JOBS, JOBS, JOBS
The Democratic Party seems to have declared war on working families in this Country. At least four of the issues I’m discussing on this web site relate closely to jobs.
LEADING POLICY ISSUES
The national economy It’s clear that the present mess with its high unemployment levels began with the collapse of the real estate market and of the mortgage lenders. This was the result of the Democratic Congress’ insistence on the availability of loans for unqualified borrowers in traditionally Democratic precincts. They called it the elimination of “neighborhood red-lining.” Further, we cannot sustain the third-world-type budget and trade deficits registered and projected by the Obama Administration if we hope to bequeath a strong and prosperous America to our children and grandchildren. Government spending must be brought under control and China’s manipulation of its currency’s exchange rate must be punished with serious trade sanctions. Regarding “stimulus” programs, I have managed the expenditure of some of these funds at the United States Army Research Office, making lemonade from the President’s lemons as the Army usually does, while being appalled at the massive reporting requirements that were imposed by the Obamans in behalf of political publicity. As for the Administration’s health care “reform” plans, it became very clear early on that Mr. Obama’s intention has been to transfer coverage (wealth) from those who for years have been paying for it through private insurance and Medicare, to those who haven’t but who are reliable Democratic constituencies. No more of these programs!
Immigration Illegal laborers are occupying many of the jobs that American citizens should have. Further, their presence makes our taxes higher because of drunk-driving law enforcement costs, and our medical insurance more expensive because of unpaid emergency room visits. The present Administration is preparing a “reform” which will grant amnesty (“a path to citizenship”) to many millions of Mexicans who sneaked across the border in the dead of night. No doubt they would be offered voter registration forms, with “Democrat” pre-checked, along with their citizenship certificates at the swearing-in ceremony. Well then, suppose the amnesty effort were called off, and all the illegals were to return to their home countries and promptly apply for legal entry under the present immigration rules. This would result in a slow, orderly transition to a new America no longer featuring a Europe-derived majority gene pool and no longer featuring English as a national consensus language. That would be OK, wouldn't it? Hell no! The world has enough Latin American countries already, and the population profile of the United States should remain roughly as it is! It is THIS America, and not the updated one that Democrats envisage, that has again and again defeated tyranny and has led rescue efforts of all sorts in every corner of the globe for well over a hundred years. Its preservation can be ensured by returning to a system of national origin immigration shares that reflect the American population profile, as was used earlier in the twentieth century. Further, a new, conservative Congress should challenge the late-1800s interpretation of the XIV Amendment that confers instant citizenship (and "anchor baby" status) on any child born of any parents a few feet this side of the Rio Grande. Let’s push those sorts of reforms and not fret too much about the prospect of being called racists by Democrat political support groups such as la Raza (“the race”).
National defense The war on terrorism should be prosecuted with far fewer groundrules. It is extremely silly for the President to close Guantanamo and to grant United States Constitutional trial privileges to foreign combatants captured out of uniform in the middle east. Similarly, much broader discretion should be granted to our military commanders in the field in selecting and launching unmanned aerial vehicle strikes. Those who provide bed and board to the terrorists and who seem not to mind hanging around with them should be regarded not as “civilians” but as part of the terrorists’ support structure. A December 2009 article in Army magazine describes the capture in the Tal Afar area of an insurgent suspected of poisoning a Coalition Force water supply. There were nine other “males of military age” with him when he was taken. Per current policy, these were checked, questioned, and released! Are we to believe that the nine were soccer dads attending a PTA meeting?!? We should stick with the three Rs – relentless, ruthless, and remorseless – in dealing with these folks. I expounded on this theme in a 2005 essay in that same journal (www.ausa.org), then Army magazine, then Army archives, then August 2005; lead article, “Deterrence…”). Our Government should greet complaints from the Iraqi or Afghan or Pakistani governments about “collateral casualties” with ill-concealed contempt. Further, this Administration and Congress apparently plan to embark on a "procurement holiday" for military equipment, such as occurred during the Clinton years. The Air Force's F-22 program is being terminated, and the F-35 is under pressure. The 600-ship Navy planned by President Reagan has become a distant memory. The Army has not had a new-technology aircraft or fighting vehicle program for decades, and continues to suffer from untalented political appointees and from foolishly designed organization charts.
National technology policy Having both (1) canceled the Ares/Constellation Program and (2) refused to extend the Space Shuttle Program, the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress have taken the United States out of the manned spaceflight business. Henceforth, American astronauts on their way to the Space Station will be paying passengers on Mr Putin's vehicles. And the Russians have cheerfully announced that the ticket price is going up next year! Many thousands of highly educated American professionals will soon be out of work, exiting a national enterprise that has spun off new technologies and new industries for decades.
Affirmative action A new Congress could bring to heel the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This outfit browbeats other Government Agencies into giving preferences to those job and promotion applicants who are not male cauc anglos (to use the police term). Methods include (1) insisting on special recruitment moves that will capture satisfactorily “diverse” applicant pools, (2) insisting that selection rates then mirror those pools (irrespective of actual qualifications), (3) quota-designing application review panels, (4) eliminating majority male finalists in higher headquarters EEO reviews, and (5) requiring Agency annual reports. Further, the Commission encourages complaints against private companies, part of the Democrats’ ongoing Trial Lawyers’ Full Employment Program.
American society Yes, the United States is a Christian nation. The majority of Americans believe in the New Testament. Christmas has always been a national holiday. The founding fathers were men of faith and referred regularly to Providence in their business as national leaders. Elected officials have always taken the oath of office with a hand on the Bible. None of this has meant that others were unfree to worship (or not) as they wished. But it has meant that Christian principles are the basis for our system of laws. Therefore the new Congress should prohibit backdoor funding to abortion providers (such as Planned Parenthood being provided with Americorps "volunteers"). Further, it should drive the issue of Christian public displays to the Supreme Court by enacting a law that challenges the authority of judges to order their removal.
THE INCUMBENT
After having perused several years of “Roll Call” records from the newspaper, it’s obvious that Brad Miller is a sure-thing Democratic Party-line vote, year-in and year-out. He’s voted to grant special, hate-crime status to homosexual victims (week of 04/29/07 and week of 04/26/09), to not require full documentation of immigrant legal status in applications for SCHIP children’s health insurance (week of 10/21/07), to oppose ethics censure or punishment of Congressman Rangel (week of 07/27/08 and week of 02/08/09), to allow a native Hawaiian sovereign nation (week of 10/21/07), to oppose ethics reprimand of Congressman Murtha (week of 05/20/07), to oppose a requirement for recipients of federal housing aid to be either working or training for work (week of 10/07/07), to oppose a requirement for colleges/universities receiving Federal contracts to allow military recruiting (week of 03/11/07), to continue Federal funding of Planned Parenthood in spite of its abortion services (week of 07/15/07), to allow closing of Guantanamo and transfer of its prisoners to the United States (many times), and on and on.