The Lesson of the Pomegranate

Today I peeled a pomegranate that was past its prime. As I separated the good seeds from the bad ones, I thought to myself that I had better be "liberal" in the use of what is left, since none of it will last long.

That's when I was struck by a second meaning of "liberal." In the common usage, it also means to spend, waste, or use up quickly.

Here's what one dictionary says:
a liberal coating of paint: abundant, copious, ample, plentiful, generous, lavish, luxuriant, profuse, considerable, prolific, rich; literary plenteous. antonym scant.

Come to think of it, why does that alternative meaning surprise me?

--KTL 10/29/09

A Call For More Co-Authors

I converse on a number of private email groups wherein we discuss matters that deserve much wider dissemination than is possible among the few members of those groups. My attempts to drive the discussions to this blog, where there is at least the potential for wide exposure, have been unsuccessful. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we might encourage others to come out from under their rocks and give everyone the benefit of their wisdom?

Perhaps one of the problems is that only co-authors can post new topics (anyone may post comments). At present there are only two co-authors: gxm and myself. I am hereby issuing a call for more co-authors. Post a comment if you are interested. This is a way to get your ideas far beyond the confines of your circle of cronies.

This Is the Problem!

While taking a break from software bug hunting I read this article by Walter Williams - American Idea. I recommend it highly. For my money Walter has pretty much identified our main problem. Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell are two of the best constitutional scholars and libertarian economists I know of.

Birther Idiocy

I say, people, we must get off this "birther" idiocy.  This is right up there with Holocaust deniers, those who posit 9/11 as an "inside job", and OJ didn't do it.

It truly doesn't matter if He was born on the left side of the Moon He is the president and will be for the next three years.  Bend your best efforts toward making sure He isn't president for the next seven.  It is a monumental waste of time, talent, and money to pursue the "birth" issue.

Matt

Comrades in arms

I have been in contact with “Moose” who is the administrator of :

theunrepentantpatriots@googlegroups.com.

 This is a group of patriots much larger than this nascent blog.  They have graciously agreed to mention “Conversations” on their site.  In return I agreed to mention theirs.  Please take the time to check it out.

I believe it is of utmost importance that a lot of the intelligence that passes among members of small email groups be given wider distribution.  Therefore I ask that all who are interested in promulgating Conservative principles use public forums instead of keeping their wisdom hidden in small email groups.
Matt

A Democratic Republic Not A Democracy

Progressives are always harping about democracy. Me thinks they protest too much. Much of what they propose smacks of authoritarianism mixed with mob rule.

The Founders were suspicious of democracy which often ends up as mob rule. They were concerned with preserving individual liberty. With pure democracy the majority can often violate the rights and trample the individual liberty of the minority. The Greek city states were historical examples of why they were concerned.

This is why they opted for a constitutional democratic republic with the Constitution as the highest law of the land. They viewed this form of government as the best way to allow a democratic process to control the representatives of the people but also maximize the preservation of individual liberty for all citizens. We often refer to it as the rule of law.

In my view calling the U. S. a democracy has subtly shifted the perception of our governmental system away from what the Founders envisioned. They managed to create the best form of government yet devised a classical constitutional democratic republic. It’s not perfect but it beats all the alternatives.

Progressives want you to believe that perfection and utopia are possible. They suffer from what I call philosopher king(s) syndrome. They think they can find a godlike leader or group of leaders to guide them to collectivist utopia. The historical record is that they always lead to dystopia. H. L. Mencken who I think could arguably be thought of as the first modern libertarian made this observation:

"Liberty, at bottom, is a simple thing, whatever its outward forms. It is common faith in man, common good will, common tolerance and charity, common decency, no less and no more. Translated into political terms, it is the doctrine that the normal citizen of a civilized state is actually normal – that the decency which belongs naturally to homo sapiens, as an animal above the brutes, is really in him. It holds that this normal citizen may be trusted, one day with another, to do the decent thing. It relies upon his natural impulses, and assumes them to be sound. Finally, it is the doctrine that if these assumptions are false, then nothing can be done about it – and if human beings are actually so bad, then none is good enough to police the rest.”

Women power?

The media is now recognizing the trend that I have previously identified. I would ask that all interested in the future of Conservatism, get on board with this phenomena and support the efforts of Sarah Palin, Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman and all charismatic female candidates that have the star power to be elected. Sallie Krawcheck is one that I identified in a previous post although her political views are unknown. Another is Meredith Whitney. (Google them)

The Conservatives should also be looking for other charismatic females who may join our cause. Most of the potential candidates will come from the business world but there must be others in the military, law, judiciary and even in politics .

While I love Huckabee, Gingrich, McCain and others, the old white men are simply not electable in the present day of Social Networking (300 million on Facebook),  media hype and frenzy. I speak as an old white man. 

--Stone from Texas

Women power?

 

Notice how woman have all the star power today? The mere mention of an important opening and woman get all the publicity. The same applies to minorities but I think the electorate is going to be sick of BO soon. The repubs had better get on board with this phenomenon.

Again I don’t think Sarah Palin, Carly Fiorina, or Meg Whitman are the entire answer but the Republicans better be thinking of charismatic woman rather than old white men or we are doomed.

 Stone from Texas

A Challenge to Progressives

Progressives or liberals or whatever the collectivists are calling themselves these days are always touting their plans as good for the “general welfare”. It ties right into their “living” document make it up as you go along constitutional philosophy. OK, let’s give them a challenge. They want national healthcare while conservatives and libertarians would like a change in the tax system and fiscal sanity with of course no national healthcare. How about this challenge:

• They get a constitutional amendment establishing national healthcare for as long as it is deemed more effective than the private sector health system by the American public as determined by referendum each year or two.
  
• We get repeal of the 16th Amendment which would be replaced by a new balanced budget amendment that limits government taxation and borrowing to no more than 20% of GDP for as long as it is deemed more effective than the old tax and spend system by the American public as determined by referendum each year or two. Federal income taxes and payroll taxes would be replaced by some sort of consumption tax like maybe the FairTax. The folks in the IRS get transferred to the border patrol or can look for new jobs in the private sector.

Note being a person who believes in strict adherence to the Constitution this can’t be done without amendments. Government run healthcare is blatantly unconstitutional, Medicare notwithstanding. Medicare like Social Security was instituted under the bogus make it up as you go along policy. Humor me. In order to stick to the Constitution the referendums would not be the last word. They would just give the U. S. Congress and state legislatures a straightforward clue as to the public’s preferences. Final resolution would have to be real amendments to the document to repeal what the public rejected.

I would bet serious money that after a few years we would end up with the tax changes as permanent policy but government healthcare would be rejected. Here is a bonus. If government healthcare gets voted down and the tax changes do not we get to reduce the 20% to 15%. If the reverse happens, they get to add dental care. If both are unacceptable, it’s back to Go.

We all have a good idea what government healthcare would bring cost and quality wise. Just look at some of the state health plans like the one in Massachusetts or consider Medicare. The fact is they are unsustainable. That’s why all government managed healthcare systems practice rationing. Some rationing also takes place in a completely private system but is less than in state systems because the profit motive brings cost savings and technological improvements just like any other market driven system. Note that once all computers cost millions of dollars each now they cost mere hundreds (or thousands for high end servers) and are much more powerful. This dynamic has proven to work countless times.

As for a consumption tax my belief is that it would reduce the manipulative power of Congress substantially and would result in a massive increase in economic growth. There would be a time lag greater than one would anticipate under normal circumstances before really significant growth. That’s because of all the structural damage to our economy done by the booms and busts created by the foolish third world banana republic fiscal and monetary policies that have been followed by the federal government and Federal Reserve. But I think noticeable real growth would start within a year. There is an estimated 12+ trillion dollars in offshore investments held by American citizens and organizations. Huge amounts of that capital would return to the United States. U.S. and foreign companies would engage in a mad rush to build facilities here. Unemployment would drop to record low levels and growth would increase to record high levels possibly approaching levels seen in high growth Asia-Pacific countries. Note for example that China officially still a communist country has no capital gains tax!

Yes, I know it’s risky. Our health care could get screwed up for a year or two. But isn’t it worth it to show the entire country unequivocally that the ideas of these “progressive” fools are total nonsense? Besides, there are a whole series of other challenges we can present to progressives until they give up and all move to France!

Quote for the day

Who is the author of this quote:

"Talk is cheap, it takes money to buy whiskey."

Light my fire

Now that Fall has arrived we have lit the fire in the woodstove.  Pull up a chair and we'll pass the jug.

Congress is the Key

We must find good people who are willing to run for Congress, but having them go to Washington to be either corrupted or castrated by the present system won’t accomplish anything. They must run on a coherent plan to clean up the systemic problems that encourage corruption and attract those who are all too willing to be corrupted.   Such a plan will attract the vast majority of voters who are disgusted by what the Congress has become.

What follows are the steps necessary to get Congress under the control of We The People by making it a place where  decent people are once more willing to serve.

1.  The Congressional Ethics Committee (Johnny Saks investigating Tony Soprano and vice versa) will be abolished and replaced with a Grand Jury Panel selected from the tax lists of the States by the random methods normally used by the States to chose grand jurors (perhaps 2 or 3 per state).  From the resulting panel a grand jury will be chosen by lot for each case.  While serving, jurors shall be paid reasonable expenses and one dollar per day more than Congresspersons.

2.  Congressional pay will be frozen at its present level.  All special allowances, such as those now given to committee chairmen and others in leadership positions shall be abolished.  Congressional salaries or other benefits will only be raised if the reasons for such increase are explained and justified in writing and made public 90 days before a vote on the increase.  A two thirds majority of the total membership, not just those attending the session, shall be required for passage.  Any member not present and voting on an increase shall not receive it.

3.  Congressional expense accounts will be subject to audits by an accounting firm selected by lot from a list of  nationally accredited CPA firms.  There shall be no flat and automatic expense allowances.  All claims for reasonable expenses shall be backed by receipts.  All travel shall be on commercial carriers in economy class. (This is the system most employees in the general economy live under.)  There shall be no travel in government aircraft.  Those aircraft now used exclusively to fly congresspersons shall be sold (probably on Ebay).  All foreign or domestic travel, other than between Washington and the Congressperson’s or Senator’s home district shall require detailed written  justification publicly posted on the internet one month before the date of such proposed travel.  All travel and any other expenses paid by private persons, corporations, or labor unions shall be referred to a Congressional Grand Jury for investigation and possible action.

4.  Congressional pensions shall be limited to $1000 per month served, for a maximum of 72 months.  This shall be  paid as a lump sum when a member leaves Congress honorably.  Conviction of a felony will cause forfeiture of all pay, pensions and benefits. 

5.  The present obscene pensions will be paid to all present members who elect to leave at the end of their current  term.  (As huge as they are, it will be worth it to get rid of them.)  If they stay they will get the maximum $72,000 when they leave.

6.  While serving, Congresspersons and their families will get the same medical benefits provided to retired military.  These will end when they leave Congress.  However, upon leaving Congress, members shall be eligible to purchase interim health insurance through COBRA like anyone else who leaves an employer.

7.  Congress shall pass no law applicable to the People at large from which they, themselves, are exempted.

8.  No bill that has not been posted on the internet, in its entirety, seven days before being brought to the floor for a vote shall be voted upon.

There are other issues that will have to be addressed: for example those bloated, overpaid and under qualified staffs now used as a place to reward cronies, relatives and concubines, and the committee system that allows chairman far too much power to control the agenda and silence reasoned opposition to it.  But these eight changes will go a long way toward giving us a Congress that will understand that they are the servants and not the masters of WE THE PEOPLE.
   
--Jule Miller 10/2/09

Quote for the day

Who is the author of this quote:

"There is a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray, but those times have passed away. There is a time to fight, and that time has now come."