Recently in Democracy In Action Category

I couldn't resist posting just one more item about Governor Christie. Or in this case another video of him explaining to a media pinhead about his "confrontational tone" with the entrenched interests infesting the Garden State.


'Nuff said.

Could New Jersey governor Chris Christie be the next Ronald Reagan? It certainly seems like he's channeling the Gipper, and to good effect.

Probably one of his most Reaganesque moments took place during a town hall meeting.

One of Christie's most popular YouTube moments is a confrontation with an angry teacher, who upbraids him for not paying her enough. When Christie replies that if she doesn't like the pay package "then you don't have to do it," the crowd cheers like the Giants just scored a touchdown.

Listening to the teacher's complaints makes it quite clear she believes she's entitled to more pay, that it's owed to her. It turns out her salary at the time of the video was $86,389 per year, not including benefits. I don't know about you, but $86K per year is nothing to sneeze at. Christie was right to give her the answer he did. It also reminds us of another of Christie's Reaganesque moments.

Christie's cuts to school funding have earned him the enmity of the state teachers' union, with 200,000 members. The governor asked teachers to agree to a one-year salary freeze and to kick in 1.5 percent of their pay to help fund their health care insurance -- most of the state's teachers don't contribute to their plans.

Teachers in many school districts refused. As he had threatened during discussions with the unions, Christie called on constituents to vote down local school board budgets that didn't conform to his requests. Christie won the public fight. A surprising 58 percent of proposed budgets were defeated, making it the largest number of rejections on state record.

Just as Reagan did in 1981, when he faced off with the air traffic controllers union, Christie called the bluff and seems to have won.

How many times did Reagan go to the airwaves to ask the American public to contact their congressional representatives in order to get something he firmly believed was needed to fix the problems plaguing America through Congress? And how many times did they respond, giving the Gipper what he needed? It looks like Christie is following the same path and getting similar results.

The present governor of New Jersey bears watching as he goes over, under, around, and through the entrenched bureaucracies, union constituencies, and 'gimmee' special interest groups to put New Jersey's fiscal house in order.

"Bunny independence"? These drug-addled potheads haven't amounted to a hill of beans. And never will. Fascinating video. Anti-capitalist because they don't want to have to work. That's demanding. Easier to float in one's sloth like floating in the fluid of the womb. "Unity in diversity"? Rubbish slogans. The black gal is worth a score of 'em.

HT: David Thompson.

The top one percent of earners paid more income taxes than the "bottom" 95 percent. And I bet they don't use services like the rest of us. Aren't they usu. into private schools, gated communities with its own private police, private transportation, etc.?

What's fair about this? I think it's foolish to penalize success and mobilize the forces of envy, which democracy is so adept at doing.

At this rate we'll be seeing a talent drain like Britain's "brain drain" of the 1960s. Australia, New Zealand or some other places will benefit.

I got the story, thanks to boortz.com. I have to say the Catholic Church, by being an immigrant pimp--it doesn't distinguish between legal and illegal so much--and by financially supporting Acorn in the past, doesn't respect private property. Neither do the union thugs.

But what happens when one trespasses on a church's property or the offices of groups like Acorn? They call the PO-lice, of course.

Thursday I attended one of the hundreds of TEA party protests held around the nation. Turnout was around 1000, which was similar to last year's Tax Day TEA Party protest.

Of the myriad of speakers at the protest, only one was a sitting member of the House of Representatives and he was visiting from Michigan. A number of Congressional hopefuls were there, but none spoke, preferring to press the flesh and speak one-on-one with TEA party supporters. Not surprisingly, only GOP candidates showed up even though invitations were extended to candidates from all parties.

Three of the more inspiring speakers included former US Senator Gordon Humphrey (R-NH), Thom Thomson - son of the late New Hampshire governor Meldrim Thomson, and former New Hampshire Senator George Lovejoy.

Senator Humphrey related his experiences of serving in the Senate for two terms. (He promised when he was elected that he'd only serve two terms, then come home. He kept his promise.) The one thing he said that stuck in my mind was his comparison of Congress to "a pit of vipers." He also warned that even those with the best of intentions when they arrive in Washington are eventually seduced by the power their office confers. It doesn't happen quickly, but it does happen, which is why he has supported term limits. He also led the call to "Throw the bums OUT!", something the crowd quickly picked up and chanted with increasing volume. Humphrey said we shouldn't discriminate as there were plenty of Republican bums deserving to be thrown out as much as their Democrat colleagues.

Both Thom Thomson and Senator Lovejoy spoke about the fiscal problems visited upon the people of New Hampshire by both the legislature and the governor, with legislative Democrats willing to spend money the state doesn't have, implementing tax hikes that hit the people most affected by the recession, and attempting to 'appropriate' private funds from a medical malpractice fund in an effort to fund the runaway budget. The governor also failed to protect the taxpayers in the state by refusing to use his veto pen to stop the 30% increase in state spending over the past 2 budgets.

While other TEA party protests drew some number of infiltrators/agitators, the Manchester protest drew only one 'visitor' from the New Hampshire Democrat Party, and he pretty much just watched the activities.

All in all it was a great gathering with appreciative crowd all sharing the same message: "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it any more!"

Resistance to ObamaCare at the state level is growing. AG's of a dozen states have already said they'll bring suit to the Supreme Court, challenging the constitutionality of ObamaCare, in particular the part making to mandatory for American citizens to purchase a service or be fined (or imprisoned). Some states are working on or have passed legislation negating that requirement, seeing it as a violation of the Commerce Clause and the Tenth Amendment.

New Hampshire State Senator Jeb Bradley has filed such legislation here in the Granite State, making mandatory health insurance illegal without due process, meaning a court could order someone to obtain it as part of divorce/custody/child support agreement, but only then.

I wonder if the Democrats, and specifically Obama, will get the message that this piece of legislation is hated by a majority of the American people. No need to answer that as we already know they know, but don't care.

Not at averting disaster until it's almost too late. Glib liars who would want to get in my pants if they were of the Barney Franks' persuasion.

Anybody else see the tidal wave of projected entitlement spending coming poise to swamp us? Help! SOS! Run to higher ground!

For the longest time the major players in the MSM have either ignored or trivialized the TEA Party movement. But no more.

Tonight, ABC's World News had a report about the 'phenomenon' of the TEA parties, showing the effect they've been having and how the movement is growing. As political analyst Matthew Dowd put it:

"I think Republicans definitely dismiss this at their peril. I also think Democrats, by trying to marginalize it, underestimate the anger out there," political analyst Matthew Dowd said.

There are a lot of angry people out there. I'm but one of them.

I find it interesting that one of the favorite politicians among TEA party supporters is former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. But it isn't all that surprising considering she implemented many of the TEA party core beliefs while she was governor, rooting out corruption, cutting profligate state spending, and scaling back the reach of state government until it was performing only the duties expected of it as laid out in the Alaska State Constitution.

The TEA parties aren't aiming their anger at any one party so much as the actions of those in Congress and the various statehouses, showing their anger at being ignored and seen as nothing more than a source of revenue for the tax-and-spenders in both the Democrat and Republican parties.

Maybe ABC started payi8ng attention when TEA party actions started bringing down politicians and party leaders who made the mistake of ignoring their constituents.

The most recent victim of "tea party' activists was Florida Republican Jim Greer, who resigned from as state party chairman this week, in part because of the activists' objections to his alliance with Florida's Republican governor, Charlie Crist, who is running for the U.S. Senate. The activists are vocally supporting Crist's opponent -- a young, outspoken conservative, Marco Rubio -- and some believe the tea party group may bring down Crist, too.

The message is getting out: Politics as usual aren't going to work this time, at local, state, or federal level. You ignore us at your own peril for we have no problem firing you come next November, if not sooner. To quote Howard Beale from the great movie, Network, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!"

It's time those in both parties pay attention because the TEA parties aren't going away.

How's that democracy thing working out for you, Minnesota? It was fun and different electing a comedian to the US Senate, wasn't it? Well, the result speaks for itself as he debates John Thune, a pretty boy from South Dakota, who happens to have a command of the facts and figures more than the writer of "Rush Limbaugh is a big, fat idiot" does. Jeanne Shaheen acts as president of the Senate, reminding (4:50 into the debate) Franken in precious fashion that he has the floor. Even she--and believe you me she's no MIT-trained engineer--understands Franken is flailing badly. It must be his rambling, slurred speech, and unfocused presentation that's the giveaway, and some colleagues do attempt to come to his aid, such as a leftist from Ohio, Sherrod Brown. (His daughter Emily, for example, according to Wikipedia, is employed by the notorious left-wing labor union brown shirts, the SEIU, who are in favor of open borders says Michelle Malkin. The pear hasn't fallen far from the tree in this case.)

The disagreement centers on the fact that although taxes for the proposed Pelosi Health Care Destroyer (PHCD) go into effect days from now, most of the benefits don't kick in for a few years. 2014 to be precise. Now there are some small potatoes that do kick in immediately along with the taxes. Here's what Franken says:

This guy's vote is weighted the same as Skip Murphy's. Kinda dumb, if you ask me.

As the picture in this post says, "Do you miss me yet?"

I thought this quote was pretty good:

"I think the point of the comparison is this: Bush endured 8 years of wall-to-wall, 24/7 liberal bashing from multiple networks. Meanwhile, Obama was coronated and has enjoyed wall-to-wall adoration from the same multiple networks. If Obama's numbers, 11 months in, already approach Bush's after EIGHT years, then, baby, you've got serious problems."

Obama's tumbling poll numbers certainly aren't helping his administration, particularly when Democrats are saying they miss Bush.

This does not bode well for the Teleprompter/Teleologist/Apologist-In-Chief.

Could the falling poll numbers be one of the reasons Pelosi and Reid are trying so hard to ram through legislation a majority of Americans don't need, don't want, and don't have the means to pay for?

Monstrous graph from the American Enterprise Institute over at our compatriots at GraniteGrok. Monstrous.

But Bertrand Russell, of all people, explains it:

...when great changes occur the theories which justify them are always a camouflage for passion.  And the passion that has given driving force to democratic theories is undoubtedly the passion of envy.

The Conquest of Happiness, p. 68.

I would like to thank one of my most important mentors for first indicating this passage to me, the late Erik Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn. It was a great, great privilege for me to correspond several times with him. He gave me a number in the States when he made his annual foray here. I called it mid-morning. He had written he was in Chicago. But the number was for San Francisco! He mildly rebuked me, but later sent me a nice post card of one of his own paintings of a parrot/chameleon amalgamation. Hideous. But that's where the man clearly saw where we were heading unless we kept true to our principles in the Founding: liberty, not equality. Where's our Equality Bell?

The fault, dear sirs, is in our un-American system of democracy. I have vowed not to shed a drop of my blood for it. A republic, yes. Certainly, yes. That's what we're supposed to be, after all. That's what Dr. Franklin said to the lady.

Dr. Leddihn said democracy was an importation from the French Revolution, a real topsy-turvy affair, unlike our own much more modest War for Independence. Our principles in the Declaration are eternal, but we didn't change the calendar, destroy the churches, or engage in a genocidal precursor of the horrors of the Twentieth Century.

Leddihn and Marx both share--coming from opposite poles, though the former was adamant to avoid the confusion that extremes can meet--in their outlook of the extreme importance of the French Revolution. For Leddihn it was a hideous developent; Marx embraced it.

The teaching of the French Revolution is hideously sanitized by most American textbooks and educators. There was a notable revisionist effort by Simon Schama about twenty years ago, with his book Citizens.

P.S. And, Will, it's because the doctors and lawyers read newspapers like the New York Times that espouse egalitarianism. Since they have no pride in blood (heritage) and often lack optimism for the future, which means they have few if any children, they are susceptible to take on surrogate religious movements. They are taught to feel guilty for being rich and seek redress by voting for the Left, which Leddihn always capitalized.

In short, without America following its motto in the "Star-spangled Banner," (last stanza) [Why is it the best stuff in songs like this are at the end?] we're doomed. We probably are, which is why I preordered and read John Derbyshire's new book with pessimistic delight.

Listening to this report on NPR's Morning Edition one would get the impression an authoritarian military junta now ruled in Honduras.

Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has taken refuge in Brazil's embassy. Zelaya was ousted in a June coup but slipped back into Honduras on Monday. (emphasis added)

On June 28, soldiers burst into Zelaya's bedroom and forced him at gunpoint onto a plane and then left him on the tarmac in Costa Rica in his pajamas.

Later that day, the Honduran Congress named Roberto Micheletti president.

Micheletti is demanding that Brazil hand over Zelaya to face criminal charges. Micheletti's administration has said for months that Zelaya would be arrested if he set foot on Honduran soil. Honduran soldiers have surrounded the Brazilian embassy.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told the defacto administration that Brazil won't tolerate a breach of its embassy, but he also warned Zelaya not to provoke Honduran security forces into invading the building.

The report makes it sound as if Zelaya was removed during a military coup and that he's trying to get reinstated to his rightful office. The media is playing it up as if he was illegally removed from office. But he wasn't.

He was tried and convicted of violating his country's laws, its constitution, by trying to remain in power even though by law he is allowed to serve only one term as president. He tried to force a referendum to illegally alter the Honduran constitution in such a way that he could have potentially become President-for-Life, just like his buddy Hugo Chavez. The other two branches of the government, the judicial and legislative, saw the move for what it was and it's illegality, impeached him, convicted him, and removed him from office.

Let's repeat the lesson:

Then president Manuel Zelaya tried to force referendum that would have illegally amended the Honduran constitution to make it possible for him to become a defacto dictator. The Honduran Constitution was set up to prevent just such a thing. What's worse, he conspired with a foreign nation, Venezuela, to make this happen. In most nations this is called treason. And in most nations treason is punishable by life imprisonment or death. He broke the law.

The Honduran Congress and Supreme Court followed the law and removed Zelaya using the process as laid out in their constitution. They followed the rule of law.

Now Zelaya's socialist backers, including Chavez, Castro, Morales, and the biggest socialist of all - our own President Obama - want Zelaya returned to office so he can usurp Honduran law and install himself as the next Latin American strong man, wiping away years of democratic reform and turning a free representative democracy modeled after our own into a socialist dictatorship.

Some have complained that Zelaya didn't have a fair trial, but under whose law did he have an unfair trial? Too many of his 'supporters' here in the US seem to think US laws and legal traditions apply. They do not. Only Honduran law applies, period. As the saying goes: different country, different laws.