October, 2020, Part 4, Political Class Class Insanity: Take The Election Quiz, Democrats Or Republicans?

 Before we get into today’s discussion, a Presidential quiz of Democrats Vs. Republicans, consider the following facts:

• I have never voted for a Republican President in my life.

• Thus, I did not vote for Trump.

• When I lived in New Jersey, I was a registered Democrat for a while.

Keep these facts in mind when you take the following Presidential quiz, “Democrats Vs. Republicans”:

1)Which political party has dominated city politics in Detroit for decades, taking it from the richest per capita city in the country and the fourth largest city in the country population-wise to one of the poorest cities in the country with a population that has dwindled to less than half of what it once was?

2) Which political party has dominated city politics in Detroit for decades, causing it to be the largest US city to ever go bankrupt?

2) Which political party has dominated city politics in Chicago for decades and has allowed it to become the murder captial of the country?

3) Which political party has dominated city politics in Chicago for decades and by its financial mismanagement will likely dethrone Detroit as the largest American city to go bankrupt?

4) Which political party has dominated state politics in California for decades, running up unfunded liabilities of over $200 billion, making it a top four state in the running to go bankrupt first?

5) Which political party has dominated state politics in Illinois for decades, running up unfunded liabilities of over $137 billion, making it a top four state in the running to go bankrupt first?

6) Which political party has dominated state politics in New York for decades, running up unfunded liabilities of over $120 billion, making it a top four state in the running to go bankrupt first ?

7) Which political party has dominated state politics in New Jersey for decades, running up unfunded liabilities of over $130 billion, making it a top four state in the running to go bankrupt first?

8) Which political party has dominated city politics in New York City for decades, running up unfunded liabilities of over $100 billion, making it a top candidate to dethrone Detroit as the largest US city to go bankrupt?

9) Which political party has dominated city politics Seattle and Portland for decades, two cities that physically lost control of large swaths of its downtown areas this summer to anarchists, criminals, and Antifa, endangering the lives, properties, and futures of law abiding citizens?

10) Which political party has long dominated the city politics of San Francisco, a city where it is now not illegal to publicly defecate, urinate, or shoot up illegal drugs in the streets?

11) Which political party has long dominated the city politics of Los Angeles, a city which has the largest homeless population in the country, a situation that has led to an explosion in the local rat population which in turn has led to the reappearance of a very nasty disease, typhus?

12) Which political party has long dominated state politics in California, a state whose residents are now subjected to ongoing rolling blackouts of electricity, endangering the safety and viability of individuals and businesses?

13) Which political party has long dominated state politics in California, a state with the worst forest management policies and regulations in the country which has resulted in wildfires wiping out millions of acres of forests?

14) Which political party has long dominated state politics in California, a state  with one of the highest poverty rates in the country despite the billionaires and millionaires living in Silicon Valley and Hollywood?

15) Which political party has long dominated state politics in California, a state with one of the worst records for educating its kids in the public school systems?

16) Which political party has long dominated state politics in California, a state with the highest housing costs in the country?

17) Which political party has long dominated state politics in California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey, states with some of the highest tax burdens in the country?

18) Which political party has long dominated state politics in Illinois, a state which has easily had the most former governors serving prison times for their corruption?

19) Which political party was solely responsible for Obama Care, the worst piece of legislation ever passed by Congress, a piece of legislation that grossly missed EVERY single objective it set out to accomplish?

20) Which political party has long dominated state politics in New York, a state that has lost more residents to out-migration (about 1.4 million) over the past ten years than every other state?

21) Which political party has long dominated state politics in Illinois, a state that has lost more residents to out-migration (over 840,000) over the past ten years than every other state except for New York?

22) Which political party has long dominated city politics in New York City, a city where so many people are currently moving out of the city that moving companies are complaining they do not have enough moving vans to handle the demand?

23) Which political party has dominated state politics in California, whose irrational infatuation with solar and wind power has resulted in Californians not only being subjected to rolling blackouts but paying, on average, 55% more for electricity than the rest of the country?

24) Which political party has dominated the state politics of California, a state whose increase in electricity bill costs since 2011 had been five times higher than the national average?

25) Which political party has long dominated state politics in California, a state which recently passed legislation regarding independent contractors that will cause hundreds of thousands of employees of Uber, Lyft, and other contract employers to lose their jobs?

26) Which political party has long dominated the category, “dumbest member of Congress,” including, but not limited to, Hank Johnson who publicly stated he was worried that the island of Guam could tip over in the Pacific, Sheila Jackson Lee who thinks that the Declaration of Independence is over 400 years old and that South Vietnam AND North Vietnam still exist, Joe Biden who thinks a black man invented the light bulb, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez whose gaffes and ignorance are far numerous to list here?

27) Which political party has long dominated city politics in St. Louis and Baltimore, giving those two cities the seventh and 11th highest murder rates in the world?

28) Which political party has dominated the anti-Israel sect in Congress, including but not limited to, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhmar Omar, Barack Obama, and Rashida Tlaib?

If you answered Democratic Party to each of the above quiz questions you would be right! Whenever Democrats are in charge, it seems that higher crime rates, higher taxes, higher murder rates, higher and less reliable utility costs, higher homeless rates, high government financial risks, and lower quality of life issues seem to appear. 

From Washington to state houses, to mayoral offices, Democrats have never really shown the ability to put together a plan, a budget, a cohesive and fair way of governing that is efficient and effective. If you know of a Democratically controlled Congress, state, or city, please feel free to forward it to me, I could not find one.

Think about the above failures when voting this year.

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/s?k=loce+my+country%2C+loathe+my+government&ref=nb_sb_noss

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

September, 2017, Part 3, Political Class Insanity: The Fiscal Insanity and Ignorance of Democrats

It is the beginning of another month which means it is again time to review the latest political class insanity from Washington and around the world. Political class insanity takes many forms including the wasting of taxpayer wealth, criminal fraud within government programs, inane and stupid political quotes and actions, the inability to create and implement effective and efficient government programs, stupid and ill performing economic policies and strategies, and other forms of insanity that continue to evolve and surprise and shock us.

1) I am not a fan of either political party, Republican or Democrat. Both parties have been responsible for running up a whopping national debt of almost $20 trillion without resolving a single issue facing Americans today. They are more concerned about their own greed and status than addressing any problem. Our schools still under educate, our infrastructure is still falling apart, we have been and are still embroiled in non-winnable foreign country conflicts, we have no overarching energy strategy or plan, the list of failures goes on and on.

But you have to hand it to the Democrats for being the much bigger screwups than the Republicans. Just look at their history of governing:

• Early in Obama’s Presidency, the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and the White House but somehow managed to preside over the worst economic recovery in about 80 years, ran up the first annual Federal government trillion dollar deficit and then followed up that horrific performance with three more trillion dollar deficits, enacted Obama Care which is probably the worst piece of legislation ever passed by Washington, etc.
• At the state level traditionally Democratic states Illinois, California, and New Jersey are rapidly approaching fiscal insolvency and meltdown.
• At the local level, traditionally Democratic cities have either gone bankrupt (Detroit, Michigan, Stockton,California, and others), are heading for bankruptcy (Chicago), or are overcome with high levels of murders and violent crime (Chicago and Baltimore).

Quite the inane record of constant failure. But Kyle Becker, writing for the Independent Journal Review in early August, 2017, highlighted some election numbers that show how badly Democrats have performed recently and how Obama has probably contributed to more destruction of the Democratic party than anyone else ever despite having been elected President for two terms:

• If you look at the state governments where Democrats control both houses of the state legislature and the governor’s mansion (a political trifecta), than Democrats rule over only 7.2% of the country’s land mass.
• The Democrats now hold a record low number of trifectas (7) across all of the states.
• Republicans have 24 trifectas across the country, almost four times as many as the Democrats.
• Almost 50% of the country’s residents live in states whose government is completely under the control of Republicans.
• During the Obama Presidency, the Democrats at the state and national level lost over 1,000 governing positions in those levels of government.
• The Democrats now hold a record low number of governorships across the country.
• And things could get worse for the Democrats since in 2018 there are 10 Democratic Senators running for reelection in states that Trump carried in 2016 while the Republicans have only 2 Senators running for reelection that might be in trouble.

Again, I have no use for either party. But you have to be really inept as a political organization to have the results the Democrats have been running up over the past 8 years of the Obama administration. And ineptness is not something the country needs these days, given the many real issues facing Americans every day.

2) Let’s move onto another piece of political class insanity and I am afraid Democrats will do not do much better than what we just discussed. The Mercatus Center at George Mason University recently completed an extensive study along many dimensions (e.g. short term and long term debt, unfunded pension liabilities, etc.) to determine the fiscal condition of each state government. 

A state government in good condition has much more flexibility to serve its citizens since they have a good balance sheet and cash flow. States in bad fiscal shape either have to cut services and budgets or raise taxes which usually ends up in a death spiral of shrinking revenue and rising expenses.

According to their study and analysts Eileen Norcross and Olivia Gonzalez, the following five states are in the best fiscal condition:

1 - Florida

2 - North Dakota

3 - South Dakota

4 - Utah

5 - Wyoming

The following states are in the worst fiscal condition:

50 - New Jersey

49 - Illinois

48 - Massachusetts

47 - Kentucky

46 - Maryland

A few observations about these results:

• With the exception of Kentucky, the worst five states have been dominated by Democratic politicians for decades.
• These five states, according to Mercatus, have massive debt obligations and massive unfunded obligations: “Each state has massive debt obligations. Each of the bottom five states exhibits serious signs of fiscal distress. Their large liabilities and low cash on hand raise serious concerns about their ability to pay bills...Unfunded liabilities continue to be a problem. High deficits and debt obligations in the forms of unfunded pensions and healthcare benefits continue to drive each state into fiscal peril. Each holds tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars in unfunded.”
• Which is interesting since these states have some of the highest tax burdens in the whole country with New Jersey having the third highest tax burden on its citizens (according to a Forbes analysis) with 12.7% of citizens incomes being collected as state taxes, Illinois having the fifth highest tax burden (12.6%), Massachusetts having the eleventh highest tax burden (10.3%), and Maryland having the seventh highest tax burden (10.9%).
• In other words, despite taxing its citizens at much higher rates than other states, these fiscally under performing, Democratic controlled states have managed to squander away the high levels of taxes they have collected over the years and still have high levels of debt and liabilities.
• Conversely, the states in the best fiscal condition have low levels of debt, low levels of unfunded liabilities, good cash flows, growing economies, etc.
• And yet they collect far less in taxes then the five worst states with Florida having the 17th lowest tax burden on its citizens (8.9%), North Dakota having the 18th lowest tax burden (9.0%), South Dakota having the second lowest tax burden (7.1%), and Wyoming having the third lowest tax burden (7.1%).
• In fact, three of the top performing states, Florida, Wyoming, and South Dakota, do not even have a state income tax to collect and yet they still far outperform the bottom states which not only have state income taxes by usually high levels of state income taxes.
• Only Utah of the best states has a relatively high tax burden of 9.6% which places it at the 30th lowest tax burden in the country.

Thus, the correlation is pretty strong and yields the following pretty solid conclusions and summary: states dominated by Democrats in elected office tend to have the worst fiscal conditions and worst fiscal management histories even though they tax their citizens at much higher rates than states with Republican domination who have better fiscal management skills yet collect less in taxes on a percentage basis than the worst performing states. The numbers and realities do not lie.

And these conclusions do not end with the top five and bottom five. If you look at the top 18 states that are in the best fiscal health, you see that most are Republican dominated and many do not even collect a state income tax. If you look at the 18 states with a worse than average fiscal condition, you will see that most of them are Democratic dominated and most, if not all, collect a state income tax.

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Again, I have little respect and use for either party but if given a choice, it is pretty clear that Democrats will tax you more, screw up your state government fiscal conditions more, and in the process reduce your freedom by reducing the amount of wealth you get to retain and have to use as you please.

More insanity to follow this week.

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

December, 2016, Bonus Post, By The Numbers: The Wreckage That Obama Has Caused The Democratic Party

Note: For the past four posts we have been doing a series that we occasionally focus on called “by the numbers.” I thought we were done with the latest numbers yesterday but a another set of numbers popped up that I thought we should review now rather than wait another month or two since it is related to the November Presidential election. So, let’s consider this a bonus post for this month’s "by the numbers" update.

On a periodic basis we do some posts that fall under the theme of “by the numbers.” Rather than trust what the American political tells us about reality, we like to examine the real numbers and the real reality in the world to understand what is actually going on. Relying on politicians, and their cohorts in the media, to tell us what is reality is always a sucker bet. They have their own agendas and goals, usually centering around their needs and self-enrichment. So we need to look at the reality of the numbers to determine what is really going on.

Previous analyses of “by the numbers” can be accessed by entering the phrase in the search box above. This is the third and final post this month where we look at the numbers to truly find out how good, not likely, or bad, most likely, the American political class is doing in managing our tax dollars, protecting our freedoms, and resolving major issues that affect all of us. 

1) Before we do this post, let me clarify my political voting behavior over the past four decades:

• I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life.
• Thus, I did not vote for Donald Trump in November.
• Up until 2010, I had never voted for a Republican for national office in my life.

Thus, I am not a Republican headhunter taking great pride in the disaster that the Obama Presidency has brought down on his own, Democratic, party, I only care about the numbers.

This set of numbers is particularly ironic since in the lead up to the November election, many liberals and Democrats were bragging how their party was the party of the future, how Democrats would rule supreme going forward. These folks pointed to any number of demographic trends to prove to at least themselves that their party was fated to dominate America going forward. 

Based on what the following numbers and realities show, they were certainly premature in their supremacy celebration and either looked at the wrong numbers but misinterpreted what numbers they were looking at.

So let’s look at a set of numbers that were recently reported on the Washington Free Beacon website and the destruction that Obama has rained down on his own party. From the time that Obama won the Presidency in 2008 until the 2016 national elections: 

1. Democrats have 63 fewer seats in the House of Representatives.
2. Democrats have 11 fewer seats in the Senate.
3. Democrats went from having a majority in the House and a filibuster proof majority in the Senate to being the minority party in both parts of Congress.
4. Democrats have 11 fewer governorships.
5. Democrats have almost 1,000 seats in state government legislatures.
6. And now, Democrats have one fewer President in the White House.

Certainly a pathetic set of numbers for Democrats to contemplate, especially in light of how optimistic they were leading up to the November elections. How pathetic? According to the article, one Democratic politician observed that the Democratic Party “was no longer a national party, noting it has its fewest members in Congress since the 1920s.” Another Democratic Congressman stated that “the party has no strategy and no plan.” 

So much for Obama’s initial campaign theme and slogan of “hope and change.” Who knew at the time that he was giving hope and positive change to Republicans and not Democrats, how ironic. The numbers are pretty clear.

2) We have previously reported on how although Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, she was soundly trounced when you look at every other measure of the election. Trump won more counties, more states, more Electoral College votes, etc. 

Her votes basically came from a few concentrated population centers across the country, most of which were focused in the state of California. Which led to an interesting map put together by the Investors Business Daily website. If you map out the counties that Clinton won, keeping them as land masses, and change the counties that Trump won and turn them into water, you end up with the following map of the United States of Hillary:

Basically, you end up with a scattered bunch of disconnected islands with vast areas of ocean (Trump voters) in between them, proving two points that the numbers have already shown:

• The Congressman who observed that Democrats were no longer a national political party was correct, it only controls some long strips of geography on both coasts and an occasional island in between.
• The country has never been more divided, the Democrat skinny coastal strips vs. the rest of the country.

Sad numbers certainly for the Democrats but also for the country as we remain as divided as ever politically. All thanks to the Obama Presidency, the worst Presidency, diplomatically, militarily, economically, racially, lawfully, Constitutionally, and numerically in my lifetime. The numbers do not lie.

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

How American Liberals and The Washington Political Class Created Trump Mania - Revisited

Now that Donald Trump has clinched the Republican nomination for President for 2016, I thought it might be worthwhile to go back to a post we did earlier this year where we showed how Obama and liberals created Trump mania. I know a lot of Democrats and liberals were going nuts last week with the nomination of Trump, pulling their hair out and denying the reality that he could become President.

However, they keep denying or do not realize that the liberal wing in this country created Trump, the Presidential candidate. To prove my point, our March 16, 2016 post had a quiz that I asked liberals to take to show that either overtly or via their silence, they helped create Trump mania. 

With the Republican convention now over and the Democrats at bat, I challenge you to take the following quiz to see if you helped create the Trump mania, especially if you consider yourself a liberal. As an added bonus, I have added two additional questions that have arisen since March 16 to further prove that liberals have continued to reinforce the Trump mania ever since.

The original article with links to the sources that support each of the quiz questions can be accessed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2016/03/how-american-liberals-and-washington.html

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FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2016

How American Liberals and The Washington Political Class Created Trump Mania

Unless you have been living under a rock lately, you probably know that Donald Trump has been very successful in gathering Republican delegates in his quest to become President of the United States. This has upset many people, media types, politicians, and pundits all along the traditional political spectrum. And upset is actually a pretty tame description given how crazy and out of their minds some people, especially liberals, are going. 

Many of them, liberals, are having trouble dealing with the reality that someone so non-politically correct as Trump might become President. Many of them are having trouble dealing with the reality that someone who is so honest might actually become President. Many of them are having trouble dealing with the reality that a non-politician might actually become President. Many of them are having trouble dealing with the reality that someone so arrogant and crude might actually become President. Many of them are having trouble believing the reality that anyone could actually support someone like Trump. The whole situation repulses them, throws them into a tizzy that blows their minds.

But while liberals are going nuts over the Trump phenomenon, they fail to get underneath what is actually driving that phenomenon. Trump has somehow tapped into a strong undercurrent of unrest, resentment, disgust, and rebellion that is brewing in this country. According to one Gallup poll, over 70% of Americans view the current political class in Washington as corrupt. Another Gallup poll found that 69% of Americans view “big government” as the biggest threat to the country. Trump is neither a member of the political class or a member of big government, he is viewed as an outsider, one who might actually be independent enough to overcome these poll results and the disgust they represent. 

But I think there is something more subtle also going on beyond the what these polls reveal. 

A lot of Americans have kept their mouths shut over the past seven plus years of the Obama administration despite a tidal wave of insults and slurs from liberals and many Washington politicians that have been cast out against anyone who dared to have a different position on the issues than them. They have had to endure crudity and obscenities and they stood by quietly and absorbed the blows.

But along comes Trump and these Americans have found someone that seems to understand them, that that seems to understand how tens of millions of Americans have been slandered by liberals and Democrats for years. Someone who seems to understand that the President of the United States stood silently by, giving at least his tacit acceptance, as common American citizens and politicians with a different and legitimate position were viciously pummeled by his political allies.

Which leads to the following theory: the Trump phenomenon was created by and fed by liberals, Democrats, and the President of the United States. It was also fed by ordinary citizens who stood silently on the sidelines as their friends, family members, and neighbors were obscenely attacked and slandered by liberals and Democrats over the past seven years. To prove my point, especially the point where the President purposely allowed Americans to be personally and obscenely attacked, take the following quiz:

When the campaign manager of Democrat’s Jerry Brown’s gubernatorial campaign called his Republican opponent, Meg Whitman, a whore, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When TV host Montel Williams publicly hoped that Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachman would commit suicide by decapitating herself, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Ed Schultz, an on air commentator for the Democratic leaning MSNBC news channel, called Laura Ingraham of Fox News a slut, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When HBO TV host Bill Maher, a major donor to Obama’s 2012 Presidential Super PAC, said on air that Republican Sarah Palin “would f*** Rick Perry if he was black,” Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Bill Maher called Republican Sarah Palin disgusting and derogatory female anatomical names that I will not repeat here, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Playboy magazine’s online website offered a detailed analysis on why and how each of ten Republican women in politics should be hate raped, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When a rap artist gave a Minnesota concert that was billed as the “F*** Michele Bachman” concert (spelling out the entire f-word), a Republican Congresswoman from Minnesota, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When a Democratic operative insulted Ann Romney, and millions of other American women, by slandering and demeaning her as a stay at home mother, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Democrat Speaker Of The House Nancy Pelosi called opponents to Obama Care unpatriotic for simply having a difference of opinion with many politicians in Washington, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Democrat Charles Rangel slandered millions of ordinary Americans who opposed Obama Care by calling them racists for simply having an honest difference of opinion with many politicians in Washington, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Democrat Shelia Lee Jackson slandered ordinary Americans who opposed Obama Care by associating them with the Ku Klux Klan, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When White House czar Van Jones called all Republicans a**h***s, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Louis Farrakhan said in Miami last year that the time has come for 10,000 black volunteers to step forward to kill white Americans, Obama was silent. Were you also silent? 

When Democrat Alan Grayson called all Republicans knuckle dragging Neanderthals, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When union boss and Democratic supporter Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. stated that his union was at war with the Republicans and Tea Party and that those people "need to be taken out," Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Democratic Congressmen Mike Doyle and Henry Waxman and Vice President Joe Biden slandered ordinary Americans opposed to unfettered and destructive government spending and debt by calling them terrorists (those people that bomb and kill and innocent civilians), Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When ordinary Americans objected to the building of a Islamic mosque near the World Trade Center property because of the horrible memories of 9-11 and Democrat Nancy Pelosi said THEY should be investigated for simply having an opinion on the mosque, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen likened Republican critics of Obama Care to the Nazis and their propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Walters said ordinary American citizens can go to hell simply for having a difference of opinion with her, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Martin Bashier of leftist MSNBC News showed a video of Mitt Romney’s campaign bus that was interspersed with video clips of buses blowing up in balls of fire, explicitly wishing that the Romney bus also blow up and those inside die a fiery death, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Martin Bashier of leftist MSNBC News said someone should defecate into Sarah Palin’s mouth, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When liberal Professor Richard Parncutt of the University of Graz said he wanted to execute other human beings that are global warming deniers for simply having a different opinion than his and Obama's on global warming, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When liberal newspaper columnist Donald Kaul wrote an article for the Des Moines Register where he called for the killing of gun owners and“dragging legislators who disagree with gun control behind pickup trucks until they get the message,” Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When liberal Erik Loomis, PhD, assistant professor of history at the University of Rhode Island decided that he wanted the death of National Rifle Association (NRA) CEO Wayne LaPierre, branding the gun rights group he heads as a terrorist organization: "[I] want Wayne LaPierre's head on a stick," Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Karen Lewis, head of the Chicago Teachers’ Union shared some violent rhetoric of her own: “Do not think for a minute that the wealthy are ever going to allow you to legislate their riches away from them. Please understand that. However, we are in a moment where the wealth disparity in this country is very reminiscent of the robber baron ages. The labor leaders of that time, though, were ready to kill. They were. They were just – off with their heads. They were seriously talking about that,” Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When liberal Elizabeth Ashack, an economist at the Department of Labor, said that all Christians are Nazis, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Democratic Indiana state representative Vanessa Summers publicly stated that a fellow legislator’s 18 month old son was a racist, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Bernie Sanders said that any American believes that the Social Security process is hurtling towards insolvency (which it is) is a liar, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

When Democratic activist Sarah Noble said that all men should die or get f***ed, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

Bonus insult: When the Hispanic Congressional Caucus sent out a fundraising letter and said that Republicans needed to be “kicked in the teeth,” Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

Bonus insult: When Professor James Pearce, who teaches at Southern State Community College in Hillsboro, said that “A bunch of us anti-gun types are going to have to arm ourselves, storm the NRA headquarters in Fairfax, VA, and make sure there are no survivors,” Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

Bonus Insult: When BillNMaher called Trumps kids a**h**** and Nazis, Obama was silent. Were you silent also?

Maybe now you see that if someone was constantly being called a whore, a slut, an a**h***, a racist, a member of the KKK, a liar, unpatriotic, a terrorist, derogatory female body parts, a Neanderthal, and a Nazi, they might be attracted to a Presidential candidate that seems to understand their frustrations.

Maybe now you see that if someone was constantly being told to kill yourself, f*** yourself, die in a bus crash, just die, have someone defecate in your mouth, go to hell, get hate raped, get kicked in the teeth, get taken out, and get decapitated, they might be attracted to a Presidential candidate that seems to understand their frustrations.

Additionally, maybe now you see that if someone was constantly being blamed for events that happened long before they were born and long before their family even came to this country, that someone was being blamed for the ills of the world because they were born a certain skin color, that someone should be killed for simply being white, and that you achieved success in life not because of your hard work and efforts but because of an inane concept called “white privilege,” they might be attracted to a Presidential candidate that seems to understand their frustrations.

And if your answers to the quiz above were that you also remained silent as your neighbors, family members, and friends were being attacked by politicians, media types, and others, then you along with Obama helped create the Trump phenomenon. So stop fretting about Trump, stop lashing out to those that are supporting Trump, stop being part of the problem, stop casting and supporting the insults and slander, and start being part of the solution. 

Insist that the personal attacks stop and set an example by discussing only the issues and not the looks or intelligence of those that have a different opinion than you. Insist that your political representatives do the same. Otherwise you are part of the problem, you are part of the divisiveness in the country, you created the mania that is Trump.

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

July, 2016, Part 2, By The Numbers: Less Taxes Makes For Better Government Which Makes For More Freedom

On a periodic basis we do some posts that fall under the theme of “by the numbers.” Rather than trust what the American political tells us about reality, we like to examine the real numbers and the real reality in the world to understand what is actually going on. Relying on politicians, and their cohorts in the media, to tell us what is reality is always a sucker bet. They have their own agendas and goals, usually centering around their needs and self-enrichment. So we need to look at the reality of the numbers to determine what is really going on.

Previous analyses of “by the numbers” can be accessed by entering the phrase in the search box above. This is the third and final post this month where we look at the numbers to truly find out how good, not likely, or bad, most likely, the American political class is doing in managing our tax dollars, protecting our freedoms, and resolving major issues that affect all of us. 

Yesterday and today we focusing on how economic freedom is tightly linked with political freedom. I say this because the less money the government and the American political class allow you to keep from your work endeavors, the less overall freedom you have. You have less freedom, options and choices to send your kids to better schools, to start a business, to donate to charities, to retire in better financial shape, or to just enjoy life to the degree that you should be able to based on how hard you work. 

During these two days we will prove our constant libertarian point in this blog that the less government governs the better off everyone is on average. That the most heavily taxed states are usually the states in the worst financial shape which will eventually require residents of those states to pay more and more in taxes which will result in less and less freedom. As a result, as the numbers will show, that is why more and more people are leaving the highly taxed, financially distressed states for states that afford them the maximal return on their hard work and wealth. As always under this theme, you will see that the numbers do not lie. This is the cold reality of overreaching, freedom reducing politicians in this country today.

Our preliminary analysis of the numbers from yesterday led us to conclude that: low taxes = fiscally sound states and state governments. And low taxes also means more freedom and liberty for the residents of those fiscally sound states. Simple logic, solid numbers to support it. 

Today, we will continue this number analysis by looking at another measure of state by state financial shape and state by state migration to see if fiscally sound states with low taxes, as we proved yesterday, also increases the wealth of state residents.

Let’s do another more set of numbers. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) recently released their ninth annual “Rich States, Poor States” report. The report is based on the following approach: “The Economic Outlook Ranking is a forecast based on a state’s current standing in 15 state policy variables. Each of these factors is influenced directly by state lawmakers through the legislative process. Generally speaking, states that spend less—especially on income transfer programs, and states that tax less—particularly on productive activities such as working or investing—experience higher growth rates than states that tax and spend more.

The Economic Performance Ranking is a backward-looking measure based on a state’s performance on three important variables: State Gross Domestic Product, Absolute Domestic Migration and Non-Farm Payroll Employment—all of which are highly influenced by state policy. This ranking details states’ individual performances over the past 10 years based on this economic data.”

So, let's take this measurement and numbers approach, which states are in the best economic shape ("rich states"), and the lists we started with yesterday that had the top ten states governments that were most fiscally sound and the bottom ten states that were least fiscally sound and compare them to the health and robustness of their state economies as measured by the ALEC:

1 - Alaska - ALEC rank - 25
2 - Nebraska - 32
3- Wyoming - 4
4 - North Dakota - 3
5 - South Dakota - 11
6 - Florida - 8
7 - Utah - 1
8 - Oklahoma - 10
9 - Tennessee - 7
10 - Montana - 40

Average rank for the ALEC economically ranked states of the most fiscally sound states we identified yesterday = 14.1

41 - Maryland - ALEC rank - 31
42 - New York - 50
43 - Maine - 38
44 - California - 46
45 - Hawaii - 42
46 - Kentucky - 33
47 - Illinois - 43
48 - New Jersey - 48
49 - Massachusetts - 45
50 - Connecticut - 47

Average rank for the ALEC economically ranked states of the most fiscally unsound states we identified yesterday = 42.3

Thus, the economic condition average rank, as measured by the ALEC approach, of the states in the worst financial shape is about three times higher than the economic condition average rank of the states in the best financial shape. Another measure that shows lower taxes actually may lead to better economic conditions. And as we have discussed above, the states in the best economic condition also tend to be operated and led by Republican politicians:



And the two states with the worst economic conditions that are led by Republicans, New Jersey and Illinois, are really the exception because historically they have almost always been operated by Democrats. 

Note: Just to answer any assumptions that this analysis is tainted because I am a Republican or conservative, understand that I have NEVER voted for a Republican for President in my life (I have been voting since the 1970s) and until 2010, I have never voted for Republican for national office since 2010. As always, these posts are number based and I do not care where the numbers lead to, as long as the numbers are used correctly and thoroughly.

One last set of numbers. Over the past two days we have shown that the states that are in the best fiscal condition from a state government financial perspective also have the more robust economies and the lowest local and state taxes. What do those conditions mean for population growth? Let’s look at the top ten and bottom ten states that we developed yesterday and see if people are moving in or out of them:

1 - Alaska - population growth rate in 2014 - 2015 - -6.9%
2 - Nebraska - 1.2%
3- Wyoming - .3%
4 - North Dakota - 10.6%
5 - South Dakota - 4.0%
6 - Florida - 11.4%
7 - Utah - 1.4%
8 - Oklahoma - 3.0%
9 - Tennessee - 3.7%
10 - Montana - 4.1%

Average population growth of the ten most fiscally sound states = 3.28%

Now, let’s look at the ranking of the ten worst financially sound states and their ranking as far as their population growth:

41 - Maryland - population growth rate in 2014 - 2015 - 4.6%
42 - New York - 1.4%
43 - Maine - .9%
44 - California - 2.8%
45 - Hawaii - 4.2%
46 - Kentucky - 1.7%
47 - Illinois - -3.0%
48 - New Jersey - .5%
49 - Massachusetts - 4.6%
50 - Connecticut - .8%

Average population growth of the ten most fiscally unsound states = 1.85%

Thus, the population growth rate for the most fiscally sound states is about 77% higher than the population growth rate for the most fiscally unsound states. Obviously, state by state population growth is likely affected by a lot of factors but it is an interesting correlation that states with the best run state governments that operate at high efficiency with lower taxes results in more robust state economies and more state residents. And of course, less taxes, smaller government means more freedom and liberty for those state residents.

Of course, people like Obama and Pelosi and Reid get it backwards. They think that more taxation is needed for bigger government to make people’s lives better. Obviously, they have never looked at the numbers to see the exact opposite is true: less taxation means smaller government and better managed government which means more robust economic opportunities. The numbers do not lie.