Sunday, September 20, 2009

Boy Oh Boy, Maureen Dowd rebuttal

To the Editor:

It’s now official, Ms Dowd has spoken. All the protests against the policies of President Obama and the Democrats is racism. I reject this categorically.

I’ll admit there is an element that is racist. In the crowd on the Mall September 12, 2009 you could pretty much count them. They were carrying “The Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia”, a.k.a. the “Confederate” flag, which, by the way, it wasn’t. It is an over generalization to say they are all racist but for the argument let’s assume they are. I’m sure as a percentage of all flags carried that day it was a very small minority.

There is very legitimate political position in this country that is antithetical to the policy positions of this administration. Why would you not expect it to rise up when this country lurches to left in such a dramatic way? These protests are supported by Republicans, Libertarians, independents and perhaps a few Democrats.

But the problem is larger than policy differences. It more about process. An article by William Schambra in the September issue of National Affairs, “Obama and the Policy Approach”, http://nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/obama-and-the-policy-approach illustrates the problem. This article reveals the core problem that brought 10’s of thousands to the Mall.

“Progressive reformers throughout the 20th century came to denigrate the wisdom and relevance of the American Constitution, which frustrated centralization and coordination by dispersing governing power across the states and over the branches of government. Once thought essential to American freedom, these institutions now came to be seen as impediments to coherent national governance.”

The problem is not racism. The problem is political hi-jacking of the Constitution. Ok, if you want to “fundamentally transform the country”, do it legally, by amendment to the constitution.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Majority Rule on Health Care Reform August 29, 2009

To the Editors,

The NY Times, as expected, endorses the use of the “nuclear option”, the arcane “budget reconciliation” parliamentary rule to push through legislation that will eventually take over 1/7th of the U.S. economy. You’re to be congratulated.

This effort will hopefully result in a revolt at the polls in 2010. I can only hope that the Libertarian Party will take advantage of this and provide a slate of candidates to run against both Democratic and Republican incumbents. Currently the Democrats pose the gravest threat to our Republic, but the last 8 years of Republican rule set the stage. The only way to preserve it is to vote in Libertarians, the only party that truly understands the values of our Founders and our Constitution.

If not, this bill and future bills yet to be passed will surely “transform” this county, as the President promised during the campaign. The people of the United States will then come to understand how bad life can be under leftist dogma. Perhaps then they’ll do something about it.