A week’s worth of RR
Which had been stuck in my spamtrap until I twigged

• Bailing out the ruling class. Rewarding bad business decisions.
• The trail of smears. The Republican Revolution of the mid-1990s, particularly on the House side, probably did want to deliver something like “small-government conservatism.” This wouldn’t have been “classical liberalism” or “libertarianism” — it blended strong elements of evangelical moralism into its low-tax, lower-spending ideology, and elements of anti-“other” paranoia with a sensible fear of government surveillance; anti-interventionism and militarism elbowed each other for space. Then Bill Clinton dared them to shut down the federal government if they were so serious about shrinking the state. They did, they lost the public-relations war, and it scared them right the hell out of “small-government conservatism.” Being practical politicians, they fell back on what would engage a mass base of support: personal smears (starting with Clinton and working their way through Gore, Kerry and Obama), sexual proctorship and global pugnaciousness (militarism and nativism), all the while shoveling as much money as possible to favored constituencies.
• The absurdity of democracy. Mob rule is not inherently moral, or two wolves and a sheep deciding what’s for dinner.
• Cold War hawks nesting with Obama.
• Torture: yes, we can? Justin Raimondo from last week.
• The good news: it’s not about race. There’s ample reason to believe that the Obamas – despite their successful shared career in racial shakedown politics and their cynical use of race to make themselves a marketable brand — aren’t interested in pursuing identity politics. To judge from the composition of the Obama transition team, the Exalted Apostle of Change (we pause to tug on our forelock) is interested in little more than the standard politics of corporatist plunder. Obama’s signature touch is to transpose that agenda into the key of cultural Marxism, as opposed to the pious militarism that remains in favor with what remains of the Republican Party.
• McCain’s mistakes: four forgotten truths from high school.
• How do you say ‘Avast, ye scurvy dogs!’ in Somali?
• Cheney, Gonzales indicted for prisoner abuse.
• Parting thoughts on the Barr campaign. Which backfired. The LP got fewer votes than Ralph Nader. Adiós.
• America’s moronic Iraq policy.
• 30 reasons for Great Depression II by 2011.
• US Senate puts brakes on auto bailout.
• For Israel, murder is permissible if the government says so.
• The non-aggression principle.
• America’s wars of self-destruction.
• Closing Gitmo is just the beginning.

Graphic from Joshua.