Obama's Legacy: Progressive Collapse; Right Resurgent

I am continually astounded at what I see happening in our great country. Barack Obama’s election marked the biggest shift to the left in the United States in my lifetime. This guy was, and is, an avowed progressive. A fluke in economic circumstances rooted in the misdeeds of both political parties allowed a leftist Congress to follow him to Washington.

For two years, these folks bullied into law some of the most radical legislation passed since the early days of FDR…and like FDR, much of it will eventually be found to be unconstitutional. In addition, Obama stacked his advisers and staff with some of the most radical individuals we have ever seen in Washington, bypassing the Congress by making these special executive appointments. He silenced Hillary Clinton, his main adversary in the Democratic Party, by appointing her Secretary of State, and burying here like no other Secretary of State I can remember.

It’s ironic therefore, that Obama’s legacy to this country will be the single biggest jolt to the right in its history, the dismantling of 80 years of growth of Roosevelt’s New Deal, and the gutting of the last vestiges of the American labor movement which is found in the public employee unions.

State by state, a new America is being born with power reverting to the states. The weight of the massive increase in the size of the Federal government is too much for the system to bear, and it is collapsing from the top down. With a weak central leader, the states are reasserting their rightful place in the governance of the country.

While the events in Wisconsin are the most visible of this seismic event in American history, a more serious example is found in Alaska, where the Governor Sean Parnell announced last week that Alaska is simply refusing to implement Obamacare in its state. He announced that his state will not comply with the terms of the legislation. Using the Florida federal court ruling declaring the Health Care Reform Act unconstitutional, and more importantly citing the financial ruin that will be thrust upon his states by the unfunded Medicaid mandates in the law, Governor Parnell just said no. And what is the Federal Government going to do? Send in the troops? March into the governor’s office and throw him out? Take over the operation of the state? I don’t think so.

Obama’s vision of utopia is so cumbersome and so top heavy it is almost physically impossible to implement. His administration is overtly granting “waivers” to his friends and friendly states. Do you think for one minute the rest of the country will sit idly by? They will just say “no” also.

Meanwhile, part of the impetus to the states to dismantle public employee unions is based not only the huge deficits currently on the state books, but also what they are facing under the new mandates from the Washington. Obama’s best friends, the unions, are bearing the brunt of the problem. In Wisconsin, it isn’t union pensions that have caused the deficits. It isn't union employee salaries or benefits that have caused the deficits. It isn’t those no good school teachers that has caused the problems. IT IS MEDICAID, AND THE NEWLY PASSED MEDICAID MANDATES. Translate: Obamacare is the root of the problem of Wisconsin. It is the straw that is breaking the camel's back across the nation.

The law of unintended consequences is raising its head in Alaska and Wisconsin. One state is simply refusing to comply. The other is forcing the cost onto the only place it can, public employees. And as cronyism grows geometrically in Washington, non-compliance with these cumbersome edicts will grow in the country.

If Alaska just says no…what do you think will happen if everyone just says no? Such are the rewards of having a law school professor constitutional scholar President who taught how to get around the Constitution rather than reverence for it.

Nitwits in Charge

Are there any leaders left in America? Look at the country. Look at the world. This is what things look like with America floundering like a rudderless ship. All groups need a leader in order to function. Whether it is the family of nations worldwide, or your local card club, someone has to be in charge. Since the November election, America seems to be MIA. This lies directly in front of the door of Barack Obama who seems to be shell shocked.

Obama apparently can’t come to grips with the political reality of the country. Liberal ideas often look good on paper, but when the rubber hits the road, it becomes like the television sitcom Boy Meets World. What looks good on paper often doesn’t translate well.

Domestically, with his agenda DOA in Congress, and what he passed over the past two years in jeopardy, he is acting like he doesn’t know what to do. His reaction to the crisis in Egypt was tepid and somewhat indecisive, although it is still too early to tell how things are going to work out. Domestically, his budget proposal was universally panned by Republicans and Democrats…and he actually picked up some criticism from the press. Now, with the mess in Wisconsin, he retreats to his usual union posture rather than trying to do something creative which might actually be helpful.

Outside of Egypt, things have never been more dangerous in the Mideast than they are right now. This is what happens when dangerous nations perceive weakness. Iran is attempting to move warships through the Suez Canal for the first time since the Islamic revolution. The Egyptian upheaval has opened the door to the Muslim Brotherhood entering the political mainstream. Other allies such as Jordan and Bahrain have entered the danger zone. This isn’t good. Bahrain is particularly dangerous with major United States military installations at risk if it falls the Shiite control.

South of the border in Mexico, violence is escalating. Americans are being shot. There is complete anarchy the length of the Mexican/Texas border with whole towns deserted. Instead of addressing the rapid Mexican descent into chaos, Obama's Justice Department continues its merry way suing states that attempt to close their borders.

Domestically, the country is drowning in debt. While he gives lip service to wanting to get it under control, his actions speak louder than his words. States and some municipalities are on the verge of bankruptcy…and he is off visiting tech plants in Washington State and giving pep talks in Cleveland. Meanwhile, the states are collapsing, and reports are tonight that Obama's Organizing for America political arm and the Democratic National Committee are underwriting this mess in Madison, Wisconsin. Any doubts about an Obama move to the middle should be dispelled tonight. His comments relating to Wisconsin are inappropriate, but certainly in character.

The Republicans aren’t doing much better in the leader department. John Boehner is a nice guy, and boring. Among the array of potential presidential candidates, Chris Christie of New Jersey seems to have caught the fancy of party operatives and the media…but he says he is not running and apparently means it (right!!). But the rest of the field is non-inspiring to downright annoying. (I luv Sarah Palin...but for President?? I think not!!)

Right now, for the first time in my lifetime, the fate of America rests with the people. All political movement and activity seems to be grass roots oriented and moving by osmosis. Let’s hope that the collective wisdom of the nation moves the country in the right direction inspite of the nitwit political leaders with whom we are currently blessed.

School Daze

In a recent article in Newsweek Magazine, George Will examined American education. He focused on Arne Duncan, Obama’s Secretary of Education. He came to the job with an impressive resume. His family is rooted in college academia, his father being a professor of psychology. His mother ran an after school center for mostly disadvantaged mostly African American children in a economically challenged Chicago neighborhood.

Duncan, himself, is a magna cum laude Harvard graduate with a degree in sociology. After graduation, he went Australia and played professional basketball for a number of years, succeeded by a stint back in Chicago in mentoring underprivileged children. That, in turn, led to numerous other government social work type jobs, culminating in being appointed CEO of the Chicago Public School System. His success there is either praised or vilified, depending on one’s point of view as is all things in education.

But his stint was viewed as a success by Chicago’s favorite son, Barack Obama, and he is now the top gun educator in the United States.

George Will states that Duncan takes a realistic approach to the status of American education believing the most American students are unprepared for college. His is also aware of the anomalies in our system. For example, although we spend more on education per pupil than any other nation except for Luxemburg, performance levels of American students only equal those of Estonia and Poland which spend ½ as much per pupil.

He also apparently realizes that class size is irrelevant as to the learning ability of students once they get passed 3rd grade. I wrote last week that I learned more mathematics in a Catholic school setting with 50-60 in a class, than I did in a public school setting which then had class sizes around 30. Mr. Will commented that the class size argument made continuously today are fed by unions hoping schools will hire more teachers that will pay more union dues. I’m not sure Mr. Duncan is that cynical, and neither am I, but then again one never knows!!

Mr. Duncan and Mr. Will seem to agree on one thing. While one can argue about class size until the cows come home, the quality of the teacher at the head of the class makes a difference. Singapore ranks 2nd internationally in math performance for 15 year olds while American rank 25th. In Singapore, you must be in the top 30% of your academic class to be accepted into its education schools. Translated: all teachers in Singapore are in the top 1/3 of their class! In the United States, only 23% of our teachers come from the top 1/3 of their academic class. In fact, the average student entering an education school ranks only the 41st percentile in math and the 46th percentile in critical reading on applicable college boards. This, in turn, leads Mr. Duncan to the conclusion that he would rather have a top notch teacher teach a class of 30 than a mediocre teacher teach a class of 20.

As in any such debate, statistics can be slanted one way or the other. Anecdotally, they may be right, especially when looking at the hiring practices of various school systems which seems and abortion between hiring sports coaches, bus drivers, secretaries…and oh yes…someone to teach science.

At the end of the day, the problems in education are more likely rooted in the decline in our culture as a whole, a decline in the American family structure, and the legalities imposed on schools by the courts. How does one fix that?

Reference is made to MR. DUNCAN'S SMART LESSON PLAN by George Will; Newsweek Magazine; February 7, 2011; Page 16.

Bastardi's Weather

How bad have we been duped by the global warming crowd? Probably more than you know, and more than the government will eventually have to admit. Joe Bastardi, chief meteorologist for Accuweather, gave a compelling anti-global warming rant this morning that should be sufficient to give all global warming whackos pause…even AlGore.

Commenting on the massive winter storm which a 1/3 of the nation has just experienced, he stated that this is just the beginning. He believes that we are in for a prolonged period extremely cold winters that might even approach the mini-ice age status of the late 1700’s/early 1800’s. Huh? He went onto to state that the rise in global temperatures has reversed itself, and will continue to trend downward over the next thirty years due to three events: La Nina and a natural change in something called the PDA which occurs every 20-30 years; a change in sunspot patterns; and increase volcanic activity. He went on to say that cold is worse than warm, because it takes substantially more energy to heat than to cool…not a good thing in a time of rising energy costs.

He further commented that the purveyors of global warming have taken ownership of all answers to unanswerable questions about climate and weather. Whether it is too many hurricanes or too few hurricanes; too much snow or not enough snow; flooding along the Mississippi or drought in Georgia…the answer is ALWAYS global warming.

Just a year ago the global warming crowd was saying the amount of snowfall was going to decrease to the point where there would be next to none. Now they are explaining the excessive snowfall in recent winters by claiming the global warming is causing evaporation of water which is manifesting itself now in snow. It reminds of the story that the reason people were told to use the revolving doors in department stores was to generate electricity to run the escalators.

It is clear to me that America needs to get its head on straight when dealing with issues of so-called climate change. The exposure of doctored test results last year from the center of all things global warming muted the discussion. But the advocates still walk among us…mostly in Washington.

These folks are not environmentalists. They are social justice advocates who are using the issue to redistribute wealth…mostly from the United States. You hear very little about China and India, who are the worst offenders of all sorts of pollution. In fact, we are supposed to give them a pass… much like health care exemptions which are being handed out like party favors to Obama’s cronies.

The Obama administration is still hell bent to end fossil fuel use. Congress will block his cap and trade global warming legislation. But watch what Obama does with his EPA trying to accomplish the same thing by decree.

We would do well to listen to Joe Bastardi…and closely watch the machinations of Barack Obama and his EPA. Global warming ideologues don't take no for an answer, even if the snow is up to their ass.