Critical Thought in 2010 Politics

Posted by Walter Scott Hudson, Today, 01:17 AM in Podcast

As the National Tea Party Convention convened in Nashville, pundits out of touch with the movement wondered whether it will become a third party and negatively affect the GOP. Absent in such pondering is an acknowledgment of the people’s capacity for critical thought. While it is certainly true many have given politicians and parties too much benefit of too little doubt, times have shifted. The outcomes of the 2010 elections promise to be determined, at least in part, by an unprecedented application of non-partisan thoughtful deliberation.

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Entitlement Resolution Passes First Test

Posted by Walter Scott Hudson, Feb 3 2010, 10:13 AM in Political

Contributed to the New Patriot Journal:

WAYZATA, MN – A resolution distinguishing rights from entitlements, and compelling clarification of the GOP message, passed a precinct caucus vote Tuesday. Discussion of the resolution centered on the inalienable nature of rights, their divine source, and the need for conservatives to plainly articulate how proposed entitlements, like universal health care, cannot be accurately characterized as rights.

Throughout the national debate on health care reform, advocates of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda have consistently asserted health care is a right which government is morally obligated to provide. Senator Bernie Sanders, Democrat – Vermont, in a June 2009 op-ed for the Huffington Post, compared the pursuit of universal health care to “the civil rights movement [or] the struggle for women’s rights.” At the funeral service for Senator Edward Kennedy, surviving grandson Max Allen prayed, “…that every American will have decent quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege.”

The author of the entitlement resolution (this writer), prefaced his proposal by disputing these sentiments. Rights are like fences, it was argued, defining boundaries which others may not justly cross. Entitlements are like keys to the gate. Since an entitlement is functionally opposite a right, it was said, representation of entitlements as rights must be challenged. The text of the resolution was presented.

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Though the underlying sentiment of the resolution was well received, concern was expressed by the caucus regarding its failure to address divine origins. Deliberation led the caucus to conclude, since the Minnesota GOP platform already acknowledges God in its preamble, there was no need to reiterate the point in the proposed resolution. The resolution’s purpose, it was agreed, is to discern rights from entitlements by virtue of their relationship to the individual and the state.

Despite concern the precise wording might benefit from greater deliberation, the resolution passed a vote without dissent. As a result, it will next be considered at the Minnesota Senate District 43 BPOU convention on February 27th.

Rural Tea Party Group Busy, Growing

Posted by Walter Scott Hudson, Feb 2 2010, 07:13 AM in Political

Contributed to the New Patriot Journal:

PRINCETON, MN – Freezing rain coated already slick roads on the 21st of January, making travel inconvenient, even by Minnesota standards. Despite the weather, as proceedings commenced in the Princeton library, late-comers to a Milaca Tea Party event continued to trickle in. Additional folding chairs were placed along the edge of the room to accommodate. The folk were plain, mostly older, orderly and attentive. The meeting opened with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Sue Bican took the floor and emceed a series of announcements and appeals for involvement. On February 4th, the start of the legislative session in Minnesota, there will be a rally south of the State Office Building in St. Paul. The Minnesota Sovereignty Project needs advocates to contact state legislators. Though the Tea Party organization is non-partisan, Minnesota caucuses happen February 2nd, and participation is strongly encouraged. Action was the theme common to each topic, and the struggle was local.

Elaine Philippe, described by her cohort as one who “works harder than anyone else”, delivered a report of the seven-member school board for District 477. Only two members had voted against a recently passed teacher pay increase which will cost the district $400,000. Philippe wanted those gathered to know their names. The measure passed during a period when financial reserves are all but depleted and money will have to be borrowed to keep schools running. Board members Kathy Kraft and Susan Spain may be thanked for their effort in spite of the outcome, Philippe said.

Mike Byrd, a local Tea Party coordinator, appealed for greater involvement from the attendees. Though the recent victory of Scott Brown in the Massachusetts senate race was heartening, “We can’t put our faith in someone out there in Massachusetts,” he stated. “We’ve got to do the same thing here, from a local level, school board, city council, county commissioners. Those are the people that graduate up, become senators, congressmen, and go on to the state house.” He encouraged people to be respectful of those who disagree and be wary of provocateurs who wish to cast the group in a bad light.

The keynote event was the hour long documentary film Fiat Empire, which details the creation and operation of the Federal Reserve System. The film laid out in concise detail how the privately controlled monetization of federal debt enables Congress to continue spending money without having to raise taxes. Inflation acts as a hidden tax, the film states. This arrangement enables politicians to have the best of both worlds, able to continually appease voters with largess from the public treasury while avoiding the political suicide of increased taxes.

When the meeting adjourned, many attendees remained to converse. On a cold wet school night, these citizen activists were gathered toward a purpose. “We’re going to outgrow this,” Bican stated privately, glancing around the conference room of the Princeton library. “The trouble is finding somewhere bigger that won’t charge for the space.”

Municipal Welfare Debated in Minnesota

Posted by Walter Scott Hudson, Feb 1 2010, 07:27 AM in Political

BLOOMINGTON, MN – As President Obama delivered the State of the Union address in Washington, a gubernatorial debate took place in Minnesota hosted by the Minnesota News Council and the League of Women Voters. A clear dichotomy emerged surrounding the issue of local government aid (LGA), a state-level redistributive funding mechanism which could be characterized as municipal welfare.

WKBT, a local CBS affiliate, reports many Minnesota cities rely upon local government aid from the state to hold down property taxes and fund essential services like police and fire departments. In the gubernatorial debate, which was recorded Wednesday by the New Patriot Journal, local government aid was first evoked by State Representative Paul Thissen, a Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) candidate. Responding to a question regarding property taxes, Thissen stated he would like to see them replaced by state-level taxes, effectively institutionalizing local government aid as the primary municipal funding mechanism. Marty Seifert, Republican Minority Leader in the State House, countered with a call for restructuring local government aid to make it more needs-based. “We have four cities that get half the LGA. LGA was never intended to be the hammock that it is now for local government. It was intended to be an equalizer for very poor communities that didn’t have a property tax base.”

The issue later became heated between Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, DFL and State Representative Tom Emmer, GOP. (Note: this writer has served as a volunteer for Emmer for Governor.) Answering a question regarding how state government should respond to home foreclosures, Emmer said he would get the economy moving again by setting budget priorities. Emmer called out the City of Minneapolis, and thus Rybak, for laying off police officers while the City Council received a raise. Rybak fired back at his next opportunity, blaming Emmer and the state legislature for cutting local government aid and endangering essential services. When Emmer regained the floor, he called for restructuring government to eliminate redundancies and make Minnesota more competitive for business.

In an October interview on US Web Talk Radio, Minneapolis firefighter John Ackerman (speaking on his own behalf and not as a representative of the City of Minneapolis or the Minneapolis Fire Department) described how essential services were perpetually threatened by the city’s reliance on local government aid. At that time, according to Ackerman, layoffs in the fire department had been avoided only because the city provided temporary funding while waiting for a federal grant. “In two years’ time, unless anything changes, we’re still in the same boat. We don’t have dedicated funds,” Ackerman said, adding Minneapolis already lags behind national standards for firefighters per capita.

WKBT reports Winona Mayor Jerry Miller, Rybak, and other officials held a press conference Thursday to convey the importance of local government aid. “So far, we haven’t had to affect police or fire,” Miller was quoted, positioning himself and allied mayors against the state to secure funding.

O’Reilly Advocates Execution w/o Due Process

Posted by Walter Scott Hudson, Jan 30 2010, 10:24 AM in Video Blog

Fightin Words YouTube debut:

Bill O'Reilly and infobabes justify execution of American citizens without due process. They refer to an executive order as a "statute," completely driving by separation of powers. Next they shift topics and justify CPS harassment over joke pics on Facebook or raising a fat kid.

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