Tag: get out the vote

Republicans are in a tough spot in 2018 I have been studying politics for 40 years. I write this 10 days before the 2018 mid-term Ohio primary. There was a time when I was naïve enough to believe there was a difference between democrats and republicans…that the R and the D stood for very different ideologies. I no longer believe that. Now, there are millions out there that will say there is still a big difference, but I’m here to explain why they are wrong.

 

Yes, democrats and republicans display very different viewpoints on all the important issues. But that’s a role they are playing. Just like a movie script, they each have their parts to play. As in any movie, there is a plot…..a theme through the movie that culminates in a climax at the end. In American politics, the plot is complicated and convoluted. It has twists and turns and sub-plots, but the climax is the globalization of commerce. The entire script surrounds this overarching goal to get to the climax. Nothing else matters. So in order to achieve that goal, politicians play their role, maintaining a drive toward globalism. Their individual roles are to maintain a certain status quo, so the push toward globalism can continue unabated. The status quo is and must be maintained.
So what are these roles that the two parties play. In a movie script, the ending is already written. The author knows the outcome and creates characters and circumstances that get him or her to the climax. In a republic, the wild card is the voters. We must be brought along like movie goers to watch the movie and pay money to see it. The parties figured out a long time ago that if they want to maintain the status quo, they must get voters to go along with it. So congress is made up of various factions that purportedly represent the larger idealistic public groups…..the poor, the socialists, the conservatives, the libertarians, the blacks, the illegals, the Muslims, the gays…..all the groups in America that cast a vote. So, most would say: “isn’t that how it is supposed to work?” Yes…it is….but that’s merely the sub-plot to the main plot of the movie.

 

The main plot, is to keep commerce moving forward. Keep profits rising, keep stock prices increasing, keep resources flowing, and keep money flowing into the bank accounts of the rich and powerful. Many who read this are already saying that I’m being cynical and unrealistic, that our representatives are trying hard to solve problems, and if there was just more compromise, more bi-partisanship, more common sense, more agreement….problems could be solved. If you truly believe that, then stop reading and click to the next post…..I have nothing for you.
Since 2006, the majority in the two chambers of congress has shifted back and forth from party to party. Has it mattered? That’s the first question. What’s changed since the democrats held both chambers and the presidency? Has the government gotten smaller? Has middle class income increased? Has poverty declined? Has illegal immigration been reduced? Has there been a period since 1991 that we haven’t been at war? This my friends, is the status quo.
 

Every move our national government makes is to appease a subset of voters while maintaining the status quo. James Madison wrote often about his greatest fear for our republic at its founding. He and most of the founders agreed that the danger to our country was the rise of “Factions”. What were called factions in 1789 are, today, called special interests. These special interests are people or groups, that by using large sums of money, get government to pass laws or remove laws that benefit their special interest financially. This money entering government used to be called bribes, but today it is called campaign finance.
Now I don’t want to get off on a tangent discussing campaign finance laws, but it’s worth a short explanation. Since our founding, there have always been factions that contributed money to candidates. This was the American way. If a candidate believed the same thing you believed, you gave him money so he could get elected and then, hopefully, influence the government to pass laws ….or not….that were in your interest. About 30 years ago, big money interests figured out something very important to them. You see, prior to then, if a special interest wanted an ally, they found a candidate that would support their point of view. When it was a big issue, like say, domestic oil supply, illegal immigration, or national defense, those industries gave money to republicans who would champion those issues. On the other side, if a rich donor or group favored gay marriage, climate change, or more food stamps, they would give their money to democrat candidates. It just doesn’t work that way anymore. Of course there are groups and donors, like I said at the beginning that still believe that’s the way it works…..but it doesn’t.

 

 

There’s a scene in the Star Wars movie, The Clone Wars. A sea monster is chasing Qui-gon Jinn’s underwater craft. The monster is huge and scary. Just as the monster is about to eat their craft, another sea monster, three times bigger, eats the first sea monster. This is what has happened and like Star Wars, it’s all underwater and unseen. The global corporate interests have gobbled up all other interests. They provide huge amounts of cash to, not a candidate that agrees with them, or to a party that supports their interest in principle, they give and functionally support both party establishments to remain in power. The money is almost equally distributed between both parties, who then decide which candidates will be chosen…..and even which ones will win and when. This cannot be understated. The establishment of both parties, choose who will be in the congress…not you! They cultivate, nurture and then finance any campaign of any candidate that will support the status quo. No matter what the ideology of the candidate, the overarching goal is to serve the interest of the status quo and the global corporate interests. This is the very large fish, eating the smaller one. Let me be clear…..republican democrat….it no longer matters. As long as that candidate supports policies that aid global corporate interests, then they are helped.
I sense you are not convinced. You still believe that right versus left is still real, that we are fighting the left and the left is fighting us. Well, I know I will not be able to convince most, but let me use some examples. Now I could provide at least two dozen examples of what I speak….but in the interest of brevity, allow me just two. Most people have heard of Dodd-Frank. This is the bill that regulated banks after the 2008 banking crisis. Let’s be honest, all it did was limit the competition. It devastated small banks and did nothing to address the real problems in banking: Banks so large, a failure could take down the whole economy. But yet it was passed. If you’ve been paying attention, the dems are doing a pretty good job blocking most of Trump’s initiatives. If the republicans, who are characterized as being pro banking and pro business, why was this allowed to pass in the first place? The short answer is nothing passes congress if the global corporate world doesn’t want it passed. Make no mistake, the large American banks are global in nature and operate all over the world. They don’t want smaller banks interfering with their profits. So get congress to pass regulations that will curtail small banks doing that.
Then there’s the latest example that went un-noticed: the TWO-year omnibus spending bill. Forget for a minute that republicans agreed to record spending once again, while campaigning endlessly on spending less. After it was signed into law, we grumbled and yelled…..but the excuses and explanations kept coming: “we had to do it” “our military has been devastated” Even Trump said….”Had to do it……but I won’t do it again” Bottom line….another record amount of spending on crap! But…..but….that’s not the point. Why two years? Whether you know it or not, the budget process is complicated. Probably for a reason. Each year, during the budget process, the congress has the opportunity to use reconciliation. This is a budget tool that allows spending decisions to pass with 51 votes. You may remember it was used during the ACA debate in 2017, and how the republicans were grossly embarrassed and ridiculed when they couldn’t repeal the ACA. You see, having the majority in both chambers does bring with it a certain amount of power to change things. When things don’t change, and the status quo continues, you have to ask yourself, why is that. Because that’s the way the global corporate interests want it….FACTIONS! reconciliation can only be used once in a budget process, by senate rule. By passing the budget for two years, they will not be able to use reconciliation in 2019, which will take them all the way to the next presidential election in 2020 without having to take any action on the ACA or any other important budget issue.
Trust me that this is only two small examples. The same kind of things have happened with:

Planned Parenthood

Export-Import Bank

The border wall

Chain Migration

The ACA (Obamacare)

Education Reform

Medicaid Expansion

Infrastructure spending

Entitlement reform And more

All these things further the globalist, status quo agenda.
Everything that happens in congress is because that’s the way it’s supposed to work. Their job is to maintain the status quo so global commerce can continue unabated. A huge indication confirming what I’m saying is what we perceive as corruption with an endless supply of investigations that lead to nothing. All to make us believe that justice is right around the corner….then another squirrel runs across the yard and our attention is diverted. They understand us better than we understand ourselves. We have jobs, grandkids, activities, plenty of entertainment…..a short attention span, little political knowledge, and no desire to truly fight back….you know….with guns! So we reluctantly go along….griping and complaining….but not doing anything to change it. But what can we do?
This is why republicans are in a tough spot in 2018. You see the role of the democrats is to march lockstep against everything and anything conservative. The role of the republicans, by being in the majority, is to block those conservative issues that interfere in global commerce. The republicans are purposely divided into sub-groups. There is the libertarian wing, the Freedom Caucus, and the larger Tuesday Group. Each of these divisions serves a purpose. If something is too conservative, like say defunding Planned Parenthood, then a few members from the Tuesday Group can vote with the democrats to stop it. If a bill proposes increasing spending on say the Export/Import Bank a few from the Freedom Caucus can block it. Whenever you look closely at any issue, you have to ask yourself how does this further a global agenda, how does it maintain the status quo, and what special interest is served.

 

Let’s use immigration as an example. First, you have to ask yourself why we have the laws we do. Are we just stuck with the laws we have? Can’t congress simply pass new laws or remove old ones that are ineffective? Take the Asylum laws. The second a foreign person places one foot onto our soil, that person becomes covered by provisions of the 14^th amendment, that starts out with: “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”  This means, when someone steps over the border, they must receive “due process”. This is what stops any president or border patrol guard from simply stopping illegal crossers by sending them back. Once they are detained at the border, or anywhere in the country, they are entitled to a hearing by a court in order to determine their status. Its called “catch and release”. Once caught, their information is taken, they are given a summons, and they are let go into America. They are supposed to show up at that hearing. 87% never show up. They become illegal immigrants. I realize I digressed a bit….but can’t this be changed? Isn’t it in America’s interest to stop them coming here illegally? Over and over again, study after study, has shown the costs of having so many poor, unskilled, and uneducated immigrants entering the country illegally. I won’t dwell on all those costs, suffice it to say, they are in the tens of billions of dollars, at least. I want to focus on why it’s the way it is. Congress has the ability to fix it, either with legislation or a proposed change to the 14^th amendment….the congress has complete power over this. But you see, illegal immigration is part of the status quo. It serves the interests of democrats by creating potential voters, it serves the interests of certain industries by providing low wage workers. It also depresses wages and costs for some employers, which increases profits. It, then, keeps all wages lower for businesses. It even has the potential for increasing population in certain states like California, which can add seats to its congressional delegation. These things are part of the status quo. Make no mistake, the congress could address this tomorrow with new legislation or changes to the 14^th amendment…but they don’t, and won’t. I was stunned when I was doing campaign finance research a few years ago on two Utah congressmen. One was a democrat and one was a republican. I was stunned when I found tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from several mid-western landscaping companies and from the trade association from the landscaping industry. Both congressmen also received 5 figure contributions from LaRaza, an immigration activist organization. Well, with further study, I found both congressmen voted for the latest version of an amnesty bill without any border security measures. This, my friends, is repeated in every industry in America….money buys votes to further the interests of a few, while ignoring the interests of the American people.

 

As long as we had a series of presidents that went along with the status quo, all was well. From 1988 until 2016….28 years….we’ve had presidents that supported this status quo. Not one single problem was solved, as America was drawn into the globalist agenda. In 2016 Trump was elected. A populist/nationalist that believed the status quo had to change. Is it any wonder then, that an entrenched bureaucracy and a globalist establishment wanted to stop Trump’s election and then try to have him removed when he did get elected? Now that the thrust of their plan has been thwarted by the relentlessness of a few journalists and a very select few in congress, there is a new plan. That plan is to lose the House of representatives. This will do several things to maintain the status quo. First and foremost, Trump will become virtually neutered. Not one more part of his agenda will come to the floor for a vote. If it does, it will be defeated. It will also allow the dems to bring impeachment proceedings, which would be stymied in the senate, but it would bring months and months of distraction and wasted time, once again distracting the American people with, yet, another long investigation. It would also end most of the heat on the democrat party, as all congressional hearings would be stopped and new ones started on everything Trump.
Finally, republicans are in a tough spot because they will be asked to vote for candidates that fall far below their expectations for a representative. Judging from the Connor Lamb victory in PA, they may even like what they hear from the democrat. And of course, there are a lot of us out hear that understand just how alike the two parties are and simply can’t stomach voting for another RINO. But we have to! We not only have to vote for the RINO, we have to show up in large numbers. We cannot allow the congressional chambers to be split. That will stop any possible progress. We have to force the republicans to take responsibility for the country. Split chambers will give them another excuse to accomplish nothing. As long as we hold both chambers, corruption will continue to be exposed by such heroes as Devin Nunez, Jim Jordan, and Bob Goodlatte. The more corruption that gets exposed, the better chance we have for republicans to be held accountable. I don’t know if I convinced anybody, but I know if the House falls because we stayed home, or voted for some lying democrat, then America will stop the progress that Trump has started and we will return, forcefully, to the status quo. Get out and vote in November.