Back in August, Steve counseled this: “If You Support Mike Pence, You Should Maybe, Probably Stop …“. Me, too, by the way. The result? Too many of you listened, heard, and took that advice (heh!).

Emphasis mine, reformatted:

With three months to go before the Iowa caucuses that he has staked his campaign on, former Vice President Mike Pence faces mounting debt and lagging poll numbers that are forcing questions about not only whether he will qualify for the next debate, but whether it makes sense for him to remain in the race until then.

The former Veep is in the second tier of Republican candidates at 3.8% in the aggregated RealClearPolitics polling as of Saturday. In contrast, Trump is at 59.1%

Pence ended September with just $1.18 million left in his campaign account, a strikingly low number for a presidential contest and far less than his rivals, new filings show. His campaign also has $621,000 in debt — more than half the cash he had remaining — and is scrambling to meet donor thresholds for the Nov. 8 debate. While he would likely meet the debate’s polling requirements, Pence has struggled to gain traction and is polling in the low single digits nationally, with no sign of momentum.

Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, is leading every one of his rivals by at least 40 points in national polls and ended September with $37.5 million on hand.

Let’s face it – the electorate, thus far, is not enamored with an Establishment GOP guy who folded like a cheap suit when the pressure was applied (by the militant gays and corporations that threatened him after he signed the Indiana Law that protected religion).

I understand that he’s a nice guy in person, but I want a brawler out in front of me. Not the living physical embodiment of a cartoon character, Race Bannon, who doesn’t measure up, doesn’t live up even to the cartoon with respect to courage.

There are always those who linger too long in politics, just like former stars in athletics who stay in the game well after their prime. Yes, some for the money, but others still believe they’ve “got it” for one more go-round until Life cleans their clock. Finally humbled, they are forced into retirement.

Pence should take a hint. So should Asa “Who? Why?” Hutchinson at 0.4%.

And WHY is Sununu, given his “Anyone with >5% polling approval should drop out,” still squiring around Chubs “I’m Establishment too!” Christie.Christie. Is it because he is another Never-Trumper? Can there be any other reason?

 

HT |  Associated Press

The post Back in August, Steve Counseled This: “If You Support Mike Pence You Should Maybe, Probably Stop …”. And? appeared first on Granite Grok.

The last few months have been stressful and frustrating as a conservative American. Actually, the previous three years have been challenging for anyone who loves this country and is angered by Joe Biden. He and the Democrats continue to make bad decisions that are turning every aspect of American Life to mush.

Whether the economy, division, foreign policy debacles, or the utter destruction of our sovereignty, no component of American life is better than three years ago. I have been writing articles daily documenting my assessment of our country’s direction for the last 1,100 days. Being constantly tuned into the news cycle can be a blessing and a curse. It is my choice, and I am not looking for sympathy, but Saturday night was a relief from the tedium.

We gathered eight friends, and the ten of us enjoyed a wonderful dinner and a night of live music. We went to the Casino Ballroom on Hampton Beach, an iconic entertainment venue, and took a step back in time. We listened to the tight sounds of Voyage, a Journey cover band that had the packed house singing and dancing for a couple of hours. The night was a much-needed respite, letting us forget the reality of life for a few hours. The beat of the drums and the lively licks on the lead guitar replaced the sights and sounds of artillery shells hitting their targets in Gaza and the drone of Joe Biden telling us how much more of our money he needs to give to Ukraine, Israel, or Gaza. The excitement and friendship of the night were a welcome break from the sad story perpetrated on the American people by the Biden Administration.

I shake my head in disbelief at the 20% of the population who think we are in a better place today than three years ago. Ignorance or blind faith? You tell me what these people are thinking. They certainly are not living in reality. Ask the majority of people, and they will give you their reasons why this train is on the wrong track. The reasons are endless and discouraging. How can we take power and prosperity and turn it so quickly into soured milk? That is Joe Biden’s singular accomplishment and why his legacy will be of a failed political life and Presidency.

So we took a break on Saturday night. It’s ironic the band was covering the music of Journey, for that is what we are sharing. Looking out on the filled room and watching the unbridled enthusiasm was refreshing and exhilarating. The beat of the music and singing of the crowd was recharging, but then my mind drifted back to a similar scene a couple of weeks ago, halfway around the world. Those hundreds gathered to relax and enjoy the music as one had no idea that evil beings were lurking who wanted them all dead. How can harmony and pure evil coexist? It cannot, and that is why good people must finally turn the table and eradicate those who have no place in their hearts for love as they are filled with anger and hate. Hopefully, the thousands around the world who are protesting for the side of evil will be enlightened. We must show them they are wrong. That is our mission. That is our journey. Saturday night, we had music. Sunday morning, we returned to reality.

 

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Seemingly coming out of nowhere was the song “Rich Men North of Richmond” by singer-songwriter Oliver Anthony. Overnight, the laments of one man from Appalachia over the state of the American economy and government spread like wildfire.

In “Rich Men North of Richmond,” Anthony decries the declining value of the US dollar, the lack of accountability for those on Jeffrey Epstein’s client list, and the use of taxpayer dollars to fund obesity through food stamps amidst high taxation. Whilst one could deconstruct the individual issues pointed at by Anthony, it can best be understood by the song title and the chorus:

Livin’ in the new world
With an old soul
These rich men north of Richmond
Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do
And they don’t think you know, but I know that you do
‘Cause your dollar ain’t shit and it’s taxed to no end
‘Cause of rich men north of Richmond

The song is a lament about the poor state of America at the hands of these “rich men north of Richmond.” These men, of course, are none other than the politicians and bureaucrats of Washington, DC. Any libertarian worth their salt can both empathize and sympathize with the message. Government bureaucrats and politicians have racked up $32 trillion of debt (not including unfunded liabilities), have become involved in at least seven foreign wars since September 11, 2001, and devalued the dollar by more than 90 percent since 1913. It has hardly been easy to be in the working class since the advent of progressivism.

The explosion of Anthony’s song is a fitting time to discuss libertarian class theory, which provides insight into the very problems of these “rich men” and how they have led to the plundering of productive citizenry.

The first proper articulation of libertarian class theory is in Murray Rothbard’s book For a New Liberty, where he applies the theory of John C. Calhoun. This theory is that of the most basic conflict because of government: between those who are net “taxpayers” and those who are net “tax receivers.” The net taxpayers are, of course, those who are expropriated through taxation. They are the productive ranks of society who fall victim to the contradictorily named “progressive income tax.” They are those who receive less in benefit than they pay into the system.

The other side to this class distinction are the net “tax receivers” or “tax recipients.” These are those who generate their income from the state taxation apparatus: the politicians, the bureaucrats, government contractors, and propaganda class. These are the corporations that not only build and maintain the road apparatus but also the dreaded military-industrial complex and other various industries.

The university system, feeding off subsidies through federal student loans, would be another such industry. These industries survive not through a marketplace of free exchange but through government handouts. Politicians might be the most easily identifiable member of this class, taking not only a salary but also other benefits that come with controlling the monopoly on violence.

The tax recipient class is not the product of voluntary exchange, nor is it providing value to consumers; it is the parasite on the productive class of society. What the productive class provides to the average man, the parasitic class, takes through violence. It does not need to provide value to the average man nor is it receptive to the market price system—it is accountable only to the voting populace after years of its parasitism. This parasitic class provides no value, only extracting it from the better members of society.

Anthony’s “rich men” are this parasitic class. The parasitic class taxes every dollar Americans spend, receive and save. The parasitic class has overseen the dollar’s collapse in value. The parasitic class has expanded in its control of American life. The parasitic class does what every parasite does to its host: it drains it closer and closer to death. The struggles of Americans can be laid at the foot of Washington, DC. It has drained every productive force of society and has done so through taxation, borrowing, and inflation.

Even when no longer in office, the parasite class continues to feed the politicians. Thus enters the sect of the parasite class dubbed by Rothbard as “intellectuals,” though one could hardly claim many of them possess true intelligence. One section of Rothbard’s Anatomy of the State, titled “How the State Preserves Itself,” describes the intellectual sect:

For this essential acceptance, the majority must be persuaded by ideology that their government is good, wise and, at least, inevitable, and certainly better than other conceivable alternatives. Promoting this ideology among the people is the vital social task of the “intellectuals.” For the masses of men do not create their own ideas, or indeed think through these ideas independently; they follow passively the ideas adopted and disseminated by the body of intellectuals. The intellectuals are, therefore, the “opinion-molders” in society. And since it is precisely a molding of opinion that the State most desperately needs, the basis for age-old alliance between the State and the intellectuals becomes clear.

One institution of these so-called intellectuals are DC think tanks. These institutions pass themselves off as policymaking prescribers. They claim to adhere to certain principles that guide their prescriptions. But universities and think tanks often act as revolving doors for the political class. Look only to the failures of Anthony Fauci, who was offered a teaching position at Georgetown, or Lori Lightfoot, who became employed by Harvard University. Joe Biden, the current president, was gifted a center at the University of Pennsylvania and a salary of $900,000 per year. Biden did not teach nor assist as faculty; his only utility was association with the university. Even the greatest failures and most despotic of policymakers are fed by the system when they leave the policymaking life.

Out of the fifteen richest counties in the United States, five of them are in Virginia or Maryland surrounding DC. These are not counties that produce large amounts of consumer or higher-ordered goods. These are counties stuffed full of political elites, think tanks, bureaucrats, and military-industrial complex CEOs. These are not productive areas; they are areas that house parasites who feed off average Americans.

Americans lost $10 trillion of wealth during the 2008 financial crisis, which was the fault of the Federal Reserve. To the average American, things are not seeming to get better. Even today, inflation still rages at the official reading of 3.7 percent, making the cost of living higher than ever. The money of the CARES Act didn’t go only to Americans—it went to large corporations that needed to be bailed out.

The United States government sits as the perfect example of the Rothbardian-Calhoun class theory. The political “elites” that sit “north of Richmond” have taken the value created by Americans to line their own pockets. Through every mean, whether that be inflation or blatant taxation, the parasitic class has benefited to the detriment of all Americans.

Oliver Anthony is correct. The “rich men north of Richmond” are indeed hurting the common man. And Godspeed to his message of waking up many Americans to that fact.

 

David Brady is a Catholic libertarian and economics and finance undergraduate student at Florida Southern College. He is a co-host of the “Econphonics” podcast and a Mises Apprentice.

 

David Brady, Jr.| Mises Wire

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