Rush Limbaugh is America's greatest unsung political analyst. Again and again he "nails it," as he likes to say.
Yesterday, St. Paddy's Day, Rush nailed the difference between the 2010 midterms and the 2014 midterms.
Back in 2010 the people that rebelled against Obamacare and voted in a Republican House were Tea Partiers, smart people that knew that Obamacare could never live up to its billing of keeping your doctor, enrolling the uninsured, and lowering insurance premiums. Because economics. Because Hayek.
In other words, these were people that knew, from theory, that a great big complicated government redistribution program like Obamacare would never work.
Now, in 2014, the people that are going to turn the US Senate are ordinary Americans that believed the president when he promised to let them keep their doctor, lower their premiums, etc. But now these trusting Americans are experiencing the reality of Obamacare. They are losing their doctors, losing their insurance, paying higher premiums and deductibles.
In 2014 a whole new bunch of people are going to vote against Obamacare. Because reality.
The value of knowledge and science and theory and reason and all that stuff is simple. Does it work? If you act as if a piece of knowledge is true does it make a difference? Let us return to my piece on Hillary Clinton and Pragmatism, William James style. Writes James:
"What practical difference would it make to anyone" if Obama rather than the Tea Partiers were right?
I will tell you what difference, at this point, it will make. The difference is going to be which party wins the US Senate in 2014.
And the point can be enlarged some more. Barack Obama and his policies represent a theory of the world and society, a world view if you like. We were told by the high priests of the Cathedral that Obama and his ideas, from the economy to green energy to health care, were going to usher in Hope and Change and fundamentally transform America.
But now we know that Barack Obama's ideas don't work. Not in the economy, not in global warming, not in foreign policy. And any fool can see it.
If you are a conservative then you were saying back in 2009 that his ideas would never work. I certainly did. Back in 2009 I wrote that the Obamis needed to redo their agenda which was written back in 2007 before the Crash of 2008. Forget health reform, I said. Forget more Keynesian stimulus and more spending.
Why did I write this? Not because I'm brilliant, but Because Hayek. Because I believe in classical and Austrian economics. I believe that classical and Austrian economics are helpful guides to understanding the economy.
Today it's conventional wisdom that the 2009 Keynesian stimulus was a waste and that Obamacare is a disaster. And green energy is a crony capitalist embarrassment. Because reality. And today the American people get it.
The sad thing is that the American people are good people, and they don't deserve Obama. But the American people haven't learned their economics, and many that have have learned the wrong, Keynesian, lessons from it.
When a businessman makes a wrong decision he pays with decreased profits and maybe even devastating losses and bankruptcy.
When voters make a wrong decision they must pay too. And really, wrong political decisions are more fateful and cause more hardship than wrong business decisions.
Fortunately the thing about America is, according to Winston Churchill, that America always makes the right decision... after exhausting all other possibilities.
We hope.
Yesterday, St. Paddy's Day, Rush nailed the difference between the 2010 midterms and the 2014 midterms.
Back in 2010 the people that rebelled against Obamacare and voted in a Republican House were Tea Partiers, smart people that knew that Obamacare could never live up to its billing of keeping your doctor, enrolling the uninsured, and lowering insurance premiums. Because economics. Because Hayek.
In other words, these were people that knew, from theory, that a great big complicated government redistribution program like Obamacare would never work.
Now, in 2014, the people that are going to turn the US Senate are ordinary Americans that believed the president when he promised to let them keep their doctor, lower their premiums, etc. But now these trusting Americans are experiencing the reality of Obamacare. They are losing their doctors, losing their insurance, paying higher premiums and deductibles.
In 2014 a whole new bunch of people are going to vote against Obamacare. Because reality.
The value of knowledge and science and theory and reason and all that stuff is simple. Does it work? If you act as if a piece of knowledge is true does it make a difference? Let us return to my piece on Hillary Clinton and Pragmatism, William James style. Writes James:
The pragmatic method... is to try to interpret each notion by tracing its respective practical consequences. What difference would it practically make to any one if this notion rather than that notion were true? If no practical difference whatever can be traced, then the alternatives mean practically the same thing, and all dispute is idle.Back in 2010 President Obama and his acolytes said that Obamacare would mean that the nation would provide health insurance for the uninsured and lower insurance premiums. Conservatives and Tea Partiers said that Obamacare would increase premiums.
"What practical difference would it make to anyone" if Obama rather than the Tea Partiers were right?
I will tell you what difference, at this point, it will make. The difference is going to be which party wins the US Senate in 2014.
And the point can be enlarged some more. Barack Obama and his policies represent a theory of the world and society, a world view if you like. We were told by the high priests of the Cathedral that Obama and his ideas, from the economy to green energy to health care, were going to usher in Hope and Change and fundamentally transform America.
But now we know that Barack Obama's ideas don't work. Not in the economy, not in global warming, not in foreign policy. And any fool can see it.
If you are a conservative then you were saying back in 2009 that his ideas would never work. I certainly did. Back in 2009 I wrote that the Obamis needed to redo their agenda which was written back in 2007 before the Crash of 2008. Forget health reform, I said. Forget more Keynesian stimulus and more spending.
Why did I write this? Not because I'm brilliant, but Because Hayek. Because I believe in classical and Austrian economics. I believe that classical and Austrian economics are helpful guides to understanding the economy.
Today it's conventional wisdom that the 2009 Keynesian stimulus was a waste and that Obamacare is a disaster. And green energy is a crony capitalist embarrassment. Because reality. And today the American people get it.
The sad thing is that the American people are good people, and they don't deserve Obama. But the American people haven't learned their economics, and many that have have learned the wrong, Keynesian, lessons from it.
When a businessman makes a wrong decision he pays with decreased profits and maybe even devastating losses and bankruptcy.
When voters make a wrong decision they must pay too. And really, wrong political decisions are more fateful and cause more hardship than wrong business decisions.
Fortunately the thing about America is, according to Winston Churchill, that America always makes the right decision... after exhausting all other possibilities.
We hope.
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