More Constitutional Abuse

Greetings from the Left Coast, where we here at Left Coast Blues do the heavy thinking for those who just can't be bothered.

There is a movement afoot to make an end-run around the Constitution, and fundamentally change the way our nation elects its President, and the lack of press coverage is astounding.

Buried in the “Northwest Briefly” feature of my morning newspaper earlier this week was a short, 5-sentence article entitled “Gregoire signs popular vote bill.” The bill would require Washington’s 11 electoral votes to be cast for the candidate who wins the national popular vote, regardless of whether that candidate actually won the State of Washington. It wouldn’t take effect until enough states sign onto this mutual suicide pact to account for 270 electoral votes – the number it currently takes to win the Presidency. So far, the compact has been ratified in Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, and New Jersey, as well as Washington.

Let me explain this in terms that even liberal Democrats can understand. Under this scheme, if Barack Obama had won the State of Washington, but John McCain had won the national popular vote, then Washington’s 11 electoral votes would have been taken away from Barack Obama and given to John McCain. It astounds me that, in a state that is so vocal about making sure that every vote counts, our leaders would think it was a good idea to potentially throw out the majority of the votes cast in a Presidential election.

But there are other reasons why this is a bad idea. The Electoral College was one of the many brilliant checks and balances that the founders built into our political system, and, regardless of what you may have heard, it was not designed simply because they didn’t trust the wisdom of the voters. It was created in recognition that the interests of large, populous, industrialized states were not always the same as the interests of smaller, less populated, agricultural states. It was designed to preserve the importance of those smaller states in the election process, so that the Presidency could not be won simply by focusing on a few very large and heavily populated states. That purpose is as valid today as it was in 1790.

In my opinion, this is more evidence of the failure of our educational system to teach our children the basics about our form of government and why the founders made the decisions they made, as well as more evidence of a disregard for the Constitution in general.

Put simply, if you don’t like what the Constitution says, then change it. The founders wisely included a process by which it can be amended. It isn’t easy – because it wasn’t meant to be. But we know the process works, because it has been done 27 times in the last 220 years. Trying to circumvent that process is a hallmark of those who do not have the courage and leadership to stand up and articulate why it should be changed, and convince a sufficient number of their fellow-citizens to agree with them.

Thanks for listening.

Some Thoughts on Good Friday...

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

II Chronicles 7:14, emphasis added.

Still Using That Towel

Greetings from the Left Coast, where we here at Left Coast Blues do the heavy thinking for those who just can’t be bothered.

Continuing the Hitchhiker’s theme from our last post, the Obama administration continues to wrap its towel around its collective head in the apparent belief that if it can’t see the bad guys, they can’t see us either.

South Korea tests a long range missile, despite our stern warnings. (Gee, who would have thought that they would ignore our stern warnings?) In response, we…well we didn’t do anything other than bluster and go to the United Nations. Are you kidding me? The United Nations? The same bunch that passed umpteen Security Council resolutions against Iraq and refused to enforce any of them? That United Nations? I’m sure that Kim Jong Il is quaking in his boots.

Hard on the heels of that comes the attack by pirates on a U.S.-flagged vessel. Kudos to the crew, who managed to take their ship back…but it came at the cost of having their captain taken hostage. According to the administration, President Obama is staying “apprised of the situation.” According to the Secretary of State, “we are deeply concerned and we’re following it very closely.” But are we going to do anything? Apparently not, because “the world must come together to end the scourge of piracy,” which she goes on to describe as “criminal activity…on the high seas.”

“The world” isn’t going to do squat, and Mrs. Clinton knows it. "The world" is lazy and cowardly, and even more in denial than the Obama administration about the dangers of Islamic terrorists – of which the Somali pirates are just another manifestation. Some nations in the world might be willing to follow our leadership, but we haven’t got any. And “the world” did not end the scourge of piracy the first time around as Mrs. Clinton implied – the United States Marines did.

Ever wonder about that line in the Marine Hymn about “the shores of Tripoli?” That happened when President Thomas Jefferson unilaterally sent the Marines in to wipe out the pirates who had been preying on international shipping, literally selling their captives into slavery, and demanding ransoms that grew to represent a substantial percentage of U.S. revenues. These pirates were backed by the Ottoman Caliphate, whose ambassador told Jefferson and John Adams, who went to London to attempt to negotiate with him, that according to the Koran, “all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave.”

That war lasted 14 years – but we ultimately eliminated the Barbary pirates as a threat to our shipping. And we could do it again. According to the New York Daily News, “U.S. military commanders have already prepared battle plans for ending the scourge of piracy on the high seas off Somalia if President Obama pulls the trigger.” The article quotes retired U.S. Ambassador Robert Oakley as saying, “Our special operations people have been itching to clean them up. So far, no one has let them.” He went on to say that our Special Forces “could take care of the pirates in 72 hours.”

So…what do you think? Anybody want to lay odds on whether President Obama will give the green light to an operation to take out the pirates? Don’t hold your breath. The 3:00 am phone calls that Hillary warned us about during her campaign are starting to come in, and just as she predicted, Obama obviously isn’t up to the task.

North Korea will continue to do whatever they want to do. Obama will do nothing about it. Iran will continue to pursue nuclear weapons. Obama will do nothing about it. Pirates will continue to prey on shipping off the coast of Somalia. Obama will do nothing about it. He can’t see through that towel.

Thanks for listening.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Obama's Foreign Policy

Greetings from the Left Coast, where we here at Left Coast Blues do the heavy thinking for those who just can’t be bothered.

One of Douglas Adams’ most delightful inventions in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal – a creature described as so mind bogglingly stupid that it believes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you either. Therefore, if you are attacked by one, the best thing you can do is to wrap your towel around your head.

I’m not sure how many of the folks in Hillary’s State Department are fans of Douglas Adams, but our new posture in regard to Islamic terrorism appears to be to wrap our towels around our heads. It was reported in the Washington Post last week that the Defense Department’s office of security review emailed Pentagon staff members to say that “this administration prefers to avoid using the term ‘Long War’ or ‘Global War on Terror’ [GWOT.] Please use ‘Overseas Contingency Operation.’”

In a related matter, Janet Napolitano, the new head of Homeland Security – you know, the agency that was created specifically to keep us safe from terrorist attacks – is now referring to these incidents as “man-caused disasters.”

Representative Lamar Smith of San Antonio, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, observed that it made about as much sense as referring to Mexican drug cartels as “recreational pharmacists,” to North Korea as a “gated community,” or to terrorist training camps as “desert day spas.” But then Representative Smith is another one of those goofy Texans – you know, like Ross Perot, who observed that at his company, EDS, “when you see a snake you kill it” (unlike GM, where, “when you see a snake, first you seek out the best consultants on snakes. Then you appoint a committee on snakes. And then you study snakes for a year or two.”).

Unfortunately, the Obama administration has gone even farther than GM – they appear to believe that if you call a snake a puppy, it will wag its tail and lick your hand. Talk about mind bogglingly stupid. And, no, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke. I only wish it was.

Thanks for listening.

I Have A Dream...

Greetings from the Left Coast, where we here at Left Coast Blues do the heavy thinking for those who just can't be bothered.

I have a dream, ladies and gentlemen. A dream in which a credible Republican leader (and, yes, I realize that "credible Republican leader" is unfortunately an oxymoron at the moment) says to Barack Obama what Daniel Hannan is saying to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Give a listen, and mentally replace "Mr. Prime Minister" with "Mr. President," and the references to Great Britain with references to the United States. I think you'll find that the meaning transfers pretty well.



Thanks for listening.

An Open Letter to America

Are you happy now? Is this really the government you wanted? Where Congress demonizes private citizens to the point where they fear for their lives and safety? Where, after deliberately inserting language into the stimulus bill that allowed these bonuses to be paid, they then turn around and threaten to specifically target these people with a confiscatory 90% tax if they don’t give the money back – even though they were contractually entitled to it? Is this the government you wanted?

And don’t tell me that the bonuses weren’t deserved, because you don’t know that. You don’t know who got bonuses, you don’t know what they had to do to qualify for them, and you don’t know how much worse things at AIG might have been without these particular individuals. You simply assumed that because AIG lost a lot of money and got a government bailout, and because Congress and the media sensationalized the situation, and because we’re talking about large sums of money, these people didn’t deserve to have their employment contracts honored – even though the total amount we’re talking about is less than one-tenth of one percent of the bailout money AIG received – so you grabbed your pitchfork and torch and joined the mob. Shame on you.

There is no slope slipperier than the one you set foot upon when the government starts deciding what people in the private sector “should” be paid. To paraphrase the Reverend Martin Niemoller:

First they came for the Wall Street CEOs, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Wall Street CEO.
Then they came for the bonus recipients, and I did not speak out, because I was not a bonus recipient.
Then they came for big business executives with private jets, and I did not speak out, because I didn’t have a private jet.
Then they came for the “rich” people who made more than $250,000 per year, and I did not speak out, because I wasn’t “rich.”
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Some Food for Thought

Greetings from the Left Coast, where we here at Left Coast Blues do the heavy thinking for those who just can’t be bothered.

Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, of Great Britain, was approximately 30 years old when the Declaration of Independence was signed, and turned 42 the year the U.S. Constitution was ratified. He watched the birth of the new nation from his side of the Atlantic. While unverified, the following quote has long been attributed to him:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years.”

We’ve managed to beat the 200 year prediction so far, but some things are starting to worry me. As we’ve observed in earlier posts, 41% of all Americans paid no federal Income Tax in 2006. That’s pushing dangerously close to a majority. And we continue to hear that we can have it all, and only the “rich” will have to pay for it – 95% of all Americans, we are told, will get tax cuts.

We have a president who is determined to play the class warfare card at every opportunity. On page five of Mr. Obama’s federal budget, you will read, “While middle-class families have been playing by the rules, living up to their responsibilities as neighbors and citizens, those at the commanding heights of our economy have not.” Did you catch that? If you make a lot of money, President Obama apparently believes that you must have done something shady or underhanded to do it – you haven’t been “playing by the rules,” and he goes on to say that it is his duty to change that. I find that disturbing.

Demonize the rich. Make them pay for all those nifty government programs. After all, they don't deserve to have all that money! It isn't fair that they should have so much! They probably cheated to get it anyway! Keep that largesse coming.

May I recommend instead the words of another president: “Property is the fruit of labor…property is desirable…is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.” That was Abraham Lincoln, whom Barack Obama claims to admire.

And while we’re quoting great statesmen, consider Thomas Jefferson’s words: “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.”

Thanks for listening.