Month: July 2016

The 20th Century was totalitarianism, war and consolidation.  The theme of this century will hopefully be liberty, peace and disaggregation, and Brexit is just for openers.  The genie is out of the bottle, and could spread quickly across Europe and around the world.   With the internet, it can happen in the blink of an eye.

The EU is breaking up, but that doesn’t have to mean conflict among the sovereign nations  of Europe, or the world.  Brexit is an opportunity  for Britain to establish closer trade ties with North America and the Commonwealth.  There was talk of Britain joining NAFTA in the 90’s, but the EU prevented it.  There’s no reason in the world why fully free and fair trade can’t take place between North America and Britain, as well as any other country that leaves the EU.   Norway would be the next logical candidate.

Donald Trump is the American version of Brexit, and accounts for his immovable popularity.  His message resonates in the same way the British Leavers did.  Aside from the globalist elites, disaggregation has great populist appeal.  For most Americans, controlling immigration, a nationalist trade policy, and avoidance of foreign entanglements all make perfect sense.

Brexit was an assertion of national sovereignty  by the English people.  They want to write their own laws, and follow their own customs.  In the U.S., the Article V movement is a reassertion of the sovereignty of the States.  They created the federal government, and reserved to themselves, with Article V, the right to assert their authority over it.  The Balanced Budget Amendment is only six states short of the 34 needed to trigger an Amendment Convention to draft the language and submit it for ratification.  Once a successful Amendment Convention is held, the American people will realize they have a tool, in Article V, of bringing the runaway federal government under control.

The Framers would be all in on disaggregation. I think they would be shocked that the States have allowed the federal government to usurp so many of their legitimate functions.  The principal goal of our Constitutional system is to prevent the concentration of power, in any person or institution.  Power is shared, and subject to constraints.  The ultimate constraint is the States’ ability to use Article V.

I’ve always believed the Tea Party’s successes were only possible because of the internet.  It’s a wonderful tool, allowing like minded people to organize against the powers that be.  My hunch is that Brexit was a British Tea Party phenomenon.  All the king’s horses couldn’t stop it, and it could prevail only because the internet gave the Leavers a means of communication and organization.  And, of course, the internet is a world wide phenomenon, allowing the connected parts of the world to quickly react to events no matter where they occur.  Anti-globalism can get global, fast.

You could say that the internet is inherently disaggregationist.  It is the most democratic form of communication in history.  There are thousands of blogs like the Reagan Project, and each one has some kind of readership.   Drudge came close to getting Bill Clinton impeached when it revealed the Lewinsky story.  The Power Line blog took down Dan Rather.  The media may look at themselves as guardians of public virtue.  If they are, the guardians now have guards.

Jeb! Bush was the favorite for the nomination a year ago.  Thanks, in part, to Trump, I don’t think we’ll see any more Bushes for a very long time.  For that, every conservative Republican can give a tip of the hat to the Donald.

The last time there was a real challenge to Republican Globalism was in 1952, by Sen. Robert Taft.  Since Eisenhower every Republican Presidential nominee has been a globalist, including Reagan.  But Reagan was a globalist only in his fight against Communism.  In the post Cold War era, beginning with Bush 1, all Republicans have been international hawks, culminating in Bush 2’s disastrous invasion of Iraq.  In this year’s Republican primaries, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz both offered criticism of globalism, but it was Trump who railed against it, and it won him the nomination.

Globalists will sacrifice the national interest at the altar of free trade.  They want continued high levels of immigration.  And they want the United States involved in NATO and other military alliances.

Trump took on all three legs of the globalist stool, and did it with a sledge hammer.  He was rewarded with votes.  The Republican Presidential primary of 2020 will be won by someone who does the same thing.  Globalism is dead in the Republican Party, and Trump killed it.

With Brexit, anti-globalism is going to spread around the world.  Japan will be a model many countries would like to follow.  Japan’s government serves the interests of the Japanese people, and the Japanese want to stay Japanese.  They may sacrifice economic growth in the process.  But as the Good Book says, the whole world isn’t worth your soul.

On the issues, Trump should win.  But nobody trusts him, and he’s erratic.  And the assault by the media is going to be a wonder to behold.  They’re coming after him with blood running from their mouth.

Maybe you haven’t heard about it, but there was an assassination attempt against Trump in Vegas.  A psychotic British kid tried to take a weapon from a policeman at a Trump rally so he could shoot Trump.  Normally, an attempt on a presumptive nominee’s life would generate some interest in the media.   Not this time.  Nothing to see here, just keep moving.  If someone tried to shoot Clinton we’d never hear the end of the Republican Climate of Hate that arouses the addle brained.  The media, even in this age of the internet, have a hell of a lot of influence, and it will all be used to take Trump down.

If he does lose it won’t be on the issues.  The American people are sick of being taken advantage of by the coastal global elites in this country.  Trump loses because of who he is, and how he handles himself, not because of what he stands for.  He’s turned himself into a proxy for Brexit, and that’s more popular here than it is in England.  Scott McConnell, in the American Conservative, has an article on all this called, “Why Trump Wins”, and it’s worth reading.

The first political event I attended in over fifteen years was the December, 2013 ALEC meeting, where Mike Pence was a speaker.  He was a potential Presidential candidate back then, and he was talking to a room full of state legislators from all over the country.  He devoted the first third of his speech to Article V and the BBA.  I’m sure he feels just as strongly about it today.  He’s meeting with Trump tomorrow, presumably being vetted for VP.  Maybe he ought to educate the Donald on Article V while he’s there.

I still don’t understand why none of the Republican candidates talk about Article V.  It’s a great issue, and really not that hard to understand.  When regular people are told about it, most of them think it’s a great idea.  It’s an easy sell.

It’s how you actually do make America great again.