Author: admin

Donald Trump surprised a couple hundred million Americans in 2016 by winning the election few expected him to win.  After the fact, it became obvious that the American people wanted change.  I believe they still do.  We are sick and tired of the Washington mess; how they act, what they say, their privileged positions, what they fail to do and that they have generally lost perspective on what America is all about.

Obvious problems go unfixed, things we do not care about get an inordinate amount of attention and the constant blame and bickering is distasteful, shameful and just downright disgusting.

We are inside five months before the November elections.  What follows is a list of issues you could be looking for as you go about deciding who to vote for:

SPECIAL INTEREST MONEY:  When Special Interest Groups have an inordinate influence over our elected officials, it is bad for the nation. Look for a candidate who wants to limit special interest money flowing into politicians’ pockets or into the campaign process. 

A BALANCED BUDGET:   Future generations have a right to be protected from debts accumulated by present-day politicians.  This nation absolutely cannot sustain the levels of deficit spending (averaging more than $1 trillion per year) over the past 12 years. Look for someone who has the courage to begin a balanced budget dialogue.  Tax-and-spend is not a valid economic policy.  

SIMPLIFY LEGISLATION:  The Affordable Care Act left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. The ACA was about 2,700 pages followed by over 20,000 pages of implementing regulations.

Legislation should be a few pages not a few hundred pages, written in understandable English, with enough specificity to preclude thousands of pages of implementing regulations prepared and enforced by hundreds or thousands of bureaucrats.

LEGISLATION, FROM THE PRESIDENT:  It is difficult to find references to legislation prepared in the Obama or Trump White House and sent to the Congress for action.  Preparing bills in the White House is the logical way for a President to lead the nation. Failing to do so delegates the task to groups of Congressional staffers from varying committees whose results then get mashed together into an illegible, illogical mess; example, Obama Care.    

PURE LEGISLATION:  Each year Senators and Representatives attach tens of thousands of earmarks that are totally unrelated to the primary Bill.  This process results in untold billions of dollars in fraud, waste and abuse. There are examples of Bills with literally hundreds of earmarks.  Earmarking may be a key reason why polls show that more than 85% of Americans disapprove of how Congress conducts itself. 

SUNSET LEGISLATION:  Milk goes bad; so do laws. Unfortunately, most laws stick around long after they have served their intended purposes.  A sunset provision should be included in every statute; It should state that the law shall cease to have effect after a specific date unless further legislative action is taken to extend the law. 

LINE-ITEM VETO:  Line-item veto is an executive authority to nullify specific provisions of a law without vetoing the entire piece of legislation.  Forty-four State Governors have some form of line-item veto power. 

While a Presidential line-item veto law was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1998, the next administration should seek new legislation in relation to an attempt to get a balanced budget amendment.  That is, in a case where the Congress could not present a balanced budget, the President would have line-item veto power. 

REMOVE ANNUAL BONUSES FOR GOVERNMENT WORKERS:   A small percentage of hard-working Americans are in a situation that will ever provide for a bonus. When we read about the hundreds of millions of dollars going to government employees in organizations that have been less than sterling (the Veterans Administration, for example), it just does not pass the smell test. 

DE-UNIONIZE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES:  Unions came into existence for good reasons; child labor, unsanitary working environment, unsafe conditions. Over the past century those poor conditions went away with child labor laws, OSHA protection and EPA regulations. Thereafter unions set their sights on office workers. Since most office workers cannot complain about their working conditions, what has evolved is unionized protection against being an ineffective employee.  Bottom line, it is nearly impossible to fire a bad government employee. 

The overall impact of union protection is that government employees no longer believe they have to be accountable for their actions or the quality of their work in order to remain on the job. Without accountability, any organization is, at best, mediocre.

There is a lot more water to be drained in the Washington swamp, vote for someone who at least promises to try.

Lieutenant General, US Army retired, Marvin L. Covault is the author of Vision to Execution, a book for leaders.

I know, this is too long.  But a couple days ago I received an email from a highly respected former boss and long-time friend.  The use of military forces in the on-going crisis is a current question that perhaps I should attempt to answer because, he reminded me, I am the only senior commander that has done this in the past 50 years.  So, I will use Thomas Jefferson’s excuse; when finished writing a long letter to a friend, he apologized for its length, saying, “if I would have had more time it would be shorter.”

Background:  March, 1991 the nation saw, on film, five white LA police officers brutally beat a black gentleman, Rodney King. 

While all of us had viewed the taped beating over and over in great close-up detail, a year later those five white police officers were found not guilty by an all-white jury.  That verdict was announced at 3:15 p.m. 29 April, 1992 and Los Angeles erupted, most particularly in South/Central LA.  

The final tally was as follows: 55 killed, over 2000 injured, about $1 Billion dollars is damages, over 10,000 rioters were directly involved in looting and destruction, over 1000 buildings seriously damaged or destroyed, the fire department responded to more than 4000 fires. This was not taking place at 5^th and Elm street; it covered an area of about 100 square miles of built-up urban terrain; by far the most difficult terrain in which to operate.  The largest riot in US history. 

At the time I was the commander of the 7^th Infantry Division (2-star position) at Ft Ord CA about 350 miles north of LA.  7^th ID, by design, was the most rapidly deployable division in the world.  

President George H.W. Bush had already dispatched 1000 Federal riot-trained law enforcement officials, FBI SWAT teams, special riot control units of the US Marshals Service, Border Patrol, Bureau of Prisons personnel and other Federal law enforcement agencies. 

At about the 36-hour point, May the 1st at about 2 a.m. we, 7^th ID, received a call from our military higher headquarters in Atlanta, and were told, “a military force may be needed in LA but don’t do anything yet.”  Dumb order, we immediately began to plan for a rapid deployment.  Six hours later at about 0800 we received a second call, “there will be a military deployment but it will not be the 7^th ID.”  CNN was following everything related to the riots live and continuously. 

Thirty minutes later we watched President Bush, live on TV, walk into the White House Briefing Room and announce, “I have decided to deploy the 7^th ID to LA to help secure the city.” Game on.  By the next morning we had 12,000 Soldiers and Marines (from nearby Camp Pendleton) deployed in LA and I was in charge of the entire mess.  

Later on, in a meeting with President Bush, he told me he had received a phone call from his long-time friend, California Governor Pete Wilson who had told him he wanted the 7^th ID to immediately deploy to LA.  So, he said, I just went to the briefing room and made the announcement.  Everyone in the military chain of command heard it at the same time I did.  

Interestingly, the president’s words, “…deploy and help secure the city” were the first, last and only words of guidance I received zero elaboration from my three-star boss, four-star boss, Army Chief of Staff or the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.  Why no guidance?  Because they knew I had spent 29 years training, studying, and being mentored to be ready for that moment.  They also knew that the biggest enemy of crisis planning and execution is time.  There isn’t enough of it and they all knew the last thing I needed was someone looking over my shoulder and grading my work. 

The keys to success in dealing with a crisis are to lean on your strengths, avoid your weaknesses at all costs (to include weak leaders) and decentralize execution. 

Two hours after the president’s announcement the deployment was underway and by noon, I was on the ground in LA with a skeleton planning staff.  What became immediately apparent was that no ONE was in charge of the multitude of federal, state and local agencies involved. All I could see and sense was chaos. And most concerning was that the California National Guard was streaming into the city with no deployment plan in place.

I called back to Ft Ord and had a dozen of the Division’s best “iron majors” (experienced, mature, articulate officers) flown in the first afternoon and I assigned them as my personal liaison to the Governor, Mayor, Chief of Police Gates, Sheriff Block, Highway Patrol, all the Federal Agencies, the CA National Guard and the Marines. Before dispatching them, I looked them in the eye and told them exactly what they were to do. “You stay about 3 feet from your principal at all times and tell me everything they do, everything they say and who they communicate with. There can be only one boss of this mess and it’s me.  You understand?” 

Their first mission was to get their principal on a conference call with me that afternoon at which time I gave the participants my first deployment briefing and told them to thereafter be on a conference call with me at 8 a.m. every day wherein I would give them an overall assessment of the night’s activities and what was to be accomplished in the next 6, 12 or 24 hours.  Principals only on the conference call. The Governor was not amused about the “principals only” part and it got a little ugly but it worked. 

As if President Bush’s surprise deployment announcement at 0830 that morning wasn’t enough; he saved another one for later in the day.  At 6 p.m. CA time, President Bush presented an update briefing to the nation.  First topic of the speech was, “I have decided to Federalize the California National Guard.”  At that moment, with those words, I became the Commander of the CA National Guard and they all became federal US Army soldiers.  That was actually a blessing because we immediately took charge of their rally points, established training stations (particularly to train rules of engagement) and integrated them into the overall deployment plan. 

My purpose here is not to necessarily criticize Governors, Mayors, Police Chiefs, etc in the cities recently being burned and looted but rather to explain why it can make sense to consider deployment of federal military forces early in the crisis. 

First of all, none of the on-scene leaders, governors and mayors have years of experience in crisis-action planning or execution.  The US military does, from top to bottom.  So having a senior military leader on the scene and in charge with all the assets of the Defense Department at their disposal can be a value-added game changer. 

It became obvious the past few days watching and listening to the city and state leaders as the riots got worse and deadlier, that no ONE was in charge.  If no ONE person is in charge, no one is in charge.  If no one is in charge there is no plan. That was the situation I found in LA in 1992 and it is what became very obvious as I listened to the governors/mayors/police chiefs during the George Floyd uprising. 

From my experiences in LA in 1992, I see many advantages to the use of federal troops early. Here are some:

Mass: The US military has lots of soldiers and they can deploy rapidly to any city. I had, on the ground, over a thousand squads (9-person teams). What we have witnessed in the past few days the initial call-up of 500 National Guardsmen in Minnesota and a couple hundred Military Police from Fort Bragg to New York were tokens, too small and too ineffective.

Experienced leaders: The leaders I had in LA had years of training in crisis-action planning and execution. Governors and mayors have nothing like that available to them.

Existing operating chain of command: Never underestimate the value and power of injecting an existing, experienced entire chain of command into a crisis situation. There was no down-time, no learning-curve; we became immediately operational.  The governors/mayors had nothing like that available to them and could not put it together.

Communications:  Integral to the in-place chain of command was existing communications protocols that were utilized and practiced on a daily basis in training and transferred directly into the LA area of operations.  None of this was in place prior to our arrival which made their daily operations difficult to impossible. 

Mission:  Every leader and soldier understand “mission.” My overall mission statement to Task Force LA was to rapidly create a safe and secure environment for every citizen in LA. Just as important, that mission was picked up by the media, transmitted and understood by the millions of LA residents.  Additionally, that overarching mission was filtered down through the chain of command, increasing in specificity to every soldier so that the squad leaders were telling their soldiers that their mission was to maintain complete situational awareness of their assigned area of operation (a street corner, or city block) and be prepared to report any unusual activity and/or the gathering together of a crowd.  During recent events across America did anyone hear a mission statement.  Did we see an ever-increasing de-escalation of hostilities?  Quite the contrary.

Rapid reaction: The troops where on 18-hour shifts throughout the 100 square mile area.  Their company and battalion headquarters were nearby in schools and parks.  Every headquarters had multiple rapid-reaction forces of varying sizes who were prepared to move immediately to any area where the squad or platoon leader needed back-up.  Another capability beyond the locals reach. 

“Mission creep” are the two ugliest words in the English language.  When left to their own devices, governors/mayors/police chiefs will try a little of this first, then some of that, well that didn’t work let’s try a curfew, and so it unfolded; one failure after another until they find something that works or the looters just grow weary of their efforts.  Upon deploying throughout LA during that initial 24-hour period, we were in a forceful, dominant position.  Trial and error was not part of out game plan. 

To the contrary, what we saw over the past days across America was people dying, businesses destroyed and everyone pointing fingers at the failure of the police to gain control. Trial and error is a process but it rarely works in a crisis because time is the biggest enemy.  You don’t have enough of it (time) before the looters roll in for another night of mayhem.  I am not implying that political leaders don’t mean well and hope for the best; what I’m saying is, hope is not a process. 

Rules of engagement: Day after day during the George Floyd uprising, I could not discern the rules of engagement for the police departments.  For the US military, rules of engagement is a given. It’s one of the, “don’t leave home without it” issues.  Every soldier must have a complete and thorough understanding of ROE.

I wrote the rules of engagement on the plane in route to LA, called them back to my Chief of Staff who had the printers standing by. They were no seen by a lawyer, not presented for approval to higher authority (time is our enemy) and they also never changed.  ROE cannot be vague and ever-changing.  Before they were on the streets of LA in 1992, every soldier had a 3×5 card in his/her breast pocket that spelled out in plain, non-legalese verbiage what they could and could not do.

-No crew-served weapons (machine guns) allowed. 

-Rifle selector switches will never be set on automatic or 3-round burst mode.

-Bayonets will not be locked onto the rifle.

-Every soldier has the inherent right of self-defense. 

-No rounds chambered unless you must fire in self-defense.

-Rifle position one: no round chambered.  Magazine full and in place in the rifle. Rifle held with both hands diagonally across the chest with muzzle up (port arms).

-Rifle position two: Rifle at port arms with magazine removed and in ammo pouch.

-Rifle position three:  Rifle at sling arms, magazine removed, muzzle up. This is designed to be a less threatening posture but still, if necessary, he/she could unsling the rifle, insert a magazine, lock and load in 5 seconds or less.

-Rifle position four: Rifle at sling arms, magazine removed, muzzle down.

What were the rules of engagement in Minneapolis, New York or Washington DC?  Could the general population discern what they were?  I think not.

Managing change:  Early in the crisis we were operating in 6-hour planning cycles, then to 12, then to 24 and finally to sustainment.  As the crisis de-escalated, general orders and ROE rifle positions would be changed.  Changes would move down from ONE central source to every soldier in a matter of minutes.  Additionally, daily operational orders did not need to be one size fits all. The entire area was divided into identifiable zones that could be easily referenced with specific applicable instructions.

Unity of command is critical:  Throughout this latest crisis, the trick has been to sort out what was and was not to be done during the next day by listening to daily media pronouncements from the governor, mayor and chief of police.  No unity of command equals confusion, often chaos, and results in little if any progress.  On day eight of the rioting in NY city we saw the mayor and chief of police speaking publicly and giving conflicting guidance to the police force.

President Bush did me a tremendous favor by federalizing the CA National Guard.  Without that, unity of command would have been very difficult.

Have a clear concept of operations and TTP (tactics, techniques and procedures: The issues we used in Task Force LA were implemented quickly and effectively. Such as:

1. In LA hundreds of CA Highway Patrolmen were on the outskirts of LA waiting for orders.  We sent several cars/patrolmen to every fire station.  When called out, the patrolmen would provide escort for the firemen and immediately establish a secure perimeter with arrest authority thereby providing firemen the opportunity to do their work. 
2. Our directive to the LA police and sheriffs’ deputies was simple; make arrests, transport and process criminals.  Period. How many times in the past few days have we seen on TV several police cars with lights and sirens streaming down a street followed by one 10-passenger paddy wagon?   Wrong answer.  Put large numbers of arrested offenders into city buses along with a couple policemen who were arresting officers.  Transport them to a very large (auditorium, sports stadium) facility where the accompanying police can describe the offenses during processing.  “Processing” should take 6-8 hours; keep them off the streets.  Special attention should be given to those offenders who resisted arrest; jail cells if available.  
3. Proactive, proactive, proactive.  An experienced, coherent military force will immediately get ahead of the power curve and take the advantage away form the rioters. For example, in LA we had quick reaction forces (QRF) of varying sizes at company, battalion and brigade headquarters all over the 100 square mile area of operation.  A call from a squad leader reporting “crowd gathering” would be dealt with in minutes while the “crowd” was likely less than a dozen people vs the normal crowds of hundreds we have been seeing consistently on TV the past few days.  LA police and buses were on station with every QRF and routinely accompanies a QRF to take care of arrests. 
4. “Peaceful marches”.  They were prohibited in the afternoon because the crowd would tend to grow, linger into the evening and move towards a target area for looting. Proactively prohibit that type of behavior. 
5. Begin curfews well before dark.  The recent New York curfew beginning at 11 p.m. was pure insanity.  By then the looters have distributed their cache of weapons, bricks, clubs, etc. and have all the momentum for the remainder of the night. 
6. Manage information flow from ONE command headquarters.  I was routinely out and about LA at night.  At 8 a.m. I hosted a conference call with all the principals; governor, mayor, police chief, sheriff, etc. The intent was to provide a SitRep (situation report) of the previous night’s activities, by sector.  Then, describe for them what steps would be taken, by sector, over the next 6 or 12 or 24 hours.  That information was the SINGLE SOURCE for their use as they dealt with the media that day.  If one of them got off message, my liaison major was to contact me directly and I would deal with it. 

It was equally important to manage information up the chain of command.  I did this  by sending out a daily SITREP to my bosses.  They, in turn, may or may not have commented on it and dutifully forwarded it to the service chiefs and the JCS Chairman, Colin Powell.  When he came to LA to visit the troops, President Bush kindly told me he had the SITREP delivered to his quarters every morning at 0500 and felt comfortable that he had what he needed to know for the day ahead.    

7. Redefine the battle space.  In the 7^th Infantry Division, we trained hard every day and night to close with and destroy the enemy.  The initial priority in LA was to redefine the battlespace where the objective was to create an environment where no one would die.  It was remarkably easy.  Your soldiers are so well trained, responsible and agile of mind and body, that a chat with their squad leader about the rules of engagement was all it took.  By contrast, New York City Mayor De Blasio said, after repeated nights of looting and burning, “When outside armed forces go into communities, no good comes of it.  We have seen this for decades.” He went on to explain that, “The National Guard is not trained to handle rampant looters and violent thugs.”  Has he been living on the back side of the moon?

My intent was to develop a contrast between what ended up to be a successful, large, complex crisis undertaking in 1992 with deployed federal troops in contrast to the chaos, indecision by governors/mayors in a disastrous situation that has gone on far longer that it should.

My answer to the title question, is yes, federal military forces should be engaged in national civil disturbances crises.  

Was Task Force LA perfect?  Not by a long shot but then dealing with crisis rarely is.  Did we make mistakes?  Certainly.  But the bottom line is, once our forces deployed and got on the scene no one lost their life and the rioting, looting and burning quickly stopped. 

Lieutenant General Marvin L. Covault US Army, retired.  Author of VISION TO EXECUTION, a book for leaders.   

Our ability to legally vote and ensure that our vote is properly counted is one of the underpinnings of a successful democracy, right up there with freedom of speech. 

Is voter fraud a problem in the United States? Yes, even a small amount is a problem that should be solved.  How prevalent is voter fraud?  The correct answer is, no one knows because fraud is a crime and folks don’t go around advertising that they are breaking the law. We have choices: do nothing, take a chance that it might get exponentially worse or try to fix it.

Voter fraud is in the news right now because democrats are clamoring for a dramatic change from voting booths to mail-in voting. Their argument is that because of COVID-19 it will not be safe to assemble and vote in November. 

Is the pandemic a good enough excuse to take a chance and suddenly shift the nation to mail-in voting?  Good question, let’s take a snapshot of the current problem and then you decide. 

California:  It has been determined that 1.5 million individuals were registered even though they no longer were eligible to vote. Recently California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an order ensuring that every registered voter will receive a mail-in ballot this fall. 

Disregarding several warnings, Mr. Davis was convicted of registering his four dogs and his deceased father to vote.  Or take Mr. Lerma, an illegal alien from Mexico who voted multiple times under a false identity.  Mr. Hall was involved in a scheme with eight other individuals where they solicited hundreds of false and/or forged signatures on voter registration forms by offering homeless people $1 and/or cigarettes for their participation.

Other cases out of California include individuals who forged the signatures of voters, being paid $5 per signature.  

Voter registration rolls are notoriously inaccurate and out of date, containing the names of voters who are deceased, have moved, or otherwise have become ineligible. 

 Having thousands of ballots arriving in the mail for individuals who no longer reside at a registered address risks those ballots being stolen and voted.  

North Carolina: In 2018 in the 9th Congressional District race was overturned because of illegal vote harvesting that included altering and forging absentee ballots.

Oregon:  A survey of one county found that five percent of registered voters admitted that other people marked their ballots, and 2.4% said someone else signed their ballots.  It is suspected the actual number was much higher, given that most people would not want to admit being a party to a crime. Likely tens of thousands of mail-in ballots are being cast in Oregon by individuals other than the registered voter.

New Jersey: A candidate bribed voters with $50 payments for mail-in ballots. 

The Election Assistance Commission found that 28.3 million ballots in federal elections between 2012 and 2018 were lost or disappeared in the mail.

Virginia: An investigation found 592 examples where registrants were simultaneously registered in another state. There are about 11,600 dead people on Virginia’s voter rolls, all of whom would receive mail-in ballots if an election were held by mail.

New Mexico: The Public Interest Legal Foundation found more than 3,000 individuals registered multiple times; 1,700 registrants who are dead; 1,500 voters aged 100 or above, 64 of whom are over 120 years old. All of these supposed voters would receive mail-in ballots.

These are just a few examples of the ongoing voter fraud in America. Collecting these examples just took a few minutes on Google.  Imagine if we went state by state and searched out voting and voter registration investigations.   Absentee and mail-in ballots are the tools of choice of election fraudsters because they can operate outside the supervision of election officials, making it easier to steal, forge, or alter ballots, as well as to intimidate voters. 

Ballot harvesting is the collecting and submitting of absentee or mail-in ballots by volunteers. In California, campaigns can legally go door-to-door as often as they want and offer to collect the filled-out ballots and drop them off to election officials. Fraud comes into play when one questions the collector’s intentions. Could they be motivated to NOT deliver the ballots once they are collected?

Going entirely to by-mail elections would unwisely endanger the security and integrity of the election process, particularly if officials automatically mail absentee ballots to all registered voters without a signed, authenticated request from each voter. 

These cases demonstrate that significant election fraud does exist and, unchecked, can compromise the integrity of the entire election process. 

Speaker Pelosi’s $3 trillion Heroes Act, recently passed by the House says that states “shall permit a voter to designate any person to return a voted and sealed absentee ballot.”  In effect it would impose ballot harvesting nationwide. 

We should not revamp our voting system with a knee-jerk change/solution just because of the potential for COVID-19 still to be an issue in November.

Conclusions:  One, voter fraud in America is a problem.  Two, with a concerted effort the voter rolls and voting procedures can get cleaned up with a little common sense and attention to detail.  Three, moving the nation to mail-in voting, as a reaction to the pandemic, does not solve the kind of problems enumerated above and could well make things a lot worse leading to many contentious election results like the 9^th District in North Carolina in 2018.

Here is what could/should happen leading up to the November elections:

1.  Election fraud is a crime. The US Attorney General should put pressure on all of the State Attorneys General to get involved and clean up the mess.  State election officials appear unable or uninterested in doing so. 
2. Ban ballot harvesting across the nation.  For those who cannot go to the voting stations (military, infirmed, etc.) tighten the requirement for a signed request for an absentee ballot and do the entire process with specific due dates well ahead of election day. 
3. If we are concerned about social distancing requirements, extend voting over three days to alleviate the crush and long lines.  How could that happen?

Our Constitution (article 1, section 4) specifically gives congress the power to regulate the, “Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections.” In 1845 congress passed a federal law designating, “the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November” as the time for Federal elections.  Easy to change it with a two-sentence law passed by Congress.  “The 2020 national elections will be held 1-3 November, 2020.  No results will be released until every voting station in the nation is closed.” Period.

In the 2016 presidential election there were about 240 million eligible voters.  Only 58% of them voted.  Pathetic.  Extending the voting period from about 12 hours to 3 days could hopefully elicit more interest and a greater turnout. 

4.This is the 21^st century, everyone needs a valid ID. It is about time we stopped the nonsense of arguing about voter ID. The state DMV facilities could easily provide a valid ID for those few legal citizens who do not have a driver’s license, a passport or a federal ID.  Remember, there are over 20 million illegal aliens in the US and many of them already vote illegally. 

Lieutenant General, US Army retired, Marvin L. Covault is the author of Vision to Execution, a book for leaders.

If someone asked you if you have the Corona virus, unless you were just tested negative, there are only two correct answers.  Yes, I do.  Or, I don’t know.  Why don’t you know?  Because you can be spewing the virus into the environment for up to five days before actual symptoms begin.  That is, what’s called being asymptomatic.

Therefore, literally tens of thousands of Americans are walking around right now infecting others and neither party is aware it is happening. You just might be one of them?

We all know we need to balance health with opening the economy.  To do so, we need every US citizen playing a role.  I am not convinced we, either collectively as a nation or as individuals, are doing all we can/should to bring down the daily numbers of infected and defeat the pandemic. 

From May 1st through the 20th, the US has averaged 22,000 new cases of COVID -19 each day.  That’s too many.  Can we do better?  Yes we can but we all have to play a role.

I am intrigued by information floating around the internet recently written by Dr. Erin Bromage, Associate professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts. He provides some interesting information that can help us understand how the virus is most likely transmitted. 

Dr. Bromage tells us that the virus can move from an infected person to another via airborne virus droplets. While this still needs to be confirmed experimentally, infection can occur, through 1000 infectious viral particles you receive in one breath or 100 viral particles inhaled with each breath over 10 breaths, or 10 viral particles with 100 breaths. Each of these situations can lead to an infection.

Dr. Bromage goes on to say, the droplets in a single cough or sneeze from an infected person may contain as many as two hundred million virus particles which can all be dispersed into the immediate environment. For you skeptics out there, let’s, for the sake of argument, assume he is 99% wrong, that it is 2 million virus particles, not 200 million. You only need to take in 1000 to become infected. 

Additionally, note that the virus does not need a cough or sneeze to spread. A single breath releases 50 – 5000 droplets; and, again, you only need to take in 1000 to become infected.

Some of the smallest infected droplets can hang in the air for a few minutes, filling every corner of a modest sized room with infectious viral particles. All you have to do is enter that room within a few minutes, take a few breaths and you have potentially received enough virus to establish an infection.

The issue here is masks.  While it is confirmed that most cloth face coverings will not filter out all the virus particles you breath IN, it is estimated that the amount of airborne virus particles EXPELLED by an infected individual is decreased by as much as 75% when masks are worn.  

Just from my infrequent ventures into town, I have concluded that a very small percentage of our residents wear masks when in public.  While recently in a national box hardware chain store, I noted that a small fraction of the customers and employees were masked up.  Imagine if one of the employees who purpose is to roam the isles ready to answer (where can I find lock washers?) was in fact asymptomatic.  That employee could fill the air (50-5000 virus droplets with each breath) while you are standing in that same air zone getting the answer, “lock washers are in isle 5.”  That type of engagement could potentially happen hundreds of times over that employee’s five-day asymptomatic period. 

Generally, those who choose not to wear masks say, “I’m being careful and ‘they’ (CDC for example) says a common cloth face covering won’t help much anyway”.  These folks are completely missing the point.  The cloth face covering is NOT principally a protection for you, its primary use is to keep you, a potential asymptomatic virus carrier, from infecting many other people.    

In order to rapidly move forward in defeating the pandemic we have to convince the public that wearing a cloth covering of some type can perhaps cut down by 75% the number of infected virus droplets you are spewing out in public.  This is simple.  Everyone has access to a cloth mask.

One additional point on masks.  Elderly folks and those with a variety of existing health issues are more “at risk” to contract the coronavirus.  Now that stockpiles are being refurbished with critical health equipment, everyone in the most at-risk categories should be provided with N95 protective masks to further decrease their vulnerability to airborne virus particles.   

We all want the stores, restaurants and bars to reopen.  The unemployed want to and need to get back to work.  Why not help out by wearing a mask?  What do you have to lose?

There is a second issue that should be considered in countering this pandemic.  Fact, because viruses are sensitive to temperature changes and cannot survive above normal body heat, your body uses fever to help destroy the virus. We have been told for the past three months that a fever is one of the Corona virus symptoms. 

Let’s say you are generally feeling fine, you get up in the morning and stick a thermometer in your mouth and it reads something above 99 degrees.  In this pandemic environment that becomes an OMG-moment.  Do I have “it”?

What do you do?  If you are smart you call your doctor and begin exploring how to get tested.  You do not go to work.  You isolate yourself from your family.  You begin disinfecting everything you have touched that morning. 

The point being, something as simple as routinely taking your temperature every single morning and insisting that everyone in your family does so can become a very effective first-line of defense.

President Trump’s pandemic task force should cause selected companies to immediately begin manufacturing hundreds of millions of thermometers just as they did with ventilators, masks and personal protective equipment. Then do a mass distribution across the country.

We need our leaders, President Trump, the governors, mayors, local health officials to better energize the entire population.  Every day we hear them tell us to 1) wash your hands, 2) don’t touch your face and 3) use social distancing.  Generally, we all get that and do our part.  But that is not enough. They must add 4) EVERYONE SHOULD ALWAYS WEAR A MASK WHEN IN PUBLIC and 5) TAKE YOUR TEMPERATURE EVERY MORNING to the “must do” list. 

If everyone will do all five of those things, It is reasonable to believe we can drastically reduce the number of daily new cases from the current 22,000 to a much lower numb. 

Lieutenant General, US Army retired, Marvin L. Covault is the author of Vision to Execution, a book for leaders.

On April 4^th I published an article on my blog entitled POLITICAL PORK, YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK.  In that article I pointed out over $100 billion of democrat goodies that are completely unrelated to COVID-19 relief.  Some examples to refresh you memories:  $300M for migrant and refugee assistance, $90M for the Peace Corp, $526M grants to Amtrak, $1B for more Obamaphones, $3B upgrade for IT at the VA, $25B for transit infrastructure, $15B for the Community Development Fund, $9.5B for higher education.

Little did we know that Speaker Pelosi was just getting started with her wish list. The $3 trillion HEROES Act, which stands for the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, passed the House on 15 May. 

The passage of this bill was likely the most egregious application of power politics in our history.  The Pelosi power machine was at full-throttle.  While the Senate reconvened 1 May after the spring break, Pelosi left the Representatives home while she put together the bill.  Upon completion, she reconvened the House for an immediate up-or-down vote.

What, do you suppose, were the Representatives’ most likely thoughts before they voted?  It might have been, I wonder what the bill says?  Didn’t they read the bill before voting?  Unlikely since it is 1,800 pages long.  Well, at least the executive summary?  It’s 90 pages. 

What did not happen before the vote was the meeting of a single House committee to consider the provisions of the most expensive bill in history and take into account expert witness’ views.  Not a single amendment or input from republicans was allowed. The bill passed along partisan lines.  

But I digress; this article is about more political pork and democrat platform issues.

A couple of examples: First the Act forbids the government from sharing any information with you about lower-cost health options such as association plans; some of which are up to 60% cheaper than Obamacare.

Secondly, the bill dictates voting by mail to the states. While voting by mail exists in five states there are horrific down-sides.  Because the ballot is cast outside the public eye there is concern for coercion by family members and others. 

Voter registration rolls are notoriously inaccurate, containing names of voters who are deceased, have moved, or otherwise have become ineligible.  In 2018, California was sued over maintaining 1.5 million inactive voter files.  

But the principle piece of pork is a doozie; It directs nearly $1 trillion to state and local governments, including $500 billion for state governments and an additional $357 billion for local governments and counties, mostly in the form of unrestricted aid that doesn’t need to be used to offset coronavirus costs.

Let me take a shot at restating the intent of the trillion dollars for indebted state and local governments.  It goes something like this: lets add a trillion dollars to the federal debt so that certain state and local governments can get out from under most of their debt, they can continue with their irresponsible fiscal policies and can have all the nation’s tax payers pay for it.

Just for a moment, stop and think about the precedent this sets for the future.  Scary.

One trillion dollars, easy to say, more difficult to comprehend.  If you were to spend one dollar per second, it would take you over 32,000 years to spend one trillion dollars.

On 18 May the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board provided some insightful thoughts on fiscal responsibility by comparing the states of New York and Florida.

The leading lobbyist for Pelosi’s plan is New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo.  His antagonist is Florida Senator and former Governor Rick Scott.  Both were first elected governor in 2010.  The comparison of their economic planning and fiscal management during the 2010-2019 time-frame tells an enlightening story.

In 2010 NY population was 19.4 million, FL was 18.8.  While FL population grew 2.7 million, 2010-2019, NY increased by only 75 thousand. 

NY has increased spending by $43 billion since 2010 about $570,000 for each additional person while the FL budget has increased by $28 billion, a $10,400 increase per new resident.

While NY has a top state and local tax rate of 12.7%, FL has no income tax. NY has a growing budget deficit while Scott inherited a large deficit in 2010, but paid down state debt and built a surplus. The difference is spending. 

For example, NY spending on worker retirement benefits has nearly doubled since 2010 and is six times greater that FL.  The cost to service the NY debt has doubled.

New York state and local government debt in 2010 was $317 billion.  By 2019 the total has grown to $374 billion and is expected to be $433 billion by 2023.

NY’s biggest cost driver is Medicaid, 40% of the state budget and twice what it spends on education.  By comparison FL spends equal amounts on schools and Medicaid. 

NY spends about $76 billion a year on Medicaid, three times more than FL. 

NY spends about twice as much per Medicaid beneficiary and six times more on nursing homes as Fl though its elderly population is 20% smaller. 

NY spending on Medicaid has squeezed spending on transportation causing trains and roads to fall into disrepair.  Conversely FL has increased transportation spending ten times more than NY between 2010 and 2019. 

Many high-earning individuals are leaving the high taxes of NY.  NY lost $9.6 billion in adjusted gross income to other states in 2018 while FL gained $16 billion. 

The rate of private job growth in FL has been about 60% higher than in NY from 2010 to 2020.  Finance jobs expanded by 25% in FL compared to 9.7%in NY. 

The awful truth is we may never be able to pay down this new $1 trillion in federal debt, but every year taxpayers have to service the debt.  The policy question here is why taxpayers in FL and other well-managed states should pay higher taxes to rescue a NY political class that refuses to restrain its tax-and-spend governance.

Oh, and lets not forget about Illinois with over $200 billion indebtedness for pensions and health insurance benefits alone.  And then there are those democrats in California who have worked up a whopping $1.5 trillion in state and local government debt. 

You, the taxpayer, have a choice here. One, you can believe how Speaker Pilose described the bill to the House membership just before they voted, saying, “This is a very strategically planned piece of legislation that is tailored strictly to meet the needs of the American people regarding the coronavirus pandemic. To do anything less would not be responsible.”

Or you can remind yourself it is never a good idea to take Speaker Pelosi at her word, “……. STRICKLY TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE REGARDING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC.” Really?

Lieutenant General, US Army retired, Marvin L. Covault is the author of Vision to Execution, a book for leaders

The Congress passed and President Trump signed into law the $2.2 trillion “Take responsibility for Workers and Families Act” for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020.  The purpose of the law, as widely reported, is principally to provide immediate financial support to individuals and families who are struggling to pay immediate bills for food and shelter; and to support the millions of small businesses in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

OK, I get it; easy to understand the intent. Will someone then explain to me why these line items were included in the law (“M” is million and “B” is billion):

$100M to NASA, $20B to the US Postal Service, $300M to the Endowment for the Arts, $300M for the Endowment for the Humanities, $15M for Veterans Employment Training, $435M for mental health support, $30B for the Department of Education stabilization fund, $200M to Safe Schools Emergency Response to Violence Program, $300M to Public Broadcasting, $500M to Museums and Libraries, $720M to Social Security Administration, $25M for cleaning supplies for the Capitol Building, $7.5M to the Smithsonian for additional salaries,  $25M for additional salary for the House of Representatives,  $3B upgrade to the IT department at the VA, $315M for State Department Diplomatic Programs, $95M for the Agency of International Development,  $300M for International Disaster Assistance, $300M for Migrant and Refugee Assistance, $90M for the Peace Corp, $13M to Howard University, $9M Miscellaneous Senate Expenses,  $25M to the FAA for administrative costs, $492M to National Railroad Passenger Corp. (Amtrak), $526M Grants to Amtrak to remain available if needed through 2021, $25B for Transit Infrastructure, $3M Maritime Administration, $5M Salaries and Expensive Office of the Inspector General, $2.5M Public and Indian Housing, $5M Community Planning and Development, $100M for Community Block Grants for Native Americans, $250M for Housing Block Grants for Tribes, $130M for AIDS Housing, $15B for the Community Development Fund, $7M to enforce the Fair Housing Act, $1B for more Obamaphones, $10M for Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker programs, $100M for ‘‘Job Corps’’, $15M for ‘‘Program Administration’’, $6M to the Wage and Hour Division, $30M, to OSHA,  $10M for Susan Harwood training grants, $75M for ‘‘Student Aid Administration’’, $9.5B, for ‘‘Higher Education’’. 

That is a partial list and it is well over $100 billion. 

Why does this happen?  Several reasons:  1) Many politicians are beholden to big donors and are influenced to do them a “favor”. 

2)  Economic crises are good for the lobbying industry; in 2008 and 2009 lobbying business grew 22%.  Lobbyists seek new clients and then represent them to politicians who are pressured into supporting additional, albeit unrelated, funding.

 3) “Earmarking” is a long-standing, despicable activity in Congress participated in by democrats and republicans alike.  That is, the process whereby separate bills are attached to a major piece of legislation that is in the “must-pass” category; it will pass and everyone knows it will.  During the work-up, politicians take the opportunity to earmark separate, and usually completely unrelated issues, to the principle bill.  Normally these legislative actions, if presented as stand-alone bills, would not likely stand the scrutiny of a committee hearing of a floor vote. 

As the idea of a “trillion-dollar stimulus package” began to float around Washington in March, Representative James Clyburn, the House of Representatives democrat Whip, described to his democrat colleagues the “tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.” A not so subtle order to pile on the pork. 

After the bill was signed into law, Senator Cory Booker was asked about the billions of dollars of completely non-COVID-19 related expenditures. He justified the earmarks saying, “It is often during crisis that you see Americans expand their moral imagination.” Well, that certainly clears things up for us, doesn’t it? 

4) A final reason the extensive list of expenditures above exists today in law is that, generally speaking, politicians have the luxury of taking positions because they have no responsibility for the outcome. 

If money is the root of all evil, then it follows that money in politics is the root of most of our problems. 

In the next few days when the government checks arrive to help American families, a couple things will become obvious.  One, for those who have lost their job the amount on the check will probably be insufficient to meet all basic needs.  Secondly, not everyone who should be helped will be included; (keep in mind this is government bureaucracies at work}.

How much additional assistance could have/should have been provided instead of the pork provided to the Kennedy Center, the endowment to the arts, the Peace Corps, Amtrak, etc. etc. etc? 

If we gave each family, for example, an additional $500 a month for 4 months, that $100 + billion would have made 50 million families feel a lot more secure.  Fifty million families vs endowment to the arts; aren’t you proud of yourself Nancy? 

Additionally, we need to understand that a trainload of gold did not magically arrive in Washington last week.  That $100 + billion just got added to the national debt. 

As if this story is not disgusting enough, within days of passage of the $2.2 trillion relief bill, Speaker Pelosi began lobbying for an additional package saying, “Let’s do the same bill we just did, make some changes to make it current and correct some of the things that we’d like to see.”  “…. things that we’d like to see” is political speak for “more pork”.  Hang on to your wallet folks. 

Lieutenant General, US Army retired, Marvin L. Covault is the author of Vision to Execution, a book for leaders.

Our current system is called a progressive tax.  An alternative is the flat tax.  Which is better?  Should we change systems?

The essence of a progressive income tax is that the rate of tax increases as income increases. For example, the tax rate on incomes up to $9,700 is 12% while the rate is 32% on income between $160,725 and $204,100.

It is the general consensus that the wealthy should pay more into the system than the poor. In practice, our tax system achieves this goal; the top 1% pay nearly 10 times what those in the lowest quintile pay.

Generally, citizens resent the time and expense of filing under the current system and also suspect that the maze of credits, deductions and exemptions gives a special advantage to the wealthy who can afford expert tax advisers.

A flat tax is a system in which everyone pays the same tax rate regardless of income. For example, with a 10% tax rate, a family with income of $70,000 would pay $7,000 in taxes while income of $7 million would be taxed $700,000.

Flat tax would be imposed on wages/salary only, meaning that there’s no tax on capital gains or investments. This can spur investment, savings and thus long-term economic growth.  Additionally, many economists believe the current tax system, with high rates and discriminatory taxation of saving and investment, reduces growth, punishes job creation and lowers income.

How would a flat tax work for individual taxpayers? Households get only one exemption, an allowance based on family size, and then pay the flat rate on their income.

How would a flat tax work for businesses? All businesses, from the largest multinational to a corner pub, would play by the same rules. Companies would add up their receipts, then subtract their costs (salaries, raw materials, plant operations, marketing, etc.) and pay the flat rate on net income.

The complicated documents, instruction manuals and numerous forms that taxpayers struggle with today would be replaced by a brief set of instructions. Proponents believe the entire tax code could be based on two simple postcard-sized forms.

Currently the IRS has about 75,0000 employees and a budget of $12 billion. In spite of that resourcing, the “tax gap”, the amount of taxes owed that go uncollected, has been averaging $458 billion per year.

There would be an obvious advantage to having a tax system that EVERYONE can understand vs the current system that NOONE can understand. How did we get to where we are today?

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­The current tax code law is about 2600 pages. Then there are an additional 70,000-plus pages of regulations and tax-case history that are in play.

Special interest groups working through politicians have convinced them to insert numerous “tax breaks” into the law thereby creating the impression that the rich and influential have tax privileges.

Can we “fix” the current tax laws and regulations?  No. It is not feasible to believe the Congress could work through 70,000 plus pages of law, regulations and judgements and end up with ground truth and simplicity.  We could conceivably end up with a worse system.  

With a pure flat tax, it is likely the single rate may be punitive to the lower and middle-class taxpayers. Remember, in spite of all the loopholes available to the wealthy, the top 10% still pay about 70% of all income taxes.  Therefore, my recommendation is as follows: 

Scrap the entire 70,000 pages of current law/regulations/legal judgements. Start over and create a simple, stand-alone, flat tax law that is 50 pages or less, explains in great detail exactly the income that is to be taxed, no deductions, no loopholes and can be filled out on one or two forms.

But, instead of having a single tax rate have a graduated flat tax rate. For example, zero tax for those below the official poverty line (About $11,000 single and $24,000 for a family of four).  Then from the poverty line up to $75,000 in income, pay a 15% tax rate.  For $75,001 to $150,000 pay 18% and so on until anything over $500,000 income pays 30%.  The lawmakers need to lay out the graduated scale of income/tax rates and pass it as the new tax code law.  Include in the law that it cannot be amended in any way by “earmark” legislation that is tagged on to an unrelated bill. 

This could be the best merging of flat and progressive tax systems. There are four characteristics of a good tax system, certainty, equity, simplicity and efficiency. The current system gets an “F” in all four.  A graduated flat tax system might be at lease a B+. 

Lieutenant General, US Army retired, Marvin L. Covault is the author of Vision to Execution, a book for leaders.

If you were shadowing Bernie Sanders on the campaign trail, every day you would hear him say, “The United States will join every other major country on earth and guarantee healthcare to all people as a right.” 

The very foundation of our great country is the Bill of Rights, the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution. It spells out Americans’ rights; specifically, freedom of speech, press, and religion and it sets rules for due process of law. Fact check; healthcare is not a “right”.

Bernie will go on to tell you it is, “free at the point of service.” Fact check; nothing provided by the government is free. We the people pay for everything.

Bernie claims, “No networks, no premiums, no deductibles, no copays, no surprise bills”. Fact check, there will be a bill Bernie, it’s called taxes and we, not the millionaire down the street, will be taxed like you cannot believe.  Fact, you cannot imagine how expensive a massive government program can be until it is “free.”

Bernie tells us that, “Medicare coverage will be expanded and improved to include: dental, hearing, vision, and home-based and community-based long-term care, in-patient and out-patient services, mental health and substance abuse treatment, reproductive and maternity care, prescription drugs, and more.” What Bernie has not told us is what the quality of this health care will be and how it will be paid for. 

In the United Kingdom during 2017 a record 4.2 million patients were on National Health Service waiting lists. AFTER having received their diagnosis and referral, 458,000 patients waited longer than four months for treatment.  More than 19% wait 2 months or longer to begin their first URGENT CANCER TREATMENT while 17% wait more than 4 months for brain surgery.

In Canada the median wait-time between diagnosis and seeing a specialist is 10.2 weeks.  Canadians with heart disease wait 3 months for their FIRST TREATMENT. For life-changing orthopedic surgery, like hip or knee replacement, they likely wait 10 months.

In Europe, lower-income and middle-class taxpayers pay an average marginal wage tax rate of 49 percent on income above $37,000 a year, and an average value-added tax (VAT) of 20 percent. Those same U.S. taxpayers face a marginal wage tax of 32 percent and an average sales tax of 6 percent.

European countries tax revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product:  France 46%, Sweden 44%, UK 33%. The US is 27%.

Universal coverage does not mean universal access to quality care; quite the contrary.  FACT, every country that has tried nationalized health care has ended up with fewer quality health care professionals, much higher taxes, longer wait times for care, pain, suffering, permanent disability, forgone wages and in many cases premature death.

Fact, we have had government-run medical care for decades; the Veterans Administration. It has been such a dismal failure the whole process has been under scrutiny and investigation for the past twenty years and is not yet fixed. Forty vets died in Phoenix while waiting for appointments. The inspector general found employees hiding treatment delays at 26 facilities and the system is generally plagued by negligence, falsified records and gross mismanagement. 

The 2021 VA budget request is $243 billion with 395,000 employees serving about 9 million veterans. Let’s do some scary math. Using these numbers and looking ahead proportionally, in order to serve all 331 million US citizens with total health care, the budget would be almost $9 trillion per year with over 14 million employees. Of course, expanding 9 million patients to 331 million would not be exactly proportional but what if these totals are even half right ($4.5 trillion/7 million employees) or one third right ($3 trillion/4.6 million employees)? The entire federal revenue is expected to be only $3.86 trillion in 2021 with an Executive Branch of less than 3 million people. 

Fact:  between 2004 and 2017 “mistakes and improper Medicare and Medicaid payments” averaged $48 billion per year. Do we surmise that all that graft, corruption, mistakes and improper payment will magically disappear? I am much more inclined to believe the $48 billion will grow right along with the expansion of the program. Why? 

The federal government has a clear and remarkable history of failure when it comes to “running” big, national programs.  What do the Postal Service, Social Security, Fannie Mae, Amtrak, and Freddie Mac all have in common?  Two things, they are big bloated federal government programs and they are all broke. And so will the taxpayers be…..broke.

If the government confiscated the entire wealth of the top tier income producers, it would not cover the cost of one year of Bernie’s boondoggle universal health care. 

Marv Covault, Lieutenant General US Army retired, author of Vision to Execution, a book for leaders

Last month Gallup published the results of their Mood of the Nation poll having to do with personal satisfaction with daily life. The results show that 90% of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going, a new high in Gallup’s four-decades of reporting on this particular issue.  Furthermore, Gallup asked a follow-up question to measure the extent to which respondents are “satisfied”; results, 65% are “very satisfied” which is also a new high number. 

Presidential elections are about one thing, change.

Logic would suggest that if we are currently “satisfied” with our personal life, it will take a very special, undeniably remarkable proposition to cause us to want to change.  Having said that, we must also recognize that the concept of change is scary for a lot of folks and a lot of organizations; call it fear of the unknown. 

Niccolo Machiavelli summed up the fear of change rather nicely about 500 years age, saying, “There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.  Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.”

Given that campaigns are about change, what are the democrat/socialist candidates offering that meets that extra special criteria that would convince the majority of American voters to change? Let’s perhaps get some insight by going through some of the major issues they are currently peddling. 

MEDICARE FOR ALL: Thomas Sowell summed it up this way: “It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medications somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medications and a government bureaucracy”.  There are zero examples of the US government ever running a huge social operation efficiently or effectively.  Zero. Additionally, is cancelling the private health plans for 180 million Americans who are satisfied with their policy a good idea? 

Medicare for all would probably be the most dramatic social change in our history.  Just for openers, imagine a website created by a government committee with oversight from several government agencies and congressional committees.  This will make the Obamacare website look like a simple weather app.  And, oh-by-the-way, according to the Office of Inspector General, the Obamacare site cost $1.7 billion dollars. And it didn’t work. 

SOCIALISM:  Some years ago, I visited a small socialist village in the Golan Heights, Israel.  The elders took care of the children, everyone else had a job (“From each according to his abilities ….”).  The paychecks all went into one pot; The money was then doled out, “….to each according to his needs.”  It worked there, at that level, but socialism has never succeeded on a large scale anywhere in the world.  Wake up America, it is a failed system and no amount of rhetoric can make it right.  Ask a starving Venezuelan.

GREEN NEW DEAL: Let’s just look at one factor, the US has 15 coal-fired power plants and no plans to build any more.  And Democrat politicians, with their green new deal, want to shut down those 15 plants in order to “save the planet”. In the world’s 8 largest coal-fired power plant countries/areas (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, South Africa, Turkey and the EU) they have 3,737 on line with 1,892 more planned; total 5629.  China alone is averaging one new plant per week. Talk to me democrats, how does your Green program deal with that reality? 

IMMIGRATION: Their program is amnesty and open borders.  They won’t say those exact words but they explain it this way, “Crossing the border without permission is not an illegal act.”  Also, “Do away with ICE”. It is obvious to the casual observer that the democrat’s long-range plan is to create a permanent voting block of tens of millions of Latinos. Their policies will encourage tens of millions more illegals to flood the US thereby overloading the welfare, medical, judicial and education institutions.  The taxpayers will pay for this and America as we know it today will never exist again.  Period.

SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS.  FREEE COLLEGE TUITION.  CANCEL STUDENT DEBTS, etc. free stuff: There will necessarily be massive tax increases and not just for the rich.  All of the assets of the rich combined will not begin to pay for the tens of trillions of dollars in all of their proposed programs.  Most of the income from the bottom 50% of Americans is not taxed.  The middle class will get hit hard with debilitating tax increases. 

RAISE CORPORATE TAXES:  We have been there, done that and it is a disaster.  Our manufacturers have to compete in a global market.  Corporate tax is an added cost of producing a product which keeps us from successfully competing price-wise. The alternative is for manufacturers to move overseas for cheaper labor as they did by the tens of thousands during the past two decades.  It is just that simple and just that stupid of an idea.  It will undo the massive economic turn-around of the past 36 months. 

WEALTH TAX AND INCOME TAX RATES OF 70, 80, 90%:  Wealthy folks do not put their excess cash under the mattress; they invest it.  That investment capital is the fuel for capitalism.  The economy cannot flourish without it. 

BAN FOR-PROFIT CHARTER SCHOOLS. END ALL FEDERAL FUNDING FOR CHARTERS:  Government education is a national disgrace.  Our ranking in the world is pitiful. Charter schools represent one bright hope but the unions hate them. The democrats have and will continue to pander to the unions irrespective of the negative consequences for America.

SANCTUARY CITIES AND STATES: Favoring hardened criminals over citizens isn’t just radical, it is against the law.  In 2017 ICE arrested more than 127,000 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions or facing charges of breaking our nation’s laws, including nearly 5,000 gang members. How would we deal with these criminals if the whole United States became a “sanctuary” for those who break the law?

A REGULATION NATION (again):  Unstated, but an absolute result of all of the above is a massive federal government.  With that comes massive regulations.  Massive regulations drag down the economy, prohibits innovation and new businesses.

MILITARY READINESS:  The democrat /socialist candidates will not talk about the military because they will take it down; they always do.  President Carter decimated the military in his four years.  Clinton exacerbated the post-Cold War drawdown and left office with a hollow military.  After eight years of Obama we had one, yes ONE fully combat-ready fighting brigade and half our fighter aircraft could not get off the ground. 

That’s change.  Now I would ask you to scroll back up and just read the all-caps headings to the above paragraphs.  This is what the democrat/socialist candidates are proposing.  Ninety percent of Americans today, according to Gallup, are satisfied or very satisfied with their life today.  Is there any of the above items that, when properly analyzed, leads the majority of voters to say, wow that looks so good, makes so much sense, I guess I can withstand the trauma associated with change, sign me up?

More sage advice from Thomas Sowell: “If you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at someone else’s expense, then you have no right to complain when they take your money and give it to someone else.”  “The assumption that spending more of taxpayer’s money will make things better has survived all kinds of evidence that it has made things worse.”

Conclusions: Change is sometimes inevitable, sometimes necessary, sometimes misguided or even stupid. Change is often difficult, even impossible.  Sometimes, particularly in the business world, it’s change or die.  Whatever the situation, a couple things ring true. The more you like the status quo and/or the direction we are moving the more difficult it will be to change.  The more you dislike the alternatives to the status quo, the more unlikely it will be that change will satisfy you even if you are not completely committed to the status quo.  Be careful what you ask for because change may also sometimes be irreversible.

The current crop of democrat/socialist presidential candidates are all afflicted with the hate virus and they are coughing, sneezing and slobbering into their microphones attempting to create a nation-wide epidemic of hate.  Their intent is to infect voters with the hate virus to the extent that changing the very underpinnings of American society with their radical agenda might seem like a good idea. 

But what they fail to understand is that vast numbers of Americans have, in the past 36 months, been properly “inoculated” against hate.  The serum includes a dose of the most wide-spread and comprehensive positive economic numbers in our history.  Also included is make-sense foreign policy against corrupt countries, plans to get us out of Middle East conflicts, focus on neutering the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, Iran. Additionally, one of the most dramatic accomplishments has been our new-found energy independence.  For decades our daily livelihood has been directly linked to the flow of Middle East oil to the US.  No longer does any nation hold petroleum leverage over us. 

The democrat/socialist platform may sell well in the Northeast and on the West Coast but remember, there is a big swath in the middle of our country where candidate Trump won 84% of the counties, the heart of America.   

According to Gallup, 90% of Americans got the shot to protect them from the hate virus.  While it may not “take” on all of them, the current group of democrat/socialist candidates, if they want to be successful, may what to re-think their platforms and run FOR some ideas that are aligned with today’s successes rather than just running AGAINST President Trump. 

PS: As we watch the mainstream media report on the presidential campaign, commentators and reporters would lead us to believe that Bernie Sanders has captured the hearts and minds of a majority of young Americans in the 18-34 age bracket.  However, the previously mentioned Gallup poll reported that 92% of that age group is “satisfied” and 62% are “very satisfied” with their current state of life.  Well, perhaps it is the 35-54 age group that are in Bernie’s camp.  Nope, 87% satisfied, 63% very satisfied with the status quo. 

Stay tuned,

Lt Gen Marvin L. Covault, US Army retired. 

For 82 minutes during President Trump’s State of the Union address, 4 February, 2020, Speaker Pelosi shuffled the papers, chewed on her lip, mumbled at lot at Vice President Pence, scowled and mostly kept her seat as the chamber erupted in applause over 100 times. 

Let’s make sure we accurately define the venue.  This was not a republican campaign speech or political debate.  President Trump was there because Section 3, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution requires the President to periodically “give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

Of the last 12 Presidents (Eisenhower through Trump) the Speaker of the House was of the opposite political party during 9 of those administrations.  But, they all seemed to find it in their heart to honor the office of the president with a traditional and proper introduction, “Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States.”  Speaker Pelosi sent an instant, clear message that civility was out the door with her introduction, “Members of Congress, the President of the United States.” 

Keep in mind the requirement is to, “…. give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union….”  With that in mind the content of the address should, therefore, be factual.  To meet that requirement, the president proceeded to report to us that over the past 36 months:

There are seven million new jobs; lowest average unemployment rate in history; African-American poverty declined to lowest rate ever recorded; women’s unemployment rate lowest in 70 years; last year women filled 72% of all new jobs; veteran unemployment is at a record low; disabled American unemployment at an all-time low; non-high school graduates have lowest unemployment in recorded history; a record number of young Americans are now employed; 7 million Americans have dropped out of food stamps; 10 million have been lifted off of welfare; three and a half million working-age people have joined the workforce; net worth of the lower-half wage earners has increased 47%; lowest income workers have seen a 16% pay increase; median household income is now at the highest level ever recorded; stock markets have soared 70%; $12 trillion added to our nation’s wealth. 401K and pensions increases of 60-100%; wealthy companies are pouring money into needy communities; passed a justice reform law; relentless regulatory reduction campaign; now number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world; now energy independent; under Bush and Obama, 60,000 factories moved overseas, 12,000 have returned to the US; thousands of new plants are planned; new trade deal with Mexico and Canada increasing US productivity (100,000 in auto industry alone); groundbreaking trade deal with China; rebuilt US military; US leading 59-nation diplomatic coalition against Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela; defeated the ISIS califate; NATO members financial input up $400 billion; created Space Force; illegal immigrant crossings are down for the eighth straight month; new border wall is under construction.   Last year ICE arrested more than 120,000 criminal aliens charged with nearly 10,000 burglaries, 5,000 sexual assaults, 45,000 violent assaults, and 2,000 murders.

And so it went for 82 minutes, factual data describing today’s state of the union.

Back to the title question, What is Wrong with Speaker Pelosi?  Since 2007, Pelosi has been either the minority leader in the House or, when in the majority, the Speaker of the House.    

From 2007 through 2016, all of the economic, foreign policy, trade and national security issues enumerated in the long “facts” paragraph above were real problems.  The economy was awful, illegal immigration was out of control, foreign policy was a mess and trade deals were very disadvantageous to the US. This is not to say that those bad old days were Pelosi’s fault but for sure she was not instrumental in adopting solutions to any of them. 

Enter President Trump 36 months ago.  He forced through the changes necessary to rapidly turn all the problems into success stories.  Pelosi’s role during that period has been to lead the “resistance” and by her own recent admission spent 2 ½ years working to impeach the president. 

Special prosecutor Mueller was to take care of getting rid of Trump.  Another failure.  The Ukrainian fiasco was to deal the Trump presidency a lethal blow.  Trump’s overall approval rating is up ten percent since the Pelosi impeachment fiasco began last fall and is higher than President Obama after his first three years in office. 

Given all that, how depressing, frustrating, agonizing must it have been for Pelosi to sit there, behind President Trump, listening to the actual state of the union with millions of Americans watching live as she sat on her hands and chewed her lower lip?  

Nothing is right in Pelosi’s world right now. 

Additionally, during the president’s address she demonstrated to all America how callous and uncaring she can be.  The president’s guest list: 

Tony Rankins a down-and-out drug addict who lost all his worldly goods and his family and is now sober with a good job and reunited with his family.

The touching story of 100-year old Tuskegee Airman, Charles McGee, whose great grandson has a vision to be in the new Space Force.

Fourth grader Janiyah Davis and her single mom, Stephanie, striving to get into a better school.  The president promised her an opportunity scholarship to attend a school of her choice.

Renowned radio host Rush Limbaugh, recently diagnosed with phase-four lung cancer, was awarded, on the spot, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

The amazing 2-year old Ellie who was born at 21 weeks and survived was in attendance with her mother Robin.

An illegal immigrant in a sanctuary city in a sanctuary state murdered Rocky Jones, an innocent bystander.  His grieving brother Jody was there as a guest of the president.  

The president honored military spouse Amy Williams and her two young children who were suddenly joined by their husband/father Sergeant First Class Townsend Williams, home from his fourth deployment.    It was the longest and loudest applause of the evening. 

Every story was heart-wrenching, yet Pelosi sat on her hands unsmiling, not looking at those being honored. It was both disgusting and discouraging to watch. 

When President trump finished his address, Speaker Pelosi promptly stood up, ripped her copy of the speech in half and departed the House Chamber.  On her way out a reporter asked her why she had ripped up the speech.  She replied, “It was the courteous thing to do considering the alternatives.”  Courteous? Alternatives?

Pelosi is in a failed state of mind.  While she has spent years in the nation’s senior leadership position (second in line to the presidency) her leadership skills are almost nonexistent.  She is not a leader; she is a person obsessed with power in a leadership position.  A frightening thought considering her position today.  It is her way or the highway. 

There is a serious culture of blame and hate in this country.  Every day in the mainstream media we can see, hear and read the hatemongers throwing gas on the hate fire. 

By most accounts Pelosi is vindictive, power hungry, obsessed with hate and is leading many democrats in exactly the wrong direction. 

Pelosi is a leader only to the extent that her example influences her followers.   Unfortunately, her unforgivable behavior at the State of the Union has further influenced millions of progressive democrat Trump-haters.  She and they are blinded by hate to the positive things going on across our great country. 

She has moments of intelligent good thoughts like last Spring when she said, “Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country…….”.  Unfortunately, a few months later all those thoughts vanished; hatred and obsession took over and doing what is in the best interest of the American people became a distant after-thought. 

Generally speaking, America is fed up with divisiveness. However, going forward we will automatically consider that actions speak louder than words.  If an when she advocates for a bi-partisan approach to some issue, her demonstrative ripping up of the speech at the State of the Union on live TV for all to see will rule the day.  Whatever effectiveness she had following the impeachment debacle, will now certainly be diminished. 

After taking an objective look at the actual State of the Union today, if you are a disciple of Speaker Pelosi, I have two questions for you.  One, can you recite a specific list of positive accomplishments for the nation that Pelosi has advocated for over the past 36 months? Secondly, to you personally, can you find it in your heart to love your country more than you hate President Trump?

Marvin L. Covault, Lt Gen US Army, retired