Author Archives: Rich Hand

Obama “Teaching” Kids?

President Obama speaking to a group of school kids (8th graders I believe) was responding to a question inquiring into the difficulties of being president. He responded by whining about how he has to deal with congress and citizens that are divided in thought. He can’t just enact his ideas about Healthcare and budgets etc…

It is not the first time the President of the United States has complained about our divided government. It is exactly what our founders designed to protect us from people like the current president. The president also whined about how he has to follow our constitution which is ironic since he does no such thing. Whether it is going to war without authority (Libya), using TARP funds as a blank check, or attempting to force Americans to pay for health insurance or be fined in his Obamacare legislation, he has no actual understanding of the federal government’s role. Specific and limited is the intended scope of our federal government. It is mind boggling how far we have wandered from the original intent of our constitution.

A New Military Strategy in the Middle East

When will we learn? The Middle East is a tinder box of tribal factions that spend their time looking back instead of toward the future. The hatred runs deep within the countries and the hatred is vile toward the west whenever we stick our nose into the fight. Our men and women of the military deserve a better strategy and I think I have one.

It is time to pack up and leave Afghanistan and leave the tribes to fight amongst themselves. Our military did exactly what we needed them to do when they removed the Taliban and killed the majority of Al Qaeda members that were using the country as a training ground and launch pad to attack the west. Mission accomplished for sure. The troops and the US can leave with our heads high and in victory.

GOP Failure; Again…

The Grand Old Party is anything but grand. The freshman republicans that were sent to congress with a mandate to cut, cut, and cut the budget until it bled are being stifled by the Republican Party. Hugh Hewitt would say it is a leadership failure, I say it is a party failure. You see, party politics is about power. The power to control the process and purse of government where the purse is what is used to pay the supporters and voters for votes. Principle be damned.

In some ways the leadership is a problem but all too often party trumps principle. The GOP leadership has failed to deliver in the short term because they are strategizing to win a majority in both houses and the presidency in 2012. That strategy is a party first strategy. I am not sure the GOP will ever be able to act on principle. What is bound to happen is a rejection of the GOP because even though the party leaders think it is all about 2012, the voters that put them there are all about today.

Government Intrusion Making us Sick

Pfizer recently announced reducing its budget for the research and development of new life saving drugs by a whopping $2 billion dollars. Even if the money and jobs doesn’t concern you because you hate big “Pharma”, evil corporate executives, and capitalism in general, the new drugs that may have been developed to save your life one day are on life support.

Capitalism is simple; investment is made when rewards can be realized. The rewards are profits that can be used to pay people to develop more products to make more profits. The outcome is jobs, investment, charity, and overall economic growth. The reason the company has made this decision is based on the reality of the FDA’s over bearing regulations that will most likely make any of these investments into new drugs a total waste of time. The company does not believe any drugs in the future will be approved by the FDA. So the investment being made is unlikely to be realized. In the real world what that means is an assault on our system; capitalism.

The Constitution Forbids It

The Constitution is clear where legislation must be proposed; the House of congress. Article I section VII and VIII make clear that the responsibility for legislation at the federal level is the responsibility of the House. The idea that federal bureaucracies can make “rules” that become laws that include punishment for breaking such laws, is unconstitutional. The EPA, FCC, FAA, and every one of the other thousand agencies have no authority to set laws for the states.

Let’s take for instance the EPA that has bankrupted farmers in California to “save” a small fish that finds its way into the irrigation system or the recent FCC ruling to start regulating the internet. Federal agencies have taken the legitimate role of oversight to the unconstitutional role of creating rules and laws that have squashed businesses creativity and ability to expand operations.

Some may argue that the congress has already legislated the rules and the bureaucracies are just enforcing the laws they have created but this is simply not true. The federal bureaucracies have been expanding their roles and creating what is ultimately legislation by implementing processes that end run the congress and the legitimate creation of law…

A Simple Man

I consider myself a simple man that sees the world from a very practical perspective. I don’t believe things ever have to be as hard as they seem. It is probably why I am a conservative that leans libertarian. It makes simple sense to me that when we respect the individual’s right to be free, everything else makes total sense.

I think the founders were simple men. They were simple which is what made them brilliant. By looking at the world through the eyes of the individual they were able to see the future clearly. They also had a profound interest and curiosity for history and invention. They spent much of their time creating things to advance the industry of the day. Whether it was a better way to run the farm or creating the first tool to copy written documents, the polygraph, it was their passion as individuals to help other individuals improve their lives. They had little interest in running the lives of others. They had been there done that and decided there was a better way.

The Tenth Amendment Rendered Meaningless

If the governors of these United States don’t start stepping up to the plate in a more aggressive manner, the Tenth Amendment to the United States will be rendered meaningless. The constitution is already on life support, and the Tenth Amendment is the critical arguing point in this battle between centralized tyranny and local independence.

I shudder when I hear governors groveling at the altar of the federal government as Governor Elect Nikki Haley of South Carolina recently did when she asked the president to “allow South Carolina to opt out” of the healthcare bill. This is not constitutional leadership. We need our governors to start studying the history of this nation and start employing the same arguments that were made then, resulting in the Bill of Rights including the Tenth Amendment.

Advice to the Governor-Elect in South Carolina: Read the 10th Amendment

South Carolina Governor elect Nikki Haley had a few challenging questions for the President during her two day visit to the White House.

It was extremely discouraging in my opinion as I read the quotes attributed to her; “In an exchange recounted by Haley and confirmed by White House aides, Obama rejected Haley’s request to repeal the health care bill – but said he’d consider letting states opt out of its mandates if they ran exchange programs, banned insurance firms from denying coverage of pre-existing conditions and enabled people to pool together for better rates.”

“I asked him if the state of South Carolina gave solutions, so we’re not just saying no, would he allow us to opt out or allow any other state to opt out should they choose,” Haley said. “He said that he would consider an opt-out provision if it contained three clauses.”

News for both the president and governor elect; read the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution.
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”

And while you’re at it, find the enumeration that gives the Federal government the authority to force Americans to carry health insurance.

Net Neutrality Isn’t Neutral at All

People are being hoodwinked into thinking that the government getting involved regulating the internet is a good thing. Who could be so gullible? People that read headlines instead of analyzing what the consequences will be once government gets involved; less access, more expense, and intrusion into the free market and best frontier for small businesses to compete. That’s right, the same people the advocates are pretending to protect (the small business and individual) is the same person that will be crushed by the FCC. The law of unintended consequences will rear its ugly head.

The reason people are concerned stems from concerns of bandwidth usage by content providers like Netflix. This type of content gobbles up bandwidth and impacts the performance of ISP’s, and has forced ISP’s to consider charging their customers more for this bandwidth service or not offering these services at all. Either choice for the ISP will be an issue for their business. But to have the federal government get involved is the wrong answer.

There is a red herring argument as well being used that large companies will dominate and control the information people seek on the internet. For example, large ISP’s could restrict other ISP’s services or access to them. Here’s the rub; they haven’t so far because they know if they do customers will flee to another provider. The market has worked and all of these people using the class warfare and evil corporation arguments are speculating and underestimating the power of the market to control itself. The same people that don’t think individuals can take care of themselves are the same people pushing net neutrality. All of the most liberal organizations are supporting this hand over of control from private companies to the FCC to our peril.

Broad Brush = Broad Failure

The federal government approaches everything they do with the “broad brush” approach. It is one of the reasons the founding fathers were so against a large centralized government. They knew from history, experience, and facts that the larger the central government the more likelihood of a broad brush approach, and eventually tyranny and failure.

It is the reason for the tenth amendment and the Bill of Rights. The focus of our republic is on the individual’s rights, and state’s rights that encourage different approaches to government to better serve the people. It is why Madison stated “the powers of the federal government are few and defined”. Madison knew a central government would be inefficient in serving the people. It is too far removed from the individual and state’s needs. It was seen as better to rely on individual ingenuity. The common defense, common laws on the transport and taxation of commerce, were an example of where they saw a relevant need for the federal government.

Our founding fathers were prophetic. But anyone with a sense of history, human nature, and a grasp of reality knows that their prophesies were not as magical as they appear. Why? Because they are based on the principles of human nature and natural law. The more things change, the more they stay the same. The only reason we keep going back to these failed “communal” and centralized planning policies is because there are always humans that believe they are the chosen ones to make it work “this time.”