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WHAT’S NEXT REPUBLICANS? (PART 2)

The bottom line is that the 2022 midterm elections did not end well for the Republican Party or the nation. One possible reason is that Republican campaigns concentrated on the obvious near-term issues (inflation, fuel prices, open borders, lawlessness, etc.) but failed to demonstrate to the voters that this is the Party that can change the overall direction for the nation. We have to gain the voters’ trust and respect.

Part 1 of What’s Next Republicans, published on 13 November, presented solutions to education, a national disgrace, and open borders, a national security crisis. My intent is to publish a series of solutions to national problems. The scenario for this series is that on 3 January, 2023 when the 118^th Congress is convened, the presumptive Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, will address the nation to explain the Republican’s upcoming legislative agenda. When he closed his remarks (Part 1) concerning solutions to education and open borders on 3 January, he told the audience he would address them again on 4 January. Here are the proposed remarks for Speaker McCarthy on the subject of election reform:

For every eligible voter in America to be comfortable in the belief that his or her vote counts (once), and that none of the parts of the system are easily subverted by fraudulent actions and activities is right up there in importance with free speech. If we cannot consistently hold free and honest elections, what does that say to us and to the world about our status, our morality, our honesty. Without those attributes how can we be a model for the remainder of the world? The sad truth is that too many Americans believe our election process is compromised. A survey conducted in 2021 tell us that over half of all Americans have lost confidence in our election system. This must get fixed before the 2024 election.

While the Republican Party believes strongly in states-rights initiatives, too many states have demonstrated that their policies and procedures on elections do not adequately serve their voters and in fact set the system up for possible failure. We will propose guidance for all national elections.

Let’s begin by defining the problem; here are ten reasons why the election system is broken and must get fixed:

ONE, voter registration rolls are inaccurate.

For example, in 2017 Judicial Watch brought suit against California and Los Angeles County, alleging that LA County has more voter registrations on its voter rolls than it has citizens who are old enough to vote. LA County has over 10 million residents, more than the populations of 41 of the 50 states. Additionally, 11 of California’s 58 counties have registration rates exceeding 100% of the age-eligible citizenry. January, 2019 California in general and LA County in particular were ordered to begin the process of removing 1.5 million invalid registrants.

Whether deliberate or not, terribly inaccurate voter registration rolls across America provide the basis for fraudulent election results.

TWO, mail-in ballots provide opportunities for fraud:

In some states blank ballots, with no security identifier, (easily reproduced on any copy machine) are automatically sent out to everyone on the voter registration rolls. That could result in millions of ballots out there for ineligible voters, dead people for example, that could be filled out by anyone.

Signature verification of returned ballots is so difficult that some states simply don’t require verification. Additionally, the volume of mail-in ballots in some areas is so high, election staff may have as little as five seconds to check a signature. If someone mailed in multiple ballots, there is virtually no way to catch the voter.

THREE, ballot harvesting provides opportunities for fraud:

Ballot harvesting is the collection of mail-in and absentee ballots from voters by a third party who then, supposedly, delivers them to election officials. The term vote harvesting was essentially unknown to the general public until the North Carolina State Board of Elections overturned the results of the 2018 election for the Ninth Congressional District due to illegal vote harvesting; what the board called, quote, “a coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme.”

A Florida grand jury summarized the problem as follows: quote, “once that ballot is out of the hands of the elector, we have no idea what happens to it. The possibilities are numerous and scary.”

FOUR, fraud by election officials:

This happens when ballots are manipulated by officials administering the election, such as tossing out ballots.

FIVE, chain of custody:

In so many ways voters lose control of their ballot; ballot harvesting being a prime example.

SIX, chaotic behind-the-scenes ballot counting:

During every election we see videos of counting rooms with large numbers of election workers milling around and tables stacked with hundreds or thousands of ballots.

SEVEN, the movement towards non-citizens voting:

The New York City Council, December, 2021, passed an ordinance allowing over 800,000 noncitizens to vote in city elections, declaring, quote, “New York City must be seen as a shining example for other progressive cities to follow.”

EIGHT, uncontrolled so-called “dark” campaign spending and billionaire involvement:

While the Federal Election Commission is authorized to enforce the limits and prohibitions on contributions, it is impossible for them to accomplish that mission given that current campaign finance laws, which in some cases authorize “unlimited” and “undisclosed” terminology.

NINE, only one day for in-person voting:

Why are we so stupid as to believe one of the most important functions of our cherished republic has to be a hurry-up affair during one work-day?

TEN, VOTER APATHY:

In the 2016 election an estimated 100 million eligible voters did not vote. In the 2020 election a record number of Americans voted but still an estimated 80 million, one third of all eligible voters, did not vote.

Given the above list of ten sub-systems, it is obvious to the casual observer, we need to fix a terribly broken election system.

Americans want election reform. This was confirmed by a July, 2021 poll conducted by the Republican National Committee with 800 registered voters (31% Democrats, 29% Republicans, 31% Independents):

80% agree Voter ID is a key security measure.

87% were against ballot harvesting.

77% rejected the Democrat claim that Voter ID is racist.

78% agreed with voter signature verification and chain of custody controls.

89% agreed that voter rolls need to be cleaned up.

88% believe states should not send mail-in ballots to the general public and non-citizens.

Can election reform become a reality before we have an election meltdown that tears this nation apart? Yes, it can be accomplished with a no-more-than 20-page federal law. It needs to be no more than twenty pages so that newspapers will publish it, whereby all Americans can read it and support it. The law needs to be very specific in its requirements so opponents cannot distort the intent or meaning.

ELECTION REFORM BIGINS WITH A REQUIREMENT FOR VOTER ID:

Here is what we know will happen first. The president, VP and right on down the line Democrats will immediately accuse anyone who believes in voter ID of being a racist and that voter ID is voter suppression. My response to that is a question, Mr. President am I to believe you are saying that adult Black Americans are incapable of going to the DMV and getting an ID?

Precedent for personal IDs: In 2005 Congress passed the “Real ID Act” establishing minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards. Implantation was to have been October, 2020 but was Covid-extended to 3 May, 2023. Under the law applicants applying for a Real ID must prove their birth date, birthplace, citizenship, legal status, Social Security number and residence documentation. Without a Real ID, Americans will be denied access to TSA at any airport. The point to be made here is this; is there a movement to oppose the Real ID law? Have you heard one single dissenting voice in the main-stream media concerning the Real ID requirement? Is anyone calling it racist? No, because there is no opposition.

Ask yourself this question; do I know any adult U.S. citizen who does not have a valid ID? I thought so, you can’t think of one, neither can I. So why is this particular ID requirement racist voter suppression? It makes absolutely no sense.

The reality is, a Voter ID Card system will solve most of the ten election problems and it will be self-policing.

The intent of a Voter ID Card law is to positively identify a voter at a voting site with a current photo, a valid state Voter ID number, current address and a history of voter activity. Under this federal law everyone who is eligible to vote must have a Voter ID Card in order to perform in-person voting or to apply for an absentee ballot, the only two voting methods that will be authorized.

The Voter ID Card will be obtained from a state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) facility and it will expire simultaneously with the expiration of a driver’s license. Both can be renewed at the same time.

The Voter ID Card will be the same size and quality as today’s Real ID. the Voter ID Card will present a photo, full name, date of birth, address, sex, eye color, height, hair color, expiration date and, most importantly, an individual Voter ID 10-digit number beginning with the two-letter state abbreviation such as NC-456-789-3322.

In order to obtain a Voter ID Card, you must be 18 years of age and present the following documents: a valid passport or birth certificate proving identity and date of birth. One document confirming full name and social security number. Two documents with a current physical address proving state residency.

The state DMV will immediately provide the state election headquarters with all Voter ID Card data. Important point here; THAT LIST WILL BECOME THE STATES’ VOTER REGISTRATION ROLL. This immediately solves the first election fraud problem of ineligible voters on the voter registration rolls.

When a voter presents their Voter ID Card at the voting site, the administrative assistant will swipe the Voter ID Card and ascertain if that particular Voter ID Card number has already been used during the current election period. if not, the assistant will print out an individual ballot which has the voter’s full name, address and Voter ID Card number printed on the ballot. In the presence of the voting assistant, the voter will sign the ballot acknowledging that the data is correct. Fraudulently signing a ballot will be a federal offense. With Voter ID Cards, every ballot instantly becomes individualized with the voter’s name and number. This prevents ballot stuffing, voter impersonation and fraud by election officials.

Once the voter has filled out the ballot and it has been read by the vote-tabulating machine, any subsequent ballots presented with that Voter ID number will be automatically rejected. Additionally, any ballot presented without or with a fraudulent ID number will be rejected.

The Voter ID Card system will also be self-policing. That is, when a Voter ID Card hits the expiration date the software will automatically delete that Voter ID name and number from the system. Furthermore, when a voter gets a new card or renews an expired one, the system will automatically add the voter to the registration rolls. The result will be that we will no longer have dead people voting or 1.5 million ineligible voters registered to vote in LA County.

Ballot stuffing means casting illegal votes or submitting more than one ballot per voter. That cannot be done with voter ID because every ballot must have a voter ID number on it and that number can only be used once during an election cycle.

Voter registration fraud involves filling out and submitting a voter registration card for a fictional person, or filling out a voter registration card with the name of a real person but without that person’s consent and forging his or her signature on the card. None of that can happen with the voter ID card system in place because of the voter identification requirements at the DMV site.

Voter impersonation occurs when a person claims to be someone else when casting a vote. The voter ID card prevents all of that activity.

Fraud by election officials happens when officials administering the election are tossing out ballots or casting ballots in voters’ names. The system will not accept ballots without a valid number and the system will only accept that number once.

Opponents of voter ID call it “voter suppression and racist”, a ridiculous, unintelligent, slanderous charge. Their scenario is that perhaps some elderly, single lady living alone in the north Georgia mountains will have no opportunity to get a voter ID card. That is a doubtful assumption but even if true, voter ID is for the greater good for the most people.

Let me now comment on election day.

Why are we so stupid as to believe one of the most important functions of our cherished republic has to be a hurry-up affair during one WORK-DAY? And we wonder why one out of three eligible voters fail to cast a ballot.

There is an easy fix, make the election a weekend happening. The Constitution gives the States and Congress the authority to, “set the time and place of elections.”

Begin voting on the first Saturday in November from 8 until 7 o’clock? Continue on Sunday, 10 until 7. The majority of voters do not work on weekends. Top this off with a Monday national election-day holiday every even numbered year. Give everyone ample opportunity to participate, eliminate long waiting lines, and take away most apathetic lame excuses for not voting. Make it difficult for citizens not to vote.

IN-PERSON VOTING AND ABSENTEE BALLOTS:

The intent of this federal law is that the maximum number of registered voters will physically go to a local polling site, record their vote privately on a paper copy and observe the ballot being inserted into the electronic counting terminal. The only alternative voting procedure is to request an absentee ballot from where they are registered to vote. Mail-in voting and ballot harvesting are prohibited.

Furthermore, the intent of the specific voting procedures described below is to ensure transparency of the process, accountability by all election personnel, and voter faith that the process is error free.

A citizen may be registered in only one location. Multiple registration is a federal offence and punishable by a $25,000 fine for each occurrence.

During presidential elections voters will receive two ballots; one for president and vice president only and one for federal congressional offices, state and local candidates.

Every election day, we inevitably see videos of the back-room activities at voting sites and it looks absolutely chaotic with multiple tables stacked with ballots, people milling around and a total lack of security. The object must be to improve on the efficiency and security. Personnel working the in-person voting sites should be organized as follows: all of the work will be accomplished by teams. each team will consist of a person affiliated with each of the major political parties plus an observer.

Executive team: This team will oversee all operations during each voting day and ensure that every procedure prescribed in the law is being adhered to. An executive team member must secure the voting facility after the last departing election worker.

Administrative team: they are responsible for in-processing all voters and getting them to a voting booth.

Counting teams: They are responsible for a back-up system of manually counting all in-person and absentee presidential ballots. After a ballot has been read by machine the voter will then hand the ballot to a counting team member. That ballot will be manually numbered from 1 through the total number of ballots that will fit in a storage box; let’s say for example 200. Additionally, the counting team will keep a manual count of how many votes each candidate received; for example, when the box is full the counting team will agree that it was 115 votes for candidate A and 85 for candidate B. When ballot number 200 goes in the box it will immediately be sealed with permanent tape with the total for each candidate recorded on the box exterior. That box will immediately be turned over to the Accounting Team. That manual back-up counting process can be accomplished in just a few seconds with 100% chain of custody and no stacks of unattended ballots on tables in the election center.

Accounting team: they will verify the count of each box of ballots, secure the counted-ballots in a secure storage room and maintain an up to the minute total presidential vote count.

ABSENTEE VOTERS ACTIONS.

Absentee voters must fill out and mail the federal mandated standard voter registration and absentee ballot requestto the voter registration office where they are registered to vote. That request will require the voter to specify the reason they cannot be on hand to vote locally, such as:

-Being unable to get to the polling place due to illness, injury, or disability.

-Being on business travel or vacation outside of the county or area of residence on election days.

-Being a student at an out-of-state college or university.

-Military personnel stationed out of state or overseas.

If this is accomplished by mail, the voter is responsible for mailing the absentee ballot request not later than September 15^th. Voter registration offices are responsible for mailing the return absentee ballot not later than October 5^th. Absentee voters must mail in their completed ballot not later than October 20^th. Counting teams will begin counting absentee ballots on 25 October using the same procedures described above for in-person voting.

For voters who determine they will be unavailable to vote in person due to illness, unprogrammed travel, etc. after the 15 September mail-in request date, may get an absentee ballot in person at their regular voting location up to within 24 hours of the beginning of in-person voting and turn in the completed ballot before in-person voting ends.

All election results will be released simultaneously across the nation beginning at 12 o’clock, noon, eastern standard time, on Tuesday, the day following election close. Any release of voting results by anyone at any time before this is a federal offense and will be immediately investigated by the FBI.

Races that end with competing candidates’ vote count within one half of one percent of each other will be recounted.

My conclusions and final thoughts:

What is recommended here is a load of changes to the election system. But, to me, that simply explains what a mess the election system is now and how badly it needs to be cleaned up.

I am a states-rights advocate; I am against big government with big controlling regulations. But I do not believe we can equivocate on foundational issues, such as free speech and free and lawful elections, that have been the hallmark of this great republic for over 200 years. In order for the electorate to have confidence in the system, this nation needs one set of common-sense rules for elections that apply to every state.

Finally, it is important to note that in 2021 the democrat-controlled House of Representatives and Senate set forward election reform bills, HR-1 and S-1. Fortunately, neither bill came to a vote. The bills were about 800 pages in length and generally would have mandated into law most of the elements discussed above that currently have the potential for fraudulent results. When drafted and presented to the House of Representatives for consideration and ultimately for a vote, this Election Reform Bill will, in my estimation, be about twenty pages in length.

Thank you for your attention, I will be here tomorrow, same time, to present additional legislative initiatives for the 118^th Congress to consider as soon as possible.

NOTE: The entire, detailed concept or operations for Election reform is contained in, FIX THE SYSTEMS, TRANSFORM AMERICA, Chapter 3.

Author’s note. The next proposed Speaker presentation to America outlining the legislative agenda for the 118^th Congress will soon appear entitled, WHAT’S NEXT REPUBLICANS? (PART 3)

And again, if any of you agree with what I have proposed in PART 2, and if you have contact with any movers-and-shakers in Washington, please provide them a copy. Thank you. Marv

Marvin L. Covault, Lt Gen US Army, retired, is the author of VISION TO EXECUTION, a book for leaders, and a new book May 2022, FIX THE SYSTEMS, TRANSFORM AMERICA as well as the author of a blog WeThePeopleSpeaking.com.

WHAT’S NEXT REPUBLICANS? (PART 1)

For the past six months politicians, pollsters and prognosticators have been telling us the Republicans would “win” the 2022 mid-term election; it was just a question of by how much. Would it be a defining moment in American politics? Would it effectively wipe out all the misery the Biden administration and Democrat-controlled Congress has imposed on the American public over the past two years?

The general consensus seems to be that the results were good for the Republican party but not great. This begs the question, What’s Next Republicans? A good point of departure is the tried-and-true process of an old fashioned After-Action-Review aka Good-Better-How. Three questions:

WHAT DID WE (THE REPUBLICANS COLLECTIVELY) DO GOOD? The House majority is supposedly Republican. The Senate majority is (at this writing still TBD). Governor DeSantis, Florida, exposed himself as a top contender for the 2024 presidential race.

Conclusions: Ho-hum. The 2022 mid-term election was no Red Tsunami by any stretch of one’s imagination. It did not create an insurmountable headwind for the 2024 election. It did not send masses of Democrats to the Republican side in spite of the misery the Democrats have inflicted on the general public over the past two years.

Second AAR question: WHAT COULD WE HAVE DONE BETTER? Short answer, a lot. Did any Republican leaders (for example, Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell, the Republican National Committee) stand out as articulate leaders and spokespersons for the party? No. Was there an organized, concerted effort to get every Republican candidate across the country singing from a proactive sheet of music entitled Here-Is-What-We-Are-Going-To-Do? Nope. Were the Republican arguments too much about blinding glimpses of the obvious (inflation, gas prices, lawlessness and illegal immigration) and not enough about what the Republican party will specifically do going forward? Absolutely. For months leading up to the election, poll after poll was telling us that 75-80 percent of Americans believe Biden and the Democrat Congress have us on the wrong track. Did the Republicans take advantage of that and campaign on a new, different, identifiable, positive track? No.

Did this election change the U.S. political landscape, effectively having large numbers of Democrats and Independents move into the Republican camp? That does not appear to be the case.

Conclusions: We did not need to campaign on the facts that were so self-evident to every voter every day; inflation, lawlessness, fuel prices, immigration, higher taxes etc. We needed to make every voter believe the Republican Party is ready and able to change X, Y and Z by specifically legislating and executing A, B and C. The Republican Party needs to build trust and respect for the long-haul; the midterm campaign did neither.

Third AAR question: HOW DOES THE REPUBLICAN PARTY INSTITUTIONALIZE WHAT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED GOING FORWARD TO GAIN TRUST AND RESPECT OF THE GENERAL ELECTORATE AND THEREBY RECRUIT LARGE NUMBERS OF NEW MEMBERS?

DISCUSSION:

At a 19 September speech in Pennsylvania, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy presented his (the Republican Party’s) “Commitment to America” speech. It was a knock-off of Speaker Newt Gingrich 1994 “Contract with America” which was instrumental in gaining Republican control of the House of Representatives for the first time in forty years. McCarthy’s “commitment” presented four themes:

One, the first had to do with safety; complete the border wall, make violence against police a federal crime and withhold funding to woke district attorneys.

Two, take on the tech giants with new rules to protect free speech.

Three, eliminate wasteful government spending that is driving inflation.

Four, hold government officials accountable for corruption and abuse of power.

This was a weak effort, six months too late that captured little or no mainstream media interest. Most Americans didn’t even know it happened. Contrast that with Speaker Gingrich’s Contract with America which was a specific list of ten bills they promised to pass in the first hundred days of a new Republican Congress along with a set of rules as to how the House of Representatives was to operate.

SO, WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN?

Between now and 3 January, 2023 when the 118^th Congress is convened, Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell, and/or a Special Action Group, and/or whomever needs to select a number of critical national issues that impact every citizen, define the problems, prepare solutions, put them on a near-term time-line (first hundred days seems appropriate) and present them in a speech to the nation by one of the Congressional leaders (for this paper, let’s assume the speech will be given by Speaker Kevin McCarthy). This will accomplish the following:

One upstage the president who said, in a post-election press conference, that he plans to change “nothing” in the next two years.

Two, put the entire Republican Party on notice to get their act together, cooperate, participate and support the programs.

Three, provide the Republican National Committee with a starter-set of a 2024 Republican Platform.

Four, create early momentum for the 2024 presidential campaign.

WHAT FOLLOWS IS A LIST OF CRITICAL NATIONAL ISSUES TO BE ANNOUNCED, 3 JANUARY, 2023 by Speaker McCarthy (beginning with education, race relations and immigration reform):

EDUCATION AND RACE RELATIONS: Speaker McCarthy will begin a speech as follows:

“Education is the wellspring from which a nation ascends … or the quagmire into which it sinks.” Michael Russell.

Education in America is a sinking ship that has been taking on water for the last forty years. The top-down concept by which our education system operates is fatally flawed and cannot be fixed. Every president since Carter has come into office with a new idea, hundreds of billions of dollars, legions of federal bureaucrats and hope for improvement. Well, hope is not a process. The only way to fix our education system is to start over with a new concept of operations which we have in hand.

But first let’s look at how our schools are doing today? The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the only assessment that measures what U.S. students know and can do in various subjects across the nation, states, and urban districts. Also known as The Nation’s Report Card, NAEP has provided important information about how students are performing academically since 1969. They grade mathematics, reading, science, writing, technology, arts, civics, geography, economics, and U.S. history for grades 4^th and 8^th every 2 years and 12^th grade every 4 years

Here are the pre-covid results for reading and math from 2019: Reading comprehension, grade 4, 59% NOT proficient. Grade 8, 66% NOT proficient. Grade 12, 76% NOT proficient. Yes, 3 out of 4 high school graduates are not proficient in reading comprehension.

How about their ability to apply mathematics knowledge: grade 4, 65% not proficient. Grade 8, 66% not proficient. High school graduates, 63% not proficient.

Other subjects were even worse. For high school seniors 88% not proficient in history, 77% not proficient in writing ability and 78% not proficient in science.

These pathetic results also present a national security issue in that over 70% of high school graduates, ages 18-24 are ineligible for military service because of obesity, criminal record, drug abuse or inability to pass the entrance examination.

Additionally, we now know that after the Covid shutdown, these numbers are lower. It is time for a complete overhaul of our education system and that is exactly what we intend to do. As I mentioned earlier, we have in place a complete concept of operations to do so.

The Department of Education is a 40-year failed project. Hundreds of billions of dollars, thousands of bureaucrats, thousands of regulations are a huge part of the problem and have little to do with the solution. No accountability. No standards-based solutions. A top-down fix for education has not nor will ever be successful.

Across this nation every school day about 7000 students drop out of school and face an uncertain future. Man dropouts turn to crime; about 80% of criminals did not finish high school. According to the U.S. Census, 37% of non-high school graduates are receiving some form of government welfare. A bad education system is expensive.

Before getting into the details of how we are going to fix education, let me make an important point about race relations in America. First of all, we absolutely disagree with President Biden, his VP, and his Cabinet members when they tell us “Racism is systemic in America.” That’s ridiculous. Babies are not born bigoted, disrespecting or hateful. While growing up they learn it at home, in school, on the playground and on the street. We can systematically defeat racism simply by changing what they learn. When we look at the tools we will use to fix education, we see they are the same tools we would use to eliminate racism. Two for the price of one.

It is also interesting to look at the enormity of the K through 12 education landscape in America. There are about 142,000 schools, 180 million adults with children under age 18, 60 million students K through 12, 4.5 million teachers and over 200,000 Superintendents, Principals and Education Board members. That is about 245 million Americans, three of every four, who are in some way part of the education organization.

With all of that preamble, here are the changes that must be made. Bottom-up is the only way to fix education and race relation and it is not rocket science; we are going to accomplish an education transformation through these eight initiatives:

One: Reduce the Department of Education to a small agency taking care of grants and other issues that do NOT directly impact day-to-day instruction.

Two: It’s all about standards and accountability. An organization without standards is a failed organization. Standards are the key to success in education and it is an easy process. Here is how it should work: during a summer session the Governor will bring in a couple top-notch elementary school Principals and, three or four outstanding third grade teachers. They will come to an agreement about what the end-of-year third grade standards should be. Then they will outline what needs to be accomplished during each, for example, six-week period all year long. Sitting in on that session will be three outstanding fourth grade teachers. Now armed with the standards for third grade, their beginning point, the fourth-grade teachers will go through the same process. Over one summer this process will determine the end-of-year standards for every grade, every subject kindergarten through 12^th grade. The Governors are accountable for making standards a critical element of the education equation.

Three: Fix accountability for the Boards of Education to embrace the concept of standards. If they don’t. vote them out of office. The point being, parents cannot reach out today to some nameless, faceless bureaucrat in Washington but they certainly will know all the accountable players at their level, nearest the point of execution.

Four: Hold County/City superintendents accountable for planning and enforcement of standards; replace them if they fail.

Five: We are getting closer to the point of execution. Hold school Principals will be held accountable for requiring every teacher every day to teach from a lesson plan that systematically leads toward achieving an end-of-year standard. If a principal is not in the back of at least one classroom every day checking on the teachers’ progress, he/she needs to be replaced. A Principal’s job description is simple; create a safe and secure environment for learning and ensure every teacher is teaching to standards.

Six: Hold teachers accountable for achieving every end-of-year standard. They must not pass their failed efforts to the next grade. Students who get behind in fourth grade will get further behind in fifth, then sixth, etc. until in high school they are so hopelessly behind they become a dropout statistic with little hope for the future. While they are teaching, how does a teacher know if the student “got it”? The only way is to execute a consistent rotation of teach, test, teach, test, teach, test all year long. If a student gets behind, have an immediate parent/teacher conversation, get a tutor, send homework to the parents to administer. Never-let-a-student-get-behind must become every teacher’s mantra.

Seven: School administrators and teachers meet with parents with the express purpose of explaining standards, the repetitive teach/test concept that leave no student behind and establish some sense of accountability by the parents.

Eight, last by certainly not least. Character training works. It is a proven concept. It is the fuel for all the other techniques and procedures to achieve standards and accountability. Just imagine sixty million students K through 12, in 142,000 schools across America, every school day for thirteen years, in a homeroom class with the same school mates being led in a discussion of character by, most likely, a senior citizen volunteer.

Let me quickly give you the Character Curriculum: ACCOUNTABILITY, CITIZENSHIP, COMMITMENT, COMPASSION, COURAGE OF CONVICTIONS, COURTESY, CONFIDENCE, HEALTHY HABITS, HONESTY, HONOR, HUMILITY, INTEGRITY, JUDGMENT, LEADERSHIP, MORALITY, PERSEVERANCE, PUNCTUALITY, RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SELF-RESPECT, SELFLESS SERVICE, SPORTSMANSHIP AND TRUST. Every student in America will become part of a homeroom “gang” that they can count on, trust, and respect through 13 years of schooling. Life-long highly respected colleagues.

Let me say it again, character education is a proven concept. How many of you know or know of a youngster who spent some number of years in Scouts or The First Tee, both of which are youth organization that are centered around character development? Show of hands please. OK, how many of those youngsters ended up dropping out of school? Zero is almost always the answer to that question.

One last thought on character development. Why combine improving race relations and education into the same campaign? Good question; it just so happens that if we were to attack those two problems with separate campaigns, they would both work off the same solution, character development.

Let’s talk for a moment about intent of this national initiative. It is not a political move; I’m hopeful and confident that we can get a significant number of Democrat co-sponsors for this legislation. The intent is to create new generations of Americans who understand, believe in and live by a culture of ACCOUNTABILITY, TRUST AND RESPECT. Accountability trust and respect; a powerful unbeatable combination. Why is that important? Because the existing deep-seated culture of blame and hate is blocking progress and tearing this great nation apart. We are better than that. An insightful observation, often attributed to Alexi de Tocqueville in 1835, “America is great because it is good; when it ceases to be good it will cease to be great.” This character education agenda is all about goodness. To illustrate, let me take just a few seconds to go through the subjects:

Accountable students do not resort to blame.

Students who are steeped in commitment, confidence, perseverance, punctuality and responsibility do not skip school, fall behind or drop out.

Students who are deeply rooted in trust and respect will strike down bullying and are unlikely to become racially bigoted adults.

Students who are compassionate, courteous, honorable, good citizens and demonstrate the courage of their convictions do not join street gangs.

Students who have accepted honesty, morality and integrity as their guiding light will likely be life-long upstanding citizens.

Students who understand, live and accept a life of selfless service are unlikely to become self-serving adults.

Students who have an understanding that there is a lot they don’t yet know and even part of what they believe they know might be incorrect, have the quality of humility.

Students who understand self-respect recognize that they are now better than they used to be and can be counted on in times of temptation because they are morally dependable and their homeroom gang has their back.

With this value base, students across the nation are more likely to exercise good judgment and become great leaders.

How much new spending will it take for this education and race relations transformation? None. How much will be saved? The Department of Education FY 22 budget was $102.8 billion.

I rest my case for the need to transform education and race relations in America.

Does anyone have a questions about this initiative?

Author’s note: The entire detailed concept of operations to fix education and race relations is contained in a new book, FIX THE SYSTEMS, TRANSFORM AMERICA, published May 2022; Chapter one. The purpose of this article is not to sell books but to try to get across to folks in Washington D.C. that this nation has some enormous problems and the powers that be treat them as if they can be solved by throwing a few more billions of dollars at it. There are workable solutions that are within the art of the possible. We need to find a way to make our Republican Congressmen and women understand and believe this.

Speaker McCarthy continues speaking: Moving on, the next Republican Party initiative has to do with illegal immigration. This will be a shorter discussion because there is a simple solution to the national crises on our southern border.

Facts bearing on the problem: During FY 22 the Border Patrol averaged about 6,300 illegal immigrant encounters every day. Additionally, there were an estimated average 1,600 so-called “runners” every day. This is a national crisis and a serious every-day national security risk. The Border Patrol is overwhelmed processing, feeding, housing, providing medical care and transporting 6,300 persons every single day. Integrating illegal immigrant children into the nation’s school system is a serious problem. These numbers are a daily strain on our welfare systems. The annual bill for illegal immigrants is difficult to determine but it is way north of $100 billion per year and continuously increasing.

Notwithstanding the tax-payer burden, most importantly those who purposely evade the Border Patrol represent a serious and continuing threat to our country. They purposely evade detection because this group, estimated to be 1,600 per day, consists, at least in part, of gang members, criminals, drug traffickers, human traffickers and terrorists from 160 different countries. This has to stop.

During FY 22 agents seized over six tons of fentanyl at the border, that’s 192,000 ounces. Two milligrams, a very small fraction of an ounce, can be lethal. The question is, how many tons successfully passed across the border? Last year, on average, fentanyl killed over 190 Americans every day. This is a self-imposed crisis that must be stopped.

If we were to brainstorm what an immigration system should do for us, the result would probably include the following wish-list:

One, institute a policy that will shut down the mases of illegals crossing our borders, forever.

Two, free up the Border Patrol agents to fulfill their intended mission; catch illegals and stop the flow of drugs, terrorists, gang members and human trafficking.

Three, create a path to citizenship for the hard-working, law-abiding illegals already in the U.S.

Four, provide a clear distinction for illegals that ICE should locate, arrest and deport.

Five, walls work. Walls are a deterrent. Walls tend to force intruders into restricted areas where Border Patrol can effectively seal the border.

Six, accomplish all this with a program that pays for itself.

We have a concept of operation in hand that will do all of this and we intend to pass the legislation immediately and set this in motion. Here are some of the details. For purposes of discussion and understanding of a doable time-line, let us assume at this point that this legislation can be researched, debated, passed and signed into law by 30 June, 2023. The time-line and actions required should be treated as time-constrained crisis planning and execution.

Phase One, 1 July through 30 September, 2023:

The Immigration Reform Act (IRA) will require every state to set up Illegal-Immigrant-Identification-Card (IIICard) processing sites. The logical solution is to add positions to each existing DMV office.

Every law enforcement agency in the United States will forward information to the FBI on every felony committed by an undocumented inhabitant (who, what, when and where). The FBI will establish and maintain a continuously updated national database of these cases which allows for an immediate check against an application for an IIICard.

The IRS will set up a special division to handle income taxes for the illegal immigrants who have an IIICard.

Every undocumented inhabitant in the U.S. will be invited to report to an IIICard registration site in the state where they reside in accordance with a published alphabetical schedule (last name beginning in A, B, C, or D report starting on 1 October, 2023.

At this point some of you are thinking something like, invite the illegals to report to the DMV, are you out of your mind? Please stay with me, they absolutely will report to the DMV.

Phase two, 1 October, 2023 through 31 March, 2024:

Prior to appearing at the IIICard registration site, each applicant must download a Federal Form, Employer’s Statement of Employment, fill it out and have it signed by their employer. No employer signature, no IIICard. The form must contain a statement of strong penalties for any employer signing a false statement. There will be special rules for those who are self-employed. Registration fee for the IIICard is $50 per year which is the first step in fulfilling the objective of immigration reform without taxpayer dollars.

The DMV will check into the FBI felony data base and if the applicant has a felony conviction, that person will be taken into custody, deported and will NEVER be eligible for an IIICard. This is an example of the specificity of the language that must be in the Immigration Reform Act, IRA; one strike and out.

The IIICard will have a number for each individual; for example, if issued in North Carolina the identification number will be NC123-45-678. The card will include a photo, height, weight, hair color, issue dat,e termination date (one year) and number of dependents (spouse and children)..

Data from every card issued by a state DMV will be forwarded to the IRS registry.

When Phase Two ends it will never have to be repeated. Let me say that again, it will never have to be repeated because every illegal immigrant in the U.S. as of 31 March, 2024 will be categorized as either a legal holder of an IIICard or they are deportable. On 31 March, 2024 we will know how many employed illegal aliens there are, where they live, where they work, what they do and how many direct family (spouse and children) members they have.

Phase Three, 1 April, 2024 through 30 September, 2024. This is the phase that begins to change behavior and thereby solve the dual problems of tens of millions of undocumented inhabitants and continued unsecured borders.

On 1 April, 2024 the day following the initial six-month registration period, any employer who employs an undocumented worker (no IIICard) will be subject to a first-offence fine of $25,000 for each worker and $50,000 each worker, second offense. No exceptions, no excuses. No employer is going to risk their livelihood over the employment of an illegal immigrant. Laws change behavior and, for the first time, immediately adds accountability of all employers into the immigration solution.

This simple act of requiring illegal aliens to carry an IIICard will have four positive and immediate results:

First, employers will protect themselves from potentially heavy fines by only hiring inhabitants who have a valid IIICard.

Second, undocumented inhabitants who choose not to apply for an IIICard or were denied an IIICard will be unable to find an employer who will take them on. They will be unemployable, will be constantly liable for deportation if detained for any reason and will likely return to their country of citizenship.

Third, and this gets us to the wish-list to shut down the mases of illegals crossing our borders, forever. Foreigners contemplating illegal entry into the United States in order to work will soon learn that no employer is going to hire them and illegal entry will be a futile effort. This inevitable behavior change will, by default, reduce illegal immigration to a manageable trickle. Stated another way, as we get into Phase one, July, 2023, foreigners contemplating illegal entry will realize that under this new concept of operations they do not have enough time to make the trip to and through Mexico, cross the border, process, find a home base in the U.S., get a job and secure a signed job certification from an employer by 1 October, 2023 when the IIICard application process begins. This open border nightmare could be within a few months of being shut down.

Fourth, this will provide Border Patrol agents the opportunity to concentrate their efforts on the illegal entry of drugs, terrorists, gang members, criminals and those just looking for a life of government handouts.

Phase Four, 1 October, 2024: This phase begins the twelve-month reissue of IIICards; $50 fee. The IIICard color will change each year. ONLY those inhabitants holding an IIICard can receive a new card. Additionally, they will be denied renewal if they have been unemployed and made less than $5000 or if they have been convicted of a felony or if they failed to pay their 10% federal tax. Once denied, they will be detained, deported and never receive another card. Any IIICard that is not renewed by the annual renewal date will automatically be moved to the government’s deportation list.

In order to fund the Immigration Reform Act, a provision in the law will require IIICard holders to pay 10% Federal income taxes on gross income. Employers must issue a 1099 using the individual’s IIICard number to identify them to the IRS. The IRS will establish a National Registry of Card numbers and the data base will list earned income and taxes paid for the previous year, IRS.

During the IIICard renewal process, the DMV registration center will access the IRS data base to determine if the applicant has in fact been employed, made at least $5000 and paid taxes. No tax records, no renewal and the applicant will be detained and deported. The Federal Government will retain 2% of the tax revenue to fund four national data bases for The Immigration Reform Act. The remaining 8% will be returned to the States in proportion to the number of IIICard holders.

Any IIICard holder convicted of a felony will have his card pulled, be detained and deported. That person’s file and IIICard number will be annotated at the national registry to ensure that any future attempts to reapply will be denied.

To assist the law-abiding, hard-working illegals towards citizenship, the Department of Labor will establish a web site that can assist an individual who has lost their job. Any card holder can get on the Labor Department website and provide their name, location and skills. Employers will be encouraged to check this website when they have job openings

An IIICard holder will have the following four privileges:

One, they may apply for a state vehicle operator’s license and will be tested in English. A provision of the law will be that every state must also prominently display the individual’s IIICard number on the State Driver’s License. Additionally, every applicant must show proof of auto insurance.

Two, a current IIICard will authorize the holder to legally cross U.S. borders.

Three, legal holders may apply for an IIICard for their immediate family members using the sponsor’s IIICard number with a suffix, for their spouse and children (no extended family members). If granted, the sponsor will be authorized to escort the dependents across the U.S. border.

Four, after legally holding an IIICard for five consecutive years, that person is eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship for themselves and their immediate family (spouse and children).

Any questions on the Immigration Reform Act proposal?

Thank you for your attention, I will be here tomorrow, same time, to present additional legislative initiatives for the 118^th Congress to consider as soon as possible.

That closing statement by Speaker McCarthy should grab the attention of mainstream media and the general public. Game on.

NOTE: The entire, detailed concept or operations for immigration reform is contained in, FIX THE SYSTEMS, TRANSFORM AMERICA, Chapter two.

Author’s note. I have in mind a number of critical national issues that somehow must get fixed if we are to move forward (voter fraud, size and scope of the Executive Branch, federal deficit spending, dysfunctional Congress, term limits, universal service and world aggression). For each I will present a concept of operations and a solution. The timing is such that I also believe it could be advantageous for the Republican leadership to present them as a new version of a Contract with America, that will successfully carry us into the 2024 presidential campaign. To that end I plan to publish these articles as PART 1 (above) followed by PART 2, etc. as I get them put together. One final note, if any of you agree with what I have proposed in PART 1, and if you have contact with any movers-and-shakers in Washington, please provide them a copy. Thank you. Marv

NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL MEMO

(Proposed memo from the White House National Security Council staff)

National Security Council

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Washington DC

30 September, 2020

Memorandum for: President Biden

Subject: Terrorist Threat

Mr. President, day-in and day-out we, members of your NSC staff, concern ourselves with the deeply important issues that impact both positively and negatively on the security of our nation. We take our work very seriously and feel obligated to keep you informed of all critical issues associated with security.

The purpose of this memo is to advise you of a possible eminent threat that could have catastrophic consequences. The issue centers around our open southern border. I know that you, the VP and all your loyal senior subordinates are telling the American people, “The border is not open” and “The border is secure”, but, Mr. President, no one else in America believes you because it is simply not true. America watches TV and we all see the multitudes wading across the Rio Grande River every day and gathering in large groups to be met and processed by the Border Patrol. So please just stop saying it. Morale among the Border Patrol agents is about as low as it can get because they know first-hand that the border is open and therefore not secure.

You may not get updates from your staff on the alarming statistics about what is really happening every day along the border with Mexico. Over 2 million illegals will have crossed the border during this fiscal year. That’s about 5500 per day. Also, about 265,000 unaccompanied children have walked or been carried across the border since you were inaugurated.

Notwithstanding these tragic open-border illegal migrant statistics, there is an additional jaw-dropping estimate. That is, since January 2021, on your watch, over a million illegals, referred to as “got-aways”, entered the U.S. without being apprehended. Many of them are criminals, gang members, sex traffickers, drug carriers and terrorists. This Mr. President is nothing less than an on-going national security crisis. And then there are the 300-plus Americans dying every day from illegal Chinese/Cartel drugs.

Conclusions from the above data: The agents are so overwhelmed on a daily basis processing illegal adult and unaccompanied children that willingly present themselves to be “apprehended” that the Border Patrol cannot adequately patrol the border looking for the got-aways. Therein lies the national security problem.

Now let’s get to the heart of the matter, terrorists. One of the most important security endeavors since 9/11 is the maintenance of the Terrorist Watchlist by the National Counterterrorism Center in connection with the U.S. intelligence community and security agencies. The U.S. counterterrorism strategy has focused on the risk of terrorist attacks from abroad. On 15 June, 2021 you, Mr. President, shifted that emphasis by announcing the Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism. That would include parents objecting to local school board curriculum decisions, MAGA extremists and white supremacists. This is not to imply that you are not concerned with international terrorists but it begs the question, what are your priorities, political or national security?

Author’s note on assumptions: When planning for any complex operation one never has all of the facts necessary to complete the planning process. Therefore, it becomes necessary to make some assumptions in order to move the process forward. But assumptions should pass the smell test by being possible, feasible and maybe even probable. Also, it is essential that the assumptions get continuously evaluated as the plan unfolds because there is nothing more damaging that completing a plan that is based on an invalid assumption.

Some assumptions: The terrorists are not coming here to live the American dream. They are unlikely operating on their own. They are likely part of an organization that wants to severely damage America. They are likely trained, financed and know where they are to go once inside the U.S.

Some facts: Illegal immigrants who are on the terrorists watch list have been apprehended at our Mexican border; FY 17 (2), FY 18 (6), FY19 (0), FY 20 (3), FY 21 (15), FY 22 (as of 30 August, 66). Eighty-one terrorists apprehended on your watch, Mr. President, in less than two years compared to 11 during the four-year Trump administration. Something is going on and it can’t be good.

Another assumption: Terrorists who are especially selected, trained and financed by their organizations to come to the U.S. are much more likely to have sponsors already in the U.S. who will facilitate crossing the border without being apprehended. Going back to the previously stated estimate that since January 2021 over a million “got-aways”, entered the U.S. without being apprehended; one could/should conclude that out of that one million there could be at least hundreds, if not thousands, of terrorists who successfully crossed the border and faded into American society.

Questions: Are they already assigned to terrorist cells? Are they undergoing additional training (ala 9-11 pilot training) appropriate for their upcoming mission? How many cells could there be? What is their most likely mission(s)? Of the approximately 2800 mosques in the U.S. how many are housing and/or otherwise supporting terrorist cells? How soon can they strike? These are the questions we, in your National Security Council, need to be answering.

What could a few well organized, trained and equipped terrorists do to the United States? Let’s begin with an easy one, the Power Grid.

Power Grid Facts: The power grid is a distribution system of power plants, substations, transformers, and power lines that help connect energy sources with the people that use that energy. It consists of more than 10,000 functioning power plants, nearly 20,000 electrical generators and a combined 450,000 miles of distribution and transmission lines serviced by over 55,000 substations. The systems are increasingly decrepit, poorly maintained and frightfully vulnerable to a variety of mishaps, accidents, disasters and enemy action including cyber warfare.

A particularly powerful natural event or a deliberate enemy attack could quite literally fry the entirety of the grid in the blink of an eye, rolling us back to the Stone Age.

Most of these installations and components are totally unguarded. The vulnerability can be illustrated by looking back at the California Substation Sniper Attack, April 16th, 2013. That night multiple shooters began firing at and severely damaged 17 transformers at the Metcalf transmission substation in Coyote, California.

At that time, Jon Wellinghoff was chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a small government agency with jurisdiction over the U.S. high voltage transmission system. This is a summary of his on-scene findings and conclusions:

For about 20 minutes, gunmen methodically fired at high voltage transformers hitting them at least 90 times; all during darkness. Their primary targets were the narrow cooling fins, causing 17 of the 21 transformers to overheat and stop working.

The attackers had obviously reconnoitered the site and marked at least four firing positions with piles of rocks. Additionally, that night they broke into two underground vaults and cut off communications coming from the substation. There was no security at the site.

Someone outside the plant heard the gunfire and called 911. The gunmen disappeared without a trace about a minute before a patrol car arrived. The substation was down for weeks.

Though low-tech in nature, the attack was highly organized and professionally executed; the perpetrators are yet to be apprehended. It remains one of the best examples of how easily small organized teams can impact the power grid.

Because the entire grid is so complex and constantly operating at changing levels of effort throughout the grid, any failure in the system has the possibility of creating a “cascading failure effect.” When that happens, shutdowns can cascade like dominoes and it is possible for the entire grid to be subject to shutting down. Mercifully no cascading failure resulted from the 2013 attack in California.

BOTTOM LINE, HOW VULNERABLE ARE WE?

Of the 55,000 substations there are 30 that are most critical for interconnection of the entire grid. There are so many open-source-studies out there about grid vulnerability, I’m confident almost anyone could pin-point where those 30 are located. Furthermore, by initiating a coordinated attack (as in the 20-minute attack on Metcalf in 2013) and destroying only 9 of those 30 interconnection substations, studies estimate the entire United States grid could be down for, “At least 18 months, probably longer.”

Instantly it would not be 2022, it would be 1822 or perhaps 1722 and we are not prepared to live like that. What would happen in those few minutes? Consider this short list of what would be no longer available:

Water supply and wastewater treatment
Telecommunications and the internet
Food production and delivery
Fuel extraction, refining, and distribution
Financial systems
Transportation and traffic controls
Government, including public works, law enforcement, and emergency services
Hospitals and healthcare
Supply chains
The reality that you may never hear from family and loved ones again. Ever

Immediate anarchy would prevail across the nation. All food would be removed from stores and warehouses within about 48 hours. Tens of millions of Americans would be dead in the first month. And then what? Just let your imagination work that over for a few minutes. How long until 100 million are dead? Rural America would be the most likely to survive; huge metropolitan areas the least likely.

Could this happen? Yes. Another possibility is detonation of a nuclear weapon at high altitude thereby creating an electromagnetic pulse, EMP, that would instantly fry anything electrical to include every vehicle. The impact would be the same as the above list of what would be instantly unavailable. A massive, coordinated cyber-attack would be a possible third scenario.

WHO WOULD/COULD DO THIS AND WHY? Consider this scenario:

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel, stating, “The barbaric Jewish state has no cure but to be annihilated.” Additionally, over the years he has repeatedly led the chants during Friday prayers, “Death to America.” Khamenei wants to go down in Islamic history as the man who defeated America.

Iran wants to be the Middle East kingpin and part of that plan is to become the Middle East’s only nuclear power. Their problem is that as recently as 21 September, before the United Nations General Assembly Biden declared, “We will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.” Over the years Israel leaders have repeatedly said, “Israel must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.”

Iran sits on the world’s second largest gas reserves and has the fourth largest oil reserves, but U.S. sanctions hinder Iran’s progress in developing gas exports.

Note in March 2021 China and Iran, both subject to U.S. sanctions, signed a 25-year cooperation agreement to strengthen their economic and political alliance.

Note in February, 2022 Russia and China sign a partnership agreement which is considered a bold declaration of the “New World Order.”

Note in July 2022, Russia and Iran signed a deal wherein Russia will assist Iran in development of their gas and oil production and export. Russia is currently the third largest producer of oil and first in gas production.

Anyone see where all these China/Russia/Iran agreements are taking the world? We are already in the early stages of a world energy war with Russia/Putin controlling the energy supply to Europe.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an organization of 13 countries founded in 1960. With Iran in control of the Middle East, they and Russia could delete OPEC and become the controlling nations of world petroleum exporting; thereby setting prices and deciding which importing nations get what and how much. Given their long-term agreements with Russia and Iran, this outcome would solve China’s problem as the world’s largest importer of oil and gas.

CONCLUSIONS to, who would/could do this and why?

Why destroy America? The U.S. is hindering Iran’s progress towards becoming an equal partner with Russia and China in the overall movement for the three of them to control the world.

Who could destroy America? Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism with access to and some control over most terrorist organizations. Iran’s leadership is morally corrupt, power hungry and would like nothing more than to achieve their long-term stated goal of “Death to America.”

The above information leads one to believe that a dozen 3-4-person terrorist teams of marksmen could simultaneously take down the 9 critical substations out of the existing 55,000 and thereby take America into darkness.

Mr. President, if you are reading this memo, you will have noted that we did not route it through your National Security Advisor, our boss Jake Sullivan, who is one of your spokespersons for, “The border is secure.” We understand that we, “serve at the pleasure of the president” and you can fire us all immediately. But doing so, won’t make the terrorist issue go away.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Of the 55,000 substations, the 30 that are most critical to preventing a cascading nation-wide blackout need 24/7 security with sophisticated redundant alert systems that will immediately call up local law enforcement rapid reaction forces to quickly counter attack.

Get your priorities straight on domestic vs international threats. White supremacists not an existential threat. MAGA enthusiasts are not an existential threat. Parents speaking out on education are not an existential threat. But Mr. President, well organized, well trained, well financed international terrorists are an existential threat and we need to address the issue head-on before it is too late.

Mr. President, your number one responsibility is the safety and security of the American people. The terrorists need to take out only a specified list of 9 of the 55,000 substations and we cease to exist.

(Memo signed by National Security Council staff members)

PRESIDENT TRUMP: WILL HE RUN, SHOULD HE RUN

FACTS BEARING ON THE ISSUE:

Our country is becoming more chaotic, vulnerable and dangerous every day under Democrat power and control. Here are some of the reasons:

The FBI, Justice, IRS and Environmental Protection Agency are being weaponized against we-the-people. National security is being threatened by open borders. Three hundred Americans die every day from China/Cartel delivered drug overdoses. Taxes are going up. Net take-home pay for wage-earners is going down. Our strategic oil reserve is being diminished every day. Our enemies have lost all respect for our once-great military. Throughout America, the debilitating concept of diversity/equity/inclusion is the order of the day. Under Biden the national debt increased over $2.1 trillion in his first year with no relief in sight. Behind the scenes Democrats are pushing amnesty for tens of millions of illegal aliens living in the U.S. Democrats want total federal control legislation to “reform” elections. The concept of sanctuary cities is unamerican. 19 of 20 of the most violent cities in America are run by far-left Democrats. One out of every three San Francisco residents have been robbed during the current reign of lawlessness. Democrats push trillion-dollar legislation in Congress that has not been vetted or even read and is full of actions for greater government control. CRT taught in our schools is racially divisive. Foreign relations are a mess and getting worse. The Energy Information Administration predicts net crude oil imports in 2023 of 3.4 million barrels per day costing about $300 million and all of it is a Biden self-inflicted wound. In 19 months, Biden has offered leases for 126,000 acres of federal land for gas and oil exploration, the smallest amount in 77 years and 97% less than Trump in his first 19 months. Wokism in the military is a complete contradiction to warfighting expertise at every level.

WHERE ARE WE HEADED?

Based on this 20-month track record, recent polls have been reporting that between 74% and 88% of Americans believe Biden is leading us on the wrong track. What is that “track”? Is “it” really happening? How do we recognize what is happening? Here is some food for thought:

A doomsday opinion piece published by Tom Del Deccaro, NINE STEPS FROM FREEDON TO SOCIETAL BREAKDOWN:

Massive government spending with the federal government at the center of the economy.
Massive tax systems that reduce incentives.
Reduced growth leading to economic stagnation.
National debt and continued deficit spending.
Government printing money to pay for programs.

Any of this look familiar so far?

Government price fixing.
Underground economies rise.
Class warfare begins tearing at the fabric of society.
Total societal discord.

Here is another set of rules that have influenced our nation’s movement to the far left. Saul Alinsky, 1909-1972, was a radical social activist based in Chicago in the 1960’s; he published Rules for Radicals in 1971. A central theme was wealth-redistribution. Hillary Clinton wrote her bachelor’s degree thesis on him and was offered a job working for him but departed for Yale law school instead. Barack Obama was trained as a community organizer in Chicago by Alinsky’s disciples in the 1980’s.

Here are Alinsky’s eight steps from democracy to a socialist society:

Healthcare: Control healthcare and you control the people. (Obamacare)
Poverty: Increase the poverty level; poor people are easier to control. (Democrat identity politics)
Debt: Increase the national debt to an unsustainable level, leading to greater taxes, leading to greater poverty. (Obama increased the national debt by 88% in eight years)
Gun control leading to a police state. (Biden’s obsession)
Welfare: Cradle-to-grave control. Create dependency on the government. (Democrat policy for the last 50 years)
Education: control what people read, listen to and learn. (Democrat’s revisionist history)
Religion: Remove God from government and schools. (Democrat initiative for decades)
Class Warfare: Divide the people into the wealthy against the poor; destroy the middleclass. (Identity politics’ long-term strategy)

Do these lists tell us that there are tens of millions of Americans who want a socialist United States? No, but it does tell us that the Democrats have a history that favors elements of the movement. For example, many favor massive welfare programs, thereby creating a dependent voting class. Most favor gun control, with emphasis on the word “control”. They favor massive government, power and control vs states’ rights. “Medicare for all” is a common Democrat campaign theme. A regulation-nation gives them greater control over businesses and we-the-people. They have no sense of fiscal constraints. Considered individually, these Democrat platforms do not spell socialism, but the reality is that the totality of their efforts are relentlessly moving us towards a place we do not want to be; socialism. “If it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it’s a duck.”

REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP:

Where the nation is headed is very scary stuff and someone has to clean up this mess and stop the movement before it destroys our once great nation. As the Democrat party moves further to the left, it will be up to the Republicans to counter it. This conclusion implies that there is a Republican leader who is available, recognizable and ready. Therein lies the problem; currently there is no leader.

Trump is not the Republican Party leader until he announces he will run in 2024. Mitch McConnell can’t lead himself around the block. The wannabe Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, is afraid, unwilling or unable to lay out a Republican platform for the election only a few weeks away; recall Speaker Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” which helped the Republicans win big in the 1994 midterm elections. The Republican National Committee should have a full-court-press in their website to guide every Republican candidate in America through a detailed discussion of the issues and the Republican solutions. Zip, nothing from the RNC. They get an “F” for this election cycle.

So, is it up to President Trump to pick up the guidon and change the course we are currently on? If so, can he? If so, should he? Those are the questions that need answers right now.

CAN TRUMP FIX AMERICA?

We only need to look at the blueprint for America that he campaigned on in 2016 to conclude that, yes, he can possibly change direction of our nation. Candidate Trump, in 2016 told us he would take the following actions: energy independence, year to year economic growth, lower taxes for everyone, employ more women and Black Americans, support for Israel, no nuclear weapons for Iran, shut down North Korea’s missile and nuclear testing, secure borders, best qualified leaders for Executive Branch Departments, each NATO country paying their share, deregulate the federal government, support to small businesses, lower corporate taxes, states’ rights, support for police, if you are able to work and there are jobs available, get one, etc. Given what politics is normally about, it was amazing to watch all of those promises become a reality for the benefit of all Americans, not just for some identity groups.

SHOULD TRUMP RUN?

It is easy to just say yes because he fixed the Obama/Biden mess, he can surely do it again. But that may be a shallow conclusion because 2024 will not be 2016-2020. On inauguration day, January 2021 no one could foresee the depth and breadth of the hate, ugliness and government weaponization that the Democrat Party would unleash against President Trump every day of his tenure as he persevered to accomplish all he had promised the American people.

One could conclude that if elected in 2024 the farther-left Democrats across the country would unite in creating an enhanced version of the culture of hate they perpetrated on the country 2017-2021. The mass media would, in all likelihood, reach new heights of irresponsible “reporting”, relentlessly tainting daily events and administration accomplishments. The embedded “deep state” buried in the government’s massive bureaucracy would be working cross purposes to the president’s intent every day.

No one likes to be irresponsibly criticized and Trump has demonstrated that he does not suffer fools lightly; we can expect him to immediately strike back at the opposition and from that will be blamed for dividing America. On 20 January, 2017, inauguration day, the Washington Post published an article, “The campaign to impeach President Trump has begun.” The New York Daily News: “Here is how President Trump may have already set himself up for impeachment.”. On the same day, GQ Magazine published an article on how to impeach a president. If Trump is reelected in 2024, it is likely that 20 January 2025 would see the call for impeachment across the nation by the left loonies; Pelosi, Schumer, Maxine Watters, Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, social media moguls, and activist billionaires like George Soros. Depending on the majority parties in the Congress, it is possible even Trump could not successfully govern through that environment.

THE BENCH:

The good news is that the Republican Party currently has perhaps the strongest bench of presidential candidates in recent history. Just to name a few: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has demonstrated bold and insightful leadership. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley appears eminently qualified. Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton would be great. Former CIA Director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo seems to have it all together; intelligence, perspective, leadership skills, articulate. But what is most important, as we look ahead, is a generational shift. The Republican Party needs a cast of new leaders in their 50s.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our once great nation is in serious trouble.

Given a few more years of the current Democrat programs, it may be too late to turn our country around.

The 2022 vote is already underway. It is too late to strengthen this campaign.

TO vs FOR intent. Trump’s presidency was a classic example of a clear intent to make things better FOR we-the-people, all of us. Contrast that with the Biden administration and all they are doing TO us. The next president has to get this right.

The 2024 campaign should begin on 9 November, 2022 with the strongest possible lineup of Republican contenders, all with a common theme taken from the Trump administration accomplishments.

BOTTOM LINE:

President Trump should do what is in the best interest of our country at this critical juncture in our history and not be a candidate for president in 2024.

BIDEN’S 2022 CAMPAIGN

Pathetic defined: Pitifully inferior or inadequate. Although those words are graphic, they don’t even begin to capture some of what is coming out of the mouth of our president as he moves into full-campaign mode.

FOR or TO? Those two little words can capture a politician’s campaign intent. Is Biden talking about what he can do for the American people or is his rhetoric about what he is going to do to all of us? Conclusions later on.

PREFACE

Let’s start at the beginning; literally the first few hours of the Biden administration. In the opening minutes during the inaugural address, our new president read an impassioned plea about the need to reunite America. Yes, we needed to reunite but who from what? In the previous four years the conservatives had not gone anywhere while the Liberals and Progressives were self-drowning in a culture of hate for President Trump; so much hate that they refused to see what his actions and policies were actually doing for we-the-people.

But, before the sun set on 20 January, 2021, Biden was in the Oval Office signing the “Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government”, stating in part, “It is therefore the policy of my administration that the Federal Government should pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all” (equity, not equality). The EO went on to direct all the leaders in the Executive Branch to get in line with the program with six-month and one-year deadlines for action items. This EO action stemmed from his belief in the existence of systemic racism across America.

SYSTEMIC RACISM: Systemic racism was a central theme during Biden’s campaign; in his inaugural address he mentioned, “The sting of systemic racism”; a few weeks later in his State of the Union address he claimed that, “We have a real chance to root out systemic racism that plagues America.” All of this nonsense is without definition and no proof but yet he wants us all to believe systemic racism has become the bogeyman responsible for every problem in American society.

How did that evolve? During the 2020 campaign Biden and Bernie Sanders created the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force with a 110-page far left policy document. In it, they use systemic racism to justify overhauling the police and justice systems, a federal takeover of K-12 education, elimination of border security, a host of environmental measures and a transformation of the economy that moves the country towards socialism. Candidate Trump got it right in his Republican Convention acceptance speech when he said, “In the left’s backward view, they do not see America as the most free, just and exceptional nation on earth. Instead, they see a wicked nation that must be punished for its sins. Our opponents say that redemption for you can only come from giving power to them. This is a tired anthem spoken by every repressive movement throughout history.”

The inauguration-day Executive Order was specifically designed to unleash every element of the federal government to combat Biden’s claim of systemic racism across America. You can go on line and see the quotes from all the Secretaries of Departments, agency heads, the Vice President and senior White House officials, all dutifully talking about “systemic racism.” It is crystal clear who, in Biden’s mind, the offenders are; if you didn’t vote for Biden, you are a racist, all 73.6 million of us. Pathetic. It is right in line with Hillary’s infamous categorization of Trump supporters in 2016; “You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables; the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.”

If there was ever a day in our history when a president so forcefully set-the-stage for his administration, 20 January, 2021 was that day. In retrospect it is now clear that his intent was to instill in the minds of Americans the thought that Republicans are extremists in all they say and do. Was he successful? We will know the answer in a couple months.

PART 1: WHAT BIDEN WILL NOT CAMPAIGN ABOUT. (Sometimes it’s not what you say, it’s what you don’t say that is important).

Border Crisis: His campaign is not about the border. The only thing he will say about the most egregious, willful, pre-ordained threat to our national security is that, “The border is not open.” It’s a lie and everyone knows it. The statistics are staggering. An estimated 5 million illegals have entered the U.S. since Biden took office and the monthly numbers are increasing at an increasing rate. Since 20 January, 2021, nearly 250,000 unaccompanied minors have entered the U.S.; shameful. The illegal immigrant cost to taxpayers is hundreds of billions of dollars per year. Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas routinely testifies before Congressional Committees under oath, “The border is not open”, while all the Democrats in Congress remain silent. Pathetic.

Taxes: He will not campaign specifically about raising taxes but he will push hard for his thousand-page bills in Congress that contain all manner of increased taxes. He may even stop saying his favorite tax promise, “No one earning less than $400,000 will pay a penny more in taxes.”, because it is a bold-faced lie and everyone knows it.

Amnesty: Amnesty for all illegal aliens is the Democrat’s objective but it is too pathetic a concept to say it out loud. He will, however, continue to put the amnesty requirement into his Build-Back-Better type legislation.

Inflation: He will not have much to say about inflation since it was 1.5% the day he was sworn in and he has no plan to fix it other than to change the name of legislation to the “Inflation Reduction Act.” His deep-seated economic philosophy of tax-and-spend will continue and it is the worst thing he could possibly do to combat inflation.

Recession: By all internationally accepted criteria the U.S. is in a recession. But he will not talk about it because King Biden has decreed to his subjects that recession does not exist in the U.S. End of discussion.

Fentanyl: His campaign is not about fentanyl coming across our open border. 2100 pounds of fentanyl were seized in July 2022, an increase of 202% over June 2022. One million fentanyl pills were seized at the Arizona border in one week. Question, how much fentanyl was not seized? Last year a record 108,000 Americans died of drug overdose; 70% involved fentanyl. Pem Schaeffer recently published an eye-opening analogy. If tomorrow morning the news was about a U.S. jumbo jet flying into a mountain killing all 296 people aboard, we would be shocked, saddened and want some answers. What if another plane crashed the very next day and the next, every day for a year; every day 296 more dead Americans? The country would be going crazy with 108,000 dead Americans and the President would be all over it. September, 2021 in the midst of a record year for drug-related American deaths, the Biden administration proposed eliminating quantity-based penalties for drug dealers trafficking in fentanyl. Last week Biden’s press secretary informed America that, “The president is securing the border against fentanyl.” No, he is not. There are two drug dealers the president should be holding accountable, “My old friend, Xi Jinping” and a couple Cartel leaders.

Energy Independence: He will not want to mention that on day-one of his administration, he pounded a stake in the heart of a 50-year American dream of energy independence that was finally achieved September, 2019. The U.S. has a strategic reserve capacity of about 714 million barrels. As of March, 2022 we had 568 million barrels on hand. In May, 2022 Biden began a six-month program of removing 1 million barrels a day from the strategic reserve in an attempt to lower gas prices and take the heat off of his administration. A pathetic self-inflicted anti-Trump action that has greatly increased America’s vulnerability.

Foreign Affairs: There is not much Biden can say about foreign policy because our enemies no longer respect our strength and our former allies do not trust us. He won’t mention his do-nothing approach to the growing threat by the nut-case Kim Jong-on in North Korea. He has insulted our long-time important ally Saudi Arabia. His non-support of Israel is disgusting. His weakness and appeasement towards Iran has strengthened the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism. He insulted our centuries-old relationship with France over some stupid submarine deal. He is making nice with Venezuela, begging for oil. Nor will he discuss the Afghanistan debacle which he called an “extraordinary success.” Give him credit, he is half right, the withdrawal was extraordinary but it failed in so many terrible ways. His ineptitude in foreign affairs is embarrassing and makes us more vulnerable every day.

Law and Order: There are no new or ongoing Biden administration policies on law and order that will mitigate the crime wave sweeping across the U.S. He will talk a little about throwing a few billion dollars to hire more police officers in blue cities that defunded and demoralized their law enforcement organizations. Liberal prosecutors and the democrat’s bail reform agenda are also on the do-not-mention list.

Education: Education results across America are a disgrace. Biden is against school choice, for union dominance, for CRT and against parent involvement with local schoolboards. Not a positive campaign option for him to talk about.

Anti-States’ Rights: A massive domineering federal government with cradle-to-grave control is what he supports and is moving forward with all of his proposed legislation. Not a best-seller to the general public.

U.S. is on the move: There is a mass movement across America by businesses and the general population from blue states and cities to red ones. Various headlines: “300,000 households moved from blue to red during the first quarter of 2021.” “Census numbers show citizens fleeing by the millions from blue to red states.” “The IRS divulged there was a mass migration from blue to red states.” “Texas enjoyed an inpouring of new residents from blue states with a net income increase of $6.3 billion.” “They are leaving blue states with high minimum wages, pro-union work rules, high taxes on the rich, generous welfare benefits, expansive regulations and green energy policies.” But it is not just citizens: “More companies join the great migration from blue to red states.” “An economic wave has been building for years with no end in sight as companies flood out of blue states into red states.” How much of this information will Biden use in his campaign speeches? Zero.

We-The-People Speaking: 42% of adults say they are struggling economically. Just 10% say the country is on the right track while 88% say it’s on the wrong track. Only 8% say the government has helped their most important concern over the last six months and 57% say the government has hurt it. These are startling statistics but Biden cannot address them because he has no plan to fix it.

Conclusions from Part 1: The above subjects are about what is seriously impacting Americans every day. This is what we get up each morning worrying about. And our president won’t/can’t talk about them during this campaign season. Pathetic.

PART 2: WHAT BIDEN WILL CAMPAIGN ABOUT.

Deficit reduction: On 16 August he signed the mis-named Inflation Reduction Act which is to provide a $305 billion deficit reduction over the next ten years. Biden has said, “We are cutting deficits to fight inflation.” Note, however, the $305 billion deficit reduction is based on some very shaky assumptions in the out-years and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, it will likely never happen.

Student Debt Relief: As the campaign season shifted into high gear the president issued an edict that obligated the federal government to spend $500 billion to $1 trillion to cancel student-loan debt. First of all, it was an illegal action; the Congress must obligate that kind of spending. Secondly, it is a blatant attempt at vote-buying and everyone knows it.

Abortion: this is the issue that will turn out a massive democrat vote. June, 2022 the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, thereby ending the federal right to abortion on demand until birth and returning the issue to the individual states. The Democrats and main-stream media are all saying, “Abortion is a Constitutional right.” Two points of clarification:

First, abortion, is not discussed in the Constitution; it is a liberal interpretation of the Fourth Amendment on protection of privacy. The Fourth Amendment: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated……..” Calling this the constitutional right to an abortion a very far extension of the right to privacy. Even when the president calls abortion a constitutional right doesn’t make it so. But he can’t be bothered by such a detail while campaigning. Biden has said he is a 100% supporter of Roe v. Wade without placing restrictions of any kind on the procedure; that is, abortion on demand until birth.

Secondly, it is a well-accepted fact that the Founding Fathers’ intent for the Constitution and Bill of Rights was, to the maximum extent possible, create a Republic in which the power and authority of the federal government is limited. The power is to belong to the states and its people.

It is interesting to note that only 8% of Americans polled agree with abortion on demand right up to the date of birth; aka premeditated murder.

The Supreme Court: Because of the court’s ruling on abortion, Biden will take every opportunity to slam the court’s majority constitutionalists for their “outrageous and out of control behavior.”

Within his first 100 days in office, Biden formed a commission to study the issue of packing the Supreme Court. This was not because there is general agreement that nine justices is not the right number, but it was to seek an argument for quickly appointing a number of liberal justices that would likely secure a liberal view of the law for decades to come. His intent was to wipe out 153 years of a successful nine-judge court and in so doing transform the court from a separate impartial branch of government as opposed to being a rubber stamp for future liberal policies.

Electric Vehicles: Biden is obsessed with the idea that if we all get an EV the climate problems will be solved. His campaign is about electric vehicles as a single-minded approach to solving carbon buildup; his target is 50% of U.S. vehicles electric by 2030. But he won’t talk about the math. Here are some facts he will NOT mention:

The massive carbon profile associated with mining, transporting and processing 250 tons of earth materials for every battery. Considering that, what then is the net carbon reduction per battery?

What about the fact that China now controls about 80% of the world’s supply of mineable lithium for EV batteries? Lithium prices increased about 400% in 2021. At what point to EV batteries become unaffordable? Can we afford a new battery every 7-10 years?

EV batteries are only under warranty for about eight years. A Tesla Model 3 vehicle that sells for $47,000 will at some point need a new $16,000 battery (today’s price).

Can we generate enough electricity to power the EV fleet? It is estimated that by 2050 the U.S. will demand about 90% more power than it did in 2018 in a scenario in which all new passenger vehicles sold by 2030 are electric. There is a massive carbon buildup associated with construction of millions of wind turbines and solar farms. What is the net carbon reduction? And what is the backup when the sun doesn’t shine and/or the wind doesn’t blow. How many trillions of dollars will it take to double the nation’s power grid capability?

To defeat global warming, the whole world needs to be involved. Fact, 152 nations are classified as “developing”, aka countries that cannot afford a green new deal. For example, India’s (a developing country) response to the Paris Climate Agreement was, that they will, “need $2.5 trillion in aid.”

Can we even charge up 290 million U.S. vehicles? Consider this scenario: In order to match the 2,000 cars that a typical filling station can service in a busy 12 hours, an EV charging station would require 600, 50-watt chargers at an estimated cost of $24 million, plus a supply of 30 megawatts of power from the grid which is enough to power 20,000 homes and that’s just for one large filling station. How many wind turbines does it take to support one station and what if the wind doesn’t blow?

The worst part about Biden’s obsession on electronic vehicles is that he won’t even put other options for more electricity on the table and build a plan to use them. Nuclear power production is cheap, safe and carbon free. For example, the concept for mini-nuclear power production is ready, safe and clean; it just needs a sponsor, like the president, to get it started. Yes, it is safe, thousands of your sons and daughters in the navy are sleeping with a nuclear reactor every day on our aircraft carriers and submarines and have been for the last 65 years. I have canoed the Missouri River in Montana and there is very little commercial traffic. Why don’t we build a half dozen dams for hydroelectric power to feed into the western power grid with locks for boat traffic. Dams are a low-maintenance 24/7 source of electricity. The Hoover Dam has been putting out electricity for the last 84 years. Biden just needs to turn private industry loose with ideas, ingenuity and a can-do spirit; left to the government it would take forever with massive cost overruns. Why not run big trucks on natural gas? Waste Management does so with 6000 of their big garbage trucks. We have the largest natural gas reserves in the world, natural gas for electric power is 80% cleaner than coal and it works at night and when the wind doesn’t blow.

Voter ID: Biden’s position, “voter ID is racist” and, “The 2020 election was the most secure in American history.” Those statements are both false but that won’t keep him from striking out at Republicans for wanting to fix it. You will recall that Congressional bills HR1 and S1 in January 2021 were the Democrat’s immediate priority. The bills were an 800-page federal takeover from the states of all election rules to include mandating mail-in voting for every state. Additionally, he will not accept the following facts:

Election fraud is not new but it is real and it did exist in 2020 in the form of stopping the count, mail-in ballots, no witnesses allowed, too many voters, changing the vote, dead people voting, ballot mishandling.

Fact: Voter registration rolls are in terrible shape across the nation. January, 2020, Judicial Watch cited 378 counties with more voter registrations than citizens living there and old enough to vote. That’s about 2.5 million residents who will potentially get a mail-in ballot and what will they do with them? Los Angeles county alone had a 117% registration rate. Mail-in ballots have long been recognized as a fraud risk.

Voter ID solves all these problems. Simply add voter ID cards to the products the local DMV offices across the nation provide. For example, they are providing the new “Real ID” mandated by Congress. As of May 2023, everyone who may want to go through airport security will need a Real ID. To get one a person must provide documented proof of U.S. citizenship. No one is objecting or calling the Real ID racist. Every county/state voter registration roll would consist of accurate data from current Voter ID cards only and thereby always be accurate and current. When a voter goes to vote their card will be used to print a personal ballot with all of the voter’s verified information on the ballot. The voting machines will be programmed to only accept an individual’s Voter ID number one time. Is all of this racist, Mr. President?

“Republican MAGA extremists”: First of all, it is a ludicrous argument that Biden cannot or will not define beyond saying, “Equity and democracy are under assault by MAGA Republicans.” There are at least 70 million MAGA believers and here is some of what their extremism is all about. MAGAs believe in energy independence, year to year economic growth, lower taxes for everyone, employing more women and Black Americans than any time in history, support for Israel, no nuclear weapons for Iran, shutting down North Korea’s missile and nuclear testing, secure borders, best qualified leaders for Executive Branch Departments, each NATO country paying their share, deregulating the federal government, support to small businesses, lower corporate taxes, states’ rights, criminals in prison not on the streets, support for police, if you are able to work and there are jobs available, get one. That is what was happening in 2019 and all of that is an “assault on democracy?” Biden’s record in his first 18 months tells us he is against all of that.

Every Republican candidate across this country should open every campaign speech every day by reciting the above paragraph and throw Biden’s MAGA BS right back in his face.

Tax credits: Biden may campaign on the concept of tax credits. It is another classic vote-buying gimmick. For example, he is a big fan of the Child Tax Credit. It simply says that if a joint-filing family has children and makes less than $150,000 they can deduct $2000 per child. $150,000 and they need a tax credit?

Fascism: Biden said, “What we are seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of extreme MAGA philosophy. It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the—-I’m going to say something, it’s like semi-fascism.” What a statement; it seems he didn’t even know what the hell he was talking about. But here we are with a new label, semi-fascists.

Fascism emerged in Germany, Japan and Italy in the 1930s and we saw how all that turned out with an estimated 50 million casualties from World War II. Fascism was about total control of all things and all the people. They began by redefining their history and progressed through transformation of existing government organizations into weapons of the state. They controlled criticism and propagated fake claims against those who would oppose them. Their internal propaganda was all about accusing the opposition of doing exactly what their fascist agenda was all about. Liberty and freedom ceased to exist. Fascism is about altering the very fabric of a nation. Any of that sound familiar?

Blame: Every Biden campaign message will work its way back to blaming everything that is so wrong about this administration on Trump and MAGAs. Blame is the go-to position for a failed leader.

January 6^th: Of course, Biden will make frequent reference to the actions on Capitol Hill, January 6^th. He has called the January riot an “armed insurrection” and an “assault on democracy.” It was neither; it was a mob of impassioned citizens at a rally that turned into a riot. It was shameful but not an insurrection. There was no intent to topple the government. There was no leader to take charge of a successful rebellion. There was no plan that was more than a few minutes old. It was not an armed force. No charges of rebellion or insurrection have been filed. Video footage shows people walking single file past idle police officers. Of course people who damaged property and trespassed should be prosecuted. But words have meaning, especially coming from the president and Biden is completely out of his lane with a false narrative, about what happened January 6^th and he is doing it purely for political purposes. President Biden, can’t you for once just tell the truth?

Conclusions From Part 2: His hate-filled messages are directed at 70-plus millions of us; “Racist, fascists, domestic terrorist, white supremacist, existential threat to the nation.” and then wrap them all together and call it a “Republican movement to destroy democracy.” Apparently, this demonizing, name-calling path our president and vice president take is what they revert to when they have nothing positive to offer the American people?

So where is Vice President Harris on all this? We know where she stands on law and order. During the 2020 summer of left-wing rioting, burning and looting, thousands of small businesses were destroyed, a billion dollars in damages, 35 Americans were killed and hundreds of police officers were injured. Kamala’s law-and-order position was to seek doners to provide money to immediately bail out those arrested for assault, looting and arson so they could get back on the streets and into the action. Her request to the nation just before being selected as the vice presidential candidate, “If you’re able to, chip in now to the Minnesota Freedom Fund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota.”

And what did she envision going forward from the 2020 summer riots? On 24 September, 2020, well into the presidential campaign, she said of the rioters, looters, arsonists, “They’re not gonna stop, and everyone beware, because they’re not gonna stop. They’re not gonna stop before election day in November and they’re not gonna stop after election day.” Where in hell did she come from?

BOTTOM LINE:

This is the point where we should reflect on the Biden tweet 7 November,2020: “It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature and listen to each other again. To make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy. We are not enemies, we are Americans.” Perhaps that was the real Joe Biden, the Representative Biden, the Senator Biden. Perhaps it is still what he feels deep in his gut. But this is now President Biden and after eight years of being Sal Alinsky-ized by President Obama we have to judge him by his deeds and his ugly, demeaning rhetoric.

Keep in mind that on 20 January, 2021 Biden was handed an expanding economy successfully recovering from the COVID shutdowns, a plunging unemployment rate, gasoline about $2 per gallon, energy independence, a foreign policy successful at keeping international thugs in check, a secure border, inflation at 1.5% and a democrat-controlled Congress. And now he cannot even put together a positive campaign message.

Back to the question of TO or FOR and intent: From his campaign rhetoric, what can we infer that Biden intends to do for we-the-people, for all the people? Not much.

What then does he intend to do to we-the-people? Greater divisiveness and an expanding culture of hate, more demeaning rhetoric, more taxes, more spending, more federal government, more regulation, more bureaucratic oversight, more wokism, less freedom of speech, more vote buying, a fixation on electric vehicles, a weaponized FBI/Justice Department/IRS and greater vulnerability from encouraged enemies. Its all about power and control.

What comes to mind is the famous Thomas Paine quote from 1775: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

Given what we-the-people are facing, we cannot be the “summer soldier or sunshine patriot”. In a few short weeks we can all speak out with our vote. Two years ago, 80 million Americans did not bother to vote. Disgusting and disappointing. We need to help each other through the mess our country is in and the direction we are headed. If you know one of these non-voting so-called patriots, take them to the voting booth with you. Voting is not just a right, it is a responsibility, it is our duty. Stand up for America on 8 November.

YOUR IRS AT WORK (OR NOT)

On 16 August 2022, President Biden signed into law a $740 billion bill that focused on climate, health care and tax increases and was called the Inflation Reduction Act and oh-by-the-way provides an extra $800 billion to the IRS to hire 87,000 new agents. Only in Washington could they product anything that dumb.

The “dumb” part is that this is another one of the mega-bills, 750 pages, that no one read before they voted on it. If the $80 billion for 87,000 new IRS agents had been a stand-alone bill, it would have had to pass muster in Congressional committees in both the House and the Senate with expert testimony and we-the-people would have known what was coming, been informed of the pros and cons and been able to dial in to our Congressional Delegations. But no, that makes too much sense. Now it’s the law and I have not heard anyone who believes there is anything positive about adding 87,000 agents to the current IRS force of about 90,000. “As government expands, liberty contracts.” President Reagan. So, what can we do about it?

First, let’s take a look at how the IRS is doing these days? The Wall Street Journal and various other open sources recently shed some light on their capabilities or lack thereof: Here is a summary of some reports from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration:

Last year the IRS answered only about 10% of taxpayer calls.

There is a backlog of 17 million unprocessed tax returns.

$19 billion, 28%, of earned-income tax credit payments in FY 21 were “improper.”

67,000 claims, $15.6 billion, for low-income housing tax credit from 2015 to 2019 “lacked or did not match supporting documentation due to reporting errors.”

A May 2022, audit found that 26%, $1.9 billion, of its American opportunity tax credits for education expenses were improper in FY 2021.

27%, $541 million, of its net premium tax credits (Obamacare) were improper in FY 2019

May, 2022 audit,13%, $5.2 billion of its enhanced child tax credit payments were improper.

September, 2020, the IRS issued 89,338 notices to taxpayers insisting that balances were owed even though the taxes were not actually due.

February, 2022, audit found the IRS department responsible for ensuring retirement plan tax compliance suffered a 23% decline in the quality of its examinations from 2018 to 2020,

In 2010 the Congress passed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act to identify wealthy Americans using undisclosed foreign accounts. The intent was to raise $9 billion in revenue by 2020. An April 2022 audit showed the IRS has spent $574 million to implement the law and had found only $14 million in revenue. STOP, and reread those last two sentences that deal with intent and results. Amazing!

In 2010 the IRS began a program to examine returns from “high income” individuals (those with incomes of over $200,000). But from FY 2015-2017, 73% of the targeted returns were for those earning less than $200,000. Again, intent and results mismatch, aka gross mismanagement with little or no leader oversight.

In the past seven months the Treasury Inspector General has issued damaging reports on IRS mismanagement of its partial-payment program for delinquent taxpayers, for its auditing of partnerships and its struggle to handle internal employee misconduct.

In those twelve short pieces of information, we see a clear picture of an organization in chaos with low standards, ingrained mismanagement and little or no viable leadership. In spite of this reality, Congressional Democrats and the president believe it is a good idea to spend $80 billion, that we don’t have, to double the size and weaponize one of the most inept, inefficient departments in the government.

HAVE WE EVEN PROPERLY DEFINED THE IRS PROBLEM?

The most pathetic issue here is that the IRS’s day-to-day performance standards stem from a big-government, over-regulated, bloated bureaucracy. Is the IRS’s problem that they are short 87,000 employees? Of course not, but the Congress and the president continue to believe that every problem can be solved by throwing thousands of bureaucrats and billions of dollars at it.

What the Congress, at the encouragement of the Executive Branch, needs to do is define the base problem first. Then, and only then, develop a specific plan to fix the problem.

THE PROBLEM:

According to the Public Law 117-154 (23 June, 2022), the U.S. Tax Code is 6,871 pages. But when you include the federal tax regulations and the official tax guidance, it rises to approximately 75,000 pages. That’s the problem.

HOW TO FIX THE PROBLEM:

First, how NOT to fix it. Do not appoint a special commission to “fix” it by working their way through 75,000 pages adding, subtracting and rewording. Doing so will probably result in an even worse 80,000-page document.

Instead of trying to fix it, hit the delete button, all 75,000 pages, and start over with a clean sheet of paper. Start out with a long-range strategic planning maxim; that is, begin at the end. In this case define the dual end state factors first. After that, plan for the specific issues: how much tax, what types of tax, how are they divided up among taxpayers and who/how it is to be administered (IRS).

Dual end-states: First is the alignment of overall annual government budgeted requirements with accurately projected revenue. The second is based on the assumption that few, if any, Americans can accurately articulate what the current Tax Code is about. What we need to end up with is a new Tax Code that can be read in a few minutes and understood by every taxpayer in America. Both are within the art of the possible as follows:

NEW TAX CODE, CHAPTER ONE, INDIVIDUAL GROSS INCOME:

All taxes will be based on individual gross income. So. the first thing is to define exactly what constitutes individual gross income, how it is derived, how it is reported and how it can be verified. Also begin with a threat of very harsh penalties for anyone who is caught hiding or misstating their gross income. Fear of going to jail is a powerful incentive.

CHAPTER TWO, TAX DEDUCTIONS:

The current 75,000 pages of tax Code/regulations undoubtedly contains hundreds of possible deductions. Therein lies a big part of the problem and requirs thousands of IRS employees to deal with it.

Under this plan there is one and only one authorized deduction from personal gross income; charitable contributions. But the charities have to be real and operate under a strict set of standards in order to qualify.

The Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation’s tax return, 2014, provides a perfect example of a charity that would not qualify as tax deductions by donors.

In 2014 the Clinton Charitable Foundation total revenue (rounded numbers) was $178 million. From that, actual grants to charity amounted to about $5 million; THREE PER CENT. Most of the contributions went for exorbitant salaries and expensive travel.

This Tax Code chapter must include standards for a charity to qualify for a tax deduction. For example, grants to charity must be at least 60% (or whatever the correct number should be) of charitable revenue for an organization to qualify.

Every charitable organization would be required to submit income and expenditures annually to the IRS and be subject to audits. For each tax year the IRS would publish the list of qualifying charitable organizations to be cross-checked with individuals’ tax return deductions. This will guarantee every doner that their money is actually going to a worthy cause. If the charity can’t pass the smell test and make the annual IRS list, they will quickly be out of business.

CHAPTER THREE, CORPORATE TAX:

Let’s begin this discussion with a fact: corporations do not pay taxes, people pay taxes. The so called “corporate tax” is, to the corporation, just another cost of producing a product. The “tax” is no different than the cost of raw materials, salaries, marketing, etc. The money that a corporation pays to the government in taxes, has already been passed on to workers (lower wages) and customers (price of the product).

So, let’s do away with all that nonsense and the hundreds of millions of dollars that businesses spend on accountants and lawyers to compute their tax returns.

Under this plan, there will be no corporate taxes. There is another way, a more sensible way, to turn corporate income into government tax revenue.

Let’s say for example that General Motors has a very good year. As a result, they might raise wages and salaries, hire a few hundred new employees, build a new plant (future wages/salaries), pay more/higher bonuses to their top performers, and pay higher dividends to stockholders. All of those corporate actions will translate into higher individual gross personal income for thousands of tax payers. Bottom line, the government gets their revenue, the corporations’ products become more competitive in the global marketplace and the gross domestic product goes up.

Therefore, under this new tax plan “corporate tax’ gets explained in a sentence (no corporate tax) instead of thousands of pages of tax regulations. And, perhaps more importantly, corporate tax will no longer be a political yoyo under a tax-and-spend administration.

Taking taxes off the table for businesses and corporations has many positive residual effects. As an example, in 2017 President Trump cut corporate taxes from 35% (highest in the world) to 21%. Economists predicted one of the positive delayed impacts would actually be increased tax revenue rather that reduced federal income. They were correct because cutting corporate taxes resulted in higher wages, hiring went up, businesses expanded and generally the entire economy grew and pushed government revenue to the highest levels in history.

Taking corporate taxes to zero will cause an economic revolution: overseas manufacturing will come back to the U.S., we will be less dependent on China, wages will go up, unemployment down, those who can work will be forced off the welfare rolls, GDP will increase and overall government revenue will shoot up.

CHAPTER 4, CAPITAL GAINS TAX:

Capital Gains Tax is currently a separate tax that is levied on profits an investor realizes when he/she sells a capital asset for a price that is higher than the purchase price.

As of 2021, the long-term capital gains tax is typically either 0%, 15% or 20% depending upon your tax bracket.

Under the new Tax Code there will no longer be a separate tax on capital gains. If you invest $10,000 and can prove it and then sell it for $15,000 at a later date, that is simply a $5,000 addition to that year’s gross income that may or may not put you in a higher tax bracket.

Capital losses occur when an investment is sold for less than its original purchase price. Under the new Tax Code this will have zero bearing on your taxes. Why should you get a tax break for making a bad decision and losing money? As they say, “Life is hard and then you die.” Deal with it.

This simplified formula for Capital Gains Taxes also does away with the Biden-proposed nonsense of taxing Capital Gains on investments that have not yet been sold.

CHAPTER 5, DEATH TAX, aka Estate or Inheritance Tax:

Death taxes are the most morally corrupt initiative in our government. Therefore, in the new Tax Code there will be no such thing as a Death/Estate/Inheritance Tax.

Death Tax is a tax on your right (even though you are now deceased) to transfer everything you own at the time of your death.

The Death Tax habitually hits rural America especially hard. Farmers and ranchers generally fall into an economic category of being, “land rich and cash poor.” Agricultural land has almost always increased in value over time; that’s the good news (land rich). The problem with agri-business is that there is little or no consistency in profitability from year to year. Perhaps last year’s harvest put a pile of money in the bank. But this year a 30-minute violent hail storm will cut your soybean yield by 50%. Right now, in Southeast U.S., a sustained drought has cut the 2022 projected cotton harvest by 50%. A year ago, no farmers were anticipating that the anhydrous ammonia fertilizer they would need in 2022 would go up by $86,000 for 1000 acres of crop, (cash poor).

So, Mom and Dad pass away and the two kids now own the farm; a farm they love, where they labored as youngsters and where their children might someday want to farm. But both middle-income kids have a house mortgage, car payments, some student debt and a couple overdue credit card payments. No way they can dig up a few hundred thousand dollars to pay the Death Tax. They have no choice; they have to sell.

This is unamerican government-greed insanity. Under this proposed Tax Code, you inherit it, you own it; period. Do what you want with it, not what the damned government tells you what you must do.

CHAPTER SIX, TAX BRACKETS:

The concept of operations for this plan is to divide personal gross income into many brackets ranging from zero to billions of dollars. That could end up to be a lot of pages depending on how small each bracket is. The good news is that the individual taxpayer only has to refer to one of those pages; the one that lists the tax rate for their particular gross income.

The brackets would be “progressive” but also careful to not disincentivize a taxpayer. True story: An acquaintance of mine is a successful upper-level executive in France. She told me that upon getting a promotion resulting in greater responsibility and longer working hours, the salary increase put her into a new/higher tax bracket; the result, her net take-home pay actually was less than before the promotion.

THE TAX CODE MODEL (with illustrative numbers)

First, define the gross income brackets. For example,

-Zero to $100,000 in increments of 25K.

-100K to one million, increments of 100K.

-One mil to 10 mil, increments of one million.

-10 mil to 20 mil, increments of two million.

-20 mil to 100 mil, increments of 10 million.

-100 to one billion, increments of 100 million.

-Remaining increments of $500 million each.

That’s about 45 brackets but the number is immaterial to the Tax Code model; it could be more or less refined than that.

Secondly, determine the number of taxpayers in each bracket. After the first year under the new Tax Code that will be easier to do and should be updated every year.

Third, begin refining the first model with a working end state number; that is a budget of $4 trillion. Then beginning at $25K gross income (zero to $25K is tax rate zero) determine a common tax rate, for example, 7.28%, that, applied to every taxpayer, will get you to the $4 trillion end state.

An alternative model would consist of progressive rates; for example, 7.28% for the second bracket, $25K to $50K. Then adjust the rate upward by one half % for each bracket. Using the above brackets, the tax rate for $1 million gross income would be 12.78% etc. and the rate for $1 billion gross income would be 28,78%.

With an agreed-to set of brackets, tax rates per bracket and the number of taxpayers per bracket the model is set and could literally spit out an updated Tax Code in seconds or minutes.

So, the president submits his budget to Congress the first Monday in February. February-September Congress works to publish a final Congressional Budget Resolution by 30 September. Let’s say the budget is $4.436 trillion beginning the fiscal year on 1 October.

Put that end-state budget number into the Tax Code model and work backwards from $4.436 trillion to determine the exact tax rate for every taxpayer in the country for the following year.

Today taxation is a complete mystery to almost every taxpayer. We all live with the “April surprise” when our tax accountant tells us how much we owe or will get as a refund. No more April surprises. Now the family can sit down at the kitchen table, work their annual family budget and know exactly what their tax burden will be.

Monthly withholding taxes should result in a consistent flow of revenue to the government and rarely should there be an April surprise tax due or a refund. That should reduce the IRS personnel requirement by tens of thousands.

Remember when President Trump reduced taxes for everyone and the Democrats all called it “A tax cut for the wealthy”; those days would be over with total tax obligation transparency.

BACK TO THE IRS:

The “problems” with the IRS is not that they don’t want to do a good job. It is also not that they are short 87,000 employees. The problem is the ridiculous 75,000-page tax system. Fix the system, transform America. Perhaps the IRS, under this system may only need a few thousand folks; certainly not the current 90,000 or the requirement for 87,000 new hires.

BALANCED BUDGET:

Fixing the IRS should not be a stand-alone effort. It can also present an opportunity to pass a Balanced-Budget Amendment. In just the past fourteen years the national debt has increased from $10 to $30 trillion and there is no relief in sight. The total transparency of tax and revenue with this new tax plan will provide the opportunity to fix our current deficit spending mania.

Congress, whatever party is in power, has clearly demonstrated they do not have the discipline to control spending. We do not have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem. A Balanced-Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution would constrain total government spending to be less than or equal to total tax collections. Given Congress’ predilections towards annual deficit spending, it is the only way we can get our national debt under control.

REDUCE SPENDING:

There could be a snowball effect to this effort to fix the IRS and the tax system. It could cause us to look at the size of the entire government bureaucracy and where the bloated government budget comes from.

There are tens or thousands of government regulations on the books that are a drag on the economy, no longer applicable or downright damaging. The fact is that every regulation has to be administered by some branch or division within the government (hence the bloated bureaucracy) and each one has an annual budget. The sum of all spending requests become the president’s annual budget to Congress.

FYI in a recently published book, Fix the Systems, Transform America, Chapter 4,there is a detailed plan to clean out the Executive Branch bureaucracy and drastically reduce needless government spending.

CONCLUSIONS:

This essay began with the assertion that President Biden’s new law which provides an extra $80 billion to the IRS to hire 87,000 new IRS agents is beyond ridiculous and completely unnecessary.

But, in a larger sense, the new law is illustrative of the way our government does business; one nit-pick at a time and by throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at it. They appear unable and/or unwilling to look at the larger picture and approach problem-solving by fixing the system in its entirety.

Alignment of the government’s calendar (fiscal-year budgeting and calendar-year taxing) would be a helpful step.

Reality tells me a simplified, understandable, transparent tax system as described above will probably never see the light of day. Two reasons; the lobbyists representing lawyers and accountants will go crazy and shoot it down. Also consider that 43% of members of Congress are lawyers.

BOTTOM LINE:

If our great nation is to survive, we-the-people have to speak up and be heard. If you agree with the above concept of operations, please send a copy to your Congressional Delegation.

We-the-people can dream and plan. Perhaps a

future tax return could simply consist of

a post card and a check.

LIBERTY TO ACT AND THE WILL TO DO SO

What is the “state” of the union today? No, not in the sense of the requirement for the president to periodically apprise the Congress of the state of the union, but rather our individual and collective state of mind about the foundational elements of our society. Are the Constitutional underpinnings alive and well, or are they being threatened or are they in some cases already gone? Liberty, and will, need to be defined, explored, investigated, discussed and protected. To ignore the discussion is to put them in jeopardy.

First, we need to put liberty in the context of mankind’s history.

Throughout human history there have been perhaps thousands of, at least semi-organized, human groupings of varying types and sizes; family groups, stand-alone tribes, groupings of tribes, kingdoms, city-states, individual nations, grouped nations (USSR), etc. One thing they all have had in common is that some ONE was in charge of the grouping. ONE person held the power. ONE person decided what was best for all others.

U.S. BACKGROUND:

The United States of America was founded on July 4, 1776. “Founded” means that it was declared independent from the Kingdom of Great Britain. But it would take another fifteen years to get it all sorted out.

Having fought and won the Revolutionary War, 1783, popular sentiment was decisive, the American people wanted something very different from the despotic English monarchy. They wanted strong guarantees that the new government would not trample on their newly won freedoms of speech, press, religion and upon their right to be free from warrantless searches and seizures.

In May of 1787, delegates from the 13 states convened the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to draft the Constitution. They began the debate with a we-the-people theory based on a lot of assumptions that they believed were within the art of the possible. From that they developed a concept of operations that ended up being one of the greatest stand-alone documents for self-government in the history of mankind, the U.S. Constitution, four pages long.

The majority of the text of the Constitution is boiler-plate about the three branches of government and how they are to function. The Constitutional underpinnings are codified in the 50-word preamble.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America” There it is, “secure the blessings of liberty” the essence of the overall intent of the founders that set the stage for something revolutionary that had not heretofore existed for humankind summed up in one word, liberty.

The Constitution was ratified, June 1788.

Liberty, we say it every time we put our hand over our heart and pledge allegiance to, “….. one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”

LIBERTY, Oxford dictionary: “The state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views”. Liberty is being able to exercise a freedom, to take an action, or even think a certain way without being prevented from doing so, and without being forced to do so. Liberty is the linchpin for what we-the-people have always believed in and depended on. Liberty is a state of mind.

The Constitution was remarkable but not yet perfect. For one, it did not contain a “bill” of individual rights. It specified what the government could do but did not say what it could not do. It would take four more years of intense debate before the new government’s form would be resolved.

Essentially the debate was over the breadth and depth of authority the federal government would have or not have. Thomas Jefferson led the debate with: “A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse or rest on inference.”

The nation’s founders believed that containing the government’s power and protecting liberty was their most important task. From that came the 10^th Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or the people.” From Jefferson’s inspiring argument, the American Bill of Rights, drafted by James Madison, was adopted in 1791, becoming the Constitution’s first ten amendments and the law of the land.

Like no other nation, liberty is the cornerstone of our foundation. But having liberty is not the end-all be-all. What we do with liberty is what counts. What we have experienced in America since the passage of the 10^th Amendment is the application of liberty throughout every element of our society through personal and collective will.

Will, defined: “Unwavering strength to carry out one’s own wishes, decisions or plans.” Individual and hence collective will power, competitive spirit, not to be denied ideology, driven to be-all-you-can-be. Will is a force in and of itself and has made the United States of America the greatest nation on earth.

Stop for a moment and contemplate the thousands of Americans who, in the 19^th century loaded all of their possessions into a covered wagon and set out across a thousand miles of desert and mountains to start a new life. Undaunted personal will to succeed!

In the 1930s we watched the Axis Powers, Germany, Italy and Japan, ignite World War II. Who would have believed that the U.S. would produce 300,000 combat aircraft and 1,200 major combatant ships, including 99 aircraft carriers by the end of WWII and fight in two theaters of war 3000 miles apart. Unprecedented collective will to win not only by those on the front lines but also by the millions of “Rosy-the-riveters” who put the military gear together.

SMALL BUSINESSES: A “small business” is officially defined as one with fewer than 500 employees although the majority have less than 100. There are over 32 million small businesses in the U.S. representing 99% of all businesses. Small businesses employ over 61 million Americans, 47% of the U.S. workforce. Small businesses are the heart and soul of the U.S. economy. The American entrepreneurial spirit exists because of the liberty provided by the Constitution and the individual will to grow something and be successful.

The will to win has emboldened ordinary Americans to accomplish extraordinary results for themselves and for others since our Founding Fathers made it all possible.

BUT, ARE WE LOSING IT? Are political and social forces today undermining our liberty? Are these forces systematically destroying individual and collective will to move forward and succeed? What will be the consequences and long-term ramifications?

LIBERTY AND WILL, SOME DISTURBING INDICATORS:

SOCIAL MEDIA:

In the past few years, social media platforms have become the go-to medium for Americans to voice political and social opinions. The problem that has too-often surfaced is that those monitoring social media are capable of and have been depriving many Americans of their First Amendment right of free speech. It would be nice to know exactly who is doing it and why but what is most disconcerting is that it is being condoned by powerful political operatives who see it as an advantage to silence political opponents in particular and the public in general if they are of a different political persuasion. They justify it by calling free speech misinformation. Elon Musk recently summed it up best by saying, “Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.” Silencing free speech is all about control and it is very dangerous. It strikes at the heart of liberty.

MASS MEDIA:

TV, radio and printed media have historically performed a vital role in society; sometimes referred to as the Fourth Estate. They have in the past been characterized as one of the pillars of democracy that bind our society together. Mass media can be the watchdog of elected officials, our rights and our liberty.

Unfortunately, the role of the Fourth Estate has changed. Mass media has become so politicized their believability is constantly in question as they are unlikely to present all the news and opposing viewpoints. The greatest power of the mass media is the power to ignore.

What does that have to do with liberty? Today’s liberal Democrats and Progressives believe in big government, power and control over the citizenry and they have near total support from mass media. Too much government, too much power in the hands of one political party, supported by most mass media and too much control over what we-the-people can do and say is infringing dangerously on our liberty.

FBI AND THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT:

Politization of the FBI and Justice Department has been increasingly evident over the past few years and has become front and center with the Biden administration. On day-one, 20 January 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order lamenting America’s “systemic racism.” The order called for the administration to pursue “an ambitious whole-of-government equity agenda.” It is no secret that the target of the ridiculous “systemic racism” charge was the whole of the Trump supporter population; about 73.6 million of us.

Then came nation-wide Democrat support for teaching critical race theory to kids of all ages in schools across the nation with teachers making students stand in privilege circles, dividing them into categories of “oppressor” and oppressed” based solely on skin color and ethnicity. Parents across the nation loudly exercised their Constitutional right to free speech during school board meetings objecting to the radical, unfounded and dangerous CRT curriculum.

This led the National School Board Association to advise President Biden, in writhing, that, “America’s public schools and its education leaders are under an immediate threat” and imploring Biden to deploy the Justice Department, the FBI, Homeland Security and the National Threat Assessment Center to combat this supposed scourge. The letter described complaining parents as “extremist hate organizations”, aka domestic terrorists.

What followed was Attorney General Garland’s memo, October 4, 2021 to FBI Director Christopher Wray and all 93 U.S. Attorneys, stating that the Justice Department would shortly be announcing “a series of measures designed to address the rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel” and directed addressees to convene meetings with local officials to “open lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment and response.”

Snowball effect: The Democrats support a racially divisive school curriculum, the president gets involved, he has already primed the Executive Branch to battle by charging “systemic racism”, the Justice Department over-reacts and we end up with the strength of the Federal Government and its tentacles reaching into millions of households in a national effort to restrict free speech; all of this vigorously supported by the majority of mass media.

There are about 180 million American adults with an under-18 years of age child in the household. The majority of parents want to be a player in their child’s education. With the feds involved through intimidation at the local school board level, how willing are the parents to remain engaged, exercising free speech? What choices do they have?

This scenario is real, it just happened; a perfect-storm example of the cornerstone of the Constitution, liberty, under attack by a too-big government with too much power exercising massive control through intimidation. And what did we do about it? Nothing yet, but we can and should on November 8^th.

That’s an example of how easy it is for important things like freedom of speech to go south. Big government, power and control is like a cancer on society that if unattended will spread and destroy all that has made this the greatest nation on earth. Yes, it can happen to us because it is happening right now before our eyes. Wake the hell up America; it’s a simple equation.

REGULATIONS AND BLOATED BUREAUCRACIES:

In 2021 there were 4,283,079 federal employees. How did it get so big? There is a corollary between regulations imposed and those administering them. For example, between 1995 and 2016 there were a total of 88,899 federal rules and regulation on the books. Some group of federal employees have to administer those regulations; hence the rise of a national, bloated, sometimes out of control bureaucracy. Massive government regulation is stealth government control and a stealth tax on all Americans.

Complicating the issue is that as new regulations pile on, old regulations rarely go away and neither does the bureaucracy supporting them. It’s called “regulatory accumulation”. The bottom line with regulations and bureaucracies is that they tend to distort business investment, limit innovation and slow economic growth. This is a perfect legal formula for suppressing and/or destroying a person’s will simply with too much “red tape.” Too often it can just become too hard, too expensive and too time consuming to overcome the strength and depth of needless government interference. It gets more difficult every year to start a new business, expand existing businesses and understand the potential penalties and taxes.

By the way, why do you think deficit government spending is out of control and we are $30 trillion in debt? Every one of those groups of bureaucrats administering a regulation, that we may not need, will request and get tax revenue with which to operate no matter how unnecessary or destructive or debilitating that regulation might be.

Bottom line is that regulations and bloated bureaucracies dampen the entrepreneurial spirit and kill the will to be all you want to be and can be. What are we doing about it? Nothing now. Trump set deregulation as a priority initiative and made some progress. That is now gone. Don’t forget, 8 November.

THE WELFARE STATE AND WILL:

There will always be those who are incapable of caring for themselves. The U.S. is the most benevolent nation on earth and we will continue to care for those in need. But under the guise of “helping the poor” the Democrat Party in particular has for decades created a dependency class in America, particularly among Black Americans. Some refer to it as vote- buying. In 2022, $1.3 trillion is projected to be spent on welfare programs in the U.S.

Let’s work the numbers: The “labor force participation rate”, is a monthly calculated percent of the 243 million Americans age 16 and up. The participation rate is now about 62%. That means (62% of 243 million) 151 million are working or looking for work.

That leaves 92 million (243 minus 151) who can work but are neither working nor looking for a job. Of the 92 million, 9 million are age 16 and 17 and still in school, 21 million are in college and 40 million are over age 65. That math leaves us with about 22 million that are able to work but are not looking for work. Granted there are some mentally or physically incapacitated but most are in the over-65 age group.

What are the 22 million who are not looking for work using for income? Probably some type of welfare and this is at a time when it seems nearly every employer in America is looking for more workers. These are the Americans who have lost the will to be all they can be simply because the government will take care of them even though they can and should be part of the labor force. Speaking of will, the government seems absolutely unwilling to solve this simple math problem. Remember, $1.3 trillion this year for welfare.

DIVERSITY EQUITY AND INCLUSION:

Biden in particular and the Democrat party in general are hell-bent on application of DEI to shape every aspect of our lives and society. Is that best for we-the-people?

EQUITY vs EQUALITY AND WILL:

“Systemic equity is a dynamic process that reinforces and replicates equitable ideas, power, resources, strategies, conditions, habits and outcomes.” Where does one even start to unravel that bowl of spaghetti, how is it done, who does it, what is the end-state? Contrast that with the concept of equality with meritocracy wherein everyone has an equal opportunity to pursue “X” and the best and brightest will be chosen to do so. The concept of meritocracy drives will to win and be all you can be. What does equity do for individual will? Nothing positive and probably lots of negatives.

PARENTING, EDUCATORS, GOVERNMENT AND WILL:

We now have a couple generations of Americans who grew up receiving participation trophies (PT). Life is one big competition start to finish while PT dampens development of a sense of competition and the will to win. PT creates a false sense of importance. PT deprives children of learning from their mistakes and the will to do better next time. PT is misled motivation. One needs self-motivation, aka will, to be all you can/should be. PT is harmful to child development.

Recently three of California’s largest school districts dropped “D” and “F” grades. There is a bunch of psychobabble associated with this concept but the bottom line is it kills the will to do better.

A recent poll revealed that 90% of college students would like for their school to have “safe spaces” where they can escape being exposed to ideas that make them feel uncomfortable. We are talking about young ADULTS!! What happened to “man up” you wimp? Life gets ugly, get used to it and build the will to overcome tough times because there will be a lot of them and there are no institutionalized “safe spaces” out there in the real world.

You work like hell to build and succeed only to have one or a team from the 87,000 new IRS agents camping out at your front door. This is the return of Lois Learner on steroids. Nice going feds, do all you can to kill the will.

We cannot build a successful society on a false premise thereby producing adults who are aimless, pampered, perhaps lazy, and without a sense of will to win, succeed and prosper. Government responsibility is like parenting responsibility, build will don’t kill it with cradle-to-grave guaranteed handouts and “safe spaces.”

POST SCRIPT:

This article would not be complete without a comment about the elephant in the room. Our glorious system has for too long had some holes in it. Slaves had no liberty. Once freed, minorities and women had insufficient liberty which led to low levels of willingness.

Some of the founding fathers were slave owners but that issue needs to be put in perspective. Nothing one can say will every make slavery right or morally acceptable but two hundred years ago there was a different view of slavery. Slavery was the way of the world and had been for thousands of years. Humankind has always had to deal with conflict and to the victors went the spoils of war which were, for the most part, territory and people; hunting land, agricultural land and enslaved workers.

The issue of slavery certainly must have been a topic of conversation during the Constitutional Convention. But historians tell us that if resolution of the slavery issue was to become a part of our Constitution, it would surely have been a deal breaker. There would never have been a United States of America. Standing together on the Constitution as drafted was the linchpin.

The framers of our independence were surely guided in their deliberations by the famous Thomas Payne quote, “If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately.”

Slavery was a perplexing issue for the founders because no society had ever abolished slavery before. But to their credit, they did include a place-holder in the Declaration of Independence with the words, “all men are created equal”, and eventually we got there.

BOTTOM LINE:

The concept of liberty, first written in the preamble to the Constitution, set America on a path heretofore not accepted in the world. The American spirit embraced liberty and practiced it as individual and collective will. Pioneers expanded our country to the Pacific Ocean on will, we have prospered like no other nation on earth from will, fought and won world wars on will. But now we are trending towards a government with tens of thousands of active but unnecessary regulations, bloated do-nothing bureaucracies, a welfare state and driven by the concept of equity.

Pound a stake in the heart of liberty, kill the will of we-the-people and ultimately destroy all that we hold sacrosanct.

WHERE IS THE RNC?

Calling the Republican National Committee: Hello, is anybody home? Hello!

Have you looked at the RNC website lately? There is nothing there that is servicing a single Republican candidate for any office in 2022 and nothing looking forward to 2024; zero. What in the hell are they doing? There is no Republican platform to guide candidates who are on the stump today. What is in the website is only about 2016 and 2020. The only reference to 2022 and 2024 is this statement; “RESOLVED, That the 2020 Republican National Convention will adjourn without adopting a new platform until the 2024 Republican National Convention.” Amazing, not one before-the-fact action by the RNC that could guide candidates in 2022 and 2024.

Thousands of Republican candidates across the nation are campaigning right now and the 2024 presidential wannabees are already posturing; publishing a book, visiting Iowa, New Hampshire, etc. Under these circumstances one would expect the RNC to be front and center with a coherent message for every Republican candidate in the country to use. Not happening and no indication that they plan to do anything.

January, 2022, President Biden, from the podium at a virtual Democratic National Committee grassroots event, questioned what Republicans “are for” and suggested that they “don’t stand for anything.” That statement, kicking off the 2022 election year, should have been a red-flag wake-up call at RNC headquarters. It should have perpetrated an all-hands-on-deck reaction. Nothing that I can find suggests they were anything other than asleep at the switch.

Memo to Ms. Ronna McDaniel, RNC Chairperson:

The RNC website is a disgrace to the Republican Party and not helpful to conservative candidates and voters. It’s full of boiler-plate fluff that has no value-added for any candidate. Only recently did you finally take down the 2016 platform and nothing has replaced it. Our candidates are out there talking about gas prices and inflation; that’s not enough. They need an entire array of issues laid out in a coherent way that they can use to enhance and focus their campaign presentations every day. Madam Chairwomen, here is what you need to do and it needs to be completed yesterday. A starter list of issues is provided later in the memo.

Immediately get out a memo to everyone in the RNC headquarters: All hands-on-deck except emergency leave for the next 10 days. This is not an eight-to-five endeavor, we will work as long as it takes. We are going to provide a Point Paper to every Republican candidate in America on every subject the Republican Party is now or should be involved in and a lot of what we see the Democrats doing that is harmful to this nation.

The senior staff and I will meet in the conference room tomorrow at 7 a.m. We will spend however many hours it takes to complete the list of issues. Following that, the issue list will be distributed to teams of researchers/writers to prepare their first draft of their assigned Point Paper.

On day one, I will get the word out to every Republican candidate that Point Papers will be on the way in 10 days.

The objective is for every Point Paper to be one page but never more than two, no exceptions, font 12. Every Point Paper will begin with this sentence: The purpose of this Point Paper is to………

I will immediately communicate with some senior mentors (e.g., Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Alan Simpson) and ask that they quickly review and comment on the list of issues that we are for and against.

I and the senior staff will work from the conference room all day, every day to review Point Papers as they are available from the research/writer teams. Every paper will indicate at the top of page 1, which draft it is; first, second, etc., final.

Everything in a Point Paper must be fact checked.

Every Point Paper will be written as if you are the candidate selling the issue to the constituents.

Every final-draft copy will immediately go out to the senior mentors.

Most of these Point Papers can be in first draft by close of business the first day.

Here is a starter list of issues that need to be transformed into Point Papers.

End state: The Founding Fathers envisioned a limited government, especially at the Federal level. But over time the bureaucracy in the Executive Branch has grown into a fourth branch of government with a life of its own and unintended power. We want a federal government that works for we-the-people and is not bent on controlling every aspect of our lives. RNC: expand on this with some examples of government over-reach that voters can personally relate to.
March 2021, the American Rescue Plan, $1.9 trillion: At that time every economic indicator told us the pandemic-riddled economy was on the way back and improving every day. Biden immediately initiated his (and Obama’s) tax-and-spend economic philosophy by sending a check to 90% of American households. It was completely unnecessary and is largely responsible for kick-starting the inflation we are experiencing today. RNC: fill out the details of this bill and what a disaster it has become for every American.
November, 2021, Biden signed the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure and Jobs Act. Everyone knows our infrastructure needs help but how much of the bill is actual infrastructure and how much is “pork”? The bill was 2700 pages long so it’s another piece of legislation that no one read and that did not pass muster in Congressional Committee hearings. Additionally, Democrats claimed the bill would pay for itself without raising taxes. But the Congressional Budget Office concluded most of the pay-for provisions were false and ultimately the package would add $256 billion to the deficit. RNC: Fill out the details in a Point Paper.
July, 2022, Biden signed into law the “CHIPS” Act, providing $52 billion in incentives for semiconductor production in the U.S. Fine, we need to reduce our reliance on foreign-made semiconductors. But what’s in the remainder of the $280 billion law? More pork that we will borrow money to pay for? More tax and spend? RNC: Fill out the details into a Point Paper.
We want the Secretary of Defense to get in his lane and stay there. Secretary Austin said, “The DOD will elevate the climate as a national security priority, integrating climate considerations into DOD’s policies, strategies and partner engagements. The DOD will incorporate climate-risk assessments into war-gaming, modeling and simulation, and bolster mission resilience and deploy solutions that optimize capability, and reduce our carbon footprint.” Mr. Secretary, the only thing climate has to do with warfighting is to ensure our service members take weather into account when planning a combat mission. Military actions are always about “WET”, weather/enemy/terrain. RNC: fill out the details into a Point Paper.
In 2016 Hillary started the mass-name-calling routine with, “You know to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters (that would have been about 35 million Americans) into what I call the basket of deplorables, the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.” Biden picked up on it in his 2020 campaign and as president he has openly accused white Americans who support Trump policies as racist, white supremacists and “an existential threat to our nation”. Those kinds of lies are ugly, ignorant and unamerican. Of course, there are right-wing extremists in our nation but an intelligent person recognizes there are also left-wing extremists. Those thugs are not main-stream Republicans or Democrats that care about our country. They do not represent either party’s public policy positions. For a president to paint 70 million conservative Americans with that brush is demeaning. Every candidate should vigorously attack this kind of rhetoric and rightfully call out the Democrats and Democrat leaders for perpetuating that message.
The recession of 2008 was an Obama/Biden challenge. They attacked it with a Democrat-endorsed tax and spend offensive that resulted in the slowest economic recovery since World War II. After eight Obama/Biden years the GDP growth was declining in their final year in office. This is exactly the path Biden is following. It didn’t work for Obama and it won’t work now. RNC: expand on this point, it’s a powerful example of where we are and are headed.
Do a Point Paper of campaign one-liners that contrasts the Trump economic plan with the Biden plan: In 2017 Trump cut taxes on everyone. Labor participation rates went up. Median household income grew. Poverty rate among Black Americans fell below 20% for the first time. Unemployment rates for Black Americans went under 6% for the first time. Female employment set new record highs. From 2017 to 2019 wages for the bottom 10% of earners grew at more than double the rate they did during the Obama/Biden administration. In the two years following the Trump tax reductions, household incomes rose by more than they had in the previous eight Obama/Biden years combined. Every candidate should hammer these stats every day, the average voter does not know all of this.
Corporations don’t pay taxes, people pay taxes. Corporate tax is an additional element in the cost of producing a product just like the cost of raw materials, salaries, plant operations, marketing, etc. RNC, do a Point Paper on the debilitative impacts of raising corporate tax rates, another Obama/Biden debacle that Biden is bringing back. Trump lowered corporate tax rates and reversed the downward trend in business investment, companies could compete price-wise on the global market, corporate wages went up, bonuses went up, 401(k) matching went up. Increased corporate taxes inevitably leads to lower wages and less hiring. Republicans are for keeping corporate taxes at the levels established by Trump.
RNC: do a Point Paper on the Democrat’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (being considered by the House as I write this): Democrats are saying it will reduce the deficit by $300 billion. In spite of the ridiculous title, the Inflation Reduction Act is nothing more than another tax-and-spend tactic that will only serve to exacerbate current inflation issues. Here are some specifics according to the Wall Street Journal, 4 August: It will hurt Americans in every tax bracket. More than half the new taxes would be on those making less than $400,000. It is a far-reaching tax on manufacturing that could be devastating.It will make the U.S. less competitive and drive more jobs overseas. It will discourage new investment and create negative economic growth. An estimated 25% of the impact on corporations will fall on employees and lower wages. About 30% of the corporate tax will fall on consumers. It will decrease gross domestic product by an estimated $68 billion with over 200,000 jobs lost. The U.S. tried this in 1986, it didn’t work and was repealed in 1989. Candidates need to tell the voters that this is the kind of debilitating nonsensical thinking they will get from the Democrats.
RNC: Do a point paper on the debilitating effects of government over-regulation. Here are some starter facts: The Obama/Biden administration added 20,642 new regulations. Just during 2015 new regulations imposed over $22 billion in regulatory costs. During the Trump administration, the ratio of regulations deleted to regulations gained was 3.2 to 1. The Trump administration reported eliminating $198.6 billion in overall regulatory costs. It should be noted that a key to becoming energy independent under Trump, was the rollback of stifling energy production regulations. With gas prices soaring to $5+ a gallon, many of us have been asking why can’t we just go back to whatever we were doing in 2019? Here is the beginning of the answer and candidates across the nation should be explaining this every day. Biden has blamed the increase in gas prices on Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. He knows that is a lie and he also knows the truth about why gas across the nation went to $5 a gallon. In his first 16 months in office, his administration and Congressional Democrats have initiated over 100 actions (executive orders, policy decisions, new regulations) deliberately designed to make it harder and more expensive to produce energy in America. Thirty-two of these anti-energy proclamations were enacted after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Republicans are for energy deregulation back to the 2019 norm for regaining energy independence and for stopping the export of our strategic oil reserves.
Republicans are for open debate in public and in the Congress on critical issues. Here are some reasons it is not taking place. Instead of engaging in legitimate debates based on merits of each side’s position, Progressives’ tendency is to shut down the exchange of ideas by too often simply asserting that, for example, “securing our border is racist, the 2nd amendment is racist, prosecuting crime is racist, cutting taxes is racist, school choice is racist, voter ID is racist, math is racist” and the list goes on and on. Whenever they do not agree with a position, they characterize that position as racist. Not very intelligent. The irony of all this is that from the end of the Civil War in 1865 for the next 99 years the Democrat Party was the party of segregation which is, next to slavery, the most damning and demeaning of all actions against Black Americans.
Biden and the Democrats have created what they believe is a cute new campaign tactic by referring to conservatives as “MAGA Extremists.” Here is the proper response to that nonsense. Yes, says the candidate as the opening to a campaign speech, I am a MAGA Extremist, there are about 70 million of us and here is some of what we are extremely interested in: Energy independence, year to year economic growth, lower taxes for everyone, employing more women and Black Americans than any time in history, support for Israel, no nuclear weapons for Iran, shutting down North Korea’s missile and nuclear testing, secure borders, best qualified leaders for Executive Branch Departments, each NATO country paying their share, deregulating the federal government, support to small businesses, lower corporate taxes, states’ rights, criminals in prison, support for police, if you are able to work and there are jobs available, get one. If all that is “MAGA extremism”, sign me up. Republican candidates should begin to campaign on being a MAGA extremist and throw that thought right back in Biden’s face.

Note to Chairwoman McDaniel: There is a new book, May 2022, Fix the Systems, Transform America. The intent of the book is to define national issues in detail and then present a workable solution for each. The subjects are education, race relations, illegal immigration, voter fraud, size and scope of the Executive Branch, deficit spending, a dysfunctional Congress, term limits, universal service and world peace. The point to be made is that Fix the Systems can be an excellent reference for your research/writer teams who are working Point Papers on these subjects. BTW Ms. McDaniel, I sent you a copy of the book a couple months ago.

14.Biden and the Democrats have been exercising a great tactic for spending trillions of dollars on pork and debilitating laws. They do it by putting together legislation that is literally thousands of pages long, that no one voting on it has read and that has not been vetted by open debate in Congressional Committees. RNC, do a Point Paper on this kind of legislation and provide some good examples for candidates to use to explain why this is so destructive, e.g., one good example was amnesty for all illegal aliens hidden in the multitrillion dollar Build Back Better bill. Here is another Democrat gem; paying couples who make $299,999. a year a Child Tax Credit, aka buying votes. The point being we-the-people should know exactly what issues are being considered in any particular bill before the Congress. With the current level of Congressional dysfunction, we are clueless about the details. “The devil is in the details.” RNC: For more details, see Chapter 5, Fix the Systems, Transform America.

15.Republican candidates should agree the world needs to reduce carbon emissions. But, explain that the Biden/Democrats’ obsession with electronic vehicles (EV) does not compute; do the math. To be effective the world, not just the U.S., needs about a billion EVs of the 1.446 billion total. To build one EV battery requires 250 tons of earth materials (lithium and rare metals). Mining, transporting 250 tons of stuff, processing it and building an EV battery produces massive amounts of carbon to the point that an EV battery does not become a net reducer of carbon for several years then they must be replaced with a billion new batteries. One more problem is that China controls about 80% of the known supply of lithium. How do you think that is going to work out? Secondly, we will need massive new world-wide sources of electricity (demand is estimated to increase by 50% by 2050) to recharge a billion EV batteries every day or so. Again, the carbon footprint is massive with billions of tons of iron and concrete to build “carbon free” wind turbines and solar panels that, oh-by-the-way are mostly produced in, you guessed it, China. Candidates need to get this information out to the voters. Yes, we need to reduce carbon and create more electricity so let’s begin some dialogue on expanding the use of natural gas, quickly building a lot more nuclear power plants and a full-court-press on fusion research. And let’s stop using our hard-earned tax money to pay thousands of dollars in tax credits to the rich folks who can afford to buy a Tesla. Do the math.

16. Have you noticed lately that all the Democrat bills in Congress raise taxes and go on to claim it will increase federal revenue? Again, they have their economics exactly backwards. The Trump Tax Cuts and Jobs Act actually increased follow-on tax revenue because tax cuts cause economic growth, lower unemployment and rising wages. Why is that so difficult to understand? RNC, flesh out the numbers to go along with this subject; this needs to be shared by all candidates with the voters.

17. Education is a national disgrace: Every year, over 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the U.S.; that’s a student every 26 seconds, 7,000 every school day. In the U.S. high school dropouts commit about 75% of the crimes. About 25% of high school freshmen fail to graduate from high school on time. Almost 2,000 high schools across the U.S. graduate less than 60% of their students. Hundreds of thousands of students are routinely tested across the U.S., here are the results: reading comprehension, percent NOT proficient, grade 4, 59%, grade 8, 66%, grade 12, 76%. Math, percent NOT proficient, grade 4, 65%, grade 8, 66%, grade 12, 63%. For decades the Democrats’ solution has been to throw hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of bureaucrats at the problem and it just keeps getting worse. RNC: In building your Point Paper you can research the detailed look at a solution to all of this mess, Chapter one Fix the Systems, Transform America. It will work and its free.

18. “The border is secure.” BS! For Biden and the Democrats to purposely place our national security at risk is perhaps the most egregious action taken by a president with support from Congress against all Americans in our history. RNC, get a line of facts together for every candidate to use; 2022, number of known illegals processed, estimates of numbers of illegals entered but not processed, numbers of unaccompanied minors, amount of drugs seized, amount of drugs estimated crossing into the U.S., data on terrorists, gang members, criminals, cost to taxpayers. Republican position: walls are a deterrent, they work. Finish the wall. There is a simple solution that will voluntarily shut down illegal immigration, see chapter 2, Fix the Systems, Transform America.

19. Critical race theory is not fact, it is a theory and not a valid one. The end result from teaching CRT is greater divisiveness. There are better ways to vastly improve race relations in America. See chapter 1, Fix the Systems, Transform America.

20. Republicans are fed up with boys competing in girls’ sports and the voters should be also. RNC: Need a Point Paper with a few brief horror stories to emphasize the fallacy of this nonsense.

21.Kim Jong Un is a dangerous and unpredictable nut case and since Trump departed, he has aggressively resumed long-range missile and nuclear testing. Trump met with him one-on-one three times and shut him down. RNC: Republicans need to jump on this one and embarrass the hell out of Democrats for putting this issue in their too-hard box. We must do something before it is too late.

22. Infrastructure: Republicans need to sound off about the desperate need for a pure infrastructure bill that is not full of fluff and pork. Sure, roads and bridges need repair but there needs to be some prioritization. The West in general and California in particular are about out of water. It has been more than 40 years since California last opened a major new reservoir. Nuclear power is safe and clean but because of bureaucrats, environmental fanatics and legal actions it takes 20-30 years to build one. RNC: Find some other critical, do-it-now projects our candidates can talk about.

23. Blame, blame, blame. Republicans need to get fired up over the complete absence of accountability by our government leaders. RNC: Need a Point Paper on this subject with lots of examples since January, 2021. We need to get voters fired up over the Democrat blame game.

24. Green New Deal: RNC: Republicans need a few short hard-hitting stories about the Greens’ nonsensical approach to problem solving. For example, the Keystone pipeline that would safely and with no carbon footprint deliver about 850,000 barrels of oil per day and Biden killed it within hours of being sworn in. That oil has to move somehow so let’s use truck tankers; 4,357 of them that will burn 1,951,064 gallons of carbon-belching diesel fuel per day. It’s a simple math problem.

25. The Latin American Cartels have declared war on the U.S., are making billions of dollars and operating unopposed. The Cartels have been the enemy of several Latin American countries for decades so it should not be difficult to cut a secret deal with them to allow the U.S. to operate secretly with small teams inside their borders. Then give the mission to JSOC, Joint Special Operations Command, leave them alone and let them take out the leaders and headquarters in one big secret operation. Republicans should declare war on the Cartels during their campaigning.

26. The Republicans should come out strong and united on the subject of Woke nonsense in the military. Wokism does not fit with a warfighting culture, our allies and enemies will see it as a weakness (because it is) and what deterrent strength we have remaining will be compromised. RNC: We need to get the Republican candidates fired up on this issue before it is too late.

27. RNC: Do a Point Paper on Republicans’ support for Israel, our most valued ally and friend in the Middle East for decades. It was a month before Biden reached out to the Israeli leader after the inauguration.

28. Law and order: RNC: do a Point Paper on law and order beginning with exactly what our Vice President thinks about lawlessness. The looting, burning, assaults on innocents and police causing loss of life over the summer of 2020 was led by leftwing extremists, Antifa and the radical elements of Black Lives Matter. Camilla Harris, was a national leader in the movement to instantly provide bail money to the criminals so they could get back on the street to join the crimewave; she tweeted, “If you’re able to chip in now the @MNFreedonFund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota.” Later on in the summer Harris is quoted as saying, “This is a movement, I’m telling you, everyone beware, protestors are not going to stop before election day in November and they’re not going to stop after election day, they should not. We should not.”

After pointing out what Republicans are up against (RE the above paragraph on VP Harris) here are some recommendations for Republicans that need to become part of the Republican agenda, such as: Start at the top by firing the Director of the FBI and find someone who is totally focused on law and order and could give a damn about politics; a director who will clean out the upper echelons of the FBI and restructure the culture of the organization. After reorienting the FBI, do the same thing to the Department of Justice. Law enforcement across the U.S. needs to believe the nation’s top cops in the FBI and Justice Department have their act together.

29. RNC: Do a Point Paper calling out the Democrats for pushing for an expansion of the Supreme Court expressly for the purpose of packing the court with left-wing justices. The Democrats want to, purely for political gain, challenge the 250-year concept of separate-but-equal branches of government.

30. Voter fraud does exist and it shouldn’t. For example, a couple years ago in California it was determined that 1.5 million individuals were registered to vote even though they no longer were eligible. So, what happened to the 1.5 million ballots mailed to them? North Carolina, 2018 the 9^th Congressional District race was overturned because of vote harvesting that included altering and forging absentee ballots. In New Jersey a candidate bribed voters with $50 payments for mail-in ballots. 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 have received mail-in ballots. In New Mexico a Public Interest Legal Foundation found more than 3000 individuals registered multiple times. And so it goes across America. Pathetic and unnecessary.

Voter fraud takes many forms: It begins with grossly inaccurate voter registration data and then there is ballot stuffing, voter impersonation, fraud by election officials and absentee ballot fraud There is an easy fix for every type of voter fraud; Voter ID. From the president on down to rank-and-file members, Democrats call voter ID “racist”; an insanely ignorant conclusion. The Congress has passed a bill into law that says if you want to board a domestic air flight beginning May 3, 2023 you must have a “Real ID” card. You get it at the state DMV site and to do so you must prove U.S. citizenship, local address, etc. None of the Democrats have called that requirement racist. We can/should use the same procedure for a Voter ID card. The card data would instantly become the voter registration rolls, 100% accurate and automatically updated whenever your Voter ID is renewed simultaneously with you drivers’ license. When you go to vote the Voter ID card is used just like a credit card; the data is extracted and printed out. Only this time, the printed paper becomes a personal ballot with all of your data on it. A voting machine will never accept it twice and will not accept it if it does not agree with the Voter Registration Rolls. Mail out/mail-in ballots will be produced accurately from the Voter Registration Rolls. One eligible voter, one valid ballot counted once. Voter ID can also be used to solve the problem of hundreds of millions of dollars being “contributed” during the campaign season to buy votes. Voter ID is not racist and it solves all of the current voter fraud problems. Republicans across the country should be campaigning on this issue. For more details, see Chapter 3, Fix the Systems, Transform America.

31. Universal Service for every 18-year-old American: This is a program that has been talked about for years but I have never seen anyone lay out a complete concept of operations for accomplishing that mission. It would be a huge, complex operation but the combined short- and long-term benefits to the nation are incalculable. The Republican Party and RNC should put Universal Service to America (USA) high on their list of issues they are for and willing to execute. See Chapter 7, Fix the Systems, Transform America.

32. Shame on all of us for still having to deal with racial discrimination 157 years after the Civil War. We, but especially the Democrats, have tried to work the issue from the top (federal government) down with trillions of dollars in “assistance”. It has not worked and will not work going forward. Discrimination can be wiped out of our culture but we have to begin by recognizing some facts and properly define the problem before we search for a solution. Fact, babies are not born bigoted, disrespectful or hateful. Second fact, youngsters learn to be bigoted, disrespectful and/or hateful at home, at school, on the playground, on the streets or, in some cases, in church. Having properly defined the problem, what is the solution? We simply have to change what they learn and we can do that by working from the bottom up starting with every 5-year-old kindergartener in America. It is a program that can work and its free. See Chapter one, Fix the Systems, Transform America.

BOTTOM LINE:

Here, in part (emphasis added), is the RNC mission statement: “We are engaged in a national effort to fight for our proven agenda, take our message to every American, grow the party, promote election integrity and elect Republicans up and down the ballot.” How are they doing in 2022 with fulfilling their obligations? You fill in the blanks, C, D or F?

Post script: Fix the Systems, Transform America is a self-published book. I’m not interested in selling a bunch of books but I sure as hell am interested in doing what I can to help save this nation. If you, the reader, agree please contact your Congressional Delegation and ask them to put some pressure on the RNC to help out the 2022 Republican candidates. I would ask you to simply send an email directly to the RNC but that is not possible anymore; no surprise, they apparently don’t want to hear from We the People.

Copy furnished: FedEx over-night to Ms. McDaniel, RNC Chairwomen

Marvin L. Covault, Lt Gen US Army, retired, is the author of two books, Vision to Execution and Fix the Systems, Transform America as well as the author of a blog, WeThePeopleSpeaking.com.

CHINA’S LONG-RANGE STRATEGIC PLAN…..CONTROL

Control: To exercise authoritative or dominative influence over.

CHINA/RUSSIA:

For decades during the post-WW II Cold War period, China and Russia were at odds with each other over which one was to be the dominate figure in transitioning the world to communism/socialism. Control of the world is no longer consumed by that single issue.

In 2001 the two nations signed a twenty-year Neighborly Friendship and Cooperation Agreement. It serves as a basis for peaceful relations and economic cooperation. Article 9 states, “When a situation arises in which one of the contracting parties deems that peace is being threatened and undermined or its security interests are involved or when it is confronted with the threat of aggression, the contracting parties shall immediately hold contacts and consultations in order to eliminate such threats.” Articles 7 and 16 emphasize increasing military cooperation. In 2021 the agreement was extended for another five years.

On February 4^th, 2022, just before the China-hosted Winter Olympics, Russian President Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a joint statement laying out a bold declaration of their view of a New World Order consisting mainly of three conditions. First, China needs natural resources (principally natural gas and oil) and Russia needs China’s investment, goods, and its market. Secondly, on the global stage, both countries stand against the U.S. dominance in the world and stand up for the feckless United Nations system. Third, they face similar strategic power plays; for Russia, the U.S. backed NATO expansion and for China the conflict over Taiwan. Both feel they are victims of the U.S.-led international order.

OIL, THEN AND NOW:

China’s Achilles heel has been and continues to be the availability of natural gas and oil. They currently import 10-12 million barrels of crude oil per day from two major oil sources, Russia and the Middle East.

Over the past ten years Russia has increased the share of oil imported by China each year thanks in part to the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Oil Pipeline which links directly from Siberia into China. In 2021 China imported oil from 44 countries. About one-third (3.6 million barrels per day) was from Russia and about half (51%) from nine Middle East nations with the bulk of it from Saudi Arabia.

In 1973 the U.S. was providing support to Israel during the Yom Kippur War. In retaliation, OPEC decided to stop exporting oil to the U.S. While the embargo lasted only six months, oil prices quadrupled (imagine if that happened today and crude oil prices quadrupled to $400 per barrel). The embargo became a dual-edged wake-up call to the world. First, it demonstrated the immediate and dramatic leverage the oil exporting countries held and secondly it demonstrated the importance of energy independence for those with the capability to do so. In 1973 the U.S. vowed to find a way to achieve energy independence. Unfortunately, it took until 2019 to achieve it.

LONG-RANGE STRETIGIC PLANNING:

Years ago, China set in motion a long-range strategic plan by doing the first thing first which is to define the end-state, “Control the World” and proceeded to define the operational phases to get there. And thus far they are getting an “A” in execution. For example, they have successfully transitioned to become an economic super power. Additionally, China is shaping the future of economic development in about 100 countries with its Belt and Road initiative to better connect itself to the rest of the world through trade and infrastructure. By providing funding that the countries have long sought for roads, railways, power plants, ports and other infrastructure, China has managed to gain control over critical natural resources such as natural gas, oil, mining operations to include scarce and rare minerals required by the remainder to the world.

There is another interesting piece to the long-range strategic planning process; that is, it is never a one-and-done process because as one moves from phase to phase you don’t know what you don’t know. Stated another way, strategic planers will likely encounter unanticipated obstacles or perhaps stumble onto a target of opportunity. During my second career, conducting seminars for corporate executives on how to do long-range strategic planning (Vision to Execution), I would call such a circumstance, the “DKDK factor” (you don’t know what you don’t know). It is critical because a particular DKDK event may cause you to accelerate to a new level of success or it could cause you to shift gears to avoid a disaster.

I believe there have been three unanticipated things happen in just the past 18 months (DKDK) that impact China’s plan to “Control the world.” They are leadership in “the West”, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and U.S. policy in the Middle East.

ONE, THERE IS NO LONGER A LEADER OF “THE WEST.”

Background: A little over 100 years ago the U.S. sent its military to Europe to win World War I. We did it again about 80 years ago but not only to save Europe in World War II, but also to simultaneously fight and win in the Pacific region, an unimaginable feat. Following WW II, we were engaged with Europe and NATO for about 50 years of the Cold War against the Soviet Union. The U.S. clearly led every military, political and economic aspect to victory in the Cold War. Given these events it is no surprise that for decades the U.S. president has been referred to as, “the leader of the free world.” That title was not ceremonial, it existed because the free world believed it.

President Biden’s actions over the past 18 months have disappointed and disillusioned world leaders. For example:

The embarrassing and unnecessary military/political collapse in Afghanistan.

Disrespect for a leader who would instantly squander his nation’s energy-independence to make a trite political point.

Astonishment that President Biden would willingly and deliberately threaten our national security by opening our borders to millions of unvetted, untested criminals, MS- 13 gang members, terrorists, drug dealers, human traffickers, hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied minors and millions of common folks with no known skillsets from over 170 countries.

Inability to deal with growing lawlessness across the U.S.

Obvious disinterest and/or inability to deal with North Korea’s ramped-up nuclear and long-range missile testing almost immediately after the January, 2021 inauguration.

His inability to speak to difficult and demanding world issues without a prepared script and/or staged Q and A.

And finally, the icing on the cake. The world watched the Russian buildup of an invasion force on the border with Ukraine from October, 2021 through 24 February, 2022. While China and North Korea refused to condemn the invasion, the remainder of the world thought otherwise. But the shockwave instantaneously hit the world when President Biden, in a rare extemporaneous moment, said, “Russia will be held accountable if it invades. It depends on what it does. It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera.” The world’s interpretation of that statement, a little invasion will be OK. Biden’s minions moved quickly to issue a what-the-president-meant-to-say statement but the irrevocable damage had been done. Suspicions confirmed, the president of the United States can no longer be trusted as the leader of the free world.

Our allies and enemys alike are wondering who is in charge. There are obvious global doubts about President Biden’s physical and mental capacity to deal with the rigorous demands of a “leader of the free world.”

TWO: LESSONS LEARNED OVER THE LAST SIX MONTHS FROM RUSSIA’S INVASION OF UKRAINE:

Without condemning Russia for invading Ukraine, China could see that this unexpected world event could be instructional for them as they contemplate invading Taiwan.

Initially China could see that the invasion could possibly result in an all-out NATO military response. But that did not happen for one major reason, gas and oil. Russia has created a gas/oil dependence in Europe that can literally be turned on and off. Russia used that leverage to soften the sanctions imposed by “the West.” It prevented any NATO combatants from assisting inside Ukraine. And it caused European nations to lose interest in providing sufficient warfighting material to Ukraine as the war has extended in time and is no longer daily headline news.

China’s take-away; in today’s complex geopolitical makeup, gas and oil can be the linchpin to success or failure either to influence short-term events or for the long haul.

THREE: BIDEN’S TRANSFORMATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST:

Background leading to today: The Obama/Biden approach to the Middle East was dominated by two issues, disregard for Israel and The Iran Nuclear Deal. Number one needs no elaboration; they simply abandoned the U.S. decades-old policy of uncompromising support to Israel, our most valued friend in the region.

The Iran deal: There is an old saying, “If you want something bad enough, that’s the way you will get it, bad.”

After a couple years of negotiations, the deal was signed July, 2015.

Background: The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, 1970, was agreed to by 191 nations. The Clinton and Bush administrations vowed that Iran would never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. As the world’s greatest state-sponsor of terrorism, Iran had been hit hard with sanctions prior to 2013. During negotiations for the nuclear deal with Iran, the U.S. lifted many of the most rigorous sanctions in order to get Iran to agree to the deal. After signing, Iran prohibited the UN from inspecting their nuclear development sites. The Atomic Energy Agency inspector Olli Heinonen said the agreement means “Iran will be a threshold breakout nuclear state for the next 10 years”. The agreement was a complete betrayal of the trust of Israel as well as close Arab friends in the region; Saudi Arabia and Egypt hated the agreement.

Because most believed Iran was fast producing a nuclear bomb, in 2018 President Trump cancelled the agreement and hit Iran hard with new sanctions.

U.S./Middle East today: Iran may already have a nuclear weapon but does not want to disclose the truth in fear of an attack by Israel. Within days after inauguration, President Biden formally offers to restart nuclear talks with Iran. It is obvious to the casual observer that Iran is playing the U.S. negotiators, stretching out the schedule, seeking more and more sanctions relief all the while putting the finishing touches on their nuclear weapon. Biden is blinded by his obsession to undo everything President Trump accomplished in the Middle East at any cost.

U.S./Saudi relationships then and now: Bilateral agreements, particularly in the energy and security sectors have endured for decades. Saudi Arabia is one of the U.S.’ largest trading partners in the Middle East. The U.S. has been instrumental over the decades in organizing, training and equipping the Saudi military.

The Obama/Biden and now the Biden administrations bungling of the nuclear issues as they apply to Iran have created a deep mistrust between Saudi Arabia in particular and other Middle East nations in general towards the U.S. They do not want a nuclear Iran and believe Biden has facilitated it.

In 2017, President trump’s first overseas trip was to Saudi Arabia and was described as, “A pro-American extravaganza” where Trump and the King signed a $110 billion arms deal.

Saudi Arabia is engaged in a war with their southern neighbor, Yemen. The terrorist group, Houthi, engaged the Yemen government forces in 2014 and succeeded in capturing most of the country. The ousted Yemen president asked Saudi Arabia for assistance. The Saudis put together a coalition of nine Middle East nations to assist. During the conflict, the U.S. has provided intelligence and logistical support as well as the sale of arms to coalition states. The Houthi terrorist group is totally sponsored by and equipped by Iran. They routinely attack Saudi oil producing areas and oil refineries. Because of all that, President Trump put the Houthi on the international terrorist list.

Enter the Biden Administration. They immediately removed the Houthis from the terrorist list and cancelled a Saudi order for military equipment needed to fight the Houthis. Biden went on to announced an end to American support for Saudi-led offensive operations against the Houthis. A perfect lesson on how not to treat friends and valued allies.

Additionally, during his 2020 campaign Biden labeled Saudi Arabia a “pariah state” over the murder of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Meanwhile the Chinese government is committing crimes against humanity toward eleven million Uyghur Muslims in northwest China (imprisoning more than a million) and Biden refers to China President Xi Jinping as, “my old friend.” This hypocrisy is not lost on Saudi leaders and other Middle East nations. Given those underpinnings, Biden’s trip last week to Saudi Arabia to beg for oil ended up being all about a fist-bump and w=was a national disgrace.

SO, WHERE ARE WE NOW IN THIS GEOPOLITICAL JIGSAW PUZZLE?

How do the geopolitical shifts in the past eighteen months as suggested above relate to China’s on-going plan to “control the world?” Three points to consider; One, to control the world China has to have greater influence over relationships with individual west nations; Germany, France, UK, U.S. Italy, etc. Without a leader in the West, subtle divide-and-conquer initiatives could be China’s next move. Secondly, Russia’s leverage over Europe right now, resulting from gas and oil dominance, may be a wake-up call to China. They might be concluding that unanticipated circumstances in the Middle East could result in the reduction or loss of oil from Saudi Arabia; a potential catastrophic situation for China just as it is now for Europe. Third, Biden has succeeded in fracturing U.S. influence in the Middle East; does this open a door for China to gain greater control over Middle East oil exports?

CHINA/IRAN RELATIONSHIP:

In July, 2015 China and Iran agreed to expand trade to $600 billion in ten years; an increase of 1,000%. In March 2021 Iran and China signed a 25-year cooperation agreement that will strengthen their relationship with respect to political, strategic, military and economic components. China has contracts totaling hundreds of billions of dollars in Iran’s gas and oil industry to include exclusive rights to several Iranian oil and natural gas fields. It is not lost on China planners that Iran ranks as the fourth-largest reserve of oil and the second-largest reserve of natural gas in the world. Iran has signed on to China’s One Belt and Road program as a key part of China’s geopolitical ambitions in central Asia and the Middle East. They are also linked militarily with China providing advanced systems to include control technology for long-range missile development. In January, 2022 Iran, China and Russia held their third joint naval drills in the northern Indian Ocean. There also continues to be Chinese nuclear experts, scientists and technicians present in Iran.

RUSSIA/ IRAN RELATIONSHIP:

Russia and Iran have had a close relationship for many years. Last week Putin visited Iran for talks on expanding ties between the two nations. Sanctions imposed on Russia and Iran by the United States will strengthen their resolve for stability and economic prosperity in the region. In 2016 Russia entered into an agreement with Iran to build nuclear power capabilities in Iran. A few days ago, the National Iranian Oil Company and Russian gas producer Gazprom signed a memorandum of understanding worth about $40 billion. Iran may be delivering armed drones to Russia for the Ukraine war. Iran, Russia and Turkey are discussing joint car production. The strength of the Russia/Iran advancing relationship is a common enemy, the United States.

Thirty years ago, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein invaded neighboring Kuwait. Most believed this was a stepping-stone action on the way to take down Saudi Arabia, control the world’s largest exporter of oil and thereby have enormous leverage against Europe and the United States. What happened shocked the world. In short order, the U.S. demonstrated an unprecedented 3500-mile force projection capability and defeated Iraq’s highly publicized armor forces in about two days of combat. If Iran evolves as the new leader in the Middle East, few would foresee that type of U.S. response occurring again, which provides China and Russia almost free rein to have greater influence in the Middle East with Iran as their proxy.

CENTERS OF GRAVITY:

A final comment about long-range strategic planning. A critical step for the plan as a whole and also as the organization is about to transition into another phase is to stop for a moment, take a deep breath and consider what will be the centers of gravity. Centers of gravity defined: A person, place, thing or circumstance that is CENTRAL to success or which could cause the plan to fail.” VISION TO EXECUTION. For example, in China’s overall plan a center of gravity is the continuous ability to import large quantities of natural gas and oil from the Middle East in general and from Saudi Arabia in particular.

The rule is, once a center of gravity has been identified it must be continually assessed. In the current China phase of their long-range plan to control the world, China planners should be reassessing the dynamics in the Middle East; reduced U.S. influence, their friend Iran emerging as the Middle East’s first possessor of a nuclear weapon, Israel’s long-time threat to take out a nuclear weapon in Iran, Saudi Arabia preoccupation with their war against the Yemen Houthi terrorists, etc.

The current question for China is, will the dynamics in the Middle East potentially threaten gas and oil exports to China? If so, that could portend disaster for the current phase as well the overall end-state. It therefore becomes a center of gravity that must be dealt with immediately. Conversely, perhaps they see an opportunity for Iran to supplant Saudi Arabia as the principal gas/oil supplier to China. If so, that becomes a center of gravity to be exploited.

BOTTOM LINE:

If we look at the world in three categories, it makes it easier to see where China is with respect to their desired end-state, Control the World.

China/Russia alliance: China and Russia are now committed to moving forward as a formidable team; strength in numbers. China needs gas and oil and other natural resources. Russia needs to be able to lean on China’s economic growth. The end-state is considerable leverage against other nations and regions.

Other small nations: To date China has quietly gone about gaining levels of control in up to 100 nations through its on-going Belt and Road initiative. These nations can provide value added principally in terms of natural resources; gas, oil and minerals to include most of the lithium and rare-earth-metals on the planet.

The West: Lumping together the major nations (U.S. Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, most of Europe, Korea, Japan, Australia) who collectively produce a significant share of the world’s GDP, they are currently without a presumptive leader and therefore, unable to collectively counter China’s long range control agenda.

CONCLUSIONS:

The U.S. has rapidly become more of an observer and less of a mover-and-shaker in world events. We have forfeited our military deterrent status. “The West” is leaderless. China’s military is stronger, larger, more lethal and more deployable than ever before. NATO is expanding but does it have the united will to be a formidable force? The UN remains powerless and essentially under the control of China and Russia because of the one-vote veto in the Security Council; i.e., nothing favorable to the West will happen and nothing unfavorable to China/Russia/Iran/North Korea will happen.

A China/Russia/Iran cabal controlling the Middle East could be disastrous for the West in general and the U.S. in particular if we choose to remain energy dependent. They could leverage all gas/oil-importing nations just as Russia is currently leveraging Europe. China would have free-rein to take over Taiwan.

China is executing a plan to control the world and this administration has either chosen to not acknowledge it or we are aware but are clueless as to what to do about it.

It is not a pretty picture but it is food for thought.

Author’s note, new subject:

I have published a new book, FIX THE SYSTEMS, TRANSFORM AMERICA. I believe many of you will agree that our country can/should be better than it is today, some examples: Education results are pathetic, race relations are a mess, illegal immigration is a national security nightmare, voter fraud does exist but shouldn’t, the size and scope of the Executive Branch is actually harmful in too many ways, federal deficit spending is out of control, Congress is dysfunctional, existing term limits do not adequately serve we-the-the people, universal service for young adults can make us a better nation and wouldn’t it be nice if we had a way to almost guarantee world peace.

The book is not political, there is plenty of blame for everyone involved in these ten issues. My intent is to thoroughly define the problems and then present a solution in as much detail as possible. Since publication in May, 2022, I have sent copies around the country to leaders and well-known, well-positioned spokespersons in the Republican Party. My message to them is that solutions to these problems should be of interest to all voters and they represent what I believe could be a proper and valuable 2024 Republican Party platform. In total, these solutions will save hundreds of billions of dollars for the American taxpayers.

I self-published the book and there is no marketing plan; my intent is not to be a best-seller or to make a pile of money. What I would ask is that if you get a copy and agree with some of the solutions, would you please take the time to make your thoughts known to you Congressmen and women as well as your two Senators. Available on Amazon for $11.99.

Thank you,

Marv Covault

Marvin L. Covault, Lt Gen US Army, retired, is the author of two books, VISION TO EXECUTION and FIX THE SYSTEMS, TRANSFORM AMERICA as well as the author of a blog, WeThePeopleSpeaking.com.

correction to BLAME, AND WHERE IT TAKES US

The last sentence of the 3rd paragraph should read, U.S. inflation is higher than in Japan, France, Germany, Britain, Italy and Canada. Sorry about that…..Marv