Balls, by Robert Gore

Posted by straightlinelogic 9 years ago to Government
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Political venues are nowhere to look for courage. Politics is a popularity contest and its winners lie, flatter, and pander. They don’t generally stand for anything grander than their own advancement. The venal pursuits of politicians and bureaucrats—power, money, sex, intoxication—don’t lend themselves to stirring moral defenses. Power ebbs and flows, but there’s a community of interest—perpetuation of a corrupt system. They’re all “part of the same hypocrisy,” and revelation of it serves no one’s interest.

Truth is the enemy of hypocritical regimes, which makes telling it, as George Orwell noted, a “revolutionary act,” bold and dangerous. President Trump spouts his share of nonsense, bombast, hyperbole, and lies, but it’s not those excesses that frightens and enrages the regime. Rather, he has shattered the veneer of respectability that cloaks its incompetence, corruption, and carnage. He challenges elite consensus on interventionism, immigration and trade, and the whole canon of political correctness.


All Comments

  • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years ago
    The ego quoque fallacy, an odd form of the tu quoque fallacy, is not courage. If it were, though, we'd have a socio-biological just-so story to explain why you fancy the president's wife. I'm not sure if somehow this works around to looking at a pile of crap and seeing an anti-statist sundae. (sundae is a reference to https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 9 years ago
    I wish he would of said..."What, you think Our "Government" is so innocent?".
    It would've put the suspicion squarely where it belongs.
    Many are upset because when you say "Country" that means Us all.
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  • Posted by coaldigger 9 years ago
    Bravo!! Nothing like some Goreisms to make my day. My favorite thing about Trump is the rage he generates in so many of the people I detest. It's like their heads are going to explode, and I keep hoping.
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  • Posted by chad 9 years ago
    Good article Robert, as usual you make me open my dictionary to ensure I understand what you are saying and your use of the language inspires me to continue to learn to use it well.
    Behavior tells more about an individuals character than anything they might say. Having the courage to live your convictions is somewhat laudable but if you don't understand the nature of your behavior it can still be destructive. When I was young someone parked a new Cadillac behind my produce truck on a hill, wanting to ensure I didn't get near it with my truck I revved the engine before dropping the clutch to ensure I pulled cleanly away. The truck was still in reverse! If you are mistaken in your belief you will still be destructive.
    Trump has displayed his character by taking advantage of laws that allowed him to bankrupt businesses and still make money on them, taking of private property through the use of courts so that he might benefit. Trying to buy politicians (the Clintons) to enable his business success by the compromise of liberty to favor his work. He is not a successful businessman in my terms he is a successful taker pretending to be a businessman. He is a showman and knows how to tell the political lies to ingratiate himself into the support of those he will take advantage of.
    I really don't think he is a threat to the Deep State, he is their supporter pretending he is not.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 9 years ago
    I'm not so sure I'd label Trump as having convictions which extend beyond himself. I don't see any great "cause" that he champions. That's generally the same with many Republicans. Democrats great "cause" is the accumulation of power in their hands even though they certainly use other faux causes (BLM, womens' rights, immingrants' rights, etc.) to this end.
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  • -1
    Posted by $ Seer 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    I read your brief biography on the end page of The Gordian Knot, and I know you post here, and have a full time job and who knows what else. I forgive you.
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  • Posted by $ Seer 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    I will, Bob. May take me some time, I am pretty busy at some other things. Did you happen to listen in on my conversation with Mike Marotta in the Romantic Realism discussion? You, being an artist, would certainly have interesting inputs.
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  • Posted by 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    I'd like to believe the Democratic party is dead, but it's not. It's like some impossible to eradicate disease that just when you think medicine has the upper hand, it comes roaring back. You only have to be 35 to run for President. However, can you name any other Democrat right now that they can consider a promising farm system prospect? I don't support her, although I like what she's said and done in Syria, but from the Democrats' vantage point, who else do they have?
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  • Posted by $ Seer 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    There's something going on. But she seems too young, and naive in my mind.
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  • Posted by $ Seer 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    I know you did. That's why I wondered why you seemed to be supporting her. The Democratic party is a dead party. She could be the final nail. She wouldn't be old enough to run for president in 2020, would she?
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  • Posted by $ Seer 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    By the way, Bob, got your book The Gordian Knot finally. Looks like a rollicking good read!
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  • Posted by $ Seer 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    To leaders around the world, she is a traitor to her own country.
    Assange is not a traitor, nor Snowden, nor Manning. They do not hold positions in government.

    It was a stupid move on her part.
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  • Posted by $ Seer 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    She is 35; her motives are suspect. She looks like a traitor (and worse, naive) to those she is trying to impress. It doesn't look good for the U.S.
    To the Middle East leaders it as if she is putting her own country on the line. Not protecting it.

    You will have to trust my intuition on this.
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  • Posted by 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on all this, but one question. Whose job is it to expose US lies, and why would a member of Congress not be qualified to do so?
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  • Posted by $ Seer 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    I doubt that any Near or Middle Eastern leader respects or trusts a woman, age 35, who comes to tell them her country is a bad country.
    It is not only traitorous in their eyes, it is stupid.
    Reminiscent of Jane Fonda riding on one of Ho Chi Minh's tanks.
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  • Posted by $ Seer 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Do you know if she has connections to any international socialist organizations? Or even any organization related to Soros?
    Like I said, I don't trust her.
    Clever, Bob.
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