Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
A Surreal World
The temptation arises, when one has been away for too long, to unleash a tidal wave of prose that risks drowning all but the most hearty readers. And since, as Oscar Wilde observed, “I can resist anything except temptation,” I will do all I can to keep things snappy, but beyond that all bets are off. Besides which, my wonderful fiancé and her delightful mother are dining with a small group of Catholic ladies this evening, which gives me the perfect opportunity to relax with a delicious bowl of gumbo and a glass of smooth bourbon while trying to hone disparate thoughts for your enjoyment, or consternation, as the case may be.
I don’t know the extent to which my absence was conspicuous, but I, for one, certainly missed the company of the good people here at Ricochet. Now, lest you think I’ve been slouching into a full RNC-like stupor, and perhaps to help balance the productivity ledger, I should explain that I’ve spent the last six weeks or so finishing the book I swore to complete by the end of the year. The time to write being a precious and fleeting commodity, I elected to devote all of my energy to the book rather than split it between competing projects. A compilation of travel pieces, the book is pretty evenly divided between life as an over-the-road truck driver and life as an active duty military member deploying across the globe, with a few surprise chapters thrown in for good measure. The search is now on for a publisher.
None of the above is meant to suggest that I’ve totally tuned out the news of the day, though the temptation has been a mighty one. To complete an eight-hour session at the keyboard wherein I take you to a forward-deployed location to spend Christmas in the company of those who risk their lives for you at the pointy end of America’s sword, only to turn on the television and see political leaders who can’t even summon the piddling courage needed to risk the approbation of Harry Reid and command the pointy end of a debate, is to go from hope to despair, and from a meditation on selflessness to the self-absorption of the political ass who, like the rooster, believes that it is his crowing that prompts the sun to rise.
The Assent of Lawlessness:
At exactly what point did lawlessness of either the criminal or constitutional variety become a virtue in the salons of fashionable opinion? Oh, I know the iconoclastic adrenaline has coursed vigorously through the faculty lounge for at least as long as it took a self described 1960s communist who bombed the U.S. Capitol building to achieve tenure. Likewise, much of the major media dropped even the pretense of objectivity at about the same time that Chris Matthews’ leg famously went all creepy-crawly as he rhapsodized on the general divinity of Barack Obama.
There are, of course, factions in the body politic for whom all standards of virtue or decency are both predetermined and superseded by race. One gets the impression that Barack Obama could make off with the Hope Diamond and the Congressional Black Caucus would allow as how it was Ted Cruz’s fault for holding up Hope and Change in the Senate, leaving our gallant President with no choice but to take Hope into his own hands. For their part, Senator McConnell and Speaker Boehner would, A) privately agree while, B) publicly rebuking the President and simultaneously, C) funding both his bail and legal defense lest they be called racist and alienate anyone, anywhere, anytime.
The Application of Lawlessness in Ferguson:
How does one explain received wisdom, which holds that a person may, with impunity, rob a store, assault a police officer, and attempt to take the officer’s weapon, so long as the attacker is black and the officer is white, and that for his part, the officer has an affirmative duty to do nothing in response, including enforce laws against robbery and assault? Indeed, any attempt to enforce said laws is now a tacit admission of racism, and any use of deadly force against a 6’4″, 300-pound attacker charging an officer is evidence of institutional racism, so that the only response acceptable to the fanatics on camera and in the streets is for the officer to simply submit meekly to his own death.
How fitting was it, then, that protesters in Ferguson responded by knocking off those businesses that Michael Brown had not yet got around to robbing, all in the name of justice, of course. Reasonable people are entitled, however, to look at the deification of a violent criminal and observe that a significant portion of the country has gone simply and irreversibly nuts, and to take the matter of self-defense into their own hands.
The Triumph of Lawlessness:
Did Michael Brown learn from Barack Obama, or was it the other way around? In either case, both were aware that the law prohibits things like robbery in one case, or the unilateral passage of laws by the executive branch in the other, and both decided that they were above the law by virtue of those immunities that attach to their attitudes. In fact, our Constitutional Law Professor In Chief once went on record saying:
With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive orders, that’s just not the case. There are laws on the books, that Congress has passed. For me to simply, through executive orders, ignore those congressional mandates, would not conform with my appropriate role as President.
But that was then and this is now, and besides, we are told that the Constitution is a living breathing document, subject to the whims and fads of the moment, or to the predilections of leftward egalitarians who wish to live vicariously through our wallets. The unfortunate thread running through the actions of both men, however, is the common assumption that one may run athwart fundamental laws with impunity. The glorification of Mr. Brown on one hand, and the yawning indifference to Mr. Obama’s unilateral legislation on the other, stand as testament of the elevation of vice as virtue.
Underwriting Lawlessness:
“[M]ake no mistake,” President Obama said, in a rhetorical prelude generally understood to mean that the succeeding statement will be a whopper of a mistake. “…These policies are on the ballot, every single one of them,” he continued, urging voters to underwrite his policies at the polls. What happened, of course, is that those polices were resoundingly repudiated as people across the country dispatched Republicans with but one mandate; stop this man before he destroys what’s left of the country!
It was only a couple of years ago that Sen. Mitch McConnell said of Obamacare, “[T]he Chief Justice said it is a tax, and taxes are clearly what we call reconcilable. That’s the kind of measure that can be pursued with 51 votes in the Senate. And if I’m the leader of the majority next year, I commit to the American people that the repeal of ‘Obamacare’ will be job one.”
Then, with voters having filled the role of the Make-A-Wish Foundation and given him control of the Senate, McConnell quipped, “It would take 60 votes in the Senate. Nobody thinks we’re going to have 60 Republicans. And it would take a president — presidential signature. No one thinks we’re going to get that.” Such fortitude a couple of centuries ago would have cemented our status as a British colony.
Looking to the Speaker of the House, CNS News encapsulated the problem with the headline, “Boehner’s Spending Deals Have Increased Debt $3.8T in 3.8 Years.” That’s $42,783.20 in new debt owed by every full-time worker in an economy where the annual median income of that full-time worker is $41,916. But this is strategic thinking, we are told by those who are apparently smarter by virtue of their many skillful capitulations, and we mustn’t do anything rash.
And so it came to pass that less than 24 hours after Americans told Republicans to stop Barack Obama’s agenda, Sen. McConnell preemptively surrendered the principle means of doing so (the power of the purse), because apparently, nothing communicates resolve like announcing to the opposition that your bluff may be placed on speed dial.
“We will do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus of the President’s unilateral unraveling of federal immigration law. “Defunding, going to court, injunction. You name it. It’s wrong. It’s illegal. And for so many reasons, and just the basic fabric of this country, we can’t allow it to happen and we won’t let it happen,” he continued.
Since then, Republican leaders have indeed allowed it happen and have funded something that goes against, “the basic fabric of this country,” many of them even voting against one of their own on a point of order that called into question the legality of the President’s emancipation of the Executive Branch from Constitutional constraint. Thus is illegality ratified and funded by those who swore an oath to do the opposite.
Here then, is a little thought experiment, of which I’ll fill in the details shortly. Of which predominant political party is the author of this statement speaking when he writes that it:
…operates not as the Framers intended, but in the shadows, where it dreams up its most notorious and oppressive laws, coming into the light only to trumpet the genius and earnestness of its goings-on and to enable members to cast their votes. The people are left lamebrained and dumbfounded about their “representatives” supposed good deeds, which usually take the form of omnibus bills numbering in hundreds if not thousands of pages, and utterly clueless about the effects these laws have on their lives. Of course, that is the point. The public is not to be informed but indoctrinated, manipulated, and misled.
The answer, of course, is that the above indictment, masterfully penned by Mark Levin in The Liberty Amendments, applies to both parties and to the federal government generally, though it came back to mind powerfully while watching Speaker Boehner gush with paternal pride over the monstrous, steaming 1,700-page assault on constitutional governance he shoved down the nation’s throat over the weekend.
We live in a time in which lawlessness is virtuous while decency is held in contempt, in which it is the obligation of the law-abiding citizen to acquiesce in his own victimization and submit humbly to the plunder and criminality of others. Last week, I found myself in circumstances professionally that were not entirely to my liking, prompting my fiancé to gently ask that I “play well” with others. In matters of trucking, I can do that. In matters of liberty, not so much.
Published in General
Welcome back Dave. Once again you have voiced the thoughts of many of us.
Now, what can we do?
The recent election has proved the futility of seeking to conserve what which has been lost. The idea of a third party has been universally characterized as an impossibility. It has only been done once, to birth the now ignominious Republican party. The delicious irony of that idea bringing justice to the betrayal of the United States Constitution by said Republican party cannot be lost.
But how can we do it?
We search for a righteous leader to show the way, and see only the Anti-Christ in the wings.
Thanks, Dave. Clear thinking leads to clear writing and straight talk. Make straight the way of the Lord.
Wow, Dave. There are so many keepers in there, I’d just have to copy and paste the whole thing to list them!
It’s good to have you back.
You had me a gumbo and bourbon…….
I can see the GOP’s 2016 campaign slogan: “Eventually”.
If Republicans end up controlling the Oval Office and both houses of Congress in 2017, Democrats will talk about the need for “bipartisanship” and “reaching across the aisle”… and Republicans will bite it hook, line, and sinker.
Thank you Dave for clarifying all that for me. So much lawlessness going on I was getting confused.
“I don’t know the extent to which my absence was conspicuous,”
Not only was your absence noticed but we grieved, so glad to have you back. Let us know when you get a publisher, and when your book comes out. There are plenty of members who have had books published so they should be able to give you a referral.
Dave Carter
That, ladies and gentlemen, is writing!
Your absence was noticed, Dave. I thought about you this morning when I heard the Red Eye radio show on the way into work. Wondered where you’d been. You’ve covered everything perfectly. Now, what to do about it? Seems the people we are suppose to be looking to for a fix are happy for our vote and then ask us to turn around and grab the ankles.
Thanks very much folks. It’s great to be back. The sad reality, as best I can figure at least, is that Washington is incapable of righting itself, and that the answer lies at the local level, specifically, Article V’s provision for two thirds of the states to convene a limited constitutional convention for the sole purpose of proposing amendments.
From that point, ideas ranging from term limiting Supreme Court justices to restraining the federal bureaucracy and granting to the states the authority to check both Congressional and Judicial power will get open and honest debate. It requires the involvement of our state legislatures, several of whom are already laying the groundwork for such an enterprise.
Unhappily, simply voting for people with an “R” next to their name is no longer sufficient. We have to get involved, from the local level on up, and work from the state level to exercise the constitutional remedy of decentralizing power from Washington and back to the states and the people.
Thank you. It’s great to be back!!
I’ll go one more, Aaron. Given the overall trend and the funding of Obama’s executive amnesty, I predict that a Republican-led congress will do exactly nothing to roll back this lawlessness. I sincerely hope I’m proven wrong.
Another wonderful post, Dave. We’ve missed you. Welcome back and good luck with the book.
Dave, I had to join Ricochet this morning to enable me to say that you were missed, that your writing speaks so powerfully to both heart and mind, and that my husband and my 91-year-old uncle (retired military) would never forgive me if I did not forward your posts to them, as I have done for the past 2 years. Thank you.
We all wish you and your fiancé much happiness.
Wow! Southern Yankee, thank you so very much for your kind words. While I’m certain I don’t deserve the praise, I am grateful. And humbled. Please relay my thanks to your uncle as well, both for his kindness and his service to our nation. Please accept mine and Shelley’s wishes to you all for a very Merry Christmas and loads of happiness always.
Respectfully,
Dave
Dave – A buddy of mine who is a legit literary agent has contacted you on Facebook. FYI – he is the real deal.
Thank you sir. I haven’t seen anything yet, but I’ll stay alert.
Dave,
As I told you when I joined Ricochet, you were the main reason that I did so. You are an extremely gifted writer, and have been missed!
Put me down as one who”ll be standing in line to buy your book.
You’re very kind, Ron. Thank you. Trust me, you won’t have to stand in line, though I’ll need your address at the appropriate time.
Welcome back, Dave! I wondered where you had gone. Writing your book is a more than adequate reason for the hiatus. Please, let us know when it is published. I want several.
PS Your current stuff is pretty good too.