Depopulation of the Town of Olive

I am a Town committee-person for the GOP and so carry petitions.  I had called twenty people in the tiny district of Olivebridge, which isn't really a village.  Olivebridge was gutted when New York City built the Ashokan Reservoir about 100 years ago and now it is dispersed streets and roads which are extremely rural.  Moreover, many of the residents are transplanted New York City people, often who have second homes there.  Thus, it is about 35%-25% Democratic-Republican. As a result, it is difficult to find people to sign the petitions.

Judiciously I saved the names I collected last year.  Of the twenty, so far I have found that at least five or six have moved away, at least 25% (the majority have not been at home when I called).  I spoke to a retired IBM worker who told me that his daughter, who had lived next door (she and her husband had signed my petition last year), had moved to Virginia for job reasons.  He also mentioned that in 35 years his son in law had not been able to live at home also for job reasons. They can now live together in Virginia.   IBM, of course, had closed its Kingston plant where Steve worked in the early 1990s.  Steve mentioned that his daughter's children could not stay in Olive because of lack of job opportunity.

This was not the only instance of petition-disappearance as there were numerous "dead" phone lines.  New York State's destruction of its economy is mirrored in miniature here. The people of Olivebridge continue to vote for policies that destroy their neighbors' lives. 

The retired IBMer enjoys the upside of depopulation as well.  As families have fled New York's crippled economy, the beneficiaries of Federal Reserve Bank monetary expansion, business owners, Wall Street bankers and government employees, have bought the houses vacated by former Olive residents. His neighbor is a now a multi-millionaire.  His neighbor and his wife took a shine to him and now they fly him to Germany and Florida for vacations.  That's a nice bonus, but it probably doesn't really make up for his daughter's being forced to move hundreds of miles away because of lack of jobs.

Decline and Fall of the United States

The United States is humanity's last hope and it is in serious decline. The reason for the decline is a paradox.  Individualism, the spirit that motivates human achievement and is the chief American value, causes government to misfire.  America is built on individualism, and in a condition of freedom, including a free economy, that individualism supports achievement.  But in a government-dominated state individualism leads to manipulation of the state at others' expense.  America did not need to expand its government. But once it did, its decline and fall were only a matter of time.  In 1960 the process we are witnessing today could have been reversed.  In 1970 there was still some possibility.  It no longer can be reversed.  The extent of indebtedness; the misallocation of resources; the damage that the government has done to the economy are too great.

Political involvement is now unimportant.  Because America's decline and fall are cast and because the American public is addicted to the drug of "something for nothing", there is no turning back.  The two political parties are agents of corruption, and the public lacks the imagination and vision to replace them. The centralization of power opens control of the United States to power seeking psychopaths.  Their assumption of power is only a matter of time.

I had thought I could make a difference with respect to the trajectory on which the nation is traveling, but I cannot.  Political activity is a waste of time.

When the United States falls, there will be a push for greater centralization.  I do not think that the American public is spiritually or intellectually prepared to resist this last incursion on their liberty.  America has become a nation of serfs.  It will continue its descent into national slavery.  Political activity or debate is powerless now. Insane extremists are in charge, and Americans have acquiesced.

I Resign from Republican Liberty Caucus

I have concluded that the Republican Liberty Caucus is but one more corrupt Republican organization. In a state where the Republican Party is generally corrupt this does not come as a surprise.

I have not heard a single RLC member or candidate come up with a coherent scheme to reduce government in New York. Carl Svensson personally told me that he did not believe that it was possible for a viable candidate in New York to run on a platform of budget cutting because of the opposition of public unions. In a year when the public has become energized via the Tea Parties, New York's RLC has contributed nothing, zero, to the Tea Party movement. When I proposed that the RLC back a candidate who offers $10 million to run on a platform of budget cutting, the RLC cannot figure out how to support such a candidate.

Rather, members indicate that supporting a budget cutting candidate will hurt their own chances for miniscule public offices, and that is more important to them than reducing government in New York.

I have not heard of a single RLC candidate to run on a budget cutting platform whereby he or she has advocated a 20% or greater budget cut. When a candidate appears who says that he favors a 20% budget cut, the RLC refuses to endorse him.

I think we can we conclude that the RLC is not an organization that has a thing to contribute to reducing the size and corruption in government in New York.

Please count me out. New York's RLC is a joke.

Sincerely,

Mitchell Langbert

US Turns Down Help Re Oil Spill

Sean Reilley of al.com (h/t Glenda McGee) points out that:

"Some 28 foreign countries and international organizations have offered help in responding to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but the bulk of those overtures remain "under consideration," according to a tally posted on the U.S. State Department's website."

Obama's been doing such a great job, no wonder his State Department can take months to respond to offers.