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<DIV>Reciting a comedy one-liner as the definition of "conservative" is exactly
what I was talking about. William F. Buckley, Jr. was usually wrong, but at
least he could talk on any subject from twenty different angles and cover the
ground thoroughly.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Conservative can be defined historically, or by root word meanings.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Historically, conservatives demanded powerful government, obedience, and
everyone knowing their place, generally inherited. Think of landed gentry,
manors, banks, kings and nobility. Only the aristocracy are allowed to own guns,
of course.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Liberals, by contrast, advocated free trade, laissez-faire open markets,
everyone gets to vote (or at least all the right people), and as little
government regulation as possible.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>By those terms, Ronald Reagan was a liberal -- he would have had more in
common with Gladstone than with Disraeli. Disraeli would have more in common
with Obama than Gladstone would, which is not to say that Obama is a
conservative, any more than he is a liberal.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>By root word meanings, conservatives would conserve. A conservative
revolution is a contradiction in terms. Nature preserves are, accordingly, a
conservative measure.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Health care will never be free. But I know what is costs now -- last year
it cost me about $1500, and that is with medical insurance. Did anyone notice
how the same people who ran the "Harry and Louise" ads have now brought us
exactly what they said we should fear from the Clinton health plan? The only
difference is, its being run by the "private sector," which is telling us what
we need, how much we should pay for it, what we can or can't have, which doctor
we can go to, and tripping us up on all kinds of odd little fine print to
surprise us with what we do or don't owe.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>P.J. O'Rourke is serving the same function: if he can discredit any hope
that the health care system could improve, then the same people who run it now,
who are very happy to spend billions of dollars of other people's money (mine,
Lance's parents, all of us) can continue to keep control.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I noticed in TIME magazine a letter from that bastion of liberalism, Elk
Grove, California (in case you didn't know, its one of those towns where they
say the pledge of allegiance every day at the start of school, whether the
federal district judge approves or not), who noted that in his non-profit health
plan</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>1) medical decisions are made by doctors</DIV>
<DIV>2) medical records have been on line for years</DIV>
<DIV>3) copays are low</DIV>
<DIV>4) there are no cutoffs for cost of surgery</DIV>
<DIV>5) prescription drugs are covered</DIV>
<DIV>6) premiums are lower than for-profit health plans.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I know a little about his plan, it has its flaws, but its better than what
most of us have now. I would, as I said before, settle for a high-deductible
policy and a health savings account, just to keep things simple.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Back to the government sayings:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Mark Twain's comments are timeless, because they apply whether Republicans
or Democrats are in the majority, and he never pretended otherwise. It is in the
nature of the beast, not whether you like the guy who won the election.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Today, "liberals" and "conservatives" both advocate rights, but disagree on
which ones are important, both lampoon government, but expand the powers of
government in whichever direction they consider necessary, and both have a
"party line" which defines what is "politically correct" in their own
circles.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Sic semper tyrannis.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Siarlys</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Winston Churchill ALSO offered Franklin D. Roosevelt "earnest best wishes
for the success of the greatest crusade of modern times" -- he was talking about
the New Deal. This points out the danger of taking one line someone once said
and trying to explain exactly what it was supposed to mean.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>James Bovard is correct, but everyone who quotes him has their own idea
about who is the sheep (themselves) and who is the wolf (anyone with a different
idea). At its best, his observation points out that there are some things even a
majority vote cannot take away from an individual or family.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Reagan was the head of state for eight years, so anything he said about
"government" he was, by definition, saying about himself. That goes right along
with Nancy saying "For eight years, I was sleeping with the president of the
United States. If that doesn't give you special access, I don't know what
does."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Voltaire wrote when France was a monarchy. There have been a few
revolutions since then.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>On Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:22:46 -0500 "Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies
List" <<A href="mailto:gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net">gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net</A>>
writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px">
<DIV>I am a conservative, and I know what these words mean: "You think
healthcare is expensive now, just wait till it's FREE!"<BR><BR>Back to my
navel...<BR><BR>jp<BR></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 23:45, Discussion of the Good,
Clean Funnies List <SPAN dir=ltr><<A
href="mailto:gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net">gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net</A>></SPAN>
wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex">Frankly,
these bumper stickers all sound like they were written
by<BR>liberals.<BR><BR>No facts. No logic.<BR><BR>For the last 40 years at
least, nobody who called themselves a liberal,<BR>and nobody who called
themselves a conservative, has had the slightest<BR>idea what either of
these words mean. Now if these two bands of<BR>loud-mouthed, self-centered,
navel-contemplating idiots could go off in a<BR>corner somewhere and rip
each other to shreds, the rest of us could get<BR>on with life, work,
putting our country back together again, maybe even<BR>ENJOYING life for
what it is, rather than debating what is or isn't<BR>missing.<BR><BR>I note
with pleasure that the date for "change" that the author "can<BR>believe in"
is Jan 20, 2013. I too expect Obama to serve for eight years.<BR><BR>I will
add a more respectful note on the last sticker, which is a genuine<BR>quote
from a genuine, sincere, and utterly misguided conservative,<BR>Margaret
Thatcher. What she misses out on is that capitalism, as we know<BR>it today,
also spends a great deal of other people's money. Consider, for<BR>example,
the Savings and Loan scam of the 1980s, and the derivative<BR>scandals which
have nearly crippled our economy and raised unemployment<BR>to 10% or so, as
the collateral damage to making a few people very rich<BR>on our money. When
she broke up the modestly "socialized" economy of<BR>Great Britain, she did
it much the way the economy of the USSR was broken<BR>up under Yeltsin. A
small number of well-placed insiders (in the USSR<BR>these were called
communists, and they were very good at becoming<BR>rapacious capitalists,
given the chance), took over government assets,<BR>and then treated them as
private property. One of the enterprising souls<BR>(in Britain) leveraged
some national railway assets bought at fire sale<BR>prices into a
multi-continental enterprise, that has now bought<BR>Greyhound, and also
bought the company I drive for, but I haven't noticed<BR>that anything has
changed where the rubber meets the
road.<BR><BR>Siarlys<BR>____________________________________________________________<BR>Sell
your gold jewelry and get cash fast! Click now.<BR><A
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target=_blank>http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTRM7HULA3vIRnE7ZBCrrGrdF7gr0ahjHcqPSenYeKsCCCDo4lJDag/</A><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>GCFL-discuss
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