Author: publius911

1/31/23

Ostriches like to hide their head in the sand. It seems our politicians are like ostriches when it comes to fiscal issues like the impending doom of the gargantuan Social Security program. Considered the third rail of re-election, it seems tampering with a program that everyone knows is speeding to a cataclysmic death, is verboten. The mere mention of addressing Social Security congers howls of pushing Granny off the cliff, a familiar phrase for the ignoramuses who merrily run the money printing presses. Still, the issue is not going away and eventually, it will blow up. Here are my proposals for heading off the fiscal Armageddon of a crippling Social Security (SS) system.

Everyone currently getting SS must continue to get it and at the same level. Instituting
“means” testing undercuts the argument the system was an insurance program that had payments made in return for guaranteed benefits. No private insurer could get away from changing the rules mid-stream and the government shouldn’t be able to do it either. That takes the argument of throwing Granny over the cliff off the table.

Eligibility for Persons under the age of 45 will need increasingly higher retirement dates to reflect longer lifespans. The increase in retirement age will be set to automatically change each year to 10 years less than the average lifespan of the US population. It locks at age 45. This provides 20 plus years to adjust retirement savings plans to those affected.

Persons under 45 will be given the opportunity to place all or part of their SS payroll taxes in privately managed investment accounts. Use of private accounts reduces the portion guaranteed in the current SS program by the percentage of taxes placed privately. (Probably will take some accounting work but let’s see which account returns more over time.)

Disability SS eligibility rules must include regular review of continued need. As ability to earn income advances with new technologies and improved health care, all abled workers must return work and SS payment stop or be reduced.

Private retirement accounts must get better tax treatment including ability to grow tax free health savings accounts, larger allocations to Roth IRAs and portability of all retirement accounts from employer to employer. These changes will reduce government outflows later in the form of other entitlements that enter the picture when people do not have sufficient resources in retirement.

Finally, and most important is for SOMEONE to tell we citizens that SS MUST be put on a more sustainable footing before catastrophic events occur. It won’t be just reduced payments on which many have counted or higher payroll taxes or both. It will be a national security event as we continue to pay Peter with Paul’s money crowding out defense, the one thing the federal government is tasked with in our Constitution.

Where is that leader and who is willing to elect them?

1-23-23

The debt ceiling debacle returns just like the pony on a carousel. We keep seeing the same play over and over with the same actors. Our esteemed “leaders” piled on the debt throwing trillions around to perpetuate their hold on power and now scream it would unconscionable to not pay up. The same yammers who don’t see the irony of forgiving the debt of college students.

As is the case with so many other issues, stopping the bleeding is left to another day. Close the border? Not until we have amnesty for all those already here. Hold the line on spending? Only after we allow ourselves to rack up more debt. Rein in relaxed requirements for welfare programs before they collapse the entire economy? Right after we declare the “emergency” over because Congress and the executive branch are so good about ending subsidies, expanded benefits and eligibility.

Betting on the come line with our government is folly. Even the most ardent fiscal hawks are powerless to stem the tide/tsunami of spending to which we have grown addicted. Every attempt to put limits on federal spending has failed. Gramm/Rudman/Hollings to Pay-as-you-Go have all done nothing to stop deficit spending. With new “tools” to justify even greater debt spending, look for an annual emergency to keep the printing presses running.

At the heart of this is the symbiotic relationship between we the people, who like petulant baby birds squawking for more food, keep asking for more, and our accommodating representatives who simply hand it out willy nilly. Never a discussion of the trade offs between that benefit and its costs. Nary a sound as to the long term impact on our national security as defense spending continues to get crowded out by astronomical interest payments and automatic increases in already suspect entitlement programs. The Hiden Biden strategy is nothing new. Long term Congressmen and women know they will never be held accountable for the damage they’ve done by approving all this spending. Hell, their names will be on the buildings that house the bureaucracy they built!

So we won’t see a penny less spending over the next several months has teeth are gnashed and vitriol speeches in front of empty chambers are made. Pundits will decry the chaos and brinkmanship of the heartless who are willing to risk the “full faith and credit” of the USA all while we spend ourselves down the river. The wheel keeps spinning and when it stops, no one knows.

1-14-23

NOTE: Here is what I wrote my Senator after his visit to the southern border.

Dear Senator;

I see where you had an epiphany on the southern border debacle after a visit there. As one of your constituents, here are my thoughts on what is imperative regarding the inhumane and illegal situation affecting our national security.

No Immigration “reform” can begin without first stopping the invasion of people entering our country. Without first eliminating the illegal entry of persons, the problems will continue to exacerbate. Not effectively securing the border first, keeps more people entering that will have to be dealt with through whatever other measures may be taken. Absolutely, no other actions are more important than first and effectively, stopping illegal entry into our country. Without these actions, everything else is a non-starter including a path to citizenship for the so called “dreamers”.

Clearly, previous actions were somewhat effective in curtailing the influx of illegals. They included requiring asylum seekers to stay in Mexico, the building of physical barriers where they were found to be effective and other means of stemming the tide of illegal entry. These and other methods of eliminating illegal entry must be employed immediately. Nothing is more important to our national security right now as defending our physical sovereignty.

As for other immigration reforms, the rules for asylum must be clarified and restrictions on the numbers of those we accept under the revised rules established. The definition of asylum should reflect situations where the person has suffered as a result of their support for the United States. That is, they were persecuted by their government for espousing and acting on direct support of US policies.

The 14^th amendment was directed at slaves and needs to be clarified. Section 5 gives Congress the power to legislate enforcement. That empowers you to insist the person bearing the child must have been here legally for the child to enjoy automatic citizenship conferred in the 14^th amendment. The rules for “naturalization” are the purview of Congress and can and should reflect the need for immersion in US values and mores before granting the privileges of the US. That is, proficiency in speaking English and command of how our government was formed and operates. You have the power to end chain migration. Once a person has been granted entry, subsequent entry of relatives should be limited to their spouse and their children and be based on the time and experience of the person since their arrival. Those wishing to immigrate to the US must meet an economic need of ours and have evidence of financial independence before being granted entry as is done in many other countries.

These are some common sense ideas. Without first securing our borders, they will be for naught. As the most prosperous country the world has known, and with a welfare system that already props up hundreds of millions, the siren call of the US is enticing for too many. As Milton Friedman said, you cannot have both open borders and a welfare state. We are there today and you need to stop it.

1/11/23

Polls show that there is a large difference between registered Democrats and Republicans on the impartiality of the Supreme Court. (https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/3807849-the-american-public-no-longer-believes-the-supreme-court-is-impartial/) Just another in a long list of chasms between we Americans. How it came to this is obvious to me.

Democrats have adopted progressivism which has no grounding in anything. Everything is subject to current thinking. The rule of law confounds them when it stands in the way of their agenda. The current “liberal” Justices view cases in light of today’s mores and situation rather than on the contextual meaning of the actual law. That is, everything is subject to interpretation in their mind. Despite the words as written and with accepted traditional definition, they espouse a view that warps the law to fit their particular bias.

Republicans on the other hand see all things coming from God. HUH? you might say. Without grounding in how America came to be, you can find yourself floating through the world. Nothing has roots. The first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence is erased for Democrats and yet, it is the very foundation for the laws we have. Laws that are fundamentally attached to the Constitution. That document is a fixed point around which every Supreme Court decision is supposed to be based.

So, it is easy to see why the media continues to harp on “liberal” and “conservative” justices. Its clear that Democrats stock the court with flexible Justices while the Republicans place Justices who judge cases on how the law was written. Democrat placed Justices legislate from the bench while Republican Justices tell us exactly how the law stacks up against the Constitution.

The continuing onslaught on our institutions by the Marxists now embedded in the Democrat party will stop at nothing to usurp our confidence in the Court. Every decision that does not go their way will bring calls for packing the Court, ignoring the law or worse, causing harm to the offending Justices. Rather than work through the legislature to get their way, (an unlikely path given the absurdity of many of their proposals), they choose use the complicit media in winning in the court of public opinion with its attendant degradation of our society. Nice people hah?

1-6-23

You would think that after losing three election cycles that the Republican party would take stock of its operation, and beyond just the leadership. It may in fact be happening but where is the outreach to actual voters? The machinations taking place behind closed doors only serves to further alienate voters who in many cases are voting for Republicans only because their opponents are so unacceptable. Here is my prescription for the Republican party’s reemergence as a viable political party.

Define Conservatism – We have let the left castigate conservatism. Their audience sees it as evil. It is imperative that we supplant this derisive view with the actual facts of conservatism and its attachment to freedom. It is in its purest form, a philosophy that puts the individual in control of their destiny and works to thwart incursions on that freedom. You aren’t the boss of me!

Fiscal Restraint – How hard is it to convince enough people that we cannot continue to spend money we don’t have? Even those on the receiving end of the largesse understand the gravy train can and will run out. Rather than accept the “heartless” criticisms, confront them straight on with stories of generational dependence and the sorry lives that are a result of mis-directed policies.

Education – The loss of fundamental civics education has created generations of people who have been propagandized into thinking this is a bad place. Their ignorance of the country’s history, its mechanics for governance and basis in Judeo-Christian values (that are not dissimilar to those of most other religions including Islam) undermines respect for our institutions with ominous consequences now being born out. Disrespect for institutions including law enforcement is gnawing away at the social compact of being nice to one another.

Social Issues – It is critical that we do not get hung up on tribalism and carve outs for this and that. The mantra has to be we are all Americans and that means we are free people. You can think and say ANYTHING you want. There is no such thing as “hate speech” and we have to start calling efforts to throttle speech out. There are sufficient laws already on the books that protect everyone. Carving out additional items for any other group or individual is an anathema to American values. Make the case for why the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Acts are no longer necessary as well as all the other attempts to “protect” classes. We all have the same freedoms afforded by the Constitution.

Finally, organize yourself better. I am a registered Republican, have volunteered as a poll watcher, stopped in campaign offices for lawn signs and I have never been contacted by a local Republican party official. The only contact I have had with the Republican National Committee is from the through postal mail requests for “my opinion” on a survey. Of course, it is attached to a solicitation for money. Checking off one of the several options for giving my opinion is a lame means of understanding my issues and poor cover for fund raising.

Get out the vote trumps any and all other elections activities. The ground game is where you win elections and the Republican party is lazy. No one knocks on my door or calls to see if I voted. Two words folks, “Phone Banks”! And now, its clear that early voting needs immediate attention to first, shore up its administration so it cannot be further corrupted and second, get our rightful share of those choosing this method.

GOP, you can do this. Get going for the good of our country. We need you more than ever.

1-5-23

It’s clear now that the FBI had a major role in the suppression of the Hunter laptop story. The CDC and FDA also used a similar tactic in their quest to suppress medical care and Covid therapeutics. The pattern of the tactic used has ominous overtones. The tactic is best labeled, “Well, I never said you must or couldn’t” while holding a gun to your head.

The FBI met with at least Facebook and Twitter on a regular basis. We can assume they met with many other private organizations and used the same approach. That is, “we think there is a problem that you should be aware of and we don’t want you to get in any trouble for not dealing with it.” If you look at the denials coming from the FBI you will see they don’t deny the meetings, the payments or any of the information coming out of the “Twitter Files”. They’re confident they are free and clear with a complicit Department of Justice and a bevy of lawyers who will contend the FBI was merely “advising” these organizations.

Fauci, the CDC and FDA all used similar communications with the public, medical providers and schools. They “suggested” you wear masks, keep children out of school, close businesses and don’t meet in groups. Federal, state and local governments made it illegal to do not comply in many cases. No mask, no fly. Don’t use therapeutics that were not approved for use in Covid. The latter came with direct threats to health care workers of fines and loss of license.

In all cases, the full power of the Federal government was being brought to bear. What company that was already under the eyes of Congress, wanted to defy government enforcement agencies “recommendations”? What doctor wanted to be brought up by his medical association or lose his license? The subtle and not so subtle threats alone are enough to get acquiescence and compliance.

So, what recourse do we citizens have? NADA! You can bet there will be no accountability for this horrendous undermining of our Constitution. With thousands of lawyers employed by the Federal government, you know the weasel wording used in these “recommendations” is enough for everyone involved to walk. Will our lawyers (Congress?) get judgements based on the fact that the FBI had the laptop and knew it was real? Don’t count on it as that story has already been buried. No, the totalitarian aspects of this sordid story are sadly just another day in the new Amerika.

12/21/22

Here are some of the laws I would like to see passed by the 118^th Congress. Wish me luck!

1. The “Who Really Pays for This” Act – It states that any promotion by the government include the statement, “This (fill in the blank) was paid for by Taxpayers”
2. The “You didn’t Build This” Act – No taxpayer funded construction of any type will be named for a politician until he/she has been dead for 25 years.
3. The “No Work Today” Act – National holidays are reduced to the following:
   • Third Monday in February – Great Americans Day
   • Last Monday in May – Memorial Day
   • July 4^th – United States of America’s birthday
   • Third Thursday in November – Thanksgiving

Use your PTO for any other celebrations you care to enjoy.

1. “Removal of Public Labor Unions” Act –Dissolves all federal public unions.
2. “Election Weekend in America” Act – Sets the second weekend in October as the days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) on which polling places for federal elections are open. (Requires Constitutional amendment)
3. “Keep it Simple Bill Writing” Act – All bills must contain the full text of its intentions with no references to other bills. Ex. “This bill amends bill #n by replacing part c.1a with….”
4. “What do You Need this Money for” Act – All appropriations must detail to the dollar where the money is to be spent. It requires all expenditures to be documented and any and all monies not spent as dictated are returned to the treasury and or deducted from future appropriations. (Back door zero based budgeting and Omnibus spending bill killer.)
5. “Revolving Door Lock” Act – No former member of Congress may have any access to federal agencies or personnel not afforded any citizen. They are also remanded to a “non-compete” situation with any organization that was impacted by legislation while the member was in Congress. AKA “Get a Real Job” Act

I’ll dispense with the “balanced budget” and term limits stuff but these will keep them busy for a while.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

PS – WordPress reformats and I’m too lazy to figure out how to fix it.

11/9/22

It’s clear to me that the frogs in the heating pot are oblivious to their fate. The Progressive movement with deep roots in Marxism, co-opted the public education system. This gave them access to the thoughts and opinions of the population. With a complicit elitist media, it allowed them to indoctrinate us starting by pivoting from Judeo-Christian values, replacing love of our Creator with love of the state. Their rejection of the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence set their course along the lines of Marxism on which they run.

They are now on the second phase of the transition to totalitarianism; dissolution of the family. They have been successful in the total breakdown of the black community where fatherless households are the majority. Now we see the precipitous drop in marriage rates in the rest of the population and commensurately, the drop in birthrates. The Democrat party now fully in control of the Progressives, has installed policies that assure the continued breakdown of the family. Day care subsidies allow the indoctrination of children ever earlier in their education. Providing food through WIC, Head Start, school breakfast and lunches further separates the child from the parent(s). Add after school programs and you have morning to night control of your children. Tax policies favor working adults that cement the opportunities for the state to gain and maintain control over your child. Indeed, they have already introduced “ratting” on your parent during the Covid pandemic.

With every one of life’s slight, people are increasingly turning to the state for relief. Need more money? Scream for a “living wage”. Need cheaper housing? Rent control is the answer. I have to be able to get to work. How about a subsidized EV? Better yet, public transportation where the state controls where and when you go. For the Progressive, there is a “right” for every slight. (See FDR’s “Economic Bill of Rights” for what’s next.)

The ultimate control is your body. The Progressive mindset is the state knows best on how to distribute limited health care. While they would rail at this depiction of their intent, it is the last frontier for them. The “right” to universal health care that began with Obamacare, will eventually fully corral the population. Your ability to take care of yourself will be regulated as the state determines who gets what treatments and when. (See Canada, UK, Italy etc.) Already they are adulterating the Hippocratic oath by insisting on “equitable” distribution of health care. There will be no other means of treatment short of Christian Science, once they eliminate all other avenues of attending to your health.

Dire prediction? You bet. But as you watch and listen to the electorate and the pundits that embrace the movement left, one has to think that we have taken a large slide back to being at the mercy of a controlling monolith. God help us for we know not what we do.

10/19/22

As we embark on yet another chapter of our Republic, we would do well to step back from the media onslaught foisted on us by those who would represent us in government. While understanding how one may address the various issues of the day (policy) is critical, I submit that there is something more important to know before casting your lot with an individual. Will they look at how every action will affect we, the people and our natural rights? That something is their character.

The framers knew only too well that humans will be our representative and that being human, they have frailties and strengths. They could be noble and always look to the solution that best assures our natural rights or they can become despotic and seek to aggrandize their own position. The best way to understand which way the person might go is through understanding their character.

It is said that those who lie a little, lie a lot. There are no such things as a little lie but rather, are entrants to much larger deceptions. If done in public, one can surmise there are much grander prevarications taking place out of sight. Given that most of governance is done well out of the view of we citizens, it is incumbent upon us to insist on having representatives who exhibit true honesty. This would include giving bad news and admitting failures. Recognizing the good in others even when disagreeing with them. Resisting the temptation to pounce on minor missteps for personal gain. Each of us has our own tenets of high character but a basic understanding of right and wrong is universal.

There are no angels coming to save our republic from the trench we seem to find ourselves. We are left with selecting men and women who bring their frailties with them. Knowing how they have lived their lives thus far can be the single most telling means to understand how they will act when out of sight and supposed to be acting on our behalf. It’s nice to know if they will cut taxes or fight for money to build a park but will they be the person who will always put the issue up against how it affects our natural rights? Will they bow to the loudest faction when they are wrong or will they stand up for what’s right? Knowing a person’s character will answer that question.

9/28/22

Those of us who know the story of Mao Tse Tung (and others) are watching it unfold here in America. The utter ignorance of the work the Marxist are doing is astounding. I knew our schools had been corrupted but not to the extent that I witnessed on Tuesday September, 27^th, when high school kids were goaded into leaving class over basic biology.

Marxist policy requires you to be beholden to the state. In order to get that allegiance, you must first remove all allegiance to everything else. It starts with religion. Score one for the Marxists as they see rising secularism across the globe and seeping rapidly into the US, our country that was founded in part on avoiding religious persecution. Next is breakdown the family. Score 2 for the Marxists. When your child can get an abortion or undertake sex reassignment without your knowledge, you know they are winning. Next in their playbook, and not necessarily in order, is control information. Do not allow dissenting views on anything. Only state mantra is acceptable. Limit mobility so people cannot assemble in order to communicate and protest. The push for vehicles that will severely limit travel distances is going on now with only “public” transportation the goal. That is so they know when and where you go. The last step is the disarming of the population to assure no uprising the state cannot quash with their superior armaments….like F15’s.

The state would very much like to raise and control our children. They already have in place policies that take them from birth through adulthood. They provide child care, early education, and meals at school where they are being indoctrinated in the ways of the state. The latest is extending the indoctrination by paying for college.

So now we have children in Virginia who will go home to their parents who very likely are not OK with the walkout having voted for the Governor who rode to office on restoring normalcy. We have already had the state ask for children to rat out their parents on Covid. Don’t you think the next step is to further separate children from parents by having them fight over these cultural issues?

Under Mao and his “Great Leap Forward” and cultural revolution, tens of millions were killed. Parents and grandparents were slaughtered by their very children. The genocide is well documented and yet, here we are again and in the last bastion of true freedom, the United States of America. Groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter have not been called out for their violence. These groups are poised to act as the “Red Guard” Mao used to foment violent overthrow of the ruling class. He used the youth he infused with propaganda (The Little Red Book”) to destroy “Old Ideas, Old Culture, Old Customs, and Old Habits”. Was yesterday another example of this country turning yet another page in that playbook?

Will the USA be added to the list of countries that saw despots overtake the population. Stalin in Russia, Pol Pot in Cambodia, Idi Amin in Uganda, are just a few of the places where an entire population was overrun with millions killed by the very people who were supposed to be their “leader”. So much for knowing history.