THE GOVERNMENT DECLARED WAR ON AMERICANS

 

The government decides not to enforce immigration laws that those on the left don’t agree with. Citizens in border states are paying for emergency and public services for millions of illegal aliens and when state governments try to enforce the laws the federal justice department steps in with injunctions to stop them. Obamacare is costing most Americans huge increases in health insurance premiums while providing free benefits to illegal aliens and forcing citizens out of health plans that they like and away from their doctors. The huge iron fist of the IRS is being used to force health care providers who have religious affiliation to violate their faith and provide contraception and abortion services to employees. The Little Sisters of the Poor have been told that they will be fined millions of dollars out of the donations they have received to provide health care for the poor if they do not comply. The IRS is also at the center of a huge scandal involving suppression of right wing groups who wished to organize for political action. The head of the IRS division involved even asserted her fifth amendment right not to testify to Congress to prevent incriminating herself.

 People are rightly frightened of their government. The rule of law has been suspended in favor of social engineering and political expedience. Any citizen who speaks out in favor of requiring photo I.D. to vote is accused of racism. Notice that the requirement for photo I.D. is not proposed to apply to any specific race or group so it is hard to give credibility to the racism claim. In our republic the vote is our only control of the government and it is guaranteed to us by the Constitution. The people who refuse to allow the identity of voters to be verified are disenfranchising legitimate voters. The fact that those same people work in the U.S. Justice Department is a real life example of a “clear and present danger” to our republic. Think for a moment about the Justice Department’s blind eye turned on the voter intimidation by the New Black Panthers in Philadelphia and the similar case of intimidation and violence by the SEIU. Both of the cases above were caught on video tape and still ignored by the Attorney General.

The President declared openly during the last state of the union address that he would act unilaterally to circumvent the Congress and he received a standing ovation from the Democrats in Congress. He has in fact already acted beyond his constitutional authority over and over in regulatory actions and executive orders. For example; the Congress considered and rejected “cap and trade” legislation aimed at reducing our consumption of fossil fuels. The President has used the EPA to implement regulations effectively destroying the coal and gas industry. Presidents do not have the authority to write laws! They are prohibited from acting unilaterally by the constitution to prevent the office from turning into an imperial position. The president has caused the Justice Department to fail in its duty to the American people. Homeland Security spies on citizens with impunity, the IRS infringes on freedom of speech and the selective enforcement of ACA provisions are all examples in the headlines of our out of control government waging war on American citizens. We have a crisis in this country and it exists because statists in our government aided and abetted by the liberal press have set themselves up as a ruling class and will do or say anything to remain in power over us, their subjects. It is time for the American people to rise up and use our last option to drive the government back into the cage built for it as described in the constitution. We desperately need to force an article V convention in spite of the statists and reassert the rule of law in this country.

ARTICLE V, OUR LAST LINE OF DEFENSE AGAINST TYRANNY

 

Consider the wisdom and forethought of America’s founders. These men had just fought for and won their independence from England, written the single most important document securing self governance and set down humbly, the process for perfecting their work. Men with unbridled power in their hands chose not to impose their will on future generations but rather to recognize that there were inevitable imperfections not yet knowable in their Constitution. The fifth article of the Constitution sets down two processes for amending the Constitution once experience demonstrates an imperfection. If the Constitution proves too limiting in the power and authority granted to the Federal Government, the Congress through a vote of two thirds majority of both houses can propose amendments to the Constitution for consideration by the states. If the Constitution proves, through experience, to grant too much authority to the Federal Government or that the Federal Government gathers too much power unto itself, ARTICLE V gives the states an amendment process independent of the Federal Government.

Samuel Jones explained the plan to the New York legislature: “The reason why there are two modes of obtaining amendments prescribed by the constitution I suppose would be this-it could not be known to the framers of the constitution, whether there was too much power given by it or too little; they therefore prescribed a mode by which Congress might procure more, if in the operation of the government it was found necessary; and they prescribed for the states a mode of restraining the powers of the government, if upon trial it should be found that they had given too much. 

It is of paramount importance to this discussion to take note of one fact: neither the federal Congress nor an article V convention of the states has the authority to change the U.S. Constitution! Either mode of proposing amendments require ratification by ¾ of the states before any amendment becomes law.

Alarmists have frequently raised the concern that an article V convention, once initiated, could open a Pandora’s box, whereby we could lose all of our constitutional protections. The framers dealt with the possibility that some future convention could undo the safe guards built into the constitution. During the proceedings of the original constitutional convention the delegates limited the article V convention to one that would merely propose amendments. A delegate named Elbridge Gerry proposed language replacing the plenipotentiary convention language with the language authorizing only a convention for the purpose of proposing and not enacting amendments. State legislatures have the right to petition the federal Congress to call an article V convention without first being subject to veto by their states governor. It is also true that the state legislatures have the right to restrict the subject matter that the convention may address. The federal Congress is prohibited from interfering in the article V process just as is the President. The framers recognized that the Congress and President could not be relied upon to limit their own authority even if experience proved it was necessary.

The definitive work outlining the process, legal authority and limitations of an article V convention was written by Robert G. Natelson, a senior fellow of the Independence Institute, in three articles published by the institute in December 2010, July 2011 and May 2012.

Every federal legislator and the President take an oath to faithfully uphold the Constitution. The limitations placed on the Federal Governments authority and power over citizens and states is strictly defined by the Constitution. Agents of the federal government who violate their oaths are criminals and must be treated as such. The Federal courts have been loaded with judges sympathetic to congressional and presidential overreach to such an extent that the framers built in safe guards to our liberties are mostly impotent now in protecting us. The “commerce clause” and the “general welfare clause” have been used to subjugate both states and citizens alike to the tyranny of our federal government.

49 of the 50 states have petitioned the U.S. Congress to call for an article V convention and the congress has not done their sworn duty and called for one.

                             PORK BARREL FARM BILL 2014

 

The debate in Congress over the 2014 version of the farm bill is now history. The bill has passed and been signed by the President into law. The $8 billion dollar cut to the “food stamp” portion of the bill is being decried by Democrats as the worst kind of Republican indifference to the plight of the poor. Republicans meanwhile are telling every available microphone about the serious reforms built into the House bill that have been stripped away by the Senate in conference committee meetings.

I think that the time is right to look at what the bill actually does. The Democrats are upset that the $266 billion dollar increase in SNAP (food stamp) projected benefits was reduced to an increase of only $258 billion dollars. Yes the $8 billion dollar “cut” in food stamp benefits is a Washington D.C. cut that is in fact a 37% increase. Virtually every tightening of the qualifications for food stamp benefits included in the House version of the bill was stripped out in conference without any real objections being raised. House members can point at their attempts to reform the law without suffering any public backlash. The House version included eliminating the “broad based categorical” qualification back door for participants but it was gone in the final version. I include an excerpt from one of my earlier posts:

“Means-tested welfare is the fastest growing component of the federal budget. Note that means-tested excludes Social Security, Medicare and Unemployment Insurance. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is second fastest growing part of the means-tested welfare. The idea of means-testing a person prior to granting benefits is meant to prohibit fraudulent claims and to withdraw benefits once a person is again able to take care of themselves. This notion of means-testing is why most states administer their food stamp (SNAP) programs in the same departments that administer the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program. For purposes of our discussion I would like to call particular attention to the word temporary in the acronym. These programs are intended to help individuals and families temporarily and then sunset the benefits once they get back on their feet. The problem with the whole concept is that virtually no ongoing means-testing occurs and that Welfare benefits including (SNAP) now exceed minimum wages for a full time job in 33 states. 13 states already pay benefits in excess of the proposed new minimum wage of $15/hour. The pre-tax welfare “salary” in some states exceeds $60,000/year. In 2000 the Clinton administration changed the eligibility rules to include “broad based categorical eligibility”. To understand the shift you must first understand that most people can qualify in one way or another under categorical eligibility rules for non-cash aid. The new broad based categorical eligibility allowed states to grant cash benefits like food stamps to anyone that qualified for non-cash benefits. This almost complete lack of real means-testing initially and no follow-up means-testing combine to grow the program and eliminates any sun-setting of benefits.”

The House bill included provisions for requiring work for benefits, drug testing and combined household income thresholds. These reforms were all eliminated from the bill before it went to the President for signature. The farm bill included only 18% of its content and expenditure for farm related issues. Why then do we not call it a welfare bill with some farm allocation? The answer is obvious to see, the bill is more palatable to the public when the legislature calls it the “farm bill”.

The 2014 version of the farm bill will still include price support for sugar and milk along with subsidies for rice, wheat, corn, soybeans and cotton among others. We, the taxpayers, will be paying 62% of the crop insurance premiums for farmers and a full 1/3 of the subsidies will be paid out to the wealthiest 4% of the farmers. The majority of the bill, that is farm related, is pork-barrel spending headed back into congressional districts as usual. One provision included by the House that never had any chance of seeing final inclusion was the transparency clause. This little inclusion would have made congress members make public exactly how much they themselves were getting and how much their family members were getting of the payouts.

The double edged sword of corporate welfare and higher food prices cut the taxpayer on both edges. For example, we have the highest sugar prices in the world and have driven sugar industry jobs offshore while maintaining import restrictions. I personally support the farmers in this country but this perversion of the farm bill is yet another example of the government destroying a free market with regulations and buying votes with tax dollars.

 

LIBERALS WERE FOR JOBS BEFORE THEY WERE AGAINST THEM

 

The CBO report covering the impact of Obamacare on the economy delivered twin torpedoes at the waterline of the President’s signature legislative achievement. It appeared at first glance that the specter of losing 2.3 million jobs and providing significant disincentives to both employers and workers in hiring would be a bad thing. I realize that it sounds silly now, but I thought the objective of the stimulus bill and the Presidents “laser like focus on jobs” was to create jobs. Now that the administration has clarified that the objective is in fact the elimination of “job lock” I begin to understand why they are not concerned about the historically low job market participation rate. The goal of the administrations programs all along has been to provide people with more free time to pursue more fulfilling jobs and family time. This also shows us that the problem for five years has been one of ineffective messaging just like the President said. We misunderstood him to mean that he was for employment and job growth when he was in fact against both.

It all makes sense in light of the multiple job killing programs such as endless unemployment compensation and vast new piles of regulations and taxes on business. Perhaps it would have caused far less concern among citizens if the President had used his numerous speaking opportunities to explain the concept and the crisis that “job lock” (being trapped in a job) really is to the employed. Who can dispute the value of trading full time employment for part time work if you get some quality family time out of the deal? A paycheck to cover the necessities can be easily replaced by government assistance but you can’t put a price on tucking the kids in at night. Welfare benefits after all pay better than minimum wage in 33 states. Having a job is clearly over-rated, we have a perfect example, in the President himself, that one can rise to the very top in this country without ever holding a job. When you think about it, it is a sad commentary about our country that 63% of the working age people are working instead of having the opportunities offered by unemployment.

One could view it differently though. A person might just want to consider that the new liberal talking points about the evils of “job lock” are nothing more than a lame attempt to distract us from the utter failure of the President’s economic policies. 93 million Americans who could work do not have jobs. Over twenty million Americans who want jobs can’t find them Mr. President, Senator Schumer, Senator Reid etc. If we don’t even count the underemployed, the employment picture in this country is grim and you want us to celebrate our new found freedom from the perils of “job lock”. I am a small business owner and I make payroll for my employees. I am pretty sure none of them agree with the load of crap you’re shoveling.

It would be a good idea I think for the administration to try something different. That’s what smart people do when a plan isn’t working. How about lowering business taxes and cutting the regulatory red tape for a change. Then we could stop using the EPA to attack the power generating and coal producing companies. The administration might even want to propose balancing the federal budget or reforming the unsustainable entitlement programs. It seems like there would be more pressing things to work on than immigration reform and income inequality. The President could try using that famous pen of his to veto some of the pork filled bills coming out of Congress instead of writing executive orders and filling out golf scorecards.

We need a change of direction in this country. National polls show that 90% of Americans feel that the country is moving in the wrong direction.

P.S.  The people of New York might want to think about their add slogan which claims “New York is open for business”. Your elected officials tell conservatives that they are not welcome. We conservatives are the ones that own most businesses!

                    GOVERNMENTS ACCUMULATE POWER

 

Governments are populated by people and as such they are susceptible to human imperfections. The framers of our Constitution understood that the natural tendency of governments is to accumulate power by taking it away from citizens. The Constitution was written so as to limit the power of the federal government to a specific and well defined set of authorities. EVERY OTHER AUTHORITY NOT GRANTED TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WAS PROHIBITED FROM IT BY THE CONSTITUTION. The framers also guaranteed to the people the right to be armed for protection against any tyrannical actions of the government. Place yourself for a moment in their circumstances. They had just fought a war, successfully, against a far more powerful government to secure their freedom. They knew all too well the impotence of an unarmed citizenry against an organized and well armed military. The Constitution forbids the use of the U.S. armed forces against American citizens for this very reason. History has been kind to President Lincoln in light of his success in preserving the Union. I contend that he violated the Constitution when he used the army to kill American citizens. The fact that he was able to do so, set a precedent that is very troubling given the way our government is granting unconstitutional power to the executive branch and in effect to the hands of one man.

Each time the President tells the Congress or the American people that he will act unilaterally, if Congress does not, to correct some injustice, the foundation of our government crumbles a bit more. I wonder about what it was that the President meant during his first campaign for the office when he said that we should have a civil defense force equal to and as well armed as the military to maintain civil order. He is familiar with the Constitution, was that a proposal of a way around the law of the land. Why, I ask, does the Department of Homeland Security need over a billion rounds of soft nose ammunition that can’t even be used in a war according to the Geneva convention.

The Congress considered the Cap and Trade legislation and decided not to offer it to the President for signing into law. They have the legal right, authority and constitutional mandate to do that. Keeping in mind that both chambers of the legislature were controlled by the Presidents own political party at the time, it is almost unfathomable why the Congress today is standing idly by as the White House enacts the law by fiat using the regulatory power of the EPA. CO2 greenhouse gas pollution hysteria is just a Trojan Horse carrying the seeds of our country’s downfall. The lie about man caused global warming has been used so often that many people believe the lie even when the facts totally contradict it. It is worth restating that CO2 is only constitutes 3.62% of the earth’s greenhouse gases and that over our entire history mankind has only produced 3.2% of the CO2. In short only one tenth of one percent (0.01) of all greenhouse gas is our fault and eliminating all of our fossil fuel burning will have virtually no effect. The object is to control the production of electrical power.

Laws and or executive orders now give the occupant of the oval office the legal right to declare a state of emergency and unilaterally take control over all healthcare, transportation, fuel stocks, food and industrial production, financial institutions, the press, the internet and the military. I do not contend that the current President intends to use this authority but I do believe that it is foolish to vest so much unconstitutional authority in the hands of any one man, lest we someday find ourselves in the control of a dictator.

Congress still has the power of the purse even if it has lacked the will to exercise it. It is time to reassert the checks and balances built into our representative republic and force our government to live within the law through our representatives.

         WHY THE PEOPLE AREN’T LISTENING MR. PRESIDENT

 

For reasons that are hard to understand and even harder to explain the American people forgive candidates who lie to get elected. It is common to hear a pundit dismiss an elected official’s statement made while campaigning as mere electioneering. Amazing isn’t it that we allow candidates to lie to us when we are trying to determine the best choice between people to wield government authority. Why would we then shift our expectations and assume that our elected officials will tell us the truth? I have no answer, just the observation that each succeeding election cycle seems to lower the bar for what passes for acceptable.

The standard does change for most Americans once the candidate takes the oath of office. We expect people in elected office to run the country’s government within the law and to be honest with us. President Nixon learned the consequences of lying to the American people about the Watergate hotel break-in. President Obama is learning that we will not accept lies from the occupant of the oval office. He has behaved as if the Alinsky motto of, “the end justifies the means”, gives him the right to not only lie to us but also govern beyond his Constitutional authority.

Each time the administration has claimed not to have had prior knowledge about illegal acts done by people under the control of the executive branch, trust is eroded. The administration looked at best inept when we learned that Justice Department personnel lost track of guns run into Mexico on some kind of sting operation. Denials of upper level planning at both Justice and State Departments started to have a false ring to them as the “rogue” individuals involved started to testify to the orders they had received. Gun shop owners were initially blamed by the ATF for selling the guns illegally until we learned they were instructed to do so by the ATF. The full impact of the scandal didn’t have time to sink in before others followed. Campaign fund bundlers kept popping up as nominees for federal office, and there was Solyndra’s demise just as another bundler for Obama caused MF Global to implode. The attorney who blocked all legal challenges to Obama’s eligibility for office moved to the head of the line for a Supreme Court nomination without any judicial experience. Justice Department personnel got exposed for wire tapping AP reporters in their homes and the media kept almost silent on the whole stinking mess. How about NSA spying on citizens and the Bengazi cover-up? Testimony about targeting of conservative and TEA Party groups by the IRS is just full of contradictions and even gave us top officials invoking, their fifth amendment, rights to avoid self incrimination. The President’s reelection campaign profited from these illegal acts. They knew nothing about any of them?

The stench growing around the administration has gotten so bad that the Presidents job approval rating and personal trustworthiness pole numbers are racing each other down hill. Most Americans now say that they don’t believe the President when he speaks. The most damning of all for the President are his oft repeated lies used to sell Obamacare to the county. “If you like your healthcare plan you can keep it, period.” And “If you like your doctor you can keep him, period.” The twin utterly false claims were used to calm Americans fears about the effects of the new law as conservative lawmakers and pundits took to the airwaves to warn us. Americans are finding out the hard way that the President lied and that we are all going to pay the price for believing him on healthcare.

The Attorney General and NSA chief lied to Congress with no repercussions. Hillary ducked testifying on Bengazi using questionable health issues until she thought enough time had passed and we would accept her, “at this point what difference does it make”, defense. It makes a difference! Americans forgive for a while but the administration has been caught in so many lies that nothing they say is now believable.

The people are not listening Mr. President because they don’t believe what you say. It isn’t because you’re half black or because FOX NEWS is saying bad things about you. Rush and the rest of the conservative talk show world keep turning out to be right. You said on the floor of the Senate once that even debating the raising of the debt ceiling was evidence of a failure of leadership. Now you tell us that not raising the debt ceiling is dangerous and irresponsible. One is left to wonder if you were being truthful the first time or now. They cannot both be true.

            THERE’S NOT ENOUGH FREE STUFF TO GO AROUND

 

First December and now January’s jobs reports point to a disappointing, or nonexistent, recovery. Is anyone surprised by this? The news media is acting as if this is completely unexpected. The government continued issuing mountains of regulations hurting our free market economy until the whole thing collapsed in the sub-prime mortgage debacle of 2008. Right now we are piling on EPA regulations and 800,000 pages of new federal government red tape hurting jobs, following it with Dodd-Frank to regulate and punish the lending industry for doing what federal regulators required of them. The stimulus that turned out to not stimulate anything as it lined the pockets of campaign contributors. Endless extensions of unemployment benefits and a new healthcare law that provides significant disincentives to employment according to the CBO got added to the mess. What part of this is so hard to understand? The government is advertizing for people to sign up for food stamps and congratulating themselves for the 40% increase in the number of families that are dependent on the program. Today’s figures released by the department of labor show that 1.8 million fewer people are working than when the President took office.

I get it, I understand that most people on government subsidies vote for democrats to try and maintain the flow of free stuff but even democrats must realize the free stuff can’t go on forever. The country and I mean the whole society must put the negative stigma back into taking government handouts. Temporary assistance programs must be maintained as social safety nets without creating a permanent dependent class of citizens. Every program created to provide temporary assistance must have benefits that sunset over time to encourage people to find work. We should start recognizing people for their success who move into the work force from such programs and not celebrate endlessly growing welfare programs.

The disincentives to employment should be hunted down and eliminated. The war on poverty was kicked off with the slogan: “a hand up not a hand out”. The stated goal of the program was the elimination of dependency in America. We are losing the war! It is time to change tactics and realize the war cannot be won by giving people free stuff that is first taken from other citizens that earned it. Don’t jump up and condemn me as heartless or any of that B.S., I make payroll every other week for good hard working employees. We are trying to hire at our company and find the road blocks almost impossible to overcome. Many people interview with no intension of accepting a job until their unemployment benefits run out while at the same time the specter of Obama-care hangs over us with its unknown costs.  Our products must somehow reach the market through a growing obstacle course of regulations, fees and taxes without becoming so expensive that customers choose foreign low cost alternatives.

If the leaders of this country on both sides of the isle don’t grow up and stop the federal leviathan the free stuff will stop flowing and they will have a revolution on their hands. The people are speaking out and calling for relief from our own government. Sadly our elected officials have become so insulated from main street they no longer seem capable of hearing us. 

      ABUSE OF AUTHORITY AND DISREGUARD FOR THE LAW

 

I remember the feeling of outrage and complete frustration I had one day when a small town police officer gave me a $300 speeding ticket. My work crew and I had just left a job site and were not exceeding the speed limit. I objected to the officer’s contention that I had violated the law and was told my court date would be one week later with the local justice of the peace. The bail was $300 cash and had to be remitted on the spot as I was “not from around there” and a flight risk.

It was easy to see that we could not get justice in that small town and it is easy to see that the same kind of abuse of power is being practiced on a much larger scale in the Department of Justice today. I usually begin looking into who profits from events when trying to understand our government’s actions. For instance: I wondered why a little known attorney, with no experience as a judge, working in the justice department got nominated to the Supreme Court by President Obama. Turns out she just happened to be, by coincidence, the attorney that had blocked all challenges to Senator Obama’s eligibility to hold the office of President. We learned last week that the Justice Department attorney tasked with running the investigation into the IRS targeting scandal has concluded that there was no criminal wrongdoing. The attorney assigned to run probe of the executive branch works in the executive branch and finds no evidence of wrongdoing in the executive branch. We all knew the conclusion she would reach before she started! One other pertinent piece of information that has come out is that, Barbara Bosserman, the head of the probe contributed to both the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee. She is clearly a person with a significant conflict of interest and as such inappropriate for the position. In addition to the conflict of interest Ms. Bosserman reached her conclusion without contacting the victims of the IRS targeting or their attorneys. Remember the head of the IRS department guilty of the targeting admitted the department had acted inappropriately and when asked to appear before the House oversight committee she used her, fifth amendment, right to avoid incriminating herself. Who profited when conservative groups were delayed until after the election from organizing to raise money for campaigns? The answer is the same administration that investigated itself and concluded there was no criminal wrongdoing. It is also the same administration that investigated the Fast and Furious gun running operation while vowing to get to the bottom of the mess. People, including border patrol agent Brian Terry died as a result of the illegal operation and no one has been held accountable. The only names that surfaced during the “investigation” belonged to people who got promoted. The investigation was a sham and the Attorney General lied to cover it up before Congress. The President said his administration would not stop until we punished those responsible for the deaths of four Americans in Bengazi. Nothing has been done and the whitewashing of Mrs. Clinton goes on to this day.

Vast amounts of taxpayer money go to companies that donated to the Presidents campaigns and the press, look the other way. Justice won’t investigate so there is no story? SEIU and New Black Panthers are caught on video tape intimidating voters at poling places and the Justice Department finds no reason to prosecute.

The executive branch wields the biggest stick in the world and this administration has chosen time and again to bring the power of the government down on the heads of American citizens. They operate in an extra-constitutional manner circumventing Congress and without help from Congress or the Justice department the American people are helpless. The only time the press even took notice is when James Rosen was targeted by the Justice Department. Except for the Eric Holder being held in contempt of Congress, for which he is investigating himself, nothing happened. When there are no consequences for wrongdoing there will be more wrongdoing.

We do not need to have a smoking gun, we have dead Americans and citizens denied Constitutional rights. The circumstantial evidence leaves a broad and well worn path to the executive branch. It is way past the time for appointment of an independent prosecutor. Remember to ask yourself who profited from the long list of lawless actions.

WHY I DIDN’T DONATE TO THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE

 

I admit to donating to the Republican Party in the past when they would call and play an appeal prerecorded by some conservative aimed at my wallet. I have, more often, donated to individual candidate’s campaign funds when I felt that they held principled beliefs close to my own. I received four calls in the last week decrying the deplorable condition of the nation and urging me to give generously so that the Republicans could keep up the fight and win even more seats and therefore control in Congress.

I have chosen to deliver a message to the Republican Party in each call and it goes something like this: First I ask if John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are still running things? Once they answer in the affirmative, I politely tell them to call back when there are conservative leaders in place who will use the power we have vested in them to fight the tyranny coming from the oval office. Next I let the caller know that I have already donated to conservative primary challengers of the worthless Republican leadership. Invariably the callers ask if $300 is too much I would be more comfortable with some smaller donation amount. It is usually about this point in the conversation that I get upset and deliver a pointed message to get through to the caller.

I know that there are good principled conservatives in the Republican Party and I also know it is unfair to lump them all together. I choose to send direct contributions to congressional members as I can, based on their demonstrated voting record. I read an article on Free Republic the other day that claimed Karl Rove’s super pack had seen donation levels fall 98% after he publicly attacked the TEA Party. If true I believe the Republican Party had better wise up, the TEA Party is conservative America, not the demonized radical fringe it is depicted to be by the liberals. We conservatives have been quietly going about our business living our lives and doing our jobs for so long that neither political party knows how to react when we get motivated and speak out. The Republicans were quick to take credit for the 2010 election gains on their side of the isle. They never seemed to understand that the conservative voters who handed them those victories expected results, not ”bipartisanship”. Washington D.C. is populated by legislators selling influence and special interest lobbyists buying influence. The taxpayers have had enough and we are going to break up that cesspool and throw the creatures that live there out in the cold with the rest of us.

Thomas Jefferson said: “The Democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” Interesting that he chose the word Democracy when he knew very well the United States is a representative republic. The part of our government that was and is democratic, the direct election of our representatives, was where he saw the possibility of trouble. He understood that elected officials who tax working people for the benefit of those capable but unwilling to work could buy votes.

The House of Representatives controls the nation’s purse strings. John Boehner claims that a fight to freeze the debt limit is “unwinnable”. He needs to read the Constitution! All spending must originate in the chamber we gave him control of. If the House balances the budget and refuses to deficit spend the debt is frozen. The fact that he lacks the political will to do as the majority of Americans wish is why we are going to replace him.

  

COMMON CORE, THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL FEDERAL GAMBIT

 

There can be no clearer sign that it is time to kick the federal government back inside the confines of its authority specified in the Constitution than the monstrosity called Common Core. The federal government colluded with the National Governors Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers and the NEA union to adopt the Common Core standards and curriculum while excluding parents from their meetings. Americans are demanding and getting local control of their schools back as legislators bow to voters furious about the liberal indoctrination of students and lower standards. Nine states have already dropped the Common Core program due to voter pushback with another eight leaning toward the same choice. The federal government claims that it is not requiring adoption of the standards while at the same time using it in part to determine the qualification of districts for federal education grants. There is a legal argument against the Common Core program however most of the pushback centers around parents taking issue with the curriculum and the standards that they feel are lower than current expectations. First we will consider the legal implications.

The enumerated powers of Congress found in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution do not include education as one of the powers given to the federal government. The 10^th amendment then clearly states that, “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. The Department of Education itself is an unconstitutional construct of the federal government!

The Congress passed the General Education Provisions Act in 1994, (public law 103-382) which states: No provision of any applicable program shall be construed to authorize any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any education institution, school or school system, or over the selection of library resources, textbooks, or other printed instructional materials by any educational institution or school system or to require the assignment or transportation of students or teachers in order to overcome racial imbalance. Common Core is a thinly veiled attempt to assert federal control over local education and hinder the growth of private schools, charter schools and home schooling.

One commonly heard myth about school vouchers is that it will hurt public schools by taking away the best students. Studies in the States of Florida, Ohio, Texas, Maine, Vermont and the District of Columbia have shown conclusively that competition from private and charter schools has forced public schools to elevate the performance of their programs. The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice has a report online, at edchoice.org, I recommend.

Paul Reville, who is a proponent of Common Core, spoke during a conference at the liberal think tank “Center for American Progress” stating that Common Core critics are a “tiny minority” and that “the children belong to all of us”. He went on to say: “again, the argument about where it (common core) came from privileges certain sort of fringe voices about federalism, and States rights, and things of that nature.” He told this to CNS News.

It has proven easier to dismiss the Constitutional limitations and the voters as a tiny minority of fringe voices in front of liberal audiences, than it has out in public once the details of the program got out. Common Core learning materials are supplied by only two companies. There is no opportunity for local input or control over these materials and the standards are an effort by the same teachers and school administrations that are failing our students today to control alternative educational institutions from raising the bar.

Why would we expect the Union NEA members, who resist any and all attempts to institute merit pay for teachers and use lawsuits to prevent dismissal of poor teachers, to accept charter schools and higher standards without a fight.

I just read a blog post at http://whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com/2013/09/07/top-ten-professors-calling-out-common-cores-so-called-college-readiness/ where ten top college educators question the standards of Common Core in Literature and Mathematics. Two in particular caught my eye.

Dr Christopher Tienken of Seaton Hall University wrote: “Education reform in the United States is being driven largely by ideology, rhetoric, and dogma instead of evidence… Where is the evidence of the efficacy of the standards? ... Let us be very frank: The CCSS are no improvement over the current set of state standards. The CCSS are simply another set of lists of performance objectives.” The CCSS stands for Common Core state standards.

Dr. Bill Evers of the Hoover Institute at Stanford University said among other things: “But states weren’t leaping because they couldn’t resist the Core’s academic magnetism. They were leaping because it was the great recession-and the Obama administration was dangling a $4.35 billion Race to the Top carrot in front of them. Big points in that federal program were awarded for adopting the Core, so, with little debate, most did.”

Common Core is not a set of higher academic standards as it was sold to us as being. Common Core is being spread through America’s education system by proponents of centralized government using coercion and lies. 

                  WE DON’T NEED NO “STINKIN” DEBT LIMIT

 

Every few months we are treated to the theater of The White House and Congressional Democrats demanding that the House raise the nation’s debt limit without any restrictions. Failure to do so, will, in their opinion cause a calamity of federal default and raise the specter of other nations questioning “the full faith and credit” of America. Never mind the fact that the continuous stream of tax payments flowing into the IRS easily cover the debt service and most of the ongoing government expenses putting the lie to their public statements. Never mind what Senator Obama said on the floor of the Senate in 2006: “The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Governments reckless fiscal policies… Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that “the buck stops here.” Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.” Never mind what Thomas Jefferson said on the subject of public debt in a letter to John W. Eppes on June 24, 1813: “It is a wise rule, and should be fundamental in a government disposed to cherish its credit, and at the same time restrain the use of it within the limits of its faculties, “never to borrow a dollar without laying a tax in the same instant for paying the interest annually, and the principle within a given term; and to consider that the tax is pledged to the creditors on the public faith.” On such a pledge as this sacredly observed, a government may always command, on a reasonable interest, all the lendable money of their citizens, while the necessity of an equivalent tax is a salutary warning to them and their constituents against oppressions, bankruptcy, and its inevitable consequence, revolution. But the term of redemption must be moderate, and, at any rate, within the limits of their rightful powers. But what limits, it will be asked, does this prescribe to their powers? What is to hinder them from creating a perpetual debt? The laws of nature, I answer. The earth belongs to the living, not to the dead. The will and power of man expire with his life, by nature’s law…”

Jefferson goes on to say in his letter that 19 years is a reasonable time to retire debt as it works to hinder one generation from laying burdens of debt upon the next. The main thrust of his argument is that the penalty of a tax to retire a public debt must be self imposed to restrain us from its overuse.

The speech that then Senator Obama gave in 2006 predates the accumulation of almost half of our current national debt. I say that he was correct in 2006 to say that deficit spending is a sign of failed leadership and that it still is today. When a member of the administration steps up to a microphone and proclaims that “air traffic controllers will be furloughed without an increase in the debt ceiling” he is either mistaken or lying. The airline industry and private pilots voluntarily inflicted a fuel tax on themselves though Congress years ago to pay for ATC and new air traffic facilities. Congress stole the fund generated by the tax some years ago and the Supreme Court made them put it back. Social security benefits are threatened and said to be in peril, but how can this be when they are a true entitlement and prepaid for by the beneficiaries. Veteran’s benefits, police and fire protection and every other scare tactic follow in quick succession as stage props to get votes to lean on Congress for more blank checks.

Every single responsible adult knows that deficit spending will lead to bankruptcy eventually. Margret Thatcher said in her famous quote: “eventually you run out of other people’s money”. The argument used to be that our debt to GDP ratio was not getting worse so people pushing for balanced budgets are just “being alarmists”. The recession has hurt the Growth of GDP so the argument is no longer used by its proponents. When Nancy Pelosi claims that we “don’t have a spending problem, we have a revenue problem,” she is shifting the blame onto the tax payers for not keeping up with the governments $6.2 million dollar a minute spending addiction. Yes, Nancy, we are not keeping up with your reckless spending. The high tax, regulation littered business environment that your liberal policies have inflicted on America has too few of us working. We don’t all have the special tax exemptions you conveniently arrange for your husband and relative’s businesses.

If a candidate does not swear to vote for balanced budgets and regulatory relief for business don’t vote for them. The press and special interest groups will make a big case for unlimited debt because they don’t want their free money to stop flowing. Don’t believe the hype!

                     THE ROOTS OF MY POLITICAL PASSION

 

In 1983 I worked as an engineer for a major Northwest timber company. The plant where I worked was in a company owned town. The down turn in the housing industry coupled with the environmentalist driven war on logging closed our plant. The listing of an owl on the endangered species list crushed an industry, before the predation of the owl by another invasive owl species became recognized as the culprit. My last responsibility was to conduct exit interviews with 125 employees to notify them of their termination and options. Many of the senior men also lived in company housing so they were losing both job and home. My own name was the last on my list for termination. Out of work I joined some others in my field to start a small manufacturing company. For 27 years we slowly grew the firm until we were making payroll for 107 employees and building machinery for a worldwide market. In 2008 the economic collapse and bursting of the housing bubble decimated our little company. We were forced to lay off 101 of our employees including ourselves in ownership. The remaining employees took voluntary pay and benefit cuts to help save the business. The following two years of economic chaos ruined or at least downsized most of our former customer base.

I have never been politically active beyond voting. Seeking to try to understand the predicament that the country was in I started studying contemporary and historical literature on the different concepts of government. I read President Obama’s books and everything from Mao’s little red book and the Communist Manifesto to Thomas Jefferson’s writings on the republican form of government. My views crystallized into those of an unapologetic free market conservative. I believed by the end of 2011 as I do today that the way back for America is for free market capitalists to get back in the fight and develop innovative products with market demand. The economic growth from business growth will supply the jobs we need as no government stimulus ever could.

I hear all of the political hacks with a pen or microphone droning on about how they will use tax dollars to fix the economy and make jobs. I can show any number of “Solyndra” type failures to illustrate why capital should never be government directed. Every businessman, unlike our politicians, knows that if he has the capital he will invest it to grow his business. Our American businesses fight every day to compete in the free markets around the world against untaxed and virtually unregulated offshore manufacturers. Taxes and the cost of complying with taxes and regulations put a very heavy hand on the scales tipping the market in the favor of foreign competition. Last year alone our government inflicted thousands of new regulations on American business hurting our ability to compete and grow new jobs.

Near the end of 2011 my business associates pooled our remaining capital and developed products aimed at food production and oil exploration. We have always been a manufacturer of custom designed machinery so the pivot was not as imposing a task for us as it might have been for others. I am proud to say that we have been successful in both markets and have been able to rehire about half of our work force. We made the turnaround without government aid using our own money and effort. Sadly the largest challenges we have faced have been caused by federal, state and local government. Permits for building on to our facility and manufacturing tractors with diesel engines have been hard to come by. We have, as a company, always provided health insurance for our employees until the downturn. The process of growing the workforce is stalled by the 50 person limit imposed by the Affordable Care Act. It is not possible to grow the business if we are forced to pay over twice as much for each employee’s health coverage as we were paying before the down turn. I am incredibly frustrated by actions of our own government working against the very job creation they bloviate about supporting. As a business man and engineer I can evaluate a market for product opportunities, design innovative products with market demand and capitalize the venture but I cannot win against oppressive government.

The jobs we need to have a real recovery are available America, but you, the voters, are going to need to help get the regulation nightmare under control and the tax man’s thieving hand out of the till.

                           A TYRANT BY ANY OTHER NAME

 

The tyrants of the world always seek to cloak themselves in a fairy tale of respectability. When a third world dictator stages a mock election suppressing the process of a democratic election we in America question the outcome but rarely intervene. We scoff at the huge plurality of votes they claim to have won by or the validation that the “election” gives their absolute authority. We as Americans are secure in our belief that our electoral process could never be subverted enough to actually elect a candidate that fails to win the majority of the votes. It is common in third world politics to hear of voter and candidate intimidation. We know that phantom vote tallies and candidate intimidation are simply not possible here. What if our confidence is misplaced?

There are a significant number of voters from Broward Co. Florida who vehemently claim that the Presidential election of 2000 was stolen in their county. History shows that a few years earlier the election of President John Kennedy hinged on the smallest of margins, tipped in the Democrats favor by a fortunate voter turnout in the Chicago area where some precincts exceeded 100%. There were allegations of fraud but Nixon chose not to contest the election.

In 2008 with no incumbent running and popular opinion running in favor of Hillary Clinton a relatively unknown candidate with no experience and no legislative record of accomplishment ran on a platform without substance. Here was a candidate proclaiming hope and change and little else. Senator Obama rode a strange combination of reverse discrimination and anti-Bush rhetoric to the Oval office. None of the bare knuckle politics that had dominated his state senate victory in Illinois where all four of his challengers got disqualified before the election seemed to show up. In the Senators successful bid to serve in the U.S. Senate the strange and illegal public disclosure of Obama’s Republican opponent Jack Ryan’s sealed divorce proceedings forced him to withdraw just before the election. Mr. Obama seemed to be enjoying a lot of fortunate coincidences. In 2012 however the political winds appeared to be against his reelection as high unemployment and the wars dragged on. Gitmo was still open and his signature healthcare law was not popular. A grass roots wave of conservative momentum loosely called the TEA PARTY had flipped the House of Representatives over to Republican control in the midterm elections and appeared to constitute a formidable opposition force on the ground. Enter third world electioneering as the IRS systematically thwarted the TEA PARTY’S attempts to organize. The election was long over before IRS personnel in charge of the malfeasance started taking their “fifth amendment” rights before a House oversight committee. A new and even more formidable challenge surfaced. A black conservative with experience and a well articulated plan, a candidate with a successful business background and no political baggage. Herman Cain was the perfect storm forming up to derail the reelection hopes of the President. The left leaning news media were having a field day discrediting the usual crop of moderate Republican retreaded candidates. They had to work a little harder to ridicule the conservative woman in the race while not appearing to wage a war on women. The black conservative however was real trouble, he could not be openly challenged any more than the President could without opening oneself up to charges of racism. Chicago politics swung into action and a former employee who just happened to live in the same building as the Presidents campaign manager admitted receiving money from Herman Cain. Rumors surfaced of corporate payoffs to suppress publicity over Mr. Cain’s sexual harassment and the media inferred that the money paid to Ginger White was evidence of her allegation of a decade long affair. In the center of a media storm Mr. Cain withdrew from the race. After the damage was done Miss White admitted that there was never a sexual relationship between her and Mr. Cain and that his checks had been sent to help her when she was in need of money. She said that her use of the term “affair” was just an unfortunate misunderstanding.

Real tyrants govern by fiat, granting to themselves total authority while condemning any and all opposition as the product of hate and anarchy. Some invasions of privacy are explained away as necessary for the government to provide “the people” with security. Some freedom of speech and private property rights as well as certain types of gatherings will need to be prohibited to avoid anarchy. Real tyrants can be identified in any group as they pass laws while exempting themselves from application. Tyrants need to disarm the public lest the worst of their actions incubate an armed insurrection like the one that created this country. Real tyrants create laws permitting them to unilaterally seize control of civil authorities, industrial production, transportation and guns in the event of a national emergency. Tyrannies can only happen when a population of free men, are not vigilant.  

              WE ARE A REPUBLIC, NOT A DEMOCRACY

 

Alexander Hamilton is quoted as having said: “Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate government.” I find it easier for most people to grasp the concept of democracy and its inherent fallibility when phrased as James Bovard said in 1992: “democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner while true liberty is a well armed sheep contesting the outcome of the election.”

The framers of the Constitution were so well aware of the historical failures of democracy that they constructed the Constitution to prevent our government from devolving into one. James Madison wrote in the federalist papers 10 that the best way to guard against “factions” is elimination of their cause, which he dismissed as impractical, or to control its effects. He went on to state that we must render a majority faction unable to act as to subjugate the minority. The Constitution is the embodiment of the framers attempt to restrain the government from becoming a democracy. Our Constitution is a charter of negative rights in which the constitutional convention delegates sought to limit any majority faction of the government from usurping the inalienable rights of the individual citizen. Thomas Jefferson wrote: “In questions of power then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” Article 4 section 4 of the Constitution: “the United States shall guarantee to every state in the union a republican form of government.”

1)      Democracies always devolve into small numbers of those who become sovereign while the individuals who elected them become subjects.

2)      A majority within this elite or elected class may at any time violate the rights of the minority.

The framers sought to create a republic where the rights of the citizen remain sovereign while the elected officials are perpetually servants of the voters. It is only in a republic where the sheep could never be deemed to be lunch, by the majority, over his god given inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Enter the latest crop of politically correct elites seeking sovereignty over the citizens. To them the Constitutional limitations on federal governmental authority must be circumvented. The ruling majority did, by the slimmest of majorities, subjugate the people of this country to their definition of healthcare reform.

The 17^th amendment to the Constitution was swept into being by progressive politicians agitating a democratic majority to amend the constitution. The effect of this act was to eliminate the chief safeguard for the states against an all powerful central government. Prior to the 17^th amendment the members of the U.S. Senate were elected by the state legislatures that they represented. The lower house was populated by direct vote of the people while the Senate was a body built to protect the state governments from a tyrannical central government.

One of the most damning amendments for the future of the nation was the passage by virtually the same people using the same tactics. The 16^th amendment revised the Constitution to allow the federal government to collect income tax from citizens up to a maximum of 7%. “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”Benjamin Franklin  

The very idea that people have inalienable rights and that the government is prohibited from infringing on these is fundamental to the U.S. Constitution. The first ten amendments in the form of the bill of rights were added to fortify the document against the very same type of people running our government today. The notion that the product of a man’s labor belonged exclusively to him and that all men are created equal defies the liberal logic required in order to view themselves as entitled elites. For Harry Reid to deny 49 other Senators the right to vote on any measure without his consent means that the 40,000 person majority in his last election to the Senate, effectively over-rule the entire remaining population of the country. The last vestige of republican government in the Senate was destroyed by the same ruling faction when they eliminated the minority’s right to filibuster last month.

Today we see half of Washington D.C. populated by government officials content with the selling legislative votes to the highest bidder among the special interest lobbyists. While the remainder of Washington is made up of those same lobbyists with every incentive to continue buying votes. It is any wonder that the five wealthiest counties in America surround Washington D.C. The tax code has been so perverted through these manipulations that half of the population pay no tax at all while enjoying the unearned rewards of the welfare state at the expense of the foolish few still willing to work and support the parasites.  

When our county was formed the same people who had just fought to secure their own freedom also sought to preserve it for us. Today the Constitution is under attack by some among us who would make us their subjects. They decry it to be a moldy 18^th century document of historical value only without any real practical application today. I say that the republic it defines has worked better than any other form of government ever devised by man, and that I would rather follow the lead of our founding fathers than the self serving bureaucrats and professional politicians we have now.

             STOP REGULATING THE FREE MARKET YOU MORONS

 

I get just furious every time I hear another fact free liberal say that they support the free market as long as it is well regulated. Free markets by definition exist only where prices for goods sold depend solely on the dynamic of supply and demand. Thomas Sowell in his series of articles, grouped under the heading of “Fact-free Liberals”, makes the case that once liberals adopt a narrative, mere facts alone cannot persuade them of a truth that runs counter to their beliefs.

We are in the process right now of trying to expand our manufacturing business to supply a market demand that we created by designing a new product that our market wants. While we were in the process of applying for permits to add to our existing manufacturing plant, several states other than where we are located started courting, trying to persuade us to relocate. The inducements ranged from years of tax exemption and training cost grants to offering land and facilities. I decided to ask our home state economic development department if there were any pro-growth incentives available. I should have known better. We operate in a blue state and every incentive offered was encumbered by liberal B.S. Two years of property taxes could be deferred if every job created was maintained at 150% of the prevailing wage for like jobs in the area. Mind you the taxes were not forgiven just delayed for two years. The state also required for the tax deferral or a loan guarantee that our small business provide full medical benefits compliant with the ACA. Being a small business of less than 50 employees we are exempt from the coverage provisions of Obamacare. The fact free liberals who came up with these added expenses have no concept of what it is to compete in the free market. My competitors from overseas operate without corporate taxes, minimum wage requirements, or EPA/DEQ regulations. If we were to accept the cost loading in exchange for what the state is offering, the jobs we create would disappear along with my company when we failed to be cost competitive in the market. Corporations have not taken jobs overseas by choice, the regulation and tax burden has left them no alternative except extinction. I have stated in these pages before that over regulation (80,000 pages of brand new ones last year) is the plague of our time. President Obama knows the power that regulations have over the very existence of any industry. He stated that he would not block anyone from building a new coal fired power plant but he’d make sure with regulations that they couldn’t afford to operate it. This was said out loud during an election campaign speech in a capitalist county with a free market economy and the fact free liberal audience cheered. Instead of realizing 42% of our electricity comes from coal and any factual analysis of greenhouse gas effect shows clearly that man generated CO2 is insignificant, they cheered. The narrative has been put out there that burning fossil fuel is killing the planet and facts have no impact on the liberal mind.

Liberals regulate automakers requiring average fuel mileage of 54.5 MPG. Then step up to the first mike and claim to have reduced our dependence on foreign oil. The fuel economy standards have had no measurable effect on our oil imports because the free market converted the savings not into less fuel consumed but more miles driven. The state of Washington is now using the phantom reductions in fuel consumption to justify regulations for a mileage tax to offset the non-existent losses on fuel tax due to the reduced consumption. Facts just don’t matter. There are some real market dynamics in play as people budget their fuel consumption because of the poor economy. These same fact free folks convince themselves that putting ethanol in gas is good for the environment and pass regulations requiring its inclusion. The EPA now shows in their own reporting that the ethanol costs more in fossil fuel to make it than it offsets and does not lower emissions. In the face of their own measurements the government is proposing to raise the level of ethanol included in gasoline.

When our government imposes restrictions on the free market the results are always bad for American workers. Jobs are lost and prices are raised. The new healthcare law is just the next in an avalanche of business killing policies pushed onto the country by elected officials disconnected from the realities of free market dynamics.

              GOVERNMENT WASTE, FRAUD AND ABUSE

 

Reading this year’s report of the top 100 examples of wasteful government programs produced by Senator Coburn’s office is painful. Over $30 billion worth of waste was identified last year alone. The highlights include NASA spending $3 million on research into how Congress functions, $7 billion spent, by the military, destroying useable vehicles and weapons rather than bringing them back home, $300 million spent on an army blimp that was never used before being sold for $300 thousand, and of course the $600 million spent on a faulty website. My personal favorite is the $356 million spent by the Department Of Justice since 1998 for an integrated wireless communication system (radios) that is so cumbersome, inefficient and out dated that agents use their personal cell phones instead.

In 2007 the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud reported that 9.3% of welfare payments were made for fraudulent claims. Out of $254 billion the fraud amounted to $23.7 billion. Today the annual welfare payments have grown to $397 billion, given the same level of fraud the losses would amount to $37 billion this year alone.

The IRS estimates that there will be $30 billion this year in uncollectable tax evasion and another 3-5 billion sent out on fraudulent returns. What can we expect from a government agency that admits it can’t collect $3.5 billion in back taxes from employees of the federal government. All this while sending 446 separate tax refunds to a single address worth $600,000 and 355 tax refunds to another address for over a million dollars. This degree of precision is just what we are looking for to administer another 1/6 of the economy’s money in healthcare.

The DOJ saw fit to spend $165 million for a prison in Illinois that needs very costly upgrades before it could ever be used so it joins the four other vacant prison facilities owned by the department. FBI personnel it was discovered used $11.4 million worth of FBI luxury jet travel unrelated to the agency’s mission in 2013.

No listing of wasteful spending by the U.S. Government has any effect on our Federal leviathan. The Congress will spend the $3 trillion dollars in tax revenue it gets plus ¾ of a trillion more in borrowed dollars this year. The rate of consumption exceeds $6.2 million dollars a minute. Every dime that the government spends it must first take away from someone who earned it or add it to the mortgage on our future. We as a nation cannot rely on the honesty of elected officials who buy votes and enrich themselves with spoils stolen from the taxpaying public. The tipping point is here, there are almost as many people living on government subsistence as those who pay the taxes to support them. I do not include in my handout calculations, payments to Social Security recipients who paid into the fund. The fraud of the exploding Social Security disability is front and center on my list of federal abuses of the taxpayer.

Our press in this nation continue to ignore the absurd claims by members of Congress when they claim welfare payments are viable for stimulating the economy. Taxing oneself into prosperity was described by Winston Churchill as making as much sense as standing in a bucket and trying to lift yourself up by the handle. The simple fact is people earn money and use it for things that they need or want. Either of these stimulate the economy and encourage businesses of all sizes to invest and compete for the dollars. Money left with the taxpayer grows the economy while money taken in taxes retards growth and is all too often wasted on frivolous schemes for buying votes.

Taxpayers who joined together to object to the out of control spending in Washington so frightened the “tax and spend” government insiders that the full ire of the press and muscle of the IRS was brought against them. It is hard to find any newspaper or broadcast network that has not proclaimed the TEA Party to be extreme, racist, homophobic and dangerous to the nation. The entrenched Republican establishment has even joined this chorus although the clamor from that faction has quieted as their donations have dried up.

I find it hard to believe that passing laws creating ever more unsustainable government programs is viewed as proper government while pundits label balanced budgets and pro-growth fiscal policy as voodoo economics. 

 

 

                 WHO SHOULD REALLY RUN THIS JOINT?

 

Some people by their nature and or training tend to confront problems head on and seek solutions. In a society like ours in America the people who fit this category also tend to separate themselves into two populations. One group favors private free market solutions to problems while the other group, gravitate towards government based solutions. My own personal belief is that each issue or problem in question usually fits into one or the other of these choices best. One thing that seems self evident is that it is hard for the American public to reach a consensus on which problems should fall to the government and which to the private sector.

A large slice of the population can still remember when the U.S. Post Office had a monopoly on mail delivery. It seemed at the time as though this was one of those programs best left to be dealt with by the government. Once deregulation made it possible, private carriers like UPS and FEDEX demonstrated that they could out-compete the government hauling packages and make a profit at the same time. The government used to grant a monopoly to one quasi-private phone company before a law suit changed the world of personal communication and now we all have cell phones. My point is that it is not always a clear choice which is better. I don’t think anyone believes that the military should be privatized but then we did just open up space flight and exploration to private capitalists.

Maybe the best thing to do is just elect some citizens to come together and draft a set of rules setting down how we are going to run this country. Once they are done we can vote on it and, if adopted by the majority, we will be able to move forward without so much controversy. The rules may need to be changed from time to time so we had better include a way to amend them in an orderly manner.

The Constitution is, of course, the embodiment of the rules the Continental Congress set down and once coupled with the bill of rights became our roadmap to the future. We have from time to time amended it to meet the changing needs of the country. The Constitution as amended has been remarkably successful for over 230 years. Today there are those both inside of our government and out that believe the restrictions placed on the government by the Constitution are obsolete. They argue that rules drafted in the 18^th century should not still be controlling our lives. Let’s just suppose for arguments sake that we decided to write a new Constitution. Who then should get to draft this document, the people that believe the best answers to problems come from government programs or those that favor the private sector. I do not believe that we as a nation could reach a consensus on that question. Maybe it is better to leave the current Constitution alone and just focus on who we choose to administer it.

Elections tend to be popularity contests where media smear campaigns purchased with huge advertizing budgets usually favor incumbents. Special interest groups make large donations to reelection campaign coffers to secure favorable votes on pending measures. Who among us except the Congressmen cashing the checks and the special interest groups writing them think that this is a good system. The people of this country, from the big government and the small government camps, need to send real experienced problem solvers to Congress. Campaign finance reform is needed however, the incumbents in the legislature are the foxes guarding that hen house. We need to get together behind candidates dedicated to solving the spiraling debt and unsustainable entitlement problems. Immigration, job growth, national defense and the rest of the big issues are not going to be fixed by the same bunch of clowns that created the mess.

I submit that citizens who are not beholding to special interests, drawn from our population’s real problem solvers would clean up the D.C. mess. Doctors, military officers, police, engineers and business managers are the types of citizen legislators we need because they actually confront and solve problems. If we continue to rely on the same career politicians, lawyers, and corrupt bureaucrats to fill the legislature we are doomed as a country.

                                IMMIGRATION TUG OF WAR

 

Poling on immigration reform is virtually useless because the way a pollster frames his question skews the poll results wildly. If the poll question triggers Americans generous nature it will provoke results hugely in favor of amnesty and a path to citizenship for “undocumented workers”. Questions can be asked so as to first remind respondents of the unemployment crisis and thereby elicit results skewed in favor of border security. When framed as a racial issue that is unfair to Hispanics most citizens soften their position towards at least a middle-ground “guest worker” solution.

To understand complex issues I usually find it instructive to follow the money. Once I know who is profiting, peoples motives become clearer and more easily defined.

Agricultural businesses, large and small, that depend on migrant workers rely on a large supply of cheap seasonal labor. The pervasive “don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude in communities that depend on these workers enables the undocumented migrant worker sub-culture. The huge majority of these workers are good people doing what they must to provide for their families. The flood of illegal border crossings to fill the farm jobs helps to conceal the drug mules and other criminals from detection by border patrol.

The Chamber Of Commerce and the large agricultural businesses that support it push Congress to act on immigration reform because of the money made using the low cost labor. Smaller agricultural business tends to have a closer relationship with the migrant workers as people and friends. Many of these small farms use the same laborers year after year in a mutually beneficial and friendly pact.

Democratic legislators push for citizenship for the undocumented immigrants viewing them as a sure source of new loyal democratic voters. The argument is always framed in humanitarian terms to shield them from criticism about their blatant political partisanship.

Cities saddled with the cost of providing health, education and emergency services for free to illegal aliens are demanding a change to the status quo. Society on the one hand is enjoying the benefits of lower food costs while on the other paying a heavy price for social services and drug related violence.

Republican lawmakers may acknowledge the problem while struggling with the opposing pull of big agricultural business and their conservative voter base. There is an argument that “guest worker” programs, actually legitimize open ended slavery and as such encourage abuse of the system as a gateway to welfare.

I want to speak directly to this last point. I believe that any successful guest worker program would require sponsorship by employers whose participation is tracked. In other words, in order for a guest worker program to work it requires that employment and payment of payroll taxes be verified. I do not except the argument that the guest workers are bad because they will likely become dissatisfied with the entry level jobs and seek to improve their position by competition with citizens for the better jobs. It makes me sick when I hear someone say that guest workers are ok as long as they stay in their place. Legitimate working people who are gainfully employed and paying taxes must have a way to cross the border in a documented orderly way isolating the criminal drug traffickers for law enforcement. Businesses that abuse the law or the workers must be prosecuted. The real cost of the labor will show up in the price at the grocery store instead of being hidden inside food stamp, emergency healthcare and education programs. We are paying the costs of the porous border now.

The stupid practice of granting instant citizenship to babies born to non-citizens must stop. This is a real gateway path to welfare and dependence. I submit that the endless nature of our “temporary” assistance welfare programs will continue to promote abuse from citizens and non-citizens alike until we get realistic about eliminating the fraud such programs encourage. We cannot as a nation allow either political faction to control immigration reform for their own short sighted gain. Nor can we allow this reform to place these people, who broke the law to come here, in line for citizenship in front of legal immigrants.