The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire

Great Moments In Socialism 41 Comments


Still, there remain glimmers of hope;

Tuesday’s recall election was a giant repudiation of Big Labor. It was a huge smackdown of the union bosses by a Wisconsin that is 86.5% non-union and tired of all the whining. Gov. Scott Walker was the real winner last night.
[…]
Here is the shocker: With no reason for Republicans to vote, Gov. Scott Walker darn near got more votes than the four Democrats combined – 626,538 to 665,436. And how many of his supporters went for Falk in a mischief vote is an open question. What’s more, the Democrats managed to attract only two-thirds as many votes as the 900,000 who signed the recall petitions. Why did almost 300,000 people stay home?

41 Replies to “The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire”

  2. I have been removed from the presidency of my local and banned from membership in my union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, basically for being a conservative and demanding that the elected and very highly paid union leaders provide the representation that we the members pay for, and there is nothing I can do to prevent them from confisacting dues from my pay cheque. Canada needs a Scott Walker. I’ve tried to contact Sun News and Ezra Levant to cover my story (which is pretty interesting, if I do say so myself) but no one appears interested. The left loves to demonize Big Business, Big Oil and Big what have you but Big Union doesn’t bother them at all.
    If Stephen Harper was as evil as they say he is and operated in a similar manner, someone would have gotten the ice pick in the head.

  3. “Why did almost 300,000 people stay home?”
    Probably because they could get outa the graveyard without photo-ID……..

  4. edit….
    Probably because they could NOT get outa the graveyard without photo-ID……..

  5. “Why did almost 300,000 people stay home?”
    Because like a lot of Dem “voters” they don’t really exist. And the people of Wisconsin are on the hook for all the costs of the recall that shouldn’t be taking place at all.

  6. Wisconsin has wildly liberal recall laws. Almost any governor can — if the opposing party makes the effort — be subject to a recall election after a year in office.
    Most other jurisdictions that allow recall require evidence of malfeasance. Not Wisconsin, where no reason is needed.

  7. +47 million on food stamps.
    3.5 million Homeless.
    2.3 million Adults in prison.
    5.0 million Adults on parole.
    20 million Illegal Aliens.
    Coupled with collapsing US manufacturing and a burgeoning low income Service Economy – What could go wrong?

  8. So this is what syd B was talking about.
    Good for Gov. Walker.
    I think we can all guess where the 300,000 voters stayed.

  10. Steyn’s point is right. The US is sliding downhill irretrievably unless it can follow the kind of discipline instituted by Scott Walker in Wisconsin.
    Steyn is also right that pomp and circumstance invariably increase in empires in a state of decline. It’s a variation of the Sukhomlinov Effect.

  11. You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.
    Winston Churchill

  12. cgh >
    “It’s a variation of the Sukhomlinov Effect.”
    I’m reminded more of Bagdad Bob.

  14. Hope? You prattle on about hope? Effete. “It is not necessary to hope in order to act, nor to succeed in order to persevere”, as William the Silent said.
    That has to be the watchword for every conservative in our present sea of leftists.

  15. Why did almost 300,000 people stay home?

    Mickey Mouse was on vacation in Florida.

  16. funny that, they may go into the groung conservative, but once in the ground they always seem to vote democrap

  17. The Sukhomlinov Effect
    “An Army may travel on its stomach, but defeat or victory rides on the generals’ epaulets. The Sukhomlinov Effect —named after the sartorially smashing but strategically stumbling World War I Czarist War Minister, V.A. Sukhomlinov—suggests that the winners wear the least flashy uniforms. In the current issue of Horizon, Scholars Roger Beaumont and Bernard J. James review the dress of military leaders from bedraggled American colonists to pajamaed Viet Cong. With the exception of the drably turned-out forces on both sides of the Korean War, the gaudier the officers, the surer the defeat.”
    emphasis added

  18. Rizwan, re the Sukhomlinov effect article in Horizon, that does not bode well for the war against militant Islam.

  19. The British wore the gaudiest uniforms over time and they didn’t lose many wars. I’m not sure generalities can be made. In the militia I had 4 uniforms. I had the professional opinion of sergeant majors that the plainest one appeared similar to a bag of $hit. The fanciest was bright blue with chain mail on the shoulders and bright brass. Take your pick.

  20. The Sukhomlinov Effect is a moot theory.
    You cannot compare pre 21 century war to modern warfare – because war is not “war” anymore, it’s about lawyers and Liberal Progressive bureaucracy.
    If any historical or third world nation had the means the US has today, there would be no opposition to worry about, regardless of dressy officer uniforms or not. Nuclear, Biological or Chemical, opposing nations would be laid to waste fairly quickly.
    Afghanistan would be a barren wasteland in 6 months if China saw fit to invade it without worry of legal repercussions.

  21. Scar, armour eh? Good for you. Your sergeant majors were correct, especially the old battle dress.

  23. The Sukhomlinov Effect is a specific instance of a general principle. As actual power declines, appearance becomes increasingly important to over-awe the others. This is exactly what is going on in the United States today.
    Knight, you seem to have a reading comprehension problem. I said it’s a VARIANT of the Effect.
    Scar, remember that the British were mostly fighting aboriginals during the 19th C.
    “Whatever happens, we have got
    the Gatling Gun, and they have not.”
    And even at that, they still almost lost the Boer War. And they would have lost WW2 without US and USSR involvment.

  24. Kate asks, “Why did almost 300,000 people stay home?”
    Answer: Because they belong to unions.

  26. cgh >
    “Knight, you seem to have a reading comprehension problem”
    You seem to be an anal retentive idiot to get at all defensive with what I wrote.
    It was simply an addendum and had nothing whatsoever to do with you personally, but you may piss off anyway now.

  27. Decadence is what we have now. I’ve heard this used, often by religious people, to describe the culture – overused. Steyn’s use, here & now, is spot-on!

  28. I worked with “True the Vote” to verify the signatures on the Wisconsin recall petitions. The committee in charge of the recall made it impossible to individually verify voters because they cut the phone numbers off at the margin. So basically, all that was possible was matching names to addresses (and I’m not sure how much of that was done–I only entered raw data). I DO know that we identified several thousand ineligible signatures. I also imagine that in the radically charged political environment in Wisconsin that many felt pressured to sign the petitions whether they agreed with them or not.

  29. the 300,000 that stayed home might not have existed, but ACORN will make sure they show up for the November election and they’ll each bring two friends..and they’ll bring two friends..and so on, and so on….unless, of course, they need to bring ID, then they’ll stay home again in protest because that’s ‘racist’…

  30. The whole West including Canada needs to go on a government diet. Slim Jim the whole apparatus. From the Municipal level to the Federal. Than get rid of public Unions. As an enemy to Civilization along with Scientific, if not social progress.

  31. Not really knight. I just dislike ignorant fartcatchers like you twisting everything I say. You remind me of Mulcair. You can now GFY.

  32. “Whatever happens, we have got
    the Maxim Gun, and they have not.”
    … Hilaire Belloc
    Accuracy, dear boy …
    Cheers

  33. There may be something in what you propose here. America’s suicide by debt is run out of DC but thy buy their way into state jurisdicitonf with payola just like the feds in Canada do. Expnading fed influence by bribing states to give up chunks of responsibility with program subsidies. The revolt against debt could be stopped at a state level by governors with integrity refusing fed funding and susbsidy.

  34. cgh >
    “twisting”?
    Look up what addendum means.
    “reading comprehension”?
    Now your 2 for 0.
    There is something very wrong with an arrogant ass that see’s an attack with every little comment someone else makes and then throws his stupid out there like you just did.
    There was no twisting involved, but you made a problem out of nothing, thats got to be a hard way to live. Weird out.

  35. “Why did almost 300,000 people stay home?”
    Hey, get off my back!! The organizers paid $5 for every petition signature but only $8 for each vote cast. I could make a couple of hundred signing names in a long afternoon, but you really had to hustle to make it worthwhile voting.
    They better be paying more on election day. The damn organizers and stewards will skim whatever they can and make it even tougher to come out ahead.

  36. MARK STEYN IS TOPS, FAR BETTER THAN THE LEFTY CROWD, ETC., WHICH ALWAYS OMIT THE KEY QUESTIONS, THE BETTER TO SUPPORT THIS LOSING MUSLIM PRESIDENT, WITH THREE (3) MUSLIM NAMES;
    BARACK
    HUSSEIN
    OBAMA, RAISED IN MUSLIM INDONESIA, AVOIDED
    CHRISTIAN CONNECTION IN USA, TO SIT FOR TWENTY YEARS LISTENING TO
    “BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY” RAPPER, JEREMIAH WRIGHT, AND NO LIBERAL NEWS MEDIA NOTICED?
    THAT FARRAKHQAN IS WELCOME AT THIS MUSLIM WHITE HOUSE? SO WHY DO THE BLACK CITIZENRY SUPPORT HIM, SEEING HE IS MUSLIM, NOT CHRISTIAN?
    THAT IS WHY HE HIDES HIS EARLY HARVARD PAPERS.

  37. MARK STEYN IS TOPS, FAR BETTER THAN THE LEFTY CROWD, ETC., WHICH ALWAYS OMIT THE KEY QUESTIONS, THE BETTER TO SUPPORT THIS LOSING MUSLIM PRESIDENT, WITH THREE (3) MUSLIM NAMES;
    BARACK
    HUSSEIN
    OBAMA, RAISED IN MUSLIM INDONESIA, AVOIDED
    CHRISTIAN CONNECTION IN USA, TO SIT FOR TWENTY YEARS LISTENING TO
    “BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY” RAPPER, JEREMIAH WRIGHT, AND NO LIBERAL NEWS MEDIA NOTICED?
    THAT FARRAKHQAN IS WELCOME AT THIS MUSLIM WHITE HOUSE? SO WHY DO THE BLACK CITIZENRY SUPPORT HIM, SEEING HE IS MUSLIM, NOT CHRISTIAN?
    THAT IS WHY HE HIDES HIS EARLY HARVARD PAPERS.

  38. MARK STEYN IS TOPS, FAR BETTER THAN THE LEFTY CROWD, ETC., WHICH ALWAYS OMIT THE KEY QUESTIONS, THE BETTER TO SUPPORT THIS LOSING MUSLIM PRESIDENT, WITH THREE (3) MUSLIM NAMES;
    BARACK
    HUSSEIN
    OBAMA, RAISED IN MUSLIM INDONESIA, AVOIDED
    CHRISTIAN CONNECTION IN USA, TO SIT FOR TWENTY YEARS LISTENING TO
    “BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY” RAPPER, JEREMIAH WRIGHT, AND NO LIBERAL NEWS MEDIA NOTICED?
    THAT FARRAKHQAN IS WELCOME AT THIS MUSLIM WHITE HOUSE? SO WHY DO THE BLACK CITIZENRY SUPPORT HIM, SEEING HE IS MUSLIM, NOT CHRISTIAN?
    THAT IS WHY HE HIDES HIS EARLY HARVARD PAPERS.

  39. MARK STEYN IS TOPS, FAR BETTER THAN THE LEFTY CROWD, ETC., WHICH ALWAYS OMIT THE KEY QUESTIONS, THE BETTER TO SUPPORT THIS LOSING MUSLIM PRESIDENT, WITH THREE (3) MUSLIM NAMES;
    BARACK
    HUSSEIN
    OBAMA, RAISED IN MUSLIM INDONESIA, AVOIDED
    CHRISTIAN CONNECTION IN USA, TO SIT FOR TWENTY YEARS LISTENING TO
    “BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY” RAPPER, JEREMIAH WRIGHT, AND NO LIBERAL NEWS MEDIA NOTICED?
    THAT FARRAKHQAN IS WELCOME AT THIS MUSLIM WHITE HOUSE? SO WHY DO THE BLACK CITIZENRY SUPPORT HIM, SEEING HE IS MUSLIM, NOT CHRISTIAN?
    THAT IS WHY HE HIDES HIS EARLY HARVARD PAPERS.

  40. MARK STEYN IS TOPS, FAR BETTER THAN THE LEFTY CROWD, ETC., WHICH ALWAYS OMIT THE KEY QUESTIONS, THE BETTER TO SUPPORT THIS LOSING MUSLIM PRESIDENT, WITH THREE (3) MUSLIM NAMES;
    BARACK
    HUSSEIN
    OBAMA, RAISED IN MUSLIM INDONESIA, AVOIDED
    CHRISTIAN CONNECTION IN USA, TO SIT FOR TWENTY YEARS LISTENING TO
    “BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY” RAPPER, JEREMIAH WRIGHT, AND NO LIBERAL NEWS MEDIA NOTICED?
    THAT FARRAKHQAN IS WELCOME AT THIS MUSLIM WHITE HOUSE? SO WHY DO THE BLACK CITIZENRY SUPPORT HIM, SEEING HE IS MUSLIM, NOT CHRISTIAN?
    THAT IS WHY HE HIDES HIS EARLY HARVARD PAPERS.

  41. MARK STEYN IS TOPS, FAR BETTER THAN THE LEFTY CROWD, ETC., WHICH ALWAYS OMIT THE KEY QUESTIONS, THE BETTER TO SUPPORT THIS LOSING MUSLIM PRESIDENT, WITH THREE (3) MUSLIM NAMES;
    BARACK
    HUSSEIN
    OBAMA, RAISED IN MUSLIM INDONESIA, AVOIDED
    CHRISTIAN CONNECTION IN USA, TO SIT FOR TWENTY YEARS LISTENING TO
    “BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY” RAPPER, JEREMIAH WRIGHT, AND NO LIBERAL NEWS MEDIA NOTICED?
    THAT FARRAKHQAN IS WELCOME AT THIS MUSLIM WHITE HOUSE? SO WHY DO THE BLACK CITIZENRY SUPPORT HIM, SEEING HE IS MUSLIM, NOT CHRISTIAN?
    THAT IS WHY HE HIDES HIS EARLY HARVARD PAPERS.

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