Odds and Ends
Smiling faces, sometimes, pretend to be your friend.
Smiling faces, show no traces, of the evil that lurks within.
Smiling faces, Smiling faces
Sometimes, they don’t tell the truth.
Smiling faces, smiling faces tell lies,
And I got proof.
Hey your enemy, won’t do you no harm.
‘Cause you know where, he’s coming from.
Don’t let the handshake and smile fool ya.
Take my advice I’m only trying to school ya.”
Smiling Faces Sometimes - The Undisputed Truth
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I usually try and give some depth to a single topic in each of these missives. You may have noticed that there is a lot going on these days. So today, I will do a shallow dive into a variety of different issues. Some of these will be hard to summarize in a few sentences, but here goes:
Dem Presidential Primary: Joe Biden has now formally announced his intention to run for reelection. I still think there is a chance that he doesn’t make it to the green flag, not to mention the checkered flag. But his running with little opposition for the Democratic nomination is now the base case, even though most Democrats, according to polling, do not want him to be their nominee.
Republican Presidential Primary: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is the latest to announce he is not running for president, even though he was expected to. “Not the right time” for he and his family, he said. A field which once looked like it could have 15 viable candidates is winnowing down to just Trump, DeSantis (likely) and a few others. Trump leads all polling, although most Republicans do not want him to be their nominee. Trump now says he will not do any debates. Maybe the field clears for DeSantis to take on Trump?
Presidential General Election: So, if the polling is accurate, we could wind up with a repeat of 2020’s Trump vs. Biden. Both have huge negatives and face a majority of their own party who wants another choice. Dems think Biden is more likely to lose to Trump than other alternatives and R’s think Trump is the only candidate that would lose to Biden. It is hard to believe that both parties would nominate someone they don’t want and that our next resident will be someone that most of the country does not want in either case. But, momentum is a powerful force in politics. How else can you explain nominees like John Kerry, John McCain, Bob Dole and Fritz Mondale.
Democratic Party: We used to call them liberals. But the Democratic party is as illiberal today as it could be. It is now a leftist, authoritarian, woke party of identity politics. I am surprised the true classical liberals did not put up more of a fight. But Democrats are collectivists by nature and they fall in line with whatever the “union” bosses say.
Republican Party: At least it is clear what Democrats have become. Not so Republicans. The party in recent history has been the party of smaller government and strong national defense. Think Barry Goldwater’s “Conscience of a Conservative,” which book sits proudly on my entry hall bookshelf here in Scottsdale. Donald Trump brought a populist bent to the party, but sacrificed the “smaller government” part in so doing. So, what is the party now? Populist still? Strong defense and projecting power around the world or isolationist? Anti-woke? Pro-life and pro-second amendment? Lower taxes or less government debt? Republicans by nature are individualists so they do not fall in line like Democrats do. Which leaders emerge to define the party will be very important in the next couple of years.
Deficits: The propaganda media doesn’t talk about it because it makes Biden look bad but the federal deficit in the first half of the fiscal year exceeded $1T and is about 7% of GDP. This is historically unprecedented except in times of war or major recession or depression. Spending was up 13% and tax receipts declined slightly from the prior year. What happens if we do go into recession with this deficit as a starting point? That would be entirely new fiscal ground. We are absolutely playing with fire here.
Debt Limit: Speaker McCarthy is doing the right thing putting a bill on the floor in increase the debt limit along with some spending reductions. One or two of the propaganda outlets have had to admit that Biden’s position that he will not negotiate at all is untenable. That said, other outlets like Bloomberg run headlines that a debt crisis is “caused by the Republican-led House.” If McCarthy passes his bill this week, Biden will have to negotiate. Presidents usually are the ones who pay the price is such crises. But, that was before the media became pure propaganda for the government. And that is no longer conjecture or opinion but proven fact.
Federalism: California, Oregon, Illinois and New York (amongst others) are passing laws almost the opposite of those being passed in Florida, Texas, Tennessee and Arkansas (amongst different others). That is federalism as the founders intended it. Let the residents of each state decide how they want to live. But California Governor Gavin Newsom does not believe in this live and let live principle. He told Walgreens that they must offer the abortion pill in states where it is illegal to offer said pill or he would cut Walgreens off from all business in the state of California. In other words, he ordered them to break the law in other states or he would ban them from his. I cannot find words to describe how despicable Newsom is when he does stuff like this. Fortunately, Republican governors did not respond in kind. There probably is a governor out there more loathsome than Newsom, but I don’t know who that is.
If you want me to address any one of these in a more comprehensive way in the future, just hit the contact button above and send me an email about which one interests you.
Until next week,
I remain respectfully,
Congressman John Campbell
Drive Fast & Live Free