Miscellaneous

A year ago, at Bill Fruth’s request, I did a quick and dirty research on special sessions.  Somewhere on the internet I saw something that said Montana can only have a special session if the Governor calls it.  Since Montana has a Democratic Governor, and won’t convene in 2016, I figured if we didn’t get Montana this year we won’t get it at all.  I looked into it again, by reading the Montana Constitution, and it turns out a simple majority of the Montana Legislature can call itself into special session.

This is huge.  If we come up a little short in Montana, it’s not the end of the world.  If, say, in May of 2016 we get to 33 we can go back to Montana and try to turn some votes.  The stakes would be high, and resources plentiful.  We could do it.

What a relief.  We’ve got some things going for us in 2015, but not like we’ll have in 2016, with the Presidential election well underway.  If we’re close, even the most dimwitted Republican will realize what a boon this would be for his party.

What counts as close?  That’s the question.  Would 30 be good enough?  SC, WV, WI, ND, SD and UT would get us to thirty.  Coburn could get us Oklahoma, and either Wyoming or Montana would make 32.

That’s close.

That’s when we’ll know if we get it done this year.  If Wyoming and West Virginia adjourn without passing our Reso, the campaign will extend into 2016.  If Montana were to adjourn on or about May 1st, and we don’t get a bill, we could potentially be looking at going into 2017.  Ouch.

I’m hoping for 34 this year, but planning on 2016.  It’s prudent.  We’ve definitely got Big Mo, but I wonder if we’ve got enough.  My theory has always been that when we get to the low 30’s, people will take us seriously, and start thinking about the political impact.  When the big money boys finally figure out that a successful Article BBA campaign would seriously tilt the political playing field of 2016 in the Republicans’ favor, they give us a blank check and we get it done.  But we don’t get to the low 30’s until it’s too late in 2015, so we win in 2016.

If we had a couple hundred grand to run a media campaign in Montana, I think it would guarantee a win in our most important target of 2015.  To these guys, $200,000 is chump change.

When Bill Fruth talked to Kasich’s chief of staff  a few weeks ago it was immediately apparent that we in the Task Force have a much better handle on the situation than they do.  Hopefully, as we work with them in the weeks ahead, they’ll get up to speed.

The more they learn, the better they’ll like it.

A hat tip to my youngest son, Darren.  He’s the Co-founder of the Reagan Project, and the one who set up this blog for me.

I’ve always liked to write, since I was a kid.  When I was fourteen I got a column published in my high school newspaper, and I’ve been at it off and on ever since.  So this is fun, for me.

I wasn’t having a lot of fun until the middle of October, about fourteen months ago.  Obama’s reelection had caused me to lose faith in the American people.  I thought the country was gone.  I wanted to go back to Alaska and push for secession.  And then, with the Obamacare web site fiasco, everything changed.   The lies were revealed, the truth began to come out, and we saw a naked emperor.  I called Lew Uhler, who got me on the Task Force and I’ve been at it ever since.  I feel like this is my calling. It came a little late in my life, but who’s complaining?

Before my epiphany, I was downright depressed.  I had no real energy or ambition.  I felt like my life was about over.

So, thank you Jesus.

If we get “my” four states  — WY, MT, UT, and ID  —  odds are we’ll have 34 by the summer solstice.  And wouldn’t that be sweet.  The granddaddy of this movement, Lew Uhler, told me today that he should be able to pick up my travel expenses, so there’s no excuse for me not to go to each of them myself.  My preference would be to drive.  I can get to Salt Lake in a day, and from there Boise, Helena, and Cheyenne are all a day’s drive apart.  Winter driving is no big deal, and I’ll have 4 wheel drive.  I’d be able to stop by Bozeman and see two of my sons.

If I’m testifying before committees this wouldn’t work  — no way to line them up in succession.  I’ll talk to our sponsors and Bill and Dave about that.  It’s really better to lobby members individually, prior to the hearing, as opposed to public testimony before the committee.

Utah doesn’t go into session until Jan. 26th, so this would be a February trip.  We’ll see.

I’ve never worked with a better set of guys than Dave Biddulph, Bill Fruth, Scott Rogers, and the rest of the Task Force.  It’s been over a year now.  No hierarchy or titles, no egos, no infighting or backstabbing  — no one has any issues.  We all have our faults, but we tolerate one another.

I’m going to ask the whole Task Force to join me on August 21st, 2017 at Jackson Lake, Wyoming, at the foot of the mighty Tetons.  We’ll watch the total eclipse of the sun.

And congratulate one another.

We’ll be ‘competing” with the CS people in a number of target states, including Wyoming and Montana.   The policy of the Task Force is “all of the above”  — we don’t discourage legislators from voting for the CS plan.  And, logically, there’s no reason a CS advocate to withhold support for the BBA.  We’re 21 states ahead of them, and if we win we’ll be setting a precedent they can use to their benefit.  So in theory there should be no conflict.

I’m thinking we should be magnanimous and praise the CSers.  Their plan is much more comprehensive than ours.  We want an Amendment Convention to propose a balanced budget amendment, and then adjourn.  They’re much more ambitious.  Any amendment which reduced the power and scope of the federal government would be allowed.  Want to get rid of abortion in this country?  Propose an amendment stripping the federal courts of jurisdiction over abortion.  Don’t like the IRS?  Pass an amendment to repeal the 16th Amendment.  If you’re in the mood, abolish the EPA.  Oppose nation building overseas?  Pass an amendment to make it unconstitutional.  And when would a CS convention adjourn?  Why would it adjourn at all?  It can be a permanent fourth branch of the federal government.

There’s a radical streak in me that this all appeals to.  But I’m 69, and I’ve learned over the course of my life that radical change freaks people out.  They’re afraid of the unknown, and doubt their capacity to control it.

So I say we praise the CS proposal to the skies, stressing that its possibilities are limited only by the imagination.  God only knows what could come of it.  But also point out that there will be a great more opposition to a CS, and that, practically speaking,  an orderly BBA Convention is a necessary precondition of their own success.

Why can’t we all just get along?