Politics

Malia Obama to take year off before attending Harvard, but I'm skeptical of the reasons given.

Progressives, left and right.

"But we should not conflate the ideological problems with progressivism and conservatism with the actual threat posed by each. Progressivism has been the overwhelming force in western politics for the last 100 years. Political progressives—defined not by their party, but by their desire to remake man into a more obedient political animal, absolutely dominated the 20^th century."

That's a pretty good description.

"Let’s be clear about supposed conservatives like George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, & company: they're all progressives. Sheldon Adelson, Rupert Murdoch and Fox News are progressive. They all want government to do something rather than refrain from doing something. Their party label is irrelevant, as is their positioning of themselves slightly to the right of Obama regarding the rate at which the state grows in size and scope."

A progressive is somebody who wants to use government's power of coercion to engineer society to their own ends.

Stockman sees little difference in Trump and Clinton.

"This will surely be the most entertaining election in US history, and probably the most pointless, too. After all, Hillary wants to use government to make Government Great Again. And Trump promises to use government to make America Great Again."
"The latter has long since morphed into a Warfare State leviathan. It pursues senseless and destructive foreign interventions that erode, not enhance, the safety and security of American communities. It impairs constitutional liberties at home under cover of exaggerated and often contrived threats of terrorism. And it breeds blowback and terrorism abroad wherever its drones, bombs, occupations and covert machinations intrude in matters that are none of our business."

True.