Playtime is Over, Time to Go Back to Work

I have said this before and it is worth repeating, the reality of being locked down in perpetuity will sooner or later clash with the fantasy of staying in complete control of citizens. It is not feasible or responsible to keep things shut down until there is a cure. A vaccine is far off. Even at the “warp speed” people are working to get a vaccine for COVID-19, we are still looking at it possibly being ready by the end of 2020. Which is still 7 months away at this point. 

An article in the Washington Examiner reported that suicides are off the charts in California:

“The numbers are unprecedented,” Dr. Michael deBoisblanc of John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, California, told ABC 7 News about the increase of deaths by suicide, adding that he’s seen a “year’s worth of suicides” in the last four weeks alone.

DeBoisblanc said he believes it’s time for California officials to end the stay-at-home order and let people back out into their communities.

“Personally, I think it’s time,” he said. “I think, originally, this was put in place to flatten the curve and to make sure hospitals have the resources to take care of COVID patients. We have the current resources to do that, and our other community health is suffering.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/california-doctors-say-theyve-seen-more-deaths-from-suicide-than-coronavirus-since-lockdowns

The Lockdown SS will continue to decry that reopening the country and the economy will lead to massive death tolls. That thousands of people will die and why are we being so callous with human life? All the while they ignore the collateral damage that is due to economic issues. 

I asked a while back if people are OK with losing 3 people due to economic related deaths to everyone 1 COVID-19 death. The numbers were based on actual statistics and numbers for San Diego County. Yet, a COVID death is somehow more dire than someone committing suicide because they have lost everything or overdosing on drugs because their options look so bleak. 

We also have learned this past week that thousands of New York’s deaths are due to irresponsible policies of forcing COVID positive patients into nursing homes. 70% of deaths in Pennsylvania resulted in COVID positive patients being forced into nursing homes. 

Testing here in San Diego has shown that 1 out of 4,000 individuals is asymptomatic. That is well below the original estimate of the CDC saying 35% are walking around asymptomatic and spreading it like wildfire. 

This is happening every single day. More and more information comes out showing the truth of what is happening. More people are starting to wake up to the reality that if given a choice between losing their livelihood and fighting off a virus with a 99% survival rate, they will take their chances. However, those in power refuse to budge or admit their mistakes. 

They continue to double down on their original talking points. This virus is deadly, millions will die, we don’t know anything about it. All of this is just not true. We learn more about it every single day. Doctors (who I guess can’t be trusted now as opposed to the scientists) continue to voice their opinions that we need to reopen. There are bigger issues at stake here. 40 million people are out of work. Businesses are closing at a rapid rate. This is unsustainable. 

The People see this too. Business owners are opening in defiance of governor’s orders. It’s happening from sea to shining sea. The reason? Because people are learning the truth and finding out for themselves the information pertaining to the severity. 

No story is more relevant right now than Plato’s allegory of the cave. In the story, prisoners are chained to a wall in a cave and are only shown shadows. At a point the prisoners begin to name the shadows and believe this is their reality. Millions of people are locked in their homes right now watching news that continues to fear monger and politicize this pandemic. The more they stay home they begin to believe this is the reality. However, it’s those individuals who have been escaping the cave and seeing the outside world who are saying enough is enough. 

The Left has had their fun playing authoritarians for a couple of months, but the truth is starting to spread through the people faster than they had hoped. The real world facts do not match with the narrative they have been pushing. More people are symbolically leaving their caves and seeing the light.  

The adults have figured out we have stayed put long enough. Playtime is over, it’s time to get back to work.

Safe Spaces and Our Response to Coronavirus

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Scrolling through social media, speaking with other people, or just watching the news, you wonder why our response to this virus has been so much more different than the past pandemics. Swine flu, bird flu, SARS, Ebola, they all came and went without massive shutdowns and quarantines of healthy individuals. 

It dawned on me the other day while I was standing in line at the local Post Office. Everyone in line was spaced out their appropriate six feet until another person walked in and asked to get by to their PO Box. Now the person in line could not move up because that would violate the six feet rule for the person in front of them, six feet back and they would be violating my six foot radius. So instead the person in line just stood there while the other fumed over him not moving to give them six feet. That’s when it dawned on me. This person didn’t care about anyone else’s safety but their own. As long as their safe space was protected, to hell with anyone else, they got theirs. 

In a world where we see college campuses setting up safe spaces for people where they can hide from dissenting points of view, it is becoming more and more common for these individuals to screech at people who invade their sacred safe spaces. This attitude has now permeated most of society. That which offends/harms me is not tolerable, it must be stopped at all costs. MY safety is of the utmost importance. MY fear that something bad might happen to me is more important than your lack of fear and willingness to take a risk. 

This mindset has come full circle now with the outbreak of this recent pandemic. You see countless people shout down protesters or those who wish to get on with their lives. They phrase it brilliantly to sound like they have compassion. “You wanting to reopen or go back to work puts the whole community at risk!” Change out “whole community” with “my personal health and safe space” and it starts to make sense. These individuals lob ad hominem attacks from their safe spaces like soldiers tossing grenades from trenches at those who might in some tangential way harm them. 

It wasn’t until recently did most people care what others really did. It was not until this notion of safe spaces did everyone start to pry into someone’s personal business. “Your thoughts are hate speech! You must be stopped!” No longer can people live and let live, they now have to stomp out anything they disagree with or find threatening. Which now is the threat that someone going back to work or reopening their business might in some tangential way harm them. Forget the consequences to that person or anybody associated with them, this single person might be harmed and therefore the whole world should bend to their will. 

It sounds ridiculous because it is. Your fear should not have any effect on those who are not afraid to return to some form of normalcy. It is peak selfishness. To presume that an entire community of people have to idly sit by and wait for you to get over your fears so that the rest of us can return to normal is selfish, pure and simple. This is projection at its finest. They hurl insults and accusations at normal people saying they are selfish or not considerate. When in reality, depriving people of their rights simply because you feel threatened is not only selfish, it’s childish.

The ultimate irony here is that no one is forcing these safe spacers to go anywhere. If you feel safe and cozy from this virus in your home, then you are free to remain where you are. No one is coming to drag you out of your safe space. 

But what if their decision to leave their safe space hinges on whether they get to keep their job or not? When the government handouts dry up and the deferred bills start coming due? Well then they might feel something they’ve never felt before, empathy for those they have shouted down.

Look to the Declaration for Our Foundational Rights

Watching the news you may have seen the Michigan protests and now the Minnesota protests playing out in the state’s capitals. Over the weekend there were protests in Huntington beach and here in San Diego. For some it’s an impressive show of patriotism for those citizens who were tired of being restrained with such draconian measures, while others believe it is irresponsible to be defying the government in such a time. 

I have found that in this trying time the Constitution is not the only place to look for your rights during this time of rapid government overreach and expansion. Instead, I urge you to look to the Declaration of Independence to see the principals on which this country was originally founded. 

The Constitution is an incredible document that was written to create the government we all live under today. However, the Constitution is just the guidelines for how a government should formally be run. The Declaration of Independence was written to state to the British empire our natural and inalienable rights granted to us by our Creator. 

To quote some of the most famous lines from the Declaration (and yes I will complete the whole paragraph unlike Joe Biden):

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Short and simple in its presentation yet, these words echoed across the oceans and around the world. Last week I wrote about how the Constitution was dead because we as a people failed to protect our natural rights. The goal of the government is not to give and to take away these rights, because as I have stated before, they are not theirs to give and to take. 

Let’s look at some of the lines again: “the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them”. 

God, or nature, entitles mankind to certain rights that are not to be taken away or infringed upon by the government. As the famous line goes on to say “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  The Founders envisioned the government’s role was to create a system of governing whereby their only purpose is to protect these inalienable rights. Never a mention of whether or not the government can strip you of those rights at the slightest inconvenience or sign of danger. 

That was the ultimate and only goal of our government in those early days of our country. You have the right to life, to protect yourself and preserve your own mortal being. You have the right to liberty, to choose your outcome without government overreach. You have the right to the pursuit of happiness, to follow your own path and acquire personal property on your terms. 

Some will say, but those rights are not the law, we go by the Constitution for law. But the Constitution rose from this belief that these rights are the ultimate rights worth protecting. State Constitutions at the time of the drafting of the federal Constitution all mentioned these fundamental rights. 

The Massachusetts Constitution in 1780 read: All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.

The Pennsylvania Constitution in 1790 read: That all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent and indefeasible rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property and reputation, and of pursuing their own happiness. 

Even our own California Constitution when drafted in 1879 starts off with: All people are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights. Among these are enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness. 

These are not fancy words, they are not something that sounds good in a speech (whether you can remember them or not). They are essential bedrock upon which our country is founded. 

Today we see the trampling of this notion. The exact opposite is happening all over the country. We have surrendered our rights, our inalienable rights, without so much as a peep from its citizenry. We abdicated it all in the blink of an eye. 

So when you see protestors in open rebellion across draconian stay at home orders, I would like to believe they are simply living up to the ideal from our Declaration “That, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”

Never forget the principles upon which our country was founded and never be afraid to ensure our own government is living up to these ideals.

The Constitution is Dead

The Constitution is dead. 

It had a good run. It was a remarkable document when it first was written. It was the first of its kind and laid out a new style of government. Written with the goals of providing a government that derived its power from the people it governed rather than the old style of deriving from the government itself. The document laid out what was the small little area that the government could work within and that was it. The rest, was to be left to the people. To say it changed the modern world would not be hyperbolic as most countries have adapted some sort of constitution of their own. 

It discussed natural rights, derived from our Creator that should be protected at all costs. It limited the reach of an overbearing federal government and dispersed power amongst its member states to allow them to govern themselves in the specific way they sought fit. In doing so these member states became laboratories for experiments regarding public policy. Preventing a one size fits all solution when it is not needed. The system was created to prevent the overreach of a centralized federal power, thereby letting the people decide in their own localities what was best for them. 

But now that is all over. Today we have an enormous federal government which is expected to be the be all and end all of authority. When states are mismanaged, the federal government can bail them out. Neglect to prepare for a global pandemic that can kill thousands of your citizens? It’s OK the federal government will bail you out. 

Not too long ago, when New York City was on the verge of bankruptcy, the federal government declined to step in and help. It was their local problem, they needed to deal with it. Today? Here’s a blank check for whatever you need. 

I don’t bemoan the federal/state partnership that is required to attack a pandemic such as this one. I bemoan the fact that states have all but abdicated any responsibility to run their states efficiently. Governors don’t need to worry so much about budgets and preparedness, when Big Papa Fed will come to the rescue. New York had the chance to buy thousands of ventilators back in 2015, they declined. Now they beg for tens of thousands of ventilators which go unused. Here in California, we had mobile hospitals at the ready specifically for a influenza like pandemic. They were scrapped because of budget reasons, but that didn’t stop California from returning to the well of the federal government when all of this went down. 

The collapse of our federalist system maybe one contributing cause of the Constitution’s death, but it is not the main one. 

No, the cause of death that will be scribed on the death certificate of the Constitution will be the easy surrender of the rights we are granted not from government but by our Creator. The natural rights inscribed in the Constitution are not rights given to us, they are rights we are born with, and as such the government shall not infringe upon them. That rationale is now gone. Those rights became instantly disposable in the face of this pandemic. The government simply waved its hands and poof, your rights were gone. The illusion was over, we never had those rights to begin with. 

We as a people played ball and now the government is changing the rules of the game. They said, cooperate for this small period and we’ll go back to normal. Now with the numbers dropping, curves flattening, and predictions shrinking, the people ask meekly as if we are the orphan Oliver “Can we have our rights back?” The government simply replies no. You don’t get those back until we say so. 

That’s not how this works. Those rights are not the government’s to give. They were always ours to have and to hold. The Constitution died when we rolled over and just let the government take them without so much as a whimper. 

It was a good run while it lasted. It’s a shame that what started with an amazing revolution ended with a silent killer.

Regardless, COVID-19 Will Change Things

There is no doubt in my mind that this crisis is going to pick winners and losers. It will forever change the political, societal, and economic landscape coming out of this. Locally, nationally, and internationally. This crisis has put every level of government and every business to the test. It is pushing individuals to reevaluate their lives, their finances, and their views on the world they live in. An already tumultuous populace is now staring at each other wondering what is going to happen. There is blame all around, from President Trump to China, the finger pointing has already begun and it is likely it will not stop for a long time. 

But out of this crisis some nations will handle this well and some won’t. They will be ravaged by the outcome of this crisis, pushed to the brink of collapse. The parallels between this and the fallout of World War II continue to grow. Everyone’s economy has been hurt by this and it will yet to be seen who comes out of this the economic superpower. China has already been in trouble before this and no amount of “under reporting” will save face or save their economy when this is all over. There will certainly be a backlash against China for this. Supply chains and manufacturing will be eliminated, they will lose factories, their people further in poverty. 

European nations will fare not much better, their socialized medicine has already shown its flaws and weaknesses. Will it be enough to wake them up to the idea of privatized health care in their countries? 

The US I maintain will still come out of this stronger than most countries. Sure, we will have our bruises to show for it. How many of the newly unemployed will go back to work? There is no telling. But with the whole world licking its wounds from this, any economy that comes out of this half competent will be the world economic leader, and that will be the US. 

There will be winners and losers between our political parties. Old guard politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden have shown they are not up to the task of handling such a crisis. Pelosi has turned this into a partisan fight. An impeachment part deux if you will. Biden is barely coherent. The more people are tuned in to see these politicians, the more they will see them for who they really are. Crusty old establishment politicians who should have been put out to pasture long ago. Making this a political fight right now is a bad move for Democrats like Pelosi. It’s a sad state of affairs when one of your most calm and rational members of your party is AOC. 

We’ve seen the rise of two Democratic governors during this, Governor Newsom and Governor Cuomo. While not perfect, they have acted like the adults in the room, saying the Administration has been nothing but helpful. They have shown that you can be a strong leader who gets things done, without the political bickering. So much so that Democratic voters are already clamoring for Cuomo to ride in and save them from a disastrous Biden run. But it’s also seen the fall of another Democratic Governor, Governor Whitmer of Michigan. A rising star who played the victim card just like the mayor of San Juan, and was called out for it. Then her quick reversal on the use of the drug hydroxychloroquine. One day banning its use, to four days later begging the federal government to send as much as possible. 

Media will also face a reckoning. Channels like CNN shout down anyone on their network for giving the Administration any sort of compliment. Dana Bash was the first to be dragged through the mud for saying that President Trump was the leader we need right now. Even Jim Acosta, who said the President sounded great in a press conference the other day is being bombarded. And self proclaimed journalists like Rachel Maddow put their foot in their mouth when they say there would be no Naval hospital ship in New York in a week, and then there was one a week later. Forget the nation wide blackout of hydroxychloroquine and how successful it’s been simply because President Trump touted it might be an effective drug to combat the coronavirus. 

People are looking for strong leaders right now, not people to point fingers. In this unprecedented time, people are looking to those who are actually getting it done. They are looking for answers and facts, not political fights. They are looking to their country to help anyway they can. This crisis will pick the winners and losers for years to come. I bet anybody who has been watching can already pick them for themselves too.

Your Free Trial of Socialism Starts Now

I saw a meme the other day and I laughed because it was the first thing I thought when this whole pandemic really broke upon our shores. The meme simply says “How are you all enjoying your free 30 day trial of socialism?” and I chuckled only because it was so eerily true. 

In a presidential election where the word socialism continues to become more popular and out and open candidates like Bernie Sanders and AOC run the Democratic Party, socialism has been claimed to be the cure for all the ills of our society. They stand up and say “See?! This is why we need a universal health care system!” or  when lambasting President Trump and his $2 trillion dollar relief package they say “See?! When corporations and rich stock holders need help somehow we have the money, but not for climate change or single pay healthcare!”

While every conservative I know was not crazy about our government passing something that cost $2 trillion, think of it as the medicine we need right now to get through this economic malaise. Doesn’t taste great going down, but it’s what’s needed to keep us from completely collapsing. Further, a lot of the “bailouts” for big companies are loans to be repaid, unlike the direct relief that is helping small businesses that will most likely not need to be repaid (and that’s good for Main Street America).

But if you are, or you know of someone who has been crowing about how socialism will solve everything, ask them how things have been the past few weeks. Ask them if they like the feeling of going into grocery stores with empty shelves, bare of the essentials that you need to provide for your family. Or even when the shelves are semi-restocked, ask how they like being told that you can only take 1 carton of eggs, 1 carton of milk, 2 bags of pasta, and etc. Is anyone a fan of the food rationing that is happening right now? I know I’m not. 

Or ask them how do they like being told by the government that they have no more civil liberties or freedom of movement. That the government can just shut down your business or your workplace with the stroke of a pen. People who worked for years to invest and grow their own business, only to lose it in a blink of an eye because the government didn’t deem your business “essential” enough to stay open. The government has the incredible power to rip you of your rights with nothing more than a proclamation, and that should scare the hell out of you. 

Finally, the socialists screech about this is the reason we need single payer healthcare. Ask Europe how it’s doing in the face of this pandemic with single payer healthcare. Not great. Spain and Italy can’t contain the virus and as a result have thousands dead between them. The reason America will fare better than single payer countries is simple, we don’t rely on one entity to solve this problem. For all the hate and criticism that is thrown at President Trump right now, imagine what leftists would think if he was in charge of our only healthcare system? Is that what they want? Or do they want multiple entities to step up and assist with solving this crisis? If the choice was President Trump, I doubt they would want him to be in charge of the entire rescue operation. 

Leftists also like to bemoan you for suggesting that maybe some places can lift restrictions and go back to some semblance of normal. To that they shout you down, “You will kill everyone! Our lock down is for the collective good!” Giving up everything for the common good…nothing screams socialism more than that sentiment. So forget if you have a job and need to provide for your family…your sacrifice is for the common good. Forget that you worked hard to open a business and see it grow during these booming economic years with President Trump at the helm…you losing your business is for the common good. Your sacrifice is much appreciated comrade. 

It is an interesting time in America right now. For those on the left that play down how powerful government can be and how bad socialism really is, we are living it right now. We are seeing the immense power of the government we have put in place over decades. I hope people remember this time in our history. A time when we got to see what socialism was like in America. What a totalitarian police state looks like if we simply sit by and let it happen. Remember this time come November, and remember who you hand these incredible powers to. Because as we’ve learned, socialism is really just one crisis away.

The Only Consistent

Ah the Bush years…I remember them well. 

I was a bright eyed, young liberal college student. I felt betrayed by the Administration that sent troops to Iraq rather than Afghanistan to fight the evil doers who perpetrated 9/11. After that I was a espoused liberal. I know shocking…but people change.

However, I remember back during the Bush years liberals were like a second coming of the hippies from the 60’s. The parallels were pretty stark. An unpopular President struggling to sell a quagmire of a war to the American people. Thousands of lives lost in a country people had no idea why we were there. Liberals back at home called President Bush a war criminal, cried for his immediate impeachment for lying to the American people about weapons of mass destruction. They talked about bringing the troops home and ending overseas conflicts. I know this because I was one of those liberals. I talked about the fear of a possible draft because we were sending so many troops to the Middle East. It’s all people on the left could talk about, bring the troops home and end these needless wars. 

Fast forward to 2008 when a young candidate rose quickly to become the Democratic nominee and campaigned on bringing the troops home. A message pulled directly from liberal voters during the Bush years. People cheered him. They loved his message of ending war and bringing peace to the world. However, something happened that changed everything. President Obama never brought the troops home. He brought some home sure, but we still had an enormous presence in the Middle East. President Obama was famously decried for his inhumane use of drone strikes. But even with all that, the left still stayed quiet about bringing the troops home. Their fever pitch screams during the Bush years turned into nothing but a quiet hush during the Obama years. 

Fast forward again to now. President Trump has promised to end foreign conflicts and bring troops home. For the most part he has done so. But it’s hard to believe the same people who were calling President Bush a war criminal for sending troops to the Middle East, are now decrying President Trump for taking troops out of the Middle East. They scream about how President Trump is taking 50 troops out of northern Syria because he’s abandoning the Kurds. Forget that we have a treaty with Turkey that says we won’t fire on each other and that the Turks would just go around our troops to the Kurds. They said the Kurds would be slaughtered. Forget that President Trump and his administration quickly negotiated a cease fire with Turkey. They cried that pulling the troops would hasten the spread of ISIS. In fact, you heard them regurgitating lines conservatives said during the Bush years such as “If we don’t fight them there, then we will have to fight them here.” Forget that despite all this President Trump announced the death of ISIS leader Baghdadi just yesterday. 

Yet leftists still cry about President Trump bringing troops home and pulling them out of the middle east. When it wasn’t too long ago they were screaming for President Bush to be hung for treason for sending troops to the Middle East. And even a shorter period of time from when they conveniently neglected President Obama not ending any wars as promised. 

It’s because the left doesn’t necessarily stand for being anti war. They stand for being anti conservative, in any form. The irony being that most leftists don’t see their own contradictions. They sound like Bush era conservatives when defending why we need to stay in the Middle East indefinitely. They have become the very thing they hated years ago. Not because they had some epiphany and realized conservatives were right along, but because it wasn’t advantageous to their goal of knocking a conservative President down a few pegs. Republican sending troops to the Middle East? Warmonger. Republican President bringing troops home? Irresponsible and reckless foreign policy. 

This is why it is impossible to take what leftists say as serious. They change their positions based on who is in office and not based on their own personal political beliefs. Whatever position is the best for achieving their political goals, that’s the position they will take. It’s not about convictions, it’s about power and suppressing those who disagree with them. 

I may have changed from bright eyed liberal to a more populist conservative, but at least I never changed my anti war stance. I can’t say the same for many on the left today. 

Alabama Abortion Bill Bad for 2020

I don’t expect this post to be greeted with much enthusiasm or praise, but I believe it is necessary to write anyway. Without getting into an entire pro-life vs. pro-choice argument, my post deals exclusively with the politics of the recent Alabama abortion bill and why it is bad for Republicans in 2020.

Let’s face it, things have been pretty good for Republicans recently. The economy is on fire, the Mueller Report was a dud, and the federal judiciary is being reshaped with judges who actually believe in following the Constitution. Everything is looking great for Republicans in 2020. President Trump is enjoying rising poll numbers buoyed mostly by his handling of the economy as unemployment drops to historic lows. Meanwhile, Democrats are trying to out SJW each other in a race to the far left. Who would have thought slave reparations would be a serious campaign platform in the year 2019? It is, and the vast majority of Americans think it’s lunacy.

All Republicans had to do was sit back and let the Democrats wreck themselves by moving further left. Everything was trending in an upward direction under President Trump, and then out of nowhere Alabama passes a bill that effectively outlaws abortion. Alabama knows they are likely to have it appealed, and they hope it’s appealed all the way to the Supreme Court.

I for one think this could not have come at an absolute worst time for the Republicans and President Trump.

Democrats have dug deep in their bag of tricks and pulled one out that is tried and true. They are dead set on getting Republicans mired in a culture war. They know that when Republicans get mired in a culture war, they lose. It drives them off their main message of economic prosperity and limited government (both of which President Trump is excelling at now). Democrats don’t have an answer for the booming economic numbers, so they are hoping to derail Republicans with a culture war, and Republicans are taking it hook, line, and sinker.

In my opinion, President Trump eviscerated Republicans in the primaries and cruised to a huge win in the general election because for the most part he stayed away from cultural issues. He discussed cultural things sparingly but the focus of his message was economic excellence and dominant national security for the most part. Things that truly matter to everyday Americans. He sounded the alarm on China and told workers in the Rust Belt he would impose tariffs to force companies to come back to the US, which he has done. He’s been the most pro-business President in modern history. His coalition of voters were not just far right conservatives, he was able to bring in moderate Democrats and left leaning independents. Mostly because he focused on kitchen table politics (economy, national security, taxes). Abortion was not something President Trump made a pillar of his campaign, and he won handily for it.

Why? In a Fox News poll taken a few months ago, it showed that nearly 60% of Americans don’t favor overturning Roe v. Wade. I would guess that outside of deep red states like Alabama, a majority of citizens in swing states are not fans of overturning Roe v. Wade. Nor do every day people care. Yes there are those on the left and right who will protest in the street for their side, but I imagine the majority of people fall in the middle.

I myself think abortion is awful, but in a truly free country, I can’t come to grips with imposing my will on someone because of my moral code, so I guess I’m pro choice. I don’t think aborting a child in the final trimester should be legal, and “aborting” a child after birth is murder plain and simple. Yet sometimes unfortunate events like rape or incest occur and it is the only choice. How do you deal with that?

But I guess that’s my point. Abortion is a murky subject. People fall all over the spectrum when it comes to the issue. In the end it doesn’t change the fact that millions of Americans are going back to work, wages are rising, we’re bringing troops home, we’re shrinking government, and putting America back in a position of dominance. These are issues Republicans should be running on, not abortion.

Democrats have no answer to all the good news coming from the Trump Administration. Every solution they have sounds like going backwards not forwards. So what is their only solution? To get the Republicans mired in a culture war they can’t win. They know that doing so will hurt them in 2020.

Now thanks to the state of Alabama, they have the perfect opportunity.

Can DINO’s Save California?

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No, not those DINO’s you remember from your childhood. No characters from Jurassic Park or the Land That Time Forgot, I’m talking about the acronym of “RINO” or as it’s spelled out (Republican In Name Only).

If you are unfamiliar with the term RINO, then the term comes from Republicans who are centrist and end up voting with Democrats on many issues. Think of John McCain, Mitt Romney, Jeff Flake, Lisa Merkowski, or Susan Collins. Many of them are Republicans you can’t count on when push comes to shove. Thankfully two of them are gone, but there are still RINO’s lurking within Congress.

But I digress.

The idea of a RINO is one that is abhorrent to Republicans because you never know how they are going to vote when the time comes. If you are a Republican, they are a constant pain because of the fact they are unpredictable. They will forgo their conservative values to vote with Democrats. The main thrust of this name being that they aren’t really Republicans at all, but politicians masquerading as Republicans in red districts to get votes, and then when they get into office they act like Democrats.

Now I know for a moment there was a term “blue dog Democrats” which is simply a more conservative Democrat. That’s not what I’m proposing here. A DINO is essentially a RINO but in reverse (Democrat In Name Only). Imagine if the shoe was on the other foot, and instead of a RINO looking to get votes in a deep red district, we have someone who is looking to get votes in a deep blue district (e.g. most of California).

Before you think I’m a traitor to the cause, or crazy, let’s think about this logistically and logically for a minute. If we look at some numbers from last August before the recent midterm elections we can see how this strategy might play out. The below numbers are from a study done by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).

California’s 19 million registered voters constitute 75.7% of eligible adults, a slight increase from the registration rate in 2014 (73.3%), the year of the last gubernatorial election. The share of registered voters who are Democrats (44.4%) is up slightly from 2014 (43.4%), while the share of Republicans (25.1%) has declined since 2014 (28.4%). At the same time, the share of voters who say they are independent (also known as “decline to state” or “no party preference”) has been increasing and is now 25.5%, up from 21.2% in 2014. Our surveys indicate that 47% of those we consider most likely to vote are Democrats, 28% are Republicans, and 21% are independents.

Obviously Democrats win the numbers game in California. They have the largest share of voters in California. You can also see Republican voters are slowly declining while Independents are increasing. And you’re saying “So what” everybody knows that already. But let’s look at some numbers that are even more interesting.

In our surveys over the past year, independent likely voters have been more likely to lean Democratic (43%) than Republican (29%); 28% did not lean toward either major party.

Independent voters are more likely to vote Democrat than Republican in California. Even though they can’t be bothered with picking a party, Independents still go for the Democrats by a margin of more than 10%.

So let’s look at this through a prism of pure numbers. We have a Democratic Party that is overwhelming Republicans in sheer numbers, and to make matters worse, Independents favor Democrats over Republicans by a substantial margin.

Now we can sit here and pretend that taking the noble route would be better and try to rebuild and win using the Republican Party, but looking at the numbers, that is one hell of a hill to climb. Instead think of this as a scenario.

Moderate, pro business, tax cutting DINO’s begin running in local races. They have an enormous advantage simply because they have a D next to their name. Add in the boost from Independents who will swing their way and the race should be a cake walk.

This covert operation works even better in California because of the Jungle Primary system that is in place. Democrats usually end up as the top two choices anyway and Republicans are left out in the cold. Leaving the race to two leftists battling over who supports inter-sectional identity politics or whatever. Now add in a DINO, someone who has the goal of actually getting good things done for California, and you may have a race on your hands. Get enough DINO’s up and down the state, and well, you have the start of a covert insurgency operation whereby you weed out the far leftists and return some sanity to California.

Still not feeling it because of your sense of moral obligation? Think it’s underhanded and sneaky to start supporting DINO’s to run in races rather than Republicans? Let me share some food for thought for people who want to sit on the sidelines because of their moral imperatives.

[People who] are passionately committed to a mystical objectivity where passions are suspect… They can be recognized by one of two verbals brands. “We agree with the ends but not the means” or “This is not the time.” The means-and-end moralists or non-doers always end up on their ends without any means.

You know who wrote that? Saul Alinksy. Yes the same Saul Alinsky who wrote Rules for Radicals and was a personal mentor to Hillary Clinton. But he has a point. People who sit by idly because of their morals, usually end up with nothing to show for it but a false sense of superiority.

Alinsky goes on to outline his rules for when the ends justify the means.

1. One’s concern with the ethics of means and ends varies inversely with one’s personal interest in the issue.

2. The judgment of the ethics of means is dependent upon the political position of those sitting in judgment.

3. In war the end justifies almost any means.

4. Judgment must be made in the context of the times in which the action occurred and not from any other chronological vantage point.

5. Concern with ethics increases with the number of means available and vice versa.

6. The less important the end to be desired, the more one can afford to engage in ethical evaluations of means.

7. Generally, success or failure is a mighty determinant of ethics.

8. The morality of a means depends upon whether the means is being employed at a time of imminent defeat or imminent victory.

9. Any effective means is automatically judged by the opposition as being unethical.

10. You do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral garments.

11. Goals must be phrased in general terms like “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,” “Of the Common Welfare,” “Pursuit of Happiness,” or “Bread and Peace.”

There are a lot of rules here, but I’d like you to focus on rules 3, 4, and 8. We are at war here in California. We are being over run by the totalitarian Left. They have complete control all over the state and continue to push forward. When it comes to war, anything goes. Rule number 4, we are at a time when California is in open rebellion against the US. The state continues to march toward socialism and we are helpless to stop it because of voter fraud, a rigged primary system, and a Democratic Party that dwarfs its opponents in size and resources. Finally, rule 8, we are on the brink of imminent defeat. I would argue it has already happened. Any sense of liberty or freedom is essentially dead in California. We are over taxed and over regulated. Defeat has most certainly already arrived.

Is this theory unorthodox? Maybe. Is it used already throughout our political system? Absolutely. There are plenty of people who put a D or an R next to their name simply because the numbers favor them. Politicians switch from Party to Party because they read the polls and see it would be more beneficial to do so. Politicians play this game for their own benefit, why not us?

Democrats hold the Party advantage in California at the moment, why not just get rid of the Party advantage? Political parties are used to divide and conquer the people, maybe its time for the people to use the political parties to divide and conquer for their own benefit.

Maybe the idea of using Saul Alinsky’s advice is too much for you to stomach. Well how about I propose another’s advice to help sway you?

Let me now warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party. The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another. In governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged.

This was the advice of George Washington warning the American people against political parties. Political parties are a rouse to herd people into one category or another. Here in California, we are a one party state. This can be an enormous obstacle, or a huge benefit.

Destroy the idea of D vs R in California and scatter it to the winds. Put liberty and freedom up against socialism on even footing. Damn the means to get there. If it means saving California, it is something to consider.

Welcome to the Church of Climate Change

Welcome to the Church of Climate Change.

Come, sit down, and relax in one of our pews. Take in the grandeur of the space. Quietly reflect on the horrible things you have done that need to be forgiven by the high priests and priestesses of the Church. Did you drive here in a gasoline powered car? That’s a sin in the Church. Did you eat a hamburger for lunch the other day? That’s a sin. Did you question the practicality of the Church’s proposals for a utopia whereby no one has to work and the Earth is completely rid of carbon emissions? Definitely a sin.

As service begins, you settle in to hear the sermons from the clergy.

The first one, a younger High Priestess steps up the lectern and begins with this.

“Our planet is going to hit disaster if we don’t turn this ship around and so it’s basically like, there’s a scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be very difficult … And it does lead, I think, young people to have a legitimate question, you know, ‘Is it okay to still have children?”

That last part hits you pretty hard. “Is it okay to still have children?” That seems a little harsh. You were for cleaner air and water, but now the Church is asking you to give up having children. That doesn’t seem fair to you, but you continue to sit there.

After the first High Priestess spoke, another one gets up while ushers begin to make their rounds to pass the hat around. This one goes on about how much money they need to raise to make their goals a reality. She proclaims:

“Then when people start saying cost, cost, cost, my response is ‘No, it’s not about cost. It’s about investment. It’s about investment.”

When an usher comes around, you drop a couple dollars in the pan and they look at you with judgment. They tell you what you gave was not enough, you need to give more. You ask how much more and they say 70% of everything you have. Right now and no delay. You try to argue that you need that for essentials so you can live and provide for your family. Doesn’t matter, this is for the good of the world and our Church, don’t count the cost, count it as an investment.

This all sounds incredibly ludicrous when you read this. Who would join such a Church? Who would subscribe to such a rigid ideology?

The truth is, millions of Americans do believe in this ideology. Lots of them are running around the halls of Congress this very moment saying how the sky is falling and we need to pass “ambitious” legislation to save the world. Otherwise, we’re all dead and there’s no America to govern if we don’t take this opportunity.

I jest about the Church of Climate Change, but as I watch supporters of it, I don’t think it’s a laughing matter anymore. Millions of Americans actually fully believe this crazy ideology and like any religious zealots, are willing to forgo rational and civility to make their goals a reality.

You see, when it comes to the divine truth that is Climate Change, there is nothing off limits. To argue against the truth of it is akin to an atheist telling a devout Christian that Jesus is not Lord and Savior. The believer will turn blue to argue that their ideology is true and righteous. That sounds oddly familiar to arguing with a member of the Church of Climate Change. Facts don’t matter, they’re heresy because they undercut the one true ideology. That is the world is going to come to a screeching halt if you people don’t follow their instructions 100%.

And there in lies the rub. The Church of Climate Change is not really about Climate Change is it? It’s about power and control. Much like the Catholic Church when it was the only game in town during the Middle Ages. There’s a scripted response and reason from the Church on practically every issue.

Too many people breeding? Let’s legalize after birth abortions because too many people creates Climate Change. Does that sound crazy? Maybe at the moment, but think about the quote above. They are actively suggesting population control for the reason of Climate Change. They want the power to decide who lives and dies because of Climate Change.

When they want to confiscate your wealth and grow the federal government to authoritarian levels, it’s all in the name of Climate Change. “If we don’t take all your money how will we combat Climate Change?!” they shriek in horror. They seem to leave out that by taking all your wealth you are not only giving them more power, you are becoming more dependent on the federal government.

Nothing is off limits when it comes to the Church of Climate Change. The Constitution would be ripped to shreds if the Church had its way. You would be stripped of all your unalienable rights.

And you see it all over the world. France is burning because President Macron imposed a tax on diesel to help combat Climate Change. You also see it right here in California. When confronted with a need for a reason to impose another crazy piece of legislation, they simply just tack on “to combat climate change” at the end and it now all of sudden makes sense. Passing legislation to give legal aid to help illegal immigrants come to California? It’s because of climate change.

This is why the Church of Climate Change is particularly dangerous. Their goal is world domination, no matter the cost. Their devout followers blindly accept their sermons and quite literally use them as gospel out in the real world. They have suspended reasonable rational for the goal of achieving these divine goals. There is no other reason for anything to exist unless it is to combat Climate Change. Your basic needs and wants come secondary.

I don’t foresee the Church closing up anytime soon. It’s been very effective for a long time. Similar to the old monarchies in the Middle Ages, the Church is very willing to use its power and cache to help the elites of the world accomplish their goals, just as long as they get a mention. Even more similar, this Church seeks to create a serfdom of citizens who are compliant and beholden to them.

So welcome to the Church of Climate Change. Have a seat and accept your fate (for the purposes of combating Climate Change of course).