Long, Hard and Bitter - Trump's Cabinet Confirmations

Thoughts on Trump’s Cabinet Picks.

The Senate confirmation process has been one of the longest, hardest and bitterest in US history.

But honestly did we expect any of this to be easy.

Case in point as to the longest.

Steven Mnuchin confirmed by the US Senate 2/16/2016. According to the Forbes article below it was the longest wait any President - ever had to wait for his Treasury Secretary to be confirmed. The article was written by Champaign Williams.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bisnow/2017/02/16/after-much-scrutiny-senate-confirms-trumps-treasury-pick-steven-mnuchin/#467931a146f3

Case in point as to the bitterest in and out of the Senate. Betsy DeVos for Education. 

As to the bitterness, click on link for the article and please read the tweets at the end for some common sense.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politics/devos-protest-at-washington-school/

The radical left seems lately to be shooting themselves in the foot. The public isn’t as dumb or gullible as they think, the public expects the Education Department head to have access to public schools.

The Senate Confirmation of Mnuchin also points to the hardness of the process. The article above notes, the Mnuchin confirmation was the first time in the history of the US that a cabinet confirmation vote in the Senate needed a tie-breaker from the sitting Vice President. Again for explanation this is the guy who will be leading the changes to Obamacare Trump desires to see.

Also along the line of foot dragging the Dems in the Senate have obstructed and tried to drag their Constitutional Duty out to the max. Here is an article about the troubles Sessions, Price and Mnuchin had with the minority in the Senate.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/elections/dems-force-delays-in-votes-on-price-mnuchin-sessions/article_e693c3da-904b-516a-8f4d-eaec8be10a66.html

Why all the ruckus. 

In life as in most things when a new Coach, CEO or Governor or most other leaders are hired, it is expected that they will bring along with them people that they think will help them carry out their new duties and responsibilities. People understand this. As for the Presidency, there is usually grumbling and some protests from the minority but not in recent memory to this extent.

Again Why – Simple Trump is seeking a nearly primordial change to government and his Cabinet are the pieces on the chess board.

In Trumpeze it is called a Yuge change. A change in how we look at government and the private sector and ultimately how we look at ourselves individually and our individual place and importance in the world.

Kenedy said “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” After he was shot, his successor LBJ basically said go ahead ask us we’ll give it to you and now Trump is asking in effect; if you don’t want government always telling you what to do, ask not what your country can do for you, but what can you do for your own damn self. Those were my words but I think you get the idea.

Trump is asking for a really - really big change in the government. (Oops a little more Trumpeze it's catchy).  A change back to people which will ask them to take more care of themselves.  That is what he believes his mandate from the people is.  We will see if that is what the people really want.

The government is up in arms. This change is far bigger than I realized until I started looking at the numbers.

For example this is a change from Teachers Unions in state run schools to Educational Choice championed by Betsy DeVos. Educational Choice is where public money (your tax money) follows the students to whatever school you want them to attend whether it be public or private – union or not. 

In other words parents have a choice in which schools they want to send their children to and to which schools their taxes go,.

Is it any wonder the teacher’s unions were and are up in arms about DeVos?

 

Donald Trump promised this type of change and is nominating a cabinet he feels will help him institute it. This change includes breaking up the status quo. Sounds easy, but remember the US Government employs nearly 22 million people not counting the Military. Putting that in context there are only a little over 12 million Americans employed in manufacturing.

Wow.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/21955000-12329000-government-employees-outnumber-manufacturing

See the difficulty.  Then think of all the government grant money that flows out to the local communities, and the jobs currently dependent upon it.  Think about it - this will be a huge change.   Conservatives when they talk about jobs mean the private sector, when Democrats talk of jobs they mean government jobs.

Over the last decades our country has gone from manufacturing to the service industry. Here is a quote from an article. “Most Americans work in the service sector. …., the biggest was education and health services (22.7 million workers), followed by professional and business services (20.3 million) and retail trade (just under 16 million). Manufacturing employed 12.3 million Americans; about 22.2 million were government workers (nearly two-thirds of them at the local level).”

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/01/8-facts-about-american-workers/

No matter how you look at it, to swing the American economy back into Manufacturing from the service sector is going to be a huge task if not impossible. As in all things a big push needs to be made just to stop the momentum away from manufacturing.

The media is all over President Trump for not dealing with Obamacare and giving us a new tax plan. 

Well the Senate has just confirmed his Treasury Secretary (Steven Mnuchin) who would lead the change in tax laws and his Health and Human Services Secretary (Dr. Tom Price) who would lead the dismantling of Obamacare. Remember that these department heads once sworn in have to set up their own leadership team. That takes time.

The media is not giving him time, but most people are willing to.
That is why new administrations in the past were allowed a “honeymoon” to be able to get the kinks worked out. The media has not given a honeymoon to Trump and is lambasting him for not doing his job before they’ve given him a team to do it with.

Just some thoughts on Steven Mnuchin the newly confirmed Secretary of Treasury.

Remember Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which caused the implosion in home prices? Remember the Dems up in arms defending them. Mr. Mnuchin has vowed to get rid of them. (That was just after the election).  More recently there is this article which says Mnuchin wants to re-capitalize them putting them back into the private sector. This would level the playing field of mortages.

https://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/17/02/9074950/steven-mnuchin-may-now-be-fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac-inv

For all this from government back to the private hands type of change to work Trump needs overwhelming support from his base. 

A lot of his base get some form of government help, either they work for government or get some benefits from them. I sit on the elected County Road Commission Board, I’m also on a couple of local boards and our job seems to be to seek and spend government money. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where you often hear people saying “If we don’t quick grab that (government) money some other county will”.  

I have never heard any of my board members say we have enough money.  Not once at least in public.
Politics is personal and as the quote above said, “…22.2 million were government workers (nearly two-thirds of them at the local level).” That is a lot of local people, local voters. I worry what happens when the cuts hit their wallets, what will they do - what will the local politicians do?

That will be President Trump’s job, to sell this slowing down of government to the people. He needs to show them how those changes are going to help Americans and their children and their grandchildren.

That is a job for a great leader and now with most of Donald’s Cabinet in place he needs to focus and start doing what he was hired to do. Now and onward we will be judging his pudding on the proof of his actions.

Sorry for the mutilated cliché but in these exciting fast changing times it seemed ok.

Oh and to all my conspiracy nuts out there. Steven Mnuchin worked as a "Professional" of Soros Fund Management LLC. I can already see the wheels spinning. Trump must really be the new Manchurian Candidate made by and run by George Soros. No doubt he is really a robot.

Well seriously -



Regards, Bob Carr
Live Dangerously, Tell the Truth
glhotdogs513@gmail.com
231-728-3455

The Fight Never Ends. Be Ever Vigilant.

Backlash

Since before the Tea Party, I have been writing about the backlash to “political correctness” and the ever growing and meddling government that culminated in the cry of “Leave Us Alone” coming from Middle America across the land that eventually coalesced around and elected Donald John Trump as President.

I then read an article about Gen Z and a backlash of their own. This backlash seemed to be against the liberal establishment and their thought police. This new “counter culture” is mainly centered on college campuses. It’s main battle cry is “Freedom of Speech”.

As far as speech goes these young freedom loving people are taking up the banner and in effect echoing the cry, “Leave Us Alone”. They are rebelling in order to regain their freedom to think and reason individually freely and publicly and not be told or forced into thinking and acting a certain way. 

Tyranny from their “educators” is causing this backlash and turning the freest of those thinkers into conservatives. Freedom of Speech is at the core of this conversion - Their Freedom of Speech. 

In the article which is linked below, I came across the term “regressive left” which is perfect for the chaos coming from the left these days.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2017/02/17/student-lefts-culture-intolereance-creating-new-generation-ofconservatives/

I set about to find out if this Gen-Z backlash against the left is actually happening. Heck I didn’t even know what Gen-Z was or who the guy with the crazy name Yiannopoulos was.

I do now, that's him in the picture below.

The obvious place was to start with him, Milo Yiannopoulos who is actually promoting that backlash in America and in England. He is doing it on college campuses. That is really going into the belly of the beast. This guy is a piece of work.  

Ironically if you remember from the past and the article above college campuses were the birthplace of the “Free Speech” movement. 

Not no more.  Milo's getting death threats along with all the other hate for speaking his mind.

At an August 16th speech at a Young British Heritage Society in Central London Yiannopoulos said this. “The facts are no longer on the Left’s side – nor is the fun. So have fun, tell the truth – never stop laughing at these people (Leftists). These people deserve to be laughed at, they deserve to be ridiculed off their pedestals because they are preposterous.” Here is a picture of the crowd waiting to get in to hear him.

Kind of reminds me of a younger version of a crowd waiting to get into a Trump rally.

This new young group above are the ones being crowded, pushed, cajoled and beaten into being a liberal and while most are too afraid to speak up to the 83% of the liberal professors who grade them; they are more willing to show up at events like the Milo rallies. http://lidblog.com/conservative-students-college/

If you think differently check out this googling of about college kids turning into Conservatives https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=college+kids+turning+conservative&start=0

Page after page of articles about the abuse Conservatives receive on Campus across the fruited plain of Freedom. This thuggery of the Left extends beyond the Ivy walls. 

Transition this to the real world, the Press outlets are the ones trying to crowd, push, cajole and thug everyday citizens into certain liberal ways of thinking and acting and even talking.

This last election it was those everyday citizens pushing back. They were the ones doing the pushing, crowding and cajoling.  Notice I didn't say thugging.  The thuggery was way, very far -Yugely on the side of the Leftists. 

The Backlash is happening on all fronts.

When I first started this blog years back I knew that the conservative cause was the one that took guts to be in. I lived in "the hood" of downtown Muskegon. It took guts to admit and talk like a conservative. My first blog was titled “Live Dangerously Be a Conservative”. Try knocking on doors for a Conservative Candidate in a 10-1 Democrat precinct like mine was. That is where the action was and according to Milo still is and then some. Imagine being a Gay Conservative and young on a College Campus. 

Courage wise I rank him up there with Ann Coulter.

I’ve always repeated the old saw about how conservatives win the arguments but lose the election. Well I knew “Fun” was the grease that would make us win again. My hero Andrew Breitbart tried to his dying day to do just that. He tried getting Conservatism into the mass media and social media, he tried making it cool again to be Conservative. He died trying. Milo is taking it a step further. Is it any coincidence that Milo Yiannapoulos works at Breitbart News?

You can then understand my joy when I heard the quote above from Milo about facts and fun. It is worth repeating. “The facts are no longer on the Left’s side – nor is the fun. So have fun, tell the truth – never stop laughing at these people. These people deserve to be laughed at, they deserve to be ridiculed off their pedestals because they are preposterous.”

The Backlash against the left is of their own making. People of all ages or generations of freedom loving people will fight when told what to do and how to do it – just as the left did when they were younger. It’s instinctual. Our Constitution enshrines it, calling our rights inalienable.

That was the driving force behind our nation’s great experiment in “self-governance”. 

Freedom is worth fighting for.

That and a lot of Courage. Together through the rise of civilization it has been one constant battle to keep our Individual Freedom.

 Or as Mel Gibson might say.

 FREEEEEEEEEEEDOMMMMMM!!!

From One Fight to the Next

Through the Years

To The ELECTTION

and Locally

October "2016"

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2016/08/donald_trump_supporters_with_d.html#incart_river_home 

And NOW

This Sat. Feb. "2017" in Florida

Back to the People.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4238426/President-Trump-Lady-step-Air-Force-One.html 

Regards, Bob Carr
Live Dangerously, Tell the Truth
glhotdogs513@gmail.com
231-728-3455

“Death by China”

How to talk to liberals.

“Death by China”

Just watched the documentary “Death by China”. It was produced in 2011.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMlmjXtnIXI This one is streaming or if you want it is on Netflix.

Obama was President then. It was narrated by Martin Sheen a liberal actor activist. By all methods of pre-judging this should have been a Liberal blitz against free enterprise and Republicans in general.

It was and it wasn’t. The main reason for this Chinese “trade war” was placed at the feet of the huge International Corporations and the very rich. There you go, that was the liberal mantra then as it is now. It is as hypocritical then as now. But in retrospect after 5 more years of President Obama since it was released this movie can serve as a pretty resounding pat on the back of our current President Donald Trump. Whom the narrator Martin Sheen called an “Empty Headed Moron” just 3 months before the Nov. 2016 election. Guess Martin was narrating by the word and not from the heart. But of all the candidates it was Trump who incessantly campaigned about the horrible really horrible trade deals we have with China and how we need to even up the trade balance between our two countries and he promised to do just that.

In the past, my blogs have mentioned how the Dems and elites in general have ignored what they claim was their base. This documentary shows through interviews with liberal stalwarts of the Democrat base how the trade deficit with China is killing America and stealing our money ideas and above all jobs. They are stealing those jobs from that base that won the election for Trump. From people on the street interviews up to Richard Trumpka President of the AFL-CIO and all sorts of liberals in-between, we find out that Middle America - working class America even in 2011 was being used as cannon fodder in the fake trade war with China. I call it fake because one side – our side – wasn’t fighting back and for a fight as I see it two sides have to be engaged. Otherwise one side is just considered an accomplice of the aggressor.

“Death by China” was an expose showing how China has through currency manipulation and illegal subsidies of exports and trade barriers to imports ruined the balance of trade with America. How have through these practices enticed American companies into moving our manufacturing and jobs into China. The movie explains pretty graphically how through this China is able to re-engineer our technologies and in effect steal our best and brightest ideas.

I remember liberals telling me that it was ok to lose the “dirty” factories and how we in the US would supply the brain power and ideas and somehow survive and even flourish without manufacturing. I guess they thought we would supply all the services to the up and coming Chinese. You know the beauty salons, work out gyms, nail places, and hamburger places. Huh?

This documentary was excellent as compared to most conservative documentary works in explaining what happens when you lose manufacturing - when you make less than you consume. Richard Trumpka President of the AFL-CIO was quoted as saying America – “Can’t be a world power if you don’t make anything but Hot Air.”

Though written in the age of Obama, it explains how it was the entry into the World Trade Organization under President Clinton that China is breaking the back of America’s might. Part of the program showed how then Governor Clinton picked up support by blaming top Corporations for shipping our jobs to China – for not caring about the working man. People believed him and he became President. As President he quickly threw his weight behind China becoming a member of the World Trade Organization. In his speech he talked about how through free trade we would be hiring thousands more to supply the demand of a growing China. He promised jobs, jobs, and more jobs. People believed him and he won a second Term.

The Democrats ever since my youth called themselves the Party of the People. Well with the China deal the people were finally and for good sold out by the Democrats to the International Corporations which they so love to tell you they hate. I guess they love their money more. Republican Administrations while talking a good game of free trade made the same sell offs. They too did little to hinder China and put “America First”.

Well reality settled in and the jobs left the steel belt and it turned into the rust belt. Because of a lack of strong Presidential leadership China has continued its winning trade war with America and Middle America was hurting. Then along came Donald Trump promising to make America Great again. He said outright that he would bring China to heal, along with renegotiating other bad “global” orientated deals back into the favor of the US. Along with seemingly an anti-business streak, an anti-coal perversion and a record of deceiving and ignoring their so-called base the Democrat Party has suffered massive losses in that base. The American people needed an alternative to that and voted Trump in because they believed in him.

For those of you interested, this movie is a perfect example or primer on how to talk to all different kinds of liberals. There are sections of why China is bad for the environment, bad for the working man, bad for rural America, even why their products are bad for your health. You name a liberal cause and this documentary is telling Democrats to believe that China’s intrusion into the American economy is bad for it. In other words they are reiterating what Donald Trump has repeatedly said.

In Trump’s inimitable negotiating style before he was elected he told the Wall Street Journal about China "I would talk to them first…..Everything is under negotiation, including One China.” To think that Trump has backtracked on his promises about China is simplistic and not in line with his above quote. Things are changing in China, their “boom” is slowing way down, and they have been forced lately to prop up their dollar “Yuan Renminbi” to the tune of $800 billion. This seems to put the US and Trump in even a better negotiating position in my opinion.

Any action plan will also have to wait on Trump’s pick for Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnunchin to be confirmed by the Senate. As Trump said in his news conference his picks are being unduly held up and stalled for way longer than normal.

Well as you can tell I was impressed with the documentary but more than that I saw unlimited ways to talk to liberals in favor of Trump and his policies. Although I doubt Martin Sheen would admit it, he has made a great case for the policies of President Trump and against the previous Democrat and Republican Presidents waffling when it comes to China.

In general also people are starting to wake up to the realities. A backlash is building against the constant barrage against Trump in the Media. As they proved in the Primaries and Election the ignored and discredited people in Middle America – fly over country - have a voice and can speak up.

The Media portrays President Trump as way down in the polling numbers when he is not.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/political_updates/prez_track_feb16

According to a Presidential Tracking poll for today 2/16/17, 55% of likely voters think Trump is doing a good job.

After listening to the Trump PR in the Green Room, I can see why. Wow did he hand them their heads and did it with a smile to boot. The Media is falling all over themselves trying to find a way to spin it. It is becoming funny to hear it. It’s like laughing after the same people cry wolf or say the sky is falling for the thousandths time. People are just shrugging it off and judging Trump on his actions – the media is losing their credibility. Their proof has left their pudding a long time ago.



Regards, Bob Carr
Live Dangerously, Tell the Truth
231-728-3455
glhotdogs513@gmail.com

Tools of Freedom

The Tools of Freedom are damaged.

Facts are the tools of Freedom. President Truman once said “The only thing new in this world is the history you don’t know.” A study of the past – knowledge of what works and what doesn’t – helps us all understand and deal better with the choices we are confronted with.

The Media and the Education system seem to be conspiring to limit our exposure to the facts of history. I think this is to limit our ability to judge what they tell us as truth.

In the past, we the prime movers of the American Experiment in Self Governance have made our decisions on facts – on historical facts. We could find them in libraries and in schools but mostly we learned from our self-experience in life. Those life lessons learned along the way. When I borrow money I learned early I have to pay it back or bad things happen. If I tell a lie it always comes out and bad things happen. You know - the lessons of life and how we survive it.

So to our government. We learn by the doing, from studying what worked for us in the past we can learn at least what not to do in the future. For example we as citizens need information to rightly judge a Candidate’s policies. We need a knowledge of history to do that.

Below is a great article in the NYT’s Magazine about the decline of the quality of history being taught in schools and why it is important? This is worth taking a few minutes to read through. Remember this was published in 1985 before the Times went off the cliff.

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/17/magazine/decline-and-fall-of-teaching-history.html?pagewanted=all

The Time’s article talks of how our Democratic form of government is dependent on an informed citizenry. It has always been my contention that we learn best by making and correcting our mistakes. History is our tool to learn from the mistakes of others and conversely from the triumphs of others.

This is a great article surprisingly or not, from the New York Times Magazine. The article quotes Naomi Miller a professor at Hunter College as saying: ''My students have no historical knowledge on which to draw when they enter college, they have no point of reference for understanding World War I, the Treaty of Versailles or the Holocaust. They think that everything is subjective. They have plenty of attitudes and opinions, but they lack the knowledge to analyze a problem.''

Sound familiar? Try seriously discussing anything with nearly anybody and what you end up with is an argument not based on facts but attitudes and opinions.

This brings me to the most important tool in our kit that helps keep the individual freedom inherent in “Self-governance” sharp and handy. That tool is simply, how to think. Not learning what we are taught to think but to learn how to think for ourselves. To succeed personally and as a country we must learn how to think through problems using the facts. We do that by learning how to find then weighing all the facts and by knowing which facts are relevant to the situation and which ones aren’t. What helps solve the specific problem and what doesn’t?

Our children need to know how to cut through the clutter which confuses problems and see the relevant facts.

How can they learn this if they are not taught this in school? In fact if they are admonished for doing this by their teachers how will they ever learn? Or even worse by the State/National bureaucratic structure dictating how and what local teachers teach?

What has caused this decline in the teaching of History and how to think?

The article goes on to say the combining of History and Social Sciences was the culprit for the diminished importance placed on history. One telling quote I pulled follows: “Those (History) studies that do not contribute directly to the goal of training students to take their place as members of society ''fail in their most important function,'' said the Committee on Social Studies, formed by the prestigious National Education Association.

Again the Social Sciences are seen as telling students where they fit into society, instead of giving them the tools to make their own decisions.

Further on the article talks about the importance of “Critical Thinking Skills”. “These are important reasoning skills, but it is difficult to understand why they should be learned at the expense of history.” Indeed it is my opinion that History and the facts learned are the very glue – the context that allows “Critical Thinking Skills” to succeed.

Teaching kids anything depends more on the teacher than the subject. A good teacher in the early grades needs to bring history to life and make it exciting. At that age the learning of the facts needs to be taught with a good story to make them stick. Good teachers make that effort. Later after accumulating enough facts the older students can then learn why great leaders did what they did with the facts they had. 

The good teacher at this point will ask their students, what they would do in the same situation. Their following discussion if based on facts is the start of “self-governance”. The students need to learn the good feeling that comes from thinking for themselves.  This feeling is the same as one feels in doing a job well. A contentment of self if you will. The Amish believe that simple “Honest labor, providing for oneself and one's family, is a calling that leads to greater Godliness,” 

Honest thinking through of a problem and coming up with a solution gives that same sense of contentment to a person and collectively to a society. The media and the hub bub and churning of big city life has forgotten the need for that skill. Our sense of contentment individually and as a nation seems to have been slipping away for a while now.

One side note on facts.  They are a convenient face saving excuse for admitting you might be wrong.  "I used the wrong facts and now in seeing your facts I agree with what you say." 
After getting ready to publish this post I received my local Newspaper the weekly Oceana’s Herald-Journal and on the front page was an article titled “Proud to be an American” by Amanda Dodge. 

The article was about Miguel Quinteros a legal immigrant from el-Salvadore. What caught my attention was that Mr. Quinteros was a High School History teacher in Pentwater. While the article was about his life history and his immigration struggles I lifted one quote that seemed appropriate in this blog. It is a quote from Miguel. “I like to show my students how we can connect a historical event to something that is more relevant, and how the foundation of this country have led to what we are as a country.”

That is what I like to do, that is what I think History is for; to show us what worked in the past and how we can make it relevant today.

Or as Harry Truman said, “The only thing new in this world is the history you don’t know.”

I and teacher Mr. Quinteros might add. “Learn from it”.



Regards, Bob Carr
Live Dangerously, Tell the Truth
231-728-3455
glhotdogs513@gmail.com

Who's to Blame for the "Silent Majority"?

Freedom of expression? – For Whom?

This is America. We all have freedom of expression. It says so in the Constitution.
  
Amendment I

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."  Underlining and Italics mine.

Let me ask this to illustrate a point, why is the “Silent Majority” considered silent? Who labels it silent, who is responsible for its silence? I’ve considered myself to be in that “Silent Majority” – I’m not too silent. I bluster in my blogs and at political meetings and have taken it to the streets on occasion. But that isn’t the question.

Why wasn’t my voice and others heard?

Again the “silent majority” by definition is a majority of Americans. Are they really silent? Who determines their level of silence? What noise or commotion is it they make that causes some to feel the need to label them with such a moniker? Why are they thought to have such power?

Simple – They vote. Once every 2 years. The Media has to pay them attention then - and seemingly only then.

More precisely it is when they vote contrary to the way the Media thinks they should that Middle America gets labeled such by the Media. – That labeling somehow seems to justify the Media’s own ineptness. At least in their own mind. (“Look the “Silent Majority” suddenly said something!) That coincidently is the only time that the Media pays them any mind – during an election cycle.

It is not that they were silent but that the Media and decision makers found it easier to ignore what they were saying the rest of the time. The “Never Silent Media” otherwise is too busy to actually listen, they are too busy telling the decision makers what they don’t know (making it up) – about how Middle America really feels, what they really think. Then as with this last election the media and all who believe them are dumb founded when the “Silent Majority” stands up to be counted.

Again – That the “Silent Majority” is only paid attention to during an election – that is a great failing of not only the media but the Parties as well. It is however a great opportunity for anyone who sees that failing.

Barack Obama saw it and as the “Community Organizer” he was, took full advantage of it. While we think he may have had advantages (adoring Press etc.) he had fewer in the beginning. Remember Hillary was the “Anointed One” by the Media before Obama out organized her. He didn’t have all the media etc. on his side in the beginning. He created his own.

The media as with all “big groups” are too top heavy and bogged down with what they want reality to be, instead of what it is. (Read they begin to live in their own virtual reality or bubble).

Just like computers that have too much garbage in, eventually the garbage comes out.  It's not pretty when they step in it.

Then as quick as a politician kisses a baby, the “Silent Majority” after it wasn’t “Silent” in the only venue it has (the election) the Majority again becomes silent at least to the ears of the Media. The power structure goes back to business as usual, the Media back to singing its same old tired tune and the majority is forgotten again for another 2 years.

The point I’m trying to make is that the only time average Americans have a real voice that is counted is during an election. Once the vote is over so is their voice and the media goes back to telling us the news they deem fit for us to see.

Middle America/Rural America/Working America had become upset and angered by this Media ignorance this lack of respect in the past and it has done some good. 

The biggest tool fighting this has been the confluence of the internet all its various forms of news, as a welcome myriad of different sources of news cutting into the media monopoly. That has spawned some alternative news sources to the main stream media. Again Americans are being offered a choice to pick and choose from which news to trust in. 

Americans by nature love that freedom and are using it.
Imagine Americans being trusted to decide something for themselves and not needing to be told what to believe by the Media. Again trusting Americans to be able to “self-govern” and not be dictated to.  (sarcasm intended).

Sure I’m a blogger and have my own prejudices, and what I write isn’t the greatest of journalism. But it is honest and I try to check my sources. The public can feel free to read this or not. Sometimes the lone voice in a free market rises to the top. My picking Trump as winning the election was way ahead of the regular professional media.

Our American experiment in “self-governance” is protected by the Constitution. For it to work we need to adhere to its rules.  There must be freedom speech, religion, and all the other freedoms backed up by a “Rule of Law” in which everyone knows the rules and what their punishment will be if those rules are broken. This country works when free markets are not curtailed by monopolistic stifling government regulations. 

Free enterprise is the surest fastest and most successful engine propelling people out of poverty that the world has come up with yet.

For that however, free enterprise needs to be free for all to attempt if so inclined.

The same is true of the news. The more news sources the better – the more sources to choose from the better chance the honest news brokers rise to the top. It forces people to think.  When people have a choice to see both sides we generally pick the best one. America is based on the idea of the people knowing the truth or at least knowing a lie when they see one. Our Republic is based on our electing representatives that hold these truths self evident.

It is when the will of the people is denied that trouble starts. What kind of guts does it take to start a business? To risk all knowing that you’ll have to live “poor” and work long hours with only a small chance of success? What guts for a “nobody” to run for office? What guts to start an action committee for a cause? Why should you want to do that? Why should America want you to?

The answer is that this constant churning of people failing and succeeding at the small level is what raises that cream to the top. Plus mistakes made at the bottom are a lot easier to correct than when you wait to make them at the Federal level.  

And that cream that 1% if you will are the Microsofts and Googles and Amazons of the new age. Here I must add the Intels who announced with Trump they are finishing a $7billion plant in Arizona hiring 3,000 workers.  Yes these fledgling ideas started as ideas and rose to the top and now employ millions of people. 

They keep our economy ticking. They pay the majority of the taxes. The same churning in local politics is how a myriad of ideas battle it out to see which ones work and which ones don’t.  Which Candidates rise which ones don't. 

Where individual freedom reigns, the cream has the best chance of rising to the top.
But I digress. In our American Experiment the burden of success lies not in the President or the leaders but in the choice the voters make on Election Day. It is the responsibility of the voter to pick and choose wisely. 

But it is more than that it is the responsibility of the voter to make their voices heard all year and not allow themselves to be labeled the “Silent Majority”  As Barack Obama recently said “It is fine for everybody to feel stressed, sad, discouraged, But get over it. move forward to protect what we’ve accomplished.”

I agree with him on that.  As we see the never ending Trump bashing, I'm getting over it real quick and moving forward to protect what we've accomplished.  A Trump President.

Hey You should too.

Regards, Bob Carr
Live Dangerously, Tell the Truth.
glhotdogs513@gmail.com
231-728-3455

For further reading to be up for my next post try these links.

Trump economic progress. http://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2017/02/08/intel-gets-cozy-with-trump-investing-7-billion-into-us-chipmaking-facility/#59bf49ed7874

How to get Trump supporters organized by the king of Community Organizers, Barack Obama. https://www.ofa.us/

He is back in the news with OFA and he’s setting up an Obama Foundation. Yikes did he learn something from the Clinton Foundation.

The Reform Movement of Donald Trump

Donald J. Trump a Reformer.

Peggy Noonan’s article, “In Trump’s Washington, Nothing Feels Stable”.

https://patriotpost.us/opinion/47268

I love this lady’s writing, always have. She is a Reaganite, she was a speech writer for him. Her job was to not only catch his feelings and emotions and put them into speeches but to help guide those emotions, make sense of them and put them into words and phrases that would resonate with Reagan’s voters. That message was a populist one too but with a more light hearted and folksy delivery than President Trump.

Her latest article I first heard about on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show driving to work. He basically lambasted her for it. Rush did admit that he didn’t read the article but the headline was enough for him. My problem is not his. I can’t afford a subscription to the WSJ so I can’t read her posts as they come out. They only give me a teaser to lure me into buying a subscription.

For her posts I have to wait a couple days until the Patriot Post publishes her articles. Then they are free. I was hoping that Peggy Noonan had made her headline as a teaser and then would in effect say that while things didn’t feel stable, anytime you make big changes to the whole bureaucratic culture things indeed don’t feel stable within that culture, and will not until those changes start to become the norm – that takes a while.

After finally getting and reading her article, I see she didn’t say what I had hoped. In fact she seemed pretty derogatory towards President Trump. Rush nailed it again. Why would I think otherwise?

However I do agree with some of her points.

But first let me say that the people voted for Trump because he promised to get things done and to fight the establishment and their way of doing (or not doing) things. He promised to do things which was different to start with. Peggy Noonan needs to come to grips that Donald Trump isn’t Ronald Reagan. Trump is who he is and if he was to change very much he would soon seem fake and false to his voters. Then he would have his base on top of all the other forces against him.

Secondly, Trump is an outsider and has been in office just a couple of weeks. I think I’ll give him a little time to work the kinks out of his new staff et al.

But I do agree that Trump could do 3 things to help himself out, I think he will and is indeed already starting.

1. Trump needs to help his allies help him, with a little warning and better communication of what he is going to do so they can get their own houses in order. How exactly you do that in the “Leak Fest” that is Washington I do not know.

A. Vice President Pence a former Congressman has taken an office in the Capital building. “He’ll have a place on the first floor of the Capitol, one floor down from Ryan’s and down the hall from Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s, an area where lawmakers can easily reach the vice president.” That is a quote from the McClatchy news link below.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article130609524.html

It seems Trump is still setting things up. Remember he still doesn’t have his full cabinet through the stubborn Senate.

2. Another quote from Noonan. “But this should be said: The president and his advisers are confusing boldness with aggression.” But even this while on its face seems correct it is misleading. The forces against him and his staff as she says are extensive. “…the Democrats and the press arrayed against them, half their party’s leaders wishing they’d go away…” Robert E. Lee knew the same feeling of being “up against it” and through audacious small surprise strikes he kept the enemy at bay and nearly won the day. What Peggy Noonan doesn’t seem to understand is that Trump NEEDS to keep his enemies unstable. How many times during the primary and campaign have we seen Trump called out for his Machiavellian tactics? How many times did those tactics work for him? Like they say, “the best defense is a good offense. Should he stop now? I think not.

But I’m not stupid, Lee lost the war. These tactics are best used by a smaller force. Again we need to help President Trump when we can however we can.

3. Don’t let the enemy know their own strength. On this Peggy was right.

I quote Noonan in this pearl of wisdom, the like of which she is so great at creating. I mean this literally, it is not satire. “You should never let your enemy know its own strength. They discovered it in the Women’s March, know it more deeply now, and demonstrated it to Democrats on the Hill. It was after the demonstrations that Democratic senators started boycotting the confirmation hearings. They now have their own tea party to push them around.”

This I totally agree with.

I do find it telling that Peggy Noonan thought of the tea party as pushing the Republicans around. They did of course but she seems to see them as an enemy. But back to topic.

When I first saw the candid shots on TV of the Women’s March I was immediately reminded of my being in the first big Tea Party rallies. Everyone showed up, like they were happy they made it to the party, but no one quite knew the reason for being there - what happens now? Everyone just looked around and you got a sense from their smiles that they knew one thing for sure, they were not alone. They felt community in that and their gathering – a sense of their strength. That was a rare thing to see. I saw that same sense from the regular people in the Women’s March – the same smiles and of doing something important but not quite knowing what. The bussed in agitators not so much.

In the case of the Tea Party that spontaneity lasted quite a long time, a year or more before the different groups on the right got better organized and took it over. With the Women’s March, the leftist groups took it over immediately, all the pop stars etc. telling the Women what to think. Then days after all the radical leftists and then the politicians came out in force trying to fly under that Woman’s March flag. That was so obvious that there is already a backlash from the everyday Americans who were in that march especially when they see the rioting and looting and the non-sense going on across the country.

How that backsplash plays out I don’t know.

What I do know is that when Rural/Mid America sees all the “fake” backlash to Trump that these radicals are spouting being put out by the Media, Dems, and the rest of his enemies; they know it for what it is. Propaganda. Big City, Big Government, and Big Media propaganda. The voters proved they knew BS when they saw it and in the only place they have a voice left they used it – in the election of Donald John Trump as President. Then the Media went back to ignoring them. Below is a link to some of the “fake news” that the media is going back to.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/04/errors-from-the-press-are-piling-up-in-the-opening-weeks-of-the-trump-administration/

President Trump is a Reformer, he didn’t ignore them – he highlighted them. That is the reform Trump is trying to do. That is the social movement he is trying to motivate. That is why he is catching so much hell from so many in power. He is reforming the whole power base of Washington. As another Reformer of the past and guy who started the Democrat party Andrew Jackson said about reforming and the power of the people. “Democracy shows not only its power in reforming governments, but in regenerating a race of men and this is the greatest blessing of free governments.”

The question is are we willing to be regenerated? Do we still have what it takes to follow Jackson’s statement and demand to and fight for becoming self-governing again?

Arthur C. Brooks in his book “The Conservative Heart” in the chapter titled “How to Build a Social Movement” said four things needed to be done.

1. Launch a rebellion.
2. Declare majoritarian values.
3. Claim the moral high ground.
4. Unite the country behind an agenda.

Trump launched his rebellion and he declared majoritarian values hence he won the Primary and Election. He is struggling his hardest at claiming the high ground and uniting the country behind his agenda – he is struggling to get his message out. To do that he needs to follow some of Peggy Noonan’s advice about messaging and better communication – letting people know his agenda and why it is the “higher ground”. I’m willing to give him time to do that yuge task.

The country wants and needs a leader to get us out of this “malaise” of feeling impotent and useless and under the thumb of government. How he does that is what will be the proof in the pudding of the Trump Presidency. Peggy is right people will judge his claim to high ground by how he gets there. Peggy is wrong in that his people are willing to give him plenty of leeway in getting there. They trust him and know him to be honest in his goals. These people still have a voice even when the media drowns it out with their mumbling mania.

Regards, Bob Carr
Live Dangerously, Tell the Truth
glhotdogs513@gmail.com
231-728-3455

PS. I look at Andrew Jackson as the original Reagan Democrat/Blue dog

“The great constitutional corrective in the hands of the people against usurpation of power, or corruption by their agents is the right of suffrage; and this when used with calmness and deliberation will prove strong enough.”

Pastors Preaching Politics?

Free speech in Church?

One sunny morning a few years ago I was working in our newly formed neighborhood garden (Love Community Garden) in downtown Muskegon. As far as Muskegon goes this was the “hood”. 

Forgive my taking the liberty of putting up the following pics as I'm really proud of what we did.

The garden was at the base of a hill upon whose top sat a small clapboard church who’s minister graciously let my friend and I start a community garden in the low area. 

This picture below is not of the church, but is it's "spitting image" other than ours was a lot more run down.  This must be a model the Baptist's used around the country.  Even the sign out front is the same.

We had canvassed our neighbors and found lots of people willing to set up and take care of our 30 some little 4’x8’ raised beds. Each neighbor got one, we didn’t ask what Party they were in. We found suppliers and friends willing to do the work to build the plots and fill them with dirt and the rest was history. It is running to this day.

As I sat there that Sunday in 2008 while tending my own little plot, moving church music wafted down to me. I started listening and as the windows were open this warm summer day I could hear the sermon fairly clear. The minister was extolling the virtues of a Candidate whom could be the first “black President” and how his congregation needed to get out and vote – to do their civic duty and be part of this historic event.

I was reminded that day of the importance sermons from the pulpit had played in helping to form our nation. I had seen old movies of pastors and ministers preaching in favor of freeing ourselves from the yoke of British rule.  Then later about freeing our Society of Slavery.  Years later I took part in a daily re-enactment of the original Boston Tea Party at the Boston the Tea Party Museum. It was in a church and the minister was really a rable-rouser.

Back to the garden in 2008, as I listened to the minister in that little Baptist Church rouse his flock I also remembered that I had little luck in my efforts trying to get local churches of a “Conservative” bent to do anything at all to help with the starting of our Tea Party, and later even with “Right to Life” or anything else related to politics let alone give a sermon in direct support of a candidate.

They told me they were afraid of losing their tax exempt status. The Pastor above Love Community Garden didn’t feel so constrained.

As things turned full circle I read on 2/3/2017 that President Trump went to his first “Prayer Breakfast” in Washington – an annual “must do” for Presidents. While most of the news was all about the President saying he was going to pray for Arnold Schwarzenegger the new host for “the Apprentice” who’s rating have fallen: I could not help jumping on the following quote of Trump. “I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution,”.

I see now others have noticed and talk of it is picking up steam. Here is an article from the federalist.

http://thefederalist.com/2017/02/03/trump-is-right-churches-should-be-free-to-express-themselves-politically/

Again to remind myself of the historical importance of the freedom of speech by our religious leaders I did some more digging and came up with somethings I had over looked.

I know of “Patriots Day” I had forgot it was named after the events which happened April 9th, 1775 in Lexington. I had also heard of the “Minutemen” and their “shots fired heard around the world” and through history. What I didn’t know was the specifics I found in the following article.

http://www.westernjournalism.com/has-america-forgotten-about-the-pastors-who-helped-win-our-independence/

One pastor Jonas Clark, was hiding two patriots in his home, Samuel Adams and John Hancock under guard of 12 of Clark’s men. During the confrontation on Lexington Green from which came the “shots heard around the world” another 65 or so of the Pastors congregation formed the Minutemen who stood up to 800 heavily armed British soldiers. Well the rest is history. Though the role religion played in it may have been downplayed.  The importance of Pastors never can.

Here is a quote from the following link.  " One of Clark’s house guests asked him on that night if the Lexington people would fight if necessary. Clark, who had laid a solid foundation concerning the duty of self-defense of inalienable rights for years through his sermons, responded confidently: “I have trained them for this very hour!”

http://providencefoundation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Battle-of-Lexington.pdf 

So the shot I heard at Wednesday Prayer Breakfast when President Trump said the following was no surprise.  {…allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution,”} By getting rid of the Johnson Amendment which threatens any 501C-3 tax exempt organization with the pulling of their exemption if endorsing a political Party or Candidate.

One thing to note all 501C-3s are affected by this Johnson Amendment of the tax code. That would include Universities, Tea Parties and all sorts of enterprises which are titled non-profit. We will have to wait and see if the secret executive order pertains to all 501C-3s or just the religious ones. The article bellows talks of the “executive order” on religious freedom.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-pledges-destroy-johnson-amendment-blocking-political/story?id=45221858

It seems from my experience in 2008 and later in life seeing the political left centered teachings in most universities, who they let come and speak etc. at their University, and the labor unions; the law does what the Framers knew laws did, especially lots of laws.

Selective enforcement of those laws soon becomes the norm and the government bodies trying to enforce those laws soon became politicized. Picking and choosing what laws to enforce and upon which groups.

I am of the general opinion that without the Johnson Amendment religious organizations can talk politics as they see fit. Some will talk one way and others will talk the other, some will be in the middle and some may decide to stick to the Scripture and leave it up the individual their political views. Either way the individual still has the right to go to whatever church they see fit - right left or middle or “no-church”.

We picked freedom back then, we should be able to exercise that freedom again.
Which is as it should be.

Regards, Bob Carr
Live Dangerously, Tell the Truth
glhotdogs513@gmail.com
231-728-3455