Thursday, February 6, 2014
The GOP Goal for 2016? Save the Constitution.
Former New York Governor George Pataki, a Republican, recently told Newsmax that the defining issue in the 2016 campaign will be the "nature of America." Pataki explained his comment by asking a question : "Are we a country...where people are free to live their own lives and make their own decisions, or do we have to aggregate that to a group of elites in Washington who know better than us and who know how to make the decisions and tell us how to live our lives?" Pataki answered his own question : "The American people don't believe that." Pataki said he is "fired up" to help whoever the Republican nominee is, "because we have got to take this country back and give it back to the people." But he refused to answer questions about who would be the right person to challenge Hillary Clinton, as it is "way too soon" to start naming candidates. Too soon to bame a Republican, he must have meant, because it has become a revealed truth among Republicans that the Democratic nominee will be Hillary Clinton - something I find premature because before she can say she is a candidate, the state of her health must be clarified, and if she announces, then Benghazi will hang over her head like a Damocles sword. As for naming his favorite GOP candidate, Pataki said : "There's a lot of good, capable people out there,...There are a number of people who obviously are very interested in running. There are many who we haven't even thought about who might decide that this is important..." and become candidates. ~~~~~ Dear readers, I think we can all agree that being the American President is always important, and so what the Governor meant was that 2016 is "critically" important for the future of the United States - as he said, the next President's beliefs about what it means to be an American, about whether to salvage the Constitution or cut the Constitution out of the United States so that the country becomes a non-exceptional America that no longer has a unique voice for freedom, personal liberty and constrained government. One thing is certain, if a Democrat is elected in 2016, an America founded on the Constitution will be trashed and consigned to the ashpile of history. So, along with the fundamental political philosophy issues, Pataki's comments raise some important practical questions about how the Republican Party should proceed to choose its next presidential candidate. First, it would be suicidal to organize another lengthy series of debates - two or three, maximum, will give any candidate enough time to make his or her case. And the Republican National Committee must provide a clear and simple set of party principles to guide all candidates. The RNC must leave personal and religious moral issues aside - each candidate can express himself on abortion, gay rights and family issues. What the RNC needs to articulate is the core set of Republican governing principles - adherence to the Constitution in matters of states rights, limits on executive powers, reform of the tax code and commitment to lower taxes, balanced budgets and reduction of the national debt, reduction in the size of the federal government, entitlements reform, protection of personal liberties, and citizen responsibities. If all of us who believe in these conservative principles can just focus on them and trust that any Republican President will be infinitely better for America than any Democrat President -- if we can come together around a Mitt Romney candidacy and persuade him to accept the challenge one more time -- if we can then choose a vice president candidate from among the many fine younger Republican leaders and put him or her in the job to allow time for growth and maturing -- and if, finally, we can understand that 2016 may be the very last chance we have to put America back on her rightful course and that this is vastly more important than any individual piece of the conservative credo -- then we will be in a position to save America. If the federalist Alexander Hamilton and the libertarian Republican Thomas Jefferson could put aside their differences to write the Constitution, surely we can put aside our differences to save the sacred document.
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Your list of "core set if Republicangoverning principals" opens up the field if acceptable Republican candidates greatly. It hand picks a Romney type of person to a"T". It puts into play Romney, Rubio, Paul (sort of), Perry (certainly), and at least 6 other outstanding Governirs & Senators. Any if whom may be well advised keep their feelings on "personal issues" to them selves and guard against being drawn into a national discussion on certain issues.
ReplyDeleteIf fact using the "governing principals" as a yardstick for acceptability fir the nomination one Gov. Christie is in the race - if he can escape the mess he's in over that traffic jam.
At this point my ideal ticket would be a Romney/Perry or a Romney/Thune ticket.
Won't it be fun to look back at this posting & comments in two years?
I am nit a defeatist by any means, in no way. If I'm still breathing, if I can still move, I can still try to fix something that is broken.
ReplyDeleteSo not being a lawyer I don't know if we have gone to far away from the intent if the Constitution to reverse what we have done or allowed to be done. Has our complacency cost us the finest document ever written about how government should work.
But you know we are all still standing upright and breathing on our own. We have allowed theses thrives of our most perfect government set up by our founding fathers to alter that which we once cherished and were willing to die for. So what has changed ... Nothing! In my mind.
I heard a TV. Pundit tonight say that Obama doesn't really want to harm America, he simply sees his charge to advance the social agenda that he was elected to do. That my friends is a bunch of malarkey. He is a socialist that wants to dismantle this government and create the largest welfare state ever known. He wants us to be government dependent from cradle to grave.
In 2 shirt years Obama has destroyed the finest medical care system on the planet ever. We had 85% of the citizens covered. If 100% was the goal why not address the 15% not covered directly - because Obamacare does not address that 15%.
So here we are in a place where we are not comfortable or familiar with at all. So we have changed the direction if the country before. We had other Progressive Socialists (much less aggressive than Obama) as presidents before and we stood up and used the ballot box to return to our destiny.
So the path is clear - do we change or continue down this destructive road towards SOCIALISM?
Oh my gracious do I hear the fife and drum and I'm in line behind them...
ReplyDeleteThis magnificent document called the Constitution, the one that start out … “WE THE PEOPLE”. Not we the working people, or we the land owning people, or we the people that vote at each and every election, or we the Church going people, just plain and simple We (all) the people.
ReplyDeleteSo isn’t the re-capturing, the re-acceptance, and the re-emergence as the guide to our government is a task that is on all We the Peoples shoulders to re-establish? Not what some members of our citizens believe to be someone else’s job. Everyone (the super-rich, the middle class, the lower income, Whites, African American, Asians, Latino’s, men, women, etc; all have a dog in this fight and all have a responsibility and duty to step up and do what is right for the nation. There is no sub-division in the problem. No one is excused from participation in the solution.
My life has been worse than many a great portion of it, it has also been much better than a lot a great portion. I have fought the good fight for this county and today I feel I owe nothing more than the smallest contributor. Packing up and finding a quiet corner of the world to live the rest of my life is a trump card that I have. But America and its Constitution has a warm place in my soul and I am planning on how I can contribute to its re-establishment of “The Shining City on the Hill” once again. I’m in for the long haul … what about you?
“The longest journey is started by a single step”
If you’re anything like me, and I suspect you are, you worry every day about the state of our country, terrified that the America we grew up in is on life support. And you wonder what could possibly be done to save it.
ReplyDeleteWe’re at a crossroads in America, an intersection that Progressives from both parties have willfully driven us to. We’re standing at the cliffs edge of where one more push will send us cartwheeling over the edge into Socialist oblivion. We are losing our fragile Republic; we are losing our liberties. And as I see it, we have two choices: Restore the Republic our founders fought and died for, or watch it perish at the hands of liberals from both parties. It;s that plain and simple.
Article 5 of the Constitution reads:
“The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments …” So if our elected officials in Washington won’t stand up why not re-establish the Constitution via the States proposed amendments? Not radical changes or open ended changes that would allow for the total destruction of this country by Progressive socialists.
A few possible examples … 1.An Amendment to Establish Term Limits for Members of Congress , 2.An Amendment to Restore the Senate (repeal of the 17th Amendment establishing direct elections, provisions for replacement of senators before the end of their terms, and establishing the right of a state legislature to remove a senator upon a two-thirds vote), 3. An Amendment to Establish Term Limits for Supreme Court Justices and Super-Majority Legislative Override, 4. Two Amendments to Limit Federal Spending and Taxation (limiting the federal government to outlays not exceeding 17.5% of GDP, and limiting total federal tax collections from any source to no more than 15% of a person’s income),5. An Amendment to Grant States Authority to Check Congress (three fifths of the state legislatures may overturn acts of Congress or larger impact executive orders, within 24 months, with no judicial review permitted), 6.Lastly an Amendment to Protect the Vote (requiring photo ID for voting in person or via mail ballot and prohibiting electronic voting) our most precious possession.”
The question is: Will our states, a plurality of which currently enjoy Republican majorities, have the courage to employ their right to execute a run-around Congress in order to restore our dying Republic? And if not now, when? … when may be too late
Thomas Jefferson, after his experience as president, and after many years of observing the judiciary, said in 1820 - “The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundation of our confederated fabric. ...” “Having found from experience that impeachment is an impractical thing, a mere scare-crow, they consider themselves secure for life, they skulk from responsibility to public opinion. ...”
ReplyDeleteHad Jefferson observed the decisions of the United States Supreme Court in the last fifty years, he would have seen his warnings confirmed. Much insidious destruction has been wrought upon our Constitution.
The deplorable actions of our federal courts, and particularly the United States Supreme Court, have become so flagrantly wrong that the American people should do something to correct the matter.
It is a situation that could easily be corrected, and not only for the future, but in such a way that past damage to our Constitution could also be automatically repaired, over time. It merely takes correcting the root problem.
The primary purpose of our entire Constitution was to have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people – and not of the courts, by the courts, and according to the activist ideas of the courts.
The Constitution Restoration Act also orders federal courts not to rely on foreign laws, administrative rules or court decisions. Americans have been shocked to learn that five U.S. Supreme Court Justices have cited foreign sources, even though it is self-evident that U.S. judges should be bound by the U.S. Constitution and U.S. laws, not foreign ones.
The Constitution Restoration Act also states that a judge who engages in any activity that exceeds the jurisdiction of the court thereby commits "a breach of standards of good behavior" and may be removed by impeachment and conviction.
If impeachment is not soon restored to its original role as a tool to reign in the judiciary, then Thomas Jefferson's portentous warning will become established reality: “The Constitution ... is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary which they may twist and shape into any form they please. (Jefferson, Memoirs, Vol. IV, p. 317) “
Excuse my spacing errors
DeleteI grew up in rural Pennsylvania in the '40's and '50's. Back then, and perhaps even now if you get back far enough in the woods, they were 50 years behind the times, on a good day. But they had that aversion to "overly burdensome government control" and the libertarian mantra of "live and let live". Take note that "things got done", however. Folks on hard times were taken care of, education was superior and done by the annual knock down drag out confrontation between the PTA and what little influence the state attempted to interject, the roads were done by the town, there was no law enforcement as none was needed, etc.
ReplyDeleteThere will be changes, deep changes, as the libertarianism continues to coalesce in both the US and Europe. Is the TEA Party, as it was founded, not attempting to return to this situation, i.e. less government, fewer taxes, more original Constitution etc.? As he was leaving the White House, Reagan said of the conservatives who had come to D.C. in 1980: "We were all revolutionaries."
To defend, to be proud of, to apologize to no one for its content, the Constitution is worthy of our dedication and reverence. The words of our Founding Fathers have defended us for over 230 years now. It has been that shining city on the hill, the bright light at the end of a long trail traveled so often by us. Each and every one of us owe something to this document that is so much more than words on a piece of paper. But now the words of freedom and liberty needs our support … we must answer in harmony.
“We have it within our power to begin the world over again." Thomas Paine
ReplyDeleteBut do we have it within ourselves ?
A platform of constitutionally limited government, individual freedom, and personal responsibility could provide fresh answers to the old questions that now impede the GOP’s electoral success. This is not a departure from conservatism but a return to it.
ReplyDelete