The Representatives From America @ Margaret Thatcher's Funeral

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Even with the Islamic fascist attacks on April 15 in Boston foremost in mind I wondered from time to time during the week who was representing America @ the Thatcher funeral?  On the day of the funeral I saw BO & Biden appear together on TV so I knew for sure it would not be either of them.

 

In fact BO declined to send anyone from his administration with reasons (excuses) like "This is a hugely significant week in terms of U.S. domestic politics" – with that statement issued before the terrorist bombings @ the Boston Marathon.  BO also differentiated between a state funeral (the monarch) & the head of government (the prime minister).  Any old excuse would do to not honor President Reagan's greatest ally.  At least 170 countries were represented @ the service.

 

I have always found that it is these types of silly issues (like not going to funerals or not putting your hand over your heart during the playing of the national anthem) that so clearly identifies enemies of America.  Or in the case of Hugo Chavez – going to his funeral. 

 

People from America who attended the services @ St. Paul's Cathedral in London included Michele Bachmann, Marsha Blackburn, Dick Cheney, George Shultz, Jim Baker, Newt Gingrich, Henry Kissinger, a representative of Nancy Reagan, & American born Amanda Thatcher, granddaughter of the late Prime Minister.

 

Click here to hear Amanda, currently a college student @ the University of Richmond, read from the King James Version of Paul's letter to the Ephesians Chapter 6, verses 10-18. 

 

The poise, professionalism, & class with which this message was delivered by this young woman far exceeded anything I have ever heard any of the people in BO's administration who declined to attend the funeral ever say.

 

Restoring The Heart That Has Been Torn Out Of America

The recent posting entitled The Price Of Not Being Involved brought many comments & discussions but none summed up the price of not being involved better than "I lived the Norman Rockwell years and like most of my generation, grew complacent and never dreamed it would end up this way."

 

I know many people who still have not recovered from BO's reelection – his win in the November election has torn the heart out of many people who worked for candidates who lost & lost badly.  As for me - I haven't gotten over his first election.

 

I have attended many events where I can see the emotional discouragement.  Just last week on April 15 many people came up to me @ our FairTax Post Office Event & after thanking me for being there with the team I had assembled to help pass out pocket cards said things like "we're gone" or "what difference does it make – we're just a welfare state now."  We reached a ripe audience of disgusted taxpayers on April 15 but complainers or those who have given up will not win the day. 

 

More recently I learned of Tea Parties that have disbanded (see below).  This does not surprise me because I have seen it coming for quite some time as many Tea Partiers became increasingly more aware that they were protesting & working against government programs they were actually taking advantage of themselves – these people are Tea Partiers who support limited government in principle but have come to waver if that practice involves their own immediate well being.  They may still be willing to go to a rally & hold up a sign but taking the lead in real action is another matter.

 

Below is a message I received from the Basking Ridge, NJ Tea Party letting me know they are disbanding.  This is especially hurtful to me since I know the original leader, who has since moved, & have made FairTax presentations to the group twice – the second time to an overflow capacity meeting of people with high energy & an extremely positive attitude toward America & the FairTax. 

 

A Tea Party insider & long time subscriber to RTE told me that without the original leader the Basking Ridge group has limped along begging for new leadership.  Our Tea Partying subscriber believes the Tea Party is not so much suffering from the shock of BO's reelection but rather is just languishing from a feeling of helplessness & fatigue.

 

The odds are stacked against us right now & many people talk as if they know that & have just given up – resigned to whatever happens.  But the attacks will keep coming whether we give up or not as the last post clearly showed re BO's plans to initiate a wealth tax whereby IRAs & 401(k)s are confiscated. 

 

In times of trouble America has always depended upon finding a single person of great leadership ability – a very fragile proposition.  We wouldn't be here today if not for one man - our greatest leader – George Washington.  It very well may take a leader of Washington's stature to restore the heart that has been torn out of America the last four years.

 

 

A  Message From GBRTP Dear Patriots,   We were all stunned and heartbroken, that fateful day in November, when after all of our efforts, our hard work, our persistence, we witnessed the re-election of Barak Obama. We, who braved the aftermath of Sandy to get our neighbors to the polls, now face another foreboding storm with greater consequences.   Like many of you, we the team at GBRTP, were disappointed, frustrated, depressed and angry. As with any loss, any grieving period, this was quite difficult. However, given all that has occurred since then, the constant drumbeat of Marxism, the capitulation of an impotent GOP, and the threats made to our liberty and livelihoods, we can no longer grieve. We MUST act. Now.   As with all organizations, we have experienced our share of challenges. We have had many fruitful meetings, have influenced several local races, have given the grassroots a voice and have educated the public. Unfortunately, the time for self-education, "speaking to the choir", and stereotypical campaign techniques is over. We did not win. We didn't even win in the State or local races. We need to change our tactics, if we want to have a fighting chance and change the trajectory.    The remaining leadership of GBRTP discussed the future of the group after the election. After much deliberation, we feel in our hearts, the only way we can be a force in NJ would be through a merger with existing Tea Party Groups. This coordination will provide the number of thinkers, strategists and leaders necessary to develop innovative grassroots techniques, communicate lessons learned and set a path forward to challenge the establishment.   While we will no longer be a formal organization, we can and will organize local meetings once the new strategy is established. We would like to encourage you all to sign up with some of our colleagues below. We also encourage you to set up your own meetings in the library or in your own home, when concerning issues and events have been brought to your attention. We encourage all to remain engaged, and to think outside the box.   We know in the end what it takes to win. We must defeat the radical left with Constitutionalists, not Opportunists. We must take over the GOP, in all levels of Government just like the Radical Progressive purge of the moderates. The left never backs down after a loss. Neither must we. Defeat is not an option.   We wish you all well in your battles. We pray for courage and for a better tomorrow.   With sincere hearts,   Greater Basking Ridge Tea Party   Remember to Spread the Word.            Tea Party Patriots  Americans For Prosperity  Morristown Tea Party  Somerset County Tea Party

BO's Budget Plan Includes Mechanisms For Bracket Creep & A Wealth Confiscating Tax

"After this proposal, only a fool would pay taxes now to transfer to a "tax free" Roth IRA that the feds may decide to tax someday." – WSJ editorial April 12, 2013 re the portion of BO's 2,500 page 2014 fiscal year budget that places a variable lifetime cap on the total asset value in IRAs & 401(k)s that could lead to confiscation of these retirement accounts

 

click on images to enlarge

 

With the realization of the veracity of the above editorial statement many high paid pundits say they are going to write columns about the federal government planning to raid retirement savings accounts – as if this idea is something new.

 

Long time readers of RTE will remember the first posting after the 2008 presidential election when I wrote – "So many left wing Democrats have their own agendas & could pull Obama in many different directions. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, George Miller, & Jim McDermott have copied the idea of economic basket case Argentina & floated the idea of nationalizing private pension money by seizing or otherwise confiscating 401(k)s."

 

You can also check my FairTax workshop training sessions – see Q & A write-up in April 2010 posted on RTE re Roth IRAs.  In summary by 2010 it had become more & more obvious to anyone who thought about it that the government had only offered Roth IRAs & Roth 401(k)s because the government needed immediate revenue not some stream of revenue derived from required minimum distributions decades later from a citizenry pleasantly retired without a care in the world.  The promise was that the after tax corpus in the accounts would grow tax free & distributions would never be taxed again.  That promise will not be kept - consider a future politician trying to defend continuation of tax free treatment for money that has never been taxed in the economic environment we are facing if we continue to sleep-walk through the financial problems the nation faces.  Pity the poor person (pun intended) who has opened large Roth IRAs & Roth 401(k)s.

 

So it took several years for BO to reveal the evil he has planned for Americans' retirement savings plans but as indicated above readers of RTE were made aware of the dangers even before BO became president.  There is virtually no chance BO's budget plan will go into effect in the next two years – but watch out after the 2014 elections if the Democrats win back control of the House & maintain control of the Senate.  Both are real possibilities & BO is focusing on making sure they happen.

 

BO masquerades as a deficit fighter by proposing in his budget the replacement of the conventional consumer price index (CPI) with the supposedly more accurate & smaller chain-weighted consumer price index (Chain CPI) to hold down cost of living adjustments (cola) meaning the rate of growth of Social Security benefits.  BO exempts those over 76 & also those on low incomes so the result of this charade is to make the middle class poorer & more dependent on government.   But BO also uses the Chain CPI for inflation indexing the income tax brackets meaning that he is reintroducing the hated term bracket creep to the tax system for the first time in over a quarter of a century.  This subtle change in inflation indexing will move people's incomes into higher tax brackets faster than if the CPI was still used.  BO just never gets enough revenue or people dependent on government.

 

Just when (i.e., January 2, 2013) everyone thought the estate tax laws were finally settled after years of uncertainty BO's budget calls for increasing the estate tax rate, lowering the exemption, & does not index it for inflation to boot.  Steve Forbes will have to renew his call of "no taxation without respiration" & without indexation more & more families will be joining him.

 

But the most dangerous feature of BO's budget proposal is limiting the values of IRAs & 401(k)s to an amount BO feels is needed for a reasonable retirement.  The insidious part of this proposal is that the limitation (known as a lifetime cap – total balance of all of a person's retirement accounts) is not an exact dollar amount but rather is based on the amount needed to produce an annuity payment of $205,000 a year (not indexed for inflation & before tax) for a 62 year old worker in a defined benefit pension plan.  The cap, if in effect in 2013, would be about $3.4 million.  No additions to retirement accounts are permitted above the cap although additions are permitted if the value of the accounts fall below the cap or the cap is raised which is virtually impossible with interest rates @ record lows. 

 

Now the price of annuities is a function of interest rates & when interest rates finally rise to a normal non-manipulated level the cap will fall.  For instance EBRI reports that in 2006 a similar annuity paying $205,000 per year cost $2.2 million – not $3.4 million as it would today.  The obvious unanswered question is what would BO do with the $1.2 million that exceeds today's cap in this example.

 

This could very well be the introduction of a wealth tax which of course is unconstitutional – such a tax would not be uniform, it would not be in proportion to congressional representation (i.e., it is a direct tax but not apportioned by population), & it is not an income tax.  But we are protected from such wealth taxes by the U.S. Constitution.  Too bad for us that the Constitution is ignored by the citizenry & our elected representatives (SC Representative James Clyburn even famously said "there's nothing in the Constitution that says the federal government has got anything to do with most of the stuff that we do") every day of the year except for ceremonial occasions like swearing in a new president on January 20 every four years.  And it certainly would not take much effort, reasoning, or imagination for the Supreme Court (Roberts) to follow the unconstitutional precedent set in the ObamaCare case to find a wealth tax constitutional. 

 

So with no protections as described above it would be just a matter of time before the cap was lowered to include virtually every retirement account in America.  Couple this with the enactment of a 20% VAT & BO will have everyone exactly where he wants them – penniless & dependent on government.

 

Now it is bad enough for us to put up with this sort of thing if we didn't know better - but we do.  The FairTax is the remedy for reversing all of the government manipulation of the earnings of everyone's hard work that increasingly is being redistributed for the purpose of keeping those elected in office.  If this is important to you please make sure that you are doing everything you can to educate the citizenry & spread the FairTax word so that when the right candidates come along who support the FairTax we will have made their job that much easier.

 

The Immigration Reform Stakes

"This bill is clearly a compromise, & no one will get everything they wanted, including me." – BO speaking about the comprehensive immigration reform bill the Senate is expected to vote on this week

 

With regard to BO's above statement I can only say "oh yes you will." 

 

Hispanics to the tune of 81% are interested in government benefits & are not @ all interested in American citizenship – they are here for money.  See RTE posting Immediate Solutions To America's Problems Do Not Favor Republicans dated April 12 for details.

 

Republicans, led by Marco Rubio, are falling all over themselves pretending to have a soft tone toward Hispanics while really presenting a bill they hope is tough enough that they do not lose any of their base on the immigration reform issue.  An impossible position other than lip service (pun intended) on the former if they really mean the latter.

 

Rubio explains that the comprehensive immigration reform bill that will shortly come before the Senate will provide provisional legal status quickly for Hispanics but that illegal immigrants will receive "no federal benefits, no food stamps, no welfare, & no ObamaCare" & that there will be background checks, fines, & a ten year process before they could apply for legal status.  Rubio went on to stress on national television that "it will actually be cheaper if they went back home, waited ten years, & applied for a green card."  Now that statement is so ludicrous that it begs the question – why would anyone wanting to become a citizen do it the Senate plan way?  Rubio's words are so far in front of his thinking that he doesn't realize what he is saying.

 

The aforementioned RTE posting documented that immigrants with permanent legal status who are eligible to apply for citizenship currently have to pay a $680 application fee & pass an oral exam in English covering American history & government & that the great majority of them are just not interested.

 

Instead of each party playing political games trying to outdo the other it would be far better for the country if our elected representatives were to determine whether or not we want these people in America – are we better off with them here?  The current charade takes for granted they are staying meaning it is just a matter of how much the Republicans lose.  Republicans are trying to put a good face on this while Democrats are just giddy thinking of the Republicans committing political suicide because they know allowing eleven million illegal immigrants into any type of path to be able to vote secures their objective until the entire economy collapses one way or the other.

 

Republicans will never win a bidding war game to secure the Hispanic vote that Democrats specialize in – so why humiliate themselves with the above Rubio approach that is doomed to failure one way or the other, sooner or later. 

 

Click here to hear Congressman Steve King explain to Bill O'Reilly, to Hispanics, & really everyone, that America under free enterprise is a far superior way to lasting prosperity than the unsustainable way of life that is being promised to them by BO.   Hispanics are quite capable of seeing the declining standard of living that the future holds for them under BO if it is pointed out to them consistently & sincerely by people like Congressman King who believe it themselves.  The American dream is the most optimistic gratifying way of life ever realized on the face of the earth & people who really want to experience it will respond when they understand the stakes. 

 

 

The Price Of Not Being Involved

This posting concentrates on the many comments I received to Immediate Solutions To America's Problems Do Not Favor Republicans – posted on RTE on April 11. That posting started with Pat Buchanan's thoughts on the subject, described the awkward positions Republicans have taken on current problems, showed how Democrats plan to put solid-GOP Texas in play, & ends with the need for the emergence of a Galt-like figure who can reverse the hopelessness & misery that is contrived by BO's design for America.

 

"Hi Doug - Even the non-clairvoyant can predict our future: 'The United States of Detroit'" was one well put comment I received to the last message that captured its theme.

 

Another comment from a subscriber with boundless energy for America focused on what each of us can do:  "Doug - Thanks for well analyzed job assessing political prospects.  Please note that there may be some hope as ObamaCare implodes. Then free market capitalists as myself should take full advantage of that. How? Cite again how socialism never works and champion free markets as never before.  Get involved!  Blog and write letters to Leftist media, strongly support pro free market politicians, even consider running yourself."  Red accent mine.

 

Lastly, please consider the message below sent by another long time subscriber who attributes the message to an old marine (it appeared on the website of The Dirty Dozen's Bunker).  I couple it with the message directly above about being involved & have taken the liberty of entitling the following message The Price Of Not Being Involved:

The American Dream ended on November 6th in Ohio. The second term of Barack Obama will be the final nail in the coffin for the legacy of the white Christian males who discovered, explored, pioneered, settled and developed the greatest Republic in the history of mankind.

A coalition of Blacks, Latinos, Feminists, Homosexuals, Government Workers, Union Members, Environmental Extremists, The Media, Hollywood, uninformed young people, the "forever needy," the chronically unemployed, illegal aliens and other "fellow travelers" have ended Norman Rockwell's America.

The Cocker Spaniel is off the front porch...the Pit Bull is in the back yard.

The U.S. Constitution has been replaced by Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" & Chicago shyster, David Axelrod, along with international Socialist George Soros will be pulling the strings to bring us Act 2 of the New World Order.

Our side ran two candidates who couldn't even win their own home states, and the circus fattster Chris Christie helped Obama over the top with a glowing "post Sandy" tribute that elevated the "Commander-in-Chief" to Mother Teresa status.

People like me are completely politically irrelevant, and I will never again comment on or concern myself with the aforementioned coalition which has surrendered our culture, our heritage and our traditions without a shot being fired.

You will never again out vote these people. It will take individual acts of defiance and massive displays of civil disobedience to get back the rights we have allowed them to take away. It will take Zealots, not moderates--not reach-across-the-aisle RINOs to right this ship and restore our beloved country to its former status.

Those who come after us will have to risk their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to bring back the Republic that this generation has timidly frittered away due to "white guilt" and political correctness.....

I'm done.

Immediate Solutions To America's Problems Do Not Favor Republicans

"And when amnesty is granted to the 12 million illegals, as GOP senators are preparing to do, that should advance the death of the GOP as a national party by turning Colorado, Nevada and Arizona blue, and putting even Texas in play.

 

"Why should the half of America that pays no taxes but survives on federal benefits vote for a party that will cut taxes they do not pay but roll back benefits upon which they do depend?

 

"They like what Big Government has to offer, and seem uninterested in what the GOP has to sell." - Pat Buchanan writing in Human Events - March 26, 2013

 

 

The most viable alternative to BO & the Democrats is the Republican Party & it is dying right before our eyes every day.  Thank heavens Republicans held on to control the House after the last election but even @ that there were over half a million more ballots cast for House Democrats nationwide than House Republicans.  Thanks to our Founders for conceiving our electoral system.  In 2012 gerrymandering did not hurt either.

 

The obvious problem in America is that not only are people of substance outnumbered but that the Democrats have figured out under BO's treacherous talent how to organize people under the Alinsky method into voting for things that are not in their or the country's best interest.  BO's Democrat political campaign organization has not been turned off since 2007 & continues today non-stop under Organizing For Action with the express intent of destroying & erasing the GOP as a national party – see RTE posting of March 5 for complete details re OFA.

 

Republicans have awkward positions on the major immediate problems facing America today summarized as follows:

 

1.  Tax Simplification & Reform – This topic is something Republicans bring up yet half of the citizenry does not pay income tax & @ least another 20% don't pay enough income tax that the subject is of any interest to them either.  My former congressman used to try to reassure town hall audiences by telling them he was fighting to preserve their home mortgage interest deduction when statistically two thirds of the audience did not take the deduction & even if they did they had to overcome the amount of the standard deduction before any itemized deduction was of value to them.  He thinks this is a winner because he has been in Congress for eighteen years telling the same yarn to people whose level of sophistication is believing in home mortgage interest deductions & tax refunds.

 

In any event, if Republicans propose any more than tinkering around the edges of the current income tax code Democrats will come out in force with the millionaires & billionaires not paying their fair share class warfare line that has worked so well against Republicans.  Enacting the FairTax is the answer to so many of our problems but it is lost on the people & is of no concern to the great majority of politicians whose life styles are doing fine without it.

 

2.  Homosexual Marriage – With approval of homosexual marriage growing rapidly so that already it has over 50% support Republicans have a numbers problem again in that only 27% of Republicans approve of it.  To combat this former Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman is trying to make a new softer Republican image by showing support for overturning the California ban of homosexual marriage.  The political balance is trying to grow the party membership without losing the base.  What is missing from the Republican strategy is what is in the best interest of the country like totally eliminating state-controlled approved marriages.

 

3.  Replacing ObamaCare - Republicans can talk a good talk about repealing & replacing ObamaCare which we know will not happen in the next four years - but its implementation can be weakened & slowed.  Ten thousand baby boomers are retiring every year (that's one every eight seconds turning 65) plus ObamaCare will bring another 30 million people into the insured ranks.  The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts there will be a shortage of over 60,000 doctors by 2015 & 140,000 by 2025.  This provides some hope for Republicans in that with the right presentation they can turn the tide against Democrats who continue to support ObamaCare.

 

4.  The Sequester – The sequester remains the only spending cut mechanism in Washington if evidenced only by the cancellation of the White House tours which everyone is aware of.  BO's budget released yesterday replaces the sequester with tax increases & spending cuts that will appear eight to ten years from now – meaning they will never be realized.  BO continues to make the most onerous cuts he & his cabinet can think of.  Republicans best chance on this is to point out the poor choices BO makes & offer alternatives like Senator Coburn has done.  This issue could turn into a winner for Republicans.

 

The above four problems plus gun control provide Republicans @ best a mixed bag to make headway against BO's socialist onslaught designed to destroy America's well being.  BO has put carbon taxes on the back burner because he knows that the real killer of the Republican Party is to convince Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration plan.

 

As indicated above by Pat Buchanan comprehensive immigration is the issue that will be the death knell for the Republican Party as a national force.  Participating in the same type of discussions that are over ten years old calling for the tired old "enforce our borders first...pathways to citizenship...& learn English" slogans will not carry the day for Republicans no matter how nice their tone.

 

For instance when the Associated Press recently announced that they will no longer use the term illegal aliens comedian Jay Leno quickly (& correctly) remarked that it won't be long before these people will be known as undocumented democrats.  Never mind that the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1952 broadly defines an immigrant as any alien in the United States & a lawful permanent resident as a resident alien & an illegal alien as one who entered the United States without inspection.  BO wants the media to keep watering the terms down until they sound totally innocuous.

 

The above graph indicates that Texas had the second largest percentage of Hispanic voters in 2012 & of course that share will be growing in future elections.  Since many Hispanics in Texas have never voted Democrats think of them as a vast community organizing resource project that is wide open to be developed.  In 2012 I calculate that approximately 3,000 Texas Democrat volunteers worked on Florida voters to vote for BO.  These volunteers have now returned to Texas to organize the Hispanic vote there & pilot runs show they are successful.  The high energy San Antonio Mayor & Democrat Party keynote speaker Julian Castro estimates that Texas will be competitive in six to eight years.  By 2016 alone there will be approximately one million more eligible Hispanics to vote.  Some conservative commentators love to quote the one way U-Haul trucks coming from California to Texas – unfortunately many such transplants bring their statist voting habits with them.

 

Republicans working on immigration reform don't realize or ignore that the majority of illegal immigrants have never been interested in becoming American citizens.  After the 1986 amnesty only 40% of the 2.7 million immigrants who received permanent legal status had become naturalized citizens by 2009.  Source – DHS study in 2010.  And the reason is simple – the current pathway to citizenship is not easy.  Just for starters the immigrant has to pay a $680 application fee & pass an oral exam in English covering American history & government.  Illegal immigrants who send a substantial amount of their earnings back to relatives in Latin America are not interested in paying $680 for something they do not value or studying to answer questions in English like "how many amendments does the Constitution have" or "when was the Constitution written?" 

 

Republicans need to define the problem accurately & properly – illegal immigrants want to work here, preferably legally to ensure no deportation, but citizenship & its requirements are not part of their plan.  It is ironic that a recent poll showed two thirds of Americans favor a pathway to citizenship for illegals with jobs but as indicated above a majority of those in a position to apply don't.  Seems like we would be better off if everyone just minded their own business.

 

In any event BO's community organizing Alinsky machine plows ahead to convert Texas to the Democrat Party side in the very near future.

 

Does the country need further deterioration before enough people realize that taking both our freedom & work ethic for granted was a very big mistake?  So many of our problems started when the compassionate social safety net turned into breakfast in bed seven days a week for people who found it easier to game the welfare system than to go to work.  The country changed as the national incentive changed from thinking the sky is the limit for your potential to you are a fool if you are not taking advantage of every government program that your neighbor tells you he has applied for.

 

Jobs are not as important as they were just a decade or so ago because people have found they can patch together an existence consisting of part time employment doing menial work, benefits from a government program or two, & spending down whatever wealth may have been accumulated.  Such people feel a hopelessness that is contrived by BO's design that can only be reversed by a Galt-like figure who can re-deliver prosperity & clearly explain what we are in the process of throwing away.

 

 

New Posting Notice - Death Of Democracy Expanded & FairTax Addition

This posting is to alert readers to two new postings on the left hand side of RTE.

 

1.  Death Of Democracy – I have expanded the original work from over a decade ago that showed the various descending stages of any democracy.  This update naturally still includes the list of stages but also explains how these stages happened focusing exclusively on the American Republic.  Topics include America's voting eligibility history, government-education system's history, immigration history, & the real solution needed for turning around our dying republic.

 

2.  The FairTax & The Doctrine Of Intergovernmental Tax Immunity – I show how & why the Supreme Court Doctrine of Intergovernmental Tax Immunity has changed over the years & how the FairTax complies with this doctrine.  This piece is the thirtieth topic listed under The FairTax on the blog.

 

Any & all comments are welcome & will be considered for addition.

 

 

Responses - Individual Rights & Homosexual Marriage

For the benefit of those who do not read RTE directly online below are three responses to the subject message that are now part of the original online posting.  The first responder thinks we would be better off with heterosexuals working to leave state-controlled marriage than homosexuals fighting to be put under its control.  The second responder believes that had the FairTax (& its inherent tax simplification) been enacted homosexual marriage may never have been an issue in the first place.  The third responder correctly identified why we have the push for changes in marriage laws.

 

The thoughts expressed in this message & the original subject posting offer a solution to the homosexual marriage question that has been elevated to the Supreme Court level of our judiciary system.  For those interested in a solution purely on this issue please read both postings carefully & then work for the best interest of your country using whatever information makes sense to you including these messages.  For those who are interested in destructively using the homosexual marriage issue to undermine the American way of life please realize your agenda is being exposed more & more every day & it is just a matter of time before you are tarred & feathered & run out of the country on a rail.

 

---Response #1---

 

Doug - I agree entirely. I also saw the Dr. Ablow interview and wrote to him immediately afterwards.

I prefer marriage without government approval. They simply use it to incorporate your marriage and to hold each of you responsible for things the other may do. They use benefits to entice you and then strings to control you. It is another source of government control. I believe in the U.S. the marriage license first became widespread as a method of preventing whites and blacks from marrying.

A few years ago I asked my minister why his power to marry was "vested in him by the state", and not by God. He stated he wouldn't want a married couple to live in sin. I replied that a couple can get married before the state and immediately cheat on each other. Another couple can get married without state approval, but before God and be faithful the rest of their lives. Why would the second be living in sin? He never acted the same towards me (and I attend a different church today).

In my opinion, heterosexual couples should be fighting to leave a state-controlled approved marriage instead of gay couples fighting to be put under its control.

 

---Response #2---

 

this was my post on Facebook this morning.

I haven't mentioned anything on the homosexual marriage debate. But let me make this clear, if the folks that are against homosexual marriage would support the FairTax, that is a national sales tax instead of the most divisive tax - the federal income tax - most of the support for homosexual marriage would probably falter. In fact with the FairTax homosexual marriage may never have been an issue in the first place. The federal government is screwing us on so many levels with this income tax including dividing Americans rich vs. poor, corporations vs. people, etc. I am providing a link below of an older but still relevant article on this issue. No matter how the Supreme Court rules, we still should be pushing for the FairTax or some form of national sales tax. http://queercents.com/2007/10/31/fairtax-and-why-it-is-important-to-the-lgbt-community/

 

---Responder #3---

 

The last sentence in the posting is the real reason for change in marriage laws.

 

Individual Rights & Homosexual Marriage

"Traditional marriage has been around for thousands of years.  Same-sex marriage is very new. I think it was first adopted in the Netherlands in 2000.  It may turn out to be a good thing; it may turn out not to be a good thing … But you want us to step in and render a decision based on an assessment of the effects of this institution, which is newer than cellphones or the Internet?" -  Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito addressing U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli last week during oral arguments in one the homosexual marriage cases now before the Supreme Court

 

Now I checked out Sammy's statement & found that re the last part of the statement that the Supreme Court has ruled on many cases dealing with issues that arose after the invention of cell phones and the beginning of the web going world wide.  For instance the Supremes have ruled on genetically modified DNA organisms, online piracy, GPS tracking by the police, finding ObamaCare constitutional before most of the law has taken effect, & various Internet privacy, free-speech, and censorship cases so the newness of homosexual marriage in & of itself isn't a good reason not to proceed based on all of these other cases.

 

Sammy is on firmer ground re the first part of his statement in that I checked out three dictionaries with copyrights between 1960 & 1991 & found that all of them define marriage as the mutual relationship between husband & wife further defining husband as a man & wife as a woman with no mention of same-sex marriage.  But the online dictionary I checked says that marriage is the the legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife, and in some jurisdictions, between two persons of the same sex, usually entailing legal obligations of each person to the other.

 

All of the ruckus around the Supreme Court last Tuesday & Wednesday started because homosexuals don't or may not have the same legal rights as married heterosexuals & their dissatisfaction has expanded into claims of violations of civil rights & human rights in that people in love should be able to become married.

 

Ron Prykanowski addresses the legal rights & civil rights questions when he writes "marriage is a contract, not a civil right. You do not sign a paper (license), have two witnesses, an official and exchange an act of consideration (love and affection is such a consideration) for a civil right.  If marriage were a civil right, why would you need a pre-nuptial contract or a property settlement agreement much like a business? It is a contractual life partnership."  Now the problem with Ron's excellent points is that the government has stuck their nose in & there are some 1,100 federal laws that rest on the definition of marriage.  A timely example is the IRS definition of who can file a "married filing joint" income tax return.

 

The legal defenders of homosexuals' positions in the two cases before the Supreme Court rely principally on the principles of federalism in the one case & the equal protection assurances of the Fourteenth Amendment in the other case.  The Justices are wrestling with whether or not to use the equal protection clause to create a new group who needs additional or more clearly spelled out legal defenses.  The Supremes have not done such a thing in decades.

 

Dr. Keith Ablow recently took the position I have had for years re this subject when he told Laura Ingraham "the government shouldn't be expressing a preference for whether two people of any gender get together and call themselves married. The government should never have been involved in these personal matters and it's highly prejudicial that a state or the federal government can say two men can marry, but not two women and a man. Three people can be in love!"   Click here to hear an excellent discussion between Laura & Dr. Ablow.

 

With regard to the more modern online definition of marriage I presented above please realize that the very next portion of the definition following the part about same-sex marriage is A similar union of more than two people; a polygamous marriage.  We are teetering on the cornerstone of civilization being redefined by polygamy or any other thing someone thinks of such as Laura mentioning in the video a woman who wants to marry the Eifel Tower or I add a college football player who was engaged to be married to a figment of his imagination.

 

So where does it end if the Supremes unconstitutionally meddle in this matter?  Just like the Supremes should not have taken the ObamaCare case in 2012 they should not have accepted the homosexual marriage cases either.  The Founders never intended nine unelected judges to tell the rest of the citizenry what is up.  Based on his comments in oral arguments it appears that Chief Justice Roberts may finally understand this – but oh what a difference if he did last year.

 

Above I mentioned human rights, civil rights, legal rights, & the rights of homosexuals.  You can get a grip on this issue by focusing on the the definition of libertarianism & especially the second half - individuals have the right to control their own bodies, in action and speech, as long as they do not infringe on the same rights for others.  The second half of this definition is the inalienable fundamental right – the right to be left alone from which life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness are derived.  All of the other types of rights mentioned above are statist ideas to one degree or another.  It is individual rights that are the bedrock of America as defined in our Constitution.

 

Now I don't know who could disagree with the above analysis – whether straight or homosexual – unless you have another objective in mind.  Like overthrowing the American way of life as your real agenda.