Clinton, Hillary that is

When I look back at the Presidents I have known, basically Eisenhower through Obama, I wonder which one would Hillary be most like.  Of course she won't be too close mainly because the world has changed.  In her case I don't think gender is going to be an issue except for some personal issues like wardrobe.  I refuse to go there.

OK how about Eisenhower, best known for playing golf and the Interstate Highway System.  He had to add "and Defense" to the title to get it passed.  He also sent the 82nd Airborne to Little Rock to integrate the High School. In the light of history he looks better now, but I can't see HRC playing golf while there are Conservatives to annoy.

Kennedy wow Charismatic but unfortunately ineffectual against a hostile congress.  HRC definitely not charismatic, instead she gets things done often letting others take the credit.

LBJ  the one referred to more by his initials than his name.  Zero for charisma, but A plus for getting things done. Thinds that Kennedy hoped for but couldn't get through Congress.  If he had gone the other way on Vietnam he would be a roll model for HRC.

Nixon,   No one is as secretive, slippery and underhanded as Tricky Dick. Not even close.

Gerry Ford One of the nicest guys in the White House. No major goof ups (except pardoning Nixon). No leadership either.  Nope

Jimmy Carter, another nice guy.  Too nice.  Not a bomb dropped of bullet fired.  His Foreign Policy resulted in the collapse of every dictator in Latin America except Castro, eventually, but Iran brought him down. Too indecisive.  Nope

Reagan. The Patron Saint of the GOP, in spite of his crimes, like Iran-Contra, and his multiple tax increases.  The Teflon President.  Maybe Trump thinks he's Teflon too.  But HRC is the Velcro candidate everything sticks to her at least according to the GOP.

Poppy Bush.  War Hero, lifetime civil servant, victim of an economic crisis he could not fathom. HRC gets 1 of 3 on this one.

Bill Clinton lets not go there. His best move was marrying her.

Bush II He let Cheney run the country from the White House basement, you know HRC will be in the middle of everything.

Obama, the cautious deep thinker, some times slow on the draw.  HRC has already made up her mind on most issues and will browbeat anyone who gets in the way until it's a done deal like LBJ.  Some people would not take that as a compliment.

Conservatives

What do conservatives conserve?  Conserve: protect (something, especially an environmentally or culturally important place or thing) from harm or destruction. Based on their political behavior we seem to have a contradiction, but that is based on emphasizing the parenthetical.  That which they really conserve i.e. protect, is their own privilege, wealth and power.  There are basically 2 kinds of conservatives.

The conservative leadership is dominated by white, old, rich, men (WORMS).  To give them credit they are very good at raising banners that collect followers who do not fit the whole description, but meet at least one of the criteria.

The other kind, are the idealogs who believe in the conservative philosophy even if it is not working so well for them, they may be comfortable farmers, or small businessmen.  Another group are those whose work atmosphere is authoritarian: police, military.  They call for less government for themselves, but law-and-order for those that they perceive as Liberals or undeserving. Typically the conservative has not been the victim of discrimination so they do not perceive it as a problem.  Very few conservatives are a member of a minority.  They tend to support discrimination e.g. complex voter ID rules, and regressive taxation e.g. retail sales tax on food.   

Conservatives unite on anti-liberalism, without ever defining Liberal. They often give it the same inflection as vermin.   Liberal is not a species.  White American conservatism tends to unify on many seemingly disparate issues, pro-life, pro-death penalty.  Liberals on the other hand are famously disorganized, because by definition a liberal is one open to new ideas.  
Admittedly many are just as dogmatic about their individual core beliefs.  The ACLU has to adopt a vague position on the second amendment because they can’t risk losing Liberal members by supporting it the way they do the first.  Liberals often agree to disagree, unlike the GOP booing Ted Cruz for "Vote your conscience"

GOVERNMENT LIES

Or “governments lie”, the expressions are like yin and yang.  For twenty years the governments and all the self appointed safety Nazis told us the lower speed limit was saving lives.  When raising the speed limit to 65 on rural interstate highways in many states lowered the accident rate in those states, we were told oafishly, I mean officially, that the number of accidents on the rural interstates had increased.  Never mind that the traffic had increased twice as much as the accidents, or that statewide the accidents went down.  Governments lie, all governments.

Government also told us that raising the speed limit would not get us to our destination any faster.  American Association of State Highway and Traffic Officials claims a freeway carries the greatest number of cars past a given point at 30, that’s right 30, mph.  When the freeway speed limit was raised from 55 to 65mph the time from my house to the regional airport decreased from 3 hours to 2!

They ignored an important factor.  The faster traffic moves, the less time a given vehicle is on the highway.  If each vehicle spends less time on the highway, there are fewer vehicles on the highway at one time, and they all move even faster.

Government told us “Three Strikes and you're out” would be a mistake, the courts and the jails would overflow if we actually prosecuted felony repeat offenders and made them stay in jail.  The papers were full of anecdotal evidence.  Guess what, crime went down, the courts are getting caught up and the jails are doing as well as ever.  Government lies.  We were already putting repeat offenders in jail for life; we were just doing it on the installment plan.  We were giving the scum a new trial (at tremendous expense) every three to five years instead of just three times. Government insisted on ignoring the obvious:  Criminals can’t commit more crimes when they are locked up, and 80% of the crime is done by 20% of the criminals.  More crime is good for the police; more crime means bigger budgets.  More crime is good for politics; it gives lots of speech material.  More crime sells newspapers and increases television viewing too.  Everyone benefits from more crime, except the citizens, but who looks out for them?

Several states have passed laws allowing any honest citizen to obtain a concealed weapon permit.  Politicians predicted carnage and tell anecdotes about individual incidents.  Homicides went down in those states (39 states at last count). Governments lie.

We all expect politicians to lie to get elected, why do we think they will stop once in office.  It’s a lot easier to find or make up a problem to make a speech about, than it is to actually solve a real problem.  Government lies.

 “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”   (H.L. Mencken) 

The more frightening and less real the hobgoblin, the better.

Sometimes the government avoids lying by simply distorting language to the point where it is unrecognizable.  A fire becomes “rapid oxidation” (accelerated rusting?).  Airplanes don’t crash they “experience rapid energetic disassembly due to uncontrolled flight into terrain resulting from pilot induced instability.”  War is not war; it is “armed conflict.”  This becomes such a habit that it carries over into non-controversial items.  A shovel becomes a”combat emplacement evacuation device.”

Why do governments lie?  They lie because government is about governance, the exercise of power.

 “Government is not reason or eloquence, it is force...” (George Washington)

Those in power do whatever it takes to stay in power and increase that power.  So since lying is the easy way, lying is what they do.  When the liar is a foreign power, we call it propaganda.  When the liar is a dead religious leader we call it miracles.  When the liar is one of our beloved politicians we call it business as usual.

Governments rise to make laws, once empowered they become addicted and cannot stop themselves.  Laws appear for no visible reason except that someone has the power to make laws and makes a law that benefits him, or those who can in turn benefit him in one situation with no regard for how it affects everyone else.

The love of power causes all social organizations (governments, corporations, churches, and families) to deteriorate to a feudal structure; the most power hungry, ambitious, ruthless, s.o.b. rises to the top, those next in line suck up, and so on down the line.  Democracy merely tempers the way that people accrue power, so the succession is more orderly, and less bloody.  We get elected instead of assassinating the incumbent nevertheless power still accrues, not to those best able to serve mankind, but to those best able to grab it, the glibbest liars.  This is why we have a class of politicians.  Their talent is not their ability, just their elect-ability.  Why, for example, would we assume that someone who makes a good legislator, if there is such a critter, would make a good governor?  This makes only a little more sense than the old notion that the best warrior made the best king.

Today most politicians in America favor gun control. Why?  Because, an armed populace reduces government’s power.   The second amendment is about the people’s right to arm themselves in order to protect themselves.  Protect themselves from whom you ask.  Well, from rapists, robbers, muggers, murderers, looters, child molesters, gang bangers and all the other criminals that the police would like us to think they protect us from, but admit they cannot.  It is also about the people’s right to protect themselves from overzealous police officers who break down the wrong door and overzealous government in general.  Did you ever notice that while police chiefs (politicians) are consistently in favor of “gun control” police officers will often advise those with legitimate fear to “Get a gun, and learn how to use it”?

The first thing any dictator does upon seizing power is take over the broadcast stations, smash the printing presses and then go house to house confiscating guns.  The scary part is it’s happening here.  The Campaign Finance Reform act among other things puts a muzzle on independent publications. Do you think that is for the peoples benefit?   No, the thing that all politicians, especially dictators, fear is dilution of their power.  All politicians are power motivated, and fear more than anything else, including foreign invasion, an empowered populace, whether the empowerment comes from guns, or truth. 

Ironically the ballistophobic pundits, almost universally in favor of “gun control”, are encouraging would be dictators to do it in the reverse order.  First they came for the guns, but I was not a gun owner, so I did not speak out.  Then they came for the transmitters, but I was not a transmitter owner, so I did not speak out.  Then the came for the printing presses, but I was not a printing press owner, so I did not speak out....

It’s the same way with cars.  Henry Ford did more for the common man than all the political “leaders”' in history put together.  He gave us personal mobility, the ability to “vote with our feet.” at 35 mph, and bring along the family.  Politicians on the other hand feel compelled to restrict the use of cars, or add absurd requirements like arbitrary speed limits, bike lanes at the expense of traffic lanes, or zero emissions.  Why?  Because a man with a car, like a man with a gun, is a free man; he can go where he wants, when he wants, without the government’s permission, and politicians, no matter how they achieved their position of power cannot stand that.

What has this got to do with Expert witnesses?  Very little, what has it got to do with lawyers? Well, look who’s minding the store!