Relax. Take a seat. Take a few deep breaths.
We’ve all had some time to mull over the horrible travesty handed down last week by a New York Court against former president Donald Trump. It has the kind of stink on it that brings back memories of what Joseph Stalin and countless other Third World thugs since did and have been doing to their political foes in sham kangaroo court proceedings. This guy put out a pretty good piece about how flawed the Trump case and verdict were and how easily they ought to be thrown out.
Quite a few folks on our side have been calling for vengeance — compiling lists of Democrats to haul into court. That will give you a temporary sense of comfort. But it does nothing toward repairing the damage the governing class has done to our republic.
Establishing or continuing a precedent of dragging your political foes into court on sham charges does no good for our country or any of us. (Next time, it could be me or you.)
This is not a (R) vs. (D) fight where a (R) victory will save the day. An awful lot of (R)s have collaborated with (D)s to collapse our economy and stomp all over our rights.
Putting Trump back in office might give us some relief from the current chaos. But the decline and fall of our republic will not stop unless we keep some things in mind and take some important steps.
Actually Pay Attention to What The Constitution Says. The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to a speedy trial. Ask the folks in the DC Gulag — arrested in connection with January 6th — how that’s working out for them. Many of them are closing in on their fourth year in prison without a court appearance or trial.
Check in your individual counties. You might be surprised to find scores of people still sitting in jail, waiting for trial, years after they were arrested.
Here’s the Fourth Amendment:
[…] The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. […]
Democrats AND Republicans in the Congress recently approved renewals of the FISA court — which approves warrantless eavesdropping on Americans. (Amazing, isn’t it?)
The US Supreme Court justices behind the notorious Roe decision of 1973 somehow found a “right to abortion” in that language. Compare that alleged “right to an abortion” in the Fourth to the very specific language in the Second Amendment:
[…] the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.[…]
Abortion, the political gods tell us, is untouchable. (*Roe tells us SO!*) But, in spite of that crystal clear language in the Second, we are besieged with all kinds of laws infringing upon our rights to keep and bear arms.
Here’s the Tenth Amendment:
[…] The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. […]
*I’m having wee bit of trouble finding language in the Constitution justifying, say, The Department of the Interior, The Department of Education, The Department of Labor, or The Department of Health and Human Services. *
The Constitution says power over those subjects goes to the states or the people in the states. But here we are with all kinds of federal agencies Jefferson and Madison & co. never envisioned.
Judges are referees, and not lawmakers. It’s dumbfounded me on countless occasions to hear people describe the 1973 Roe decision as “the law of the land.” Law of the land? Nine people — none of whom we get to vote for — made that ruling.
We’ve had federal judges decide that we in North Carolina can’t restrict same-sex marriage or bar men from the ladies restroom. ‘Creative jurisprudence’ helps leftists find what they want to find in our Founding Document. Spineless politicians appreciate someone else, who the voters can’t touch, taking the heat for them.
Retake our institutions. We got here because we’ve allowed the radical left to take over government, academia, and the judicial world. Leftist professors and teachers offer “expert” analysis to get legislation favorable to them and their comrades passed. They also train the next generation of leftist rabble to populate the government, the media, and the legal profession. This is why it is so important for conservatives appointed to college oversight boards to step in assertively and try to inject some sanity into the system.
Meanwhile, folks on our side go off to more honorable professions like the military or entrepreneurial pursuits. Unfortunately, we’ve surrendered the rule-making process to people who want us and our culture ruined, dead and buried.
Get informed. Stay Informed. Demonstrate to the elected governing class that there are indeed consequences to valuing the interests of their donor and lobbyist pals over the common good.
It’s stunning how few people can name their own Member of Congress or state legislator. That sure helps make it easier to pull the wool over the people allegedly being represented in DC and Raleigh. The Internet makes it exponentially easier to obtain information on the goings-on in our Twin ‘Sin Cities.’ Use that power to your and your neighbors’ advantage — for the greater good.
Stop lionizing people. People are flawed. Many who run for office are borderline – or actually – criminal. Fight for ideas. Candidates are merely vehicles to move ideas forward.
Unfortunately, we have created a governing environment that discourages the people we want in office, while appealing to a lot of what we don’t want or need.
Demonstrate that there can be serious repercussions to the continuation of the current bull-crap. The two political parties have engineered districts and worked behind the scenes to limit our choices at the polls. We can get the attention of specific troublemakers by leaving certain races on the ballot blank — or by voting third party. Undervotes or larger-than-expected votes tend to get attention in our governing centers. (*So do election losses. A two or four year break from power for the current ruling party can be quite an eye-opener.* )
It’s about returning to what our nation’s Founders wanted. It’s not about preserving the honor of a political party. Demand better from folks you elect to represent you.
This travesty in Manhattan has embarassed America all over the world. When Don Trump, Jr. attended the inauguration of El Salvador’s highly popular re-elected President Bukele the weekend after the verdict, President Bukele turned to Trump, Jr. and commented “In our country, we do not jail our political opponents.” Coming from the president of a country once known as a banana republic, that spoke volumes about what happened in Manhattan.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, writing in the country’s largest newspaper, the Daily Mail, called the trial and verdict “a mob-style hit job on Trump”. One of the best foreign takedowns of the political show trial of Trump, however, is a piece on the European Conservative website entitled “The Day the Democrats Putinized America.” https://europeanconservative.com/articles/commentary/the-day-the-democrats-putinized-america/
The repeal of HB2, the passage of HB951, and no constitutional carry, YET, are etched in my brain. Must be Rinoitus. Damn it’s agravating.!!!!
Those items you mention are indeed awful, but there are others, with Obamacare Medicaid expansion, being a recent one, where our liberal “Republican” leaders in Raleigh have acted a lot more like Democrats than Republicans. They pushed through issues that were major Democrat agenda items for not only Roy Cooper, but also for national Democrats. This is an outrage to Republican voters who do not expect those we send to Raleigh to turn into closet Democrats. RINO may be a good term for people like Phony Phil Berger, Terrible Tim Moore, Jim Perry, Destin Hall, and others of similar ilk, but I like the term “Undocumented Democrats” much better.
There are two problems in Raleigh. The first is that we have corrupt “leaders” who care more about servicing the special interests than they do about representing their constituents or following Republican policy and principles. Berger, Perry, Thom Tillis as speaker, Moore, and Destin Hall have all been that way. The second is that we have too many sheeple as legislators who are afraid to stand up to bad leadership.
We need to change the leadership in the General Assembly. There is some chance of that happening as Moore departs the House, but not if his flunky and fellow special interest whore Destin Hall succeeds him. I do not see anyone in the Senate capable of standing up to the liberal Berger.
Most of all, we need to get more legislators with backbone, which we have too few of. It was interesting to me to talk to one of the GOP activists who worked to replace George Cleveland in his primary this year. George had a pretty good conservative voting record and usually displayed more backbone than most. But he spoke at a large meeting and offended some of the conservative activists when he commented about having to follow what leadership wanted in Raleigh. That is what motivated some of the conservative activists to jump in and help his political newcomer challenger successfully oust him in his primary. There are lots of grassroots activists who do not want leadership flunkies and will turn against them in a heartbeat. Will the new guy in that district be any better? Only time will tell, but I think that a conservative like Cleveland going down over being too close to leadership should send a signal to those who really are leadership brownnosers.
George Cleveland is the ONLY legislator who has helped citizens get public records from the state board of elections, and much more.
Now the Meddling Kids will have no one in the General Assembly to stand up to the NCSBE.
Oh, I agree that it is sad to see George go. He was one of the better ones in the General Assembly. He got involved in all the right issues. His successor seems to be a very strong conservative, too, but is unproven, and we really won’t know what he is made of until he gets up there. If I had been voting in that district, George would have gotten my vote based on his proven record.
My point about George’s race was that voters do not like hearing elected officials talk about following the leadership, and it was unfortunate comments in that vein that motivated some key folks to get into his primary opponent’s campaign and sink him. From what I have seen of George, he has had more backbone than most on standing up for principle and the interests of his district. Those who got offended at his comments should probably have looked a little deeper into his record.
If a conservative with a pretty stiff backbone can lose based on “follow the leadership” comments, imagine what that could do to those who are genuinely leadership brownnosers.
The problem is not just the NCGA. The Republican Party is also to blame. For example, the party had the opportunity to tell leadership that it is not okay for Ed Broyhill and Kyshia Brassington to vote (along with Whatley) to keep Ronna Romney McDaniel. They squandered the opportunity to send a clear message, but they voted to send them back to do their damage again. It’s a sad situation. Many of the people criticizing Berger, Moore, and the rest are just as guilty of playing politics as leadership is. The situation has reached a level of hopelessness.
Unless your name is Yates or Nillson then I didn’t see you run. Ed is doing a fine job and Kyshia has done sufficient. If you don’t like it then you should have nominated two stronger candidates than yates and nillson. The party made the right choice with the choices it had. Its great to cast stones especially you didn’t enter the arena. As you revenge, it can not be personal. The indictments must be excited in such a way as to not attack individuals as much as it would to protect our constitution.
Our representatives on the RNC sold the party down the river in voting to reelect that abject failure of a national chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel, who screwed up over and over and over. Former Raleigh, NC resident Harmeet Dhillon, now California GOP National Committewoman was a much better choice, and also far better than Michael Whatley. That lousy but extremely important vote by the two incumbents was more than enough to show we needed a change. However, in looking at some of the candidates Niilson had supported, there were some real questions about his conservatism. Yes, we needed a change, but we also needed better challengers.
Why would anyone want to run when the fix is already in? The two challengers would not have been my first picks, but I don’t think they were bad ones. Would I rather have “slick” Ed and “glitz” Kyshia or two honest people who do the will of the party? To send a message, I would have voted for Mickey and Minnie Mouse instead of Ed and Kyshia. Having said that, the challengers garnered almost 40% the vote. Don’t stick your nose too far up in the air.