Author: Fritz Pettyjohn

When Barack Obama was reelected in 2012 I went into a funk for a year.  How the hell could that have happened?  It was crazy, but there it was. I figured we’d lost the country, for good.  Obamacare would be another big federal tit, and there would be plenty of suckers.  With over half the people on the tit, the government would have political control of the country.  The party of Government, the Democrats, was on its way, partly because of demographics, to becoming a permanent majority.  What was supposed to be a party of the People, the Republicans  — the so called conservatives —  had lost their way.  The Supreme Court wasn’t going to stop them, and the Democrats would consolidate their power through their control of federal agencies, like the Justice Department, the IRS, the FEC etc.

There was only one hope, and it was faint.  The Democrats would misinterpret the election, and it would mislead them to their doom.  And that’s what happened.  They thought Obama’s win was some kind of vote of approval, and acted accordingly, full speed ahead.  And they pushed it too far. They got so far ahead of themselves they got shafted by Donald Trump, of all people.  How did this jerk get elected?   He’s the F. U. candidate, and the Democrats pushed people so far and fast that’s exactly what people were looking for.

Here’s my theory.  The Queen of the Hive decided Clinton would lose to any normal Republican.  That was the smart bet.  So they latched on to Trump, and protected him, and helped him, improbably, get the nomination.  Then they turned on him, in a fury.  They’ve had that Access Hollywood tape for years, and they wanted to hold it until the very end, when it would come out so close to the election he wouldn’t be able to recover.  But the WaPo got the story too early, and jumped the gun.  I’ll give the WaPo this much credit.  They don’t take orders from the Queen.  And because that story came out too early, and Trump had a chance to recover, and the people were so pissed off, that he drew to his inside straight and filled his hand.  By a nose.  If that Access Hollywood tape had come out a week later, he would have lost.

This is bad news for the Queen, and all her Hive.  I hope their fate isn’t as bad as the German industrialists who decided to use Hitler for their own purposes.  All of them lost everything because of that miscalculation.  Many of them lost their families.

Trump is no Hitler, don’t get me wrong.   We’re Americans, not Germans, and we don’t salute anybody.  Trump’s a reality TV star, period.  An extremely bright, and therefor a potentially dangerous, man with some kind of messianic streak in him, but who knows?   What I do know is that he’s ignorant about the Constitution.  He’s dyslexic, and it would be hard for him to understand, so I’m sure he’s never read it.  If you asked him what federalism meant, he’d give you a blank stare.

A little less than half the country still can’t stand Trump, and never will.  It’s personal, with a lot of people.  I’m one of them.  This is the base, or part of it, of the Term Limits movement.  They’ll oppose anything he proposes, and there are enough of them to stop him.  So we don’t want any part of him.  We don’t need him, and we don’t want him.  He’s not welcome in this movement.

Or, the Reagan Project, as I’ve called it from the beginning.

We’re not done with the Clintons yet.  We shouldn’t prosecute them, though.  It sets a terrible precedent.  Nixon committed crimes, but was pardoned.  It was the right thing to do, for the country.  Half the people in this country violate federal law.  I do it all the time, because federal law is a joke.  If a ham sandwich can get indicted, so could every former President.  Let this crime family twist in the wind.

But we do want to destroy their political machine, and Ed Gillespie is the man to get it started.  He’s running for Governor of Virginia in 2017, to replace the snake Terry McAuliffe, one of greatest Clinton suck ups in the country.  Virginia is alone among the States in not allowing a Governor to have a second term, so McAuliffe is ineligible.  But he’ll have a surrogate for the Democratic nomination, almost certainly his Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, who has declared his candidacy.  All the other big name D’s (Kaine, Warner, Herring) have declined, so the nomination is probably Northam’s.

Northman is a moderate Democrat, and will be a formidable candidate.  He’s a pediatrician, so women like him.  He’s been elected to the State Senate twice, and is a VMI graduate.  In 2013 he won by eleven, 55%-44%, while McAuliffe won by two, 47%-45%

By election day, in November of 2017, a Convention of States will have been held, and if Project 2017 ( a joint effort of the National Tax Limitation Committee and Bill Fruth’s Balanced Budget Amendment Inc.) has succeeded, 34 States will have passed BBA Resolutions.  Congress will set a time and place for the Amendment Convention.  I’m hoping the Convention of States recommends Richmond as the place, and late November or early December the time.

The beautiful Capitol at Richmond is absolutely the perfect place.  It was designed by Jefferson, and has recently been completely refurbished and modernized.  In the Rotunda is displayed Houdon’s bust of Washington, an American treasure.  The Virginia Legislature commissioned Houdon, who was the most renowned sculptor in Europe.  He sailed to the United States, and Washington sat, patiently, while Houdon modeled him.  It’s the greatest work of art to come from the Founding Era.  I think it’s the greatest work of art ever produced in America.

If Virginia is not to be the place for the first Amendment Convention in our history, what State is?  Virginians created the Constitution.  It was their idea, and they largely wrote it.  Madison is the Father of the Constitution, and Mason is the Father of the Bill of Rights.  Washington presided at the Convention, and the Presidency was designed with him in mind.  It was Virginians, especially Madison and Mason, who insisted that Article V be included.

So if we convince the Delegates at the Convention of States to recommend Richmond, then Richmond it shall be.  The chair of House Judiciary is Bob Goodlatte, a Virginian and a friend of Lew Uhler’s.  It will be Richmond.

Now all Project 2017 has to do is explain all this to the sitting State Senators of Virginia.  So far, despite the entreaties of Virginia Speaker Bill Howell, they have ignored us.  But Ed Gillespie is a very bright guy, and a smart politician.  I’m sure Lew knows him.  He is the unopposed candidate in the Republican gubernatorial primary, and I’m sure some of these high and mighty State Senators will hear him out.   The only question is, are they smart enough to understand what he’s talking about?

 

Over 40 years ago Lew Uhler, a Reagan man through and through, founded the National Tax Limitation Committee.  He turned 83 yesterday, and he’s still going strong, though his son Kirk is now assuming more of the duties at NTLC.  Lew won’t be at ALEC, and Kirk will be.  Lew has a family obligation.

I first met Lew and his lovely wife in 1989 at an ALEC meeting in Orlando. I made a presentation to an ALEC Task Force in which I urged my fellow State Legislators from around the country to pass a Resolution calling for an Article V Amendment Convention for the purpose of proposing a Term Limits Amendment.

I had introduced such a Resolution in the Alaska House, but I knew it wasn’t going anywhere.  Sen. Ted Stevens was against it, and I was in the House Minority.  I hoped someone from another State would pick up on the idea, but no one did.  At long last, U. S. Term Limits has decided to go the Article V route.  Howard Rich formed USTL in 1991, and rejected the use Article V.  He chose a legally dubious strategy instead, which was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Now that John Aglialoro has teamed up with him, they’re finally using Article V.  They’ve got one State, Florida.  But when we have a successful BBA Convention, their effort will take off.

This Convention will be the product of 40 years of work by Lew Uhler.  He kept the movement alive out of sheer will.  Alaska was his 32nd State, and he was getting close  Then Tip O’Neill and Al Gore teamed up with Phyllis Schlafly and started a rescission  movement.  Lew was powerless to stop it, and by the time they were done Lew had only 17 States left.  But he didn’t give up.  He knew he was right.  He knew that the time for Article V would come, and those 17 States would be the building block of a new campaign.

And he was right, and now we’re at 28, and we’ll get to 34 next year  A full half of those States will be the work of one man, Lew Uhler.  When that Convention convenes it will be his Convention, and he should be a delegate from California, a citizen delegate.  The California Legislature will probably appoint three State Senators and three Assemblymen.  The six of them can agree on the seventh, tie breaking delegate.  Why shouldn’t it be Lew Uhler?

 

 

 

John Steinberger reports from South Carolina that Trump may appoint Nikki Haley to the UN.  It would make so much sense, it’s hard for me to believe that he wouldn’t. She’s a fine looking, intelligent and conservative Indian-American.  In the United Nations she is the perfect face for her country.

Steinberger also says that if this happens, Senate President Hugh Leatherman would become Lt. Gov.  He’d replace the current Lt. Gov., who is an elected state wide official.  As Lt. Gov., Leatherman can preside over the Senate, just as the Vice President presides over the U. S. Senate, but he only votes in case of a tie.  If you haven’t noticed, the Vice President has no power in the U.S. Senate, and never has in 229 years.  If you don’t have a vote, you don’t count, and Leatherman will have no power in the South Carolina Senate.

40 year old Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey will become the new power in the Senate, and according to Steinberger, “he’s all in.”  That’s a quote.  South Carolina may get our Resolution passed in the first few weeks of their session.  If the Senate President wants to, he can make that happen, if he’s got a solid majority behind him, and Massey will have that, in spades.  And no, there are no black Republican State Senators, in case you’re a racist.

The path to 34 is now clear as a bell.  AZ, WY, ID, WI, KY, and the 34th, SC.  And it could happen fast.  Passing our Resolution is going to be very popular, politically.  The only reason its popularity hasn’t helped us before, is because no one knew anything about us, and Article V.  But that’s going to change on Nov. 30th, and it’s going to change fast.

I feel very thankful right now, and it’s almost Thanksgiving.

U. S. Grant was a mediocre President. He’s on the $50 because he won the Civil War.  In the process, hundreds of thousands of Americans died fighting under his command, and hundreds of thousands of Confederates died fighting against him.  The Union won, the South lost, and having his face on the $50 is a reminder of the worst tragedy in American history.  Let’s put all that behind us, and put a woman in the place of honor.

I’ve given my idea to a couple State Legislators in Tennessee and South Carolina.  If they’re interested, they’ll pursue it.  If this idea is to be put in effect, 2017 is the year to do it.  Congress and Trump will go along, if enough State Legislatures pass Resolutions of support.  I’m going to push this thing at ALEC next week.

There’s been talk of replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 with someone like Harriet Tubman.  But Andrew Jackson was one of the Founding Fathers.  He was the one man who made Manifest Destiny real, palpable.  He fought the British at New Orleans, and ratified, in blood, the Louisiana Purchase.  One of his lieutenants, Sam Houston, brought Texas into the Union, and another, James K. Polk, took California and most of the western United States from Mexico.  Polk also brought in the Oregon Territory, and the Northwest.  George Washington and the other Founders wanted a continental empire of liberty, and it was Jackson who made it happen.  So Jackson stays on the $20.

No offense to Tubman, but I think a pioneer woman should be on the $50, one of those brave and hardy wives and mothers who settled this country.  And I’ve got one in particular in mind.

In 1765 she came with her family to the Waxhaw region on the border of the Carolinas.  They were poor Scotch-Irish, and couldn’t afford good land, and her husband worked himself to death within two years, trying to scratch out a living.  She was carrying his third son, which she named for him.  She moved in with her cousin Jane Crawford, who had eight children of her own.  Jane was unwell, so she did the work of two women, taking care of the whole family.

When the Revolutionary War came to the Carolinas her oldest boy, Hugh, rode with William Richardson Davie at the Battle of Stono Ferry.  He died from exhaustion right after the fight.  He was 16.  Her remaining sons rode with Davie at the Battle of Hanging Rock, then became guerillas, and were captured and imprisoned at Camden with 250 other men.  They were dying of starvation and disease when she rode the 45 miles to see them.  She pleaded with the British to let her boys go, and they were finally released in a prisoner exchange.  When she got them home they were in desperate condition, and after two days her middle boy, Robert, died.  He was 15.  She nursed her youngest, 13, to a semblance of health, and then rode with two other ladies to Charleston to nurse and comfort the Americans being held on prison ships there.  Some of them were her kin.  She contracted cholera and, shortly after the great victory at Yorktown, died and was buried in an unmarked grave.

Her sole surviving son became a truly ferocious man, an American lion.  He was his mother’s son.  She gave birth to him on March 15, 1767, and next year we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of that day.  If she’s not the Mother of this country I don’t know who is.  Let’s all honor the life of Elizabeth Jackson on that day.  And let’s put her on the $50.