Monday, June 30, 2008

The Danger of the Supreme Court Ruling on Guns

June, 2008 the United States Supreme Court rules that Americans have the right to own guns. Did they have to do this and what is the danger of this ruling?

It is sad that the Supreme Court had to rule on this. It’s well stated in the Constitutions second amendment that Americans do have the right to own guns. It is necessary for our own defense.

It is unlikely that we’ll have to fight with guns to protect our homes from foreign invasion. It’s possible, especially with the threat of terrorism the past ten years, but it’s still unlikely that we’d need our weapons to defend our homes against foreign invasion. We have the best military in the world despite the fear mongers on the liberal side saying that our military is drained.

The Constitution was written following the Revolutionary War. The men that wrote the Constitution were very familiar with tyranny. Farmers and shoemakers and tinsmiths and blacksmiths and land surveyors took up arms to fight the most powerful country on earth for their freedom and the freedom of those that followed in the future. The designing of the Constitution was based on their experience with that tyranny.

If we look at the Declaration of Independence, they give us a reason why it’s necessary for the second amendment. “…That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying is Foundation on such Principals, and organizing its Power in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

What this means is that power is lent to the government by the people. When the government takes power from the people and claims it for itself, it is to the detriment of the people and it’s the people’s right and responsibility to claim that power back. Government takes power from the people by removing their freedoms. The right to own guns, bear arms, is one of those freedoms.

By taking away the right to bear arms, the government then has the ability to coerce the people who will find it much more difficult to exercise the rights and responsibilities stated in the Declaration of Independence.

So what is the danger of this ruling by the Supreme Court? The danger is that it shows our rights are dangerously close to being usurped by the government in each of the three branches of government.

Legislators at all levels are trying to regulate our right to bear arms. This case was about a Washington DC law banning citizens from owning guns for the past 33 years. We also know that there are many in the United States Congress that want to take away our right to bear arms. A prime example is Senator Chuck Schumer. In addition, we’ve had those in the executive branch that wanted to take away those Rights. President Clinton was one that wanted gun control laws. Senator Hillary Clinton, had she been nominated and then elected is another that would have been for a gun ban. Senator Barack Hussein Obama is another that has said he prefers gun control. Now he’s changed his position a couple of times, depending on the group he’s speaking to on any given day, so we’d have to assume he would ban guns.

Now we find out that the Judicial Branch is also looking to ban guns. We know this because the vote on the case of gun control was 5-4. We were lucky that one of the justices, who seems to go back and forth on our rights depending on the topic, voted for the Right to bear arms.

We are precariously close to losing our rights. One nomination away from the vote going the other way. If Obama becomes President and the wrong Justice retires or dies in office, that vote will go the other way and our rights are lost to us.

I could argue all day about how when the gun ban was put in place in Washington DC the crimes increased where guns were used. It’s an old line but it’s still true. If we outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns. Or the numerous places where gun carry laws have been passed and those crimes went down. However, that’s no longer the issue. The issue now is our government removing more and more of our rights and if they manage to get a gun ban in place, they will have disarmed us. This is a very real danger and it was pointed out very clearly in this ruling by the Supreme Court last week. It was a great victory, but it should also be a wake up call to all Americans. We’re one vote away from losing more rights, which means we’ll have less freedom.

The danger of this ruling should be a wake up call to us all. We are one vote from that tyranny that our forefathers fought against.

I welcome your comments.

Brett

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

My Letter to Representative Tim Walberg

Honorable Tim Walberg,

I am not a happy constituent. Not necessarily with you, but with the Republican Party. First of all, we have a Presidential candidate that is not a Conservative. My vote, which I hold precious, is being cheapened by having to vote for an inferior candidate that is liberal. Calling him less liberal than either of the Democrat candidates is no consolation.

I see no leadership in the Republican Party. I’d love to blame the news media for not putting out the Republican issues and positions, but I can’t. The Republicans have no message, no issues and no positions. Republicans were turned out in 2006 not due to the Iraq war, but rather because Republicans in Congress spent money like Democrats and President Bush didn’t veto those exorbitant spending bills.

First, we need a leader in the Republican Party. Since nobody holding the positions of leadership in the Republican party is stepping up to ensure some victories, or even one victory, this fall. It means the position is open. Step up and claim the position! If you wait for a handout of the position, you’ll be playing the game. It’s time that the Republicans did what they did in 1994 and put together a plan of action for this summer and fall and then go further than they did in 1994. In 94, they put together the Contract with America. They did exactly as they said they would. Then they became part of the Washington establishment. You don’t need to make friends with the press, nor with the liberals. Pick your issues and stand firm.

I have a few top issues that I believe should be burned into every Republican’s talking points.

1. End the war. Not in the way that the liberals want to end the war. End it with victory. Keep the force there that’s needed to hold the areas taken. Send forces in to the other provinces that are not under Iraqi control, hit them hard and turn it over to the Iraqi’s. Then tell the Iraqi government, quit dragging your feet and settle your problems now. If an end date is to be given, it should be between the Iraqi Prime Minister and the President. It should not be made public anywhere in the world.
2. Make the tax cuts permanent. We, in Michigan, cannot afford another tax increase by allowing the tax cuts to expire. We, in America, have gone through a boisterous economy over the past 7 years. The last six months have been sluggish, but it’s still a positive and will be growing stronger. This excellent economy we’ve been through the past 7 years is due in large part to the tax cuts. Make them permanent and then go to work on revamping the tax code.

3. Immigration reform. Amnesty didn’t work in 1986. If it had, we wouldn’t be dealing with it now. Protect the border. Keep the illegals from sneaking in. As we find the illegal aliens here, send them back. I don’t want to hear that we “can’t round up 20 million illegals”. This is America and we can do anything we set our mind to doing. Get that fence finished. Use the technology to watch the borders as well as the border patrol. We do not need another attack on this country.
4. Inspection of shipments to the United States. We need to start inspecting cargo coming to this country. We inspect fruit crossing state lines, it’s unbelievable t hat we can’t inspect cargo coming into this country. If you cross a state line to buy cigarettes because the taxes are lower in Indiana than they are in Michigan and you’re caught, you will be prosecuted. Yet we can’t inspect cargo? If another attack happens here due to open borders or uninspected cargo, the fault will lay firmly at the feet of the United States government. The President, EACH Senator, and Each Representative.
5. Social Security: It will be operating in the red in 2017 and it will be exhausted by 2041. This is a failed system! The current retirees must be taken care of through the current system. This can still be done. However, those still working would benefit more, and the system would be self sufficient without depending on the government if we were permitted to choose where we invested our money. The law could be written that everyone must pay into the system as it is now. But each person would be permitted to choose where their money should be invested to give them the maximum amount available for their own retirement supplement. If I want to invest my money in mutual funds, that should be my choice. I should be allowed to move the investment if I feel, or my advisor suggests, but the deposits would still be a requirement as under the current system. In addition, when I die, my family would receive that money as a death benefit. No more of the $255 token amount to my family should I die. They would get all that I’ve paid into the system.
6. Health Care: Get government out of the health care business. They have failed! Example; Medicare. It will be in the red this year and it will be exhausted in 2019. If this is what the government does with health care, they’ve failed and there is no reasonable expectation that they can handle a health care plan for all. Let the market work.
7. Oil Independence: Drill for oil in this country. Put the American people to work and their ingenuity. If we open several of the oil sites that we have available we’ll lower our dependence on foreign oil. We must then encourage Americans to find alternative fuels. Going with ethanol only increased the prices of corn chips, and taco shells, etc. It’s not the answer. Use the time we have by drilling for our own oil and lowering prices to find alternative answers for operating our cars, heating our homes and so on. Drill now and research now to find alternative power.

These are just seven items that I’ve put down as I’ve been typing this. These are all winning issues. When a candidate runs as a conservative they win. It’s been proven over and over. If you want to lose as a conservative, run in San Francisco.

We also need candidates across this country that have some self control. No more political correctness or being afraid to say what’s obvious because you’re talking about a colleague. Senator Larry Craig should have been forced out. Not due to his guilt or innocence, but because he pleaded guilty to cover it up. Representative Kennedy should have been booted out for driving drunk into a road barrier.

I consider Conservative Republicans have the right message and the right path. I demand more from them. So they should stand up for what they believe in and stand up forcefully. They should be told to keep their pants zipped and to stay out of and away from brothels, bars and escort services. I don’t want to hear of a spouse of another Representative or Senator picking up a prostitute ala Debbie Stabenow. If they are, they should resign or forced out of their elected office. That’s not what they were sent to Washington to do.

Unfortunately, Republicans are not articulating their message. It’s time for a leader to step and take control of the Republican party. If we continue as we’re going right now, we’re going to end up with a President Obama or a President Clinton. As it is, if we get a President McCain it will be Democrat lite and that to me is a slap in the face to the American people and the Republican Party. We will also end up with seats in the house that won’t amount to much more than a poker game and in the Senate we wouldn’t have enough to have a ping pong match.

I realize that I’m being very blunt. It’s probably not proper etiquette but at this point I don’t care. I don’t want flyers that come to me asking me what I think of the issues which is only a disguise for the collection of money or to garner votes or to reaffirm votes.

I’m not sending any money to the Republicans. None of them. I did that throughout the 90’s and the first couple of years of the aughts whenever I could. What have I gotten for my money? Nothing. It’s been a waste of whatever meager amount I could send when I could send money.

It’s time the Republicans started earning the expectation that I’d even open mail from them. I’m not sending it to Democrats, but I’m not sending it to Republicans that fail to do as they say. I’m also not interested in form letters as a response to this. If you really want to respond, the best response is to be the leader or find a leader that will make Conservatives follow the Conservative issues and protect this country from the coming storm that we’re sure to get from any of the Presidential candidates and to do it today. The only way to protect the American people from these candidates is to get Conservatives elected to the House and the Senate.

I’d apologize for the length and tone of this mail, but I really don’t feel sorry for stating the truth.

Sincerely,


Brett Young

Monday, June 2, 2008

Penalize the Vote...or Ballot Stuffing

On Saturday, the Democrat Party decided to give Florida and Michigan their seats back for the National Convention in Denver. Not all of the seats that they are entitled to, however.

The history on how this came about goes back to 2007. Florida and Michigan wanted a more prominent role in choosing the nominees for President. Florida has a Republican Congress and a Republican Governor, however, it was a Democrat that first proposed moving their primary up the order. The Democrat National Committee warned them that if they moved their primary to an earlier date, they would be penalized by not allowing Florida to seat their delegates.

Michigan also wanted to move their primary up earlier so they too could have more of a say in the nomination. Michigan has a Democrat Governor, a Democrat House and a Republican Senate. They too were told that they would be sanctioned with the loss of their delegates being seated at the convention. Florida moved their primary up to January 29 and Michigan moved theirs up to January 15.Please note that the people that decided to move the elections up were the Congresses of each state. It was not decided on by the people of the two states.

The Republican National Committee penalized the two states by removing half of their seats at the Republican Convention in September. The DNC removed all seats of both states for their Convention the end of August.So what we had was the RNC and the DNC both penalizing the voters of the two states for the actions of the elected officials. All of the Democrat candidates agreed to follow the DNC rules which included no campaigning in the two states.

From this point, I’m going to mostly confine my remarks to the state of Michigan because I’m in Michigan and a little more familiar with what’s happening and happened here.Prior to the Michigan Primary, Senator Barack Hussein Obama, along with Senator Joe Biden, former Senator John Edwards, and Governor Bill Richardson, all candidates, decided to remove their names from the ballot in Michigan.On January 15, 2008 Michigan held its’ primary.

Due to so many of the Democrat candidates removing themselves from the primary in Michigan, the state decided to add another unnamed candidate. They called this candidate “Uncommitted”. So if you were voting for a Democrat, your choices were Hillary Clinton, Mike Gravel, Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich (who did campaign in Michigan despite the rules) and Uncommitted.Clinton won the Democrat primary. Her take from this victory was 73 delegates which represented the vote she received. The other named candidates have since dropped out of the race, but the votes they received were insignificant. Uncommitted however came in second place.

Let’s stop for a second and talk about what this has done in Michigan to this point. When Presidential candidates come to a state, they naturally generate business in the areas that are visited. Usually, this means visits to the Detroit area on the east side of the state, the Grand Rapids area on the west side of the state and Traverse City in the northern portion of the lower peninsula of the state. Citizens show up for these events. A chance to meet possibly the next President of the United States.

When they show up, they visit businesses in the area, which helps the economy of the area. This is especially important in Michigan which is currently in a one state recession and has been for nearly four years. The revenue generated from these visits wouldn’t do as much as the baseball All Star game a few years ago, or the Super Bowl game two years ago, but it does create economic activity in the area.

Let’s move ahead to Saturday, May 31, 2008. The rules committee of the DNC met to hear why Florida and Michigan should be permitted to seat their delegates. There were three proposals put forth to allow these delegates and how many for which candidate.The officials from the State proposed dividing the delegates up between the two remaining candidates based on exit polls from the primary. Their reasoning was that had Obama been on the ballot, Clinton’s victory would have been closer. They proposed that Clinton get 69 votes and Obama get the remaining 59 votes.

The Obama campaign gave their proposal which was to take Michigans delegates and split them 50/50 because Obama wasn’t on the ballot due to the primary not counting according to the DNC rules as stated prior to the primary.The Clinton campaign said that Clinton should receive her 73 delegates based on the vote. However, their exit polls showed that Obama only received 75% of the uncommitted vote, with the bulk of the remainder going to Edwards.

The DNC rules committee decided on the Michigan proposal. This took the actual votes that Clinton had won and removed four delegates from her, giving the balance to Obama who wasn’t on the ballot. This meeting was a farce. It very much reminded me of the election of 2000. We all remember that election. It took 35 extra days, and numerous court visits. Florida laws were tossed aside during this process and we were subjected to county workers holding ballots up in the air, staring at ballots and deciding how the voter INTENDED to vote based on whether the chad was hanging, pregnant or any of the other descriptions that they used. What it boiled down to was that elected officials were determining how people voted regardless of whether the voter voted that way or not.

This meeting on the 31st was much the same thing again. The DNC took delegates away from Hillary Clinton that she had earned by keeping her name on the ballot. She received the votes, but the DNC told some of the voters that their votes didn’t matter. That THEY have decided that it’s fairer to remove votes from Clinton and give them to Obama despite the fact that he chose to remove himself from the ballot. Again, this is reminiscent of the election in 2000 in Florida. The Gore campaign wanted a recount, but they only wanted a recount in certain areas. With each recount that was taken, both during that 35 day election process and every recount done since by various news organizations and others, Gore lost each time. Yet the Democrats, to this day, only talk of how they were cheated out of the 2000 election.

Getting back to the Michigan delegates, again, elected officials in the state moved the primary up. Not the voters. The DEMOCRAT National Committee’s rules committee decided to take votes away from the Michigan voters that chose Clinton and give some of them to Barack Hussein Obama, who chose not to be on the ballot. With each of these elections, the Democrats don’t seem to want the voters to decide, nor to follow the wishes of the voters. In addition, they stripped Michigan of half of it’s delegates. So even the votes that did come in, they only counted as half.I think it’s probably easier to say that the Michigan elected officials put the voters of Michigan in a precarious position in choosing the next president, and then the Democrats took some voters choices from them and gave them to a man that didn’t want to be voted for by Michiganders.

Wouldn’t this be the same as ballot stuffing?

I welcome your comments.

Brett