Tag Archive: Heritage Foundation


Dictatorial Powers?

In those days Israel didn’t have a king. Everyone did whatever he considered right. Judges 21:25 (GW)

Two days after defying Republicans and the Constitution by appointing Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, President Obama visited the new agency to take a little time to gloat.

Making a victory lap of sorts at the independent agency, Obama cracked a joke, telling employees that he came by to help their new director move in.

When he announced Cordray’s appointment in Ohio on Wednesday, Obama made it clear that he would not wait for Congress to act on issues he deems pressing.

“When Congress refuses to act, and as a result hurts our economy and puts our people at risk, then I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them,” he said.

“I’ve got an obligation to act on behalf of the American people. And I’m not going to stand by while a minority in the Senate puts party ideology ahead of the people we were elected to serve. Not with so much at stake, not at this make-or-break moment for the middle class.” Source The Hill

And our elected leaders said nary a peep about it. Where is the outrage? Where is the uproar? Where are those who swore on oath to uphold our Constitution?

Constitution of the United States of America

Image by The U.S. National Archives via Flickr

Ours is not a nation of men but of laws so eloquently spoken by John Adams. By taking an end run around congress Obama has set himself up as the dictator in chief. Congress is elected by the people to represent their interests and to act on their behalf. This action by Obama, like other actions rammed down the American people’s collective throats, shows exactly how little respect Obama has for the American people. Wednesday Obama gave the American people the proverbial finger. It is time we give him the proverbial kick in the butt right out the door.

In spite of the many valid criticisms leveled against John Adams, it is fair to argue that his ideal, that America was a “nation of laws, not of men,” has been the bed rock of our Nation’s longevity.  At every crisis faced by our nation, the Constitution has always been there to temper the heated passions and calm the political tempests.  The genius of the Constitution’s simplicity and brevity has been one of the keys to its permanence.  However, it is only a piece of paper.  It takes citizens to create a civil, law-abiding nation. 

Amoral relativism has reduced questions of right and wrong to simple expediency. Everyone doing what they think is right regardless of established law is a canker that becomes the death knell of free societies.

The American ideal is that we are “a nation of laws, not of men,”  but the unpleasant reality is that the ruling class obeys only the laws it chooses to obey.

“We the people”can persuade its ruling class to “choose to obey” its laws through various means, and not even the absolute monarchs of ancient times could casually disregard all of them.We need to challenge our representatives to take a stand against unconstitutional government and voice our positions firmly but politely, reminding them that they work on our behalf and were chosen to represent our interests not their own. Groups like the Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, the TEA Party movement and other grass-roots activists groups have been successful in stemming the tide of tyranny rapidly overtaking our society.

Of course, there is always the punishment we can administer at the ballot box, but this is a “limited.” The rate of re-election for the House of Representatives hovers around 95%, and rarely drops below 90% . Senators enjoy high re-election rates as well, with the worst years of the modern era barely dipping below 80%. The most fabulously corrupt members of Congress have been there for decades.I guess we are gluttons for punishment. It is time we enforce our own term limits upon these ‘career politicians’. We must insist that they represent our interests or they will be replaced at the next election. One term until they learn that our government is of the people, by the people, and for the people.

The growth of the modern super-state will continue to grow and become more unruly as it continues to circumvent or disregard legal restrictions on its power enumerated in the Constitution.We the people must hold our elected officials accountable to us and urge them to uphold and defend the Constitution as ‘rule of law.’ Things have degenerated to the point where no one even bothers asking if the actions taken by congress, the President, or the courts is constitutional. The government has become unhooked from the restraints of the constitution and it is now operating lawlessly.

A government that is not restrained by the ‘rule of law’ is both immoral and inefficient. It’s interesting to note that almost the only restraint on government power to survive the last few decades intact is the two-term limit on the presidency, imposed through the 22nd Amendment in 1951.  Of course, like any law, it could be changed – and there are people who wish to repeal the 22nd Amendment – but changing a law is vastly more difficult than ignoring it, particularly when dealing with amendments to the Constitution.

Equally strong term limits for Congress would go a long way toward draining the Washington cesspool, making each politician less attractive targets for graft, and preventing them from accumulating decades of power to insulate themselves from the consequences of their actions. In a similar vein, dramatic tax reform is the only reliable means of preventing Washington from believing it can appropriate unlimited funds to indulge its grand designs. I am a strong advocate for abolishing the IRS and instituting a flat tax or fair tax. Eliminate all tax loopholes and apply the tax to everyone. None is exempt thereby making everyone invested in how their tax money is being spent. With almost 50% of the population not paying any taxes is it any wonder there is a large percentage of the population in favor or raising taxes? Since they do not contribute they are not concerned about those who must pay the bill.

We need to take our country back but that requires effort on our part and the willingness to actually take part in our own leadership. We need to embrace the IDEAL that we are a self-governing people and not looking to be ruled by a ‘elite ruling class’. By our silence and inaction, we have allowed our current state of affairs. We have not sought to maintain our autonomy but rather went looking for a king. Well my friends a king is what we have crowned. Giving all authority and power to an individual or a ruling class delimits our own liberty and makes us slaves of the masters.

I do not know about you and your house but this current administration does not speak for me on nearly all matters pertaining to my life and liberty and pursuit of happiness, therefore the ruling class is not seeking to defend my liberties but is only interested in advancing their own agendas and gaining power and control over my freedoms.

And this is another view from the nest. What say you?

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)

Along for the journey

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Thank you Heritage Foundation for this simply to understand video of Government regulated education’s failures. We need to return local education to the control of local jurisdictions and the families whose children are affected by the education being offered in their communities. Like they say the customer is always right. Except when it comes to Federal bureaucracies.

Obama made a proclamation that he was going to review federal regulations and cut any that were ineffecient and eliminate those that were inhibiting business growth. The Heritage Foundation offers 20 regulations that can be cut tomorrow which will have a positive effect on our economy immediately. Since mostly all Obama does is talk about doing something here are 20 concrete regulatory items that can be cut now.

What say you Mr. President?

Amplify’d from www.heritage.org

In total, regulations now extract some $1.75 tril­lion a year from the economy, according to a recent report from the federal government’s own Small Business Administration.[2] Little different from taxes, regulations raise the price of almost every product and service, while also inhibiting the capi­tal investment and job creation needed to keep the nation’s economy strong.

This regulatory tide must be reversed. Policy­makers should not just prevent harmful new regu­lations, but must repeal costly and unnecessary rules already on the books. Such action can be undertaken by the new Congress, or by regulators themselves. In fact, President Obama recently pledged a government-wide review of rules to determine which should be “modified, streamlined, expanded, or repealed.” Below are 20 such rules that should be eliminated:

1. The Individual Health Insurance Mandate
2. The Employer Health Insurance Mandate
3. Insurer Coverage Mandates
4. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Regulations
5. Debit Card Interchange Fees (“Durbin Amendment”)
6. Proxy Access Rules
7. Credit Card Regulation
8. Phase-Out of Incandescent Light Bulbs
9. Appliance Energy Standards
10. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards
11. The EPA Endangerment Finding
12. The “Tailpipe Rule”
13. The Renewable Fuel Standard
14. The Community Reinvestment Mandates
15. Section 404 Financial Reporting Requirements (Sarbanes–Oxley)
16. Network Neutrality
17. FCC Media Ownership Rules

18. FCC Merger Review Authority

19. Dairy Price Controls
20. Sugar Protectionism

Read more at www.heritage.org

 

Obama Shows Inexperience in Foreign Policy Matters

Sooner or later even the most die-hard Obamaniacs will have to admit that this guy really does not have a clue. Although noble sounding, Obama’s attempts to ‘play nice’ with the world’s worst playmates is only going to end up a foreign policy fiasco. Of course if the left side of the aisle was not so intoxicated on their own self-importance, they might actually learn something from their predecessors who held office before their arrival. Of course this bunch of leaders are so drunk on their own importance I am afraid they are taking the country on a drunken joy ride.

The Obama Administration’s U.N. Human-Rights Fiasco – Nile Gardiner – The Corner on National Review Online

United Nations Human Rights Council logo.
Image via Wikipedia

In what has to be one of the most weak-kneed foreign-policy decisions by the new administration (and the competition is pretty intense), the Obama administration has just announced that it will seek a seat on the widely discredited U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC), which was rightly boycotted by President Bush as an anti-American circus. The Council, which devotes much of its time to persecuting Israel, is the successor to the disastrous Commission on Human Rights, so awful that even Kofi Annan disowned it.

The HRC is frankly a basket case, even by the staggeringly low bar set by the U.N. It’s current membership includes some of the world’s most authoritarian regimes such as China, Cuba, Egypt, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. The current president is from Nigeria and the vice president from Azerbaijan, both countries with poor human-rights records.

Frankly it’s only a matter of time before the likes of Iran, Burma, and Zimbabwe work their way back into the U.N.’s human rights apparatus. No doubt tyrants across the world are salivating at the prospect of having the United States raked over the coals in Geneva.

It is hard to fathom the reasoning behind the Obama administration’s decision to join the Council and have the United States humiliated on the world stage. According to a clearly embarrassed State Department in a press release nowhere near the front page of their website: “The decision is in keeping with the Obama Administration’s ‘new era of engagement’ with other nations to advance American security interests and meet the global challenges of the 21st century.”

This new approach apparently includes reaching out to the mullahs of Tehran who have actively backed the killing of American and British forces in Iraq, as well as imaginary “moderate” elements of the Taliban.

Personally, I prefer former U.N. ambassador John Bolton’s take on it all: “This is like getting on board the Titanic after its hit the iceberg. This is the theology of engagement at work. There is no concrete American interest served by this, and it legitimizes something that doesn’t deserve legitimacy.”

— Nile Gardiner is the director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation.

clipped from www.onenewsnow.com

vote boothA new study warns that fraudulent votes by non-citizens, including illegal aliens, could swing this year’s local and national elections.

“When you learn that half of the 9/11 hijackers were registered to vote, that’s when you realize that the honor system the country has for its voter registration system is broken,” explains Hans von Spakovsky, a visiting scholar at the�Heritage Foundation�and author of a new report titled “The Threat of Non-Citizen Voting.”�

The study says tens if not hundreds of thousands of non-citizens, including illegal immigrants, are registered to vote nationwide. Former Federal Election Commission member von Spakovsky points out the U.S. expects individuals, when they register to vote, to comply with the law and not register if they are not American citizens –�but people are clearly breaking that law and there is no way for the government to detect it, he states.
non-citizen voting is likely growing at the same rate as the alien population in the U.S.

This qualifies as a DUH report. I mean did anyone actually believe that people who bust across our borders and sponge off our government social services would actually bother to follow the rules when it comes time to register to vote?

I wonder if Nancy Pelosi along with Obama’s ACORN organization are signing these illegals up to vote for Obama? And we thought the Republicans where the only ones who stole elections! Do I hear a collective DUH?

This surely explains how we ended up with a candidate like Obama for Pres.

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