Peter brings up a point I've been making for quite a while that is being highlighted by Elon's DOGE:
It doesn't give enough attention, IMHO, to the "poverty industry" of NGO's, consultants, therapists and others who make a good living out of "managing" or "addressing" the causes, effects and reality of poverty, without ever doing anything to resolve the issues they identify - because that would cut off their income, and nobody (at least, from their perspective) wants that.It's Rich People's Leftism:
Rich People's Leftism is one of the clearest explanations I've ever seen for the utter failure of government in Blue States:
With this new approach in mind, let me contrast Rich People’s Leftism (RPL) with Poor People’s Leftism (PPL).
RPL thinks that its goal is to help poor people, while PPL thinks that RPL’s primary goal is to ensure that wealthy leftists dominate and get great jobs.You really should click through to read about Rich People's Leftism, which dates to 2010. We've known about this for a long, long time. A different view is "red pill/blue pill":
... an old post from Isegoria (you do read him every day, don't you?) gives the best introduction to the topic, phrased in explicitly "Blue Pill"/"Red Pill" terminology:
The nature of the state
- The state is established by citizens to serve their needs. Its actions are generally righteous.
- The state is just another giant corporation. Its actions generally advance its own interests. Sometimes these interests coincide with ours, sometimes they don’t.
You should read Isegoria's post as well. Then think about the proposed $3.5T spending bill that is before congress. Who will it help? Who are we told that is is going to help, but won't? To ask the questions is to answer them.
What is interesting about the opening moves of DOGE is that we are now getting names to put next to all the Rich People's Leftism projects.
It’s not only Rich People’s Leftism. It’s also Rich People’s Rightism. Like a pendulum, it swings back and forth depending on who has the elected majority.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't had Rich People's Rightism in any of our lifetimes. That died with FDR.
DeleteFalse.
DeleteThere is no equivalent.
There has never been any Rich People's Rightism in recorded national history.
That's because spending government bux on right-wing causes is like combining matter and anti-matter.
It simply cannot occur.
And nothing actually helps the poor...
ReplyDeleteNothing can ever help the poor! They must help themselves. If you are poor and are waiting for a handout, you'll always be poor. If you are poor and waiting for a handup, refer to the previous sentence.
ReplyDeleteRPL is far older than 2010. Take a look at Tom Wolfe's essay Radical Chic from 1970. Or the term Limousine Liberal coined in 1969 by a now forgotten candidate for the mayor of NYC. In the UK they are called champagne socialists. The term "armchair revolutionary" was coined in 1937.
ReplyDeleteJesus said the poor will always be with us, so I'm good with individuals, organizations, and govts trying to do some good. But the latter 2 figured out how to rig it in their favor. So I'm really good with doge being the proverbial bull in a China shop, breaking things down to parade rest, and being transparent as hell while doing it. Sure, they got a meat cleaver and broadsword going hot and heavy right now, but what is broken can be fixed, individual spending bills and replace aid organizations, and we can still help poor people as individuals in the meantime.
ReplyDeleteThat was supposed to say can be placed aid organizations.
DeleteIt isn't just getting names.
ReplyDeleteNow we're getting the actual dollar amounts, and the causes that were funded.
And 535 Congressweasels, half of them nominally our own, who were absolutely and inarguably responsible for oversight, at which they have been totally and criminally wholesale derelict, have been stone dead asleep at the switch for years, if not decades.
The magnitude of the USAID debacle alone should be proof beyond rational argument for bringing back the stocks and pillory for members of the House and Senate, and even for bringing back horsewhipping and tar-and-feathering with scalding tar.
Why not do it right? Hemp rope and use I95 overpasses as gallows!
DeleteI suggested using the lamp posts in D.C. but nobody liked that idea.
DeleteI really would like the names of the congresscritters who sat down one day and say's I think its a good idea to propose a bill that will make no sense but it will just be a line in a 2500 page bill and my friend will oversee it and we will split the money with no one wiser. Until DOGE. No wonder they are out protesting every day.
ReplyDeleteIt's delicious seeing these paper pushing grifters at USAID being fired. Now, there are some federal agencies that do things like maintain infrastructure like dams and other fed property, but I'd wager a good portion of the fed gov could be demolished and no one would notice. Take the USDA for example and ask if there are still any offices in urban areas where anything resembling agriculture vanished long ago from urbanization.
ReplyDelete