Most financial advisors will tell you that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to time markets. It’s hard to predict when the top (or bottom) is in. Human phenomena, social movements, economic ups and downs and political changes, even wars tend to run in cycles. To everything, “turn, turn, turn”. We usually see inflection points through the lens of history, in hindsight. And often we underestimate the tremendous amount of inertia involved.

As the progressive economist John Maynard Keynes once said, “Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent”. That’s another way of saying don’t try to predict when any particular phase, like market ups and downs, will end. However, I think we can apply that insight to governments and groups of people as well - that can stay irrational for much longer than we might hope or expect.

In 1841, Scottish journalist Charles Mackay published his most famous work, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. It had three parts, “National Delusions”, “Peculiar Follies” and “Philosophical Delusions”. If Mackay were alive today I wonder what he would think of “Reality” television.

All of that said, in my humble opinion, the irrationalities of progressivism are becoming more and more evident as time passes. Progressives say that they are proponents of democracy and justice. Bernie Sanders fans say that government needs to rein in the “big corporations”.

This week, June 23rd, the British people will be voting on what has been dubbed “Brexit”, for British Exit. They will be voting on a referendum to decide on whether or not to exit the European Union. In essence the British people will decide on whether or not to secede from the EU. No one has put it in those terms. The press has coined “cute” terms like “Brexit” and “Bremain” but the vote really is about secession and national sovereignty.

Earlier this month an article appeared in CounterPunch, a monthly magazine that according to Wikipedia “has been described as left-wing by both supporters and detractors”, with the headline “Will Anyone on the Left Stand Up for Brexit?” Good question. The author, Oliver Pawley asks another, “In an age where democracy is heavily curated by corporate power, is it not better to assume a disruptive islander mentality than a supine federalist one?” Pawley further questions why those on the left are on the same side as Goldman Sachs, J P Morgan and other large corporations that are campaigning against Brexit. Good questions all.

Nigel Farage, a conservative (described by Wikipedia as “right wing”) is a leader of the Brexit campaign and has served in the EU parliament which meets in Brussels Belgium. He has called the EU president “a quiet assassin of European democracy” and European nation-state sovereignty. According to him, “It’s a European Union of economic failure, of mass unemployment and of low growth”, asserting “We seek an amicable divorce from the European Union and its replacement with a genuine free-trade agreement, which is what my parents’ generation thought we’d signed up for in the first place.”

Closer to home, Pawley’s question could be modified thusly, “Will Anyone on the Left Stand Up for the Constitution”? The latest assault comes from none other than our own Senator Joe Manchin. Here’s the headline from Politico, “Manchin: Due process is ‘killing us right now’ in gun debate”. From the article, “The problem we have, and really the firewall we have right now is due process. It’s all due process,” Manchin said during a discussion on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. The Senator has apparently come a long way since airing TV ads showing him taking a rifle and allegedly putting bullet holes in Obamacare legislation.

Manchin’s comments came in the wake of the Orlando tragedy and are eerily similar to Hillary Clinton’s statement broadcast on television during a news conference with the presidential candidate. As reported by ABC news, Clinton suggested that “if the FBI is watching you” you shouldn’t be allowed to buy a gun “no questions asked”. Note to Clinton, there are those that have suggested that if the FBI is watching you, you shouldn’t be allowed to run for president either. Hillary Clinton is reportedly under investigation by the FBI. But I digress.

According to one report, it is estimated that there are some 700,000 people on various watch lists. No one knows for sure how many; and many of those, if not most, don’t even know that they are on a list. It is chilling to consider that being on one of those lists could result in being stripped of all constitutional protections. Further, it has been suggested that the “questions asked” of the prospective purchaser might tip them off that they are under scrutiny.

During her news conference Clinton stated, “We may have our disagreements about gun safety regulations, but we should all be able to agree on a few essential things.” Absolutely. We need to agree that the Constitution is the law of the land. The Fifth Amendment, that enshrines due process as an inalienable right; it protects us from politicians like Joe Manchin and Hillary Clinton. Attempts to circumvent the Bill of Rights are disgraceful. If you want to repeal an amendment, there is due process for that also.

Now I realize that there are those that see themselves as “conservative” that are guilty of similar offenses. That’s a subject for another day. For now, I’m getting tired of progressives giving lip service to democracy while working to undermine it - as well as national sovereignty and the rule of law.