Has Washington Gone Bonkers?

Last month I had written a couple of articles outlining the political similarities between the fall of the Roman Empire and the current course of politics in America. Needless to say, the major causes for the fall of Rome are frighteningly close to the discussions we see all over America today. One of the more recent theories being bandied about claim that lead poisoning had seriously affected the mental competence of the Roman elite which contributed to the fall. Lead was used in great quantities all over the Roman Empire, particularly for the comfort of the elite ruling class.

Lead pipes brought drinking water to the homes of the wealthy, the Senate and to the Imperial palaces. Lead was used to seal anything used in conjunction with water including baths; it was even used to sweeten wine for the most privileged members of the society. Lead was in such broad use that it could have posed a significant threat to the health and sanity of those upper classes and scientists say they have found tell-tale signs of lead poisoning in human bones recovered from Roman necropolises. The lead was concentrated in amounts well above the levels needed to impede rational thought and may be the smoking gun that explains the wild stories of eccentricity prevalent in the Roman elite during the final years of the Empire.

Watching the antics going on in Washington these days, one must wonder what has affected their behavior. We know that America has prohibited the use of lead for household plumbing and paint. We are well aware of the dangers associated with lead and have taken the proper precautions to protect ourselves from this insidious killer so it can’t be that.

It’s no mystery that our illustrious Congressmen drink too much because it was disclosed that the liquor bill on Pelosi’s private flights between Washington and San Francisco outspend the food consumed on those flights and probably runs a close second to the cost of the fuel used to power the aircraft. Recently disgraced Congressman Eric Massa (D-NY) apparently drank heavily enough to get into “tickle” fights with other men in their 50’s and with members of his staff. This erratic and childish behavior continued to the point where some staffers had accused him of inappropriate physical contact. His retort to these charges were equally bizarre and consisted of a string of unsubstantiated claims that this was the manifestation of a concerted effort to force him out of Congress because of his opposition to the Senate Healthcare Bill; an opposition shared by dozens of other Democrats that obviously have not been subject to similar attacks.

Ted Kennedy was also famous for his imbibing ever since the days of Chappaquiddick. His bloated figure and large reddened nose had been the subject of many stories of three martini luncheons and hazy vacations in Martha’s Vineyard before his illness had taken their place in the tabloid headlines. Charlie Wilson (D-TX) may have been recorded in history for his involvement in the clandestine military operations against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan but he was equally famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) for raucous womanizing fueled by drug and alcohol consumption.

Of course it could just be the stress of the job or some other deeply emotional issues that we are seeing. Even Nancy Pelosi has shown evidence of mild dementia; at least that’s what it looks like to me. How else could you claim that American’s want Congress to pass healthcare reform immediately in the face of overwhelming opposition? She seems to have no concept of how miserably people are rating the approval of Congress and has no concern for the future of her party despite poll after poll that says there will be a heavy price to pay for passing this; especially if there are more back room deals and legislative tricks. Harry Reid has been reduced to a babbling fool incapable of rendering a coherent thought without infuriating massive segments of the population; something politicians never do unless they are at the point of mental collapse. His last statement basically said that Congress must pass a jobs bill because unemployed men beat their wives and the abuse shelters in Nevada are overflowing. Yeah; poor fellow.

Speaking of someone that appears to be on the verge of mental collapse, we have the incredible display put on by Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) yesterday. While debating a bill proposed by Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), that if passed, would have required the immediate withdrawal of U.S. Military forces from Afghanistan, Representative Kennedy threw what can only be described as a kindergarten tantrum about the lack of press coverage. His voice cracked as he screeched at the upper levels of his vocal range, shouting that the reason Americans are so upset with Congress is the lack of coverage the press gives to Congressmen actually doing their jobs. Pointing at the two news agencies that had reporters present, Kennedy called the media’s lack of interest “despicable” noting that this bill speaks of “war and peace” and affects the lives of the military personnel risking their lives in the call of duty and in the defense of their nation.

He continued saying that the press was covering the resignation of Eric Massa “24-7” but failed to show up for this crucial debate. I’m not certain whether it was the media’s lack of attention to that bill that angered Patrick Kennedy or if it was the unnerving reality that for the first time since the Kennedy family entered American politics, the media was not riveted to their seats to hear a Kennedy speak. In fact, Patrick Kennedy’s career has been so unremarkable that even his announcement that he would not seek reelection populated news stories for a mere twenty-four hours. His tantrum only proves that you can kick a Kennedy, you can disgrace a Kennedy you can even despise a Kennedy but if you should dare to ignore one, they become unglued. Hopefully our poor little Patrick won’t suffer the same fate and lifelong feelings of inadequacy that have plagued the children of so many of America’s Hollywood stars. It is a terrible thing to live in the shadows of the public giants that preceded you only to be brushed aside as an inferior copy of the original.

The media did not attend the debate on this bill because the bill was meaningless. The Kucinich resolution was based on the 1973 War Powers Act that requires the President to obtain congressional approval when he sends troops to a conflict for more than 90 days. Since Congress has been regularly authorizing expenditures for the conflict since it’s inception, the requirement for approval has been adequately met to the satisfaction of all but a few of the more extreme Democratic Progressives in the Congress and the resolution failed with predictable margins. The Massa resignation had the potential for far reaching consequences because of the accusations Massa had launched against the White House and the Democratic Leadership. It wasn’t until Massa’s showed no interest in pursuing those charges that the media realized that there was no credible reason to believe they were true.

Since his resignation, the House investigation into the charges has been terminated because the House Ethics Committee has no authority to investigate private citizens. Unless the staffer that levied the charges is willing to pursue the matter with other authorities, we will never know the full extent of Massa’s behavior in connection with this. Well, that’s not entirely true. I fully expect another “tell-all” book will surface either written by the violated staffer or someone else close to the Congressman’s office. That is just the way these matters are handled in Washington these days.

I’m sorry Patrick. The American people are not angry because we have not seen Congress at work. In fact, we are angry precisely because we have seen, felt and fear the work that you have been doing. If Congress were to take a protracted vacation and leave the poor taxpayers alone, the approval rating of Congress would probably climb twenty points every month you folks were off playing golf and sailing schooners. I hate to tell you….we don’t even care if you “tickle” each other until you all need diapers; just stop the taxing and the spending and you’ll be fine in the end.

I guess all we can do now is watch for more of this strange behavior and try to connect the dots in an attempt to find the cause. Lead poisoning was likely responsible for Roman Emperor Nero torching a large part of urban Rome and legend has it that he played his fiddle as he watched the flames consume hundreds of buildings. I know Obama smokes….I just hope he doesn’t play any musical instruments; at least until we find out what is driving our elected officials crazy.

Paul

2010 - Can Republicans Win?

Now that 2010 is finally here, the Republicans would do well to remember the age old adage that there is no such thing as a free lunch. The public rejection of a liberal agenda proposed by an unpopular President is not a guarantee that Republicans will sweep the mid-term elections. As unpopular as Barack Obama is, his poll numbers are still double that of Congress and the anger that meant victory for Chris Christie, Bob McDonnell and Scott Brown was not just meant as a message to Washington, but was also the leading edge of an anti-incumbent wave.

Neither Party has secured the faith of the American people and most view Congressional Democrats and Republicans as two pictures of the same dog. Both have a history of corrupt cronyism; both are guilty of broken promises; both have shown an unwillingness to reduce the size of government and neither has taken any steps towards reducing the levels of deficit spending let alone any real attempt to reduce the National Debt. Democrats have recently argued that Bill Clinton substantially reduced the deficit under his administration at the current spending deficits are only needed because of the damage that George Bush inflicted on the economy.

While it is true that the deficit was drastically reduced while Bill Clinton was President, the notions that his policies had anything to do with that reduction are strictly nonsense. Bill Clinton enjoyed a spill-over affect from Alan Greenspan’s reduction of interest rates. The lower interest rates reduced the interest we paid on the National Debt and that represented a roughly $200 billion dollar savings for the Federal government.

Washington has a far worse deficit than money. There is a deficit of trust and an overwhelming number of people have no faith in Congress at all. The recent accounts of back room deals and the selling of votes for the healthcare bill have severely hurt Democrats so they will have a difficult time in the fight to regain that trust. Some realize that there may be no way around the prevalent anti-incumbent sentiment and have already decided that the best opportunity to retain Democratic control is in not running. This will allow a new face to challenge the Republican candidates instead of an incumbent damaged by his association with a radioactive Congress.

Democrat strategists are deathly afraid of the new wave of conservatism sweeping the country and are doing their level best to see that if Republicans must win, that the candidates at least have a moderate philosophy. They have begun their assault on Conservatives, painting them as neo-Nazis and something to be feared. The attempt is to create fear among independent voters and to force the hand of local Republican Parties to moderate their choice of candidates. Since the healthcare debate began, they have been accusing the Republicans of obstruction and partisan politics that has stood in the way of critical legislation. Of course that is ridiculous. Before the election of Scott Brown this January, the Democrats enjoyed a filibuster proof Congress and could have passed any piece of legislation without a single Republican vote. It was the divisions among Congressional Democrats that have stalled the healthcare bill and that is because no matter what the President or Rahm Emmanuel want, it is a bad bill and some Democrats are just not biting.

Republicans can not simply run for election on the notion that they are not Democrats. They must bring about a renewal of the Party and clearly state the ideals and promises that set them apart from Democrats. They must develop a positive message of how they would deal with America’s most critical challenges. People are disillusioned and disheartened and there is no belief that the Government can be restored and that the debt that has made us slaves to China and other nations can be brought under control. Congress must be willing to reign in the super-agencies within the Federal government. The notion that agency chiefs and special advisors have regulatory powers outside of the control of the elected officials in Congress has upset the balance of power in Washington and has given the White House unconstitutional control over the nation. This is witnessed in the EPA’s threat to implement carbon restrictions by fiat if the Congress does not pass the President’s energy bill (cap and trade).

Special advisors were created to allow a fast response and specialist analysis in times of crisis. They should never have been allowed to become permanent positions and most should have been eliminated after the immediate crisis was over or in the case of a long term problem, should have been used to shape long term policy within the responsible agency and then eliminated. A “special” advisor isn’t all that special if they never go away. The President has the power to fill cabinet positions with Congressional oversight but many of these special advisors have been given real power without being required to answer to Congress. Legislation should be written that would require all special advisors to pass the same confirmation process as cabinet level appointees, or to have special advisors appointed by Congress at the President’s request for special assistance.

Social Security should be privatized and placed under the control of a congressionally appointed fiduciary. The Federal government raided those funds to support Johnson’s “great society” back in 1968 and has been liberally using the SS funds collected from working Americans ever since.

The current healthcare bill should be scrapped and the Federal government should eliminate the restrictions that have prevented insurers from competing across state lines and allow the same tax credits for small business owners that provide health benefits that the larger business and unions enjoy. Legislation to protect doctors against frivolous law suits is a must and the requirement to prevent insurers from dropping clients once they become ill is an easy remedy that does not require 2000 pages to address. Similarly, measures that allow portability of insurance while changing jobs and a common sense approach to pre-existent conditions should be sought. Pre-existent conditions will be the tricky one to get right. The only reasons insurers exclude pre-existing conditions for a set period of time is to prevent people that never had insurance in the past from jumping into a policy after they become sick. Take your pick…health, auto, homeowner, boat, travel…no insurance companies cover pre-existing conditions for all the obvious reasons.

Energy should be declared a vital strategic interest of the United States and the development of domestic resources should be exempt from regulation by the EPA. Additonally, energy development should not be subject to nuisance law suits by environmental extremists because it is a strategic concern. On the subject of strategic interests, it is foolish that our defence industry relies heavily on foreign made components. Any component used in the manufacture of military equipment should be required to be a domestic product.

The Republicans must embrace their conservative roots and commit to restoring the limits on Federal power written into the Constitution. The enumerated powers deny the Federal government the power to interfere in education, health and a myriad of other issues that are supposed to be under the authority of the individual States. If the Federal government has no Constitutional authority in these matters, then the corresponding agencies should be disbanded, returning those powers back to the States where they belong.

They must reduce taxes and make the reductions permanent to spawn true growth in the economy. They must eliminate the estate tax which has had a devastating effect on the family succession of ownership of small businesses. They must address the sacred cows of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid which is the real crisis. The unfunded liabilities of these programs have exceeded $100 trillion dollars, overshadowing the National Debt by a factor of ten to one.

Most importantly, they must resist the rhetoric on the left that restoring Conservative values to the Republican Part will drive moderates and independents out of the so-called “big tent”. Big tents are for circuses and the Progressive Republicans like Lindsey Graham and John McCain have done more to damage the focus of the Party than anything the Democrats have done. These men may be strong on defense but they are every bit as fiscally irresponsible as Barack Obama is. If they were really serious about reform they would also begin the battle to bring about a Constitutional amendment that will finally impose term limits on Congress. The biggest reason that Congress is so disconnected from Main Street America is that many of them haven’t seen Main Street in thirty, forty and even fifty years.

Paul

Palin calls for unity at Tea Party Convention

Sarah Palin made her much anticipated speech before the First National Tea Party Convention in Nashville Tennessee on Friday night. For the people that are familiar with Ms. Palin’s credentials, her message contained few surprises but for those that were only exposed to the highly critical coverage of the Tea Party movement through a mostly Liberal press, viewing her speech may have given them their first real look at the core values of this growing wave of Conservative Constitutionalism. Of course, that is assuming they took the time to watch it in its entirety and did not foolishly rely on the carefully selected snippets and caustic analysis of the Chris Mathews and Keith Olbermanns of the world.

The main focus of her speech noted the disparity in the vision that the American people have for the future of the United States compared to the agenda of the current body politic. While the main focus of the Sunday morning “talking heads” was the sharp criticism she had regarding the direction the President has taken our country in the past year, Palin’s criticisms were by no means, limited to one man or even to one Party. She possesses something that has been long lost in Washington; a keen understanding of the factual definition of a Federal system of government. Palin recognizes the root cause of the anger on which the Tea Party movement was founded and she is one of the few political people that have validated the widespread disdain for the Washington machine that has thwarted that rule of law and ignored the will of the governed.

The founders intended to form a union of sovereign states, each possessing the power of self determination and all guided by a Constitution of laws that were mutually agreed upon. The States voluntarily entered into this union and a Federal Government was established to perform the functions of government that would unify the States, provide for the common defense and establish a uniform relationship between the “united” States and foreign governments. The Constitution granted limited powers to the Federal government and only to the degree required for the Federal government to fulfill the duties designated to it under the Constitution. All other powers were to be retained, entirely, by the States and their citizens.

While Sarah Palin did not speak of the political history that mutated the Federal government into this insatiable leviathan, she apparently understands that the government has criminally deviated from these Constitutional directives and has been on a slow, methodical march to usurp State Power under some mystical authority derived from a bastardization of judicial and legislative policy. Palin noted the historical failure of the Federal government to provide even basic services without an enormity of waste and the blatant insensitivity to the crisis’s they have themselves created for main street America while serving the interests of unions, friends and political allies.

Palin spoke quite eloquently of recent Federal blunders and abuses of the Federal Government: the ineptitude of Federal bureaucrats that have not only failed to accurately track the effects the Stimulus bill had on job creation but in fact, have no idea where billions in Stimulus funds have even gone; citing money spent in dozens of Congressional districts that do not exist; the overreach of Congress by assuming authority it does not have to interfere in private corporations, take over auto makers and force its vision of healthcare reform on an unwilling nation; the ignorance of a Justice Department that grants Constitutional rights to foreign combatants that are hell bent on the destruction of America and the arrogance of a President that refuses to hear the voice of the people and still plans to proceed with an agenda that we keep telling him over and over that we do not want. I’m sure if she presented a full list of the past year’s failures, she could have easily spoken for hours but that was not the point of this convention or of her speech.

The main point of her speech was in recognition of the composition of the Tea Party movement itself. While the opposition to Washington has unified a great number of people, those people do have a wide and varied list of concerns that the individual members consider important. The difference in those interests could spell trouble within the movement unless there is a greater goal in mind and Palin tried to narrow the focus of the movement towards a goal they can all agree on. While born out of negativity, she challenged the conference attendees to focus on their hopes for the future. Palin invoked the memory of Ronald Reagan on the anniversary of his birth and reminded the audience of Reagan’s legacy.

Reagan had also inherited a nation in recession and could very well have taken the low road of blaming Jimmy Carter for the country’s financial difficulties but instead, he forged forward with his vision of restoring prosperity by enacting enormous tax cuts; cuts that even his critics admit, did bring a tripling of revenues to the treasury. Of course the recovery could have been far greater if it were not for the last great battle of the cold war that spawned massive increases in military spending and the TEFRA act of 1986, an act that would severely curtail the scope of deductions business could claim as exemptions. While opposed to TEFRA, Reagan was forced to accept this or risk losing his entire tax reduction package. The end result was that TEFRA limited the amount of money that business would invest in itself and in new employees but the cuts did have a spectacular effect on the economy despite that limiting factor.

The important part of Reagan’s legacy was in what his leadership provided for the spirit of America. In what seemed like a single moment, Reagan swept away the depression of Viet Nam, the shame of Nixon’s resignation, the hopelessness of the Ford and Carter economies and the indignity of Iran’s assault on our embassy and our pride. Moments after his inauguration, Reagan stood before the crowd and announced that the American hostages held in Iran for 444 days, had been released and had already crossed into international air space. Iran knew what Libya, the PLO, Hamas and other terror networks and nations would soon learn the hard way; Reagan would not yield to bullies, would not negotiate with terror and would bear any expense to enforce justice anywhere in the world. In that sense, Ronald Reagan truly was the embodiment of hope in America, not the half-hearted campaign rhetoric of a junior Senator whose only real experience in government was how to spend taxpayer money at the local level.

Former Governor Palin reminded people that conservatives united to support Reagan and that support transcended party affiliation. She cautioned the audience and the Tea Party movement in general, not to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by letting that unity elude them now. The greatest strength of the movement is that it is focused on the Constitution and not on any one person. That can also be its greatest weakness if this sea of individuals allows the movement to splinter. There is a larger game afoot and people must not let one issue or another confuse the bigger picture of restoring the democratic republic based on the ideals clearly defined in the Constitution. Indeed, our future lies in the past and if we fail to look beyond minor details or become fixated on the foibles of some very human candidates, the Progressives in Congress may win by default as our votes are cast to the four winds. The Tea Party should not become a third party but rather, their future lies in shaping the electoral process as an advocate; lobbyist, if you will, for the Constitution and for the sovereignty of the States.

In a question and answer session after the speech, Palin noted that there are many Conservative Democrats, otherwise known as Reagan Democrats that are equally disenchanted with the direction of Washington. While she sincerely hopes that the Republican Party finds their Conservative roots so they can gain the trust of the Tea Party rather than compete with them, she also hopes that the Tea Party can remain focused on issues and not ideology because that is what is needed to attract and retain the Conservative factions within the Democratic and Independent Parties.

The time for unity is now and the Progressives are already trying to divide the Republican Party between Conservatives and Moderates and are attempting to isolate the Tea Party entirely. We must remain strong, we must remain focused and we must remain united. Remember, one of the first flags flown at the time of the revolution was that of a dismembered snake emblazoned with the words “Unite or Die”. It would do us well to fly that flag again.

Paul