On this page:
- A Graphical Update on the National Debt
- Tea Party Bill Hopper
- In a Perfect World, the Government Would Protect Our Rights, But....
- Why I Oppose a 'Single-Payer' or 'Public Option' Medical Plan
- Boycott the NFL? Think Again
- Liberals Say the Darndest Things (Booth Truth – 2018 Irish Festival)
- Leftist Battlecry: “No Borders! No Walls! No USA at All!”
- What's Driving America's Spending Changes, a Historical Perspective
- Will Brett Kavanaugh Stand for Property Rights?
- D.C. Sights for Tea Partiers
- Social Security and Medicare Trustees Issue Yet Another Warning
- Enough with the Government Dependency, Already!
- What If You Had No Right to Life, Liberty, or Property?
- Insider Reveals How the Media Distort the News on Guns
- Thomas Jefferson Says: Sure, Take Away My Statues
- U.S. Becoming More Economically Free, and That’s a Good Thing
- 12 Reasons the Budget Bill Stinks
- Why Do We Have the Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms?
- The Founding Fathers on the Budget Deal
- The Forgotten Black Patriots of the Revolutionary War
- How to Cure Poverty
- Let the Opportunity Society Work Its Magic
A Graphical Update on the National Debt
by Knoxville Tea Party
November 2018
PERMALINK
Simply put, money is supposed to represent goods or services that someone has produced, that you could trade the money for if you wished.
But when the federal government borrows money to pay benefits and bills, the federal government is promising people goods and services that have not been produced. It is promising things that it does not have, and which it hopes to take from future generations.
The graphic below presents the debt at the beginning and end of the previous administration, and the present-day situation, as currently reported by the United States Department of the Treasury.
"Debt Held by the Public" represents mostly Treasury bonds sold to the public.
"Intergovernmental Holdings" represent mostly monies taken from Social Security revenues, but are not technically debt because there is no legal obligation to repay the monies.
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/pd_debttothepenny.htm
by Knoxville Tea Party
November 2018
PERMALINK
Simply put, money is supposed to represent goods or services that someone has produced, that you could trade the money for if you wished.
But when the federal government borrows money to pay benefits and bills, the federal government is promising people goods and services that have not been produced. It is promising things that it does not have, and which it hopes to take from future generations.
The graphic below presents the debt at the beginning and end of the previous administration, and the present-day situation, as currently reported by the United States Department of the Treasury.
"Debt Held by the Public" represents mostly Treasury bonds sold to the public.
"Intergovernmental Holdings" represent mostly monies taken from Social Security revenues, but are not technically debt because there is no legal obligation to repay the monies.
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/pd_debttothepenny.htm
Tea Party Bill Hopper
by Potomac Tea Party
October 12, 2018
PERMALINK
Potomac Tea Party is participating in a project led by Louisa Tea Party in Virginia to select a single legislative idea for Tea Parties across the country to push in Congress. Here are the ideas we collected from our members for the project:
Voter Fraud
From activist Ann Corcoran (Refugee Resettlement Watch) except the last item
by Potomac Tea Party
October 12, 2018
PERMALINK
Potomac Tea Party is participating in a project led by Louisa Tea Party in Virginia to select a single legislative idea for Tea Parties across the country to push in Congress. Here are the ideas we collected from our members for the project:
Voter Fraud
- Proof of Citizenship - Amend the National Voting Rights Act to require the federal Election Assistance Commission to accept any state qualification regarding proof of citizenship. States should be free to require proof of citizenship in any manner they see fit (self-attestation, birth certificate, whatever). Do this either on the federal voter registration form or allow states to impose it separately. Explanation – states are supposed to have the Constitutional authority to set voter qualifications but, through a convoluted history including Supreme Court precedent, the federal government now has the power to effectively prevent states from requiring citizenship in order to vote. It’s not supposed to be this way.
- Now that all states are offering "Real-ID", and that this is required for everyday things like entering federal offices and boarding commercial airlines, let's require Real-ID to vote (and to register) for all federal elections.
- Qualified immunity is a judge-made legal doctrine that shields police and other public officials from liability for civil rights violations. A federal statute states that public officials can be held liable for violating “any rights”. Judicial interpretation has negated this, giving bad actors a free pass. The judicial standard is now ‘clearly established’ rights and plaintiffs must show a similar case in the same locality in the past before they can sue. More on this in Cato’s Letter (Fall 2018 – Cato Institute, p. 6)
- A David Horowitz idea: require universities to add “ideological and political diversity” to their diversity statements and to achieve such diversity among professors, administrators, and staff. Perform audits to determine whether such diversity is being maintained and deny federal funding if it is not.
From activist Ann Corcoran (Refugee Resettlement Watch) except the last item
- Declare a moratorium on the entire program until Congress debates every aspect of it.
- Remove the secrecy from the decision-making process.
- Remove the UN from being effectively in charge of how many and which refugees we take and where they will be settled.
- Require advance warning to towns chosen for refugee resettlement. Require consent from local governments for proposed resettlement and for the contracts let to the big contractors (VOLAGs). No unfunded mandates to states or localities.
- Re-define ‘refugee’ tightly (e.g., no victims of domestic abuse).
- Have Congress cap the total number of refugees to be accepted and change the funding formula from a capitated rate to a global budget.
- Disallow subterfuge in the application (e.g., Somalis who route through and therefore are considered refugees from Malta)
- Stop the revolving door where government officials (e.g., from the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement) take cushy jobs with the VOLAGs
- Tea Party Patriots 2018 documentary ‘Invalidated’ does a very good job of describing a patent system gone awry and the deleterious consequences for American innovation. This is becoming a serious problem and innovation is starting to slip away to other countries, including China. Inventors won’t have any incentive to invent, and investors won’t invest, unless we do something to strengthen our patent system.
- Eliminate the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) – this is an administrative monster like IPAB under Obamacare. PTAB has the power to wipe out duly awarded patents, and does so in 76% of cases – even after such awards have been upheld in court! Rep. Thomas Massie has a bill to kill PTAB (Restoring America’s Leadership in Innovation Act).
- Market manipulation - Prevent short-selling of stock followed by filing a claim with PTAB to wipe out a patent.
- Short of outright elimination, change the rules to make the process more fair (e.g., shift the burden of proof, stop the use of the ‘broadest possible interpretation’ standard). Also, there should be strict conflict of interest rules to prevent another situation like the one where an Apple employee got appointed to PTAB, ruled in favor of Apple on a case before him, then returned to Apple.
- As things stand, the Supreme Court treats patents as second-class property rights (like taxi medallions), even though they are mentioned in the Constitution. They should be elevated to full status and protection.
- There are various other bills – Stronger Patents Act (dealing with injunctions), Rohrabacher bill on inventors, Invention Protection Act (addressing enforcement). Inventors say that the patent approval process eats up 10 or 14 years of their 20-year protection period, so one idea is to make the period run from the grant of the patent, not the application date.
- This issue – protecting small patent holders – could draw support from across the political spectrum.
- Hearings should be held where inventors can tell their horror stories.
- In 2011, Alexandria Tea Party (now Potomac Tea Party) put together a package of proposals to rein in federal spending and the national debt. Many of the ideas still apply today -
- cap entitlement spending
- audit federal agencies
- incentivize employees and consultants to capture savings
- end baseline budgeting
- more
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In a Perfect World, the Government Would Protect Our Rights, But....
by Potomac Tea Party October 5, 2018 PERMALINK |
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We don’t live in a perfect world. Take the Trump administration proposal to charge people fees for holding protests, for example. Critics say it would be an infringement on freedom of speech.
And so it would be, but previous Presidents have done far worse:
It’s undeniable that throughout American history Presidents have often suppressed freedom of speech. This doesn’t make possibly having to pay protest fees a good thing, but it does put it into perspective.
The lesson, as always, remains: freedom not only isn’t free, it’s precious, and often under siege, even in our own free nation.
Its price is eternal vigilance in this imperfect world.
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Our thanks to Ed Moser for the historical information.
Ed Moser was a speechwriter to President George H. W. Bush and writer for Jay Leno's The Tonight Show. Ed's latest work is an e-book, a political satire called, Foundering Fathers: What Jefferson, Franklin, and Abigail Adams Saw in Modern D.C.!
And so it would be, but previous Presidents have done far worse:
- President John Adams instituted the Alien and Sedition Acts that jailed some journalists and politicians speaking out against the federal government.
- Congress in the 1830's, with the support of President Jackson, placed a gag order on debates over slavery.
- President Lincoln, to save the Union, suspended habeas corpus in many locales and arrested newspaper editors who disagreed with his administration. (Sorry, Lincoln fans, but it’s true.)
- President Wilson revived the alien and sedition laws to detain and imprison thousands of dissidents during World War I.
- President Franklin Roosevelt detained Japanese-Americans on a massive scale.
- FDR and President Nixon used the IRS against political enemies.
- President Obama’s aides turned the IRS loose on Tea Parties, conservative groups, and political campaign groups opposed to his administration.
It’s undeniable that throughout American history Presidents have often suppressed freedom of speech. This doesn’t make possibly having to pay protest fees a good thing, but it does put it into perspective.
The lesson, as always, remains: freedom not only isn’t free, it’s precious, and often under siege, even in our own free nation.
Its price is eternal vigilance in this imperfect world.
_____________________________________
Our thanks to Ed Moser for the historical information.
Ed Moser was a speechwriter to President George H. W. Bush and writer for Jay Leno's The Tonight Show. Ed's latest work is an e-book, a political satire called, Foundering Fathers: What Jefferson, Franklin, and Abigail Adams Saw in Modern D.C.!
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Why I Oppose a 'Single-Payer' or 'Public Option' Medical Plan
by James Arthur, vice chair Knoxville Tea Party September 13, 2018 PERMALINK |
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Because it's not optional. Because it's based on bogus facts and phony science. Because I want a system that's actually better and more affordable for everyone, one that lets people shop and choose what they like best by voting with their dollars, not another free-money debt-financed pass-the-buck scam where everyone tries to use the government to pawn their over-priced bills onto everyone else. And because it's a dangerous expansion of power to give any government the power of life and death over its citizens.
Progressives, if your ideas work, if your programs are good, why would you have to force people?
Progressives, instead of tearing down and taking what other people have built and like, why not create something, something new and beautiful, instead? Build your more compassionate, more affordable, non-profit, extra-wonderful system. Show us. No one's stopping you.
And if you built it and it really were all you promise, you wouldn't have to force anyone--America would flock to it.
But it's your vision not mine, so please do it with your own money. Please. Like we did.
--o--
Progressives, if your ideas work, if your programs are good, why would you have to force people?
Progressives, instead of tearing down and taking what other people have built and like, why not create something, something new and beautiful, instead? Build your more compassionate, more affordable, non-profit, extra-wonderful system. Show us. No one's stopping you.
And if you built it and it really were all you promise, you wouldn't have to force anyone--America would flock to it.
But it's your vision not mine, so please do it with your own money. Please. Like we did.
--o--
Fast Facts – Medicare For All (M4A)
- A Kaiser Family Foundation poll taken this March found that 59 percent of Americans now support a single-payer government health care system.
- A recent study by the Mercatus Center, a libertarian think tank at George Mason University, has concluded that the tab would total $32 trillion dollars over ten years, or possibly “substantially” more.
The authors note “even doubling all federal individual and corporate income taxes would be insufficient to fully fund” Medicare For All.
“It is likely that the actual cost of M4A would be substantially greater than these estimates…,” since Sen. Sanders assumes that health providers would accept an immediate 40% reduction in payments, and also assumes dramatic reductions in drug and administrative costs, assumptions that the author believes may be unrealistic.
- Left-wing Vox: “Before you question the source (like Sanders did), you should know the left-leaning Urban Institute came up with the exact same number in 2016.”
Selected Single-Payer Myths
Myth
Going to a government system would eliminate wasteful insurance company overhead, and save administration costs.
Reality
FALSE
Administration is necessary in any system (government or private) where a third party pays the bills. It is irrational (but popular) to think that replacing private insurance administrative personnel with government workers earning twice as much, saves money.
Government care simply replaces private workers with higher-paid, unionized government bureaucrats.
Myth
America should switch to government medical care because government health control is cheaper. Canada, for example, only spends $3,500 per enrollee per year for universal coverage.2
Reality
1. If government care were the answer, Medicare should already be as cheap as Canada. Instead, Medicare spends $12,200 per enrollee annually.2
2. Tennessee spends $8,570 annually per enrollee on TennCare, our federal poverty care program.3
U.S. government care is expensive, not cheaper.
3. If we cut Medicare's per-person spending by 3/4's, to Canadian levels, what would that do to quality?
Myth
Health care is a right.
Reality
Health care is a product people buy.
You cannot have a right to something that someone else has to provide. Otherwise, that would mean you having a 'right' to someone else's labor. That's called 'slavery.' We had that once in the United States. It was evil.
Myth
Going to a government system would eliminate wasteful insurance company overhead, and save administration costs.
Reality
FALSE
Administration is necessary in any system (government or private) where a third party pays the bills. It is irrational (but popular) to think that replacing private insurance administrative personnel with government workers earning twice as much, saves money.
Government care simply replaces private workers with higher-paid, unionized government bureaucrats.
Myth
America should switch to government medical care because government health control is cheaper. Canada, for example, only spends $3,500 per enrollee per year for universal coverage.2
Reality
1. If government care were the answer, Medicare should already be as cheap as Canada. Instead, Medicare spends $12,200 per enrollee annually.2
2. Tennessee spends $8,570 annually per enrollee on TennCare, our federal poverty care program.3
U.S. government care is expensive, not cheaper.
3. If we cut Medicare's per-person spending by 3/4's, to Canadian levels, what would that do to quality?
Myth
Health care is a right.
Reality
Health care is a product people buy.
You cannot have a right to something that someone else has to provide. Otherwise, that would mean you having a 'right' to someone else's labor. That's called 'slavery.' We had that once in the United States. It was evil.
______________________________
1 “In 2017, total health expenditure in Canada is expected to reach $242 billion, or $ 6,604 per person.”
Public spending is 70%, 0.7 x $6,604 = CAN$4,622.80, or US$ 3,510 per enrollee.
https://www.cihi.ca/en/health-spending
https://www.cihi.ca/en/how-does-canadas-health-spending-compare-internationally
2 $710 billion in outlays and 58.2 million enrollees (2017) = $710 billion / 58.2 million enrollees = $12,200 per enrollee.
https://www.hhs.gov/about/budget/fy2018/budget-in-brief/cms/medicare/index.html
3 $12 billion a year / 1.4 million enrolled = $8,570 annually per enrollee. https://www.tn.gov/tenncare/information-statistics/tenncare-overview.html
1 “In 2017, total health expenditure in Canada is expected to reach $242 billion, or $ 6,604 per person.”
Public spending is 70%, 0.7 x $6,604 = CAN$4,622.80, or US$ 3,510 per enrollee.
https://www.cihi.ca/en/health-spending
https://www.cihi.ca/en/how-does-canadas-health-spending-compare-internationally
2 $710 billion in outlays and 58.2 million enrollees (2017) = $710 billion / 58.2 million enrollees = $12,200 per enrollee.
https://www.hhs.gov/about/budget/fy2018/budget-in-brief/cms/medicare/index.html
3 $12 billion a year / 1.4 million enrolled = $8,570 annually per enrollee. https://www.tn.gov/tenncare/information-statistics/tenncare-overview.html
"Now that I think about it, the author of this post has an interesting view of the boycotts."
- Brother Bob (blogger)
- Brother Bob (blogger)
Boycott the NFL? Think Again
- Boycotting our beloved NFL plays right into the hands of the Left
By Christy Hayes
Member, Potomac Tea Party
September 7, 2018
PERMALINK
Hey fellow NFL fans our 2018-19 season is underway. This retired Army Officer, Tea Party patriot and Green Bay Packers’ fan, hopes you are as excited as I am and not distracted or worse – thinking about ‘throwing in the towel’, over the ‘kneelers’. I’ve stayed and I’m staying. My reason is simple – I love the GAME! It is my favorite fall pastime. Like the Left/Globalists have done to other American institutions, this is another of their strategies to destroy our culture from within.
I suspect that Colin Kaepernick was easily manipulated into the Lefts’ orchestrated ‘taking of a knee’, during the only available mechanism to do so – our National Anthem. As I tweeted him – ‘but for playing of National Anthem, how would you have infected the game? Why did you not gather your likeminded NFL players & together or through your NFLPA mass protest your local city council meetings/city halls – where the accountability lies?’
Boycotting our beloved NFL plays right into the hands of the Left. It is their expected reaction and then we inadvertently end up destroying that which we love; and our lives become a little less enjoyable.
The recent announcement of the Kaepernick and Nike alliance has altered the fight, but to win, we must eradicate their politics from our game. I suggest either stop playing our National Anthem or require, per the players contract that they remain off the field during the playing of it.
Stay. Come back. Fight and win and ENJOY our game! Don’t hand the Left/Globalists another victory by allowing them to destroy another of our institutions on their way to destroying our culture from within!
- Boycotting our beloved NFL plays right into the hands of the Left
By Christy Hayes
Member, Potomac Tea Party
September 7, 2018
PERMALINK
Hey fellow NFL fans our 2018-19 season is underway. This retired Army Officer, Tea Party patriot and Green Bay Packers’ fan, hopes you are as excited as I am and not distracted or worse – thinking about ‘throwing in the towel’, over the ‘kneelers’. I’ve stayed and I’m staying. My reason is simple – I love the GAME! It is my favorite fall pastime. Like the Left/Globalists have done to other American institutions, this is another of their strategies to destroy our culture from within.
I suspect that Colin Kaepernick was easily manipulated into the Lefts’ orchestrated ‘taking of a knee’, during the only available mechanism to do so – our National Anthem. As I tweeted him – ‘but for playing of National Anthem, how would you have infected the game? Why did you not gather your likeminded NFL players & together or through your NFLPA mass protest your local city council meetings/city halls – where the accountability lies?’
Boycotting our beloved NFL plays right into the hands of the Left. It is their expected reaction and then we inadvertently end up destroying that which we love; and our lives become a little less enjoyable.
The recent announcement of the Kaepernick and Nike alliance has altered the fight, but to win, we must eradicate their politics from our game. I suggest either stop playing our National Anthem or require, per the players contract that they remain off the field during the playing of it.
Stay. Come back. Fight and win and ENJOY our game! Don’t hand the Left/Globalists another victory by allowing them to destroy another of our institutions on their way to destroying our culture from within!