Category: Economy

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Making the Case in Harney County

Making the Case

We have all heard the phrase “Don’t make a Federal case out of it!” Have you ever thought about what this means?

It means, you can’t win against the feds – so don’t even think about it. It means you can’t fight the raw power, money and monopoly interests that the federal government has ruthlessly acquired. It means that none of us can ever raise enough money to battle the accumulated wealth (originating from our own pockets) that will be ushered against our cause.

Yet, the Hammonds and the Bundys are making headlines in Harney County, Oregon because they are doing just that. These families are the focal point of the media onslaught.

The problem in Harney County is not a new problem. It is a systemic problem that the Founders recognized and feared. At the heart of the issue is the probability that the central government would seek to, “annihilate and absorb the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the several states, and produce… an iron banded despotism.” **

The blame lies with successive Congressional administrations who have failed to secure the unalienable rights and individual liberties of American citizens. Our so-called representatives have abandoned their Constitutional obligations to a limited federal government and the rights and liberties of the people within their state governments. Instead, they have funded every federal overreach allowing the slow annihilation of state sovereignty and the despotic absorption of state lands.

Why is the West “Federally” Managed?

Federally controlled land is predominately concentrated in the West. Nationally, the United States government has direct control over almost 650 million acres of land — nearly 30% of its total territory.  In Oregon, where I and the Hammond family live, the federal government controls 54% of all of the land. In Nevada, where the Bundy family lives, the federal government controls 84.5% of the land in the state.

Now, imagine if  you owned a business and some bureaucrat decided it was in the public’s best interest for them to manage 54%, or 84% of your resources – this is what is happening throughout the West. The feds under the false color of law have essentially done this to the Western states. The feds also receive the benefit of those resources and they control the disposition of all of those assets.

This is why thousands and thousands of Americans are standing with and applauding these families who are fighting back against the abuses of these federal agencies.

Teddy and the Midnight Reserves (warning: not a bedtime story)

In Oregon, this tragedy started a hundred years ago with grossly unconstitutional actions by a Republican “progressive” living in the White House – Theodore Roosevelt.

Between 1902 and 1906, President Roosevelt, with his fountain pen and telegraph poles, went tearing through the maps of Oregon. He grabbed enormous swaths of Oregon’s pristine landscape and forested wilderness for federal control.

Oregon’s U.S. Senator Charles W. Fulton was outraged by these unprecedented actions. Fulton introduced legislation to eliminate the president’s authority to establish national forest reserves via executive orders in 1907.

The night before signing this law, Roosevelt issued another Executive Order snatching an additional 16 million acres from Oregon’s control. Honest journalists of the day deridingly labeled these new forests as the “Midnight Reserves.”

Then, in 1908, after the legislation prohibiting these blatant land grabs, Roosevelt engineered a new scheme to pluck more land from the states.

Roosevelt designated land surrounding Malhuer, Mud and Harney Lakes in Eastern Oregon as an “Indian reservation.” Roosevelt’s swindle avoided using the phrase “forest reserve,” which was now illegal after Fulton’s legislation. Instead, these new takings were identified, “as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds.”

This was nothing more than an unconstitutional land grab.  Later this “Indian reservation,” which did not include the 13,700 acre Burns Paiute Reservation, became the Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge.

This refuge is the immediate source of the BLM conflict with the Hammond family in Oregon.

The Constitution

Federal fiddling in these areas is flatly unconstitutional. The only relevant authority for federal land ownership comes from the US Constitution. It is known as the Enclave Clause:

“To exercise exclusive Legislation… over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased… for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;”

– Article I, Section 8, Clause 17

While Washington, D.C. remains within the boundary limit of “ten Miles square,” the federal government has blown through all reasonable expectations for forts, ports, arsenals and other military installations. Those installations now exceed 44,500 square miles of land within the states.

The federal government’s rough-shod management of an additional 1 million square miles (650 million acres) of state land is wholly unconstitutional. The Department of the Interior administers 96% of these ill-gotten state lands with one non-elected office holder (Secretary of the Interior), who serves at the pleasure of the President, directing this  unbridled Leviathan.

These are the reasons why large segments of the Western states support the Hammonds,  Bundys and the myriads of other families that come under the gun of these federal marauders.

Last week, Oregon’s U.S. Rep. Greg Walden issued a warm-hearted plea which contained many great talking points. Unfortunately for Americans, it is another toothless gesture. During Walden’s 18 years as a House member he has done little to rein-in this voracious federal machine. Instead, Walden, along with his RINO cohorts and Democrat allies, has needlessly ladled a steady stream of trillion dollar, taxpayer funded budgets into the mouths of D.C.’s lobbyists and bureaucrats.

Congress has long ignored the beauty and strength of 1) limited government, and 2) fiscal accountability. They have promoted government growth at unprecedented levels while their constituents have been successfully bribed by promises for economic riches.

The power of the purse is key

These federal raids on our state sovereignty can only be stopped by using the Constitution rightly. First, this means state nullification of unconstitutional federal actions. Secondly, our Representatives need to exercise their Constitutional obligation to manage federal dollars prudently and begin to do the hard work of defunding these gigantic Federal Bureaucracies.

Thomas Jefferson, wrote, “In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”

Adherence to our U.S. Constitution is the Federal case that we must make. It is the ONLY Solution Big Enough!

** Bruce Frohnen, The American Republic: Primary Sources, ed. Bruce Frohnen (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2002). 1/10/2016. http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/669#Frohnen_0082_1989

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Perverting the Plain Meaning

Language is an important tool of political control. In our modern Twitter-pated world where sound bites rule, words or labels do not have to be accurate. They are easily thrown about and can be applied to anything. The Twitter-narrative does not have to be accurate to be seen by millions.

Our modern technology has made it easier to spread spurious ideas around the globe. There is nothing new here. Samuel Adams, noted the same thing in 1776. He said, “How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!”

This is why we see policies emanating from Federal agencies. i.e, BLM, EPA, USFS, Public Schools and Universities that appear confused, misaligned or contradictory. The words are being manipulated based upon their value as sound bites, not their adherence to truth.

The strategies employed by the federal government and its cadre of self-seeking crony-capitalists and bureaucrats is actually quite Machiavellian.

For some background, Machiavelli, was disillusioned with the myriad of struggles amongst smaller cities in Italy during the 1500’s. He viewed the small-townships and communities, with their independence, as detrimental to Italy’s potential for greatness. He defined several effective methods for seizing and maintaining power.

His formula for effective government asserted that good rulers sometimes have to learn “not to be good.” He, noted, they must be willing to set aside ethical concerns of justice, honesty, and kindness in order to maintain the stability of the state.

This is the essence of today’s statism – where the stability and power of the state matters more than your individual Life, Liberty or free pursuits.

Wikipedia notes some attributes of Machiavellian theory:

  •     Engage in both Blame and Forgiveness, as the situation dictates;
  •     Engage in both Lying and Truth-telling, as appropriate means to an end;
  •     Make alliances and break alliances to fit the circumstance;
  •     Make promises and break promises as the need arises;
  •     Make rules and break rules as necessary;
  •     Mislead and misdirect to deceive the citizens.

Notice that Machiavelli’s list simultaneously names both sides of each issue, i.e., lie and tell the truth. His advise was to use whichever one, at whichever moment, as a means for maintaining power and securing the stability of the state.

Our founder’s unanimously rejected the Machiavellian theory.  They would not be swayed by pragmatic circumstances to permit some deception on Monday followed by a small dose of truth on Tuesday. They knew that  powerful men could sway public opinion by deceptively promoting uncertainty and fear.

This is why America was conceived and developed as a constitutionally federated republic. Each of these three terms, together, are essential for conveying the basic ideas describing our form of government.*

First, the Constitution was a written document that pre-defined and limited the extent of government’s responsibilities. These limits are often referred to as the enumerated powers. Madison wrote,

“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal Government, are few and defined.  Those which are to remain in the State Governments are numerous and indefinite. … The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects, which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties and properties of the people.” – Federalist #45.

Our Founder’s words had meaning. In their day, male meant male, terror meant terror, illegal meant illegal. These meanings were known and understood universally.  In this way, the Constitution was a document where there was no room for arbitrary changes in policy or authority.

The Constitution was based upon defined rules, not guidelines. These rules were the  well-understood principals for attaining Life, Liberty and personal fulfillment.

Second, the Constitution was discussed, amended, and ratified by a federation of free, independent and sovereign states. The same thirteen colonies who issued, “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America” in Congress on July 4, 1776.

Notice even in this declaration, “united” is lower-case and “States” was written with an initial capital.  There was no desire for an outside ruler, whether King George III, Parliament, Congress or the Office of the President. The State was recognized as the ultimate source for local governance, not the U.N., NATO, TPP, nor the federal leviathan.

Lastly, Republican government refers to two things: the origin of governmental powers, and the manner in which these powers are exercised. That is, they come from the consent of the governed and they are exercised by elected representatives.

James Madison said that “we may define a republic to be … a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure, for a limited period, or during good behavior.” – Federalist #39

In No. California and So. Oregon there are people who realize that they have been swindled by self-seeking politicians who are following Machiavelli’s rules.  They are promoting a movement for the State of Jefferson. (General information, Latest video)

They recognize that today’s political class are no longer serving the Constitution –  they no longer serve for limited periods; they have no fiscal integrity; they are waging war against the Bill of Rights; and they are no longer serving the general welfare. Today, the political elites work for Wall Street-financed crony-capitalists, self-interested public-sector unions, government-financed community service and public health agencies. Each of these entities employs scores pf lobbyists to ensure their access to America’s largess, the seed-corn of our future. The Machiavellian progressives are tearing at our Republic’s foundations.

The State of Jefferson movement has a slogan, “The Time Has Come For 51,” meaning they would like to split from their respective state governments and become the 51st state in the Union. It’s been done before (think, Virginia and West Virginia), and with popular momentum it can happen again.

But, I contend, its more than just time for 51. It’s time for all fifty states to secure our individual liberty and unalienable rights. Its time for voters to reject statism and return to local governance and sound Constitutional principles. If their state’s Representatives and Senators won’t serve these constitutional principles then its time to cut those Machiavellian cohorts free from their positions of power.

* Please refer to Carson, Clarence B., The American Tradition, (The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., New York, 1964) for a thorough exploration of these ideas.
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Spreading Through America’s Bloodstream

Last week, I drew a word picture about the outrageous growth of the federal government and its cadre of domineering agencies. I likened them to a bad case of acne. At issue was the BLM’s charges against members of the Hammond family who are facing sentencing under Bill Clinton’s Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.

Some people thought the word picture was too disgusting. I actually don’t think it was strong enough. After all, most of us outgrew our teenage acne problems. So my comparison makes it seem as though these agencies aren’t that bad because we all survived our adolescent bouts with acne.

It turns out acne does’t invoke the powerful imagery that is necessary to illustrate the fatal nature of these tyrannical bureaucracies. Acne is not terminal and is nothing like the plague, small pox or Ebola. Today’s federal intrusions are more serious, more akin to a metastasizing cancer.

A metastatic cancer is a cancer that grows and spreads through the body’s own bloodstream. As it spreads it takes root and spawns more growth. This grow/spawn/spread scenario is eventually fatal because the host’s systems slowly get drained of their normal function and utility.

However, cancer too, is a more localized tragedy. It may have affected you, a relative or a friend, but it doesn’t indiscriminately attack a culture or society. The federal government, on-the-other-hand, is an all-consuming force.

We see this force hammering against industries like Obama’s war on coal, or the governments actions against hydro-power, mining, cattle ranching or timber harvesting.

It even strikes at the heart of our nation’s communities, families and individuals. It is happening to good people like the Hammond’s in Oregon, the Bundy’s and Hage’s in Nevada and Andy Johnson in Fort Bridger, Wyoming.

In order to grasp the unrestricted and arbitrary nature of the swollen power housed within these bureaucracies thumb through a few pages of this documentation for the BLM v E. Wayne Hage case.

Here it becomes plain that by using our tax dollars, the federal agencies can continue to pursue outrageous legal actions despite the Court’s contempt rulings against the conduct of the BLM Manager and USFS Rangers. The bureaucrats at these federal agencies are tireless when it comes to using our tax dollars to win their fights against our families.

Throughout human-history vast accumulations of power have created more problems than they’ve solved. The federal government does not have undifferentiated ‘governmental power.’ Instead, the constitution vests three different branches with three unique types of power – power for legislating, executing and adjudicating the fairness of any actions.

During the 1787 Constitutional debate the Anti-Federalists wrote extensively on their skepticism for the long-term success of such a vast central government run by fallen men:

“The powers vested in Congress by this [proposed] constitution, must necessarily annihilate and absorb the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the several states, and produce from their ruins one consolidated government, which… will be an iron banded despotism.”

This annihilation and absorption of state powers is not like an internal cancer because it is an over-powering external force. It is more like a predator consuming its prey. It exerts crushing power against each independent and sovereign state.

The Founders recognized that pervasive power could be the, “potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the Power of the People, and to usurp for themselves the reins of Government.”  This in turn would be, “the means of annihilating the constitutions of the several states, and consequently, the liberties of the people.”

In this sense, today’s concentrated federal power is more dangerous than ever. Congress has abdicated their constitutional responsibility to legislate and this abandonment has led to the insidious bureaucratic and regulatory growth that we witness today. Additionally, the House of Representatives consistently refuses to exercise their  “Power of the Purse” to limit the growth of government and protect, preserve and secure the inherent rights and dignity of the American people.

Congress’ continual surrender works like this: First, Congress passes a very generic law to manage “Federal lands to meet the needs of present and future generations.”  This legislative function, however, does not provide many specifics. Even ObamaCare and ObamaTrade (Affordable Care Act, Trans-Pacific Partnership agreements) at nearly 10,000 pages of legalese leave most of the real dirty work to Executive level Cabinet members, not Congress.

This tactic authorizes various unelected commissions, bureaus or departments to create and empower other bureaucracies, such as the BLM, USFS, BOR, FWS, NPS, EPA, etc. to establish benchmarks, science and goals set by special interest groups intent on gaming the system.

Each of these new regulations comes complete with a phalanx of enforcement measures, such as, fines, permits, fees and operating restrictions (i.e., the force of law).  When these new regulations crush a citizen, family or an entire community we often hear the perpetually re-elected incumbent rail against the bureau’s actions.

Yet, Congress created this status-quo and they continually provide vast sums of borrowed money to fund it.bureaucratic-maze

We see it constantly. Agencies routinely make regulations, administer the rules and adjudicate any complaints or appeals. By their very nature these administrative agencies are unconstitutional because they violate the intrinsic principle of consensual governance which stems from the separation of powers.

As the federal government becomes more corrupt and disengaged from its responsibility to, “We the People” the concentrated power becomes evermore treacherous. These agencies glow with absurd arrogance and self-righteousness while demeaning wholesome citizens.

This fatal corruption flows continually from the core. It diligently usurps state and local authority with a steady stream of new rules and regulations published in the Federal Registry. This registry is itself the bloated encyclopedia of administrative abuses costing taxpayers hundreds of billions. Politicians, in turn, make more exotic promises and gather more special interest groups, crony-capitalists or citizens as favored constituents.

Our fight is to reign in out-of-control bureaucracies and return America to it’s roots founded in personal responsibility, individual liberty, free-market ingenuity and a government intent on securing the God-given, unalienable rights of the American people.

“In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man,
but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”

–Thomas Jefferson, fair copy of the drafts of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798

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Another Side of Beef?

Special interest lobbyists across America have essentially gutted our Republic. They have become so adept at picking through the bones of our public treasury that they behave more like ravenous wolves than Sons of Liberty.

Yesterday’s House budget deal, delivered by the new Speaker Paul Ryan is nothing but a John Boehner organized Republican blessing on all of Obama’s artful designs. This budget deal, like others over the past 20 years will ensure continual federal debt and deficits while driving the federal leviathan toward complete dysfunction.

Butchers at the Meat Mart

Politicians, in both parties, act more like butchers than representatives as they wield their tools. They specialize in separating the tender morsels of meat stock from the remainder of the carcass. Their self-serving promotional pieces and basic handouts look like the sections of a butchered beef cow.

In beef cutting, a phrase like “choice cut” is quite different from a “select” or “prime cut.”  The USDA came up with several confusingly subjective, supposedly precise, designations to make every consumer feel like he or she was going to be a winner at the butcher’s counter.

Yet, certainly there is a difference. They are priced differently; they cook differently; they have different structural components, and one is more tender, more flavorful and easier to swallow.

This example illustrates how bureaucrats and politicians prefer to confuse the public with well-meaning, feel-good phrases instead of tackling issues with honesty and clarity.

There’s one more rump to carve up now that the nation’s economic carcass is almost in the bag.

Our state’s Democrat Senators, Wyden and Merkley, and Republican Representative Walden are all thoroughly enjoying their time at the bipartisan butcher block as they scheme about methods of slicing up taxpayers via the KBRA/KHSA. [For those not living near Southern Oregon or Northern California these two cash cows are the area’s twin step-sisters: Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA) and the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement (KHSA).]

When Congress sets out to do the Thanksgiving Day carving, our Constitutionally defined Representative Republic and it’s free-market principles are surely on the cutting board.

Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway holding company will be one of the largest winners. Berkshire Hathaway is the parent company for PacifiCorp, the actual owner of the four dams slated for removal. There is no doubt that taxpayers will get turned regularly on the spit of their Representative’s making, while everyone else at the table will get a bone to chew on.

Baskets of Subsidies

The current KBRA/KHSA promises the special interest “stakeholders” a basket of  plentiful goodies:

  • PacifiCorp will receive more than $1 billion in funding for their dam removal efforts.
  • PacifiCorp will inch its way toward meeting the renewable portfolio standard (RPS) as electric utility users grab at rebates structured to reward lobbying interests.
  • PacifiCorp will also receive taxpayer funding for operating their Link River and Keno Dams.
  • The KBRA provides $92,500,000 to the Klamath Water and Power Agency (KWAPA). KWAPA is a Joint Powers/Inter-governmental Agency whose members are water agencies within the Klamath Basin Watershed.
  • Irrigators will receive Electric Power Subsidies to fund unspecified projects to generate renewable energy and increase energy efficiency to reduce power costs.
  • Commercial farming interests in Tule Lake will receive a Pumping Cost Subsidy. This subsidy will transfer costs from a single localized irrigation district to taxpayers across the nation as the USFWS absorbs the cost transfer
  • Owners of thousands of acres of irrigated land will need to”voluntarily” retire their water rights so that the water flows can get transferred to other collective interests.
  • Tribal interests will receive a direct transfer of 100,000 acres from our Winema National Forest.
  • Politicians will receive the benefit of telling us that our government is more concerned about the environment than those of us who actually live and work the land. They will also use this as an opportunity to push their socialist mantra about the benefits of redistributive policies.
  • Lastly, environmental fear-mongers will get their entire agenda subsidized via taxpayer funding.

Too Good To Be True

Even in politi-speak these deals sound too good to be true. The new, progressive American way doesn’t bother to mention any potential downsides, costs, or pay any attention to the stark realities facing the Federal government.

Our nation’s deficit is $19.8 trillion dollars. Therefore, any legislation that adds debt to the deficit cannot be seen as a prudent move by our Congress. The issuance of debt by our government to destroy infrastructure in order to boast about temporary economic activity and job creation is a shell game rigged against the future of our children.

The development of green energy production capacity is another fraudulent subsidy to reward special interests with taxpayer funds. Lastly, debt financed destruction of our nation’s clean, low-cost energy capacity will never produce the prosperity our communities need to sustain themselves.

In the end, the butchers of our great nation will be tussling over the maggot infested bones of our once  vibrant Republic while the local community will be left holding their hand painted signs promising, “KBRA=Jobs.”

You’ll have to admit, its got a nice ring; it makes an easy #hashtag for Twitter users, its under 140 characters and it certainly looks triumphant on taxpayer funded government license plates.

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I Smell More than One Rat!

My article, KBRA – The Trap is Set, caught (pun intended) some heat and lots of comments, too.

Please know that I chose my words carefully and I never accused anyone of being “a rat” but I did set up an illustration to point out that the federal government treats most of us like rats.

Apparently, the big boys in their white, lab-coats like having us run in our cages. They want to control every aspect of our lives:

  • How much we eat and drink,
  • What we eat and drink,
  • How much energy we consume,
  • What types of energy we consume
  • How much grass our cows consume,
  • How much water we use when we flush our toilets, etc., etc.

The elites in science have made puppets out of our legislators and are fast becoming the new ruling class.

Legendary Oxford scholar, Christian apologist and author C.S. Lewis warned, “The new oligarchy must increasingly rely on the advice of scientists until in the end the politicians become merely the scientists’ puppets.” Lewis’ warning realizes that science (a good thing) could be systematically perverted to attack religious traditions, subvert  law and destroy human freedom. Lewis’ predictions are essential for us today because science is being used to extract money and power from the tax-paying public.

Consider science claims that once occupied the thrones of power and have since been debunked:

  • The American public was told that coffee, eggs and bacon were killers. We were told to drastically reduce our consumption or our health would pay the price. Now, a few years later, the folks in the white lab-coats have new science that says, “Oops…  coffee, eggs and bacon actually contribute to healthy diets.”
  • In another example, paper grocery sacks were once common place, but plastic bag manufacturers developed a winning marketing strategy. They re-defined paper products  as “non-renewable” because they come from our forest lands. Yet, everyone knows forest products are a naturally plentiful, renewable and bio-degradable. This was scare-mongering at its worse because the politically motivated marketing strategy actually prevailed over common-sense.

Legislators were caught, in a trap of their own making. They forgot their duty to the US Constitution – they wanted power, control and money.

The plastics industry consortium had set a perfect trap. They pushed an alternative backed by so-called science. It even looked reasonable, particularly after they sold the claim that worldwide destruction of forests would be imminent without immediate action.

Politicians saw their re-election campaign coffers filling with special interest money and they were trapped – like rats!

The same tactic is being used today against clean, affordable, renewable hydro-electric dam facilities. In Oregon, hydro-electric generation facilities constructed before 1995 have been deemed non-renewable by the legislature. This doesn’t make sense except that Oregon’s legislature has also been snagged by the false promises coming from the federal government.

The State of Oregon would be one of the nation’s top renewable energy producers if their  hydro-electric definition followed common-sense.  Unfortunately, as a top renewable producer, Oregon would no longer have access to fistfuls of money flowing from the federal largess.

In these cases, politics and science can be viewed as evil step-sisters. When left to their independent realms they can serve the public well, but when combined they are often misused.

Today, in the plastic bag arena, it’s happening in reverse.  Estimates suggest over 1 trillion disposable plastic bags are used worldwide every year. Americans use and throw away 100 billion of these bags.

What solutions are being shoveled at the public? Government regulation, of course. Science again will be used to funnel your tax-dollars into the political winner’s circle.

This is not a solution, it is only regulation. It only serves those winners the government chooses, through legislative mandate. Remember, government has no power except coercive power – the power of forcing compliance through regulatory agencies.

Only free markets can accomplish solutions. Free markets do not need political aide to survive. This is why the KBRA/KHSA issue is so divisive. It promotes government regulation of water flows over common-sense solutions for solving water scarcity. Why not add water to our watershed? Why were water storage reservoirs omitted from this comprehensive 50 year agreement? Who’s in charge here? Who’s your master? (How many gallons of water can we use with each flush?)

Seeking political solutions to our societies problems of supply and demand would be like pouring clean, golden brown motor oil on your hot-cakes – it might serve as an appealing photo-op but it is a deadly combination.

Nearly 185 years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville noticed the potential for despotism in America. He observed men, “incessantly endeavoring to procure the petty and paltry pleasures with which they glut their lives.” Over these citizens would reign, “an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications.”

With dramatic insight, Tocqueville notes, “It would be like the authority of a parent if…  its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks… to keep them in perpetual childhood…”

Tocqueville realized the threat of lost liberty. He notes, it will happen when the government, “chooses to be the sole agent” of our happiness, security and pleasures.

His most poignant insight is the question, “What remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living?”

Tocqueville was a far better word smith than I and he avoided the “rat” analogy by using the more common language of his era which described a horse in harness: “Every man allows himself to be put in leading-strings, because he sees that it is not a person or a class of persons, but the people at large, who hold the end of his chain.”

In closing:

“Be not intimidated … nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice.” – John Adams (1765)

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Dam Removal is Fishy Business

Last Friday, I was on Bill Meyer’s Radio Show discussing the KBRA/KHSA agreements. Bill asked Klamath County Commissioner Tom Mallams, former Shasta Nation Vice Chairman Gary Lake, and myself to provide insight to the apparent support for dam removal from Oregon’s only Republican House member Greg Walden.

Unfortunately for Rep. Walden, he can’t have it both ways. He can’t pretend to work for rural American values while flushing our property rights and precious fresh-water resources into the Salty Pacific.

Not only does the KBRA and KHSA take water resources from Klamath and Siskiyou counties and the Rogue Valley, but it sets precedence throughout the United States. These measures, if successful, will instruct others on how to successfully use political power to transfer private wealth into collective interests’ pockets. The KBRA/KHSA represents the classic “Divide and Conquer” paradigm: tribes against agriculture, project irrigators against non-project irrigators, wind and solar interests against ratepayers, business cronyism against taxpayers, and finally, the Endangered Species Act against the rest of us.

These agreements are bad for property owners, ratepayers, and taxpayers. They may result in a tidal wave of dam removal efforts across the US, because they ignore facts and propose feel-good measures that can’t possibly achieve their utopian goals.

20 Reasons Why the KBRA/KHSA Does Not Work

 

  1. Ratepayers will pay in excess of $1 billion to remove the private assets of PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway investment empire.
  2. Ratepayers will pay unknown costs for replacing the 155 megawatts of cheap, clean, renewable hydro-power electricity with other more expensive forms of energy.
  3. The Department of the Interior has recently offered to transfer nearly 100,000 acres (156 mi.2) of the Fremont-Winema National Forest back to tribal ownership. The Fremont-Winema National Forest was originally created following the termination of federal recognition of and government services to the Klamath Tribes. The 1954 Klamath Termination Act also paid $41,000 to each of the 1,659 enrolled tribal members (68 Stat. 718). In current dollar terms this would equate to $362,667.10 for each of those tribal members. This would be the equivalent of transferring more than $601 million (current dollars) for the creation of the Fremont-Winema forest.
  4. The dams are at an elevation which is 2,500 feet lower than Klamath’s agricultural basin. The dams are also between 50 and 60 miles downstream from the Klamath agricultural community’s interests. Because of these two facts, anyone can see that Klamath Basin Agriculture has no explicit need for the dams, in or out. The farmers in the Klamath Basin have signed on to this agreement in an effort to preserve their established water-rights which were diminished through the preposterous twisting of administrative water regulation by the State of Oregon.
  5. The agreements do not re-establish agricultural water rights for farmers. The agreements only propose that tribes will not fully exercise their new-found water rights. This is the meaning of the phrase, “water-certainty,” within the agreements. No guarantees of water delivery are explicitly identified.
  6. The water delivery schedule still has a descending priority. First, to fish, second to the  environment, and lastly, to agriculture. Water deliveries are still subject to tribal calls on the water, new endangered species mitigation, new biological opinions regarding current mitigation, and revised regulatory decisions about allocations to existing uses.
  7. The Biological Opinions used for determining water requirements for endangered or threatened species run contrary to scientific evidence. The complex eco-system for maintaining flows and lake levels can be better accomplished with dams left in place. Otherwise, we risk creating a fishy version of the Barred Owl against the Spotted Owl, or the Pacific salmon verses the Harbor Seal in the Northwest. Which of these identified species will win the crown: Lost River Suckers, Shortnose Suckers, Redband Trout, Steelhead, Chinook or Coho salmon? Destroying the dams can’t possibly resolve the conflicting priorities across competing species.
  8. Economic viability of agricultural enterprises will be continually undermined in favor of land idling (using tax-dollars to buy idleness from farmers), out-right bankruptcies, fire sales to environmental or land conservation groups, while leaving the land to its original non-irrigated, pre-historic, high-dessert uses.
  9. Recent year salmon fish counts far exceed (by 100%) any recorded salmon counts from pre-dam construction years.
  10. Cool, voluminous water flows are good for fish and wildlife habitat. Non-seasonal water leveling and flow management can only be provided with dam infrastructure in place.
  11. The dams act as giant settling ponds, removing algae and tons of deadly toxins and other sedimentation which would otherwise foul the river system.
  12. Without the dams in place the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) will be stripped of necessary tools (i.e., river pulsing and flushing) for managing water quality and fish disease outbreaks.
  13. Destroying the dam infrastructures clearly violates the Clean Water Act. Does the problem disappear because there is an “exceptional discharge exemption?” No. It just becomes legal. Using this logic, regulating agencies could argue that a waiver was the only thing needed to appease the people living in the Animus River basin, where the EPA recently dumped 3 million gallons of toxic chemical waste.
  14. The “exceptional discharge exemption” focuses only on calculations for tons of concrete and rebar debris. However, there is no plan for managing the estimated 22.6 million tons of toxic sediment that is currently stored behind the existing dams. This volume is 1000 times more than the toxic Animus river discharge.
  15. Allowing federal contractors to poison downstream aquatic life and salmon spawning beds will create harmful conditions that may take decades to resolve.
  16. Before any studies were completed, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission stated that there was nothing PacifiCorp could do to get the dams re-licensed. This is the type of agenda-driven overreach that mimics the EPA’s predetermined rejection of the Pebble Basin Mine in Alaska.
  17. The “stakeholder” group was created through political, agenda-driven motives by Oregon’s disgraced former Gov. John Kitzhaber. Environmental special interest groups were deemed “stakeholders” with standing, exceeding the rights of private property owners and water right holders.
  18. Private property rights, in the form of water right holdings, become uncompensated “takings” under the agreements.
  19. The destruction of water and river front property value is a clear, unjustified and uncompensated  “taking” of private property.
  20. Public disclosures regarding the total costs to ratepayers and taxpayers is incomplete and disingenuous.

The KBRA and the KHSA agreements would be enormously expensive.  There is no budget for this money, so it must be borrowed from our children’s futures. Will these untapped natural river resources provide our posterity with the means for servicing this debt? Do these expenses solve the real problems? Can these costs be justified?

Oregon’s only Republican House member, Rep. Walden ought to listen to his conservative peers, like  Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) instead of following in the footsteps of our states far-left, progressive liberals, Sen. Wyden (D-OR), Sen. Merkley (D-OR), Rep. DeFazio (D), et al.

In November of 2011, Rep. McClintock, gave his summary of the poorly engineered KBRA/KHSA agreements:

“Amidst spiraling electricity prices and chronic electricity shortages the effort to tear down four perfectly good hydroelectric dams at enormous cost to ratepayers and taxpayers is insane. These dams produce up to 155 megawatts of the cleanest and cheapest electricity on the planet – enough for 155,000 homes.

“Proponents say it is necessary to tear down the dams to help increase the salmon population, and yet we did that a long time ago by building fish hatcheries. The problem is that hatchery fish are not included in the population count. And to add insult to insanity, if the Iron Gate Dam is torn out, the result will be loss of water needed to operate the Iron Gate Fish Hatchery, which produces five million salmon smolts every year.

“Fortunately, congressional approval is necessary to move forward. The full House voted earlier this year against proceeding with the Klamath dam removal. That [2011] precedent, and a $13 trillion national debt {now, $20 trillion] speak volumes on the chances of this legislation passing in the House over the next year.”

What was true then, is true today. That’s the nature of truth, it doesn’t change with the tide.

     “The American farmer is in a situation today that can be solved. The solution is not one of governmental policies that create short-term “fixes” for the farmer. The best method to let the farmer prosper is the same solution that would let the other parts of the economy prosper. Government must remove the burdens placed upon the individual. The individual must be allowed to compete on an equal basis to become competitive with his peers.”

—Edgar Terry, a fourth-generation farmer in Ventura, California

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KBRA – The Trap is Set

The KBRA media blitz gets a second wind

Currently, a grossly misguided dam removal agenda is sweeping across the US. In my backyard, Klamath County, Oregon we have a classic example. So-called stakeholders want politicians to give agriculture subsidized energy, give tribal interests 100,000 acres of US forest land while detonating 4 hydroelectric dams and giving the bill to taxpayers and utility rate payers.  The dams are located in Southern Oregon and Northern California and the agreements forged by this cabal are known as the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreements (KBRA).

The KBRA proponent’s siren song for “water certainty” has reached a fevered pitch. The legislative clock is running out of time and the special interest stakeholders are desperate to sway public opinion in favor of destroying four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River.

The KBRA is really no different than the false promises of Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. Bernie offers Utopia – free college, food-stamps, housing, even the kitchen-sink. This type of despotic lie has plagued democracies throughout history. It is not new.

We, as hard-working, tax-paying citizens need to evaluate the real consequences of promises championed by self-serving special interest groups. We must decide whether they are true or false, cost-effective or wasteful, realistic or appropriate.

While reviewing the KBRA specifics we should also consider Thomas Paine’s timeless question, “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?”

Bait the trap and rats will come

Where I live pack-rats abound. The vermin are always trying to nest in the engine compartment of my back-hoe, my wood pile or under our patio decking. The best solution that I’ve found is trapping them. Once rats are present, the only way to catch them is with something very attractive or palatable. I use peanut butter, raisins, cheese or whatever is at hand. It works pretty well and I continually upset the rats’ dreams for a worry-free and blissful existence.

Why do we allow ourselves to be baited, like rats, with schemes that we know are too good to be true?

Ask yourselves, which of Oregon’s legislators could resist the bait, from Obama, to spend $310,000,000 to create the fiasco known as Cover Oregon? Where did that money come from and what did we get for it?

Or, let’s look at Obama-Care. It promises “affordable health care” for everyone. Yet, its projected costs will exceed  $2,000,000,000,000 in less than ten years. Are we, as taxpayers, really hoping to snag great healthcare out of this deal?

KBRA Promises

The KBRA promises “water certainty” without addressing reservoirs or water storage needs.  Agricultural, metropolitan and environmental water demands can only be met by plentiful access to precious sources.

If water storage in our upper elevation snowpack remains below normal then it would behoove us to store water elsewhere rather than allowing bureaucrats to drain it into the salty Pacific.

Conservation mandates are not the answer. Mandates from bureaucracies cannot account for the wide variety of current circumstances, production value or efficiency measures that are in use by farmers and ranchers across the west.

Government dictates imply that marble-halled bureaucrats have the wisdom to efficiently allocate scarce resources. Yet, you and I know, governments are not efficient. The private sector, however, is the seedbed of innovation and efficiency.

Innovative technology can do the unimaginable – think computers, cars and cameras. Which governmental agency foresaw smart-phone technology 10 years ago?  Yet, the next 50 years of “water certainty” is supposedly accomplished by destroying four dams today – Go figure.

Future Needs

Also, the KBRA promises “certainty” without accounting for future fresh-water needs. Over the next 10 years, global population increases alone will demand 18% more fresh-water from developed countries and 50% more from under-developed countries.

The KBRA also promises plentiful Salmon, 1) without fisheries, and 2) without addressing the release of over 20,000,000 cubic yards of toxic sediment into the Klamath River.

This toxic volume would be 1,000 times greater than the tragic spill which the bumbling EPA dumped into the Animas River of Colorado this summer.

The trap is set; the spring is loaded; the stories are flooding through the media. Will any of us be clever enough to get some stale peanut butter, or moldy cheese without the trap snapping shut?

The KBRA is a “grand bargain” from a minority of stakeholders claiming to act on behalf of the majority. They are calling on us to surrender our wallets, our land, and our posterity’s future for false assurances of a Utopian dream that can never be realized.

Prosperity for America

Our goal ought to be for a prosperous America – an America that is capable of feeding the world. We have the natural resources. We have the men, women and families who are skilled in the technologies needed for global competition. We have cheap, abundant, renewable hydroelectric resources. We have untold varieties of salmon, beef, pork, poultry and dairy products in every grocery store. We provide fruits, vegetables, grains and livestock across the globe and we can provide more.

But this goal will not be achieved by driving families, ranchers, and farmers off the land. That is not be the sort of “certainty” that the Klamath Basin, or America, needs.

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EPA – a Rogue Agency

The EPA’s recent actions prove beyond any doubt that the organization is a rogue agency operating in a capricious and unlawful manner and it ought to be defunded.

Last month’s 3 million gallon spill of toxic mine waste into the Animas River is a perfect example of the EPA’s gross negligence and derogation of the rule of law. The Aug. 5 mine breach, sent millions of gallons of bright yellow, heavy-metal-contaminated water and sediment gushing into the Animas River.

That waste then flowed into the San Juan River, and eventually flowed into New Mexico and poured into Utah’s Lake Powell.

NOT above the Law

The Clean Water Act (CWA) provides that “the discharge of any pollutant by any person shall be unlawful.”

The act also specifies how pollutants can be legally managed via the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NDPES) permitting process. It also defines liability in the strictest sense and there is no requirement to prove intent or causation.

“The discharge of a pollutant” is defined broadly to include “any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source.” A “pollutant” is defined broadly to include “dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal and agricultural waste discharged into water . . .”.

Section 1342(a) authorizes the Administrator of the EPA to “issue a permit for the discharge of any pollutant.”  This requires “planning, public notices, filings, and formal approval before activities can be legally pursued.”

If those are the rules, Did the EPA:

  • thoroughly document their plans and processes? – NO;
  • issue public notices for hearings? – NO;
  • complete the proper permit filings? – NO;
  • receive formal approval before legally pursuing their activities? – NO.

Investigation Started

Senior Policy Analyst, Paul Driessen, writes, “The evidence strongly suggests that EPA never studied or calculated anything, had no operations plan vetted and approved by state officials or mining experts, was not trying to install a pipe – and was grossly careless and negligent.”  The full extent of the EPA’s illegal activities will require a thorough investigation.

To that end, two US House members, Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz submitted requests for all documents related to the EPA’s work at the Gold King Mine, including all photographs and videos of the work at the mine, the spill and damaged areas.

However, “asking for” and actually “getting” all of the documents are two very different things. The public has seen this many times before. What are the possible responses?

  • Another server crash or hard-drive failure.
  • Missing data due to illegal and unknown private email accounts. If Congress doesn’t know what they are looking for, how will they know when its not included?
  • Straight-out refusal or simple non-compliance is the easiest response to imagine.

The power hungry bureaucrats at the EPA already have tremendous power and yet they crave even more. Those who have made it to the top of the EPA food chain have more than just big offices and leather chairs. They know the funding games and they use new regulatory schemes and political hypocrisy to fill their marbled hallways with costly reasons to exist.

Why does the EPA exist?

All 50 states and all US Territories have their own agencies dedicated to environmental protection within their jurisdictional boundaries. State governments are the proper home for this authority.  After all, the 10th Amendment says “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Our natural environment is a regional phenomena at best. Rivers have local origins and flow through natural watersheds. Even large river systems like the Colorado or Mississippi span only a handful of the contiguous states. The forests here in Eastern Oregon are different from those in Oregon’s coastal ranges. Alabama’s hardwood forests don’t have spotted owls, barred owls, or marbled murrelets and the Oregon coast has never been a home for the Florida manatee.

Let me ask the question again, why does the EPA exist?
Answer: Control

Control – pure and simple.

Control over money, power and people. Control over every business, and entity within the reach of federal authority. Control over everything, literally everything. Every carrot, every raisin, every electronic part, every tree, every drop of water. It also includes all land use, water use, banking, science, international trade, technology, education, healthcare, and every product used in each of these broad categories.

The EPA’s control always masquerades under the banner of “protecting communities” and “keeping the region’s air, land, and water healthy.” These semantically pleasant appeals hide the fact that the EPA uses massive public relations efforts staffed with thousands of federal workers to leverage and push public sentiment toward their false, yet appealing, goals. The net result is government creating winners and losers (solar v. coal), awarding subsidies or sanctions (wind v. oil) and granting permits or denying allotments (fish v. farms).

All of these efforts force individuals and businesses to either abide or face fines and retribution. The end result is the wholesale  loss of individual liberty and the ultimate surrender of one’s freedoms in exchange for a meager state of permanent dependence. Clarence B. Carson summarizes the entrenched preoccupation that government has in promoting itself:

“Politicians have acquired a vested interest in moving the United States toward socialism, Not only does it provide them with prestige and power, but it helps them get elected to office. Politicians run for office on the basis of benefits, favors, subsidies, exemptions, grants;” and so forth which they will provide for the electorate. Notice how this impels us toward more and more governmental activity, for the man who would continue to be elected should promise ever greater benefits to his constituency.”

The government is that instrument which the people have delegated certain enumerated powers with an implied authority to use force. The underlying reality is the handful of men who are in control are the ones who have the force.

It turns out, it is not our Congress. It is the bureaucrat.

Is Congress Powerless?

No, Congress is not powerless, but they do lack courage.

Our current Republican Congress is providing full funding for the new rulers, the statists – those who promote the power and authority of government over and above the rights of the individual.

This is rule by bureaucrats, not representative government. The population now serves the bureaucracy. We are todays servants. The bureaucrats are not public servants, we are, and we serve at their whim.

This new oligarchy is visible in the sheer increase in numbers and obvious power of bureaucrats. They are the ones who assert their wills over us, by way of vaguely worded laws, “executive power,” disparate interpretations and by turning the police and courts into instruments of their will.

It’s time to get back to basics. It means throwing Republicans out of office if they talk tough but act like wandering school boys when the time for firmness arises. It means throwing Democrats out of office if they continually promote Socialism and the destruction of the American traditions – free-enterprise, individual liberty and personal responsibility.

We need to focus on our Constitutional government, complete with its limits, its freedoms, and our ability to regain our national birthright – Life, Liberty, property and our own individual pursuits.

Otherwise these rogue agencies will turn our nation into a kaleidoscopic mess of bad policies, poisoned rivers, burnt watersheds and incredibly harmful economic and environmental results.

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Power and Privilege

Executive Focus

President Obama has both eyes focused on completing his “fundamental transformation” of America. As a statist, he believes in the power and authority of the government to regulate and control every aspect of our lives.

Even Alexander Hamilton, an ardent proponent of federal control, recognized the pitfalls of power concentrated  in government.

 “The instruments by which it must act are either the authority of the laws or force. If the first be destroyed, the last must be substituted; and where this becomes the ordinary instrument of government, there is an end to liberty!

Hamilton continues by describing the exact events that we are witnessing in today’s Washington, D.C. He writes, “Those, therefore, who preach doctrines, or set examples which undermine or subvert the authority of the laws, lead us from freedom to slavery.”  This should remind you of the President’s efforts for executive amnesty, the EPA’s waters of the US or the administration’s purposeful destruction of America’s coal industry.

Unfortunately, only a handful of our so-called “representatives” in Congress are showing even a smidgen of the courage needed to withstand this statist onslaught.

For example, this summer Obama added more abuses under the Antiquities Act of 1906. The Antiquities Act was designed to allow U.S. presidents a swift method for protecting, “historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest” on federal lands.

Obama has single-handedly designated over 260 million acres of land under his warped interpretation of what should be “preserved.”  The federal government exercises jurisdictional responsibility for roughly 635-640 million acres, or 28% of the 2.27 billion acres of land in the United States and over 54% of the 12 western states. This means Obama has moved nearly one-third of that total acreage into this unique “wilderness” category. No drilling, no mining, no harvesting, no grazing, no fossil hunting or swimming with the kids without the appropriate paperwork from your federal overlords.

The amount of land moved by these Antiquities abuses is nearly four times the size of the sate of Oregon.  It should be obvious that this federal land-grab effort will not serve the public good and is an ideological bent that will ultimately destroy, not preserve our land.

The executive office should be stopped by one of the other co-equal authorities at the federal level, namely, Congress. Yet, if history is our guide, the judiciary will support these schemes and Congress will fund them.

Legislative Focus

It appears Congress is too busy looking for campaign contributions, quick legislative fixes that solve nothing, and finding enough money to fund all of the initiatives in the president’s budget. This Republican controlled Congress is complicit in funding unconstitutional executive policies, such as, Obamacare, Amnesty, the FCC and it’s takeover of the Internet, EPA’s destructive programs, the renegade operatives in the IRS, NSA, BOR, and the list goes on. Based on their voting records, it also appears that most members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats, don’t care about the Constitution’s original intentions.

Founders’ Focus

Our Nation’s primary founding document, The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America, identifies the reason that governments exist. The reason is simple. Governments are formed among men for the sole purpose of securing the unalienable Rights of everyone. These Rights are granted to man by his Creator, not government. These rights are obvious, self evident and identified as “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”.

The next sentence in the Declaration of Independence identifies two other Rights which are seldom referenced.

  • “the Right of the People to alter or abolish” any government which fails in its effort to secure these first rights.
  • the Right “to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness”

Notice, this power doesn’t belong to the President. It does not belong to the Executive, Legislative, or Judicial branches of government. It belongs to “the people” and we have these rights because God gave this authority to you and I.

President Obama doe not have the right to fundamentally transform the United States. Neither does Congress, nor does the Supreme Court.

These “rights” belong to the American people. We must not allow Congress to destroy our God-given Rights.

House of Representatives’ Focus

If the Republican controlled House disagrees with the absurd monument designations of federal land for historical purposes (Executive), or the EPA’s burdensome Power Plan (Legislative), or the recent Same-Sex Marriage fiasco (Judicial), why is the House funding the President’s artful designs for accomplishing these “fundamental transformations?”

The answer is as plain as the growth of the federal budget. They have become enamored with their own power and privilege. Alexis de Tocqueville described this destructive tendency in the mid-1830’s:

“[T]he sovereign power extends its arms over the entire society;
it covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated, minute, and uniform rules,
which the most original minds and the most vigorous souls
cannot break through to go beyond the crowd;
it does not break wills, but it softens them, bends them and directs them;
it rarely forces action, but it constantly opposes your acting;
it does not destroy, it prevents birth;
it does not tyrannize, it hinders, it represses, it enervates, it extinguishes, it stupefies, and
finally it reduces each nation to being nothing more than
a flock of timid and industrious animals,
of which the government is the shepherd.“

Baa, Baa, Baaa

A Better Focus

Give your support to candidates who believe in open, accountable and limited government, the Constitution and the rule of law, and policies that promote the liberty and prosperity of all Americans – The House Freedom Caucus

See how your legislators rank in FreedomWorks Senate Scorecard, FreedomWorks House Scorecard; the New American Index; the Conservative Review; or Heritage Action’s Scorecard.

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Secrecy Breeds Corruption and Tyranny – Part I

Secrecy breeds corruption and tyranny, while openness and transparency breed Liberty. Especially in matters of governance.

Which would you prefer?

This is a simple question because it is a very straight-forward idea.

Give yourself this test:

Do you want Secrecy or Transparency, when…

  1. Reviewing car repair options with your mechanic?
  2. Discussing possible treatment options for cancer?
  3. Going over your taxes with your accountant?
  4. Buying a new home, car, laptop, loaf of bread or pound of beef?

 

Obviously, each of us values openness and transparency. Why then, is the American public so complacent about the secrecy imposed by the President, House and Senate when they are attempting to legislate far-reaching and corporately focused global trade agreements?

Americans have been purposefully kept in the dark regarding the multi-faceted impacts of the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP, Trade Deal).  The myriad of agreements falling under the TPP will impact all of the above mentioned items. Not only your purchases of bread, beer, and beef but also your car, cancer treatment options and the price of your mechanic.

The US House and Senate are complicit with the Obama Administration in these “routine” machinations of darkness at the federal level.

Last week, the US House passed (H.R. 644) the ‘Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015’’ as an amendment to a bill known and entitled – ‘’An Act to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permanently extend and expand the charitable deduction for contributions of food inventory.’’

Does this make sense? Let me try to summarize: The House passed an IRS bill about charitable tax deductions which magically gets an entirely new (236 page) amendment that is a separate Act of Congress.

Is this open, honest and forthright?

We have sent these men and women to Congress to protect our Liberties and America’s sovereignty above all else. Have they abandoned their oath of office and responsibility?  Be assured Congress is trampling our future.

With regard to the details of  TPP, there is actually little to no information available.  Julian Assange, founder and publisher of WikiLeaks, is trying to get the information discovered and published. He wants to raise $100,000 (through crowdsourcing) as a reward to anyone who reveals the entire TPP text (all twenty-nine chapters). Today, WikiLeaks has only five chapters online.

(Note: Don’t be afraid to read these documents. They are available online. Your web-browser may issue a “security warning” which will make you feel like you are doing something “unsafe” but this is part of the lie that liars tell.  The TPP information that is available will not destroy your laptop or shatter world peace. Instead, it may help stop the White House along with the cowards in Congress.)

We have heard this Administration brag that it is, “the most transparent and ethical administration in history,” then why the secrecy?    House Republicans are no better. Remember, in 2011, their own pledge was to “restore trust” by giving all Representatives and citizens at least three days to read bills before any votes would be taken.

In reality, transparency is not their goal, power is.

Openness and transparency are abhorrent to tyrants. Their power and corruption grows more readily under the cover of darkness and misinformation.  This is why, if you have written or called your Congressman asking for details about the TPP, the answer was cloaked in obscurity.

The Patriot Post reveals the depth of secrecy:

“[It’s] So secret that, even if you’re a member of Congress and want information, you have two choices: You can attend a classified briefing that requires you to leave your staff members and cell phone at the door, or you can amble down to the basement of Capitol Visitor Center for a read. Again, one’s cellphone must be surrendered. And only one section at a time is provided, with someone watching over you as you read. If you take any notes they must be surrendered prior to leaving. After you leave, you are forbidden to discuss any aspects of the bill in public.

“On the other hand, here’s a list of 605 “cleared” corporate insiders who have been granted access for some period of the nearly 10 years of negotiations on this pact that have been taking place. Insiders who represent pharmaceutical companies, Hollywood studios, Wall Street, car and oil companies, and other corporate interests.”

All this time you and I have been thinking of trade in terms of commodities like barley, beef and bananas or ,manufactured products like cell phones, cars and cameras.

The truth is these agreements are designed to harvest the rewards of American prosperity to further socialist economic pursuits. (See more in Part II)

Our founders had a different idea. They believed in limited government. Their focus was on lowering the burdensome nature of taxes while allowing citizens the liberty of engaging in free, open and prosperous markets. They believed in private enterprise from families like yours and mine. They lived and died fully invested in the defense of their grand experiment.

Good decision making is based upon an accurate assessment of the best available knowledge. This is a simple concept and it is easy to demand from Congress. The more we know and understand, the better our odds of making good choices.

We do this in our private affairs daily using every opportunity to negotiate the best deal. We use store coupons, attend Fabulous Friday sales, and return soda cans for nickels.  When it comes to public affairs we need to exercise the same diligence. The destruction of our national sovereignty and economic prowess is of greater importance.

“[I]f you are negligent or inattentive, the ambitious and despotic will entrap you in their toils, and bind you with the cord of power from which you, and your posterity, may never be freed.”   – Cato I, New York Journal,  September 27, 1787