Thread by @STUinSD

Thread: What to do with the Political Class?

1. We have witnessed three amazing spectacles from the political class over the past week: the Uniparty wake (aka the McCain funeral), the Democrat tantrums during the Kavanaugh hearings, and Obama’s ranting against @POTUS.

2. Let’s examine each one briefly before answering the question posed.

3. The legacy media gave wall-to-wall coverage of McCain’s funeral over several days – before, during, and after. It was a Trump hate-fest from start to finish, as orchestrated from the grave by McCain himself. Many have commented and written about the spectacle.

4. I particularly like this analysis of the funeral which gets to the nub of the matter, i.e., that @POTUS has exposed the Uniparty’s policies for the failures they were and are (and we normal have learned that BIGLY!):
atimes.com/article/a-fune…

5. And the ridiculous pictures that were taken showing all the back-slapping among the Uniparty attendees. Here’s one among many. Duckduckgo . com can provide others with a simple search.

6. Then there was the lunacy exhibited by ostensible US senators of the Democrat Party (and Soros-paid protesters!) during the first two days of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Judge Kavanaugh. Here’re the first six minutes of the hearing:

7. I like the analysis of the Democrats’ performance and hypocrisy presented at Americanthinker.com. Here are a couple of excerpts:

“Not one of these Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee showed the judge an iota of respect.”

8. “They did expose for all to see their contempt for the president and all things conservative. They apply very different rules to those nominated to the SCOTUS by Republicans from what they apply to those nominated by Democrats.”

9. “Non-answers by Democrat-nominated candidates are heralded for their evasion of how-would-you-rule questions. This is not allowed for those nominated by Republican presidents.”

10. “Supreme Court justice nominees such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, etc. were celebrated for their refusal to answer certain questions.”

11. “Kavanaugh, more judicious and more experienced than Ginsburg or Kagan ever were, has been eviscerated by these same Democrats and the press for his handling of the questions asked.”

Read the rest here:
americanthinker.com/blog/2018/09/b…

12. But the trifecta of lunacies that REALLY set me off on this thread was Obama’s speech today at the University of Illinois-Urbana where he received an ethics award (!). Here’s what the left-wing vox.com had to say about it:

13. “The former president unloaded on President Trump — by name — and Republicans in Congress during a blistering speech at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on Friday, urging students in the audience to vote in an election he called a turning point.”

14. “’It did not start with Donald Trump,’ Obama said. ‘He is a symptom, not the cause.’ But he went on to criticize Trump and Republicans in Congress at length, calling out coziness with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Trump’s tweets about the Justice Department ….

14A. “…investigating Republicans, the president’s reluctance to criticize Nazi sympathizers after the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, and more.”

15. “’Republicans who know better in Congress — and they’re there, they’re quoted saying, Yeah, we know this is kind of crazy — are still bending over backward to shield this behavior from scrutiny or accountability,’ he said.”

16. If you can stand it, his whole speech can be seen here:

17. In his speech, Obama showed us all what a low-life he really is by breaking a long tradition of former presidents not to speak ill of their successors. Un – freaking – precedented! Not to mention the fact that he tried to take credit for the Trump economy. Did I say low-life?

18. But here’s the deal: these three events – as horrible as they were to see – are really just symptoms of the larger problem. And that problem is the political class itself.

19. Who make up the political class? Current and former politicians, their staffs, legacy media (including mainline “conservative” media like National Review), non-profit foundations and “think tanks,” current and former political appointees in the Executive Branch, …

19A. …elements of academia (especially legal and social science departments), political activists (including those in Hollywood), political consultants (who are legion), and senior members of the permanent federal bureaucracy (the “Deep State”). And other hangers-on.

20. All these people are interchangeable parts, moving from one organization to another as they advance their careers – in and out of administrations, in and out of government, hired by friends and influence peddlers with money, promoted by those same pals, …

20A …sending their kids to the same private schools, socializing together, and returning to government service when their political party is returned to power. We’ve all seen this graphic showing Obama administration spouses working in the legacy media as just one example.

21. The political class didn’t just spring full-blown; the “professional” political class began its explosive growth after the 16th Amendment was passed in 1913. The federal income tax greatly accelerated the growth of the federal govt and with it the power that comes from money.

22. The Progressive presidents (esp. Wilson, Hoover, and FDR in particular) “gifted” us the federal bureaucracy that haunts us to this very day. Extra-constitutional cabinets and regulation of virtually every nook and cranny in American society and the economy.

23. The complexity of the federal government – including its very size and opaque nature – helped the political class convince the rest of us that only professionals (themselves) could properly “run” the government on our collective behalf.

24. And over time we ceded control and authority to them – but to what end and purpose? A career politician has two primary jobs: spend our tax dollars and get reelected (the latter largely by using the promises of other people’s money to obtain votes). That’s their formula.

25. And understanding that explains much, does it not? American political history is littered with abject failures and an YUUUGE waste of our tax dollars:
a. The New Deal (FDR; prolonged the Great Depression)
medium.com/jvnto/why-did-…

25. (cont'd)
b. The Fair Deal (Truman’s watered-down extension of the New Deal)
britannica.com/event/Fair-Deal
c. The Great Society (LBJ’s boondoggle)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Soc…
d. The War on Poverty (also LBJ; $15T spent with no real impact on the poverty rate)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Po…

25. (cont'd)
e. Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac rule changes (Clinton; leading to 2008 crash)
americanthinker.com/articles/2008/…
f. Obamacare (Obama)
oregoncatalyst.com/25561-reminder…

25. (cont'd)
g. Stimulus bills (aka deficit spending) (Bush 43 started, then Obama added $10T to the national debt over 8 years)
thebalance.com/us-debt-by-pre…

26. What did all of that buy us? $20 trillion worth of national debt for starters, with federal unfunded liabilities as of 2014 totaling $127 trillion! A poverty rate virtually unchanged from the 1950s, the destruction of inner cities & the black family, rampant drug abuse, etc.

27. And this while the “experts” in the political class assure us from election to election cycle that they are our rightful rulers who can “solve all of our problems” (most of which they themselves created through the unintended consequences of previous failed policies!).

28. Do these people come across like “experts” to you? Yeah, expert at screwing things up BIGLY! But maybe the new crop of socialist Democrats running for office are “real experts”? Did Corey “T-Bone” Booker, Kamal “Ho” Harris, and Elizabeth “Fauxcahontas” Warren fill the bill?

29. Or how about Dick “Stolen Valor” Blumenthal? It’s laughable based on what we’ve seen from them over the past few days and weeks! The only thing these people are expert at is self-promotion. But I digress.

30. Note that all of the above initiatives were Democrat-sponsored passed with nominal Republican support (except for Obamacare which had ZERO Republican support). Except for Obamacare, there are always a few Republicans on board with growing the government.

31. But in reality, @POTUS has taught us that the Uniparty is in fact made up of Democrats (the nominal party of government since Wilson’s days) and their RINO partners. Those RINOs make up the #NeverTrump crowd – McCain was perhaps most prominent until he croaked.

32. Over the years, the Uniparty has implemented rules to perpetuate themselves in political power & make it difficult for outsiders to displace them: campaign finance rules, dark money (think McCain-Feingold), the use of media & think-tank allies to squelch populist measures….

32A. …such as term limits and voter ID, primary and party convention rules for selecting nominees, the weaponizing of federal agencies such as the IRS against outsiders such as the Tea Party (or the DoJ/FBI/IC against @POTUS, as we are finding out!), ….

32B. …the corruption of the rule of law and its unequal application to all Americans, the selective enforcement of existing laws in service of political goals, etc.

33. We’ve been told by the political class for years that some things are “too hard to do” (like tackling the DPRK nuke problem or moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem) while other things are beneficial when they’re really not (like free trade “gifting” us the rise of China!)

34. Because that’s what the experts – the people who insist that they are our betters – claim. And then along comes the unexpected – a political outsider wins the presidency because enough of us normals got fed up with the downward trajectory of the country.

35. Look what happens! Trump made a lot of campaign promises – and he’s actually delivering on them: tax cuts, decreased regulations, re-balancing international trade, restoring manufacturing jobs, getting rid of the Obamacare mandate (all of it except for the execrable McCain).

36. Also restoring military readiness, resetting international relations with allies and adversaries to historical norms, rescinding the horrible Iran JCPOA, and getting started on the Wall (which will get done with more congressional support after November!).

37. The last president to actually deliver on his promises was Reagan. He focused on the big three: restore military readiness, get the economy moving again, and defeat the Soviet Union. And he delivered on all three.

38. Bush 41 promised no new taxes (and proceeded to break that promise!). Can anyone remember what Clinton and Bush 43 promised (or on what promises they delivered?). Obama was all smoke and mirrors and fluff (“transformation”?).

39. I don’t know about you, but I’m done with career politicians – of both parties! Except for the tiny, tiny few constitutionalists who are in the House Freedom Caucus. And I’m going to carefully monitor my elected congress-critters to help keep them on the straight and narrow.

40. It’s going to take time – over multiple election cycles – but we would all be better served to return to the Founders’ concept of citizen legislators and completely broom the political class. Measures that need to be implemented over time include:

40. (cont'd)
a. Strict term limits (10 years total federal service)
b. Return of unconstitutional federal functions to the states

40. (cont'd)
c. Repeal of the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act (which gave us baseline budgeting and ever-growing federal budgets since it was passed).
d. Strict enforcement of existing laws and adherence to oaths of office

40. (cont'd)
e. Passage of new anti-corruption laws (including close monitoring of the net worth of politicians and family members)
f. Passage of laws preventing lobbying by former congressmen, senators and senior staff (no one makes a buck off their “public service”).

41. @POTUS is showing us what competency and real problem-solving is all about. Have we learned the lesson, or will we continue letting the political class rule the roost?

42. It’s up to us to keep the #MAGA momentum going in DC! In the immortal words of the dying Jim Malone (Sean Connery) in the movie The Untouchables, “What are you prepared to do?” Brooming the political class would be a good start! ///The end.