Americans Returning To Puritanical Ways?
March 6, 2009 / 1:59 pm • By Dr. Melissa ClouthierWe can hope. Michelle Malkin notes the tightening of belts everywhere (except Congress and the White House):
Team Obama’s image experts, perhaps hung over from all the Camelot-recreating Wednesday cocktail parties that are now a signature of the new administration, have fallen down on the job. The man who scolded Americans for wasting energy and turning their thermostats too high still hasn’t lowered his own. “He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” senior adviser David Axelrod snickered to the New York Times in January. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”
In flyover country, the mood could not be more different. Party time is over. I heard from a reader in northwest Arkansas, now upside down on her house with two college-age kids who is preparing to tighten the family belt.
Pierre LeGrand talks about the anger of those who did the right thing and now see their life savings going down the tubes:
There is a GREAT deal of anger out in the sticks. We DO see many of these groups as responsible for the horrible mess we find ourselves in and it is OUR savings and our very money that is being destroyed right this very minute by a bunch of thugs with Ivy League degrees. Always wondered why the peasants were so angry at the elite during the French Revolution that they chopped off heads without much distinction. Watching my investments being destroyed by the fecklessness of politicians paying off political debts to everyone with my money I now am beginning to understand where that sort of anger comes from.
When the crap hits the fan, there’s inevitable finger pointing. Blaming Bush is popular even though he counseled against Freddie and Fanny and begged for regulatory oversight. Blaming Congressional Democrats is more accurate when looking at the housing and banking messes. Blaming Congressional Republicans is accurate when you consider that they enabled and encouraged disgusting wasteful spending.
But really, our elected leaders and leadership class generally reflect Americans. Americans lived on cheap credit, bought home with inflated values, spent loads of money on stuff they didn’t need for reasons they don’t even remember, and basically still live, even in a financial crunch at a level that medieval kings can only dream about.
People could spend years using and re-using the junk they already have. They could spend years wearing and re-wearing clothes. When they do shop, they can find beautiful things at decent prices at Wal-Mart and Target or just wait for a sale on the nice stuff at Dillards.
The economic crunch will last for a while because people are still so flush. And if times get really bad, families will move into the big McMansion together and keep chickens in their suburban backyard grass patch.
So, are Americans returning to their Puritanical ways? Not to my way of thinking. They’re just coming down from a high that makes plenty seem like a low.
For those who lived a decent life, they’re angry. Many responsible Americans have lost their life-savings and that is a huge long-term loss that will take years to earn back if ever.
I say, turn that anger into something useful. Fight. Stephen Green (aka Vodkapundit) has an excellent piece about what to do:
Republicans spent the last eight years trying to do the “smart” thing, by buying out the Democratic agenda. It was “smart” to “take Medicare off the table” by expanding it in ways so vast even Democrats hadn’t gotten away with it in 40 years. It was considered “smart” to “take immigration off the table” by forging a grand alliance with Ted Kennedy. It was considered “smart” to “take education off the table” by federalizing it under No Child Left Behind.
Well, we’ve tried the smart thing and all it got us was a bigger, more meddlesome government. Now it’s time to do the right thing.
How very Puritanical for a vodka swilling swell. Puritans escaped religious persecution. They fought economic persecution (hello Tea Parties). Finally, they just fought. They went to war against an oppressive government that made the elites rich and the common man enslaved. Government is on that track again.
I generally distrust populist movements. Still statist movements can only be stopped by an angered populace. America started as a populist movement of common men defending self-evident truths. It’s time to return to our puritanical ways.
Cross-posted at Right Wing News
7 Responses to “Americans Returning To Puritanical Ways?”
March 6 2009 / 8:38 pm
Reply
Naw – you can’t lose money on a tracking poll, can you?
March 6 2009 / 10:36 pm
Reply
Melissa,
I’m getting increasingly confused as to your views. One moment you’re saying conservatives need to dig in. The next you’re preaching accomodation with limp-wristed moderates. And then again you’re back to digging in. You’re like a pendulum. What gives?
March 6 2009 / 11:35 pm
Reply
I’m consistent…truly!
1. Fight the cultural decline tooth and nail.
2. Stay true to conservative principles.
3. Recognize the culture has changed.
4. Speak the language that will communicate to the citizens of this new culture.
Essentially, when in Rome, do as the Romans. Reach people where they ARE and bring them to where we want them to be.
Obama didn’t win by using the language of a 60s, left-wing, psychotic hippie. He used middle of the road, hope and changiness language and now is governing like a 60s, left-wing, psychotic hippie.
What I’m talking about is recognizing that form matters as much as substance. The hearts and minds we have to be won in order to win. Conservatives might need to change how they message in order to do that.
March 7 2009 / 12:31 am
Reply
Melissa,
While I agree that the Republicans in general have a really hard time communicating their ideas (this is perennial, by the way), I think the message simply needs to be clearer (change sounds a bit like the RINO stuff). As for substance, well, Republicans also need to start practicing what they preach, something they haven’t done very well lately. Consistency hasn’t exactly been one of their stronger points lately.
As for Obama, the left wing preaching was there and crystal clear to see, provided that people wished to view it. Americans will see what they want to see. People like Joe the Plumber saw through the smokescreen. Unfortunately, for most Americans these days, it’s not a question of can they see through it, but rather are they willing to see through it.
I think it’ll take a massive and catastrophic screwup at this point for people to get out of this fog of retardedness that they’re in to be able to see the light.
Unfortunately, the “changes” that Obama’s doing right now will be most noticeable in the long term, which will be about the time (as usual) that we won’t be able to do anything about it.
March 7 2009 / 12:16 pm
Reply
Very nice job at blaming the regular American, Melissa. The bottom line is that the banks, more specifically the loan underwriters, looked the other way on questionable loans because they wanted to make a quick buck on the points and didn’t give a shit about the long term payback ability of these borrowers. This was cheap crack to a bunch of addicts, and the government looked the other way because their buddies in the banking sector were making a quick killing (Paulson, anyone?).
No less truthful words were ever written when you said that our elected officials are a reflection of the populace at large. The average household income is $48,000 – that’s it! NO ONE, republican or democrat alike in congress or in the white house circle has an income like that. Is it any coincidence that one of the highest median household incomes by state is for Maryland? Are you really naive enough to think that any of these people are really a reflection of the average American?
The bottom line is that what is different about this crisis is that previously banks actually used things like payment history and long term ability to repay to underwrite loans. Politicians didn’t wan’t to regulate any of the banking shenanigans for fear of slowing the economic juggernaut of the last decade, even though it was a false economy. In fact, not only did they not want to be the ones who killed the goose that layed the golden egg, moreover they encouraged it to grow. Years past, most if not all of these shady loans would have been rifted long before they even made it to the underwriting process. You can blame dems for starting the mess with Carter (although one wonders why this crisis didn’t erupt in the early eighties), but repubs hastened the process when in 2002 they massively deregulated the loan ratios for freddy and fannie (just about the time all of our home values shot up like a rocket – hmmmmm…). I know it’s convenient for you to look down your nose at the average person and blame the collapsing economy on them, but maybe you should consider what changed in the last decade – was it the consumer or the financial drug pusher on the corner?
March 8 2009 / 12:07 am
Reply
CHUCKLES!!!!!!!!! How’s it goin’ man? Still pretending to be the moderate? Awesome!
Seriously,
The government told the banks way back when that they needed to loan out to dipshits who really shouldn’t have been getting loans. Now, the banks aren’t in the charity business and like all good capitalists (psstt…this is the antithesis of the Marxist, ok?) they’ll find a way to make a buck. And that is what they proceeded to do.
As for the average American vs. the awe-inspiring leadership in D.C., the people allowed this crap to happen, so they have to live with the consequences of that. I don’t like the politicians, but they are behaving exactly how we expect them to.
So, Obama’s call to tax the everliving shit out of the rich isn’t a ploy to kill the goose that laid the golden egg? All of these taxes aren’t so they can get their hands on even more capital than they already have their greedy hands on? Hmmm….interesting observation…
March 8 2009 / 6:31 pm
Reply
Mat,
Still pretending to be the conservative? Aren’t you the one who works for the government at a university? Still biting the hand that feeds, eh?
Since you missed the point (big suprise…), I’ll explain it to you again:
The fed allowed freddie and fannie to raise their liquidity ratios from a very banking industry standard 10:1 to 30:1. Now, I realize that even being the government pork employee that you are you swear to be an avid capitalist, but ratios like this defy even the most hardcore capitalistic reasoning. This took “make a quick buck” to a whole new level. And yes, dems are to blame for this as well, but remember who had control in 2002?
Is it just that you can’t face the facts and need to throw several red herrings out there? Will your head explode if you admit your team fumbled the ball? Will you ever get off the government dole and become a true conservative? Maybe it’s all of that guilt at taking taxpayer dollars that drives you to post here as a pseudo conservative. How ironic that you bitch about the “liberal” student helpers that work for you. The only reason you have a job is because of them. I worked for a couple of guys like you in college who claimed to be conservatives. They constantly bitched about the state, the university, blah, blah, blah, all the while sucking down public funds.
And no, I don’t own up to being responsible for the f’ed up leadership in D.C. I’m from CA, and I DID NOT vote for Feinstein, Boxer, ad nauseum. Yes, there really are moderates out there who look at all sides, Gov’t Mat.