Miscellaneous

We’re going to have a conservative majority on the Supreme Court for the first time since 1935.  For half that time, since 1974, I’ve been a lawyer myself.  I feel like busting out a few verses of “Glory, glory, hallelujah.”  It’s been a long time coming.

I believe the liberals on the Supreme Court are responsible for electing Donald Trump as President.  The whole gay marriage thing was just the latest example of the Court’s impudence.  A lot of people feel just as strongly about an out of control Court and its attacks on the Constitution as I do.  Enough of them held their noses and voted for Trump to give him a win.  And in 2016, at long last, the judicial imperialists paid a political price for their disdain of the limits on their power in the Constitution.

If the Constitution simply means whatever five Supreme Court Justices say it means, it doesn’t mean anything at all, and the foundation of this country is destroyed.  For  hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of voters, their commitment to the Constitution gave Trump their votes.

These same people will vote Republican in November, as they realize their political calculation was correct.  Trump came through with Gorsuch, and he will again.  That’s  worth their vote, and the R’s will expand their majority in the Senate.  Just as Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada said they would.

On May 27, 1935, “Black Monday”, a conservative majority on the Court handed the Roosevelt administration three stinging defeats.  FDR was outraged, and decided to try to pack the Court.  The Senate refused to go along, but the Justices got the message.  There was no longer a conservative majority.  Some wilted, some retired, but the Court backed down.  Roosevelt would get his way on the Court for the rest of his Presidency.

So it’s been 83 years  since we had the Court.  Kennedy was a switch hitter, so there was never a reliable fifth vote.  Now there will be.

The big protests from the left will be about the threat to Roe v. Wade, but there’s another area of the law that’s even more significant.  That’s the part of the Constitution that guarantees the equal protection of the law, regardless of race or color.

To me, this is the foundation of the law of this country.  All men are created equal, and are equal before the law.

Affirmative action is racial discrimination.  Whites and minorities are treated differently based on their race.  That’s unconstitutional, and that’s the most important task for the new conservative majority on the Court.

Trump is hitting the trifecta.  He’s got his North Korea deal in the works, with all signs go.  He’s got the Supreme Court nomination he wanted.  And he’s going to sit down and have a heart to heart with Putin.

This is going to score him points, politically.  The D’s have so overplayed their hand on Russia that they’ve lost all credibility.  This boy has cried wolf too often.  Nobody cares about the Russians.

Except they have the second largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world, and are the only country that represents an existential threat to us.  We want to get along with these people.  Trump wants to reduce nuclear weapons.  He’ll make the effort, and be rewarded for it politically.

Peace  —  with the Norks, and with the Russians.  Prosperity  — 4% growth.

When is the last time the American people voted against peace and prosperity?

 

 

Second terms are cursed.  But Presidents seem drawn to them.  Everybody wants the validation of reelection.  But it’s not really necessary.

The Presidential election of 2020 will be a referendum on Trump, even if he has chosen not to run.  The Republican will be an ally and a proxy for the President.

Whoever it is, they’ll be dealing with a dysfunctional Congress.  It’s beyond the point where it can be reformed from within.  What we’re seeing today in Congress is what we’re going to continue to see, as far as you can look.  A broken and thoroughly corrupt institution.

There’s only one method provided by the Constitution to reform Congress:  Article V.  Let’s hope whoever takes over from Trump is aware of it.

If there is to be a new political epoch in America, it should include Article V.  The previous epoch, which ran from 1932 to 2016, was about centralization and globalization.   The new era will be one of disaggregation and nationalism.

In order to disaggregate the federal government, you need Article V.  I hope I live to see it.

Big media continues to drive the narrative, in spite of Trump’s efforts to mock it.  Until quite recently it was well established that committing serious crime while with your children meant that you would be separated from them.  Criminals do go to jail; their innocent children don’t go with them.

But entering this country illegally is no big deal, apparently, and bringing the kids along means you won’t go to jail, and be separated from them.  Perversely, this will encourage the practice.  You’re a fool if you don’t try to smuggle your children into the USA.

Public policy by photo op.  A hell of a way to run a country, but it’s reality.

 

The world is in flux, as it adjusts to American unilateralism.  Finally, at long last, the artificial Cold War bifurcation of the world is eroding.  When the United States acts in its own self interest, every nation in the world needs to recalibrate its position.

Iran is set to be the big loser.  Actually, that’s not right.  The people of Iran are set to be the big winners, when the lunatic mullahs are finally removed from power.

Russia is the country to keep our eye on, with respect to Iran.  It borders Iran, and has suffered from Islamic terrorism.  And Putin is not anti-semitic.  There are millions of ethnically Russian Jews in Israel, and Putin has a bond with them.  He doesn’t want to see Israel destroyed.

So Israel and Russia cooperate.  And Saudi Arabia and Russia cooperate.  And Israel and Saudi Arabia cooperate.  There’s no room at this table for Iran.  Plus, the new leader of Iraq, though a Shiite, wants distance from Tehran.  Iran is being isolated.  As European firms leave Iran, under the threat of American sanctions, the isolation will increase.

Zalmay Khalilzad was the U. S. Ambassador to the U. N. from 2007 to 2009.  He writes that Iran is going to have to sit down to negotiate with Trump in the near future.  I think he’s right.  Trump is coming out of Singapore on a roll.  The mullahs are on the ropes.

First denuclearize the Korean peninsula, then abet an Iranian revolution, then reach a global entente with Russia.

That’s worth three Nobel Peace Prizes.

The first stage of American history was the founding itself  —  the Revolution and then the establishment of a national government with the adoption of the Constitution.  This  Washingtonian era began with the Albany Plan of Union in 1754, and lasted 46 years..

The second American epoch was the great territorial expansion, which was largely the work of Jefferson, Jackson and their proteges, and of the Democratic Party they founded.  For 60 years, from 1800 to 1860, we gradually established our control over the better part of North America, and became the continental Empire of Liberty that the founding fathers dreamed of.

This era ended with the Civil War, and the ascendance of a new party, the Republicans under Lincoln.  In our third national epoch, lasting 72 years, the business of America was business.  Laissez faire capitalism was the order of the day.  The United States became the most powerful economic force in the world.

The next, fourth great stage of our history was the work of the Democratic Party and Franklin Roosevelt and his successors.  Truman, Johnson, Clinton and Obama were all carrying on FDR’s New Deal tradition.  For 84 years, from 1932 to 2016, the work of expanding the welfare state continued, albeit in fits and starts.

All of these historical epochs lasted roughly a human lifetime.  All were identified with one dominant political party.  All came to an end, their mission completed.   First we became a nation.  Then we conquered most of North America.  Then we became the world’s leading economy.  Then we became a welfare state.

Washington founded our country.   Jefferson and Jackson gave it the borders we have today.  Lincoln and the Republicans gave us our national wealth.  FDR, Johnson and Obama have given us the welfare state.  Now it’s time for something new.

This new era will initially be identified with Trump, and he deserves this honor.  He saw that his time, and the time of a great American revival, was at hand, and he seized it.  But he isn’t really responsible for this new era.  The New Deal and the Democratic Party were exhausted, they were out of ideas and out of gas.  Any political party that would nominate a candidate as bad as Hillary Clinton is clearly on its last legs.  Trump saw weakness, and pounced.

Trump is implementing the ideas of conservative thinkers going back to William F. Buckley and Barry Goldwater in the 1950’s and 60’s.  I know because that’s how long I’ve been a conservative political activist.  I subscribed to National Review in 1961, founded  a chapter of Young Americans for Freedom in 1963, campaigned for Goldwater in 1964, and became Chairman of the U. C. Berkeley Young Republicans in 1965.  And I’ve been at it ever since.

So it is with a great deal of satisfaction that I view current political developments.  I feel as though everything I’ve worked for and believed in is being vindicated.  My first and favorite political hero, Barry Goldwater, would be proud.

If this is, indeed, a new political epoch, the Republicans will need to win four or five Presidential elections in a row.  It begins in 2020.  And things look good.

Just look at the opposition.