I watched the ‘debate,’ if I can call it that. It seemed to me that it was more like an effort by FOX News to ‘shape’ public opinion about the candidates to fit the media’s preferred narrative of who they are and what they believe. But leaving that for another time, I was struck by the way the audience responded to some of the exchanges in this debate. Three times they cheered for a candidate who was advancing an immoral position. Folks, forget the candidates. If the people voting for them cannot recognize an immoral policy position when they hear it — or worse — if they actually cheer that immoral policy position, then it doesn’t matter who the candidates are: this nation is already lost. In this case, I was struck by something Trump, Christie and Huckabee said that — if the audience were a moral audience — should have gotten them booed off the stage.
First, there was this exchange between Trump and Chris Wallace:
‘You’re Living in the World of the Make Believe’: Trump Scolds Fox Host When Pressed on Bankruptcy
When Trump says he was just ‘using the law to the best advantage of his company,’ what he really means is he was using the law to get out of paying debts he could have and should have otherwise paid back. In short: he used the law to steal from his lenders. But Trump didn’t stop there. He boasted that he was proud of what he did. In other words, Trump thinks he is qualified to be President because he will boldly proclaim that he is proud to be a thief!
Incidentally, this is one of the many reasons corporations should not be allowed as they are currently structured. If the people who owned them had to pay the penalties for the company, I seriously doubt Trump would have 4 bankruptcies. But people always eek to avoid taking responsibility for their actions, which is the primary reason we have the current corporate structure (not to mention legalized murder of unborn children and welfare — which is not the same as charity).
Next, we have this exchange between Christie and Paul:
Sparks Fly During GOP Debate When Rand Paul Calls Out Chris Christie: ‘Use the Fourth Amendment!’
What Christie is actually saying here is: “Never let a crisis go to waste!” His reasoning is that of every dictator and tyrant in history: ‘I have to do it for their own good.’ This is the exact opposite of the President’s primary duty: to protect our individual rights and liberties. What good is it to defend a nation if you trample on everything for which that nation is supposed to stand? No, Christie can protect this country without having to have blanket wire-taps on every American. He just wants to be given freedom to take short-cuts, and he thinks we should trust him with that power. The Germans gave that power to a little man with an ego much like Christie’s, and look how that turned out for them.
Finally, we have the exchange between Christie and Huckabee. In this case, Christie is correct: we are never going to resolve this nation’s financial crisis until we face the problem of our entitlement debt. Huckabee is wrong in his support for the ‘fair tax.’ I’ve listened to the men who designed it, and it is not designed to fund the current debt ratio — not at the proposed 17-18% rate, it isn’t. This means Huckabee would have to raise a national sales tax above 18%, and that is on top of all State and local taxes. This would shift the burden of Social Security from the backs of wage earners to the very people he claims to be supporting — the poor!
Christie quoted a figure of 71% of the national budget going to service the debt and pay for our entitlements. His suggestion of raising the retirement age makes perfect sense. When the Social Security Act was passed, very few people lived tot he age of 65. Today, most live past that age, which means the law cannot be sustained — especially in the face of a shrinking population of wage earners. besides, the law never promises anyone benefits. The way it was written, it was never intended to be a retirement fund, nor was it ever guaranteed. So Huckabee is also wrong to give people the idea that they are ‘owed’ a retirement. they are not. All Huckabee is doing is advancing one of the primary planks of socialism, and that is nothing more than an appeal to the greed of the voter to grant the politician legal authority to steal on behalf of the voter in return for their vote.. He might as well be running with Burnie Sanders if he is going to advocate such a policy.
But as disappointed as I was with these candidates, I was more so with the audience. I expect this from candidates: they are in the business of lying and deceiving — even Trump. But the audience should know better, yet they didn’t seem to or — if they did — they didn’t care. So, vote ‘D’ or ‘R,’ it won’t matter. If we can no longer see right from wrong, good from evil, then — sooner or later — we are going to elect someone who will have us cheering as they drag us into tyranny:
The Oil for Your Lamp 
Reblogged this on The Rio Norte Line.
Christie also said he would take ( steal) people’s SS by the scheme of “means testing”. They paid into Social Security…..and it is tallied on an INDIVIDUAL basis…..not a collective one. In doing this Christie is advocating Marxism by confiscating some people’s life-long forced contributions into Soc Sec and then the “State” giving those assets to others.
Further by doing this he is advocating for the very same thing you criticized Trump for doing…… NOT paying some people the money owed to them ( which was theirs to begin with ).
Christie is advocating theft and using the State ( Federal Gov’t) to forcibly steal individual assets in order to “pay” for Politician’s bankrupting the country.
AS is Jeb Bush also BTW.
Again, he can means test all he wants and it is NOT ‘stealing their money.’ The Social Security Act does not guarantee ANYONE they will get ANYTHING! The law was not written that way. Nor was it intended to help anyone but the truly needy. So this is not the same thing as what Trump did, Don, and you should know this.
Social Security IS socialism. It is in the name of the program. Socialism does not guarantee ‘the rich’ anything but that they will be extorted to keep the political class in power. I know the history of this law. I have read it. I know that FDR said — IF we ever allowed it to become what it has become — it would bankrupt the nation. He knew what he was doing when he implemented this law, and the fact that Americans do not see it proves the point of this post: we are not a moral people — not anymore. And since an amoral and immoral people are incapable of self-governance, we are going to fall into some form of tyranny. It is that simple.
If it were up to me, I would end ALL so-called ‘entitlements.’ No one should be forced to pay for the wants of another. As for the needs: I have already written a post that proves minimum wage can pay to sustain an individual and leave plenty of money left for savings and other contingencies. The issue at hand is less about ‘caring about people,’ and more about the political class continuing the bribery that keeps them in office at the expense of the truly industrious in our society. Do too much of this too long and you shut down your economy — as we have been doing since the Social Security Act was passed.
Still, so long as the PEOPLE of this nation demand social security, then the LAW does not make Christie wrong. It is a bad law, but he is not wrong in his approach to fix the problem the law has created.
I know that SS was established as a “pay as we go” socialist scheme…..also that we pay into the general fund. I do payrolls for two companies….know it all very well.
However the people have been lied to and are forced to pay, AND there are “accounts” specific to each person which has purposely given the individual ( From their very FIRST paycheck the belief that it is their funds being set aside).
Thus YES it is a theft, wrapped in a lie, and forced on everyone….individuals and Corps who pay 50% of those taxes. Christies IS WRONG, in the very way you are talking about. By continuing the lie and the theft.
I would like to see the end of all entitlements…..and some private control of SS taxes as others have proposed.
Don,
OK, this is better. First, as a matter of LAW (bad law, but still…), the SS LAW does NOT promise anyone they will ever see a penny of the money they pay in. It is a Ponzi scheme, pure and simple. Always has been.
Second, YES! the people have been lied to, BUT, we have to accept at least 1/3 the blame for this. Politicians are going to lie. This is a given. It shouldn’t be, but it is. The media is supposed to explain the truth, so I’ll put 1/3 the blame on them, too. But we are also supposed to be CITIZENS, not serfs. This means we have a duty to know these laws, as well as be principled. It does not take a genius to realize that SS is theft by another name. Yet, we tolerate and even demand it. Therefore, we get the last 1/3 of the blame.
I cannot lay this all at the feet of the politician. If they could not bribe us with other people’s money, they wouldn’t be doing it. And if the media would support the founding principles of this nation, we might be better prepared to refuse to be bribed. But then, if frogs had wings, they wouldn’t bump their butts, either 🙂
In this instance I have to disagree with you. Especially after working since I was 14 and then starting two businesses and becoming the “pay master”. I have my own experience with perceptions and then others perceptions. I ( we ) were TOLD literally what I mentioned above….that these funds were allocated retirement funds. People are STILL told this.
Now…..since….. I have come to realize the truth of the Lie and Scam perpetrated on the Republic in the 1930s. BUT…..it took much education and research to come to the truth. I guess I have a certain compassion for the fact that the Lie is not only Persistent but doubled down on, so much so that the average person has no idea what the truth actually is. Though MANY are becoming aware of it. But that is a phenomenon evidenced for the most part in only the last ten years really.
Don,
I’m not sure you see it — and I understand why this may be — but you are not really disagreeing with me. You are just trying to take the issue here as a whole where I am dealing with the law as written separately from the moral aspects of the lies behind it. I see both. You are not wanting to see the law side of the question.
Keep in mind, I am on your side in both cases, so think about that before you send friendly fire my way — especially since I am a tanker. Most small arms has no effect on us 🙂
No.
I know the Law. That’s what I was getting at about my own enlightenment, and involvement via payroll etc.
But the Law is NOT what is explained to those who pay it. And further they are FORCED to pay it ! With understanding people have come more and more to reject it. But it is pushed under false premises. And THAT cannot be ignored. If you tell people it is one thing and then tell them it is an entirely Different thing that is a moral and theft issue.
In a sense this issue is a microcosm of the entire federal code that people don’t know about but assume the Bill of Rights and Constitution supersedes. Because they are told this ….REPEATEDLY. Thus they are lied to. And this is NOT trivial.
Reblogged this on The Lynler Report.
This is a little off point but it reveals a lot of what supposedly free or someone else’s money is capable of doing. Since 2000 it has accelerated at a rapid rate. It will put the LAST nail in the coffin of SS. The fiat US$ will be depreciated within the next several years to a point most SS payments will be worth ltttle. The progressives intentional inflation of the $ will destroy the value of SS and even the cash savers have in bank accounts.
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/heres-the-next-crisis-nobody-saw-coming/
The banks control the government and the government controls the people. The charts in this article show how progressive/Marxist ideology transfers larger and larger amounts wealth to the elite.
How people fail to see the link can only be explained as ignorance of natural law. Sadly, ignorance is no excuse and you deserve what you get. Gravity does not give you a second chance if you jump off the cliff. Most American have already jumped.
All true, but then, nothing new, either. Guess who said this:
“All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, so much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation.”
😉
Amen, lack of respect for the laws of God.
PS: if one did not know SS was a law vs a Retiremnet Savings Account it’s sad.
I have never planned my life around ever expecting a dime back. For those that did and still expect to receive it you better change your life style. As mentioned above it’s value will be destroyed by the government to keep the boat afloat.
Keep voting for lairs and thieves, Republcans included, and you’ll be able to pick up your gray uniforms on the way to the government housing centers set up to control you. Line up and get your beet soup and bread, free medical (bottle of pain pills) and 10 sq ft of living space per person.. UTOPIA in the 21st Centruy.
Joe is right, Trump is a crook but hed a lot of company.
The only one I would vote for would have to say “if elected President of the United State I will do every thing in my power to kill off the SS System. We will take each individual’s contribution, adjust it for a 10% per annum yield and send you your last lump sum check. Print the money to pay it off and add to the national debt.
No more theft through payroll taxes.