Does the Autumn equinox herald storms? Not half!

A gloomy but, I think, an accurate assesment of America's condition by Peggy Noonan in the WSJ. She is sometimes sneered at but there are not too many political writers who can quote themselves comfortably from articles written 14 years previously.  She detected then, and has had it confirmed in spades now, that there is a dangerously large void opening between governors and governed in the USA.  Even an amateur and foreign observer from afar like me can detect a burgeoning anger arising in the American public.  Interestingly, it seems to me to be somewhat unfocused from a party political viewpoint, although naturally the Dems are taking the most damage because they have 'enjoyed' the total power of controlling the White House and the Congress.  However, it is worth noting that even in Republican primaries, the machine pols of old are being ousted by 'outsiders' who refuse to enter the party's big tent and who are insisting that the party bosses start to rethink.  The Tea Party manifestation is a sympton not a cause of this malaise in the Great Republic.

The so far unanswered questions are how large this rebellion, for lack of a better word, will go, and then, how long it will last?  If in November it only gives the House of Representatives to the Republicans then I will be disappointed and I will write off this malcontent as a mere bubble.  However, if the Senate changes hands, too, then something quite remarkable is on foot and where it will end no-one knows.  The culmination, of course, will be two years hence when Obama would almost certainly be defeated.  All will depend on who takes his place.  If it is just another machine pol then I really do fear the consequences.  If it is a member of the 'awkward squad', such as Ms. Palin, whose main attraction is her authenticity, in the sense of doing what it says on the tin, then my hopes rise accordingly.  What it says on Ms. Palin's tin is that she will shrink the federal government in both political and financial terms, and that can do nothing but good for her country.

However, one has to consider the re-action of the anti-reactionaries!  Progressives always preach 'love 'n' peace, man' but are ruthless in applying murderous stratagems if they sense that their aims and desires are being baulked; so what they will do if they see the gains they have made over the last few years actually being unwound and reversed is difficult to contemplate.  Remember, the Obama regime is heavily infiltrated at all levels by revolutionary Marxists some of whom are guilty of terrorist acts, including murder, in the past.  An Autumn mist approaches and it is difficult to see through it but come November, all will be revealed.  Interesting - and you know what they say about interesting times!

Those Autumn leaves presage equal trouble 'over here'.  It is quite clear that the unions are plotting and planning in detail a campaign of disruption and chaos which will bring the country close to a complete halt.  It will make the 'Winter of Discontent' look like a squall.  I only hope that Cameron & Co are making equal efforts in planning how to combat this attack on our parliamentary democracy, for it will be nothing less than that.  The fundamental philosophy which drives our new-fangled coalition government remains "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma", not because of the secrecy imposed by Stalin on Russia which provoked Churchill's witty aphorism, but because they all seem to chatter away far too much.  Cameron seems to say the first thing that enters his head, and in the way of these things, sometimes he's right and sometimes he's wrong but usually he shouldn't have said it at all.  The rest of them blurt out contradictory nonsense to the point where no sensible man would bother to listen any more.

Only one thing matters, and that is whether or not they wield the Treasury axe, not just on programmes but on public employees as well.  Here, according to reports I have read, they are likely to trigger the judicial IEDs left behind by a retreating Brown, Balls and Harmon in the form of anti-discriminatory laws which will allow unions to fight any cuts on the grounds that they fall disproportionately on one group or another - and we all know which side the 'Cocklecarrots' tend to take!  If Cameron fails to carry out an early and major unwinding of Labour's past programmes he and his administration will be forever hobbled.

We will only know Cameron for what he really is by the results and my own personal litmus test, because it is only wonks and cranks who can follow every nut, bolt and washer in detail, is the BBC.  If by this time next year the BBC is reduced to a shadow of its former grandiloquent glory then I will be convinced that not all is lost.  Rod Liddle in today's 'Speccie' (no link yet) pours some much needed lavatory cleaner down the financial drain that leads to this over-mighty corporation.  He picks on, just as an example of dozens of others, some utter shit called Peter Salmon who, and I advise you to pour yourself a stiff drink before reading further, earns £400k a year as 'Director BBC North' (my emphasis) but who refuses to leave the delights of metropolitan London and follow his minions who have been ordered under pain of dismissal to re-locate to Salford.  Liddle asks, not unreasonably, what a 'Director BBC North' actually does for his £400k, especially from London?  In turn, I ask, would we miss him if, in Python language, 'he was no more and ceased to be' and we had our £400k back every year - to say nothing of his enormous pension pot?  So, when it comes to young Cameron we shall know him by his BBC.

In the meantime, stockpile your rations and start digging the slit trench - it could be a long war this Autumn!

 

Comments

[dearieme]

This very evening we shall be auditioning a brand of tinned chicken to see whether it is fit to take a place in our attic of emergency rations.

[JK]

I'll not bother you much with verbiage laden preambly sorts of stuff David. (Apologies to Mr. Heffer - but I'm an American and an Arkie which gives me particular license.) And nope, not being partisan by posting this link - the current Democrats have the House and the Senate - the last crop of Republicans either sit in house arrest or in prison.

And even though David the file contains 41 pages - because it's paragraphs are pretty much limited to single sentences, to wit: "271. The Respondent's pattern of indifference or disregard of the laws, rules and regulations of the United States and the House of Representatives is a serious violation" reading this shouldn't violate your recent promises to the local chapter of Bookaholics Anonymous.

http://ethics.house.gov/Media/PDF/Rangel%20SAV.pdf

[David Duff]

'DM', I would recommend those large-ish tins of duck the French produce - I think you can get them over here now.

'JK', Rangel constitutes a one-man crime spree of enormous proportions. However, your second sentence reminds me that whilst it is possible that in November a bevy of white knights might ride into Washington that old sin-city is likely to rust their shining armour in no time at all.

[dearieme]

I had hoped to persuade my wife to enjoy tinned cassoulet - no joy. And her of Huguenot descent too.

[David Duff]

Yes, those tins of cassoulet are excellent. Force your wife to make you fresh cassoulet, that will soon bring her round to the advantages of the tinned variety.

(See how brave I am with other men's wives?!)