You Ready To Pay $40,000 For That $25,000 Honda Accord?

                                                                 

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have both professed support for Medicare For All, The Green New Deal, and to pay off nearly $2 trillion dollars in student loan debt. A quick Office of Management And Budget audit says those three programs would cost a minimum of $3 trillion dollars per year over the next thirty years. And since the government only takes in $3 trillion dollars per year, to pay for everything else, and since we are already running a trillion dollar per year deficit, the question should be "where does Liz or Bernie hope to raise that extra $4 trillion per year?"

Both Liz and Bernie say they'll tax corporate and the wealthy. Sounds pretty good, huh? Except OMB says if you taxed the rich at 100 percent you still wouldn't raise enough money. And if you tax corporate they'll just move to low tax countries like Ireland. (And you can bet Apple and Facebook and Amazon will haul ass). Seems just as President Trump was able to bring corporate trillions from overseas the Democrats want to send it away again.

So that still brings us to how Bernie or Liz will pay for transforming America so that it more closely resembles a Socialist Europe. Liz and Bernie say those Europeans have got it made with all their government freebies. Well, in some sense they do. Their health care, which is not free incidentally, is somewhat lower than it is in America. And many Europeans now work four day work weeks. Sweet, huh?

But you might want to know that Europeans, in addition to business, property and income taxes, also pay a Value Added Tax on every retail or service transaction. That VAT varies by country; from 7 percent to as high as 27 percent.

Perhaps that's why the European Union has been stuck in a no growth economic rut for a decade? With half of their population unemployed or underemployed, someone's got to pay for all that government gravy.

Since the American economy pretty well equates to the size of the European Union, and since we have small armies of illegal immigrants and career welfare folks to support, and since Liz and Bernie have ambitious spending plans, and since they can't pay for it with a Robin Hood tax scheme, their only option is to impose a big ol' VAT tax. (Socialists have been pimping the VAT tax idea for years)

But let's be reasonable here. Let's say Liz or Bernie (running mates?) decide a 20 percent VAT tax will be enough to fund their 30 to 50 trillion dollar gravy package.

If the Bernie/Liz duo can win the Presidency, and sweep both houses of Congress, they can push through a VAT tax as easily as they did Obamacare.

Then you'll at last have free, or nearly free healthcare. And the snowflake generation can get out of their student loan debt. And OAC can dictate solar on every roof, and a Prius in every garage, and force you into eating soy patties at Burger King.

But you'll be paying $40,000 for that $25,000 Honda Accord. And you'll be paying a 20 percent VAT tax on every thing you buy. And when the American economy is finally in the dumpster you'll never have to worry about "financial inequality" ever again.

Do I hear the faint musical strains of La Marseillaise in the distance? I believe I do. Just vote Bernie or Liz and you can too! (There's a very good reason why Bernie and Liz never say how they'll pay for their programs).

Will The Democrats Trot Out Congressman Conyers To The Rotunda As They Did With Cummings?

                                                                       

The Democrats must be in a real quandary this morning. Former Detroit Congressman John Conyers croaked yesterday. If you don't know Conyers suffice it to say he represented the Detroit thugville that drew hundreds of millions of dollars from the public coffers to finance publicly built ghettos and kept welfare queens happy.

It was also Conyers who proposed congressional legislation that would have allowed Muslims to ignore our laws and operate under the protections of Sharia law. Conyers also wished to criminally prosecute anyone who spoke against the Muslim faith and culture.

Conyers served in the U.S. House from 1965, until he was forced to resign in 2017, after it was disclosed that he had, over many years, sexually assaulted a number of Congressional staffers. (Prior to his investigation Nancy Pelosi stated "Congressman Conyers is an icon in the House and the accusations must surely be false." As more evidence was revealed Pelosi was finally forced to ask for Conyers's resignation.

During Conyers's long terms in office he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar numerous times. He used both Congressional funds and campaign funds to pay off his various mistresses and to provide for his own luxurious lifestyle. (Not surprisingly, his wife was also charged with taking bribes from various interest groups).

The Democrats loved Conyers........cause they had to. He was Black, he supported endless federal spending, he had an in with Detroit labor unions, and he could deliver the Detroit vote for Lyndon Johnson and Slick Willie and Barack Obama.

So what will the Democrats do this week? Do they dare suffer the slings and arrows of the MeToo Movement to honor him in the House rotunda? Will Barack and Willie and Nancy stand at the podium, ignore Conyers's misdeeds, rewrite history and say what a fine champion of women and Musims he was?

We shall see. The chutzpa of the Democratic party has never suprised me.

"Bag-Daddy"

                                                                 

Oh lord, let's get this out of the way first. Again we have Trump achieving something favorable, but wrapping it up in an amateurish manner and, as Obama did with Bin Laden's death, taking credit as if they were both on the ground, assault rifle in hand.

President Trump stood at the podium this morning, looking for all the world like a child dressed in adult clothing. Desperate to talk about something positive for a change, Trump went into operational detail that might jeopardize future clandestine military operations. (Example: revealing out military teams broke through walls in lieu of going in a potentially rigged main entrance.)

During Trump's brief he was like a kid getting a new toy at Christmas. He spoke about that raid in wide-eyed wonder, gushing about watching the operation as if "it were a TV movie", to use his own words. Trump then took the time to squeal about operational details that did not need to be disclosed, lest our military is put in peril in future operations.

Professionals do not do that. I could just see our joint chiefs of staffs cringing in their combat boots as Trump gushed out those operational details.

All of the above is just opinionated window dressing. What really matters is that the death of Baghdadi doesn't mean a damn thing. Whether it was Bin Laden or Baghdadi, the death of a Muslim terrorist leader means very little. You smash one cockroach and a dozen come along to take their place. These terrorist chief executions just give politicians a half hour of victorious face time with the electorate. Trump is no worse or any better than Obama before him in soaking up credit for what our great military achieves. The only difference between Obama and Trump's "crowing" was that Obama acted like he'd done it before while Trump was spiking the ball in the end zone and twerking the fans in the stands, shoulder pads pitifully missing.

Oh well, Trump's "rooster time" press conference this morning will give the Sunday morning talk shows something to talk about besides impeachment.

Okay, boys and girls, quick! Who feels safer that a terrorist chief got hisself blown up?

Friday Potpouri

                                                                   

Not a good week for freedom this week.  A number of Phoenix police officers were fired or suspended for voicing their conservative views on social media.  Another dozen police officers were killed nationally by urban thugs.    In Virginia the court ruled that a statue of Johnny Reb could be removed from public view, thus erasing more of our national history.  Down in Mexico a drug cartel showed local and government troops who's boss....and it ain't the government.

Elsewhere, over in our nation's capitol, the Democrats were meeting in the bowels of the House, cherry picking potential impeachment evidence, twisting that evidence to fit their politics, then releasing it to the press.  As a result the preponderance of headlines contained the words "Trump" or "Impeach".

Despite The Donald's "trumpeting" success the Syrian Kurds are worse off since our troops left the buffer area between that country and Turkey.  I actually have a fix for that.  Troop ought to request volunteers from Vietnam vets like me to fill the vacuum.  Issue us a similar Table of Equipment as what we once had; M-16's, M-60 machine guns,  a dozen .50 Caliber machine guns, basic rations and, for the less ambulatory of us, five hundred mobility scooters and we'll do as well as any who are there now.  Might be nice to die for the Kurds, allies who were there for us half a dozen times in the last few years.  Vietnam vets know what it's like being sold out by politicians.

Wish I could leave you readers with something upbeat for the weekend.  Can't.  California's on fire and the governor is launching an investigation as to why their gas prices are so high (I suggest he look at his own Sacramento gas taxes).  And Washington's a mess, even more than usual.  And we learned this week that political correctness is alive and well as both entertainment icon and politician had to walk back things they said that offended somebody.

Sad.  

$300,000 For A Yugo?

                                                                 

$300,000 For a YUGO?

How many of you would be willing to pay $300,000 for the worst car ever made, the infamous Yugo? That seems to be what the teachers's union across the nation are striking about, and what they expect of you.

In a K-12 system that turns out 50 percent illiterate students the teachers, none the less, want you to shell out more money to pay them for their inferior product.

All the teachers' fault? No, but they get their share of the blame. In a sense they are bribing the parents. And the parents are susceptible to forking out more dough cause they too aren't doing their part to help their kids succeed. PTA meetings are ghostly and far too many parents aren't grown up enough themselves to impose responsibility on their children.

Watched Elizabeth Warren show up at the Chicago teacher's demonstration this morning. That's not surprising since Liz and her Democratic ilk have been supporting a failing public school system for half a century. They love those union votes!

The average teacher in Chicago starts out at a salary of roughly $60 grand for nine months work, then see their salaries soar to $108,000 a year as their tenure protected jobs become more profitable.

Here in Arizona our private, public and religious charter schools are giving the failing public school system hissy fits. Absent on line instruction and the abandonment of brick and mortar, the charter schools seem to come closest to a free market efficiency.

Beats the hell out of me why Americans shell out Rolls Royce prices for damned three cylinder Yugos with the fenders falling off. 

Sad. Damned Sad.

The Eastern Elite In A Frazzled Tizzy

                                                                   

The Eastern elites are having hissy fits about the "barbarian" occupying the Oval Office.  Lacking the gentility of previous ruling classes, Trump is the barbarian at the gate....the uncivil, rather ignorant, rough as a cob fellow who implies a little "tit for tat" is most appropriate from countries regularly receiving an American aid check.

Were the elites perfectly honest they would say "that's just not how it's done...there are other, more sophisticated methods for dredging up something personally beneficial.  Beginning with FDR it was Lend-Lease.  With the Kennedys it was old Joe's boot legger money that bought influence.  And there can be no doubt that it was the Clintons who claim the all time crown for personally profiting from foreign influence.  

The Democrats seem to have a solid hold on being able to manipulate foreign powers for their own good.  Even as Trump stumbles through an array of foreign entanglements we should remember that "civilian John Kerry" only recently travelled to Iran, to tell them that things will get back to normal once Trump is gone.  Obama and his minions say likewise as they flitter about the world, secretly laughing and conspiring and promising when Trump's gone the old way of doing things will be back in fashion.

This tug of war between Trump and the Democrats is far more than political.  Underlying all the rhetoric regarding Russian collusion, foreign aid bribery, and even political posturing lies far deeper intentions.  The Eastern elites who have largely governed us as we slept at the polls do not like being challenged.  We have seen the means of their treachery in "declared red lines being ignored", in attempting to purchase a degree of Middle East serenity with the Iran deal, and in buying off Putin with a red button and an American sale of our uranium stocks.

Trump is just not that smart or sophisticated.  Street brawler that he is, he goes for the diplomatic crotch......heavily implying that American foreign aid and favor is dependent on what the foreign entity can dig up on a political opponent.   And the thing is, there is dirt there!  Biden is as corrupt as a Chicago or Baltimore mayor, the Clintons the king and queen of corruption, Obama nearly so with his unearned Nobel Peace Prize and half a million dollar speaking fees!

So one must not be fooled by the headlines.  One must do a little digging to see that the old "tit for tat" has always been the standard methodology for politicians seeking personal or political gain.  Trump is just too raw to employ more sophisticated means of deception.  So he's up for impeachment, not because he's doing anything any different than his predecessors, but because the idiot doesn't know which fork to use at the diplomatic table.

We could damn sure use a Harry Truman about now.  Old Harry went home to Independence, Missouri as broke as a pauper.  He and Bess were so poor the Congress had to launch an effort to hike the retirement pay of retired Presidents to keep Bess and Harry out of the poor house.  Not so anymore.  Between ten million dollar book advances, half million dollar speaking fees, and whatever foreign alliances they've compromised with, our retired Presidents, with the exception of George W., who seems to be content painting portraits in a modest Texas house, have wealth beyond our wildest dreams.

And the Eastern elites wish to recover their "modus operandi" so that it may always be so.

Our founders would be appalled.

The Death Rattle of Liberal Propaganda

                                                                     

News out this morning that New Media Corporation, soon to be the new owner of the Gannet Corporation's USA Today and its 109 regional's newspapers, plans to scrap most of the USA Today's print edition.

To understand just how far Gannett has fallen one needs to understand its history. USA Today was founded by liberal flame Al Neuharth. Neuharth badly needed a media source to fight off the conservative success of one Ronald Wilson Reagan. So he and his liberal ilk started a comic book version of a newspaper. USA Today was colorized, with a bright weather map, a decent Sports section, a "Reader's Digest Condensed Version" of the news, with an editorial page that devoted itself to promoting its socialistic agenda.

For a time Neuharth succeeded. As the attention span of Americans began to dwindle to that of a six year old USA Today achieved a circulation of nearly 3 million readers. (A third of that circulation deposited outside your hotel door each morning.)

Then the internet came along. Today USA Today's paid print subscribers have fallen to less than 200,000 with another 200,000 purchased at greatly reduced subscription prices by various hotels chains.

The problem with USA Today's demise is not just due to the digital revolution. Gannett and USA Today's problems began when they and their 109 regional newspapers (including my own Gannett owned Arizona Republic) began tilting and censoring the news.

One of the founder's greatest achievements was the decriminalization of the illegal crossing of our southern border. USA Today led the fight to transform the term "illegal alien" to "undocumented immigrant". And it was the Gannett newspaper chain that began to publish two or three pages of their A Section into documenting the immigrant's plight. The newspaper chain also began censoring, or eliminating entirely, news reports of home invasions, hit and run driving, ID theft, soaring insurance rates attributable to car theft and hit and run accidents, and any mention of Latino urban gang activity. Simply said, Gannett lost touch with middle America.

We have seen these liberal stumbles in many forms. Dozens of liberal oriented radio talk shows have failed over the years.......even as conservative talk radio blossoms. Gannett's regional print newspapers have been put on the critical list, their print editions falling to ten percent of what they once were. Even the California based Mclatchy chain have folded some of their papers and have ceased publishing a Saturday edition. Conditions are so dire in "Liberal Land" that, soon, thousands of liberal scribes will be looking for new jobs.

Even the two national giants, the Washington Post and New York Times have seen their print reader base shrink dramatically. I can only surmise that editorially liberal newspapers simply can't survive in an America that, despite the Progressive's most valiant attempt, still see life from the center of the political spectrum.

There was a time when our newspapers came to us with great, unbiased national reportage from UPI and the AP in the A Section, interspersed with local coverage from local reporters. Then, on the Opinion Page, one could read an equal number of syndicated columnists from Right or Left, leaving the reader to decide for himself. Today the Gannett's and the McClatchys serve as a propaganda arm for the radical Left.

And those liberal chains are choking on their own poison. And they are being abandoned by their once loyal readers. Instead the smart readers are going online for their news, sifting the wheat from the chaff, and trying to find the truth somewhere in the middle.

Russia's Pravda, the publishing arm of the Russian government, the propaganda machine that kept Russians in line, is funded by the government. There is no such entity in the U.S. So the liberal propaganda machines are dying off, even as we listen to their final death rattles.

No White Hats To Root For Anymore

                                                                     

You see Congressman Schiff sit there in Congress, blatantly lying about what was said between President Trump and the President of the Ukraine.  You hear President Trump employing gutter language vulgarity that we could not have imagined in previous years.  You read of the Biden family corruption, completely overlooked by his own party, who have proven in the past that they are not immune from profiting from legislation they penned.  The Trump family is not much different.  They too have profited from holding strong ties with their father.

I'm hearing echoes of that old song "Try A Little Tenderness" as I maneuver my way through the final death of dignity in our governance

"Yes, we are weary

.......citizens do get weary

Of watching the same old mess

Wish someone could try a little tenderness"

With the exception of the blissful "City On A Hill" governance of Ronald Reagan, I have achieved a cynicism about all levels of government during this half century.  The bureaucracies are as corrupt as our politicians and the few principled politicians have long since abandoned offices that require you surrender your backbone at your swearing in ceremony.  I would be hard pressed to name even a hand full of leaders who aren't bought and paid for by some interest group.

It ought to be important to remember that the "American Empire" is only about a hundred years old.  The only empire of substance before America entered the world scene was that of the 500 year old Roman empire that pretty much owned the world for that stretch of time.  So it's a bit alarming that so many Americans believe our wealth is infinite, our world leadership assured.  Just as those ancient Roman's thought they were the "cat's meow" it took surprisingly little time for them to crumble from within.

It was not the Goth invasion that did in Rome.  It was the Romans themselves who developed a tolerance for swinging door governance.  It was the Romans themselves who developed the cynicism about their leaders that poisoned any hope for a political redemption.

It is that same cynicism today that seems to be doing us in.  Who could have fathomed that Donald Trump, a questionably able businessman, a reality star, a man who embraced a little crotch-grabbing occasionally, keeper of call girls, a man so ignorant of civics and history he couldn't distinguish the difference between The Federalist Papers and the Sunday Comics we chose to lead us.

It seems our cynicism has reached such a degree that intelligent and able people no longer run for political office.  Our cynicism now drags them through a political wringer that it is no longer worth it, that "political wringer" becoming even more cruel as our citizenry all too willing to strap a cross on their back, a crown on their head, for something they might have said or done when they were teenagers.

The White Hat shortage has put us on the critical list.  Where are the George Washingtons?  Where are the Abe Lincolns?  Where are the Teddy Roosevelts?  I suspect they've taken the last train out; their destination somewhere where the horizon looks a bit rosier.

'OL Shep............Put Out To Pasture

                                                                     

I was not surprised by Fox News "Reporter" Shepard Smith's dramatic announcement on his retirement Friday afternoon.  The man has always been something of a drama queen.  I can still remember when Smith got his spanking new studio, with the two dozen large screen televisions, as if large flat screens made the news more palatable.  Smith walked about, touting the degree of his leverage in being able to get Fox to spend millions for a family of TV screens.

It wasn't just the visuals that turned me off on Smith.  The guy seemed to need a thousand words to report what could have been related to us in a single 200-word paragraph.  Smith was a genius at creating a little extra drama whenever a disaster occurred.  You could almost see Smith's butt squirming in his seat as those googly eyes teared up on cue to every disastrous societal mishap breaking in the news cycle.

Though I didn't care for Smith's style, it wasn't even that that prompted me to switch stations whenever he was on.  It was the grand pretense that Smith was an objective journalist.  He was not.  He was just one of the other hundred or so talking heads today who had no problem injecting his own personal biases into a news report.  How his colleagues, or any viewer could consider him a journalist is beyond me.  

Look, most of us knew that Hannity, or Carlson, or any of the other Fox commentators were just that.  They made no claim to be journalists.  Shepard Smith placed himself above them, claiming to be above it all.  Well, you're not above it all if you express personal opinion as you report the news.  (If you want objective, look to Bret Baier.  I still don't know his politics.........and that's a good thing.)

I was a bit taken aback by all the hosannas thrown Smith's way by his Fox colleagues.  I don't know if it was superficial window dressing, or if they really meant what they said about Smith.  And of course we can expect the liberal media to go all "John McCain" on Shepard Smith.  We are all hearing the liberal media praise Smith for being a "quasi-journalist" for a network they despise.  They will no doubt pimp all kinds of conspiracy theories about why Smith departed.  Mark my words, the Dems will have Smith walking around with a halo before much longer.

I have no dog in this hunt.  I gave up watching TV news more than a year ago.  I avoid the mainstream news media as if they had the bubonic plague.  But when I did watch Fox in earlier years I simply could not stomach Smith's "drama-queenness".  Those bulging eyes, the raspy voice, the smug chin up in the air an inch or two too high, was a bit too much for me.  But it was his near orgasmic delight at the first sign of a mass shooting, a bombing, or a Republican faux pas that eventually had me hitting the off button on my remote.

Though I did not see his final broadcast, the news reports said Smith revealed that, due to a non-compete clause in his termination agreement, he won't be reporting the news elsewhere.....at least for a time, he says.  

That's fine with me.  There are more than enough hypocrites in the news media already.  We don't need another one interpreting the news for us.  Uncle Walt, Chet and David, Mr. Murrow.........we really miss you.

Democrats; The First Stumble

                                                                 

I predicted months ago that, should Joe Biden get into the race, he would stumble his way out of contention.  Oh he may hang around till the very bitter end, but he's bound to say something really stupid, just as he has done in his previous Presidential runs.  In this case it was Kamala Harris, donning plaid school girl skirt, and playing the race card, that did Joe in.  Somehow he had no answer for opposing forced busing of school children, despite the fact that some 70 percent of America also opposed busing their kids ten miles to another school district.

That of course is the problem with Biden.  Not only is he prone to stumble over his words, he has far too much history behind him....history that is as bad as McCartheyism to today's liberals.  It is far better to have done nothing.......leaving nothing behind to offend and defend.

Setting aside all the fringe candidates (they are more than a baker's dozen who would open up Fort Knox and make the "47 percent" rich), I see only a few who can emerge to battle Trump for the Oval Office.  Kamala Harris? Well she'll hang around, mainly because she can play the race card at will...and because Blacks will vote for the devil if he shows up in blackface.  Raul Castro?  Although he experienced a small surge during the first debate there isn't anyone of note who is going to totally decriminalize those who come here illegally.  Bernie Sanders?  Well, let's suppose the 78 year old lives long enough to make it through the primaries.  The only chance he'll have is if one of the other front runners fold.  Elizabeth Warren?  She's rather intriguing.  She speaks well, has a program well defined for every problem and is every Democrat's favorite 6th grade teacher.  Problem is, Warren always comes across as arrogant, as if she's the smartest person in the room and wants you to know it (shades of Barack Hussein Obama).  Except she's got as much warmth as an ice cube.  I just can't see her crossing the finish line.  And, truth be told, there are still lots of folks who see Liz in that Indian headdress.

So who do we have running on the Democratic ticket?  I tell you I just don't know.  Even given the current insanity of the Democratic party, I can't believe the party will give the nod to those who raised their hands for Medicare For All...including 30 million illegal immigrants, who is willing to open the floodgates at the border, or who could rationally explain how they would pay for free college, elimination of two trillion in outstanding student debt, and a 30 trillion dollar green revolution and income redistribution program.  

So what will we see by this time next summer?  Will we see the Democrats once again turning to Hillary Clinton?   Will we see a radical Democrat leading Trump in the polls, only to see them lose miserably in November?  Can Democrats convince enough moderate Democrats and Independents to wrest the office from Trump?

I've studied thousands of years of history and I have never seen an era that even comes close to today's politics madness.  Three years ago I hoped I would live long enough to hear a Hillary Clinton concession speech.....and the accompanying moans from liberals and their liberal media pals.  Today I'm just hoping I live long enough to see how all this plays out.    It is a nightmare as full of fascination as anything I could ever imagine.

Nancy.......With The Laughing Face

                                                                         

"If I don't see her each day, I miss her
Gee, what a thrill each time I kiss her
Believe me, I've got a case
On Nancy with the laughin' face" (With apologies to Frank Sinatra)

Late last Friday the Democrats released to the press a letter sent to Vice President Pence. The letter, totally unofficial, and sent to Pence only after giving it to the press, demanded Pence turn over any documents relating to President Trump's telephone conversations with the President of the Ukraine.

That rather bogus letter raises certain suspicions. Why would Congress ask for the release of an official transcript that they already have? And why would they try to suck Pence into the controversy? Could it be the Democrats are doing a bit of game-playing? Just in case they somehow succeed in removing Trump from office? Are Democrats shooting for a "two-for" by trying to remove both Trump AND Pence? Of course we all know who would be next in line to the Presidency.............none other than Speaker of The House Nancy Pelosi....who could be a placeholder for Liz and Bernie until one of them takes over the Oval Office in 2021.

Scary prospects but no one doubts the Democrats' talent for long term scheming.

Freeing America From Having To Pick Up The Tab For High Spending States

                                                                     

A bit of good news for us......bad news for taxpayers in high tax states. Last Monday a U.S. Circuit Judge ruled that revised 2017 tax laws are valid, specifically the $10,000 dollar annual limit on state and local taxes you are allowed to write off on your federal returns.

To refresh the memories of you peons living on less than $100,000 dollars per year in income, the new tax law said if you live in a high tax state, and state and local taxes, including sales, mortgage interest and property taxes, is more than $10,000 clams you no longer get to write off the extra taxes and have America pick up the tab.

For years highly taxed states like California, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Illinois and Connecticut had no qualms about raising your income and property taxes since they knew their wealthier citizens wouldn't bitch, but just take a write-off on their federal taxes.

That all stopped with the new tax laws. And since 2019 was the first year the wealthy citizenry began to feel the pain not too much fuss was raised.

Then those folks sat down and did their taxes this year......and realized a hard and painful truth. Unable to have Uncle Sam pick up their state's expensive tab, they are now bitching in their state capitols and demanding state government quit spending like drunken sailors. Nearly as many are fleeing those high tax states. After all, the average Joe in a sanely managed state never comes close to that $10,000 dollar ceiling. For California that's the Silicon Valley boys who once told Sacramento "spend away....we'll write our portion of the tab off on our federal returns."

So, today, those big spending states are in a tizzy. They thought they could find a liberal judge who would throw out the tax law. Well today that federal judge said "hey, the federal government holds prominence over federal tax law. If you wish to adjust your own taxes to suit your state's specific needs, have at it." Bottom line: the Judge told the big spenders that America was tired of picking up the tab for those states who cherish obscene spending.

Glad. Damned Glad

P.S. For those big spending states, governed by the Democratic party, we average stiffs are a bit curious. We thought you only cared about the poor working stiff. How is it you are fighting in the courts on behalf of millionaires? Could it be because you really love those wealthy "2 percent" paying 70 percent of all taxes?

Politicians And Street Hookers

                                                                 

I am currently on my third re-read of a history called Empire Of Liberty. I so appreciate the book because it recounts an era where the fate of our Republic was in similar peril of perishing.

The book reminds us that our government was never birthed as a two party system. There was just our national hero, George Washington, appearing on the scene when America's citizenry was searching for the first President to lead our new nation.

Unfortunately Vice President John Adams and Secretary of The Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, and, to a lesser extent, Washington himself, believed that the citizenry was not equipped to govern themselves. That trio, and their advocates became known as "Federalists".....folks who were a little too enamored of the British monarchial system.

Only Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, among Washington's cabinet, believed a monarch was the last thing America needed, after only recently starting a revolution to break away from those kingly bonds.

Jefferson believed in a limited central government, with most power residing in each of the states, just as our Constitution had mandated. So, as Jefferson took up the fight against an oppressive federal government he and his advocates became known as "Democratic Republicans". And the battle for American hearts and minds was on.

Washington, as regal and principled as he was, as unselfish as any man who has occupied the Presidency, hated the idea of party politics. Yet, given the sharp differences about governing, when Washington retired, then soon died, the 1800 hundred election would be a war between Adams and Jefferson over whether we would have a Presidency, or a Kingdom.

John Adams, as our second President, certainly exercised dictatorial and kingly power during his four years in office. He initiated the Alien and Sedition Acts that put his critics in prison for merely criticizing he and his administration. He and Alexander Hamilton did all they could do minimize state's rights and grab for power for the central government.

Thankfully, though Jefferson won the 1800 election by an eye lash, it was he who restored the Republic to one who honored the god-given rights we had fought a war to have.

For good or bad the 1800 election created the two party system that, with few exceptions, rule the political roost today. But there are vast differences today.

It was not until the 20th century that members of Congress and Presidential candidates actively campaigned on their own behalf. From Washington to Teddy Roosevelt, no Presidential candidate would flit abou the country, tooting their own horn. They allowed their supporters to speak for them.

Alas, beginning in the 20th century, political wanna bees became, more or less, street hookers, hanging around the corner, their reputational skirts hiked an inch or two higher, soliciting for money to fund their attacks on their political opponent. One does not need a sterling reputation if one has enough money to throw around.

Then, beginning with Lyndon Johnson, politicians learned that, by passing out government money, via free government benefits, they could sway an electorate toward voting for them.

Oh, but they still kept hiking their skirts on the street corner, for campaign donations. Those tens of millions were just icing on the political cake, enabling them to produce newspaper and TV ads touting how wonderful they were, and how evil their opponent.

One sometimes wonders if old President George was right. What would our nation be like without street hooking politicians..........political parties replaced by a system where we just voted in the best person for the job.

Guess now we'll never know. Even if we eliminated campaign money completely from our electoral system we have far too much of our nation's citizenry who'll vote for the politician promising a bigger gravy bowl.

Sad, Damned Sad.