Yes, it’s frustrating to listen to the cascade of economic lies coming from the Biden administration. And so E. Donald Elliott wants us to channel Bastiat, who asked us to understand the difference between things seen and things unseen, between today’s visible effect of a policy and the long-term effect that isn’t so obvious.
I think that we need to be ruder and cruder than that.
But we have to start from the basic understanding that politics is all about
Taking it to the enemy and
Sharing out the loot after the glorious victory.
That’s the way to understand President Biden’s blood-red speech in front of Independence Hall on September 1, 2022. The Ultra-MAGAs are the enemy, and unless we fight like mad they will take away “our Democracy.”
That’s the way to understand the Student Loan giveaway. Vote for me and you can say good-bye to your student loan!
Trouble is: it doesn’t do any good to say that, Come on, man, MAGA Republicans are not as bad as all that. At the level of politics you have to respond toe to toe, as in how dare you write off half of America as a bunch of extremists! If you ask me, you are the extremist, Mr. President.
And it doesn’t do any good to say that, well, the problem with student loans is that they have just enabled colleges to raise their tuition and hire a bunch of administrators. Instead you have to blare out: Not with my hard-earned money you don’t! College loan forgiveness basically bails out the educated at the expense of ordinary wage-earning people!
So, if we want to roll back the spending state we have to use crude rhetoric, like:
If government is spending money on someone, then it’s taking money away from someone else.
Not with my money you don’t.
Green energy means more green stuff in the pockets of lobbyists and big corporations.
Systemic racism is a great way to make decent Americans hate each other.
Government is never out for the little guy.
Government means special interests get first in line.
Get your hands out of my pockets, government.
I could go on.
But I must say that I have been surprised by the cluelessness of the Biden administration. If I were in charge I would have told everyone, on Day One, that after the money printing of 2020 it would be very difficult to get the economy back on an even keel, and that would hurt Democrats at the next election. I would have told everyone in the administration that Job One is to get the economy and its price system working overtime to get things back to normal without crazy infllation and a nasty recession. Instead, the Biden adminstration threw money all over the place and Made Things Worse.
How could our rulers be so stupid? Well, the only thing that makes sense to me is that, when you are in politics there are only two things:
Take it to the enemy.
Reward the supporters.
And that is all.
I guess that’s the point of having a limited government, to reduce the power of people that think that life is just about taking it to the enemy and rewarding your supporters. You know, like the Vikings in Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Tales and The Last Kingdom TV series.