Burke's Joystick

Can you smell the liberty in the air?  Isn't it wonderful!  The 18 trillion dollar, liberty destroying behemoth that is the American federal government is shut down (really, slowed down ), and liberty is prospering!  Woohoo! One of the things I have found fascinating about this most recent shut/slowdown is how the internet has basically been having a ball with it.  As that anti-Big Government "Grumpy Cat" meme (above) demonstrates, contrary to all the inside the beltway doom & gloomers, most Americans are finding this political deadlock to be less of an opportunity for fear and more of an opportunity for humor.  Good for them!  Just like the dreaded "sequestration cuts" proved to be much ado about nothing, so has this "shutdown" proved to be a lot of fear-mongering nonsense.  American's are learning that the chattering classes inside DC live in a very different world from most Americans.  While we fear not being able to put food on the ...

As I watched (suffered through?) the Democrat National Convention, I couldn't shake the feeling that I wasn't watching a gathering of people expecting a November victory as much as I was watching what is sometimes referred to as an "Irish Wake" - that is, a raucous celebration during a time of mourning.  As with the biblical amalgamation "Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die", I had the distinct impression of people forcing themselves to be happy on the eve of a crushing defeat.  This feeling was only reinforced when there was that whole platform controversy that resulted in the following awkward moment for the party: