POWIP Piece of Work In Progress – Former Abode of Dan Collins

Obama: Master of Unintended Consequences

When I was at the Scott Brown victory bash with Stacy and Peter, Ace (also in Nevada to grab some quickies) and the rest, I sat next to The Telegraph's US politics reporter. In the course of our discussion, I mentioned that one of the things that was different was that a lot of conservatives were out of work, and therefore had oodles of time, like university students or paid progressive activists, to do political organizing and campaigning. Well, today the NYT gets around to the story:

When Tom Grimes lost his job as a financial consultant 15 months ago, he called his congressman, a Democrat, for help getting government health care.

Then he found a new full-time occupation: Tea Party activist.

In the last year, he has organized a local group and a statewide coalition, and even started a “bus czar” Web site to marshal protesters to Washington on short notice. This month, he mobilized 200 other Tea Party activists to go to the local office of the same congressman to protest what he sees as the government’s takeover of health care.

It's hypocrisy, you see, to want to utilize any of the resources that you've paid into all your working lifetime by fiat, because that money could be going to Obama-loyal slackers who support (in the sense of voting for) expanded social welfare programs (or laid-off NYT staff). I'm guessing that the government health plan he asked his representative to help him get enrolled in might have been COBRA, but I can't tell, because the NYT writer prefers to be vague about this, in order to intimate but not to specify hypocrisy.

Of course, Progressives never bother their elected representatives for anything at all, if they're Republicans, so I suppose I'm being unfair.

The MSM had the same reaction to Republican earmarks after the Stimulus Bill: how could these people now ask for money for their districts after voting against the bill? Let's say that you and some friends pool your money on vacation, and they decide that they'd like to go to a fancy eatery. You'd rather not pay that much for dinner, but you feel compelled to come along. They tell you that you're not invited, because you expressed opposition to the idea, but they're going to spend your money on the outing, too. Thats pretty much what these cries of hypocrisy boil down to.

Obama has made AmeriCorps his own ideological jobs bank. He wanted to give ACORN a place in the Census, but they blew it. He's now got his Ready Reserve, also paid for out of Federal coffers, and just as likely to be an ideological wing of progressivism. Apparently, they're to do some of the things that The Salvation Army presently does, but doubtless they will be unionized, and doubtless they will do these things less well and at much greater cost. Only a liberal could not see the rank, actual hypocrisy involved. Now, what happens if by some strange turn of fortune an American Nationalist Party somehow comes into power? You are some truly dumb motherfuckers.

Teach the children well.

Jeebus. William Jacobson has some other mind-numbing unintended consequences (and thanks for blog of the day designation, and all the views I get from your place).

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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