Requiem for a Republic-Part 3

By William L. Garvin

“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”  Abraham Lincoln

When you look at the leading contenders for the presidency, it is difficult not to ask: “Is this the best that we can do?”  Did the devolution start when candidates started playing sax on television talk shows and answering questions about whether they wore boxers or briefs?  Did it start when being cool took precedence over being competent?  Did it start when charisma replaced character?  Was it because we became involved in nation building in countries that prefer Neanderthal social policies?  Did it bottom with a president engaging in sordid sexual relations in the oval office and then blatantly lying about it on national television?  Or was it when emotions became paramount to reason and rhetoric superseded rationale?  Was it all of the above or none of the above?  Maybe it’s not them; maybe it’s us….

Thomas Jefferson noted that “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”  Apparently, fewer and fewer people should be trusted in contemporary times.  If you think Judge Judy is on the Supreme Court, you can’t be trusted.  If you don’t know who the vice-president is, you can’t be trusted.  If you don’t know how legislation becomes law, you can’t be trusted.  If you think a president increasing the national debt by $4 trillion is “unpatriotic” but think it’s okay if “your president” runs it up by $9 trillion, you can’t be trusted.  If somebody chalks “Trump 2016” on a sidewalk on your campus and you are “traumatized” or “terrorized” and have to run to your “safe space’ where you demand prosecution of the “aggressors,” you can’t be trusted.  If you think it’s “okay” for a president to release thousands of felons who have been convicted and imprisoned by a jury of their peers, you can’t be trusted.  If you think it’s “okay” for a governor to give 206,000 felons voting rights solely by executive order, you can’t be trusted.  Seriously, prisoners who have committed crimes against society are now being given the right to elect the people who define the crimes against society?  If you think it’s okay for attorney generals to investigate “global warming deniers” then you must think it was okay for Lois Lerner and her IRS cabal to target conservative political groups and you can’t be trusted.  At least the attorneys will be happy since the 31,487 scientists (which includes 9,029 PHDs) who have challenged anthropomorphic global warming will now have to hire legal representation for defense of their right to think and disagree.

One should always remember the words of John F. Kennedy: “Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs.  Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.”  One should also remember Dwight David Eisenhower: “A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”  And what about when Ronald Reagan noted that “Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives” and “We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many people are added.”  With record numbers of people receiving food stamps and in poverty, with record numbers of people leaving the work force, fewer and fewer are in the position of having to support more and more and their ever-increasing entitlements. Thomas Jefferson also noted that “Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.” 

Why is this happening?  As George Washington said: “Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”  Politicians of all stripes have concocted a system of political convenience to secure their own survival and the public be damned!  That’s why Trump and Sanders both resonate in their condemnation of the “corrupt” and “rigged” systems and the ability of rich entities such as labor unions, the Chamber of Commerce, George Soros and the Koch brothers to wield disproportionate influence.  Trump has always bought access and Hillary has always sold it.  Two-thirds of America thinks Hillary is a liar, dishonest, and untrustworthy but Democrats will vote for her anyway.  The only candidate with higher unfavorability ratings than Hillary is Donald.  So the question remains, is this the best that we can do?  If so, it’s goodbye freedom, goodbye America!

Requiem for a Republic-Part 2

By William L. Garvin

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Last week the American left clearly showed that they are willing to allow transgender men into women’s bathrooms thereby subjecting women and girls to potential risk.  If you think this is hypothetical or nonsensical speculation, the University of Toronto has already experienced abuse. The left also now portrays the corporate support for their position as “brave” and “heroic.”  Weren’t these same companies greedy, evil, exploitive one-percenters just a week ago?  All of a sudden, the enemy of my enemy is my friend!

This hypocrisy is typical of far too many on the left.  As has been frequently noted, they will tolerate anything but dissent.  Kirsten Powers, a liberal Democrat, has an entire chapter (“Intolerance 201: Free Speech for Me but not for Thee”) in her book THE SILENCING: How the Left is Killing Free Speech devoted to this subject.  Professors and small groups of leftist university students have successfully shut down and eliminated conservative speakers and conservative ideas from many campuses.  Powers quotes Michael Bloomberg as remarking that “…conservative faculty members are at risk of becoming an endangered species.” The concept of “I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” is as passé in academia as “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.”

This censorship, intolerance and intellectual schizophrenia can be seen in full force at Donald Trump’s campaign events.  Like him or loathe him, there is no doubt Trump is a modern political phenomenon and draws huge crowds that want to hear what he has to say.  In Chicago and elsewhere, he also draws large numbers of protestors.  True to the form of the Occupy “movement”, Black Lives Matter, and other anarchic gatherings, they are not peacefully assembling but deliberately stifling the rights of others to participate in our political process, to avail themselves of freedom of their political speech and to petition for redress of grievances against the current administration.  Many of the anti-Trump forces complained that his rhetoric “incites violence.”  However, where are the Trump storm troopers goose stepping all over the Bernie, Hillary, and Ted rallies?  It doesn’t happen.  The violence and confrontations come from protestors and outside agitators at the Trump rallies.  Trump’s supporters are threatened, cursed, given the finger and have their signs grabbed and ripped apart by rabid forces.  Protestors shout that “their voices are being heard” but seem incredibly oblivious to the fact that they are silencing others and denying them their God-given and Constitutional rights.

Trump is also accused of being “vulgar” in his speech.  Trump is Emily Post in comparison to the language being used by the protestors.  By the way, the epithets scribbled on your signs in Spanish makes them no less obscene.  What is actually obscene is the inability of protestors to articulate exactly what and why is the motivation for their antics.  Kierkegaard noted that “People hardly ever make use of the freedom they have, for example, freedom of thought; instead they demand freedom of speech as a compensation.”  This should probably be combined with Plato’s observation that “An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”

Our national debt is over $19 trillion and well on its way to twenty despite record tax revenues; Russia is buzzing our ships with fighter planes; Iran still chants “death to America-death to Israel”; North Korea continues testing long range missiles; terrorist activity is increasing around the globe; the Middle East is a disaster; we have record numbers of people on food stamps and out of the work force; and our immigration policies and border security is ineffective.  It’s time for problem solving not giveaways.  It’s time for free and open discussion of ideas.  It’s time for character not personality.  It’s time for competence not charisma.  It’s time to carefully evaluate all the alternatives before it’s too late!  Stand up or bow down!

“America will never be destroyed from the outside.  If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” Abraham Lincoln

    

Requiem for a Republic

By William L. Garvin

Abraham Lincoln presciently noted that “America will never be destroyed from the outside.  If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”  If we carefully survey our political scene, both macro and micro, our republic may be ending, “…not with a bang but a whimper.”

The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence states that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed….”  Let’s fast forward to the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Much abuse and hypocrisy surrounds these simple statements in our current culture.  If you are two Muslim truck drivers and refuse to drive a truck carrying alcohol because of “sincerely held religious beliefs,” the Federal Equal Employment Commission will jump in with both feet, with full force and fury and extract a $240,000 award from their employer.  However, if you’re a baker and don’t want to bake a cake for a homosexual wedding because of “sincerely held religious beliefs,” then you will find the government jumping all over you, tying you up in court for years at an exorbitant cost and eventually fining you $135,000!  You are free to argue the legal distinctions but the bottom line is the same.

Georgia passed a state law to protect religious officials from having to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies because of “sincerely held religious beliefs.”  It would also permit faith based organizations to deny service or employment to those who violate their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”  Disney immediately retaliated by promising never to do business in that state again.  So much for states’ rights, the Constitution and the First Amendment!  That should have been a harbinger of things to come for North Carolina.

North Carolina had the unmitigated gall to pass a law that requires a person to use the same bathroom as their biological sex.  It’s simply science and biology.  If you have a penis, you use the men’s bathroom.  If you have a vagina, you use the women’s bathroom.  Unfortunately, it’s hard to put common sense into common practice in contemporary culture.  PayPal immediately pulled the plug on a $3.6 million expansion into North Carolina.  Being sensitive to the needs of the “transgender community,” The PayPal CEO said the new law “perpetuates discrimination.”  He had nothing to say about the fact that PayPal does business in twenty-five countries where homosexuality is a crime!  He also did not elaborate on why he thought it was a good idea to allow men into a bathroom with women and girls.  Lt. Governor of North Carolina did elaborate however: “If our action in keeping men out of women's bathrooms and showers protected the life of just one child or one woman from being molested or assaulted, then it was worth it. North Carolina will never put a price tag on the value of our children.  They are precious and priceless. If a corporation wanting to do business in North Carolina does not see the worth of our children in the same light, then I wish them well as they do business somewhere else."

Bryan Adams jumped on the celebrity bandwagon and immediately canceled his concert in Mississippi where there is also a “religious liberty” law.  Apparently his conscience has “evolved” since he never canceled his concerts in Egypt and Qatar where homosexuals are arrested and imprisoned simply for being!  Then again, he was only following Bruce Springsteen who also had a fit of conscience and canceled his North Carolina concert a few days earlier.  Apparently, the “Boss” has “sincerely held personal beliefs” against providing services in a state that holds views contrary to his own.  Good thing he’s not a baker, a florist, or a photographer!

Moderate. Agitate. Or Instigate- Who Calls the Shots?

By William L. Garvin

By the time this is published, the citizens of Iowa will have established the first party primary presidential pecking order of the season.  They will have also answered a number of questions.  Did the enthusiasm of the Donald’s trumpeteers carry over to the arduous task of the Iowa caucus?  Did Ted Cruz’ organization and ground game overcome the gap opened up by the frontrunner?  Did Marco survive the negative advertising onslaught of “Right to Rise” and Jeb?  Did the latest email revelations have any effect on Hillary or was she “burnt toast” from enthusiastic youth who “feel the Bern”?  Political pundits were all over the map on this one.

It certainly was an interesting week leading up to the Monday vote.  Did Donald skipping the last debate help or hurt?  Is your glass half empty or half full?  Fox News points out that the Trumpless-debate received their second highest rating ever.  Then again, the rating was the second lowest in viewership of the seven debates.  At the same time, the Donald threw together and pulled off an event that raised $6 million for veterans in one day.  Not bad for such short notice.

An important element to note in the Trump-Fox contretemps was the liberal media attempting to elevate Megyn Kelley to journalistic sainthood.  How they must have anguished over giving any sort of credibility to their hated rivals!  Then again, any humiliation is worth suffering if it will further the cause of Hillary.  And there’s the rub…they have a dog in this fight.  There is no longer any pretense of journalistic neutrality.  They are now the second in the corner of the ring.  They no longer moderate; they agitate and instigate.  Rather than moderating an actual debate, they do their worst to turn the exchanges into an internecine food fight.  If the candidates won’t oblige, they assume the role of antagonist or protector (remember Candy Crowley?) depending on personal bias and preference.  What a shame.  When Chris Wallace stepped all over the punchline to Cruz’s feeble joke attempt with “after all it is a debate,” nothing could have been further from the truth or more ironic!

Another refrain during the week was the oft-repeated refrain that if Trump didn’t have the courage to face Kelley, how could he stand up to Putin or other adversaries.  This choreographed criticism came from the Democrat National Committee and was bleated far and wide by their sheeple in both traditional and non-traditional media.  Remember, this is the DNC that would have preferred no debates at all and those they did allow were buried on Friday and Saturday nights.  Under duress, they were forced to ad lib a last minute town hall.  There at least the candidates had an opportunity to answer questions without a sixty-second bell or “moderator” chiming in.  Unfortunately, the questions asked were nothing more than an infomercial for progressive beliefs that “you can spend your way into prosperity.”  Needless to say, the DNC will never allow a Democrat debate to be hosted by Fox or the Heritage Foundation!  There Bernie might be asked why he thinks a 90 percent tax rate is fair and why he also wants to tax “speculation.”  By speculation he means any time you (or your IRA) buy or sell a stock, bond, or derivative, you must give him some of your money so he can give it to someone else!  By the way, Bernie, Prime Minister Rasmussen of Finland says they have a “market economy” and are “…far from a socialist planned economy.”  Meanwhile, Sweden may deport up to 80,000 immigrants for not meeting the criteria for asylum.  Unfortunately, Sweden has also become known as the “rape capital of the world” and many countries in Europe are experiencing similar difficulties.  Coincidence or cause and effect, you be the judge but all is not the socialist paradise in Scandinavia that Bernie adores.

A final curious anomaly: a weekend snowstorm has resulted in the State Department missing the deadline for releasing another 7,000 of Hillary’s emails.  Apparently, they need another THIRTY days.  Naturally this will be after the Iowa and New Hampshire primary votes!  Nonetheless, the State Department has added another 22 classified emails to the 1,600 classified already found on Hillary’s server.  Only these are so sensitive that they and numerous emails between Hillary and the president will NEVER be released.  Incidentally, the woman who handled the Lois Lerner emails was transferred from Treasury to State where she is now handling the Hillary emails.  If Hillary “crashes and Berns,” Joe Biden, Al Gore, and Michael Bloomberg are waiting in the wings.  This monochromatic cast of Democrat characters is even less diverse than the Oscars…will a boycott ensue?  It should!    

Those Liberal Letters to the Editor

to RioVistaBeacon

So Liberal Writer #1 complains about Hillary being disrespected then goes on to disrespect the Donald as "not deserving of mention."  Liberal Writer #2 disses Donald as a "womanizer" with "notorious infidelity."  He defends Hillary as "unfairly victimized" by Bill but ignores Hillary's willing role in "unfairly victimizing"  all those  "VOBs" (Victims Of Bill)!  

Both writers also take shots at the Second Amendment and the NRA.  Writer #2 doesn't explain that his gun death stats include suicides, accidents and justifiable homicides.  Homicides account for 3.5 deaths per 100,000 not the 10.64 he quotes.  

He also fails to note that gun deaths in the U.S. are lower than they were two decades ago and cities with the strictest gun control laws have the same (sometimes higher!) homicide rates.  By the way, not a single mass shooter has been an NRA or tea party member (sorry, Samuel Jackson!) even though the media exerts every effort to portray them as such.  Neither of the two letter writers nor the president have explained how all their proposed common sense (sic) gun control regulations will take a single weapon out of the hands of criminals.  

Until they do, many Americans will continue to exercise their right to keep and bear arms and defend themselves against all enemies both foreign and domestic.

Sincerely,

Bill Garvin 

That's Not Who We Are

By William L. Garvin

Lately we've been lectured by the president, pundits and politicos of all stripes that "that's not who we are" and "those are not our values."  For the moment, let's put aside the condescending dismissal of opposing viewpoints and the arrogant, self-appointed status they've assumed as the ultimate arbiter of who "we" are.  Let's look at how far we've come with this "fundamental transformation" of the United States.  Remember when the president declared that we are no longer a Christian nation?  Now prayer is being eradicated from schools along with the Pledge of Allegiance.  Students have been told they can't read the Holy Bible during free time and to cover up their crucifixes.  Notre Dame covered up its cross when the president spoke at its university.  Other universities do not fly the Stars and Stripes for fear that it might offend foreign students.  The Ten Commandments is being removed from public squares along with nativity scenes.  A Christian high school football coach has been suspended for praying on the field after a game while a Virginia geography teacher circulates the Koran and has her students copy the "shahada "which translated means "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah."  Some Tennessee schools have removed the Ten Commandments but the "5 Pillars of Islam" remains posted.  Where is the Freedom From Religion Foundation and their ubiquitous lawsuits against these practices or does its "separation of church and state" vendetta only apply to Christians and Jews?

Gone are the days of the "shining city on the hill" when the world's foremost beacon of freedom beamed brightly.  Gone are the days when one would "ask not what the country could do for you but what you could do for your country".  Gone are the days where politicians represented the will of "we the people" as well as real choice and loyal opposition.    Gone are the days when allies could trust us and enemies would respect us.  Today this is a country of feckless foreign policy, disappearing red lines and broken promises.  Today we not only negotiate with terrorists but we actively fund the world's number one sponsor of state terrorism.  On the home front, police officers are guilty until proven innocent and their cities will burn either way.  Here to stay is the establishment of one-party rule-the fiscally irresponsible, self-perpetuating, elitist political class.  With malice of forethought, Congress passed and the president signed another trillion dollar spending bill adding to the astronomical $18.8 trillion national debt.  Addicted to gargantuan government and illiterate economic and national security policies, our leaders are willing to forego domestic peace and prosperity in favor of "charitable" giving to nations that hate us and continually oppose our best interests.  Buried in over two thousand pages of budget chicanery is another $1.8 billion to resettle illegal aliens in addition to full funding for Planned Parenthood's continued war on the unborn and for sanctuary cities harboring of foreign felons.  Senators Sessions and Cruz warned in advance:  "Congress is days away from consideration of an omnibus year-end funding bill that would set the U.S. on an autopilot path to approve green cards, asylum, and refugee status to approximately 170,000 migrants from Muslim countries during the next fiscal year. In addition to that tens of thousands of temporary visas for entry and employment, and the entire sum is added to the rest of the annual autopilot green card, asylum, refugee, and foreign worker flow."  Leftists ignore the unique political components of Islam (dhimmitude, jizyah, taqiyya, and Al-hijra) and that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain all refuse any refugees because of "security concerns." Islamapoligists ignore Islamic State warnings that they will imbed terrorists among the refugees.  They also ignore warnings from the FBI and Homeland Security that there is simply no way to properly vet these people.  And of course, they also ignore the simple laws of supply and demand and fail to acknowledge how a continual influx of poorly educated and unskilled labor, both legal and illegal, depresses minimum wage increases.    

Leftists also claim that they can prevent terrorist attacks by passing more laws restricting law abiding citizens' ability to protect themselves and their families by purchasing weapons.  Newsflash for liberals: criminals don't obey laws!  Attacks on the Second Amendment are unrelenting and a sad portend for the future is Yale students happily signing a petition to eliminate the First Amendment because the entire country should be a "safe space."  If these are our best and brightest and the leaders of tomorrow, God help us all!  If this is who we now are, then cultural suicide is our new American value!

Sit Down and Shut Up!

By William L. Garvin

The “never let a crisis go to waste” leftist playbook was employed instantaneously in San Bernardino.  The terrorist carnage was barely contained before progressive politicos began shilling for more gun control and more speech control.  CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) ignored its own terrorist connections and blamed USA foreign policies for the incident.  Leftists large and small began speaking not of the dangers of radical Islam, homegrown terrorists and jihad but of an anticipated anti-Muslim backlash.

One can easily recall the president solemnly intoning that “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.”  But to him, Benghazi was “a bump in the road”; Paris was a “setback”; the targeting of Jews in a kosher deli was “random”; and the Fort Hood slaughter was “workplace violence.”  He even fantasizes that going to an unrelated meeting is a “powerful rebuke” to terrorists!  Following suit, his Attorney General Loretta Lynch goes to the Muslim Advocates to commiserate and share her greatest fear: that anti-Muslim sentiment will lead to attacks on Muslims.  In light of beheadings, murders, 9/11, Ft. Hood, etc., one could easily postulate that America has been remarkably restrained and tolerant in its response.  Has there been a single Muslim beheaded or a single mosque burned or bombed in this country?  No there hasn’t but the AG fired a preemptive nuke declaring that “anti-Muslim rhetoric” that “edges toward violence” and “actions predicated on violent talk” will be prosecuted.”  This is just another patented pandering ploy that is lockstep with the president’s inability to recognize or oppose the danger of radical Islam.

The president said that the radical element in Islam is only a “tiny fraction” of the Muslim population as a whole.  How does he know that?  There is nothing new in radical Islam.  Aggression, terror, and conquest have been part of the Islamic history for 1400 years.  While he was quick to change the focus to the crusades, he conveniently ignored the 400 years of Muslim jihad and savagery that precipitated the retaliation.  If one is to criticize jihad, dhimmitude, or Sharia law, if one is to criticize the violent history of Islam or violent sections of the Koran, is that “anti-Muslim rhetoric” that “edges toward violence”?  We already know that cartoons will push some radical Muslims over the edge?  Some leftists have said the male terrorist in San Bernardino was justified because someone made fun of his beard.  An Al-Jazeera America producer said it was disrespectful for the face of the female terrorist to be shown without her burqa.  Given the proliferation of micro-aggressions, trigger warnings, “safe space” needs, and the hypersensitivity with which many greet each day, everyone gets to be a victim.  On some campuses black students feel “oppressed’ by even having to share the same class or space with “white privilege.”  Offensive language is quickly becoming anything anyone says that does not fit the leftist model.  Is that where Ms. Lynch is going?  We already know that Lois Lerner and her IRS cohorts will bring the full force of government to bear on those who hold opposing political views. 

In light of all this, what will the AG choose to ignore and what will she choose to prosecute?  Will she prosecute those who shout “What do we want?  DEAD COPS!  When do we want it?  NOW!”? Will she prosecute “Pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon!”  Will she show equal zeal for Louis Farrakhan saying that Judaism is a “gutter religion” and that “white people are potential humans--they haven’t evolved yet” and says that his greatest enemy is the white man?  Eric Holder didn’t prosecute the New Black Panther Party when they put out a bounty on George Zimmerman; would she?  If she continues the partisan prosecution preferred by her predecessor, she might soon hear cries of “no justice, no peace” from an entirely different American constituency.  We will continue to proudly (not bitterly!) cling to our God, our country, and our guns.  We won’t be giving up our first and second amendment rights.  We won’t be sitting down and we won’t be shutting up.