The Age of UnReason?

By Eddie Howell

Most Americans my age (including me) never thought they’d see the day when America’s basic constitutional liberty would be so endangered. And yet that’s just what we are seeing. With leftists calling for curtailing the Second Amendment, restricting the First Amendment to control “Hate speech” and shout down conservatives or prevent them from speaking, our liberty is at risk today. The major factor in this is the influence of the political left. They encourage people to believe they’re “victims” and must be protected from disagreeable opinions, yet they should go after their opponents with violent “protests” (riots), and promote hatred of police, conservatives, white people, Christians, and whoever they decide to dislike or disagree with.

The left is trying, and somewhat succeeding, it seems, in replacing the “Age of Reason” or “Age of Enlightenment” we thought we were living in, with just the opposite. In his article titled “The High-Tech Traditionalist: The Age of UnReason -- It is Impossible to Overestimate the Dangers of Mass Hysteria,” Baruch Pletner, at Tsarizm, gives an instructive analysis of this process and its serious risks:

He states,

It is impossible to overestimate the dangers of mass hysteria. Nearly all manmade disasters from the unthinkable to the merely uncomfortable are the results of it. People who are hysterical, who think with their wombs rather than their brains, be they male or female, are easily manipulated by special interests who have much to gain from whipping up emotions at the expense of reason.

 The system of checks and balances put in place by the Founding Fathers to guard against hysteria and mob rule is on its last breath. Undermined by universal suffrage, a concept that would have horrified every single one of them, coupled with excessive immigration from countries in which emotion rather than reason reigns supreme, the death knoll of the American Republic as the last bastion of the new Age of Reason in the West is fast approaching.

An Organized Effort

I am convinced that this process in America and elsewhere is being orchestrated by the socialists and communists of the political left in order to create chaos and confusion in our country in preparation for their hoped-for violent overthrow of capitalism and the market economy, to be replaced with socialism. Socialist and communist organizations are very active among members of Congress today, for example, and many of our legislators are not loyal to America but to socialist and communist causes, contrary to the Constitution that they have sworn to protect.

Anti-Trump Red Guards Austin march in November 2016. Six communists
 were arrested in confrontations with pro-Trump demonstrators. Photo from
Maoistroad website.

A look at communist and socialist websites will demonstrate that these leftists regard America as the bad guy, and they support the communist countries of China, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Vietnam, etc., and are involved in communist goings-on in Russia and the communist countries just mentioned. The goal is world domination, as it has been since 1917 and before. Stirring up emotional upset, hatred, and prejudice is the road to subverting the nation.

When ‘Snowflakes’ Rule

People need to better understand the nature and uniqueness of American freedom. The so-called Free World, just in the past few decades, has given up much of their liberty. In most of these countries, a person’s complaint that someone insulted them can result in criminal prosecution. No nation other than the United States has protections equal to those decreed by the First Amendment. Under the U. S. Constitution, people cannot be criminally accused or punished for what they think, write, or say (unless directly inciting violence), but only for their actions. Thus, disloyal individuals and organizations have great latitude in spreading their propaganda. But when they translate that into violent or subversive acts, they can and should be punished under the law.

Beyond this, the leftist propaganda must be overcome by truth. Principles of individual responsibility and individual liberty must be taught, and education must be taken back from the leftist propagandists. Not everything a person disagrees with is racist, sexist, or homophobic. And even if they are, the answer is to overcome bad ideas with good ones, not silence everyone who wishes to speak what one considers heresy. “Political correctness” is a concept invented by communists. It is thoroughly antithetical to the American concept of individual liberty.

Leftists in America today, such as the reprehensible Southern Poverty Law Center label as “Hate groups” many traditional Christian organizations who believe in traditional marriage and biblical morality. The SPLC is one of the most hateful groups around. Why do supposedly legitimate organizations rely on their list?

It should be borne in mind that no “Progressive” politicians are far from socialism and indeed communism in their basic political positions, and many are rather openly affiliated with socialist and communist organizations. Their loyalty to America is extremely questionable. Yet many serve on the most sensitive committees in Congress when they could not pass a routine background check. Congress needs to recognize and correct this problem.

Beware! Socialists and Communists in Congress! But Probably You Knew That

By Eddie Howell

A disturbing fact about the Democrats of the United States Congress is that many who identify themselves as “Progressive” or “Liberal” are in fact socialists, and many have strong connections with the Communist Party USA. Some can be identified as Communist Party members.

“Progressive” or “Liberal” doesn't sound as bad to most Americans as “Socialist,” and “Socialist" doesn't sound as bad as “Communist.” But their stands on many issues and many of their goals are identical.

Trevor Loudon's 689-page book The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists, and Progressives in the U.S. Congress* is a thoroughly documented and very detailed analysis of its subject, complete with many footnotes, photographs, and quotations. The book was published in 2013 and profiles many individual members of Congress of that time, most of whom are still there, giving their socialist, progressive, and communist connections in detail. See World Net Daily's review here.

America's largest socialist organization, the Democratic Socialists of America (or DSA), formerly the Socialist Party of America, is very influential in the Congress, working closely with numerous Senators and Representatives. The DSA lists 70 members of Congress (House and Senate) as its members. The DSA itself is not a political party now, but an activist organization devoted to socialist causes. It is only minimally different from the Communist Party in its policies and methods.

The DSA list includes Bernie Sanders (of course), Dennis Kucinich, John Conyers, Keith Ellison, and 66 more.

The DSA works with many far-left organizations, such as the leftist think tank Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), and many other related socialist and communist organizations addressing the various issues and activities the leftists are interested in.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Communist Parties are directed by China, Cuba, North Korea, and communists of other countries, including Russia. The communists are now out of power in the former Soviet Union, but their long-established front organizations still exist, and continue to be influential. Communism is far from dead. So members of the Communist Party USA are not loyal to America first, but to those foreign communists calling the shots. To the extent that people in Congress are working for global government, they are not loyal to America either, in the sense that most Americans are. I believe they don't mind compromising America's best interests for socialist causes. People who disagree with them are labeled as bigots, racists, etc.

Democrat members of the “Quad Caucus,” (1209) i.e. the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (some are members of more than one of these), are the most active in socialist and communist activities. Loudon lists the members of each of these as of 2013.

The methods of these people, who are acting to bring down America as a sovereign nation and establish socialism and eventually a world government, resemble the ways of the Fabian Society described in my previous blog article. Rather than promote violent revolution, they prefer gradualism.

For socialists, bringing about change gradually is, in their view, much more likely to succeed than changing things through violence. However, these days they seem willing to put up with increasing violence, as we have seen recently through Black Lives Matter and Antifa. So their opposition to violence is pragmatic rather than a matter of principle. Whatever works would be OK, including arson, rioting, and murder. Through the Fabian Society and others, socialists have pretty well taken over the American educational system. I believe that Loudon's book does not mention the Fabian Society, but there are many similarities to the progressive-socialist-communist methods he documents: Penetrate, infiltrate, and permeate the established institutions. And strike hard when the time is right. Antifa may represent the start of that hard strike on the part of the leftists. The following video was posted on YouTube on September 25, 2017:

According to Loudon, the communists early targeted the labor movement, and by 1995 had managed to exert control over the AFL-CIO, having replaced strongly anti-communist leaders George Meany and Lane Kirkland. Thus their influence is spread over most American labor organizations, including the communist front the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (1355)

Progressives and Socialists in Congress often work with communist front organizations such as Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE), which succeeded the Communist Workers Party (CWP). The AAFE is pro-China (1558). Another communist front is the World Peace Council (founded by Soviet communists). Various “peace” organizations are communist-influenced.

Democrat members of Congress have written articles for the People's Weekly World, official newspaper of the Communist Party USA, have spoken at many Communist Party conferences and other events, accompanied communist party members on trips to Cuba and Vietnam, and have been recognized as “non-party friends” in communist publications.

Loudon's material is, I believe, authentic and undeniable. We have a heavy socialist-communist presence in our Congress. It becomes a bit clearer why so many in government have disdain for ordinary non-socialist people (“deplorables,” as Hillary Clinton called them), don't like patriotism, and oppose the military. They support Cuba. They play up anything that can be presented as victimhood, i.e. “oppression” of favored groups. They support the LGBTQ agenda. They don't like conservative Christianity. They don't want anyone complaining about Muslims. They want higher taxes in order to “invest” in social programs at the expense of military spending. They want America to disarm (and thus be weaker than other countries) in the name of “peace,” never considering the concept of “peace through strength.”

Their current projects as of 2017 include destruction of historic statues, destruction of the purpose of the university (political correctness instead of academic achievement), disarming the citizens, and through fear-mongering in regard to conservatism, making socialism fashionable. Most Americans still believe we should follow the Constitution. Socialists want to get rid of it because it restricts government.

Socialists never explain how they are going to produce the workers' paradise. They really can't because no rational economic theory supports it. Socialism is death, leading to hell on earth. One need only look at the socialist empires of the twentieth century, and socialist countries (e.g., Venezuela, North Korea, and Cuba) today to see that. The situation is disturbing, and calls for action to remove these people from office as much and as soon as possible. This will involve dealing with politics. Politics is certainly dealing with us.

Below is a presentation from May 2017 by Mr. Loudon on his book. He spoke in Mission Viejo, CA to a local chapter of Act! for America:

* Trevor Loudon, The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists, and Progressives in the U.S. Congress, 2013-2015 Edition, 2013. Las Vegas: Pacific Freedom Foundation, a Nevada Not for Profit Corporation. I read this in Kindle format without page numbers. Numbers in paretheses, bold, and italics are Location numbers for the Kindle ebook.

Obama the Lawless

By Eddie Howell

That time has arrived.

O.K., you can put me down as pretty much anti-government, that is, anti-Obama Administration. This administration's continuous power grabs and attacks on constitutional freedom must be stopped. The Administration's outrageous acts cannot be allowed to continue unabated. There are various steps that can be taken to keep them somewhat in check.

Apparently, congressional Democrats in both houses are not up to any kind of constitutional challenge to the dictatorial President Barack Obama. This is likely due to one or more of the following: Fear of jeopardizing their career, being OK with the status quo because they don't know and/or don't care about American freedom, the Constitution, or their constituents (other than as vote sources), or, like Obama himself, they just simply have a very strong Marxist/fascist mean streak. It's hard to believe nice people in high office would have such low regard for Americans' freedom. Many of these people apparently do have a low level of concern for these things, or else they're very afraid.

The Republican leadership has yet to show much of a desire to do anything about it, except for the occasional good-sounding statement. They are upset with their colleagues who are actually voicing concern, people like Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ted Cruz (R-TX). The fact that John Boehner (R-OH) is still House Speaker is rather remarkable in view of the leadership's acceptance of being steamrolled on such issues as the debt ceiling. The GOP controls only one house of Congress, but their leaders behave as though they control nothing. Actually, they control quite a lot since they have the power of the purse. Yet they are so lacking in skill and/or desire to plan any kind of strategy to oppose Obama, that they look helpless.

At this point, the best strategy, to me, seems to be this: Wait until after the 2014 elections, and if the GOP ends up controlling both houses of Congress (and the congressional elections are, after all, theirs to lose), then impeach Obama and remove him from office. Of course this is likely only in some fantasy. But Obama's malfeasance in basically every area rises beyond the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors” because of his lawless behavior.

“When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.” – Claude Frederic Bastiat

The Administration has plenty of willingness to go after people of opposing political views who might have disobeyed the law, for example Dinesh D'Souza, but care little for obeying laws that inconvenience themselves, such as Obamacare, which has been changed just about weekly, by executive action, without regard to Congress. The Administration has no concern about violating religious freedom, as illustrated by the Obamacare contraception mandates, or economic freedom, as evidenced by Obamacare itself. (Nor can the Supreme Court be relied upon to protect liberty, but that's another article).

“The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.” – Thomas Jefferson

The history of the Obama Administration is a continuing story of abuse of power, obsession with increasing executive power, stonewalling on scandals, lie upon lie, attempts to destroy their opponents or people who might get in their way and vicious attacks on personal liberty.

The latest attack on American freedom today comes from the Federal Communications Commission, which is going to carry out a “study” of local news broadcasters about whether the regime is pleased with their performance regarding “critical information needs” of various audiences. This is extremely disturbing since the “study” could, and likely will, later be used to exert pressure on any who are politically inconvenient, the FCC being the licensing agency for local broadcasters and having power to shut them down by executive action. It is very clearly an act of intimidation to small, basically defenseless local broadcasters, who may feel the need to please the government and not risk losing their broadcast licenses. One member of the FCC had an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal warning of the dangers of the “study” (not to mention the million-dollar cost). Conservative House members plan to investigate and probably hold hearings.

As serious and potentially evil as this FCC action is, it is a relatively small thing in the agenda of the Obama Administration. They readily send government agencies (FCC, EPA, IRS, etc.) after people who are effective political opponents of theirs. It is clear that Obama's "pen and phone" Executive Branch is a special interest striving to promote itself and increase its power by whatever means it can get away with. It is foolish to suppose that we can rely on the federal bureaucracy to be concerned about citizens, especially those they don't like. The great irony is that We the People are paying for our own oppression.

I am confident that this state of affairs will not stand. I believe Americans are not so weak and docile as to continuously put up with abuse of their liberties and policies that undermine the economy, harm the United States in the world arena, and create ever-more citizen dependence upon government. To correct this, we should start by voting Democrats out of Congress, and replace a few Republicans as well.

*   *   *

Further reading: Jay Sekulow, "Is Obama trying to kill a free press?," Fox News, 02/20/2014.

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Worst-Case Scenario?

Benito Mussolini

Aspiring fascist dictator Barack Obama may get there yet during his second term. Since he doesn’t care a hang about the Constitution, he could very well attempt to gain a third term. The rule of law is gone from the federal government to a great extent, its last major influence felt during the George W. Bush Administration, where it began to slip noticeably.

Obama is likely soon to get his wish for Taxmageddon and sequestration unless he backs down a bit, which is very unlikely. But the GOP should stand their ground on taxes. See my previous post.

Fascist dictator? Isn’t that a little extreme? No, it fits very well Obama’s track record and his observed attitudes and principles of trying to rule. The government is the main entity and most important thing in the U.S., according to his actions, and his main goal has been to increase the size and scope of government and to undermine the private sector, leading to the eventual impoverishment and enslavement of our citizens.

He wants to make them more and more dependent on the federal government and less and less able or willing to act in their own self interest. Sudden higher taxes will put all citizens in a weakened position. We will see higher unemployment, and vastly more bureaucracy running our citizens’ lives to the extent of making almost all important adult decisions for them. The idea is to limit their ability to resist; to make as many as possible drive little low-powered electric cars that can’t go fast or far; to destroy the suburbs and get everyone into cheap, compact housing; to control everyone’s money and continually inflate it so as to further deprive them of purchasing power; and yet to toss out enough free goodies and lying propaganda to convince people that he has their interests at heart and that things are gradually going to get better.

He has undercut Congress through executive orders, overbearing, numerous, and costly regulations, and czars. He seeks to gain sole discretion in setting America’s debt limit, so as not to have to bother dealing with Congress, where the borrowing of money is supposed to originate. He is fine with increasing spending through ill-advised “stimulus” programs and OK with the Federal Reserve printing all the money it wants. The Federal Reserve itself is an untrustworthy and dangerous entity which exists mainly to empower big banks and politicians.

That’s what the president has started in his first term, and is a good way along with his “transformation of America.” When he gets finished, the middle class will be almost gone and “the rich” (except for his cronies, and those who manage to leave the country) will be a lot less rich. Oil and gas production will be slowed even more and many more millions will be spent on green energy companies run by Obama contributors, which will declare bankruptcy, one after another, while dishing out seven-figure bonuses to their executives. Fanny and Freddy, rather than being reined in and disbanded will continue more of the shenanigans and book-cooking that contributed to the housing crash. The student loan bubble will burst.

Eventually, our currency will collapse under the weight of ever more massive debt. Then, the Democrat elites may think they’re even more powerful, but then we will all have to deal with greatly increased foreign threats (or a “world government” takeover).

Maybe wiser heads will prevail and most of this stuff won’t happen. But those are the trends. No one in government has done much to stop the more destructive parts of Obama’s agenda up to now. The question is, will something trigger a change in direction? Or will apathy continue to increase, with those in power either (1) content to see American decline or (2) clueless as to what to do about it? As has been already suggested, it’s not rocket science.  But we have a busybody control-freak administration. “Fascist” is the right word. Like Mussolini, only potentially much worse: “Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.”

Remember, there’s no one to bail out America.

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(Non) Governing Style

Image via Wikipedia

President Barack Obama’s idea of governing is: He provides the “vision” and his appointed experts and czars, and his political allies in Congress, the unions, etc., make it happen.

To get the economy moving, he urged a “stimulus” of $800 billion. Results? Nothing much. When a lot of attention became focused on unemployment as it reached near 10%, he called a “summit” to brainstorm ways to reduce unemployment. Results? None to speak of. When Iran refused to interrupt their nuclear program, he tried to get sanctions. Result? No change.

When Israel began construction of an apartment house in Jerusalem, Obama blew the incident into an international crisis of sorts. Palestinian leaders called on him to “impose” a peace agreement, something he still may be considering. Anyway, to him, Israel is nothing special, and he may view that nation as simply a problem. If so, it’s big mistake.

When he can’t figure out how to deal with international terrorism or international finance, he calls for a “new international order.” Maybe other world leaders can solve our problems. When his unwillingness to secure the Mexican border results in trouble for border states, he plays the race card and condemns Arizona’s reasonable attempt to defend themselves from the flood of people entering their state illegally, some to smuggle drugs and people. He wants the borders as porous as possible so he can arrange for more Democratic votes by promising the illegals government benefits and eventual amnesty.

When Tea Party protesters became too vocal at last summer’s town hall meetings on health care, Obama called out SEIU thugs to assault and intimidate people, although there had been no violence until these union members created it. Obama didn’t know, nor did his congressional friends know, how to explain the health care bill, because no one knew what would eventually be in it. Now that it’s passed, 65% of Americans want it repealed. Congressmen and Obama himself still don’t know what’s in it.

The point is, we’re seeing the results of electing as president a man of no executive experience who is now demonstrating his inability to govern effectively. How can he run a country when he has never run anything? The great voter rejection of his spending, health care and tax policies has been taken by some as a sign that America is becoming “ungovernable.” The problem is not ungovernability, the problem is poor leadership. The elitist “decision makers” are socialists, ’60’s hippies, and even some avowed communists who, along with the president, wish to force their “Progressive,” i.e. radical left-wing, views upon a nation that is fundamentally conservative.

They have awakened the silent majority. People who normally have little interest in the day to day workings of government and politics, now find that they must take an interest in it simply because their freedom is in danger. Now the government wants to control not only health care and the auto and banking industries, they want to control our daily diet and our energy usage as well. Enter restrictions on salt and bacon, not to mention the already approved rules making incandescent standard light bulbs illegal soon.

Dave Barry once wrote something to the effect that a government agency that has taken to regulating the size of toilet tanks is not needed and ought to be put to work at some kind of real job. (These regulations could possibly be blamed on G.W. Bush, or would it be Clinton?) Barry even made the satiric suggestion that the U.S. go to war against Canada over the issue of toilet smuggling. I would say that a government agency (such as Congress) that has taken to regulating light bulb use should forget such foolishness and simply take an extended vacation. The less they do, the better. And we’ve yet to see the Obama Administration’s new EPA and HHS regulations on CO-2.

The congressional majority is mostly there to enact and rubber-stamp Obama’s fascist-socialist agenda, which takes priority over all else with this administration. After the November elections, they’ll probably wonder why they didn’t do so well, and will probably say it’s because they didn’t get their message out. The truth will be that they didn’t do so well because they did get their message out. It’s just harder to disguise it these days.

Obama and his allies are willing to compromise American security (open borders) and sovereignty (“new international order”) to achieve their goals. The president seems to recognize few if any allies (Israel and the U.K., for instance), yet treats our actual adversaries as friends, e.g. Hugo Chavez.

These things illustrate the expert leadership that has been brought to bear on the BP Gulf oil spill: Reject international offers of assistance, claim to have been on the job there since day one, albeit silently for weeks, and look for the some asses to kick. Inspirational, eh? Oh, and don’t forget to put more thousands out of work by a moratorium on all offshore drilling.

With leadership like this, we are in some trouble. Looks like it will be the Tea Party, libertarians, and non-RINO Republicans to the rescue in November. One can hope.


Photo: Obama cabinet

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Republicans Are Different from Democrats

March 22, 2010

The outworn comment, “There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between Republicans and Democrats,” is, I think, one of the dumbest sayings around. The health care vote is a good example. Even the RINO’s wouldn’t soil their hands with this piece of legislative garbage. To their credit, the Republicans were 100 percent against it, and with plenty of good reason.

Of course, the vote is over now, so score one for the fascists. Our Republic is not the same. Our liberty is diminished. Our treasury, already dangerously depleted, is on the way to deep distress.

A Yahoo! News Blog article tries to tell us that the Tea Party protesters made big trouble for Republicans by shouting racial slurs and so on at the Capitol. There haven’t been any videos on TV containing that, as far as I can tell. No evidence, only accusations. Also, it is mentioned that Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) shouted “Baby killer!” as Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) was at the microphone. Neugebauer said he actually shouted “It’s a baby killer!” referring to the health care bill. He apologized to Stupak for anything appearing to suggest that he was referring to Stupak personally. [1]

This is supposed to be a big faux pas that makes Republicans vulnerable? The way this Congress provokes people by ignoring common courtesy and demonstrating thorough corruption in the way they do business, it’s remarkable that decorum holds up as well as it does. The Democrats’ arrogant disdain for the people who oppose this bill is remarkable.

But, of course, there’s hardly a limit to the tear-jerking stories they can bring to the microphone. I was waiting for them to bring in some sick children who supposedly were going to die soon if this bill wasn’t passed – as though there was no solution but a massive government takeover of the health care and insurance industries. Most suffering, I suppose, is caused by a lack of government spending and control.

The article notes that former Bush speechwriter David Frum finds fault with the Republicans’ strategy of going

for “all the marbles” by unanimously opposing the bill and refusing to compromise in any way—fueling activist fury at the same time…. In losing the vote this time out via a strategy of strict opposition, Frum argues that the GOP has left itself little in the way of legislative achievement to run on in future campaigns…. [2]

Attempting to stop this monstrosity of a bill, and demonstrating solid opposition to it, is a worthy legislative achievement. The “political class” thinks that members of Congress and political parties must demonstrate “legislative achievement” in the form of new bills and laws in order to succeed with voters. Almost every new law is a further erosion of freedom and a further burden on the people. A lot of people are becoming very aware of this. Personally, I look forward to a Republican majority in one or both houses of Congress in 2011 and 2012, and a strong effort to stop President Obama’s agenda. I’m all for the “Party of No” when the opposition is a determined, ethically-challenged gang of fascists. They have offered practically nothing to say “yes” to.

There is still some unfinished business in the Senate, but now, much of the fight will take place at the state level, and in the federal courts. States are already preparing lawsuits, and probably nullification laws. The bill has been passed, but implementing it is another matter. There are several constitutional points on which this bill can be challenged: Tenth amendment issues, insurance mandates, unfunded mandates on states, etc.

This law will probably create a new industry for the legal profession. It will be no easy task to gain success against it in court, but perhaps it can be done. Getting it declared unconstitutional (at least in part) is probably more likely than repealing it, at least in the near term. In the longer term, all government entitlements are in danger, simply because of the deficit and debt situation, and the continual adding to the monumental levels of spending. At some point, it becomes impossible to continue, and that point is being brought closer than it would be otherwise, by the Obama Administration’s spending frenzy.

[1] Brett Michael Dykes, “‘Baby killer’ shouter steps forward, highlights internal GOP dilemma,” 04/22/2010, The Newsroom, Yahoo! News Blog.

[2] Ibid.

Photo: Dreamstime.com

A Constitutional Question

From Article I – Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution:
“All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.”

The health care bill the Democratic Party leadership is trying to pass (by vote or otherwise) is the Senate bill. This bill is apparently not a product of the reconciliation process since nothing was done to try to reconcile it with the House bill. It is, I think, a revenue bill originating in the Senate. If this is the case, it is unconstitutional.

This would be in addition to its generally unconstitutional content.

Any comments?

The Tea Party Movement Is a Force To Be Reckoned With

In spite of all the elitists’ dismissing of the Tea Party Movement, the liberals are going to awake to find that this movement has changed the political landscape of America. America is not Europe. Americans don’t accept European-style socialism, which is visibly failing, and they do not accept would-be dictators. President Barack Obama is likely to find his next three years fraught with political difficulty.

So far, the president has resisted public protests against his policies, which consist largely of liberty-destroying programs, massive spending, and vague talk of future deficit cutting, while planning even more big spending. The unemployment, deficit, or inflation figures will not stay this administration from their micro-managing, tax-and-spend, socialist-fascist agenda.

Congressional Democrats are beginning to get the message that Obama wants them to support all this despite their likely loss of reelection in many instances. He thinks they should sacrifice their political careers and the representation of their constituents in favor of his radical “change” projects. Some are retiring (Bayh, Dorgan, Kennedy and Dodd), and others will soon have decisions to make. Republicans are seeing a great opportunity to expand their numbers in Congress, but it remains to be seen whether they will be able to govern accordingly if they win more seats.

That’s where the Tea Party Movement becomes critical. Their strategy should involve moving the Republican Party closer to their constitutional and libertarian principles and away from big-government, big-spending, and high-tax policies. They need to strongly oppose further government takeovers in the private sector and more government supervision of Americans’ daily lives and major decisions. Republicans who won’t support conservatism should expect to be replaced by some who will. The Tea Party movement finds problems in both major parties, but a third party is not the answer.

The New York Times reports that Obama is preparing to use more executive power to get around frustrating difficulties with Congress. The newspaper reports, for example, “Mr. Obama has already decided to create a bipartisan budget commission under his own authority after Congress refused to do so.…” Also, the Administration seeks to affect gays-in-the-military cases without waiting for Congress to act. “And the Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with possible regulations on heat-trapping gases blamed for climate change, while a bill to cap such emissions languishes in the Senate.” [1]

If Obama can’t get his way on “health care reform,” what executive actions is he prepared to take? On this and other items, he is seeking to override not only Congress, but the American people. His “summit” on health care with Republicans participating shows he has not given up trying to enact a plan that is opposed by the American people. It’s a cornerstone of his “change” agenda. Unconstitutional, too.

Tea Partiers in various states will probably encourage lawmakers to pass “nullification” laws over Federal legislation and executive orders they view as unconstitutional. This may bring on a constitutional crisis, but maybe it’s time to have this fight. Government officials who try to overpower states on this type of law can probably forget ever getting many votes in these states. The people hold the ultimate power under our system, and they can’t be continuously ignored.

The Democratic leadership has unveiled their radicalism and conspicuously failed to deal with the economic woes of the unemployed to the extent that their policies are very unpopular. Their policies are heading over the cliff. The next “bailouts” we see will likely be more Democrats bailing out on Obama’s ill-advised program. They can cite “gridlock” and “ideology” as their objections, but gridlock is greatly preferable to the Obama agenda, and ideology is what guides Obama. The “pragmatism” he practices is to find what will work to get his radical ideological program installed, not what will work best for the economy, etc.

My caution to the Tea Party Movement is three-fold: (1) Forget a third party; transform the GOP; (2) Emphasize the positive aspects of conservatism (freedom, prosperity, strong defense, limited government, low taxes), well articulated. Anger may temporarily unite, but it doesn’t inspire; and (3) Don’t associate with any groups that sanction any kind of violence or anything that smacks of racism. The Tea Party Movement is about policy. It is already strongly influencing American politics. It is a mainstream movement, not a fringe effort. Its weapons are true and persuasive arguments and the ballot.

[1] Peter Baker, “Obama Making Plans to Use Executive Power,” 02/12/2010, The New York Times.

Further reading: David Barstow, “Tea Party Lights Fuse for Rebellion on Right,” 02/15/2010, The New York Times. I’m surprised to be referring to NYT this much.

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Are the Proposed Health Insurance Mandates Constitutional?

The Democrats’ plans to require Americans to purchase health insurance or else be fined or imprisoned is one of those rare issues that gets some government officials questioning it on constitutional grounds. Most issues are not questioned if they can attract enough votes to be passed. But this one is getting some constitutionality attention.

There have been a variety of opinions offered on how this requirement can be constitutionally justified. CNS News features several articles about it, mostly with Democrats claiming that Congress can do just about anything it wants to “promote the general welfare.” This assumes that whatever they decide will do that is OK. They refuse to think that the “general welfare” clause is a statement of purpose, not a blank check.

Others cite the Congress’ responsibility to regulate interstate commerce, but requiring people to buy a certain type of product falls outside that authority.

Here are some items at CNS News [1] (in bold) reflecting the Democrat’s inability to pinpoint where this constitutional authority is specifically found, but expressing the idea that it’s there somewhere (my comments not in bold):

“Sen. Bob Casey [D-Pa.]: Health Care Mandate Constitutional, But Not Sure If There’s ‘Specific Constitutional Provision’” You might try reading the Constitution some time, Senator.

“Sen. Nelson[D-Neb.]: Constitutionally, Congress Can Probably Mandate Health Insurance in ‘Same Place’ States Can Mandate Car Insurance” Three points to consider here:
First, a person can avoid the requirement to purchase auto liability insurance by not driving. Second, The required auto liability insurance covers only people other than the insured. Third, under the Tenth Amendment, states can impose requirements that are not specifically granted to the federal government or prohibited to the states. It is this amendment that calls into serious question the constitutionality of the entire health care legislation.

“Sen. Sanders [I-Vt.]: Constitutional Authority for Congress’ Health Insurance Mandate ‘Probably’ Same as Medicare” He also mentioned Medicaid and VA medical services. Medicare is actually on questionable constitutional grounds, but by now it is entrenched to the point that it is politically unlikely to be questioned very much. Medicaid operates through the states, giving it a little better standing. VA health care can be considered part of the federal government’s authority to provide for the military. But the government takeover under Obamacare has no constitutional warrant itself, and certainly the insurance purchase mandate has none.

As Mark Levin, author of the best-selling book Liberty and Tyranny, pointed out at a Washington rally on November 5, the Democrats aren’t really much concerned with the Constitution:



Fortunately, some of our elected representatives recognize the constitutional shortcomings of the health care proposals. For instance, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) argues against the insurance mandate on constitutional grounds:

“‘Forcing every American to purchase a product is absolutely inconsistent with our Constitution and the freedoms our Founding Fathers hoped to protect,’ he said. ‘This is not at all like car insurance. You can choose not to drive but Americans will have no choice whether to buy government-approved insurance.

“‘This is nothing more than a bailout and takeover of insurance companies,’ said DeMint. ‘We’re forcing Americans to buy insurance under penalty of law and then Washington bureaucrats will then dictate what these companies can sell to Americans.

“‘This is not liberty,’ he said. ‘It is tyranny of good intentions by elites in Washington who think they can plan our lives better than we can.’” [2]

Sen. Nelson said that since he’s not a constitutional scholar, he couldn’t answer the question about the constitutionality of the mandate. [3] I say, the constitution is written in such a way that a person does not have to be a constitutional scholar to understand it. On the other hand, President Barack Obama is supposed to be a constitutional scholar and he doesn’t seem to understand it very well.

[1] CNS News.com, Politics news stories headlines, 12/26/09 at http://www.cnsnews.com/news/categories

[2] Chris Neefus, “Sen. Nelson: Constitutionally, Congress Can 'Probably' Mandate Health Insurance In ‘Same Place’ States Can Mandate Car Insurance,” 12/24/2009,
CNS News.com, at http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/59008

[3] Ibid.

Mischief After Midnight

At what point, if any, does disgraceful behavior stop with the current Democratic Administration and Congress? These people claim to want “civility,” but that only means “keep quiet while we install our socialist programs, which we’ll do by hook or crook and under cover of darkness.” They have arm-twisted, threatened and bribed enough Senators in their party to be on the verge of passing their vaunted but manifestly miserable-piece-of-trash health care bill. It is remarkable not only in its bad content, but also (perhaps even more so) in the underhanded and arguably illegal methods they are using in passing their unconstitutional bill.

Investors Business Daily editorials point out some of the features of the process by which this bill has proceeded to its present point, such as:

1. A special deal for Nebraska, thanks to Sen. Ben Nelson’s holdout threat. This includes full federal assistance for additional Medicaid costs, which people of other states will pay for. [1]

2. “The [Monday at 1:00 A.M.] vote was taken without any members having read the main 2,074-page bill, let alone the 383 pages of amendments that were tacked on at the last minute to buy off senators, including Nebraska's Ben Nelson, Louisiana's Mary Landrieu and Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders.” [2] To vote on a bill without having read it, even on a procedural vote is a disgrace. They are looking for a Christmas Eve vote, and when the final Senate vote is taken, no one will have read it. They add insult to injury by desecrating Christmas.

3. The bill includes well over $400 billion in new taxes. [3] Look for a new recession, assuming the current one technically ends. (Aside to working Americans making under $250,000 a year: Keep us posted on Obama’s success at keeping his promise about no increase – “not one dime” – of taxes on you. Not so good, I expect.)

This process represents political corruption even worse than some actual prosecuted crimes. When a congressman was found guilty of misconduct after thousands of dollars in cash turned up in his freezer, that was bad enough. What the Senate majority has done is plain bribery of lawmakers and misappropriation of taxpayer money amounting to billions. And they want civility, after legislatively extending the middle finger to their constituents. [4] Might they not expect some angry responses?

Upon final approval, the new taxes start right away, while the program itself is supposed to start in 2013, after Obama is safely out of office. Many of the bill’s congressional supporters will be out of office sooner. It’s strictly a partisan bill.

Personally, I hope the Republicans and Tea Party voters continue to pressure these guys. Harry Truman said, “I don’t give ’em hell; I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.” In that spirit, the Democrats’ political opponents need to stay on their case without letup.

If the Senate actually does pass the bill, there remains some more arm-twisting, intimidation and bribery to be done in conference before it can actually become law. One can only hope it will implode somewhere along the way. Liberals may succeed in getting the public option and abortion funding in the final bill. But it’s a monstrosity, whatever form it may take.

On the positive side, since Mr. Obama’s triumphant success in Copenhagen, we can look for the sea levels to start going down soon, and the penguins and polar bears can then stop worrying. Oh wait, that will be after cap and trade is enacted, and America gets taxation taken to whole new level. Unemployment, anyone?

[1] Investors Business Daily editorial, “Louisiana Purchase and Obama Stakes,” 12/21/2009, at http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=515933

[2] Investors Business Daily editorial, “Socialism Creeps In As America Sleeps,” 12/21/2009, at http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=515934

[3] Ibid.

[4] In similarly profound political analysis, RNC Chairman Michael Steele said, “I’m tired of the Congress flipping the bird to the American people.” See article by Martin Kady II at Politico, 12/21/2009, at
http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/1209/Steele_Dems_flipping_the_bird_to_American_people.html


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