Today on the House floor, Republican Rep. Steve LaTourette of Ohio condensed the congressional healthcare “debate” to its essence and, in so doing, suggested, without naming, a strategy for defeating the bills — let the left and the far left factions in the Democrat Party destroy these bills, and their party, without any help from the Republicans.
Today at a townhall in Mesa, AZ, a constituent suggested the same strategy to Sen. John McCain.
I also got to put a question to Sen. McCain, which went something like this:
“Sen. McCain, I’m going to ask the same question that a woman asked you back in August at a town hall meeting broadcast nationally on Fox News. She implored you, over, and over, and over, ‘Sen. McCain, what can we DO to make an impact on the Congress NOW? Please, tell us what to DO!’ Your response was, ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing.’ You were in front of an audience of people, just like today, who want to DO SOMETHING to save this country but don’t know what to do. They go to Tea Parties and town halls and protests, but they’re not sure what else they can do that is effective. You know that in Maricopa County, and in Arizona generally, over two-thirds of the precinct committeemen slots in the Republican Party are empty. And that nationally about half the precinct committeemen slots are empty. Our Party is at half-strength where it matters. You know that the precinct committeemen are the ‘boots on the ground, rubber meets the road’ folks who help get out the vote. So, my question is, why didn’t you tell her and the national audience that if they really wanted to ‘do something’ they should come into the party as precinct committeemen? And, will you tell this audience today to do so and will you start telling your audiences to get involved in the political process as precinct committeemen?”
His response was typically “political” and McCain-ish. I was disappointed. He said that he agreed people should get involved as precinct committeemen (indeed, back in November, 2005, he said as much on Larry King Live when he was seeking the nomination (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0511/03/lkl.01.html)), but he said he had to be careful how he raised the issue at town halls, because he was seeking input from all people of all parties. I did not want to hog the spotlight or time as there were hundreds of people in attendance and many, many with their hands up to ask questions, so I let it go. But my follow up would have been along the lines of, “Well, golly gee whiz, our nation is in a precarious spot, as you’ve mentioned, and you’re worried about offending someone because of their political persuasion? Couldn’t you have said something along the lines of, ‘Yes, my friends, there is something you can do — if you are concerned about the direction of the country, immediately get in touch with the party of your choice and join its ranks as a precinct committeemen, because then you can vote for the leadership of the party, vote to endorse the best candidates in the primary elections, and help get out the vote for the candidates of your choice.”
Joe Klein, reportedly, has “sat on” Teleprompter Boy’s Columbia thesis since 2007.
Here’s the money quote from it:
“… the Constitution allows for many things, but what it does not allow is the most revealing. The so-called Founders did not allow for economic freedom. While political freedom is supposedly a cornerstone of the document, the distribution of wealth is not even mentioned. While many believed that the new Constitution gave them liberty, it instead fitted them with the shackles of hypocrisy.”
The “so-called Founders.” The Founders “did not allow for economic freedom.” “Supposedly” political freedom is a cornerstone of the Constitution. Darn it, “the distribution of wealth is not even mentioned” in the Constitution. The Constitution fitted those who believed the document gave them liberty, instead, with “the shackles of hypocrisy.”
As you may know, I’ve been a broken record here about “The Neighborhood Precinct Committeeman Strategy.”
Well, I hope you’ll go to my little blog, www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com, and click on the link for Nevada. There you’ll read a brief story of how an ad hoc “group” of conservatives — some who were really disgusted with the idea of venturing into the Republican Party — figured out that if they really wanted to change the country they had to join the Party and become voting members of it to change the leadership of their local county Republican Party.
We’re talking about a politically significant county — “Harry Reid country” — Clark County, Nevada, the most populous county in Nevada.
And, they DID IT.
You can do it where you live, too. It’s not hard. It just takes a little bit of ACTION. “Get out of your chair” kind of action.
Compare Judge Andrew Napolitano’s plain talk to the mealy-mouthed utterances of our elected conservative Republican “leaders” who only want to be reelected:
(Sorry, but I can’t figure out how to embed video code in a diary here, so I’ve only got these three links.)
Tonight at 8 pm Eastern, Americans for Prosperity will be hosting a nationwide conference call about the status of the congressional hijacking of our individual rights with respect to our own health care.
National Health Care Tele Town Hall Tonight
Join us TONIGHT for a national tele town hall with Rep. John Shadegg (AZ) to discuss the Washington take over of health care and how we can stop it. Call 888-886-6603 at 8pm ET and enter the extension 13485. I hope you all can make it for this important call.
I was on the last call and heard two people implore Rep. Shadegg to tell them what they could DO to make an impact on the Senate and House members. I wrote about it here at Redstate. What did he tell them? He told them to “make phone calls, send e-mails, talk to your neighbors.” There was no, “If you really, really want to send a shock wave through the political world, in addition to making the phone calls and sending the e-mails, all 10,000 of you conservatives on this call, tomorrow, get in touch with your local GOP organization and tell them you want to become a PC and then do it.” I commented at that time here: http://www.redstate.com/toni100/2009/09/22/democrat-sham-healthcare-%E2%80%98shell%E2%80%99-bill-to-be-rushed/
Why won’t he implore conservatives to come into the Party as voting members of it? Because he FEARS conservatives coming into the Party and HIJACKING it from the moderates who are trying to control it. He knows that in Maricopa County and his congressional district only one-third of the PC slots were filled on election day 2008 and that they were split about 50-50 between conservatives and moderates. He knows that if the two-thirds of the slots that are vacant are filled with real conservatives he may lose in the 2010 Republican primary election for his seat. That 50-50 split could become a 5 to 1 split in favor of real conservatives. And he knows that nationwide that if 50 per cent of the PC slots that are vacant are filled up with conservatives, the 50-50 split between moderates and conservatives that exists now, and is reflected in our “leadership” in the Party, and the RINO candidates that win many of the primary elections, could change to a 75 to 25 split in favor of conservatives over moderates.
Will he be asked the “what can we DO” question tonight? What will his answer be? Inquiring conservatives want to know.
Call 888-886-6603 at 8pm ET and enter the extension 13485.
Supreme Law of the Land.Article VI.(This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.) (http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html)
All elected officials take an oath to support the Constitution.Article VI.
Only laws in pursuance of the Constitution are valid.Article VI.
The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.
The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery.
Article I, Section 8 enumerates the limited powers of Congress.
The Tenth Article of the Bill of Rights reserves all powers not delegated to the Congress to the States or the people.
Where are you, “We the People?”Are you slaves?
Obamacare requires ALL to work to buy “health insurance.”“Requires” is too nice a word.If Americans refuse Obamacare, they will go to prison.
To obtain government “health care,” ALL are required to give the government their most private information. This violates the Fourth Amendment.This violates the Thirteenth Amendment; we all become slaves to pay for “health care” for others, whether or not we want to?
Any citizen who refuses to pay the Obamacare fines will have the right to a jury trial.
If citizens will learn the rights of citizens, as jurors, to judge both the law and the facts in criminal trials, they can stop Obamacare at the Jury Box.
Read Lysander Spooner.Don’t know of him?You better.Now.Do some Googling and buy his books.Our forefathers did a much better job at learning about and enforcing their rights than “We the People” have been doing.Just pathetic.We should be embarrassed.And just wait if, and until, we have to explain to our kids why we didn’t educate ourselves and TAKE BACK our country from these socialist monsters.
Go to the www.JPFO.org cite and order the second in the Gran’ Pa Jack series, “Can You Get A Fair Trial In America,” and study it.Actually buy and study all of them.
Seriously, ask yourself this question.When was the last time (if ever) you actually sat in a chair for twenty or thirty minutes and read the entire Declaration of Independence and Constitution in one sitting?I thought so.
Not yet a Republican Party precinct committeeman?Why not?Too busy?With what?Set some priorities.
Read the Declaration of Independence.Read the Constitution.Over, and over, and over again.You can’t demand your congresscritters to follow the Constitution if you don’t know what it says.Then DEMAND your congresscritters to enforce the Constitution to PROTECT your individual liberties.
Heard it on Hannity tonight. Mark Levin may have actually included the word “conservative,” but I’m not sure. Regardless, it was implied.
Mr. Levin provided no nuts-and-bolts specifics about the need for conservatives to become PRECINCT COMMITTEEMEN (nor does he in his book, Liberty and Tyranny), but I believe that’s the idea Levin was trying to convey.
Are you conservative? (Sorry, I know if you are a “Redstate-er” you are, but a lot of lurkers come here.) If you are a conservative, for crying out loud, if you are not a Republican Party precinct committeeman (”PC”), get off the H-E-double-hockey-sticks sidelines and into the ball game of Republican Party politics, where the boots hit the ground, and become a voting member of the Party.
NOW.
Because in some states the cut-off for being able to become a voting member of the Party (that is, a precinct committeeman — it’s called precinct captain in some states, precinct associate in others) for the next election cycle is fast approaching.
For some states, December. For some, January 2010. Every state is different.
(And, please, don’t ask me to figure it out for you. You’ve got a computer. An internet connection. You know what state you live in. You have a phone. Do some Google searching. Make some phone calls. If you don’t get a call back, it’s because some volunteer didn’t follow through. Call back. Be persistent. GET IT DONE.)
Fifty per cent of the Republican Party precinct committeeman slots nationwide are VACANT! And the split between conservatives and moderates in the filled PC slots is about 50-50 per cent.
Fill up the vacant slots and that ratio goes to 75 per cent conservative to 25 per cent moderate. Overnight.
This is not rocket science.
Do it if only so we no longer have to suffer through listening to Michael Steele pretend to be a conservative. I’m sure he’s a nice man. But he’s no conservative.
Time Out. Time To Think. Real Hard.
Who elected Michael Steele to be the RNC Chairman and “spokesman” for the Party? Drum roll. Have you figured it out?
It was the registered Republicans who were precinct committeemen who elected Michael Steele. Mere registered Republicans had no say in his election. If you weren’t a PC, you had no vote in whether Michael Steele or some real conservative became the Chairman of the RNC. Is this news to you? If it is, you need to educate yourself.
Want more conservative leaders and spokesmen in the Republican Party? Become a Republican Party precinct committeeman. NOW.
I was in the Army.I did a lot of weird, fun stuff while I was in the Army.The Army has all sorts of pecking orders.
I was smart enough not to volunteer for Ranger School.(I already knew that beating my head against a wall in ice cold water for long periods of time would be painful.)
One fun thing, though, separated the “boys” from the “men.”Jumping out of airplanes.
If you had your five jumps, and, hence, the right to display on your uniform your Airborne Wings, you could say things like the following, in a low, measured tone to your fellow soldiers while pointing to your Wings, “Some men wear them, others admire them.”You either had the testicles (or foolishness) to jump five times out of a perfectly good airplane, or not.
I want to create a Republican Party precinct committeeman medallion the equivalent of the Army’s Airborne Wings.You either are “tough enough” to become a precinct committeeman, or not.You either are a player, or not.
Because if you ain’t a conservative Republican Party precinct committeeman, you ain’t s**t.
Thank you.
ColdWarrior
I am only one.But I am a conservative Republican Party precinct committeeman and desperately trying to recruit more in whatever demented way my feeble mind can conceive (so please don’t be offended but please humor me and become a precinct committeeman immediately, or else you’ll have to keep reading my haranguing tripe.)
Promoted from diaries. Now spread it around. - Moe Lane
As of August 31, 2009, since the Nov. 2008 election, the Maricopa County Republican Party has increased its precinct committeeman ranks by over 21 per cent.The Party had, in Nov., 2008, 1,989 precinct committeemen representing the 694,000 registered Republican voters in Maricopa County. The quota was 6,231.Thus, the Party was at less than one-third “fighting” strength. Those 1,989 were split about 50-50 between moderates and conservatives.
No more.
Since November, we’ve recruited 434 more PCs. Most at Tea Parties and congresscritter protests. Most, if not all, of these new recruits are conservatives – I’ve been to a lot of Tea Parties and protests – and talked to a lot of people at them in my efforts to recruit PCs – and I’ve yet to meet a moderate.
You didn’t see it? As he promised? As he promised over and over and over again?
Gee, I missed it, too. I really, really would have liked to have watched that. I was really, really looking forward to the transparency and the public participation in the process. It all sounded so “hope and changey.”
“We the people” will never get our elected public servants to take their oaths of office seriously unless we demand that they do so and demonstrate to them that we have read and studied the Constitution and adore it and demand that they strictly adhere to and obey it.
Some at the town hall meetings are doing so. Here are two examples:
I believe the starting point of any conversation with an elected representative is to force them to acknowledge their oath and than force them to cite language from the Constitution for the powers they assert over us.
Note how Ben Cardin explained Article I, Section 8 granted him “broad powers” because of the “general welfare” clause. Wrong. The powers so granted are limited and enumerated, and the general welfare clause only refers to the idea that all laws passed by Congress were to have general applicability; the general welfare clause is not a broad grant of legislative authority.
Article VI, in pertinent part, requires “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution . . . .”
Article VI also declares that only “This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof . . . shall be the supreme law of the land . . . .”
In other words, as the Supreme Court has ruled, laws enacted, but not allowed by, the Constitution (that is, “in pursuance thereof,” are a nullity.
The Preamble of the Constitution informs why “we the people” established it:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Below, Ben Cardin claims power to legislate over healthcare based on the “general welfare” clause of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. But note that the Preamble informs us that “we the people” ordained and establish the Constitution to “promote” the general welfare, not “provide for” it as “for the common defense.”
Article I, Section 1 declares “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Article I, Section 8 grants certain limited, enumerated powers to the Congress; there is no sweeping language granting Congress authority to legislate in an area that traditionally has always been thought to be one’s personal responsibility: one’s own health.
And, if the foregoing was not made clear to the newly formed federal government “ordained and established” by “we the people,” the Bill of Rights was designed to make things even more clear. Specifically, the Tenth Amendment clearly states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”
I never gave my right to be responsible for my own health to the federal government, and neither did the framers of the Constitution. As the Constitution so clearly states.
Nor do I care to assume responsibility for the healthcare of others. I will and do give my hard earned dollars to those less fortunate. But I do not believe, for example, I should have to pay for the abortions others choose to remedy the negative impacts on the health of others caused by their foolish, unhealthy lifestyle choices. Our forefathers fought and died for an America that was designed to allow each of us to “pursue Happiness,” not make others pay for it. I have no claim on the charity of others; nor do they have a claim on mine.
So why do our current legislators in the U.S. House and Senate usurp this power to force us into socialized medicine and “Cap and Tax” and all the rest? Because we do not DEMAND that they cease doing so.
Well, at least some are making the demand.
Thank you.
ColdWarrior
P.S. I’ve set forth below the full text of the passages of the Constitution I’ve referenced above.
The Preamble:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Article I
Section 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
. . .
Section 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
To establish post offices and post roads;
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
To provide and maintain a navy;
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;–And
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.
Article VI
All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
I was all ready to go to my meeting today with my congresscritter, Debtocrat Rep. Harry Mitchell, AZ CD-5. Had gone to the Organizing for Obama America web site and signed up to meet with Rep. Mitchell during the 3 to 4 pm time slot. So, just to be sure Harry would really be there (I had no reason to suspect my courageous representative would not be there, especially since Organizing for Obama America said he would be), I called his office to make sure he’d be there to greet me and listen to my concerns. Oh, the horror! Wouldn’t you just know it, Organizing for Obama America had been confused, according to the nice staffer at Rep. Mitchell’s office. Apparently, they somehow got the idea that they could set up personal meetings with Harry, but didn’t bother to clear it with him. Gee, apparently they never got the word that Harry’s “finding the facts” in Israel. The nice staffer just didn’t seem to know who else was with hard-workin’ Harry, but nonetheless I was so overjoyed that “Fact Finder” Harry was “finding the facts” on his junket strenuous, intensive working trip to Israel.
So then the inevitable questions arose: When will he be having his first public town hall meeting with constituents on the “healthcare” bills? She did not know. How many public town hall meetings will he schedule during the remainder of the recess? She did not know. Could I get a meeting with Harry at one of his secret meetings with those mysterious people he meets with secretly? No, the same answer as before (I had asked this on August 5, too), that would not be possible. Well, how about meeting with me and others — you know, squeezing us into his calendar somewhere during the remainder of the recess? No, that just wasn’t going to be possible.
Oh, that hard-workin’ Harry. All those secret meetings to attend. And all those junkets “fact finding” overseas trips. He sure has a hard job!
He really likes to answer hard questions, though. See:
This morning about 250 people showed up outside the Scottsdale, AZ office of Debtocrat Rep. Harry Mitchell (CD 5, AZ) to protest his and the the Debtocrat Party’s quest to foist unconstitutional socialized medicine on the American people. Here are links to two videos shot there. I’d embed the videos but it doesn’t seem to work for me when I try it in a Diary. Once you get to YouTube you can watch the rest of the videos.
There’ll be another protest at noon, which I’ll be heading to momentarily.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju2rGltb7cM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnID7Tw2PRg
We also had several petitions against socialized medicine that we’ll be delivering to Mitchell. It was great to be among all those assembled right wing extremists.
Hat’s off to Tom Jenny of the Arizona Chapter of Americans for Prosperity for helping to get the word out about this protest and for supplying the bull horn. Tom also happens to be a conservative Republican precinct captain.
I saw the third of these four videos over at www.therealrevo.com. Found all four of them over at www.archive.org by searching for “In Our Hands”.
My grade school-age kids will be watching these videos soon. If only all voters would. Not to mention our elected public SERVANTS.
I have watched all four. They are timeless. I have placed them below out of order. I recommend you watch them in that order. Regardless, watch all four. I tried to embed the html code for the videos but failed miserably, apparently, as in preview mode all I saw was the code.
So, here are the URLs for the four videos in my recommended viewing order. Sorry to have to send you over to www.archive.org, but, actually, it’s a great site and I think you might benefit from being sent over there.
I especially liked the tractor footage and the factory footage, having spent time as a kid on tractors and some time in my adult life in factories. My goodness, in the second in the series, “What We Have,” I could swear that’s my aunt and uncle’s chicken coop where I fed the chickens, cleaned their nests and gathered their eggs. Funny how such a dirty and smelly job brings back very fond memories. And, thankfully, every year I am fortunate to relive them, at that spot, as my aunt still raises chickens for eggs — I go back for the family tradition of deer hunting. In the valley that bears my family’s name. (I had the good fortune of spending a summer milking cows on a dairy farm and sleeping in the same room my dad did (my uncle bought the family farm from my grandmother — she raised eight boys, my dad being the youngest).) I’m a Pole and a German. My ancestors came here in the late 1800s and inherited, and cherished, the blessings of liberty. And their children willingly went off to war to fight for our liberties — we were fortunate; none died in the battles. Their service, both in the realm of politics and the military, inspired mine, as well as many of my cousins.
Let’s take this “last best hope on earth” back.
Thank you.
American first, conservative second, Republican precinct committeeman by necessity.
Like many of you here, I’ve read Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged.” Hell, I was a member of an “Objectivist Society.”
Fight now? Spend time away from my precious offspring? They aren’t “my” children, they are God’s. Why should I not spend every waking moment with them, instructing them in God’s ways, instead of in Republican Party meetings? And spending hour on end online chattering away with the “conservative” multitudes who type and type and type to no productive end?
Yes, I think I might now shrug. And say good bye here.
