There are little clubs like this in every town in America, and I suspect in the world.\u00a0 A bunch of old men gathered around a table at a local caf\u00e9 or donut shop.\u00a0 (In some parts of the world they do this in the evening, after dinner and over wine, preferably with lots of smoke swirling around.)\u00a0 In any event, it\u2019s my observation that this is universal male behavior.\u00a0 With rare exceptions, women are virtually never present, or if so, it wasn\u2019t planned, and they\u2019ll probably not be there twice.<\/p>\n
When you sit around the table and mostly just listen, you can pick up a lot of the local gossip. \u00a0You can hear some of the best (and worst) jokes ever told. \u00a0You hear some fascinating history (including some things that should have been written in the history books, but most of which never will). \u00a0And over time you can begin to pick out threads of philosophy by which those old geezers have lived their lives.\u00a0 It\u2019s not always consistent, but that doesn\u2019t seem to bother any of them, and some weeks they\u2019ll argue it one way and later they\u2019ll argue it the other.\u00a0 For some, the arguments are more fun than the conclusions.\u00a0 That works out well, because for a few, the conclusion is paramount, and getting someone riled up delivers a large part of the satisfaction these old codgers derive from their mornings in the coffee shop.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve noticed that there are some areas where they tend to not go, at least not very far.\u00a0 They can all condemn politicians in general, and will pick on nearly any politician specifically, up to a point.\u00a0 And then someone will call a cloture of debate, changing the subject with some kind of a dismissive retort like JimBob said just last week, \u201cTo hell with all politicians and all political parties, they ain\u2019t a dime\u2019s worth of difference \u2018tween any of\u2019em.\u201d\u00a0 The agreement Is general, and the subject at that point either goes up a notch in heat, or it shifts to a another realm of human experience.<\/p>\n
JimBob often does that to shut off debate.\u00a0 JimBob\u2019s Rules of Order are not in any book, and are more complicated than Robert\u2019s, but the old timers understand them.\u00a0 When you go past that \u201cend of debate\u201d gavel, you\u2019d better have something very good to say, or you can expect some real spirited reaction from the group.<\/p>\n
If anyone in our group is willing to take it further, it would be Bubba McCoy.\u00a0 He\u2019s not at all slow, but he tends to speak last instead of first.\u00a0 His philosophy is that, \u201cThe early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese,\u201d combined with, \u201cThe first liar doesn\u2019t have a chance in this crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, after JimBob had dismissed all politicians and the parties they ride on, and everyone had said \u201cAmen\u201d in their own way, Bubba finished stirring his coffee and tapped the spoon on the cup like he does to announce his next pontification.\u00a0 Of course, we all looked his way to see what would come next.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve not only heard that all my life,\u201d drawled Bubba, \u201cI\u2019ve said it a few hundred times, and on one level it has to be true around the world.\u201d\u00a0 (General agreement.)\u00a0 \u201cBut… I\u2019ve been doing some studyin\u2019 on these two parties currently in office, \u2018cause it seems to me that every law that\u2019s been passed (at least, since the Bull Moose Party died), was passed by Democrats and Republicans, and I think we\u2019ll all agree that the politicians of both those parties have brought this country to where we are today.\u00a0 (More agreement.)<\/p>\n
\u201cSo… in my comparison of the two parties, I\u2019ve found some real differences.\u00a0 Who do y\u2019all think the Democrats claim to represent?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say they represent the working man,\u201d said Virgil, whose family had been Democrats only since Reconstruction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d said Bubba, \u201cand let\u2019s look at that.\u00a0 The roots of that claim go back a long way, to a phrase, \u2018Workers of the world, unite!\u2019\u00a0 They were strong for the unions at the turn of the century (the previous one).\u00a0 They promote solidarity between the workers of all countries, and they oppose big business.\u00a0 Y\u2019all agree with that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what my old man always said,\u201d mumbled Virgil.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I agree, that\u2019s the platform.\u00a0 That\u2019s what we can all see.\u00a0 The foundations of that platform are rooted in the class warfare of international socialism.\u00a0 And if you follow that trend back far enough, you\u2019ll wind up at the French Revolution, but for modern purposes, you can stop at Marx and Lenin, because they summed it up and rearticulated the arguments and the program to bring it about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe important thing to realize is that today\u2019s Democrats see a partnership between big government and the \u2018little people\u2019 \u2014 the minorities and the working people \u2014 they really do think that their brand of socialism can solve the problems of society by using the power of big government applied to those problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Virgil wasn\u2019t looking all that agreeable, at that point, but Clyde was grinnin\u2019 like a possum, \u201cAnd the Republicans represent Big Bizness and less government, right?\u00a0 That\u2019s the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, you\u2019re half right,\u201d Bubba said, \u201cthey do favor Big Business, but they don\u2019t really favor less government.\u00a0 That\u2019s where it gets intrestin\u2019.\u00a0 They favor a strong national government, national sovereignty, etc., and they are suspicious of repercussions of the \u201cforeign entanglements\u201d of internationalism.\u00a0 That means they favor a strong military. \u00a0They promote cooperation between big business \u2014 and I mean the BIG corporations \u2014 and big government.\u00a0 The two help each other out through thick and thin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Virgil was back in it by now, \u201cYou mean like bailing out Wall Street so they don\u2019t fail.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s right.\u00a0 Historically, this relationship has probably existed, but we can trace the recent roots to a philosophy articulated by Benito Mussolini, who summed it up with, \u201cAll within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Fascists did not favor less government.\u00a0 They simply like to use the power of big government to improve things for big business.\u00a0 They\u2019ll argue that the working man benefits when big business prospers.\u00a0 This is historically known as \u2018national socialism\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
JimBob perked up on that term, \u201cI think I\u2019ve heard that before.\u00a0 In Germany, if I recall, that\u2019s exactly what Hitler called his political party \u2014 the National Socialist Party.\u00a0 That\u2019s where the word \u2018Nazi\u2019 comes from!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re makin\u2019 my point, JimBob,\u201d Bubba\u2019s coffee was gonna get cold if he didn\u2019t wind up soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth parties are socialist to their core; both parties rely on big government to solve the problems.\u00a0 But they see their power base from opposite poles, and they\u2019ve been hatin\u2019 one another longer than this country has been around.\u00a0 So, yes, they are different, but yes, they are the same.\u00a0 They both think they\u2019re smarter than we are, and they both see government as the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, if I\u2019m in favor of less government, or maybe NO government?\u201d who\u2019s on my side, ventured Edwin, the local feed store owner.\u00a0 (General agreement all around.)<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are,\u201d smiled Bubba, sipping his lukewarm coffee.\u00a0 But in order to have any kind of a chance for less government, you\u2019re gonna have to quit puttin\u2019 socialists in office.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edwin was not happy.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m thinkin\u2019 that my elected representatives, who took an oath to do one thing (support and defend the Constitution), and then they do another (vote for socialist schemes that ain\u2019t in the Constitution), are nothing but a bunch of liars!\u00a0 I don\u2019t care what kind of socialists they are.\u00a0 What you just said, Bubba, is that we have to choose between are a $%^* communist and a (*%^& nazi!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I said in the first place!\u201d JimBob raised his voice.\u00a0 \u201cAh got plowin\u2019 to do, see y\u2019all tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a good day for Bubba.<\/p>\n