Unca Darrell

APRIL 28 / Unca D's go-to guy on the U.S. federal debt . . .

. . . is retired University of Omaha mathematics professor Jack Heidel. Give his website a look: "It Does not Add Up." Good thinker. Good writer.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 / The most important story . . .

. . . I've read in a long old time.

It is spoiled only by . . .   

Now to NOVEMBER 8 / Closed: Unca Darrell will vote for . . .

. . . one of the worst human beings and presidential candidates in American history, Donald John Trump. Here's why: 

MAY 20 / What Jane Sanders did to Burlington College, her husband Bernie . . .

. . . might well do to the United States of America. 

Mrs. Sanders -- she of the 1988 honeymoon (at taxpayer expense) in Yaroslavl, Russia (then the Soviet Union) -- is one of her husband's chief political and policy advisors. Her resume features a stint as president of Burlington College, about which The Wall Street Journal reports this:

JULY 24 / We're No. 19! We're No. 19!

GREECE IS AN INTERNATIONAL DEADBEAT. The government and people of Greece believe passionately in living beyond their means. And on borrowed money they have no real intention of repaying. (The present "austerity" legislation will prove to be a ruse: what must be said (but not necessarily done) to keep the money flowing.) 

Which raises a question: Which state in the United States is most like Greece? Well, now we have an answer. And the award goes to . . .

JULY 19 / Rothman on why an American-style . . .

. . . constitutional republic is better than a Greek-style referendum.

The Greek referendum is a testament to the foresight of America's founding generation that tempered the excesses of majoritarianism by establishing a representative republic.  "As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust, so there are other qualities in human nature which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence," James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 55. "Republican government presupposes the existence of these qualities in a higher degree than any other form. . . .

In plainer words, the U.S. Constitution works better than any competing structure of government because it is based on a proper understanding of human nature, which is a mixture of good and evil. Republican government and limited government are ways of limiting the evil that any one person or group can do. Referenda have their place, perhaps, but their danger is illustrated by the response of an infantilized Greek public -- miseducated, hooked on benefits -- when asked to pronounce on the Greek debt crisis.       

JULY 14 / It's the arithmetic, stupid

"IN THE SHORT TERM," writes Kevin D. Williamson, "the world runs on words; in the long term . . .

JUNE 19 / The Congressional Budget Office this week . . .

. . . said the United States is -- slowly but inexorably -- going broke. The response from the media: near total silence. The response from the left: ditto.

Do liberals and progressives think the CBO is wrong? If so, how? Or does the left . . .

JANUARY 1 / To help you start the new year with . . .

. . . a big old belly laugh at the expense of . . .

OCTOBER 29 / Split your ticket on judges but . . .

. . . vote straight Republican on everything else.

Why?