Back to Basics

Whether local, county, state or federal, elected or appointed, in the legislative, judicial or executive branch, they are in all cases – first and foremost – PUBLIC SERVANTS in the United States of America. In the United States, we do not have a Royal bloodline, a dictatorship, an oligarchy or even a democracy by mob rule. We have a representative republic and every public servant is sworn to represent the will of the people – which means the will of the majority of legal U.S. citizens.

On this basis, consider the utter insanity of our federal public servants suing our state public servants in representation of illegal invaders, all paid for by their bosses, the U.S. citizens.

More than 70% of Americans oppose illegal immigration and amnesty for twenty million illegal migrants.

Yet the illegitimate Obama administration is using taxpayer funds to support, protect and defend illegal immigrants against legal U.S. citizens, and the states must use more taxpayer funds to defend states’ rights and the people against an abusive federal government.

Does this sound like public servants to you?

When have you ever seen servants make more than their bosses? The average per capita income of the American taxpayer circa 2009 was $39,138… The salaries of our public servants are as follows –

Speaker of the House – $223,500

Senate Leaders – $193,400

House Leaders – $193,400

Members of Congress – $174,000

Our public servants make more than five times that of the average American taxpayer who pays their salaries, and that’s before we talk about the millions they rake in under the table, or their lofty retirement and medical benefits or unlimited expense accounts.

The lavish vacations and international family jet-setting demonstrated by the current party of the little people is just plain over the top! Why would taxpayers ever agree to pick up the tab for these elitist America-bashing international snobs?

How could they possibly relate to the average taxpayer? They live like rock stars, including the limo, fancy parties, private jets and occasional cocaine snort, which might help explain how Joe Biden’s motorcade can’t seem to keep the people’s limos between the white lines.

For Americans to regain control of their country, they must first regain control of their public servants who at the moment seem to think they are communist dictators complete with a cabal of Russian Czars.

The people cannot regain control of their public servants by treating them as rock stars. They cannot do it by protest, rally, petition, message boards or email campaigns.

They can only regain control of their public servants by –

Reminding them that they are public servants – daily if need be.

Treating them like public servants at all times.

Holding their feet to the fire until the will of the majority is properly represented.

Replacing them if they fail to comply.

Replacing the entire system if the system attempts to rule with a heavy hand.

If you think this is only happening at the federal level, think again. Check your state and local official’s salaries, or better yet, watch this video of small town Bell California, just outside of LA.

America’s recession is exposing societal fault lines, as various groups fight over increasingly smaller pieces of the pie. Tensions are particularly flaring between government workers and employees of private businesses.

David Walker, the U.S. comptroller appointed by President Bill Clinton who continued in the role under George Bush, on Friday gave a bracing indictment of the pension and salary benefits being rewarded to government workers at the federal, state and local level. Walker said that public sector workers are growing prosperous on the back of private sector workers.

“There is a huge gap. State and local plans on average … are much more lucrative than typical plans for employees. State and local government employees, on average, have greater job security than people in the private sector. And state and local government employees, in the middle of government, in many cases make more money than their private sector counterparts,” Walker said during a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. According to Pew numbers provided by the Chamber, the budget gap to cover state employees’ benefits totals $1 trillion.

“Therefore, if governments expect taxpayers to pay more taxes to fund lucrative benefit programs that are much better than the average employee gets, in jobs that more job security and in some cases make more money than their private sector counterparts, that ain’t gonna happen,” he said. “But the only way it’s not going to happen is if there’s transparency and if the cover is blown, so that pressure is brought to bear to make changes.”

Walker, who is now president and chief executive of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, said there are “many vested interests in the status quo, whether it be elected officials, appointed officials, union officials or otherwise.”

“The only way you’re going to break the cycle is to make this information public in an understandable, clear, compelling and concise form, such that the first three words of the Constitution can come alive: we the people. That’s the only way,” he said.

Walker spoke at the beginning of a half-day Chamber conference on the “impending dangers of the retirement financing crisis.”

He emphasized that he thought state pension fund obligations are only part of a larger “national fiscal challenge” at all levels of government spending, with health-care costs being the most explosive cost driver.

“We must wake up. We need to make dramatic and fundamental changes at all levels of government,” Walker said, going through a series of slides showing future government spending obligations completely overwhelming tax revenues.

Walker’s speech, and the comments of some of the panelists who spoke after him, were met with strong disagreement and at times derision by labor officials and union-aligned representatives who sat at the back of the room. A small group laughed out loud several times during remarks by Diana Furchtgott-Roth, an analyst at the Hudson Institute.

“The biggest fallacy here is the discussion about comparing what a private sector employee gets to a public sector.

Bob Ewing of the Institute for Justice has a must-read, true-life tale of how Big Labor educrats killed the D.C. school choice program.

In a nutshell, the teacher unions bought off politicians to kill a program that improved the fortunes of thousands of the poorest kids in DC:

-The program saved taxpayers millions of dollars

-Rigorous studies by the Department of Education showed the program was a huge success, improving academic performance as well as the chance that kids would graduate

-Parents loved it: Four applications were filled out for every spot available

-The teachers unions bought off politicians to help themselves at the expense of thousands of the poorest kids in DC

-If the politicians that exercise school choice themselves voted to save this school choice program, it would have been saved

-90 percent of the kids forced out of the program were reassigned to failing public schools

It’s criminal educational malpractice and, as Ewing put it, the “education debacle of the decade.”

Your teachers’ union at work.

***

Previous D.C. school choice blog posts here.

Who Are the Shadows Behind Illegal Immigration

The illegal immigration issue is all over the news these days, with most of the mainstream media only reporting on the protests and how people who have not even read the bill are claiming it is misguided, potentially causes racial profiling, and may violate civil rights.  Some have even claimed they are already experiencing racial profiling because of the new law – too bad they didn’t understand the law doesn’t take affect for another 60-90 days!  All the negative media attention, but one has to wonder why keeping Arizona’s border open is so important to the federal government.

The whole racial profiling and civil rights violations are the smoke and mirrors to what is really going on behind the issue.  The stereotypical immigrant being portrayed as the “poor family who has come to America to work in the fields because no citizen will” is what they need everyone to believe to play upon your sympathies.  While there are a great number of immigrants escaping the horrors of Mexico, these people are being used by our government and the Mexican government to further their own agenda.  They cannot close the border to these people because they create the cover, the diversion, that they can play upon to gain support from the American people.

American citizens are also being used by their own government.  As a passionate and charitable group of people, we do not want to see anyone suffering.  We welcome people of all countries, but we expect and encourage them to assimilate into our society, learn and obey our laws and learn our language.  Many recall the days of the civil rights movement and how the blacks had to fight to gain what rightfully should have been, equal rights.  The government is now using that movement in their own twisted way to distort the truth about the Arizona immigration law in their attempt to gain American support to continue to ignore the problem.

Janet Napolitano was governor of the state of Arizona.  She is very familiar with the problems the state faces because of the shared border with Mexico.  During her tenure, she wrote a number of letters to Washington asking for assistance because the border was not secure.  Her letters were ignored and the problems continued with an every increasing number of illegals crossing the border and taking up residency in the state at the expense of the taxpayers.  So now as Secretary of Homeland Security you would think she would be sensitive to the problems of her former state, and in her position of authority could actually make something happen.  Instead she removes the authority given to the state law enforcement by the federal government to work with federal immigration officials, leaving the state even more vulnerable than before.  She made a statement in a federal hearing claiming that she knows that border better than anyone being the former governor and that “the border is as secure now as it has ever been.”  While that might not be a lie as she knows the border has not been secure and is not any more secure now than in the past, the statement is very misleading as those asking the questions might assume her statements indicate the border is secure.  But that is further from the truth.  So why would the Department of Homeland Security, knowing the border is not secure, continue to claim the border is secure and not take any action to secure the border?

Mr. Obama, do you think what Arizona is facing because of an unsecured border is funny?  What about the murder of family members, the rape of daughters, the kidnapping of children, property stolen or destroyed, cattle slaughtered or released, automobiles stolen and vandalized, your identity stolen, family members addicted to drugs, and I could go on.  Are these crimes something to laugh about?

Your comments and disrespect for Arizona’s law shows just how little regard you have for the citizens of the United States and the disrespect for this country and the laws you are sworn to uphold.  Arizona is facing a real problem and you are doing absolutely nothing to help, but instead choose to laugh at the expense of those Americans who have faced great loss and tragedy because our borders are not secure.  We acted because you wouldn’t.  Your actions are a disgrace to the country and to the office of President of the United States.  You owe Arizona and Governor Jan Brewer an apology.

The Congressional Research Service has issued their report regarding the treatment of noncitizens in H.R. 3200. There has been a lot of debate over this topic, with the president and democrats saying illegals are not covered, while those opposed to the bill saying they are. A number of loopholes in the bill, including no provisions for checking immigrations status, prove illegal immigrants can and will be covered by the bill, at the taxpayers’ expense.  The Summary of the report is include below.  If you would like to read the entire report, please click on CRS Report.

August 25, 2009
Treatment of Noncitizens in H.R. 3200
Congressional Research Service

Summary

This report outlines the treatment of noncitizens (aliens) under H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. In particular, the report analyzes specific provisions in H.R. 3200, and whether there are eligibility requirements for noncitizens in the provisions. Within the bill, noncitizens are treated differently in several provisions. In 2008, there were approximately 37.3 million foreign-born persons in the United States. The foreign-born population was comprised of approximately 15.1 million naturalized U.S. citizens and 22.2 million noncitizens.

H.R. 3200 includes an individual mandate to have health insurance, with tax penalties for noncompliance. Individuals who do not maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for themselves and their children would be required to pay an additional tax. Some individuals, including nonresident aliens, would be exempt from the individual mandate. “Nonresident alien” is a term under tax but not immigration law. For federal tax purposes, alien individuals are classified as resident or nonresident aliens. In general, an individual is a nonresident alien unless he or she meets the qualifications under a residency test. Thus, legal permanent residents, and noncitizens and unauthorized aliens who qualify as resident aliens (i.e., meet the substantial presence test), would be required under H.R. 3200 to have health insurance.

In addition, under H.R. 3200, a “Health Insurance Exchange” would begin operation in 2013 and would offer private plans alongside a public option. The Exchange would provide eligible individuals and small businesses with access to insurers’ plans, including the public option, in a comparable way. Individuals would only be eligible to enroll in an Exchange plan if they were not enrolled in other acceptable coverage (for example, from an employer, Medicare and generally Medicaid). H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitzens participating in the Exchange – whether the noncitizens are legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently. Nonetheless, only aliens who could be classified as resident aliens would be required under the bill to have health insurance.

In 2013, under H.R. 3200, some individuals would be eligible for premium credits (i.e., subsidies based on income) toward their required purchase of health insurance. To be eligible for the premium credits under H.R. 3200, individuals must be lawfully present in a state in the United States, excluding most nonimmigrants (i.e., those in the United States for a specific purpose and a specific period of time). The exceptions for nonimmigrants who could obtain premium credits under H.R. 3200 would be trafficking victims, crime victims, fiancées of U.S. citizens, and those who have had applications for legal permanent residence (LPR) status pending for three years.