AN LAPSE FOR SOME R & R IN FL SUNSHINE
You may (or may not) have noticed the absence of THE ENTERPRISE for the past few weeks, while we took a break in sunny Florida. Now I’m back to the avalanche of things that pile up when you leave for a few weeks. I have so many things to cover here it will either be too long or scattered…but here goes anyway. (If you get the impression that I have more than a few weeks of disgust, outrage or frustration with “partisan politics,” you are right.
DEMOCRATS AND LACKEYS IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA DON’T JUST DISTORT THE NEWS; THEY LIE ABOUT THE FACTS
Here are perfect examples from the WSJ’s Fri. & Sat editions. Click on them and read for yourself, then form your own opinions.
I’M SICK AND TIRED OF DEMOCRATIC LEADERS OBSTRUCTING THE WORK OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT—ARE YOU?
Approve the damn cabinet nominees, and show up for the votes. Quit raising irrelevant “made up” issues to stall and obstruct. You lost, YOU LOST! Did you get that? I’m even sicker of the made up stories and outright lies and distortions, repeated so many times in the media they start to seem like the truth.
NOTE TO THE GOP HOUSE MEMBERS: THESE PEOPLE WILL NOT WORK WITH YOU! PULL TOGETHER AND GET THINGS DONE. USE THE “NUCLEAR” (HARRY REID) OPTION. NOW, AND EVERY TIME YOU NEED TO.
WHAT ABOUT TRUMP, RUSSIA, CABINET APPOINTEES, AND OBAMACARE
—Hysterical opposition: The Democrats and liberal (adversarial) mainstream media are making mountains out of every molehill—although some of the issues deserve a closer look. If the political roles were reversed, the liberal media and Democrats would have buried 90% of the things they are screaming about. The other 10% would have been simply glossed over. Hillary was a lousy candidate, a mean-spirited person, without any compelling message except “I deserve this for waiting in line.” She won the popular vote because Trump conceded California. ALL of Clinton’s popular vote margin came from that one state. IF the electoral map win required more CA campaigning, Trump would have done it—and gained the popular vote win as well. Yes, Russia and Wiki-Leaks were factors, but far less of one than FBI Director Comey and Hillary’s “Just crown me, I’m the one” campaign. Hillary’s Democratic machine actually did and said all those things they are now so upset about being exposed.
THE DEMS GREATEST TALENT: DISTORTING FACTS … AND MAKING UP NEW ONES THEY WANT TO USE…
—Ill-advised Tweets and words: Trump have made some notably dumb statements. It’s his nature to bluster and bloviate, but he could have made his transition from election winner to the Oval Office a lot smoother if he tamped down his claims and rhetoric—whether some of them were actually correct (wire-tapping, not exactly, but eavesdropping, yes), and some were just ego driven (size of crowd at inauguration). His campaign rhetoric should have warned us…activist liberal judges are not punishing him—albeit illegally I’m betting—for his statements about Muslims. If he said one thing wrong on a topic over the entire campaign, it has been played back, embellished and distorted over and over and over. And he said more than a few things he now likely wishes he had not said—or at least that way.
IT’S TIME TO TAKE THE GLOVES OFF (Mitch McConnell)
—Obstructionism and impeding governance: If there was a criminal charge similar to “obstruction of justice” for “obstruction of rights to govern,” the Democratic leaders in Congress would all be guilty of it. They have been impossibly, almost incredibly bad about obstruction. We now know that as the “party of NO!” the Dems have far surpassed the GOP. With the 80% of the media as their accomplices and mouthpieces, they have lied, cheated, gone AWOL, and used every dirty trick in the book (learned from the Clintons, of course). At some time, the GOP must “fight fire with fire,” and that time is now. The so-called Nuclear Option (Reid option) will be necessary and suitable for putting the highly qualified Neil Gorsuch on the SCOTUS, and also for passing a series of other things IF theological ideologues of the Freedom Caucus will ever put the greater good of doing something vs. the idealist wrong of blocking everything.
THE TAIL WAGGING THE DOG—OR “CUTTING OFF YOUR NOSE TO SPITE YOUR FACE”
—Eight years of Big Government/Nanny State ala Barack Obama will take a lot of work to fix: Fighting the narrow idealistic factions in the GOP, who seem willing to “cut off their nose to spite their face, ” will make changes immeasurably harder. Shame of all of them…especially the so-called “ Freedom Caucus—including OH’s Jim Jordan..whose “We are right and you all are wrong, and we don’t want to even discuss it,” posture is simply unacceptable in an elected member of Congress and of the GOP. There are aspects of the Freedom Caucus’ agenda that are good, admirable, and worthy—sort of the theological insistence on “purity” of their view of government. However, when their obstinate efforts bring everything to a stop; when they render the GOP majority’s opportunity to bring about real change—AS THEY ARE DOING RIGHT NOW—they need to stand down, and modify their zealous resistance to anything but what they want and are so sure is “right.” This kind of exercise of dissenters’ power of a small group to render a larger group ineffective is how the Freedom Caucus alone can bring down the GOP.
WHAT CAN WE DO? MAKE NOISE. COMPLAIN AND RAISE HELL? INSIST THE GOP ( PARTY) WITHHOLD MONETARY & CAMPAIGN SUPPORT FOR THEM?
When petulant children throw a tantrum, they deserve to lose privileges. When an ideologue clings to a level of purity and “I’m right; you’re wrong; and I won’t even discuss it” they need to understand the true consequences of their actions. Martyrs still end up dead! Whenever you try to please everyone, someone won’t like it. Tough. The real world is not black and white—it’s all shades of grey. (No puns intended.) Here’s a hint: CUT FUNDING AND SUPPORT FOR JUST THEIR DISTRICTS, IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE, UNTIL THEY COME AROUND.
IS THE LEFTIST MEDIA THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE?
NOT EXACTLY. BUT YES! Their repeated negativism, distortion, and outright lies (making up stories out of rumors and innuendo, is truly sickening. Every story on CNN, CNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, NYTimes, and (most of the time) Washington Poet—and many others—find every negative way to distort what Donald Trump is trying to get done. They go way beyond simple disagreement. Why? Because they were badly, embarrassingly wrong about how the American people felt. But they will, by God, try to change the American people’s perceptions no matter how much they need to distort, lie or make up news to do it. Welcome to the dark side of freedom of the press in a democracy.
THE GOP’s REBELLIOUS FACTIONS ARE KILLING THE VERY CHANGES THE AMERICAN PEOPLE VOTED FOR
Here’s the problem Barack Obama and his minions created: any time the government gives away things to the citizens, even if they are unaffordable or unworkable, no one wants to give them up afterward. And he gave a lot.
Change Obamacare—who cares what words are used. Do tax reform. Protect the border. Bring more fiscal sanity (not purity) to the budget. Build defense at the expense of those nicey-nicey things, because if we can’t defend America from enemies, those things will mean nothing. Once defense is fixed, then cycle back to the nicey-nicey things. And, buy the way, wring the waste out of defense and healthcare…
RUNNING THE COUNTRY IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM RUNNING A COMPANY
You can order employees to do what you want. You can’t order Congress to do what you want. The disgruntled minority has a big voice if they have dominant media presence, and that undermines authority and misleads everyone about what good is really being done. In both places (Gov. & Co.), take small bites, when large bites (of change) are difficult or impossible to get quickly. Nibble away at things. But be undeterred to do the must-do things (Gorsuch to the Supreme Court) and cabinet appointees. Let Obamacare flounder more. Withdraw help selectively from states where opponents wouldn’t get on board. It’s hard ball time. GOP members of Congress are falling victim to the illness of “political correctness.” Whether it is the aforementioned Freedom Caucus, or the larger GOP mainstream (who are showing far too must restraint in the face of mindless, deceptive and out right two-faced behavior by the Democratic party leaders and ideologues o—like Schumer, Pelosi, and so many other CA Dems in Congress)
Karl Rove once wrote that in these kind of situations “there are no good Democrats” because even the reasonable, rationale and well-intentioned Democrats will fall in line with party leadership when the chips are down and the votes are cast. A perfect example of this two-faced behavior is the Justice Gorsuch vs. Garland outcry. Schumer and even VP (then Sen. Biden) stalled nominations to the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) for as long or longer than Garland was stalled. Somehow, they have forgotten all about that. (Click and see—it happened twice—in 1992 and 2007):
PEOPLE ARE MOVING SOUTH AND WEST AGAIN—AWAY FROM THE COLD, AND OLD STATESo
Plan for this in business. Look for growth there. Except for California, which is broken. Avoid it. Avoid the Dem strongholds like Illinois too. Punish the “sanctuary” cities, and states who harbor criminal illegal aliens (not “undocumented”—these are genuine bad ones). Withdraw every form of government support until they enforce the laws they swore to uphold. Indict just one highly visible mayor or governor—“public hangings” (symbolic ones) get a lot of attention. Watch others cave. Task the Justice department to go after them every way possible and fight every judge who issues a ridiculous injunction (back to betting Gorsuch on SCOTUS), pushing cases rapidly to the Supreme Court. Don’t just dump NAFTA. Turmoil will be too great. Trade with Mexico is important. Fix it wisely.
INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADE IS A GOOD CHOICE TO FORCE DEMS TO “PUT UP OR SHUT UP”
It is needed. It will cost money. The main argument is where the money will come from—private or public (taxes & deficits)—funding (probably some of both). The jobs created will be “one or two time jobs” but there will be a lot of them. The country needs it. The people need work. Will the Democrats put down their obstructionist role long enough to agree on passing this? There will also be arguments about requiring (or not) union workers on the jobs. That’s a good way to spend too much money.
COME DOWN HARD ON ROGUE STATES
Sanction North Korea every way possible and put pressure on China to do so as well. Crush ISIS strongholds and stop its flow of oil and money. Block ISIS participation on Social Media of US based companies. Quit pursuing the impossible to achieve things: Israel & Palestine—will never find peace; no one ever wins Afghanistan (except the Taliban); Pakistan is a mess too (tribal areas, weak government, etc.) Build partnerships with Jordan and other Middle Eastern states who are willing to help.
TRUMP NEEDS TO PUSH HARD TO GET HIS PEOPLE IN PLACE ON THE VARIOUS COMMISSIONS AND REGULATORY BODIES—AND GET OBAMA’S OUT
Some require Congressional Approval or other approvals. Some don’t, but qualified people need to be found, and put in place at the EPA, NLRB, EEOC, HHS, etc. etc. so that cabinet nominees who are approved can move ahead with the new agenda. Even then, it will take months (maybe longer) for the changes to take effect…and there will be the obstructionist legal challenges (see why getting Gorsuch onto SCOTUS is important). Democrats will slow walk all judicial nominees, which is why the GOP Senate leader much invoke the “nuclear rule” at the first sign of trouble (as Harry Reid did to get Obama judicial nominees in place).
TRUMP NEEDS TO REVERSE ANOTHER HARRY REID PROBLEM: YUCCA MOUNTAIN REPOSITORY FOR NUCLEAR WASTE
Billions have already been spent on it. It’s almost ready to use. The danger of having nuclear waste store in dozens of places across the country far exceeds the risks of Yucca Mountain, which was designed for this purpose. New, smaller nuclear plants are coming onto the market now. This is a proven “clean air” form of power, as long as the safety and waste concerns are addressed.
ORGANIZED LABOR’S POWER IS MELTING AWAY
The continued move by states (28 so far) to enact Right to Work laws has damaged Union’s and membership, because it takes away the ability of an outside agency—a union—to require workers to pay dues to keep their jobs. (Used to be called a Union Shop or a Closed Shop.) Further, employers have learned that heavy handed tactics with worker usually backfire, so they stop using them (with a few exceptions). Those behaviors were what Unions were formed to combat. Finally, Unions can demand higher wages, and withhold their efforts (Strike), but if the competitive market is not wiling to pay for goods or services created by those higher paid employees, the jobs will go away anyway. The same applies to inflated Minimum Wage laws. There is a threshold of caliber of employee (skill, experience and effort) and how much their efforts are worth in a competitive workplace. No amount of Union power or Legislated wages can provide job security or continued employment—only the efforts of employees and their employers can do that. (This is a corollary of the “there’s no free lunch theory.”)
REX TILLERSON IS TELLING NATO TO “PAY UP” IN DEFENSE SPENDING
In keeping with Donald Trump’s often stated campaign theme that American allies need to “pay their fair share” of the “cost of maintaining freedom, Trump’s new Secretary of State is out spreading the word to NATO members. Good for him! Push up NATO members spending on defense to 2% of GDP like the NATO deal contemplated…and pay their share. The Europeans are quick to criticize America, but count how many French “war heroes” died defending the USA, compared to how many American war heroes died defending France—and that’s just one example.
FINALLY, ENTITLEMENTS THAT CAN BUST THE BUDGET
If you haven’t looked, the USA is approaching $20 Trillion in debt. Scary big number—inconceivable to most people. Reining in entitlements like Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security will be incredibly hard with an aging Boomer wave hitting retirement age. This whole budget and entitlement problem is like going on a diet when you are overweight. You know you need to do it. You know too much weight will shorten your life. You want to—but you just seem to keep putting it off. However, IF you can find a way to “nibble away” at the problem, by not nibbling at the most fattening foods (analogous to eliminating waste and fraud in entitlements), you can make progress, Easy? No. Important? Yes.
BEWARE OF EASY, SEEMINGLY SIMPLE SOLUTIONS LIKE THE BAT: BORDER ADJUSTMENT TAX
I hope we resist the Border Adjustment Tax because once enacted, there will be NO limit to how often it is raised to facilitate irresponsible US spending. The justification—that the Dollar will strengthen and compensate for the increased cost of goods to US consumers—is overly optimistic at best, and misleading at worst. The strength of the US Dollar depends on too many factors to cling to such a simplistic justification. What happens to the dollar if Iran, or North Korea or other rogue states do something horribly irrational, or if Europeans in places like Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain (the PIGS countries) continue their irresponsible fiscal behavior?
OK…I GOT A LOT OF THE POISON OUT OF MY SYSTEM. I HOPE YOU FEEL MORE INFORMED AND NOT JUST FRUSTRATED.
CONTACT YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVE—OFTEN AND FORCEFULLY—AND MAKE APPOINTMENTS TO MEET WITH YOU HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE.
These folks are only human, trying to do the best they can…in an impossibly difficult situation.
BEST, JOHN
http://mariotti.blogs.com/my_weblog/
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