Thursday, December 27, 2012

Fiddling While Rome Burns

No one in the media is saying it, so I will: The people in Washington are unfit to rule this great country.

No one is speaking out about the absolute and utter cluelessness of those in Washington.  No one.

The Democrats are the drunken sailors, wanting simply to have more taxes so they can spend even more. They cannot even get their minds around what they are spending, because they (the Senate, that is) have not proposed a budget, or responded to the budgets proposed by the House, for four straight years.

The Republicans are the hostage victims, suffering from "the Stockholm syndrome." All they can do is try to figure out ways in which they can please the Democrats and the Democrat-controlled media, and pass "a few little tax increases" in exchange for promised spending cuts that never materialize.

The President is a poseur. He has no clue what the country needs. He remains completely aloof from any initiatives that might move it in the right direction, and thinks that he can look "presidential" in the process. We might as well have an empty Coke bottle in the White House.

The freshmen in the House are silenced by the fear of retribution from the idiots that call themselves the "house leadership."

The Democrats in the House are in lockstep, through their senile "leader" Nancy Pelosi, with the Democrats in the Senate, under "Do-Nothing" Harry Reid -- i.e., "Do nothing, and let the Republicans take all the blame." ("And above all, never, ever pass a budget.")

The Secretary of the Treasury can only cry "Wolf! Wolf! We're hitting the spending ceiling!" so many times. Moreover, he's a lame duck, and for Obama to have delegated the "negotiations" to him shows what a farce this all is.

How can there even be a "spending ceiling" when there is no spending budget? Without a budget, what good is a spending ceiling -- what meaning does the term even have?

Why do these idiots continue to draw their salaries? What have they done in the past four years to earn them?

We need a new Constitutional Convention, and fast. Congress is a lost cause, so it will have to be called by the State legislatures (a minimum of two-thirds, or thirty-four States, will be necessary). No one currently holding a political or a party office should be allowed to be a delegate. They are the problem, not the solution.

Now, before everyone runs off and hollers "He's scrapping our Constitution!" -- hold on. Article V of our Constitution allows a Convention to be called for the purpose of proposing Amendments to it, and not for rewriting it totally. (Though once it gets going, who knows? The original Convention of 1787, remember, was called to "amend" the Articles of Confederation. I'm fine with whatever a properly called Convention decides is best to do.)

What needs amending? The qualifications of those who can vote for and hold federal offices, to begin with: namely, if you are taking more money from the government than you are paying in taxes, then you cannot vote or run for office, no matter how good the reason. Period. People who are happily accepting and spending other peoples' money should have no voice in how those other peoples' money should get spent.

Moreover, all current legislators and executive office holders should be permanently banned from ever holding a federal office again. Clean the whole house, I say, and start over. We certainly could not do worse, and we most likely will do far better.

Make the "power to coin money" (Art. I, Sec. 8) mean what it says. Let all the current officeholders receive their generous pensions in the current paper currency -- but forbid the printing of any more, and let the present stock of paper currency gradually disintegrate into dust and ashes. Define a new dollar coin based on the price the U. S. Mint is currently selling them for in paper currency, and let the coins establish their own exchange value for goods and services after that.

That would be a good start, and I'm sure others can easily come up with more.






16 comments:

  1. Respectfully, we are more likely to get the activist Constitution of Justice Ginsburg and President Obama in a Constitutional Convention, rather than the "and this time, we really, Really, REALLY mean it" revisions you are suggesting.

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  2. Tregonsee, thank you. But if that is really what we have come to, then Rome will just have to burn. The Constitution of Justice Ginsburg and President Obama (and now, perhaps, CJ Roberts as well) is not a sustainable Constitution, because it encourages / enables the citizenry to feed upon their seed corn, leaving no crops for the future.

    God save America.

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  3. Our politicians have been taking turns kicking the can down the road, and now they are all trying to make the other guy be the one who kicks it off the cliff.

    Some empires collapse quickly, others bounce downhill slowly. It is in the politicians' self interest that things happen slowly so they can either make their getaways or set themselves up as the next generation of leaders.

    What ever happened to the balanced budget amendment proposals? The current elected officials can't bring themselves to pass one, so maybe it will take a special convention to get it going. Just don't let the Presiding Coke bottle participate!

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  4. A sudden and powerful military presence in the halls of power may be the only option, while regrettable, available to end unchecked Democrat insanity.

    I fear that the American media's polished propaganda machine would turn a Constitutional Convention into tragic farce.

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  5. I want a new campaign financing law, so politicians can receive contributions only from voters in their own district. IE: Senators from only within their state, reps only from their district. And a law banning any x-congressman from lobbying. (maybe ban them from visiting the Washington area for 10 or 20 yearly. And no law gets passed without floor debate (on c-Span). Legislation responsibility belongs to CONGRESS, NOT to the President. Where did we get to this point; where everything is decided between the President and Speaker?!!
    THIS IS NO WAY TO RUN A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC.

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  6. All great empires collapse, so the collapse of ours is no surprise to me.

    The Roman Senate tried to turn back the clock; they were unable to. I think we will be unable to as well. Those who have made this mess are in political power or are feeding at the public trough and have no desire for change. A military coup d'etat, which is what I think Fradgan alludes to, worries me. What guarantees are there that a military ruler would return power to the citizenry and to lawfully elected individuals? Or that other military leaders might copy the initial overlord and overthrow him?

    I think your ideas are wise, Curmudgeon, but the citizens of this country, stuffed with the modern equivalent of bread and circuses, are highly unlikely to approve them.

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  7. The founding fathers were very wise men, and fully aware of the sinful nature of mankind...their greed and lust for power...their sloth and desire for "something for nothing"...their covetieness. Franklen "A Republic, if you can keep it". Others hoped it might last fot 250 or 300 years. I think their prophesy is accurate. I doubt our country will last for another 50 years. I won't be around to see it, but I expect collapse or/and revolution before then. Dear God, I hope I'm wrong.

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  8. The media and politicians are blowing smoke, spin, projection and Alinsky tactics so often that the public are dizzy and disoriented. The world and church seem to be run by a group of people for whom good is evil and evil is good and who live in an opposite of reality universe.

    Here is a politician who blames the TEA Party for the contrived global fiscal crisis and problems in Australia: http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/12/slip-some-extra-tea-party-derangement-syndrome-on-the-barbie/

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  9. We are all on a surf-board mounted upon the crest of a tsunami. There is no going back. The "we breed them, you feed them" crowd, and the Solyndra parasites, and the labour unions, and the government workers, and all those who say, "But, I need..xxx...from the government" or "It's not fair that they get theirs and I don't get to have....xxx" or who use the term "safety net" or who see any worth in such a thing a unemployment compensation...Jumping Jehoshaphat, just think what that term means...and now 96 weeks? A person can be professionally unemployed?

    The other day I had to renew my federal auto importation permit for Mexico. The offices where the permits are issued were all full of manger scenes, Merry Christmas, Christmas trees of various types, designs, and sizes, Feliz Navidad, posters with the Virgin de Guadalupe and Saint Mary in Bethlehem, holding her baby, with a star in the background. All was normal.
    And this is in a country where during the post-revolutionary period in the 1920 - 1930s, marxist elements in the government authorised brutal, lethal reprisals against the Catholic Church and any other religious organisations that supported the Church.

    The Good Counsellor who hosts and presides over this fine page has become exasperated. I came into his saloon looking for solace from him, the Bartender. But before the swinging doors stopped swinging after my entrance, I took quick note that the Bartender himself was pulling his own hair out. Who can blame him?
    Fiscal Cliff? Reduce all spending by the Central Government by 8% to-morrow. Eliminate capital gains takes, eliminate corporate taxes, reduce the maximum personal rate to 20% while maintaining all present deductions. (As we move to a national terminal purchaser sales tax).
    It is all madness when the National Socialist Democrat Democrat Workers' Party calls deducting operations expenses involved in running a business a "tax loophole"...and the Republicans nod their heads as if they agree.

    I am with our Bartender. The exasperation is complete.
    My lot is cast at this advanced age with the re-establishment of a separate, not-unfriendly Republic of Texas. My wife's family has 13 generations here, my family has 6...therefore my grandchildren have 15 and 8 respectively. I am an honourably discharged, conscripted soldier, a Republican, tax-payer, small businesses operator (40 years), college graduate, and community server (not activist). My American ghost is all but given up. I will take Texas.

    Our little business in Mexico is starting to return to normal. Our people go to Texas to buy Texas/American things. We have a good symbiosis.

    Pray for American and the whole state of Christ's Church.

    Please forgive my despair, and thank you all for your time and patience.
    El Gringo Viejo

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  10. I have recently listened to a book that I think you would find both entertaining and timely: The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics. I'll leave application to US politics and church governance as exercises for the reader.

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  11. If people do not heed the Law of the Lord, they will also disobey the Law of the Nation.

    First of all, it was not lawful for Obama to run for president the first time as the alleged son of a foreign national and the adopted son of another foreign national, who went to college as a foreign national, sponsored by foreign nationals. Obama's ideology is foreign to the Constitution and many of his actions violate the constitution. Audacity Chutzpah Brazen Profligate Shameless Lawless Corrupt - these are the only words to describe this administration.

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  12. We have posted an advisory on our blog, directing our readership to review Mr. Haley's above posted observations and comments.
    This particular posting by our host has stuck inside of my head. The subsequent comments to that post are particularly poignant, and I hope you people who are writing responses here know how well-spoken and influential you really are.
    Your attention,as always, is appreciated.
    El Gringo Viejo

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  13. El Gringo Viejo, thank you so much for using your own blog to help promote the curmudgeonly rant above to a wider audience. The days that have passed since my post have not given me any thread of hope that I could be wrong in my assessment of the ditherers we are paying to run our country. (And I note that the Chief Poseur just gave everyone in the executive and legislative branches a pay raise.)

    War is approaching in the Middle East, and that gives me even greater cause for concern. It's as though this country is now a Ship of Fools, sailing into stormy weather of which it has no clue, and without a captain. God save the United States of America!

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  14. chrylis, thank you for that book recommendation. I heard one of the authors speak at a TED conference, and I linked to his talk in this earlier post, so I believe I know just what kind of book this is. A copy is on its way, and I look forward to reading it.

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  15. Should we be stocking up on can goods, etc.? For anyone interested, Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank is not only a great novel, but it sets forth a good survival checklist in the case that American infrastructure and government totally collapse.

    Anyway, I hope a constitutional convention happens, ASH. Of course, anyone who engages in such patriotic American activity will be branded as "Tea Party folk who like to rape women and then try to save their little babies from the slaughterhouse...and stuff like that." However, if the federal government is in disarray and the media is busy covering "austerity riots" in Washington, maybe it will escape their notice.

    Republicans (I mean the GOP of post-2010...not the party of Charlie Crist and Lincoln Chaffee) are basically right when it comes to financial policy. Where they stink so badly is rhetorical messaging.

    Back in June, the GOP should have had a messaging war where they printed lots of signs for willing business owners who were willing to risk alienating some customers (as well as the wrath of Obama's thugs such as in Lansing, or in California churches who have been vandalized by gay 'activists', etc.)--these businesses could put up signs in their windows and below their street signs that said something such as this: "Gas Prices too High? Blame Obama!" Or "Peanut Butter cost more? Blame Obama!" Or "Doctor can't take Medicare? Blame Obama!"

    You get the point. As long as Conservative ideas remain abstract concepts that some guy in a suit is talking about on TV, the average beanbag voter can ignore them. When he is confronted with them inside his own pocket of existence, he may choose to reject them but he cannot ignore them. This should have been done. It was not.

    Instead, the GOP wasted more money on Television ads (most low-info voters probably change the channel then) and sent their candidates onto more "so what do you think about rape" media outlets, and they lost.

    As a communications person, I'd like to think that messaging is the GOP's only problem, but it is not. When I watch John Boehner and try to keep up with the 'negotiations', I swear he looks like he thinks this is Clinton/Newt 2.0 again.

    Will the GOP finally wake up and smell this coffee: This is not governing...this is a war, not with weapons (yet) but with ideas, and the GOP need a wartime leader in the House before they get creamed. The GOP in the House should give up any notion of governing with Harry Reid or Obama (the latter just uses any attempt to embarrass the GOP anyway) for the next 2 years, and just go into full-campaign mode. They need to begin a messaging war, talk over the heads of 3rd rate "journalists" and speak into the camera, print signs for business owners to put in their windows, and they need to use votes and confirmation hearings as weapons.

    I wasn't a "let it burn" conservative before...the Democrats gave me no choice. Do we have a choice at this point? It seems that the country must truly be brought to its senses...even against its will. It won't be easy or pretty. When I see what is happening in Greece, I am glad I'm a legal gun owner.

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  16. I was also thinking about buying a couple of goats. :-)

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