Republican Distress Self-Inflicted

 

The Republicans appear to be in disarray and acting as if they are completely unaware of the fact that they control both houses of Congress and the White House and are in the catbird seat exactly as the Democrats were the first two years of President Obama’s two terms. They are capable of setting the rules in the Senate such that they would have sufficient votes to ensure cloture by requiring a mere fifty-two votes ending any filibuster. The Democrat use of the so-called nuclear option set the precedent for adjusting cloture to fit your needs when you have the majority in the Senate. Yes, doing so would allow for the Democrats to do similarly when they gain fifty-one seats in the Senate and who does not believe they would do exactly as such anyway. The Republicans instead are fighting with the White House declaring the President’s budget dead on arrival. This is a party in need of better leadership as currently they are wasting their first and possibly only opportunity to prove they are the better option by acting as a whole to enact their vision for the United States.

 

I hear people demanding what we would propose if we think we have the answer. Well, perhaps they could actually get everybody on the same page instead of having a different set of priorities for every twenty or thirty Republicans. They need to have the Senate choose ten Senators and the House of Representatives choose twenty-five or thirty Representatives and have these people meet with the President and each Cabinet member in a series of meetings taking a week out of their schedules. Initially the President on the first day along with his preferred advisors should meet with the delegations and set a general structure for the ensuing week or even two and have the President and everyone else at the meeting express their preferences and ideas and have them discussed in a general sense setting up a framework. Then they should have meetings with cabinet members and the President each morning and then return and meet with the Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate each with their own chosen delegates such that everybody has some input and in the end they reach a consensus which is acceptable to the President and his Cabinet and advisors. Once this framework has been set, then the House of Representatives and the Senate can begin to work on the enactment of these ideas putting them into action. These agreed upon initiatives should be enacted through the House of Representatives and the Senate in quick order and signed by the President getting a basic set of accomplishments enacted and presented to the public as actual accomplishments in the next election cycle. If their ideas actually capture the minds and match the ideas of the population in the majority of the nation, then the Republicans can reap the rewards and press forward with even more action and accomplish what they promised in the first place.

 

President Trump National Security Advisor McMaster
Speaker of the House of Representatives Ryan
President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate Hatch

 

The first thing they need do is revamp healthcare. An idea we would like to suggest is to keep the choice parts of the current system adjusted to make them include competition between the many insurance companies. Much of healthcare need be taken from the employers and returned to the people such that their demand for the most and best options and the insurance companies need meet their hopes at an acceptable price, this will bring healthcare costs back down within reason. Further, the government need remove most of the regulations, reporting requirements and other unnecessary paperwork which has completely destroyed the concept of a single doctor working from their home in the neighborhood where their patients reside as had been the case before the government needlessly intervened and destroyed affordable healthcare. The government should only require that insurance policies cover major medical allowing people to decide to pay for any minor care out of their own pockets. The one idea which the government should make illegal would be controversial but in the long run would produce lower medical costs, and that is to make group policies illegal such that companies, unions, and other groups such as retirement groups or social groups from offering insurance to their workers or members. Make individual policies the sole type of health insurance allowed and only require minimal coverages. We suggest only what used to be considered major medical which would include emergency rooms treatment with a deductible, surgical procedures, any hospital or clinical procedures again with a deductible, and hospital stays with a deductible. The deductibles would depend on the cost of the coverage with the less expensive coverage having a higher deductible while there could be specialty additional coverages which would cover these deductibles but this should be banned from health insurers offering. Such a system would produce insurance affordable at any level such that younger and healthier people could take the risk of higher deductibles and with people paying for most of their own healthcare we would see prices become lower for most standard healthcare needs. The main way to cut healthcare costs would be to put a cap on rewards for malpractice suits and make one vital change, the lawyers losing any malpractice suit would be responsible for both sides’ court costs and lawyers’ fees within set limits. This would lead to fewer malpractice suits as lawyers would be very careful to only take such cases which they felt quite sure of their case and winning the case, period.

 

There are probably many other means for lowering court costs which we have not included which the Congress could enact. Removing regulations and paperwork would be one of the greatest means to relieve the burden on physicians who have had to form groups to defray the clerical costs imposed by both government and insurance companies who often are demanding additional paperwork simply because the government demands they file paperwork. Government is once again the greatest contributor to the costs of a commodity which they also demand everybody purchase. This is simply something the people’s need should have to accommodate and not employers or government as that is the current system which the people declared broken and becoming overly expensive with far too many forms. The government should never have the power to add costs beyond reason to an industry and then require the people purchase said product. As happened with car insurance, whenever the government demands people to purchase a commodity the price of such commodity will naturally skyrocket reaching the limit of what the people are capable to pay, not the actual required cost of the commodity. Simply ask yourself what would you charge for widgets if the government required every person to purchase one widget every month? You would price them set the highest price the market would bear rather than a competitive price because every other widget salesperson would be doing the same. The highest probability is all widget salespersons would agree to set an inflated price where all would become wealthy beyond what any normal competition would prevail had the government not required people to purchase your product. That is simple reality of life and not rocket science, or advanced economics. The proof of this theory has been the cost of health insurance since Obamacare hit the market. This is why competition must be returned to the health insurance markets and as much government involvement must be removed back to bare bones or less. No government involvement would be the most preferred state of healthcare. But first the Republicans need to unify and find some leadership which can work well with President Trump, both by leading when necessary and following when Trump is leading constructively. We can only hope.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

My Guilty Verdict of Identity Political Sins

 

I awakened this morning realizing the horrid truth that I am an affront to identity political fears. Of all my sins, probably my most egregious is that I am a male. Not just male but also heterosexual. Well, I may as well admit to my further crimes, I am white as well. At least I do not fit the final box on the White, Male, Heterosexual privilege chart, I am not a true WASP as I am not Protestant. But as it turns out, I may be in an even worse category; I am a Jew, and not just a Jew but a Zionist and conservative Jew. I may as well admit it as it has cost me dearly in the past making me a pariah in more than one Synagogue across the fruited plains and both coasts as well. But I am even worse than the run of the mill White, Male, Heterosexual, Conservative, Religious and pro-Israel individual, I am proud of my guilt because I know that there is no real guilt to be had. The only true sin I have committed is not having any difficulty owning up to my presumed guilt and will gladly profess my preferences before my accusers. Of course this simply infuriates them further as they only gain advantage when people like me act ashamed and defensive to their accusations. Me, I simply revel in them and laughingly watch as those who would greedily stand pointing out my guilt over my groveling and writhing body on my face and begging forgiveness as they haughtily instruct me that I must confess my sins. They cannot utilize someone who refuses to beg and instead stands proudly before them stating that sure I am exactly what you accuse me of being, so what! That is the wrong stance and they are used to people that apologize for their sins, not reveling in them and using the identities as a badge of honor that it should be and not a sash of shame. I will not eat humble pie nor will I claim to be sorry for my accomplishments as I earned each and every one and none were simply given to me because of my so-called privilege.

 

You see I refuse to play by the rulebook of Identity Politics. This book states that in order to win every argument one only need accuse the other side of committing some unforgivable sin. The person is white or male or heterosexual or conservative or belongs to any group which can be cast as a majority, well, except being male as men are actually a minority. Their rules are to hit any sensitive spot where they can accuse you of being one of the deadly privileged kinds of personhood and if no prime example exists, then they just throw accusations until they hit a nerve. The accusations start with the obvious but let us say their adversary is someone such as Star Parker who is an American syndicated columnist, Republican politician, conservative political activist, author and very attractive (see below). Her disqualifying identity is that she is famous and even more unapologetic than I. They would strike her for being a known conservative and a Republican and those would be the last words they manage before she would tear them apart piece by piece. That is a side effect of proud and informed conservatives; we usually are not at a loss for words. But even those of us who are capable of giving as good as we get, if not better, is that we are defenseless against the current dilemma, the massive attacks such as are showing at Republican politicians’ town hall meetings.

 

Star Parker

 

Protesters exploded in anger after a chaplain prayed in the name of Jesus at a town hall meeting in Louisiana hosted by U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy. They did just as decent, or should we say indecent, a job heckling at a decorated Viet Nam veteran when he attempted to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The hecklers shouted things such as, “Pray on your own time. This is our time,” and “Amen. Let’s get on with it,” while others insisted, “Separation of church and state” and so on and so forth. Chaplain Sprague told the media, “I’ve never been shouted down throughout a time of prayer like that,” adding “I’ve never been in a situation like that. It’s sad there wasn’t honor and respect for God.” Cassidy said in remarks reported by the Times-Picayune, “Wow, they booed the name of Jesus.” Some mentioned that they were suspicious as to the origin of these disrupters as they claimed people from their area would never have acted in such a manner. Our sense was it had been noted that there were numerous vehicles which arrived early with out of state license plates which we found to be suspicious explaining why the event had been hijacked with some of the locals betting that the disrupters were likely paid for their disruptive and disgusting performances. Their providers likely should be happy as it appears they got their money’s worth.

 

 

This has been the recent explosion across the width and breadth of the United States at numerous conservative town hall meetings held by Republicans. These have been in concert with the events we spoke of in our article from yesterday titled, “The Left and Their Dream with the Shadow Government” where there have been concerted rioting taking place in major liberal cities and college campuses with many locations security personnel and police instructed to stand back and allow the “demonstrators” space to express themselves. In an event not too long ago where Milo Yiannopoulos was invited to give a performance or something at the University of California Berkley Campus where because he was perceived as a conservative speaker, he is more libertarian than conservative, there was a riot staged with the campus police instructed not to interfere resulting in over one-hundred-thousand-dollars damages to the campus before everything calmed. He was denied speaking so their actions were rewarded and this will serve Berkley, the birthplace back in the 1960’s of free speech, poorly and probably just serve to encourage a much larger disruption the next time anybody considered controversial is invited by anybody to appear.

 

All of these actions have been far from amusing and have served to reinforce that my making Aliyah was the correct action even though my doing so had nothing to do with American political scene, it was the result of a promise made to myself when I was quite young, nine to be exact. My wife probably would have preferred my informing her of this little item before we were married and the look on her face when I announced we were moving to Israel one evening in passing as if it was simply another casual remark. Her reaction was less than casual and in the end we made the trip and it has made us both quite happy to be here. She still holds dearly to her Americanism and the politics are a sort of interest though she does not dwell politics quite as I do. She spends more time socializing and having events with other ladies and groups, often dragging me along (well, not always dragging as I do enjoy many events and am going to pay for admitting this). Perhaps we can take less of a panicked look at events in the United States, at least far more relaxed than our friends still back there, especially those residing near and about the nation’s capital. That space allows for a more unattached review where things do not strike us as if it were right outside. For that we have our own set of political and other possibilities which take center stage over the events in America, as they should. Still, we at BTC still need to stay up to date on events back in the United States in order to write on them, so we still know and react to events, just do not need to worry if the demonstrations will be coming down our street or block our way to the store or wherever. As stated, for that we have our own difficulties from time to time.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

The Unmaking of America

 

America was founded upon great principles which relied upon a well-educated and involved electorate founded in morality and steeped in Judeo-Christian ethic. The moral underpinnings of America have been eroded slowly but inexorable since the end of World War II and the beginning of the rule of the cities which many were destined to become megalopolises. Just like the original cities of iniquity, Sodom and Gomorrah, deprivations began to grow within the cesspools of the new civilization. The pews grew emptier and emptier until the churches became too expensive to support by the paltry remains of congregants. They became schools, restaurants, malls and some even became Mosques as the new religion which was growing was Islam. This was the story and history written across Europe and gaining a beachhead in America. The hope and presumed saving grace which was to protect America was her well-crafted Constitution. Presumable the balance of powers and the checks and balances would prevent the corruption from taking the nation over the edge and into oblivion. But as presented, the Constitution was written for, in the immortal words of John Adams, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Slowly but surely the United States has sunk beneath irreligious immorality rendering the Constitution less of a protecting blanket and more of a sheer veil pretending to cover and protect.

 

But the immorality, it ends up, will be the lesser problem as the lack of education of the people will bring forth an electorate which will be enticed by babbles, smoke and delights offered by tempters and shysters. Their votes bought with the treasures of a government which will become bankrupt in the process and the nations will be left with a populace which will be as empty in their pockets as they are in their heads. The education system will have failed them raising instead of scholars mere rubes indoctrinated to follow false prophets who they will elect for promises equally as empty. They managed to escape the charlatan this election only due to promises just as bold and bodacious as they will be difficult to fulfill. Yet to look at the colleges and their campuses and the future is written in their classes and the major fields the new intellectuals pursued and now educate the youth. Gender Studies and other philosophies of government painted as savior and the many needful groupings and minorities, the many colored and patterned quilt as the new model replacing the melting-pot. Instead of “E Pluribus Unum” the new cry is “instead of one-many.” Celebrate your separateness, be a special group demanding recognition and rights designed to keep each within their own and none shall stray from their special little click. Thus the populous has been set separate one from the others all against the other fighting for their special recognition and treatment exalted through government favors. Thus divided, the people are set to be conquered by the charlatans.

 

The colleges have also been bought by the oil sheiks and their monies as they have endowed new departments which they bought with their ill-gotten oil wealth making Middle East studies their means of indoctrinating the youth with their alternate reality. Their motive was simple; to win favor and defeat the one they believe is the greatest threat to their promised future. They have a religion in which they believe with every fiber of their beings. Their faith and trust in their god is the opposite of that in the Western developed world. They see their faith as resurgent and rising to replace all others starting with the Western religions starting with the Jews; it always starts with the Jews, but these believers of Allah also hold Christianity in equal disregard. This is why their main enemy which they teach in their classes and reinforce with staged demonstrations is Israel and the Jews. This is their theme in protests such as Israel Apartheid Week (month) and Palestinian Awareness protests through which they turn the irreligious against the Jews through repetition of tropes many thought dead and buried after the defeat of the Nazis and the revelation of the camps and anti-Semitic hatred which was a uniting trope of Nazis, a unifying hatred of the other, the Jew. Now the same trope is being sold on many college campuses including the Ivy League and top schools such as the California University System, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, CUNY, MIT, CMU, CWR, and many other well-respected places of higher learning. The spring semester and the coming of better weather throughout the college world across the United States is the time where the demonstrations turn against Israel and Jews feel and, in too many cases, become threatened and some have been attacked being blamed for perceived crimes of Israel. What crimes? The audacity to exist in the heart of what Islam considers their sacred Waqf.

 

Anti-Israel Demonstration

 

Israel is but the first step, just a taste of their believed inevitable conquests. Their god has promised them that Allah will give them the world and all the people within and in that end they are bound to conquer all nations and convert or kill the infidel, the unbelievers. Their eventual gift to the world is rule by the Imams and all given a choice, Islam or death. This is not taught in their Middle Eastern studies as there they receive only the palatable. They are steeped in the hatred and inviolability of Islam throughout the Middle East and the hatred of the Jews and their presumed affront to humanity, to Islam, Israel. They are indoctrinated with the Palestinian narrative of the Jews stealing their ancient homeland and are taught that the Biblical story of the Jewish People, the Israelites is actually the history of the Palestinian Arabs. Never mind that the Arabs did not arrive in Jerusalem until the year 637 and was then fought over for centuries thereafter. But the new teachers of history of the Middle East know that their students have little if any knowledge of the Bible, the Old Testament. Many know next to nothing about the New Testament so it stands to reason they would know even less of Jewish history and thus are willing to accept that which they are taught. The professors of other subjects accept this alternate history with the only major fields not thusly infected being the hard sciences. One of the most renowned of the linguistic professors was the late Edward Said who, along with fellow traveler and also linguist, Noam Chomsky, have taught the Islamic tropes and fully vilified Israel and the Jews, which is weird as Noam Chomsky was born Jewish. They are but a sampling of the humanity professors who back the Islamic Middle Eastern history letter for letter as many of their departments are dependent upon the oil monies which equal over a billion dollars yearly from Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia and even Iran.

 

This lifeblood corrupts the entire scholarly endeavor infecting the universities and through them future generations who will soon be the leaders of the Western nations leaving them vulnerable to Islam as these leaders will have already been corrupted. This is what could bring down America and the world will be a darker place for the loss. This past election was the primal scream of the middle of the United States, fly-over country, the moral and often silent majority. This was the expression of the last of those who fill the pews of the churches largely outside the main metropolises. These were the people who will hopefully demand their country back and force truth in the education system. Should the education system remain corrupted and ineffectual then all will be lost. The task ahead is one of rebuilding, of rejuvenation and of resurrection of what has been lost to corrupt governance. The schools need be retaken and once again teach the lessons which were the basis that built America. There need be a retaking of the youth for if the youth are lost then so will be the future. The teacher unions have forsaken the children and education in their lust for political power and higher wages. Teachers often now are more interested in job security, retirement benefits and ever increasing salaries with tenure assuring them of a comfortable life where their position is unassailable and thus does not require their fulfilling any obligation to actually teach to actually educate. What are the options? That is a difficult one but the most obvious is to drastically change the education system. The available alternatives are private schools or homeschooling. Should sufficient students be pulled from the current education system, perhaps it would collapse under its own weight and allow for replacement with a better system. Continuing on with the current systems, then the future will be determined by a basically ignorant electorate which has a false history fed them by teachers in the grasp of their unions and foreign money and influences in government. That will present a populace which silently accepts what their “betters” dictate to them without even a murmur. Let us pray that this last election was not the final scream as the world plunges into darkness for a thousand years, maybe longer.

 

Beyond the Cusp