Short of a Convention of the States that institutes real reform and real limitations on the federal government's power, secession is the only other recourse we, the people, have from the overreaching federal, now national, government.
The findings of this Reuters/Ipsos poll are not surprising. The growth of Washington's power and wealth is easy to see. It grows regardless of which party is in power. We sit breathlessly each June waiting to hear what 9 lawyers deem constitutional. We allow 20% of our economy to be turned over to the feds despite the fact that socialized medicine produces worse results than our current system. Our national debt is approaching $18 trillion. Bush was "irresponsible and unpatriotic" for taking it from $5 trillion to $9 trillion. Our education system is a disaster. The list of federal failures and corruption is as long as the list of federal agencies: Postal Service, Fannie Mae, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Freddie Mac, Amtrak, Veteran's Affairs, the IRS, Obamacare, etc.
BEFORE A STATE CAN SERIOUSLY CONSIDER SECESSION, IT MUST WEAN ITSELF FROM DEPENDENCE ON THE FUNDS IT RECEIVES FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and, of course, its citizens must wake up and demand change. Until then, we will get more of the same and worse.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/19/us-usa-secession-exclusive-idUSKBN0HE19U20140919
The Lost Art of Critical Thinking and Common Sense in Politics and Public Policy
Saturday, September 20, 2014
How the Liberal Mind Works: Divide, Disparage, and Maintain Dependency on Government
In an op-ed in the Buffalo News, New York Assemblyman Karim Camar was able to demonstrate the destructiveness of the theology of liberalism better in 750 words than Alan Colmes could on one of his three-hour daily radio shows.
Quote: "The major accomplishments of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 are being dismantled today by a dangerous and growing trend of income and wage inequalities."
A Pritical Thinker might pose the questions - What the hell is income and wage inequality? Does that mean it is wrong for some people to make more than others? Should everyone make the same amount of money Mr. Camar?
Perhaps some people make more money because they are deemed more valuable to employers than others due to their education, training, and experience. This may also occur, Mr. Camar, when individuals risk their own money and start businesses, work an ungodly number of hours each week (many times at low or no pay) in order to reap the potential benefits someday if their business is successful. All the while we have an embarrassingly large segment of our citizens being encouraged by the government to sit on their asses for years on end taking money from them with no expectation being set that the benefits are temporary.
Quote: "Aug. 31 marked 50 years since the federal government passed the Food Stamp Act, which established a national food assistance program. Today, the food stamp (SNAP) program is caught up in a political chess game that leaves millions of families to survive on about $70 per week. In a nation where soup kitchens now abound, where food pantries run near empty and where millions of our children rely on school meals, it is clear that this decades-old War on Poverty must be renewed with diligence and conviction."
A Pritical Thinker might ask Mr. Camar, what political chess match are you referring to? The one where the food stamp program has doubled since Barack Obama took office? I'd think you would call that CHECKMATE!
A Pritical Thinker would never allow Mr. Camar to make unsubstantiated claims about the abounding soup kitchens and empty food pantries without requiring some evidence.
Finally, how do you explain the fact that we have pumped some $20 trillion into the War on Poverty and poverty continues to stay the same or grow yet you want to renew the FAILED "decades-old War on Poverty". You sir must be insane because, what you are advocating for is the very definition of insanity.
Quote: "Recently, the International Monetary Fund documented that the richest 100 people on earth have as much wealth as 3.5 billion fellow human beings."
A Pritical Thinker knows that hustlers like Mr. Camar must perpetuate division among the people. Race and income are low-hanging fruit and easy to put forth. The question AGAIN for Mr. Camar, should these 100 richest people divide their wealth among the masses? Do you think that these "rich" people employee the rest of us who make their meals, manufacture their cars, build their houses, work at their businesses?
The shallowness of this type of thinking is truly breathtaking.
Quote: "The major accomplishments of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 are being dismantled today by a dangerous and growing trend of income and wage inequalities."
A Pritical Thinker might pose the questions - What the hell is income and wage inequality? Does that mean it is wrong for some people to make more than others? Should everyone make the same amount of money Mr. Camar?
Perhaps some people make more money because they are deemed more valuable to employers than others due to their education, training, and experience. This may also occur, Mr. Camar, when individuals risk their own money and start businesses, work an ungodly number of hours each week (many times at low or no pay) in order to reap the potential benefits someday if their business is successful. All the while we have an embarrassingly large segment of our citizens being encouraged by the government to sit on their asses for years on end taking money from them with no expectation being set that the benefits are temporary.
Quote: "Aug. 31 marked 50 years since the federal government passed the Food Stamp Act, which established a national food assistance program. Today, the food stamp (SNAP) program is caught up in a political chess game that leaves millions of families to survive on about $70 per week. In a nation where soup kitchens now abound, where food pantries run near empty and where millions of our children rely on school meals, it is clear that this decades-old War on Poverty must be renewed with diligence and conviction."
A Pritical Thinker might ask Mr. Camar, what political chess match are you referring to? The one where the food stamp program has doubled since Barack Obama took office? I'd think you would call that CHECKMATE!
A Pritical Thinker would never allow Mr. Camar to make unsubstantiated claims about the abounding soup kitchens and empty food pantries without requiring some evidence.
Finally, how do you explain the fact that we have pumped some $20 trillion into the War on Poverty and poverty continues to stay the same or grow yet you want to renew the FAILED "decades-old War on Poverty". You sir must be insane because, what you are advocating for is the very definition of insanity.
Quote: "Recently, the International Monetary Fund documented that the richest 100 people on earth have as much wealth as 3.5 billion fellow human beings."
A Pritical Thinker knows that hustlers like Mr. Camar must perpetuate division among the people. Race and income are low-hanging fruit and easy to put forth. The question AGAIN for Mr. Camar, should these 100 richest people divide their wealth among the masses? Do you think that these "rich" people employee the rest of us who make their meals, manufacture their cars, build their houses, work at their businesses?
The shallowness of this type of thinking is truly breathtaking.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Global Warming Citations from Pritical Thinking
Below is a list of citations used in the Global Warming chapter from Pritical Thinking:
State of Fear,
Michael Crighton
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Wasteful Government Spending Citations From Pritical Thinking
Below is a list of citations used in the National Debt and Wasteful Government Spending chapter from Pritical Thinking:
Friday, September 12, 2014
American Exceptionalism Citations from Pritical Thinking
Below is a list of citations used in the American Exceptionalism chapter from Pritical Thinking:
7 Tipping Points that Saved the World, Chris and Ted Stewart
Founding Brothers, Joseph J. Ellis
Being George Washington, Glenn Beck
Samuel Adams, A Life, Ira Stoll
John Adams, David McCullough
1776, David McCullough
In Defense of Faith, David Brog
The 5000 Year Leap, W. Cleon Skousen
Conscious Capitalism, John Mackey, Rajendra Sisodia
Why Is America Exceptional?
Top 10 Reasons to be Proud of the United States
State Succession
Freedom Scale
Darrell Scott, father of Rachel Scott killed in Columbine shooting
If I Were the Devil
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Obamacare Citations from Pritical Thinking
Below is a list of citations used in the Obamacare chapter from Pritical Thinking:
- No They Can’t!, John Stoessel
- Why John Roberts is Wrong About Obamacare, Senator Mike Lee
- Cato Institute: Why Healthcare Costs Too Much
- Patient-Centered, Market-Based Healthcare Solution
- Eight Biggest Myths of Obamacare
- The Prescription for Conservative Consumer-FocusedHealth Reform-
- Democratic Congressman John Conyers: “Read the bill?”
- Biggest Myths of Obamacare
- South Carolina’s Efforts to Nullify Obamacare
- Obamacare to Cost Average Family $20,000
- The Use of Reconciliation to Pass Obamacare: Abuse ofPower
- The Young Won’t Buy Obamacare
- Congressional Budget Office – Effects of Tort Reformon Healthcare Costs
- Doctors Going Broke
- How U.S. Healthcare Really Stacks Up
- National Center for Policy Analysis – Healthcare
- Rationing of Care in the U.K.
- BritainPlans to Decentralize Health Care (2010)
- Long Waits Cost Canadians Millions
- U.S. Government Accountability Office: Medicare andMedicaid Fraud, Waste, and Abuse
- Portland Doctor Stops Accepting Insurance; PostsPrices Online
- Family Physician Posts Prices on Website
- Medicare Fraud: A $60 Billion Crime
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Economics 101 Citations from Pritical Thinking
Below is a list of citations used in the Economics 101 section of Pritical Thinking:
A Capitalist Manifesto, Gary Wolfram
Basic Economics, Thomas Sowell
Dr. Ben Carson's Speech - Economics is not Brain Surgery!
Tax Credits
Basic Economics, Thomas Sowell
Dr. Ben Carson's Speech - Economics is not Brain Surgery!
Tax Credits
- Top 40% Paid Over 100% Federal Income Taxes
- TheDistribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2010
Food Stamps and Unemployment Benefits
Stimulate the Economy
- Valerie Jarret – Unemployment Benefits Stimulates Economy
- Obama Agriculture Secretary Food Stamps Puts People Back to Work
- Nancy Pelosi –Extending Unemployment Benefits One of Best Ways to Stimulate Economy
- Obama - Voting for Unemployment Insurance Helps People and Creates Jobs
- FoodStamps Don’t Stimulate the Economy
Fair Share - IRS Tax Stats - Income Tax Rates and Tax Shares
This Recession is NOT Different
Social Security
- Social Security in the Red
- WhereYour Social Security Taxes Really Goes
- The Social Security Act of 1935
- Social Security and Medicare Taxes and Benefits Over a Lifetime
How Much Damage is the Federal Reserve Doing?
Government Regulations
- The Year in Regulations 2013
- Phoenix Center Policy Bulletin No. 28 – Regulatory Expenditures, Economic Growth and Jobs: An Empirical Study
- Cutting Federal Regulations Lowers Unemployment
- Obamacare Red Tape Burden
- EPA Admits It Does Not Consider the Impact of Its Regulations on Jobs
- Small Businesses for Sensible Regulation, Open Letter to President Obama
- 20 Tax Facts That Will Make Your Head Explode
- Happy New Year! 141 New Regulations in Only 3 Days
Sunday, September 7, 2014
The Truth About Minimum Wage
As discussed in my book, Pritical Thinking-The Lost Art of Critical Thinking and Common Sense in Politics and Public Policy, if raising the minimum wage is such a great idea, why stop at $10 or $12 an hour? Why not push it to $20 or $50 an hour? How about $100 an hour?
The truth is minimum wage is . . . the MINIMUM! You start at a low wage, gain experience and skills thereby making yourself more valuable and, thus, warranting a higher wage.
The truth is raising the minimum wage hurts the very people that liberal advocates of the wage rate increase claim to be trying to help. Milton Friedman said it this way, "minimum wage laws are about as clear a case as one can find of a measure, the effects of which are precisely the opposite of those intended by men of goodwill who support it."
Below is a list of citations used in the Minimum Wage discussion in Pritical Thinking:
The truth is minimum wage is . . . the MINIMUM! You start at a low wage, gain experience and skills thereby making yourself more valuable and, thus, warranting a higher wage.
The truth is raising the minimum wage hurts the very people that liberal advocates of the wage rate increase claim to be trying to help. Milton Friedman said it this way, "minimum wage laws are about as clear a case as one can find of a measure, the effects of which are precisely the opposite of those intended by men of goodwill who support it."
Below is a list of citations used in the Minimum Wage discussion in Pritical Thinking:
- CBO Report
- Consumers Pay for Minimum Wage Hike
- Employment Policies Institute, Wage Growth Among Minimum Wage Earners
- Minimum Wage Hike Will Hurt Jobs and Economy
- What is Minimum Wage: Its History and Effects on the Economy
- Who Earns the Minimum Wage? Suburban Teenagers, Not Single Parents
- Income Inequality, Walter E. Williams
- Majority of Minimum Wage Earners Under 30 Years Old
- Bureau of Labor Statistics Unemployment Matrices
- Bill Gates on Minimum Wage Harmful Effects
- Politics and Minimum Wage
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Washington Redskins and American Politics
What do the Washington Redskins have to do with American politics and public policy?
Just like with gay marriage, Obamacare, minimum wage, national debt, welfare reform, social security reform, gun control, balanced budget amendment, abortion, gun control, illegal immigration, energy policy, and voter ID laws, the (silent) majority allows themselves to be drowned out by a loud and often obnoxious, vitriolic minority.
Read the ESPN.com story here. Learn more about the other topics here.
Just like with gay marriage, Obamacare, minimum wage, national debt, welfare reform, social security reform, gun control, balanced budget amendment, abortion, gun control, illegal immigration, energy policy, and voter ID laws, the (silent) majority allows themselves to be drowned out by a loud and often obnoxious, vitriolic minority.
Read the ESPN.com story here. Learn more about the other topics here.
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