Posted on 09/02/2010 10:30:26 AM PDT by jazusamo
Sowell sees the national equivalent of a "perfect storm," a gathering of "dangerous forces (that) have been building .. . for at least a half-century."
Yes, he says, our great nation has weathered many storms. But, he quickly notes, so did the Roman Empire before it collapsed. "Is that where America is headed?" Sowell asks upfront. "I believe it is. Our only saving grace is that we are not there yet - and that nothing is inevitable until it happens."......
The Obama administration "is not the root cause of the ominous dangers that face this country at home and aboard," Sowell says. But "it is the embodiment, the personification and the culmination of dangerous trends that began decades ago. Moreover, it has escalated those dangers to what may be a point of no return."
"The ruthless and corrupt way this bill was forced through Congress on a party-line vote, and in defiance of public opinion, provides a roadmap for how other "historic" changes can be imposed by Obama, Pelosi, and Reid. What will it matter if Obama's current approval rating is below 50 percent among the current voting public, if he can ram through new legislation to create millions of new voters by granting citizenship to illegal immigrants? That could be enough to make him a two-term president, in which case he could appoint enough Supreme Court justices to rubber-stamp further extensions of his power."
"Just one year ago, would you have believed that an unelected government official, not even a cabinet member confirmed by the Senate but simply one of the many "czars" appointed by the president, could arbitrarily cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50 percent or 90 percent?
Did you think that another "czar" would be talking about restricting talk radio? That there would be plans afloat to subsidize newspapers - that is, to create a situation where some newspapers' survival would depend on the government's liking what they publish?
Did you imagine that anyone would even be talking about having a panel of so-called "experts" deciding who could and could not get life-saving medical treatments? ... ...Does any of this sound like America?"
"People ask me all the time, "Rush, you'll tell us when it's time to panic, right?" I say, "Yeah, and it's not time to panic." But I have just finished a column by Thomas Sowell that strikes me as somewhat remarkable. There should not be any doubt with Americans interested in the truth about who Barack Obama is and what he represents, it's become clear, surreal clear. Dr. Thomas Sowell, a brilliant, accomplished man, a distinguished gentleman. When distinguished gentlemen, distinguished Americans such as Thomas Sowell think and write as he has in his latest column, it's time to stop gathering evidence about Obama's character and do anything within the boundaries of the law to stop his agenda." [2]After the midterm elections, it will be absolutely crucial that the projected conservative majority in the House (and possibly the Senate) act on Rush's words and truly "do anything within the boundaries of the law to stop his [Obama's] agenda"; so that our country does not slip past the "point of no return."
Brilliant post.
I specifically do not agree with ex post facto laws. That is a fundamental difference between our system and those of banana republics. As regards the Black Panthers, I'm suggesting that there was a lot more going on than a simple policy decision. Certainly enough to warrant an investigation as to whether *existing* laws were broken by the those in the Justice Department involved in the decision not to pursue it. Collusion and conspiracy are not policy decisions.
No, I am not referring to making something illegal after the fact and then going after someone for violating a law that wasn't in existence. It is indeed lefties that advocate ex post facto law. Bill Clinton and the Democrats did it with retroactive taxes.
I’m enjoying our debate and would like to continue it. But I have chores to do and want some time to vegetate with a movie after. I’ll try to pick this up later, but I could forget.
I think Holder is ideologically and politically ill disposed to prosecuting the Black Panthers, and I doubt it goes any further than that, or had to go any further than that, if it even got that far.
But by all means, advocate a grand jury investigation and Congressional testimony to fish for a Fitzy perjury trap - “after November come the investigations!” is at least slightly more reasonable than “after November come the trials!” - but it is pretty Banana Republic to me - and I ain't shopping for a polo shirt. ;)
Thanks for the ping jaz. Good post about Dr. Sowell’s, and our positions. I believe most FReepers get it, and Dr. Sowell’s writings improve our gettin’ it.
Thank you.
You are correct and I mostly agree with your assumptions.
I don’t think returning to a long ago conception of a document we poorly understood 200 years ago is the solution. I do think that unless we have clarity, we will not be able to solve our problems. The biggest issue we have in figuring out what is happening is that Congress and the President (both parties over many years) have conspired to make things unclear. For so many years it was impossible for Republicans to win congress. Labor Democrats and Southern Democrats were too many Democrats.
From a partisan stand point, the Republican solution to this dilemma was to agree with the Democrats that the Presidential branch should have more responsibility. Republicans then had a chance to make laws. Republican Presidents stood up and said “Elect me and I will . . . . and ensure it is done in a more responsible manner.” Democrats liked this idea because then they could pass more and more of their Socialist agenda.
From a purely human standpoint, politicians from both parties agreed because they could blur the lines of responsibility. Republicans could blame Obama, Clinton, Carter, LBJ, etc. and Democrats could blame Bush, Bush, Reagan, Nixon etc. Presidents went along with this too because they were term limited anyway AND they got more policy making ability.
Win, win all around.
Now regarding the Clean Air Act, I have to disagree. Our experts are in no way as capable of making judgments any better than our congressmen. All the good things you you mention would have been perfectly capable of being done after experts proposed them and congress confirmed them. (BTW - I am an expert in that area.)
The central question comes down to, “Who do you trust, the experts or the American people?” Or, as Madison said,
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”
We have not found angels to govern men and never will.
Speak for yourself! There were many of us here who weren't fooled for a minute by BO...and did everything we could do to prevent his election.
You fit the description of those who are more dangerous than Obama...since you didn't get involved.
No they cannot because the President can veto congress’s “make-up” law.
We are about to see this in spades. In the next congress, Obama will happily sit back and veto any repeal or change to the Healthcare law. Whatever “The Secretary shall...” say will become the law of the land. A coup over the American people has been completed.
Even you must admit that you were ineffective. If you were so sure of this, why didn’t you do more? Why didn’t you come up with better arguments? Why didn’t you create a 527 to get your message out? Why didn’t you contribute more to the existing 527’s?
No, I cannot go along with the cop-out of blaming others. I made a mistake in trusting the Republicans. I was wrong and I am just starting to make up for it.
What if the next congress refuses to fund the process of developing the regulations required by the Health Care bill? Do we then impeach Obama for not creating those regulations?
The executive branch must have some leeway. The question is how much and who gets to decide?
Simply make it such that the regulations must be approved by congress before they can become defacto law. Clarity and accountability will result.
You don't have a clue WHO I am or WHAT I did!
Obama didn't carry my state so we had some success.
Preach to the slow learner in your mirror!
Even if we do win in 2012, Democrats in the Senate will filibuster any changes. It was their law really. A more accurate name than “Obama Care” is “Senate Democrat Care”.
Cop out.
It is unfortunate that the Executive has grown to such an extent, and our laws accumulated over the years, such that decisions on how to run the Executive branch, and how the law is going to be enforced - has become like one man making defacto law - which is exactly what our Constitution avoids.
I agree that Congress needs to keep an eye on this, but not sure of the best mechanism to do so. A Congressional oversight committee I find preferable to a law passed by Congress creating an extra-Constitutional demand upon the Executive that their internal regulation is all subject to Congressional up or down votes.
JMHO.
Thanks for the ping.
Idiot
As an aside, a presidential advisory committee was considered by the founders. They went back and forth on it an eventually put that function in the Senate under the “Advise and Consent” function of the Senate. That’s not really what you are talking about but I thought it was an interesting parallel to what you are saying.
Have a good night.
Look - first you've got all the former illegals voting - then you've got all those folks who are getting their piece of the pie by taking the piece someone else worked for... All those people will vote for any dem who promises to keep the gravy flowing... And ObamaCare will make it worse - we'll all be dependent on favors - pull with politicians who can get our surgery bumped up. Dems are making this into a hell on earth country... and yeah - we're coming up on a point where it's going to be really hard to turn things around.
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