Month: July 2014

Looking good. Talked to House candidate Phil Regeski, and learned a lot. I knew there was a pretty bitter Tea Party vs. Establishment fight going on within the Republicans in the legislature. But it won’t hurt us, because both sides support us. This is great news, since there are so many Republicans in the legislature (Phil told me there were 12 D’s, total, House and Senate) that we can afford to lose some Birch/Eagle votes, as long as the main Tea Party type insurrectionists are with us. And they are.
North Dakota looks greased, so the one state I’ve got to concentrate on, and win, is Montana.
I can do that.

Sometimes I think Obama is a Republican plant. He’s burying the Democratic party for a decade.
And he doesn’t seem to care.
Ukranian-Russian separatists shot down 300 civilians, and 25 Americans, and what does he do? He stops by for a photo op at a burger joint in Wilmington Delaware.
He’s amazing. Actually, no, it’s amazing he gets away with it.
Because he’s black, the press is incapable of criticizing him. They just can’t bring themselves to do it.
And the 2016 D nominee won’t be able to criticize him either, even if they wanted to. The black base won’t let them.
Since he’s given up on being President I don’t see how he recovers politically in the next two years.
Lame duck or dead duck, it doesn’t matter — he, personally, is a millstone around the neck of the Democratic Party. They’re stuck with him. He’s not going away, not for a long time. He’s young, healthy, and will want to be in the political spotlight for the rest of his life.
Live long, Barry.
More wind pushing the wave.

It’s almost 40% black, but totally Republican. I thought when racial minorities get bigger they hurt Republicans.
South Carolina and Alabama are like Mississippi, and Georgia’s almost there. Louisiana, Arkansas, and North Carolina are getting close. It’s slowly spreading north, into North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee.
If it ever gets into Ohio, you’ve got something to think about.
What “it” is is the de facto division of the parties along racial lines. Not everywhere in the country, and not at the same rate everywhere, but a major political trend, and one that’s not talked about.
It will give the Republicans a wind at their back in November — increasing the size of the wave.
The Article V wave.

That’s the membership of the Federal Legislature, the supreme power under the U. S. constitutional system.
They can do anything they want, except reduce the equal suffrage of a state in the Senate without its consent.
They’ve never actually done a damn thing since they, technically, came into existence in 1789.
The three subordinate branches of the federal government, particularly the Congress, have done what they can to discourage the Federal Legislature from acting. But that may be about to change. If the R’s take the Senate I think the Congress will cooperate in good faith when called upon (when we get 34) to set the time and place for the Federal Legislature to meet for the first time.
Practically speaking, the Federal Legislature can only call itself into session when there is a broad and bipartisan consensus on the need for an amendment, and Congress refuses to listen to the people. We have such a consensus on the BBA and Congressional term limits.
But how do you get the 5,000 or so members of 34 state legislatures to agree to act together?
What we have here is a problem of communication.
This problem is being overcome. ALEC has finally stepped up, and is ready to play a leading role. The Republican State Leadership Council — a well funded arm of the Republican Party — is ready to do its part. The BBA Task Force is doing a good job with almost no resources.
And there’s the internet — the golden key to Article V. Politics, just like everything else in this world, is being transformed by the internet. The Tea Party is an early incarnation of the transformation. Others are coming, including, I fervently believe, the creation of a community of state legislators.
The meetings in Mount Vernon and Indianapolis are just a start, and a good one. Soon there will be a plentitude of networks for state legislators to choose from. The effort to use Article V to overturn Citizens United is creating an alternative, liberal, network.
In the big picture, the internet is about personal empowerment, and, at bottom, liberty.
And, thank God, Article V.

Since we managed to get Herman Cain a Friday luncheon speech at ALEC, now everybody’s going to attend, 10 in all from the Task Force. There will be some sort of reception Thursday night with Cain.
The ALEC people, particularly Mike Bowman, are doing all they can for us, and this meeting in Dallas could give us major momentum as we head into 2015. We will have representatives on two panels (not me), plus a booth — which I’ll help man. Everybody’s jacked up about it, and there seems to be a little money available. My hunch is that Dave Biddulph and his wife had a little heart-to-heart about their finances and he convinced her to put more in.
The California Assembly has passed an Article V Reso calling for an Amendment Convention to overturn Citizens United. This means they know Article V can limit the scope of the call. Which means they might be open to a Term Limits Amendment. Aaron Cook of termlimitconvention.org sent me a couple hundred of his new business cards, which I will pass out in Dallas to legislators from the 34 states we’re not targeting on the BBA. It will be extremely interesting to see what kind of reaction I get to the idea of doing Congressional term limits through Article V. I was on an ALEC panel in Orlando 28 years ago, trying to make the same pitch. I got a polite reception, but no takers.
North Dakota looks like a piece of cake, just like Louisiana. Montana and Wyoming will be my focus next year, along with Utah.
Since I’m not counting on getting to 34 until 2016, I’ve got to develop a trait I’m weak on.
Patience.