You try to be open minded, and get outside your bubble. So you keep up with things at the WaPo, and read Politico, and check out CNN occasionally. But lately, there’s not much point. The elite media, or as I call it, the Hive, speak with one voice, and has one thing to say: Trump is a disaster, a moron, and illegitimate.
But they’ve been wrong about him for close to two years, and they’ve learned nothing. This may be what their core audience wants, but outside that bubble are others, and they are losing their relevance. I’m hoping for a lot of good things from Trump. If he can break the bubble of the Hive, as he is intent on doing, it will be his most significant achievement, politically. Since the age of television began in the 50’s, the Hive has pushed the country left, and it’s been very effective. I like to think with Trump, and the internet, it has met its match, at last.
I think it’s important to recognize the significance of what Trump is doing with his America First trade policy. Since the founding, tariffs have been one of the most important political issues in this country. The Federalists wanted tariffs, the Jacksonians didn’t. After the Civil War, the Republicans wanted tariffs, and the Democrats in the South and West didn’t. After WW II, the Republicans were the champions of free trade, and the Democrats were more pro-tariff.
Bill Clinton pushed the Democrats toward free trade, and now Trump has made the Republican Party skeptical of unfettered free trade. In the grand scheme of things political, this is a very big deal. These sorts of shifts on fundamental economic policy happen very rarely in our history. And yet the Hive wants to talk about some gay provocateur being disinvited to CPAC. But maybe that is what people are interested in, and I’m becoming a curmudgeon.
After losing in the Arizona Senate a couple days ago, the Convention of States (CoS) is trying to blame their failure on the BBA Task Force. Apparently they think a lobbyist for the Task Force told some Senators to vote no on their Resolution. This is untrue, and needs to be quashed.
I’ve been associated with the Task Force for over three years, and the public and private stance has always been, with respect to conservative Article V proposals: come one, come all. We all want to use Article V to attack the center, the federal government. The more the merrier.
Before associating myself with the Task Force, I found the CoS on the internet. This was October of 2013, and I wanted to get involved with an Article V movement. I didn’t really care what it was about, term limits, the BBA, repeal the 16th Amendment, I didn’t care. I just wanted to use Article V. So I called up CoS, and someone explained to me what they were doing. As soon as I heard it was a multi-subject Resolution, I told them they had made a mistake. It wasn’t going to work. Any experienced and half way intelligent State Legislator can tell you: you don’t combine two or more major proposals into one bill. You’re multiplying your opposition when you do.
Nonetheless, when I was in Helena with Bill Fruth a couple years ago, and I noticed on the Legislative Calendar that CoS was up in Senate Judiciary, I hung around the Capitol for a couple hours, and signed up to testify on the bill. I was in the audience, lined up behind a microphone. When my turn came I gave as forceful and full throated endorsement as I could. And I still believe that. If CoS was politically feasible, I’d be all over it. But it’s not.
But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe after the BBA Convention is successfully concluded, there will be enough confidence in Article V, and enough appetite for some more attacks on the center, that CoS could succeed. It’s their only hope. Since most of the CoS are actually very good people, and committed patriots, I wish them well.
We’ll be asking our lobbyist to clear all this misunderstanding up in the Arizona Senate. The Task Force, in no way, shape, or form, recommends a no on CoS.
Loren Enns will be on hand in Cheyenne for final Senate passage tomorrow, as #29, Wyoming, is brought into this world. Each one is more precious than the one before. Let’s hope it’s the first of half a dozen.
reaganproject.com 