Year of the Ox

Isn’t it appropriate that on the first day of the Lunar Year of the Ox, a year that brings us hard work and most importantly honesty, the lies and hoaxes of the Democrats are being exposed? 

The year of the Metal Ox, following the tumultuous and rambunctious year that is the mark of the Metal Rat, follows up on what the Rat hath wrought.  We now have a lunar year of yin – a calmness unlike the energy of the Rat’s yang.   The likeliness of upheaval and catastrophic events, often characteristics of a Metal Rat year, are far less likely in an Ox year.  The year of the Ox is a time to be thoughtful and to work out what the Rat hath wrought.

The year of the Ox represents hard work, positivity, and honesty.  It rewards hard work and effort, especially by those not demanding attention.  It rewards reliability and honesty.  It is the year when one works to finish or solve the things that were begun in the Year of the Rat.  The Ox year has the ability to transform negative challenges of the Rat that preceded it.

In the Year of the Ox, persuasion via pathos has little effectiveness.  Rather, logical and analytical thinking take a prime position.  Along with this, honesty comes to the forefront and is rewarded.

And so, it is appropriate that today in the Senate the impeachment trial turns to an exposing of the many lies put forth from the Democrats, not only in the previous days of this impeachment, but throughout the past 4 years. 

Today the Defense lawyers are playing full videos or other recordings of presentations that were previously edited and hence distorted by the Democrats in order to paint a false picture of Trump’s words and actions.  Not just the videos of Jan 6, but of things as old as the distortive editing of Trump’s words following Charlottesville – a distortive lie that has been repeated by Democrats since 2017.

The Defense is showing the words and actions of Democrats that are at least as, if not more, “inciteful” than those that the Democrats claim justify impeachment.  The Defense is proving the Democrat hypocrisy by proving that a large number of Democrats are guilty of what they accuse the former president of.

Today may be the first time that many networks have actually played (and hence that many people have actually seen) the full recordings that have previously been shown in their manipulated state.  The lies are all together being presented today, on the first day of this year in which honesty is honored. 

Of course, I doubt that the Democrats who have spent the last four years in hypocrisy and lying will have any inclination to honor, let alone actually be honest- with themselves or the American people. 

Nonetheless, I can hope that this Lunar Year of the Ox has some actual effect on the people who will perhaps turn to logical thought.  I can hope they will no longer rush to judgment based on pathos and emotion.  And, I can hope that in the process they will begin to reward honesty and no longer tolerate the duplicity and dishonesty that has become the trademark of the Democrats.

Why I’m Not Watching the Impeachment

I have better things to do with my time than to watch political theater when I’ve already seen the show before and fully understand its underlying themes. 

In this political theater version of The Impeachment Sequel, the Democrats continue to act out their very real mental disturbances caused by Trump Derangement Syndrome.  That, and they try to expel their insecurity-caused fear that Donald Trump may run for office again and so they must forever disqualify him.

In addition to being some sort of attempt at Trump hate catharsis, this Impeachment does serve other purposes such as distracting the populace from the many things that President Biden is doing that are potentially dangerous and harmful to this country.  It also shows us that the Democrats have no intention of losing their narrative method of distorting truth as a way to sway the public to their thinking.

For example, in a high-tech Hollywood-like video in which the Democrats replayed Trump’s words at the protest on Jan. 6, the film included his calls to fight for this country and the Constitution but conveniently left out the most important words in which President Trump called for the march and protest to be and remain peaceful. 

And, of course, there are the individual narratives (some would call them lies).  The now infamous and Hollywood like performance of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez about her “near-death experiences” on Jan. 6.  Or the statements by Maxine Waters (and similarly other Democrats) that she never uttered the words that most have seen or listened to on tape calling for violence against Trump and his supporters.

But then, such misleading presentations are not surprising when you are holding an impeachment that the majority of actual and leading Constitutional Law scholars in this country assert is not constitutional.  It is not surprising when the judge for the “trial” is also a partisan Democrat senator-participant who is firmly on record as believing Trump must be impeached.  

This is nothing more than a show trial.  There is nothing to see here unless your desire is to watch the Democrats display their disrespect for our Constitution, their pathological hate for one man, their hate for American ideals, and their disregard for the actual business of the people that they ought to be conducting.

Instead of the distraction of this political theatrical re-run, try considering some of what it is distracting you from.  There is so much; let me list just a few that you might have missed.

There is the walk-back of the promise of immediate jobs for the tens of thousands of pipeline and oil workers that Biden’s executive orders have put out of work.  When will jobs for these people who need to support themselves and families now become an actuality?  Oh, sometime in the future; no time soon, but it will be worth the wait his press secretary tells us.  Worth it for whom?  The workers’ starving children?  How can this not remind one of Stalin’s five-year plans that repeatedly promised the current sacrifice would be rewarded in the future?

There is the cancelling that continues in all spheres.  People silenced by social media, by their employers, and by new executive orders that are effective not only in current and present silencing, but in creating a fear that essentially works to silence the potential of future speech opposing Left views.  Again, we are reminded of Stalinist Russia where those who spoke out against the Soviet plan were threatened and harassed, sometimes beaten and arrested, expelled or put to death.  While we may not have gone as far as Great Terror Russia, the current silencing/censoring/cancelling from the political Left and its symbiotic partners serves to quash those who might otherwise speak out.

This instilling of fear is further amplified by such things as the recent Bank of America data share in which it provided the government with the names of ANYONE who, from their banking records, showed they were in DC on or around Jan. 6.  When the federal authorities asked, Bank of America turned over the results of its internal scan to federal authorities.  The profile requested and provided included: "1. Customers confirmed as transacting, either through bank account debit card or credit card purchases in Washington, D.C. between 1/5 and 1/6. 2. Purchases made for Hotel/Airbnb RSVPs in DC, VA, and MD after 1/6. 3. Any purchase of weapons or at a weapons-related merchant between 1/7 and their upcoming suspected stay in D.C. area around Inauguration Day. 4. Airline related purchases since 1/6."

That is, if you were visiting your mother and used your BOA card to buy a coffee and bagel on the morning of Jan. 6 you were reported to the feds by BOA, and they felt no restraints about their ability to call you in and question you as if you were a terrorist.   BOA apparently did not notify its customers they were being spied upon.  And indeed, people who had done nothing wrong other than being in DC on the 6^th were called in and interrogated before being cleared. 

If this does not give you the sense of some sort of a police state, then let me suggest that you also look at the militarized encampment that our capitol has become; an encampment not to protect the people, but to keep them from their government.

There are of course the many international proclamations and orders that have been made by President Biden, all with little thought or even time for consideration.  They are either simply a spiteful reversal of Trump policies, regardless of the pros or cons of those policies, or they are a response to Leftist demands that must be met immediately because they address some alleged “crisis” either of environment or immigration.  Yet even a cursory review of many of these actions by independent experts reveal that their long-term effects will be anything but good.

And, finally, let me mention the Time article that sets forth the collusion between politicians, big Tech and big Corporations to ensure the outcome of the election to be against Trump.  The article brags that this action was heroic because these people took it upon themselves to adjust the will of the people to ensure an outcome that they, not necessarily the people, favored.  And let me just suggest that any dictator similarly sees as heroic any actions that ensure his retention of power regardless of their suppression of the will of the people.

So, no, I am not watching the political theater.  I am hoping that it may finally assuage the irrational if not psychotic Trump-hatred, but I am pretty sure it will not.  I would rather reflect upon the above and many similar activities that the Left engages in right before our eyes.  My reflections include not only how they are destroying the good of this country, but also how to open the eyes of my fellow citizens to what is going on in this comedy that is really a tragedy for America.

Just Another Drop in the Bucket

In an unprecedented action the House voted to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committees.  Those committees include the Committee on Education and Labor and the House Budget Committee.  Not only does this remove her (and hence her constituents’) voice on those committees; it also changes the balance of power (favorably for the Left) on those committees.

Before she was elected to Congress, Rep. Greene, on social media, posted or “liked” some alleged violent statements and some alleged conspiracy theories.  Her constituents knew this and yet they voted for her.  They wanted her voice to represent them in Congress including on committees.  Yet, the majority of her Congressional colleagues (mostly Democrat) did not like her views and so voted to relieve her of her committee assignments, effectively silencing not just her voice, but the voice of her constituents as well.

This action invites any majority to simply remove voices that do not support their own. It sets a very dangerous precedent.

This is not what an America that tolerates and appreciates diverse views does. This is what a government ruled by people who believe their view should be the only view does.  This is what a totalitarian regime does.

If you are not outraged, you have no idea what America or democracy or our democratic republic is all about.  This has nothing to do with your personal beliefs.  It has to do with accepting the silencing of voices that those in power do not like. 

This is yet one more notch in the massive silencing that is going on and that I addressed in my more lengthy post yesterday.  It may seem to you like just a drop in the bucket, nothing to get worked up over.  But when that bucket is full, it will hold every drop of the freedoms that Americans now enjoy.  And those in power, not the people, will hold that bucket.  They can toss it out, down the drain, and likely will before they ever let you drink from it again.

                                                       

Losing Your Voice: The Why and How of a Power Grab

There seems to currently be an all-out war on diverse voices.  The sort of silencing that we are seeing these days makes us think of totalitarian regimes that we read about in history class, the Bolsheviks, Lenin, Stalin, etc.  I’d like to think I’m exaggerating, but friends of mine who grew up in Communist or other totalitarian regimes as well as others with firsthand knowledge of that sort of partisan political silencing now indicate they are seeing that sort of silencing here in America.  Former presidential candidate and Democrat Tulsi Gabbard has referred to what we are witnessing as not unlike a police state.

Why the attack on diverse voices?  The answer is fairly simple: When you want yourself or your party to be in control not just of your designated duties, but of society itself; when you think so less of the common man’s abilities to make the “right” decisions, when you want to create your own utopia.  When those are your goals, in order to achieve them you must silence all voices that do not parrot your own.

The “How” of this power grab in America today is multifaceted.  It includes a number of power structures all of which are complicit in a Leftest campaign for what they call “unity” but which really is designed to silence all opposition to their plans. Following are some of the tactics currently in use.

               Combine Forces with Big Tech

Big Tech’s biases sync with those of the Left.  And, Big Tech has the power to silence the voices of those holding different views. 

Democrat Tulsi Gabbard in discussing the Left’s silencing that undermines our civil liberties, noted that "Big Tech is culpable in that they are using their monopolistic power to pick and choose whose voices are heard and whose voices are squelched, whether it’s based on who they agree with, disagree with, political affiliation, who you voted for."

I am aware of the old saw that Big Tech can do as it pleases because it is a private company, not the government and therefore has no responsibility to First Amendment rights.  That view is mistaken both ethically and legally.

In today’s world, social media is our version of the old public square where everyone could speak their views.  That makes these social media sites and their Big Tech controllers uniquely important.  In Packingham v. NC, a unanimous Supreme Court held that a North Carolina law prohibiting registered sex offenders from accessing various websites, where minors were known to be active and have accounts, regardless of whether the sex offender directly interacted with a minor, violated the First Amendment.  The Court stated, “to foreclose access to social media altogether is to prevent the user from engaging in the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights.”

While the facts of that case were different from the facts of today’s censorship and silencing by Twitter, Facebook, Amazon’s server (Parlor and Parler App), and others, that case tells us that because the internet is today’s public square, there must be some protection of First Amendment rights within that square if those rights are to mean anything at all. 

               Combine Forces with News and Entertainment

When the Press silences only voices of one political viewpoint or when it presents stories in a way that assists and promotes one viewpoint, the silencing becomes a form of propaganda. 

The mainstream media has biases that, like those of Big Tech, sync with the views of the Left.  Hence, they use omission, distortion, presentation of opinion as fact, suppression of unfavorable stories (e.g., Hunter Biden and his laptop) and airtime to persuade people to adopt the Left viewpoint on most issues.

By now I think it is common knowledge that the mainstream media’s reports about Trump and his actions were over 90% unfavorable.  It is also clear that their approach toward Biden is to present everything favorably or if that is not possible to simply not report it.  As Alexander Solzhenitsyn put it, “The press does not feel responsibility for its judgments.  It makes judgments and attaches labels with the greatest of ease.  Mediocre journalists simply make headlines of their conclusions, which suddenly become generally accepted.” (See his book “Warning to the West”)

Our democracy requires informed citizenry and we in large part depend on the media for that information.  If they are not presenting it or are presenting it in a way that conforms only to one voice, then they are essentially silencing all our voices, because without having full facts and information, it is impossible to even formulate differing views.

While the news media may have become a dystopian form of entertainment, the Entertainment Industry itself, again with biases similar to the Left, has made it its mission to use its programming to bend the views of the American people to those of the Left.   A recent article in the Hollywood Reporter indicated that Hollywood needs to “double down” on pushing the Left agenda.  We will be presented with “entertainment” that reinforces what is good/acceptable and what is not.

               Combine Forces with Corporations and Academia

Again, these institutions tend to also have biases that sync with the views of the Left.  Their role seems to be to limit opportunity for those who hold diverse and opposing views.  We regularly see these institutions blackball individuals who do not share the “correct” views while at the same time making public statements in support of trending Leftist causes and those who advocate for them.

Just this week Sephora cut ties with one of their beauty “vloggers” because she had stated she supported then-President Trump and also expressed her Christian views.  The company was made aware of this via a form of “report on your neighbor” conducted by some Twitter users who accused the vlogger of being racist.  Sephora in response to these unproven allegations said the vlogger’s beliefs are “not aligned” with the company’s “values around inclusivity.”  Apparently lack of inclusivity of conservative views is OK with Sephora.

This is not a unique incident.  Over and over, we hear of individuals, including teachers, scientists, athletes, and respected community members being fired for holding conservative views or making statements that are not in line with the Left’s narrative.  A United States soccer star received backlash for standing during the United States’ National Anthem.  It seems that every entity aligned with the Left that has the power to do so is encouraging its own hiring officers as well as those of others not to hire anyone aligned with Trump or conservatives. 

When Trump Administration employees leaving government service were told by the Biden Administration that they would not be able to receive the rest of their maternity leave which they were already in the course of, their main concern was that they would not be able to find immediate employment not because of having a new child at home but because former Trump officials face an uphill climb finding a job in a Washington D.C.  Reported in Politico on Feb 2, the article notes that employees declined to go on the record for fear that it would affect [their] prospects of landing a job with a salary sufficient to support a family.

Blackballing those who speak diverse views is a form of silencing because it places a person in the untenable position of having to choose between speaking their views or being able to feed themself.  

Academia is not immune from this sort of behavior.  Just this week I received information about the Kansas Board of Regents passing a suspension of tenure and its protections through 2022.  While the justification is potential financial problems due to CoVid, the reality is that under this plan administrators could layoff faculty without any procedural safeguards, without the right to discovery, and with no procedure for reinstating faculty once the financial exigency has passed.  Thus, this makes it possible for a tenured member of the faculty to be fired for any reason, including unpopular views, as long as she is told that it is due to financial exigency.

               Taking Political Action

The current administration is right on board with the Left and its silencing.  It supports the impeachment of a political rival.  It supports calls to censure or remove Congress persons who spoke up or made objections to the Left’s position about the election’s irregularities.  Via executive order that effectively silences the voices of the people, the President is cancelling all actions of his predecessor without reflection about their benefit or detriment to the country. Some of these orders include enforcement and punishment provisions for not complying.  And the people’s Capitol is filled with military protecting not the people but those within the seats of power (while at the same time no military is sent to cities actually under violent assault from Left and anarchist organizations).

The first bills in a new Congress reflect the priorities of that administration.  In this administration we see bills that would further silence views that do not “unite” with those of the Left.  HR-1 and its counterpart S-1, eliminates any restrictions on vote-by-mail, a form of voting that is noted for its likelihood of misuse and hence dilution of legitimate voters’ voices. 

But more importantly, HR-1 allows federal regulators to categorize and regulate speech.  If desired, all speech that just mentions a candidate could be illegal for up to 4 months prior to an election; all that is required is that the speech “promotes, attacks, supports, or opposes” a candidate.   The regulators would be a Commission whose chairman would be appointed by the President and have a tie-breaking (and hence partisan) vote.  The bill also requires groups to disclose personal information of supporters, sometimes to the public at large.

While presented as a “voter protection” act, If HR-1 were to become law it would certainly intimidate if not silence those who hold viewpoints in opposition to those in power.  It would silence any form of honest debate about candidates or issues and their possible solutions.  Notably, the ACLU opposes this bill.

               Keeping the People in Fear of Speaking Out

In addition to silencing diverse views, the above activities all also serve to intimidate by creating a fear in others not yet silenced so that they too will not speak out.  This is not unlike a hate crime in which a member of a particular group is injured less to harm that particular individual and more to warn the entire group not to cause trouble – to stay silent.

This is the goal of Biden’s unity:  Unite in silence.  Silence all diverse views and from the outside it will look like we are all united.  The above methods (as well as others) all work to this end.  Do not present diverse views on social media or you may be censored or your account deleted; do not expect to get information from news, yet without information you may not be able to form cogent views and thus will not speak out; prepare to be bombarded with proper viewpoints in entertainment so that you will begin to internalize and speak those views; do not speak diverse views for fear of losing and/or not finding employment; you must follow executive orders (fiats of the executive) or fear punishment for not acting in accordance with this executive power grab; forget speaking through your vote which the Left is working to dilute.  But if you unite with the “correct” view, the party view, you will be just fine.

               And What Will You Do?

People like Poland’s Deputy Justice minister have seen this silencing before.  He recently called on the U.S. to protect every citizen from the “cancel culture” which “has more in common with the methods of Soviet Russia than modern democracies.”  Russian dissident Alexei Navalny said something similar before he was arrested and sentenced to more than two years in a Russian penal colony.  Professor Michael Rachkosvsky who grew up in the former USSR, came to this country in 1993, and now teaches at Quinnipiac University, reminds us that socialist ideologues need to eliminate opposition and control media, art, and literature.  Alexander Solzhenitsyn was seemingly prescient not only in the underlying themes of his novels condemning the ideological lie, but especially in his “Warnings to the West” originally published in 1975.

These and others who have a personal experience with silencing are warning us.  If you cannot speak, cannot vote, and must conform, then you have no voice and you are not free. 

You are being watched by the many arms of the power hungry who will silence you if you do not behave and “unite” with the Left.  You are being watched, but who will watch the watchers?  And is watching just enough?  Are you willing to sit back and watch your freedoms dissolve, perhaps because as of yet you have not been affected? 

My hope is that this taking of our freedom is being done so quickly, so openly and obviously, and so broadly that everyone will notice, that no one will be complacent about it, and that no one will simply sit back and watch.  This is a watershed moment.  Complacency gives those who seek unbridled power exactly what they want.  Indeed, complacency, which is the voice of complicity, may remove your last chance to speak up and your voice may be lost forever.

Is Capitalism the Real Problem?

I think it is a given that our country is clearly split almost exactly in two over how we want to move forward.  But, forward from what?  That is a question that we seem to have skipped examining.

Many argue that we must give up on capitalism because it is a total failure.  But is it? 

While I think most would agree that the mobility both up and down the economic scale that is the promise of capitalism for all has become far less a reality in this country than it once was, I think that we ignore asking and answering why that is or whether it can be corrected.  Instead about half the country would just dump our capitalist system completely and “move forward.”

Let’s just briefly remind ourselves what capitalism is. Capitalism is an economic system where individuals and firms have considerable freedom to decide what to produce and how to produce. It is an economy dominated by free markets, private property and limited government regulation.

In our capitalist democratic republic, which does not have official caste or class systems that prevent upward mobility, true capitalism allows individuals, based on their talents, individual motivations, and a bit of luck to move both up and down.  That mobility includes an amount of risk and uncertainty, but it also includes the hope and promise of a better life for all.

Critics of capitalism will assert that capitalism ignores peoples' needs, results in wealth inequality, and does not promote equal opportunity. They argue that capitalism also encourages mass consumption, is unsustainable, and provides an incentive for business owners to harm the environment or cause other external harm for monetary gain.

These are to some extent legitimate criticisms.  Capitalism will never result in everyone being in the same position – the equity that is all the rage on the Left these days.  Let’s remind ourselves, however, that equity is not equality; to achieve equity requires taking away equality from those individuals who are in a position that is considered superior.  Equity, along with its colleague “fairness,” actually requires a lack of fairness – a lack of equal treatment – to achieve certain state mandated results.  Demanding equity belies one of our core values that all people are created equal and deserve equal treatment. 

Instead of equity, ideally capitalism provides everyone with the opportunity to use their own skills and desires to get to where they want to be.  That is the ideal and, like any ideal, it will never be achieved.  And, at times, even when the opportunities are entirely equal,  the outcomes may appear or actually be unfair. 

But capitalism creates possibilities, the taking of which vary in risk-factor as well as perhaps the need for luck.  It does not guarantee that any particular actions or inactions will or will not result in a particular end.  And, when results are not guaranteed, there is uncertainty.  Uncertainty is often uncomfortable.

Today it does seem that too many individuals are not finding the desired and sometimes even necessary results.  One cannot ignore that we have far too many people with food or home insecurity despite working two and three jobs.  But the reaction to this seems to be the singular:  Capitalism doesn’t work, dump it and move to a different system with socialism being that system of choice.

I ask that we step back.  Let us ask why is it that capitalism is not working.  Is it truly a failed system, or is it just flawed in its current practice?  What does capitalism need to succeed and is that the environment of our capitalism today?  Is it the fault of capitalism or is it the fact that we actually now have a significant number of socialistic regulations and programs interwoven with our capitalism?  I suggest these are things worth examining before simply perhaps throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Let’s look at our first major socialist program – social security.  We have all become dependent on it, we expect to receive it when we retire.  It is a clear piece of certainty (security) in our otherwise uncertain lives.  And it is a socialistic government (social) program that is paid for by the taxes of others.  Overall, it is probably a decent program successfully providing everyone who worked at least a minimal income upon retirement. 

But imagine if instead of government collecting the social security tax from your paycheck each month you had that money to yourself determine how to spend.  You could develop your own retirement plan that might net you far better retirement income.   But that does not have the certainty that social security does.  You might just as easily spend that money on frivolities and have nothing for retirement.  You might make a risky investment and end up with far less.  So, to make sure that everyone has something, we give up our personal freedom and decision-making and allow the government to provide us the secure and certain amount that it determines is appropriate for us.

Government regulations which become more and more inclusive have a huge effect on the free market and hence on the capitalist system.  Remember, capitalism needs limited government intervention to thrive.  When the government, its taxes and regulations, encourages businesses and their jobs to go overseas, when excessively high minimum wages force small businesses to collapse, when government programs deflate individual initiative and encourage a hopelessness of existence dependent upon government help, then it becomes very difficult for capitalism to survive. 

When, due to big government, individuals relinquish their belief in the mobility of capitalism and trade it for the certainty of position, no matter how less than or hopeless that certainty may be, then we really do not have a true capitalist system to evaluate or to throw out.

The more the government provides certainty, the more that we become less willing to take the risks of innovation and self-determination that capitalism requires.  We become accustomed to certainty – to security, to social security not just for retirement, but for life itself.  And when the government does not provide enough, we ask for (demand) more.  That is not really the way capitalism works and so perhaps we should not be blaming capitalism for the inequity that we see around us today.

So, rather than jump ahead to the solution of throwing out capitalism, I suggest that we pause and really examine why capitalism is not working particularly well currently.  Is it the fault of capitalism itself, or is it that it has been infused with too many socialist elements that are the direct antithesis of capitalism and which work to prevent the effectiveness of the capitalist system?  Is there something we can do to put capitalism back on track, or is the only possible solution to completely give it up? These are serious and crucial questions that need to be answered before deciding on the best path forward.

I think that many of the problems with our society are concerns to both sides of our warring populace.  The catch is that half of that populace has already made the decision to move forward with socialism without a full examination and understanding of what is actually causing the problems.

I believe we owe it to ourselves, our country, and our future generations to consider whether we can make corrections to our capitalist system that will address many of the problems with which we are faced.  I think it is at the very least worth a try.

Socialism on the other hand is usually a snake-oil cure.  If we are as a nation to decide to take the path of socialism I would like to see that decision made with a full understanding of what socialism really is and where it leads.  I do not think that many of those leading or following the charge away from capitalism and toward socialism have taken a complete and honest look at either the problems or their proposed solution.

The First Nine Days

It’s been barely over a week since Biden took office and he has already signed over 40 executive orders and actions. It is stunning how quickly America is being dismantled.   

                Gutting America’s Core

President Biden begins by forgetting that we have three branches of government: the Presidency is not a dictatorship.  But, when one rules by executive order, bypassing the other branches and hence the representatives and voice of the people, what can one call it but a dictatorship?

Now, to be fair, House Speaker Pelosi applauds this dictatorial bypassing of the legislature; she supports Biden’s “transformative executive actions.”  Those words should place fear in all of us as we ask “to what are these executive actions intent on transforming?”

The President is also supporting assault on the judicial branch and its independence.  He has appointed a “commission” to study the possibility of reforming the courts beginning with packing the Supreme Court so as to make it nothing more than a political arm of his party.

President Biden’s refusal to address the ongoing and escalating censorship of opposing or unapproved ideas is another assault on one of our most cherished freedoms:  the freedom to speak and believe unpopular views.  Biden’s Department of Justice has even begun prosecuting people for memes used during the 2016 election. 

               Where is the Transparency and Accountability?

Biden, along with his press secretary, seems to be adept at avoiding answering any controversial questions.  Of course, such avoidance is easier when you have a friendly press that will not push for answers to difficult questions or even avoid those that have the potential of putting Biden in a bad light.

Biden has failed to speak about the continuing violent protests (riots) on the West Coast.  He has failed to speak out on the GameStop affair, including saying nothing about his Treasury Secretary being paid by a fund linked to the scandal.   The administration simply says they are “monitoring” the situation.

However, as part of this Administration’s “transparency initiative,” Press Secretary Psaki did inform us that the President’s favorite snack is ice cream, and his favorite flavor is chocolate chip.  Ahh, such important news they deign to share with us common people.

Military State

We have troops quartered in our nation’s capital.  Our symbols of freedom are surrounded with razor wire to keep the people out.  

Bringing the National Guard to DC for Jan. 6 and its immediate aftermath may have made sense, but now the Biden Administration has extended their presence there for months.  The excuse is the possibility of threats to Congress, but they point to no such viable threats.  Instead, this looks like the fortification that one used to see only in countries ruled by dictators paranoid about losing their power.

In a similar vein, again looking like those paranoid leaders of totalitarian regimes, President Biden fully backs not only the impeachment of the former President, but also purging any and all who are not fully on board with the Left agenda.  People like the head of Voice of America or the National Security Agency general counsel who had previously been vetted through a bipartisan process.

Not only is there a purge of former officials.  The “purge” goes forward toward any and all who might raise a dissident voice.  Former Democratic Presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard put it this way (in response to a statement by John Brennon):

Brennan says: “Members of the Biden team who have been nominated or appointed are now moving in laser-like fashion to try to uncover as much as they can about what looks very similar to insurgency movements they’ve seen overseas where they germinate in different parts of the country and gain strength and bring together an unholy alliance, frequently of religious extremists, authoritarians, fascist bigots, racist, nativist, and even libertarians.” This is the extent that they are going to try to undermine the rights and freedoms that are guaranteed to every one of us, and it is incredibly dangerous.

A good example of where this sort of purging leads is playing out in Russia right now with the imprisonment of opposition leader Navalny and his supporters.  Indeed, the attitude of this administration smells of the fear of opposition that one usually sees in a totalitarian leadership obsessed only with retaining its own power.

               The Policies Belie Unity and Healing

Unless you are blind, stupid, or ignorant, it has become fairly clear that Biden’s “unity” is nothing more than a move to force all to march in lock step to this administration and party’s approved beliefs.  That is not a democratic unity but a unity of oppression.

The Left’s preferred method of achieving this uniformity seems to be via identity politics.  Biden’s policies and executive actions thus far seem to signal that he will use his polices to maintain if not accelerate the identity wars against social enemies.  Why else, by fiat alone would Biden using executive orders essentially not only reverse policies on immigration and climate, but things like abortion, LGBT and Transgender issues, including creating athletic policies that are unfair and biased against women, reinstating the debunked and biased Critical Race Theory indoctrination while cancelling the 1776 project, and other hot button social issues.  

These are issues that require dialog, objective input, and understanding.  Instead, President Biden is stoking the fires of identity hatred in hopes of furthering a Leftist agenda.

Not a Moderate

Biden told us he was a moderate when he ran for President.  If that is so, that he underwent a major transformation once he took the oath of office.  His environmental actions, while doing nothing to actually help the environment, are costing tens of thousands of jobs and costing states millions in lost revenue.  His sudden embrace of increasing the minimum wage can and likely will be devastating to already struggling small businesses. 

 And, like the rest of the Leftists, Biden seems to loathe America and all she stands for.  Without discussion he accepts and promotes the view that America is built upon and still is plagued by “systemic racism.” He called the 1776 report “offensive” and “counter-factual”; apparently he disagrees with statements therein such as “The bedrock upon which the American political system is built is the rule of law. The vast difference between tyranny and the rule of law is a central theme of political thinkers back to classical antiquity.” 

President Biden stated that America has never lived up to her promise, yet, despite the fact that America has had and probably always will have its flaws, “America’s history has always been a relationship between those principles and a nation trying, aspiring to uphold those principles.”  The abolitionist movement began here.

As stated in the preamble to the Constitution, our mission is “to form a more perfect Union.”  Perfection may not be achievable in this world, but there is nothing wrong with continuing to aspire toward it.  And our Constitution and our core democratic principles are our roadmap for that quest.

We have always been the shining light of freedom and democracy.  Yet, if these first nine days are any indication, that is about to change because what we are seeing are the first steps in a march toward dictatorship.

Everything Is an Emergency – Except Freedom and Equality

Someone noted that the buzzwords of this administration are “crisis, decisive action, urgency, equity.” These are the words that are used to justify almost everything that Biden has done since his inauguration.  This crisis, this emergency mode allows this administration to impose its dictates without time for thought or proper legislative action; those dictates are always in accord with the socialist drive for equity (not to be confused with equality).  

It seemed President Biden was in a race against time to sign as many executive orders as he could before putting what he called a “lid” on the day and going home.  There was an urgency to reverse every action President Trump had taken, without any thought or real consideration of whether or not it had been good for the country.  The urgency was to revoke a policy that was not Leftist. 

Monday Sen. Schumer suggested that Biden declare a “climate emergency.”  "He can do many, many things under the emergency powers ... that he could do without legislation," Schumer asserted; that is, he can bypass legislative debate and use executive power to ignore the voice of the people.  Biden has already used his executive power for a number of environmental measures including rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement which many argue does little for the climate and is harmful to US interests, and has rescinded the Keystone XL pipeline permit without consideration of the tens of thousands of jobs that will be lost as a result and the fact, again, that this will do little if anything to reduce the use of non-renewable energy.

Democrats have also indicated their intent to use Reconciliation to pass Left programs.  Reconciliation provides a process to prevent the use of the filibuster and thereby allow the passage of a bill with simple majority support in the Senate.  This denies an effective voice to the minority.  

Equity is a part of the flurry of administrative dictates.  These dictates further a Left agenda, but not an American sense of equality of all.  Allowing biological males to compete as women effectively denies women a fair and equal venue for competition.  Immediately ordering a lifting of the military ban on transgenders without a real study of the reasonable arguments both for and against, serves the Left buzzword of equity, but may not serve our military and hence our national security.  Biden has embraced the not only debunked but actually harmful Critical Race Theory and has chosen to allow its previously prohibited training for federal workers and contractors.  ICE agents have been ordered to free all illegal aliens in custody – no consideration or study of whether some should perhaps not be freed.

Actually, there are some real crises that Biden seems able to ignore.  Not only does he violate his own Covid mandates, but he now admits that he never had a plan (as he asserted from his campaign basement) to end the pandemic, but rather now tells us the disease will just run its course.  Meanwhile, he installs health advisors (paid by taxpayers) who will I guess give him cover as he uses the crisis of Covid to implement other Left agenda items without input from Congress or the people.

And the big crisis, the one that he now supports impeachment over, the Capitol “insurrection,” allows this administration to not only go after Trump and his supporters, but to justify their attempts to completely silence not only Trump, but all conservatives and Republicans, and virtually all who do not support this new Left regime.   

Meanwhile, Biden ignores a real crisis on the West Coast in cities like Tacoma, Seattle, and Portland, where real and violent anti-America riots occur daily.  The press tries to ignore this, but the people in those cities cannot.  But apparently that is not a crisis because there is no way to make executive action against it serve the Left agenda.   Instead, Biden will keep DC militarized with razor wire around our symbols of freedom, implying there is a crisis in DC and hence he must urgently issue orders which we should blindly follow.

These are all examples of what we have:  an administration making decisions not based on real urgency or crisis but on its desire to quickly implement its Leftist regime.  These dictates come from the Oval Office without listening to the voice of the people.  They bypass the Legislature, which is intended to serve as a check on Presidential power.  The people are not only left out of this administration’s government but are also silenced when they dissent; as such, Biden’s presidency becomes far more a totalitarian government than a democracy.  That is an urgent crisis that we all should be concerned about.