Warning: Political Commentary
January 20, 2023, is an important date for the political future of our nation. Should the President resign or otherwise vacate his office on or after this date, the Vice President can take over the Presidency, complete the final two years of his term, and still run for and complete two, four-year terms on her own. That’s potentially ten years as President of the United States.
This is due to the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution. Section 1 reads:
“No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.”
Jumping into our wayback machine, I’ve always thought this was the plan. Well, Plan B at least.
Plan A
A little history. Our current Vice President was part of the very large crowd running for democratic presidential nomination in 2020. She had all the right backers and was quietly the favorite of the party elite. She was young, ambitious and had the race/sex combination to attract the voters the democratic party was pandering to at the time. Those who were leading the race in the poles (Biden & Sanders, whom I refer to as the Lightning Rods), were put out to attract the attention of press and competition, but never intended to win. Something would come up where they would step aside and let the party’s real choice be substituted at the last minute, avoiding the long, intense scrutiny of the front runners.
Plan A Fails
Then the party favorite crashed. Maybe not crashed like the manufactured outrage to Howard Dean’s scream in 2004 that dropped him from front runner status, more like a failure to perform. So bad was her performance she dropped out of the race before of the first primary. This left the party with the front runners they didn’t want but were stuck with.
Plan B
Somewhere, somehow, some political genius came up with the idea to put the party favorite, a candidate that couldn’t make it to the first primary, on the ballot as the VP choice. Knowing the top of the ticket was occupied by someone who could barely string a comprehensible sentence together, let along draw anything more than tiny apathetic crowds to the few campaign trips outside his basement headquarters, it would be easy to finally install the chosen one in two years.
Plan B Fails
What started as the Biden/Harris administration was quietly dialed back to the Biden Administration, again due to a failure to perform. There are way too many examples to point to, but even a biased Google search can bring up dozens of examples of the Vice President’s word salad speeches, trademark nervous cackle when stumped, and lack of achievement in office. Clearly NOT the person anyone wants in the White House for 10 years.
Now with the 2024 election cycle beginning, there’s a problem. It’s doubtful on a day-to-day basis if the President will be able to make it to the end of his current term, to say nothing of a second. Having the Vice President take over the big chair would put her as the presumptive democratic party candidate in 2024, which would be a disaster for the party. And nobody wants to primary against a sitting president.
Plan C
My crystal ball is saying all the negative news ‘leaks’ about the President and his family are a subtle way to muddying him up just enough to make a valid excuse for him not running for reelection in 2024, but not enough to get him removed from office before then.
This means the democratic party can have an open primary and not be stuck with the Vice President as their nominee in November. Who will step up? We can absolutely count on perennial favorite lightning rods such as Sanders and Warren, but the names to watch for include Buttigieg, Rice, Newsom, M. Obama and everyone’s favorite blast from the past, twice failed presidential candidate, H. Clinton.
It is important to keep in mind political news does not get released randomly. It is a deliberately planned sequence of events and stories meant to shape a specific opinion for the voting public and provide the illusion of choice. All of what we are seeing now is setting the foundation for the 2024 elections. But is this the choice you want?
I’ve said it before. Every seat on every board in every community is important. If we are not showing up, we are ceding control of our communities, our states, and our nation to those who may not share our interests.
… and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Excerpt from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
The 2024 elections have already started. It’s time to catch up.
Bob
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Free and Fair Elections? Oh Puhleeze!
I’m going to pick up where I left off in 2022, talking about elections. It pains me to say the United States of America’s electoral process has become a worldwide joke. I’d compare it to what is going on to third world, banana republic nations, but sadly most of them have better elections than we do.
Why is a Second Amendment advocate so concerned about elections? It is because the people we elect, our representatives to local, county, state and federal positions, are the ones responsible for upholding our Constitution and any additional laws. When I hear politicians say “I support the Second Amendment, but…” that means they don’t understand the Constitution and Bill of Rights, or they just don’t care. Either way, I don’t want them representing me.
So, what were some of the shenanigans we saw during the 2022 midterm elections?
Lifelong democrats running as republicans.
Democrats actively supporting and financing low tier republican candidates as the ‘only person who can beat’ an incumbent democrat, knowing they have zero chance of doing so.
Setting up phony news organizations to publish campaign propaganda.
Ballot printer failures, misconfigurations and voting machine errors in primarily republican districts, all of which worked flawlessly up until changes made on election day.
Uncounted ballots mixed with counted ballots.
Voters disenfranchised in primarily republican districts.
Stacks of ballots being dropped off, fanned out for photographs, before being deposited into ballot boxes.
Legally required chain of custody paperwork not completed.
Ballots accepted and counted after cutoff times.
Ballots purposely sent to incorrect addresses.
Ballots purposely sent to illegal voters.
Completed ballots unaccounted for.
Completed ballots found in ditches.
Unexplained wild jumps of votes for only one candidate.
Counting taking days, weeks and even MONTHS.
Where does the establishment republican party stand on this? Pretty much nowhere. Since most of the election issues occurred in places where republican candidates supported by a certain former President were running, the GOP has been shockingly silent. So focused on purging anyone associated with the former President, they were willing to give up control of Congress to do it.
What has the GOP been up to instead? Well, there’s the supposedly critical to the country work of who will be on what committee, who will occupy what office space, what pointless political hearings need to be initiated as well as what bold, patriotic go-nowhere-because-they-know-they-can’t-get-past-the-senate bills can be passed in the house. And let’s not forget the backroom negotiations leading to 15 votes to install a Speaker of the House. Pathetic.
Funny, you and I had to endure the confusing and often disenfranchising punishment of ranked choice voting, but the Speaker of the House election didn’t. We also must trust the absolute integrity of absentee voting and ballot harvesting when our elected officials don’t. And when the big companies who throw their support behind mail in ballots for elections are faced with union votes, they insist on in-person voting because of the propensity of mail in voting fraud. Yet, we’re told this is essential, and anything less is a threat to democracy.
Some on the right have suggested that if one side cheats, the other side should cheat even harder. Naturally, that isn’t the answer and anyone who is cheating doesn’t deserve to win. Ensuring a level electoral playing field where the will of the people is respected is.
Election integrity matters for every seat on every board, from the local school board to the President of the United States. Without it, only the interests behind those running the elections are represented. Every community should insist on 100% compliance with the law and full open and accountable auditing.
Of course, if this isn’t for you or you’re just happy with all the shenanigans, so be it. But keep in mind the changing winds. There may come a day when you too may disagree with the way elections are run and the lack of accountability, and there will be nothing you can do about it.
Is that the free and fair elections you want?
Bob
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Press Play For 2023
I don’t believe I’ve heard anyone claim 2022 was a good year. It certainly had its challenges in my neck of the woods. During the latter months of last year, I needed to take a little break from the keyboard to deal with them. A few have managed to spill over into the new year, but that’s life. Meanwhile, the folks who are bound and determined to strip others of their constitutional rights have been working overtime. Time to get busy again and the start the new year off right.
The assault on our rights isn’t limited to the Second Amendment, although that is a significant focus. Every part of the First Amendment, religion, free speech, press, peaceable assembly and the ability to petition the government for redress of grievances, is being attacked. Fourth Amendment protections are being eroded or simply ignored. Fifth Amendment rights are being swept away with judicial approval. The Sixth Amendment is being completely disregarded, along with the Eighth Amendment. It’s almost as if our Constitution is being shredded before our eyes.
For me at least, I say no. I do not intend to sit quietly while our nation’s 246 years of history, progress and independence is dismantled. No, I am not calling for armed revolt or the new trendy term “insurrection”, we are better than that. I believe we can and will restore sanity to our country, but all of us need to start taking this garbage personally. We can do this, one neighborhood, one town, one city, one county, one state at a time.
I’ve got some catching up to do, so expect some less-than-timely articles to provide the foundation of others to come.
2023 is just starting and it’s already turning into a bumpy ride.
Bob
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You’ll Never Catch Me Doing That – Election 2022
Admit it, as a kid you probably said this to your parents more than a few times. You figured you were pretty damn clever too. You figured your parents would accept this statement as meaning ‘I won’t do that’, when what you really meant is ‘You won’t catch me when I do that’. Well, that’s pretty much the same thing going on with the 2022 Midterm Elections. You’ll never catch me doing that!
If the 2020 elections are known as *the most secure elections in history (the asterisk for all the laws broken, illegal votes, ballot box stuffing, election monitoring interference and results that took days to cheat/count), the 2022 elections will be ones that fine-tuned and perfected the process.
All the affidavits, lawsuits and videos – you know, all that conspiracy theory stuff that never happened – has become nothing more than training materials for this year’s elections. Instead of running vote tally centers like a Las Vegas casino floor or cash room with super high-definition cameras covering every activity from multiple angles, we can expect to see far fewer cameras of lesser quality with more obstructions. We can expect new physical barriers to block public views. Even without the COVID excuse for distance, monitors will be keep further away and not allowed to do their jobs. Tabulation machines will be on hidden networks and those middle of the night, unexplainable spikes in votes for only one candidate will be far more gradual and easily justified by pre-planned statements. In other words, you’re going to see far slicker, more sophisticated operations to get the desired result.
What is the desired result? A victory for “certain” candidates.
We’ve already been warned that Pennsylvania results will take days to be finalized. Why? Because it takes that long to massage results and craft the evidence to support it. Just about every other country in the world can count their votes and declare a winner the same day as the vote. Every village, town and city, no matter how big or small in this country used to be able to do that too. Has our population grown so much, and elections grown so complex that it takes days to do a simple count? No, of course not. But it does take that long to get the results you want.
It’s not much of a stretch to say a lot of people in our country have lost faith in our election process. Recent verified reports show multiple states’ election official training programs instructing their personnel directly in violation of state laws. “Mistakes” in sending out absentee ballots mean illegal ballots abound. Anarchist group members are already claiming to be voting multiple times.
Those in charge of elections are rejecting court rulings and implementing their own standards, guaranteeing the results will be back in the courts for days, weeks, months, and years, only to have the rulings ignored again the next time. Instead of embracing monitors and audits of the election process, administrators and city/county/state councils are stonewalling and refusing to grant access to their processes, systems, and documentation.
For you, the voter, how does this look? Does this give you confidence everything is being done by the book or does is raise questions about what is being done behind closed doors?
I’m also looking at incumbent candidates this year who are trying to obfuscate their track record. Let’s look at how our country has been doing over the past two years and see if these people deserve to continue doing the same thing.
Who shut down your state for two weeks to flatten the curve, that turned into two years to flatten the economy?
Who shut down your business because it wasn’t considered “essential”?
Who quarantined you in your home and arrested you if you went out for “non-essential” reasons?
Who caused you to stand in the cold outside a store for hours just to get what little was available to feed your family?
Who decided you could buy vegetables but not vegetable seeds?
Who put sick patients back into nursing homes filled with the most vulnerable residents?
Who didn’t allow you to morn your family members deaths or attend new family births?
Who sent heavily armed police squads to shut down your business and place of worship?
Who forced people to choose between an experimental vaccine and food or a job?
Who has increased the costs of all essential goods including food, gas and clothing not seen for four decades?
Who has opened our borders to drugs, disease, crime and anyone that wants to walk in unobstructed?
Who has released criminals into our communities, defunded the police, stopped enforcing laws, and allowed crime to skyrocket as public safety plummets?
Who has been sending our tax dollars overseas when we can’t afford to take care of our own people?
Who has been deliberately suppressing YOUR free speech in partnership with the largest technology and social media companies?
Who has been targeting, harassing and arresting parents and concerned citizens for minor or imaginary crimes with large, heavily armed law enforcement officers using tactics once reserved for the most violent of criminals?
Who has blamed YOU for everything that is wrong with this country, when it was their policies, programs and laws that created the problems in the first place?
We’ve been told over and over that we are violent, out of touch extremists who are a direct threat to democracy, when it was someone else all along. Go figure.
I have high hopes that this election cycle will be the correction of the lies and misinformation that has spread across our country, and there’s only one thing that can make that happen.
It’s time to vote.
Bob
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Bob’s Inflation Pants
A little diversion here for what I’m calling my inflation pants. No, I’m not talking about G-Suits or MAST pants (kudos if you are old enough to know what those are), I’m talking about the good old fashioned pants Bob wears to work and to work around the house & property. I recently ordered a new pair of pants and the price had increased from $52 to $74.50 in just one year. That’s an increase in price of more than 43%.
As you can tell from the price, these are not fancy, dress up, fashionista type pants. Like I would even wear something like that. They are basic, tough work pants. If you’ve met me anytime in the past decade, I’ve probably been wearing a pair of these pants. Made in Vietnam for an American company, I’ve been wearing them for years. But I’m tough on all my clothes and even tough pants wear out so I occasionally need to replace them.
Honestly, I don’t blame the clothing company for the price increase. Their cost of business has increased and, like every other business including my own, they have no choice but to raise prices. It all trickles down to the little guy at the bottom who can’t work any more hours and simply can’t make ends meet.
I blame our country’s administration for the policies that have led to massive inflationary price hikes. Unless you live under a rock or work for the federal government, your life has been severely impacted by the runaway inflation.
No, it’s not Putin’s fault, COVID 19, systemic racism, global warming, or the former President, it’s the out-of-control and reckless government spending and fiscal policies of those who are running our government, and our country into the ground.
With the exception of the elite at the top of the economic pyramid, and our so-called representatives in government who write the laws that take care of themselves more than anyone else, the rest of the country is getting weaker and weaker financially. Everything costs more and salaries are not, and never will keep up.
Bob’s inflationary pants are just one of a million things that cost more, but really shouldn’t. They are a reminder that the people who are causing this are supposed to be working for US, representing US, working on OUR behalf, but are not.
Perhaps it’s time to get new representation before none of us can afford new pants.
Bob
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A Government of the People
A friend of mine, who sadly I have not seen for far too long, recently ran for a local precinct position during the primaries. Of the 14 seats available, only two names were listed, my friend’s name plus one more. The rest of the spaces on the ballot were blank for write-ins. THIS right here is why we have lost control of our government. Nobody is showing up to the table.
I’ve said it before. Every seat on every board in every community is important. If we are not showing up, we are ceding control of our communities, our states, and our nation to those who may not share our interests.
… and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Excerpt from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
Nobody realized how important their local school board was until they found out they were indoctrinating our children with racist content, hate and age inappropriate sexually explicit material. Nobody realized the control they have given up until school boards began having parents arrested for speaking out about non-educational content, boards covering up sexual assaults and teachers sexually grooming students.
Nobody cared about planning commissions and zoning boards until they realized these were the people responsible for making sure no firearms or ammunition retailers could operate in their cities and towns. Nobody noticed they had rewritten the bureaucratic processes against the small business lifeblood of the community until they learned there is no way for them to fairly appeal a board decision. Nobody thought their local town or city council was important until they found out they were implementing their own nonsense gun control ordinances, while at the same time handcuffing and defunding local law enforcement.
While most people pay attention to the national political puppet show, they tend to ignore the state and local levels, not realizing the actions of these legislative bodies impact their day-to-day lives more than national level politics do.
An article I recently read tried to explain that because Republicans are more focused on families and religious activities, they tend to not get into political or civic offices as much as Democrats. The explanation seemed to backhandedly imply Democrats were godless, family haters as opposed Republicans. Not exactly what I’d call a logical political theory, but we definitely have a problem with conservative voices showing up.
I believe a more rational explanation is that more conservatives / Republicans share a Ron Swanson (Parks & Recreation) view of government. Government should be as small and as limited as possible. Period.
A Ron Swanson view of government: “My idea of a perfect government is one guy who sits in a small room at a desk, and the only thing he’s allowed to decide is who to nuke. The man is chosen based on some kind of IQ test, and maybe also a physical tournament, like a decathlon.”
The problem with this approach is without representation from all points of view, only the people who are actively trying to shred our Constitution and Bill of Rights and transform our country into their utopian socialist nation are in the government and making decisions for the rest of us.
To quote The West Wing; “Decisions are made by those who show up.”
The good news is conservative voices are now fighting their way back to the table. Responsible, concerned parents are reclaiming their school boards. Conservative members of the communities are recovering seats on local and county boards. But while there is success and momentum in the right direction, it is also a time to be cautious.
Lifelong Democrats are registering as Republicans for local, state and federal posts. Funded by the Democratic Party, they are put in as spoilers to siphon off votes for actual Republican candidates. If they do win, they vote as Democrats. In some areas, the Democrats are hand selecting their Republican opponents. The local liberal press then run stories about how they are “the only Republican who can beat X”. Of course, they are the candidates who have absolutely zero chance of beating anyone, but it keeps viable candidates out of the race. The lesson to learn here is to get to know who is running.
Who is the best candidate? It’s someone you already know. It’s your neighbor, your friend, your local business employee or owner, or maybe it’s that person you see in the mirror every single morning.
Not everyone has the time and inclination to serve, but I’d rather have someone who is willing to take on a position and serve their community for a short period of time than someone looking for the entrance ramp to the swamp.
Remember, the best way to stop unconstitutional laws is to prevent them from being enacted in the first place. It’s time to fill that ballot with people who will represent YOU.
Yes, it does matter who you vote for.
Bob
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