About Me

In writing the "About Me" portion of this blog I thought about the purpose of the blog - namely, preventing the growth of Socialism & stopping the Death Of Democracy in the American Republic & returning her to the "liberty to abundance" stage of our history. One word descriptions of people's philosophies or purposes are quite often inadequate. I feel that I am "liberal" meaning that I am broad minded, independent, generous, hospitable, & magnanimous. Under these terms "liberal" is a perfectly good word that has been corrupted over the years to mean the person is a left-winger or as Mark Levin more accurately wrote in his book "Liberty & Tyranny" a "statist" - someone looking for government or state control of society. I am certainly not that & have dedicated the blog to fighting this. I believe that I find what I am when I consider whether or not I am a "conservative" & specifically when I ask what is it that I am trying to conserve? It is the libertarian principles that America was founded upon & originally followed. That is the Return To Excellence that this blog is named for & is all about.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Thanksgiving Proclamation In The Year Of The Independence Of The United States Of America The One Hundred & Fiftieth

While in another room I recently heard the following Thanksgiving Proclamation read on TV – One America News, a channel worth giving a chance to.  As I listened I wondered what the reading was from since it was so foreign to present day America.  I learned it was from President Coolidge's 1925 proclamation & I present it below.
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Calvin Coolidge__________________________
XXX President of the United States: 1923-1929


Proclamation 1753 – Thanksgiving Day, 1925
October 26, 1925


By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

The season approaches when, in accordance with a long established and respected custom, a day is set apart to give thanks to Almighty God for the manifold blessings which His gracious and benevolent providence has bestowed upon us as a nation and as individuals.


We have been brought with safety and honor through another year, and, through the generosity of nature, He has blessed us with resources whose potentiality in wealth is almost incalculable; we are at peace at home and abroad; the public health is good; we have been undisturbed by pestilences or great catastrophes; our harvests and our industries have been rich in productivity; our commerce spreads over the whole world, and Labor has been well rewarded for its remunerative service.


As we have grown and prospered in material things, so also should we progress in moral and spiritual things. We are a God-fearing people who should set ourselves against evil and strive for righteousness in living, and observing the Golden Rule we should from our abundance help and serve those less fortunately placed. We should bow in gratitude to God for His many favors.

Now, Therefore, I, Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States, do hereby set apart Thursday, the twenty-sixth day of November next as a day of general thanksgiving and prayer, and I recommend that on that day the people shall cease from their daily work, and in their homes or in their accustomed places of worship, devoutly give thanks to the Almighty for the many and great blessings they have received, and to seek His guidance that they may deserve a continuance of His favor.


In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.


Done at the City of Washington this 26th day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and fiftieth.

Calvin Coolidge






Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Gruber's Honesty Reveals The Truth About The Uninformed American Voter

Gruber is politically incorrect for making his remarks regarding voter stupidity & I am politically incorrect for saying he is right.
 
***
 
MIT Professor Jon Gruber has turned into the unwelcome leprous outcast of the Democrat party simply by saying what, by all known evidence, is true regarding "the stupidity of the American voter."  After Gruber received almost $6 million in consulting fees, mostly from the federal government (HHS, NIH, DOJ, & DOS), BO referred to Gruber as "some adviser who never worked on our staff" & Pelosi claims to not even know who Gruber is.  The White House records show Gruber had over a dozen scheduled appointments during the development of ObamaCare – including with people like the deputy assistant to the president for health policy & the director of OMB.  Their positions now show exactly how stupid BO & Pelosi think we are by just simply denying knowing Gruber with all this money paid to him & all of his White House appointments.
 
Now for those who never realized that the Democrat party has called into question or otherwise doubted or had suspicions about their constituents' intellect the past six years (really longer) or that the Republican party & FNC anchors like Jeanine Pirro, Martha MacCallum, & Greta Van Susteren had defended this same intellect for about the past six nights please consider the following Gruber quotes:
 
"Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage.  And basically, you know, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing (ObamaCare) to pass."
 
"Over time it's gonna apply to more & more health insurance plans [referring to the excise tax on high end (Cadillac) healthcare insurance plans]."  The "tax that starts out hitting only 8% of the insurance plans essentially amounts over the next 20 years (to) essentially getting rid of the (income tax) exclusion for employer-sponsored plans." – referring to more tax revenue coming into the treasury @ the expense of the individual taxpayer who Gruber feels will never realize what happened.
 
"We just tax the insurance companies, they pass on higher prices that offsets the tax break we get,  it ends up being the same thing.  It's a very clever, you know, basic exploitation of the lack of economic understanding of the American voter." – further elaboration of the point directly above
 
It is hard to call someone smart who puts the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle in place after being oblivious that a puzzle was being worked on during the entire process.  That is the analogy I draw after writing about ObamaCare since its inception.  In this case the last piece of the puzzle is Gruber telling everyone the answer.  After six years of abuse, on November 4 one fifth of the voting eligible population finally made a strong statement against BO.  The other 80% still are not smart & remain an easy target for more Gruber-like tricks.
 
In addition to the above remarks Gruber said that "seniors do a terrible job choosing" healthcare plans.  About five years ago I asked a group of senior citizens what Medicare Supplement plan they had & not one in ten knew – they may not be stupid but it is hard to call these people healthcare smart.
 
Republicans were quick to jump on the Gruber remarks but it was the Republican party that nominated Mitt Romney for president in 2012 after Gruber helped orchestrate RomneyCare in Massachusetts.  Not too smart to throw rocks while living in a glass house.
 
The Supreme Court is a major player in this ObamaCare charade.  After all in 2012 the Supremes agreed to unconstitutionally hear the case & then nonsensically found they cannot regulate a non-activity but they can tax it & accordingly pronounced ObamaCare the law of the land.  Now in my judging whether or not something is constitutional I first ask myself what would the Founders approve of re the matter & then check the Constitution itself – which will never let you down.  In the ObamaCare matter the Founders would never have found it constitutional & neither did KY Senator Rand Paul who correctly said "just because a couple of people on the Supreme court declare something 'constitutional' does not make it so.  The whole thing remains unconstitutional."  How smart is it for 320 million people to let nine unelected judges decide such a matter?
 
But the Supremes have another bite @ the apple & once again unconstitutionally accepted a case regarding State Versus Federal Health Insurance Exchanges - ObamaCare's Double Edged Sword.   Gruber is front & center again in this one saying "if you're a state & you don't set up an exchange, that means your citizens don't get their tax credits. . . I hope that that's a blatant enough political reality that states will get their act together & realize there are billions of dollars @ stake here in setting up these exchanges."  This statement provides a wealth of ammunition for the anti-ObamaCare attorneys & if Gruber indeed has credibility it could help bring down the entire law as people in the thirty seven states that did not set up their own state exchanges do not receive tax credits (subsidies).  Checkmate on Gruber himself for stupidity. 
 
Let's complete the stupidity circle with first BO & then Pelosi reversing course by lauding Gruber before disowning him to one degree or another above, followed by a Pelosi-Gruber video that sums up the matter & an excellent montage entitled All of #GruberGate in Two Minutes.
 
So where does this leave the American Republic on the eve of 2015 with two years remaining in the mistake known as BO's presidency? 
 
Will the past six years have sufficiently shown the public that BO is not pursuing the same goals as every other president? – in fact BO has consistently demonstrated without end he is the biggest enemy the country has faced since King George III.  Will the public grasp the dangers America has faced & will continue to face with even more intensity the next two years under BO's insidious skillful training as a community organizer following Saul Alinsky's Socialist-Marxist method described in the book "Rules For Radicals"?  BO gets away with his onslaught against America if it is not explained from every rooftop that none of what has happened since January 20, 2009 is not by accident but rather by purposeful design by an enemy of America who campaigned to fundamentally transform America – for the worst.
 
We have an indication that the twenty percent of the voting eligible population who voted the Democrats out of office earlier this month deserve another chance. 
 
But are we, as a country, sophisticated enough to understand the Socratic maxim that the recognition of our ignorance is the beginning of wisdom as Hayek taught?  It is a gigantic leap to believe that the majority of Americans could go from all of the mistakes documented above, where in truth they could not be bothered with even the least degree of civic responsibility or concern for their own welfare, to a position now where suddenly they understand the stakes involved.  
 

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Pass The Salt

Click on photos to enlarge
 
Thanks to a long time subscriber for sending the above two photos that show a typical modern day @ the beach & a museum respectively.  He sent many more similar photos but the above two make the point. 
 
Click on Pass The Salt to see how a member of an older generation got caught up in the technology of his day.
 

Monday, November 10, 2014

Mindset Change - Dependency To Freedom - Republicans Have The Chance To Make It Happen

"Doug - Now GOP better work smart & pass pro market legislation even if vetoed. They must make case for the private economy and I hope the FairTax soon. Need great communicators. McConnell is weak in this." – Our Wall Street Finance VP.

"I'm just watching the talking heads on all the news outlets. They seem to be like politicians as they can say anything they want & are not held accountable. However a loud & clear message has been sent to BO.  Now let's see if this latest batch of gutless politicians are any better that the last ones (I doubt it)." – My brother-in-law.
 
"I was wrong in predicting Republicans would lose the election.  I thought BO would make a big push for Hispanics to vote - he did not.  I thought he would make immigration an issue - he did not.  I thought people would remember Republicans were not doing anything positive in Congress - people forgot that.  Do not be surprised in the next election if Democrats win – assuming that Republicans pass bills that cater to the rich & ignore the general population." – The Historian.
 
Click on photo to enlarge
 
The above three messages, received from long time subscribers to RTE, are representative of the uneasiness that people in general view the results of Tuesday's midterm elections.
 
After the House Republican freshman class of 2010 capitulated within three months of taking their oath of office in January 2011 we have every reason to be uneasy again.  The 2010 midterm did not set a reassuring precedent – see Only 21 Of 87 Freshman House Republicans Are Still With You for details.
 
We start this time with the contradictory Mitch McConnell, the presumed new Senate majority leader, not making us feel better when, during a debate with his feckless opponent the week before the election, he endorsed Kentucky Kynect, the ObamaCare website in Kentucky that has been used by over 400,000 people to sign up for ObamaCare – mostly through the Medicaid expansion feature of the law.  Although Mitch assures us that he wants to tear out ObamaCare "root & branch" his endorsement of the website is disconcerting & I am scared to death that it is an indication of more contradictions to come. 
 
It is true that the majority of 2014 Senate midterms were held in Republican home-court states, defined as states that BO lost in 2012, which put most Senate Democrats @ a disadvantage.  But the real story of the midterms was the record low turnout & the profile of that turnout that has allowed one fifth of the voting eligible population to make such a strong statement against BO.  The pre-election polls that called for one squeaker after another missed the low turnout, meaning they thought more Democrats would vote than actually did.  See graph below for turnout.
 
 
  Click on graph to enlarge
 
The electorate in 2014 was "far whiter, more male, older, & angrier" than in 2008 & 2012 when BO won the presidency.  Seventy five percent of the electorate was white in 2014.  This profile of the electorate may never be repeated in a winning combination for Republicans as the share of white voters declines & older voters die.  For instance Democrats won the under 45 vote, the female vote, & the Black & Latino vote but Republicans won the 45 & over vote with heavy influence by both those white voters over 65 & male voters.  Click here to see the entire breakdown
 
Turnout is measured in three ways: 1) as the percent of actual voters to those who were registered, 2) the percent of voters to the voting age population (VAP) , & 3) the most accurate measurement - the percent of voters to those eligible to vote – the voting-eligible population (VEP).
 
The 2014 midterm VEP was 36.6% versus 40.9% in the 2010 midterm.  Only twelve of the fifty states turned out a higher percentage of eligible voters in 2014 than in 2010.
 
In raw numbers this means that 83 million people voted in 2014 & 144 million people eligible to vote did not vote.  Now if the turnout in 2016 is the normal 60% presidential turnout then @ least another 53 million people will vote in 2016 – not counting population growth.  This means the profile of the electorate in 2016 will be substantially different from the one that voted last week. 
 
Republican pundits like Laura Ingraham & Ann Coulter took comfort that statewide candidates in Texas (44% gov & 48% senate) & Georgia (47% gov & 42% senate) scored over 40% with Latino voters - but the overall percentage of Latino support for Republicans is under 40% which is not enough to win a national election & is actually down from the 2010 midterm election so we can't say that Latinos broke for Republicans.  See Pew Research Center graphic below – notice the Latino gap actually increased from 22% in 2010 to 26% in 2014.
 
Click on graphic to enlarge
 
The small total electorate in 2014 will expand in 2016 – the 2014 electorate consisted of people who were responsible & motivated to vote.  The 2016 electorate will include the Latinos, Blacks, Asians, & single women who need a presidential figure to lure them to the polls with the idea of getting something for nothing.  "These are entitlement seeking voters strongly lured to vote for what keeps them in the same place - not developing their talents, not seeking new and more promising employment opportunities; rather many just desire a continuation of entitlements, oblivious that continued policies will soon jeopardize these entitlements" writes our Wall Street Finance VP.
 
It took six years before enough people finally realized that their own government was purposely being made the enemy to their way of life under BO's policies – thus the rejection of the Democrat candidates last Tuesday for the most part.  People voted against the status quo because the status quo had become so egregious for Republicans & Independents while Democrats stayed home because they saw BO's promises of hope had been hollow all along.
 
People saw through false issues like the Republican "war on women" to the point that one losing Democrat candidate was labeled "Mark Uterus."  The insincerity of the Democrat campaigns was best illustrated though by Michelle Obama when she campaigned in Iowa for a person she did not know.  Click here to hear MO finally being corrected after giving out a fictitious website that has now grown in mock popularity.
 
Nevertheless for now BO will be slowed down & Republicans have a chance – but a chance for what?
 
Many pundits have told Republicans to go slow or to present bills that BO has to sign or if he vetoes them he will show how Harry Reid has protected him from governing during his entire presidency.
 
That is fine as far as it goes but it is a complete mindset change from dependency to freedom that is needed & the Republicans have the chance to make it happen.
 
To turn the country around the newly elected Republicans have to show that the problem with America is not economic but political.  In this regard they must unleash the free enterprise system so that businesses are no longer seen as the enemy but rather the way to prosperity especially for the much maligned middle class.  They have to show that the Federal Reserve, in cahoots with BO, is swindling Americans @ the median income level out of $1,000 per year in purchasing power with their seemingly benign policy of 2% inflation each year.
 
They have to change the mindset expressed by Hillary Clinton when she said that businesses do not create jobs.  Republicans have to explain what a job really is under a free enterprise system – namely, an opportunity to create more present or future value for an employer than it costs to maintain the worker in the job.  If the employee's value drops below the cost of maintaining the employee the job disappears & that of course includes minimum wage jobs.
 
It must be pointed out that none of BO's policies create one job that results in wealth creation - how do you create sustainable wealth-producing jobs by taxing income?  How do small businesses expand when you increase taxes?  What economic freedom principles are enhanced when you raise taxes? 
 
Republicans have the chance to go back to basics & govern like they really believe it – that the general Welfare of the United States is best served by people – men & women, homosexual & straight, Hispanic, Black, & Asian, – working in the cooperation that is the free market capitalistic system – this is the inclusive message that they never clearly deliver.  America's brightest future will be realized when all of the really unclever gamesmanships that BO & the Democrats play are not just put aside but are unmasked as the domestic enemy of America that has infected our country with the clear intent of ruining everyone's chance @ the American dream.  Republicans have to show government dependent Democrats – "Romney's 47%" of the people who are dependent on government, believe they are victims entitled to government handouts, & pay no income tax - that they are not getting anywhere.  Republicans have to positively reach these people to improve their lives with free market policies they undertake.
 
We have to face that something different happened in November 2008 & it was confirmed in 2012 – & that something is evil & a deliberate deception to overrun our country.  The last six years has not been about the usual sort of things the two parties argue over & take turns winning elections over.  These years have been about robbing liberty from people by increasing dependency on government & promoting destructive class warfare & envy & there was no end in sight to this nightmare until last Tuesday & no foreseeable practical solution other than for those of us who still believe in America to teach & live the libertarian principles that our country was founded upon.  Start with the thought of freedom & explain that all prosperity comes from unleashing the free human intellect.  If we lose with that message all is lost anyway @ least until John Galt comes forth.
 

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Huckabee FightsThe Minimum Wage With His Maximum Wage Idea

As part of Tuesday's midterm election four states passed measures to increase the minimum wage - Alaska ($9.75 by 2016), Arkansas ($8.50 by 2017), Nebraska ($9 by 2016), & South Dakota ($8.50 by 2015).  In addition by a large margin, Illinois voters also recommended an increase to their state's minimum wage, but the vote was nonbinding.
 
America was founded on the principles of limited government, self responsibility, & free enterprise.
 
We have none of these three ingredients any longer.  The true free enterprise system has been compromised because we don't have limited government & people do not take self responsibility.  That is not the fault of capitalism or free enterprise but rather the forsaking of our founding principles.
 
What can we do?  Work to get the first two principles back in the people's mindset & true free enterprise & all of its prosperity & wealth creation will follow.  We have moved so far from this – but you & I can do everything we can to rectify the situation with the example of our own self responsibility. 
 
Click here to hear Mike Huckabee explain why we should turn the tables on the politicians who fight over how to increase people's dependence on minimum wage employment & its impoverishment with his idea of getting people to realize employment @ the maximum wage.