President Trump's Inauguration Speech

Posted by $ MikeMarotta 7 years, 1 month ago to Politics
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Full text here:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/inaugural-...

The President spoke of nationalism, protectionism, and paternalism in short sentences of small words.

The theme of the Trump-Pence campaign and now the Trump Presidency has been about "rebuilding" and "making American great again." When did America stop building? When did it stop being great?

The desire to "get back what we lost" looks to a mythic past, not to a realizable future. Rebuilding roads is not building new kinds of infrastructures. I point out that in the 1930s, the WPA built roads, but that the Internet was technically possible as we had telephones, radios, teletypes, and wire photos. The Roosevelt Administration was truly conservative, not objectively progressive. So, too, here, is the goal to "regain what we lost" not to find and create new enterprises.


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  • 26
    Posted by j_IR1776wg 7 years, 1 month ago
    When did it stop being great?

    Interstate Commerce Act 1887
    Sherman antitrust- Act 1890
    Federal Reserve Act 1913
    16th Amendment 1913
    17th Amendment 1913
    Social Security Act 1935
    War On Poverty 1964
    The 1965 Medicare Amendment to the Social Security Act
    War On Drugs 1971
    The closing of the gold window 1971
    Community Reinvestment Act 1995
    Patriot Act 2001
    The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010

    When did it stop being great? Little by little. Piece by piece.
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    • 13
      Posted by coaldigger 7 years, 1 month ago
      This is the perfect answer. All of these acts placed limits on our possibilities therefore reduced our ability to recognize them. America was greater when it was free despite not having yet developed the latest gimmick that entertains us currently. We lost our full potential and are therefore less great. Unleashing the potential that while crippled, still exists, is the best thing he can do. Look at the areas that disturbs the "progressives" the most and prioritize them first!
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      • Posted by j_IR1776wg 7 years, 1 month ago
        "Look at the areas that disturbs the "progressives" the most and prioritize them first! " Yes whittle them away the same way they were implemented - over time. It will take patience and resolve on the part of millions of us.
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      • Posted by $ 7 years, 1 month ago
        "Greater" and "less great" are commensurable against great. If you know a greater place to live, then go there. America's greatness waxes and wanes. We have high points and low. But the range is always within "great."
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    • Posted by $ 7 years, 1 month ago
      America's greatness is impossible to tally in full, but let me offer these few among the many:
      15th Amendment 1870
      Telephone 1876
      Electric Pen (Edison) 1876
      Wireless telegraphy 1890
      Commercial motion picture 1895
      Wright Brothers Airplane 1903
      Ford Motor Company (finally successful) 1903
      General Motors 1908
      Smithsonian funds Goddard 1913
      19th Amendment 1920
      First wirephoto 1921
      Aeroplanes sink battleship 1921
      Kodachrome 1935
      The Fountainhead (novel) 1943
      First Color Television 1944
      Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation 1946
      The Fountainhead (movie) 1949
      Grace Hopper joins Eckert-Mauchly 1949
      Elvis Presley Commercial Break-out 1956
      Beach Boys "Surfin'" 1961
      President John Kennedy creates Green Beret as a symbol of military excellence 1962
      Leonard Bernstein's "Young Peoples Concert" broadcast on ABC 1962
      First Man on the Moon 1969
      Altair first hobbyist computer 1974
      Executive Order 11825 opens GOLD markets to retail buyers 1974
      Apple Computer 1976
      Hayes first consumer modem 1978
      Ronald Reagan elected 1980
      Space shuttle Columbia first flight 1981
      Ronald Reagan re-elected 1984
      First U.S. Gold Eagle coins issued 1986
      Round the World Flight by Rutan Voyager (Jeana Lee Yaeger pilot) aircraft 1986
      US National Debt Clock Runs Backward September 7, 2000
      Atlas Shrugged, Part I opens April 15, 2011
      Osama bin Ladin meets his Maker May 2, 2011
      Atlas Shrugged Part II released October 12, 2012
      Atlas Shrugged Part III released September 12, 2014
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    • Posted by $ 7 years, 1 month ago
      And for all 0f that -- thirteen bad days in 230 years -- you cannot point to a single place or time when America ceased to be great.

      Is it no longer great today? What place is better? Do you go without food? What are you lacking? What freedom are you craving? Are you enslaved because you cannot smoke marijuana in your state? Are you enslaved because an illegal immigrant is cleaning the restrooms that you would clean for $7 per hour? Are you lacking the freedom to buy gold or invest in oil futures or grow organic grapes or to genetically modify grapes to taste like fish?

      What is it that prevents you from enjoying your full freedom in an unfree world?
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      • Posted by khalling 7 years, 1 month ago
        I get your points. I would have added many other horrific decisions such the internment of the japanese american population, Sarbanes Oxley which directly was responsible for the beginning of the most recent financial crisis, TARP, Stimulus, we can go on and on. the AIA which significantly has weakened patent law. there's so much more-but that Trump will be America's savior? right.
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    • Posted by $ Stormi 7 years, 1 month ago
      I would add:
      Outcome-Based Education of the Clinton Era.
      Goals 200 of the Bush Era
      Common Core of the present
      Kids were taught entitlement, but little academics, and became adults who voted and sent their children into children into the hell hole schools to get more goofy liberalism.

      Also, the Basel Bank meetings which discouraged savings, as the Fed gave banks all the money they needed.
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  • Posted by $ CBJ 7 years, 1 month ago
    The goal to “regain what we have lost” is about restoring liberties that we enjoyed before the government curtailed them. It has nothing to do with a “mythic past”, but it does look back to a real past in which there was much less government oversight and restriction on people’s privacy, voluntary actions and economic transactions. The need to reclaim lost liberties was also a major theme in Atlas Shrugged.
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    • Posted by $ 7 years, 1 month ago
      The mythic past is the good-paying factory job from 1958. Have you ever worked in an automobile manufacturing plant? Their great wages that did not require any education was the cause of Detroit's downfall. Three lifetimes - five generations - of automobile factory workers who could afford their own homes could not help their children with their homework... homework that was not necessary because the next generation would take their place at that production line, not just working with machines, but working as a machine.

      Yes, it was better than being a farmer or a sharecropper or a serf, but it was not the Lost Land of Eden. We do not need to rush back to it in order to be "great again."
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      • Posted by $ CBJ 7 years, 1 month ago
        Detroit's downfall was due to municipal mismanagement and a union-friendly political climate that drove auto manufacturing to the American South and overseas. High wages in the mid-20th Century were a symptom of Detroit's impending downfall, not the cause.
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        • Posted by $ 7 years, 1 month ago
          The City of Detroit and other area municipalities gave the manufacturers tremendous privileges to take private property, Poletown in Hamtramck being the final instance before total collapse.

          Moreover, other people, seeking other futures, through other means found escape. The Catholic schools served the French, the Irish, the Germans, and the Poles who left for outlying cities that became suburbs. In the final episodes, Detroit's African-American parents sought out Catholic education for their children as a gateway out of poverty. Statistically, it seems that the urban Whites ("hillbillies") never did.

          Non-union shops in the South still followed union-like work rules. They were not low-paying sweatshops.
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    • Posted by $ 7 years, 1 month ago
      Donald Trump never said word one about restoring your liberties. In fact, your liberties are not at all a primary consideration. If you know some other rhetoric from Donald Trump on that, please quote it.

      The protectionism and paternalism of his campaign and inaugural address speak against liberty. Also, his "buy American; hire American" rhetoric denies your right to voluntary actions and economic transactions.

      The lost liberties of Atlas Shrugged are not part of the Trump presidency.
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      • Posted by $ CBJ 7 years, 1 month ago
        Re: "The lost liberties of Atlas Shrugged are not part of the Trump presidency."

        Really? Here are just a few, all from Trump's website:

        Second Amendment rights:
        https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies...

        School choice:
        https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies...

        Health care:
        https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/HCRef...

        Rolling back regulations:
        https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-re...

        Lowering taxes:
        https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies...
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        • Posted by $ 7 years, 1 month ago
          The Second Amendment does not appear in Atlas Shrugged. Neither does School Choice. The only reference to health care is in the statement of Dr. Hendricks in the Valley. ("The Forgotten Man of Socialized Medicine"), but Trump continues to promise healthcare for everyone, just not Obamacare. Similarly, while promising to "roll back" regulations and to "lower" taxes, those are first of all not his work as President, but Congress's responsibility; and more to the point, they are marginal arguments about how much and how many, not about the objective immorality of such regulations and taxes.
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          • Posted by $ CBJ 7 years, 1 month ago
            If you hold each president to a fully Objectivist standard, then none of them meets the test, and that includes George Washington. I'm mainly concerned with the direction of change compared to present-day conditions, and on the above issues Trump is mostly in favor of more freedom.
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            • Posted by IndianaGary 7 years, 1 month ago
              I agree, for the most part, but unfortunately there are some flaws in the Constitution that can't be easily fixed. Among them is the need for the separation of economy and state.
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              • Posted by $ CBJ 7 years, 1 month ago
                The problem with separation of economy and state is that it is impossible under our current political and legal system. Large political campaign contributors, including lobbyists, will always have more influence over our elected representatives than the rest of us. And if you take away their right to spend their money promoting their preferred candidates, you also take away their freedom of speech. As things stand now, it’s a no-win situation.
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  • Posted by giallopudding 7 years, 1 month ago
    I don't know about you, but I lost my healthcare plan, and my government is now trying to force me, with the threat of huge financial penalty/wealth confiscation, to acquire a worse policy through the bureaucracy so that what used to be health insurance can be transformed into a massive welfare program. I'd put that little item right smack at the top of the list of what has transformed this country into a semblance of its once great self.
    America stopped being as great as it originally was conceived the day the first redistributionist gained a foothold in Congress and convinced enough gullible senators and representatives that government has the right to enforce equality of outcome, not just equality of opportunity.
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    • Posted by ChuckyBob 7 years, 1 month ago
      I opted to join a Mennonite health share ministry. It is MUCH cheaper than O'Bozocare plans and qualifies under ACA as an alternative to the O'Bozocare plans. You have to agree with some Mennonite beliefs, some of which are VERY libertarian in nature, some of which are religious. But I had no problem with what they said. Take a look at Liberty Healthshare.
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  • Posted by richrobinson 7 years, 1 month ago
    I found his speech to be inspirational. For years Presidents have talked about re building the power grid and addressing infra structure. The money is there but has been wasted and squandered. FDR did it with the Socialist belief that it would stimulate the economy. Trump realizes that it just needs to be done. Not sure how you can call Roosevelt Conservative . His failed policies and agenda were clearly Progressive.
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  • Posted by mminnick 7 years, 1 month ago
    Americas greatnesws was decreased every year that progressive ideas and policies were in place and being shoved down The United Sates' peoples throats.
    Every year that the progressive NEA was in charge of the curriculum of the schools, every year that the progreswsives controlled the colleges that trained the teachers.
    Just look at the lesson plans and teachers notes. They don't teach the goodness of the USA only the "Evil".
    I'm not sure that the Trump Presidentcy will reverse all of this, but it looks as if it will be a start on the reversal. It the students are taught only the "bad" that has been done,, indoctrinated with the Evil America ideas, then the USA is on a downward trajectory that will only end in the total destruction of a way of life never seen before on the old planet, and most likely won't be seen again.
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    • Posted by $ 7 years, 1 month ago
      And yet, here you are. Here we are. Ayn Rand's books have sold over 40 million copies. (See here: http://necessaryfacts.blogspot.com/20... ) If you goto the Ayn Rand Institute website and find the Essay Contest winners, you will see that over the years, over the decades, many come from Catholic schools. They are not assigned The Fountainhead in their classes: they find it on their own. Plus you will find more than one winner or runner-up from those schools. They have informal Ayn Rand clubs. And that's just the Catholics that we know about.

      Overall, the best ideas about reality, reason, egoism, and freedom, are making their way as memes in our society. But they are not part of Donald Trump's presidency.
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  • Posted by hvance 7 years, 1 month ago
    Formula to be great again: The federal government protect us from our enemies abroad and maintain a system of law and order so disputes could be settled. That is all we need.
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  • Posted by Zero 7 years, 1 month ago
    I've given up here, Mike.
    I still look in every day but this site has strayed so far it causes me almost physical distress.

    It's worse than sad - it is disgusting.
    People come here looking for Objectivism and instead find this.

    Objectivism is based squarely on explicit, unbreakable principles - of which Trump has shown none - a fact his followers seem incapable of admitting.

    And even that's not the worst of it.
    He seems to oppose the very things we believe in (free trade, free markets) and it certainly looks like he supports many of the things we abhor. (Kelo anyone?)

    But who knows? He is just as duplicitous as the politicians he vilifies.
    Within hours of being elected he began nonchalantly reversing positions boldly proclaimed - even chanted - a day before.

    He has proven he will say whatever is expedient in the moment at hand -with no thought to its future.

    But these people simply do not care.
    So long as he pays lip service to their cause they are mesmerized.
    Too entranced at the sound of his words to see he is the same as that which they despise.

    The same power-mad would-be-king. The same LIAR - albeit from the private sector.

    And they have taken over this site. THIS site.
    "Galt's Gulch" rallies to such a man and down-votes a bona fide OBJ!

    If Ayn Rand could she would have already disavowed this place.
    Vehemently.
    As only she could.
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    • Posted by $ CBJ 7 years, 1 month ago
      Oh please! Trump supporters have hardly “taken over” this site. I voted for Gary Johnson and there are many of Trump’s positions that I do not endorse. But he deserves credit for the incredible feat of challenging and defeating a corrupt two-party establishment that has abused its power for decades. And he is promoting many policies that, if enacted, will be much more to our liking than the current ones. These include energy deregulation, an end to “climate change” hysteria, school choice, lower taxes (including abolition of the death tax), defense of Second Amendment rights, appointment of Constitutionalists to the Supreme Court, and rollback of Obamacare. The anti-Trumpites on this site are refusing to give him any credit for these positions he has staked out, treating him as if his overall program is as bad as Hillary’s. It is not.

      I rarely down-vote on this site, but my up-votes are based on the quality of a poster’s arguments, not on whether he or she is a “bona fide OBJ!”
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      • Posted by Zero 7 years, 1 month ago
        That corrupt two party system would have given us Rubio, or Walker, or Carson, or Ryan.
        Any of which I would have enthusiastically supported regardless of their flaws.
        And they would have supported those same issues without being an incoherent, ill-reasoned, bumbling ass.

        And they were not unelectable. Hillary was a weak candidate riding an unpopular platform.

        But Trump was the spoiler. The made for TV candidate. Just as Kennedy's election turned on a television appearance, so too did this electorate swoon to the practiced manner of a TV celebrity.

        And I would not have defended Mike if his point wasn't valid.
        And well supported by the Objectivist community.
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        • Posted by strugatsky 7 years, 1 month ago
          What makes you think that Trump is "incoherent" (not to mention the rest of your description of him)? I, for one, find him very coherent, very businesslike and very logical. As to Rubio, he represents the establishment as much as Bush, Romney and the rest of the corrupt, ineffective "elite." He had no chance of beating the well established, totally corrupt and brutal "Democratic" establishment. Carson has integrity, but also ineffectiveness and very wako religious deviations. And Hillary was not a "weak candidate" - she, as an individual, was irrelevant, the issue was the continuation of the socialist agenda, with a well oiled and funded machine behind it. Her faults and crimes were (and are) totally irrelevant to half of the country; they would rally behind Stalin, given a chance.
          I was not a Trump supporter, but I do believe that if there is a way to drain the swamp without a civil war, Trump is the only option.
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          • Posted by Zero 7 years, 1 month ago
            Hi Stru,

            in·co·her·ent
            expressed in an incomprehensible or confusing way; unclear.
            synonyms: unclear, confused, unintelligible, incomprehensible, hard to follow, disjointed, disconnected, disordered, mixed up, garbled, jumbled, scrambled, muddled;

            For just one example of dozens...
            On numerous occasions, in his own tweets, he denounced the intelligence services. Then, in front of their memorial for fallen heros no less, he claimed his feud with them was created by the media.

            That to me is incomprehensible and confused.

            But seriously,if you didn't already see it that way, nothing I say will change your mind.
            You say your were not a supporter, but he is the only option.
            Sounds like a supporter to me.

            I'm good. I'm out.
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            • Posted by $ 7 years, 1 month ago
              Donald Trump is not incoherent and confused. He only says whatever needs to be said at the moment, much like Hillary Clinton. He expects that the short-term nature of the collective memory will never hold him to his previous statement.
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            • Posted by scojohnson 7 years, 1 month ago
              There is a very substantial difference between the 100s of presidential appointments in agency leadership and the permanent civil servants.

              On Jan 20, the appointees were handed boxes with their crap and sent on their way.
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              • Posted by Zero 7 years, 1 month ago
                You seem to be missing my point, Sco,

                I wasn't arguing whether our intelligence agencies were capable and trustworthy - though I believe they are.
                I was pointing out Trumps claim of a media created "feud" is absurd on it face - as evidenced by his own tweets.

                But, again, if you didn't already see that there's nothing I can say.

                mes·mer·ize
                hold the attention of (someone) to the exclusion of all else or so as to transfix them.
                synonyms: enthrall, hold spellbound, entrance, dazzle, bedazzle, bewitch, charm, captivate, enchant, fascinate, transfix, grip, hypnotize
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                • Posted by scojohnson 7 years, 1 month ago
                  I understood you perfectly. I'm saying there is a big difference between having a feud with the political leadership versus a disagreement with 50,000 people or whatever.

                  Remember when the CIA was positive that Benghazi was a spontaneous combustion event after some Kansas farmers posted some video on YouTube?
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                  • Posted by Zero 7 years, 1 month ago
                    Dude, I swear I'm not trying to be an ass.
                    There's no good reason to just keep going back and forth at each other,
                    but I gotta say No. I don't remember the CIA saying it was a YouTube video. I remember Obama saying that, I remember the state department saying that. I remember Susan what's-her-face going around all the news talk shows saying that. I remember Hillary lying to grieving families about it - knowing it wasn't true!.

                    But no, I don't remember the CIA saying that.
                    Did they? I could have spaced it. Wouldn't be the first time. Can you provide a link or something?
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                    • Posted by scojohnson 7 years, 1 month ago
                      Yeah - the Susan rice or whatever her name is was citing a report prepared by James Clapper and the CIA director at the time. The same roles also had the Nigerian yellow-cake uranium BS that Bush 43 sent Colin Powell to the UN with.

                      The CIA, NSA, and FBI have some very dedicated career staffers, but, like any government agency - don't underestimate the level of incompetence of a huge percentage of the people, nor the politicization of the leadership. You only get an appointed executive position if you are significantly hooked-up to the political apparatus of the sitting POTUS. You don't get significantly hooked-up to the apparatus without being willing to lie, cheat, steal, or tow the party's bullshit line of the day.

                      Out of the piles of people employed, basically, we can expect about 30-35% are competent and the rest the place wouldn't know if they bothered to show up every morning or not.
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                      • Posted by Zero 7 years, 1 month ago
                        Yeah, I really should have done some Google first. I probably forgot that on purpose.

                        Doesn't change what I was saying about the Donald but I still have to give you the point about the CIA and the initial Benghazi reports.

                        Thanks for the reminder, ScoJ.
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        • Posted by $ CBJ 7 years, 1 month ago
          Do you think the electorate would have “swooned” to the likes of Rubio, Walker, Carson or Ryan? Do you think they would have swept Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina? They would have run conventional campaigns and lost to the superior Democrat ground game, just as Romney did in 2012. And in the unlikely event that one of them had won, he would have continued playing the corrupt “business as usual” two-party game. No thanks!
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          • Posted by Zero 7 years, 1 month ago
            I'm not really trying to keep this going, CB.
            Despite my harsh words I'm not really the guy to just blast away at people.
            It's obvious I'm not going to sway your mind and at this point I doubt if anyone else is keeping up with this thread.

            But I can't help but bemoan.
            Imagine if we had put forward a Latino or a black man. Or a popular union buster.
            A man with principles more closely aligned with our agenda.

            Imagine if we hadn't played straight into their hands, validating their age-old accusations, by electing the most racially antagonistic candidate in, well, ever.

            Obama left this country a powder keg and Trump is a blasting cap.

            I remember the 60's when universities were war zones with real fatalities and assassination stopped being unthinkable.
            Blood will flow from this.
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      • Posted by $ 7 years, 1 month ago
        Fascism is a slower death than Marxism or National Socialism. While Italy's alliance with Germany destroyed them in World War II, Spain and Portugal remained neutral and suffered only their own internal inefficiencies. Of course, Spain and Portugal remained poorer than Switzerland, even worse off than socialist (and militarily neutral) Sweden. So, as long as President Trump can avoid a devastating war, we will suffer less than we would with a Clinton presidency and Democrat majorities in the House and Senate.
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        • Posted by strugatsky 7 years, 1 month ago
          Seems, then, that you would agree that perhaps the only alternative to our assured slide into the Union of Soviet Republiks of Amerika, which was steadily progressing under Obama and was about to be completed under Hillary, without the resort to a civil war, is Trump?
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        • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 7 years, 1 month ago
          Finally...a bit of non democratic sense from you...good job....
          Objectivism is valuable, yes...but not the end to end all. Neither is my favored "Prime Law" or my hard worked concept of "wide scope accountability"; but I think I see a bright pin hole at the end of the progressive tunnel.
          All we can really do is march on, improving ourselves and others, (by example) as we go.
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    • Posted by zmtaylo2 7 years, 1 month ago
      This is exactly why I have sat silently watching, observing the chatter on these boards. You're not alone in that sentiment that this has been taken over by those so gullible that they will get behind a man who regularly speaks of controlling others. Protectionism and objectivism are far opposites, yet it seems the trend leading up to the elections in these boards focused only on one freedom - freedom to carry. That is a surefire sign the rednecks have taken over this site, if people are clinging to their gun rights and allowing that to dictate the rest of their decisions. No one candidate will protect all freedom's, but Trump sure is far from our agenda (and I say our as in those others who haven't lost their minds). Goodbye free trade and freedom to innovate in whatever way we choose, instead we are looking more and more like North Korea.
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 7 years, 1 month ago
    Gary North claims Trump's inauguration speech was like no other in history. Specifically USA history? I agree.
    At the end of Trump's shake 'em up that was really a campaign speech to his base, professional phony baloney Obama hopped up all smiles and said something like "Good job." Michelle at the same moment looked appalled as if halfway through seeing The Exorcist for the first time.
    http://teapartyeconomist.com/2017/01/...
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    • Posted by $ 7 years, 1 month ago
      Gary Verboon of The Atlas Society says that Donald Trump represents the refusal to think.
      http://atlassociety.org/commentary/co...
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      • Posted by $ allosaur 7 years, 1 month ago
        I think Donald Trump is the only candidate who could beat Shillary, the best president scum can bribe.
        I also think Trump has not even been given those traditional first 100 days afforded to other presidents to at least begin to prove himself.
        I think this Gary Verboon has abused Ayn Rand's good name to write a slanted hit piece.
        I know I did not give you that 0.
        I think I won't do anything about it..
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      • Posted by coaldigger 7 years, 1 month ago
        Donald Trump is probably not the answer to anything. As far as I can tell he has no guiding philosophy. He appears to be just as much of a statist as his predecessors and his nationalism borders on the scary. He is the reaction to the collectivist, one world, socialist trend that has sickened the working middle class in the interior of America.
        I am amused by Trump because of the discomfort he causes to the people that have just been pushed aside. I figure he can do no worse and if he causes these people misery I am for it. I think there is some potential to unleash some positive results by freeing business of some of the burdens of over regulation and taxation. I also think that getting control of education back in the hands of local groups, public and private is needed.
        I fear restricted trade, blundering into a major war and increased government intervention into the private lives of citizens in the name of security. Sadly, I think both sides are equally likely to realize these fears.
        I have often thought that the best person to be President would never run because he would be someone in the prime of a career having achieved great things. Such a person would not stoop to the level one must to achieve political success and subject there self and their family to the public abuse that it is customary to endure. One possible result of Trump's victory could be that it would encourage a qualified person to hold their nose and compete for the position.
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        • Posted by $ CBJ 7 years, 1 month ago
          Re: “He appears to be just as much of a statist as his predecessors . . .”
          Vs: “I think there is some potential to unleash some positive results by freeing business of some of the burdens of over regulation and taxation. I also think that getting control of education back in the hands of local groups, public and private is needed.”
          The second part appears to contradict the first.
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          • Posted by coaldigger 7 years, 1 month ago
            I think because Trump has no core values based on a coherent philosophy he is inconsistent. He is prone to centralized control by elitist experts but also thinks businesses need to be free to make decisions and since public schools are all messed up people need a choice. His nationalism scares me but some of his random positions are pretty good. I don't think he is concerned by contradictions.
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  • Posted by INOV8TN 7 years, 1 month ago
    America's greatness depends on freedom and our freedom has been eroded by government practically ever since there was government.

    Trump's promise of fewer regulations, lower taxes and better trade agreements speak to more freedom and less government.

    Unfortunately protective tariffs while popular with the uninformed will, in the long run, prove detrimental to our economy.

    "transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People." is such a declaration of freedom and self sufficiency that I cannot help but cheer every time I think of it.
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  • Posted by INOV8TN 7 years, 1 month ago
    America's greatness has always depended on freedom. That freedom has been eroded by government ever since there was government - and especially since the beginning of the 20th Century.
    Trump's speech mirrored his campaign rhetoric and was largely pro-freedom. A glaring inconsistency is his his advocating of protectionist tariffs.
    But his speech pales in front of his actions. His firing of several top level managers in the State Department signals a new beginning of integrity and fairness and will help the US regain its former reputation amongst nations. His use of Twitter to eliminate the adversarial press is long overdue.
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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 7 years, 1 month ago
    Craftsmen tools made by Armstrong were great. Buying cheap crap that last ten minutes and goes in a landfill is not great.

    America has always been great, but has been in a death spiral since people started arguing that trivial jobs should get them a color TV (now large flat screen TV).

    When people start working for what they produce, it will be great again. As long as they keep thinking the world owes them a living, it will be a mess.

    I personally agree that we can not and should not compete "heads up" against a society that engages in involuntary servitude to an extreme. We should assign a price to what they refuse to fund, and tariff their goods.

    If part of Trump's message is not we need hard workers and discipline he may succeed, but it will not be great.
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  • Posted by starznbarz 7 years, 1 month ago
    Let `s shoot for government held to Constitutional standards. Trump claims he will do that, we shall see. Mike Pence goes a long way to quiet my initial instincts that Trump was simply Obama - for the other side.
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  • Posted by cjferraris 7 years, 1 month ago
    When did America stop being great??? When we became so prosperous that we stopped parenting our children and morphed into us ending up with generation after generation which are less equipped to face struggles put against us. Political Correctness has turned America, from a country that used to face adversity and brought us dizzying amounts of solutions to many problems, into a country of young people that are so self-important and can't interact in a one-on-one situation. Now the problem that most families face is how to get their adult children to move out on their own..
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