"Dear Mr. President, CUT UP THE CREDIT CARDS!!!" This is the message from a growing number of conservatives who strongly support this President but feel growing disenchantment with his triangulation on domestic policy.
John Fund reports on last week's Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington that, "Rather than just kvetching about all this, CPAC attendees held several seminars on how to fix the problem." (There go those conservatives again, actually working toward progressive change!) And the suggestions are good ones to boot. From a federal version of Colorado's TABOR (taxpayers bill of rights for you out-of-staters) to automatic continuing resolutions that would freeze next year's spending at last year's levels. As CA Rep. Chris Cox pointed out, "government would continue, and we would find it could work just fine at lower levels."
Coincidentally, Dagny and I were discussing this yesterday. I said that I have been of the opinion since the first year of this administration that the Karl Rove plan for the first term is to beat the Dems at their own game, i.e. "bread and circuses" in order to secure re-election. My thinking, perhaps wishfully, is that the second term will be where the fiscal reform will occur. NED help us if it doesn't.
Posted by JohnGalt at January 26, 2004 08:24 AMNED?
Posted by: jk at January 26, 2004 10:28 AMJK, Thank you for asking about NED. I will happily tell you about Him and you don't even have to stand on your front porch in robe and slippers as I evangelize the word of NED!
NED is an entity that I've invented to fill an important void in the vocabulary of objectively rational people such as myself.
Having been raised here on Earth my education has been unavoidably affected by the popular conception of a divine being. My native language, English, has a rich tradition which includes many popular sayings like "God help us if X" and "that's why God invented Y" and these sayings are a treasured part of my vocabulary.
Those of us who understand that God is a human invention need a replacement for "Him" that is not in direct contradiction with reality. I have therefore chosen to call Him NED. NED is not simply a name, it's a TLA. It means "Non-Existent Deity."
NED is a great thing. It is permissable to take NED's name in vain (Oh my NED!). In addition, since NED refers not only to God but to Allah and Budda and ALL of the others, NED is the UNIVERSAL divine being. I fully support reference to NED by all people, devout and secular, so long as they never forget what the N and the E stand for.
Posted by: johngalt at January 26, 2004 07:10 PMVery good. I thought it might be something like that, but had not deciphered the acronym. Years from now we can all say we were here at the Berkeley Square Blog when the cult of NED began.
Posted by: Silence Dogood at January 27, 2004 08:29 AMI'm not so sanguine...I see a future of NED crusades, kids drinking NED Kool-Aid.. Bad stuff, man!
Posted by: jk at January 29, 2004 05:11 PMNah, you've got it all wrong JK. NED isn't just another God, with His own requisite particulars of ritual and obeisance. NED is what God becomes when you "take the red pill."
(For those not familiar with the reference, see www.arrod.co.uk/essays/matrix.php which has a fairly good explanation, although I disagree completely with its conclusion.)
Posted by: johngalt at January 29, 2004 09:15 PMJohngalt,
I don't know if you ever watch Buffy. I had a DVD from Season 5 on the plane and was listening to Joss Whedon's commentary on "The Body."
He used a term you might like. He talks about "the sky bully," in whom he does not believe.
Posted by: jk at January 30, 2004 05:25 PMI guess I feel the same way about Buffy as you do about Shania Twain. Joss Whedon does some good work though in the prematurely canceled series "Firefly." The lead character in that show, Captain Malcolm Reynolds, ain't a big fan of non-existent deities either. The underlying storyline is life at the edge of the civilized universe, constantly avoiding the abusive authority of the central government known as "The Alliance," trying to live a happy, self-sufficient, capitalist existence. Good stuff. It's all on DVD now for forty bucks.
Posted by: johngalt at February 3, 2004 09:22 PMJohn,
Are you by any chance a Rush fan? (The rock group, not the commentator) I was listening to their song "Freewill" this morning and thought of NED. I understand Neil Peart and Geddy Lee were big Ayn Rand fans.
Posted by: Silence Dogood at February 4, 2004 09:37 AMFor the record -- and so *I* don't get struck by lightning, I would not call myself an atheist. I am a believer but not a religious man. Now you know...
Posted by: jk at February 4, 2004 11:56 AM