Posted on 08/16/2009 2:56:33 AM PDT by Scanian
The face-off between the ruling party and the people continues to unfold, as Democrat politicians hold town hall meetings across the country to build support for the Obama administration's latest power grab, misleadingly labeled 'health care reform.'
The faux outrage politicians manufacture on demand has been replaced by real outrage. Outrage at the American people for failing to understand the nuances, the broad outline of a 1,000 page plus bill that most politicians haven't even read. Hey, that's what staff is for, explained new Democrat, Arlen Spector.
Peons from fly-over country are daring to challenge the carefully scripted and (deliberately?) misleading talking points. Talking points which, by the way, have been endorsed by the media. Don't these guys read the New York Times?
Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are using the standard liberal tactic of diverting attention from the issue by demonizing the dissenter, in this case, the American people. According to Pelosi and Reid, voicing objections to the federal government's take over of 17% of the formerly free market economy is 'un-American.' Harry Reid has gone a step further, tarring dissenter's as 'evil mongers.'
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs has blithely dismissed the burgeoning dissent by informing one and all that these 'townhalls are not representative of America.' Obama, meanwhile, is trying to divert the issue by blaming the 'headline hungry television networks', accusing them of 'enflaming an ugly backlash.'
Unused to any opposition that can't be spun to their advantage or ignored, Democrats are desperately trying to convince Americans that the tidal wave of opposition is not genuine. Used to viewing every issue in political terms, our elected officials are actually convinced that the disruptive townhalls are merely the product of an evil conservative cabal. After all, every person these lawmakers know agree with them on this issue.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
The outrage is not manufactured; it will be their undoing.
Those angry chimp noises you hear are emanating from Washington, every time they see her picture or hear her name spoken.
I’d say she won the week for sure. More battles to come. The more she engages in policy debate the better. I’m curious why the media doesn’t try to ignore her more, they may end up resorting to that.
True that’s why Obama kicks his dog evertime he hears her name.
“Suppose you were an idiot. And then suppose you were a member of Congress..But I repeat myself.” Mark Twain
This quote seems appropriate for this article. (Pelosi & Reid)
Here is clearly an argument for TERM LIMITS on the House (three terms_ and the Senate (one term). These career, elitist politicians are so insulated from real life that they have NO CLUE what constitutes real societal anger. They wouldn’t recognize grassroots if they were nose-deep in Mother Nature. Their frame of reference is constrained by their own machinations, nuances, and schemes.
It’s time to take back the country. Start with these:
1. “Qualified Elector” should be any US Citizen, over the age of 18 who is NOT on the public dole at any level, with the exception of Social Security.
2. Term Limits on ALL elected Federal offices; THREE terms for Representatives and ONE term for Senators. No cushy benefits, no imperial congress, no retirement plan.
3. Line Item veto for the POTUS
4. Rule Change in the Congress to restrict each bill to a SINGLE issue; no more piling on amendments with no bearing just to get support. Each bill should stand on its own merits.
5. ALL bills that involve the expenditure of funds should require 60% votes in both the House and Senate.
6. Election of Senators should be returned to the various State Legislatures. Reps should be the voice of the PEOPLE, and Senators should be the voice of the STATE, just as was originally planned.
7. Scrap the Income Tax and the IRS in favor of a flat tax, or (better yet) a consumption tax to fund government.
8. Constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget at the Federal level.
From "The Road To Serfdom" in cartoon version. http://mises.org/books/TRTS/
but sir,what you propose is the undoing of the American Royalty.
The other prize is the federal government takeover of drugs with the ultimate goal of controlling and pacifying a drug-dependent population. Specifically psychoactive drugs which are not bad if used properly. But rather than give the drug supervised with proper therapy (to treat the underlyiing psychological condition), the drug will be doled out without that expensive therapy. It will cost the government very little to manufacture and dole them out, but the benefits to the power mongers will be enormous.
One term for everybody. And Congress to meet only 3 months a year except for declarations of war.
Funny how Obama will go overseas and say America was arrogant in the past and is willing to “talk”.
Domestically, however, it’s the exact opposite. HE’s the arrogant one, and is unwilling to listen.
“Qualified Elector” should be any citizen over the age of 18 who does not directly derive any portion of his living from the government. Someone getting a check from a state office may not vote in state elections but may vote in others, etc.
That and a uniform Constitutionally mandated and limited 10% income tax on all earned incomes with NO deductions or exemptions.
'enflaming an ugly backlash.'
How do people expect their ideas to be taken seriously when they can't even bother to check their grammar and spelling?
Too many people think this is just nit-picking. But when I went to school, it was drilled into us that these kinds of mistakes distract the reader and detract from the point the writer is trying to make.
Moreover, these careless errors make it easy for those who are inclined to disagree with the writer to question his education, intelligence and credibility.
It embarrasses me to send articles with these kinds of errors to friends who might otherwise benefit from reading the writer's argument.
I like your platform Publius.
The NEW elite says...”DON’T let them eat cake”!
Your #5 & 7 address a pet peeve of mine.
Everybody wants “their” congresscritter to bring home the bacon. But they end up paying for every other state’s pet project.
More projects get funded this way for two reasons:
1. It all gets “lost in the sauce” - I’d say “bait-and-switch” if I were more cynical
and
2.”Hey everyone else is getting some, why not us?”
I want my next candidate to band together with those from other states and pledge not to fund each others’ pork.
Amen to that. Almost every blog or column published for the internet has spelling or grammatical errors in it. It is very distracting. Doesn't anyone read what they write before publishing it? I mean, it's one thing to make a mistake when posting to a chat area, or typing an e-mail, but it's another thing when it's an article that you expect thousands of people to read.
You’re post DOES have it’s good points...
I tend to be like you about grammar as I had it drilled into me also.
The best way to avoid frustration is to accept that we possess an obsolete skill thanks to text messaging, e-mails, and tweets.
It seems like hardly anyone else worries about spelling, grammar, and proofreading, so why beat your head against the wall? Just do your own writing the correct way and forget the rest.
I've always said that and then there are those who say: Oh but you need more time to LEARN the system and your position. Well, if one is that slow a learner then he definitely needs only one term to begin with.
That's why we're in the trouble that we are, they've become "owners", slave owners that is, the government "belongs" to them, well, it's time to show them otherwise and kick their butts out, all of them.
One term. One term only. I guarantee you'll get more participation in the process too when good folks realize that they really will have a shot at seeing what they can do for the country.
I have moved on from the grammar ignoramuses to the lazy bassterds who say, "Does anybody have a link for [insert ridiculously easily googled info here]?" or who post totally false data that could easily have been checked, then get into flame wars defending their sloppy unwillingness to look it up.
In our state (Maryland) there is a conservative Republican delegate to the State legislature who also teaches classes on the Constitution. I wish every Congressman would be required to take instruction in the Constitution.
Unfortunately, as with sex education in schools or any other abstract topic, the ACLU's longstanding victory over common decency would prevent any conservative view, or even the clear meaning of the words, to be taught to Democrats, who already know it all and don't need no stinkin' laws.
I heard about a German chemistry professor who started a semester by telling his class, “Now, I don’t mind questions. But before you ask me a question, ask your self three questions first: 1)Is it an intelligent question? 2)Do I really know the answer? 3)Can I find the answer?”
As you might expect, no one ever asked the professor a single question all semester.
To your excellent list, I would add a provision that Congresspersons should live in dormitory-style government housing, such as the hotel-style barracks on the Walter Reed campus that is about to be BRAC'd. As it is, legislators must obtain costly housing in the extremely expensive DC marketplace, which has been grossly inflated by the churn of the constantly-changing political class, and by armies of lawyers and lobbyists able to pay anything to get at a newly-elected politician. Thus there is pressure on lawmakers to accept other sources of income, such as lobbyist favors. Also, the long-termers start to wield dinner-party influence in wealthy residential areas like Georgetown and Northern Virginia. They completely lose touch with the real life of the people of their districts. This must stop.
That's the other thing: let's slash the access and privileges of lobbyists. There's a need for information, but aren't lobbyists eclipsed by the Internet? Let the Congresspersons seek out experts as needed, not be thrust immediately under the influence of entrenched special interests. Lobbyists should also have licenses with term limits.
I would add that for every one law that is made, two must be removed from the books, until the whole of law can be contained in one book without more words that the combined Old and New Testament, or the DC phone book (whichever is less). http://extent-of-regulation.dhwritings.com/
Few realize that the Byzantine legal code empowers the real day-to-day enemy of the American people: Lawyers (priests of the state) and (millions of) Federal (unelected) bureaucrats.
What a good idea (the teaching of the Constitution). Well, it might be negated somewhat by the ACLU but still the seeds are planted (with those who have taken the classes) which might have an impact.
When I was in LE and I had transferred to a rural area (state agency), a local attorney would put on the same kind of classes, emphasizing 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Amendments. The classes were not mandatory but encouraged and I was always impressed at the good turn out.
He was a defense attorney, not rabid at all but he would present great cases (case law) to illustrate points. He taught a truly balanced point of view, he went on to teach at a Texas college, a great loss for rural Texas! There he was teaching basically empty skulls and with us he was teaching (and re-teaching) those of us who actually APPLIED the law under the constraints of the Constitution, that’s why I said it was a “loss”.
After he was gone for a couple of years, I saw sloppiness creeping back in with sloppy probably cause (to detain and arrest), never a good thing.
Do you really want the Kenyan Clown to have a line item veto over every line item in the budget?
Not only would he unilaterally destroy the defense budget by slashing out many, many DoD spending items that had made it through Congress, Obama would also use the incredible leverage of being able to say to an individual congresscritter "Okay, I am going to veto these budget items for your district unless you give me your vote on Obamacare."
probably cause=PROBABLE cause...sheesh, must be arthritic fingers...
LOL
Only one other thing...original congressional representation was 1:50000...not 1:500000 like it is today. We’ll have 4000 congressmen...they can stay in their Districts...and meet electronically for the most part...
And this intends to be their response...to keep the peons and peasants out of government forever....
http://uspublicserviceacademy.org/
Networks? With an "s"? I thought only Fox News was The O's enemy.
You DU and Kos types lurking out there should take note that The O will attack even his biggest butt-kissers when it suits his purpose. And that means you.
Great article!
And we will get radicals and riff-raff, too, but we can be rid of them after one term.
I would go even further and split the House in half with half to be elected each year.
“Hey, that’s what staff is for, explained new Democrat, Arlen Spector.”
The buck stops with you, senator... “staff” is not on the ballot.
“Suppose you were an idiot. And then suppose you were a member of Congress..But I repeat myself.” Mark Twain
Thanks for providing my new tagline, Emily!
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I once ran a volunteer group in which I exhorted people not to make suggestions starting with the words "you should" or "we should" unless they were willing to work on the committee to make their suggestion happen. It cut down on a lot of wasted time.
Great example! You wish there were more of this common sense in all local communities.
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