Scary Progressives/Socialists: In Their Own Words, Part 2

“Progressivism” is a reform movement that began in the 1890’s and has remained active to this day. At times it has had a lower profile but it has been an active force in American politics for over 100 years.

So what is my beef with “Progressives” ? In part 1, I gave you the history of the movement and the names of some of its’ current members. For the second part of the answer I offer you a compilation of the Progressives in their own words:

Early Progressives/Socialists:

NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, ITALIAN PHILOSOPHER & FATHER OF MODERN POLITICS:

“Whoever desires to found a state and give it laws, must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasion for it.”

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, NOBEL PRIZE WINNER & PLAYWRIGHT:

“The moment we face it frankly we are driven to the conclusion that the community has a right to put a price on the right to live in it … If people are fit to live, let them live under decent human conditions. If they are not fit to live, kill them in a decent human way. Is it any wonder that some of us are driven to prescribe the lethal chamber as the solution for the hard cases which are at present made the excuse for dragging all the other cases down to their level, and the only solution that will create a sense of full social responsibility in modern populations?”

“I don’t want to punish anybody. (But there are) an extraordinary number of people whom I want to kill. I think it would be a good thing to make everybody come before a properly-appointed board, just as they might come before the income tax commissioner, and say every five years, or every seven years, just put them there, and say, “Sir, or madam, now will you be kind enough to justify your existence?”

If you’re not producing as much as you consume or perhaps a little more, then, clearly, we cannot use the big organizations of our society for the purpose of keeping you alive, because your life does not benefit us and it can’t be of very much use to yourself.

JOHN DEWY, AMERICAN PHILOSPHER, PSYCHOLOGIST & EDUCATIONAL REFORMER:

“Children who know how to think for themselves spoil the harmony of the collective society which is coming where everyone is interdependent.”

SIR FRANCIS GALTON, ANTHROPOLOGIST & EUGENICIST (He invented the term Eugenics):

“It has now become a serious necessity to better the breed of the human race. The average citizen is too base for the everyday work of modern civilization.”

“(Eugenics) must be introduced into the national conscience, like a new religion. It has, indeed, strong claim to become an orthodox religious tenet for the future, for Eugenics co-operates with the workings of Nature by securing that humanity shall be represented by the fittest races. What Nature does blindly, slowly and ruthlessly, man must do providently, quickly and kindly.”

WOODROW WILSON, 28th U.S. PRESIDENT:

“The President is at liberty, both in law and conscience, to be as big a man as he can. His capacity will set the limit; and if Congress be overborne by him, it will be no fault of the makers of the Constitution … but only because the President has the nation behind him and Congress has not.”

“Government does now whatever experience permits or the times demand.”

“All that progressives ask or desire is permission–in an era when development, evolution, is a scientific word–to interpret the Constitution according to the Darwinian principle; all they ask is recognition of the fact that a nation is a living thing and not a machine.”

STUART CHASE, AMERICAN ECONOMIST & ENGINEER (Credited with coining the term The New Deal used by FDR):

“The very first law in advertising is to avoid the concrete promise and cultivate the delightfully vague.”

“Why should the Russians have all the fun remaking a world.”

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, 19th CENTURY GERMAN PHILOSPHER:

“There are no eternal facts, as there are no absolute truths.”

“After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands.”

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, 32nd U.S. PRESIDENT

“Throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of the Government, look to us here for guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth… I pledge you, I pledge myself to a New Deal for the American people… This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms.”

“A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.”

“Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.”

“If I went to work in a factory the first thing I’d do is join a union.”

“As new commander in chief under the oath to which you are still bound, I reserve the right to command you in any phase of the situation which now confronts us.”

MARGARET SANGER, AMERICAN FOUNDER OF THE BIRTH CONTROL MOVEMENT:

“We are failing to segregate morons who are increasingly multiplying … a dead weight of human waste… an ever-increasing spawning class of human beings who should never have been born at all.”

OTHERS:

“I believe that now and always the conscious selection of the best for reproduction will be impossible; that to propose it is to display a fundamental misunderstanding of what individuality implies. The way of nature has always been to slay the hindmost, and there is still no other way, unless we can prevent those who would become the hindmost being born. It is in the sterilization of failure, and not in the selection of successes for breeding, that the possibility of an improvement of the human stock lies.”

“The case for government by elites is irrefutable.” – Senator William Fulbright

Modern/Current Progressives:

FRIEDRICH AUGUST VON HAYEK, AUSTRIAN BORN ECONOMIST & PHILOSOPHER:

“Economic control is not merely control of a sector of human life which can be separated from the rest; it is the control of the means for all our ends. And whoever has sole control of the means must also determine which ends are to be served, which values are to be rates higher and which lower, in short, what men should believe and strive for.”

“Let me now state what seems to me the decisive objection to any conservatism which deserves to be called such. It is that by its very nature it cannot offer an alternative to the direction in which we are moving. It may succeed by its resistance to current tendencies in slowing down undesirable developments, but, since it does not indicate another direction, it cannot prevent their continuance. It has, for this reason, invariably been the fate of conservatism to be dragged along a path not of its own choosing. The tug of war between conservatives and progressives can only affect the speed, not the direction, of contemporary developments.”

LYNDON JOHNSON, U.S. PRESIDENT:

“I am concerned about the whole man. I am concerned about what the people, using their government as an instrument and a tool, can do toward building the whole man, which will mean a better society and a better world.”

“There is but one way for a president to deal with the Congress, and that is continuously, incessantly, and without interruption. If it’s really going to work, the relationship between the president and the Congress has got to be almost incestuous.”

“No member of our generation who wasn’t a Communist or a dropout in the thirties is worth a damn.”

“It is the genius of our Constitution that under its shelter of enduring institutions and rooted principles there is ample room for the rich fertility of American political invention.”

JIMMY CARTER, 39th U.S. PRESIDENT:

“Republicans are men of narrow vision, who are afraid of the future.”

“What has happened at Guantanamo Bay… does not represent the will of the American people. I’m embarrassed about it, I think its wrong. I think it does give terrorists an unwarranted excuse to use the despicable means to hurt innocent people.”

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY:

“The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more.”

BARACK OBAMA, 44th U.S. PRESIDENT:

“It’s not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure everybody who is behind you, that they have got a chance at success, too. I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

“We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don’t want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential.”

“It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

“But the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society. And to that extent as radical as I think people tried to characterize the Warren court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as it’s been interpreted, and Warren court interpreted it in the same way that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties, says what the states can’t do to you, says what the federal government can’t do to you, but it doesn’t say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf. … one of the, I think the tragedies of the civil rights movement was because the civil rights movement became so court-focused, I think that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change.”

BILL FLETCHER, JR., SENIOR SCHOLAR – INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES’:

In this sense, comrades, I am here to not only speak to you about the subject of this panel, but to put before you a challenge. Too many of us on the Left act as if we have all the time in the world to make changes. If it does not happen in our lifetimes, too many of us think, it will inevitably happen in the next. No! History demonstrates exactly the opposite. There are no guarantees.

“DSA is needed as a major force to transform the Left and compel the entire Left to recognize that ours must be a struggle for power; a struggle for a progressive politics; a struggle to create a national-popular bloc capable of truly altering the priorities of this country…and this necessitates theory and it necessitates organization.

Remember the words of A. Philip Randolph that I think are so applicable to this moment:

“At the banquet table of nature there are no reserved seats. You get what you can take, and you keep what you can hold. If you can’t take anything, you won’t get anything; and if you can’t hold anything, you won’t keep anything. And you can’t take anything without organization.” What more needs to be said!

MANY OTHERS:

“Two of my favorite political philosophers, Mao Zedong and Mother Teresa.” – Anita Dunn, former Obama White House Communications Director

“You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” – Rahm Emanuel, Obama White House Chief of Staff

“[A]lmost all gun control legislation is constitutionally fine. And if the Court is right, then fundamentalism does not justify the view that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms. ” – Cass Sunstein, Obama Regulatory Czar

“ In Venezuela, with Chavez, really an incredible revolution — a Democratic revolution — to begin to put in place saying that we’re going to have impact on the people of Venezuela…” – Mark Lloyd, FCC Diversity Officer

“Capitalism is a stupid system, a backward system.” Stokely Carmichael, African American Activist

“Capitalism and the market are presented as synonymous, but they are not. Capitalism is both the enemy of the market and democracy.” – David Korten, Member of the Club of Rome

“Capitalism works better from every perspective when the economic decision makers are forced to share power with those who will be affected by those decisions.” – Barney Frank, Rep. U.S. House of Representatives, (MA)

“Generally speaking we get the joke. We know that the free market is nonsense. We know that the whole point is to game the system, to beat the market or at least find someone who will pay you a lot of money because they are convinced that there is a free lunch. We know this is largely about power, that it’s an adults only, no limit game. We kind of agree with Mao that political power comes largely from the barrel of a gun.” – Ron Bloom, Obama’s Manufacturing Czar

“I think ultimately the rate of growth of material consumption is going to have to come down and there’s going to have to be a degree of redistribution of how much we consume in terms of energy and material resources in order to leave room for people who are poor to become more prosperous.” – John Holdren, Obama’s Science Czar

There is a consistent set of themes running through their comments:

• more government
• individual freedoms are secondary
• the government knows best
• use of what ever means necessary
• the Constitution is outdated
• capitalism is bad
• “social justice”
• redistribution of wealth
• global government

So this is where it starts – the question is where would it end? These people are radicals who want to reengineer our society and our nation. Open your eyes America, the Constitution and the American way of life are under attack! You must fight back, the threat is real. There are “progressives” in our government who want to “fundamentally transform America”. This transformation is underway. Will you help stop it?

WARNING: How Progressives Describe the Right

If you do not read a single other piece I post this year, read this  – I have included this link in another post but I don’t want it to get lost, it is that revealing. This will remove any doubts that there is a Progressive movement hard at work in America!

Go to the website of Progressives for Obama and PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE: 

http://progressivesforobama.blogspot.com/2010/01/organization-you-get-nothing-without-it.html

These people hate conservatives and all we stand for. They are working overtime to “fundamentally transform America”.

Here is an excerpt from the writer of the attached article:

“In this sense, comrades, I am here to not only speak to you about the subject of this panel, but to put before you a challenge. Too many of us on the Left act as if we have all the time in the world to make changes. If it does not happen in our lifetimes, too many of us think, it will inevitably happen in the next. No! History demonstrates exactly the opposite. There are no guarantees.”  – Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a senior scholar with the ‘Institute for Policy Studies’

They understand the essence of timing – Do you? President Reagan did:

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free”. – Ronald Reagan

We need to decide if we are going to stand by and passively watch a radical far left administration put us on a path to socialism. We have a choice but will we exercise it? Will we fight for the freedom that generations of brave Americans have defended or will we keep telling ourselves that “it can’t happen here?”

If you love this country; our freedom, our liberty and the American way of life – this is your wake up call! We are running out of time. Our freedom, liberty and sovereignty are at risk of being lost. It can happen in, even in America, when we take too much for granted. It is time for every citizen to defend America by engaging in their civic responsibility to participate in the democratic process and make their voice heard.

Restore the Republic, Reject Socialism and the Agenda of the Progressive Left!

BEWARE Conservatives, Thoroughly vet your candidates!

With all the euphoria that has resulted from the recent Senate victory in Massachusetts conservatives are acting like a 6 yr. old with a sugar rush. I am as happy as anyone with Scott Brown’s victory but I am not ready to anoint him the savior of the conservative movement – nor should anyone else. Clearly, he was the best choice in that race but what do we really know about his policy positions? Recently, I have heard people say that maybe he could be a presidential candidate in the near future. Maybe he could, but for all we know he might be more like Olympia Snowe than Ronald Reagan. 

My point is this. There are many people with political ambitions who will come out of the woodwork and try to ride the “conservative wave” to get elected. As responsible citizens it is our duty to thoroughly vet these people the same way an employer would a job applicant. After all, they are applying for the job of representing us. Therefore, we need to know where they come from, what they have done and what kind of experience they bring to the job. Yet most importantly, we need to understand the content of their character, their values and their beliefs. Do their words, match their life story? 

I am not suggesting that candidates need to be perfect, nobody is perfect. We all have made mistakes but – have we learned from them, have we corrected the problem, have we grown? Political leaders are people too. We should not place them on a pedestal. That said, the unknown candidates, the new names and the old ones all deserve a reasonable level of scrutiny. They are going to represent you and shape the policies that will determine the direction of our country. It is a pretty important job.

Successful, intelligent and ethical individuals who have lived a “normal” life and made common mistakes shy away from throwing their hat in the ring. The personal sacrifices that they and their families must make are often too steep a price to pay for the privilege of serving ones’ country, state or community.

Ironically, character is often what is most lacking in today’s political leaders. Yet the very mistakes, trials and tribulations that become the subject of scrutiny are often the life changing experiences that build character and moral fiber. 

Then of course, there are the games, compromises and the abandonment of values that seems to be a requirement of “getting anything done.”  True leaders do not abandon their values.

Today’s politicians have become largely a collection of “actors’ playing the part of leaders. They have self serving agendas that are equally split between their personal goals and repaying debts to those who supported their candidacy. Most are career politicians who have made a job out of “public service”. We don’t need politicians – we need leaders!

So how do we change this trend? How do we get real leaders and statesmen to get involved in government again? Let’s start electing real people with character, ethics, morals and flaws, who were forged in the real world under fire.

We need:

• principled men and women who are willing to represent the values of their constituents and do what’s best for their country, their state or community
• true leaders that will not mortgage our future for short term victories or sell their values to the highest bidder in exchange for support on an item they want
• leaders who have common sense, love their country and believe in the American dream

These are the things a thorough vetting process will uncover. We need to avoid the embarrassment of trotting out candidates with a closet full of skeletons if we are going to win back the hearts and minds of the American people. Just think about how you felt as this and previous administrations rolled out clown after clown who didn’t pay their taxes, had in appropriate relationships with lobbyists, etc., etc. 

Plus it is easy to see where pretty words and soaring rhetoric has got us. In 2008, if people had done their homework we might not have the mess we do right now. (By the way I am not saying McCain would have been much better.) There was information everywhere that would have predicted that President Obama was a progressive not a centrist democrat. However, all the evidence was overlooked because the country “wanted change they could believe in”. These were empty words carefully scripted to inspire a belief in the coming utopia rather than deal with the reality of our national problems. There were no concrete plans or explanations on how they would actually fix the problems just promises of better days for all. 

This is no longer about democrats or republicans, both are political machines more interested in their goals for power than in solving the nation’s issues or following the Constitution. This is about leaders, national values, freedom, liberty and security. Being a conservative is not about being against liberals or progressives. Being a conservative should be about subscribing to a set of values and living those values. As a result this will often place us at odds with liberals and progressives ideologically. 

Conservatives also need to take a hard look at the old guard of the Republican Party as well. John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, and Colin Powell are “progressives” masquerading as Republicans or conservatives. Others who deserve additional scrutiny are Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich. Some of these suddenly resurgent old guards have been on the wrong side of multiple issues proving they are not real conservatives. These people are proof that party labels no longer mean much. Do not be fooled – a Republican victory in 2010 is not a guarantee of a return to a more Constitutional based approach to government or conservative values. We must vet every candidate, find out what is behind their words and evaluate their past actions. 

Wake up Conservatives, it is far too early to claim victory or start counting the seats we will win back. Now is the time to carefully choose our candidates and build the platform agenda for the future of America.

 Restore the Republic, Reject the Agenda of the Progressive Left!

“Come forward, then, and give us the aid of your talents and the weight of your character towards the new establishment of republicanism.” –Thomas Jefferson to Robert Livingston, 1800.

What is a Progressive? (and why they should scare you) Part 1

Restore the Republic, Reject the Agenda of the Progressive Left! 

If you are a regular reader of my blog you are familiar with my closing tag line above or a variation of it, which I close most blogs with. 

So what is a “progressive” and what is my beef with them? For the answer you must look at American history beginning in the early 1900’s. 

“Progressivism” is a reform movement that began in the 1890’s and has remained active to this day. At times it has had a lower profile but it has been an active force in American politics for over 100 years.

The American “progressive movement” was originally led by “intellectuals and social reformers” (aka the elite) seeking to address the economic, political, and cultural issues which had resulted from the rapid growth/industrialization of the country as well as the growth of modern capitalism. The Progressives believed then as they do today, that this rapidly changing society required the establishment of a “new order”.  Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Croly, John Dewey and Charles Merriam were early political leaders of the movement.

Progressives don’t always agree on how to solve problems but generally they agree government must be actively involved at every level of society to drive reform. They also agree the existing constitutional system is antiquated. They believe it must become a dynamic, evolving instrument of social change, aided by scientific knowledge and the development of administrative bureaucracy.

Some of the first changes the early progressives made were; the direct elections of Senators, the open primary, the initiative and referendum. To drive the desired societal change through the government there was a need for more revenue which resulted in the 16th Amendment and individual progressive income tax.

Progressives are elitists – their vision was to use the Presidency to provide the direction and the vision to drive the evolution of a progressive government. 

“All that progressives ask or desire is permission–in an era when development, evolution, is a scientific word–to interpret the Constitution according to the Darwinian principle; all they ask is recognition of the fact that a nation is a living thing and not a machine.” – Woodrow Wilson 

The Progressive Party led by Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin was very successful in the years following WWI. After the war there was an up swing in left leaning politics in the United States. Political parties such as the Workers’ Party (the Communists), the Socialist Party and the Farmer-Labor Party, all increased their membership in the early 1920’s.

In 1922, the Conference for Progressive Political Action (C.P.P.A.), another left wing progressive movement partnered with railway unions to create a political force at the state and local levels, successfully backing several liberal candidates for Congress.

In 1924, the C.P.P.A. convinced Senator La Follette to be their candidate for president, giving him full control over the party platform and his choice of a running mate. The platform he laid out is as follows:

• Government Ownership. Claiming mismanagement by private enterprise, the Progressives called for government ownership of the nation’s railroads, timber forests, coal, ore and oil fields, and power-generating water resources.
• Tax Reform. Saying the lower and middle classes paid a disproportionate amount of income tax, the Progressives called for lower of tax rates for those groups and promised sharp increases on the wealthy.
• Agricultural Reform. The Progressives were proponents of farm subsides and other government programs to support farmers. These included price supports and relief from the costs of over production.
• Judicial Reform. The Progressives wanted limitations on both judicial reviews and injunctions. They argued that judges were overturning too much legislation based on constitutional grounds. They said that this was blocking the implementation of programs and legislation that was designed to “benefit” the lower and middle classes. 

Does any of this sound familiar to you? Compare the above to the Progressive Promise found on the website of the Progressive Congressional Caucus: http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?SectionID=5&ParentID=0&SectionTypeID=2&SectionTree=5

Beginning in 1924, Norman Thomas became a leading figure in the American Progressive/Socialist movement running for president six times between 1928 & 1948 as the candidate of the Socialist Party of America. 

“The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.” – Norman Thomas

This statement is the key to understanding the Progressives. They are radicals who understand that the way to take over America is through an evolutionary process not a revolutionary one. The radicals of the 60’s, using unrest over the war, the momentum of the civil right’s movement and LBJ’s Great Society  tried to move their agenda forward with a more openly revolutionary approach but this was quickly rejected by mainstream America. 

Since then the Progressive Movement has operated quietly inside the Democratic Party slowly moving their agenda forward and waiting for their opportunity. Their patience paid off in 2008 after G.W. Bush’s unpopular second term. 

So who are today’s Progressives and how do they operate within the Democratic Party? 

Within the House of Representatives the Democrats have a group called the Progressive Caucus.

“The Progressive Caucus is an organization of Members of Congress founded in 1991 by newly-elected House Representative Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vermont), who is a self-described socialist.”

The following is a list of all current Representatives in the Congressional Progressive Caucus: 

    Nancy Pelosi (CA) – Speaker of the House

    Steny Hoyer (MD) – House Majority Leader

    Jim Clyburn (SC) – Majority Whip

    John B. Larson (CT) –Democratic Caucus Chair 

Co-Chairs
Hon. Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07)
Hon. Lynn Woolsey (CA-06)

Vice Chairs
Hon. Diane Watson (CA-33)             Hon. Keith Ellison (MN-05)
Hon. Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX-18)    Hon. Mazie Hirono (HI-02)
Hon. Dennis Kucinich (OH-10)         Hon. Donna F. Edwards (MD-04)
Hon. Alan Grayson (FL-08)

Senate Members
Hon. Bernie Sanders (VT)

House Members
Hon. Neil Abercrombie (HI-01)  Hon. Tammy Baldwin (WI-02)  Hon. Xavier Becerra (CA-31)
Hon. Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)  Hon. Robert Brady (PA-01)  Hon. Corrine Brown (FL-03)
Hon. Michael Capuano (MA-08)  Hon. André Carson (IN-07)  Hon. Donna Christensen (VI-AL)
Hon. Judy Chu (CA-32)  Hon. Yvette Clarke (NY-11)  Hon. William “Lacy” Clay (MO-01)

Hon. Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05)  Hon. Steve Cohen (TN-09)  Hon. John Conyers (MI-14)
Hon. Elijah Cummings (MD-07)  Hon. Danny Davis (IL-07)  Hon. Peter DeFazio (OR-04)
Hon. Rosa DeLauro (CT-03)  Hon. Sam Farr (CA-17)  Hon. Chaka Fattah (PA-02)
Hon. Bob Filner (CA-51)  Hon. Barney Frank (MA-04)  Hon. Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11)
Hon. Luis Gutierrez (IL-04)  Hon. John Hall (NY-19)  Hon. Phil Hare (IL-17)
Hon. Alcee Hastings (FL-23)  Hon. Maurice Hinchey (NY-22)  Hon. Michael Honda (CA-15)
Hon. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL-02)  Hon. Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30)  Hon. Hank Johnson (GA-04)
Hon. Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)  Hon. Carolyn Kilpatrick (MI-13)  Hon. Barbara Lee (CA-09)
Hon. John Lewis (GA-05)  Hon. David Loebsack (IA-02)  Hon. Ben R. Lujan (NM-3)
Hon. Carolyn Maloney (NY-14)  Hon. Ed Markey (MA-07)  Hon. Eric Massa (NY-29)
Hon. Jim McDermott (WA-07)  Hon. James McGovern (MA-03)  Hon. George Miller (CA-07)
Hon. Gwen Moore (WI-04)  Hon. Jim Moran (VA-08)  Hon. Jerrold Nadler (NY-08)
Hon. Eleanor Holmes-Norton (DC-AL)  Hon. John Olver (MA-01)  Hon. Frank Pallone (NJ-06)
Hon. Ed Pastor (AZ-04)  Hon. Donald Payne (NJ-10)  Hon. Chellie Pingree (ME-01)
Hon. Jared Polis (CO-02)  Hon. Charles Rangel (NY-15)  Hon. Laura Richardson (CA-37)
Hon. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34)  Hon. Bobby Rush (IL-01)  Hon. Linda Sánchez (CA-39)
Hon. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09)  Hon. José Serrano (NY-16)  Hon. Louise Slaughter (NY-28)
Hon. Pete Stark (CA-13)  Hon. Bennie Thompson (MS-02)  Hon. John Tierney (MA-06)
Hon. Nydia Velazquez (NY-12)  Hon. Maxine Waters (CA-35)  Hon. Mel Watt (NC-12)
Hon. Henry Waxman (CA-30)  Hon. Peter Welch (VT-AL)  Hon. Robert Wexler (FL-19) 

The names on this list should surprise no one as they are some of the most liberal members of Congress. Here is a link to their website: 

http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?ContentID=166&ParentID=0&SectionID=4&SectionTree=4&lnk=b&ItemID=164 

Until 1999 the Progressive Caucus worked in open partnership with Democratic Socialists of America. After the press reported on this link, the connections suddenly vanished from both organizations’ websites.

Excerpts from the website of the Democratic Socialists of America: 

“The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is the largest socialist organization in the United States, and the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International. DSA’s members are building progressive movements for social change while establishing an openly socialist presence in American communities and politics. 

We are socialists because we reject an international economic order sustained by private profit, alienated labor, race and gender discrimination, environmental destruction, and brutality and violence in defense of the status quo.

 We are socialists because we share a vision of a humane international social order based both on democratic planning and market mechanisms to achieve equitable distribution of resources, meaningful work, a healthy environment, sustainable growth, gender and racial equality, and non-oppressive relationships”.

DSA website has a youth section, Young Democratic Socialists (YDS). Made up of students from colleges and high schools and young people in the work force, the Youth Section works on economic justice and democracy and prison justice projects. It is a member of the International Union of Socialist Youth, an affiliate of the Socialist International. The Youth Section meets several times during the year. More information is available from YDS staff. 

Also on their site you will find a variety of resources in the form of PDFs. Most of these are in support of all the administrations major agenda items; Health Care Reform, Green Jobs, Climate Change Regulations and Card Check to name a few. However there is one that really stands out called “How a President Creates Change” by Joseph Schwartz.

Below is the opening of this article:

“The impressive depth and breadth of your electoral victory, combined with Democratic gains in both the House and the Senate, provides the possibility of reversing three decades of growing inequality that is the primary cause of an impending depression. To put it simply, the world now produces more than it can consume; we now are paying the price for using excessive debt to make up for the declining purchasing power of the global working class. But to do avoid a global depression you will have to act boldly and quickly. As a constitutional law scholar, you realize that the system of checks and balances and separation of powers established by our founders consciously aimed to forestall rapid change. Thus, almost all the reforms we identify with the twentieth-century Democratic Party—Social Security, the National Labor Relations Act, the Civil Rights Acts, and Medicare—occurred in the periods 1935-1938 and 1964-1966, the only times when the Democrats controlled the presidency and had strong majorities in both chambers of Congress. 

 If upon taking office you lead with boldness, your administration could pass major legislation in regard to universal health care, massive investment in green technology, and labor law reform that would transform United States social relations for generations to come. But as a former community organizer you know that such reforms did not come from the top down; they arose because moderate elites made concessions to the movements of the unemployed and the CIO in the 1930s and to the Civil Rights, anti-war, women’s, and welfare rights movements of the 1960s. While your office cannot conjure up mass social movements, you can call your supporters to ongoing grassroots activism”. 

Throughout history, Progressives have been enamored with the wrong people. This included people such as Stalin and Mussolini. Early Progressives were supporters of eugenics and remained interested until Hitler made it into a bad word. At a minimum Progressives are statists, who favor a dominant central government that tightly controls its’ citizens, at their worst they can morph into power mad social engineers who believe they can reshape society through science and government. 

Today, the progressive movement is the lunatic fringe of the left. The Progressives in the administration and Congress openly express their admiration for Mao, Chavez, Che Guevara and Castro. Mark Lloyd, Anita Dunn, Cass Sunstein, John Holdren, Ron Bloom, Maxine Waters and Carol Browner are just a handful of these radicals who have taken up residence in our government. It should not go without notice that President has made references in his speeches to his “progressive friends”. 

During his Sept 2009 Healthcare address to joint session of Congress, he said:

“To my progressive friends, I would remind you that for decades, the driving idea behind reform has been to end insurance company abuses and make coverage available for those without it”.

If you have any doubts that there is a Progressive movement hard at work inside this administration, think again! Go to the website of Progressives for Obama and read this article:  http://progressivesforobama.blogspot.com/2010/01/organization-you-get-nothing-without-it.html  or check out these sites: http://blog.pdamerica.org/ or http://www.democrats.com/ 

The Progressive Movement goes against everything America stands for: it created progressive income tax, prohibition, the Federal Reserve, the U.N., every single government agency – from the Department of the Interior to the FDA – these were all progressive ideas. Progressives believe in the philosophy that life is just too complex for the common people to understand or deal with so they should back off and let the government solve the problems. Kind of reminds you of the town hall meetings on Healthcare Reform, doesn’t it! 

Here is the real problem – the more power and control the government gets, the more power and control it wants. The founding fathers recognized this, which is why there is a separation of powers built into our Constitution. It was intentionally designed this way to provide checks and balances to control the speed of change. 

Progressives believe in social re-engineering. They believe that they can improve the world by changing the structure of society and the roles of the people in it. Unfortunately, what usually starts with good intentions eventually goes awry. The governments of Chavez and Castro have not created a better life for all. What they did create was equality – in poverty for the masses and wealth for the elite! I defy you to find a “regular person” in a truly “progressive/socialist” society who is happy with their individual freedom, their quality of life and their ability to pursue their dreams. Americans are spoiled – we take these things for granted. There is no free lunch, all entitlements come at a cost. What are you willing to give up, to have your “security” provided by the federal government. I want more from my life than …work, eat, sleep…die! 

“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”   – Winston Churchill 

“The assumption that spending more of the taxpayer’s money will make things better has survived all kinds of evidence that it has made things worse.” – Thomas Sowell

Open your eyes America, the Constitution and the American way of life are under attack! You must fight back, the threat is real. There are “progressives” in our government who want to “fundamentally transform America”.  This transformation is underway. Will you help stop it?

“Most people who read “The Communist Manifesto” probably have no idea that it was written by a couple of young men who had never worked a day in their lives, and who nevertheless spoke boldly in the name of “the workers”.” – Thomas Sowell 

Restore the Republic, Reject the Agenda of the Progressive Left! 

Coming: Part 2 – Scary Progressives/Socialists – In Their Own Words

The Next 5 Things: #3 FCC Diversity and Net Neutrality

This is an update of a post from October 2009.

The attack on free speech and a free market media is underway. The administration will attack using an effective combination of legislation and regulation. The alternate media such as cable news, talk radio and the internet are the life line of conservative communications so we must fight back against the government’s plan to increase its’ control and involvement in private media.

Ever heard of Free Press? Until recently I hadn’t either. Here is a blurb from their “About Us” page of their web site:

“Free Press: Reform media. Transform democracy.”

“Free Press is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to reform the media. Through education, organizing and advocacy, we promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, quality journalism, and universal access to communications.”

Look at the above statement carefully. Do you see the recurring theme of this administration? (Transform, Organize, Diversity & Public)

Free Press has three main units; Free Press, Save the Internet and Save the News.

What we have next might be the administration’s mission statement for attacking the First Amendment – Free Speech!

Free Press’s executive director Josh Silver wrote a position paper called “Public Media’s Moment” which spells out to President Obama how to take advantage of the opportunity to reshape our national communications structure:

“The growing crisis facing commercial journalism and public media’s unique ability to address it… makes such reform all the more urgent… you have a rare opportunity to achieve real change and reinvent public media.” Adding: “Just as the economic crisis has put an end to free market fundamentalism, so too should the failure of commercial media to adequately serve the public interest end the myth that government has no role in fulfilling society’s information needs.”

Remember this is an administration that lives the creed “never let a crisis go to waste”.

Here is what Free Press working on:

Media Ownership

Public Media

The Future of the Internet (Net Neutrality)

Quality Journalism

Civil Rights and Media Justice

Building the Media Reform Movement

For more visit the following links:

http://www.freepress.net/

http://www.savetheinternet.com/index.php

And now for their scariest sub-group of all:

SaveTheNews.org   Here is “What we stand for” from their website:

“The crisis facing journalism does not call for a bailout, but for a far-reaching national journalism strategy to save the news. The national journalism strategy must be aggressive but carefully planned, bold but targeted. And it must not be guided by profit-seeking or nostalgia, but rather by core public interest principles.

We need to explore how the federal government can best support the future of investigative journalism, beat reporting and quality news in America. This is not about newspapers, it is about newsrooms. It is not about protecting old institutions, it is about serving local communities. 

We understand that the future of this industry will likely consist of a diverse collection of models, and we recognize the need for experimentation and innovation now and in the future.

Based on our analysis, we have identified five promising policies that should be the top priorities for policymakers:

NEW OWNERSHIP STRUCTURES. Encouraging the establishment of nonprofit and low-profit news organizations through tax exempt (“501(c)(3)”) and low-profit limited liability company (“L3C”) models.

NEW INCENTIVES. Creating tax incentives and revising bankruptcy laws to encourage local, diverse, nonprofit, low-profit and employee ownership.

JOURNALISM JOBS PROGRAM. Funding training and retraining for novice and veteran journalists in multimedia and investigative reporting.

R&D FUND FOR JOURNALISM INNOVATION. Investing in innovative projects and experimenting to identify and nurture new models.

NEW PUBLIC MEDIA. Transforming public broadcasting into a world-class noncommercial news operation using new technology and focused on community service.

We make no claims that these models, alone or collectively, will automatically provide a panacea to the crisis in journalism. However, we believe that these alternatives are worth further consideration, study and action. All of these models, to varying degrees, attempt to circumvent market failure with structural alternatives that seek to democratize media. Furthermore, they all could be accomplished via specific policy interventions and are politically viable, though formidable challenges exist. Most importantly, we hope that by highlighting these options, we can begin a truly public conversation about what the future of journalism should look like and point policymakers and regulators toward an agenda that will save the news and serve the public good.”

http://www.savethenews.org/

As scary as each of the individual points are consider this statement: “We need to explore how the federal government can best support the future of investigative journalism, beat reporting and quality news in America.”  Is the hair on the back of your neck standing up yet?

Now think back to the comment’s of the FCC’s resident Commie Mark Lloyd, its’ newly appointed Diversity Officer:

In his 2006 book, Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America, Lloyd called for making private broadcasting companies pay licensing fees equal to their total operating costs. These funds would be given to public broadcasting outlets to allow them the same funding to support their operations as a private company would have, in other words, corporate wealth redistribution. Money is not the only thing that Lloyd wants redistributed, he wants to “regulate much of the programming on these stations to make sure they focused on ‘diverse views’ and government activities.”  Hmmm, “diverse views” and “government activities.” He is a fan of Hugo Chavez and his state run media so… I wonder what he means by “government activities”?

Let’s not forget that this is a White House that refuses any interaction with Fox News and has all but made them an official enemy of the administration. In fact they have demonstrated that they will go after anyone that dares to question or challenge their agenda. Think – Fox, Chamber of Commerce, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and health insurance companies.

Are you sensing a theme? How about social reengineering through media control? I say it every post and I’ll say it again now, this is another threat to YOUR American way of life!

This is the government moving toward policies that control the media, the internet and free speech. These policies will redistribute wealth and control all the messaging.

Radio and the internet are the primary tools for exchange of conservative ideas and conversation. We can not let them take our voices away. We must fight back and stand up for our rights. Liberty and freedom are ours to lose if we don’t get involved; in the end we will only have ourselves to blame if we do nothing.

Restore the Republic, Reject State Run Media and the loss of free Speech!

“Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.” ~Alexis de Tocqueville

The Obama Express jumps the track!

It’s been a very bad week for the Obama Administration with losses on every front. The loss in the Massachusetts Senate race has left healthcare reform gasping for breath. This loss also removed the filibuster proof Senate as a White House tool. Finally, the release of the latest jobs report showed that after showing job gains in 36 states in November the trend reversed with 43 states losing a total of 85,000 jobs in December.  All of this has sent the President’s numbers into a freefall.

New data from Rasmussen Reports indicates the honeymoon is over. The President’s Approval Index has slipped to -19 reflecting a real slip in his base support.

According to a new survey by Rasmussen Reports, Democrats who Strongly Approve has fallen from 55% to 48% over the past four days. Fifty one percent (51%) of unaffiliated voters, a key to his election, now Strongly Disapprove this is up from 43% just four days ago as well.

According to Rasmussen sixty-one percent (61%) of voters say Congress needs to refocus on the economy and quit focusing on healthcare reform, with 58% saying they are against the current plan anyway. This figure includes 50% who are Strongly Opposed to the proposed plans.

Here are the key numbers used to calculate the Approval Index:

Obama Approval Index -19

Strongly Approve 24% 

Strongly Disapprove 43%

Here are some other key areas where the numbers indicate that the President’s problems are growing as they indicate further erosion in his policies:

Trust Obama on Economic Crisis 27%

Tax Increases Help or Hurt Economy?

Help = 19% Hurt = 59%

Tax Cuts Help or Hurt Economy?

Help = 59% Hurt = 17%

Increases in Gov’t Spending Help or Hurt Economy?

Help = 24% Hurt = 59%

Decreases in Gov’t Spending Help or Hurt Economy?

Help = 51% Hurt = 23%

The US is on the Wrong Track 66%

America’s Best Days in Future 36%

Generic Congressional Ballot GOP +8

Is the tide turning? Maybe but the game is still in the first quarter. We must keep turning up the heat and demanding the transparency and accountability we were promised.

The numbers are clear, our message is clear… So will the President listen to his citizens? America, this is the litmus test for this president. If Obama, the administration and the “progressive left” continue to ram their health care bill down our throats, after we have been as clear as we have; we must move fast and take action. The power grab is over! The economy and jobs must be the top priority. These must be created in the private sector not through some fake government stimulus. We need tax cuts for businesses and individuals as well as freedom from government interference in the form of unnecessary regulations or over reaching legislation. It is time for a free market recovery.

Most important – the events in Massachusetts was not a Republican victory, it was an American victory. Every elected official needs to prove what side they are on. We need leaders with conservative American values. Party affiliations should no longer be the gauge of values, we must judge our leaders on the content of their character and their values.

Wake up America! Restore the Republic, Reject the agenda of the Socialist Left!

“The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.” – Thomas Jefferson

“Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of “crackpot” than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important to you, stand up and be counted at any cost” – Thomas J. Watson

The Next 5 Things: #2 The Employees Free Choice Act

As I’ve been writing for several months, our way of life, our freedom, our liberty and the America that we all love is under attack from the Socialist Left. They are led by President Obama, a Harvard educated community organizer who grew up in the rough and tumble world of Chicago politics. As we have discussed previously, he has a plan and he built a team around him to execute it. He is counting on your passive – “that can’t happen in America attitude” to provide a window of opportunity for him to “Fundamentally transform America!”

Remember – his team is mostly the Czars who work inside the Executive Branch of the Government and are only accountable to the President – no congressional/judicial oversight or approval- and sure as hell – no transparency!

The President likes to discuss policies in general terms describing how the administration might interpret and administer proposed programs. All the while deftly avoiding discussion of the contents of the bills which might become law. Think back – tax cuts for 95% of Americans, transparency and the veto pen to stop pork barrel spending policies, all of which have or are changing because “the situation changed”. As a result we must be vigilant because healthcare reform is not the only game changing bill on the table. Keeping up with these guys is like playing 3 card monte with a street hustler. Don’t be distracted by one hand because the other is up to something too.

Remember the administration is following the community organizer’s handbook. This is why there is such a rush to pass all this legislation. The plan – overwhelm the system because they are betting we can’t organize fast enough to stop everything.

So here is part 2 of a 5 part series on the Socialist Left’s agenda to “transform” the American Way of Life. These items are the building blocks for a national shift to socialism. This agenda must be stopped – our freedom and liberty depend on it.

In part 1 of the series we covered the plan to reintroduce Immigration Reform. In part 2 we will discuss The Employees Free Choice Act or Card Check.

The Employee Free Choice Act, or “card check,” has been introduced in the past three Congresses, but it always failed to win the 60 votes needed to pass the controversial legislation in the Senate.

The proposed law gives workers a choice of forming a union through majority sign-up (“card check”) or an election by secret ballot. Critics warn that this will lead to employee intimidation to sign cards and will deny individuals the right to a secret ballot. The secret ballot has been the safety valve in the organizing process. Employees could go along with process to allow a vote by signing the organizing petition but had they always had the safety of the secret ballot to protect their individual vote. As a manufacturing manager for 30 years I have had a front row seat to union organizing efforts twice. In both cases, employees were under tremendous peer pressure to sign the petition. However, both times the union was defeated by the secret ballot. It seems like the process worked as it was supposed to each time.

Supporters say the legislation will improve wages, benefits, and working conditions by helping workers form unions. However, employers say that “card check” will kill jobs because small to medium size companies will not be able to afford unionized shops and in many cases the incremental costs will drive them out of business.

“Voting is the most precious right of every citizen, and we have a moral obligation to ensure the integrity of our voting process.” – Hillary Clinton

Shouldn’t this apply towards something as important as a union election too? After all the signing the card means that you want to hear more. After both sides present their case you go cast your vote in private.

So why do we need this law? First, it will help the unions get easier victories and build their dwindling membership. Oh, yeah and the labor unions strongly support the Democrats. Can you say UAW and SEIU? This is as much about politics as it is about employee’s rights.

There is one more aspect to the bill that is equally as troubling as the secret ballot issue. That is the method by which negotiations would be handled under the bill. If the employer and the union did not reach a deal in 120 days, a government arbitration panel could intervene and take over the negotiations.

For many, the government arbitration clause looks to be a deal breaker. As long as that provision is in the bill Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah says, “I don’t know how anybody can talk compromise.” He added, “If it wasn’t for the political power of the national unions, this wouldn’t have a chance. But they are powerful.”

A new development that makes this bill even more dangerous is the recently negotiated exemption from the proposed 5.25% luxury tax that will apply to “Cadillac health plans”. Under the terms of the agreement, “Cadillac health plans” that are negotiated through a collective bargaining agreement are exempt. This could turn into another tool for union organizers to use to entice new members.

Ironically, during the 2008 elections anti card check ads featured the leading liberal of his time – former S.D. Sen. George McGovern as their spokesman.

Even George could not get behind elimination of the secret ballot to protect the privacy of each employee. We must fight this legislation. With unemployment already tracking at over 10% nationally, we can not afford to lose more jobs. This legislation is bad for business, it is un-American and since when are we against a secret ballot? Write your Senator and tell them –just say no!

Unfortunately, Congress is currently littered with a variety of proposed legislation that supports the administration’s social reengineering agenda. Write your representatives and tell them we are not interested in an American makeover or living in a socialist nanny state. We must send them a clear message that these bills must not pass. We must be vigilant in identifying these bills and fighting them. After all, the only thing at stake is the American Dream!

Restore the Republic, Reject Socialism!

“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it.” – Mark Twain

TX Gov. Perry gives Fed’s education program the boot!

U.S. Department of Education’s “Race to the Top” program, is a $5 billion competitive fund that awards grants to states to improve education quality. The program was created as part of the economic stimulus and is part of Democratic President Barack Obama’s efforts to overhaul the nation’s educational system.

“Texas won’t compete for up to $700 million in federal stimulus money for education because the program “smacks of a federal takeover of our public schools,” Republican Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday.

Gov. Perry, Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott and representatives of teachers’ unions said taking the money would “force the state to adopt national education and testing standards and result in Texas losing its autonomy in educating children.”

“Here in Texas, we don’t have broad consensus on every issue facing our school system,” Perry said. “We do agree we’d rather work those differences out in Texas with solutions that work for Texans instead of accepting a top down mandate from some distant bureaucrats.”

The Texas Department of Education is performing well. It has improved standardized test scores and reduced the dropout rate. Texas has also been recognized as one of four states that has significantly improved math scores. While “Race to the Top” doesn’t give the federal government control of the education system it does give it leverage as it pushes for education reform.

“Texas is on the right path toward improved education, and we would be foolish and irresponsible to place our children’s future in the hands of unelected bureaucrats and special interest groups thousands of miles away in Washington, virtually eliminating parents’ participation in their children’s education,” Gov. Perry said. “If Washington were truly concerned about funding education with solutions that match local challenges, they would make the money available to states with no strings attached.”

“I wholeheartedly support the governor’s decision,” Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott said. “This one-time grant program would result in mandates for districts that would last for decades.”

“Texas has been working to implement research-based education reforms for years, culminating with great solutions for Texas children, and we should qualify for Race to the Top funding based on what we have already accomplished,” Rep. Rob Eissler, Public Education Committee chairman, said. “Instead, Texas will be penalized in its Race to the Top application for not complying with the federal government’s concepts about what is best for the children of Texas. In short, the two things I worry about in education are fads and feds, and this combines both.”

From the Governor’s website:

“Developing Texas’ workforce is imperative to maintaining our position as a national leader in job creation and our future prosperity. Texas was recently praised in Education Week magazine for its adoption of college- and career-ready standards, and for holding schools accountable for ensuring students are college-ready. Additionally, the governor recently announced a $160 million initiative to expand the number and scope of Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (T-STEM) academies, an initiative he established in 2005, as well as fund STEM scholarships. Building on successful initiatives like T-STEM academies helps ensure future generations of Texans have the educational foundation necessary to compete and excel in the increasingly competitive global economy.”

America, this how all states should be run – with local consensus, with local resources and by the its’ citizens. Hooray for Gov. Perry and his team. This is an example of real leadership by a governor and independence by its’ citizens. This is the reason that Texas remains a solvent and independent state. This is despite the fact that overall taxes are reasonable and there is no individual state income tax. How many Governor’s are turning down federal money these days regardless of the length of the strings? Maybe instead of trying to have America emulate California and New York, we would choose to model ourselves after Texas!

Wake up America, socialistic nanny states don’t work! History is littered with them. Stand up for America, Stand up for freedom, Stand up for your state!

Restore the Republic, Reject Socialism!

“Education should be left to the states and should not be a top-down but a bottom-up process. Texas has an open, collaborative process including public hearings and input. The Lone Star State has invested considerable time and millions of dollars into curriculum development and has set some rigorous standards to which we are committed. This is another federal government bait and switch, and states that buy in will end up footing the bill.”
-Peggy Venable, Texas director, Americans for Prosperity

“While TAB believes that maintaining a strong and competitive workforce through education is a high priority for the state, we support the governor’s decision to keep decisions about our public education system at the state level. Gov. Perry is right to be concerned about mandates coming from the federal government that are tied to this relatively small amount of funding, which will commit the state to increased costs in the future.”
-Bill Hammond, president and CEO, Texas Association of Businesshttp://governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/14146/

For more go to:

Obama Signs Executive Order Establishing Council of Governors

He’s at it again! The President has signed another executive order, this time creating a Council of Governors  to provide input on “homeland defense and civil support challenges facing our Nation today and in the future.”  The President will select 10 Governors to serve on the council and help with the “synchronization and integration of State and Federal military activities in the United States”. This executive order also is an attack on Posse Comitatus, a 1878 law bans military involvement in domestic police actions.

This is just another action designed  to continue to merge state and federal power. It also opens the door for more military involvement in domestic affairs and has sparked concern that the groundwork is being laid for a “national civilian security force”. Others fear that this is a step in undermining the 10th Amendment by eliminating more of the independent authority and the sovereignty of the States. 

See the White House Press Release below.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

January 11, 2010

President Obama Signs Executive Order Establishing Council of Governors

Executive Order will Strengthen Further Partnership Between the Federal and State and Local Governments to Better Protect Our Nation

The President today signed an Executive Order(see below) establishing a Council of Governors to strengthen further the partnership between the Federal Government and State Governments to protect our Nation against all types of hazards. When appointed, the Council will be reviewing such matters as involving the National Guard of the various States; homeland defense; civil support; synchronization and integration of State and Federal military activities in the United States; and other matters of mutual interest pertaining to National Guard, homeland defense, and civil support activities.

The bipartisan Council will be composed of ten State Governors who will be selected by the President to serve two year terms. In selecting the Governors to the Council, the White House will solicit input from Governors and Governors’ associations. Once chosen, the Council will have no more than five members from the same party and represent the Nation as a whole.

Federal members of the Council include the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, the Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs, the U.S. Northern Command Commander, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, and the Chief of the National Guard Bureau. The Secretary of Defense will designate an Executive Director for the Council.

The Council of Governors will provide an invaluable Senior Administration forum for exchanging views with State and local officials on strengthening our National resilience and the homeland defense and civil support challenges facing our Nation today and in the future.

The formation of the Council of Governors was required by the Fiscal Year 2008 National Defense Authorization Act which stated, “The President shall establish a bipartisan Council of Governors to advise the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the White House Homeland Security Council on matters related to the National Guard and civil support missions.” (NDAA FY2008, Sec 1822)

See the Executive Order here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/2010executive_order.pdf

Maybe this isn’t what it looks like but it does not look good or necessary… unless they are expecting some sort of problem. Either way Americans need to speak out against the ongoing assault on states’ rights and a rapidly expanding national government that is gobbling up all the power it can get its’ hands on.

Wake up America! We are running out of time. Let’s take our country back.

Restore the Republic, Reject Socialism!

“Our best protection against bigger government in Washington is better government in the states” – Dwight David Eisenhower

 

The Next 5 Things: #1 – Immigration Reform

Part 1 of a 5 part series:

As the attack on America continues the far left knows they are guaranteed only another 10 months of a controlling majority in both houses of Congress so they don’t have time to waste. They are going straight to the Cloward/Piven playbook and plan to “overwhelm the system.”

Besides the things that are already underway such as health care reform and cap & trade, there is much more in store. We begin with the first of five new agenda items for the administration and the “progressives” or socialists as I like to call them: Immigration Reform.

From the website USAmnesty.org

“The proposed immigration amnesty would benefit the 12 to 20 million undocumented aliens (illegal immigrants) currently living in the United States. An amnesty for illegal aliens forgives their acts of illegal immigration and implicitly forgives other related illegal acts such as driving and working with false documents. The result of an amnesty is that large numbers of foreigners who illegally gained entry into the United States are rewarded with legal status (Green Card) for breaking immigration laws.

The United States has granted amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants through different amnesty and laws. Before the first amnesty in 1986, amnesty was only given on a case by cases basis. Amnesty was never given to a large group of individuals. The first (and supposedly one-time only) amnesty in 1986 gave about 2.8 million illegal immigrations the opportunity to change their status through the Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA).”

“We are not going to ship back 12 million people, we’re not going to do it as a practical matter. We would have to take all our law enforcement that we have available and we would have to use it and put people on buses, and rip families apart, and that’s not who we are, that’s not what America is about. So what I’ve proposed… is you say we’re going to bring these folks out of the shadows. We’re going to make them pay a fine, they are going to have to learn English, they are going to have to go to the back of the line…but they will have a pathway to citizenship over the course of 10 years.” – President Barack Obama

According to his Organizing for America website:

“Barack Obama has played a leading role in crafting comprehensive immigration reform. Obama believes the immigration issue has been exploited by politicians to divide the nation rather than find real solutions. This divisiveness has allowed the illegal immigration problem to worsen, with borders that are less secure than ever and an economy that depends on millions of workers living in the shadows.”

The President is supported by groups such as The Immigrant’s List, from their website:

Immigrants’ List is a Political Action Committee (PAC) dedicated to electing members of Congress who support common-sense immigration reform. Our members believe in a fair and just immigration system that unites families, promotes fair employment practices, recognizes the value of immigrants to important sectors of our economy, and restores American’s status as a welcoming country for those who seek freedom from persecution and a better way of life.

So what will the administration and the Democrats propose? Here is what we know so far:

Create Secure Borders – Obama and the liberals say they want to preserve the integrity of our borders. They support additional personnel, infrastructure and technology on the border and at our ports of entry.

Improve Our Immigration System – Obama and the liberals say they want to fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of immigrants who are allowed in each year to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill.

Remove Incentives to Enter Illegally – Obama and the liberals say they will remove incentives to enter the country illegally by cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants.

Bring People Out of the Shadows – Obama and the liberals say they support a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and to gain the opportunity to become citizens.

Work with Mexico – Obama and the liberals say they believe we need to do more to promote economic development in Mexico to decrease illegal immigration.

This doesn’t sound too bad, right? Now look closer and think about what this means.

First, it is worth pointing out that we already have laws and policies under which all of these people could have applied to enter our country legally. It was a choice that they made to enter illegally and there should be a consequence for breaking the law.

That said, here are a few other points to consider.

I think everyone agrees that we need better border security for reasons that go way beyond illegal workers sneaking in to get a job. However, we can create secure borders without spending a fortune by properly enforcing our existing laws and making better use of our national guard by having them protect the homeland rather than fight in foreign wars.

With our current economic and unemployment crisis, now is not the time to bring more job seekers into the country. As for separating families, if you are here legally this isn’t a problem. If you aren’t, then you should be deported. If you had children while you were here illegally, your children should not automatically be granted citizenship. The current system is not perfect but probably only dysfunctional if you refuse to play by the rules.

As for bringing people out of the shadows – this needs to happen but not with the end game being amnesty but rather securing our country. How can a system work that allows undocumented immigrants to pay a fine, learn English, and to gain the opportunity to become citizens work? It seems flawed when the those for whom the system was designed to create opportunities are here under false pretenses to start with. Do we want to invite law breakers to become citizens?

Last but not least, we have spread ourselves so thin around the world that we can’t take care of our own citizens – I ask you, is it really our job to fix Mexico? And… it doesn’t end there. Once these rules are in place it won’t apply to just those from Mexico, it will apply to all illegal aliens.

Of course, if you oppose their agenda you will be branded a racist or a right wing extremist. Furthermore, this will provide another distraction and polarizing issue as we head into the midterm elections. We can not afford another 12 million dependents for our social programs, welfare or health care system. Citizenship for foreigners is a privilege to be earned. I say this because with citizenship comes rights and these sacred rights should only go to those who have committed to citizenship and loyalty to America, not just someone who needs a job, that is what work permits are for.

Remember the guy who is running the show was a community organizer and a student of Cloward/Piven and Alinsky. Here are a few of the tactics which are being employed:

“Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon… Keep the pressure on… The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself… The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition… Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”

Wake up, America! Restore the Republic, Reject Socialism!

“Credibility in immigration policy can be summed up in one sentence: Those who should get in, get in; those who should be kept out, are kept out; and those who should not be here will be required to leave.” – Barbara Jordan