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Sowell: Local or National Elections?
Creators Syndicate ^ | October 14, 20134 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 10/13/2014 9:22:47 AM PDT by jazusamo

Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill once said, "All politics is local." That may have been true in Tip O'Neill's day, but some elections are decisively on national issues — and the Congressional elections this year are overwhelmingly national, just as the elections of 1860 were dominated by one national issue, namely slavery.

In 1860, some abolitionists split the anti-slavery vote by running their own candidate — who had no chance of winning — instead of supporting Abraham Lincoln, who was not pure enough for some abolitionists. Lincoln got just 40 percent of the vote, though that turned out to be enough to win in a crowded field.

But what a gamble with the fate of millions of human beings held as slaves! And for what? Symbolic political purity?

This year as well, there are third-party candidates complicating elections that can decide the fate of this nation for years to come. No candidate that irresponsible deserves any vote. With all the cross-currents of political controversies raging today, what is the overriding national issue that makes this year's Congressional elections so crucial?

That issue is whether, despite all the lawless edicts of President Obama, threatening one-man rule, we can still salvage enough of the Constitution to remain a free, democratic nation.

Barack Obama will be on his way out in two years but, if he can appoint enough federal judges who share his contempt for the Constitution's limits on federal government power in general, and presidential powers in particular, then the United States of America can continue on the path to becoming another banana republic, even after Obama has left the White House.

(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2014elections; courts; federaljudges; midterms; obama; sowell; thomassowell
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To: GraceG

We have two parties ? You’d never know it with the Communist Democrats and Socialist Republican Establishment in bed together.


21 posted on 10/13/2014 2:50:20 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

[ We have two parties ? You’d never know it with the Communist Democrats and Socialist Republican Establishment in bed together. ]

You do have a point there...

I really favor the idea of giving every election a “No Confidence” Vote.

So that no matter the number of parties You always have a choice of telling the establishment to go find someone else to run because you are not voting for their fools...

The problem with parties is that there is not a “None of the Above” option that kicks it back and forces the major parties to re-submit a new candidate for a runoff...


22 posted on 10/13/2014 3:19:55 PM PDT by GraceG (Protect the Border from Illegal Aliens, Don't Protect Illegal Alien Boarders...)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

” We have two parties ? You’d never know it with the Communist Democrats and Socialist Republican Establishment in bed together.”

No joke.


23 posted on 10/14/2014 10:42:26 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (The only people in the world who fear Obama are American citizens. KILL THE BILL!)
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To: jazusamo

” That people will die while he stalls on military action is a price he is willing to pay. His ordering thousands of American troops into Ebola-infested Liberia shows the same ideologically driven callousness.”

Well stated Mr. Sowell.


24 posted on 10/14/2014 10:45:43 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (The only people in the world who fear Obama are American citizens. KILL THE BILL!)
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To: stephenjohnbanker

Hiya, sjb. :-)


25 posted on 10/14/2014 10:48:20 AM PDT by jazusamo (Sometimes I think that this is an era when sanity has become controversial: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

Howdy!


26 posted on 10/14/2014 10:50:04 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (The only people in the world who fear Obama are American citizens. KILL THE BILL!)
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