A Nuclear Senate Reinstatement Provides A Two Year Window of Security

Two questions were posted and discussed in “Our Caravan” on November 7, 2014.

Will the Republican Party take advantage of this opportunity to pronounce the Nuclear Senate established by Harry Reid and the Democratic Party dead in the water or leave it untouched and use it in vengeance against that party?

When will our president finally come to grips with his personal hubris and truly make an effort to be the leader that this nation needs and deserves?

The Nuclear Senate question is constitutionally, historically and emotionally a complex can of worms. I believe I made an error when I suggested it needed to be dropped. The rational for its removal, however, remains correct. The right to filibuster is important to all of us because it is a protection against the abusive rule and tyranny of those who are a part of a majority. That is why democracies fail and why the United States of America is a republic.

The reinstatement of the Nuclear Senate has a positive side effect. Reinstatement would provide our nation an important two year window of security which can be used to intelligently slow and perhaps turn aside the advancing progressive storm. Reinstatement can always be undone as the soon as the dangers of the next two years of the Obama Presidency have passed us by. With that passing, the door opens to the possibility of a return to the guiding principles, waiting to be found again, in our foundation documents.

We must, therefore, aggressively and successfully confront the fundamental changing of America espoused by our President and his progressive supporters. If we are not successful, the foundation documents will be without value and will be cast aside. Any threats of destruction from outside our nation’s borders will immediately become meaningless. The attacking enemy will simply arrive too late. We will have already destroyed ourselves and history will have been proven correct.

The newly elected republican majority in the Senate can and must reinstate the nuclear senate. However, the new Senate majority can and must step forward and pass legislation which effectively opposes and counteracts legislation based on progressive philosophy. They can and must oppose our current economic insanity. They can and must re-establish and protect the guaranteed rights and the guiding principles contained in our constitution. They can and must return us to a nation which values and follows its laws. They can and must provide clear and effective alternatives and changes to previously enacted legislation and deliver that legislation quickly and directly to the President’s desk.

The President could succumb to his hubris and conceivably veto every piece of legislation sent to him by the new majority. In doing so, however, the President risks finishing his term of office wearing his “New Clothes” and holding a shadow legacy.

(Special thanks to Hans Christian Anderson and his story “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheEmperorsNewClothes_e.html)

The second question is by far the easiest to answer because it requires only two words: Probably never!

Advice from Our 1st American to President Obama

Benjamin Franklin is the founder whom I have come to admire and respect the most. Given a choice between a truly historical Benjamin Franklin and our current President, my vote would go to the founder who earned it every day of his life. He was born on January 17, 1706 and died on April 17, 1790. It is reported that 20,000 people attended his funeral. He is often referred to as the 1^st American and the “harmonious human multitude”.

Compare and contrast Benjamin Franklin with the man whom we elected to this nation’s highest position of honor. Our President is but a shadow of the man every American supporter hoped he would be and this nation deserves. Each quotation listed below illustrates specific differences between the man who became this nation’s 1^st American and the man who became this nation’s latest President. It should be easy for you to recognize the differences between the two men. Our President has much to learn about this nation’s history, peoples, principles and values. Yet he consistently demonstrates that he cannot or will not do so. Let us hope and pray that the damages he has inflicted on this nation through his goal to change and remake America can yet be repaired. I believe his personal history, his unwillingness to consider that he is wrong and his war against America will prove to be his downfall and will ultimately crush his presidential legacy.

If I were to send a personal letter to President Obama offering him an opportunity to improve his personal legacy and help this nation to grow in his final two years, I would use Franklin quotations to lead him toward a clear understanding of what this nation’s peoples deserve from any man but especially the man whom they elected to be their leader of the free world.

The following quotations are from Benjamin Franklin’s Wit and Wisdom. Someone will, undoubtedly quibble that this one or that one was not the original work of Franklin. That could be true, but he gave them a flavor of his own.

Note: Each quotation was copied exactly as printed.  Quotation marks have been omitted.

None but the well-bred Man knows how to confess a fault, or acknowledge himself in error.

There is much difference between imitating a good man, and counterfeiting him.

Where there is hunger, Law is not regarded; and where Law is not regarded, there will be hunger.

An empty bag cannot stand upright.

Tricks and treachery are the practice of Fools that have not wit enough to be honest.

Observe all men; thyself the most.

Wish not so much to live long, as to live well.

As pride increases, Fortune declines.

Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy Vices.

Clean your Finger, before you point at my spots.

Promises may get thee friends, but non-performance will turn them into enemies.

Duty is not beneficial because it is commanded, but is commanded because it is beneficial.

Those who are feared are hated.

Here comes Glib-Tongue: who can out flatter a dedication; and lie like ten Epitaphs.

A lie stands on one leg, Truth on two.

Wise Men learn by other’s harms; Fools by their own.

You may delay, but Time will not.

In Rivers and bad Governments, the lightest things swim at top.

The learned Fool writes his Nonsense in better language than the unlearned but it is still Nonsense.

He is ill clothed that is bare of virtue.

If you would reap Praise you must sow the Seeds, Gentle Words and useful Deeds.

Thou can’st not joke an Enemy into a friend, but thou may’st a Friend into an Enemy.

If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth the writing.

Great talkers should be cropped for they have no need of ears.

If you do what you should not you must hear what you would not.

He that scatters thorns let him go barefoot.

Meanness is the Parent of Insolence.

Cunning proceeds from Want of capacity.

You may be too cunning for one, but not for all.

Silence is not always a Sign of Wisdom, but Babbling is ever a Folly.

You may give a Man an Office but you cannot give him Discretion.

Demagogues and Economics: New Version

I recently read “Defense Against Demagogues” by Walter E. Williams at Townhall.com. I was drawn to this article because it raised two questions in my mind. What is it about demagogues that requires a defense? and How and why can demagogues and economics possibly sit at the same table? 

It was demagogues that captured my immediate and complete attention. The word jumped off the page and into my mind and it clearly said: Pay attention here! Mr. Williams strongly illustrated the point that “The greatest tool in the arsenal of demagogues is economic ignorance…” but I came up a little short of understanding the tools in the demagogues arsenal. After a few minutes with a dictionary, a Wikipedia article and a thesaurus, I was also convinced that we do need a defense and I was ready to better understand Mr. Williams’ intended message.

This is what I learned during those few minutes and why I decided that a defense against demagogues is required: [from French “demagogue”, derived from the Greek “demos” = people/folk and the verb “ago” = carry/manipulate thus “people manipulator”] A demagogue is a political leader who appeals to the emotions, fears, prejudices and ignorance of people in order to gain power and promote political motives. Demagogues take advantage of a fundamental weakness in a democracy. In a democracy, the ultimate power is held by the people and there is nothing to stop the people from giving power to someone who appeals to the lowest common denominator of a large segment of the population. Relentlessly and without self-restraint, demagogues appeal to the emotions of the poor and the uninformed, pursue personal power, and tell lies to stir up hysteria and exploit crises to intensify popular support for their call to immediate action and increased authority. To enhance their self image, demagogues accuse opponents of weakness and disloyalty to the nation even as they, themselves, are manipulative, bigoted and pernicious. 

A defense against demagogues is clearly important to all of us. We need to commit ourselves to learning to recognize and protect ourselves from these ‘people manipulators’ and we need to increase our understanding and appreciation of economics. We all have a great deal to lose because of our lack of understanding of both.

http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2015/01/28/defense-against-demagogues-n1948304/print