Michael Totten;

Vietnam was finally independent and unified, but it fared no better than the Soviet Union, North Korea, or Cuba–and almost everyone knew it, including many in the Communist leadership. In the mid-1980s, a fight broke out between those who wanted to continue with the old system and those who had already benefited from quiet micro-capitalist reforms enacted in 1979 and wanted to expand them. Southerners made noise about returning to the pre-Communist system that they knew, from personal experience, worked much better. The relative economic success of other Southeast Asian nations, especially Thailand, was obvious even to the ideologues.
The advocates of change won the argument, and in 1986, the government officially abandoned Marxist-Leninist economics and announced the Doi Moi reforms, defined as an attempt to create a “socialist-oriented market economy.” Presumably, party leaders left the word “socialist” in there because they were embarrassed by Marxism’s failures and couldn’t admit that they’d been wrong. Or perhaps they feared that their remaining supporters were allergic to the word “capitalism.” No matter. Vietnam officially junked Communism a mere 11 years after imposing it on South Vietnam.

Ted Cruz calls out Mitch McConnell. Start video at the 13:45 mark.

Two Conservative Jewish Women are Driving the Left Insane

By the People: Rebuilding Liberty Without Permission” (A WaPo review).
h/t Neil

“In the past, the more the mob chanted, burned, and raged, the more it swayed public opinion.” – Welcome back, Cjunk.

Alberta PC Leadership…bad to worse.

I just voted twice. #pcldr

— Christina Pilarski (@crontynen) September 6, 2014

Continue reading →

…go horribly wrong.

Video: Sarah Palin’s address to CPAC.

perfect be the enemy of the good.
Meaning, you’ll never find the perfect program, or the perfect execution, or your perfect desires. So you should celebrate good, as good, and you shouldn’t overly rip something because it doesn’t live up to a persons expectations of perfect.
When this whole deficit thing started I vented about Minister Flaherty and PM Harper. I was not impressed, from a fiscal conservatives point of view what they did was tantamount to supporting the NDP budgets for half a decade. Five years or whatever of deficit spending that blew up any debt repayment done previous. All because Harper couldn’t lose gov’t, Dion was a power-hungry fool, Layton wanted a legacy, Gilles Duceppe laughed, and Ignatieff was too weak to say, ‘no’. Such leadership….
Congratulations on playing the politics well enough to stay on. I suppose I can live with my disappointment that the politics necessitated this foolishness. Canada is lucky that some semblance of restraint was signing the cheques. This is especially evident when you examine other countries with the extreme-left in power. (Waves at USA.)
December had a surplus, and we’ll probably continue that trend with some ups and downs. Good work. Good on Harper for pushing it, Flaherty for holding firm, Clement and a multitude of others for hacking away. Please keep on it. Your goal should be to erase the debt pushed on the nation. I’d also request fewer taxes too so that those who follow you have less to be wasteful with.

“What Justice Nadon’s appointment says about the Supreme Court’s future”

The Minister of Finance seeks your input;

As I build the budget every year, I hear from many experts, like private sector economists, academics and business representatives, as well as my Cabinet colleagues. But I also need to hear from Canadians from across the country and from all walks of life. […]
I encourage you to answer any or all of the questions that matter to you on this online consultation and share them with your friends, family, and colleagues. All Canadians have a stake in the answers to these questions, so all Canadians should have a say in answering them.

Start survey here.