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30th President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, and lessons for today
August 3: The Most Important Day in America
by Josie Wales
No, not because this is the day that the 30th President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, was sworn into office; although the words of “Silent Cal” lend credence to the modern movement in opposition to progressive-statism. Take a gander:
Civilization and profit go hand in hand.
Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.
There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no one independence quite so important, as living within your means.
Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.
Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration has been minding my own business.
To live under the American Constitution is the greatest political privilege that was ever accorded to the human race.
President Coolidge may be the most under-rated president in American history, but his words do little to roll back the progressive machine now. The beginning of that roll-back does not occur on November 2, but much earlier. On August 3, 2010, Missouri voters will be tasked with the responsibility of taking the first stand against Obamacare, the progressive panacea, by voting for the Missouri Health Care Freedom Act (MHCFA) in a public referendum.
(more…)
In Honor of a President Few Remember
by Alan Snyder
Ronald Reagan admired him a lot. In fact, when Reagan was looking over his new house—the White House—shortly after his inaugural in 1981, he entered into the Cabinet Room.
On the wall were portraits of Truman, Jefferson, and Lincoln. The White House curator commented at the time, “If you don’t like Mr. Truman, you can move Mr. Truman out.” Even though Reagan, a former Democrat, had voted for Truman back in 1948, he made his decision: Truman’s portrait was removed and one of Calvin Coolidge was dusted off and put in its place.
Nowadays, in all the “right” circles [to be found primarily among the academic elite], the person of Coolidge is a source of amusement, if not outright derision. Why, he was a do-nothing president, someone who didn’t use the power of the office as he should have. Probably his most grievous sin, in their view, was the way he put the brakes on destiny: he was a foe of the progressive movement that was intended to reshape American government and culture.
Coolidge, whose administration spanned a good part of the 1920s, was a throwback to an earlier time. He was not a Woodrow Wilson; rather, he believed in the vision of the Founding Fathers and their concept of limited government. He remained true to the principles of self-government and the sanctity of private property. The rule of law was paramount in his political philosophy. No one was above the law, a belief that, if followed, would keep the people safe from the power of an overextended government.
During the 1920s, the continent of Europe experimented with socialism. What might larger government be able to accomplish? What vistas await us once we unleash the full power of government intervention? Coolidge stood opposed to this false vision of the future.
Historians also like to make fun of his approach to speechmaking. Coolidge preferred to say as little as possible. As he once noted, he never got in trouble for things he didn’t say. Yet when he did speak, he made some very significant pronouncements. His words conveyed key ideas for American success. Meditate on this paragraph, for instance:
In a free republic a great government is the product of a great people. They will look to themselves rather than government for success. The destiny, the greatness of America lies around the hearthstone. If thrift and industry are taught there, and the example of self-sacrifice oft appears, if honor abide there, and high ideals, if there the building of fortune be subordinate to the building of character, America will live in security, rejoicing in an abundant prosperity and good government at home and in peace, respect, and confidence abroad. If these virtues be absent there is no power that can supply these blessings. Look well then to the hearthstone, therein all hope for America lies.
Notice Coolidge’s stress on what he called the “hearthstone,” which is a designation for the family. He saw the family as the cornerstone of society, the place where character should be developed. Note also his subordination of financial fortune to the building of character. Fortune may come, but only if character comes first: thrift, industry, and honor—qualities in short supply at the moment.
America was prosperous during the Coolidge years. The Great Depression was just around the corner, but it didn’t occur as a result of Coolidge’s policies of tax cuts and economic liberty. The Depression was more a result of misdirection from the Federal Reserve [low cash reserves in banks; easy credit]; its continuation throughout the 1930s was due to government actions of the New Deal.
If there’s one thing most historians can agree on with Coolidge, it’s that he easily would have won reelection in 1928 had he chosen to run again. Yet he voluntarily stood down. Why? What prompted that decision? He tells us what led him to do so in his autobiography.
It is difficult for men in high office to avoid the malady of self-delusion. They are always surrounded by worshipers. They are constantly, and for the most part sincerely, assured of their greatness. They live in an artificial atmosphere of adulation and exultation which sooner or later impairs their judgment. They are in grave danger of becoming careless and arrogant.
Coolidge saw the problems associated with elected office. He knew that men often developed what might be called the “swelled-head syndrome.” He wanted nothing to do with that. If for no other reason, Coolidge should be honored for his willingness to set aside power and maintain his good character. Where are the politicians willing to do that today?
Obamacare, the case for appeal, and states rights
Repealing Obamacare via Article V is a means of last resort, or rather a threat to the national bureaucratic government should those in Washington not jump on board. In the meantime, states, those individual laboratories of liberty, are attempting a number of remedies.
States have filed lawsuits, but my legal background makes me wary of relying on the judicial branch to make the ultimate decisions on policy. Marbury v. Madison established the Supreme Court’s role as the ultimate arbiter in conflicts involving the Constitution, but that does not guarantee that correct decisions will result. So first we will examine the legislative solutions.
Many states across the country are either introducing laws or revising constitutions to protect Americans from the tyranny of Obamacare. The progress of these Health Care Freedom Acts or Amendments are being tracked by various groups. Most of this legislation is fairly simple to read and understand. Basically, states are refusing to enforce or enact Obamacare, which is perfectly reasonable under the present legal understanding of federalism. The national government cannot force states to enforce unfunded federal law. A perfect example of this is the increasing decriminalization of marijuana in communities across America. Local police are handing out tickets (much better for revenue than throwing people in jail). (more…)
Tags: 10th Amendment, 9th Amendment, Article V, Commerce Clause, Health Care Freedom Act
Posted Jun 18th 2010
Congressman Paul Ryan eviscerates ObamaCare at the recent summit.
Major Constitutional Roadblock Still Remains in ObamaCare
Obama’s Own Healthcare Proposal Readied for Launch – UnConstitutional objections being skirted
KEEP SOMETHING IN MIND AS YOU READ THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE:
THE REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS, NOT ALL BUT MOST, ARE LARGELY OPPOSING THE DEMOCRATS CONGRESSIONAL AND ADMINISTRATION HEALTHCARE PROPOSALS, ON CONSTITUTIONAL GROUNDS, AND RIGHTFULLY SO !
AS SUCH , THE DEMOCRATS PROPOSALS TO USE RULES THAT CIRCUMVENT CONSITUTIONAL OBJECTIONS, ARE IN OF THEMSELVES UN-CONSTITUTIONAL !
THEREFORE, THE DEMOCRATS MUST STOP THIS AND STOP THIS NOW, START AT THE BEGINNING AND THIS TIME DO IT RIGHT. IF INSTEAD YOU ARE GOING TO FORCE THIS ISSUE, YOU SHOULD LOSE YOUR SEATS OR BE REMOVED FROM THEM !
(ALSO SEE THE ARTICLE ON THE PAGE Platforms ENTITLED: REPUBLICAN PLATFORM vs DEMOCRAT PLATFORM, aka LIBERTY vs SECULAR SOCIALISM- WHICH OF COURSE IS UN-CONSTITUTIONAL)
Obama’s Own Healthcare Proposal Readied for Launch
The White House signaled that an aggressive, all-Democratic strategy for overhauling the nation’s healthcare system remains a serious option…..
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Happy Presidents’ Day | 2/15/2010The Heritage Foundation wishes you and your family a very happy Presidents’ Day. First in the Hearts of His Countrymen Abe Lincoln and the Constitution |
Limiting an Overreaching Federal Government: Is State Nullification the Solution?  PDF
By David Barton – 02/2010
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An article examining the history and constitutionality of nullification.
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Study: States Must Fill $1 Trillion Public Sector Pension Gap
States may be forced to reduce benefits, raise taxes or slash government services to address a $1 trillion funding shortfall in public sector retirement benefits, a new study warns.
Read more…http://ccrofny.wordpress.com/economy/
Quick fact-Dismal Congress
(data tracked back to 1989)
During 2008 the US Congress worked the least amount of total hours, averaged only a 5 1/2 hour workday – the lowest recorded, yet passed 318 public laws – the highest since 2000, confirmed one of the lowest numbers of nominations, had the worst voting attendance recorded, and had the lowest number of roll call votes recorded. (source: Prepared by the Senate Daily Digest -Office of the Secretary)
THE TIME FOR ACTION IS NOW! – READ ENTIRE ARTICLE
As hard-working Americans struggle through one of the worst recessions in U.S. history, one part of the country remains recession-proof: Washington, D.C.
Even though federal tax revenues are down 20 percent and the national debt has ballooned to $12 trillion, President Barack Obama and his allies on Capitol Hill continue to believe that we can borrow and spend our way to prosperity. As part of that plan, they’re using our hard-earned tax dollars to increase the size of government and the salary of bureaucrats.
While the private sector has lost a total of 7.7 million jobs during the past two years, the ranks of the federal bureaucracy have swelled by nearly 10 percent. Furthermore, while the average salary in the private sector is $40,331, a typical federal worker earns $71,206. Worst of all is the explosion of government salaries at a time when most taxpayers are struggling to make ends meet. According to an investigative report by USA Today, the proportion of “federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14 percent to 19 percent during the recession’s first 18 months – and that’s before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.”
A liberal Democratic lawmaker on Thursday said that the public health insurance option could still be included in a final reform bill.
(note: Ellison is a praticing Muslim with some questionable ties and views. As such we are alarmed with respect to his ability to swear to our Constitution and to Protect us. His religious dogma is wholly incompatable with such ! emphsis added ours)
Rep. Keith Ellison (Minn.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), said that the government-run plan is within grasp a day after 7 additional senators signed on to a
He tweeted:
Progressive! Don’t be discouraged; be ENCOURAGED. Public Option is within grasp if you ACT NOW! Call your Senator! Say: Support PO#!
Ellison’s words underscore growing momentum among liberal lawmakers behind reintroducing the public plan after it was struck from the Senate bill late last year.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Thursday that the public plan “could very well be” reinserted into the final bill, the strongest statement yet from a Democratic leader.
Clyburn spoke after Democratic Sens. Diane Feinstein (Calif.), Roland Burris (Ill.), Al Franken (Minn.), Pat Leahy (Vt.), John Kerry (Mass.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) signed the letter written by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and co-signed by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with the Democrats, also signed the letter Wednesday.
“Although we strongly support the important reforms made by the Senate-passed health reform package, including a strong public option would improve both its substance and the public’s perception of it,” the letter reads.
letter calling for Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to pass it through the Senate using the budget reconciliation process.
http://thehill.com/blogs/twitter-room/other-news/81853-dem-says-public-option-is-within-grasp
President Obama-Congress-One Party Rule Record
What we have in all this at present is one party rule in America, a break down of the seperation of powers, an unprecedented amount of collusion, and a lesson to the American people – never elect a supermajority in Congress and a white house of the same party!
- read below -
Did you know? President Obama has broke 44-year-old record for Congressional support, according to study.
President Obama set a new record for the year 2009 for getting Congress to vote his way, according to an annual study by CQ.
In his first year in office, Obama won 96.7 percent of the votes on which he had clearly staked a position.
That is a bit less than 4% higher than the previous record, set by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965.
CQ has compiled statistics on presidential support since 1953. In all, Congress took 151 votes in which Obama had taken a position ahead of time.
His wins included votes for creating a massive economic stimulus package, bailing out the auto industry, letting the Food and Drug Administration regulate tobacco and confirming Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. This also includes votes on key moves toward overhauling the health care system, regulating financial services and reducing greenhouse gases which have not yet passed both chambers of Congress.
In the House, Obama won 68 votes and lost four.Among the losses: a vote to disapprove further spending on a bank bailout and a July vote to pass a food safety overhaul. Both were temporary setbacks since Congress eventually ended up supporting the president’s position.
In the Senate, Obama won 78 votes and lost one. The Republican win there came on an amendment which would have barred spending money to transfer detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp to the United States. However in the end, the bill allowed the transfer under certain conditions.
To build this record, Obama relied heavily on Democratic majorities with only occasional support from some of the GOP. As in the health care overhaul, he also had to keep the entire Democratic caucus in the Senate in line.
Trust In Government at Historic Low
Could Washington be any less popular? Not really, according to recent polling. Public approval for Congress and the political parties are at historic lows, while President Obama’s approval rating has been in decline for the past nine months.
A New York Times-CBS News survey released last night reported a 15 percent approval rating for Congress. “Most Americans are now dissatisfied or even angry with government – and much of that frustration is directed at Congress,” the poll’s press release stated. “Levels of distrust and cynicism about government are at or near 15-year highs.”
In Gallup‘s polling, congressional approval is down to 18 percent — a point reached just twice in the past 36 years. The all-time low, 14 percent, came less than two years ago. The demographics most responsible for the decline in approval have been liberals and Democrats — the party in control of Washington.
The Washington Post-ABC News poll out this week found 26 percent approving of Congress, which — other than a mid-2008 dip — was the lowest it’s been since 1994, when Democrats lost the majority.
In the last three Post-ABC surveys in which the question was asked, at least 17 percent of voters have said they don’t trust either party to cope with the country’s problems over the next few years. Until September, party distrust had only climbed as high as 16 percent once — in February 1994. And in November 1994, just 37 percent said they were inclined to re-elect their representative to Congress — 36 percent say the same now.
Further evidence of the distrust in Washington came in a Quinnipiac University survey released Thursday. Just 28 percent said they approve of the way either party in Congress is handling its job, and two-thirds blamed both parties equally for the legislative gridlock in Washington. Meanwhile, 18 percent said they trust the federal government to do what is right at least most of the time, including only 2 percent who trust government “almost all the time.”
The Post-ABC poll found the GOP leading the congressional generic ballot vote by 3 points, and Republicans lead the RCP Average by the same margin. With unemployment near 10 percent and support for Congress as low as it is, it’s not surprising that Republicans — the party out of power — are expected to have a good electoral year.
With more than 30 incumbents in the House not running for re-election and several open Senate seats, the public were already going to see many fresh faces in Washington next year. The level of distrust for government, though, portends even more new members will be heading to the nation’s capital in 2011.
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Comments:
Dick Morris – 02/02/10 06:37 PM ET
President Barack Obama is being disingenuous when he says that the budget deficit he faced “when I walked in the door” of the White House was $1.3 trillion. He went on to say that he only increased it to $1.4 trillion in 2009 and was raising it to $1.6 trillion in 2010.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) might have said, “You lie,” but we’ll settle for “You distort.”
(As Mark Twain once said, there are three kinds of lies: “lies, damn lies and statistics.”)
http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/dick-morris/79359-these-are-the-true-deficits-bush-800b-obama-14t
Obama’s program of fiscal austerity in this new budget is a joke. He freezes very selected budget items while he shovels out new spending in his stimulus packages. If he wanted to lower the deficit, here’s what he could do:
1. Cancel the remaining $500 billion of stimulus spending; and
2. Cancel the $300 billion of spending in stimulus II.
Those are the real numbers. Or, as Al Gore would have it, “the inconvenient truth.”
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