Get A Job

In November, we will have the opportunity to change our government. Washington is broken. The White House is occupied by an articulate fool who is completely overwhelmed by the troubles of the country. The Senate, the 'deliberative body', is completely out of touch with the mood of the country, and the House is dominated by the left wing of the lunatic fringe of the Democrat Party.

When I step into the ballot box in November, I am going to help my Senator and my congressman regain their perspective. They have lived and worked in Washington for quite some time. They have gone to the parties, and dinners, and rubbed elbows with the lobbists, and taken their money to do their bidding. They have drafted laws, and bills to benefit all manner of folks and causes, and generally worked very hard to secure the blessings of the federal government for their benefactors. In short, they have done everything EXCEPT REPRESENT YOU AND ME.

I'm going to fire the bastards. I'm going to fire every one of the bastards. If they are in office now, fire them.

Message to them: Get a job. Get the hell out of my government.

A Federal Rash

Our country used to be a federation of sovereign states. The federal constitution was a limiting document that limited the power of the federal government. This unique feature guaranteed that the people of the states could to a large degree govern themselves as they saw fit. That in it self was a tremendous expression of the freedom that the federal constitution guaranteed all citizens. If we don't like the way one state governs, then we are free to move to another that better suits us. We are a free people, governing our selves and neither beholdend nor dependent on an onerous federal government.

All that changed as the power of the federal government became apparant. Today, instead of individual, sovereign states governing, within the limits laid down by the consititution, state's governments are mostly impotent and utterly dominated by the reach of the federal government. Federal judges find meaning in the constitution that could have never been contemplated, or worse, would have been completely abhorent to the drafters of the constitution. In these imaginary meanings, the federal bench has stripped away the ability of the people of the states to govern themselves and relegated us to subserviance to the exhaulted high court. The ultimate arbitor is a group of 9 old lawyers living a protected and priviledged life in suburban Washington, DC. It is from them that all federal 'wisdom' comes.

The quesion to consider is this. Are we better off in a country as large and diverse as ours, to have questions fundamental to our way of life decided by an isolated group of jurists whose intent and goal it is to homogenize the country, or are we better off to have these questions decided by expressions of the people of the states? Are we still a free people when our law is 'dictated' to us by a collection of aging lawyers whom we neither elected nor selected, and whom we can not fire?

It is my position that if the good people of New Jersey believe and pass a law to the effect that abortion is ok, that is their right. I also believe that if the Pennslyvania believe that abortion is wrong, it is their right to ban it. That's a state level decision. It's not a federal question, it's a recognition that the people of different states have different positions on difficult questions.

While the court has found 'rights' somehow written between the lines of the constitution, it somehow has missed this clear construct. Where do you stand on it? Are your rights and your states right's originating from the all knowing, all seeing federal court, or is your sovereignity vested you? Are you ruled, or do you consent to being governed?

If you are thinking that the federal courts should not be legislating, nor governing from the bench, congradulations. You and Sara Palin are on the same page. Tina Fey might be able to see Russia from her house, but Sara Palin understands the constitution.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

Years ago, when the sound of 'Dixie' echoed across Hemingway Stadium, the stands would explode into a sea of Confederate flags as the Ole Miss Rebels ran onto the field. Throughout the game, either in celebration or an attempt to rally the Rebels, the band would strike up 'Dixie', and the crowd would come alive, and 'Hotty Toddy' would echo across the field. The Rebels, the music and the flag were all part of what made Ole Miss special. For generations of fans across the country, 'Dixie', the Confederate Flag, and Col.Rebel all symbolized Ole Miss football.

But, times have changed. The Flag was the first to go. I have always found it ironic that those who saw the Flag as a symbol of Ole Miss football were branded as racists, while those who saw the Flag through a purely racial lense were not. Think about that.

Dixie was the second to go. The story was the same. Those for whom the song brought back memories of Archie and the Rebels thrashing Tennessee were again branded 'Racists', while those who harboured a hatred for the song were not.

Col. Rebel is now under assault. The last of the traditional symbols of the Ole Miss Rebels sports program is about to be banished, and those who defend him will be called 'insensitive', 'racist', and worse. Those who assault him will claim that until he is gone, Ole Miss will be at a disadvantage recruiting black athletes because of Col. Rebel, that other schools will use this 'against' us, and we will get 'negative' press coverage.

First and foremost, if you factor everything through racial impacts, you are the racist, not me. Secondly, getting rid of Dixie, and the Flag did not stop other schools from calling Ole Miss "racist" and neither will getting rid of Col. Rebel.
So long as Ole Miss allows itself to be flogged with this crap, it will be flogged with it. The solution to this problem is clear to me.

Ole Miss should return to the high academic standards that it has historically had, and should embark on a program to graduate all of it's athletes. When the football factories at Alabama, Arkansas, etc. paint Ole Miss as 'racists', Ol Miss needs to point out to 'Momma' that Ole Miss graduates more of it's athletes than anyone else, and that the football factories just use them and casts them aside when they are hurt. We need to graduate more athletes into real degrees than anyone else. Everyone wants to play in the NFL, but 'Momma' needs to know the truth is that most don't. She needs to know that whether or not her son is NFL material, he will get that degree that will give him the opportunities in life and the future that she wants him to have. After all, shouldn't this be about getting these kids an education?

Back to the real world, in the grand scheme of things, this is all mouse nutts. The past controversies weren't about the Flag, or Dixie, and this isn't about 'Col. Rebel'. It's about control. If the race baiters can call you 'racist' and control your actions and limit your choices by boycotts, and intimidation, then what have you become?

There are many possibilites, but one thing is clear. You're no Rebel.