That urgency thing

Mark Steyn is doing his best to wake us up before it's too late with After America: Get Ready for Armageddon. Now Sen. Jim DeMint gives it a try with Now or Never: Saving American From Economic Collapse. From Quin Hillyer's review:

In an extended interview on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart this week, Stewart complained to DeMint that the book contained too much "apocalyptic" rhetoric, and that people like him on the left side of the spectrum would be too turned off by such rhetoric to consider the book's substance.

To which, DeMint basically told me that he didn't mean to be apocalyptic -- just accurate.

"The whole point of the book," he said, "is to help create a sense of urgency, but in a way that calmly and rationally goes through the facts of where we are and why we're here. The key statistics, about the debt relative to the size of our economy and relative to the projected size of our economy in the future, are alarming." With the debt of $15 billion now equaling the size of the entire economy, he said, he looks at it like a businessman looking at his balance sheet and realizing that "our short-term debt is as large as our annual sales, plus you have to borrow even more money every day just to keep the lights on." Such a situation, he writes in Now or Never, is "demonstrably unsustainable," and it is "insane."

Here's a chunk of the interview:


Understatement from Sen. DeMint: "You don’t find too many federal programs that are working." This makes Stewart's knee jerk predictably (about 4:40 in).

As pointed out at Beltway Confidential, Stewart didn't get the Headstart failure memo. Nor did he get the one about the Great Society's destruction of the black family. And his understanding of the Constitution is just what you'd expect. But I'll give him credit for having DeMint on the show.

Like Mark Steyn, Sen. DeMint sees the connection between economic and cultural degeneration. Hillyer quotes from the book:

[We have] weakened an American culture once renowned throughout the world for its spirit of independence, rugged individualism, strong work ethic, commitment to family, and moral dignity. For example, for decades the federal government has encouraged unwed births, a major cause of poverty, school dropouts, drug use, juvenile delinquency, and incarceration. Forty percent of American children, including 70 percent of African-Americans, are now born out of wedlock. Rather than encouraging independence and personal responsibility, our government continues to encourage irresponsible and destructive behavior while expanding welfare and entitlement programs that force millions of Americans into dependency on taxpayer-funded programs. Some politicians have suggested that social issues be set aside while we address our fiscal crisis, but this view belies the real root causes of the nation's reckless spending and crushing debt. Cultural pathologies caused by the unintended consequences of naïve social policies have contributed to many of America's economic and fiscal problems. The economic crisis was caused by too much government. The same is true of many of our social crises, where the solutions must also mean getting away from government interference and largesse.

But that's going to be a terribly difficult undertaking. As Steyn has written, "A government big enough to give you everything you want isn’t big enough to get you to give any of it back." That's where we are, and the tipping point is just around the corner. DeMint:

Nearly 20 percent of Americans are working for governments at one level or another; another 20 percent are largely dependent on Social Security and Medicare; and another 10 percent are on some means-tested welfare program and completely dependent on government for their daily bread -- and many of these groups are fairly well organized politically, so getting them to vote for less government is increasingly difficult.

Since the beginning of the endless series of Republican debates, Steyn has been urging the candidates to circumvent the moderators and talk about the imminent fiscal crisis. Last night on Hugh Hewitt's show:

HH: . . . Rick Perry was my guest on yesterday’s program. And I asked a question and got a response which I want your comment on, Mark Steyn. Here is the Governor of Texas.

HH: I must say, your patience with these moderators is admirable, Governor. I honestly do now know how you get through a David Gregory debate or George Stephanopoulos debate without laughing. What’s going on in your mind when you hear their loaded questions?

RP: Well, obviously this is all about reality TV, and frankly, making money for the networks. I mean, we’ve basically become pawns of the media from the standpoint of we’re not talking about the issues that are…in a minute reflection, frankly on some very, very idiotic questions. I mean, the idea about contraceptives that was asked the other night was just off the scale from the standpoint of being of any importance in this country. So it is was it is, and we’re going to continue on.

HH: Mark Steyn, I think you’re among the first to urge the Republicans not to say it is what it is, but in fact to push back and to refuse this game.

MS: Yes, I don’t think they should play along. And I don’t think there’s any risk to expressing your complete…it depends on tone and everything, but in expressing your complete contempt for the utter worthlessness of George Stephanopoulos. I don’t think there’s a political price to be paid for that. I think viewers would rather enjoy it if someone had said…when George Stephanopoulos was asking questions about contraception, you know, I would have, I think I said this somewhere. I think I would have said oh, I wish I had a federally subsidized condom in my pocket right now, because I’d roll it over your head, George. And that way, the rest of us could get on with talking about what matters to America. There is literally no point in taking this stuff seriously. This country is facing absolutely critical existential problems that will end its time as the dominant, global economy, and a global superpower. And the idea of spending a presidential debate talking about gay adoption or the Constitutionality of condoms is completely absurd.

HH: I think your advice is going to be reflected in the debates coming up next week. I really do. I think that we have crossed a Rubicon vis-à-vis the idiocy of the media when you get the Governor of Texas talking this way. So I also want to draw and get from you…

MS: But just one final thing on that, Hugh. I think even Rick Perry’s answer expressing frustration is wrong. Then it’s not about making profits for the networks. He’s wrong on all that. I mean, if it was, and they did it in a Dancing With The Stars format, so the six of them had to whirl Diane Sawyer around the floor and do the mambo and the Merengue with her, that would be one thing. But it’s not that. I mean, these guys are asking these questions because they want to make the Republicans looks like kooks and obsessives, whereas in fact, they’re the kooks and obsessives. And so Rick Perry isn’t actually even seeing the defects quite straight there.

HH: You know, you have just given me a wonderful inspiration, which is I think I’m going to lead a demand Mark Steyn be invited to Dancing With The Stars. Can you dance?

MS: (laughing) Don’t do that.

Maybe we could finally get some video to go with that Marshmallow World disco remix.

Click here for the rest of the interview.

***
The Daily Caller comes through with the audio: Mark Steyn for 'Dancing With The Stars'?

***

Most recent posts here. Twitter feed here. Amazon store here.