Miscellaneous

Look at a map of the lower 48.  Look at the area encompassed by Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.  That’s how much federal land there is in Alaska.  68% of the state.  And that doesn’t include the 200 mile economic zone off Alaska’s coast.  There is wealth on and under that land, enormous wealth, known wealth.  It sits undeveloped, because the federal government is under the control of environmental zealots.

There was a time when Alaskans were careless about the environment.  But that was long ago.  Alaskans live in a harsh part of the world.  The weather up there can be brutal.  But the beauty of the land, and the waters, are a compensation.  Alaskans, today, will not allow their state to be despoiled.  The Pebble Mine is the largest and most valuable mineral deposit in North America.  But because it sits at the headwaters of Bristol Bay, it won’t be developed.  The fish, and the land, are too important to risk.

When my friend David Cuddy ran against Ted Stevens in 2008 he asked me to come back to Alaska and run his campaign.  I was tempted.  David and I are virtually identical in our politics, and I despised Stevens, who ran a corrupt political machine, one that defeated me in my desire to become a United States Senator.  A federal prosecution was underway, and David knew Stevens was guilty.  He tried convincing people that Stevens was on his way out, and that it would be best to replace him with a Republican.  But they didn’t listen, and Stevens won the nomination, only to be convicted shortly before the general election.  Even as a felon convicted of corruption he still almost won.  Begich barely beat him.

Lisa Murkowski is up next year, and we need a good conservative to beat her in the primary.  She’s a protégé not so much of her father, who appointed her, but of Ted Stevens.  He orchestrated the whole thing.  She’s entirely unsuited to be a Senator.  She hides her empty headed liberalism just enough to get by in a conservative state like Alaska.  But she’s a phony.  So I’m going up to Alaska next week to talk to David and some of his closest political advisers.  He’s not sure if he wants to make another run, but somebody has to.  We’ll figure it out.

While I’m there I should get a chance to talk to Senate President Kevin Meyer, who I’ve already briefed on the Reagan Initiative.  And I’ll have time to drive down to the Kenai to meet Speaker Mike Chenault.  He got in to the legislature the year before I left the state, so I don’t know him personally.  But I know some of his closest political allies, and I have no doubt we’ll get along just fine.  He’ll be at the Seattle Summit for sure.  I can’t wait to see his eyes light up when I tell him about the Reagan Initiative.

Politically, the enhanced, or supply side, BBA is a trifecta  — three winners.  Balance the budget, and do it by transferring federal lands to the states, and reforming regulation.  Most especially in Alaska, that’s the ticket to victory, politically.  I don’t want credit for it.  I’m never running for office again, so it doesn’t do me any good.  I want people I like getting credit, people who can win elections with that credit.  I’ll figure it out.

I want to raise money in Alaska.  That’s how I can justify this trip.  No state will benefit more from the Reagan Initiative than Alaska.  Since statehood in ’59, Alaska has been reliant on the federal government.  When it gets its land, it will, at last, be free.  Oh, and rich, too.  I’ve never been any good at raising money, but I’ve never had a product like this to sell.  Here’s hoping.

When I got to Juneau in 1983 the spigot had just been turned on, and the money was pouring in.  The State of Alaska spends a ton of money, and they don’t need an income tax or a sales tax.  They’ve got oil.  But now, 32 years after I showed up, the oil is running out.  Half their operating budget is coming from reserves this year.  They can only keep this up for another couple years, and the reserves will be gone.  Bummer.

Enter, like the 7th Cavalry, the Reagan Initiative.  It’s like magic.  I expect a warm welcome in Alaska.

When I got to Juneau they had so much money they didn’t know what to do with it all.  So they divvied it up.  Every majority legislator would get a cut.  Senators got $40 million, House members $20 million.  You could spend it on any damn thing you liked.  And it was yours, forever.  If you funded a project that wasn’t built, you got the money back, to spend a second time. One project didn’t get built, and the legislator who funded it had died.  They fought over that money like a pack of wild dogs.

Boy, do I have stories.

Congress doesn’t pay any attention to the Constitution, so what good is amending it?

Fair question.  If the Constitution is amended to require a balanced budget, what happens if Congress refuses to do it?  Do we expect the courts to write a balanced budget for them?  How can this amendment be enforced?

We can put Congress on probation.  Five years worth.  The Balanced Budget Amendment could contain a temporary enforcement mechanism.  A temporary Federal Budget Commission could be created, constitutionally.  It would consist of representatives from every state.  It would have the power to repeal any budget, tax, or other Congressional enactment which it believes is in violation of the BBA.  No court would have jurisdiction to review its actions.  If, in practice, the Commission proves necessary, the states, through another Article V Convention, could extend its life beyond five years.  The members of the Commission would not be required to meet.  Voting, and deliberations, can be done remotely.

The Framers vested virtually unlimited power in the states under Article V.  Much discussion of the dangers involved in that grant of power takes place.  Little talk of the potential to do great things.  If the Federal Budget Commission, and the Federal Land Commission, prove successful, they will lay the groundwork for future expressions of the power of Article V.  The state legislatures will have flexed their muscles, and there’s plenty of work to do.  If 30 state legislatures had the power to veto any federal law, it would mark a dramatic turning point in our constitutional history.  Likewise, Supreme Court decisions could be overturned by a supermajority of state legislatures.

This may sound radical.  It’s actually just a restoration of the role of the states in our system.  When the states met in Philadelphia and proposed the Constitution, and when they ratified it, they did not surrender their sovereignty to the federal government.  With Article V, they reserved sovereignty to themselves.  The time has come to exercise it.  They created the federal government.  It’s high time they controlled it.

Fear is all that’s holding us back.  Fear of each other.  Fear of ourselves.  It’s understandable.  An electorate that is capable of electing, and reelecting, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama cannot be trusted.  But we aren’t putting our trust in that electorate.  We’re entrusting the legislative leadership of the 50 states.  Today, in 2015, that trust is well placed.  As I’ve met legislative leaders around the country I know this from personal experience.  They’re good people, smart and patriotic.  Fully capable of discharging the duty given them by Article V.  They just need organization.  That’s what the Seattle Summit is all about.

I’m a boomer, born in 1945.  Bill Clinton is of my generation, I’m ashamed to say.  We’ve cocked things up pretty badly.  It’s time we put things right.  We can redeem ourselves.

If we act.

A few donations have trickled in.  It’s encouraging.  There’s lots to do.

That’s what politicians do.  It’s how things get done.  Nobody gets a whole loaf.  There’s got to be something in it for everybody.  Putting together a compromise is building a majority, or, in the case of Article V, a bipartisan supermajority.

The Internal Revenue Service is, deservedly, roundly despised by most Americans.  It’s almost like a rogue agency.  The Internal Revenue Code is a national disgrace, and our greatest obstacle to the economic growth we need.  As society we’re aging, and old people need to be taken care of.  Most of them haven’t saved very much.   To get the revenue necessary to take care of them we need a booming economy.  What’s to be done?  Replace the Code with another source of revenue to the federal government.  Is bipartisan agreement possible on a replacement?  Not in Washington.  Washington is broken.  Congress, as an institution, is dysfunctional.

Enter Article V.  If there were a second Amendment Convention, the delegates from the 50 states could hammer out a compromise.  I don’t know what would be in it.  There will be a lot of competing proposals  —  flat tax, fair tax, consumption tax, another Simpson-Bowles, you name it.  I have a few ideas myself, which I would want to argue for.  But going in, there’s no preordained template.  The charge to the Convention, contained in the call, is to reform the federal tax system.   Delegations from 26 states would have to agree on something.  You have to get some Democrats to go along.  This can’t be partisan.  Democratic Governor Jerry Brown of California, when he ran for President the second time, in 1992, endorsed a flat tax.  So you can get some Democrats to sign on.  Whatever the product is, it would have to be preferable, to the voters of 38 states, to what we have now.  This can be done.  I’ve gotten to know a fair number of legislative leaders from all around the country.  These are very capable, and patriotic, men and women.  They’re politicians.  They know how to compromise.

Art Laffer, Larry Kudlow and Stephen Moore have formed the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.  I’m going to suggest to them that they start promoting the use of Article V in their cause.  Resolved, that an Amendment Convention be called for the sole and exclusive purpose of proposing an Amendment to reform the tax system.  It’s that simple.  Starting next year, have such Resolutions introduced into as many state legislatures as possible.  When the BBA gets to 34, and Congress aggregates them and sets the time and place for the Convention, simultaneously the Tax Reform Amendment Resolutions can be progressing through legislatures around the country.  The veterans of the BBA campaign can lead the charge.

But this has got to be bipartisan.  Otherwise it’s not going to work.  You don’t make fundamental changes in something as important as the tax system on a partisan basis.  Not in this country.  A compromise is possible.  I never much cared for Simpson-Bowles, but it did attract the support of Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, and  — a real shocker  —  Dick Durbin of Illinois.  Politics makes strange bedfellows.

Senate Minority Leader Ev Dirksen of Illinois was a great proponent of compromise.  I was in the Cow Palace in 1964 when he nominated Barry Goldwater for President.   Ev was an orator, and he gave a wonderful speech.  Goldwater was the grandson of an itinerant Jewish merchant who came to Arizona in the nineteenth century.  Ev called his speech, “The Peddler’s Grandson.”

Goldwater knew he wasn’t going to win.  William F. Buckley and others recruited him or the purpose of taking the Republican Party away from the East Coast liberals, like Nelson Rockefeller.  Sound familiar?  Jeb Bush is the new Rockefeller.  We don’t know who our Goldwater is, or our Reagan.  But it’s the same fight.

Barry might have been able to run simultaneously for the Presidency and reelection to the Senate, as Rand Paul is doing.  He chose to give up his Senate seat.   Marco Rubio is following his example.  Barry liked being a Senator.  He was very popular in Arizona, and he liked to fly his plane all over the state.  He had a sweet deal.  He gave it up for the cause.

Ev Dirksen described himself as a man of principle, and one of his main principles was compromise.

Words to the wise.

I sent one to Arizona Senate President Andy Biggs for the Seattle Summit.  In addition to being the foremost opponent of Article V, Andy’s a photographer, and a very good one, indeed.  A true pro.  He’s holding a workshop in Oregon on August 6th.  I believe this is how he makes a living.  He probably is getting the state to pay for his trip to NCSL, and is doing a little business in the Great Northwest on the side while he’s there.  That’s completely legitimate.  Everybody does it.

Andy wrote a book, “The Con Of the Con-Con.”  I suppose I should read it, and probably will, at some point.  I just don’t want to buy it.  I think Hal Wick got a copy.  I’ll borrow his.  I read a couple of reviews on Amazon, which included a couple pull quotes.  One reads, “It isn’t the process that will produce a run-away convention, but it is the personnel attending the gathering.”  Clumsy prose, but point well taken.  He’s right, and I told him so.  I told Andy I wanted him to meet the personnel who will be attending, and controlling, the 2016 Amendment Convention.  They’ll be gathered in Seattle.  Politically, they’re his brothers and sisters.  He’s one of them.  He has nothing to fear.  He just needs to get to know these people.  Hell, they all need to get to know each other.  That’s the point of the Summit.

Another quote from Andy’s book: “When we start electing people who are committed to individual freedom, we will know that the time is soon coming when it is safe to convene an Article V convention.”  As I told Andy, that time has come.  That time is now.  We have 31 red states, and seven purple.  This is about as good as it gets for our side.  I am convinced that the legislative leadership of the 31 red states is, collectively, more committed to individual freedom than any other body of political leaders in the country.  If not now, when?

I’ve got a road map of the USA on my office wall.  I spend a lot of time looking at it, and thinking of the individual states, and the legislative leadership in each of them.  I’d say I’ve got a pretty good feel for who they are, and what their politics are, in about 40.  I’m learning all the time.  As they say at Faber College, Knowledge is good.  The more I know the more I like.  These are good people.  Most of them are patriots.  I personally know only a dozen or so, but that number is going up all the time.  I can work with these people.  Actually, I consider myself one of them, albeit retired.  But I’m on the Wall of Honor.  My vote was, in part, responsible for the State of Alaska calling for an Article V BBA Convention in 1984.  Right now I’d guess there are around 3,000  names on the Wall of Honor.  We need around 1,000 more.

The reason my name is there is because of Bob Ziegler of Ketchikan.  He was a blue dog Democrat, and we were both in the Senate Minority.  The Democratic Senate leadership was so corrupt that Bob refused to be part of the majority.  They had eight Democrats and four Republicans.  We had six Republicans and two Democrats.  To do some kinds of business you wanted fourteen, or 2/3.  Bob agreed to give them his vote on procedural questions.  I thought he was being too accommodating.  I really didn’t like these guys, especially Senate President Jalmar Kerttula, a socialist Finn.  But Bob knew what he was doing.  Because he accommodated them, they let him bring the BBA to the floor, and he got the votes.  I think it was 11-9, but I’m not sure.

Bob and I were friends.  Good friends.  He was Sweet Old Bob.  When he’d get an insulting letter from a constituent (he knew them all, practically) he’d write back, telling them that some asshole was sending him letters using their name.  He’d sign it Sweet Old Bob.

I have a lot of memories of Bob.

The feds own 45% of California, over 40 million acres, an area larger than the state of Florida.  Under the Reagan Initiative title to this land (excluding parks, Indian reservations, and active military installations) would be transferred to the State, with the feds retaining a beneficial interest to a portion of the proceeds of its eventual development, if any.

The Democratic Party of California is controlled by environmental extremists, the coastal elites.  Under their rule, very little development will take place on this land.  The political leadership of Mexican-American Californians(Chicanos) are indispensable to the Democrats.  They provide the votes.  If Chicanos defected to the Republicans, the Democrats are in the minority.

A Chicano-Republican alliance is possible.  Politicians like George Radanovich, Devin Nunes and David Valadao have proven it.  Under their leadership, a new statewide majority coalition can be formed.  Republicans and Chicanos want economic expansion.  Speaking as a blanco Republican, I want Chicanos to make $30 an hour, or more.  I want them to prosper.  They do the work, and they should get paid a living wage.

If it could be formed, this alliance could develop California’s resources, producing enough wealth to make everybody happy.  The potential is there.  There is a very long list.  Where to begin?

Oil.  L.A. was built on it.  Before oil, L.A. had a population of 8,000.  Development of the Los Angeles field in the early 1890’s, along with fields in Ventura and the San Joaquin, resulted in California producing 22% of the world’s oil by 1910.  This oil is a feature of one of the largest hydrocarbon deposits in North America, the Monterey Shale formation.  It’s an extremely complicated geological structure.   It’s unclear if the tight oil contained there can be extracted economically.  Fracking makes it theoretically possible.  You have to turn the oil guys loose, and let them figure it out.  It’s possible a different kind of fracking, using chemicals alone, might do the trick.  A Republican-Chicano political alliance would allow this to happen.  If it worked, a whole lot of Chicanos would be making more money than they ever thought possible.  In case you haven’t noticed, there’s big money in oil.

There’s lot of other wealth on that 40 million acres.  Logging, mining, real estate development and agriculture for openers.  That wealth will provide the money for a massive, and long overdue, expansion in California’s infrastructure: dams, highways, ports  — the list goes on and on.  Expanding and improving the infrastructure will mean jobs, lots and lots of good paying jobs  — and Chicanos will get their full share.

That’s the vision.  Politics is all that prevents it from happening.  And California is blessed with leaders like Radanovich, Nunes and Valadao who understand the politics of this state.  These men know Chicanos far better than I do.  And they are trusted.  They can tell this story to the Chicanos, in their own language, and be believed.  They’ve proven that.

When I moved back to California fourteen years ago I tried to figure out the politics here.  It looked pretty hopeless.  We were a deep blue one party state, and no Republican had a prayer.  I don’t believe demography is destiny, but I couldn’t come up with any ideas to counter the obvious demographic trends.  I gave up on California, and didn’t think about it.  Besides, I was an Alaskan, not a Californian.  Es no mi problemo.

I was wrong, flat wrong.  I enjoy working on the Reagan Project a great deal.  But, for fun, there’s nothing like working on a political campaign.  Nunes for Senate, Radanovich for Governor.

I’ve got a lot to look forward to.