{"id":87,"date":"2003-10-09T10:45:57","date_gmt":"2003-10-09T17:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/balafon.net\/?p=87"},"modified":"2003-10-09T10:45:57","modified_gmt":"2003-10-09T17:45:57","slug":"deriving-their-just-powers-from-the-consent-of-the-governed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/?p=87","title":{"rendered":". . . deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

Den Beste has some cogent commentary<\/a> on the California recall. Some salient points:<\/p>\n

That the media are actors, not merely observers, has been obvious for a long time. Especially in the Iraq conflict. Quoting Ralph Peters<\/a>:<\/p>\n

every indicator of success [is] turning positive. Yet the media insist we are incompetent and failing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Kurds are prospering. The Shi’ites no longer live in fear. Even
\n most Sunni Arabs feel relieved that Saddam’s gone. The mullahs are
\n behaving. Local markets are busy and full of goods. The
\n electricity’s back on – more reliably than before the war. Schools
\n are open. Oil’s flowing. The Iraqi media is booming, boisterous and
\n free. The Governing Council has convinced previously hostile
\n factions to cooperate. Iraqis provide more and more of their own
\n local security. And the torture chambers are closed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What do we hear from Iraq? Another soldier killed. The rest is silence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But the amount of “wailing and gnashing of teeth” over the California recall is telling. Gersh Kuntzman in Newsweek<\/i> writes that Schwarzenegger’s victory is the fault of the press<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Instead, we in the media let this recall train leave the station.
\n We blamed Davis for California’s energy “crisis” two years ago
\n (which, would you believe it?, was actually a result of Enron and
\n other energy traders cooking the books). As apt as Davis’s first
\n name actually is, he is not the kind of elected official for whom
\n the recall law was written. He has not violated the public trust.
\n He has not committed treason. He has not exhibited immoral or
\n criminal behavior. You may think he’s doing a bad job as governor,
\n but the standard for firing an elected official should be much
\n higher than merely disagreeing with his approach to governing and
\n having a right-wing Congressman in your state who has several
\n million dollars with which to pay the so-called “volunteers” to man
\n the recall barricades. Where was the coverage that should have
\n called the effort what it is: a coup?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This makes me incoherent with rage. That some talking head should think that he and his buddies know better than the people of California…<\/p>\n

Thankfully, though, the recall is a vindication of the American system of government. The French are being hard hit by a drop in tourism and business from America, and are looking desperately for evidence of a government conspiracy. Thing is, there is none. It’s the concerted action of the only political power greater than the government of the United States: the people<\/i> of the United States.<\/p>\n

Read the whole thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recall is a vindication of the American system of government. The French are being hard hit by a drop in tourism and business from America, and are looking desperately for evidence of a government conspiracy. Thing is, there is none. It’s the concerted action of the only political power greater than the government of the United States: the people<\/i> of the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}