A local news reporter asked local GOP chairman Randall Jordan to react to the numerous Presidents’ Day protests held around SLO County.
“I can’t understand or even believe that anyone would protest against finding government spending that is out of hand,” he responded.
That comment proves what I’ve said for years about the two underpinnings of U.S. conservative thought: 1. The ends justify the means; and, 2. Poor people are poor by choice.
Mr. Jordan’s comment suggests that if Elon Musk is “finding” “out of control” spending, then whatever he does is justified. The ends justify the means.
There’s even an inherent suggestion in the comment that people protesting Trump-Musk are in favor of “out of control spending.”
Really? The protesters support fraud and waste in government?
A good liberal favors efficient social programs, which help the most people in the most efficient and research-supported way.
There are legitimate, legal methods to attack and root out inefficiencies in government. Trump-Musk’s means (wholesale firings with no rhyme or reason) do not justify the ends they claim to seek.
Will Powers
SLO
This article appears in Weddings 2025.
This administration is trapped by its own disinformation it used to obtain power. Their campaign of hate, resentment and anti-science ignorance forces them to purge the “deep state” of trained and educated civil servants, ostensibly DEI hires imposing “cultural Marxism” on society. The corporate lobbyists and Christian nationalists filling the vacuum will loot this country’s wealth and subjugate its citizens.
Steve:
Don’t forget unemployed and desperate Americans, It’s amazing what people will do in a Depression. Not only will the fascists in the White House expedite our economic collapse and hollow out our “economy,” they will use the chaos to completely wipe out any remnants of free thinkers. This is Shock Doctrine writ large. Desperate Americans will be led around by their noses, will willing join the Party, will willingly parrot the Party line, will willingly denounce Oceania, will willingly make oaths of fealty to Big Brother or Dear Leader, willingly spy on and report their neighbors, will willingly strive to become commissars, will willingly find enemies when there are none, and will willingly lock the rest of us in boxcars as we are lead slaughter. Not only will they do this, but they will compete amongst each other to prove their loyalty to this new, fascist state. And why? Because in this new economy the currency will be a loaf of bread.
They will do all of this for a solitary loaf of bread. The funny thing is, someone else will report them for not being patriotic enough, and the cycle continues. These fools are this era’s Sonderkommandos. When the state is finished destroying us, they are next. One can never be patriotic enough in this new era, they are trying to stay alive just one more day, even if it means the rest of us must perish. When we are all gone, who will they be able to prove their Party loyalty to? It’s all a game of musical chairs and they don’t want to be the last man standing, so (insert Party slogan here).
It is amazing to find people supporting the sort of insane expenditures that the DOGE auditors found, and finding something objectionable about eliminating waste. The $1.5 million spent on DEI programs in Serbia could have sent a lot of kids to college, for example, and the $32,000 spent on a trans opera in Columbia could have paid off someone’s student debt.
John D.
If the $1.5 spent on DEI was used to send kids to college, conservatives like you would then immediately freak out as you now do about student loan forgiveness.
There shall be nothing “free” in your economy, you would prefer our young people work in salt mines or throw themselves in front of a bus.
What you nurse, John, is a fear that those with whom you are engaged in class war with may actually advance.
Id be curious how you got your education, if you are an actual Californian and not some East Coast transplant, you may have actually attended a FREE state university here. If so, you are a hypocrite. If you resent free education, go ahead and send a check back to the state to pay for the FREE education you received. It may help feed one of the THOUSANDS of college students LIVING IN THEIR CARS.
Donegan:
Your last name is distinctly Irish, is it not? Shall we go down that road, sire? Shall we talk about the conditions your people left on the Emerald Island? Shall we talk about the rags they wore when they arrived? Shall we talk about the exploitation, racism, and living conditions they endured here as they spent GENERATIONS trying to get someone like you as far removed to what they faced as they could? It wasn’t that long ago, was it? Yet here you are, in all your glory, as conservative as it gets. Not once having to ever live in the filth they did. You should be at the barricades with the rest of us, fighting for the opportunity your own parents were unable enjoy. Instead, you argue that the poor should just simply die.
Your entire generation is just like that, you people are actually EMBARRASSED by what I can only guess, are your immigrant families. I wonder what they’d say you’ve become, John DONEGAN.
Shanti, Not the entire generation. I’m proud of my immigrant grandparents, although my father was shamed into giving up his native language at school. Did you know that the KKK marched against the French-Canadian immigrants in the northeast, even burned down Catholic churches? My mother’s family had their Slavic surname anglicized as tens of thousands of KKK were marching in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. They perservered, but today populism is confused with nationalism and ethnic pride is is discouraged for those with European descent.
Steve:
“…ethnic pride is is discouraged for those with European descent.”
Wow! The KKK, whom you properly denounce, were doing precisely what you seem to long for, celebrating their “European descent.” They did so by terrorising primarily African-Americans. Do you really wish to align yourself with them? I’m a third generation American on my late father’s side and could care less about my Irish heritage. This pursuit of ethnic identity and ethnic supremacy is what sent 6 million Jews, also my people, to the gas chambers. Congratulations, Steve, you’ve joined the ranks of Adolph Hitler, the KKK, and Rawandan Hutus.
I’m a history major, Steve. I’ll eat you for lunch.
PS: I lived in a house that was part of the underground railroad in Indianapolis, So yes, I’m quite aware of “European descent.” I could still smell the fear in that house of Americans of “European descent.”
If I must identify as anything, it’s just that of an old, burned out, California surfer.Thats my tribe.