The Paths That Lay Before Us

I know that I promised over twitter that I was going to post this last night, but I found that I was still so angry over SCOTUS’s that most of what I had to say would have been extremely emotionally driven and counterproductive to an intelligent conversation.

Let me start of by saying that I think SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) really dropped the ball on this one.  Not only did we have Justices that should have been required to recuse themselves (Kagan is a prime example) due to a conflict of interests, but we also had Justices that decided that in order to make the law valid, they would effectively rewrite the law to make the penalty that fell under the commerce clause a tax instead.  Of course everybody knew from the start that it was a tax but the language in the law stated that it was a penalty and that the commerce clause was what gave the authority to enact said penalty.  Well, the Chief Justice (Roberts) decided that while the current wording made the law unconstitutional, he would rule on it as if it were a tax and effectively renames it as a tax in the written statement that was presented with the Court’s decision.  Effectively, this is a declaration from Chief Justice Roberts that the Supreme Court can now use judicial activism to rewrite laws in order to fit whatever personal agenda the members of the Court have but that is not the only fall out that will come with this horrible (and in my opinion if the Justices could be held accountable, which they can’t be, illegal) decision.

The second major piece of fallout from this decision effectively gives Congress the ability to tax your actions or lack thereof.  SCOTUS basically said that by making this penalty a tax, Congress can tax you for your choice not to buy health insurance.  Taken to its logical conclusion where does this end?  Not in a good place, that’s where.  If Congress can tax you for not buying something like health insurance, what is to keep them from taxing you for not buying healthy food?  What if they want to tax you for not buying Brussels sprouts because the poor Brussels sprout farmers aren’t making enough money to cover their employees’ health insurance? (By the way, health insurance costs are going to skyrocket.) Let’s take this one step further, what if they want to tax you if you don’t vote?  What if they want to tax you if you don’t buy the exact make and model of car that they feel everyone should be forced to drive?  Do you see where I am going with this?  SCOTUS has just given Congress the power of tyrannical rule through taxes.  They have declared that Congress has the ability to tax citizens for anything that they wish as long as it is just that, a tax.

Well, now the question is, what can we do about it?  The way I see it, we only have a few options, one of which is preferable, the others are not so preferable. 

The first and best option is the one I would really prefer to have happen.  It starts with electing Romney (as much as I dislike the man I will take him over the commie in the White House right now) and gaining the majority in the Senate while maintaining the majority in the House.  Romney then will need to repeal Obamacare with the help of the Senate and the House.  After that, several Constitutional Amendments need written and put up for a vote.  One of those Amendments needs to limit the taxing powers of Congress in such a way that this can never happen again.  The next needs to limit the powers of the Supreme Court to restrict the use of Judicial Activism to rewrite laws in order to make them constitutional.  The third needs to make it to where the Justices are held accountable to the will of the people. (I personally like Tom Kratman’s approach with the amendments ate the end of “State of Disobedience” where all the justices are on the ballot during every Presidential election and the one that gets the most votes is removed and the new President gets to replace him/her with a new Justice.) Forth, we need an Amendment that states that any laws that Congress pass apply equally to the members of the ruling body.  In order for get all of that done we would have to have politicians in office with the guts to pull of that kind of bold legislation… unfortunately I don’t think politicians like that exist anymore.  After those Amendments are written, then we the people need to go and vote them in.

The second option which I don’t like as much because it would be even harder to do is to forget about winning the Presidency.  Focus only on gaining a veto-proof House and Senate, and then have them enact all the steps I laid out in the first option.

The third option I like even less.  That is revolution.  I don’t like this option because of the potential for bloodshed, but it wouldn’t be the first time blood has been shed for our freedom.  To be quite honest, the prospect of a second American Revolution frightens me, but I see it as a potential future that will become necessary in order to preserve what little is left of this once great nation.  I really hate to say that but that is one of the only ways we have left.  I hope and pray that it never gets that far.

The fourth option I dislike as much as the third.  This option involves all of the conservative states that still believe in the American Ideal of freedom announcing their succession and forming their own nation independent of the liberal states.  I dislike this option because I see another Civil War happening.  Like the first Civil War, it would be about a multitude of reasons with State’s and Citizen’s rights being at the forefront. 

I know none of these options are particularly great, but the way I see it they are all we have left aside from becoming complacent in letting our freedoms slip away faster and faster.  I was going to go into how this law is going to hurt everyone that the Libs are saying it would help but I have ran out of time for now so I will have to take that up at another time. 

Thank you for reading and remember to vote this November.  Aim for Option #1 with me please.

Obama's SotU Speech In A Nutshell And Why I am Done With It

I do want to finish Obama’s State of the Union speech, but somehow I think that that isn’t going to happen.  The reason for this is because of several different things.  The first reason being that I didn’t realize how little of the speech I would be able to address per post.  I have done six posts already and only just hit the half way mark on the speech, so in light of that let me sum the whole thing up in a nice and neat little package.  Obama’s SotU speech is basically an unrealistic wish list of what he wants to accomplish no matter how badly it exceeds his authority or goes against the Constitution.  In fact Obama goes so far as to say in it that he feels the problem with the Government as it is… is that there is too much Government.  Normally, I would agree, but the way that he means it is that he feels that 3 branches of government are too much, therefor in his SotU speech he actually asks Congress to turn over their over to the Executive branch , in other words, him.  The one paragraph alone where he says this provides me with enough material for an entire blog post, but, I won’t go into that because that is not the point of this post. 

The fact that it took me six posts to get halfway through his speech is pathetic, not on my part, but on his.  He thinks that we the people are a bunch of ignorant fools who hang on his every word.  His blowhard attitude comes across in his long winded, lie filled, explanation to why he wants to be America’s first dictator. 

Looking back, the way I should have covered his SotU speech was by taking highlights and going over them, but the more I read of it the more I became convinced I needed to go through it word for word.  That was my mistake.  I apologize to those who were reading it and were looking forward to me finishing it. 

The second reason is that there are other things in the news I want to talk about and cover.  As long as I was focusing on Obama’s SotU speech then I was taking my attention away from more current events that I feel are more important than Obama’s narcissistic babbling on about nothing relevant to the real world.

The third reason is that I have started on my second novel.  For those of you that have been following me for a while know that last year I took some time off from posting to write “Shadows of the Western Moon” and for those of you that follow my other blog where I talk about my non-political writings, you will be happy to know that “Tears of the Western Moon” is now in the works.  Once I finish this one I will probably start promoting these books in an effort to sell them to a publisher. 

Also, since I am focusing on my second novel now, my postings will become fewer and further between until the novel is finished.  I will still post here on Political Discourse, I will just be a bit more selective about what I post because I don’t want to waste your time or my time.  Because of that, I am mainly going to try to hit on subjects that deal with the current Presidential and congressional elections, unless Obama does something stupid, which he more than likely will, in which case I will cover that as well.

Anyway, thank you for your time and patience.

The Occupy Wall Street Zombies Drink Kool-Aid, Not Tea!

I am so sick of people comparing the “Occupy Wall Street” movement to the Tea Party. This is a complete misrepresentation. The two movements have nothing really in common. The Tea Party stands for upholding the principles that this nation was built upon, once again relying on the Constitution to lead us as it is written, not the twisted interpretations that politicians have come up with to promote their own agendas. The Occupy Wall Street movement is all about destroying the current system in order to create an environment of chaos, in which they can rebuild the financial structure to a socialist utopia model that has been tried in Europe multiple times, failing every time, driving those nations into chaos in the process.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is a destructive force that is building on the left, much like the Tea Party was a constructive force building on the right. The Occupy Wall Street movement is attempting to place themselves into the same position as the Tea Party except they are going about it in a completely different fashion. The are using lies and deceit to try to affect the emotions of the ignorant to cause them to rise up against against the financial systems of the US. They are backed by groups that have been known to have malicious intent against the US government including Anonymous.

If you need proof of this I present a transcript of the promise of attack posted today by Anonymous ….

“Greetings, Institutions of the Media.

We are Anonymous. The events transpiring within Wall Street have caught our eye.

It seems that the government and Federal agencies enjoy enforcing the law a little bit too much. They instate unjust laws as mindless automatons, blindly following orders with soulless precision.

We witness the Government enforcing the laws that punish the 99% while allowing the 1% to escape justice, unharmed, for their crimes against the people. We have observed this same Government failing to enforce even the minimal legal restraints of Wall Street’s abuses. This Government who has willingly ignored the greed at Wall Street has even bailed out the perpetrators that have caused our crisis.

We will not stand by and watch the system take over our way of life.
We the people shall stand against the government’s inaction.
We the people will not be witnesses to your corruption and ill gotten profits.
We will not labor for your leisure.
We will not assist you in any way.

This is why we choose to declare our war against the New York Stock Exchange. We can no longer stay silent as the population is being exploited and forced to make sacrifices in the name of profit.

We will show the world that we are true to our word. On October 10th, NYSE shall be erased from the Internet. On October 10th, expect a day that will never, ever, be forgotten.

Vox Populi, Vox Anon.
The Voice of The People is The Voice of Anonymous.
We are Legion. We are the 99%.
We do not forgive. We do not forget.
Wall Street: Expect us”

Anonymous has once again proven their dedication to anarchy thru terrorism in order to harm innocents who are hard working individuals trying to make a living the best they can. They claim, like the Occupy Wall Street movement, that this is the will of the people and for the good of the people. How is terrorism and chaos good for the people? All that does is creates an atmosphere where might will make right, in this case might being money. Don't these idiots realize that the people with the money are the ones they are claiming are the problem? By taking the steps that Anonymous and the Occupy Wall Street movement are taking, they are setting it up to put the people (George Soros for example) they claim to hate into stronger positions of power. In fact I personally believe that the people that will benefit (see the prior sentence) are the ones behind stirring the pot of ignorance that has led to this.

The Tea Party on the other hand has taken steps to educate anyone that is willing to learn about the principals that this nation was built upon. Thru doing that they hope to raise awareness of the corruption and abuse of power in Washington. They believe that thru proper and truthful knowledge the people will gain the knowledge to elect people into office that will enact change that is sorely needed to bring back honor and integrity to our government. It also encourages non-politicians to get involved in politics in order to bring about the changes that our government sorely needs. It also encourages dissenting views in order to encourage intelligent debate on the issues in order to guide our nation to the prosperity that we once had.

The Occupy Wall Street movement, hand in hand with Anonymous, is attempting to remake America through promotion of ignorance and terrorism, whereas the Tea Party is attempting to steer America back to it foundations and principles through promotion of knowledge and education. There are hard times coming. Which side will you stand with?

How to Deal With Cancer, or, Time To Start Cutting

Due to the recent folding of the majority of our Republican House and Senate members on the Debt Limit Deal, the recent attacks (verbal) on the patriotic Americans that call themselves the Tea Party, and the nations first ever credit downgrade, I have decided to write this.

The Tea Party has supported the ideas of a fiscally responsible nation throughout it's short existence. These ideas haven't been the most popular with most Democrats, even the ones that claim they are working toward getting us fiscally responsible. The one thing these Dems keep insisting that we need to do to bring ourselves to fiscal responsibility is raise taxes on the wealthy. They don't seem to see the fact that such action will harm the job producers in this country, this in turn will put more people out of work, something we don't need when we such a high unemployment (9.1% of eligible workers are currently filing for unemployment, if you look at the percentage that have stopped trying in to that number you get something more like 18%).

Now, before I go any further, let me clear one thing up so not to confuse you. When I refer to the Tea Party I am not necessarily referring to the Republican party. The Tea Party is comprised of Fiscal Conservatives who want to curb spending for the good of the nation. The Republican party has members of the Tea Party within their ranks, but the Republican party itself does not represent the Tea Party most of the time, in fact it seems like they are fighting against the Tea Party because they are afraid of losing power to the whims of the people. They should be working with the Tea Party instead of against them considering that they both are supposed to be standing same ideals.

The Republicans though are afraid of the Tea Part movement due to the fact that they are now being held under a microscope by the people that they claim to represent, making it much harder for them to get away with all the self serving policies they were passing. They are so afraid of the Tea Party holding them accountable that they have begun to join the Dems in demonizing the Tea Party in an effort to push them out of the picture so that they don't have to worry about their positions.

The Tea Party (the people, not just the politicians) realizes that taxes are just going to hurt us and that the real path to fiscal responsibility is to curb the spending that has become so prevalent as time has passed. They realized that someone had to take a stand in order to stop the wasteful spending in Washington DC and since it appeared no one in Washington DC would step up to plate, they stood up and elected people that stood for what they believed. These individuals have stood up to the Dems, the Republicans, and even Obama, fighting to cut spending and get our deficit under control.

In the recent battle over the debt-ceiling, they stood strong and were even able to provide a backbone for the Republicans that normally would have folded immediately. S&P warned the nation that if it didn't get serious about cutting our spending it would be forced to downgrade us from a AAA to a AA+ rating, meaning that the value of our dollar would drop even more and our interest rates would jump (I know the fed came out later and said it would not raise interest rates, but that is really a sham, will explain later). Unfortunately, the Tea Party candidates just weren't able to support the weight of the entire Republican party and, due to mounting pressure from the Dems and the far left, most of the Republicans caved in the end, leaving the Tea Party high and dry. As a result, the debt-ceiling was raised and our spending cuts were left to the whim of 6 Dems and 6 Republicans (All of whom I honestly think won't do a damn thing) who, if they can't reach a consensus, will cause automatic spending cuts to go into affect (mainly on the military). This method of making cuts (Oh, they can also raise taxes if they deem, just thought I would mention that) is bad for the country and bypasses the ways set up by the Constitution for controlling our spending.

On top of that, S&P, true to their word downgraded us, this sent the Wallstreet into a major downturn, losing all of the gains made in the year over a few short days. The Fed, as a response said it wouldn't raise interest rates, instead it would leave them where they were at till 2013, just long enough for another administration to deal with unless (heaven forbid) Obama wins his reelection bid in 2012. If that happens, then the Obama administration can continue it's destructive policies unhindered.

Now, because of all the misfortune brought on due to the insanity of the Dems policies of keep doing the same thing and hope for a different outcome, and due to the Republicans proving once again that they have no spine (even when one is provided via the Tea Party they slither off it so they can fold under pressure), we are in an even bigger mess then before.

Who do you think both the Republicans and the Dems are blaming all this on? The Tea Party.

Just like the Obama administration has done throughout it's entire time in power, the Dems and the Republicans have decided to try to pull the wool over the eyes of everyone by blaming their new scapegoat, the Tea Party. This behavior is expected of the Dems (sadly enough), but the Republicans jumping on the bandwagon with the Dems is downright reprehensible. They are attacking the people who have stood up for them, backed them against the assault of the Liberal machine, and voted for them so that they could do the right thing and balance the power in Washington. The fact that they would turn their backs on the people who put them where they are is disgusting.

Now to be fair, there are still some Republican that still stand with the Tea Party even though they were not Tea Party candidates and those have done this nation proud by standing on principal. These party members have shown real courage standing up to their colleagues and will have the full backing of the Tea Party in the election cycle that is coming up (my opinion, not fact). The rest of the Republican party though has proven itself to be unreliable and in need of removal.

We need to cut these Senate and House members like the cancerous growths that they are and cut them out for good, then we need to make sure that we replace them with people who will stand up for the ideals of the Tea Party. Until we replace every last Republican that voted for this disaster, we will continue to go down the path of destruction that we are on. We need people who are willing to stand up and stand strong in the face of the demagoguery that will be thrown at them. We need men and women of principle. We need to save America.

The Debt-Ceiling Bonanza or Power to the 14th

Let me start by citing the part of the 14^th Amendment that I am going to be referencing in this post.

Section 4 of the 14^th Amendment states:

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

The reason I started with this is due to the fact that the White House is gearing up for an attempt to bypass Congress, citing this section of the 14^th Amendment, saying that no matter what we cannot default on our debt. They will say that, due to Section 4, if Congress refuses to raise the debt-ceiling (they may even argue the debt-ceiling is illegal due to Section 4's wording) then the President, as a last hope to prevent default, can raise the debt-ceiling with an executive order. This is one hundred percent untrue.

Nowhere in the Constitution is authority given to the President to...

1. Make laws in order to pay the debt of which the nation has accrued.
2. Levy any taxes in order to pay the debts that the nation has accrued.
3. To bypass Congress in order to pay the debts that the nation has accrued.

In fact in Article 1 Section 8 (the part of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to tax, appropriate and regulate commerce) states that Congress (not the President) shall have the power to borrow money on the credit of the United States. The 14^th Amendment doesn't and cannot affect the power that was given to Congress in Article 1.

All the 14^th Amendment does is require Congress to make sure that the debts of the nation are paid and the majority of those that are covered are the bonds held by bondholders. Almost everything else is required to be put on the back burner if necessary to insure that the bondholders get paid. This puts all payments to social programs (because they are not covered) on hold if the United States cannot afford to pay for them and pay the bondholders. Congress can chose to raise taxes to fund all other programs if they chose, but they must make sure the bondholders get paid before a penny goes to anything else. If Congress chooses not to raise taxes, then they are responsible for cutting spending to these programs (even if it means cutting them out all together) till the bondholders get paid. End of story. That is a fact that cannot be disputed no matter how much the White House try's to spin it.

If the debt-ceiling is not raised, the Obama administration would have you believe, that the US will default. Unless our Lord and Savior Obama, sweeps in and raises the debt-ceiling himself, superseding Congress in all his glory, we as a nation are doomed and will go bankrupt. This is simply not true, and no matter how much the administration says it is, it never will be true.

If the debt-ceiling is not raised, Congress will have 2 options left for them to pick from.

First, they can raise taxes, this is what the Dems are pushing (ever though Obama stated that in a recession you don't raise taxes due to the damage it will cause to the economy) for because that is all they seem to know. They don't care about the fact that that will hurt everyone financially during a time that they are already hurting, all they want is the increased revenue coming in to fund their lavish lifestyles. The Republicans don't want this option to be put in place because they understand that no matter who you raise taxes on, the working middle class and the working poor are going to be the ones to suffer in the long run due to inflation on goods and services.

The second option is to reform entitlement spending on social programs and put the responsibility in the hands of the people, not the government. This is the option that the Republicans are pushing for due to the huge amounts of waste and abuse that is rampant in the system. The Democrats don't want this, stating that it will disenfranchise minorities. What this translates out to is this... “We don't want to force these people to have a chance to better themselves by lifting them up and out of the state they are in by giving them personal control of their financial outcome in life.” Therefor the Dems elect to try to keep the people down, therefor making them reliant on the Democrat party to hold their hands since they will never learn to walk on their own.

I'm not saying that the social programs are bad, don't get me wrong there. We are a compassionate society and we take care of those who can't take care of themselves or have fallen on hard times. The problem is we have to many people who are dipping into the system that are very capable, they just don't want to take care of themselves because the government will do it for them. In some cases people will actually lose money if they go off government assistance. But I am getting off the point.

The point being, if the debt-ceiling is not raised we will not default, we cannot default. Congress has to pay the debt one way or another. The only way the this nation will default is if Congress refuses to do the job that they are bound by law to do. The Obama administration needs to stop the fear mongering (Obama stated today that that the government wont be able to issue social security checks on August 3 if the debt-ceiling isn't raised) about what the serious reforms Republicans are proposing to social security and medicare will do, and start talking seriously with Republicans on how to bring these needed changes about as smoothly as possible for all involved. Until Obama gets serious about this problem, the deadline will come and then it will really be time for the hard decisions.

Update:

The Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has proposed this afternoon, a bill that will strip Congress of its power to chose to raise the debt ceiling and turn it over to the President. I cannot put into words how big of a mistake this is. The proposal states that the President can propose a raise to the debt-ceiling up to 3 times a year, provided that he submit a plan with as much in budget cuts as he is raising the debt-ceiling by. Congress then can vote to disapprove the Presidents proposal blocking the raise... or does it? Here is the tricky part... the President can then veto (as long as there was not a veto-proof majority vote) the disapproval resolution and implement the raise without the spending cuts.

This is a stupid proposal on the Senator McConnell's part and any Republicans who vote for this proposal to pass are showing their real colors, they need to be removed from office and replaced with people who are looking out for our best interest. Giving up Congressional power just so you don't have to make hard decisions is a cop out and the American people don't need people like that in power.