Restoring Constitutional Government
by Paul A. RaheWe have come a long way in the last twenty months. The President of the United States, his Chief of Staff, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Majority Leader in the United States Senate have done for the Republican Party what no Republican could have accomplished. Just as rigor mortis was about to set in, they brought the old corpse back to life. For their efforts on our behalf, we should be forever grateful.
It is easy to lose perspective. It is easy to forget the dire straits in which the Republicans found themselves in and for some time after November, 2008. On the first Tuesday of that month, they were soundly defeated. The Democrats controlled the Presidency and both houses of Congress. In time, when Al Franken was seated and Arlen Specter turned coat, the Democrats would attain El Dorado – a commanding majority in the Senate capable to bringing a filibuster to a screeching halt.
The Republicans initially thought that to get along they would have to go along. Had Nancy Pelosi thrown a little patronage their way when the so-called “stimulus” bill was being put together, had Barack Obama intervened to insist that she include earmarks for compliant Republicans in the House, a great many of them would have voted for the measure. It is to her that we owe their solidarity on the occasion of the vote. She is responsible for the fact that on that occasion they presented themselves to the world as a party of principle. If the Tea-Party Movement, which sprang up in the immediate aftermath of the bill’s passage, was not as resolutely hostile to the Republicans as it was to the Democrats, it was because Pelosi and her minions wanted vengeance, sought it, and got it.
Even when the Tea-Party Movement had emerged, the Republicans were not quick to realize what was in the offing. On 2 May 2009, some six months after the election, Jeb Bush emerged from a meeting with Mitt Romney and House Republican Whip Eric Cantor to announce that it was time for the Republicans to give up “nostalgia about the past” and to leave Ronald Reagan and all that he stood for behind. “You can’t beat something with nothing,” he observed, “and the other side has something. I don’t like it, but they have it, and we have to be respectful and mindful of that.”
Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, and Eric Cantor may have been slow to grasp what was going on, but it would be a mistake to assume that they are dopes. It was not until early August in that year that I was willing to admit to myself that a political realignment in the Republicans’ favor was a serious possibility; and, as I noted in a piece posted in the aftermath of the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in early September, I was even then almost entirely alone. At that convention, I had attended a panel on Barack Obama’s first year as President at which not one of the distinguished students of American politics on the panel had in their prepared remarks even mentioned the Tea-Party Movement. And when I asked a question about it, I received a perfunctory answer. It was odd, my interlocutor remarked, that such a movement had emerged in the absence of institutional support. It was, I thought, very odd, very odd, indeed.
Now, thanks to Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, the Republicans appear to be on the verge of an historic victory.
I would not be surprised in the slightest if they were to gain more than seventy seats in the House of Representatives and to retake the Senate as well. But, as I intimated in a recent post entitled John Boehner’s Testing Time, nothing is certain, not even now, and Jeb Bush was certainly right about one thing. You cannot beat something with nothing, and in recent years the Republicans have stood for next to nothing. If they are to effect a lasting political realignment — a possibility for which I have argued repeatedly in the last twelve months (first here in August 2009, then in posts linked here and archived here, here, and here) – they must give the American people reason to put their faith in them.
In an earlier post, entitled Patronage, Principles, and Political Parties, I explored the history of American political parties, their propensity to oscillate between being parties of patronage and parties of principle, and the manner in which the American constitution with its separation of powers both requires and subverts parties of principle. In John Boehner’s Testing Time, I drew on this earlier post and suggested that Boehner, Mitch McConnell, and their associates would be well-advised to draft a new Contract with American designed to nationalize the midterm elections and to transform the Republican Party – which has in recent years tended to be a party of patronage oriented towards the needs of particular, local constituencies – into a party of principle capable, at least for the time being, of genuinely governing these United States.
This end, I contended, can be achieved only if the Republicans appropriate for their own use a claim falsely but effectively advanced by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1936 which – thanks to our current President, his Chief of Staff, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Majority Leader in the United States Senate — now rings all too true: that today the American republic is threatened by a conspiracy, that “a small group” of individuals, lead by Obama, Emanuel, Pelosi, and Reid, is intent on concentrating “into their own hands an almost complete control over other people’s property, other people’s money, other people’s labor — other people’s lives.” If they wish to effect a realignment, I argued, all that the Republicans have to do is to complete the task of unmasking begun by Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and Emanuel and make it clear that they really do intend to repeal Obamacare, to balance the federal budget without enacting permanent tax increases, to roll back the scope and size of the administrative state, and to restore within these United States limited, constitutional government.
To this end, they not only need to spell out in some detail what they intend to do; they need, as I argued in that earlier post, to justify their proposals in terms of constitutional principles. To grasp what this entails, they will need to specify what these principles are. Here is how this can be done.
As I argued in an earlier post and, in much greater detail, in my recent books Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty and Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift, the American regime is an experiment of a particular kind. In the late eighteenth century, it was almost universally agreed that a republic cannot be sustained on an extended territory. Such was the argument that Montesquieu advanced in the first part of his authoritative book The Spirit of Laws, and he had good reason for advancing such a claim. Athens and Sparta were situated on territories of no great size, and the same could be said for early Rome and for Lucca, Florence, and Venice in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Late republican Rome was an exception to the rule, to be sure. But – as both Machiavelli in his Discourses on Livy and Montesquieu in his Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline and Spirit of Laws pointed out — Rome was also the exception that proved the rule. It was a republic that, by dint of conquest, came to be situated on an extended territory and then collapsed. The Framers of the American constitution faced a great challenge, and this they knew.
The challenge was straightforward. Polities situated on extended territories sit at a great distance from the vast majority of the people whom they rule. This is consistent with despotism; and if the distance is not too great, it is consistent with legitimate monarchy and the rule of law as well. But for republics it poses a problem. Governments at a distance from the people they rule tend to be invisible; and when human beings are invisible, they tend rightly to suppose that they can get away with a lot. Moreover, large polities tend to face emergencies more often than small polities, and emergencies require from rulers vigor, alacrity, and resoluteness of the sort most easily provided by a man who can act alone. The challenge facing the American Framers was to devise a constitutional structure capable of producing a government fit for meeting emergencies but unlikely to become, as James Madison once delicately put it, “self-directed.”
To meet this challenge, they turned to the second and third parts of Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws – where he sketched out two different ways in which a republic can overcome this limitation on its magnitude. It was, he realized, necessary that it do so because – at least in modern times – no small republic could hope to marshal the resources necessary for its self-defense when attacked by monarchies of intermediate size or despotisms immense in size.
The first expedient suggested by Montesquieu was federalism. By means of federalism, a group of republics could project power in the manner of a monarchy while remaining small enough to be genuinely self-governing.
Montesquieu’s second expedient was the separation of powers. By distinguishing along functional lines between the executive power, the legislative power, and the judicial power and by distributing these three powers to different bodies in such a fashion as to render them separate and quasi-autonomous, the English had managed to transform a monarchy into a republic capable of sustaining itself on an extended territory. For emergencies, they had an executive capable of vigor, alacrity, and resoluteness. To prevent that executive from becoming a tyrant, they had a House of Commons responsible to the electorate and capable of calling the executive’s servants to account. To avoid populist excesses, they had a House of Lords capable of checking the House of Commons; and to protect the liberty of the citizens, they had judges who could not easily be removed from office and juries selected from among the peers of those accused.
The Americans combined both expedients. To begin with, they instituted a federation, building on the remnants of the old colonial system and on the structure that existed under the Articles of Confederation. At the center, they established a government of limited powers – capable of defending the nation, of guaranteeing to every state a republican government, of regulating commerce between the states, and of responding to emergencies. To the states and local governments, where the territory was comparatively small, they left all other legitimate powers. To make the federal government in some measure independent of the states, they provided for direct popular election of the House of Representatives; and to enable the states to protect their own prerogatives from federal encroachment, they had the state legislatures elect the federal senate.
At both the state and federal level, the American founders instituted a separation of powers, giving to the executive, the legislators, and the judiciary the means by which to defend their own prerogatives and the motives for doing so – and, by dividing and separating the powers, the Founders sought to make the government and its operations visible to the citizens. Each branch served the general public as a watchdog with regard to the others.
The measures undertaken by the Obama administration and by its supporters in Congress that gave rise to and sustained the Tea-Party Movement all have this in common. They constitute an assault – evident to anyone who cares to look – on our inherited political order. They transgress on the two great principles constitutive of that order. They are inconsistent with federalism and the separation of powers, and nothing speaks to their character more eloquently than the fact that they were crafted in camera behind closed doors, that those who voted on them had not read them, and that they were of such a length as to be incomprehensible even to their putative authors.
Let me be a bit more precise. The two great measures passed since January, 2009 – the healthcare reform bill and the financial-regulation reform bill – presuppose that the federal government can do anything. Both run roughshod over the prerogatives of the states. Neither is consistent with federalism as a principle of governance.
The same can be said with regard to the separation of powers. Both bills presuppose a massive delegation of legislative power to executive agencies. Both presuppose that appointed officials can and should be empowered to issue regulations having the force of law. Both presuppose on the part of both houses of Congress an abdication of the legislative power. Both require a concentration of executive, legislative, and judicial power within a single agency that operations, in effective, behind closed doors. Both promise to give rise to a government that is invisible and unaccountable. The combination of these powers is, Montesquieu asserted, the very emblem of despotism.
My critics will respond that this is nothing new, and they are very nearly right. The administrative state is now nearly a century old. It has existed since the days of Woodrow Wilson. It assumed gigantic proportions under the New Deal and the Great Society. But never was its expansion brazenly and arrogantly thrust upon the American people until now. By the methods that they have employed to secure its aggrandizement, Obama, Emanuel, Pelosi, and Reid have unmasked the administrative state and have made visible its tyrannical potential.
It is the task of John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, and their associates to unite their brethren behind a common program designed to roll back the administrative state and to hold them to their commitments. To do this successfully, they must make use of what the Democrats have done in the last few years in such a way as to educate the American people with regard to the roots of the present discontents. What those who joined the Tea-Party Movement sense must in the course of the midterm campaign be made manifest in all of its horror.
I have said it before, and I will say it again. What we need is a return to first principles.
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162 Comments
"I have said it before, and I will say it again. What we need is a return to first principles."
I wholeheartedly agree with that statement. Eloquent.
I certainly agree with the first paragraph as well. Barack Obama has done more for the Republican Party, than anyone has done since Jimmah Carter set the stage for Ronald Reagan. With that, the only thing left to add is Yeah Barack!
Our Constitution is not negotiable. Nothing makes Americans more pissed than when usurpers usurp, but insist they're not.
This is the most radical government in American history and the Constitution is nothing but an obstacle to them. November cannot come fast enough, but there are many many more of us, and we are winning.
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The GOP needs to STAND UP for the American people, and the values and strength that made this country great!
If we are not careful, we will be in the same situation as France, with the Muslims taking over and blocking streets with their daily 'prayers' …They need to fight against the socialism that has been trying to get a foothold in this country for the past 18 months, and strangle it!
I can't cheer for the Dems no matter how much they advance the cause of conservatism. They have caused and will continue to cause too much damage to the country to cheer for them. They are like cockroaches. Shine some light on them now, but in a few years they will "bank on amnesia" in the electorate and be back. Not them in particular, but others just like them.
We can't even undo the damage in the next two years – we can only seek to control it. After 2012… it may be a different story.
Returning to a constitutional government is going to be a daunting task. There are so many people that have their hands out for the "free" money from the government welfare state that they will fight in the streets before giving up their "paycheck".
yes it will be a daunting task. Like Washington, there will be some defeats but in the end he won! We may lose a few and we must pledge Our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor like we've never done before. We are being fought on so many sides….illegal immigration, islam, freedom of speech, and a war on our economy to name a few….
Who woulda thunk that the Dali Bama, Pelosi, and Reid were closet Republicans all along?!
This paragraph from the article is exceptional:
"Let me be a bit more precise. The two great measures passed since January, 2009 – the healthcare reform bill and the financial-regulation reform bill – presuppose that the federal government can do anything. Both run roughshod over the prerogatives of the states. Neither is consistent with federalism as a principle of governance."
I can sum that up with one word: ARIZONA.
What the Obama Administration is doing to Arizona is unconscionable.
Every proposed bill should be "backed up" by our U.S. Constitution for making positive it is legal and within the confines of the Constitution. Every law signed by Obama so far have skirted the Constitution, and that my fellow Americans, is the reason for our outrage and voter payback that is coming soon.
If Boehner and McConnell don't put their "big boy" britches on and get the job done, they need to be unceremoniously replaced with able men and women. There is too much at stake and to not seize the forth coming opportunity will result in a swifter demise of our Republic. It is time to step up to the plate and live up to their sworn duty to uphold our Constitution. Nothing less is acceptable.
both parties are responsible for the mess we are in neither care about constitution or principles only power and keeping power.the bad news is that the American people let this happen by caring more about entertainment than the substance of what was being done to them and our childrens future, we the people need to re learn the phrase ignorant and free can never be.
First principles, you are right about that. But you need to add back character and honor, and finally shame. Reclaim our responsibilities — Then it will be complete. For without character and honor we end up with things like a president who thinks nothing of telling one bald faced whopper after another.
There were many of us who knew what Obama was from the getgo, it took very little investigation into him, just read his book, to figure out the socialism in all he is.
But hate blinds, and causes reason and logic get cast aside for emotional hate.
I believe that the Republicans will win big in November but, they better take note that the people are awake and will throw them out if they fail to support the conservative movement and listen to the RINO's.
Every thing you said is true. I will, like many millions of others will fight the good fight to ensure the American dream continues. We are, and have been, the only country where someone borne impoverished can make his, or her, way to become whatever they want to be, as rich as they want to be and as educated as they want to be. Long live the American Dream.
We can deny the increase in the debt ceiling, and then start investigating these creeps and the regulation nightmare they are loading on America.
Much of what Obama is doing is unconstitutional if not outright illegal.
You could also read Kagan's paper, "Presidential Administration", how to rule America by a fiat president, the bureaucracy and regulations.
First you must repeal the Wilson era 17th Amendment, and return the Senate top the States. That alone will end the pit of unfunded mandates.
What the administration is doing to Arizona is criminal. We need to hold those responsible, all of them, try them, and if found guilty, jail them. Holding them all accountable is the only way we can stop this BS coming out of Washington.
True… now what Glenn hs been saying about the labor secretary on how racists she is !!!! How she believes in Castro and Chavez!!!!
So remember Obama is not a socialists but HIS WHOLE CABINET IS !!!!! Strange !!!
We can never go back to being the disinterested silent majority … Else we end up in slave camps built of spiraling debt.
My bets are on Paul Ryan to shake up the Good Ole Boys Network..
The Constitution and truth, those should sustain us.
I like Ryan and I also like DeMint, a lot. We need more like them.
"The President of the United States, his Chief of Staff, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Majority Leader in the United States Senate have done for the Republican Party what no Republican could have accomplished."
I'm glad you followed that up with the point that the Republicans haven't stood for anything for several years, because what the Republicans have done to themselves is just as important: The rise of the TEA Parties has not just been a rejection of the Democrat left, but the big government Republicans as well. That's why, with the defeat of Republican incumbents in primaries by TEA Party backed candidates, what we are witnessing is a hostile takeover of the Republican party by libertarian-conservatives backed by the TEA Party folks.
Neither party has properly represented the will of the people for decades, and Americans have had enough of that.
If you think 2010 is interesting, just wait for 2012: Obama is too much of a narcissist to tack to the center like Clinton did, so we'll have even more disgust then.
How right you are. Republicans need to know that they are not the solution that we, the people are seeking. They are, for now, the best alternative.
CL, you stole my thunder. You said it perfectly, Nuff Said. Back to the founders principles.
Who the hell is handing this all to the republican party? They happen to just be the benefactor to the ground-swell of patriots who have been abandoned by RINO's and all democrats. Sure they will take over control of the legislative branch, but that does not let them off the hook. It's not just about giving them control. It's about restoring our founding principles that they and the democrats have been slowly stealing away from us for many years.
I give them no free pass.
I'M WATCHING YOU!!!!!
don't expect anything new from McConell and Boehner they are part of the problem, New leadership should be chosen from the newly elected in november. We don't need more of the same old leaders who wait to see where the train is headed to jump on board These two are part of the good ole boy network and should get their walking papers. Purley opportunist is what they are. We need real Americans who have lived in the private sector to lead , not these career politicians. Away with the concept of tenure and entitlement. As Senior Senate or House leaders They should retire,for the good of the country!
I truly hope and pray that this handful of candidates, if successful, can form enough of a bloc to advance the voice of Constitutional Conservatism. Enough a bloc to make others on the fence in both parties about founding principles to wake up and see the dangerous path our government has been taking the last several decades. Somebody once said that Democracy will ultimately eat itself from the inside. That is why we are not a Democracy – the Founders knew that.
The Tea Party was always here. It was the thousands of everyday Americans that crashed the senate phone system during the Amnesty debate. Republicans chose to ignore those voices and lost big in '06. Not persuaded to listen by that loss, they gave us Juan McAmnesty for a presidential candidate which doomed them in '08.
TARP followed by Rick Santelli's rant over that bailout gave the Tea Party a name but we were here already!
I knew, and wrote on own blog, that the GOP had become hopelessly unresponsive and predicted that Obama was the medicine the country was going to have to swallow if things were ever going to change. Was I wrong?
The GOP is going to be the prime beneficiary of the Obama agenda this November. That should not be taken by republicans as a resounding endorsement. It isn't!
I don't know yet if the Tea Party movement is strong enough to be the difference in a three way race, perhaps FL will tell us more, but I know if we stay home that no republican is going get elected. Just ask president McCain!
Amen Mr. Rahe! Brilliant overview of our current situation. We must force our parties to be more than a default position. We are now certain who the liberals are, now we must expose Republicans (RINOs), and through several election cycles, help them find their inner Reagan, or fire them. As you say Mr. Rahe, this is a real opportunity to finally quell statist Washington, and the Tea Party is the proof that with the help of real Americans, this is finally possible. God Bless America!
Republicans may well get yet another CHANCE, but it will be extremely difficult to undo what democrats have done in the last two years. Democrats have had a drunken orgy. Republicans will be left the task of cleaning up.
Republicans have been at the helm before and proved themselves to be "progressive light". They must do better than a moderate version of democrat socialism or a new push for a Third Party will begin again.
The Federal Government must downsize and return power to the States. This requires surrendering power, something contrary to a politician's genes. TERM LIMITS and a restructuring of benefits for Reps & Sens – these "Public Servants" must put back the cookies and remove their hands from the cookie jar.
Further , we need a 5 year rule that these politicians who are voted out must work in the private sector for at least 5 years before they can run for election again or recieve any type of political appointment in other branches of goverment . Also that they cannot be a lobbiest for that period of time. This would have a cleansing effect by limiting how much the "God ole Boy Network" could effectively influance the newly elected either through coercion or threat, politically. Finally Term limits would be in order.
The age of the career politicians is over! America is awake and will force those elected to do their job or they will be forced out regardless of party!
Nice perspective on where we are, Mr. Rahe.
We have paid a heavy price to wake up America, but America needed the wake-up call.
I sure hope so … After the 1994 election, people just went back to sleep.
I worked the Defoleyate campaign, and it was horrific the rate our supporters dissipated.
Nothing will ever be restored in America until the American People wake up and realize that Obama has some questions that still are unanswered about his qualification to be a president! These questions are still unanswered because the MSM won't inform you that ARTICLE 2 SECTION 1says a citizen, to be president must be a NATURAL BORN CITIZEN! Because of Obama's father never being a U.S. citizen the question of Obama being a Natural Born Citizen is to this day suspect and still goes unanswered! At the highest order the U.S. Constitution is being threatened and if the American People don't rise up and demand answers about Obama and A2S1…..you can forget about restoring America to being a Constitutional Government!
Let's not forget… The GOP is not the 'solution' to our problem either (they can be very progressive too). The GOP is just 'closer' to the solution than the progresives. Hopefully the GOP will realize that they need to diferentiate themselves MORE from the progressives than they have in the past (like not running a candidate that's so similar to the democrat candidate). We're off to a good start… but need to keep the momentum moving.
I certainly hope we can find our current version of "Ronald Wilson Reagan"– I have not seen him/her yet– Reagan made himself known as a serious and valid candidate for President, way back before the 1980 nomination– at least as far back as 1976, when the "'Rockefeller Republicans" still ruled the roost, and put their shoeshine-boy Ford in as the nominee– Reagan was a true "Jedi" or Goldwater Republican, who opposed the "Sith" running the party at the time– following the Nixon debacle, who did as much to screw up the economy as any proud Democrat (remember federal "wage" and "price" freezes? Both were Nixon inventions)
On Arizona… I wish other states would stand more closely with Arizona.
This is a BUMMER !
http://dailycaller.com/2010/09/01/labor-and-liber...
Thank you tarpon for saying it so well. "For Shame" could be a Tea Party slogan.
“Progressivism offers — rather, promises: less freedom; less mobility; less prosperity; less comfort; less autonomy and sovereignty for individuals; less integrity and straightforwardness; less transparency among the ruling class, oversight of their capricious usurpations, and recourse to address the wrongs they encourage; less satisfaction in life; less self-respect and dignity; less of everything that makes life living, in sum.
But there are in fact some things they offer us more of: more government; more taxation; more overweening bureaucracy to exercise more control over our lives; more intolerance for differing ideas; more restriction; more strangulation.”
-Mike Hendrix
2010 will make 1994 look like the good old days for progressives.
“The champions of socialism call themselves progressives, but they recommend a system which is characterized by rigid observance of routine and by a resistance to every kind of improvement. They call themselves liberals, but they are intent upon abolishing liberty. They call themselves democrats, but they yearn for dictatorship. They call themselves revolutionaries, but they want to make the government omnipotent. They promise the blessings of the Garden of Eden, but they plan to transform the world into a gigantic post office. Every man but a subordinate clerk in a bureau. What an alluring utopia! What a noble cause to fight!
Against all this frenzy of agitation there is but one weapon available: reason. Just common sense is needed to prevent man from falling prey to illusory fantasies and empty catchwords.”
-Ludwig von Mises
"The era of the state church has been replaced by an age in which the state itself is the church. European
progressives still don't get this: they think the idea of a religion telling you how to live your life is primitive, but the government regulating every aspect of it is somehow advanced and enlightened."
-Mark Steyn
Now that would make a great ad!
"Government is a dangerous servant and a terrible master."
-Robert A. Heinlein
I would like to believe that the Republicans have had an 'epiphany', but I fear it's going to be more of the same. O'barry and his followers have increased government, stomped on the Constitution and snuffed liberty for the past 18 months. Will the Republicans take REAL action and reverse the crap that has been forced down our throats??
I doubt it. They won't even challenge him on his eligibility for cryin' out loud. It's all about power and they will be taking control of a government that is much more powerful than the one they lost. Will they push Term limits? Stop earmarks? Stop spending foolishly? Or will they feed us more political crap but with a different flavor. They are part of the cancer that invades the body America. The disease may slow for a short time after November, but unless they take us IMMEDIATELY back to a Constitutional, free market Republic once again, their addiction to the power will rule out and we'll find ourselves listening to the same song … just a different band.
Tell me… would you trust your jewelry to kleptomaniac?
Before we denounce Obama and the liberal-socialists maybe we should clean the Republican Party of its liberal wing.
Recommend C. Bradley Thompson's new book Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea as a first step:
http://www.amazon.com/Neoconservatism-Obituary-C-...
Mr Rahe:
Great writing! I always enjoy reading your articles, very thoughtful and concise. Now how do we fit what you say onto a bumper sticker so the left can understand?
The Democrat Party needs to step it up and rid themselves of the socialist radicals and the progressives if they are going to survive the coming onslaught.
They can try…but, they will NEVER generate the amount of people at the Beck 'Restoring Honor' Rally!!
Glenn Beck talked about this article on the air….these guys get it. http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/15295.html
I cant wait to see the pictures of the Mall after their rally….do you think it will be left clean?
I think it will be trashed.
May 7, 2010
To the Editor:
Submarines have always fascinated me. Their role in the last century cannot be overstated. From the simple man powered submarines of the civil war to the USS Nautilus’s journey under the North Pole to the modern submarines that form a critical part of the US nuclear deterrent. As over engineered as these ships are, when a torpedo hits, decisions have to be made to save the ship. Sometimes those decisions have to be made under extreme stress, and the result of the orders leads to the death of fellow crew mates. As one space fills with water, pulling the ship inexorably to the bottom, a sailor in the dry space must close the hatch to save the ship.
The United States is analogous to a submarine wounded by enemy action. Instead of an enemy firing a torpedo, we, via all of our poor political leadership have fired one upon ourselves. The political classes collective record, how ever well intentioned, has lead us here, through massive spending, borrowing, and making promises to citizens that cannot be met. Character at a point of pressure is the most important asset a leader, officer, or soldier possesses. Why? Because sometimes it is necessary to close the hatch to save the ship. The question to my mind is which party possesses the capacity to do that now.
While the collusion of both parties are to blame for our sinking ship. It is the Republican party that is desperately trying to close the hatch and save the ship. The Republican party is standing against three pieces of legislation that will forever resign this nation to a continual decline and eventual ruin. The first is commonly understood to be “health care,” this legislation will forever alter a citizens relationship to their government. If it passes medical attention will become a right that must be met by force of law. As the saying goes, if you want to make something expensive, make it free. The failure of this solution to meeting the medical needs of people is deeply felt by those who lost loved ones because the English or the Canadian governments denied vital care. Liberal Democrats have another scheme to launch on the American people this one is called “Cap and Trade” – essentially this nightmare would allow the federal government to tax a citizen when they drive, breath, or turn on the light switch. Kirsten Gillibrand has personally advocated for it in the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, I assume Senator Gillibrand expects that by creating the next Wall Street scam will lead to voluminous campaign contributions on the back of the American taxpayer. Finally, there is “Card Check,” this gem would eliminate the secret ballot from the process by which a business goes from being a non-union to a union shop. Thus, the Union leadership would be in a position to put massive pressure on those who voted “no.” Republicans have stood, and are standing against all of this – in fact on the “Cap and Trade” front Republicans have earned bipartisan opposition to it.
All the while the water is rushing into our ship, and the choice must be made in six months; will the citizens of this great nation choose to stand with the leadership of the liberal democratic party, that is trying to keep the hatch open, so we all go down, or will the American people choose to stand with the Republican party, that is trying to close the hatch? I have confidence that the American people are ready to not only support the Republican party, but help close the hatch and save the ship. America is ready to sacrifice all but our liberty and our economic freedom – this has, and will always be true, and has happened in the past, it is “We The People” leading the charge. Right now the only organized political party that has the capacity to close the hatch is the Republican party.
Here's his blog:
http://coldfury.com/
Typical. todays first post:
"So, Leftards: does Al Gore now have blood on his hands, same as you always say Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, et al do each and every time you jump to the same old erroneous conclusion about some violent incident or other — and before it becomes known that the perp is yet another one of your deranged comrades instead?"
HA!
Big Government Politicians Concerned with Latest Fashion Trend http://optoons.blogspot.com/2010/08/big-governmen...
Think about how you raise kids. You can talk and talk until you're blue in the face about whatever the issue-du-jour is, but until they've actually EXPERIENCED something and learned from that experience, including making a huge mistake during that experience, all your talk is just that: big talk and to them, not much else. The American public in 2007-2008 were the "kids" who not only wouldn't listen but who shrieked at us "parents" that we were old fuddy duds who were afraid of "hope" and "change." Now, after a short two years, the kids have gone through their experience of Obama, Pelosi, Reid and company, they've hopefully wised up and matured, and they're ready to finally grow up.
The Republican Party lost its way with Newt. I liked the contract with America but the Republican incumbents proved themselves as they continue to do with Steal to be out of touch.
There was a time when I feared the vote would be split but now it is becoming clear that the Republican Party is going to be changed from within. Thanks to the likes of Sara Palin, Glen Beck, Rush, Hanity, Mark Levin and others We the People are kicking out Republican incumbents the list so far:
Utahs Bob Bennett lost to Tea Party candidate Mike Lee
SC Bob Ingis to TP Trey Gowdy
Alaska Murkowski to TP Joe Miller
Alabama Jump ship Rat Parker Griffith to TP Mo Brooks
Arlen Spector knew he would lose long ago so he switched hoping to gain democrats votes (good riddance to bad rubbish)
Next in line is Mike Castle who will lose to TP candidate Christine O Donnell
The only reason McCain survived is because of Sara Palin if not for her endorsement McCain would have been number 6
We will see what September holds in store but it is clear that the Republican Party is going to be turned into the Tea Party and the vote will not be split in 2012 either.
First order of the day in January a new contract with America out with the old and in with the new.
We don't live in Montesquieu’s time. If commerce were separate and distinct to the local governments, we indeed could limit the federal government to more modest objectives. But this is 21st century America, where tens of millions are served by national entities whose power is Goliath to the rights of each state. Federal pre-emption in state rights over rules in the commerce of national entities, be they health care, finance, or telecommunications, is the modus operandi of today's Republicans. This DOES NOT pay respect to Montesquieu.
The proposed Corker amendment to Financial Reform that would have pre-empted the rights of state AG's to sue banks under even federal law, or the Republican solution to allow health care insurers to cross state lines and compete more nationally, are just two examples of increasingly centralized control over Americans. These Republicans can thump the favor they're doing the corporate juggernauts, while Democrats take heat for imposing structure that’s also under corporate influence.
Con't
It's all bad, and the only way to return to Montesquieu is to limit the power of commercial entities, along with the federal government. Too big comes in more ways than one. The only sign I see Republicans are beginning to stand against the other was the Durbin amendment capping the behavior of the Credit Card Co’s. That anti-competitive verses price control debate isn't over.
I am no longer interested in (D) and (R), I am instead interested in (L) an (C). The GOP tried to be inclusive by co-opting the liberal agenda. When that failed to rouse the masses in their support they decided the cause was them not being liberal enough.
When we Americans had enough and starting showing our displeasure through peaceful protests we were called crazy by both sides. I am not convinced that the (R)'s get it yet, I believe they are merely trying to steer the movement in the direction they feel is best for us.
I will , this year at least, be giving them a chance to prove me wrong but the bar has been raised. The GOP has no excuse for misinterpreting our political stance. They must either side with the American People or be pushed aside and replaced with a more accountable and responsive party.
Most things in life can be reduced to their lowest common denominator. In this case, Glenn Beck is spot on. Honor, is the place to start.
I honestly don't think Boehner and McConnell are up to the challenge, and at this point, I'm voting republican simply because they aren't democrats. Without a clear path being laid out for a return to the Constitutional role of government, and an awakening of the citizens to the genius of the Constitution, we are screwed.
The GOP is 50% of our problems.
"The same can be said with regard to the separation of powers. Both bills presuppose a massive delegation of legislative power to executive agencies. Both presuppose that appointed officials can and should be empowered to issue regulations having the force of law. Both presuppose on the part of both houses of Congress an abdication of the legislative power. Both require a concentration of executive, legislative, and judicial power within a single agency that operations, in effective, behind closed doors. "
Anyone notice Governor TimPalenty on Greta last night? He told the Feds NO to health care dollars. he WONT take their money. He likened them to a drug dealer, pushing drugs, and getting States hooked on the money. Great analogy!
Just remember in 2012, Mitt Romney, along with Jeb Bush and Eric Cantor comming out of that meeting to announce that it was time for the Republicans to give up “nostalgia about the past” and to leave Ronald Reagan and all that he stood for behind. “You can’t beat something with nothing,” he observed, “and the other side has something. I don’t like it, but they have it, and we have to be respectful and mindful of that.” I still think the GOP will try to cram the Standard Bearer Mitt Romnet down our throats. Mitt Romney is a RINO, he proved it as the Governor of Mass.
Not to mention, Allison, that they in creating a HC RIGHT, have mandated a HC delivery "slave" class. Who will be forced to honor the RIGHT of health care? How will gov't FORCE PHYSICIANS to deliver the "RIGHT" OF health care?
What doctor will sit still for having not only his fees, but his treatment options dictated to him by the gov't? My guess, third world doctors shipped over and promised citizenship in return for indentured servitude.
Good luck with that. Just guessin here, but I don't think patients are gonna like that much.
Being the "Guideon" , in the military thats the soldier carrying the "Compan Flag" , Arizona has demonstrated the arrogance and dictatorial tendency of Obama and his adminastration. Combined with all the aforementioned abuses of governance, the People do what we always have, we arise, we form our own ranks to combat the forces marshalled against us. At first we are dismissed as being naive, then we are ridiculed, then our motives are questioned, and finally we are recognized for what we are, We are those mentioned in the Founding Documents of the Nation……….We the People of the United States. Politicitian of both parties are discovering "We" are on the march, they all have a choice, Lead, Follow or Get out of the way. November is as much slam at the current regime as it is to the status-quo of Washington DC. WE are sick of business as usual. If they haven't noticed we are picking off supposed conservative republicans as well as Democrats. WE are an equal "turn them out of office orginization" the sooner they realize this the sooner they will come around to reality.
Speaking of Arizona and the border situation. Specifically the lack of enforcement of existing federal laws, that is the responsibility of the Commander-in-Chief. Is there anything we, the people, can do about dereliction of duty??
You said that right. This transformation needs to start today, why no one in washington will stand and demand the proceedings start today is mindboggling. When the H.N.I.C. lets all his muslim brotherhood in the back door of the white house and gives them loans from the USDA isn't that a MAJOR red flag. I don't think this country will last until November at the rate of destruction we are experiencing.
I don't think immorality would stand up in court. So, a better challenge (imo) would be to violation of an individual's right to choose for himself whether or not to accept 0bamacare. As to the financial regulation bill, the real winners in that one are those who wrote the bill. Therefore, it probably needs to be legislatively rendered null and void.
That's my tuppence.
Don't shed too many tears for the GOP lel,
They are just as much a part of the problem as Dems are. We hate socialism, but READ THE NEOCON PLEDGE. Just as extreme in the opposite direction and every bit as disturbing. Republicans still aren't listening. They're just capitalizing. They know we are between a rock and a hard place right now…..and instead of HONORING our wishes, they keep people like STEELE and field "old boy" candidates they know THEY CAN CONTROL.
They still don't yet get that they are on a short leash. 2012 will see another HOLOCAUST if they return to business as usual. This is NOT 1994. This is America saying LISTEN OR LEAVE.
Anyone that thinks Obama isn't prepared for this fight should read Kagans paper on executive authority, the Best thing Boehner could do is get executive authority to the Supreme Court as quickly as possible….before the coutrs make some kind of decision that makes it a lock as to who is in control of these agancies–congress or the executive branch….this paper is where this fight is going, and so far it looks like a fight that Obama has a good chance of losing.
Kagan has worried some court-watchers with her somewhat broad interpretation of executive power —
I suggest, that is, that
most statutes granting discretion to executive branch – but not independent
- agency officials should be read as leaving ultimate decisionmaking
authority in the hands of the President. This rule of statutory
construction appropriately derives from an effort to determine
congressional intent as well as, given some uncertainty in doing so, an
effort to promote good lawmaking practices.
Congress designates an agency official as a decisionmaker, the President
himself may step into that official's shoes
Congress either has not taken or
(more rarely) could not take that power away. In addition, and critically,
the President may have what Peter Strauss and Cass Sunstein
have called "procedural" supervisory authority over administrative officers,
enabling the President to demand information from and engage
in consultation with them.309 Congress usually has done nothing to
suggest that it wishes to interfere with this authority as to executive
branch agencies; 310 and even if Congress has indicated this intent as to
the independents, Article II of the Constitution, most notably its Opinions
http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/114/june01...
Virginia 7th District for Congress, Vote for Floyd Bayne. He's our best chance at a limited government.
http://floydbayne.com/
Contact me at kcsfarm2007@yahoo.com if you would like to meet him in Rockville at my rally.
If we lived in a "first principles" government, we'd have had a Congressional Declaration of War for Iraq, and George Bush would be in prison for violating habeas corpus, torture, and warrantless spying on his own citizens.
Good points to consider, cog,
Extremism, be it left or right always threatens equality. In 1994 I was less than thrilled. And I gotta tell ya, that Neocon pledge….that is some scary stuff. No less frightening than the treat of socialism. If Newt gets another shol…..I won't like that America any more than I like this one.
We so need to move to the MIDDLE in order to offer hope of working compromises and give voice to liberal and conservatives. If gov't shuts out one whole side of every debate….it isn't America. It's just a ship floundering from port to starboard.
We gotta learn to listen to each other if we're ever gonna make America work.
The problem isn't term limits, it's how the campaigns are funded. Wall Street can buy just as many term-limited politicians as they do now. If campaigns were publicly–and modestly–funded, we wouldn't have career politicians passing legislation for their big donors instead of us.
"I have said it before, and I will say it again. What we need is a return to first principles."
“An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.” Thomas Paine.
Very good Mr Rahe
Thank-you Mr. Rahe. I have read the post twice and am now entering into the archives that you cited. I believe that this post is one of the most cogent and important that I've read. Please keep on teaching me.
Same for Bill Clinton for Samalia, Bosnia and Croatia? Lyndon Johnson for Vietnam?
You know what happens when the "free market" runs the show? You get monopolies, recessions and depressions. Why? Because no matter how the free market starts out, it always ends with one big player greedily trying to grab all he can. Our current Great Recession was brought about because 5 or 6 big banks tried to grab all the mortgage back securities they could for themselves and left the rest of us to rot. And who brought us all this? Reagan, Bush and Clinton. Obama just got stuck with the bill.
Johnson for Vietnam, you betcha. But Clinton didn't torture or spy on U.S. citizens like Bush–but for Clinton's inaction in Rwanda, you can bet there's a small patch of Hell waiting for him.
Obamacare – all the compasion of the IRS coupled with the efficiency of the DMV
The apparatus of the Republic Party is very important. Its candidates are ballot qualified without any petitioning etc. Its fund raising and information arms are in place. We need to cleanse the Republican Party of the RINOs and Progressive lites. The party conventions as in Utah, the party primaries as in Alaska have been captured by us. We are doing this in the open with, using the political word de jour, transparency, unlike the Progressive capture the the Democrat Party. Once we have the important party apparatus we can then cleanse the Congress etc at the polling booth.
NObama has been undermining our honor from day one.
Every president since Reagan blew off control of our borders, but for some reason it's all Obama's fault? I'm not buying it. The real reason we've never had border security is that Republican presidents–and yes, Clinton was a Republican on this issue–kept the borders open so that cheap labor could stream into our country. Big Agriculture LOVES illegal immigration, and Republicans LOVE campaign donations from Big Ag. You do the math.
And progressives are 51%…
The socialists have seriously been trying to take over the US since before the sixties, and it shows in their infiltration into our schools, government programs, and in government itself. We have been poor stewards regarding the protection of our heritage, our laws, and our Constitution. We have been lax in our duty to the founders and future generations. We had become complacent.
However, it now appears that due to the actions of one administration we have awakened to the fact that the rights and freedoms we had so taken for granted are under attack and about to be thrown into the dust bin of history. I thank BO profusely for awakening the sleeping giant of America and provoking it to reclaim that which was slowly been stolen from us by our elected officials.
Cont. below.
Keep this at the forefront when voting in Nov. We must retake control of our government, education, etc to guarantee future generations that America is still the land of freedom, law, and equality for all. We few old fogies who began the fight in the seventies are now surrounded by legions of younger Americans to whom we can pass the torch of freedom and who in turn will pass it to others. This country was and is a great experiment, and my dream is to see it continue. I have never believed in in "democratic socialism, social justice, collective salvation or communism. I believe in the Republic. I believe in freedom.
You mean they're going to try Bush and Cheney for warrantless wire taps, torture and turning half of our military over to mercenaries? Excellent!
Yes, immediately after they hang Obama, Pelosi, Reid and Holder for treason.
But the problem is that one side, the GOP, is saying (at least on the economy) that they want more Reaganomics–low taxes, less regulation–when it's obvious that Reaganomics is what got us in the trouble we're in now. Even if Reaganomics is moderated to be more appealing to the MIDDLE, it's still just a matter of degrees: at any level, it doesn't work. How do you compromise with that?
I pray God shows you the light and you mend your foolish ways.
I suppose you think Heinz gives $ to the Republicans.
Breathe slowly. Feel better? Great. Now, what treasonous actions are you accusing the aforementioned politicians of? And please be specific.
The problem is also with the other side with the Dems and Obamanomics. As increase taxes, more regulation is obviously not working. Yet, it actually wasnt Reaganomics that created this problem. We need to just move to the center right, instead of the far left. And with that, we would have limited but only needed regulation, and cut down on taxes across the board.
In short, we need to go back to Coolageomics, as his adminstration sent this country booming in the 20's and the same messures that worked back in those times can work again today.
I pray God shows you the light and delivers you from your stupidity.
I pray God shows you the light and you mend your foolish ways.
You have only to look at Britian's health care service to see how that is working out. Most of their doctors are exactly what you describe.
That's the thing that ticks me off the most – the charges that we didn't care before Obama. Before Obama we had some slim hope that crashing the phones would get some response. Without that, we have to take to the streets and become visible.
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