Friday – Page 5 – Quill Sword

Archena December 23, 2022December 22, 2022Current, Fridaycorruption, crisis, foreign policy, NATO, party, Politics, Russia, Ukraine

It Ain’t About NATO

I know, normally I talk American politics on Friday. Well, that’s what I’m doing. Hang on, you’ll see – but first I need to kill off the stupid elephant in the room. To the best of my knowledge the ‘NATO expansion problem’ theory originates with Mearsheimer . I’ve heard him give one talk about it. It seemed a well reasoned position and he argued it compellingly. Before the invasion, it made a great deal of sense. It just happens to … Continue reading “It Ain’t About NATO”

Archena December 18, 2022December 18, 2022Fridaycongress, Democrat, House, House of Representatives, Politics, Republican, Senate, Seniority, United States Senate, Ways and Means Committee

Seniority in Congress is a Major Problem

Every time Congress commits some new outrage, I mean bigger than their average weekly outrages, the cry goes out far and wide for term limits. This has been going on unsuccessfully for decades. Such movements come and go and rarely gain any momentum. Why? Well, there are a variety of answers. The most common is the incumbent advantage: people tend to stick with a known quantity and so will vote for even a bad incumbent over a total unknown. Incumbents … Continue reading “Seniority in Congress is a Major Problem”

Archena December 10, 2022December 10, 2022Current, Fridaydifficulty, fight, hope, Politics, Winning, World War II

The Foolishness of Hopelessness

I like Dr. Steve Turley on YouTube. Of late, I haven’t agreed with him on a lot of things but today I heard him say something that was absolutely right – it ain’t over. He mentioned the Berlin Wall and Roe V Wade as changes no one ever thought would happen, except those fighting for those changes, of course. There are a host of others. The abolition of slavery was fought for from before the beginning of the Revolutionary War … Continue reading “The Foolishness of Hopelessness”

Archena December 3, 2022December 3, 2022Current, Fridaycongress, Constitution, First Amendment, Free Speech, Freedom, Freedom of Speech, Politics, Rule of Law, US, US History, US Politics, USA

The Price of Freedom: Eternal Vigilance

Vigilance is just a fancy word for paying attention and being on the look out. Normally, when you hear this phrase we think of our servicemen and women providing our defense and extending our protection worldwide. But that’s only a part of what it means. Truth is, the US is such a ridiculously difficult military target that conventional invasion may as well be impossible. America has only been invaded once (the British, 1812) unless you want to count the Revolutionary … Continue reading “The Price of Freedom: Eternal Vigilance”

Archena November 26, 2022November 26, 2022Current, FridayAuthoritarian, Authoritarianism, capitolism, communism, Democracy, Democrat, democratic republic, foreign policy, Freedom, Liberty, party, political ideology, Politics, Republican, Security, socialism

Government: Parent or Pet?

The Twentieth Century was a contest between competing political ideologies. It is a gross oversimplification to say that it was just between Communism and Capitalism or Authoritarianism and Democracy. Politics exists on a spectrum and no matter how hard we try, there are too many issues to have even two people agree on every single one, let alone whole nation-states of people. But since I’m still not interested in writing a dissertation, we’ll settle for the generalization. The Twentieth Century … Continue reading “Government: Parent or Pet?”

Archena November 11, 2022November 11, 2022Current, FridayDemocrat, Midterm, Midterm Elections, Midterms, Midterms 2022, party, Politics, Republican

Stop Panicking. Democrats Just Can’t Count

The margin will be narrower than I’d thought but it seems very unlikely Republicans won’t take the House. The chances of taking the Senate are still decent. Can we please stop acting like the world is ending? Once the results ACTUALLY come in, we need to take a hard look at what exactly happened here. I’d love to blame the polls but since I wasn’t using them, that would be silly. The results we have so far do cast a … Continue reading “Stop Panicking. Democrats Just Can’t Count”

Archena November 4, 2022November 2, 2022Current, FridayCentrist, civil war, congress, Democrat, party, polarization, polarized, Politics, Republican

Unity Isn’t Agreement: Why Fussing and Fighting Isn’t Polarization

Every Thanksgiving we sit down to a lovely meal, express our gratitude to God for His many blessings and proceed to fight over every little thing. Turkey v, ham, Alabama v Auburn, football v baseball, board games v video games, kids v kids with video games, who Mom likes best and then Uncle Bob ruins the whole thing by bringing up politics. Next year, we repeat the whole thing. Why? Obviously, there’s no one at that table that agrees on … Continue reading “Unity Isn’t Agreement: Why Fussing and Fighting Isn’t Polarization”

Archena October 28, 2022October 28, 2022FridayDemocrat, party, Politics, Republican, US, US Politics, USA

Twelve Days Until the Midterms

From what I’m hearing, all the polls are pointing toward a Republican sweep. More importantly in my opinion, there are no obvious indicators that point elsewhere. My personal favorite is small donations. Most small donations go to candidates that person actually supports and will go out and vote to elect. There’s no reason to ‘lie’ with a small donation. You aren’t really hedging your bet by making small donations to every candidate. Even if you can afford it, few people … Continue reading “Twelve Days Until the Midterms”

Archena October 21, 2022October 20, 2022Current, FridayAmerica, controlling government, electorate, foreign policy, laziness, lazy, overcoming, overcoming laziness, Politics, Populism, We the People

Only the Lazy Need Fear the Future

Okay, stop me if you’ve heard this one. There was a lazy grasshopper and an industrious ant… Those of you who can’t finish that tale may have something to worry about. But I’m here to help so here are the Cliff Notes – lazy grasshopper starves to death. Yeah, old fairy tales don’t usually have Disney endings. That’s okay – we’re dealing with the real world today. The TL;DR is lazy loses. This is true in your personal life and … Continue reading “Only the Lazy Need Fear the Future”

Archena October 14, 2022October 12, 2022FridayDemocrat, Democrat Party, election, Elections, Midterm, Midterm Elections, Midterms, Midterms 2022, party, Politics, polling, polls, Republican, Republican Party

If You Like Things the Way They are, Don’t Vote

If you’re happy with the system and the administration, stay home. Do nothing. Watch reality TV instead of being involved in reality. Now, if you like the admin but think it could be better, vote. If you are in the majority that is displeased with the admin, vote. Not voting is dumb. The admin is going to take low turnout as approval. This is true in 2022 and will be in 2024, 2026, 2028, 2030 ad infinitum (or at least … Continue reading “If You Like Things the Way They are, Don’t Vote”

Category Friday

Category: Friday