The latest in Mike Walsh’s continuing “To save America…” series.
I must say, I’m liking it already.
Over the past few months, we’ve been considering the wholly negative history of the so-called “Progressive”-era constitutional amendments, none of which did anything to improve the nation but did much to undermine its founding principles. Until the end of the Civil War, the constitution had only been amended twice since the passage of the Bill of Rights in 1791: the obscure, jurisdictional 11th Amendment, (1795), which had to do with lawsuits involving state and federal courts, and the 12th, (1804), which partially clarified the procedures for presidential elections. Then, between 1865 and 1870, came the three Reconstruction amendments, abolishing slavery (except as a punishment for a crime, such as a prison chain gang) and giving African-Americans citizenship and voting and other rights.
And then after a 43-year break, came the Progressive Era and its assault on Americans’ money and personal freedom, the radical changes in how the Senate is selected, Prohibition of a formerly legal substance, and finally the extension of the franchise to women, in defiance of all historical norms going back to the ancient Greeks, on the theory that it wasn’t “fair.” All have been proven disasters.
It’s not just the constitutional amendments that have contributed to the decline of the Republic, however: it’s also the actions of an ever-burgeoning federal government, which has simultaneously abandoned its core fiscal, executive, judicial, and legislative responsibilities, and extended its intrusive reach into almost every facet of our existence via the creation of the regulatory agencies, which now essentially control every aspect of a citizen’s public and private life.
Created by Congress, often at the urging of the president, these independent, immortal bureaucratic golems are a second form of government that co-exist with the constitutional system most Americans think we have. Being “independent,” they are at once legislative in function but also judicial in essence: their wishes have the force of law (often written by themselves), tried before administrative law judges, and enforced at gunpoint by their private police forces when necessary. They are effectively beyond the direct supervision of all three legitimate branches of government, to the extent that they now form a fourth branch of government.
Like most things involving the feds, they are largely staffed by members of the Civil Service — nearly three million employees and counting. Many, if not most, belong to one of some one hundred civil-service unions, through which they bargain with the IRS-funded government regarding their wages and working conditions; you, the taxpayer, have no say in the matter. So it’s no surprise that over the past hundred years, jobs in the “public” sector now pay better and have greater benefits, including more time off and greater job security, than do jobs in the private sector. So what if it’s become the employer of last resort for a significant portion of the population? They vote, en masse, for the folks who pay them.
I’ve been saying for years now that basically, the federal G amounts to a sort of wink-nudge employment program for Nee-grows who are too stupid, lazy, or just generally incompetent to hold down a job that’s actually, y’know, useful at all.
Abolishing the Civil Service is necessary, but I doubt it would be sufficient. Constitutional governance will require more.
It may not be sufficient but it is necessary, so there’s no reason not to do it, say, today.
Actually, I distinguish between the civil service, as envisioned in 1890 or whenever, and the unions for the government employees. Getting rid of the unions is uncontestably necessary. The civil service system may be workable so long as the unions are kept out. Not with employees who have experience in the unions, of course. All current and past government employees should be fired and barred from re-employment. (And the majority charged with crimes starting with time fraud and going up to treason.) Give it a few years to see if it works.
Yep – Here’s the reality of the situation – it wasn’t just Team Donkey that did this, it took the active participation of Team Elephant to bring it about – and both of them acted as mouthpieces and shills for the Administrative State and its corporate backers.
The legislation that took Big Pharma and the Medical Industrial Complex off the hook for any damages caused by faulty, ineffective, and dangerous products was the result of a bipartisan effort and was signed into law by the Palooka-In-Chief, Donald Trump. It was Trump that perpetrated a grossly unconstitutional usurpation of Federal power in ordering the economy to be “locked down”. Locking down is what you do to prisoners, not to a free people in a free country. And this usurpation was accomplished by force of arms, the law enforcement apparatus trashed its oath to “uphold the Constitution” and instead, ripped it up and flushed it down the toilet. And Congress stood idly by and did nothing about it, and let the Administrative State have its way – as they do on a regular basis, anyway. It might save a lot of money and fuel and heating costs to replace Congress and the Executive Branch by a single bureaucrat in a room with a rubber stamp.
Millions of lives were – and continue to be – ruined. People have been maimed and killed, and small businesses have been bankrupted, and the people driven into penury by this action by the Administrative State and its willing minions in Congress and the Executive Branch – and it makes no difference, Trump and Biden pushed the same preset and predesigned policy, and Democrats and Republicans worked together to impose it on the American people.
”[H]e has erected a multitude of new offices by a self-assumed power, and sent hither swarms of officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.” Does that sound familiar? That’s exactly what has been going on, and not just the last two years – which have been the apotheosis of this set of actions – it’s been the “efficient government” of the United States since 1937. Of course, up until the people were locked down like animals in a cage, most people didn’t notice and a lot of people went along with it, allowing themselves to be bribed with their own money and fooled by the Propaganda Arm of the Administrative State, the so-called “free press”, now including social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. Most peoples’ chains rested lightly upon them, until their masters cracked the whip, and used armed force to let them know that their former servants had become their masters.
And this set of policies wasn’t just enacted and enforced at the Federal level, it was done in the states, again with the collusion of both the Democrats and Republicans, with the exception of very few states which have ended up bucking the trend when the policies were found, eventually, to lack any basis in law or in science.
Here in Kansas, in 2020, the elected Governor was a Democrat, and she set into place a program – under emergency powers granted her by a majority Republican legislature. This program bore a marked similarity to “pandemic emergency” plans in other states, almost as if there was a common template in use, with blanks left open for the appropriate names and agencies. Using these powers, she drove hundreds of small businesses into ruin, while favoring the megacorporate big box stores – the only stores allowed to remain open. People were hurt economically, emotionally, physically, and spiritually by her actions – and the Republicans sat by and let it happen. They refused to do anything, they fobbed off constituents with lame excuses – when they were available to talk. They eventually made a lame effort to limit the emergency powers, but for all intents and purposes, they seemed to be a part of the overarching plan. Now, of course, they’re hoping that people forget, vote them back into office, so that they can continue to fatten their bank accounts, and continue the ruination of the state and its people. And in the states as well, the legislatures have abdicated their proper role and have become servants of their respective state-level Administrative States – which, unlike the Federal one, may or may not have basis in those states’ Constitutions.
”We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable, that all men are created equal and independent; that from that equal creation they derive in rights inherent and inalienables, among which are the preservation of life, and liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these ends, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing it’s powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes: and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. but when a long train of abuses and usurpations, begun at a distinguished period, and pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to subject them to arbitrary power, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”
The proper goals of government are “preservation of life, and liberty and the pursuit of happiness” – and governments at state and Federal level have manifestly failed to do this over the past two and a half years. The “two party system” is a front for a government hiding in the shadows, that government plays the Donkey Party off against the Elephant Party and produces a lot of heat and light and tumult and noise, none of which has any real significance, it’s but a distraction, a misdirection, the sort of thing a magician does when he directs your attention to the hand – “see the bunny!” – other than the hand doing the trick… and in so doing they have destroyed lives and liberty and happiness.
This is as true now as when it was written in 1776: ”When a long train of abuses and usurpations, begun at a distinguished period, and pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to subject them to arbitrary power, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.” Think about this, apply it to your experience for the last two years or so – and then consider the remedy. Now as then, it is the choice between liberty or death, the choice is stark, many have chosen apparent security and have gotten death as the result, those who chose liberty took the harder path, and they survive. And this is true for our society and how we govern ourselves as well, either Constitutional liberty or the arbitrary diktats of the Administrative State.
“It was Trump that perpetrated a grossly unconstitutional usurpation of Federal power in ordering the economy to be “locked down”.”
And that order was given when and in what form?
Hey hhluce, why don’t you answer the question?
Did you make a mistake? Tell a lie? Do you have knowledge we don’t?
Barry beat me to it. It was the state governors who imposed the lockdowns, business closures, and face diaper mandates. That’s why there were such policy differences between states.
I do fault Trump for the so-called vaccines. Not so much for fast-tracking the funding, as it would have been a good gamble if the Chinese bioweapon had been as lethal as originally claimed, but for refusing to back down from pushing them and claiming credit for them even now.
Yep, Trump has responsibility now for not realizing how bad the stuff is. I suspect he doesn’t read what we read and doesn’t know how bad it is. But that’s on him.
As for the initial response – As you know, Kenny and I both (along with you and many others) had it pegged very early for what it was, a planned scam to tank the economy and destroy Trump, and when that didn’t work, as a means for massive voting fraud to steal the election. I’m of the opinion that while Trump is culpable for all that took place, what else could the president of the USA do? He was being told by the entire medical community inside and outside government and inside and outside this country, that millions of Americans were going to die. Millions. Trump is a decently intelligent man, but he’s not the wide intellect you find among us commenters 🙂 He had no choice but to listen and respond.
There is plenty of things you can pin on Trump. Blatant falsehoods like claiming Trump ordered the economy locked down are typically written by people that are part of the real corrupt cabal of statist supporters pretending to be something else.
I still think it was always BOTH intended to tank the economy and initiate massive vote fraud and was intended as such from the very beginning.
I don’t doubt that. They were already cheating and figured on the scam providing additional cover as needed fits right in with the facts on the ground.
PS The Vote Fraud needed something to back it up. A “Pandemic” and “Failing Economy” was needed to justify why Trump vote totals were down and Biteme’s “soared”.
They knew Biteme’s vote totals would “soar” because they knew they were going to push Massive Vote Fraud for him. What surprised them was that Trump’s vote totals still soared.
Hence why they had to dump 2 million fake votes in the old skool way at 3AM to overcome his massive turnout ON Election Day.
But THIS TIME they were prepared for any eventuality and they were prepared in at least 9 States. (NC was one State that stopped counting for a week, but was eventually allowed to go to Trump).
Trump caught them off guard with shrillary and they were not going to let that happen again. They were prepared this time with massive cheating, and when even that wasn’t enough they stopped the process until the additional ballots could be manufactured and delivered.
NC got a commie gov out of that deal. No way he won fairly given the vote totals in the other races.
Once again, the criticism of the FDA has been for decades that they would not allow some drugs that apparently worked to be given to willing patients who were dying and wished to take a chance.
THAT is what the emergency authorization was intended to do. Allow people who voluntarily agreed to accept the risks of an untested drug to be able to take that drug because they decided they were more at risk from the disease.
That would have led to a very limited distribution on a voluntary basis to people who were most vulnerable to dying from WuFlu.
That all assumed that the drug companies would be forthcoming and honest about the efficacy of the drugs. Neither Trump nor you and I could know beforehand that the efficacy was a total lie.
That was FRAUD on the part of the drug companies.
If they told the truth then a limited number of people ( a few million) might have taken the chance on it.
But Trump cannot be a scientist who can know the efficacy of a drug.
This is the issue of the Low Trust Society that Mike and SteveF have been talking about.
Trump was a victim for trusting them. He’s an older generation, when trust was more earned and understood. Echo Boomers like Barry and I and Gen X like SteveF have much less trust in institutions. Now I don’t think this applies to SteveF or Mike, but I for one was completely shocked at how deep the rot and weaponization had drilled down into every aspect of our institutions. It didn’t last long. Fauci and Birx shot it down for me in about two weeks.
I think it is a mistake if Trump is still touting the Vaxxes. It was a good idea that didn’t work in a low trust world. Then again, i am not sure Trump has said anything recently about this and what they are dragging up is remarks made a while ago now. Perhaps I’m wrong.
No, you’re not wrong. Trump hasn’t come out and made any declaration about how bad the notvax is, but neither is he out promoting it either.
Well said. There are a lot of hindsight critics. Most of them were nowhere to be found when the scam was raging as they bought into it as well.
And now they want a new man on a white horse, a new savior, because they will not accept who is to blame. “We have met the enemy and he is us” Pogo.
And they are choosing a 100% government man. 100%. Harvard. Yale. Jag. Politician. 100% government man. An insider. The GOP choice. Approved by the Bush family, by Karl Rove, by Mitch McConnell, by the Wall St money men. That’s the new man on the White Horse.
It’s pathetic. The only president for Americans since Ike, and they throw him out like used toilet paper. The only president since Ike that either kept or tried to keep his promises. And he largely succeeded in spite of opposition form the entire government and both party’s.
Sorry to have to say it, but…
That’s from all of five days ago.
Let me check the source for context. I will note there were weasel words there.
The “official” line is that the reports are true and the “vaccines” “saved” tens of millions of lives. You and I know that’s BS and so do probably 200 Million other Americans alone, never mind across the world. Trump chooses to not question that premise and then take credit for the Fast Track.
I think it is a mistake on his part.
However, if in context he said something else, then I’ll be back.
You posted a few minutes before me.
I then checked into the “reporter”. Comment below.
Gilbert is filth, 100%.
Maybe. What you link is a report of what someone claims Trump said. I tried and am unable to find the actual sound track/video/transcript of Trumps’s actual words in context.
I’m completely aware that Trump has not made any statement pointing out the bad of the so called vax, as I stated above. I’m also aware that, in general, he has bragged about getting it done in record time, cutting the red tape to do it.
If I re-read my wording above, then point taken. He has said something about the damn notvax, so my reply to Kenny might be in error regarding that. The larger point is what does Trump actually have to say and that linked article is not so clear.
I could see him saying something along the lines of what is reported and doing that without promoting the vax further. He certainly never wanted it mandated as far as I know.
Back to your link. If I take the reports of what he said at face value, then should we take the reports of what he said regarding Charlottesville at face value?
I’ll have to hear the words and the context, or read a transcript. There are a million people out to get Trump and they will lie to do it.
In any event, if Trump thinks the shit is safe and effective then we’ll add it to the long list of things he’s wrong about. He was certainly wrong about it earlier. It wouldn’t change the order of the list of who is best suited to lead this country, and that list is very, very, short.
Ahh, and that right there is the real problem. As I’ve always said, Trump is no knight sans peur et sans reproche on a white charger riding in to save the nation. He’s as human as anybody else is, and he makes mistakes just like we all do.
But in any event, even if he gets re-elected in 2024 (again), which I don’t think there’s the proverbial snowball’s chance of, he’s not going to be leading this country; the “people” who actually do don’t ever come up for a vote. THAT’S the problem, and I don’t see but one way of fixing it. Which might not actually fix it, but could very well leave us in worse shape than we already are in.
It’s a right fix we’re in, for sure.
Agreed. But that doesn’t mean I stand idly by while lies and disinformation get told by the marxists, and not do the best I can to fight them in normal ways, by getting out the vote and supporting the only man with a freaking chance that isn’t owned by the US government.
They cheated massively in 2020, but it got them exposed. That’s no small thing. Exposure is a prelude to change, to fixing things. That may proceed at a glacial pace, and that may mean a separation of the country leading to a bloody and violent civil war, but it is going to change.
I want to force them to massively cheat again. More exposure and a speed up in the timeline. And that means supporting and working to put the only man they fear in the office.
The only one that will be running that they don’t own.
Until we get critical mass of people who see where this is heading we are closer to 1765 than 1775.
Exactly, Kenny.
And we don’t get the people to pull their heads out of the hole without exposure. I know for a fact that a larger number of people now know that the voting systems in this country are rigged. As more and more come to that conclusion change can come about.
The only question is what that change will look like –
Bloody and violent civil war or a semi peaceful process.
I’m not ruling out a peaceful process just yet.
OK, look at the source – Vice’s David Gilbert.
Anti-Trump
Anti-Musk
Anti-Kari Lake
Anti-Christian
Pro vax it would appear
Thanks but no. I don’t believe anything he says. I’m just looking at his headlines from the end of last year. No need to dirty my mind with the filth of a deep state promoter.
Nothing that POS says should be believed, nothing.
Unfortunately Mike, the article slams every single person questioning the vaxxes. It’s hard to trust what they claim he said when they misrepresent ALL the other people they cite in the article.
For instance:
Of course there are people saying that. Except they don’t give Trump credit, they give Biteme credit.
COVID-19 vaccines saved an estimated 20 million lives in 1 year | CIDRAP (umn.edu)
So, maybe 100 Million is hyperbole, but 30-40 Million has been thrown around (20 million first year. We’ve had almost another year since that cite was written).
Right now, there is no official proof that the Vaxxes are either ineffective (they just need boosters) and dangerous. So the link is a trap. If Trump questions the Vaxxes the narrative changes “Trump buys into Conspiracy Theories that the Vaccines are Ineffective and Dangerous.
Proof?
From the Link:
Talk about a Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t hit piece! And there’s a dozen more of those backhanded slams there.
OK, some more context from an article which is NOT a Trump Hit Job:
Like I said, in a limited rollout if the Vaxxes did what they claimed and were VOLUNTARY it would be fine.
I do wish he’d back off a little and show some caution, as in “well, I’ve heard about the idea that the drug companies may have misled us and I would wait and see if this is true. Still, my rollout, if what is true about what they have said about it in fact saving lives, was an accomplishment.
Hey, did you find the actual interview or a transcript?
If so post a link.
Thanks.
I did, below in my third reply.
Thanks, I’m still looking for a transcript or audio of the actual call in.
The link I provided has a video with the full video. It’s only a 2 minute or so segment.
OK, got it. Sorry, I didn’t realize that link had the audio.
After listening, the report is definitely slanted as you point out.
OTOH, Trump appears to be clueless as to how bad the shit really is. I don’t think he knows. I think he looks at the “official” data, which is bogus, and his conclusions are drawn from that.
We read between the lines. Presidents typically don’t.
He probably does not understand because it’s basically another Social Media and Legacy Media Memory Hole Operation going on.
On the other hand, as I said, it’s a Trap. If Trump DOES ackowledge the dangers he joins the “conspiracy theory” ranks.
The Narrative right now that most Americans hear and believe is that there might some small problems for a very limited number of people, but well, worth it to save millions of lives.
Which was the purpose of Fast Tracking. Take a chance on a VOLUNTARY basis.
Had Trump’s Voluntary Plan been carried out a limited number of elderly or other High Risk people would have taken it and it would not be forced on College Students and other young people and healthy people under 50.
No disagreement.
Aaaaaaaaand the killer part for the narrative they left out and can be found here:
Trump Defends Covid Vaccines When Pushed By Hard Right Host (mediaite.com)
Emphasis mine.
Once again, in Trump’s mind it came down to this:
As long as they were NOT mandatory and saved lives then it was worth fast tracking them and allowing people to decide for themselves whether to take them. If people felt the risk of dying from WuFlu exceeded the risk of any unknown problems, then they should be allowed to choose to take the Vaxxes. He emphasized the Mandates were wrong. He emphasizes that, as far as we know, there were certain problems in relatively small numbers. Officially that is true, although you, I and Barry all have our suspicions. But right now, WE are “conspiracy theorists” and that’s a trap they’re trying to lay for Trump by mischaracterizing the full interview.
If we get real proof, and I think we will, that the Vaxxes are ineffective and/or dangerous, and the idea that’s not a “conspiracy theory” then he might change how he responds.
Trump is playing in the Political Arena. He doesn’t have the luxury of speaking his mind, laid bare and brutally honest, like you or I do here on this blog. He has to walk that line between controversial and politically savvy. He’s RUNNING for Office.
We’re not (Thank God, I really do hate politics).
The Governors shut down, NOT Trump.