Honest Debate and the Confederate Flag

Every tragedy does not require a knee-jerk public policy response such as further limitations on gun rights or the demonization and banning of a flag. Honest people should have the ability to engage in honest debate. Unfortunately the political environment in which we currently find ourselves pits us against each other rather than encouraging interaction and the sharing of ideas.

The Confederate flag controversy is yet another example of how advocacy in America is now accomplished. There is little or no tolerance for an intellectually honest debate. There is little or no consideration for the other side of an argument as advocates would rather shut down debate through name-calling, smearing, and insults.

Consider the following:

• If you think the Confederate flag controversy is overblown, you are labeled a racist and pro-slavery.
• If you don’t buy into the global warming propaganda, you are a denier, a dissenter, and/or you are pro-pollution.
• If you believe marriage is defined as between one woman and one man, you are intolerant, a homophobe, and/or a Christian zealot.
• If you believe the life of an unborn baby requires some consideration in the abortion debate, you are waging a war on women, telling women what to do with their own bodies, and/or encouraging back-alley abortions. Note: I never hear pro-lifers claim that pro-choicers are waging a war on the unborn!
• If you oppose throwing more good money after bad in our public school system, you are opposed to educating the children and/or a teacher-hater!
• If you want to repeal Obamacare, you want to deny healthcare to others and/or you are an “evil-monger”.
• If you oppose affirmative action, you are a bigot.
• If you want to reform Social Security, you are depicted in television advertisements as pushing grandma over a cliff in a wheelchair.
• If you are opposed to amnesty for illegal immigrants or you want the border enforced, you are a racist and/or a xenophobe.
• If you believe in the Second Amendment to the Constitution, you are cold-blooded.
• If you are a member of the Tea Party movement, you are an obstructionist, an anarchist, a radical, and/or a racist. According to Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters, you are also damned to eternal damnation as she once eloquently said, “The Tea Party can go straight to hell!”
• If you are opposed to going to war, you are an isolationist.
• If you are an advocate for going to war, you are a war-monger!
• If you oppose raising the debt ceiling, you hate cops, firefighters, and teachers!
• If you oppose raising the minimum wage, you are heartless!
• If you are an advocate for welfare reform, you are callous and cruel!

Back to the Confederate flag: The flag is known as “the rebel flag” NOT “the pro-slavery flag”! It represents the rebellion of the southern states’ against the northern states which was waging war against the South in order to force them to remain in the union!

I will concede that if you asked 100 people, "what is the first thing that comes to mind when they see the confederate flag?", it is likely that “slavery” ends up as the #1 response. However, I am willing to bet that you would likely see “rebel flag” or "rebellion" as a close #2. Other responses might include “Kid Rock”, “Alabama”, “the Civil War”, “the South”, “pick-up truck with a gun rack”, “redneck”, etc. (Click here to read a recent CNN/ORC poll.)

How about we try taking a breath and starting a dialogue with each other rather than resorting to name-calling reminiscent of the fourth grade playground?

See page 65 of my book Pritical Thinking for more.

Social Engineers in Black Robes - the Intellectual Dishonesty of Ginsburg, Breyer, Kennedy, Sotomayor, and Kagan

To gain an understanding of just how openly defiant the five liberal Supreme Court Justices are of their oath of office to “support and defend the Constitution” consider this:

In 2013, the federal Defense of Marriage Act was struck down by a 5-4 vote by the Supreme Court. The five votes came from Ruth Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. The primary reason given in their opinion for striking down the law was because MARRIAGE IS A STATE ISSUE, not an issue to be influenced by the federal government.

“DOMA is unconstitutional as a deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment. Pp. 13–26. (a) By history and tradition the definition and regulation of marriage has been treated as being within the authority and realm of the separate States.

Subject to certain constitutional guarantees, see, e.g., Loving v. Virginia, 388 U. S. 1, “regulation of domestic relations” is “an area that has long been regarded as a virtually exclusive province of the States,” Sosna v. Iowa, 419 U. S. 393, 404. The significance of state responsibilities for the definition and regulation of marriage dates to the Nation’s beginning; for “when the Constitution was adopted the common understanding was that the domestic relations of husband and wife and parent and child were matters reserved to the States,” Ohio ex rel. Popovici v. Agler, 280 U. S. 379, 383–384. Marriage laws may vary from State to State, but they are consistent within each State.”

Last week, THESE SAME FIVE justices voted for the nationwide recognition of gay marriage by the federal government!

These five justices are no different than any ideological political hack with the one exception: they are not subject to periodic reelection campaigns. They should be impeached for violating their oath of office. 

P.S.  Both Ginsburg and Kagan have, in the past, officiated gay wedding ceremonies. If they were honest brokers of their responsibilities as Supreme Court Justices, they would have recused themselves from hearing and ruling on this case.  

P.P.S. During her 2009 Senate confirmation hearings on her nomination to be Solicitor General, Kagan said, "there is no federal constitutional right to same sex marriage."

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-307_6j37.pdf

Obama's Core Principles

“One of my core principles is that I will never engage in a politics in which I’m trying to divide people . . . That’s a core principle — that’s not something I’d violate.” ~ Obama

He left out a few areas where he has repeatedly divided Americans:

If you:

• Are a Christian or 
• A Republican or
• Believe the Constitution should be adhered to (especially the Second Amendment) or
• Oppose gay marriage or 
• Are a member of a Tea Party group or 
• Are Pro-life or
• Are in the military or 
• Oppose his economic policy or  
• Are a police officer or 
• Live in the South or 
• Oppose his use of executive orders or
• Are wealthy or 
• Work on Wall Street or 
• Own a business or 
• Watch Fox News or 
• Oppose his foreign policy or
• Want real investigations into Fast and Furious, Benghazi, and the IRS scandal or 
• Want the borders enforced.

Besides that, his core principle, the one that he would not violate, is never to engage in politics "in which I'm trying to divide people."

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.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

Is it just me or does the Democratic Party seem to stand against every principle that this country was founded upon?

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

LIFE
Rather than taking a Judeo-Christian approach to life, the Democratic Party is obsessed with death. Clearly abortion is a pillar of their agenda. Add to that their support of doctor-assisted suicide and the inevitable rationing and/or withholding of care for the very sick and the elderly that occurs under all socialized medicine schemes and the culture of death is complete.

• The advocate strongly for abortion on demand preferably paid for with tax-payer dollars. Consider the continuous glorification of Planned Parenthood by Democrats. Consider the forcing of religious employers to offer abortifacients in their health insurance plans. Consider their preference for minimal, if any, parental notification for abortion. Consider the systematic demonization of anyone who speaks about Pro-Life. Consider their opposition to all efforts to teach abstinence in the public schools. Consider applauding of the FDA's approval of over-the-counter morning-after pills. Consider Barack Obama's own words: "I don't want my daughters punished with a baby."
  
  Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Democrat from New York, in reference to the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 1797) which will ban abortions after five months of pregnancy exemplifies the Democrats decades-long, pro-abortion stance when he said, “Every single year we have to go through the same nonsense with the same morally presumptuous, morally arrogant attitude that we know better. ‘We know better than women and their doctors. We know better about their health care. We know better about their moral choices in very personal decisions.’” Notice there is no mention of the baby that is being killed! I bet Congressman Nadler is glad his mother “choose” to give birth to him!

• Partial birth abortion - Obama argued against a bill to ban partial birth abortions while in the Illinois State Senate. The mainstream media ignored the recent murder trail of the abortionist monster Dr. Gosnell in Philadelphia.
• Death panels in Obamacare - All socialized medicine plans ration care. Obamacare is no different. In order to keep costs under control, the Obamacare law has in it a panel which will make healthcare decisions on behalf of the government who, under a single-payer system, has a vested interest in how the dollars are spent. Obama himself said this during a town hall meeting when asked how his healthcare plan would evaluate a 105-year old mother who was facing a need for a pacemaker. Obama considerately said, "Maybe your better off not having the surgery. Maybe your better off taking a pain pill." Consider how HHS Secretary Sebellus callously responded to the 10-year Philadelphia girl who needed a lung transplant, "some people live and some people die." 
• Obama's home town of Chicago is the murder capital of the country. Not much concern over life there!
• The four people killed in the consulate attack in Benghazi, Libya. The Obama Administration and the Democratic Party have done nothing but blame an obscure video for the attack and hamper all efforts to investigate. No consideration for the loss of life.
• The Fast and Furious debacle resulted in the death of a border patrol agent and hundreds of Mexican citizens. What was Obama and the Democratic Party's response? Delay, divert and demonize those who wish to get to the bottom of the scandal. 
• Margaret Sanger - Founder of Planned Parenthood and proponent of eugenics is a named hero of Leftists like Hillary Clinton.
• The DDT ban has resulted in the deaths of millions of people based on junk science presented by Rachel Carson in 1962. The EPA banned the life-saving chemical for decades. All in the name of the junk science known as "environmentalism". Again, no consideration for the loss of life that resulted from their baseless ban.
• CAFÉ standards have resulted in lighter vehicles, which results in more vehicular deaths.
• In the wake of the Zimmerman trial, we are now being told by The Left that we have a duty to retreat in the face of an attack. 

LIBERTY

• The Democratic Party is the Party of higher taxes. Every tax dollar out of your pocket restricts your liberty because you are no longer at liberty to spend those dollars as you see fit. 
• The Democratic Party is constantly trying to dismantle the 2nd Amendment: Every shooting comes with cries for gun control restrictions.
• Obamacare is the ultimate liberty-limiting tool as you hand over your healthcare decision making to the government.
• Civil Rights – Which political party opposed civil rights legislation? Which political party imposed Jim Crow laws?
• Thousands of regulations are created and enforced by unelected bureaucrats – IRS, EPA, FDA, NLRB, HHS - all of which are tools used by the Democratic Party to punish their political opponents.
• The Democratic Party is opposed to every effort to institute school choice and/or school vouchers. This is done so the teacher unions can continue to prosper and donate to Democrat candidates. One of Obama's first acts as president was to abolish a successful voucher program in Washington, D.C.'s public school system.
• Global warming’s junk science comes with the requirement that we abandon many of the creature comforts of modern society and pay carbon taxes (see high taxes above).
• Failure to prosecute blatant voter intimidation case in 2010 in Philadelphia. The liberty of legitimate voters was violated that day!
• Liberty is restricted when risk is transferred from the private sector to the tax-payer – FDIC, national flood insurance, Fannie and Freddie bailouts, etc.
• IRS targeting groups with political differences than the Democratic Party.
• Restrictions on domestic drilling for oil unnecessarily raises the cost of gas, taking dollars out of our pockets (same as a tax increase - see above).
• Employee Free Choice Act (Card Check) – Why would you need the liberty of a secret ballot?
• Freedom of Speech: Consider Chick-fil-A and the gay marriage controversy. Consider the Fairness Doctrine, which is proposed to reign in conservative talk radio.
• Freedom of Religion: Today’s liberals argue for freedom FROM religion. They believe religion in general (Christianity specifically) must be banned from the public square lest someone become offended.
• Freedom of Association: As long as you are not a gun owner, an NRA member, a donor to a Republican candidate, or a Tea Party organization trying to secure non-profit status, you should have no problems. Otherwise, newspapers will publish your address, the media and members of the Democratic Party will denigrate you, SWAT teams will swarm your workplace (Gibson Guitar), and the IRS will target and harass you.

PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
In the Declaration of Independence, the pursuit of happiness refers to citizens' right to private property, which is a pillar of our society. Here again, the Left is not a big fan because it means the people are in control; not the government. For the purposes of this essay, I am broadening the definition of pursuit of happiness as outlined below.

The only consistent definition of pursuit of happiness that I have found in the liberal dogma is sex. They oppose abstinence education. They want to teach our kids sex education at ridiculously early ages. They want everyone, including our kids, to have access to "free" contraception and, of course, if you do get pregnant, they want "free" abortions. Finally, they continually excuse perverted actions and repeated adultery by Democrat politicians and left-wing nutjobs (see Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Anthony Weiner, Senator Bob Menendez, Jesse Jackson, Idiot Spitzer, and Al Sharpton).

The way the Democratic Party has inflicted the most damage on the United States in regards to the pursuit of happiness is by constantly segmenting the populace into competing groups. Franklin Roosevelt mastered the art of segmentation only to be perfected over the ensuing decades by each new generation of Democrat candidates. Liberal / Progressive doctrine argues that you cannot be happy if someone else has more than you. When they do not have the law or the people on their side, they turn to the courts to implement and enforce their agenda.

• Debt and deficits: Debt is the biggest roadblock to our nations future pursuit of happiness. It forces us to pay more in taxes, limits our upward mobility, and enslaves future generations. 
• Perpetually high unemployment - What is more restricting of the pursuit of personal happiness than being unemployed for a long period of time? Whose policies have resulted in more prolonged periods of unemployment, lower standards of living, and malaise? Think FDR. Think Jimmy Carter. Think Obama.
• The welfare state. The third pillar of the Democratic Party after abortion-on-demand and tax hikes is an ever-expanding welfare state. Their theory is the more people who are on welfare and, thus, dependent on the government, the more likely they will be to vote for Democrats who promise more of the same. 
• Amnesty for illegal immigrants directly impacts the pursuit of happiness of LEGAL citizens by stealing jobs, stealing our tax dollars, etc. There are some short-sighted and misguided Republicans who support amnesty but this is a liberal/progressive policy as its aim is to put more voters on the public dole.
• Spread the wealth around. On its face, this policy stifles the pursuit of happiness of the person from whom wealth is being confiscated from. 
• Free market capitalism is the nature order. It is based on natural law where each individual pursues their interests by serving others and, therefore, getting paid to do such. Which political party consistently advocates for the building of barriers through regulations, bureaucracies, and new agencies that subdue or kill an individual’s ability to pursue happiness.

The Silent Majority No More

America is a country run by a group of minorities. The cycle goes something like this: the majority voices their opinion through legislation, public policy or through tradition and the minority runs to the court system in search of the most activist jurist to ram their policies down the throat of the majority. The majority never takes a strong stand on any one issue and we end up with a fractured society ruled by laws that no longer reflect the views of the majority of Americans.

Below are a few examples:

• The majority of Americans believe in God, yet atheists and apathetic bureaucrats block the inclusion of God in public at every turn.
• The majority believe in limited government and maximum freedom, yet we now live in a society where the federal government dictates everything from the food and drugs we can consume, the kind of cars we drive, how fast we can drive them, the light bulbs we can buy, and the drinking age. If you really want to see how grotesque the federal government is, read about the "Federal Registry" or the "IRS tax code". Guess how large those two documents are!!!!
• The majority is pro-life, yet the Supreme Court found an “right to privacy” in the Constitution and then applied this previously unmentioned right to a woman’s right to terminate the life of their unborn child. Fast forward 40 years and we have now terminated over 30 million lives. That’s 10% of our current population!!!! Depending on what state you live in, you can abort late into a pregnancy even via the Obama-supported procedure known as partial birth abortion. Federal dollars flow to Planned Parenthood to pay for the infanticide of our next generation. All efforts to slow down this trend – sonograms, adoption, education, are squashed by, what can only be described as a pro-murder industry and the Democratic Party.
• The majority believe in traditional definition of marriage as evidenced by the over 30+ states that have passed laws clearly defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Gay rights activists are not content with pursuing tax policy and public policy changes to give them the “rights’ they desire. They feel compelled to change the thousands-of-years-old definition of marriage via activist judges.
• The majority is opposed to Obamacare. Prior to its passage, the disapproval rate was over 50% and, now that the lies regarding the law have been exposed, the impact on our pocketbooks is clear, and the crushing impact on the economy is evident, the percentage is even higher. No wonder they had to pass the bill by bribing Senators and using a budget reconciliation procedural vote to pass it.
• The majority of Americans believe in the power of prayer, yet the Left has purposefully removed it from the public square because it "might offend someone".
• The majority believe in balancing the federal budget, yet under President Bush the national debt and the annual budget deficit grew by 294% and 73% respectively. So far under Obama those figures are 200% and over 60%. How is this sustainable? 
• The majority support school vouchers and school choice, yet the Democratic Party (local, state and national) squash all efforts to implement such programs due to the influence of teachers unions on that party. One of President Obama’s first acts as President was to kill an extremely popular and successful school voucher program in a poor area of Washington, D.C.
• The majority of Americans believe in freedom of religion, yet activist atheists and agnostics want "freedom from religion".
• The majority believes in voter ID laws, yet activists and liars squash most efforts to implement them.