Tag Archives: states rights

Mr. Trump, I Wrote a Speech For You. No Charge!

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photo courtesy Salon.com

photo courtesy Salon.com

My fellow citizens, if you elect me, Donald Trump, to be your president, here are my domestic priorities for the first hundred days of my term:

Government Accountability and Reform

Government sector unions will be eliminated or restrictions imposed, such as:  Unions would be prohibited from contributing to political candidates or having any involvement in political campaigns.  Government employees would be employed “at will”, empowering managers to hire, fire, and discipline without union intervention.  They would be subject to the same payroll and benefit laws as the private sector, including social security, 401k, and Medicaid coverage or private health insurance allowance.  We can no longer tolerate a government where nobody is responsible for anything or ever gets fired.

Congress will establish biannual performance and zero-based budget requirements for every department and agency, and oversight committees will hold agency heads responsible for meeting goals, with the authority to discipline or discharge failing managers.  Redundant and obsolete services and programs will be eliminated from agencies and departments.  This is basic economics, understood by every American.

All elected officials will be subject to the same ethics standards and prosecution as private sector corporate officials, prohibiting insider trading, personal gain from transactions and decisions, nepotism, payoffs for campaign contributions, and any other breaches of trust.  Why should elected officials get away with corruption that is not tolerated in private business?

Congressional term limits will be established.  The power structure must be brought under control.

Congress will be required to produce timely budgets; continuing resolutions will be prohibited.  The job of Congress is to budget and appropriate.  If they don’t do that, we don’t need them.

Law and Order

My new IRS and FBI commissioners will investigate Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation for tax fraud and improper quid pro quo deals with foreign companies and governments.  This kind of corruption must be brought to light and stopped once and for all.

Sanctuary cities will be denied federal funding.  Existing immigration laws will be enforced at the borders and ports, and in all government offices and programs.  Officials who fail or refuse to enforce any federal law will be disciplined or terminated.  Without borders, we have no country.  And without law enforcement, we have anarchy.

Federal involvement in local law enforcement will cease, including the use of consent decrees to impose federal control.

Health, Welfare, Housing and Education

The Affordable Health Care Act will be repealed and replaced by a congressionally approved plan which includes a provision for a federal assigned risk pool for pre-existing conditions.

Federal funding of all means-tested welfare and assistance programs and all educational programs will be limited to block grants to the states.  Our Constitution intended the power of the people to reside in state governments, not federal.  This is the United STATES of America.

Government funding of private health care providers specifically including Planned Parenthood will be prohibited.

The federal student loan program will be eliminated and restored to the private sector.  Any program for relief from student loan debt will include provisions for clawback of public losses from the universities who received the student loan payments.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other government subsidized home loan programs will be phased out, restoring the mortgage industry to the private sector.

Tax Reform

Estate taxes will be permanently eliminated – it is double taxation.  Corporate income tax will be significantly reduced to encourage repatriation of assets and domestic production.  Personal income taxes will be simplified.  Loopholes and carve-outs will be eliminated for businesses and individuals.

Businesses will receive tax incentives for providing modern technical training programs that meet their workforce needs and result in direct sustained employment of individuals, replacing unnecessary and unproductive college time and expense.

Immigration

Legal immigration rates and eligibilities will be revisited by Congress with impact analysis on jobs, the economy, security, and infrastructure.  Charity will not be a consideration, as it is not a function of government.  Illegal immigration will be treated and enforced as a criminal act.

These action items have the strong support of a majority of Americans.  If Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell fail to take action on these important tasks, I will use the bully pulpit of the Presidency to admonish and encourage and even embarrass them.  And if they still refuse to respond to the will of their constituents, as they have over the last many years, I will find other ways to give the people what they want.

Please vote for me, your humble servant, Donald Trump.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Well, it’s about time for things to get better
We want the truth, the truth and no more lies
We want freedom, justice and equality
I want it for you and I want it for me
Well, well
Give the people what they want!

Give the People What They Want – the O’Jays

Here’s a great song by the O’Jays – from Soul Train, 1975.  Check it out!

Montana Employees ‘Most Engaged’ In the Nation

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Gallup US Map Employee EngagementA Gallup poll was released this week with the headline:  Montana Ranks Highest in Employee Engagement in 2013 and 2014.

That Montana appears in a national news headline is, in itself, newsworthy.  The nation’s fourth-largest state geographically ranks only 44th in population, having just broken the 1 million mark.   With only seven people per square mile, this beautiful “fly over country” is generally pretty inconsequential to the national news media.

So when my beloved Big Sky State is granted a few inches of bold type, it gets my attention.  And as a retired business owner and manager – and an unabashed free-market capitalist – any discussion related to getting, keeping, and motivating employees is compelling to me.

Gallup’s poll asks employers to what extent their people are engaged and enthused about their work and workplace.  Are they passionate about their jobs?  Do they feel a “profound connection” to their company?

In Montana, apparently they do.  In New York, not so much.  What accounts for the difference?

The Gallup article concludes that employees in smaller businesses are more engaged than those lost in a sea of cubicles or a huge factory full of machines.  There are very few large businesses in Montana, so most employees work directly with the owners and managers of their companies.  They see and feel the connection between their own performance and the success of the business.  They rely more closely on each other and know that the success of the individual employee and the company are interwoven.

Another factor is geographic isolation.   Cattle outnumber people almost three to one in the Big Sky State.  My hometown, Lewistown, is the 16th largest city in Montana, with a population of almost 6,000.  Most Montanans live in or near very small communities, and the distance to most services that the rest of the country takes for granted is considerable.  It creates an uncommon level of self-sufficiency.  Montanans learn to weld so they can repair their own equipment.  They plow their own snow or else they would be stranded.  They voluntarily man the fire trucks and ambulances.   Waiting for government services is often just not an option.

And that just might be the difference between Montana and New York.

A few months ago when two feet of snow was predicted in New York, the government told residents to stay home.  And they did.  Two feet of snow in Montana just makes for better elk hunting.  Try telling Montana hunters to stay home after a fresh snow!  And a little snow certainly doesn’t keep those engaged Montana employees from going to work.

History teaches that dependence on government throttles personal ambition and motivation.   And excessive regulation and government control restricts economic growth and standards of living.  Montanans are currently waging what they consider to be an existential battle against federal encroachment, defending their water rights, their natural resources, and their land from a variety of federal programs that threaten seizure, severe regulation, or endless environmental litigation.   30% of Montana land is already “owned” by the federal government.

Montanans are engaged in preserving the sovereignty of their state and the ownership rights of their own property.  They are engaged in the safety, well-being and economic success of their families and communities.   Rather than wait for the federal government to determine their needs and provide for them, Montanans would just as soon the feds butt out.

It’s not hard to see why Montanans are more engaged in their employment than most other Americans.

see this article in its entirety at Watchdog Arena

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Together we’ll stand, divided we’ll fall
Come on now, people let’s get on the ball
And work together.
Come on, come on let’s work together
Because together we will stand
Every boy, every girl and man

Life In The Banana Republic

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Back in the day we watched action adventure movies about Americans traveling in exotic far-flung countries.  It was so very foreign to our small-town Montana sensibilities – the drugs, the shady intrigue, the beautiful women.  There was poverty and danger around every corner, and it seemed that nothing could be accomplished in these mysterious places without paying off some government official.

We called them “banana republics” – countries where life was tough, the government was corrupt,  and only those with connections, wit, and maybe weapons avoided an unhappy fate.

We were enthralled with tense scenes from places where the government was all about secrets and raw, cold power; where ordinary citizens hid behind gray walls and doors, afraid of making some political “hit” list.  Everyone was poor – except those who worked for the government or had connections.  Personal success was just a distant dream, as winners and losers were chosen by the powerful.

It could never happen here.  We have checks and balances, and a president couldn’t just make laws, seize property and control businesses without the consent of the legislature.  This is America.  There’s no corruption here.  Our government leaders would never lie to us, or hide the truth.  Besides, our news people will always tell us what’s really going on, right?  And we have fair elections, where legal citizens get to choose how the government will affect their lives.

Drugs are illegal here.  Aren’t they?  I mean, I think they used to be.

And we don’t have to worry about people here being dirt poor, relying on scraps and handouts from the government.  Most of our people have jobs, and own their own homes, right?  We still manufacture stuff, and have plenty of our own cheap energy for our cars and houses, and everybody has a bright future here.  We still go to church on Sunday and take care of our neighbors and families.  Don’t we?

I’m sure glad we live in America, and not in one of those banana republics.  We have nothing to worry about here, let’s just party on.  Let’s have another joint.  Wanna dance?

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

They’re pickin’ up the prisoners
And puttin em in a pen
And all she wants to do is dance, dance
Rebels been rebels
Since I don’t know when
And all she wants to do is dance

All She Wants To Do Is Dance – Don Henley

The Insults That Triggered our Declaration of Independence Are Here Again

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On July 4, 1776, representatives of the States (not the nation) declared their Declaration of Independenceindependence from King George and Great Britain.  The document they presented to the world included a list of grievances against the King that justified their bold action.

There are grand passages from the Declaration that are widely quoted and remembered.  But the part that interests me today is the list of grievances.  These guys were really ticked off, and with good reason.  It surprises me how many of these “repeated injuries and usurpations” against the States exist today.

“Let Facts be submitted to a candid world”, they began.  Each complaint in the list begins with “He . . .”, referring to King George.  I can’t help making a mental substitution.

  • “He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome necessary for the public good.”  (We now have an administration that has stated it will choose which laws it wishes to enforce.)
  • “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.” (Over-reach and bloated, uncontrolled growth by the EPA, the BLM, HUD, Fanny/Freddy, Education, Labor, Energy, Commerce, Justice, Agriculture, Health and Welfare,  all of the “czars” – where do I stop?)
  • “He has combined with others . . . giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation for imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.”  ObamaCare is the tip of the iceberg.

Fortunately, we can redress our grievances today without the bloodshed our forefathers bravely endured.  We can again declare our independence by voting this fall to end the creeping tyranny that, left unchallenged, would destroy the freedoms our States have enjoyed for 236 years.

Tom Balek, Rockin’ On the Right Side

“Somebody Get Me A Cheeseburger!” – Steve Miller, ‘Livin’ In the USA‘