Conservative Values

The Coming (Ongoing) Constitutional Debate

tiredoflibbs35 Comments

When it comes to the Constitution, there are two main camps – the Constitutionalists and the “Living” Constitutionalists.   The Constitutionalists believe that the Constitution of 1787 can work at all times.  The Framers’ Constitution has guided this nation for most of the first two centuries and has rendered the freest, most prosperous, and most creative nation in the history of the world.

Then there are the liberals, who believe that the Constitution (and it interpretation) must “evolve” with the times and therein lies the problems we face today.  Proponents of the “21st century constitution” or “living constitution” aim to transform our nation’s supreme law beyond recognition – and with a minimum of public attention and debate.  Indeed, if there is an overarching theme to what they wish to achieve, it is the diminishment of the democratic and representative process of American government.  It is the replacement of a system of REPUBLICAN government, in which the Constitution is largely focused upon the architecture of government in order to minimize the likelihood of abuse of power, with a system of judicial government, in which substantive policy outcomes are increasingly determined by federal judges.  Rather than merely defining broad rules of the game for the legislative and executive branches of government, the new constitution would compel specific outcomes.

Forms of the Founders’ Constitution would remain – a bicameral legislation, periodic elections, state governments – but the important decisions would increasingly be undertaken by the courts, specifically the federal courts.  It will be the California referendum process writ national, a process by which the decisions of millions of voters on matters such as racial quotas, social services funding and immigration policy have been routinely overturned by single judges acting in the name of the Constitution – not the Framers’ Constitution, but a “constitution for our times”, a “living constitution”.

One of the liberals’ favorite argument for a “living constitution” is the “the founding fathers could not have predicted …. (insert favorite liberal cause or ideology here).  That is where they ignore the obvious.  The Framers put into place a means for the nation to amend the Constitution – to change it “with the times”.  This process has worked for over 200 years.  But this would put too much power into the hands of the people and not that of the politicians and their special interests (as we have seen in the last 40 years).  This process has been undermined time and again to the point where many “rights” have been granted through creative interpretation.

The Framers, through long experience of witnessing abuse of power, knew what they were doing when they wrote the Constitution, it amending process and its Bill of Rights, which specifically addressed situations and solutions to conditions that are not covered in the Constitution.  Too bad, MODERN liberals and their activists do not understand (or choose not to) these basic principles.  It is time that they did.

Fighting Discrimination? No, Fighting Common Sense

Mark Noonan4 Comments

A bit of an interesting story from CNA:

Catholic University of America is going ahead with its plan for single-sex residence halls despite a complaint filed on July 14 by Professor John Banzhaf, known for his lawsuits over fast food and women’s bathrooms.

In a July 19 statement provided to CNA, the university said it “is moving ahead with its plans to house the incoming class of freshman in single-sex residence halls when they arrive on campus next month.”

The university said it received a copy of Banzhaf’s complaint and will study it, but it remains “confident that the law does not require that men and women be housed together in residence halls.”…

The story goes on to describe Banzhaf as someone who fights against “discrimination”.  Here in modern America, we are conditioned to think of that as fighting against something bad – discrimination is bad, you see?  Trouble is, discrimination isn’t bad – and, in fact, each and every one of you is firmly in favor of discrimination.  You do it every time you make a choice.

You discriminate between peas and carrots.  Between Ford and Toyota.  Between paper and plastic.  Outside of those commonplaces, you also discriminate in choosing where to live.  Where to work.  Whom to associate with.  You are discriminating all the live long day.  So, why have we become conditioned to thinking that discrimination is bad?  Quite simple – some people wanted to perpetrate a series of injustices but they couldn’t sell it on those terms…so, they magically transformed their desire to do a bad, unjust thing in to a noble fight against “discrimination”.  Such as fighting against the common sense discrimination which would have us separate the sleeping quarters of young men and women.  Endless repetition did the rest – 40 years of fighting “discrimination” and having it endlessly hammered in to us that discrimination is wrong and we’re at the position where the application of common sense (in this case, separating young boys and girls) is startling, and the cause of a lawsuit.

A whole slew of things which are hideously wrong in our society – ranging from mixed-sex dorms to racial set-asides in college admissions as well as scores of other injustices – are built around the created need to fight discrimination.  If we were just after justice, we’d have long ago settled most of our problems and moved on. But there isn’t any money to be made in settling a problem – you can’t get famous that way; you can’t call in to existence vast bureaucracies; you can’t get on television talk shows and write best-selling books; you can’t have whole academic departments set up with cushy jobs and high pay if you are seeking justice.  It was unjust of us to once upon a time to deny opportunity to some people based upon their sex or skin color or religious affiliation…the solution to that problem was to stop doing that.  Presto, we’ve stopped doing that – no one in their right mind would dream of denying someone an opportunity based upon anything other than cold, hard qualifications.  But where is the advantage in such a thing to someone like Banzhaf?  Or an organization like NOW?  Or a whole bureaucracy like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission?

I’m telling you, good people, we’ve gotten ourselves tied up in knots here – we have been forced to abdicate our common sense and turn ourselves over to people who are scamming us like no tomorrow.  Think, for crying out loud – we have to discriminate.  If we don’t discriminate, then we’re simply not thinking.  You point out to me someone who is actually being denied something on grounds other than qualification and I’ll be right there at the barricades fighting along side you…but don’t anyone ever tell me that I have to fight against discrimination.  To me, that is asking me to fight against thinking – we have to judge circumstances and desired goals and figure out the best means of dealing with the former and achieving the latter.  We can’t do that if we allow cranks on the make to forbid thought because the first application of thinking would destroy their cash cow.

There are truths we must adhere to – right here and now, that college boys and girls should not sleep under the same roof.  Grasp that – hang on to that; make that the basis of your thoughts and actions, and a great deal of mental cobwebs will be swept away.  Discriminate between boys and girls – because boys and girls are different and have different needs and desires and it is up to adults to carefully guide them until they are fully ready to take their place as adults in society.  Once we’ve done that, we can then go on – and on and on.  We’ll start thinking, again…and at the merest touch of common sense, a gigantic amount of irrational nonsense will vanish from our society like a puff of smoke.

Allen West Unloads on Wasserman Schultz

Mark Noonan52 Comments

Politico has the email West sent after Wasserman Schultz (liberal Congresscritter and head of the DNC) lied about West’s position on the budget.  According to Politico, Wasserman-Schultz had this to say:

“The gentleman from Florida. who represents thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, as do I, is supportive of this plan that would increase costs for Medicare beneficiaries, unbelievable from a Member from South Florida,” Wasserman Schultz said, saying the legislation “slashes Medicaid and critical investments essential to winning the future in favor of protecting tax breaks for Big Oil, millionaires, and companies who ship American jobs overseas.”

Which is the usual line of nonsense we get from our liberals – a pack of lies which bear no relation to the facts.  What is different is how Rep. West responded.   Here goes:

Subject: Unprofessional and Inappropriate Sophomoric Behavior from Wasserman-Schultz

Look, Debbie, I understand that after I departed the House floor you directed your floor speech comments directly towards me. Let me make myself perfectly clear, you want a personal fight, I am happy to oblige. You are the most vile, unprofessional ,and despicable member of the US House of Representatives. If you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face, otherwise, shut the heck up. Focus on your own congressional district!

I am bringing your actions today to our Majority Leader and Majority Whip and from this time forward, understand that I shall defend myself forthright against your heinous characterless behavior……which dates back to the disgusting protest you ordered at my campaign hqs, October 2010 in Deerfield Beach.

You have proven repeatedly that you are not a Lady, therefore, shall not be afforded due respect from me!

Steadfast and Loyal

Congressman Allen B West (R-FL)

It is regrettable that it has to be like this – but it is also way past time we stopped pretending that our liberal, Democrat opponents want an honest, open debate.  They want us out of the way – completely incapable of stopping them from doing whatever comes to mind.  Whether it is making corrupt deals with their crony capitalists or funding projects which benefit themselves and their donors, Democrats just don’t want to be bothered with pesky Republicans.  As they can’t out-argue us (one cannot actually defend the corrupt system), they prefer to intimidate us in to silence.  It is hard upon a person to endure insults – even when we are sure we’re right, most of us usually wonder what we did wrong to provoke the other person.  By means of slander, Democrats have very often got us to cave.  But a clearer mind leads to a better understanding – West knows he’s done nothing wrong; he’s just being slandered because as an effective opponent of liberal Democrats, he has to go.

And so West’s intemperate but entirely reasonable response – it is the best way to let Wasserman Schultz, and the rest of the liberals, know that he, West, won’t be intimidated.  They can continue to lie all they want, but it won’t alter West’s point of view nor his determination to see liberalism on the ash heap of history.

All the talk of “new tone” is just Democrat code for “we can be as despicable as we want; you GOPers just have to sit there and take it”.  West isn’t having any of it – and neither am I.  This isn’t a matter of hatred or revenge, it is a matter of not letting them win by being nasty.  Fire right back at them – they lie, call them liars; they act vile, tell them they are being vile.  No shame in it and, indeed, by speaking the truth, we’ll be clearing the air.

The Welfare State’s Fight to the Death

Mark Noonan93 Comments

Our death or it’s death – from Michael Walsh at the NY Post:

…The debt-ceiling cage match is the culmination of the Democrats’ 75-year-long fight to establish a voting bloc of dependents under the false flags of “compassion” and “social justice.” It’s sapped our strength, created a welfare mentality and, if unchecked, will reduce us to a nation of aging, resentful beggars with eyes cast permanently toward Washington…

The Democrats don’t want citizens – they want easily controlled serfs, and the best way to make them is to put them on the government dole.  In 2011 America we have tens of millions of people who don’t work but yet manage to not just live, but have cable television, cars and cell phones.  Our factories are shuttered, our mines are closed, our farms go unploughed while people sit on their duffs watching day time television, waiting for their EBT card to be re-filled by the taxpayers and Chinese bond purchasers.  And these people are the bedrock of the Democrat party – they people who are horrified that the spigot might be turned off.  Horrified, that is, that they might have to get a job.

In a rational, humane and just society, government support for the poor would be just enough to keep body and soul together and always less than the most menial, full time job could provide.  It would be just what it is supposed to be – emergency support when through no fault of your own, you can’t survive.  When there are simply no jobs, not just no jobs other than “jobs American’s won’t do” – and, by the way, “jobs Americans won’t do” means “jobs Americans don’t have to do because welfare pays better”.  Making people dependent robs them of their dignity as human beings – it turns them in to de-facto slaves of government, always willing to do the Master’s bidding in return for the crumbs he provides.  Meanwhile, the real raking it in is done by the Ruling Class…in return for bribe of $1,500.00 a month, the dependents allow the Ruling Class to steal trillions.

If we can end this – if we can destroy Big Government – then we will have saved our people.  We must awaken from this government subsidized stupor and get back to work.  A life of hard work, sobriety and thrift is the only worthwhile life and all aspects of society must be built to encourage and support such a life.  There is no room in a republic of free men for anyone to be idle – certainly not idle while receiving so much as a dime of public money.

Get ready for the battle – the Welfare State and its Ruling Class will not give up easily.  But the payoff for us is an America we can be proud of – an America where everyone you meet, every day, did their part as a citizen for our republic.

The Right to Work: A Fundamental Freedom

tiredoflibbs38 Comments

Now when you hear the words “Right to Work”, what comes to mind?

The right to work at any job no matter what age, sex, race, religion, etc. etc.?  Or, as to the liberals, the right to work as long as you belong to a union?

Well it seems to our “friends” in Washington (who claim to want to create jobs) may stop job creation in South Carolina, a Right to Work state.  South Carolina protects workers’ rights not to join a union nor to financially support a union (and their political cronies in Washington).

Boeing is a great American company.  Recently it built a SECOND production line for its 787 Dreamliner aircraft in South Carolina, creating over 1000 jobs there so far.  The other production line is in Washington State.  But the National Labor Relations Board, created in 1935, has taken exception to this decision by Boeing.  Washington state does not support the workers’ rights as does South Carolina.  The general counsel of the NLRB, on behalf of the International Association of Machinists union, has issued a complaint against Boeing, which, if successful, would require it to move its South Carolina operation back to Washington State.  This favorable decision (to the unions) would be an unprecedented act of intervention by the federal government that would appear on its face “un-American”.  But it is an act long in the making, and boils down to a fundamental misunderstanding of freedom.  What is it called when the government controls the means of production?  But I digress…..

It cannot be overemphasized that compulsory unionism violates the first principle of the original labor union movement in America.  Samuel Gompers, founder and first president of the AFL wrote that the labor movement was “based upon the recognition of the sovereignty of the worker”.  Officers of the AFL, he explained in the American Federationist, can “suggest” or “recommend”, but the “cannot command one man in America to do anything”.

Just after WWI, Gompers opposed various government mandates being considered in the capitals of industrial states like Massachusetts and New York that would have mandated certain provisions for manual labors and other select groups of workers: “The workers of America adhere to voluntary institutions in preference to compulsory systems which are held to be not only impractical but a menace to their rights, welfare and their liberty.

Fortunately, there are signs that voters are recognizing the negative consequences of compulsory unionism.  As we have seen in Wisconsin and Ohio, the state legislators have revoked compulsory powers of government union bosses.  Furthermore, the NLRB’s blatantly political and unconstitutional power play with regard to Boeing’s SC plant is sure to strike fair-minded Americans as what it is – a blatant power grab and its ability to determine where private companies can locate.  The attempts by the pResident and the Democrat Congess (before 2010 elections) at passing card-check and eliminating the unionizing secret ballot was another attempt at grabbing power for their special interest group cronies.

All American workers in all 50 states should be granted the full freedom to associate and not to associate in the area of union membership.

Congressman to Obama: Quit Talking

Mark Noonan4 Comments

Well, strictly speaking, he actually said Obama should “quit lying” – but it is a bit of same/same.

My view is that we should just ignore the President – pass a bill out of the House (and, actually, second and third looks at the McConnell plan are making it appear better), send it to the Senate and just leave it in their lap.  Let the Democrats argue amongst themselves – and when the blow it (because, as liberals, they can do no other), let them carry their disaster in to 2012.

Our bill should do the following:

1.  Have a mechanism to raise the debt ceiling incrementally – with the onus of each rise squarely on the President.

2.  Guarantee that available funds will be used for debt payment, Social Security/Medicare, Defense in that order, all other agencies getting whatever is left over.

3.  Cuts spending $1.5o for each $1.00 of debt ceiling increase.

4.  Imposes a 1% “wealth tax” on all wealth in excess of $5 million.

Pass it, throw it over to them, and then just sit back and watch.

 

Government Shut Down in Minnesota Enters Crisis Phase

Mark Noonan9 Comments

Seems that the liquor licenses are expiring – from Powerline:

Mark Dayton’s shutdown of Minnesota’s state government is now in its third week, and so far I’ve seen no sign of it. I mean that literally: if I hadn’t read about the shutdown in the newspapers, I would have no reason to be aware of it…

…This morning, however, the Strib pulled out the heavy artillery with the revelation that bars across the state of Minnesota are beginning to lose their ability to sell beer, wine and liquor:

Hundreds of bars, restaurants and stores across Minnesota are running out of beer and alcohol and others may soon run out of cigarettes — a subtle and largely unforeseen consequence of a state government shutdown.

The logical thing to do here is to make liquor licenses last longer – or make them automatically renewed during a period of government shut down.  Of course, we can also debate whether or not the State should even be regulating the sale of things as common to humanity, for thousands upon thousands of years, as beer and wine (an argument can be made about hard liquor as it is a relatively new development…no more than 500 or so years; such newfangled things even we conservatives can wish to see regulated until we’re really sure how it works out).  Beer and wine are really just a sort of food – as common on the human lunch and dinner table as bread and milk.  And you can perfectly well keep it out of the hands of the kids without licensing the sale of it.  Away with this Puritan legacy of regulated beer…

Of lesser importance than beer (and I really mean this) is the effect this government shut down is having on attitudes in Minnesota.  The government is shut down and yet people are managing to live – this is a body blow Big Government.  The world didn’t end – it will take liberalism a long time to recover from this.  Meanwhile, with liberalism in disarray, we have an excellent opportunity to turn beer and wine back over to the complete control of the people by eliminating all government responsibility for its production, distribution and sale.  High time that the adults of America got to decide how much beer to drink, and when.

UPDATE:  The Democrat governor caves in and agrees to the GOP budget.  Let that sink in a little bit – in a blue State, with the entirety of the Ruling Class and the MSM on his side, the Democrat had to surrender when the GOP stood firm.  This can be repeated nationally.

Why America is Different (and Better) Than Other Nations

Mark Noonan2 Comments

Other nation’s have their start lost in the mists of time. Some founded by the merest adventurers, others by conquerors and oppressors; some were just sort of made up by others. The United States is different – voluntarily people removed themselves from their native society and set up a new place where right from the beginning, regular folks would look after their own affairs. It took raw guts to even want to come here – the trip across the Atlantic was fraught with risk, and that was before you even set foot in North America and tried to carve a life out of the wilderness. Only the most stern, disciplined and motivated people would even try…and only the best among them would live. A nation founded by such people was bound to be unique – and better than any other nation out there; and so it has proved.

By the time our Founders gathered in 1776 we were 150 years a people…divided, to be sure; not at all certain as to just what sort of government we should have…but dead set upon the fact that they would rule themselves, or die fighting.

We here in 2011 have lost some of that. We’ve grown a bit fat and soft…and some people who claim the title of American would even fight to defend liberty under any circumstances. But, also, we are regaining some of that. As the forces out to destroy the American ideal advanced, it created a backlash…and now people realize that the precious inheritance is at risk. That we could, indeed, cease to be American and become some sort of besotted, bankrupt, dying copy of disintegrating Europe.

I think we will recover it all – I think we will prove to our Founders that we are worthy descendants. There will be a new birth of American freedom, and we will once again astound the world.

Fighting for American Ideals

Mark Noonan

Thaddeus McCotter did officially announce his candidacy for President – and here is what he believes:

1. Our liberty is from God not the government.

2. Our sovereignty is in our souls not the soil.

3. Our security is from strength not surrender.

4. Our prosperity is from the private sector not the public sector.

5. Our truths are self evident not relative

Don’t know if he’ll be able to rocket up from House to White House, but he’s miles ahead of President Obama, already.

Aside from McCotter, himself, I am noting that a lot of people in 2012 are thinking along these lines – thinking, that is, that we need a return to first principles. We have strayed so far from the Constitutional Republic that our Founders bequeathed to us that in a very real sense we need to re-learn how to be free. Re-learn, that is, how to be Americans. Over the past couple days I had a small Facebook argument with a very nice lady from San Francisco who appeared outraged that I would want to axe the Department of Education…there is a mental conception these days that doing anything requires government approval and aid…for some, there is no way for us to have education unless we have a Department of Education. The Founders would not understand this – and, indeed, I don’t think even my late father’s generation would really understand it, either.

Over the past 30 or 40 years, especially, we have been conditioned to look for government solutions…that someone needs to do something to make it right. Fading away among us is the willingness to dive in and just do it…and complicating things even for those who do is a determination by our massive government that no one shall. Try to set up anything on your own and the government will want it registered, licensed and taxed…and in the end government might not allow it to happen. Our Founders would very much have understood that – and Washington would have called out the militia and re-started the Revolution if he had seen it.

Let us make 2012 our revolution; let us reach back across the chasm of time and rekindle that burning faith in liberty which created the United States and made it the most generous, prosperous and powerful nation in human history.