Our Dismal Vote Getting President

OK, the empty chair has been re-elected and we still have…

$16,000,000,000,000 in debt.
In excess of $1,000,000,000,000 in new borrowing each year to finance the deficit, adding to the debt.
Over 20,000,000 Americans unemployed or underemployed.
Entitlement liabilities approaching bankruptcy.
A President who has intentionally done nothing about the above and has never articulated any meaningful plan to do anything, except borrow more money.
A President who diminishes each individual and our country in his attachment to class warfare.
A President and Democratic party that believes “government is the only thing we all belong to.” (They are “getting a life” at our expense, literally.)

Why do people vote for this nonsense? A combination of factors is of course at work but one factor stands out.

Perhaps some votes relate to the roughly $150,000,000,000 given to support teacher salaries in the $800,000,000,000 stimulus law in 2009. Has the security of your income been subsidized by debt your children will repay? Why did teachers get this present when an across the board $150,000,000,000 tax cut for all taxpayers would have the same “stimulus” effect on the economy? And then there was, I believe, a $30,000,000,000 follow-up subsidy for first responders. Well, I love teachers and fire fighters but I don’t know why they received special treatment. On second thought, maybe I do.

In 2012 the Democratic National Committee broadly advertised preventative health benefits for women (why not for men?) that “could be free” when they knew them not to be “free” at all. These “benefits” are now required by law to be provided with no co-pay or deductible, which means they have been socialized. All health insurance customers, both male and female, will be subsidizing these benefits primarily for young women of child bearing age. Well, I love young women but I don’t know why they received special treatment. On second thought, maybe I do.

And then there are Mr. Obama’s executive orders (legal?) declaring that his administration will no longer enforce certain immigration laws, will establish a process for children of illegal emigrants to become US citizens, and will allow states to revise work requirements of existing welfare legislation (without changing the actual law?). I don’t know why people impacted by these executive orders received special treatment. On second thought, maybe I do.

Democratic political leaders are patting themselves on the back for being so clever.

We are all diminished by this behavior. We remain unbowed.

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org

The Chair is Confirmed to be Empty

Viewing Clint Eastwood’s RNC speech with a couple of weeks to reflect confirms his common sense observations as a citizen. The chair is empty.

The August employment report from the US Department of Labor showed more of the same lack of response we have seen for the past several years with the number of “unemployed persons” at 12.5 million, the number of persons “employed part time for economic reasons” (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) at 8.0 million, and 2.6 million persons “marginally attached to the labor force.” That totals 23.1 million Americans unemployed, underemployed, or who have given up looking for work.

Alan Abelson in the September 10 Barron’s quotes David Rosenberg, Chief Economist & Strategist at Canadian wealth management firm Gluskin Sheff, as follows; “bear in mind that in the month of August, more people went on the food-stamp program (173,000) than those who managed to find a new job (96,000).”

Here is a chart of average monthly food-stamp participation based on data from the USDA (2012 is a nine month average through June), showing participation increasing from 26.3 million people in 2007 to over 46.3 million people in 2012, a 12 % compound annual increase:

The unemployment rate has gone from a low of 4.4% in March 2007, to 7.3% when Mr. Obama took office in January 2009, to 10.0% in October 2009, and now stands at 8.1% as of August 2012.

The number of people employed has gone from a high of 138 million people in January 2008 to 133 million people when Mr. Obama took office in January 2009, and now stands at the same 133 million in August 2012.

Mr. Obama told us in March 2009 that his trillion dollar stimulus would “save and create over 3.5 million jobs over the next two years.” If this is true we borrowed a trillion dollars our kids will pay back to subsidize jobs paying less than $100,000 a year that cost over $285,000 each to “create,” and we are now in a deeper unemployment hole than in 2009.

“Possibly, now it may be time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem.” Indeed.

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org

Reversing The Rule of Power

David Skeel addresses a critical aspect of power exercised in Washington in the August 21, 2012 Wall Street Journal. The opinion piece and related user comments deserve broad readership.

The march toward centralized power in Washington started 100 years ago with the passage of the 16th and 17th amendments to the Constitution. Mr. Obama came to power with the stated purpose to “fundamentally transform” America. We now know that meant further concentration of power in the Presidency and in Washington generally. In practice what Mr. Obama pursues is the Rule of Power, replacing the Rule of Law. Just a few examples:

Strong arming banks into settlements that abrogate mortgage contracts entered into by private parties.
Making appointments to the NLRB without the required consent of the Senate. The NLRB then sued Boeing for intending to build airplanes in South Carolina after the company had already invested over a billion dollars in the project.
Signing into law 5000 pages of health care and bank regulations and mandates that give arbitrary and unchecked power to Federal agencies and the bureaucrats who run them.
Declaring an Execute Order that the government is not to enforce existing immigration law.
Signed the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act making it legal (but obviously unconstitutional) for the military to detain citizens without independent court review and without the guarantee of a trial.

With the example set by Mr. Obama it is no surprise that Federal regulators use their authority to impose their political agendas (e.g., the EPA official whose stated purpose was to “crucify” oil companies).

Adding to all this we have the Supreme Court’s majority argument in support of the health insurance mandate telling us, essentially, that we will have to elect new representation to change the law without regard to the dependency engendered by the law, which secures votes to keep it intact. Does our Constitution provide protection from a tyranny of the majority as contemplated in its design?

Thomas Jefferson, in his Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank, 1791 stated:

“I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that ‘all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.’ To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, not longer susceptible of any definition.”

The very purpose and success of the United States is founded in the principles of individual rights and freedom from the presumptions of centralized power. Yet, history demonstrates the lure of centralized power causes those elected by us to destroy the meaning of our Constitutional protections. The rule of power replaces the rule of law.

The path forward requires that we volunteer and encourage others to serve; that we fund, promote, and elect representatives with a commitment to freedom and the courage to use the powers of elected office to protect and promote those freedoms.

Let’s make progress this November. The following candidates need your support:

Ron DeSantis (FL-06)
Kevin Cramer (ND-AL)
Thomas Massie (KY-04)
Keith Rothfus (PA-12)
Tom Cotton (AR-04)
Richard Mourdock (IN-Sen)
Matt Salmon (AZ-05)
Josh Mandel (OH-Sen)
Ted Cruz (TX-Sen)
Steve King (IA-04)
Jeff Flake (AZ-Sen)
Connie Mack (FL-Sen)
Mia Love (UT-04)

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org

False Hope Is Replaced With Real Fear

On May 24, 2012 Don Gogel, CEO of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice discussed private equity in the presidential race with Charlie Rose. Mr. Gogel was a prominent supporter of Barack Obama in 2008.

This interview provides a clear and objective critique of Mr. Obama as President of the United States and of his current political campaign and tactics. (It also shows why Charlie Rose likes questions better than answers, but I won’t hold that against him.)

Those seeking reality and a clear path to replacing Mr. Obama should pay close attention.

Mr. Gogel soft petals his responses but the implications are clear. A former Obama supporter deeply questions Mr. Obama’s lack of leadership, his values, and his tactics based on the realities of his actions, not based on political partisanship.

Mr. Romney’s campaign should take note. The path to the White House and to a prosperous American future is through an honest and positive campaign.

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org

Women for America

Democrats and their progressive allies like to promote sound bites and tag lines that caricature their political opponents. One such tag line recently is “the republican war on women.” Well, it turns out there are many Republican women in Congress who are fighting a war for your freedom and that of your children.

The truth is many times more powerful than the caricature.

Regards, Pete Weldon