And I'm so greatful you didn't permanently zot me last year.
God bless +Hugs+
My experience, feelings, and views line up pretty much exactly.
I think the threat of civil war is very real because the nation is so polarized, and there does not seem to be much of a middle ground. This could be many years away, but just as inevitable.
That being said, if there is a way to avoid a literal war, we need to win over a large segment of the current Democrat voter base. To me, black voters are the ones who have been exploited the most by the Democrats and received the least in return for their loyalty.
Our priorities need to be...
1. drain the swamp / go after government corruption & organized crime (including voter fraud) full force / get rid of politically correct social experiments in the military and destructive policies that lead to defeat
2. immigration enforcement / build the wall (and if the wall does not get funded then put the military at our borders to protect them until it does get built. In fact, use the military budget to build it if necessary.)
3. tax reform / defund abortion (shut down non-essential government services if necessary)
4. reform existing federal programs to protect children, strengthen families, and reduce crime, especially in inner cities where the problems are the biggest
5. fix the economy with better trade deals, tax regulations, market and banking reforms, interstate commerce (medical insurance, patent and copyright reform), infrastructure repairs
To make any meaningful progress we MUST find some way to get to 60 conservatives in the Senate in 2018. And that may be as tough or even tougher than 2016. Unfortunately, we are stuck with less than 25% of REPUBLICAN senators who are anything resembling a true conservative.
Now is the time to take a serious look at which of the moderate and liberal Republicans could be primaried out.
When I started reading I was scared I was going to disagree with you somehow. I didn’t know where you were headed. But I agree wholeheartedly. We dodged a bullet. I think we saw a bit of the art of the deal. If you can’t get a good one, let the damn thing die. There is no way Obamacare or Trumpcare or Ryancare is constitutional.
bump
A few thoughts:
Mr. Trump is not a conservative or a constitutionalist. Note that he never talks about the Constitution. It is just not a big deal to him. I have been pleasantly surprised at his conservative appointments and his budget, but I am afraid that they are more tactical than principled. He sees that conservatism is what the country needs now.
Mr. Trump has always supported universal government healthcare, of an undefined nature. Even Obama and Hillary did not claim universal coverage for their plans.
To say now that government healthcare is unconstitutional may be 50 years too late. Medicare and Medicaid began small but have grown huge. Government already controlled half of US healthcare before Obama.
We must find a way to re-introduce free market forces into healthcare.
That’s why I’m here.
And I'm so greatful you didn't permanently zot me last year.
Well said.
PFL
A friend’s cat went missing. Finally, it came back but it was in pitiful shape. Blood was everywhere. The bone on one leg was missing.
The vet said that, apparently, the cat had been caught in a trap. It had gnawed its own foot off in order to escape and be free.
There’s a lesson in that.
We should all pray and fast. Some who are not well may only be able to skip a meal. Some may give up food they like for a time and only eat to sustain. Some may pray and fast for a day. Some for two. Some for a week.
Everything we hope for and believe is right must come from God to be true. The LORD was the one who gave us Trump’s victory, and spared us the utter destruction of Clinton. It is He we must look to first for that which we believe we need. It is He that can cause it to come about. If we have learned anything, it must be to look to The LORD first to accomplish His good and perfect will. We must do what is necessary to do, but for there to be power in it, it must come from Him first.
Thank you, Jim. Your words are an absolute truth. Statesmen and Stateswomen are few in one’s lifetime. Praising God, America has not only a Patriot and Statesman in you. May God continue His blessings upon you and yours!!!
Bravo. I stood and clappped from my living room 25 miles from the murder capital of the United States of America, Chicago Illinois.
My level of respect for you went up another notch.
Now for my opinion: Absent a CLEAN REPEAL bill that mirrors identically that which the Republican's in the House of Representatives passed some 60+ (?) times in 8 years under Blobama I say "let it collapse under its own weight."
Let those who passed this monstrosity OWN IT, lock, stock and stinking barrel. They stood together on Friday on full public display, prominently upheld by the liberal lamestream media as HEROES for opposing President Trump.
Mark these words: those same "heroes" will be the villians by the end of this year. Premiums skyrocketing again this year, coverage "that isn't really coverage" due to the excessive premiums and out of pocket deductibles and uncontrolled costs will, I say WILL cause Blowbama care to explode on its own. Of this FACT, President Donald J. Trump has it exactly right.
I do not say let Blowbama care collapase and burn under its own weight with any glee. My PRIVATE healthcare costs have skyrocketed as I'm sure has happened to many on here. I pay $450/mo. and have to meet a $6,000 out of pocket deductible before my PRIVATE SECTOR healthcare insurance pays dime one.
It didn't used to be this way. I used to have one of those "cadillac plans" with a $300/mo. premium and a $2,000 deductible. To "comply" with Blowbamacare regulations my employer (a fortune 500 company) scaled back our healthcare and charges me MORE for less coverage.
I don't even have prescription coverage to speak of anymore! Why, if I follow our prescription coverage I'll pay 2-4x more for one drug I need, vs. going to GoodRX.Com and printing a coupon. How is that "health care coverage" when following the insurance costs MORE than printing a coupon off a website?
And yet, this is what I'm forced into under Blowbamacare. Since my employer offers healthcare coverage, I MUST take the insurance my employer offers unless I can prove I have healthcare coverage elsewhere. That's the law under Blowbamacare. My own opinion here is, if I have to suffer the consequences of Blowbamacare, then I want each and every dipwad that voted for Blowbama to suffer the consequences as well. In spades!
While I live in constant pain (as you do) and can no longer afford some of my medications thanks to Blowbama and the Democrats (who all forced Blowbamacare on the rest of us!) I hope that each and every Blowbama voter becomes broke, homeless and penniless once this monstrosity collapses and burns under its own weight. That's what they deserve for forcing this socialist/marxist monstrosity on the rest of us. That's what they deserve for making the medications I need UNAFFORDABLE under the "affordable" care act.
As for President Trump: He should've NEVER taken on Blowbamacare. The second he tried touching and "fixing" it - he became the owner. He now gets the blame for not "fixing it before it failed" independent of the fact that this albatross hangs squarely around the Democrat party's neck. This is the line that's being shopped around and push-polled as I type. I live in Illinois, I received one of those calls.
By taking on Blowbamacare, President Trump took an unnecessary risk and anyone who advised him to go that route should be hearing the words "You're Fired" soon, as should that rat RINO and lying suckbag Paul Ryan come primary time.
One last comment: The video of Nancy Pelosi gloating on Friday that Blowbama care is the law of the land and how proud she is of it needs to be played over, and over, and over once Blowbamacare crashes and burns on its own. Make the Democrats own it, shove it back down the media's throats and drive a stake through both their hearts.
Considering President Trump won the election by spending a fraction of the cost of Shrillary Clinton did and demonstrated he knows how to successfully go around the lying liberal lamestream media all he needs to do now is sit back and wait for Blowbamacare to explode on its own.
Yes, there will be pain. Necessary pain.
Thank you Jim for your well thought out and impassioned piece. Best I've seen in awhile and I'm proud to be a member of the class of '98 here on FR.
All the best.
USC.
If you notice Jim Trump is a master at sand bagging. He let the Democrats own a bill that’s going to expire in a year. If he let Ryans bill go through it would have been just a rehash of ObamaCare. Let it expire and he can write his own.
You're right on both counts. The entire Constitution is written under what the Founders called the Rule of Exclusion. What is not specifically IN it, is therefore excluded from it.
• § 207. XIII. Another rule of interpretation deserves consideration in regard to the constitution. There are certain maxims, which have found their way, not only into judicial discussions, but into the business of common life, as founded in common sense, and common convenience.
Thus, it is often said, that in an instrument a specification of particulars is an exclusion of generals; or the expression of one thing is the exclusion of another. Lord Bacon's remark, "that, as exception strengthens the force of a law in cases not excepted, so enumeration weakens it in cases not enumerated," has been perpetually referred to, as a fine illustration.
Justice Joseph Story on Rules of Constitutional Interpretation
----
ANY the stretching of the Commerce clause is unconstitutional as well, such in the areas of 'the general diffusion of knowledge' (public education), or 'the wages of labor' (income tax).
§ 1075 [snip]....
Can a power, granted for one purpose, be transferred to another? If it can, where is the limitation in the constitution? Are not commerce and manufactures as distinct, as commerce and agriculture? If they are, how can a power to regulate one arise from a power to regulate the other? It is true, that commerce and manufactures are, or may be, intimately connected with each other. A regulation of one may injuriously or beneficially affect the other. But that is not the point in controversy. It is, whether congress has a right to regulate that, which is not committed to it, under a power, which is committed to it, simply because there is, or may be an intimate connexion between the powers. If this were admitted, the enumeration of the powers of congress would be wholly unnecessary and nugatory. Agriculture, colonies, capital, machinery, the wages of labour, the profits of stock, the rents of land, the punctual performance of contracts, and the diffusion of knowledge would all be within the scope of the power; for all of them bear an intimate relation to commerce. The result would be, that the powers of congress would embrace the widest extent of legislative functions, to the utter demolition of all constitutional boundaries between the state and national governments.
Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution
[emphasis mine]
The battle is in front of us, we'll need to heal and unite.
The forces arrayed against us are not getting weaker.
“If we God-fearing defenders of Constitution and Liberty join in with those who would knowingly pass unconstitutional laws for political expedience, ie, helping Trump move his agenda which is otherwise very good, then we’ve unwittingly shot ourselves in the foot and opened the doors to both political parties to destroy whatever is left of our Constitution and our Liberty.”
Amen!
BUMP