Senate GOP – Don’t Give Up Like You Always Do!

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard 2

scalia Here we go again.

Now we have lost Supreme Court Justice Scalia, the last and best guardian of the Constitution. And you know — you just know — that the weak-kneed, self-serving GOP establishment Washington, DC cartel is going to cave in and give President Obama his replacement.

Afraid of appearing to be “mean”, lest the people who don’t vote for them anyway will dislike them even more, these DC weenies are still in the lineup despite batting .000 in the National Negotiation League.

I am one of the small handful of people who still listens to Michael Medved’s radio show; there are few choices in the wee hours of the morning. Medved is the designated talk radio spokesman for the squishy Republicans. His assignment is to defend and make excuses for the GOP liars in Congress who promised they would stand up to the Obama regime at election time, and now refuse to do so at every opportunity.

Today he opens his show with the topic, “Is Compromise A Dirty Word?” He regularly excoriates conservative listeners who call his show to support Donald Trump’s hard-line populist positions against out-of-control immigration, bad trade deals, and the Obama/Kerry nuclear giveaway to Iran.

Medved is even more hysterical about Ted Cruz, insisting that Cruz has “no chance of being elected” because he refuses to be bullied into submission by the intractable left and their assault on virtually all of our traditional American values.

He even goes after Dr. Ben Carson, the quiet but tough-as-nails conservative who brought down the house at an event I attended last week at Winthrop University. A coed asked him if he was concerned about the environment. “Of course I am,” Carson responded with his usual warm, slow smile. “I wouldn’t allow a company to dump chemicals in a river and harm everybody downstream. But the stuff you have been fed about “climate change” — what a bunch of CRAP!”

An exasperated caller to Medved’s show was about at the end of his rope when the establishment apologist insisted that the Republican party is dead because they refuse to compromise with the Democrats to provide more freebies to the victim groups who are lining up behind Bernie Sanders-Claus. “Why are we the only ones who have to ‘compromise’?” the caller complained. “The Democrats never compromise. They hold their ground or they advance.”

Medved’s answer was stunning. “That’s not true! Obama wanted to raise all taxes, and end Bush’s tax cuts. But a few of Bush’s tax cuts were left in place!” Right, Michael. The Democrats didn’t get everything they wanted, just most of it – and to you and your DC Republican friends, that is a compromise on their part.

They still don’t get it. I don’t know why, but it appears that they will never get it. Churchill, in the darkest days of World War II, rallied his weary countrymen to victory with the famous words: “Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”

What will it take to convince our “always give in” Republican officials that this time it’s important? Obama’s Supreme Court appointee will doubtless be the exact opposite of Justice Scalia, bringing irreparable harm to the country for decades to come.

You know that liberals will howl “unfair!” if the Senate doesn’t confirm Obama’s first pick. If the shoe were on the other foot, do you think the Democrats would give the Republicans a free pass? Frankly, I will be surprised if Obama doesn’t make a recess appointment while the Senate is out of town.

Let’s just hope that maybe, for once, our Republican senators will grow a pair and hold the line until after the election. And let’s vow to primary out any defectors this time.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Don’t give up
’cause you have friends
Don’t give up
You’re not beaten yet
Don’t give up
I know you can make it good

Don’t Give Up – Peter Gabriel

Tough Political Decision? Let History Be Your Guide

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

Decisions, decisions. Man is a thinking animal, and every waking moment involves decisions. Most are ordinary choices of personal comfort. Some decisions are a matter of life or death, or even something so paramount that one will risk his own life to achieve the desired result.

Some of us are better at making decisions than others. But one thing is clear – at the root of every decision is one primary element: self-interest. And that’s a good thing. The desire to improve our lives and the lives of the ones we love is universal, timeless and unbreakable. God knew what he was doing when he designed the human soul.

God also put us all on the same planet, so we not only have to serve our own self-interests, we also must co-exist. And that’s where it gets interesting. We all want what is best for ourselves and our families, but we can’t agree on the best way to make that happen. What might be best for you could be terrible for me, or vice-versa.

Those who see life from the “left” side believe individuals should sacrifice personal freedoms to gain physical and economic security as a group. Socialism calls for more control by the state, assuming that most people are not so good at making decisions for themselves. If decisions are made by fewer humans who are presumably smarter than the rest of us, there will be less likelihood of catastrophic failure. Individuals will have their basic needs met, but will not have the chance to make decisions that might lead to far greater success and happiness for themselves and others.

Those on the “right” side holds the opposite as truth. They would rather make their own decisions, because nobody is more interested in his own well-being than oneself. One may totally fail, but he would rather have the opportunity to achieve a higher level of happiness and fulfillment than settle for bland shared security.

There is, of course, middle ground, and that’s where the war between left and right takes place. Fortunately, in this political battleground of decisions and the philosophical fog of war, there is a bright, neon sign showing the correct path. It’s called history.

History proves that quality of life is always best where individuals have more freedom to make decisions in their own self-interest. And hell on Earth is where all decisions are made by the state. If more state control is so great, how did that work out for the people of the Soviet Union? Or Cambodia? Or Nazi Germany?

Why does our entire educational system deny this historical fact? How does a generation of our youth clamor to follow socialist demagogues who promise security but don’t explain the consequences of relinquishing individual rights and freedoms? Could it be that the few who would be the designated decision-makers are acting in their own self-interest?

History also shows that there were, and still are, individuals who understand the value of individual freedom so well that they would make the ultimate decision to put their lives on the line to preserve it.

My message is this: when faced with a decision between group security and individual freedom, let history be your guide.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

You can choose a ready guide
In some celestial voice
If you choose not to decide
You still have made a choice

Free Will – Rush

Watch this fantastic Rush rocker featuring drummer Neal Peart and his HUGE set of DW drums. Free Will!

Republican Voters Would Crawl Over Broken Glass to Defeat Hillary

Posted on December 29, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard 3

trump1 Here we are at the end of 2015, and it’s still all Trump, all the time.

Trump’s juggernaut campaign remains a total mystery to the Washington Insiders, especially the Republicans. Michael Medved, one of many pretend conservatives on talk radio, pees his pants every time he hears Trump’s name. Wonder where Trump’s campaign funds come from? He takes Medved’s lunch money every day – and Bill Bennett’s, and George Will’s, and Karl Rove’s and a whole bunch of other wimps.

Here’s the latest CNN national poll results and my unfiltered opinion of each.

Pataki (withdrew)- 0%: Ptooey.

Santorum – 0%: Nice guy, desperately means well, but Rick, it ain’t ever gonna happen.

Graham (withdrew) – 1%: His (my) own conservative state can’t stand him – it took Democrat votes via our open primary system to keep him in DC. He wants strong military and open borders. Huh?

Huckabee – 2%: Bright. Maybe devious. For some reason I wouldn’t want to buy a used car from this guy.

Kasich – 2%: Why can’t we all just be friends and play nice together?

Fiorina – 2%: She is so smart and so strong-willed. Oh wait, that scares the hell out of most people.

Paul – 4%: He really understands the Constitution. Sadly, nobody cares.

Bush – 3%: Sigh.

Christie – 5%: He says his greatest attribute is his desire to make deals with the liberals. Next.

Carson – 10%: Brilliant, and conservative. But people who visited his house said every square inch of wall space is covered with pictures of Ben and awards presented to Ben. He may have a bigger ego than Obama.

Rubio – 10%: Gang of Eight. Next.

Cruz – 18%: If I am ever caught in a dark alley with a menacing gang of debaters from Harvard, I want Ted on my side. He will shred any opponent, including Hillary. He’s smart, tenacious, ambitious, conservative. A few weeks ago he chaired a Senate committee meeting, and not a single Republican senator attended, leaving Cruz to face a roomful of Democrats alone. His fellow Senators absolutely HATE him. That’s good enough for me.

Trump – 39%: At first I was really put off by his personal insecurity (“I’m really smart! Really I am!) And I was convinced he had no depth of thought on any issue. I still sometimes think he might be a few fries short of a happy meal. But I’m starting to get it.

I listened to a complete hour-long Trump speech tonight, for the first time. And I found that he actually does address important issues, albeit in his own odd way. He talks off the cuff, and his stories wobble and wander all over the place. His over-use of adjectives and hyperbole is almost criminal. He spends too much time talking about himself and his lead in the polls, which he defends, saying, “But I am leading the polls! Jeb Bush sure doesn’t want to talk about the polls.” I guess maybe saying “we’re number one” is not a bad marketing pitch.

If you get down to the nitty-gritty, you find that his message is usually right, and sometimes even illuminating. Tonight Trump talked about a friend who had always bought Caterpillar tractors but just bought a new Komatsu instead. “It’s the devaluation of their currency, Caterpillar can’t compete, ” Trump explained. That led to talk about international trade, and the exodus of American manufacturing companies overseas, and the billions of dollars of offshore profits held by American companies due to our outdated and unfair corporate tax structure. “It’s called ‘corporate inversion'”, Trump said. “I doubt the other candidates have heard that term.”

I have mixed feelings about his admission to “paying off politicians” for business favors. I don’t get the feeling he could be bought, though. And I know damn well the vast majority of our elected officials are, shall we say, influenced by big contributors.

Most of his positions and proclamations are just populist common sense, but they shine brightly in a world that has gone PC. I think his strong stand against unfettered immigration and refugees is the biggest bullet in his pro-second amendment clip.

“He can’t beat Hillary,” they whimper. It seems to me he is probably the only Republican candidate who will smack Hillary between the eyes with her blatant lies, her stinks-to-high-heaven “charitable” foundation, and her coverups for her violently lecherous husband. Yep, he can beat Hillary. And the recent revelations that he has strong followings among minority groups doesn’t hurt.

Am I in the Trump camp? Not yet. But I’m like the caller on Little Mikey Medved’s show the other day. Medved challenged him, “If it came down to Trump or Hillary, would you vote for Trump?” The caller responded, “No question. I’d crawl over broken glass to beat Hillary.”

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

So take me from the wreckage
Save me from the blast
Lift me up and take me back
Don’t let me keep on walking…
Walking on broken glass

Walking On Broken Glass – Annie Lennox

One of the all-time greats, Annie Lennox has got it going on!

Concealed Carry Explodes Thanks To Obama Administration

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

ConcealedCarry

After the horrific slaughter and maiming of Americans in San Bernardino by two Muslim terrorists last week, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said her greatest fear is that there might be retaliation. She worries that “anti-Muslim rhetoric might lead to violence.”

Did I miss something here? Didn’t the violence already happen, Ms. Lynch? Don’t you worry that maybe more Muslim bad-asses are going to shoot up a couple dozen or maybe a couple hundred more American infidels?

This is just one more – one of so many – insults to the American people by our current administration. Our attorney general is more worried about offending a few Muslims than she is about the lives and safety of the other 97.8% of us. Meanwhile, our president remains laser-focused on protecting us from global warming.

Have no doubt, there will be more violence involving radical Muslims. But it won’t be anti-Muslim rhetoric that causes it – Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and atheists don’t randomly kill people because of their religion. Only Muslims do that, and you can bet that any new religious violence will be perpetrated by Muslims, against non-Muslims. There will be more violence when the swat team sends the Muslim murderers to meet their maker, or their virgins, or whatever. Is that considered retaliation, Ms. Attorney General? Is that bullying?

I suspect that Ms. Lynch, as an official of the Obama administration and disciple of the liberal left, doesn’t approve of Americans carrying firearms in their purses, on their belts, and in their cars. Too bad.

This administration’s failure to face up to an existential, world-wide socio-political disaster has left us no choice. Rather than call out the bad guys, our president pushes an agenda to disarm the victims.

Firearms sales are going through the roof. Shooting ranges are slammed. Concealed carry permit applications are breaking records. Law enforcement agencies and officials are encouraging citizens to arm themselves. Americans have always supported the second amendment. We talked about carrying weapons to defend our families and others. Thanks to the Obama administration, we are now doing it. We are not going to wait for the swat team any more.

Despite the full-throated hysteria in the liberal media about moms with Glocks in their purses and the price of Smith and Wesson stock going through the roof (up 8.5% today), the arming of responsible American citizens is a good and natural thing.

Thanks, Barack – you have single-handedly done more to promote self-defense gun ownership than anyone dreamed possible.

I’m a big believer in the free market. Supply and demand has always worked, and it always will. When there is a demand for something, it will be supplied, one way or another. Right now, there is a demand for personal safety and security. Our current government is unwilling to supply it, but fortunately the writers of our constitution provided us an alternative – the Second Amendment.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Carry on my wayward son
There’ll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don’t you cry no more

Carry On My Wayward Son – Kansas

Liberal Comedy – You Can’t Make This Stuff Up

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

So there we were, my wife and I, patiently waiting for the York County (SC) council meeting to start. I was one of several constituents there to make a statement in support of our councilman’s resolution to prevent the Refugee Relocation program from dumping third-world citizens in our county. I wanted to point out that bringing in needy refugees does not benefit our nation or citizens in any way, so it can only be viewed as charity. And taking money from taxpayers to give to a foreign charity without our consent is unconstitutional and illegal.

Next to my wife sat a 40-something guy – longish hair with a balding spot, rimless glasses, Mister Rogers sweater, 20-year old Birkenstock sandals. A slight lisp. I’m pretty sure that was his Prius in the parking lot, the one with the “Bernie Sanders Works For Me” sticker next to the faded “Hope and Change” decal.

My wife is a chatty sort of person, and of course she had to strike up a conversation with her next-seat neighbor. “Are you here to talk about the Refugee problem?” she chirped. I thought Mr. Birkenstock’s eyes were going to pop out of their sockets.

“What do you have against those poor people?” he said, revving up. “We should be helping them! It’s our duty as a society! What about the CHILLdrennnn?”

Yep, I had heard that sound before, on PBS. “The CHILLdrennnn.” I’ve always wondered why the Hope and Change crowd doesn’t seem to have any problem dumping $20 trillion of debt on the CHILLdrennnn. But I digress.

My wife is chatty, all right. But get on her wrong side and she is chatty like a Rottweiler. She lit into Mr. Birkenstock with a scorched-earth monologue detailing the many reasons why moving throngs of hostile, unemployable, non-English-speaking, permanent welfare recipients to York County at a time when we can’t even take care of our own underachievers, is a bad idea. “Why don’t you donate YOUR money to the refugees, instead of trying to take mine?” she asked.

Mr. Birkenstock shook his head at us, his face dripping with a condescending mix of pity and disgust.

The meeting began, and we all sat through hours of the mostly boring and often icky sausage-making of low-level politics. Then the agenda turned to how the county will manage the rapid growth we are currently experiencing. It was Mr. Birkenstock’s time to take the microphone.

“I am opposed to all this growth!” he wailed. “We don’t want any more of these big apartment buildings going up in our nice, peaceful neighborhood! The traffic is getting terrible. And what about the CHILLdrennnnnn! They can’t play safely in the street any more!”

We laughed out loud.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Laugh, laugh, I thought I’d die
It seemed so funny to me
Laugh, laugh you met a guy who taught you how it feels to be
Lonely, oh so lonely

Laugh, Laugh – the Beau Brummels

Rep. Mulvaney on DEA Official’s Inability to Fire Corrupt Agents: “This Is Nuts!”

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

Have you had some nagging doubts lately about whether our system of government still works?

When you get home from your 50-hour work week, kick your shoes off your tired feet, and sit down to watch or read the news, do you get that hinky feeling something is terribly wrong — when even after spending everything we give them, and accumulating an $18 trillion debt, our government still can’t perform the basic functions it was designed for?

Do you wonder once in a while if the federal government has become so huge and out of control there is absolutely nothing anybody can do about it, regardless of who is elected?

I’m sorry to say, this won’t make you feel any better.

A while back the Inspector General’s office learned that a number of DEA agents on assignment in Columbia were enjoying the services of prostitutes paid for by drug cartels. The first agents who “‘fessed up” were suspended for two to ten days. Later investigations revealed the problem was much more pervasive than first thought, and had been going on for a much longer time.

Congressman Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) thinks like you and I do. In the real world, this kind of thing is simple. When an employee egregiously misbehaves, utterly fails, is engaged in corruption, or worse yet – endangers the important mission he was hired to perform, you fire him. Right?

In the real world, yes. But not in the federal government. When Mulvaney, a member of the House oversight committee, asked top DEA administrator Michele Leonhart whether she could fire these bad actors, or whether she has ever seen a DEA employee who deserves to be fired, her answers were nothing short of breathtaking. Watch:

You didn’t know our government was this screwed up? It’s just the tip of the iceberg. Congressman Mulvaney was right when he said, “This is nuts.”

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Mental wounds not healing
Who and what’s to blame
I’m going off the rails on a crazy train!
I’m going off the rails on a crazy train!

Crazy Train – Ozzy Osbourne

China Has ‘Net Neutrality’: Govt. Control of Internet Is Coming To America, Too

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

China Computer In a few weeks Congress will vote on a “net neutrality” bill that would turn significant control of the internet over to the federal government by allowing the FCC to regulate Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as public utilities.The bill is promoted using the same “class envy” technique that has been so politically successful over the years: “Just let us handle everything, and we will make sure internet access is ‘fair’.” The legislation would, for example, prevent ISPs from charging some customers more than others for higher speed services, and from controlling access to certain internet content. Sounds altruistic, doesn’t it?

History has proven that every time government takes a market segment away from the public sector, the product ultimately costs more, performs worse, is harder to get, and ends up profiting a select few well-connected cronies at taxpayer expense.

If the FCC takes control of our internet service, there is risk – perhaps likelihood – that competing ISPs will be pared down to a select few “winning” vendors. Is it any wonder that Comcast, owner of the blatantly pro- big government news channel MSNBC, and one of the largest contributors to the Obama campaign, is a full-throated supporter of the net neutrality bill? In these kinds of quid pro quo arrangements, make no mistake – the deep-pockets federal government trades cash for control. And the cash is non-partisan. Bill sponsors Fred Upton (R-MI) and Greg Walden (R-OR) received hefty contributions from AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner, and Verizon.

For a sneak preview of net neutrality, let’s take a look at internet life in the People’s Republic of China. Regional ISPs in China are owned and operated by the government, who rigidly controls content as well as access to the internet. The Communist party thwarted early attempts by its rival China Democracy Party to establish unrestricted internet access, enforced by arrests and imprisonment. The Chinese government’s internet authority is documented in their “Computer Information Network and Internet Security, Protection, and Management Regulations”, approved by the State Council in 1997:

[to see the rest of my post please follow this link to Watchdog Arena]

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

GOP Congressmen – Time To Take A Stand!

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

take-a-stand Have you ever had to tell the boss he’s wrong?

One of the stupidest things I ever did is something I am still proud of. Way back in the day I was a sophomore on the junior varsity basketball team, hoping to move up to the varsity squad. The first week of practice we were struggling to adjust to our new coach, who operated in Bobby Knight mode with a lot of yelling, cursing, and finger-poking-in-the-chest intimidation, but without as much knowledge and strategy as the famous Hoosier coach.

We were running a drill called the “three-man weave” where three guys pass the ball back and forth while running a weave down the court without dribbling, and the last one shoots a layup. Only instead of a basketball, we were throwing a huge 15-pound medicine ball. Coach charged up and down the sidelines, voicing his displeasure with our lack of manhood. My friend Larry and I were next up, and we charged off the baseline with another guy. Now, Larry was a great little player. But he couldn’t have weighed 90 pounds dripping wet wearing clothes, shoes, and a winter coat with bricks in the pockets. My pass was a little bit too far in front of him, and Larry didn’t have the strength in his sharp-shooting but skinny little arms to haul it in.

Coach lit into Larry like he had just sold his sister to a cannibal tribe, with maximum volume and vigorous finger-poking-in-the-chest. And I popped. “Come on coach, he couldn’t catch that!”

You could have heard a pin drop. Coach walked over to me, red-faced, eyes bugging out. I can still see that face, but I don’t remember what he said, because my entire life was whizzing before my eyes. Needless to say, I didn’t make the varsity squad. Hell, he hardly gave me any playing time on the junior varsity, and nothing I did on the court was going to change that. But Coach did seem to mellow a little after that episode, and Larry actually was doing pretty well, until his hard-scrabble itinerant family moved on halfway through the season.

I remember that snapshot event like yesterday because for one moment as a geeky kid I stood up and said “hell no” to the boss, knowing I was right and he was wrong, and that it mattered.

Our newly-elected Congress was sent to Washington, DC to stop the damage our nation has endured under the Democrats for the past six years. Poll after poll shows that the majority of Americans oppose Obamacare, support energy development, and want our southern border secured. The majority of us think it’s wrong for our government to choose winners and losers based on political party, gender, or race. We are terrified that our children face a national debt that has grown by $7 trillion dollars under President Obama.

And now President Obama’s unilateral, illegal and unconstitutional grant of amnesty, featuring work visas and eligibility for taxpayer-paid benefits to tens of millions of illegal immigrants (and millions more who will flood the untended border gates upon hearing the news) will cost the taxpayers another $2 trillion according to the Heritage Foundation.

Sadly, even as Republicans are staged to take majority control of the House and Senate, the party’s leadership does not seem willing to hear or follow the voice of the People. Next week Congress will vote on funding the government’s budget in the form of either a continuing resolution (CR) or an omnibus spending bill, providing them the leverage they need to defund executive amnesty. Despite the polls and the landslide election victory, the GOP leadership cites a list of imaginary roadblocks. “We don’t want to get blamed for ‘shutting down the government'”, they wail, despite the total lack of evidence that this tactic has ever had lasting repercussions. Another excuse offered is: “We can’t defund an agency that operates on fees rather than funding from our discretionary budget,” a claim which was totally debunked by the Congressional Research Service.

Then, according to Congressman Louie Gohmert, the House Republican leadership pulled a “bait and switch” on its members, making unannounced changes to Congressman Ted Yoho’s defunding bill moments before 216 Republican congressmen voted in favor of it. The last-minute additions may actually grease the skids for the president’s amnesty. This is the tactic made famous by Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi when she said, “We have to pass the (ObamaCare) bill to know what’s in it.”

Conservative firebrand Rush Limbaugh says there is only possible reason for the Republican leadership to oppose the will of the majority of voters and their own members: they must actually support the President’s amnesty plan.

62 Congressmen, including my own South Carolina representative Mick Mulvaney, showed courage and resolve by signing Congressman Matt Salmon’s letter to the house appropriations chairman, Harold Rogers, requesting a defunding rider. On a Facebook Town Hall meeting on Friday, Mulvaney said, “I have already told my leadership that I will vote against the Omnibus spending bill if it doesn’t contain defunding language.”

To those Congressmen and women who refuse to tolerate the bullying and finger-poking-in-the-chest, I say, “Good on ya.” And I encourage you to demand the same courage from your counterparts on the hill who know it’s the right thing to do. Sometimes you just have to take a stand when you know the boss is wrong.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

If you are confused check with the sun
Carry a compass to help you along
Your feet are going to be on the ground
Your head is there to move you around

Stand – R.E.M.

A Conservative Thankful for . . . Government Employees?

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

Thankful Turkey Yes, I am a conservative, and on this Thanksgiving holiday I’m thankful for government employees.

Now, before you choke on your turkey giblet stuffing – let me explain. There are many things that government does extremely well. When I turn the tap at my sink, I get clean, safe water every time. And the cost of it is pretty darned reasonable. My garbage gets picked up right on time. The stop lights work, our streets and highways are pretty good, and if there is an emergency the fire, police and EMS/rescue guys are top notch.

I generally don’t worry about our country being pushed around by other nations because our military is still the biggest, baddest dawg in the junkyard.

We need good government employees and the services they provide that we just can’t do as individuals. I believe for the most part our local and state governments do what is expected of them and at a cost we can manage. I just wish the same were true of the federal government.

It’s not that the federal government doesn’t do enough for us. Quite the contrary, it does way the hell too much.

Most Americans don’t understand that our Constitution limits the authority of the federal government to a fairly short list of “enumerated powers“. The first item in the list says:

The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States

The remaining items on the list mostly refer to national defense, currency, and post offices. And anything not specifically on that list, according to the Tenth Amendment, is strictly off-limits to the feds.

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

There is nothing in the enumerated powers that allows the federal government to redistribute income or to compensate anyone for financial loss or misfortune. You won’t find any reference to endangered species, or global warming. Nothing there about foreign aid. No mention of education. The feds aren’t authorized to provide bailouts of private companies, banks, or mortgage-holders. They aren’t supposed to be buying up private land and property.

In fact, most of what our federal government does is not authorized by the Constitution. Maybe that’s why our current administration — cheered on by the media, academia, and a good portion of our nation’s under-educated and disengaged citizens — doesn’t feel it should be restricted by Constitutional law.

Sometimes we conservatives are mischaracterized as “anti-government” zealots. Contrary to liberal claims, we don’t want our children to drink dirty water, our disabled to die in poverty on the streets, or our grandmas to be pushed over a cliff when they pass the age of usefulness.

Just the same, we aren’t pleased when our federal government takes our hard-earned money – our property – by force and gives it to another person, company, or nation for motives we don’t support, and purposes that are not constitutional. And we wonder how awesome life in America would be if our federal government was the lean, mean machine the framers of our Constitution intended – protecting the borders, providing national defense, and doing only what it is supposed to – without the incredible waste of resources and failed social experimentation that holds us back.

It’s true we are abused by a growing number of (mostly federal) unaccountable bureaucrats who never answer the phone. But most of our government employees are just out there doing the honorable work of the People, and they deserve a thank-you.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

You didn’t have to love me like you did
But you did, but you did – and I thank you
You didn’t have to hold me like you did
But you did, but you did – and I thank you

I Thank You – Billy Gibbons and Daryl Hall

Reid Out, McConnell In. I Should Be Happy, Right?

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Tom Balek Standard 1

reid-and-mcconnell Two years ago Obama won re-election and the Democrat propaganda machine (war on women, everybody is racist, global warming, gay marriage, blah blah blah) seemed unstoppable. I was in shock and dismay for a long time.

Yesterday the Democrats got a serious butt-whoopin’ as voters roundly repudiated their tired cliches and failed policies, electing a flood of Republicans. Shouldn’t it feel better than this? Seems like we should be dancing in the streets.

Harry Reid is no longer the Senate majority leader. Hooray! Has there ever been a more corrupt, cynical, dishonest person in such a position of power? The best interests of the country and its citizens never made Reid’s priority list. The accumulation of personal wealth and political power were his only ambitions and he pursued both relentlessly.

Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell won his re-election bid, and will assume Reid’s role at the helm of the Senate. I should be happy . . . I guess.

Mitch McConnell is the face of the Republican insider club who promised he would “crush” the Tea Party. McConnell, John Boehner, and other old-guard Republicans view their sweeping victory as a death-blow to the conservatives – the very same without whose effort and money his Republican party could not have prevailed.

McConnell consummated his re-election by stating that he would not take any extraordinary measures to address our $18 trillion dollar debt.

Asked whether he would insist on more deficit-reduction before going along with raising the debt ceiling, McConnell noted that when the House of Representatives and Senate write their fiscal 2016 budget blueprints, there could be a “mechanism” for addressing this issue. – Reuters

Looks like it will be spending-as-usual in Washington, DC.

I’m trying to crawl out from under my wet blanket. What a joy it will be to have Joni Ernst, the soldier-mom from Iowa, in the Senate. She blew up the Democrats’ pet “war on women” mantra: “I’m a woman, and I’ve been to war. This is not a war.”

Scott Walker, the utterly fearless governor of Wisconsin, won his third election in four years, once more deflecting everything the Democrat machine and the unions could throw at him. He has managed his state prudently and efficiently, and treats his citizens like adults. If that isn’t vetting for a presidential run, I don’t know what it.

In fact, Democrats are job-hunting all over the country as voters continue to replace them at every level from school boards to state legislatures. My new home state, South Carolina, boasts a conservative all-star team that includes Nikki Haley, Trey Gowdy, Tim Scott and my own congressman, Mick Mulvaney.

Yeah, I guess it was a good week. But I have a message for Mssrs McConnell and Boehner:

We conservatives have expended great effort and money to stop the liberal Democrats’ assault on our Constitution and destruction of our economy. In some cases we had to, again, plug our noses as we marked our ballots. We saved your bacon, but not your pork. If you continue to disrespect and disregard us, there’s gonna be a showdown!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Bad dreamer, what’s your name?
Looks like we’re riding on the same train
Looks as though there’ll be more pain
There’s gonna be a showdown.

Showdown – Electric Light Orchestra

Take a minute to enjoy this amazing live performance by Jeff Lynne, the genius who glues together all the magical musical pieces known as the Electric Light Orchestra. As a musician, I marvel at the perfection of his production at every level.