Tag Archives: Justin Amash

Night of the Long Knives: Fake Conservative John Boehner Purges the GOP

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I have written about the two-party political sham for many years now.  At its root, the issue is that both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are at their core the same on the big issues most affect these United States at this time.  These issues are:

1) The Federal Reserve scam and Wall Street theft.
2) Civil liberties and the destruction of the Constitution.
3) Our aggressive foreign policy and imperial wars abroad that help only the oligarchs and impoverish the masses.

Then they divide and conquer the masses using relatively irrelevant social issues like gay marriage, which are highly charged emotionally but will not affect your ability to put food on the table.

This past election should have been a wakeup call to the Republican establishment, but based on John Boehner’s recent actions, they have learned absolutely nothing.  The Republican Party is imploding from within since its leaders don’t actually stand for anything.  Here is how Mr. Boehner treats those within his party that do stand for something.

From the Huffington Post:
On Monday, the Republican Steering Committee, which is chaired by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), voted to remove Reps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) and Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas) from the House Budget Commtitee. Reps. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.) lost their positions on the Financial Services Committee.

The four members are known for occasionally bucking leadership and voting against Boehner’s wishes. Amash, Huelskamp and Schweikert are popular with the conservative movement, while Jones has made a name for himself by speaking out against U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.

Reuters notes that removing Amash and Huelskamp from the Budget Committee “could make it easier for the panel to advance a deal with Democrats to cut fiscal deficits” — which is exactly what many conservative groups are afraid of.

Huelskamp unloaded on GOP leadership Tuesday at a Heritage Foundation event in Washington, saying, “We were not notified about what might occur but it confirms in my mind the deepest suspicions that most Americans have about Washington D.C: it’s petty, it’s vindictive, and if you have conservative principles you will be punished.”

“It’s a slap in the face to all young people who are thinking about being Republicans, want to be a part of this party, and are being told, ‘Well, if you disagree with leadership just a couple times we’re going to send you home … you don’t get to participate,’” he said.

Jones said he hasn’t yet spoken to Boehner. In fact, he only found out he lost his spot on the committee when his staff read about it on the Internet.

Talk about classless.  These guys apparently weren’t even notified of their demotions ahead of time and had to read about it in the press.  The message to the citizenry is clear.  We must move away from the two-party system and fast.  That way we can elect candidates that actually vote the will of the people that elected them, rather than pander to some slimy political godfather in Washington.

Full Huffington Post article here.

In Liberty,
Mike

My Thoughts on the Feinstein-Lee Amendment to the NDAA

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I met with cadets this week and they asked me about, ‘what is the freedom we fight for?’ The freedom we fight for is the Bill of Rights, it is the Constitution. If we have careless disregard for the Constitution, what are we fighting for? 

I think this is a very serious debate and should not be made frivolous. This is an ancient right that we have defended for 800 years, for goodness sakes. To say that habeas is due process is absurd. It’s the beginning of due process. If you don’t have a right to trial by jury, you do not have due process. You do not have a Constitution. What are you fighting against and for if you throw the Constitution out? If you throw the Sixth Amendment out? It’s in the body of our Constitution. It’s in the Bill of Rights. It’s in every constitution in the United States. For goodness sakes, the trial by jury has been a long-standing and ancient and noble right. For goodness sakes, let’s not scrap it now.

- Senator Rand Paul

So last night, the United States Senate passed the Feinstein-Lee Amendment, AKA “the Prohibition on the Indefinite Detention of Citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents.”  The vote was overwhelming with a margin of victory of 67-29.  Ever since this passed there has been considerable debate as to whether it is a huge victory for Liberty against the horrific NDAA, or just a ruse that accomplishes nothing and in fact makes things even worse.  Overall, my conclusion is that this amendment is nothing to be cheered.

Here is actual text from the Amendment:

“An authorization to use military force, a declaration of war, or any similar authority shall not authorize the detention without charge or trial of a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States apprehended in the United States, unless an act of Congress expressly authorizes such detention.”

Come again?  Congress is not permitted to pass laws that are unconstitutional. This is very basic so I find it bizarre that this last sentence would be inserted in the Amendment if they were truly trying to achieve their stated purpose.  Clearly, it is also as a result of that last line that they were able to pass it so easily, with authoritarian thugs such as John McCain and Lindsey Graham voting for it.

There are other concerns as well, specifically the fact that it singles out citizens and lawful permanent residents rather than all persons.  This issue has been covered here at the ACLU and here at the Belligerent Act site.

All that said, there is one small silver lining to all of this.  Despite the horrific flaws mentioned above, I do think it is positive that this debate continues to rage and that Congress was forced to address it.  Had the public not been vigilant about the NDAA, it would have just passed without a peep, yet they are being forced to publicly debate this, which they’d certainly prefer not to do.

Keep fighting fellas.

In Liberty,
Mike