The New Puritans; Same As The Old 'Uns

Leg-iron talks on the lasting legacy of the new puritanicism (Puritanism? - Ed). There is the usual mixed bag of hope and despair tinged with his usual pragmatism and well worth the read; nothing will arm you against the righteous in society like the Underdog.

As a born again Christian with a mixed scriptural education from many different types of church (for we are not all the same) I have been accused and assumed to have quite illiberal views on the use of drugs, and in truth known individuals who exhibited this neo-Calvinistic behviour. Fair enough.

Myself? I try (and fail often) to live by Paul's words to the Phillipians (emphasis mine):

(12) Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. (13) For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

I don't have to like something to support someones right to do it; I have met Christians who believe just because they are right gives them a stake in others lives.

When I meet these people I point out this concept to them; Leg-iron has captured this idea in a practical example; that man tends towards self destruction, but at least tries to enjoy it along the way.

To believe that we can be united in our dislike of an act is to live a poor life; I'll stick with a life less ordinary, doing and being with people I love and mutually benefit in knowing.

QED

I'll admit it- it was not a good idea to start this having had little sleep due to teething screamy baby, but neither would 140 characters beat sufficiently erudite response to it either so here it goes:

So the perceived problem is that through the use of perfectly legal tax-efficient practices "Big Business" is able to squirrel away up to £80Bn in "lost" income from the state; the following assumptions can be made from this logic:

1. Presumably these Big Businesses are compressing down the £80Bn into rolls of fivers and firing them at passing seagulls off the channel.
2. That if only the state had this extra £80Bn the peoples republic of the UK would flourish, all needs met and growth in living standards obtained.

We can instantly debunk 1 whilst in turn showing 2 is also rubbish:

A1: That £80Bn, whether put into the hands of a few directors or that of the company shareholders is not wasted; at worst it is being put into consumer goods and services keeping yaught-builders, kitchen fitters and Michelin-star chefs in business; more likely this money is being reinvested by savvy, profit-hungry (ergo, those least likely to invest in something unlikely to return on their investment) people, providing new jobs whilst providing better and cheaper products.

A2: Considering that on recent historical evidence of the last Labour-ious government and the whopping great hole in finances they were paying today's public services with tomorrow's tax money (after all that is all that debt is: tomorrows bill) despite massively inflating the take of the public sector in the economy we are seeing the quality of life stagnating (at best).

So the assumptions are wrong, and that money is best staying in the hands of those who earnt it in the first place.

And even to ignore this issue and continue on to "collecting" this "lost" revenue: more tax-collectors? Increasing the complexity of the tax office would simply eat into the aforementioned extra funds, reducing what you can do with it at the end (an example being inheritance tax, which once the cost of collecting it is taken into account is early revenue neutral).

None of which takes into account the Laffer Curve; why bother earning that extra £80Bn if they are going to take it from you? Why not enjoy your high paid job salary and the extra time you would use to increase your profitability or, better yet, move your business to a better tax and regulatory environment?

Does noone think things through anymore?

The Wrong Inference?

The @UKprogressive on Twitter posted this article by the LA Times; of note is the following:

"Twenty years ago, the U.S. ranked 29th in the child mortality rate, according to data analyzed by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington."

The obvious inference at this point being that something horrible has happened in the last 20 years to cause a drop of this magnitude.

Could it be those Eevil capitalists? Possibly - the jury is probably still out in this for many.

But it us odd that the MEDICAID programme began in the 80s at roughly the same time the US infant mortality rate started to stagnate.

Also fun to note that the clear winner at number one with the lowest rate Singapore healthcare system which has been cited in other aspects as being the best in the world.

So we are supposed to infer that a system devoid of socialism or americanised crony corporatism and chock-full of personal autonomy and choice is the one to go for yes?

Coalition Deal in Brief

Basically:



Hey Blair- I found those draconian policies and your legacy you peddled on the British people laying on top of these- are these yours too?

Lots of crap too; bone thrown to the SDP cohort of the Lib Dumbs, but good so far.

Fascinating

A means of paying off the national debt and giving an instant 28.5% tax cut!

Buggered if I can see the flaw in it! A shiny penny in it for someone who can!

The Final Final MyDave (Yes Primula Minister Edition)

Big glass of wine for me tonight; it ain't perfect but it's better than Labour's POS.

Peace and love to all tonight.

So What Now?

So Brown has buggered up iDave's plans somewhat; he gets a few months more in power for whatever passes as reason in his mad head and we get to pay for all this farce for a few more months.

To me the entire election has been a farce; yet again democracy reveals itself as a cruel joke in which a few unpopular bit players call the tune, the tune being they want to enhance the mobs rule over the individual (or as Guido has recently put it, perpetual representation).

I started this piece with a brief prediction for this parliament in light of Browns resignation as Labour leader (but, importantly, not as the PM), it seems that others have beaten me to the same conclusions.

In particular Leg-iron's comment here is most interesting:

The best part is, the Tories will be apoplectic. Cameron will be relegated to tea boy with Osborne as assistant tea boy and the party might even cotton on to the idea of actually listening to the electorate for a change. By the time another election rolls up, they might even be willing to mention the EU and the smoking ban and many other things that wrecked their vote this time. Instead of working out compromises with other parties, they might even realise that actually asking people what they want from government might be a good idea. That would be a novelty.

When I awoke on the 7th May to find the Bory's had not secured the majority they needed I was not surprised; I did think it strange that no one had thought to wrap the heads of the innumerable talking political-nodding dogs in tinfoil, place them between magnets and use the spinning to generate enough electricity to solve any energy crisis for the next decade. The majority of Bory voters have enough pride and intelligence about them to know when they are being lied to and their bullshitometer must've been ringing off the scale since Cameron came to lead; enough jumped ship.

It wasn't UKIP that spoiled your victory, Tories. It was you. Unless you can accept that and analyse truthfully the reasons it happened, you are going to do it again. Look up 'personal responsibility' in the dusty old Tory handbooks.

This is the reality folks; in courting the beardy-weirdies, the provincial queens and the great unwashed Cambo caused a sharp intake of breath in his blue-blood core vote, turning it purple; combined with the bile in the collective neck of the nation you get yellow- hence UKIP.

It's amazing, and depressing at the same time, how the entire political spectrum can be reduced to a discussion revolving around secondary colours and how the primary mix to create them.

Don't believe me on how UKIP decided this election? Read Dr. North's research here; they could have secured victory, and then some, by simply giving their core voters what they wanted - the right to be asked about the important stuff like handing yet more power over to EU through Lisbon, whether Scotland should be kicked into touch and forced to raise it own taxes to pay for it's policies, rather than lynche the south englanders for it or to have a say in what is a public good, but should jot necessarily remain a public service.

Instead we have limbo, and as a conscientious objector to the entire big 3 I could not be better services; my spoilt vote has been proven by the indecision of an electorate who have no clue why is necessary or right anymore; in short we get the government we deserve

In fact, the parties have been dealt an unplayable hand. The Tories can only acquire a majority by working the Lib-dims – which was never going to be successful – while Labour and the Lib-dims together cannot raise a working majority. For those of us who wanted to express their utter contempt for the political system, we could not have had a better outcome.

There are some painful months ahead for all of us, but this is the sociopatholigist end-game; their political system of robbing peter, keith and Paul to pay for Dwaynetta and her extended progeny by 10 different fathers and every minority group imaginable has now been tested to destruction; let's just hope Clog signs up for it and we may come out freer, older and wiser from this as a nation.

UPDATE: So it appears Clegg has seen what's coming and seen his destruction and that of the socialist ideology.

My guess is that Clegg realising the markets would call time on the LibLab "progressive" coalition, his hopes for a chance at voting reform going down along with any hopes of a legacy. Whether or not the beardy wierdies in his party stop the coalition government won't matter- Cambo's got a year to 18 months max before the coalition crumbles, hopefully leading to a real conservative government being put forward.

In the interim if Cambo does one thing only he should do the following; make sure he gets a devolved English parliament with any deal on electoral reform; the progressive consensus will falter and consign Labour to the dustbin of history, and bring Scotland out of it's maddening rush for the gutter.

More MyDaves (Hung But Flacid Parliament Edition)

Serves him right.

Reap the whirlwindfor championing the mediocracy and idiots Cambo; I doubt you'll see the month of June as PM.

If Any Comments About Democracy Remain In Your Head Long Enough...

...let them be these (emphasis mine):

"I think people have to realise that the people have spoken, this is a democratic vote and everyone has to go along with that, whether its us, our opponents or people on the streets, and if there are a few crazies or thugs on the streets I'm sure the police will deal with them quite quickly."

"The more people in the media talk this up as an issue, the more silly kids on the streets will be inclined to take the law into their hands." - Nick Griffin

Taking the law into your own hands is an interesting concept because the big joke about democracy is that that is what you do once every 5 years; you laughably vote to have a party elected to make laws based on roughly what you want (or, as is the case in my district, what your father and grandfather wanted).

The reality is, however, that a deeper set of laws exists - these natural laws at their core are a simple phrase: "freedom from..."

Freedom from enslavement.

Freedom from theft.

Freedom from assault.

The only caveat being that we have the responsibility to fund, uphold and arbitrate over infringements against these freedoms.

And it is this, solely this, that having been turned on it's head that has led to our current impasse; that a man is his brothers keeper and your property is not your own.

Democracy is 2 wolves and a sheep deciding who's for dinner; have nothing to do with it other than to let them know you do not accept their authority. Unless you've got a libertarian candidate who cares about his freedoms as much as yours spoil your ballot; it is the only way you'll get real change.

#referendum_on_Lisbon

I'm going to try a little meme experiment using Twitter.

Via the TPA's Mark Wallace over at the Devil's Knife I see that the Lisbon treaty is being put to Parliament again; the cynic in me thinks this is an attempt to assert authority over the new boss (whoever that may be) but doesn't this give us a unique chance to hold Cameron to his word on giving us a referendum?

So here is my offer Mr Cameron; I was going to spoil my ballot but if you can show me you are a man of you word and see fit to give me the chance to say yes or no to the EU's latest and last incursion into my country (for with the self-amending nature of this treaty they need never ask again) you can have my vote; I will overlook the soft-corporatism and actually put my X in your box (*cues seedy wah guitar and jazz drums*).

If you feel as I do retweet, link to this blog or just shout down the phone at your local Tory PPC that they can whistle for your vote unless they promise to champion this; I will be doing likewise today.

A Moment Of Madness

This is the most bizarre thing you'll ever hear from me on this site but I put a lot of thought of beer into me last night which started all sorts of wierd ideas in my head so hear me out.

I hope Labour win again.

Hear me out at the back there- my logic us sound:

Firstly I truly don't believe Brown thinks he will win; he is fighting this on the basis of a NuLaborious rout, fighting off attempts at his leadership from Bert and Ernie, Harpie Harman and Ed Balls (unless he gets his own "Portillo Moment")- this will be his primary objective on the 7th May; having proven his core old Laborious credentials merely solidifies himself in with the party faithful.

His longer term strategy seems to be based on creating a scorched earth that will be blamed on the Bory's, particularly when it comes to stopping the IMF and creditors taking everything that isn't bolted down; with nearly a quarter of the population on the public payroll (it is not coincidental that that is roughly the same proportion of borrowing Labour are doing on our childrens credit cards) it won't matter who is at fault for the overspend - it will always be blamed on who pulls the trigger.

All this supposed "recovery", 0.2% or whatever it was, which was given to the media with much fanfare bears all the hallmarks of a dead cat bounce; the economy stops declining briefly or maybe improves marginally with all the additional funny money pumped into it (and which, as I've pointed out before, has improved bugger all). The reality is that this money was little more than a guarantee that the entire facade wouldn't come crashing down on his watch, keeping things going till the Bory's can take the fall, all the while being portrayed as a hero for keeping things going so long as he did, before infighting and the Bory's ruined everything.

Keeping Brown is the least worst option; as Guido has pointed out the most important lasting legacy he has is that he has tested socialism to destruction; unlike Blair who was patently corporatist and got away leaving that model almost completely off the hook if Brown were to stay in post he could bring both ideologies down; letting him off the hook early merely enforces the lie and plants it into another generation- another term of Labour will not lead to a polite and well-mannered withdrawal to the core voting areas for the union faithful; it'll lead to their forced ejection by an impoverished people in the deepest recession they have ever known, unable to afford food or power to heat their homes in winter, we will experience proper solidarity amongst the workers, namely in lining up the new Labour cabinet against a wall with a bullet for each, their backbench, peers and commission-plants being ejected from Britain- via the white cliffs of Dover.

With a majority or minority it doesn't matter; giving Brown the reigns will have the same result either way- he will be the one forced to pull the trigger and no amount of bleating from his talking heads will matter.

As I've said many times before I will not be buying into the charade and will be putting my vote against all the candidates boxes this year - but for those wo still want to vote elsewhere than Labour consider this; your still getting the same flavoured lightly salted snack either bag you go for.