Author Archive | Jeff Matthews

It took me a long time to give up on politics.   If I vote in any presidential primary or election this time around, it will likely be because Ron Paul was lucky enough to still remain on the ballot by the time the elections are held in Texas.

I wish it did not take me so long to warm up to Paul’s ideas.   In part, I blame me for that.  But I also blame the media.

Paul has been around for a long time.   The media has made him out to be the joke of campaigns.   That’s the media’s fault.   However, my fault has been lapping up the idiotic media propaganda for so many years.   I am not unlike a lot of people.   When the people laugh and cajole someone who is different, it is natural to want to join in on the side who is doing the laughing and cajoling.   It is nothing more than a natural need to feel like one belongs to some “superior” crowd – more appropriately, it is “gang mentality.”

I am not saying that everything Paul says is something with which I wholeheartedly agree.   He has a few positions that lead me to question whether they are right or workable, but I find it very easy to step back and evaluate Paul from a big picture perspective.

First.   He is genuine and consistent.   Where are those string video compilations of Paul’s long line of flip-flops?   To my knowledge, they do not exist.   Compare this fact, alone, to all the other candidates.   Paul +1.

Second, Paul has capably predicted the direction of our nation when pretty much everyone else was either ignorant, delusional, or in denial.   Take a look at this video and this video, for examples.   Paul +1. Continue Reading →

Obama is predicted to include a proposal in his anticipated “Jobs Plan” that would extend the existing payroll tax cuts.   These tax cuts would leave the employee’s contribution to FICA at 4.2%.   However, if these cuts are allowed to expire, the employee’s rate will go back up to 6.2%.

From this recent Huffington Post article:

But many of the same Republicans who are fiercely protective of tax cuts for the wealthy have already said they oppose Obama’s plan to extend the payroll tax cut for low income Americans.

“It’s always a net positive to let taxpayers keep more of what they earn,” Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) told the AP, “but not all tax relief is created equal for the purposes of helping to get the economy moving again.”

Rep. David Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said he also opposed the 12-month tax cut because it would cost the government about $120 billion next year if it were renewed.

Axelrod suggested on Sunday that the Republicans’ position was hypocritical.

There’s not much about anything connected with the Obama administration with which I can agree.  But I must say this is a rare moment when I agree with Axelrod’s statement.

The GOP fought tooth and nail to avoid bumping the rates on capital gains – you know, that favored category of income that mostly very wealthy people enjoy.   The GOP pols stamp their feet and snort at the idea that we can’t bump taxes on capital gains from 15%, while you and I (presuming you work, too) pay quite a bit more than that.  Finally, we get a small break of 2%, and at least some in the GOP are ready to let it expire and have our taxes go back up.   Just exactly who are they representing?

My beliefs might be controversial.  I don’t care.   This country needs a good controversy if it is to be restored.

More and more people are writing things which demonstrate that they are coming to grips with a truism, and this truism is that it isn’t about left vs. right; it’s about the lengths to which people will go to make money.   Government is not a function of the people.  It is an investment tool.   If you can buy legislation, you can open new markets, exploit more people and amass even greater wealth.   Money makes the world go ’round.   They don’t write laws (like Obamacare) and ignore established laws (like the Constitution) because there’s no profit in it.   Trust me.  There is huge profit in law-making and law-breaking.  And our politicians are all bought and paid for.   They will let their masters suck blood from the masses all the way to the brink of collapse.   (TARP, anyone?)

Take, for example, securing our borders.   If anyone thinks either the left or the right wants to secure our borders, they are sorely, sorely mistaken.   We have 1969 miles of border to the south.   What would it cost to put a patrol officer every half mile around the clock, with the responsibility, “Guard the 1,250 feet to your left and the 1,250 feet to your right?”

Honestly, I don’t have an exact figure, but let’s say there are 3 shifts in a day and that each shift would cost $40,000 a year.   That’s $120,000 per post, times 4,000 posts.  At that rate, the cost would be $480 million.  You can double, triple or even quadruple the math if you wish.   It’s still chump change, considering our multi-trillion dollar budget.   So, don’t let politicians from any side say it is not practical to patrol our borders.   It’s bull.

The sordid truth behind the scenes is that the establishment feigns its incompetence to deal with the immigration problem, but to them, it is not a problem.  It is an opportunity.  Their failure to control it is by design, much like as described in this article about achieving unpopular goals by design while pretending incompetence.  And fresh off the press….  Obama is relaxing border control even more.  (Recall McCain and Bush promoted amnesty). Continue Reading →

Speaking of nullification, it was interesting to read a few items of Pre-Revolutionary writings.   They are:

1.         The Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions of 1765; and

2.         The Declaratory Act of 1766.

Responding to the Stamp Act, Virginia’s House of Burgesses, at the motion of a bold, radical, new member named Patrick Henry, passed a series of five resolutions, which were adopted to protest Britain’s levy of taxes directly on the Colonists.  The fifth resolution was repealed the following day, when more conservative members of the House were present to argue against it.

The Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions stated as follows: Continue Reading →

During an interview on Larry King, Ron Paul and Michael Moore agree that wealth imbalance in America is a major problem.  Moore blames capitalism.  Paul blames corporatism.  Who is right?  Well that depends on how you define the two.  Continue Reading →

Unbelievable! Well…. not really. Rand Paul ran as a Tea Party supporter and touted how he would fight to end earmarks. He has not even assumed office, and this vow is being jettisoned in favor of pragmatic politics. Paul now says that, as long as there are earmarks, he will add his share of them in legislation so that Kentucky will get its fair share. This comes from a recent article from ThinkProgress.

Of course, if Paul can ask for and obtain earmarks for his state, who do you think his big campaign donors will be in upcoming elections? Yep! I predicted this sort of thing would happen pretty fast, but this takes the cake. Paul has not even assumed office!

This quote from the ThinkProgress article sums it up even more nicely than my previous article:

If he’s already selling out his Tea Party pledges, as the conservative National Review suggests, Paul may be proving earmark-happy Rep. Roy Blunt’s (R-MO) sentiments correct: “they can be as ideological as they want before getting to Washington but will soon discover that things are quite different once inside of the beast.”

The election is over, and the GOP made some big gains in the House, but our mission is far from over. Just as it has always been, I predict it always will be. Now, it is time for the lobbyists to come lurking and tempting the newbies with blank checks. Mark my words. The temptation will work.

I am not suggesting the economy will not improve. But if it does, it will do so despite government. The economy will pick up once some new-fangled investment scheme or frenzy comes along, but it will be an empty bubble as usual – just like techs, dot-coms, real estate and oil. Who knows? Maybe there will be no new scheme, and an old scheme might be recycled. Either way, there will have to be a scheme, because Washington only exists to serve deep pockets. Governing really is a zero-sum game, and I think many people are awakening to that fact. So, I hope everyone watches these folks in Washington with the same degree of scrutiny as they have employed over the last two years. Continue Reading →

Connor Boyack, of the  Utah Tenth Amendment Center, recently submitted his article, Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing? This article supplements his based on a recent experience and opportunity to meet with Congressman, John Culberson, of Houston.

The event was the Institute of Hispanic Culture’s annual gala, a formal, black tie event hosted in one of Houston’s premier hotel ballrooms.  It was a very nice event, with a number of influential people making appearances, such as Congressman, Pete Olson, Texas Supreme Court Justice, Eva Guzman, and some others.

Before the program began, the customary meet and greet at the bar outside of the ballroom was conducted for about an hour or so.  I had the pleasure to speak with the aforementioned leaders, all of whom are very decent and hard-working people.

John Culberson is a very well-liked Congressman in our area.  He fits the conservative persona seemingly well.   There is not much to dislike, and in fact, he always gets my vote.  Nevertheless, I thought I would share what I find to be the typical flawed approach to the Tenth Amendment Task Force, since Representative Culberson is one of the Force’s members. Continue Reading →