A Cry from the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land
Our country was founded by the delusional and the crazy, populated by the desperate and the unwilling, motivated by most of the Seven Deadly Sins, and is somehow . . . the richest and most powerful nation on earth, ever.
P.J. O'Rourke • A Cry from the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land
All the tales of American Indian fighter heroics (whether your hero is Crazy Horse or Davy Crockett) turn to ashes in the mouths of the tellers when facts are considered. The New World was conquered by coughs, sneezes, and craps in the woods.
P.J. O'Rourke • A Cry from the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land
The growth of politics is the opposite of the growth of liberty. When liberty grows we get increased individual enterprise and expansion of free markets. We create more goods, services, and benefits to society. The pie gets bigger. But politics is not about creating more goods, services, and benefits to society. Politics is about dividing them up.
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In the report we see that the federal government spends $877.5 billion annually on these benefits and services. And let us note that this spending does not include Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, or Affordable Care Act subsidies. However, the $877.5 billion does include $467.8 billion spent on health care for the poor in programs
... See moreP.J. O'Rourke • A Cry from the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land
The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on February 3, 1870. Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriat
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Among the properties that belong to you are a pair of lungs. The Internet tells me (for free again) that those lungs emit 2.3 pounds of carbon dioxide a day. Multiply by world population and that’s 17.25 trillion pounds of carbon dioxide, which is much more than the 209 billion pounds of carbon dioxide that burning fossil fuels emits daily.
P.J. O'Rourke • A Cry from the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land
And how did our government get so bad? Bad politics. But how did our politics get so bad? Politics grew worse because politics grew.
P.J. O'Rourke • A Cry from the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land
the lungs of long-distance joggers, gym rats, hot yoga practitioners, and others who engage in vigorous physical activity can emit as much as eight times the average amount of CO2
P.J. O'Rourke • A Cry from the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land
Socialism has been tried. And tried. We have a proven track record of how it goes. A track record that’s more than a century long as of the October 2017 one hundredth anniversary of the Russian Revolution. That went well.