For those wanting to pack the Court

 Just a reminder that a Supreme Court Justice can be impeached. Yes, it is a process. It is the same pretty much as the President. The House of Representatives presents the Impeachment and then there is a trial in the Senate and it takes a 2/3 vote to convict.

A bit of a daunting task as we know, but just in case you were wondering where all this may go next year, any abuse of judicial power can be met with the same out come of abuse of executive power.

And it may not be a bad idea to remind the Justices they are here to apply the Constitution to law, not make law as a partisan politician.

I know the current group of conservative Justices are socially conservative publicly, but dark money horses in reality.  Yes, if you thought a corporation was a person and Citizens United creates equality, well go enjoy your champagne, cause right now, you are riding high.

Just remember adding to the Court is more political grandstanding, removing someone for abuse sends a real message.

And someone was saying we need to add to the Supreme Court because our population is so large now.  We may need more lower courts to handle increased case load due to population, but population has nothing to do with the Supreme Court. Stop reaching.

Exactly what,,, and some advice for both candidates

 I figured out the problem with the world, too many people in the United States have no taste buds. 

Now I am throwing stones from a glass house because I know better and still do not treat myself to eating well. I mean this though, the love of good food is a great way to bring people to together. Yet, when people gorge themselves without savoring etc then what have they obtained. Not even real sustenance which isn’t good, and it doesn’t move us forward as a society or culture.

Good food is probably the one excess that all mankind should have available to them regularly. Yes, even the poor deserve to enjoy the fruits of what this planet has to offer along with the talents of men and women who can take it to the next level.

Yet someone like Trump is President, shows how far the cultural ladder the United States lands. Have you heard what he likes?

I was in the grocery store and something caught my eye. I need to be more disciplined about cooking especially since we cannot go out to eat right now.

If I had money, I would be overweight and happy. I love the taste of good food and yet my palate is still in its infancy. I would travel to eat. Yes some fine wine too. Well prepared food by itself though is something every human should have a chance to enjoy at least irregularly. Socialism won’t put a lobster in every pot, but the human race deserves better when it comes to the power of good food.

And yes I know and I hear you, we haven’t even come close to solving world hunger, much less world sustenance. Still someone has to set a goal and the goal should be treat people well and feed them well. No, people won’t all be fat and lazy if you feed them well. The enjoyment of good food is one of the great simple joys of life. Why are we starving people?  (not rhetorical and there are a hundred bad answers to that question, time we find some good ones)

Both candidates just flabbergast me. The one thing that matters going forward is how do we live starting in 2021. “What’s the plan Stan”

I have been on a CNN kick lately, kind of rare actually and Mark Meadows as Republicans usually do stuck his foot in his mouth, then Mr. Tapper, in his pretentious left self focusing on the gaffe and turning a mountain into a mountain, but neither one realized the real problem.

Both candidates have no idea what they are going to do come lets say February. Both have words, but neither are communicating a plan to the American people that the American people can actually put their finger on. 

They say they have a plan, and there are some things you figure either side might do, but a real lets get down and dirty plan. Maybe

So with a week to go, how about we are going to move forward by

1) containment, Mr. Meadows is right we cannot control it, but we do have to contain it till his vaccine is ready. And honestly and both parties better start being honest, even a semi reliable vaccine is still a ways off; not just having results from tests, but having it. 

2) We are going to need some serious economic development in a hurry especially since Leader Mitch is a prick and has shut down the struggling and the poor of this country something horrible. Got cake under that mask Mitch? Or have you never read history? Cause....???? you ain’t looking too smart. If the Republicans want capitalism, they better be ready November 4, not January with some plans. Personally the elitists don’t care, but I do, so I hope something is developed. (I kinda like eating well)

3) And this economic development needs to be much more than energy. So far Trump and fossil fuels and Biden and clean energy is what we hear. We need more especially heavy investment in infrastructure and heavy investment in small businesses. They both use the word infrastructure, but real solid concrete in the ground ideas???? I could add a whole host of projects to start working on yesterday, heck ten years ago.

4) I know Trump doesn’t have a healthcare plan, but what the hay, lets pretend. He better put it on the table the exact same day the Supreme Court strikes down the ACA. I wonder when his base will realize they do not have the money to go to the hospital anymore. And on a side note, lets not forget, only a very few of Trump’s base are the wackos. Many are hardworking people who have dreams, just no education. The pretentious left needs to get over themselves. Trump’s people are Americans, they believe in what they were taught and unfortunately they were not taught well. The vast majority really do not understand the world was pulled out from under them in the 90′s by FOX and the one percenters. And honestly I still need to hear much more from Biden about his plan, especially if he has to craft a new one in January, cause if Trump loses everything will be in limbo for the moment.

5) And we will need to engage each other again as human beings. Sounds simple, but this is so important. We will actually need events that the country can celebrate. Not military parades, President Trump, but true Americana, that bring people together in the streets, open up the diversity and move this country forward. We need to go back to sharing, what about a national potluck, yeah make fun, but right now we need something that redirects the divisiveness clouding our future. And if you point a finger that it is the other side, Stop!

Or basically to both candidates, we need more meat on that plate.

The first answer is jobs and food. The real answer is so much more. 

And the quote is somewhat bantered around and there are two famous versions of it so here they are because the truth is the truth.

“If you vote for the lesser of two evils you are still voting for evil....You should always vote for the best candidate whether they have a chance of winning or not, and then even if the worst possible candidate wins, the Lord will bless our country more because more people were willing to stand up for what is right.” Ezra Taft Benson (maybe and maybe 1972 hmmm)

and yes I know many of you just tuned out, but

“Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil” Jerry Garcia

Now that you see polar opposites saying the exact same thing, why the heck are you still voting for Democrats and Republicans. Going back to Mr. Benson, research your other parties and write ins. There are actually a few good people running. You may not agree with everything, but there are some people it wouldn’t hurt you to research. 

And there are other people with the same theme quote. Or there are other quotes similar that deal more with voting your conscience either for principle or for your own benefit. “Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost,” John Quincy Adams

And on that note, lets go back to keeping it simple.

Good values and good food should be the soul of our country. 

Watching AOC

 I am watching AOC on Jake Tapper right now (repeat from this morning) and it may sound to some that she is compromising a bit with her statements about Biden taking first steps by stopping federal subsidies to fracking is a start and her hesitancy to come out and push Biden further.

If you think that she is compromising too much, then welcome to American Politics. And then you need to realize the real power she has in this fight and the lack of the same power the Republicans have in the American political fight.

She is in her early thirties, everyone she is competing against in the Republicans and Democrats is in their 70′s. Any questions. She can compromise now because time is on her side.

For the Democrats this is just great, for the Republicans, they do not have youth personality on their side so going forward in the new battle they are so far behind and one reason they are so desperate to hold onto any control they can. 

I recently outlined where conservatism might come from, but the who was my weakness in that piece. Honestly it was staring me in the face tonight. I knew this reality existed. I know that there is not much young conservative activism going on right now. There is young alt right activism, but not conservatism.

8 years ago a few Republicans thought they needed to change and had some thoughts and conversations about opening up the Republican party to be more inclusive. Well, that failure to follow through has been well discussed and well upfront in this election. That failure allows AOC to become a very prominent voice in America for a long time and she is learning very fast how to play the game. The Republicans aren’t learning, maybe the rest of us conservatives can.

Thoughts?

And on a side note we did enjoy the First Ladies Series show tonight

Two totally different but personal statements

 First a couple friend of ours has Covid 19 and are not doing well. Our prayers are for them and we ask you think and offer your prayers or endeavors for their health. This couple is one of the most fun loving, responsible, caring just crazy people that are so easy to love imaginable.

Second our prayers for Jerry Jeff Walker and his family as we hear the news of his passing. If you are from Texas, you know of who I speak and make sure you strum a guitar this evening in his honor. The outlaw Cowboys would not exist without him. 

No cheers tonight, only love to those we love. 

Where does conservatism come from now?

 As an independent conservative I have said for years that the Republican party is not truly a conservative party  based on true conservative policies and values. Of course my definition of what is conservative policies and values does affect this judgment. 

So let me rehash a bit about what I feel are conservative values and policies and then address where conservatism stands and does it stand a chance going forward.

First I do want to say I do not think there is going to be a “blue wave”, but that there is a possibility the Republican party could be swept out of office and as some liberals are wanting swept from history. The election will be close and yet we may see a complete sweep of democrats in both houses of Congress and the Presidency. As a conservative I do fear a backlash if this is to happen, but not a complete meltdown of the Republican party.

So second to say I almost want that to happen, because maybe we do need a complete collapse of the Republican party and a new conservative party to rise from the ashes. The problem is a much more scarier alt right conspiracy theory orientated party may emerge and leave us with no real conservative advocates in American politics. And if you are even a half student of the current political situation in our country none of this may come as a surprise that someone may think this outcome. 

Let’s get back to point for now though. I will start with what should be the fundamental basic of conservative ideology and work forward from there. First and most important is the concept of the dignity of life. And many Republican and other religious conservatives struggle with this even though they espouse it daily. So to understand, dignity of life is from conception to natural death. To over simplify the Republican problem with this is to look at the equation 2+2=4. The Republicans put two in the in the equation and want you to believe they have four. They never follow through with dignity of life throughout life. I make note of this to give you a foundation for the rest of the points. And of course there are Republicans who are “pro-life” just for votes and these people just need to be called out. 

The next set of conservative talking points are also well known: family values, smaller government, capitalism, less taxes, fiscal responsibility, self responsibility, belief in God and right to worship are some examples. And here again come some issues, Republicans talk to these values extensively, but what has been put into practice. Well it seems in recent history for the taxes and smaller government come into play when the Democrats are in power. And the family values and worship come into play on the campaign trail. Yet in actual practice or the introduction of public policy for any of these topics the Republicans fall short in achieving anything. Or anything that resembles a cognitive policy to enhance these values.

The next set of talking points are a bit different for what is called conservative policy, but are actually instrumental in achieving the above. And I am struggling as to which to put first because people tend to see first on a list as first priority, when in reality there is some equal need for much of these ideas. 

I will start with the economic view. I believe in the free market and capitalism and I believe the wealth gap affects quality of life and hurts the dignity of life. And I believe you can say this with great confidence. In previous posts I have tried to espouse a much more fleshed out argument that we need a bottom up, local out form of capitalism. I am reading more from some authors who seem to have a much greater grasp of what this means than me so I hope to do some more research and incorporate it further some other time. For now, please accept the simplistic definition above and know yes many of my economic development plans have a top down start so I have to rectify these points. For now the concept that people need to have opportunity given and open to them is what is important. So economic policies need to reflect the ability of people to have access to opportunity and capital. Note the word open and capital in the previous sentences. These are chosen words that I want to emphasize in those sentences. So in essence I feel that the open markets, the ability for people to create and grow businesses are a valid conservative point, yet you cannot accept doing this unless you realize that people have a inalienable right to not be excluded by others who have now become successful. The wealth gap excludes others and needs to be addressed. And this should be just as much an energetic conservative point as the ability to support business. If you do not give people opportunity you are taking away their dignity. 

The second topic is the essence of life. We must have the ability to have a healthful life. And this topic includes a host of specific issues from health care to clean air and water to protecting and preserving the family to even retirement security. A conservative who believes in the dignity of life, must always profess the need for that life to be well taken care. And then developing actual public policy to protect and enhance these values becomes the goal. They have to be policies that actually achieve these goals, not campaign talking points. And these are the issues that fall within that how much government do we want argument. Since I do believe in smaller government, a person like me then has to find ideas that obtain the goals without interfering in our daily lives. It does lead to walking a tightrope of ideas that either side of the current liberal/conservative groups will try to sway to one side or the other. 

One example is the current healthcare public policy discussions going on between the Democrats and Republicans. Simplistically do we want universal healthcare or free market healthcare? Do we even know which is better? Each side will say their ideas are better, yet we know both sides are extremely biased and are self centered in their thinking. I am not going to try and create a counter argument at this time. I am just trying to show that developing a new conservative policy argument that addresses the best way for people to obtain affordable practical available and effective healthcare is something that will need serious work to counter the current arguments. Yet achieving this healthcare dream is again tantamount of a public policy so we actual promote the dignity of life or in this particular case part of the second 2 in 2+2. 

And you can take the above argument and get stuck with a whole host of individual public policy initiatives to address. Each one caught on that tightrope. I have in previous posts and will continue in future posts to put forth ideas to try and walk that tightrope. 

For now though I am trying to define what conservatism needs to address to move forward in a more general sense. One philosophy I do have is we need to be more efficient in developing public policy which means many of the individual public policy initiatives can overlap and we need to find ways for the public to pick up the task and less reliance on the government to solve all our problems. The government should give us frameworks to solve problems, maybe parameters, but we should not look to the government to be the main instrument of our lives. And that is one start to how to move forward.

So what are the next factors to moving conservatism forward, well lets recap a bit of what has been said. The first is balancing everything around the full 2+2 equation of dignity of life. And this means reaching deeper than some so called conservatives are willing to dig which also means dig into their souls. A conservative must conserve values and the full set of conservative values, not pick and choose them for political efficiency. Some aren’t digging right now and in doing so, have forced themselves to compromise principals for a few short term goals or are completely hypocritical to maintain a power grab. Obviously this should not be conservatism. As mentioned you must conserve values, so those values must mean something and more importantly must be lived. And living them and creating public policy for them are extremely difficult. My tightrope statement is just the tip of the iceberg of the problem to creating the public policy. Even though difficult this change has to happen for a real conservative movement to reignite and become an effective voice going forward. 

And to answer my original statement can it move forward. I believe it can and I believe it can be truly successful and that is the goal and that is why I write. 

Cheers

Oh and by the way, we need new parties, even a new liberal one. 

Wow, be careful what you ask for

 And I am loving it.

I have spent years/decades trying to get people to realize we need new parties. The Democrats and Republicans have been failing us.

And I have been married for decades and my better half and I have been discussing this for years. Well in 2016 the change started happening and it helped there was an independent candidate that better met our beliefs than the two major candidates.

Now we have found a candidate and even though this person is a write in here in Texas we are very excited to vote for this person. 

And my better half has jumped on board with a new fervor. She is posting on her facebook page, engaging all the comments with fact based arguments and philosophical arguments about why voting for a different candidate is the better choice. So many people are telling her she is wasting her vote because this candidate doesn’t have a chance to win. One person even broke down the difficulty of getting the electoral votes.

And even though their procedural arguments are true, they still do not answer what it means to be a true winner in the big picture. So here is an example that is a stretch to this election, but hopefully it will help you stop and think why voting for an outlier is still a possible win. Change doesn’t happen till you make it happen. And my example is:

Rosa Parks

She wasn’t a leader, a community pillar, won an election so never held office or was appointed to a position of governmental authority, yet she is a winner. Her simple acts in life changed the political landscape in this country. As a society we are still struggling to completely bring about what she started, yet the struggle is on. It is in the open and affects what we do in society, some of it good and some of it we need to continue the fight she started. 

She is a winner at a much higher level than winning just an election. 

So when I say we need new parties and new leaders I hope you understand to get there we need to support people who are starting the change, they may not win the election, but if they move us in the right direction, inspire us to follow our beliefs our passions, and bring about better policies in the long run then voting for them is not a waste, but a necessity. 

Another example, Teddy Roosevelt did not win the election in 1912, but some of what was on the platform for the “Bullmoose Party” ended up being some of the bigger accomplishments during the Wilson administration.

Again change doesn’t just happen, it is made. Voting for new leaders is part of the change even if it is procedurally difficult for them to win an election

Lunch break over so got to get back to work.

Cheers

This is going to be the longest...

 two weeks.

I use to enjoy election night even when I quit voting for Democrats and Republicans, now please get this over with as soon as possible or sooner. Can we vote now and side step the post election madness?

When I was a child, the two weeks before Christmas was the longest two weeks, but there was so much fun, anticipation, joy, excitement, because it all meant something.

These two weeks do not mean anything anymore. They are just a long wait game till more madness. You do not feel like the election will accomplish anything. And getting there is already roasting the country.

The wait till you find out if you have Covid-19 after testing especially if you have underlying health concerns is painful, the time is maddening, nothing makes sense, and you do not trust anything. That makes sense when you are waiting to find out if you have an unpredictable disease. It shouldn’t be this way for the people of our country for the election, but that is the way it is. How are you going to trust the results? 

Each side will claim victory, the extremists on each side are going to be on the streets, people will be asked to believe all sorts of craziness, and you dear reader will wonder what happened to the great experiment called democracy. 

It is still there, we are just living in dark times and they happen occasionally, but while we live through them working to rebuild who are we is not going to be pleasant to say the least. Some people will never accept what happens on November 3rd and that is a shame. The real goal on November 4th is to start working to find new candidates that truly represent us and leave the duopoly. If 2016 and 2020 are not proof enough you should be thinking you have had enough then I do not know what to tell you. 

There are great people in this country. We do not have to accept what is thrown at us so a very small group of people get what they want.

In the 1950′s corporations started selling us convenience and they apparently did a damn good job. We have bought it so much that even when the convenience is totally wrong for us we continue to buy it and obviously my point is that is where we are with the current duopoly. It is convenient to vote this way, but honestly don’t you think we can do better if we put in the effort. 

Convenience is good until it stops being good. We need to learn to differentiate. And we are way past that time, if you ask me. And you didn’t but you should have.

Frustration is always stronger when you see something better than what is being presented to you. So yes I am a bit frustrated (extremely frustrated) and so I ramble on, hoping that we have reached a point where people do realize greatness is made, it is not bought in a bottle.

Cheers

If you don’t believe the duopoly of tribalism is failing America

then here is a simple thought to hopefully open your mind a bit.

If you are only voting for Trump because he says he is a pro-life candidate then instead you should vote for Brian Carroll, the American Solidarity Party candidate. Read his and the party’s views on pro-life.

If you are only voting for the Democrats because of the Green New Deal then you should vote for the Green Party across the board, well, because they’re the Green Party and have been promoting this for quite some time.

Yes, these are one issue reasons to change, but if you actually go a bit further and read about these candidates/parties based on these issues you might find there are other reasons to vote for them. 

This is just two examples, but hey hit the search button and you might find out that you do not need to be part of a tribe to vote your beliefs. The duopoly has failed America and we need better. 

And yes Noam Chomsky I can push the lever for someone besides Biden and not be assisting Trump. I do not have to be in your tribe to be right. My conscience says more to me than tribalism. 

Heck, even John Kasich said if the alt right keeps pulling the Republicans further and further to the right and the far left becomes dominant in the Democrats there will be room in the middle for a third party. The only thing I say to that Gov. Kasich, is don’t say third party say new major party.  

Or in the parlance of NCAA basketball, maybe we need a few mid major conferences to shake up the tournament. 

Cheers

The dueling banjos stupidity

Well by now the two town halls are about done. I wasn’t going to watch because I agree with one commentator on Fox News Radio (I think Fox, I switch a bunch) that said all that is going to happen is the two tribes are going to gather and watch only their guy or something like that. So true. 

And going back to last night’s post asking the FBI to step up and say something about this so called Biden investigation, all day both sides are so sure their side is correct. The Right says it is a travesty and the investigation needs to be made public and the Left is all in on how many holes that are in this story. Again the FBI seriously needs to step up and say something. I know they are not suppose to make certain statements when it might affect an election, but we are well past that being possible. We seriously need some direction about if there is an investigation or if the references made in the story about FBI involvement are valid. The lies being fed to the American public need to be exposed one way or another.

The madness has gone beyond a normal person’s ability to think, much less do normal things. At some point the people of this country need someone to clarify exactly what is the truth. Who that person could be right now is an extreme guess.

And speaking of normal, the better half and I ventured out so to speak. We have a very limited amount of places we feel comfortable going. Basically a few restaurants that we know the owners or have been going forever and have a comfort level to how they are handling the pandemic and the public. Today though after eating we went to “the mall”. And it was spooky. We hadn’t been in so long that it was a shock to see well over half the stores closed. We went at 7:30 or so to one of the main department stores and at 8 we started wandering the mall and were in complete shock. It was dark, like 11 o’clock dark, not 8. There were a few stores that were closing at 8 and that was it.  Every other store had been closed for awhile. A few had paper signs on the door with their hours and the vast majority had closed by 7. I felt a bit sad. I grew up in a different era, but to see the mall so empty, so desolate just hurt my soul. I am old enough that as teenagers we didn’t go to the mall to roam around like what became popular for teenagers my kids age. Going to the mall was a purposeful adventure. Tonight just got to me. I know times change and I know people like shopping online, but this did affect me. And about those online companies, they are abusing their employees. They should be boycotted till they pay better and create better environment, especially since the owners are multi multi billionaires. Just another serf creating business. 

And my apologies to the late Arthur Smith. I actually liked the song that became known as “Dueling Banjos”.