More Quick Hits, Post Independence Day.

The Fourth of July is a wonderful day of celebration across our nation.  It is that rare holiday that is celebrated at the basic backyard barbecue level as well as the WDC Gala level.  It is wonderful to see people flying the Colors and expressing their appreciation for our liberties and those who help(ed) us achieve and maintain those liberties.  It comes at a time when the weather is conducive to outdoor gatherings and the water is just right for a dip.  Even though a few make feeble efforts to do so, it is really very difficult to politicize the Fourth and given the times we live in, that makes it very special indeed.   The day after Independence Day is a quiet day for many and in the absence of any huge single story-line, I want to take the opportunity to throw out just a few more quick hits.

The Democrats Continue Their Downward Spiral.  Everywhere you turn these days, there seems to be new lows being reached as far as civility and statesmanship is concerned.  The Democratic Party continues its devolution into irrelevance in a not-so-graceful fashion that is almost painful to observe.  Still led by a clinging Hillary, a never-ending Socialist Bernie, a foul-mouthed Perez, an idiotic ex-National Chair Wasserman-Schultz whose latest effort is removal of the President through the 25^th Amendment, and the so-called Resistance Movement; American Democrats are allowing the left-wing radicals of their party to drag them over a cliff that will inevitably lead to very long fall with a very messy landing.  I have been waiting since Obama’s second election for a new Democratic voice of reason to emerge from the liberal madness that has consumed their party; but there seems to be not one in sight.  Surely, at some point sooner rather than later, there will be a voice of moderation rise from the Democratic silliness that will begin to espouse a rational and reasonable approach to promoting their liberal agenda.  This NEEDS to happen and the sooner, the better.

Republicans Continue to Mimic the Keystone Kops.  Some Republicans are still under the illusion that they won majorities in the House and Senate because they are such marvelous campaigners or because an overwhelming majority of Americans buy into their agenda.  The truth is that these majorities were obtained the same way Donald Trump gained the Presidency…they simply looked far better than the alternative.  Given this opportunity to implement their agenda, the Republicans have instead chosen to bargain and bicker away the few precious workdays they have in majority status in an endless quest for some ideal, conservative universe in which only their philosophy will prevail.  If Rand Paul cannot get the government entirely out of health care, then there will be no health care.  If John McCain can’t get foreign policy conducted to his satisfaction, then he will simply go overseas and conduct his own foreign policy.  Paul Ryan is overflowing with self-pity because he, the obvious fount of wisdom and policy, has to deal with this imbecile in the White House who is clearly incapable of understanding the legislative process.  As we barrel headlong towards the end of the federal fiscal year (September 30), we once again find ourselves in familiar territory that we’ve occupied over the last several Administrations…no appropriation bills passed, no budget in place, an abject and dismal failure of Congress to perform its basic and primary function of prioritizing and funding our government for its next fiscal year.  This is a continuing failure of leadership and in this case, it is undisputedly Republican leadership.  I do not know what it is in the WDC water that makes every Representative who is elected by a handful of counties, or every Senator who has found themselves in the right political place at the right political time, to feel empowered to change the world and this country to match their own, personal vision…with total and absolute disregard of all that has transpired before their arrival and the conflicting or differing ideas of their critics.  With all of these marvelous geniuses serving our interests, it is mind-numbing that we find our government in such a colossal mess.

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Trump Still Does Not Realize He Is President.  I held very low regard for Donald Trump the candidate and I still hold very little regard for Donald Trump the man.  He demonstrates little in the way of character, behavior, humility, or dignity to earn the respect of anyone.  He is, nonetheless, our President and he has astounded me with his excellent selections of both Administration Appointments and policy decisions.  To the shock and/or dismay of many, Donald Trump is actually attempting to fulfill the campaign promises upon which he ran.  But somehow, some way…the fact that he is now President has escaped him.  The Reality Show Czar, the Corporate Napoleon, the High-Rolling Real Estate Mogul, and the Headline Seeking Celebrity…all of these personas apparently served him well when he was in the private sector and was running for President.  But now that he has become President…well, not so much.  I understand how any reasonable person would be absolutely infuriated with a media that has devolved into a proxy for the opposing party and is shamelessly shilling itself for the simple cause of spite.  I can appreciate how exasperating it must be to find the Democratic Party unanimously engaging in their idiotic Resistance Movement when he has reached out (albeit clumsily and awkwardly) for their support.  I still marvel at the fact that at his center, Donald Trump has many liberal tendencies and this fact is lost on the Democrats.  After working as a civil servant for over thirty years, I can appreciate the President’s frustration with the slow and deliberate mechanisms of our government and how intransigent he finds them when it comes to reform or change.  All of these things must truly be maddening to a man that ran on the premise of “Draining the Swamp” and now finds himself drowning in it.  But that is no reason to continue personal behavior that is more suited to grade school sandboxes and college fraternities than it is to running our government as its Chief Executive.  All the folks that are advising the President to Keep His Eye on the Prize, Stay on Message, Get Back to the Knitting, Stay Focused on the Tasks at Hand…these folks are telling him the truth.  The truth is that he is now President for four years, he has a Republican majority in both houses of Congress, and he has precious little time to achieve meaningful results for his Administration.  As entertaining as his WWE/CNN clip is; as fundamentally correct as many of his fake news retorts happen to be; as legitimate as some his protests against the Resistance Movement might be…all of these actions detract from the prime directive of implementing real change through the legislative process.  THAT is what winning the Presidency is all about and the sooner President Trump realizes that, the better.  Mr. President…Stop campaigning, stop engaging in ego-bolstering macho contests with your opponents, stop vilifying all those who disagree with you (no matter how stupid they might be) and simply DO YOUR DAMN JOB.  By and large, you have chosen the correct policies and you have chosen the right people; just get on with the business of governing.  It will serve you, and this nation, well in the long run

The Federal Judiciary is Out of Control.  It has been said, often repeated by me, and it remains eternally true: Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  I know of no area where this principle is more relevant than in the Federal Judiciary.  Our justice system is filled with Federal Judges who are granted lifetime appointments and serve in positions of monumental impact with little, if any, regard for the balance of our government or the rules that regulate our society and culture.  It has somehow become quite fashionable for the left, or the right, to simply go Judge-shopping when they want to halt a particular law, regulation, or action that they happen to disagree with.  With no regard to the legislative process that may have borne said law/regulation/action, these Judges, consumed with their own positions of power answerable only to the SCOTUS, set forth rulings that are simply extensions of their own personal political and idealistic beliefs.  And no matter how outrageous or legally ludicrous these opinions might be; they have the status of law until they are excruciatingly and eventually (if ever) overturned by the SCOTUS.  These rogue Judges full well understand that the SCOTUS can only deal with a limited volume of case law and that even if the high court does wish to correct their legal misadventures, the correction will come well down the road and after the consequences of the decision are intensely felt by the citizenry of America.  This aberration of our governmental checks and balances would be labeled an obscenity by our founding fathers and it is difficult to see any solution that might offer a timely remedy to his problem.  The one place it CAN begin is with a SCOTUS lineup of Justices that will respect the law as it is written and will consistently and courageously smite these runaway Judges and their illegitimate decisions.  Additionally, President Trump and future Presidents need to quickly and deliberately appoint persons of character and integrity to the numerous vacant federal judgeships across our nation; people who will understand their role in the administration of law and justice.   Once again, this is an area that would be much more deserving of President Trump’s time and attention than that of Twitter or YouTube.