Senator DeMint Sponsors Term Limits

by Smitty (h/t Audacity of Hypocrisy)

Senator DeMint continues to impress. As incumbency is one of the three Big Evils of the Federal Government (interference with private citizens and the Federal Reserve's "Cosmic Credit Card" being the other two), anything to help restore citizen representation as a meaningful concept at the Federal level is welcome:

Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), and kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) cosponsored the bill. Coburn has long supported term limits. He retired from the House in 2000 after being elected in 1994, pledging only to serve three consecutive terms.

Coburn then ran for Senate and won in 2004. Brownback is stepping down from the Senate in 2010 to run for governor, citing his support for term limits. Hutchison is running for governor against incumbent Rick Perry (R), who is running for a third term in 2010. If elected, Perry will become the longest serving governor in Texas history.

While the argument that limiting the people who can be on the ballot is a Bad Thing, the level of debt and corruption generated in the last century would seem to indicate that incumbency is an order of magnitude worse, or better.

Not really, Dan

by Smitty

Dan Riehl, in response to a Tim Pawlenty quote on Hot Air:

If the post-World War II period was dedicated to fighting Communism, aren't we now even more fully engaged in fighting socialism, Euro or not, here in the United States?

Socialism is merely the symptom and sales pitch. The Jacksonian Party lays out the disease: aristocracy. This is built on three pillars:

1. 02Feb1913 Amendment 16, the Federal Government has eminent domain over your wallet.
2. 08May1913 Amendment 17, your State has no voice
3. 23Dec1913 The Cosmic Credit Card (which should be cut up)

As a bonus, you can blame McCulloch v. Maryland, where the "Necessary and Proper Clause" was sort of used to shoot the 10th Amendment in the face.

We can all sit around and decry Socialism on theoretical grounds. However, arguing about Socialism seems a bit like quibbling over whether to be in the left of right lane on I-10 as we go tearassin' West on I-10:

The mere presence of Foolish, Dumb-ass Requirements for federal entitlements, which even Ronald Reagan lacked the clout to reform (and I don't think anyone's accusing the Gipper of being Socialist) renders all of these discussions moot. It's not about whether the American experiment goes flying off the left coast into the Pacific. Rather, the question is when.

It may be that "we can't handle the truth." You've got clowns like Gingrich collecting their 30 pieces of silver for the soul of Conservativism. There are some really good signs right of the political middle. The internet has improved communication. Beck, Breitbart, bloggers.

But Socialism remains a bugaboo. You're already neck deep in it. Forget about controlling the flood. Let's talk about the agony involved in draining the swamp. Draining the swamp means restoring Federalism, load-shedding the three bullet points mentioned earlier, and fighting the economic war that dwarfs the global war on terror for seriousness. Large debt for a long time is sin. Call it such and let us repent.

Repentance means offering strong support to leaders who make decisions that are

• in keeping with the spirit and letter of the Constitution
• have the appeal of a bad hangover on an alcoholic

Because that is exactly what I'm talking here: cold turkey. We all know we need it, and we all know it will suck.

Sure, if you want to call that "fighting Socialism", go ahead. I call it "facing reality".

Department of Perverse Incentives

by Smitty

Brigette of the Moralia blog calls attention to a post of hers over at the New Mexico Independent, entitled "They’re Uncle Sam’s kids now — he paid for them".

The gist of the article is that once the government is picking up the tab for everything, it gets to dictate the terms. If a school or daycare or other service is funded to provide X service for Y children, then it is going to do exactly that. Doing more or doing less is a violation of regulations.

The general problem at work is that the means become ends unto themselves. Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy, if you will.

Now, if there was an alternative, it would not be so evil. Yet, this is your government: it has a monopoly power to extract as much treasure from you as desired to fund these services. And yet, the words "Federal dollars" are tossed about with such abandon that they seem to come from some Cosmic Credit Card, and not ultimately the people.

It's as though the Marxists, realizing they could not achieve their utopia through a head-on revolution, are oozing it under the door with gradual increases in federal control and intrusion into life. Sold beautifully, one must admit, in the name of some nebulous 'fairness', and combating an equally indistinct raaaaacism.

Training you to be subservient to a school at the expense of the family is a part of destroying the family. Picking up on these details, of course, marks us as reactionaries. I say, "So be it, not Soviet." It's Federalism or bust:

Remind me again which country this is

by Smitty (h/t Drudge)

The Kansas City Star reports on Federal agents cracking down on garage sales.

The initiative, which targets toys and other products for children, enforces a new provision that makes it a crime to resell anything that's been recalled by its manufacturer.

"Those who resell recalled children's products are not only breaking the law, they are putting children's lives at risk," said Inez Tenenbaum, the recently confirmed chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The overall decay of our legal system is not new to Eric "Nation of Cowards" Holder. Heritage has an article detailing the decay of the legal aspect of our three-tier system of government. All your local police stations will be staffed by the law-enforcement equivalent of David Brooks, as those pesky James Crowley types are replaced by more "nuanced" people.

"Granny, I'm afraid I need you to give me that doll, but mostly I'm just afraid".

It's the tragic law enforcement equivalent of this silly, yet perhaps prescient, Onion editorial. Which direction is the country headed? As this pack of mostly lawyer dolts who've never run any business of consequence continue to turn out federal laws by the ream, where are the Governors saying: "This is baked, we're not enforcing it. Why doesn't Congress do something reasonable with its output and man the shredder?"

Of course, we've seen where the previous Governor of Kansas went. It certainly wasn't Africa, Toto, much to our detriment.

My fellow Americans, in this seemingly asinine story, there is a deep warning that we badly need to re-think everything going on politically in the US. This brick in the "won't somebody think about the children" story is in the "Nutrition is not a private matter" vein. We absolutely do not need the Federal government monitoring our yard sales. We do need to be building the pressure on our state legislatures to stage an Article V cram-down to tell the Federal government (i.e. our permanent political class) to lay by its dish.

Or else acquire a taste for the leash. 100% natural, free range, fair trade leather bull whip, of course.

Of course, the will of the people is not the goal

by Smitty (h/t Insty)

Rasumussen says that between half and two thirds of whoever they surveyed would scuttle the sitting Congress, as a whole, outright if they could.

We institutionalize the concept by configuring things such that, as a whole, Congress is always on the outs:

Every Congress must win approval from two thirds of the state legislatures in the 18th month of the Congress, or none of the members of the Congress are permitted to run for re-election for their current seat. Obviate the prisoners dilemma of voters, who, under the current rules, are inclined to build seniority by re-electing nitwits.

Of course, that was written before I had seen the Jacksonian handwriting on the wall. You can expect to see your Political Class, Democrat and GOP alike (where you can differentiate) sound like John Batchelor in their condescending dismissal of anything threatening their gravy train. The threat of having to work for a living, being accountable, and having their prestige besmirched is abhorrent to these people who are, as a whole, neither truly civil nor servants.

Update:
Related BlogProfferings, including a clip of "Fools on the Hill".

Update II:
Cassy Fiano on board.