Good morning to our 2 Paragraphs Family. At the end of this coming July the Libertarian Party of California will be having its annual convention when I anticipate submitting a proposal for its new party platform. A draft of it is now being submitted to you for your thoughts and comments. All feedback is appreciated! Here is the draft:
A friend and neighbor of mine has a bumper sticker on his car that says: “Trump/Vance 2024 Never Surrender.” Flat out, I have no problem with people publicly supporting their political candidates, and in fact appreciate it when they do. But I have a large problem with saying “Never Surrender,” because it strongly implies that we are at war with each other! And this directly contributes to the polarization
What every successful civilization needs is leaders. “Leadership is defined as the ability of an individual or group to influence and guide others towards achieving shared goals. It involves aligning people in a collective direction and enabling them to work together effectively. Key characteristics of good leaders include vision, communication, integrity and the ability to inspire others.” So what does it take to be a leader?
The “Common Wisdom” is that when a President appoints a Justice to the US Supreme Court that the President can count upon that Justice pursuing the President’s agenda. But a close friend of mine, who is truly aware of realities in today’s world, actually sent me a list of Justices in significant cases since 1940 who voted against the Presidents who had appointed them.
There was an editorial in the May 2, 2024 edition of the Orange County Register about which we all should be concerned. It called attention to the fact that a graduate student at Tufts University who is here on a student visa was recently arrested and taken to a Louisiana jail and is being threatened with deportation for doing nothing more than writing a Pro-Palestinian op-ed piece for a local newspaper. The thrust of her column was to protest American support for the war in Gaza. It did not recommend violence or otherwise taking inappropriate action. But if that is not a violation of our Free Speech Rights under our Constitution, I have trouble thinking about what could be a greater threat. So I believe we all should be concerned about this result.
It really is not so hard. In my view, our nation’s immigration policy should be based upon the following five maxims:
1. It is our decision who comes into our country either to visit or to live, and not the visitor’s;
2. One strong reason our country is Great is because over the years so many people from around the world have immigrated here so they can roll up their sleaves and pursue the American Dream. Those who have shown they are a boon to themselves, their families and our country who have not already become citizens should their paths be streamlined to become citizens;
The first paragraph of the article entitled “Rationales for New Regulation” in the Summer 2024 edition of Regulation: The CATO Review of Business and Government, reads as follows: “By any measure, US federal regulation is big business. Year after year, hundreds of thousands of employees at 70-plus regulatory agencies churn out thousands of new rules.
Page one of the July 24-30, 2024 edition of The Epoch Times featured an article entitled “Mothers Blame China, Cartels” with the subtitle of “Fentanyl is ‘weapon of mass destruction’ destroying families.” Of course there are many people in the world who will try to make easy money by selling contraband. For openers, just remember people like Al Capone who took advantage of our nation’s policy of Alcohol Prohibition.
To state the obvious, today our Great Nation is in many ways divided and even polarized. How can we address and overcome this difficulty? Through the healing power of Federalism. And what is that? It institutes two levels of government: one for the entire country (the federal government) that is usually responsible for a few subjects of national interest, and the other for the various constituent of units of the country (the states).
In my view, the most dangerous threat to our safety and security is not the possibility of being invaded by another country, terrorist actions by any of the world’s radical elements, climate change or even nuclear war. Instead, the greatest threat facing the safety of our country is a weak national economy. Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and the Ottoman Empire were really not conquered by external forces.
Years ago, 23 men committed offenses that resulted in their eventually being committed to R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility, which is a state prison for men in San Diego near the Mexican border. But now those men have received their Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California at Irvine! Amazingly, they have graduated from a major university while incarcerated! How did this happen?
The June 12, 2024 edition of the Orange County Register told us that the State of California has more than 220,000 full-time employees!~ Of course, that is in addition to hundreds of thousands of government employees at the municipal level, as well as many more who are employed by California’s “Special Districts” like water, transit, mosquito control and sanitation. Out of control?
I have never seen a stronger argument against the minimum wage laws than the one published in the May 8, 2024 edition of the Orange County Register written by Faryal Ahsan and Austin Hamilton. These students cited statistics to show that California has the highest numbers of homeless in the nation, both by sheer numbers as well as per capita. New York state is second, but with less than half of the number of homeless.
We as judges we have two critically important mandates. The first is to do Justice based upon the facts and law of the case and the ethics of our profession. But the second is equally important, and that is for anyone who cares to believe that Justice has been done. Our other law enforcement officers have similar mandates.
Thomas Jefferson was quoted as saying that “We need a revolution every 20 years just to keep the government honest.” He is right, and we now in many ways have a “dishonest” government to prove it. How can I say that? Because without that revolution (which does not have to be bloody) government continues to grow and to serve itself at the expense of “We the People.”
One of my all-time heroes, Dr. Milton Friedman, once said that we should judge our programs by their results, not their good intentions. In an earlier 2 Paragraphs edition I discussed this in relationship to minimum wage laws, saying that it was far more productive for a society to have 100 people working for $15 per hour than 75 people working for $20 per hour.
Started in 2016, the Jack News provides a pragmatic look at political discussion with some satire. An independent journalistic endeavor, we have no ties to other media outlets or services. We write our own commentary and form our own opinions.
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