By Dave Buhlman
The popularity ratings for both President Bush and the US Congress among Americans are at near record lows. With these low numbers, it's reasonable to question the legitimacy of the politicians in Washington, DC to govern us.
When things get this bad in a parliamentary system, such as in England, there would be a no confidence vote in Parliament and, if successful, new elections would be called. We don't have a parliamentary system here so that won't happen, nor should it. The system set up in the Constitution is the best form of government, although it's too often ignored by our Solons on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. We could improve it by rescinding the Seventeenth Amendment that allowed for the popular election of US Senators. Before the elite-dominated push for this amendment, US Senators were appointed by the state legislatures, which conferred significant power in the hands of elected state officials who are much closer to the people they serve. With the passage of the Seventeenth, power began to move from the state legislatures to the federal government, and the Ninth and Tenth Amendments became largely ignored. These amendments made clear that the sovereign states retained all of the powers not delegated to the federal government in the Constitution. Now there's virtually nothing that does not involve some type of federal help/intrusion.
Congress is now trying to pass an amnesty bill for illegal immigrants, funding for the Department of Defense, a bill that would prevent employers from not hiring/firing homosexuals, handing over the oceans to the control of the nutty United Nations, and other issues that have significant implications for life in America. But with poll ratings this low, the legitimacy of this government to pass additional rules on the rest of us is severely compromised.
So, although Congress and the president can't be replaced via a new vote by the people, they ought to at least restrain themselves from doing more damage. What they should be concentrating on under these circumstances is combing through all of the thousands of laws now on the books and voting to rescind many of them. They could give a thorough look also at dismantling much of the federal bureaucracy. These would be most worthwhile endeavors, which would benefit Americans, so, of course, they will never happen.
9.18.2007
9.14.2007
Bad Dreams
By Ron Dupuis
I love chili. I love it with beef, I love it with chicken, I love it with beans, I love it with any other exotic ingredient that would compliment the robust flavor of four or five delicately prepared chili pods. I once enjoyed a delicious pungent bowl made with BEAR meat. It’s no wonder that for the last several years I have attended the annual Seacoast Republican Woman’s Chile Feast held at the home of our local first family of politics, Stella and Doug Scamman.
I enjoyed my first serving standing under the big tent set up with about twenty picnic tables “out by the barn.” Early guest began to arrive consisting of Republican Party officials and major candidate’s supporters and handlers. Everyone was “glad-handing” each other and declaring how great it was to be a Republican. For some, I could see that, despite the smiles, their heart was just not in it. The Party, both locally and nationally, has been fractured. Although on the road to repair, some members feel, metaphorically, it is, at the very least “still in a cast.”
It began to rain so I moved inside the serving barn and enjoyed my second helping while sharing conversation with another local columnist of a competing publication. We resolved that both of us are under appreciated, under paid, and over edited by shadowy figures in the hierarchy of our individual “prints.”
I’m not sure if it was the particularly hot third bowl I was enjoying, or that God felt like a Democrat at that moment but suddenly the rain increased to what could only be described as a burst, followed by a wind so intense as to knock down a few trees and the dining tent as well. Chili was flying in all directions as people ran for the more secure permanent shelters. When the weather subsided to a more tolerable level, guests emerged to the outside and begin to attend to the business of the day, politics.
Senator Judd Greg gave a speech, as did Senator Sanunu. Gubernatorial candidate Senator Joe Kenney spoke for a few minutes, as did Jeb Bradley and John Stephens. Even Presidential hopeful and late comer Fred Thompson arrived and made a few promises. The subject matter was the same; “It is great being a Republican” and “Vote for me.” All the while I was enjoying my fourth and fifth bowl of chili.
I didn’t sleep very well that evening.
I dreamt that the Republican Party never recovered and that Hillary Clinton became President.
It was a nightmare.
After choosing Barack Obama as her Vice President which propelled her to the Oval Office, she quickly dispatched him to some meaningless task in order to project the image that she, and she alone is in charge.
I dreamt that her first appointment was naming A.C.L.U. President Nadine Strossen as Attorney General. “We need someone to protect the rule of law and the rights of terrorist here and all over the world.” “Nadine has the experience to accomplish just that.”
I dreamt that she appointed George Soros of “Move On” fame as Secretary or State. “We need a rational, unbiased person in that position” was her statement.
I dreamt that she appointed actors Tim Robbins and current companion Susan Sarandon as Ambassadors to Iran and Iraq respectively. “They’d represent the average Americans opinion and beside they make a cute couple.”
Finally I dreamt that President Hillary appointed screaming Howard Dean as Secretary of Health and Human Service’s. She stated “we need more family planning clinics, and Howard is just the man to accomplish the task.”
I woke up in a cold sweat with two thoughts running through my head; the Republican Party is still fractured and better get its collective act together or my dreams may come true, AND the Seacoast Republican Women with Doug and Stella should consider some other kind of event next year.
Perhaps an “Oatmeal Festival.”
Ron Dupuis is a long time New Hampshire resident, a former State Representative, and a freelance writer. His e-mail is drcdupuis@comcast.net and his blog where you can view other writings may be found at www.imho-nh.blogspot.com
I love chili. I love it with beef, I love it with chicken, I love it with beans, I love it with any other exotic ingredient that would compliment the robust flavor of four or five delicately prepared chili pods. I once enjoyed a delicious pungent bowl made with BEAR meat. It’s no wonder that for the last several years I have attended the annual Seacoast Republican Woman’s Chile Feast held at the home of our local first family of politics, Stella and Doug Scamman.
I enjoyed my first serving standing under the big tent set up with about twenty picnic tables “out by the barn.” Early guest began to arrive consisting of Republican Party officials and major candidate’s supporters and handlers. Everyone was “glad-handing” each other and declaring how great it was to be a Republican. For some, I could see that, despite the smiles, their heart was just not in it. The Party, both locally and nationally, has been fractured. Although on the road to repair, some members feel, metaphorically, it is, at the very least “still in a cast.”
It began to rain so I moved inside the serving barn and enjoyed my second helping while sharing conversation with another local columnist of a competing publication. We resolved that both of us are under appreciated, under paid, and over edited by shadowy figures in the hierarchy of our individual “prints.”
I’m not sure if it was the particularly hot third bowl I was enjoying, or that God felt like a Democrat at that moment but suddenly the rain increased to what could only be described as a burst, followed by a wind so intense as to knock down a few trees and the dining tent as well. Chili was flying in all directions as people ran for the more secure permanent shelters. When the weather subsided to a more tolerable level, guests emerged to the outside and begin to attend to the business of the day, politics.
Senator Judd Greg gave a speech, as did Senator Sanunu. Gubernatorial candidate Senator Joe Kenney spoke for a few minutes, as did Jeb Bradley and John Stephens. Even Presidential hopeful and late comer Fred Thompson arrived and made a few promises. The subject matter was the same; “It is great being a Republican” and “Vote for me.” All the while I was enjoying my fourth and fifth bowl of chili.
I didn’t sleep very well that evening.
I dreamt that the Republican Party never recovered and that Hillary Clinton became President.
It was a nightmare.
After choosing Barack Obama as her Vice President which propelled her to the Oval Office, she quickly dispatched him to some meaningless task in order to project the image that she, and she alone is in charge.
I dreamt that her first appointment was naming A.C.L.U. President Nadine Strossen as Attorney General. “We need someone to protect the rule of law and the rights of terrorist here and all over the world.” “Nadine has the experience to accomplish just that.”
I dreamt that she appointed George Soros of “Move On” fame as Secretary or State. “We need a rational, unbiased person in that position” was her statement.
I dreamt that she appointed actors Tim Robbins and current companion Susan Sarandon as Ambassadors to Iran and Iraq respectively. “They’d represent the average Americans opinion and beside they make a cute couple.”
Finally I dreamt that President Hillary appointed screaming Howard Dean as Secretary of Health and Human Service’s. She stated “we need more family planning clinics, and Howard is just the man to accomplish the task.”
I woke up in a cold sweat with two thoughts running through my head; the Republican Party is still fractured and better get its collective act together or my dreams may come true, AND the Seacoast Republican Women with Doug and Stella should consider some other kind of event next year.
Perhaps an “Oatmeal Festival.”
Ron Dupuis is a long time New Hampshire resident, a former State Representative, and a freelance writer. His e-mail is drcdupuis@comcast.net and his blog where you can view other writings may be found at www.imho-nh.blogspot.com
9.11.2007
Balancing memory and future
---by Micheal
On this sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, we're approaching a post-tragedy turning point. Most people don't live in their grief forever. Some take an unhealthy turn, becoming absorbed by the grief. The tragedy defines them, becomes them.
I know a couple of divorced women. They talk about their divorced situations a lot, and about their ex-husbands more than any other person in their lives. Divorce defines them. Years ago, I worked with a young jewish guy for whom the Holocaust was THE defining moment. To be a Jew, for him, was to be a victim, even though he was two generations too young for that. Never mind about being God's chosen people. Holocaust was all. Similarly, there are Afro-Americans who still see themselves primarily as former slaves.
It's just not healthy to surrender your future -- to define yourself by a past event. I wondered if America (collectively) was going to become the perpetual terrorist sufferer. America: Land of the victim.
Happily, it doesn't seem so. This year, we're past that psychologically weightier 5th anniversary mark. People seem ready to look towards the future. They're not forgetting, like a toddler with a short attention span, but they're not wallowing in it either.
America has been subtly changed by the event. We're not simply lapsing back into exactly what we were on September 10th 2001. Terror attacks have become accepted as a perpetual possibility. We've moved beyond the jittery Chicken Little phase. Even that silly publicity stunt gone awry in Boston last year showed that we've determined to go on working, building, producing rather than run screaming.
If this 6th anniversary of 9/11 seems less intense, it's not that we're forgetting. We're getting stronger.
On this sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, we're approaching a post-tragedy turning point. Most people don't live in their grief forever. Some take an unhealthy turn, becoming absorbed by the grief. The tragedy defines them, becomes them.
I know a couple of divorced women. They talk about their divorced situations a lot, and about their ex-husbands more than any other person in their lives. Divorce defines them. Years ago, I worked with a young jewish guy for whom the Holocaust was THE defining moment. To be a Jew, for him, was to be a victim, even though he was two generations too young for that. Never mind about being God's chosen people. Holocaust was all. Similarly, there are Afro-Americans who still see themselves primarily as former slaves.
It's just not healthy to surrender your future -- to define yourself by a past event. I wondered if America (collectively) was going to become the perpetual terrorist sufferer. America: Land of the victim.
Happily, it doesn't seem so. This year, we're past that psychologically weightier 5th anniversary mark. People seem ready to look towards the future. They're not forgetting, like a toddler with a short attention span, but they're not wallowing in it either.
America has been subtly changed by the event. We're not simply lapsing back into exactly what we were on September 10th 2001. Terror attacks have become accepted as a perpetual possibility. We've moved beyond the jittery Chicken Little phase. Even that silly publicity stunt gone awry in Boston last year showed that we've determined to go on working, building, producing rather than run screaming.
If this 6th anniversary of 9/11 seems less intense, it's not that we're forgetting. We're getting stronger.
9.07.2007
Meet the Republicans
By Ron Dupuis
For those of you who feel that this column is written by a totally right winged, biased radical Republican, let me open this week using the same exact paragraph as last time, with one small exception; the word DEMOCRAT has been replaced by the word REPUBLICAN.
“They’re everywhere. Like a mosquito buzzing around your head before landing and draining the life sustaining blood from your body. Don’t get me wrong. It is not only a boon to our economy but also a tremendous honor for New Hampshire to be first in the nation when it comes to the process of electing a President. Most of our million or so residents take it very, very seriously. It’s just that there comes a point in time when men and women with inflated egos from all over America come here, in the beginning, merely to introduce themselves and ask us what we are looking for in a candidate. They then suddenly morph into a pushy, pandering politician, willing to say and do anything to get your vote. That “point in time” is quickly approaching. Let me give you the IMHO opinion on some of the boot licking glade-handers that may be the next President of the United States. This week, the REPUBLICANS.”
Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas; A hard working professional politician who’s expertise seems to be in the farming and agricultural field. He may be an excellent choice for someone as Vice President, however his chances of winning the primary here in New Hampshire are next too nothing.
Congressmen Tom Tancredo of Colorado; Despite all of us owing a debt of gratitude for bringing the immigration issue to the forefront of the primary debate, Tancredo remains a one issue candidate and will drop out around mid February.
Duncan Hunter, Congressmen from California; A popular man by all standards and a great friend of the military. Hunter just does not seem strong enough here in the east. Again, a drop out by mid February.
Cong. Ron Paul; Not a real Republican but instead a Libertarian who has been elected from Texas ten different times .Congressman Paul is an isolationist in the Pat Buchanan sense of the word and despite his cult like following will never be elected to serve in the oval office.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona; If you look up the word “pandering” in the dictionary there should be a picture of Sen. McCain. The campaign is essentially over here in New Hampshire for the good Senator.
America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani; If there wasn’t a picture of McCain when you looked up pandering, there must have been a picture of “America’s mayor”. He has a glad handed, “How ya’ doin’, self promoting, arrogant style that’s beginning to wear a little thin according to most of the undecided voters I’ve spoken with. If indeed he ever captures the Republican nomination, and his chances are pretty fair that he could, and if by chance Sen. Clinton and her husband are his opponents, he will be trounced in the Fritz Mondale fashion.
Gov. Mitt Romney; The former Governor of the Republic of Massachusetts by most standards could be a very attractive national candidate. In New Hampshire he does however have some problems. His patrician persona seems to disconnect with New Hampshire’s predominantly blue collar electorate. In addition to that, his perceived flip flop, whether real or not, on major issues will cost him a number of votes in our state.
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas; is an unassuming man of humble roots. A successful Republican Governor in a predominately Democratic state, Gov Huckabee is perhaps the most engaging, articulate, down to earth candidate out of the whole bunch and by far and away my favorite contender. If voters made a list, as they should do, of all their concerns and issues, they will find that Mike Huckabee has a clear and concise thought as to how he would address each and every one of them. And besides, how can you not love a candidate who picks up a guitar and plays old time rock and roll at his rallies?
Ron Dupuis is a long time New Hampshire resident, a former State Representative, and a freelance writer. His e-mail is drcdupuis@comcast.net and his blog where you can view other writings may be found at www.imho-nh.blogspot.com
For those of you who feel that this column is written by a totally right winged, biased radical Republican, let me open this week using the same exact paragraph as last time, with one small exception; the word DEMOCRAT has been replaced by the word REPUBLICAN.
“They’re everywhere. Like a mosquito buzzing around your head before landing and draining the life sustaining blood from your body. Don’t get me wrong. It is not only a boon to our economy but also a tremendous honor for New Hampshire to be first in the nation when it comes to the process of electing a President. Most of our million or so residents take it very, very seriously. It’s just that there comes a point in time when men and women with inflated egos from all over America come here, in the beginning, merely to introduce themselves and ask us what we are looking for in a candidate. They then suddenly morph into a pushy, pandering politician, willing to say and do anything to get your vote. That “point in time” is quickly approaching. Let me give you the IMHO opinion on some of the boot licking glade-handers that may be the next President of the United States. This week, the REPUBLICANS.”
Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas; A hard working professional politician who’s expertise seems to be in the farming and agricultural field. He may be an excellent choice for someone as Vice President, however his chances of winning the primary here in New Hampshire are next too nothing.
Congressmen Tom Tancredo of Colorado; Despite all of us owing a debt of gratitude for bringing the immigration issue to the forefront of the primary debate, Tancredo remains a one issue candidate and will drop out around mid February.
Duncan Hunter, Congressmen from California; A popular man by all standards and a great friend of the military. Hunter just does not seem strong enough here in the east. Again, a drop out by mid February.
Cong. Ron Paul; Not a real Republican but instead a Libertarian who has been elected from Texas ten different times .Congressman Paul is an isolationist in the Pat Buchanan sense of the word and despite his cult like following will never be elected to serve in the oval office.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona; If you look up the word “pandering” in the dictionary there should be a picture of Sen. McCain. The campaign is essentially over here in New Hampshire for the good Senator.
America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani; If there wasn’t a picture of McCain when you looked up pandering, there must have been a picture of “America’s mayor”. He has a glad handed, “How ya’ doin’, self promoting, arrogant style that’s beginning to wear a little thin according to most of the undecided voters I’ve spoken with. If indeed he ever captures the Republican nomination, and his chances are pretty fair that he could, and if by chance Sen. Clinton and her husband are his opponents, he will be trounced in the Fritz Mondale fashion.
Gov. Mitt Romney; The former Governor of the Republic of Massachusetts by most standards could be a very attractive national candidate. In New Hampshire he does however have some problems. His patrician persona seems to disconnect with New Hampshire’s predominantly blue collar electorate. In addition to that, his perceived flip flop, whether real or not, on major issues will cost him a number of votes in our state.
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas; is an unassuming man of humble roots. A successful Republican Governor in a predominately Democratic state, Gov Huckabee is perhaps the most engaging, articulate, down to earth candidate out of the whole bunch and by far and away my favorite contender. If voters made a list, as they should do, of all their concerns and issues, they will find that Mike Huckabee has a clear and concise thought as to how he would address each and every one of them. And besides, how can you not love a candidate who picks up a guitar and plays old time rock and roll at his rallies?
Ron Dupuis is a long time New Hampshire resident, a former State Representative, and a freelance writer. His e-mail is drcdupuis@comcast.net and his blog where you can view other writings may be found at www.imho-nh.blogspot.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)