Still Here

It's been a little bit slow here lately, and there is a reason.  Seven weeks ago we welcomed our first son into the world.  Since then, finding time to sleep has been hard.  Finding time to keep up with current events has been even harder.  Finding the energy to have coherent thoughts and the time to put them into blog form has been, as you have seen, impossible.  But Gadsden Rising continues, and new content will be posted regularly again.

For starters, here is a must-see.  Scott Johnson, over at Powerline, has posted a brilliant video of Prof. Epstein discussing income inequality.  We have all been watching the collection of dolts, criminals, community organizers, nihilists, suckers, the naive/misinformed, anti-Semitic, and whathaveyou who have been occupying various cities streetcorners throughout America (and abroad, it seems) who are upset about things and want the banks destroyed or free money or student debt repaid or free food or they're-not-quite-sure-what-but-they-want-something.  These people claim to be the 99%.  Well.

As Prof. Epstein comments, the 1% probably does have a disproportionate amount of influence, but they hardly have a controlling influence.  If 99% of the population agreed on something, there is nothing the remaining 1% could do to counter it; the sheer number of votes proves this.  But what if a large number of the "99%" agreed with many or most of the principles that allow the 1% to exist in the first place?  Perhaps that number is better represented by the 53% of Americans who actually pay taxes.  Might be why the Occupiers are getting so little actual support, although their inability to articulate their demands is probably also a hindrance.