system to do that. I don't know. This kind of stuff is just so depressing because it just helps those who hate America and want to tear it down.
If I understand Dr M rightly, he is for moving decision making closer and closer to the people those decisions affect and who should rightly have a voice in. Let’s take the welfare system as a whole. Everything about it is broken. Why? Because the people in need are in neighborhoods that have NO influence over any of it. What would work better (in my not so humble and possibly misguided opinion) is for counties to take over ALL of welfare for their residents. (And if county is too big, then precincts or even school blocks.). People needing food support, housing, work are then neighbors we all know. If they need a leg up, we are happy to see our tax dollars help them. If they are lazy drug addicts, we would be equally happy to put them on the equivalent of a chain gang with recovery mandatory to receive help. Lots of down regulating federally and up scrutinizing locally would give everyone a whole bigger incentive to participate in the classical American / capitalist system. Breaking open competition also seems really important. When local farmers and butchers can easily out compete Walmart, you know you’re on to something big.
I like that solution.. Wendell Barry was right. Politics should be local and smaller agrarian communities would do much better. But still, we had better do that within the framework of the right, not the left. So not saying Dr. Malone is wrong--he's right about a lot of this, and he is right on the vaccines, too but the alternatives are so much worse than what we are doing right now.
Dr. Malone, I wrote an essay on a similar topic back in July. I find several parallels but my approach is what I call Structural Analysis: Content tells us what we decide; structure tells us how we decide. The essay makes the case that youth are attracted to Socialism because of the broken promises my generation has made to youth. What we promise if they play by the rules turns out not to be accessible to them, and we can't blame them for looking for a solution. It does no good to argue with their experience by claiming their solution, i.e., socialism, is flawed. That does not change the structural realities they were born into. My essay can be found here: https://robberry.substack.com/p/domination-or-accommodation-fdd?r=qy2lv&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Really enjoyed reading this article. It validates my opinion of how our government has been operating, looking out for the corporations and not the people. Promises of taking care of America first have not been kept. Seemingly, we have no say in the matter.
One thing this makes clear to me is giving 18 yr olds the vote was outright stupid...particularly given just how poorly our progressive infested educational system has prepared them for the reality of living in the real world
President Trump has accomplished a tremendous amount of reform especially in the area of fraud and abuse of our tax dollars. He would need ten years to clean up the mess our government has created for the American people. I hope at this stage if any Zoomers put their phones down long enough to vote they will at least pick the lesser of two evils. Communism has never been a success, but then most Zoomers have a mediocre education, especially in American history. Very thorough article.
Thank you for explaining "Burn it down" politics! I guess I tend to agree that the big guys have the perks...Not fair to entry levels all across the board. I disagree that Socialism will figure this out though, so still choosing the lesser of evils appears to be the way forward...So far nobody is winning...except the "status quo" of industries...
Most of the discontent in the youth of America today stems from complete LACK OF EDUCATING THE YOUNG IN OUR SCHOOLS AS TO JUST HOW THE WORLD AND ECONOMY WORKS. Ignorance is driving young voters to the lies and deceptions spouted by the Socialists and Communists running for office. Had our schools educated, instead of indoctrinated, our young, this generation would have a more complete and honest understanding of how capitalism works for the betterment of our citizens. Shame on those who let our institutions of learning be taken over by teachers who love Communism! That lack of knowledge is driving our youth into the arms of Marxists who want the downfall of America. This is no small failure on our part. This is a MONUMENTAL SCREW UP!!! And, sadly, we may just have to live with it….. :-(
Just the very reason we should do away with TENURE. Bad teachers should be fired! Length of service should not have a bearing if they are brainwashing our young in Communism! PERIOD.
What you’ve articulated is wisdom and truth and simplicity offers the best answers to all societal issues. How eve enter stage left men/women without a moral compass and or the intelligence to govern. And we’re back to John Adams statement “only a moral society can keep our republic as a thriving governance.
Without Charlie Kirk in Trump’s ear and Kirk’s ability to unify and reign in the entire rightwing coalition as he was so brilliantly doing I fear the current fracturing and complete non focus on domestic issues will bring in a most chaotic outcome. We cannot ignore that the divisions in our nation are as much spiritual as intellectual and physical. Corruption in our educational institutions and governance has far surpassed any elementary stage cancer levels. I’d vote for the Malone’s anyday and will keep in my daily prayers.
MAYBE. I have been doing this for decades. The POLLS are to use a statistical term .. far short of 95 per cent confidence level and even the rags left wings say 65 percent short on accuracy.
The ZOOMERS ARE ALL HAT AND NO CATTLE.. in other words;; I doubt they will show up because it inference by Tiktok and Smartphone time. :) just sayin. good article anyway :)
Subsidiarity works best if you have people who are willing to take responsibility for themselves. People (of any age) who understand that their own actions have consequences and who participate in likeminded communities. That is not part of the education of youth these days and everything is dumbed down to political entertainment produced and consumed according to fickle and trendy demand. Still, you have individuals not going along. Are there enough of them out there to make a constructive rather than destructive change?
I felt this article at the grocery store this morning. I deliberately shop at farmers markets when I can because I want to support local farmers, yet increasingly I find their prices far beyond what I can pay, often 50% higher than in organic stores. Even at Natural Grocers, eggs that not long ago cost $1.99 are now $3.49. I found myself simply putting non-essentials back.
If I feel that squeeze at 70, I can only imagine what it feels like to be 25, trying to build a life, buy a home, or start a family.
Yet some Zoomers actually give me hope. I’ve been listening to a young woman on Instagram who is remarkably perceptive about what is happening around her. There seems to be a growing group of young people who aren't merely complaining about the system—they're questioning its assumptions and asking why it works the way it does.
Perhaps “burn it down” is only the first stage. The hopeful question is the one you end with: What will they build instead?
Am I happy with the state of our country? No! However, i will vote Republican, because I have no desire to see the Demon-crats and the DSA take over. People have to start bombarding the White House with phone calls.. (202)456-1111. Leave comments and state your views. The president is surrounded by syncophants and Big Pharma promoters...He needs to hear from the people.
Regulatory Capture rules the day. Regardless if the President is a Republican or a Democrat.
Concentration of Power and Money is continually being consolidated. Observing how the vaccine boys are going about maintaining control speaks volumes about this issue. Most of the rhetoric is political mudslinging. Will someone step forward and not insult the intelligence of the American people and speak the truth!
P.T. Barnum said nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.
I think that needs to be considered in what is an "insult to the intelligence of the American people". An average of the populace is implied, not the readers of this essay.
Very good essay!
"Economists have various names for this entanglement of private economic power and government protection, including crony capitalism and corporatism."
From at least some sources, the combination of corporations and government to control the populace is the definition of fascism.
I have this fantasy I call the fix. Indulge me for a moment. The fix for fascism is this: at the federal government level, separate spending from funding. Elected politicians can and should propose spending BUT ONLY citizen taxpayers should APPROVE FUNDING . I.E. distribute decision making across the entire taxpayer population . This will tend to put a hard stop to fraud, waste, lobbying and stupid socialist ideas. In practice Every taxpayer must assign their tax dollars for or NOT for each spending bill proposed. Make a bill obtuse and unintelligible? Propose a tax on those that work and give to those who don’t ? No problem. Just say “no you can’t use my tax dollars for that.” Bills that taxpayers agree to fund get annual audits and review ie can the government continue to use my tax dollars for this? (That would have saved us all billions on the California high sped rail to nowhere.) The result: Budgets then shrink or swell based on performance and the will of THOSE who actually fund the government. If everyone with skin in the game did this, graft and political manipulation would approach zero. Nothing focuses the mind, and improves the IQ more than having one’s own hard work stolen and misused. And nothing would do more to unite Democrats and Republicans than everyone getting the governance they want TO THE EXTENT THEY WERE WILLING TO PAY FOR IT. Note: non-contributing citizens and non-citizens ARE NOT allowed in this assignment. Why? Because they get their say when they vote for or lobby their representatives who propose the spending. But if they aren’t actually paying taxes for government services, then they shouldn’t get to fund the government! This is the step change needed in our constitution! And would do a great deal more to secure our God given rights than all the pontificating party politics or all the social media complaining or all the useless dumb ass protesting or all the handwringing by weak powerless citizens. Last, anyone wanting to influence government spending would be most directly able to do it by getting a JOB and putting their tax money where their mouth is.
Interesting proposal. I suspect that the ultimate outcome would be almost no government because I think most people would choose to fund very little. I am a little unclear as to how that relates to fascism; but, then, there may not be much agreement on what is the proper definition of fascism.
I think the original statement defined fascism as a blend of government and corporations. Without government funding, corporations aren’t able to function. Thus by putting citizen taxpayers in charge of funding it either exerts control over corporations or encourages them to sever their government ties. I’m not the best politically educated so I could be wrong about that.
There are many corporations that exist without government funding; some even without governments as customers.
Are they still involved in what you defined as fascist?
About my “big” idea, there is obviously a lot of missing detail about how it would work. Everyone has a tax liability which a holding tank gets so you can’t just say no to everything and keep your tax dollars. What you can do is exert population wide choice and oversight. Let’s take the California high speed rail. To start, plenty of people would say “no” because for example how does that benefit an orange farmer in Florida. But enough might say yes to kick off the project. The next year it’s up for renewal and a Doge report says planning and permitting has completed (I’m making this all up) and citizens (some of them) agree to go another year. Year 3 nothing got done. Now a huge bunch who said yes last year say no this year. Ten years later there’s no high speed rail, but there is also no money spent on fraud , waste and abuse. Good idea poor execution brought to a hault by the only people with a genuinely vested interest . Maybe an Elon will come along and taxpayers will pony up for it again. In any case, the people wanting it are the people paying for it and the rest of us are free to “invest “ our tax dollars where it does us the most good.
Ah, I think there is the problem. Why does everybody have a tax liability and who decides at what level? Whoever decides that would have total control including deciding it could be all income belonging to the government.
I'm tempted to agree with you on much of this; however, I think Trump was right on the threats Iran posed and if not for the war, the economy would be soaring, and not just for corporate America. It's also partly the narrative driven by the mainstream media that is far left now. And if the Republicans are not the answer, they sure as hell are better than the alternative. The GDP is up, wages are up, inflation would be down except for gas driven by the war, jobs are being created in the private sector, manufacturing is coming back. So I really don't like seeing articles like this that just benefit the left. Though there is truth in what you are saying, your articles have been reading like other influencers that want a following--if y ou can't have 100% of what they want they tear everything down and just helpl the worst people out there. The left does everything for power and if you think socialism will work better than corporate power over time, think again. I am all for breaking up monopolies especially in terms of organic farmers and small meat producers. But you don't have to tear down the whole system to do that. I don't know. This kind of stuff is just so depressing because it just helps those who hate America and want to tear it down.
If I understand Dr M rightly, he is for moving decision making closer and closer to the people those decisions affect and who should rightly have a voice in. Let’s take the welfare system as a whole. Everything about it is broken. Why? Because the people in need are in neighborhoods that have NO influence over any of it. What would work better (in my not so humble and possibly misguided opinion) is for counties to take over ALL of welfare for their residents. (And if county is too big, then precincts or even school blocks.). People needing food support, housing, work are then neighbors we all know. If they need a leg up, we are happy to see our tax dollars help them. If they are lazy drug addicts, we would be equally happy to put them on the equivalent of a chain gang with recovery mandatory to receive help. Lots of down regulating federally and up scrutinizing locally would give everyone a whole bigger incentive to participate in the classical American / capitalist system. Breaking open competition also seems really important. When local farmers and butchers can easily out compete Walmart, you know you’re on to something big.
I like that solution.. Wendell Barry was right. Politics should be local and smaller agrarian communities would do much better. But still, we had better do that within the framework of the right, not the left. So not saying Dr. Malone is wrong--he's right about a lot of this, and he is right on the vaccines, too but the alternatives are so much worse than what we are doing right now.
Dr. Malone, I wrote an essay on a similar topic back in July. I find several parallels but my approach is what I call Structural Analysis: Content tells us what we decide; structure tells us how we decide. The essay makes the case that youth are attracted to Socialism because of the broken promises my generation has made to youth. What we promise if they play by the rules turns out not to be accessible to them, and we can't blame them for looking for a solution. It does no good to argue with their experience by claiming their solution, i.e., socialism, is flawed. That does not change the structural realities they were born into. My essay can be found here: https://robberry.substack.com/p/domination-or-accommodation-fdd?r=qy2lv&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Really enjoyed reading this article. It validates my opinion of how our government has been operating, looking out for the corporations and not the people. Promises of taking care of America first have not been kept. Seemingly, we have no say in the matter.
One thing this makes clear to me is giving 18 yr olds the vote was outright stupid...particularly given just how poorly our progressive infested educational system has prepared them for the reality of living in the real world
President Trump has accomplished a tremendous amount of reform especially in the area of fraud and abuse of our tax dollars. He would need ten years to clean up the mess our government has created for the American people. I hope at this stage if any Zoomers put their phones down long enough to vote they will at least pick the lesser of two evils. Communism has never been a success, but then most Zoomers have a mediocre education, especially in American history. Very thorough article.
Thank you for explaining "Burn it down" politics! I guess I tend to agree that the big guys have the perks...Not fair to entry levels all across the board. I disagree that Socialism will figure this out though, so still choosing the lesser of evils appears to be the way forward...So far nobody is winning...except the "status quo" of industries...
Most of the discontent in the youth of America today stems from complete LACK OF EDUCATING THE YOUNG IN OUR SCHOOLS AS TO JUST HOW THE WORLD AND ECONOMY WORKS. Ignorance is driving young voters to the lies and deceptions spouted by the Socialists and Communists running for office. Had our schools educated, instead of indoctrinated, our young, this generation would have a more complete and honest understanding of how capitalism works for the betterment of our citizens. Shame on those who let our institutions of learning be taken over by teachers who love Communism! That lack of knowledge is driving our youth into the arms of Marxists who want the downfall of America. This is no small failure on our part. This is a MONUMENTAL SCREW UP!!! And, sadly, we may just have to live with it….. :-(
Just the very reason we should do away with TENURE. Bad teachers should be fired! Length of service should not have a bearing if they are brainwashing our young in Communism! PERIOD.
What you’ve articulated is wisdom and truth and simplicity offers the best answers to all societal issues. How eve enter stage left men/women without a moral compass and or the intelligence to govern. And we’re back to John Adams statement “only a moral society can keep our republic as a thriving governance.
Without Charlie Kirk in Trump’s ear and Kirk’s ability to unify and reign in the entire rightwing coalition as he was so brilliantly doing I fear the current fracturing and complete non focus on domestic issues will bring in a most chaotic outcome. We cannot ignore that the divisions in our nation are as much spiritual as intellectual and physical. Corruption in our educational institutions and governance has far surpassed any elementary stage cancer levels. I’d vote for the Malone’s anyday and will keep in my daily prayers.
Rein in (like a horse).
MAYBE. I have been doing this for decades. The POLLS are to use a statistical term .. far short of 95 per cent confidence level and even the rags left wings say 65 percent short on accuracy.
The ZOOMERS ARE ALL HAT AND NO CATTLE.. in other words;; I doubt they will show up because it inference by Tiktok and Smartphone time. :) just sayin. good article anyway :)
By not showing up, they will decide the election
Subsidiarity works best if you have people who are willing to take responsibility for themselves. People (of any age) who understand that their own actions have consequences and who participate in likeminded communities. That is not part of the education of youth these days and everything is dumbed down to political entertainment produced and consumed according to fickle and trendy demand. Still, you have individuals not going along. Are there enough of them out there to make a constructive rather than destructive change?
I felt this article at the grocery store this morning. I deliberately shop at farmers markets when I can because I want to support local farmers, yet increasingly I find their prices far beyond what I can pay, often 50% higher than in organic stores. Even at Natural Grocers, eggs that not long ago cost $1.99 are now $3.49. I found myself simply putting non-essentials back.
If I feel that squeeze at 70, I can only imagine what it feels like to be 25, trying to build a life, buy a home, or start a family.
Yet some Zoomers actually give me hope. I’ve been listening to a young woman on Instagram who is remarkably perceptive about what is happening around her. There seems to be a growing group of young people who aren't merely complaining about the system—they're questioning its assumptions and asking why it works the way it does.
Perhaps “burn it down” is only the first stage. The hopeful question is the one you end with: What will they build instead?