The Constitution Is NOT A "Negative" Document!

I know what they mean. It's the whole conservative line that the U.S. Constitution's purpose was to establish a limited government. Even though it came after the failed Articles of Confederation to give the national government more, not less power. Don't believe the propaganda. Read the document itself.

Today someone posted a clip from the Senate hearings to confirm (or not) Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Senator Sasse of Nebraska set him up for this "negative" document thing.



So I had to respond:

My Declaration of Opposition to Trump

States Rights has given us Slavery along with the 3/5 Compromise, the Electoral College, and Two Senators for every State. This resulted in the Civil War, Jim Crow, Segregation, and now, Donald Trump. As Joseph Smith said [paraphrased] States Rights Stink!

Slavery and the 3/5 Compromise have been banned and repealed by Amendments to the Constitution. Since the 17th Amendment, Senators are at least directly elected by the people of the states rather than the State Legislatures (thank Heavens!) The Electoral College serves no purpose if not needed to protect Slavery [thank Heavens again!]. There was some talk by the Founders that it would serve as a check to the election of a demagogue. 2016 establishes the failure of that idea with the irrationality of the faithless electors of 2016 who demonstrated no coherent plan to stop a demagogue.

Trump lost the popular vote by 2.8 million votes. That is significant. He is to be sworn in as president because of a modest win in the Electoral College after a huge loss in the popular vote. He is not our first president to do so. But the popular vote loss is embarrassing to him as no strong third or fourth party made him a plurality winner as happened in 1992 with Bill Clinton or in 1860 with Lincoln among numerous candidates receiving electoral votes. Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. I'm no big fan of Hillary, but her indiscretions pale in comparison to Trump.

And let's not forget why a President Trump would be such a problem:

Original Intent and Original Witnesses

Apologies for borderline apologetics here, but I was cruising the interwebs and came across a very basic and forehead-slapping idea:

When it comes to the Book of Mormon witnesses, the question is which historical documents is one willing to trust? Those whose faith has been deeply shaken sometimes find it easier to trust lesser evidence rather than the best sources or the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence. But that choice is not a foregone conclusion. It is neither inevitable nor irreversible. . . . Why not opt to believe in the direct statements of the witnesses and their demonstrably lifelong commitments to the Book of Mormon? This choice asks us to have faith in the marvelous, the possibility of angels, spiritual eyes, miraculous translation, and gold plates, but it does not require us to discount the historical record or create hypothetical ways to reconcile the compelling Book of Mormon witnesses with our own skepticism.

(Steven C. Harper, "The Eleven Witnesses," in The Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon, 128–129.)

Of course! Just like the original intent of the U.S. Constitution is set out up front, loud and clear in the Preamble and does not require us to go digging deep into 18th Century word analysis of the Federalist Papers or some off-hand remark made by one of the founding fathers to a drinking buddy at the local tavern, we need look no further than the published testimonies of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, including Joseph himself, for an explanation of its origins.

Still with the Prez

Yes, I still like President Obama. With his unfavorables down into "heckuva-job-Brownie" territory, someone needs to stick up for him.

Let's see... Obamacare is working and exceeding expectations in some areas. Even the Governor of Utah has a plan to take the Medicaid expansion if the Munchkin legislature doesn't sink it. It works best in states that have cooperated (funny how that is) with maybe the exception of Oregon where their tech expertise somehow got lost in the woods between the Redmond Valley and Silicon Valley.

Iraq's a disaster. We elected Obama to get us out of there where we never should have been. And he simply followed the W agreement to get us out because Maliki refused to sign one allowing for any US troops to stay. So, that's fine by me. If you want to keep following the Cheney Doctrine, go right ahead. I simply note that their answer is to go into full warrior mode again with no expectation that it won't get worse than they have already made it.

All for a Good Cause!

TurboTax and I were busy today with only minor cussing. That was me, TurboTax was all socially inept, "Congratulations! Now let's deal with your better half's W-2!"

We apparently owe some this year. Unfortunately our little deductions have about all flown the coop and the last one here won't even get us a credit because our income is  now too high. But that's OK because he just turned 17 anyway. So I have to claim fewer deductions and decrease my withholding. 

I do find it a patriotic honor to pay my taxes. I think taxation with representation is great! I do not begrudge the good cause it is to serve our government of, by, and for the People - all the people! I hope we can get the corporations under control a bit. They and the inordinately wealthy should not have the power to control and benefit from the government with their extremely high returns and little regard for the burden on the poor and middle class who helped provide the labor, spending, infrastructure, and taxes to get them where they are. Corporations themselves are a creation of the government of, by, and for the People, so it's certainly appropriate for the people to control them with reasonable regulation rather than a corporate "person" controlling the real people's government.

Open Letter to Senator Mike Lee

Dear Senator Lee:

Let my start by stating that I am an American Citizen of legal residence in the State of Utah. That makes you one of my two U.S. Senators even though I did not vote for you. But I am your constituent and I write this to offer a little advice.

I understand that you had a little talking-to from your Minority Leader today. It's really too bad you didn't pay more attention to my blog, or your old Home Teacher - Brother Reid, or even your Dad. I knew your Dad. I realize that you must have known him much better. And I can't understand how you came away from such a good man and a conservative of solid credentials to promote the ideas about government and the U.S. Constitution that you do.

There is help that I offer in the form of a publication that one of Senator Hatch's Aides gave me up there on the 8th Floor of the Federal Building in SLC. I went to get some of those copies of the U.S. Constitution that Senators give away so I could pass them out to Boy Scouts working on their First Class Badge. I used to go down to Senator Bennett's office because I liked him best of all, but he seems to be gone. You can also get the book on-line at this place you can click at. Anyway, the booklet is called "Our American Government." Here's a picture in case you haven't seen it:

It's a really cool guide to the U.S. Constitution and our wonderful system of Government. It was printed by the Government Printing Office and produced by a Concurrent Resolution of the One Hundred Eighth Congress of the United States of America. H. Con. Res. 108-139 (so you can have a staffer look it up to check!) That was the Congress elected in 2002 right when President Bush was rallying us all for our patriotic fight in Iraq! Those guys (and a few gals) must have been real patriots! I mean, even the President said that those who weren't with us were against us so I know the Congress went along with him!

Anyway, there's some really good stuff in there about how our Government works with three branches, checks & balances, and all the stuff about how to make laws! That part might really be good since you're now one of those guys with that job!

Domestic Tranquility & the General Welfare

When I leave out the back door of the first floor of the Federal Building, I'm always fascinated to see all the huge screens and fancy computers down the hall of the National Weather Service, part of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA - pronounced "Noah") of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Sometimes we all could use an ark or a dove (or maybe that's a seagull - but they can be good too).

My Manifesto

The Founders Didn't Build That

The U.S. Capitol. Symbol of Democracy, Constitutional Government, and Freedom around the world. Built by Slave labor.

Yep. I ran across an interesting article published by the Architect of the Capitol. It analyzes the "contribution" of African-American Slaves in the construction of the U.S. Capitol and many other historic buildings in our nation's capital. The United States didn't actually own the Slaves, we only rented them from their owners. I'm so relieved.

Socialism vs. Social Darwinism

That's how some are describing the 2012 Presidential contest now that Paul Ryan shores up the campaign linkage to his proposed budget. It is a bit of an exaggeration on both sides, but that's how they describe each other, so we can freely use it in our considerations.

They, at least, seem to like each other

The Right to Bear Government

It struck me in the middle of the night so maybe it was only a dream. Though it seems odd to me that many people consider guns to be a God-given right as tools for self defense or other problem solving measures. And many of these same people deny that government is a tool for the benefit of people. It's not that people always have to be consistent (I'm certainly not). It's just that it seems to fly in the face of the Lincoln philosophy of government of, by, and for the people.

Mommy Wars

Hilary Rosen's comment about Ann Romney was really, really stupid and wrongheaded even if the context was somewhat distorted. This is only the beginning of campaign ugliness between the President's supporters and those of Governor Romney. And there will be a lot more. This is guaranteed based on the last election and the highly entertaining Republican primary contest now winding down.

I don't intend to weigh in on the women issues even though like Stephen Colbert, "I have a mom, my mom. And I am half-mom on my mom's side." (That guy is a political-comedic genius!)

The President and the Beast

No, I'm not blogging again about Gingrich. More of that will come to the extent that the amphibian is somehow able to stay ahead of Romney and Huntsman can't have his turn to peak. What I want to address is how the President is changing the game in dealing with the "beast."

A year ago I was pleased to see the President cutting deals with Congress just to get anything he could because any compromise helped defeat the tea party philosophy of no compromise. One of the best ones he got was the reduction in the payroll withholding tax. It was a small but effective stimulus to get more money circulating in our economy, necessary in order to have a market in the first place whether free, regulated or somewhere in between. Republicans love cutting taxes. This cut helped out all taxpayers, especially the middle class. It was a tax cut. How could the Republicans refuse? It was ideal.

Original Intent of the "Constitutional Compound Republic"

It's been staring me in the face all this time! The extreme conservatives (read Utah State Legislature or at least the Republican super-majority) quote-mine and proof-text the Federalist Papers to promote their rather unique phraseology of what our Union should be called. And the clear expression of the Founders' original intent is laid out in plain English in the Preamble to the Constitution! I know the Preamble is no "grant" of power, but it certainly is the most direct expression of what they were intending. It is in essence "why we are doing this."