Interview With Smitty From 'The Other McCain'

The great but under-heralded "Smitty" at the Other McCain is interviewed at American Glob, "American Glob Presents: An Interview With Smitty From 'The Other McCain'." Here's an excerpt, showcasing Smitty's inimitable combination of intellect and whimsy: 

I grew up a deeply independent Christian of the Baptist water. I don’t even consider myself Protestant, as I’ve never recognized any temporal religious authority against whic

h to protest. The Bible-as-written mentality plays directly into a Constitution-as-written mentality. I’ve never voted for a Democrat in my life. As an undergraduate, I studied Weapons and Systems Engineering.

It’s interesting that analysis of an engineering system, from a control standpoint, involves discovering where the state is kept. The same word, ’state’, which we use in a political context. Where are the gazinatas and gazoutas? Where does potential and kinetic energy store itself intenally? Given a transfer function that models something, what signals would be required to drive the system to a different operating point? To put the elevator on another floor of the building in a way that is quick, but does not have the passengers going ballistic. All useful feedback is negative: ” Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.–John 15:2

Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism was an eye-opener. Around that time, I wound up trying the Google Reader, picking up the Instpundit rather quickly, who also pointed out Pournelle’s Iron Law. The point about the Iron Law and the Gospel of John is the word purgeth. Fruitful branches achieve that state through purging. Bureaucracies achieve a state of Iron Law decadence through avoidance of purging.

One way to state the mission of real conservatism and the Tea Parties is to be the negative feedback loop that drives a desperately needed, Constitutional, peaceful purge.