Re-visiting Federal Government on a Somber Day

This morning, I did a fairly dispirited review of my regular blog-stalking. It looks like most of us are pretty down in the dumps over the fol-de-rol in Washington. So, as I told blog-buddy Buck, today I need to have a full-blown worry-wallowing pity-party.

Hence, I'm doing my first-ever re-post. Maybe it'll give someone in a postition to do something about it an idea about how to fix some of this broken stuff. It might have been a little premature in December, but I'd say that it's pretty dang ripe right about now.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Moogie's Fun and Revolutionary Plan for Public Service Reform in D.C.

In a moment of blinding clarity, I have stumbled upon what could be the salvation of our nation and our Republic.

We have to chunk out our system of federal elections and start over from scratch.

The states may continue to do whatever they please for intra-state elections pursuant to the Tenth Amendment, and that'll get the Feds off their backs for a whole lot of stuff, primarily because the Feds will have been forced to acknowledge and abide by the Tenth Amendment. If folks don't like what policies their state is enacting in connection with a particular issue, like, say, same-sex marriage, then they are free either to try to effect change in their state through legislation or move to another state whose laws more closely reflect their beliefs. Hello, Republic! A confederation of independent states who are free to follow the will of their citizens, not the sometime-well-intentioned-but-often-cuckoo citizens of Soviet Socialist Massachusetts or Pelosi-world.

You may not be aware of the fact that I was -- fairly recently -- a strong opponent of term limits. I believed institutional memory to be a very important component of orderly government -- we shouldn't have to re-invent the wheel time after time after time simply because no one was in Congress or the Governor's mansion who could remember what happened the last time someone came up with the same bone-headed idea, or how badly its implementation failed. Today, I simply don't care. There are too many bone-headed ideas floating around this ol' world to prevent their redundancy, so opposing term limits is no longer on my radar.

The notion of needing to devise some reasonable facsimile of term limits brought me to the election of our Republics' representatives in D.C. -- so, let's just get all Constitutional about it and return to the Founding Fathers' notion of true "public servants" in which people are called to serve their fellow citizens for a brief amount of time, not to make a career of meddling in the lives of every citizen.

We can retain the Constitutional requirements for eligibility to serve (e.g., age, natural-born citizenship, residency) -- they're pretty sensible. But as for the actual "election" -- there will be no further federal elections.

We're going to have a National Public Service Lottery.

Every eligible U.S. voter (eligibility to be determined by each state) will be required to purchase two lottery tickets: one each in the POTUS/VPOTUS Scratch-off in which only two tickets have all the magic numbers (indexed to population or voter registration; details and cost to be worked out later), but the Presidential Powerball Number on one ticket wins the White House and the runner-up moves into One Observatory Circle at the U.S. Naval Observatory as VPOTUS, both for the Constitutional term of four years. No one may win the POTUS/VPOTUS Scratch-off more than two terms in a row.

Additionally, the eligible voters of each state and territory will be required to purchase similar lottery tickets for Senator (lotteries to be staggered to accommodate rotating 6-year terms) and Representative: one winner per slot per state.

Of course, we'd have to do away with the Electoral College and replace it with a Commission of Electoral Inspection to determine the qualifications and eligibility of winners. The Commission could be composed of 3 members (to have a tie-breaker), appointed, one apiece, by the President, The Senate, and the House of Representatives. Vacancies occurring in Congressional office could be filled by vote of the vacant office's State Senate; presidential succession would be in effect until the following lottery.

Would there be a chance for cheating or corruption? Of course. Is there now?!?! (Hello, ACORN.) Would some mind-numbingly unqualified folks win the Public Service Lottery? Um, duh -- but what's the difference between that and the current system?

Could the loss of institutional memory be regretted, especially in the House of Representatives? Most probably. But, tinkering with the details could find a reasonable compromise to extend and rotate terms in the House, so let's not throw this idea out without trying it.

It's fun! It's a revenue generator! It's a regular fruit-basket turnover in D.C.!! It's Moogie's Revolutionary Plan for Public Service Reform in D.C.!

I've given you the bones -- now, hammer out the details.

Posted by Moogie P at 10:03 AM 2 comments
Labels: Congress, Constitution, Constitutional Convention, D.C., Elections, Lottery, Tenth Amendment, Young President

A Diversion on this First Day of Spring

I received this in an email today. #3 is my favorite -- I live with a guy who subscribes to that philosophy!

Things that I found helpful by living this long:

1. The purpose of fighting is to win.

2. The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more important than either.... The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.

3. Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.

4. If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.

5. I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.

6. When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away.

7. A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him 'Why do you carry a 45?' The Ranger responded, 'Because they don't make a 46.'

8. The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on his wearing his sidearm. 'Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you expecting trouble?' 'No Ma'am. If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought my shotgun.'

9. Beware the man who only carries one gun. HE PROBABLY KNOWS HOW TO USE IT!!!

But wait, there's more!

I was once asked by a lady visiting if I had a gun in the house. I said I did. She said "Well I certainly hope it isn't loaded!" To which I said, "Of course it's loaded, it can't work without bullets!" She then asked, "Are you really that afraid of someone evil coming into your house?" My reply was, “No not at all. I'm not really afraid of the house catching fire either, but I have fire extinguishers around, and they are all loaded too."


Since Congress seems to be ignoring all the rest of them, especially the Ninth and Tenth, I thought I'd remind us that, so far, we still seem to have the Second Amendment.

Hang in there, mes amis, it ain't over 'til it's over. And Happy First Day of Spring!

Moogie's Fun and Revolutionary Plan for Public Service Reform in D.C.

In a moment of blinding clarity, I have stumbled upon what could be the salvation of our nation and our Republic.

We have to chunk out our system of federal elections and start over from scratch.

The states may continue to do whatever they please for intra-state elections pursuant to the Tenth Amendment, and that'll get the Feds off their backs for a whole lot of stuff, primarily because the Feds will have been forced to acknowledge and abide by the Tenth Amendment. If folks don't like what policies their state is enacting in connection with a particular issue, like, say, same-sex marriage, then they are free either to try to effect change in their state through legislation or move to another state whose laws more closely reflect their beliefs. Hello, Republic! A confederation of independent states who are free to follow the will of their citizens, not the sometime-well-intentioned-but-often-cuckoo citizens of Soviet Socialist Massachusetts or Pelosi-world.

You may not be aware of the fact that I was -- fairly recently -- a strong opponent of term limits. I believed institutional memory to be a very important component of orderly government -- we shouldn't have to re-invent the wheel time after time after time simply because no one was in Congress or the Governor's mansion who could remember what happened the last time someone came up with the same boneheaded idea, or how badly its implementation failed. Today, I simply don't care. There are too many boneheaded ideas floating around this ol' world to prevent their redundancy, so opposing term limits is no longer on my radar.

The notion of needing to devise some reasonable facsimile of term limits brought me to the election of our Republics' representatives in D.C. -- so, let's just get all Constitutional about it and return to the Founding Fathers' notion of true "public servants" in which people are called to serve their fellow citizens for a brief amount of time, not to make a career of meddling in the lives of every citizen.

We can retain the Constitutional requirements for eligibility to serve (e.g., age, natural-born citizenship, residency) -- they're pretty sensible. But as for the actual "election" -- there will be no further federal elections.

We're going to have a National Public Service Lottery.

Every eligible U.S. voter (eligibility to be determined by each state) will be required to purchase two lottery tickets: one each in the POTUS/VPOTUS Scratch-off in which only two tickets have all the magic numbers (indexed to population or voter registration; details and cost to be worked out later), but the Presidential Powerball Number on one ticket wins the White House and the runner-up moves into One Observatory Circle at the U.S. Naval Observatory as VPOTUS, both for the Constitutional term of four years. No one may win the POTUS/VPOTUS Scratch-off more than two terms in a row.

Additionally, the eligible voters of each state and territory will be required to purchase similar lottery tickets for Senator (lotteries to be staggered to accommodate rotating 6-year terms) and Representative: one winner per slot per state.

Of course, we'd have to do away with the Electoral College and replace it with a Commission of Electoral Inspection to determine the qualifications and eligibility of winners. The Commission could be composed of 3 members (to have a tie-breaker), appointed, one apiece, by the President, The Senate, and the House of Representatives. Vacancies occurring in Congressional office could be filled by vote of the vacant office's State Senate; presidential succession would be in effect until the following lottery.

Would there be a chance for cheating or corruption? Of course. Is there now?!?! (Hello, ACORN.) Would some mind-numbingly unqualified folks win the Public Service Lottery? Um, duh -- but what's the difference between that and the current system?

Could the loss of institutional memory be regretted, especially in the House of Representatives? Most probably. But, tinkering with the details could find a reasonable compromise to extend and rotate terms in the House, so let's not throw this idea out without trying it.

It's fun! It's a revenue generator! It's a regular fruit-basket turnover in D.C.!! It's Moogie's Revolutionary Plan for Public Service Reform in D.C.!

I've given you the bones -- now, hammer out the details.

Louisiana State Sovereignty: Thanks, 10th Amendment!

I sent a variation of the following to WWL talk radio host, Spud McConnell, yesterday:

A Senate resolution affirming Louisiana sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment passed the Senate by a 32-0 vote on May 11 and is now in the Committee on House and Government Affairs. We need to publicize it and call our representatives to assure its passage.

For more information, see Tenth Amendment
Center, and click on State Groups.

Today, I received this reply:

I knew it was introduced by A.G. Crowe but I didn’t know it had gotten that
far. Gonna try to get him and whoever is handling it on the House side next
week. Thanks for the heads up and for listening. spud

Ya gotta love a responsive medium! The Tenth Amendment Center is a very good link.

A Constitutional Convention? A Federalism Amendment?

Randy Barnett, a Constitutional Law prof at Georgetown, published an op-ed piece in the April 23, 2009, edition of the Wall Street Journal entitled, "The Case for a Federalism Amendment."

I need to chew on and digest these ideas before formulating an opinion, but it's a very interesting article.

I definitely like the idea of repealing the 16th Amendment and eliminating income taxes, but a constitutional convention might open the door to every nutjob special interest group in the world. I also like the idea of restricting the federal courts' torturous interpretation of the Commerce Clause to get Congress's hooks into anything it chooses. Taxes other than the income tax should be examined and eliminated, i.e., capital gains and estate taxes. Legitimate study and debate should be engaged concerning a Flat Tax or a Fair Tax. These "income-based" taxes could be considered in addition to, or in lieu of, a federal excise tax.

I like a re-affirmation of states' rights and home rule for non-enumerated powers, as the Founders intended. Hello, 9th and 10th Amendments, and the Republic! We've missed you!

All in all, this is an intriguing prospect, and worthy of serious and legitimate discussion.

Crossposted here.

The Genesis of My BFF Relationship with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the Young President

Ok, my new plan is to correspond with Washington every couple of weeks to keep reminding them that we're the boss. They need my input, so I'm gonna let 'em have it (Harry Reid and Young President Obama will receive the same letter, as tailored for their positions). Please consider doing the same, or at least come visit me after they throw me under the prison.

This was placed in snail mail today:

April 18, 2009
Dear Speaker Pelosi:

I am a taxpayer in both Arkansas and Louisiana, registered as an Independent voter. You are the leader of my House of Representatives, so I am writing to let you know that I was a participant in the Grassroots 2009 Tax Day Tea Party in New Orleans -- a participant with a purpose.

My purpose was to be part of a message -- a mass message -- to our federal government, enlightening our elected officials that our Constitution is being ignored and our very form of government is being transformed, at breakneck speed, into European statism. Congress should be aware that We, The People, will campaign our hearts out against politicians who fail to listen to, comprehend, and support our message.

I will no longer stand idly by as Congress enacts Bills of Attainder, using the Tax Code to punish a small group of American citizens. I will no longer stand idly by as both Democrats and Republicans race like giggling schoolchildren to enact behemoth spending and budgetary bills that have already mortgaged our grandchildren's future. I will no longer stand idly by as medical decisions are removed from my hands and the hands of my private physicians and turned over to a bureau of the federal government. I will no longer stand idly by watching the first step in the demise of the secret ballot while American workers have no choice but to submit to union thuggery, and more jobs pour out of the country. I will no longer stand idly by as the federal government wrests more and more control over education from the states. I will no longer stand idly by as volunteerism is corrupted into nothing more than government service. I will no longer stand idly by as the Second Amendment is shot full of holes. Ill-conceived and uncontrolled spending will earn my wrath.

I will no longer stand idly by and merely observe as my Republic devolves into an intrusive nanny state, and I certainly will not tolerate a Speaker who dismissively talks down her nose about me. The Tenth Amendment is alive.

I will actively campaign against any Member of Congress who attempts to usurp the power reserved to the states by the U.S. Constitution. I will actively campaign against any Member of Congress who continues to vote on important legislation without adequate study and debate. I will actively campaign against any Member of Congress who continues to ignore the will of her constituency. I will so campaign through the sweat of my brow and the depth of my pocketbook.

On April 15th the world bore witness that I am not alone.

Sincerely,
Terry C. Paulson, J.D. (Mrs. W. A.)

Let's see just how long it takes them to invite me to tour Gitmo.

Cross-posted here.

NOLA Tax Day Tea Party: A Resounding Success!

My serious post about yesterday's T.E.A. Party will have to wait until tomorrow. Right now, I'm still basking in the afterglow; basking in the exhilaration that my husband and I shared at the Veterans' Memorial on Veterans Avenue in Metairie across the street from a major mall where our economy is stimulated everyday.

We were there with 1,500+ like-minded American citizens who are fed up with Congressional raids on the 10th Amendment and our wallets. (The number of folks who showed up is quite impressive, considering that there were 2 other, separate T.E.A. Parties in Mandeville and Covington just across Lake Ponchartrain). Scores of passing cars honked their accord all the way down the Memorial. There were even 2 Jefferson Parish Police cars stationed nearby to watch after our security. Many people observed the scene from the Macy's parking deck across the street.

Then -- when we got home and watched some of the television coverage (not MSM, obviously) and began to appreciate the massive numbers who took time to "Come Together" (there's a golden oldy Beatles tune!) to vent their outrage, we were overwhelmed.

Okay, I'm getting a little gooshy now, so I'll lighten up until tomorrow and share a few pics of a few of the clever signs.

Cross-posted here.