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Three Presidential Candidates Excite the Thoughtful Person’s Interest - The campaign for the 2008 Presidential election is well along and at this point only three candidates offer the voters anything truly special: John McCain, Ron Paul and Bill Richardson.
John McCain has demonstrated he is a gentleman of independent thought. These two words “gentleman” and “independent” need elaboration. When running for the 2000 Presidential nomination it became clear that South Carolina would be the pivotal state in determining the Republican nomination, George W. Bush’s forces decided to spread a lie that McCain had fathered an illegitimate colored child and that the McCain’s were raising this child as their own. (The truth was that the McCains had met a severely handicapped child in Southeast Asia that could only be cured if she could get access to health care in America. John McCain and his wife decided to bring this child to America and make her a part of their family.) When told by his campaign advisors that he would lose in South Carolina if he didn’t attack George W. Bush as a liar. McCain, always a gentleman, decided to let the Bush lies go unanswered and lose the election in South Carolina. Regarding the word “independent”, consider John McCain’s joint effort with Democratic Sen Feingold to push legislation which forced restrictions on use of big money to influence federal elections. Since “money for election” is dear to every politicians’s heart this legislation gained the intense attention of every senator. Republicans, who have shown themselves best able to rally big money, were particular angered. McCain stuck by his guns and in the end the Senators were shamed into passing this legislation.
Ron Paul is a Congressman from Houston and a medical doctor. He is called a maverick by those who don’t understand what the founders were talking about when they wrote about freedom, liberty, limited government, and sound money. Those who do understand what the founders envisioned, Ron Paul is a national hero. Basically Ron Paul is advocating that the United States gradually return to its roots. This means that Federal Government would eventually live on its fee and tarrif income. That the IRS and income tax would be eliminated, that the social security and medicare systems would be capped and eventually eliminated. That most federal programs would cease and if certain people wanted some of them to continue, the state governments would be available to handle those needs. American troops in foreign countries would come home, and the needs of American workers would come before the needs of globalizing companies. Most important Paul would insist that Americans have a sound currency, free of the inflation’s steady erosion of value. Paul sees not reason for a Federal Reserve System that has imposed an inflation of 2% to 3% per year on the American economy for decades.
Bill Richardson is a thoughtful, concerned, cosmopolitan realist. His resume’ is deep, very deep: Governor, Congressman, U.N. Ambassador, US Secretary of Energy, etc. His family on one side goes back to the Mayflower and on the other side, he is deeply Hispanic. When he speaks to an issue, thoughtfulness and knowledge of the issues animate every sentences. When he is not sure, he says so. When he speaks about distressed people, the concern is apparent, but it is never a concern without understanding of the costs and dislocations that any solution might entail.
Any of these three men would be a vast improvement over the current occupant of the White House. However, none will succeed: 1) Ron Paul is too truthful. He compares America today to the America the founders envisioned. Though many Americans long for that freedom, liberty, and small government that Paul’s discusses; many more are frightened at the thought of gradually losing the various government crutches that tie them to the current system. 2) John McCain is too attached to a military solution in Iraq. At least two-thirds of the American people are now convinced that radical Islam has to be dealt with using political influence and police forces not tradition armies. Unless he changes on that issue he has no chance to win. 3) Bill Richardson has less than 10% support in the race for the Democratic nomination. He is the victim of a sever case of “monkey see monkey” do on the part of Democratic voters who saw the current Bush follow his father into office and now feel victory awaits them if they run a second Clinton to follow the earlier Clinton.
........... (Prepared by Hugh Murray on 10/7/2007)
America’s Friends Must Stop Enabling Washington’s Bad Behavior - China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and other countries that hold large amounts of US Treasury debt must begin to say “no” to Washington, they must stop buying, they must stop enabling Washington’s irresponsible debt financing.
Initially such a move would force American interest rates up, the economy would probably go into recession, the political class in Washington would have to rethink the nation’s budgets, taxes would have to rise, and government services would be cut. The pain would last for perhaps a year as Americans increased their savings rate (induced by the higher interest rates) and began buying and holding this country’s debt. The higher interest rates would strengthen the dollar, and that would hurt American exports and aid imports into America. This would have the effect of widening America’s trade deficit, so some corrective action would be needed such as temporary tariffs or quotas on imports.
All this seems like an awful lot of pain to inflict on the American economy, on the American taxpayer, the American consumer, the American worker, the American Social Security recipient, the American owner of a factory in China, etc. Remember the best time to get an alcoholic into a rehab program is to catch him right after a major drinking spree. America’s national debt has doubled during “W’s” administration, so there is no time like the present to put the screws on the bad actors in Washington, all we need is some help from our friends: Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, etc. .............. (prepared by Hugh Murray on 11/10/2007)
Congress Must Regain Its Rightful Control of the Government - The last seven years has shown everyone, even the most politically uninvolved, that too much governmental power has migrated to the executive branch of the US Government. Much of the power that the executive branch is currently exercising was intended by the founders to be in the hands of Congress.
The new Democratic leaders, Rep. Pelosi and Sen Reid, need to do such things as (1) begin putting expiration dates in all bills so some future Congress gets a chance to review earlier grants of authority, (2) add specificity to bills such that the executive departments and agencies have less latitude when implementing legislation, (3) begin putting language in bills that requires the President to either sign the bill or veto the bill, but make it clear that any signing statement attached to a bill will have the same effect as a veto, etc.
This will mean more work for Congress as the details of bills get more attention and as prior grant of authority expire and need to be updated. This added work can be offset, to a degree, by following the founder’s lead and putting most domestic programs into the hands of the various states to design, manage, and fund as they see fit. In many cases federal money will be needed to fund these domestic programs, at least during a period of transition, this money should be granted to states without federal strings which is another way of saying “without interference from the Federal executive departments and agencies”. Once the transition money from Washington runs out, the various states would decide on their own which of these domestic programs to keep.
Of course, none of these suggestions address the greatest Washington power grab. This was orchestrated by the Supreme Court in 1803 when in Marberry v. Madison it gave itself the ultimate power in the federal government. The Congress, under the Constitution, has the power to take away the Court’s power in a particular area of the law. This power has been rarely used and needs to be resuscitated. Congress might pass a resolution taking away the Court’s power to decide abortion related cases and return all law making on this issue to each individual state. This would take this controversial issue out of Washington. It would reaffirm Congress’ right to restrict the scope of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence.
..............(prepared by Hugh Murray on 11/11/2007)
Advent: A Waiting in Joyful Hope There is the traditional view of Advent. It is the time of year when Catholics prepare for Christmas, the feast when Christ’s arrival on earth is celebrated. The Church urges all to set out indications of the season, to seek opportunities to have a respite or quiet time to be with God, to comfort those who are having difficulty with the season because they lack family or money or are separated by great distance from loved ones, and to rejoice at the great gift which God and Mary bestowed upon mankind. Mrs Julie Irwin Zimmerman, the managing editor of the web site AmericanCatholic.org, has written a very engaging review of the feelings Catholics might cultivate as the season progresses day by day. Her six page preparation is certainly worth any Catholic’s attention.
But rightfully Advent is a word that looks to the future not the past. Christians have appropriated it for their annual observance of the time before Christmas, but aren’t there other events, events in the future that Christians should look forward to in “joyful hope”. Let’s consider the final coming of Christ. The early Christians thought this event was about to occur at anytime. Some even gave up working and took to idling away their days. Paul had to warn them to get back to work because there was no way to know when Jesus was coming back. But putting all that aside, Christian’s are still called on to contemplate Christ’s final coming in glory and to wait for that day in joyful hope as the title of this essay suggests. And so all Christians, and particularly Catholics, should dream a little about Christ’s arrival in full glory, they should pray for patience and perseverance as they wait, they should contemplate the joyful things that God has created, they should study their family history’s through the generations, and they should stand fast to their convictions so others might benefit from their example.
Finally, each Catholic is waiting for the day of his own death. For some death is a dreadful thing; they can’t even bring themselves to use the words dead or death or dying. They say such things as “he’s passed on” or “he is no longer with us”. Catholics must eschew such usage and face death and dying with the joyful hope God intended. As Catholics contemplate the arrival or coming of death they should acknowledge their sins and seek reconcilation with God through the sacrament of Penance, they should remember God’s promise to all who are faithful to Him, they should be humble, accepting of the tasks put before them, and accepting of God’s plan for them as it unfolds. Perhaps most important, they should listen daily for what God is telling them through the circumstances and people in their lives.
In closing, one has to admit that the four weeks before Christmas are a most difficult time to accomplish any of these salutary goals. There is too much shopping, to much partying, to much expectation, and too much traffic. All one can do is put God into all this by finding something beautiful or interesting or sad to focus on for just one minute in the midst of the daily bustle. During this process of focusing, say a quick, quiet prayer of petition, adoration, thanks, or contrition as seems appropriate to the person, thing, or situation being contemplated..
.............(prepared by Hugh Murray on 11/28/2007)
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. This page hopes to bring a common
sense, old fashioned view to today's news. The comments displayed
on this page were prepared by
Hugh V. Murray, who can be reached at hvm@aol.com
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