Kakistocracy Report

Hello fellow anti-kakistocrats, this post is to announce that I am changing the name of this blog from "Rage Against the Kakistocracy" to "Kakistocracy Report". I mean, who needs all that rage, anyway? The Islamists are all enraged, and look where that's getting them. Occupy Wall Street are all enraged, and look where that's getting them. I don't need all that rage. My blood pressure is high enough already. I think "Kakistocracy Report" is pithier and easier to remember. It's not as grumpy.

I had originally modeled the name after the musical group, "Rage Against the Machine". I replaced "Machine" with "Kakistocracy", which I imagined to be equivalent, even though the original band members were raging against capitalism and the American work ethic. It was my way of getting even. There was a parody act who called himself, "Lounge Against the Machine". Maybe "Lounge Against the Kakistocracy" would work too. Some other names I considered include, "Kakistocracy Retort" and "Kakistocracy Update" (K.U., get it? My initials). Too clever by half, I decided. "Kakistocracy Report" it is. Same bat time, same bat channel (http://antikakistocrat.blogspot.com).

Got Principles?

I believe that most of the problems facing this country at all levels of government derive from unprincipled citizens electing unprincipled leaders – the blind leading the blind.

When I say “unprincipled”, I mean people who do not understand – or people who reject – the principles of the American form of government: constitutional government. Mind you, unprincipled does not mean “unscrupulous”. Nevertheless, the unscrupulous can easily take advantage of the unprincipled. It is a dangerous combination.

Many people think tea partiers and property rights wonks are a bunch of anarchists. We do not want anarchy; we want the level of limited government that will maximize liberty and justice for all. We believe humans are happiest when we are free to make our own decisions and take responsibility for our own lives.

In the chart below, you can see that self-determination coincides with maximum liberty. Liberty suffers in a totalitarian state, as it does in a state of anarchy. We are called “far right” because in recent decades, the political window has moved so far to the left. We actually want something closer to the center.

This chart is not to scale -- assuming a scale even exists. It is merely to illustrate the relationships being discussed here.
Red is on the far left (of course), and violet is on the far right. Yellow-green is optimal. 

Government derives its just authority from the consent of the governed. Our constitutions and charters are the official specifications for our government. They are the instruments of all government authority. Any regime that distorts or disregards the documents that they swore an oath to uphold and defend are untrustworthy and dangerous. It is crucial that we adhere to these documents, or amend them as needed, with the consent of the governed.

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Elected leaders: I am sure that you have doubts from time to time about some of the votes you cast in session – where you might go either way. When that happens, I would only ask that you please give liberty the benefit of the doubt.

Agenda (Tinfoil) 21 (Hat)

Preservatives have recently started connecting the dots on Agenda 21, and the 'progressive' shape-shifters have naturally started calling us conspiracy theorists. Never mind the fact that Agenda 21 is on full display for all to see, where they say they intend to do precisely what we say they are doing! You'd think they'd take the website down. But no matter. It's all archived now anyway. There's no plausible deniability.

Part of the reason that the conspiracy theory attack seems to gain traction is that Agenda 21 is broken up into smaller pieces, like a jigsaw puzzle, so the useful idiots on the ground who are actually busy putting together the corner pieces, can't see the big picture, until the whole thing is grandly moved into place, when it would be too late. So much for government deriving its just power from the consent of the governed.

So, who are the useful idiots?

Education: The teachers, who are blithely "teaching" students e.g., Connected Math -- which asserts that there are no "wrong" answers. Here's the thing, though: If you are building a life-critical system such as a bridge, airplane, or medical equipment -- lawyers will beat you to death with every "wrong" answer they can find. You bet your arse there are wrong answers! Regardless of what the teachers say, the real world doesn't kid around.

Connected Math discourages teachers from teaching students how to do arithmetic. Instead, students are supposed to develop their own algorithms for time-tested operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. While it is possible that a fourth grader might come up with a ground-breaking improvement over the ones which have served us well for a thousand years, it is highly unlikely. It is even more unlikely that a heavily indoctrinated teacher would recognize it as such, much less point out the superiority of it to the chagrin of the other students. Still, should any teacher happen to question whether Connected Math is defensible, it's nothing that a little "performance review" can't fix.

True scholars would argue that most education, and certainly objective disciplines such as mathematics and science, should be devoid of any political agenda. But here it is. And here...

Though not part of Agenda 21, it is significant that The US Constitution has not been taught favorably or comprehensively in public schools for many decades. Why would that be? Well, for starters, The US Constitution, in addition to being being the official specification for the US Government, was specifically designed to limit government to the powers enumerated therein.

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. ~ James Madison (Federalist 51)

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Why would government schools not teach about limited government? Do you see the conflict of interest?

Non-Government Organizations (NGOs): A recent trend, these federal-grant-powered "non-profit" corporations contract their "services", a.k.a., agendas to local and state governments. These tend to be environmental organizations, pushing for farm plans, water rights regulation, land use controls, LEED bulding ordinances, and just about any other illiberal control freak regulation you can think of. Such a deal: our taxes pay NGOs to instruct our government on how to oppress us. Now, mind you, I might personally want a LEED home or office building. Storm water runoff might be a problem here and there, and I'm not opposed to using permeable paving stones in lieu of poured concrete where it makes sense. But why do these people want to use the force of government to compel the rest of us to join their religion? If their religion is so great, wouldn't we join them voluntarily, if only we knew "the truth"? Everything we need is already right there in The First Amendment.

Local Government: Lacking adequate formal education about constitutional principles (see above), local governments (city councils, county councils, planning councils, etc.,) take an oath of office to uphold and defend something they know scarcely about. As such, they are all too willing to allow the federal government to override and usurp their authority, by taking government grants (which always -- always -- have strings attached), or by simply accepting state or federal controls where local control used to be. Or they allow ICLEI to come swooping in under the constitutional radar with centralized non-government control (to be imposed locally, with global uniformity -- forget diversity). Our local officials accept ICLEI's "help" to implement "sustainable", "environmentally friendly" "solutions" to "problems" that We the People have not asked to have solved.

Agenda 21? No, never heard of it. We're not doing that. What conspiracy theorist is saying that? The tea parties? Now, that makes sense!

Most of these local participants don't even know they're implementing Agenda 21. It's best that they don't know. It gives the useful idiots some plausible deniability.

I'm Not a Conservative; I'm a Preservative

I used to call myself a conservative. But I'm not a conservative, I'm a preservative. Conservatives are merely fiscally responsible, and optionally, socially conservative policy wonks. Conservatives constantly have to argue each policy with the 'progressives'. Sometimes they win. Sometimes they lose. Sometimes they lose their will. Sometimes they lose their way. Sometimes they compromise.

"Preservatives" want to preserve the founding principles and our nation's political heritage for future generations. Preservatives simply ask, "Which article of the US Constitution gives government the authority to do that?" Preservatives demand that our politicians follow the original intent of the same Constitution that they took an oath to uphold and defend.