Argument for a Convention of States - Part 1 - Common Sense

By Chuck Marshall

                                                                    Thomas Jefferson 

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.”   Thomas Paine, 1776 from Common Sense.  

      These were the immortal words of Thomas Paine in 1776 at the introduction of his book "Common Sense".   His book is credited with changing the mind of enough colonial Americans to side with a revolution against England.  He inspired them to stop being afraid, to start thinking for themselves,  and stand up to the King of England and all his allied power here in North America.   

     We have our own King of England today, but it's not the actual King of England, of course.   It's the media establishment, the political parties, the multinational corporations and the Lobbyists of our capitals that do the bidding of the wealthiest and most powerful people and entities of the world.  They are the “Mad King George" of our times. 

      In the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson declared that “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.” 

       Indeed, we do have  our own "Mad King George" today.   Our "Mad King George" is a federal government out of control with spending, drunk on power, beholden to large moneyed special interests, and at constant battle within itself as one party versus the other.  A never ending orgy of spending, avarice, petulance, greed,  partisan warfare and malevolent intentions that leave the American citizen as the least important aspect of their daily endeavors.  It's time to consider Thomas Jefferson's words and review our arsenal of power as Americans.  The time has come.  

In my humble opinion.  CM 

     

What is China Guilty Of ?

    By Chuck Marshall 

      There was a long article from the Associated Press today elaborating on how the President is after China to blame for the Virus outbreak.  In my humble opinion, the article was focusing on the wrong offense- regardless of who is accusing who of what.   China shut down its entire country to control the spread of the Corona Virus in the manner that any autocratic tyranny would operate with no regard to the logic behind locking up healthy people.  The Communist party decided to shut down society and so it happened.  As a consequence,  Italy,  and then Spain and then most of Europe copied the Chinese government.   In our country the President and various states were immediately convinced that we must do as the Europeans did and shut  down society to protect us from ourselves.  The idea is that government has the answers and individuals are incapable of making decisions to protect themselves and their families.   

     While I agree that large events and groups should have been limited and  that 15 days to "flatten the curve" sounded logical at the beginning,  the government and fear overwhelmed logic and stretched this exercise into months of government overreach.  China is a communist country that does not have free elections and has made things such as going to church illegal.  Not because of a virus but because it threatens their power.   It's only guilty of behaving as the tyrannical government that it is.  

Obama Presidency Example of Flawed Political Process

By Chuck Marshall


I don't write about the President too much.   The right is so hard on him I've always felt they were going too far  in their hysterical vitriol.  I also think their incessant criticism and nitpicking habits are disrespectful of the office.  I'm not saying don't criticize, but I am saying there should be some self control.  As far as the Fox News talk shows are concerned he can do nothing right.  It's excessive.  He has two important qualities in my mind;  His is a truly great orator and I believe his heart is usually in the right place.  He's doing what he thinks is the right thing to do.   A trait often missing in a lot of our leaders.   So, I've tried to reserve criticism lest I feel myself beating on a wounded dog.  All that being said, I must admit that I don't think he's a very good President.

The reasons are the reasons I think most thinking Americans have seen over the last 6 years.  He has not worked well with Congress.  I know nobody likes them, but it's his job to work with them and establish some sort of dialogue acting as the leader who bridges the gap.  He has failed at that.  He has allowed the Federal deficit to balloon by $10 Trillion since his election in 2008 when  part of his original platform was to stop the government from spending so much.  He has offered no ideas whatsoever to stop this fiscal bleeding.  He has demonstrated a lack of leadership on the world stage, allowing foreign dictators to spread their wings with no fear of consequence.  Mostly he has been "learning on the fly"  which is a big part of the problem.  The President should be ready to rule the first week he moves into the White House, not 6-7 years after.  Now he's nearing his "lame duck" stage of a failed Presidency and so we're back again to waiting for the next election for the next round of odd-ball candidates that each of the parties draws up for us hoping against hope that one of them is "the one"......a Presidential candidate we like !  

So, in my humble opinion, it's not all his fault.    It's also the fault of our political system.   I believe he's simply unqualified to be President and should have never made it to the primaries.  If we had a system in place to draw up the most talented leadership in our country this would have never happened.  Barack Obama made a great speech at the Democratic national convention in 2004, and suddenly he's the darling of the Democratic Party.  The man can make a speech., but he did not have the experience, 'nor does he have the talent to run our country.   Being a great speaker is only a part of the whole equation.  It was the flip side for George "W" Bush.  He made it through the primaries because he was the son of a President, definitely NOT from his speaking abilities.  I think most people figured that at least he could call his father if he runs into trouble.   That's what I was thinking when I voted for him holding my nose in 2000.  (The Bush presidency is a great example of the catastrophic consequences of the "good ole boy" network).    

How do we fix this ill advised system of electing the President and all of our leaders ?  See my blog titled  "Restoring American Democracy Part VI- The Elections" for my elaborate,  if somewhat wordy explanation of one idea.  To all you naysayers, "I know, I know" it would be a futile to change "the way we've always done things"  but just to discuss the fact that what we have now is not working would be a step in the right direction, right?!

In my humble opinion......

http://chuckmarshall.blogspot.com/2013/01/restoring-american-democracy-part-vi.html