Category: Politics

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Imperfect US Constitution

Revised 1/16/2024

The original Constitution even in its beginning was recognized as having problems. Representatives, in order to get it accepted using the mechanism to allow changes (Amendments), quickly added the first 10 Amendments to make it acceptable. This article seeks to point out other shortcomings and corrections that should be made.

A solution may be on the horizon. If you don't read any more of this article, check out Convention of States website

Major

Commerce Clause

Rational

This clause has been liberalized to include any law that Congress wants to pass. History is littered with cases from the 1880s that used this clause for purposes beyond what was intended. (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerce_Clause). Further, a study conducted by Randy E. Barnet concludes that “Having examined every appearance of the word "commerce"in the records of the Constitutional Convention, the ratification debates and the Federalist Papers, Professor Barnett finds no surviving example of this term being used in this broader sense. In every appearance where the context suggests a specific usage, the narrow meaning is always employed.”

Original Text

"[The Congress shall have Power] To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;"

Revised Text

"[The Congress shall have Power] To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes; but neither this, nor any other clause contained in the Constitution, shall ever be construed to delegate the power to Congress to appropriate money for any internal improvement intended to facilitate commerce; except for the purpose of furnishing lights, beacons, and buoys, and other aids to navigation upon the coasts, and the improvement of harbors and the removing of obstructions in river navigation; in all which cases such duties shall be laid on the navigation facilitated thereby as may be necessary to pay the costs and expenses thereof."

16th Amendment

Action

Amendment 16 should be repealed.

Text of Amendment

"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."

Original Text Covering Taxation

"Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons."

Rational

Amendment 16 enables the Federal Government to take from its citizens any and all property. Note that it allows the government to tax different states citizens at different rates. Even now, not recognized by most, citizens from some states may pay a lower federal income tax because of the allowed deduction of state taxes.

Selection of Senators

Action

Amendment 17 should be repealed!

Rational

If power belongs to the people, why not have them select Senators, instead of having the state legislatures do it? Italics added by author of this article.

Comments of Alexander Hamilton regarding selection of Senators: “If power belongs to the people, why not have them select Senators, instead of having the state legislatures do it?
 The next relation is to the sources from which the ordinary powers of government are to be derived. The House of Representatives will derive its powers from the people of America; and the people will be represented in the same proportion and on the same principle as they are in the legislature of a particular State. The Senate, on the other hand, will derive its powers from the States as political and coequal societies; and these will be represented on the principle of equality in the Senate, as they are now in the existing Congress. So far the government is federal, not national…. The proposed Constitution, therefore … is, in strictness neither a national or a federal Constitution, but a composition of both. […] Among the various modes which might have been devised for constituting this branch [Senate] of the government, that which has been proposed by the convention is probably the most congenial with the public opinion. It is recommended by the double advantage of favoring a select appointment [a candidate of high caliber], and of giving to the State governments such an agency in the formation [or an influence in the operation] of the federal government as must secure the authority of the [States], and may form a convenient link between the two systems.”

As Amended by Amendment 17

"The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

"When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

"This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution."

Original Text

"The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

"Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.

"No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen."

Term Limits

An amendment is needed to limit the total time and individual may serve in a government position. In a document in the Convention of States website the following amendment has been suggested.

"Section 1. No person shall be elected to serve in the House of Representatives more than nine full terms, nor elected or appointed to serve in the Senate more than three full terms. This article shall not disqualify any person from completing a term in the Congress to which that person was elected or appointed prior to ratification of this article.

"Section 2. No person shall serve in Congress for more than twenty-four years in total. "

Remuneration

Remuneration shall not be paid to any member or employee of the government from funds collected by taxes once that person has left the service save retirement programs for the U.S. Military.

What is Convention of States?

It could be beginning of the solution! I encourage you to visit the Convention of States website  to learn about what is going on to correct some of the problems! Even though your state is "in", realize that the convention needs the participation of 34 state registrations to cause action to be taken.

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Review-Rules for Radicals

In 2004, a community organizer was elected to the U.S. Senate. In 2008, he was nominated by the Democratic Party over Hillary Clinton for president. He was elected over John McCain and inaugurated as President of the United States January 20, 2009. According to Sanford Horwitt, his biographer, he was influenced by Saul Alinsky, and followed in his footsteps as a Chicago-based community organizer. In view of these facts, and that Hillary Clinton wrote her senior thesis on Alinsky’s work, I felt I needed to read from the source Saul Alinsky’s book “Rules for Radicals”. I must add that the primary reason I took on this project was that I unintentionally offended an author friend, AJ Scudiere, author of the Nightshade and other great series and books, by suggesting that she might be subjected to some of these techniques. And this was my retribution for this offense. After reading it, I decided to write this review. I will try to highlight many of the points and not to interject my own view until the conclusion of the review. It is interesting reading because Alinsky supports many of his views with history including Lincoln and the Civil War. I found that it helped me with understanding the motivations of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I recommend that all Americans read the book. Further, I have quoted Alinsky often to give the reader of this article a taste of his writing and hopefully encourage the reader to read the book. Quoted from “Rules for Radicals”:

“About the Author

“Saul ALINSKY was born in Chicago in 1909, and educated first in the streets of that city and then in its university. Graduate work at the University of Chicago in criminology introduced him to the Capone gang, and later to Joliet State Prison, where he studied prison life. He founded what is known today as the Alinsky ideology and Alinsky concepts of mass organization for power. His work in organizing the poor to fight for their rights as citizens has been internationally recognized. In the late 1930’ s he organized the Back of the Yards area in Chicago (Upton Sinclair’s Jungle). Subsequently, through the Industrial Areas Foundation which he began in 1940, Mr. Alinsky and his staff have helped to organize communities not only in Chicago but throughout the country from the black ghetto of Rochester, New York, to the Mexican American barrios of California. Today Mr. Alinsky’s organizing attention has turned to the middle class, and he and his associates have a Training Institute for organizers. Mr. Alinsky’s early organizing efforts resulted in his being arrested and jailed from time to time, and it was on such occasions that he wrote most of Reveille for Radicals. He died in 1972.“

The Book

“The Purpose”

“Rules for Radicals is written for Have-Nots on how to take it away.” For the purpose of this book, Alinsky initially classifies people into two groups, the Haves and the Have-Nots. Note that later he modifies these classifications as the Haves, the Have-Nots, and the Have-a-Little-Want-Mores. He claims that this is not an ideological book “except insofar as an argument for change…”. He rejects dogma as “the enemy of freedom”. A surprising comment is “Those who enshrine the poor of Have-Nots are as guilty as other dogmatist and just as dangerous. Supported by the Declaration of Independence, the writing of Thoreau and Lincoln, he believes in the God-given right to revolt. He points out that at the conclusion of a revolution the new Haves, now in charge, declare the dominance of the status quo and resist any change regardless of whether or not the change is is beneficial for the Haves and Have-Nots. He points out that, until the Russian and Chinese revolutions, the status quo has been defended by “meaningless conglomeration of abstractions about freedom, morality, equality, and the danger of intellectual enslavement by communistic ideology.” “Today revolution has become synonymous with communism while capitalism is synonymous with the status quo.”

“Ideology of Change”

He best explains his ideology concerning the organizer in the following: “To begin with, he does not have a fixed truth—truth to him is relative and changing; everything to him is relative and changing.” and He accepts the late Justice Learned Hand’s statement that “the mark of a free man is that ever-gnawing inner uncertainty as to whether or not he is right.” Because EVERYTHING is changing the organizer must recognize the changes and to influence them by working within the perceived changes and providing the power of organizations to achieve reasonable but positive goals. He criticises religious institutions that have “come to support the status quo so that today religion is materially solvent and spiritually bankrupt”. One example of that is the religious institutions accepting tax exemptions in exchange for not speaking out against government corruption and campaigning for someone for public office for which they have more confidence in the rule of law.

“Class Distinctions”

“Mankind has been and is divided into three parts: the Haves, the Have-Nots, and the Have-a-Little-Want-Mores.” The Have-a-Little-Want-Mores class is divided into two parts, the Doers and the Do-Nothings. The Doers according to Alinsky are made up of people like Moses, Paul of Tarsus, Martin Luther, Robespierre, Georges Danton, Samuel Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Nikolaj Lenin, Mahatma Gandhi, Fidel Castro, and Mao Tse-tung. On the other hand are the Do-Nothing's who talk a good game but contribute nothing toward the betterment of man. At the end of the Chapter 1 The Purpose is included: “I believe that man is about to learn that the most practical life is the moral life and that the moral life is the only road to survival. He is beginning to learn that he will either share part of his material wealth or lose all of it; that he will respect and learn to live with other political ideologies if he wants civilization to go on. This is the kind of argument that man’s actual experience equips him to understand and accept. This is the low road to morality. There is no other.” This is probably the most succinct description of his fundamental beliefs and the foundation of his work.

“Of Means and Ends”

Alinsky restates the question “Does the end justify the means?” as “Does this particular end justify this particular means?” This chapter gives 11 rules of the ethics of means and ends. With each rule he gives a lengthy explanation of how the rule applies and how to apply the rule. The following list includes the list but his accompanying text is very instructive.
  1. one’s concern with the ethics of means and ends varies inversely with one’s personal interest in the issue.
  2. The second rule of the ethics of means and ends is that the judgment of the ethics of means is dependent upon the political position of those sitting in judgment.
  3. The third rule of the ethics of means and ends is that in war the end justifies almost any means.
  4. The fourth rule of the ethics of means and ends is that judgment must be made in the context of the times in which the action occurred and not from any other chronological vantage point.
  5. The fifth rule of the ethics of means and ends is that concern with ethics increases with the number of means available and vice versa.
  6. The sixth rule of the ethics of means and ends is that the less important the end to be desired, the more one can afford to engage in ethical evaluations of means.
  7. The seventh rule of the ethics of means and ends is that generally success or failure is a mighty determinant of ethics.
  8. The eighth rule of the ethics of means and ends is that the morality of a means depends upon whether the means is being employed at a time of imminent defeat or imminent victory.
  9. The ninth rule of the ethics of means and ends is that any effective means is automatically judged by the opposition as being unethical.
  10. The tenth rule of the ethics of means and ends is that you do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral garments.
  11. The eleventh rule of the ethics of means and ends is that goals must be phrased in general terms like “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,” “Of the Common Welfare,” “Pursuit of Happiness,” or “Bread and Peace.”
I have restated the rules with the hope the reader will go to the source to enjoy Alinsky’s discussion directly. Of particular interest was his pointing out that, even our Declaration of Independence employed ends justifying the means by only stating the complaints against the King of England. Any statement of the advantages of remaining a colony would have discouraged some members of the colonial army to participate. Then there is a discussion about Lincoln and what some call the “War of Northern Aggression”. Even though he didn't mention it, he alluded to it in this section. “The winner gets to write the history.” Most histories list slavery as the primary cause of the war. They ignore the fact that Northern States first broke the agreement. The first paragraph of South Carolina’s “Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union” reads: “The people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, on the 26th day of April, A.D., 1852, declared that the frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States, by the Federal Government, and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the States, fully justified this State in then withdrawing from the Federal Union; but in deference to the opinions and wishes of the other slave-holding States, she forbore at that time to exercise this right. Since that time, these encroachments have continued to increase, and further forbearance ceases to be a virtue.” The Constitution of the United States, in its fourth Article, provides as follows: "No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due." The fourth Article was adopted to bring South Carolina and other southern states into the Union. Was the federal union living by the terms of the US Constitution? For those of us who believe slavery is wrong, we cannot deny the fact that the union was breaking an agreement that brought South Carolina into the union in the first place. What Lincoln said at his first inauguration sheds even more light on the issue, “I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declared that “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I made this and many similar declarations and have never recanted them.” Also, “This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.” Aug. 22, 1862: President Lincoln told a New York newspaper that preserving the Union was his main goal of the Civil War — not abolishing slavery. "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all slaves I would do it”. And from the History Channel: “When the American Civil War (1861-65) began, President Abraham Lincoln carefully framed the conflict as concerning the preservation of the Union rather than the abolition of slavery. Although he personally found the practice of slavery abhorrent, he knew that neither Northerners nor the residents of the border slave states would support abolition as a war aim. But by mid-1862, as thousands of slaves fled to join the invading Northern armies, Lincoln was convinced that abolition had become a sound military strategy, as well as the morally correct path. On September 22, soon after the Union victory at Antietam, he issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that as of January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” While the Emancipation Proclamation didn't free a single slave, it was an important turning point in the war, transforming the fight to preserve the nation into a battle for human freedom.” (http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/emancipation-proclamation)

A Word about Words

This chapter is about words their actual meanings and emotions they evoke. The dictionary meaning doesn't necessarily include the connotations generally attached like Political, Power, self-interest, compromise, and conflict. Alinsky argues against avoiding the use of these words or using substitutes but rather to use them as they are to evoke maximum response. A good example is the word ego. “If he or she [the organizer] does not have that complete self-confidence (or call it ego) that he can win, then the battle is lost before it is even begun.”

The Education of an Organizer

At one time Alinsky’s organization had a school for organizers. The course was a full time 15 month course. Beyond that he lists experience as the primary source and that organizers grow from the experiences they have on the job. Later in the chapter he lists the characteristics of organizers and discusses each one.
  1. Curiosity.
  2. Irreverence.
  3. Imagination.
  4. sense of humor.
  5. A bit of a blurred vision of a better world.
  6. An organized personality.
  7. A well-integrated political schizoid.
  8. Ego.
  9. A free and open mind, and political relativity.

Communication

“ONE CAN LACK any of the qualities of an organizer—with one exception—and still be effective and successful. That exception is the art of communication. It does not matter what you know about anything if you cannot communicate to your people. In that event you are not even a failure. You’re just not there.” Concerning subjects of the organization: “They believe that he knows his job, he knows the right tactics, that’s why he is their organizer. The organizer knows that even if they feel that way consciously, if he starts issuing orders and “explaining,” it would begin to build up a subconscious resentment, a feeling that the organizer is putting them down, is not respecting their dignity as individuals.” In my experience, the following is also true. “The organizer knows that it is a human characteristic that someone who asks for help and gets it reacts not only with gratitude but with a subconscious hostility toward the one who helped him.” We belonged to a church that spent enormous personal energy helping people that had drug problems and a variety of personal problems. They were invited to and attended church for a time. However, after they seemed to have recovered or well on their way they stopped coming. It took us a while but finally concluded that this hostility was the reason they stopped coming. A point that should be evident is that communication has to be at a level that both should understand. An organizer that speaks at a level above the object may be impressive but will not recruit the object into the group.

In the Beginning

“IN THE BEGINNING the incoming organizer must establish his identity or, putting it another way, get his license to operate. He must have a reason for being there—a reason acceptable to the people.” In this chapter Alinsky discusses some of the issues an organizer must face when he insinuates himself into the base he intends to organize. He also lays out basic truths to help the organizer better face the situation. “Love and faith are not common companions. More commonly power and fear consort with faith. The Have-Nots have a limited faith in the worth of their own judgments. They still look to the judgments of the Haves.” “Power means strength, whereas love is a human frailty the people mistrust. It is a sad fact of life that power and fear are the fountainheads of faith.”

POLICY AFTER POWER

“One of the great problems in the beginning of an organization is, often, that the people do not know what they want. Discovering this stirs up, in the organizer, that inner doubt shared by so many, whether the masses of people are competent to make decisions for a democratic society. It is the schizophrenia of a free society that we outwardly espouse faith in the people but inwardly have strong doubts whether the people can be trusted.” “It is common for policy to be the product of power. You begin to build power for a particular program—then the program changes when some power has been built.”

RATIONALIZATION

“A large shadow over organizing efforts, in the beginning, is, then, rationalization. Everyone has a reason or rationalization for what he does or does not do. No matter what, every action carries its rationalization.”

THE PROCESS OF POWER

“From the moment the organizer enters a community he lives, dreams, eats, breathes, sleeps only one thing and that is to build the mass power base of what he calls the army. Until he has developed that mass power base, he confronts no major issues. He has nothing with which to confront anything. Until he has those means and power instruments, his “tactics” are very different from power tactics. Therefore, every move revolves around one central point: how many recruits will this bring into the organization, whether by means of local organizations, churches, service groups, labor unions, corner gangs, or as individuals.”

TACTICS

“TACTICS MEANS doing what you can with what you have. Tactics are those consciously deliberate acts by which human beings live with each other and deal with the world around them. In the world of give and take, tactics is the art of how to take and how to give. Here our concern is with the tactic of taking; how the Have-Nots can take power away from the Haves.” Again Alinsky sets out a number of rules which are listed here.
  1. Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.
  2. Never go outside the experience of your people.
  3. Wherever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy.
  4. Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.
  5. Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.
  6. A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.
  7. A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.
  8. Keep the pressure on.
  9. The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
  10. The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.
  11. If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counter-side.
  12. The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.
  13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”
The illustrative anecdotes are good in this section both to illustrate and for history.

COMPETITION

“Once we understand the external reactions of the Haves to the challenges of the Have-Nots, then we go to the next level of examination, the anatomy of power of the Haves among themselves.” “Any attack against the status quo must use the strength of the enemy against itself.”

THEIR OWN PETARD

“The basic tactic in warfare against the Haves is a mass political jujitsu: the Have-Nots do not rigidly oppose the Haves, but yield in such planned and skilled ways that the superior strength of the Haves becomes their own undoing.” Forcing the Haves to live by their own rules often weakens their power to permit changes to the advantage of the Have-Nots. Several examples are given here where organizations failed because they didn't foresee the outcome had they persisted. One example was that of a school boycott in Birmingham.

TIME IN JAIL

“The reaction of the status quo in jailing revolutionary leaders is in itself a tremendous contribution to the development of the Have-Not movement as well as to the personal development of the revolutionary leaders. This point should be carefully remembered as another example of how mass jujitsu tactics can be used to so maneuver the status quo that it turns its power against itself. “Jailing the revolutionary leaders and their followers performs three vital functions for the cause of the Have-Nots: (1) it is an act on the part of the status quo that in itself points up the conflict between the Haves and the Have-Nots; (2) it strengthens immeasurably the position of the revolutionary leaders with their people by surrounding the jailed leadership with an aura of martyrdom; (3) it deepens the identification of the leadership with their people since the prevalent reaction among the Have-Nots is that their leadership cares so much for them, and is so sincerely committed to the issue, that it is willing to suffer imprisonment for the cause.”

NEW TACTICS AND OLD

“Speaking of issues, let’s look at the issue of pollution. Here again, we can use the Haves against the Haves to get what we want. When utilities or heavy industries talk about the “people,” they mean the banks and other power sectors of their own world. If their banks, say, start pressing them, then they listen and hurt. The target, therefore, should be the banks that serve the steel, auto, and other industries, and the goal, significant lessening of pollution.”

The Genesis of Tactic Proxy

“THE GREATEST BARRIER to communication between myself and would-be organizers arises when I try to get across the concept that tactics are not the product of careful cold reason, that they do not follow a table of organization or plan of attack. Accident, unpredictable reactions to your own actions, necessity, and improvisation dictate the direction and nature of tactics.” As Alinsky says below, this is a difficult chapter to be described, and to review. However, the case studies are important examples. “Since the nature of the development of tactics cannot be described as a general proposition, I shall attempt instead to present a case study of the development of the proxy tactic, one that promises to be a major tactic for some years to come. I shall try to take the reader into my experience with the hope that afterward he will reflect candidly upon the hows and whys of his own tactical experience.” The Way Ahead “ORGANIZATION FOR ACTION will now and in the decade ahead center upon America’s white middle class. That is where the power is. When more than three-fourths of our people from both the point of view of economics and of their self-identification are middle class, it is obvious that their action or inaction will determine the direction of change. Large parts of the middle class, the “silent majority,” must be activated; action and articulation are one, as are silence and surrender.” In this chapter Alinsky describes the middle class of the Nixon-Agnew era. According to his definition, I would have been in the lower middle-class but don’t remember ever fitting into his description. For me and the people I knew, it was a time of opportunity. Even though we were among the Have-Some-Want-More class we were aware of the Haves but were not interested in taking from them any more than payment for goods and services. They represented instead goals toward which we worked. Could it be that this resulted from my southern religious training?

In My Humble Opinion

I hope you have read the book. In fact, I would hope for some healthy debate on the subject.

The Purpose

In addition to stating the purpose, Alinsky outlines his view of the existing classes. It may be for his intended audience but is oversimplified. For this discussion I have recast in two dimensions recognizing that there are probably more but are difficult to illustrate on a two dimensional medium.
Attributes Groups
Controlls Progressives Progressives Progressives
Want More, Willing to work Have-Nots Have-a-Littles Haves
Want More, Any Way Have-Nots Have-a-Littles Haves
Do Nothings Have-Nots Have-a-Littles Haves
Even though Alinsky says the purpose is “for the Have-Not on how to take it away”, it appears that the lessons are really for the Progressives, who want control. For example name one Progressive that is not a Have. Alinsky talks about his accomplishments but reveals little about his organization that takes projects that provide it with income. He describes all of the groups mentioned in the chart above including the Progressives, although he called them the Organizers. Once they gain prominence, usually elective office, they identify themselves as Progressives. One point he makes is that organizers should not assume that the Have-Nots are the poor. In fact in the final chapters he points out that by far the greatest power rests in the middle class and, if they can be organized, the good (his definition of good) they can accomplish.

Everything Is Changing

This is the fundamental belief of Alinsky, or at least what he requires of his organizers. He spends some time defending that position. Even though scientist now have a theory that the universe was created by a “big-bang” event and point to data that shows it is expanding, they cannot explain what blew up or what was there before the event occurred. Even more, where the rules came from that govern the results of the explosion. Science is about the discovery of rules that govern the universe, from the organization of the galaxies, to attraction of physical bodies, to the operation of the neutrino in a molecule. By understanding these rules, man has learned to fly, and capture immense amounts of destructive and beneficial energy from the atom. However these rules are inviolate. Where situations appear to be changing, like the average temperature of the earth, the underlying rules remain the same. So it is with personal relationships. Eons of years have gone into the study of rules governing these relationships. Men have always been involved in tribes that required rules to survive. Religions have risen and fallen while trying to find workable rules that governed relations between its members. Today the Jews, Christians, and Muslims dominate the world regarding codifying rules that thus-far been discovered. It has been demonstrated that violating the rules of the personal relations section of the Ten Commandments always result in some undesirable outcome. Islam and the Prophet expand on those and some sects have moved Islam into an ideology that enforces their rules with specific administered punishments. All of this is to say, that, by considering a limited number of observations, one could conclude that “everything is changing”. But, once you drill down, there is one or a combination of unchanging natural laws that result in the observation.

Of Means and Ends

Alinsky’s rules listed in the main section above entitled “Of Means and Ends” depend heavily on his assertion that “everything is changing”. If the reader believes this and rejects the arguments of the previous chapter I suggest he stop reading now. This is not to say I am not willing to debate the issue in my blog but my assertion of the fact that everything is not changing is the basis of my arguments following. Worthy of more discussion is the assertion that Lincoln’s use of the race issue as a means to assure his end “to save the Union”. Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, stated in his book that he foresaw the end of slavery had the South been successful. There are still some who question whether the resulting union justifies the 620,000 deaths (roughly 2% of the population), the disenfranchisement of every southern person involved in the war, the severing of the southern states from the union, and the colonizing of those same states with “carpetbaggers”. Certainly, the elimination of slavery was a good thing but was the war necessary to accomplish something that was already inevitable? The “Union”, now without the threat of secession, with a weakened Constitution, has slowly drifted back to the European style of government and away from what our founders intended. American citizens are born indentured to the union for life to pay a percentage of his or her income often to redistribute to others or pursue activities not consistent with his or her religious beliefs. Because of the 16th Amendment, the union may tax any activity and set the rate of taxation without regard to whether it advances freedom or even benefits its citizens. States, or more precisely state governments, have lost their influence in the union by the passage of the 17th Amendment which changed the method by which Senators are elected. The Congress, enabled by a court decision made by a Franklin D. Roosevelt court and the “Commerce Clause”, now routinely pass laws that violate the word and intent of the 10th Amendment. The most obvious law that has passed recently is what is commonly known as Obama-care. An act that seeks to control one sixth of the union’s economy is certainly outside of the founders intended scope of federal government. Even the plans proposed by Republicans are out of that scope but at least they make choices of both coverage from a market driven system available.

The Education of an Organizer

Except for #2 and #9, these are attributes of any good leader. Those two items testify to Alinsky’s vision of his “Everything’s Changing” morality.

Other Subjects in the Book

With the exception of the chapter listed below, the book deals with details of how to accomplish the organizers’ goals, whether moral or not. At this time this author does not wish to deal with them. Once the reader rejects Alinsky’s vision of morality, the reader needs little explanation of the morality contained in those chapters.

The Way Ahead

Your author does feel this section needs attention.

2016

This year, we saw the rise of Have-Nots that Alinsky referred to in this chapter. That is the middle class. He referred to them as the “Silent Majority”. As he mentioned earlier, organizers should not assume Have-Nots are necessarily the poor. In this case, the Have-Nots are those who feel they have little or no political power. In their world, they see themselves working longer hours for less buying power. They see fewer jobs created to support the normal population growth. They see products traditionally made in the USA sport labels from other countries. They see their insurance premiums increase to pay for benefits that they will never realize. They see deductibles increase to levels that they cannot afford for medical care they previously took for granted. They see the commitment of US tax dollars to foreign governments even though the government is sinking further and further into debt. They see an erosion of their rights as other organizations demonstrate and sometimes riot against speakers with whom they agree. And, they blame the Haves of political power identified as the “Establishment” made up of Republicans and Democrats who appear to be more interested in the next election and filling their own pockets than really taking care of the government’s business, congressmen who are willing to compromise away their promises rather than standing firm on their convictions. And they found their voice. They found someone who was clearly not a member of the establishment, a brusk, undisciplined, real estate mogul, who spoke in their language and was not afraid of saying what he felt. A man willing to defend himself against the establishment even though knowing his defense would cause even more verbal attacks from an obviously biased media. In spite of having a smaller organization, spending no more than a half of what the Democrats spent, and a media almost universally opposed to his candidacy, he garnered enough votes in the right places to win the Presidency. Were any of Alinsky’s rules used, either intentionally or not associated with “Rules for Radicals”?
  1. Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have. No. If anything, the establishment underestimated the power of the “Silent Majority”.
  2. Never go outside the experience of your people. Yes. Donald Trump’s speeches were designed to communicate with the base.
  3. Wherever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy. Yes. The Haves have become so confident of their power, they had lost touch with the voters in the middle class.
  4. Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. No, it is impossible to make someone live up to its rules when they are rules of expediency.
  5. Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. Absolutely! Donald Trump ridiculed Clinton in every speech. “Crooked Hillary” comes to mind.
  6. A good tactic is one that your people enjoy. Yes. Donald Trump's speeches were entertaining. Audience Participation, and the audiences always “HUGE”, was encouraged.
  7. A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Yes, even though Donald Trump’s speeches had the same theme, they were different enough to keep the audiences coming.
  8. Keep the pressure on. Yes. Each appearance by Trump or his surrogates pointed out failure of the previous administration.
  9. The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself. No. again the opposition did not fully appreciate the threat.
  10. The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. Yes. The operations of the campaign continuously kept pressure on the opposition. The promise of jobs, America First, reduced taxes, repeal of Obamacare were continuous theme of the campaign.
  11. If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counter-side. No. In this case the negatives of the establishment were positives for the Donald Trump campaign.
  12. The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Yes. The promise of more jobs, more security, and putting “America First” resonated with the “Silent Majority” and encouraged voters to vote for a real change.
  13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Yes. The target was the previous administration and Hillary Clinton’s association with it. Donald Trump and his surrogates never wavered from those points. The addition of Hillary Clinton’s lack of integrity, and her lack of concern for the security of the secrets of our nation may have been just enough to tip the scales in favor of Donald Trump.
So it would appear that Donald Trump used techniques expounded by Alinsky to win the election. It is unknown whether he intentionally used those techniques or was even aware of them. But the question is, was he elected by a thoughtful electorate, or was he elected by using the techniques of a less than moral writer. It is clear that Hillary Clinton was aware of the Alinsky book and that she and the previous administration used the techniques enclosed throughout her career. Even now she denies that her competency and lack of integrity were not causes of her losing the election, rather blaming James Comey, the Russians, and even the Democratic National Committee. For the purpose of this article, it is not useful to discuss any further the association of Hillary Clinton and Saul Alinsky. One should mention the techniques of the opponents of Donald Trump even after he was elected. They continue the litany of accusations that so many of their followers believe without bothering to verify: That Donald Trump is a misogynist, even though the person who ran his campaign and the first engineering manager to manage the construction of a major hotel were women; he is a racist, even though he sued a town in Florida over a racist law that prevented blacks and Jews from his club; his is an islamophobe, even though the first nation he visited as President was Islamic; Not Christian, even though he attends a Presbyterian Church regularly and participated in the “Laying on of Hands” ceremony in a predominantly black Christian Church in Detroit. And now, his opponents are claiming through unnamed sources that he is being investigated for collusion with the Russians even though there is no evidence, and obstruction of justice, because a self admitted “leaker” has testified that he might have been directing him to stop an investigation.

So How Does One Avoid Being Used in an Organization?

  1. Be suspicious. Be sure you understand the meaning of the words/expressions you hear. Avoid Zohnerisms, like banning dihydrogen monoxide. If you don't know what a zohnerism is, do a search on the web.
  2. Particularly of news that elicits emotional response
  3. Decide what your objectives are for a better future.
  4. Because we essentially have only 4 parties, read the platforms of all. Select the one which best matches your objectives and conforms to your morality.
  5. Listen to the speeches of your candidate, preferably to the complete speech so that you understand the context. If available, read the speeches.
  6. Check the integrity of the candidate. Particularly their past.
  7. DO NOT pay attention to what the talking heads say, even though they broadcast through your favorite news media. The host of Fox News Sunday has been observed playing a segment by a candidate and then posing a question misstating the what the segment just played revealed. Often on this program and others, journalist ask the same question over and over obviously hoping the answer is the one they want.
  8. Once a presentation mentions “source”, “source in the White House”, “source in the Congress”, and “unnamed source”, flag that presentation as highly suspect. Remember, those in the news media also have their agenda.
There are probably other ways but these are certainly useful. Many claim that they don't have time to read the platforms and listen to the speeches. I would suggest that they may be even worse than the Do-Nothings because they could actually be doing damage.
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Truth Matters

I am adding this post for two reasons. 1. I need to explain why I am withdrawing my support for Donald Trump. 2. I need a place to link you to a favorite story of mine.

1. Removing Support for Donald Trump

I am hereby removing my support for Donald Trump for president of the United States President. Where I appreciate the value of negative advertisement and I approve of a candidate pointing out deficiencies of his opponent, I do not approve of ads that are not truthful. I have seen ads by the MAGA organization that portray DeSantis as one who supports increasing the taxes of US citizens. A portion of the ad points out the fact that DeSantis supports/ed a 23% sales tax. Stretching the fact that where DeSantis support a program called the FairTax  without going into positive aspects of the plan removes the ad from "Truth" and move it into the "Lie" category.

2. Story of Truth and Lie

Click http://storytelling.co.za/the-naked-truth-and-the-lie/ to take you to the best retelling of the story.

The Naked Truth and the Lie

The Truth and the Lie meet  on the road one day. The Lie says to the Truth: “It’s a marvelous day today”!
The Truth looks up to the skies and sighs, for the day was truly beautiful. They walk together for a while, until they reach a beautiful well. The Lie tells the Truth: “The water in the well is very nice, let’s take a swim together!” The Truth, once again suspicious, tests the water and discovers that it indeed, is very nice.
They undress and start the bathe. Suddenly, the Lie jumps out of the well, puts on the clothes of the Truth and runs off towards a nearby village. The furious Truth leaps out of the  well and runs to find the Lie and get her clothes back. The Villagers, seeing the Naked Truth, are horrified and look away with contempt and rage.
The poor Truth returned to the well and disappeared, forever hiding her shame.
And since that day, the lie travels the world, clothed as the Truth.

Epilogue : The naked Lie and the Truth. 2019-2021 versions & timelines

The original Naked Truth and Lie story comes from the 19th Century and here we are 200 years later, in a world of multiverses, the possibility that we’re living in a simulation, the concept of multiple timelines, the Mandela Effect and Apotheum. So it makes sense to explore further where the original story might have moved to, as all the characters were set in place at the end. The Truth in the well and the Lie is traveling the world in her garb.

Setup

The naked Truth dwells in the well, ashamed at how she was seen and treated by the villagers. But 200 years is a long time to dwell in a well for anything, especially the truth. Surely the truth has a purpose? Hiding in a well isn’t really meaningful and there’s not much entertainment down here, reflected the truth. Maybe, she thought, an upwelling is necessary. Because the Lie has traveled the world so long in my garments now everyone has come to believe that it is I who am the liar.  And anyway, it’s so rude of the lie as it should know by now that it couldn’t exist without me, thought the truth.

TimeLine 1

Truth realises that the Lie has left it’s garments behind next to the well. The truth knows that in order not to be hated, the only way she can be accepted by the village and the world is to be covered in the garb of the Lie. And to this day, the Truth and the Lie have been indistinguishable to all except those who have seen them unclothed.

Timeline 2

The Truth stays in the well. Sometimes people come to sit by the well knowing that the Truth is in there. If they’re really sincere, the truth will out and talk with them. They’re OK with seeing her naked and she’s OK since they don’t hate her. Many seekers come looking for The Truth but she only sees them one at a time because The Truth is a very personal experience.

TimeLine 3

Truth searches and finds the web pages, twitter and instagram accounts that plainly showed the lie had infected most everyone. There are literally hundreds of billions and billions of lies. Lies everywhere. But from time to time, truth finds allies – they Love the Truth and have created so many stories about her but none of these are trending and, in fact, many of them are being deleted and downvoted and ignored. The truth suddenly, with a great sigh realised that there is a war being conducted on her by the one who took her garments; the Lie himself.

TimeLine 4

As each year passed, fewer and fewer people took the trouble to visit Truth and the few who happened on her accidentally, found Truth either ridiculous or just plain ugly.

“I must do something,” thought Truth. “If so few people consult me, the Lie who took my clothes must be creating havoc in town. People have forgotten I am here, so I will have to go out and remind them of my existence. But what on earth will I wear?”

She looked around and after a while discovered a fallen scarecrow. As best she could, she dressed herself in sacking, an old jacket and crooked hat and set off towards the town.

And so it was that Truth became a common sight in taverns on the outskirts of the town. Most of the time, she sat quietly listening to conversations. It was obvious that the Lie had done an excellent job of twisting facts, swaying people to believe without seeing and finding amusement in witty dishonesty. On the rare occasions that Truth couldn’t stop herself from speaking, she would be lambasted and thrown out of the tavern for spoiling the mood.

“It’s clear the town doesn’t want me here. They are beguiled by Lie and they also love my sister Story. Maybe I should pay her a visit.” To get to Story, Truth had to walk down the main street to the bridge over the river Po which was running in a shallow trickle – not at all the lively river Truth remembered. Along the way, those who recognised her, put on their offended faces and those who didn’t, treated her like a sack of stinking garbage. Truth felt so reviled, she hid in a fence until it was dark to avoid abuse.

Night fell and with it, a violent storm of icy rain. It was in a bedraggled state that Truth eventually knocked on Story’s front door.

“Who knocks at my door on such a night!” Story was displeased to leave the fireplace for the cold reception room. She peered through the glass and saw a miserable creature shivering with wet, but the longer she looked the more a feeling of great joy crept up on her. She flung open the door and pulled her long-lost sister into her home,

“Oh how I’ve missed you, dear Truth! Where have you been and for goodness sake, why are you so poorly turned out. Me oh my. Before you tell me a thing, get yourself cleaned up. Bin those rags; your dressing gown is still there, after all this time. Oh I am so glad you are here. You look cold and hungry. I can fix that! I can’t wait to hear everything about you. I see you have suffered but I also see how strong and true you are.”

Story prepared a fireside feast. Her furniture was made for lengthy conversations. The carpets and drapes muffled the outside world. But Truth was tired and was soon overcome by the warm welcome, warm food and luxury of feeling safe. Her bed was clean and warm and the ceiling lit with tiny gems depicting the constellations.

Truth woke up to a bright morning with noisy children in the street outside her window running and shouting: Po is back, Po is back.

“The storm must have dislodged the blockage in the mountain spring,” said Story when Truth joined her on the doorstep. “What wonderful news! Soon there’ll be boating and fishing and riverside picnics. How portentous: Truth and Po arriving at the same time But you must, must tell me what happened to you and where you’ve been.”

“Well, after our argument about fact and fiction, I admittedly didn’t want to see you for a while so I went walking with our cousins, Lie and Gossip. They have always been secretly jealous of us, so they thought it would be a good idea to separate us. They hid my clothes and convinced me that I could make it without you, Story, my wise and patient sister. For a while, I even believed them.”

Story showed Truth the plants in her garden, each one a lengthy memory of someone special who had experienced something exquisite in Time’s smelter. The sisters were glad that they were older, more able to understand why they work so well together.

“Without you, Truth, Story is thin and tasteless. What’s more, Lie and Gossip have become so popular, our friends Empathy and Persuasion would much rather spend time with them. They find me too slow and insipid without your spicy presence. I have become lonely.”

Truth sat down on the grass under a massive tree surrounded by flowers. “Lying in the cold water, naked,” she said, “I realised eventually that history is fearful, awful to look at full in the face, like a Gorgon’s head. The gross greed and wicked works of scary intelligences can be seen sanely only through Story eyes. That made me realise how bravely you have listened to me always. How deeply you thought and discussed with Empathy and Persuasion how best to dress me up to appear at the Royal Audience. How you weave the kindness of the human spirit through the awful truths of our history.”

Later that day, Truth and Story went for a walk to admire the flowing Po, where they reconnected with Empathy and Persuasion who were very pleased to see them. Soon Comedy joined them and pointed to a dull cluster facing away from the river.

“Just look at them!” cried Comedy. “That’s Porky Propaganda and that wild Assumption hanging out with Data! They’re cooking up material for my next comedy show, or maybe even the news!”

“Poor Data. He is so frustrated trying to make himself understood.” Story said and turned to Truth.

“You, Truth, are the best translator Data ever had. He was always calm and happy around you, (you know we all find him boring in the extreme, poor thing) but only Propaganda and Assumption take the trouble to spend time with Data and we all know that their translations are poor and only Ideology laps it up. Look at your old friend!.”

Data was indeed shaking his head, pulling his hair and behaving like a thing demented. A bombastic Propaganda poked his finger at Data repeatedly while Assumption nodded and smiled, nodded and sneered.

“Poor Data hates stupid. Better go and save him.” said Truth and walked towards the huddle, calling for Data and waving her arms. When Data saw Truth, he broke off in mid sentence and raced towards her. Soon they were in deep conversation and Data relaxed into his old self as he enjoyed feeling understood.

Propaganda, who’d been grinding Data to give him numbers to prove a point he very much wanted to make, huffed up when he saw Truth. Hissing, he grabbed Assumption’s arm, put his tweaked nose in the air and pointedly ignored Story, Empathy, Persuasion and Comedy and bustled off to the castle to see Lie and Gossip.

Happy to know that competition is always healthy, the old friends reconnected and all agreed that it was time for Truth to take her rightful place in the Chorus of Sense-makers, as they had once called themselves.

Truth was happy to be home. She thought of how different this day was compared to yesterday, before the storm, before respectable clothes. She was grateful to feel companionship in the home that was built by her parents, Goodness and Beauty.

 

It’s the story you tell, how you tell it and who you tell it to that motivates people to believe in, buy, work for, pay attention to and invest in your dream. Is the story working for you? Storytelling.co.za

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2nd Amendment

This post was inspired by the number of instances I have responded to questions and posts advocating gun control. I have organized this article so that the reader may use an index of sorts to refer to for comments and questions. I encourage all readers to post corrections to facts in the article and their arguments.

The 2nd Amendment
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

  1.  

1.1 What Founders Say

1.1.1 George Washington

1.1.2 Federalist Papers - James Madison

James Madison was in his 20s when he contributed articles to what is now called the Federalist Papers.:

One paper, No 46, by James Madison discusses the rights of citizens to possess arms. The discussion starts in the final quarter of the paper.
“This will not only lessen the call for military establishments, but if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude, that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens.”

1.2 My Opinion

The current gun laws in view of the founders view and the 2nd Amendment IMHO are not Constitutional. I am opposed any law that prevents a law abiding citizen to have or purchase a weapon for self defense. A person to which there is a threat of harm has the right purchase an “equaiizer”. Eg. A woman that has an abusive husband or mate.

I am opposed to new more restrictive laws on arms like what many are calling “Assault Weapons”. Knowledgeable self defense proponents say that the AR-15 is one of the best home defense weapons because of its accuracy and reliability. I am not opposed to background checks except I am concerned that the government may deny possession of a firearm unreasonably, like prior military service. As we have found with the no-fly list, it could deny ownership with little or mistaken reason.

I am convinced the ownership of firearms prevent more crimes than they are involved in. Many cite Australia’s experience with gun laws as a reason to extend our own. What they don’t mention is the increase in all the other crime statistics. Personally, I credit the absence of a crime that could seriously injured or killed three people (two relatives) to the presence of a weapon and a person that could use it.

2.0 Positive Use of Arms

“ I am a Smith & Wesson 357. Before I retired to GA I was owned by a physician in Detroit. I was called on three times to perform my function. The first time I was removed from the physician's purse to confront a rather large man approaching the physician. On recognizing me, the large man left. The second time, several thugs approached the physician. It was dark and the thugs either did not recognize me or did not believe the physician would pull the trigger. The physician did. The muzzle flash was so bright the thugs were blinded and the physician and I were able to get in her car and leave. The third incident occurred when a thug approached the physician. It was daylight so my muzzle flash was not so bright. The thug continued. I think the second shot hit the assailant, but he left, and so did we."

The Smith & Wesson now belongs to a family where arms are kept, loaded and unlocked.

Another two crimes were prevented when an intruder entered the house. Two girls heard the intruder break into a basement door. One went to the phone and dialed 911. The other took a bolt action shotgun from its place and proceeded to meet the intruder coming up the steps. As she approached the stairs, she chambered a shell. The intruder apparently recognized the sound and left the same way he had come. It was over 25 minutes before the police reached the house. 

After the incident with the girls, alone in the house, the owners posted a sign on the basement door with a picture of the business end of the 357 saying "We don't call 911 first!" There were no incidents after that sign was posted even though there were reports that there were other break-ins.

Two other incidents, not widely reported: 1. During a church service, a gunman entered the sanctuary the obvious intent to shoot people attending the service. He was stopped by an armed parishioner. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50952443) 2. Another concerned an armed gunman who entered a restaurant and was stopped by an armed diner. (https://www.newsweek.com/video-armed-man-shooting-robber-taqueria-viewed-over-10-million-times-1772096)

Certainly, seven crimes were prevented by these weapons, any crime of which could have caused injury or death of the physician, the girls, worshipers, or diners. How many lives were affected? How many lives were saved (the physician is still working)?

The media seldom reports on like incidents or cases where an armed officer in a school prevents mass murders like the ones in Texas, Tennessee, or Maryland, or the armed teacher that took down an shooter before he (interesting that it usually is not a she) had time to do any damage. And there is no way to count the times a perpetrator avoid a house or business because he knows or suspects there are arms on the premises.

3.0 Information vs Misinformation

3.1 “Assault Rifle” vs “Assault Weapon”

3.1.1 An automatic weapon is one that fires continuously until the trigger is released or it runs out of ammunition.

3.1.2 A semi automatic weapon requires the trigger to be depressed for each cartridge to be fired. The automatic function refers to the characteristic of the weapon that after a shot is fired the mechanism re-chambers a new round to be fired.

3.1.3 “selective fire” means that a weapon can be used as an automatic or semiautomatic weapon.

3.1.4 “bump stock” is a device that can be used that makes a semi automatic act like an automatic.

3.1.5 The definition of an Assault Rifle used here and all my posts is from the US Army definition:

  • It must be capable of selective fire
  • It must have an intermediate-power cartridge: more power than a pistol but less than a standard rifle or battle rifle, such as the 7.92×33mm Kurz, the 7.62x39mm and the 5.56x45mm NATO.
  • Its ammunition must be supplied from a detachable box magazine.[5]
  • It must have an effective range of at least 300 meters (330 yards).
  • And it must have all of the above characteristics

.

3.1.6 The definition of an Assault Weapon varies depends on the state. For our purposes we will use the following criteria.:

  • Semi-automatic firearm capable of accepting a detachable magazine,
  • Folding or telescoping (collapsible) stock, which reduces the overall length of the firearm,
  • A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon,
  • Bayonet lug, which allows the mounting of a bayonet,
  • Threaded barrel, which can accept devices such as a flash suppressor, Suppressor, compensator or muzzle brake,
  • Grenade launcher,
  • Barrel shroud, which prevents burning of shooter's arm or hand as a safety device.
  • Must have one or more of above characteristics.

Note that the above definition includes semi-automatic handguns because they have detachable magazines, leaving only revolvers, double barrel shotguns, and long guns with internal magazines as weapons not classified as assault weapons.

3.2 An AR-15 is NOT an “assault rifle” as many allege. Under the above definition it can be classified as an “assault weapon”.

3.3 “Laws are needed to restrict ownership of assault rifles”. The National Firearms Act of 1938 regulates the sale of assault rifles.

3.4 I tend to agree with Mark Twain,

“Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable. It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics. There are lies, damned lies and statistics. Statistics are used much like a drunk uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination.”

Statistics too often are used to prove a point by the person rather than used as pure research. Regarding gun control you need to look at the source. You can certainly expect charts produced by the liberal media to support their objectives for more gun control. Data is not readily available for me to produce my own charts. If the reader has access to this data I would be glad to produce statics that are more complete. The data required for 2007-2017 are:

  • Gun Deaths by Year by State,
  • Gun Purchases by Year by State,
  • Population by Year by State,
  • Gun Deaths by by Year by cause (suicide, accident, mass, violence) by Youth Age Bracket (0-15, 16-24, over 24 any brackets are acceptable including those listed here)
  • Gun Deaths by Year by cause.

I will continue gathering the data but will accept the any help. I can accept data in .csv format. The best source is CDC.

4.0 Limited Resources

Conservatives recognize that our government, in fact our culture of freedom, has limited resources. Acting on that knowledge, they automatically think of problems whose seriousness and magnitude require some of those limited resources. A good corporate manager, including the president, considers those limits in every decision.

All families face the same issue. However there are many, including the recipients of welfare, some of very rich, and many educators who either believe resources are unlimited or that the resources can be managed better by the government than by individuals.

By either knowingly or accidentally using techniques described by Saul Alinsky to further their objectives of gaining more and more control over the citizens, they use emotionally charged issues like “gun control” and fund activities like “March for Our Lives”. YES, I AM AS CONCERNED ABOUT CHILDREN BEING MURDERED AS THE WELL MEANING YOUNG ADULTS. However, it must be considered along with other problems we face as a free culture with limited resources.

Here are some of those issues:

  • Atomic armed North Korea with ability to bomb cities in the United States, the top responsibility of the Federal Government is to protect the citizens of the United States from foreign invasion.
  • Atomic armed Iran.
  • Illegal Immigration which demands expenditures in education, permits criminals to injure U.S. Citizens and formits the drug trade.
  • Russian expansion activities.
  • Automobile deaths of about 3300 a day.
  • The opioid crisis, and other drug problems that are taking 1000 lives a day.
  • Care of our veterans.
  • Government funding of murder of 300000+ unborn babies. It is contrary to the First Amendment to force taxpayers to fund them.
  • School shootings. Even though one student death is too many, we must recognize that the trend of such incidents is down even though one, based on media coverage, might reasonably conclude it was up. Prevention of those attacks can best be handled by the states, as Florida did.

The order is my opinion of the order of importance. Even so, considering our limited resources, it is difficult for me to justify placing “School Shootings” and the associated push for limiting the right of self protection high in the list, and, on a personal level, sacrificing the lives of the three people I know on the altar of well meaning gun control advocates.

I certainly oppose US Government participation in this endeavor. Of late the weaponization of the Justice Department against conservatives demonstrates that they are not a dependable ally of US citizens. During my lifetime of 87 years I have seen government devolve from a free citizen controlled society to one where enforcement of the law is applied more as a result of the group to which one belongs than to those who actually violate the law. We, the Constitutional conservatives are also guilty. Often we have given up freedoms for security or to meet in the middle to avoid conflict. However, we must abondon those reasons and become unbending to attempts to further turn us into a socialist society, or see our children denied rights we enjoyed.

5.0 Young Adult Participation

I am encouraged that our youth are taking an interest in solving problems. I am concerned that, because of the increasing influence of progressives in our education system they are being used.

All who support demonstrations and particularly those who support legislation to restrict freedoms regardless of good intentions, need to remember the words posted below and their source. You also need to review “Rules for Radicals”, a review of which is at http://www.politico-cat.com/node/113, if you are at all concerned with the direction our country is taking. 

Whether you are a member of Black Lives Matter or March for Our Lives, understand that you are restricting someone else’s freedom when you leave trash in your wake and block their ability to travel. Hopefully you will not impede a person or persons ability to get essential healthcare by your actions. Is your organization prepared to pay the cost incurred because of extra police and garbage pickup required by your demonstration? Are you? If not, then you are stealing from your fellow taxpayer.

8.0 How would I reduce gun related crime? (in a free society)

Thanks to the reader that put my foot to the fire and asked that question.

Glad you asked. 

Given that:

  1. Criminals don’t follow the law;
  2. That the majority of gun deaths are from commission of related crimes;
  3. That mass shootings are usually by mentally deranged perpetrators.


I would:


  1. Increase penalties for crimes by a factor of 10 for crimes in which a firearm is used by the perpetrator with no opportunity for parole. Mandatory life sentence if someone is injured or killed.
  2. 
Require purchaser to attend a class in gun safety.
  3. Voluntarily remove “gun free” zones. Campaign for locations where more than a few people gather to remove signs that they are gun free. Recommend that if they are concerned about guns on the premises, they provide ways to check people attending for arms.
  4. Arm and train some teachers in each school in use of fire-arms.
  1. Establish a privately run gun owner list publicly accessible to advise weapons sellers as to restrictions of persons to own a weapon. Such a list can be funded by its users through organizations like NRA. Such a list would include whether the person listed has successfully completed a gun handling and safety course as well as information suggested for Red Flag Laws.
  2. HIPAA regulations specify that medical records of a person may not be released without that person's permission. That the managers cannot get the records would be a red flag to the seller as to the buyer’s fitness to have a weapon.
Posted on

Before You Vote

For Your Children

Even though this article was written before the last election, it is still applicable!

This article is dedicated to my and your children and grandchildren.

I implore you to read it for their sake and to honor the men and women who have risked and oft died preserving the United States and its freedoms.

I will try to organize it so I make the important points first so that if you disagree on later points you may opt out.

Psalm 19:14 “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your site, my Lord and my Redeemer.”

What You Should Do

Some time ago, I read the book “Rules for Radicals” by Saul Alinsky which details what community organizers need to do to accomplish political goals. I have reviewed it at

Review-Rules for Radicals

You will find a recommendation to read either the book or the review later in this article. For now, I will just list the points I made in the conclusion.

So How Does One Avoid Being Used in an Organization?

  1. Be suspicious. Be sure you understand the meaning of the words/expressions you hear. Avoid Zohnerisms, like banning dihydrogen monoxide. If you don’t know what a zohnerism is, do a search on the web.
  2. Be Particularly suspicious of news that elicits emotional response
  3. Decide what your objectives are for a better future.
  4. Because we essentially have only 4 parties, read the platforms of all. Select the one which best matches your objectives and conforms to your morality.
  5. Listen to the speeches of your candidate, preferably to the complete speech so that you understand the context. If available, read the speeches.
  6. Check the integrity of the candidate. Particularly their past.
  7. DO NOT pay attention to what the talking heads say, even though they broadcast through your favorite news media. The host of Fox News Sunday has been observed playing a segment by a candidate and then posing a question misstating what the segment just played revealed. Often on this program and others, journalist ask the same question over and over obviously hoping the answer is the one they want.
  8. Expand your sources of news. CNN, MSNBC, CBS, New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR are considered left regarding their reporting history (eg, 90+ % of their stories about Donald Trump are negative). Fox News claims to be fair and balanced. Hannity, and the Ingram Angle are definitely pro-Trump where other programs like the “Five”, “Outnumbered” have at least one person representing the left. OANN, if available, along with Reuters usually present unvarnished, and, to some degree boring reporting. NewsMax, a late comer to network news, is more "right" in there reporting. Many shows also invite left representatives to participate and you can see positions presented side by side.
  9. Ignore TV-Radio “negative” adds, those that tell why you shouldn’t vote for a candidate. Remember that a bill may contain something more objectionable than its title or what is a desirable element.
  10. Once a presentation mentions “source”, “source in the White House”, “source in the Congress”, and “unnamed source”, flag that presentation as highly suspect. Remember, those in the news media also have their agenda.
  11. Be very careful with Social Media postings. Where links are provided, make sure they are reputable sources. Also realize that the label of a link is designed to get you to click on the link and is not necessarily true.
  12. If you search the internet for information, I suggest you use the “Brave” browser or DuckDuckGo. Google, Microsoft, and others have been found to “guide” searches.
  13. Hopefully you know that Facebook and Twitter are known to censor conservative posts and will “jail” users who post conservative messages that do not conform to their rules.
  14. Vote! Regardless of the party, the weather, your physical condition, or conditions at your poling place. Vote at a poling place unless you have an acceptable reason to use absentee voting. If your locality accepts mail-in votes, to assure your vote is counted deposit it in a USPS mail box or at the Post Office. If you don’t receive a ballot, or receive more than one, notify BOTH a Democratic and Republican voting official.

Steps 2-5, 14 are particularly important.

If you have gotten this far, I hope you will come back because I will be updating the article.

To further educate yourself as to how you may be used to further an objective that you may not wish to further, read the Saul Alinsky book “Rules for Radicals” or at least read my review at the link I provided above.

My Opinion

Certainly you can opine that all of this paper is my opinion. I have tried to direct the above to all American citizens. It is my sincere hope that all find my comments useful. If you do, you may consider my comments below useful.

Confession

When I voted for Donald Trump I was voting against Hillary Clinton. I was voting against a person who watched our Ambassador and American Marines being attacked without responding with troops from nearby bases and claimed they wouldn’t get there in time. I was voting against a person who denied security to an Ambassador who had requested it. I was voting against a person who lied to the parents of one the Marines, blaming a video, even though she knew at the time it was a lie. I voted against the party based on what I read in their platform and what I heard directly from the candidates. I could go on and on but it would be boring.

The Platforms

I suggest you use the notes you used in step 3 above in conjunction with your reading the platforms. If you are not clear, or satisfied with them, I suggest you rate the elements based on the amount of individual freedom they promise.

I may not present notes on the Green or Libertarian parties because, even though I may like one more than the dominant two parties, they have not yet garnered enough support to be a factor in the election. However, if you cannot bring yourself to vote for either party, I recommend you vote for the Libertarian party. It offers more individual freedom than the other three.

Democratic

The following link is to the previous platform and may serve as the basis of the 2020 platform. It is reported that the so-called ultra socialist “squad” has already voted against the platform.

https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/

In reviewing this document, I scanned this article to see what applied. I may revise it after campaign gets underway.

There is also a document “Biden-Saunders Unity Platform” in which you will you may find some of what is intended to be in the platform. I tried to find a link to that document with no luck. The following link on the Donald J Trump claims to list the points in the document.

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/media/biden-sanders-unity-platform-cements-radical-agenda/

Notes
Democratic Party Platform

I will post notes as soon as the platform becomes available.

 Biden-Saunders Unity Platform

The following notes are based on what I have found published about the Biden-Sanders Unity Platform. Note that I could not find the actual text and the quotes are from the Donald J Trump site which is presumably quoting the document. Their posting, however, is supported by articles from other sources including the New York Times and NPR.

Important points:

The following was copied from the Donald Trump website, The page numbers at the end of the quotations specify where in the document the quotation is found.

1) ABOLISH BORDERS

Abolish immigration detention

“End the use of for-profit detention facilities and use detention as a last resort.” p. 106

“Democrats will prioritize investments in more effective and cost-efficient community-based alternatives to detention.” p.40

Stop all deportations

“Enact a 100-day moratorium on deportations of people already in the United States while conducting a full-scale study on current practices to develop recommendations for transforming enforcement policies and practices at ICE and CBP.” p. 103

End prosecution of illegal border crossers

“...end indiscriminate prosecutions, including of asylum seekers. End mass prosecutions of individuals who cross the border...” p. 103

Support Sanctuary Cities

“Direct DOJ to drop funding restrictions (and related litigation) relating to state and local decisions regarding their role in enforcement of federal immigration law.”  p. 106

Incentivize illegal alien child smuggling

“End use of the unaccompanied minors program as an enforcement trap against family sponsors, including where such a trap is facilitated by the use of information sharing between ICE and ORR.”  p. 106

Expand asylum for all new illegal aliens

“...expand the existing asylum system and other humanitarian protections, including provisions in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) and the Flores Settlement Agreement for arriving unaccompanied minors.” p. 107

“Reverse policies that prevent victims of gang and domestic violence, as well as members of the LGBTQ+ community, from being eligible to apply for asylum.” p. 107

Cancel all Asylum Cooperation Agreements in the Western Hemisphere

“End the Asylum Cooperative Agreements the U.S. has signed with Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.” p. 103

“End the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) also known as “Remain in Mexico” and other policies that effectively deny protection and due process to asylum seekers.”p. 103

Taxpayer-funded lawyers for illegal aliens

“Ensure access to counsel and establish federal funding to provide representation and ensure that individuals in DHS custody have meaningful opportunities to secure counsel.” p. 106

Abolish immigration enforcement against illegal workers

“Enforcement should sanction employers, not workers. End workplace raids and ensure that I-9 audits do not undermine workers’ ability to organize and assert their rights.” p. 108

Grant work permits to illegal aliens

“Reverse changes made by the Trump Administration to restrict work authorization for asylum seekers and others under ERO supervision.” p. 108

2) PROVIDE TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES AND WELFARE FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS AND NEW IMMIGRANTS

Government healthcare for Illegal Aliens

“ [T]he Task Force recommends extending Affordable Care Act coverage to DACA recipients, [and] allowing undocumented immigrants to purchase unsubsidized coverage in the ACA marketplaces...” p. 108

Federal student aid and free community college for illegal aliens

“Ensure dreamers are eligible for federal student aid and included in proposals to access community colleges without debt, including those who transfer to a four-year HBCU, TCU, or MSI from a tuition free community college.”  p. 108

Sign new immigrants up for welfare immediately

“...lift the five-year waiting period for low-income lawfully present immigrants for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program eligibility.”   p. 91

End requirement for immigrant self-sufficiency and maximize welfare

“Immediately halt enforcement of and rescind the Trump administration’s new public charge regulations... [Ensure] that the public charge determination is not used to deter access to essential public benefits, healthcare services and other key resources.”p. 103

3) MASSIVELY EXPAND IMMIGRATION DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC, TAKING JOBS FROM UNEMPLOYED AMERICANS

End all travel bans, including from jihadist regions

“Immediately terminate the Trump Administration's discriminatory travel and immigration bans that have had disproportionate impact on Muslim and African people, and invite visa reapplication for individuals from these countries.”  p. 38

Grant Mass Amnesty

“Create a roadmap to citizenship for the nearly 11 million people who have been living in and strengthening our country for years. Eliminate unfair barriers to naturalization and reduce the citizenship backlog; reject unreasonable application fees, which make it impossible for families to stay together.”  p. 104

Vastly expand low-skilled immigration to the U.S.

“Support legislation to provide legal status and fast-track access to green cards, with an eventual path to citizenship, to agricultural workers based on prior agricultural work history.” p. 104

Increase refugee admissions 700 percent

“Increase the annual global refugee admissions cap to 125,000 in the first year and seek to raise it over time. Support passage of the Guaranteed Refugee Admissions Ceiling Enhancement (GRACE) Act, and commit to complying with statutory requirements to consult with Congress prior to issuing refugee determinations.”  p. 107

4) ABOLISH LAW ENFORCEMENT AS WE KNOW IT

End Cash Bail, releasing dangerous criminals onto the streets

“Democrats support eliminating the use of cash bail...” “End Cash Bail: Withhold funding from states that continue to use cash bail...” p. 9, 59

Abolish death penalty

“Abolish the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal government’s example.” p. 59

Appoint social justice prosecutors to free violent criminals

“Appoint people committed to criminal justice reform to key prosecutorial positions, including AG, DAG, and U.S. Attorneys...” “Support Progressive Prosecutors.” p. 58

End mandatory minimums

“Empower judges to determine appropriate sentences, by fighting to repeal mandatory minimums at the federal level and give states incentives to repeal their mandatory minimums.” p. 59

Incentivize prison closure

“Incentivize jail and prison closures as populations decline. Ensure the resources saved are invested directly into those communities that have been most impacted by mass incarceration.” p. 60

End solitary confinement

“End solitary confinement in all but rare, exceptional cases.” p. 60

Free federal housing for former inmates

“[W]e will ensure that 100 percent of returning citizens have access to transitional housing upon reentry from jail or prison.”  p. 18

5) ABOLISH ENERGY

Rejoin Paris Climate Accord & seek even higher level of restrictions

“We will rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement and, on Day One, seek higher ambition from nations around the world, putting the United States back in the position of global leadership where we belong.” p. 1

Mandate net-zero carbon emissions for HOMES, OFFICES, and ALL new buildings by 2030

“Net-zero emissions for all new buildings by 2030, on the pathway to a 100% clean building sector.” p. 3

Mandate zero carbon emissions from power plants by 2035

“Eliminate carbon pollution from power plants by 2035 through technology-neutral standards for clean energy and energy efficiency.” p. 47

Mandate net-zero carbon emissions by 2050

“We agree with scientists and public health experts that the United States—and the world—must achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, and no later than 2050.” p. 2

Mandate all 500,000 school buses and all 3 million government vehicles be changed to zero-emission vehicles within five years

“...transitioning the entire fleet of 500,000 school buses to American-made, zero- emission alternatives within five years..transitioning the 3 million vehicles in the federal, state, and local fleets to zero-emission vehicles.” p. 3

Install 500,000 taxpayer-funded charging stations nationwide for electric cars

“Support private adoption of affordable low-pollution and zero-emission vehicles by partnering with state and local governments to install at least 500,000 public charging stations from coast to coast. Make charging infrastructure accessible, with strong labor, training and installation standards, through federal grants to states and localities.” p. 3

6) ABOLISH SCHOOL CHOICE

End School Choice

“Democrats oppose private school vouchers and other policies that divert taxpayer-funded resources away from the public school system.” p. 24

End Tax-Credit Scholarships serving disadvantaged students in 26 states; Oppose 14 million Americans with Education Savings Accounts

“Oppose any and all voucher and neo-voucher programs such as Education Savings Accounts and Tax-credit Scholarship programs” p. 83

Eliminate school choice in DC

“Discontinue funding of the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act. This voucher program authorizes the diversion of $20 million annually to private schools in the District of Columbia...”  p. 83

7) ABOLISH CHARTER SCHOOLS

Abolish for profit charter schools

“Ban for-profit charter schools.” p. 82

Ban funding for charter schools in poor neighborhoods

“Require that federal funding for charter schools in any district be conditioned on a district's review of the financial and academic impact of a new charter school or a charter school that wants to expand on that district or neighborhood. The Department of Education would have the ability to deny federal funding for charter(s) if the district’s analysis shows that it is (1) financially distressed or (2) the charter would systematically under-serve the neediest students.” p. 82-83

8) ABOLISH EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS

End standardized tests

“Eliminate high-stakes standardized tests that unfairly label students.” p.83

9) ABOLISH SUBURBS

Enforce Obama-Biden’s radical AFFH regulation that threatens to strip localities of federal affordable housing funds unless they change their zoning laws to fit the federal government’s demands.   

“Implement the Obama-Biden Administration’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule requiring communities receiving certain federal funding to proactively examine housing patterns and identify and address policies that have discriminatory effects.” p. 64

This is the end of the section copied from the Donald J Trump website.

 

Green

https://www.gp.org/platform

Libertarian

Platform

Republican

Note that this the 2016 platform. The platform committee has voted to retain it for 2020. President Trump has requested that a new one be developed, so there is a possibility it will be changed.

https://prod-cdn-static.gop.com/static/home/data/platform.pdf

Notes

If you, for some reason, choose not to read the platform, ask me, and I will research and make appropriate text available to you.

Some important points made in the document:

  1. “Government cannot create prosperity, though government can limit or destroy it. Prosperity is the product of self-discipline, enterprise, saving and in- vestment by individuals, but it is not an end in itself.
  2. Republicans consider the establishment of a pro-growth tax code a moral imperative.
  3. We oppose retroactive taxation.
  4. We condemn attempts by activist judges at any level of government to seize the power of the purse from the people’s elected representatives by ordering higher taxes.
  5. We oppose tax policies that deliberately divide Americans or promote class warfare.
  6. Because of the vital role of religious organizations, charities, and fraternal benevolent societies in fostering generosity and patriotism, they should not be subject to taxation and donations to them should remain deductible.
  7. International trade is crucial for all sectors of America’s economy. Massive trade deficits are not. We envision a worldwide multilateral agreement among nations committed to the principles of open markets, what has been called a “Reagan Economic Zone,” in which free trade will truly be fair trade for all concerned.
  8. We need better negotiated trade agreements that put America first. When trade agreements have been carefully negotiated with friendly democracies, they have resulted in millions of new jobs here at home supported by our exports. When those agreements do not adequately protect U.S. interests, U.S. sovereignty, or when they are violated with impunity, they must be rejected.
  9. The Republican vision for American banking calls for establishing transparent, efficient markets where consumers can obtain loans they need at reasonable rates based on market conditions.
  10. We envision government at all levels as a partner with individuals and industries in technological progress, not a meddlesome monitor.
  11. We are the party of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The Declaration sets forth the fundamental precepts of American government: That God bestows certain inalienable rights on every individual, thus producing human equality; that government exists first and foremost to protect those inalienable rights; that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights; and that if God-given, natural, inalienable rights come in conflict with government, court, or human-granted rights, God-given, natural, inalienable rights always prevail; that there is a moral law recognized as “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”; and that American government is to operate with the consent of the governed.”
  12. There is also a discussion about every one of the first ten Amendments known as the “Bill of Rights”.
  13. “We oppose the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and any other scheme to abolish or distort the procedures of the Electoral College.
  14. Honest elections are the foundation of representative government. We pledge to protect the voting rights of every citizen, as well as their rights of conscience when they are harassed or denied a job because of their contributions to a candidate or a cause.
  15. We are the party of America’s growers, producers, farmers, ranchers, foresters, miners, commercial fishermen, and all those who bring from the earth the crops, minerals, energy, and the bounties of our seas that are the lifeblood of our economy. Their labor and ingenuity, their determination in bad times and love of the land at all times, powers our economy, creates millions of jobs, and feeds billions of people around the world.
  16. We support the development of all forms of energy that are marketable in a free economy without subsidies, including coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power, and hydropower.
  17. We support options for learning, including home-schooling, career and technical education, private or parochial schools, magnet schools, charter schools, online learning, and early-college high schools. We especially support the innovative financing mechanisms that make options available to all children: education savings accounts (ESAs), vouchers, and tuition tax credits

Promises Made, Promises Kept

I confess I didn’t listen to many of the Trump promises because my decision had been made based on opposition to Democratic Party and its candidate.

It took a while for it to dawn on me, but having spent some time as a Real Estate Associate, I recognized a technique called “puffing”. Often President Trump puffs the accomplishments of his administration as his own. As the leader of that group of people that he assembled, he has that right.

Some Observations

I was most . impressed while watching a little reported on meeting Donald Trump had with a group of back ministers in Detroit. Sure, one could conclude that it was to attract the black vote. However, at the end of the meeting, the ministers gathered around him, performed the familiar Christian ritual “laying on of hands”.  Those that have participated as the subject of that ritual as I have will testify that something happens during it that is greater than the act. For me, it was a realization that I was expected to be a part of something greater than myself. Was Donald Trump affected that way? I believe he was.

I am also impressed by the people he chose and serve or served in his administration. At the top of the list is Dr. Ben Carson, the person I voted for in the primary. Another is Sarah Huckabee Saunders who represented the President at very contentious news conferences. Even though Michael Flynn’s name has and is being dragged through the mud and maybe made some bad decisions during his prosecution, I have to respect him for his service to our country. K.T. McFarland is another.

 

The Trump Administration Accomplishments

Most of these accomplishments were made before the Covid-19 pandemic and are included to show what the administration can do absent a disaster that Covid-19 brought on.

I tend to, and recommend all, to measure a person by his or her accomplishments

  1. Almost 4 million jobs created since election.
  2. More Americans are now employed than ever recorded before in our history.
  3. We have created more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs since my election.
  4. Manufacturing jobs growing at the fastest rate in more than THREE DECADES.
  5. Economic growth last quarter hit 4.2 percent.
  6. New unemployment claims recently hit a 49-year low.
  7. Median household income has hit highest level ever recorded.
  8. African-American unemployment has recently achieved the lowest rate ever recorded.
  9. Hispanic-American unemployment is at the lowest rate ever recorded.
  10. Asian-American unemployment recently achieved the lowest rate ever recorded.
  11. Women’s unemployment recently reached the lowest rate in 65 years.
  12. Youth unemployment has recently hit the lowest rate in nearly half a century.
  13. Lowest unemployment rate ever recorded for Americans without a high school diploma.
  14. Under my Administration, veterans’ unemployment recently reached its lowest rate in nearly 20 years.
  15. Almost 3.9 million Americans have been lifted off food stamps since the election.
  16. The Pledge to America’s Workers has resulted in employers committing to train more than 4 million Americans. We are committed to VOCATIONAL education.
  17. 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future—the highest ever.
  18. Retail sales surged last month, up another 6 percent over last year.
  19. Signed the biggest package of tax cuts and reforms in history. After tax cuts, over $300 billion poured back in to the U.S. in the first quarter alone.
  20. As a result of our tax bill, small businesses will have the lowest top marginal tax rate in more than 80 years.
  21. Helped win U.S. bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
  22. Helped win U.S.-Mexico-Canada’s united bid for 2026 World Cup.
  23. Opened ANWR and approved Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines.
  24. Record number of regulations eliminated.
  25. Enacted regulatory relief for community banks and credit unions.
  26. Obamacare individual mandate penalty GONE.
  27. My Administration is providing more affordable healthcare options for Americans through association health plans and short-term duration plans.
  28. Last month, the FDA approved more affordable generic drugs than ever before in history. And thanks to our efforts, many drug companies are freezing or reversing planned price increases.
  29. We reformed the Medicare program to stop hospitals from overcharging low-income seniors on their drugs—saving seniors hundreds of millions of dollars this year alone.
  30. Signed Right-To-Try legislation.
  31. Secured $6 billion in NEW funding to fight the opioid epidemic.
  32. We have reduced high-dose opioid prescriptions by 16 percent during my first year in office.
  33. Signed VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act, expanded VA telehealth services, walk-in-clinics, and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.
  34. Increased our coal exports by 60 percent; U.S. oil production recently reached all-time high.
  35. United States is a net natural gas exporter for the first time since 1957.
  36. Withdrew the United States from the job-killing Paris Climate Accord.
  37. Cancelled the illegal, anti-coal, so-called Clean Power Plan.
  38. Secured record $700 billion in military funding; $716 billion next year.
  39. NATO allies are spending $69 billion more on defense since 2016.
  40. Process has begun to make the Space Force the 6th branch of the Armed Forces.
  41. Confirmed more circuit court judges than any other new administration.
  42. Confirmed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
  43. Withdrew from the horrible, one-sided Iran Deal.
  44. Moved U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
  45. Protecting Americans from terrorists with the Travel Ban, upheld by Supreme Court.
  46. Issued Executive Order to keep open Guantanamo Bay.
  47. Concluded a historic U.S.-Mexico Trade Deal to replace NAFTA. And negotiations with Canada are underway as we speak.
  48. Reached a breakthrough agreement with the E.U. to increase U.S. exports.
  49. Imposed tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum to protect our national security.
  50. Imposed tariffs on China in response to China’s forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, and their chronically abusive trade practices.
  51. Net exports are on track to increase by $59 billion this year.
  52. Improved vetting and screening for refugees, and switched focus to overseas resettlement.
  53. Built almost 300 miles of border wall.

Conclusion

I have given you all the reasons that I will vote for the Republicans in November. Admittedly, I have had more time to watch hearings, the Conventions, and the candidates. You, my readers have a decision to make that is the most important in my lifetime. That decision is whether you want your children to live in a socialist country like Venezuela, Cuba, or China and give up freedoms for which so many fought for or in the country, imperfect as it may be, that our founders established for us. It is that simple.

Personalities of the leadership and their past deeds, where they are important, do not necessarily indicate what the will accomplish if tapped by God. For example, Christians recognize the contributions of Paul, who persecuted early Christians, or Peter who denied he knew Christ, or Thomas who doubted Christ, or so many others.

So, while making your decision, look to the future. We know that, in the past parties have not lived up to their promises in their platforms. But the platform at least gives you a hint of what they considered. Not only that, they tell you what kind of voter they are trying to attract.