The bell tolls for the Baby Boomer generation. They’ve arrived at the point in life when there’s more behind them than in front of them. Time to face your legacy, both personal and generational. It’s not a pretty picture. The generation of free love, free dope and free thinking has pretty much made a hash of everything. Somehow, they managed to transform 60s counterculture into monstrous governmental intrusion, replete with all the hallmarks of socialist dictatorships America had managed to vanquish over the last century. That’s the dismal legacy of the Boomers — through their own stupidity, lack of ethics and personal ambition, the intellectual ‘elite’ of that generation have brought this country a bitter harvest. They managed to turn America into a land of whiners, professional victims, thieves, vultures and con artists. And Bill Clinton is their poster child, whether they like it or not. When Hillary Clinton failed to win the Democratic nomination, it signaled the beginning of a decline in Boomer influence over politics. Barack Obama belongs to a younger generation of fools.

The triumph of situational ethics over morality, the worship of vice over virtue and the degradation of society took place once Boomers stepped in to take over the reins of government, business, academia and the media. The Boomers made drug addiction, promiscuity and criminality almost saintly virtues. They made excuses for antisocial behavior and promoted identity politics, race-baiting and victimology.  They tolerated, even promoted, a deep and abiding hatred for middle America. The Baby Boomers are responsible for the culture of entitlement and the manifestation of parasites in every form, from boardroom to the barrio.

The Baby Boomer ethos - ‘me-first-and-always’ - has permeated every corner of American society, turning this nation away from its founding ideals and the rugged, self-reliant individualism that personified Americans of days passed. We are stuck with this mess. And no amount of liberal hand-wringing and self-hate will undo the damage. Only the passage of time and generations can offer a possible cure. Hopefully, our childrens’ grandchildren won’t repeat the same mistakes.

The $25 billion in taxpayer dollars granted (not a loan, but a gift) to US carmakers is not actually intended to keep these companies afloat. Rather, this is a payoff to labor unions for their unwavering support of the Democratic Party and its near-total sweep of Congress and the White House. The $25 billion, and the next $25 billion and whatever follows is largely earmarked for union workers, their health benefits and their pensions. And, it keeps union bosses flush with money from dues and ‘management fees’ derived from handling medical benefits and pensions investments. Very little of that taxpayer money will be used to develop new transportation technologies or enhance current vehicle technologies. And no, it won’t be used to develop high-mileage vehicles.

Because nearly everyone in America suffers from long-term memory loss, it’s important to understand what’s going on in Detroit and the impact this is going to have on the rest of the country. Two years ago, GM was able to shift its pension and benefits liabilities to the United Auto Workers, which gladly accepted this enormous responsibility. Ford and Chrysler will follow. Why? Because the UAW knew that if Democrats were in power, it would have no problem shifting these liabilities to the federal government and have all Americans chip in to cover their operating expenses and salaries. They’ve succeeded. Their plan has been executed to perfection. Now, it’s just a matter of cashing the checks from Washington.

In case this doesn’t make any sense to the reader, one must understand the perverted logic behind it all. It’s quite chilling. Union bosses actually don’t give a damn about the carmakers or the workers they claim to represent. They care about themselves and the union organization. They are perfectly willing to put the carmakers out of business and screw their own members out of pensions and benefits as long as the union continues to flourish. They can run the pensions into the ground, knowing that the Obama administration and a Democrat-controlled Congress will continue to bail them out until the cows come home. Sound familiar? It’s similar to what the parasites on Wall Street did — run their businesses irresponsibly, knowing that the government would be forced to make them whole at the taxpayer’s expense. It’s called moral hazard, a term everyone in America should get really familiar with. Look it up on wikipedia.org

As we gather to celebrate this national holiday, parents in New England squabble about the personal degradation and humiliation to which their children are subjected at this time of year. Apparently, these helpless waifs are forced to dress up as Native Americans and re-enact the Thanksgiving feast with other children dressed as Pilgrims. As shoppers fill the aisles of grocery stores, a debate rages over the Thanskgiving day release of an 8 year-old accused of shooting is father and another man. And, as linens are unfolded and silver is polished, animal rights activists are suing Butterball for the inhumane treatment of turkeys.

We have much to be thankful for. As of this week, the Bill of Rights still stands. The Constitution hasn’t been entirely tossed out yet. Al Franken won’t be the incoming senator from Minnesota.  And, unless some Republican senator loses his or her mind, the Democrats won’t be able to ram a socialist manifesto through Congress. It’s not much, but it’s something. Okay, the Obama thing didn’t work out, but we can all pray that he’s totally incompetent and won’t be able to execute his marxist agenda.

As you sit down with your significant others in your soon-to-be-foreclosed home, try to enjoy the Thanksgiving feast that pushed your last working credit card over the limit. Ignore the sounds of a repo man hoisting your SUV onto his flatbed as the pink slip that arrived yesterday rustles gently in your shirt pocket. This is America, after all…

We’ll be taking Thursday off.

The Producer or Parasite? blog, website and all of its features are aimed at the general public - those who have only a mild interest in politics, society and where this country is headed. The goal is to get these Americans a bit more involved in the political process or to at least be aware of what’s going on. Although political wonks, junkies and insiders are more than welcome, there are plenty of other sources more focused on specific issues and more scholarly in their approach. Producer or Parasite? is not and will never be a think tank or conservative news outlet. That’s not the mission. Rather, this blog and website is here to ask questions that John Q. Public might have and then answer it in a way John Q. Public can grasp. It becomes a question of balance: where to set the bar so that every reader gets something out of the posts and weekly columns. What’s becoming obvious is the huge gap between the politically aware and the average American.

A recent study concluded that most Americans know little about the Constitution, that there are actually three branches of government, or that Presidents can’t declare wars or make treaties. And, too many Americans think the electoral college exists to prepare a citizen for public office. Further, most Americans cannot name the Speaker of the House, the Senate Majority Leader or the House Majority Leader, much less understand what they’re really up to. We’ve voted in a new President based on sound bites and saturation advertising. Europeans are laughing at us. Terrorists are sharpening their knives.

How did Americans become so utterly ignorant of their situation? Theories abound, but it’s probably just a result of the extraordinarily poor education received in public schools compounded by a media culture that doesn’t value academics or critical thinking in any form. Actually, it’s rather ironic: the failure of public education actually protects and enriches those most responsible for that failure. Ain’t America great?

Ann Coulter has had a taste of what liberals will do if you disagree with them, having been assaulted at almost every college campus where she has been invited to speak. What threat could Ms. Coulter pose that college students feel the need to bombard her with vegetables, push her from the stage and hold unruly demonstrations? Apparently dissent and debate is not something liberals can easily tolerate if it’s directed toward them. Karl Rove was similarly accosted by an antiwar activist while onstage during a panel discussion. Funny, no high-profile liberal has ever been pelted with fruit by a group of young conservatives. Al Franken has never had to suffer the humiliation of picking rotten tomatoes out of his hair or trying to outshout some idiot with a bullhorn and yet he encourages, even demands, the very same action be taken against his conservative opponents. 

And then, there are the thugs - the ones that show up to disrupt speeches, meetings and events being held by conservatives. The mainstream media spends little time examining the motives and resources of liberal thugs. When they are mentioned, it’s almost always in the context that the targeted conservative truly deserved to be assaulted, or that the conservative’s viewpoints where somehow dangerously inflammatory, controversial or racist. Therefore, these thugs were fully justified in their actions.

The thugs appear wherever pressure is required. St. Paul, Minnesota is probably not a hotbed of liberal thuggery and so one can assume that they were imported specifically for the 2008 Republican convention. Who paid for their travel, food and lodging? It could be some of the many liberal front organizations that receive money from wealthy donors like George Soros or Peter Lewis through intermediaries. The money could have come indireclty from the campaign coffers of Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, or possibly the Democratic National Committee. It’s easy to do. If the Obama campaign can accept millions of dollars in untraceable prepaid credit card donations, it’s likely the money can flow out of the campaigns in equally devious ways. The more likely scenario are private foundations that laundered the money through several layers of middlemen. In any case, liberals feel that the ends justify the means. If a little muscle can get us all to the promised land just a little quicker, so much the better. Lenin would agree.

The 2008 presidential election was marked bya decidedly sinister undertone emanating from the Democratic camp. Beyond the usual Tammany Hall-style voter fraud and the mindless media cheer-leading, there was an undercurrent of threat and intimidation. It was in evidence on the nightly news broadcasts, if you were paying attention. Here’s an unnerving example:A Fox News reporter and cameraman were attempting to get a quote out of leftist loony toon Ward Churchill. The substance of the quote was immaterial, as was the reporter’s motivation for being there in the first place. But, the presence of thugs was disconcerting. Churchill was surrounded and ‘protected’ by a group of young men who eagerly pushed aside the young reporter, shoved the cameraman to the group and demanded the tape. They shouted down the reporter as he tried to ask questions and then hustled the flaky professor away from the scene. From the smile on Ward Churchill’s face, he was thoroughly enjoying the confrontation. Fox did not press charges. The local constabulary, who could clearly see the faces of these thugs on TV, didn’t arrest anyone. Ward Churchill did not apologize for the rough treatment of the reporter or the cameraman.

At the Republican national convention, small groups of men and women were found in safe-houses a short distance from the convention site. They were preparing balloons filled with urine and powders to irritate the eyes and nose, among other such niceties. Outside the convention hall, in what is typically a quiet and well-ordered town, unruly crowds picked fights with convention attendees and destroyed property, all in the name of hope and change. The Republican convention itself was marred with ‘technical’ glitches. Thuggery has entered the political process. These people justify their actions with flowery arguments about equality and fairness at the same time they intimidate, insult and injure those who don’t agree with them. They knowingly and willfully break the law, then justify it as a necessary action to achieve peace and harmony, of all things. The parallels between these ‘liberal’ thugs and Hitler’s infamous brown-shirts or Lenin’s Cheka are too close for comfort.

Somehow, I just can’t see young conservatives holed up in safe-houses manufacturing urine bombs or injuring reporters who merely ask a legitimate question. The mainstream media outlets, both print and electronic, cover this up or dismiss it as well-intentioned exuberance. They’re providing cover for what can and will turn much darker and more violent in the days to come. And maybe, that’s their intention.

There is a group of people out there that all Americans should get to know a lot better. They’re an adventurous bunch, putting up their own hard-earned money to fund the dream of some starry-eyed entrepreneur. They’re the ones who stack their nickels one on top the other as they work 12-14 hours a day running a construction company, a bakery, a car dealership. Yes, these men and women may be small business owners, but they’re much, much more than that — they’re capitalists. Not every small business owner is a capitalist, or even an investor. Most are too busy and too frazzled just trying to make ends meet. No, these capitalists come from a very small, elite group. They are the successful small business owners. The ones who have managed to become financially independent, and have the time and money to help others achieve success.

Help? Since when do capitalists help anyone except themselves? But that’s exactly what this rare breed does. They know what it’s like to start a business and bootstrap yourself to prosperity with hard work and sheer determination. And so, they offer start-up capital, advice and business connections to bring an idea to life. The risks are enormous and the rewards a long way off. And yet, they plunge ahead. This is how real capitalism works. Individual investors, groups of investors or a network put up the seed money for a new business we’ll be reading about five years from now. Are they expecting a return on that investment? Of course, they are. Would they be better off putting that money in a safer place, like a government bond? Yes, but they wouldn’t be happy. You see, they’re risk junkies. After a lifetime of taking risks in their own business and with their own livelihood, they’ve made a little bit of money. And, they can’t help but put that money to work in the most creative, dynamic way they know - by helping start another business.

Some of these new business concepts are incredibly ambitious - early detection of Alzheimer’s, or maybe a low-cost phone system for developing countries; ground-breaking clean energy technology or incredible new personal security devices. Many of these ideas start out small, in the hands of one or two visionaries and the risk junkies who back them. And, many of them fail for reasons too numerous to list, much less analyze. Suffice it to say that the road to mega-success is strewn with roadkill, much of it small investors who bet the farm on a big idea. Curiously, when the risk junkies win, they’re even more generous than they were before. And when they lose, they don’t complain, they don’t whine. They roll up their sleeves and work even harder to rebuild their investment capital.

What does our government do for the people behind the entrepreneur, the people without whom the entrepreneur would be nothing but big talk? Well, actually nothing. Our government makes it ever more difficult to save money. Our government’s progressive tax scheme effectively targets successful small business owners and Congress has made sure to eliminate just about every perk and advantage to owning and operating a small business. The Democrats in particular have made wealth accumulation nearly impossible. And what these socialists don’t understand is that many successful small business owners plow that hard-earned, heavily-taxed capital right back into another business. They invest. They mentor. They get involved. These are people driven to succeed. And what’s appalling is that the parasites hitch their wagons to these incredibly energetic people and go for a free ride.

The risk junkies aren’t stupid. They understand that they’re being unfairly exploited because they have this insatiable desire to succeed. They also know America is the only place on the planet were anyone with drive and ambition can succeed regardless of family connections, political or religious affiliation, tribal or caste distinctions or miles of bureaucratic red tape. And so, this group soldiers on. But at some point, when the odds are overwhelmingly against them, when they are brutalized for just trying to get ahead, this special group of investors - the risk junkies, will disappear. And so will our way of life.

The media monkeys are patting themselves on the back these days. They managed to pull off a coup, installing a Marxist in the White House and consolidating leftist power in Congress. Besides the $400 million tax credit to media producers hidden inside the bank bailout bill, there must be something else they’ll receive in exchange for bamboozling the American voter. Whatever it might be, you can count on the media to continue their cheerleading for what could become the most oppressive regime in America history. There’s no going back. There’s no time out. What Obama and Congress do with their newly acquired power will be irreversible. One thing is sure: productive, working Americans will pay for it all, in economic terms and personal freedoms.

Once the Obama Nation becomes a reality, merely voting him and his leftist compatriots out of office won’t matter. The structural changes he intends to make place government first, above all else. That means the government no longer serves the people and is no longer accountable to the people. Rather, we, the citizens, work for the government, and we are accountable to the government. Unelected, unaccountable officials deep within a vast bureacracy will hold the power of life and death over us. And no, we can’t just take it back. No one in power ever relinquishes that power without a fight. It only happened once in human history — when the founding fathers of this country drafted and ratified a Constitution which accomplished precisely that.

No, the middle class will literally have to wrest control of their lives and this country away from the bureaucrats and elites. It will get ugly. That Brooks Brothers suit is going to get wrinkled manning the barricades on Main Street.

Maybe it’s time for conservatives to ditch the Republican party and start a new one. And, unlike the socialists hiding behind the Democratic Party moniker, this new party should be called the Conservative Party. There’s no reason to disguise the conservative movement’s true intent, as the Democrats have for the last 60 years. In fact, conservatives should demand that Democrats merge with the Socialist Party, since the former has effectively adopted the latter’s platform. Conservatives have nothing to hide, and everything to gain by promising Americans that they will restore the ideals and principles that made America great, and leave by the roadside those things that held us back, including a pervasive culture of entitlement and the consequences of social engineering by government.

The fact that conservative Republicans didn’t turn out to vote for John McCain should send shock waves through the Republican party and force the RNC leadership to reflect on how they recruit a loyal base. They’ve spent the last 6 years trying to cultivate a positive relationship with mainstream media. Sorry, that’s not going to happen. TV networks and newspapers are merely propaganda machines for the Democratic Party and those few outlets that provide an alternative, balanced point of view will eventually be silenced. Therefore, the Republicans should gird themselves for battle. It won’t be pretty, it won’t be easy, and they will get pounded mercilessly.

Having said that, conservatives need to look for different means to communicate their message. The Democratic Party and its allied grass roots organizations have been especially adept at using every form of communication technology to their advantage, aided and abetted by the news & entertainment cabal which has extensive experience and resources in that space. Conservatives must invest the time, money and effort required to build an extensive communications network that will help recruit and retain a loyal following. Republicans don’t have anything resembling the machines Democrats have created and continue to develop and maintain, always ready to mobilize voters and apply pressure when needed. This will take some time. Getting started now would be a good idea.

As Americans go to the polls on Tuesday, they’re not thinking about the historic consequences of their actions. Uninformed, bamboozled and misled, many Americans will vote in a regime that will destroy a political and economic system that has been a wonder to this world for more than two centuries. Years from now, honest historians will analyze the 2008 election, trying to understand how a free people could have so willingly taken on the yoke of servitude. Dishonest historians will celebrate the 2008 election as the triumph of the People’s Republic of America, when a Great Leader was at last permitted to shape his utopia, taking from the rich and giving to the, well, not necessarily the poor. First, to his friends and flunkies, and then maybe what’s left over, to the less fortunate.

Honest historians and political commentators may look back on the 2008 presidential and congressional races as a dark day for America, when socialism triumphed and the mistakes of 1930s and 1960s were to be repeated and amplified. In the 1930s, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a liberal elitist, aided and abetted by a Democrat-controlled Congress, created programs and policy that still carry their toxic fallout into the 21st century. FDR instituted the concept of Big Government, the all-knowing, all-seeing Big Brother, and the rule of ‘experts’ who decided the fate of the country, as well as individual citizens. The country reeled from the effects of this socialist agenda. It took years to recover.

Lyndon Baines Johnson followed in FDR’s footsteps. Along with a Democrat-controlled Congress, Johnson, a liberal elitist, created more programs and policies that have devastated American society, the economy and our political system. LBJ and the Democrats created a culture of entitlement, a society of permissiveness and sloth, a nation of whiners and  hustlers constantly clamoring for more handouts.  The Great Society, War on Poverty and other social engineering programs have indelibly altered the American psyche and our country’s guiding principles. The Democrats knowingly and willingly sacrificed economic freedom and opportunity for America’s working class and poor in order to gain power. And, the story is about to repeat itself.

Where will Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid take this country? Will we be able to weather yet another round of failed policy and programs that pushed us over the brink into the hellpit of socialism? Who knows. Not even the Anointed One can predict the outcome.