Think It Through

In an article on James Scott's new book Two Cheers for Anarchy, Lucy Steigerwald writes:

He points to the 101st Airborne's role in integrating Little Rock schools to refute the notion that a state can never be used to protect individuals.

In most of his discussions of the modern world, though, Scott sounds like an anarchist again. He detests public schooling, for example: not just in this post–No Child Left Behind, standardized test–heavy era (and not just in Jim Crow Little Rock), but in general. Public schools, he writes, were developed to create good, hard-working citizens "whose loyalty to the nation will trump regional and local identities of language, ethnicity, and religion."

That's a sweet, sweet juxtaposition. Why? Because if we could do away with public schools, as the Scott of the second paragraph would like, then the government in the first paragraph would never have had the legitimacy to force integration of the schools.

Understand Our Form of Government

In a recent article, Gene Healy discusses President Obama's use of recess appointments:

Obama isn't the first president to abuse the clause to appoint nominees that the Senate wouldn't confirm. He is, however, the first to invoke the power when the Senate was—according to its own rules—actually in session. The White House called the "pro forma" sessions adopted by then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "a procedural trick" aimed at unjustly stifling his ability to bypass Senate confirmation.

 What President Obama doesn't seem to understand or accept is that our three branches of government are designed to thwart each other at least as much as complement each other. Not only are powers distributed among them, but they are designed so A) each is supreme within its domain, and B) each can thwart the other branches.

If the Senate enacts rules to extend their session to thwart recess appointments, that's part of their balancing power, because they are supposed to confirm appointments and when a mechanism is being used specifically to avoid that, then they have a responsibility to stop it.

Under the Constitution, no branch of government, no official has the power to say when the Senate is in session but the Senate.

By clearly disregarding the Senates own statement of its status, the President was committing an impeachable offense.

Sadly nobody in the legislative branch seems to have the courage to draw up articles of impeachment.

If Obama wanted to approach the problem legitimately, he would have gone to the Supreme Court to see if the Senate's rules regarding their sessions were unconstitutional. Of course, the court would probably have declined to take such a case, as the Senates actions are so clearly constitutional. Obviously, Obama didn't want to hear that.

The only power we, as citizens have, is the ballot box. We've got to start electing Senators and Representatives who aren't afraid of Presidential power and who are willing to impeach when necessary.

Remember, impeachment isn't a finding of guilt, it's just a finding that something needs to be put to trial. It's the only power outside election that can thwart a President who refuses to adhere to the constitutional limits of his office.

Of course, Congress itself is no big fan of constitutional limits. Witness its egregious abuse of the commerce and general welfare clauses (abetted by the Supreme Court, who has made violating the constitution with the "presumption of constitutionality" precedent the standard way of doing business). That's why they won't act, they are afraid that if they start invoking constitutional limits on the President, someone might think of applying them to Congress.

Again, our only direct power (short of the ammo box) is the ballot box. We need to elect Representatives who understand the limitations of their branch, and adhere to it, and we need to vote out those that don't, even when their violations are favorable to us individually.

We need to elect Presidents who know their place, and who appoint judges that aren't slaves to unconstitutional precedents -- the idea that "we've been doing it wrong so long we're bound to keep doing it wrong because it's a precedent").

We need to return appointment of Senators to the state legislatures to keep the federal government from running roughshod over the states.

And, ideally, there'd be more requirements to vote than merely being a citizen over 18 and having a pulse.

Definitions

Greedy Capitalists: Want to keep what they've earned.

Selfless Socialists: Want to take what other people have earned.

The Military Genius Speaks

Obama warns the Israelis about the risks of a ground war in Gaza:

"If that can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that's preferable," Obama said. "It's not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It's also preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded."

I think we can file that under "No shit, Sherlock." Troops are in danger in a war zone. Who woulda thought? Did he have to read Patton's book to figure that out? I'm sure the Israelis had no idea that troops are in more danger in a war zone than they are sitting at home.

Now that you've had this tremendous revelation, President Obama, maybe you could apply it to my son who was almost blown up last week.

At least there's a damn fine, simple reason the Israelis are fighting. They're being actively attacked by people that hate them and want to wipe them off the face of the earth. Can we say the same in Afghanistan? I don't think so.

Way too close for comfort

My son emailed me a few hours ago:

i got blown up yesterday.... we got lucky though, they missed the truck by foot, just peppered the truck with shrapnel, blew off some mirrors and some headlights. no injuries, no concusssions or nothin. little bit harder of hearing now, but me and my whole crew are fine.

Can someone please explain to me again why he's there?

I don't mind at all that he has an incredibly risky life. He's a career soldier and loves it. But I haven't heard anyone, in ages, explain exactly just what the hell he's risking his life for in this particular deployment. We're not making America any safer or Afghanistan any better. They're just letting my son and men like him drive around offering themselves up as targets for a bunch of ignorant savages who don't want us there anyway.

Also Classy, Michelle: The Knucklehead Vote

Just the other day, Obama was campaigning for the crazy vote, and today Michelle is out there urging people to get the "knuckleheads" to the polls.

“Talk to everyone you know — your friends, your neighbors, that cousin you haven’t seen in a while, that student sitting in your next class,” she told her husband’s supporters.

“You know he’s kind of a knucklehead — and may not be — you know the one.”

As the audience laughed, she told students to be nice to the knuckleheads.
“Don’t call him a knucklehead — not to his face,” she said. “You just want to encourage him to get to the polls.”

"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance. And a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives." -- James Madison

Or, you know, never mind "knowledge" or "mental competence" and stuff that's, you know, like, hard to think about. Just go vote for the guy who promises the most free stuff.

Obama Stays Classy, Campaigns For The Crazy Aunt Vote

This morning in my in box from Obama for America:

Good news: The Buckeye State has extended early vote hours this weekend.

Do your friends and family know? Grandma and grandpa, friends from high school, coworkers, neighbors, and crazy Aunt Mildred -- make sure they know they can vote this weekend.

Crazy Aunt Mildred, huh? We don't care if she's incapable of making rational choices! Just drag her in there and make sure she votes for Obama!

Obama is fairly sure that he's got the crazy vote in the bag, if he can just get them to find the polling place and stop ranting long enough to mark a ballot.