Go Iceland!

[hsifeng]

Don't like what your government is doing?


Change it.



Iceland did.


Interesting how we never hear this sort of thing in the news.


I fully expect that my cell phone and internet service will be cut once I post this.



Can't let civil unrest brew after all.



Don't worry - I am sure Big Brother has a plan and is ready to take care of us all.

Comments

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

Well, now. That's interesting. (Though Iceland has, frankly, already paid for it's poor past decisions and is more or less back to fishing for a living....)

Gotta say, I'm not really following the line drawn by the author comparing this to the breakdown of the Welfare state in Italy, Spain, and Greece, though.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

I think the main parallel being drawn is the cudgel of the IMF: It seems to me that the standing of a country in the international credit system and a sovereignty of its citizenry are at polar-opposite ends of a continuum built on the concepts of radical capitalism. On one end you have the success of major international corporations and our standard idea of a achievement via the accumulation of ‘things’ (including items that represent the possibility of money – rather than actual money); and on the other you have a electorate actively participating in the selection of how their fiscal and political power are invested in the marketplace. Both of these are extreme endpoints, but we only really hear about the first option in this country…

Honestly, what is bugging me more right now is that a country of the EU seems to have had a quite revolution - including the drafting of a new constitutional document, using modern tech as the pen - and no one is talking about it.

Um...CNN? MSNBC? Hell - FOX!?!? Where are the reporters (who might be able to better cover this situation)?

Although I do have to say I sorta love this turn of phrase, "The belief that citizens had to pay for the mistakes of a financial monopoly, that an entire nation must be taxed to pay off private debts was shattered, transforming the relationship between citizens and their political institutions and eventually driving Iceland’s leaders to the side of their constituents." [emp. mine]

Leaders forced to represent their constituency? Unheard of!

And of course, once I get done with Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" I am going to want to pick up this book (http://johnlarroquetteproject.com/2010/03/08/collapse-by-jared-diamond/).

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

Oh, without question. But if you're getting your news exclusively from the MSM - whether that is CNBC, NBC, ABC, or Fox - you're an idiot. There is absolutely no motivation FOR them to report what's really going on. Instead, they give us what will get ratings, and (let's not mince words) what will advance there own political agenda.

The beauty of the Intar-weebs is that you can find these things. The aggravation is that it takes a lot of time, it's NOT easy, and you have to know where to look. I leave a lot of the "looking" to my husband, since he's the political junkie and he knows where to look.

Part of my aggravation is that I'm in support of the Tea Party's stand that what we need is LESS federalization and a return to a representational government rather than a political ruling class. Where I get aggravated with them is when they fall of the sanity wagon and go howling on about "Social issues." One or the other. If you want less government, quit trying to legistlate behavior.

I do like Mark Steyn, though:

http://www.marksteyn.com/

http://www.amazon.com/After-America-Get-Ready-Armageddon/dp/1596981008/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314443128&sr=8-1

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Hey there! Back from being away for the weekend and catching up on correspondence. *chuckle* I also depend on my husband to keep me clued in to the major events that aren’t front page here in the states (and I tend to get most of my news the old fashioned way, via newspaper – because we get them free at work and I read during my union mandated breaks…*wink*). I think he takes great delight in dropping morsels like this one (“Oh, did you hear that Iceland overthrew its government?”) into our dinner conversation just to see me spew peas through my nose. *chortle*

And what is with the ‘hands off my right Big Government’ groups suddenly deciding they are also going to attempt to be the legislated moral compass for their constituency?!? Can you say, “Diametrically opposed goals”? I knew you could! I had a couple of friends jump ship on the Libertarians recently because they got anti-abortion paperwork from their local chapter. Anti-abortion pamphlets? From LIBERTARIANS!?! What. The. Ever-loving. Fuck?

*shakes head*

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

And what you have to realize is... it's not the LIBERTARIANS. It's the NeoCons trying to saddle that horse because it looks like it has a winning shot.

Nor is it the real "Small Government" groups advocating this stuff. It's the looney RIGHT trying to get in front of the parade with a Drum Major's baton.

Not that the other side is any better, for that matter.

I'm more of a "Jeffersonian" - if you will. "If it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket, what is it to me?" In other words, if it doesn't cause harm to people financially or physically, the gov't doesn't need to regulate it. There is no need to protect people from their own stupidity. And mandating entitlement programs is not the Fed's job either.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Nor is it the real "Small Government" groups advocating this stuff. It's the looney RIGHT trying to get in front of the parade with a Drum Major's baton.

Oh, I understand this about the source of those ridiculous off-party message when they pop up. The problem seems to be, there is no strong party leadership in either the Libertarian or Tea-Party shouting them down either. Which leads me to believe that those who are 'in charge' (to whatever degree that happens to be) are at least partially OK with courting the Right in order to see what sort of political favors it can win them.

It's the whole game of politics in general that disgusts me. Look, two or three senators banding together to get a canal built? Fine. But dozens of them claiming to represent a unified platform is just hog-wash; the only platform they are representing is the 're-elect me' platform and that rarely means the best service for their constituents.

And THIS would be the primary reason I am against many forms of big government (although I am not someone who goes so far as to say the Federal gov should be dissolved in favor of all-local, all-the-time; that way often leads to the wholesale trampling of civil rights and massive abuse of the have-nots by the haves.

If you are TJ lover, do you happen to listen to the Thomas Jefferson hour with Clay Jenkins? If you don't, you should. It's a lovely radio program and I think you would enjoy it!