Nicholas Eberstadt: Our Miserable 21st Century

Nick Eberstadt's article at Commentary is a sobering must read...

Nicholas Eberstadt outlines the economic decline facing most of the United States (beyond our coastal states). We have millions of men in America, in what should be their working prime, unemployed and not seeking work.  This is the continuation of working class decline pointed out by Charles Murray in Coming Apart. The trend is definitely not going in the right direction.  

Read this article. Donald Trump with coaching from Rick Santorum recognized this dynamic early on and ran on it. There have been some very heated exchanges on the right (and also the left). While there is serious disagreement on how to address it, we can all agree this is a serious issue.  

TOM: Bill Kristol's White People are Lazy and Immigrants work hard... and Twitter Coup d’Etat?

Kevin Williamson: The White Ghetto and The Father-Führer
Don Surber: Prius Cons! and Don addresses Goldberg

Breitbart's Rick Manning's rebuttal to Williamson 

David French's defense of Williamson

EBL: Bill Kristol: Asshat of the Day

Hogewash: Duke for Ellison!

Republican Presidential Hopefuls: CPAC Results

CPAC Straw Poll: 1) Rand Paul; 2) Scott Walker; 3) Ted Cruz; 4) Jeb Bush…

BREAKING: Rand Paul wins the #CPACStrawPoll. Walker, Cruz, Carson, and Bush round out the top 5. #CPAC #CPAC2015 pic.twitter.com/xR0ZSxl9II
— Justin Gibson (@JGibsonDem) February 28, 2015

AoSHQ/Open Blogger: Your keystrokes to God's ears/eyes…
Truth Revolt: Rubio says he learned a lesson in immigration (Jeb Bush, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell have not learned that lesson--and they need to be taught the party does not forget)
Smitty: Dishonest Walker Smears Have Begun
Instapundit: Walker smears boomerang back on attackers

RRG: Hot for Hillary?
Instapundit: Obamacare (it would be nice to have the GOP unified on this) and Joe Scarborough is a whiny little girl...
Smitty: How about the GOP go after Obama/IRS? 

Separated at Birth: Chris Christie and...?

Chris Christie blasting libertarians...

Rick Santorum blasting libertarians

The attacks on libertarians are not a cause, but a symptom of something deeper. Both Christie and Santorum are statists. While I think Christie is far more harmful than Santorum (although I recognize why others would disagree), I hope neither one of them gets near being nominated by the GOP. It is also going to be hard enough for Republicans in 2016, rejecting libertarians is just stupid from a practical level.

We can do much better.

Rick Santorum suspends his campaign for the GOP nomination...

Thanks

As reported by the New York Times...
Robert Stacy McCain has more about it...
So does Da Tech Guy...
More from Legal Insurrection and the Blogmocracy
More from The Hill.  More from Protein Wisdom.  More from Instapundit.
Sister Toldjah

Separated at Birth: Arlen Specter and...?

Mr. Burns

Arlen Specter

Could Arlen Specter please go away?  At least Mr. Burns arguably has some relevance in the make believe world of Springfield.  Arlen Specter legacy at the end of his career is that of a bad memory.  If, It's A Wonderful Life had Specter in the lead role, Clarence the Angel would not have followed him into that river (of course Specter would have made a great Mr. Potter).   Arlen got used by Barack Obama and the Democrats like some bachelor party floozy.  Not having a conscience, Specter is immune to the shame that would kill most people.  

Rick Santorum has a tough decision to make, but Arlen Specter's advice or opinion should not part of it.  

Wisconsin GOP Primaries: Who will get the cheese?

Wishful thinking?

Why Wisconsin Matters (and it is well beyond this primary)

Update:
Wisconsin votes...
Ann Althouse has still not made up her mind...
The Other McCain is Wisconsin GOP primary HQ 
Michelle Malkin:  Romney takes Wisconsin, District of Columbia, and Maryland (but Wisconsin was relatively close)
Romney wins by seven points in Wisconsin...
Vodkapundit:  Santorum has lost it and VP has the math to prove it...
Nate Silver claims it was all over in Michigan.  My Mittens post for that day.  

Rick Santorum's insurance proposal : the alternative to Obamacare

While Rick Santorum is hardly the first politician to suggest people should have the right to buy health insurance on their own with pretax dollars, it is a viable alternative to Obamacare and should be adopted.

Santorum's own webpage acknowledges how Paul Ryan has suggested something similar as an alternative for Medicare.

Forbes had an article earlier this year on Santorum's record which is a mixed bag (including some support to insurance mandates) but his current proposals seem to be a step in the right direction.

So Kudos to Rick Santorum for bringing it up again.

h/t:  Hot Air

Update:  The Other McCain has more on Santorum's Wisconsin primary campaign...

Arlen Specter On Mitt Romney: His Positions Change More Than A Porn Star

That is a visual image I really did not need.
h/t:  The Corner

Rick Santorum calls Trayvon Martin's shooter George Zimmerman "malicious"

Hey Rick Santorum, how about innocent until proven guilty?  I am still completely unsure what happened that night.  Perhaps George Zimmerman is a bad guy.  Perhaps not.  But Rick Santorum just engaged in pandering worse than Barack Obama's with this prejudging of what is in George Zimmerman's heart and mind.  How about we get some more facts before we decide what happened that night?  

When Rick Santorum has lost Zilla of the Resistance, he is in serious trouble.   Here is Zilla's comment at Michelle Malkin's Twitchy site.  We do not know enough to judge the Zimmerman-Martin case either way yet.
Spike Lee did not do the right thing.  And neither did Rick Santorum in jumping to conclusions.
And while we are discussing this:  Why is the media referring to George Zimmerman as a "White"Hispanic?
Instapundit has some links.  More here.

Update:
Does Rick Santorum have a conflict of interest?
Do any right-thinking people not grasp that the media frenzy has nothing whatsoever to do with justice, and everything to do with power?
College expels George Zimmerman

More links and information from Instapundit...

Jeff Goldstein makes the case for defending Santorum on this...

Joel Pollack at Breitbart says Santorum dodged a gotcha on race and then committed his own gaffe...

More on Trayvon Martin from Instapundit...

More details on Trayvon Martin...

So when the attack happened, which way was Zimmerman going towards or away from his SUV...

More on Martin's suspensions...

Zimmerman's story...

Obama leading the lynch mob after Zimmerman...

Trayvon Martin tweets... Still Obama's son?  

This is an appropriate song for all of this...

Speaking truth to power...

VDH:  The modern lynch mob...

Rick Santorum loses credibility saying Obama is better than Romney...

I know plenty of conservatives I respect who say they cannot support Mitt Romney in the general (I disagree with them, but I respect their position without agreeing with it).  I am not a big fan of any of these GOP candidates, for various reasons, but I think all of them are far better than Barack Obama.  But for Rick Santorum to say that Obama winning is better than Romney, after having endorsed Romney not so long ago, does not carry the same sort of credibility as those principled conservatives I know.
Glenn Reynolds is a bit more pissed off about it.
Santorum needed to bring people together.  Mitt Romney may be weak, but he is still beating Santorum 2:1 in overall primary votes and delegates.

Update:
Stacy McCain laments and asks (sort of) "can't we all just get along?"
Michelle Malkin on what Rick said...
We all just misunderstood Rick's nuance?  Well if Santorum is losing Michelle Malkin and Stacy McCain on his message he needs to rework his message.  
Santorum says he never said that, that this is a hatchet job...
Blogmacracy thinks it is over...
Gateway Pundit is not impressed...
Instapundit: Stacy has Rick Santorum's back!  

The Walking Dead and the GOP Primaries Analogy

 Rick Santorum
Number 2 guy

Shane
Number 2 guy

Leader Mitt Romney,
Challenged by Beta Rick Santorum

Leader Rick,
Challenged by Beta Shane

If Mitt wants to be the leader, he has to take Rick out (unless of course Rick takes Mitt out first): 

Newt?  Is that you below?  There is no way you are going to pull yourself up.

Prior EBLPosts:

What is coming for Season Three?

Season 2, Episode 13: Quote of the Day

Who saved Andrea? 

What! Mitt Romney won yesterday?

Rick got the biscuits and the big piece of chicken by winning Alabama and Mississippi.  Romney gets Hawaii and America Samoa.  But Mitt won overall delegate count?  Hugh Hewitt says Mitt has it wrapped up.  Jennifer Rubin (not surprisingly given her preference for Mitt) is saying the same thing.
Team Obama says if the election were held today Mitt would win?...but are they also courting Nanny McBloomy to take over for Plugs (and counter Mitt)?
The Other McCain addresses inevitability and level of spending...
DaTechGuy asks if Santorum can be taken seriously?  Yeah, enough for other to keep saying he doesn't have a chance the day after two big wins.

Romney supporters try to cause Santorum's collapse by wishing for it...

The Architect

Karl Rove:  It's over if Santorum does not win Ohio
Ann Coulter:  The problem with Santorum
Hugh Hewitt:  Race effectively decided and Romney will be the nominee
Jennifer Rubin:  Santorum losing women (well certainly Coulter and Rubin)

Mittens lives to fight another day...

Romney 41%, Santorum 37.8%

Update:  Why the left fears Santorum

Two candidates from two different places...Fishtown vs. Belmont: A tale of two suburbs

Fishtown vs. Belmont, a tale of two suburbs...

Michael Barone has a very interesting article on the changing dynamics of White America and where these two candidates, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney, are coming from...

In Fishtown, he reports, one-third of men age 30 to 49 are not making a living, one-fifth of women are single mothers raising children, and nearly 40 percent have no involvement in a secular or religious organization.The result is that the children being raised in such settings have the odds heavily stacked against them. Santorum made this point vividly, and Mitt Romney chimed in his agreement.These findings turn some conventional political wisdom on its head. They tend to contradict the liberals who blame increasing income disparity on free-market economics. In fact, it is driven in large part by personal behavior and choices.They also undermine the conservatives who say that a liberation-minded upper class has been undermining traditional values to which more downscale Americans are striving to adhere. Murray's complaint against upscale liberals is not that they are libertines but that they fail to preach what they practice...

This may explain why Rick Santorum is surging with conservative women...   Here are four different theories on why Rick Santorum is surging with women:  Theories 1-3 are generally correct, theory 4 is a warning on not letting the Democrats brand Santorum in this way (no one likes a nanny scold).  Here is Stacy McCain, who is a Rick Santorum supporter, on the fight and the figher.  
Update:  Creative Minority on Rick Santorum and JFK.  Of course what Rick Santorum is right--religious people should have a voice on policy, but:   "The problem Santorum faces is that although he's absolutely right, it's not something that can be explained to folks in ten second sound bytes. So his words are taken out of context and shown in the worst possible light." And yes the left will twist this (so be prepared).  


Update II:  This is just great advice on pivoting a gotcha media or debate question from DaTechGuy (good advice for any GOP candidate in the general, but especially for Rick Santorum now):  

Valley of the Shadow raises a great point concerning election 2012:

Stay on message. Remember the Surber Rule: The economy alone will get a Republican elected president next year. Talk about nothing else.

Surber himself gives this example:

Reporter: Is homosexuality a choice or genetic?

Answer: That’s above my pay grade, as the president likes to say. But unlike the president, the economy is not above my pay grade. I can promise you a lower unemployment rate when I am elected president and the economy is allowed to grow.

Me I’d answer a different way:

Reporter: Is homosexuality a choice or genetic?/Do you believe in evolution/should the church pay for contraception/ etc. etc etc..

Answer: Are you serious? Unemployment is over 8%, Millions have given up on looking for work, Gas prices are skyrocketing and that’s the question you’re asking? Is that really the question your viewers/readers want asked?

Reporter: It’s a topic on people’s minds

Answer: No it’s the topic you and the media want to talk about because you understand that a conversation on the economy is a loser for the left.

Reporter: So you are refusing to answer the question?

Answer: Look if a voter in a town hall asks me a question I’ll answer it, my views are not a secret, but if you want to get fodder for your talking points you’ll just have to do the legwork.

Surber is right in the sense of not playing the reporters but if the voter asks, you answer, unabashedly, unashamed and without reservation.


Update III:  Rush:  Don't fear the social issues

Of course both Rick and Mitt will not win over all women.  But that is okay, they were lost a long, long, time ago.

Glenn Beck and Rick Santorum discuss libertarians and Ron Paul

Glenn Beck is trying to help Rick Santorum here...
I am not a fan of Ron Paul's foreign policy either.  I also lean more George Washington than Thomas Paine.  This is an interesting exchange.  Rick is much better in this setting than in debates. 


But it goes back to the advice of Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin.  We want to keep Ron Paul from running third party.  We want his supporters to support the GOP nominee.  There are also Ron Paul positions on fiscal matters that the GOP absolutely should adopt.  And while Ron Paul is a libertarian, not all libertarians are Ron Paul supporters.  So when Rick Santorum criticizes Ron Paul by using the term libertarian, he is alienating himself from those other libertarians.
I am not the only one who has noticed this.  


Meanwhile are Ron Paul and Mitt Romney working some sort of deal out?  Or is this the explanation for Ron Paul's assistance to Mitt Romney in the debate the other day?  Hint:  If you are trying to debunk a conspiracy theory involving Mitt Romney, it might be a good idea not to have Hugh Hewitt or Jennifer Rubin make the pitch.


Update:  Mark Levin has a "no gotcha" interview with Rick Santorum.  

Is there a Ron Paul and Mitt Romney deal?

Is Rand part of a Paul-Romney deal?  

There seemed to be more than a little simpatico tonight between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney in going after Rick Santorum.   Mark Levin and William Jacobson noticed signs of it before the debate tonight.  Jeff Goldstein is also noticing the pattern.  Although Professor Jacobson is probably right about this: "Paul doesn’t need promises now. He’ll do his bargaining when he is at maximum power, which will be in a couple of months."  Still, for this to work Ron Paul needs to make sure Mitt Romney is leading going into the convention (but weakened enough that he has to deal with Paul).  They both want Rick Santorum out.  


There was a suggestion post debate that Ron Paul was offered a vice president spot with Mitt Romney, but that seems implausible.  But a deal to give Rand Paul the vice presidency spot?  Still unlikely, but perhaps.  Of course the argument would be is Romney acting "Mavricky" out of desperation.  I was going to use the analogy of Ron Paul like Tessio and Mitt Romney like Barzini...but it is not even that dramatic.  This may be just Huckabee and McCain '08 again.  And we know how that turned out.  


I have argued that Santorum should be less hostile to libertarians (even Sarah Palin argued for it generally for the GOP)...well it looks like Mitt is taking up the advice.
Update:  
Ace on the topic

Maybe they can ask a question at the debate tonight about this...

Mitt Romney supporters taking down Rick Santourm signs?
Santorum rising in Wisconsin and Oklahoma
Mitt:  This is not the sort of thing that will endear you to Republicans...

Satan Angry? Santorum ahead 34% to 18% in Wisconsin

Satan:  "I still have a lot of followers in Wisconsin...especially in Madison!"

Stacy McCain reports!  Background numbers on the poll.  Don't get too excited, Obama (at least right now) still wins Wisconsin against any of the Republican candidates.  Santorum, however, also up in Oklahoma.
Are Romney contractors taking down Santorum signs?  

The Declaration of Independence: The pursuit of happiness

I love this scene from HBO's John Adams, so I am including it. 
Rick Santorum is right, in part, that the term "pursuit of happiness" was not intended as some hedonistic license.  And even Jefferson, himself, stated these rights were from God:

The evidence of [the] natural right [of expatriation], like that of our right to life, liberty, the use of our faculties, the pursuit of happiness, is not left to the feeble and sophistical investigations of reason, but is impressed on the sense of every man. We do not claim these under the charters of kings or legislators, but under the King of Kings. 

Thomas Jefferson to John Manners, 1817.

But Rick Santorum's overall statement, while in some ways correct, misses the point.  Part of this is style:  There is something about Rick Santorum's manner that is off putting.  But it is substance too.  I find it implausible that Thomas Jefferson meant what Rick Santorum thinks he meant (it is frankly a little too "Puritan" an interpretation for a Virginian like Jefferson) .  The "pursuit of happiness" phrase was, at its core, a recognition of the primacy of an individual over his own conscience and dreams.  Ayn Rand nails it with this:  

The Right to the Pursuit of Happiness means man’s right to live for himself, to choose what constitutes his own private, personal, individual happiness and to work for its achievement, so long as he respects the same right in others. It means that Man cannot be forced to devote his life to the happiness of another man nor of any number of other men. It means that the collective cannot decide what is to be the purpose of a man’s existence nor prescribe his choice of happiness.

I do not want to be too harsh on Rick Santorum.  I just wish Rick Santorum was not so hostile to libertarian concepts and libertarians.  While the Democrats love to expound on liberty, they often have a rather passive-aggressive relationship with the concept  [Update:  check out this link by The Anchoress].  Ayn Rand was also correct about this:  "A right is the sanction of independent action. A right is that which can be exercised without anyone’s permission.  If you exist only because society permits you to exist—you have no right to your own life. A permission can be revoked at any time."  


We will need libertarians to win general election and I wish Rick Santorum could grasp that "self evident" fact.  Maybe Satan is trying to trick Santorum about libertarians?    And as Bill Jacobson noted by referring to a Hot Air comment, I am also sure some so-called "conservatives" are not arguing in good faith about Santorum.  And Dan Riehl is also right, many of the faith based attacks against Santorum are repulsive.  


Update:

• Just keep those happiness dreams modest...
• Positive vs. Negative Freedoms
• Rush:  Santorum will have to answer for Satan.  Of course, metaphorical or real, it is not like we don't see evil all the time...  
• Satan is against America is crazy; God Damn America is good (well at least to Obama's Spiritual Dad!)