Miscellaneous

Bush is a joke.  As a candidate, he reminds me of John Connally in 1980.  All hat, no cattle.  The Bushes ruined the outstanding Republican brand that Reagan bequeathed them.  All it takes is a candidate with the balls to point that out, and Jeb is defenseless.  He can’t throw his family under the bus.  They are his tar baby.  Oh, and, by the way, sneaking into this country illegally is not an act of love.

Christie’s another joke.  A moderate northeast bully boy gets less and less electable the farther south and west he goes.

I liked Walker, read his book, “Unintimidated.”  I even sent him a couple hundred bucks during the recall.  He’s the real deal.  His failure to support the Article V BBA troubled me, but I figured maybe he thought Kasich had taken ownership of the issue, and it would never really get anywhere.  Not smart, but understandable.  But now, ethanol.  One of the worst environmental boondoggles of all time.  No serious person can see it any other way, and that includes Scott Walker.  But he’ll lie about what he knows to be true, doing the Iowa Pander. If he’ll lie about that, what else will he lie about, in order to get votes?  I don’t want to find out.  It will be interesting to see how the voters of New Hampshire react to the latest pol who comes in after Iowa, and the Big Pander.  On ethanol, I think Walker outsmarted himself, and it will cost him.

I like the rest of the field, more or less, though the only ones with a shot are Kasich, Paul, Cruz, Rubio, Perry and Pence.  Seeing as how I’m an antiwar libertarian, I’m naturally attracted to Paul.  But I could support any of them.

One of them will carry the Reagan Amendment banner.  It wins the west, save California and Hawaii.  It will be very popular in the south, and, I believe, the border states.  But the Midwest is the key.  I really don’t know these people.  I’ve never even been there, other than airports.  Will it sell?

I’m anxious to find out.

This could be a lot of fun in Denver.  We’ll have to rent a room at the Denver Westin to hold a morning strategy session, which would be followed by the press conference at noon.  After lunch those who are interested can meet in workshops on various topics, such as the language in the Reagan Amendment covering different aspects of it.  At 5:00 we’d have an open bar, followed by a banquet where presentation of the first George Mason Awards can be made.  We would also hear reports from the chairs of the workshops.  We’d try and get a dinner speaker, but it would have to be a good one, maybe even a presidential candidate.  If we pulled that off we could see if a local organization, such as the Denver or Colorado Republican Women’s Club would put on the whole show, with the public and press invited.  We’d split the proceeds with them.  I can dream.

This will be a chance to see old friends, and introduce them to one another.  Kraig Powell of Utah will be receiving the George Mason Award, as will Hal Wick.  Matthew Monforton, Art Wittich, Tyler Lindholm, Dan Laursen, Mike Chenault, Kevin Meyer, Kevin Lundberg, Pam Roach, Ted Ferioli,  Yvette Herrell, Gary Banz, Chris Kapenga, Jim Kaspar, Marv Hagedorn, Bill Cowsert, Dennis Powers, Larry Grooms, Bob Thorpe, Jim DeCesare, Don Huffines, Dave Lemunyon, Joe Harrison, John Overington, Ken Ivory and others will get a chance to meet each other, many for the first time.  Hopefully there will be a lot of new faces as well, from places that we got a while back, like New Hampshire, Iowa, Florida, Pennsylvania etc.

A principal reason for the gathering will be for all these people to get to know each other, informally, personally.  They have a lot in common.  They’ll like each other.  This will be the foundation of the actual organization of the Amendment Convention.  Many of these people will not be delegates, but all will participate in the selection of their state’s delegates.  And many of them will be delegates, and can use this gathering to form the nucleus of a majority organization.

The first time I did something like this was 50 years ago, when I set up the California College Young Republican Federation state convention in Oakland’s Jack London Square.  It was the first time I’d done anything like it, and I was nervous that I might have screwed up, but it went fine.  When it was all over a bunch of us got together for some beer in one of the rooms.  We were all relieved everything went well.  Then this guy walks in and has a couple beers.  Turns out he’s Walt Driver from San Francisco State, and he’s a big Bircher, a real crackpot.  I’d been told he carried a gun, because he thought the Commies were out to get him.  I didn’t like his attitude, so I go over and say, “Hey, Walt, I hear you’re packin’ a rod.  You got one on you?”  I thought it was funny, but it made some people nervous.  I mean, this guy was crazy.

I’ll try not to do anything like that in Denver.

Next year the Amendment Convention will meet and make their proposal.  I believe it should be called the Reagan Amendment, in honor of the greatest President of the 20th century.

It will be more than a balanced budget amendment, although balancing the budget will be its goal.  It will be an economic growth amendment, a regulatory reform amendment, and a federalist amendment. It will be a political realignment amendment.  Though it will contain nothing that is not directly related to balancing the budget, its ancillary effects can be so significant that it could set the course of this country for a generation.

We’ll unveil the Reagan Amendment in June in Denver.  A lot of work needs to be done in preparation, but there’s plenty of time.  It’ll be fun, as long as I don’t have to travel too much.  My current plan is to go to Olympia, Salem and Boise the week of the 23rd.  It’s possible Idaho Senate Majority Leader Davis will like the Reagan Amendment so much that we get our bill this year.  It will depend on how much sense he has.

I’m really looking forward to meeting Washington Senate President Pam Roach.  When I sent the pledge letter to her last summer she gave me a call, and we had a good talk.  She’s kind of a character.  I checked her out on the internet.  A couple years ago she was booted out of the Republican Caucus for obstreperous behavior.  I’m thinking maybe she’s not an ideal sponsor.  Then I find out she gets elected President of the Senate!  This sounds like my kind of gal.

When I was in Juneau I talked to Sam Cotton, the Commissioner of Fish and Game.  He was Speaker when I was House Minority Leader. Sam’s a good guy.  He told me my name came up recently in some budget talks.  With the low price of oil, Alaska will burn through $3 billion in cash reserves this year, and next year they’ll need to access the Constitutional Budget Reserve.  We set that up when I was in the House, and they needed my vote.  I gave it to them on the condition that no withdrawals could be made without a 3/4 vote in House and Senate.  The Republicans had been in the minority since statehood, practically, and I wanted to make sure they couldn’t get the money without our votes.  2/3 wasn’t good enough for me.  I figured they could always buy off a couple Republicans, so let’s make it real hard to do.  Now the Republicans have a 3/4 majority in the Senate, but only 2/3 in the House.  So guess who they have to go to in order to get to the money?  House Democrats.

Those guys owe me a beer.

Without their support, I don’t think this gets done.  They have no idea what we’re doing, no clue that Article V exists, or why.  We’ll probably have 30 states this year, and people still won’t know, or care, what we’re doing.

All the polls show broad disgust with Congress and the whole federal government.  People don’t trust it any more, unlike a generation ago.  They have a lot more faith in their state government.  If this is seen as a fight between the states and the feds, the states win.  We need to control the narrative, tell our story, and bring the people behind us.

There’s a school of thought that we need to operate in the shadows, so as not to arouse our opponents.  I could not disagree more.  To me, politics is done in public.  Opponents are confronted, not hidden from.  I welcome a debate.  I would relish it.  And we would win it.

Do the people of this country want to empower the states, and rein in the federal government?  I say, yes they do.  Let’s show them how it’s done.  But first we need to get their attention.  I have a plan which I’m going to try and sell to legislative leaders around the country.  If they buy in, we’ll debut the first week of June.  Let’s spend the next six months debating the merits of this plan, and go into 2016 with 34 wired.

The Constitution’s an idea on a piece of paper.  It’s central to our identity as Americans because we believe in it, and will fight for it.  A BBA is another piece of paper, another idea.  It will work, if at all, if the American people believe in it, and will insist on it.

I want to engage our enemies, in the open, before the American people.  They’ll decide.

It’s the fight I’ve wanted all my life.

Democrats on the West Virginia Assembly Judiciary Committee successfully stalled our bill today, killing it.  Now, in order to get to 34 this year, we would need special sessions in two states.  That’s possible, but a real stretch.  And that may not be a bad thing.

Everyone involved wants to get this over and done with, for a host of good reasons.  But one reason was dubious: this would allow the vote for delegates to state ratifying conventions take place on Election Day 2016.  This would be a boon to Republicans all across the country, at all levels.  We have thought this would motivate Republican state legislators to push our bill through this year.  It really hasn’t worked.  While this idea appealed to a few legislators it wasn’t enough, in West Virginia, Wyoming and Montana.

A BBA is not a Republican idea.  We’re not out to help Republicans win elections.  We just want a balanced budget.  We don’t want another Great Depression.  We don’t want Greek economic chaos caused by Greek levels of debt.  If Boehner and McConnell want the BBA ratified they’ll have it done at State Conventions.  The best chance of controlling these Conventions is through special elections, with low turnout.  A lot of low information voters show up at the polls every four years, never to be seen again until four years later.  These people are like Catholics who only attend Mass on Easter. The Catholics who go to Mass every Sunday should decide the future of the Church, not the once a year types. The people who care enough to vote in special elections should decide the future of this country, not the gadflies who vote only in Presidential contests.

We might be better off having the Amendment Convention next year.  If it was held this summer people might not be ready for it.  To proceed in an orderly and timely fashion, the Convention should be organized in advance.  State legislative leaders, Speakers and Senate Presidents, need to establish lines of communication with one another, and to agree on an agenda.  Some of the items on this agenda may be unfamiliar to people, and may need a great deal of public discussion before the Convention convenes.  Time is needed to accomplish all of this.  It’s what I’m working on right now, and it’s a daunting task.  The leaders of at least 26 states need to come to an understanding.  That’s a tall order.  I think the extra time will make it a lot easier.

So, sorry, Republicans.  You’re probably going to have to win 2016 without the BBA being on the ballot.  Actually, if the R’s lack the wit to beat Hillary, they deserve to lose.  She’s a mess.  Though I despise him, I admit that Bill Clinton is gifted politically.  Somehow, for some reason, she thinks that because she married him, and put up with his bullshit all these years, she should be gifted too.  But she sucks.  But I’ll give her this  — she’s no quitter.  She’ll scratch and claw and shriek the whole way, to the end.  She will be the culmination of the Obama Era.  A fiasco.

On my dark side I have a vengeful streak.  It’s unattractive and unchristian, but there it is.  Turn the other cheek, my ass. I want the Clintons humiliated.  As Sulla Felix said in his epitaph, “No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full.”

Words to live by.