Retaking the Senate

Republicans need to retake the Senate in 2014.  To do this, GOP strategy should be to force the Senate Democrats to vote for Obama’s unpopular agenda over and over again.  The first step is the sequester.  Boehner should promise to carefully consider any bill cutting spending that passes the Senate.  Boehner should not negotiate with anybody, especially Obama who is the definition of bad faith negotiation.  Obama negotiates like Chicago Democrats do with Republicans, with a "take it or don’t we’ve got the votes" attitude.  He will not truly compromise on anything, especially budget cuts.  He wants budget and tax increases since he is a tax and spend liberal.  However, the Senate has a lot of members who have to face reelection.  They don’t want to be on the record voting for tax and spend, since it will not be popular in their states.  Democratic Senators from states Romney carried also don’t want to vote on the record for assault weapon bans or easy amnesty for illegal aliens.  Republicans should encourage them to vote on the record on these issues.  It will help us pick up about 7 Senate seats if they vote with Obama.

Obama Delivers Unemployment for Blacks

Forget for a minute the current president’s skin color.  Consider his results as they apply to the minority community that the president got to vote for him in overwhelming numbers.  The spread between black and white unemployment rates has increased under the current administration, both for teenagers and generally.  Black unemployment for both sexes aged 16 to 19 is currently 37.8 percent (seasonally adjusted).  Black unemployment generally is currently 13.8 percent (seasonally adjusted).   The comparable figures for whites are 20.8 percent for teenagers and 7.0 percent generally.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t02.htm  In 2008 under George W. Bush, black unemployment for both sexes aged 16 to 19 was 31.2 percent.  Black unemployment generally was 10.1 percent.  The comparable figures for whites in 2008 were 16.8 percent for teenagers and 5.2 percent generally. http://www.bls.gov/cps/race_ethnicity_2008_unemployment.htm  The difference between black and white teenagers is now 17 percentage points.  In 2008, it was 14.4 percentage points.  The difference between blacks and whites generally now is 6.8 percentage points.  Back in 2008 it was 4.9 percentage points. 

If the president was a white Republican, this record would be highlighted and denounced on front pages as an example of Republican racism.   If the president was a white Democrat, it would be regretted as a lack of progress, despite good intentions.  Since the president is black, nobody mentions it.  He is judged by the color of his skin, rather than the results of his policies.

Keynsian Economics Has Failed

Unfortunately, liberal elites are still the slaves of a dead economist, John Maynard Keynes.  Economists have not recognized the failure of Keynsian economics.  I think the uniform failure of deficit spending to promote growth has to be recognized.  If the model worked, we would not be talking about Japan's lost decade, or more accurately lost generation.  Japan's debt is now over 200 percent of GDP.  Their growth rate in response to an ocean of deficits is uniformly poor.  The story is similar in Europe, particularly Southern Europe.   There is no way Uncle Sam can continue to borrow 40 cents of every dollar spent.  When governments get this far behind, they usually pay off the debt with hyper inflation.  This never ends well.  The usual outcome is social disintegration followed by dictatorship.  For example, the hyper inflation of Weimar Germany after WWI lead to Hitler.  The Federal Reserve's constant quantitative easing in search of economic growth is going to lead to increasing inflation and interest rates.  They are buying 70 percent of the debt Federal Governments incurs each month.  Once interest rates go up, the deficits will balloon, 160 billion dollars a year for each percentage point.  We have got to cut spending and stop the coming train wreck.

Gay Marriage and the 10th Ammendment

I support gay marriage as long as it's done by state legislatures and not the courts. I think it requires state legislation to make it less contentious. The Supremes should rule that marriage is a state matter and that the 10th Amendment precludes Federal intrusion, so the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. However, I don't see how the 14th Amendment would apply in this case, so the Supremes should say it requires action state by state to make it legal. The Federal and state governments should recognize any marriage performed in any other state. I'm a Republican with libertarian tendencies. I don't think the Federal Government belongs in anybody's bedroom.

     I think marriage is a civil contract upon which inheritance is based. This was the position of the Pilgrims in 1620 who landed on Plymouth Rock without a minister to do weddings. Marriage is a legal construct to allow individuals to accept a standard relationship agreement enforced by the state. I don't believe marriage has to involve procreation. Procreation happens very frequently without marriage, and marriage happens very frequently without procreation. I do believe marriage is a states' rights issue. Every state should have the right to make its own laws about who can marry in their state. However, a marriage performed in any one state should be recognized in all states. I do not think that gay marriage is required by the 14th Amendment. In practical terms, it would be a Roe v Wade scale disaster if the Supremes tried to make law by ruling gay marriage is required by the 14th Amendment. It seems obvious that the 14th Amendment is about slavery and race. I don't think gay marriage was ever discussed as a reason for adoption of the Amendment. Finding an abortion penumbra in the constitution as an excuse to legislate from the bench has made the abortion argument much more divisive and prolonged than it would have been if it was left to the state legislatures to work out.  Gay marriage belongs in state legislatures.

      The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was legislated as a result of public support, not the result of the ruling in Brown vs Board of Education. The Roe vs Wade decision has been divisive for years and still is, in my opinion because it was legislated in court and not in the state legislatures. That's why gay marriage should be the legislature's call. The end is usually tainted by the means. If abortion had been worked out state by state, we'd be at the same place we are now with a lot fewer angry people. In the meantime, people can see that the sky won't fall just because gays are married. We can try it out and get used to it gradually. That's the advantage of a federal system. Local decisions can pave the way for more general results.

      Without the Defense of Marriage Act, gay marriages performed in New York, for example, would have to be recognized by all other states and the Federal Government. My wife's cousin got married to his partner in New York. They live in Florida. If DOMA is ruled unconstitutional, then Florida would have to recognize it. Also, they could file joint income tax and get social security survivor benefits. Problem solved without anywhere near the fuss of a 14th Amendment ruling that gay marriage is Constitutionally guaranteed.

      A 10th Amendment ruling against DOMA should get a lot of conservative backing. We love the 10th Amendment.  We want the Feds out of the picture as much as possible.  Consistency requires that we should want DOMA out of the picture as well.