January, 2025, Part 5, Political Class Insanity: Stupid Wildfire Comments From Biden, Newsom and FEMA

Every month we devote posts to just general political class insanity that is running rampant through the country. The members of the American political class continue to show that they are incapable of efficiently operating any level of government in this country.

Even their best efforts are almost always ineffective at resolving any problem facing Americans. They spend a great amount of time not trying to improve the lives of their citizens but continually ensuring their reelection and enriching themselves, their families, and their friends in the process, all at taxpayer expense.

1)Unfortunately, today’s post on political class insanity will focus on three very stupid statements from two politicians and one government bureaucrat. As everyone knows, the city of Los Angeles is still being ravaged by multiple wildfires. At least two dozen people have already died, tens of thousands of acres have been burned to the ground, and thousands of structures are now ash.

In the middle of this fiasco, Biden held a wildfire briefing.meeting with his most senior administration officials, a meeting that for some reason was filmed. After making a few statements, Biden turned to his Vice President to turn the meeting over to her, and stated: “Madam vice president, I know you’re directly affected. So, you fire away, no pun intended.”

Seriously, people have died, people are homeless, people have lost all of their possessions, and Biden says something like this, “no pun intended.” Social media exploded with disgust over his nonchalant comment, calling Biden’s comment sick, disgusting, and tone-deaf, among other reactions.

A true leader would carefully pick their words in a crisis time like this, something that Biden has never been. See his remarks at the following link:

https://ijr.com/biden-faces-backlash-after-tone-deaf-wildfire-remark/


2)Okay, second disgusting statement from a politician relative to the fires. Gavin Nesom is the governor of California. As a leader of the state, he is one of the powerful politicians in the state that are responsible for protecting the lives and property of California residents. Given the catastrophic fires, he should be laser focused on getting relief:

• Instead of being laser focused, he is being petty focused. He apparently reached out to Biden and requested that Biden censor social media because there was a lot of “misinformation” about his actions and decisions not being optimal for managing and minimizing wildfires in the state.
• Never mind that he cut the state government fire fighting budget by $100 million, never mind that fire hydrants in the city had no water, reservoirs were intentionally emptied, etc. But rather than fix what he broke, he is more focused on trying to cover up his ineptness with this distraction of misinformation by blaming the Internet, not himself.
• Specifically: 'I ask you [Biden}, we gotta deal with this misinformation, there are hurricane force winds of mis and disinformation, lies, people who want to divide this country and we're going to have to address that as well,. It breaks my heart as people are suffering and struggling [and] that we're up against those hurricane forces as well.”

Given the dire situation in one of his cities, why is the governor even aware of what is being said on social media? Shouldn’t he be totally focused on disaster relief? Instead, he wants his ego and political future protected, which apparently is more important than the suffering in LA.

Reaction to his vanity and coldness was swift:

• “Disgraced Governor, Gavin Newsom, is more concerned about fighting misinformation, than helping Californians, Misinformation? Part of your state just lost their livelihoods, "fact-checkers" are not gonna fix this problem,” wrote Congressman Wesley Hunt X.
• “I get a chill down my spine every time I hear a politician say we 'have to deal with this misinformation,” said comedian Bridget Phetasy.
• “HOLY SMOKES. Gavin Newsom is now playing the victim, claiming it’s “misinformation” that he failed on the fires,” wrote social media user Johnny “Maga on X.”
• “Gavin Newsom needs to RESIGN,” the Breaking911 account wrote on X.

Despicable behavior in very sad times, such a lack of focus, empathy, and compassion.

3)It is not just politicians that are making stupid and ridiculous quotes about the wildfires.But first, let’s consider the scandalous failures the governments in California have perpetrated during the wildfires:

• Many fire hydrants do not work or have been stolen.
• Reservoirs are empty.
• The LA fire department is underfunded, understaffed, and under-resourced, especially in light of the $17 million budget reduction that the city politicians pushed through.
• The city leader, Mayor Karen Bass, took a trip to Ghana in Africa despite the numerous warnings of weather experts that the city was very vulnerable to high winds conditions and the potential of fires.
• The state government had reduced the budget for fire prevention and response by $100 million.

As a result, at least 24 people are dead, thousands have been evacuated and are homeless, over 40,000 city acres have been charred, thousands of homes, schools, and businesses have burned to the ground, etc.

And yet, a Biden bureaucrat has a completely different take on the situation:

• Deanne Criswell is the head of FEMA, the Federal government entity that responds to domestic emergencies.
• She is supposedly leading the Federal government’s effort to relieve the suffering and damage in LA.
• And yet, she still had time to appear on a CBS news broadcast, the situation in LA not as important as her getting TV screen time.
• But it gets worse than her vanity.
• When the CBS reporter asked why the city seemed so unprepared for the worst set of wildfires in a very long time, Brennan answered this unreal response: “I think that they were very prepared. This is something that they are very used to, they fight fires all the time. But they have never seen 100 mile an hour winds that are fueling the fire, and those winds and that weather condition is what really impacts, you know, where this fire is going to go, but more importantly, how they’re able to try to contain it in those first few hours and days. And because it was in such a populated area, it just makes it that much more challenging to be able to get in there and secure the perimeter, but as well, try to save as many homes as possible.”

They were “very well prepared?” Are you kidding, dozens dead, thousands homeless, major parts of the city burned to the ground, etc., I hate to see what would have happened if they were not “very well prepared.” Wildfires are not unknown to the city and state. Santa Ana winds are not unknown to the city and state.

An old Mark Twain saying goes as follows: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” Sound advice for Biden, who says something totally inappropriate and improper in dire times, for Newsom, who cares more about his image and ego than the dire times, and Brennan, who has no sense of reality, Fools, all of them, and certainly not the leadership style needed to fix what is raging in Los Angeles.

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If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:

https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom

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Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

https://www.amazon.com/Love-My-Country-Loathe-Government/dp/1604942789/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=love+my+country%2C+loathe+my+government&qid=1607716020&sr=8-1

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.reason.com

http://www.cato.org

http://www.openthebooks.com

http://www.conventionofstates.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

 

May, 2021, Part 1, Political Class Insanity: Setting Criminals Free In California, The Great California Out Migration Continues, and Biden Lies Nine Times in A Single Speech

It is the beginning of another month which means it is time again to review the latest political class insanity from the American political class. Each month it takes us multiple posts to cover the wasteful spending, incompetent government organizations and employees, government programs that usually make a problem worse than resolving it, inane and idiotic politician comments, etc.

To review past posts on this insanity and idiocy, just click on the first few posts in each month listed to the right of this page. After reviewing just a handful of these insanity posts we think you will agree that we are currently being served by the worst set of American politicians ever to hold office in our entire history.

1) As we have discussed so, so many times, one of the very basic functions of any government entity and the politicians that operate it is to protect the safety and lives of the citizens it represents. Which makes the latest antics from the California political class so ridiculous and dangerous:

• The state government of California has decided to release 76,000 prison inmates, convicted criminals, before their sentences are completely served.
• More than 63,000 of these soon to be released convicts have been convicted of violent crimes.
• They will have their sentences reduced by a third.
• 20,000 of these folks are serving life sentences for the crimes they were convicted of.
• The changes were approved by the bureaucrats in the state office Of Administrative Law with minimal public notice.
• According to a prison spokeswoman, Dana Simas: “The goal is to increase incentives for the incarcerated population to practice good behavior and follow the rules while serving their time, and participate in rehabilitative and educational programs, which will lead to safer prisons.”

“Safer prisons?! While somehow this may make prisons safer, I am not sure it will make innocent citizens safer, again, something that should be a priority of government and politicians.

Plus the fact that this was done without input from citizens via elected officials makes the deal even shadier, as pointed out by state senator Jim Nielsen: “He’s [California governor, Gavin Newsom] doing it on his own authority, instead of the will of the people through their elected representatives or directly through their own votes. This is what I call Newsom’s time off for bad behavior. He’s putting us all at greater risk and there seems to be no end to the degree to which he wants to do that.”

Another potential failure of government bureaucrats and politicians failing to fulfill their basic job duty protecting the lives and property of innocent civilians and acting without the consent of the people and their elected representatives.

2) Releasing tens of thousands of convicted and possibly violent convicted felons back into society before their prisons sentences are served will probably not help California with this problem, a problem that we have discussed many times before:

• According to the latest Census data, California’s population declined for the first time in the state's recorded history which goes back to 1900.
• The country’s biggest state saw a net population loss of over 180,000 people last year.
• The Public Policy Institute Of California recently released a report that agrees with the Census data: "Much has been made of the California exodus, and rightly so. This migration, over the decades, has the power to reshape the state."
• As a result of 180,000 people fleeing the state, the state will lose a seat in Congress, something else that has never happened before.

But this should not be a surprise, given what has been going on in the state due to the ineptness of the state’s political class:

• There is a massive homelessness problem in the state.
• The state has the highest poverty rate in the country.
• The state has the highest tax burden, gasoline prices, and some of the highest utility rates in the country.
• The state has the highest housing costs in the country with the median price of a home in the state well over $700,000.
• The state’s public education system severely under educates the state’s kids.
• And we just found out that the state penal system is going to give an early release bonus to tens of thousands of convicted and, in some cases, some criminals.

Now state officials are trying to position this population dip as a temporary blip and things will get better. But other states are seeing great immigration into their states, e.g. Texas and Florida, states where taxes, gas prices, home prices, and utilities’ costs are far less despite a dropping national birth rate. States where convicts are not getting released by thousands, where homelessness is far lower, and where kids get a better education.

Given how screwed up recent politicians have performed in California, it makes you wonder if Mark Twain figured out present day state politicians long ago: "Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." I go with the imbecile option.

For other discussion on how California is in a death spiral in so many ways, go to:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2021/04/by-numbers-race-to-bankruptcy.html

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2021/01/happy-new-year-and-welcome-to.html

3) While California politicians were continuing to ruin life in their state, back in Washington DC Joe Biden was continuing his history of bald face lies

[https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2020/10/october-2020-part-3-political-class.html] 

but only lying now as President of the United States. Consider this pack of lies that he put forth in a single speech to Congress:

- “Our Constitution opens with the words, as trite as it sounds, ‘We the People’. It’s time we remembered that 'We the People' are the government...” No Joe, the intent of those words and the Constitution was to minimize government, placing power in the hands of citizens not the government. To say “We the People” means “We the government” is a terrifying analogy to Orwell’s “1984.”

-  “In the ’90s we passed universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that hold 100 rounds that can be fired off in seconds. We beat the N.R.A. Mass shootings and gun violence declined, check out the report, over 10 years. … We need a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. And don’t tell me it can’t be done. We did it before and it worked.” No Joe, it did not change anything except to strip citizens of Second Amendment rights. Using real data from that era, left leaning ProPublica found that, “A definitive study of the 1994 law – which prohibited the manufacture and sale ProPublica found that of semiautomatic guns with “military-style features” such pistol grips or bayonet mounts as well as magazines holding more than ten rounds of ammunition – found no evidence that it had reduced overall gun crime or made shootings less lethal. “We cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation’s recent drop in gun violence,” the Department of Justice-funded study concluded in 2004. “Should it be renewed, the ban’s effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement.”

-  “When I was sworn in, less than 1% of seniors were fully vaccinated against COVID-19. One hundred days later, nearly 70% of seniors are fully protected.”No, Joe, even the left leaning Washington Post saw through this lie when they fact checked you, “When Biden took office, vaccinations had been given for only about a month. Moreover, health-care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, front-line essential workers and people over the age of 75 were in line to be the first to be vaccinated, which is why a relatively small percentage of people over 65 had been fully vaccinated.” In other words, you just happened to be in the right place at the right time when those over 65 were scheduled and able to get the vaccines, it had nothing to do with your actions.

-“Over 11 million undocumented folks, the vast majority of here overstaying visas.” No, Joe, again, the left leaning Washington Post debunked this lie with the analysis that found you were “wrong to say the ‘vast majority’ overstayed their visas.”

-  “I spent a lot of time with President Xi, traveling over 17,000 miles.” No, Joe, the Washington Post previously called this claim false saying that it “could not get [Biden’s] travel to add up to anything close to 17,000 miles.”

-  “I will not impose any tax increases on people making less than $400,000 a year.” No, Joe, this campaign promise is already coming apart since if a married couple each is annually making over $200,000 each, earning over $400,000 as a couple, their taxes will increase even though you promised that “people [not households] making less than $400,000 a year” will not see a tax increase. In addition, as you raise business taxes, those businesses will either pass those tax increases unto their customers or take jobs and profits overseas, negatively impacting everyone, not just those earning over $400,000 a year.

-  “When I was vice president, the president asked me to focus on providing the help needed to address the root causes of migration. And it helped keep people in their own countries instead of being forced to leave. The plan was working, but the last administration decided it was not worth it.” No, Joe, according to left leaning PolitiFact, “This is exaggerated. The Obama administration in 2014 approved more aid to Central American countries to tackle issues causing people to migrate to the United States.”

- Biden claimed that the January 6th storming of the Capitol building by left and right wing agitators was “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.” No, Joe, the far worst attacks on our democracy were Pearl Harbor where almost 3,000 service people were killed, the 9-11 attacks which killed almost 3,000 American citizens, and the attacks on the Constitution and the rule of law in this country that you were a part of under the Obama administration:  

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2016/11/retro-2-obama-presidency-end-of-error.html

- Biden claimed that “only government” can make the scientific breakthroughs that take humans to the Moon and Mars. No, Joe, the same week you made this claim the Federal government was using privately developed rockets and technology that was privately developed by Elon Musk’s Space X operation.

One speech, nine major lies, most of which were verified as lies by left leaning news organizations and others. It brings up that historical question: do politicians lie because they think we are too stupid or too lazy to verify their lying claims or do they actually delude themselves into thinking that the lies they put forth are the truth? Given this pack of nine lies in a single speech and Biden’s history of lying, it is probably a safe bet to assume anything that comes out of his mouth going forward is a lie until proven otherwise.

Lies in DC and failures in California, some things never change.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

https://www.amazon.com/Love-My-Country-Loathe-Government/dp/1604942789/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=love+my+country%2C+loathe+my+government&qid=1607716020&sr=8-1

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.reason.com

http://www.cato.org

http://www.bankruptingamerica.org

http://www.conventionofstates.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

 

 

January, 2013, Political Class Insanity, Part 1: Armored Cars For Pumpkin Festivals, Lottery Fraud In D.C., Tax Dollars For Klingons and More

Its that time of month again, the time when we review the latest insanity, idiocy, and wasteful spending of the American political class. Unfortunately, this type of behavior never seems to end. As you begin to understand the insanity, you realize why we as a nation  have a $16.3 TRILLION national debt, record high unemployment, etc.

So let’s see what our politicians have dumped on us this month:

1) On December 12, 2012, the Bankrupting America Project reported on its Facebook page that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is stepping up its efforts to protect attendees of pumpkin festivals, which apparently can get pretty rowdy. How do they know this? The DHS gave the town of Keene, New Hampshire, $285,933 to buy a BearCat armored vehicle.

Keene is not a major metro area, it is highly unlikely to be terrorist target, Keene has a population of 23,000 and had experienced just one homicide over the two years prior to the purchase. Their grant application listed the 2004 Pumpkin Festival as an example where the armored vehicle would have been useful. The city of Keene told DHS the vehicle would be used to patrol similar events in the future. Must be a heck of a rowdy town and Pumpkin Festival if U.S. taxpayers have to provide armored vehicle support.

Let’s do some simple math. Since there are about 20,000 cities and towns in this country, if the Federal government wanted to fairly protect all citizens to the same degree they are protecting Keene, N.H., they would have to spend about $5.7 billion. This shows what a tremendous waste of money this expenditure was, more than a quarter million dollars to protect a Pumpkin Festival that happens only once a year. Ridiculous.

2) According to a December 10, 2012 Associated Press report, a Federal grand jury is actively investigating a $38 million contract to operate the District of Columbia lottery. Although no one has yet been charged in the lottery probe, law enforcement entities are looking for evidence of crimes including bribery and illegal steering of contracts, with numerous city politicians are under investigation.

Political corruption and criminal activity, what a surprise! Especially in D.C. Unfortunately for local citizens, this is not the only scandal and potential corruption that is underway in D.C.:

• Three staff aides to Mayor Vincent Gray's 2010 election campaign have already pleaded guilty to Federal crimes.
• Two town council members have resigned in the past year after pleading guilty to felonies.
• One of council members involved stealing city money earmarked for youth sports.
• And who can forget the antics and convictions of former D.C. mayor Marion Barry.

They make us so proud, don’t they. Corrupt and stealing from kids. Disgraceful.

3) Senator Tom Coburn’s (R-OK) has become one of the few members of Congress that is actually embarrassed by the wasteful spending in Washington. Every year he investigates the most ridiculous Federal spending and documents them in his annual Wastebook publication.

He was recently at it again, identifying some absolutely ludicrous spending by the Department of Defense. Apparently, among other things, the Department of Defense spent taxpayer wealth for a lecture series involving fictional alien species, including a lecture session entitled: “Did Jesus Die for Klingons too?”:

• This Klingon session funded by the Defense Advances Research Projects Agency.
• DARPA paid about $100,000 for a strategy planning workshop on the 100 Year Starship project which included a discussion involving the Klingons, a fictional alien species who were villains and then later allies of humanity in the Star Trek series.
• The session entitled "Did Jesus die for Klingons too?"
• This discussion featured philosophy professor Christian Weidemann from Germany's Ruhr-University Bochum who discussed the theological conflict to Christianity if intelligent life was found on other planets. How this discussion helped in our national defense is completely lost on me.
• At another Department of Defense funded session, topics such as how to make deep space travel most efficient, how scientists would go about creating a “warp bubble,” and whether would need to wear clothing during space travel were discussed.
• This session featured actors from the famous "Star Trek" TV series as special guests. Again, how any of these activities do not totally waste taxpayer wealth and help our national defense is lost on me.
• And the biggest taxpayer insult of all: all of these sessions were in conjunction with the 100 Year Starship project, the objective of which is to "foster a rebirth of a sense of wonder" to "make interstellar space travel practicable and feasible." So far, the 100 Year Project has consumed more than a whopping $1 million.

Total, total waste. I often wonder if the Federal bureaucrats who spend money like this truly understand how idiotic these expenditures are or do they truly think these are valid uses of hard earned citizen wealth. I believe Mark Twain once addressed this same question: “Sometimes I wonder if world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or imbeciles who really mean it.”

I would go with the imbecile answer if I had to bet.

4) On December 7, 2012, the D.C. CBS affiliate reported on some lunacy from Congress. Really, lunacy. According to the CBS report, the House of Representatives actually spent time and effort and voted to eliminate the word “lunatic” from all Federal laws and legislation. The legislation that passed the House by a vote of 398-1. The word lunatic was deemed to be “demeaning.”

Let’s review: the looming fiscal cliff, an ever escalating $16.3 TRILLION national debt. Persistently high unemployment and under employment rates. Record numbers of Americans on food assistance rolls. Leaky borders, A lost war on drugs. Still no national and coherent energy strategy. Burdensome taxation. Failing public schools. All of these major issues to be addressed and Congress decides to tackle an issue that is likely not in the top 500 issues that concern Americans.

Unfortunately, these was only one politician who has the right priorities. The only “no” vote was cast by Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, who stated in a statement that: “Not only should we not eliminate the word “lunatic” from Federal law when the most pressing issue of the day is saving our country from bankruptcy, we should use the word to describe the people who want to continue with business as usual in Washington.”

I love his sarcasm, love his proper set of priorities. Too bad he was outnumbered 398 to 1.

That’s the first set of insanity for this month. More tomorrow since even though our politicians are rarely in Washington and rarely at work, they still are able to generate sheer lunacy and idiocy every month.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

And Harry Reid Thinks I'm An Extremist? I Think Not

One irritating trait that seems to be common to President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid is the trait of calling others names when they do not get their way. During the mid term elections last year, President Obama told an audience at a Democratic fund raiser that they had to "punish their enemies," which unfortunately turned out to be any American who dared to have a difference of opinion with the President's policies. Nancy Pelosi decided that any American citizen that dared to have a different opinion on Obama Care than her was un-American, i.e. in a free country, a difference of opinion, in her eyes, makes you a traitor.

Not to be outdone, Harry Reid this week characterized those in the House of Representatives trying hard to get out-of-control government spending reined in as being "extremists." Since I truly and honestly believe that this national debt problem has the highest potential of destroying the country and our democracy than any other threat in a very long time, I would guess that Harry would consider me an extremist also.

But who really is any extremist, Mr. Reid? Let's look at your track record regarding extremism:

• You have been the majority leader in the Senate since 2007 and have ruled that chamber with a Democratic majority for the past five years and will add another year in that span up to the elections in November, 2012. During that five year time period from 2007 through 2011, the Federal government added almost five TRILLION dollars to the national debt.
• If you include the estimated deficit for the next year, the Federal government will likely add almost $6.1 TRILLION to the national debt.
• This additional debt, created while you controlled the purse strings in the Senate, comes out to a debt burden of almost $54,000 for EVERY U.S. household.
• The smallest amount that was added to the national debt while you controlled the Senate occurred in 2007 and 2008, $161 billion and $459 billion respectively, possibly because you were reined in by a Republican President. Once the Republican President was replaced by a Democratic President, the nation's annual budget deficits increased by about three fold, on average, once Obama was in office.
• The total annual deficits rolled up during your tenure as Senate majority leader and the expected deficit next year, include five of the highest annual deficits this country has EVER incurred on a dollar basis. 
• The annual deficits as a percentage of GDP were 1.14% and 3,18% in your first two years as head of the Senate but under a Republican President. Once a Democratic President took office, the country's deficit as a percentage of GDP while you ran the Senate exploded to 10.0%, 8.82%, 10.91% and 6.96% (est. in 2012).
• Even though a recent CNN poll showed that a substantial majority of Americans were in favor of a balanced budget amendment to get debt under control, an issue that had already been passed by the House of Representatives, you would not even allow it to come to the Senate floor for a vote, despite the will of the American public.
• While the Senate was under your control these past five years, you have presided over an economic stimulus program of $830 billion that failed miserably.
• You were complicit in bailing out dysfunctional banks, brokerage houses, auto makers, and other companies, rewarding their incompetence with billions and billions of taxpayer dollars.
• You were complicit in passing legislation that was useless when it came to remedying the country's economic ills including Cash For Clunkers, Cash For Appliances, Cash For Caulkers, the HAMP mortgage program, the first time home buyers rebate program, the small business investment legislation and others.
• You shadily snuck Obama Care through the back door of reconciliation in order to get passage, a piece of legislation that is likely to go down as one of the worst ever written when compared to its objectives and its expected and growing negative financial impact.
• We are still losing the war on drugs, our public schools are still failing, our tax code is a disgrace, we still have no national energy policy, our military is bloated, wasteful, and preparing to fight yesterday's wars, and our election processes are driven not by freedom but by the obscene amounts of money that you and others in the political class allow to distort the will of the people.

And you call me, and others like me, an extremist for wanting to keep the country financially solvent? You call me an extremist for not wanting my kids and grandkids to end up paying for the record setting and record shattering debt and deficits you allowed to incur during your time as the head of the Senate? You call me an extremist for assuming that once in a while the Federal government might actually resolve a major issue in a cost effective manner? You call me an extremist for having a difference of opinion when it comes to the catastrophic waste and spending the the Federal government has incurred under your watch? As the numbers prove above, you cannot blame Bush for this, he at least kept the deficit and debt reasonable in your first two years as the head of the Senate, things did not get really out of control under Bush left office.

Mr. Reid, if I am an extremist for wanting America and Americans to be free again, free of the financial burden that the Federal government's outrageous spending and debt has incurred over the past five years, years when you were in a powerful position of leadership, then I would put forth that I am in pretty good company when you consider the following historical insights:

"A wise and FRUGAL government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government." Thomas Jefferson

"A politician looks forward only to the next election. A statesman looks forward to the next generation." Thomas Jefferson

"Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of the opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all of its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear." Harry Truman

"The politicians just don't want your money. They want your soul.  They want you to be worn down by taxes until you are dependent and helpless. When you subsidize poverty and failure, you get more of both." James Dale Davidson

"The government is merely a servant - merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. It's function is to obey orders, not to originate them." Mark Twain

"Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress... But I repeat myself." Mark Twain

If these are extremists, than I am proud to be considered in their company. Americans who want government to get out of our lives as much as possible. A government that is responsive to the major issues of our times. A government that is FRUGAL with our hard earned wealth.

You are none of these things, Senator Reid. The Federal government spending you have presided over is extremist by any measure possible. Your name calling and suppression of other Americans' opinions is extremist by any measure. Your incompetence to resolve any major issue during your leadership tenure  is extremist by any measure, namely nothing has been resolved during your tenure, nothing, nada.

So please, start acting like a statesman for once in your life, stop whining if you do not get your way, and stop demonizing us "extremists" who just happen to have a difference of opinion. As Will Rogers once said: "Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest of us."  Stop acting like a politician and start acting like an American, an American that has the country's best interests at the forefront and an American that respects the diversity of opinion that should exist in a democracy. Astonish us for once.




Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.


Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.loathemygovernment.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.com/

Some Things Never Change

Some of the quotes from the book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government", were from wise people who lived very long ago. Unfortunately, they all apply to the antics of today's political class, indicating that maybe politicians have always been like they are today. It just seems like they get worse over time:

Mark Twain - "Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or imbeciles who really mean it." Although Mark Twain lived 150 years ago, he was very insightful relative to the political class. Given that nothing works any more in this country, lost war on drugs, failing public schools, broken health care market, no strategic energy policy, social programs heading for bankruptcy, corrupt and/or incompetent government oversight, corrupt government officials, etc., I am pretty sure the imbecile option is in effect even today.

Woodrow Wilson - "The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employees, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy." Although Wilson said these words over eighty years ago, does anyone think that they do not apply today? Consider yesterday's post that reviewed how the major banks donated millions of dollars to both political parties last summer for their conventions and then received billions of dollars several months later as part of the banking bailout. I do not even want to guess how many lobbyists spending how much lobbying dollars currently scurry around DC. Wilson had it right and he had it right long ago: more and more, our democracy has become a charade with power floating up to the political class while our individual freedom and power in our lives is dissipated.

Karl Marx - "The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent them and repress them." Living over a hundred years ago, Marx correctly predicted what would happen in America. How many times have you gone into the voting booth and voted for the lesser of two evils, i.e. both options stink but one reeks a little less than the other. Although there was great interest in the last Presidential election, about 65 million American adults did not bother to vote. Could it be that they agree with Marx, it does not matter since the repression, increasing burden of taxation, and the national problems, will continue regardless of who gets elected. Unfortunately, the lesser of two evils is still evil, something that Marx knew way back when.

Barry Goldwater - "A government big enough to give you everything you need is big enough to take it all away." Obama's last budget was the biggest in both absolute and relative terms the Federal government has ever had. Our government structure has gotten incredibly large at all levels. This has resulted in debilitating debt levels and increasing taxes. Government tentacles touch as all many different ways, usually not touching us in a good way. The quote, "I am from the government and I am here to help you.", is a myth today and was probably always a myth. The only difference is that the government did not turn up on your doorstep, look at your library records, listen to your phone calls, check your Internet activity or tax you as much as they used to. Goldwater saw it coming and we were not able to stop it, government controls everything we do today to the detriment of freedom.

Pretty discouraging when you see how some great thinkers of the past saw where we would end up today. However, that can change starting today. Go to the enrollment page at www.loathemygovernment.com and prove that what the political class is doing to us today is temporary and reversible.