Properly it lastly arrived. Retired Col. Douglas MacGregor gave a response to President Biden’s Hitler-like state of the the union deal with two days in the past.
Good.
Not so good is every little thing else.
Whether or not that is only a vainness transfer by the nice Colonel, or a “testing of the waters” for some future Presidential run, who is aware of. Maybe he sees himself as a latter-day Dwight Eisenhower. However, no matter. He’s a wise man and, I believed, price listening to.
Nonetheless there may be a number of “not so good”, and it’s a huge downside. Specifically the wooley-headedness Col. Doug shows on an alarming variety of topics. When it comes to sophistication about how the U.S. authorities and legal guidelines work, this humble writer lived beneath Dwight David Eisenhower, and Col. Doug ain’t no Eisenhower. Sadly, he’s not even as much as the extent of an area metropolis councilman.
And I say this being, up till now, an enormous “Col. Doug” supporter, since I agree with virtually all his statements, extensively dispersed on YouTube, on each the Ukraine warfare and the warfare in Gaza, in addition to our over-extended worldwide army footprint usually.
The issue is that Col. Doug is profession army with a distinguished, although transient (roughly one week), fight file by which he commanded an armored – i.e., tank- squadron. There’s nothing in that file that might have given him excessive degree D.C. expertise apart from a multi-week standing as “advisor” to Trump’s nugatory lobbyist – cum – Secretary of Protection, proper on the finish of the Trump administration. One would have hoped that, however, he may need been a life-long observer of the Washington scene, having picked up sophistication at the least by second hand, or, maybe, engaged in sufficient native politics to see how issues function on the political entrance, even when at a small scale. Apparently he has not.
Eisenhower, in distinction, in fact, commanded a complete theatre of warfare, was a five-star Common, and, earlier than he grew to become President had negotiated for years nose to nose with senior members of Congress, the President, and a complete covey of precise or nominal heads of state – Churchill, DeGaul, advert infinitim.
So it isn’t shocking that “Col. Doug” is a little more oblivious than Ike to the realities of our Constitutional system and the way energy really operates on the excessive ranges of our authorities. Nonetheless, his obvious ignorance of how issues work (other than the short-small-unit degree fight he instantly skilled) continues to be breathtaking.
So let’s go.
Listed here are the primary components of the speech:
1. Opening. With a formidable, one may say, sonorous, even Presidential, supply the Colonel states that the Structure mandates that the federal government promote the “normal welfare”.
Truly, his assertion is just not right. The opening language of the Structure says that “in an effort to promote the final welfare” The-Structure.pdf (bri-wp-images.s3.amazonaws.com) the Structure supplies for the next issues, i.e., the chief, legislative, and judicial branches of the brand new federal authorities, with enumerated tasks.
Macgregor makes use of this mis-reading to state that, due to this fact, the federal government is obligated for our folks “to safe the essential requirements of life: meals, vitality, and shelter”. WHAAAT! The drafters of the Structure meant precisely the reverse – that the federal government be sufficiently small and sufficiently non-intrusive, that the folks of their particular person capacities might present for their very own meals, vitality, and shelter.
Not one of the rigorously enumerated powers granted to any of the three branches embrace the ability to offer each ol’ okie from Muskogee vittles, central heating, and a (presumably multi-room) log cabin. Fairly the reverse. Of American Presidents, solely FDR has indicated – and obliquely at that
It’s to be hoped that the traditional steadiness of government and legislative authority could also be wholly satisfactory to satisfy the unprecedented process earlier than us. However it could be that an unprecedented demand and want for undelayed motion might name for momentary departure from that ordinary steadiness of public process.
I’m ready beneath my constitutional obligation to suggest the measures {that a} stricken nation within the midst of a stricken world might require. These measures, or such different measures because the Congress might construct out of its expertise and knowledge, I shall search, inside my constitutional authority, to convey to speedy adoption.
However within the occasion that the Congress shall fail to take one in every of these two programs, and within the occasion that the nationwide emergency continues to be essential, I shall not evade the clear course of obligation that can then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to satisfy the disaster–broad Govt energy to wage a warfare in opposition to the emergency, as nice as the ability that might be given to me if we had been in truth invaded by a overseas foe.”
It ought to be famous, even FDR, in his first inaugural, avoided promising meals, vitality, and housing. He promised insurance policies that would supply jobs from which residents themselves might present meals, vitality, and housing. Even afterward, in his “4 Freedoms” he was indirect: he promised “Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from need, freedom from worry” I assume “freedom from need” might be interpreted as freedom of “grub, central heating, and homes”, however, in that case, the thought, good as it could be, is disguised. The closest FDR got here to offering freebies to of us was AFDC welfare, which he satisfied Congress to enact simply earlier than World Struggle II and should have regretted previous to his premature demise. — a governmental obligation to offer this stuff. However even he realized that, to take action, the federal government should act regardless of, quite than by command of, the Structure and the views of its framers. Though dishonest in lots of respects, FDR was sincere sufficient to cope with this concern in public, stating in his very first inaugural, that in a time of disaster, both the Congress would give him the ability to behave as needed, or, by necessity, he would act. He rightly claimed no Constitutional mandate, solely that the Structure ought to be versatile sufficient to permit what he wished to do.
The Macgregor opening opening is just a humiliation. Sadly, it’s a preview of issues to return.
1. Doug says we should “restore the rule of regulation”. Good. However his two proposals are problematic within the excessive.
Primary is to “take away activist judges”. Presumably which means making an inventory of, oh, 400-600 federal judges and convincing a badly divided Congress to question all of them! Good luck. Has been achieved. By no means. Might be achieved. By no means.
His second proposal is much more problematic. It’s to make federal judgeships elective. Actually? Does he notice this is able to take a Constitutional Modification at a time when the warring factions of Congress can barely move a funds? And what if we did? Does he actually assume that federal judges elected, say, by New York Metropolis or Atlanta Ga. voters can be higher than we’ve got now? Take a look at Laticia James, Fannie Willis, and Alvin Bragg. Please!
Trump by no means stated one thing like this. He promised a agency deliverable. He promised that “I’ll appoint” good federal judges which might be judges not re-writers of the regulation For the reason that appointment energy over judges is firmly positioned within the palms of the President, it is a wise and deliverable promise, even when any appointment is topic to Senate affirmation.
One would assume Macgregor might have considered one thing in need of his two undeliverable proposals, i.e., one thing the President – even on his personal – may even be capable to effectuate. As Trump did, promising to nominate higher judges. Or, if Macgregor wished to go additional, suggest lowering the geographic jurisdiction of left wing courts just like the DC federal courts and the Ninth Circuit, unlikely as such provisions can be more likely to move in immediately’s surroundings. Or even perhaps stating the God’s fact, that the FBI and CIA have come out brazenly as enemies of about half the folks of the US since about late 2016. Though Macgregor might by no means be capable to micromanage both as President – look what occurred to JFK and Nixon once they tried – (and does he even know this) he might remove them totally by merely refusing to signal a funds and shutting them down, seizing the information, and appointing unbiased prosecutors to rifle by means of these information to seek out and prosecute indictable offenses dedicated by FBI and CIA personnel. This sounds excessive, however it’s far much less excessive than supporting a Constitutional modification of questionable high quality. We fortunately survived as a rustic for 128 years (1789 – 1917) with out an FBI and for 158 years (1789 – 1947) with no CIA. We’ve not survived a single 12 months with an elected federal judiciary and the truth that the founders didn’t need one ought to give pause.
2. Restore our financial system.
His first advice seems to be to remove the federal reserve. ?? I do know it is a bug-bear of the tea-party varieties, and, who is aware of, may finally be fascinating. Nonetheless, beneath the present system, the Fed is the lender of final resort. Given the large leverage that (sure the Fed) has allowed the grasping huge money-center banks to create with trillions of {dollars} of spinoff liabilities amongst different issues, doesn’t he assume that, initially, one would wish to slowly de-leverage the system earlier than taking away the dangerously over-leveraged system’s solely actual security internet?
Afterward, he does advocate re-shoring of our industrial base. It is a good place, however in fact Biden is attempting to do the identical factor, so lets give credit score the place credit score is due.
3. Power.
First he complains about excessive vitality costs, saying they’re Biden’s fault for stopping oil corporations from drilling for oil. Huh? I’m not an enormous Biden fan, however American oil and fuel manufacturing is at an historic excessive (whether or not this the final suck of the proverbial straw is in fact one other matter). If oil costs are too excessive for Col. Doug’s style, they’re because of the sanctioning of Russia’s and Iran’s oil. To his credit score, he obliquely mentions this in his transient description of the Ukraine warfare. Nonetheless, they don’t seem to be attributable to no matter minor home restrictions Biden placed on. If the nice Colonel is as a substitute referring to Biden’s revocation of the allow for the tar sands crude pipeline from Canada, tremendous. However, even ignoring the truth that Canada is just not the US, he ought to have talked about it particularly so folks would know what he’s speaking about. Actually the essential latest motion Biden has taken on the “o&g” entrance is to refuse future permits for LNG export services. By trapping American fuel in, properly, America, fuel costs within the U.S. will in truth go down, not up. Howdy!? And naturally, decrease vitality costs depress U.S. manufacturing quite than enhance it. Its known as “provide and demand”, Col. Doug.
He additionally says that “America should turn out to be vitality self reliant”. Properly that can enhance the value of vitality, not decrease it, Col. Doug. Within the quick to mid-term, the way in which to get the bottom gasoline costs is to import from vitality wealthy sources like Russia and Iran, to not create vitality within the U.S. that the free market wouldn’t itself stimulate. Whether or not he helps this, he by no means mentions (in truth, in different interviews, he seems to oppose) sanctions on Russian oil. Actually, does he know that of the 12 million barrel-equivalents of oil the US produces every day, about 1/third are exported as a result of it’s of a sort of which we’ve got an extra, and of the 19 million barrels we eat, we import 7 million plus one other 4 million boe (11 million complete) to feed our demand for particular sorts of crude? A an outdated Military infantry Captain of my acquaintance, with 3 years (not weeks, Col. Doug) of fight expertise in World Struggle II plus 20+ years within the Division of Protection would have stated: “Jesus H. Christ!” Does this man know what finish is up?
After trashing the present inexperienced vitality gadgets (presumably photo voltaic and wind) for utilizing uncommon minerals processed in distant lands (good, from my viewpoint), he then says that we make America self reliant through, amongst different issues, “wind and photo voltaic”. Doug must fact-check himself to forestall inside inconsistencies. They detract from his narrative. Fortuitously, he mentions nuclear. However does he know the time-scale distinction between changing every little thing to uranium-based nuclear versus breeder reactor nuclear? It may be price mentioning, since educated observers know {that a} conversion of all our electrical producing capability to uranium nuclear would deplete the world provide of uranium far quicker than we’re depleting carbon based mostly fuels.
3. Immigration. He’s in opposition to unlawful immigration. Good. However proposes no strategies to remove it, though aside type “securing our airports and our borders”. Good sound-bite. However how about mentioning working with Mexico, because the essential supply for immigrants is not Mexico (internet migration from Mexico has been detrimental for some time) however from the denizens of different nations transiting by means of Mexico’s southern border. Working with Mexico (and with Panama, to shut the Darien Hole transit level), plus naval operations to dam “by sea” entry to Mexico and Central America may also have been talked about. However at the least his coronary heart is in the correct place. Nonetheless, his lack of specificity is worrying, maybe indicating that for him, immigration is a “throw-away” concern.
4. Deportations of Illegals already right here. Until I missed one thing, he says nothing. That may be a unhealthy signal. Very unhealthy.
5. International army interventions. He comes out in opposition to most of them. Good. Sadly, one in every of his causes is that they’ve made us “much less vitality unbiased”. Huh? Though I view the Iraq warfare as a mistake, how does putting everlasting US army in a rustic with a number of the world’s largest oil reserves make us much less vitality unbiased? One of many time-honored methods of supplementing dwindling home reserves is to overcome any person else to take their reserves!. Actually, there may be good proof that the notorious (however whip-smart and oil-smart) Dick Cheney had this entrance of thoughts earlier than the Iraq warfare. He held a famously secret vitality convention with high oil and fuel execs a couple of months into the administration; it’s believed one of many topics was the anticipated “peaking” of US manufacturing in or in regards to the 12 months 2000 and what to do about it, together with an in depth mapping of the confirmed and hoped for reserves in and round – you guessed it – the fabled center east.
Within the phrases of one in every of our 50 million unlawful Mexican aliens, with respect to Col. Macgregor’s evaluation, “yo no comprendo”.
6. He complains in regards to the federal debt. Good. However he blames this on the Federal Reserve. Huh? Usually Federal Reserve Chairmen will not be huge followers of funds deficits, however the cope with the palms they’re dealt by a profligate Congress. His solely answer is to “audit” the federal reserve, a bug-bear of Rand and Ron Paul. Though audits ought to be achieved – and achieved yearly – does he actually assume it will “resolve” a $33 Trillion federal debt? Actually? Man, if I might do away with my debt that fast, I’d topic myself to a Massive-4 audit each week!
In a disturbing remark, he provides “greater taxes will not be sufficient to remove the issue of the federal debt. The federal debt should be restructured.” WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT? Earlier than the Fed despatched rates of interest up by 5 factors, Trump had instructed – however per typical didn’t implement – the refinancing of all quick and mid-term federal debt for super-long-term, e.g. 30+ 12 months time period – federal debt. Presumably so the Fed might then jack up charges and later purchase within the debt at an enormous low cost to face. However, hey, Col, rates of interest are already up. That window has shut. So, is Col Macgregor utilizing a euphemism for defaulting on the debt? Huh? How does that work? A lot for the greenback. That might make the detrimental impact of Biden’s silly sanctions appear to be little one’s-play. Within the phrases of that nasty tennis participant from Douglastown, Queens “YOU CAN NOT BE SERIOUS!!”
In an interview a couple of 12 months in the past, Macgregor famous that his grandfather had gone to Wharton and knew one thing about enterprise and finance, however that he (Doug) had not and, due to this fact, didn’t. Nailed that one, Doug. You want some monetary advisors, and pronto.
7. He complains about crime. Effective. However demographics = crime. Does he notice this? (It is a small quibble. Richard Nixon prevented this concern as properly.)
8. “Reinvigorate American agriculture”. What does this imply? Proper now, American agriculture is producing at near file ranges, (regardless of a year-on-year decline to the 2021 ranges (itself a file), most likely reflecting a one-time spike in 2022 because of the Ukraine warfare), see chart at USDA Forecasts Sharpest Decline in U.S. … | Senate Committee On Agriculture, Vitamin & Forestry, having adopted since 1970 Earl Butz’s mandate to “get huge or get out”. So what’s there to “re” invigorate? Then Macgregor says “assist the household farm”. Although I agree with this, does he notice that it will lead to much less environment friendly farming – as ol’ Earl Butz might have informed him – and thus “much less” invigorated – or at the least vastly dearer — U.S. farming operations? There’s a worth for every little thing, and re-invigorating household farming could be the proper coverage from a social viewpoint, however it is going to lead inexorably to much less “effectivity” and thus greater meals costs. Does he know this? Or does he mindlessly nonetheless get his grubs from the native KP on the nearest Military base dispensary?
9. He helps a one-time tax exemption to permit all US companies to repatriate their capital. OK, however… Doesn’t he notice Trump already did this? In 2017, buddy. Does he know sufficient about monetary markets and company governance to appreciate that each one this capital most likely can’t be deployed within the U.S. effectively and thus shall be returned to shareholders (a lot of them off-shore) within the type of inventory buy-backs? I’m not saying that is unhealthy coverage – nor do I’ve an issue with buybacks — however he appears to consider “a repatriated greenback is an invested-in-US-manufacturing” greenback. Not so, bro.
10. Jews. He states that “officers who put overseas pursuits above American pursuits should go.” Clearly, he’s speaking about Jews (plus the Cols Vindman – oh, wait, they’re Jews too). How ya gonna do this, huge boy? That may be a main effort. The army equal is that you’re Serbia – not Germany — and also you provoke Operation Barbarossa. Good needs, good luck, however to place this in as a trivial “add on” with out giving any indication you perceive the gravity of the battle you take on is an indication you don’t perceive how this nation works.
Sadly, though I consider he’s a person of excellent will, his simplistic, sound-bite views, mixed together with his deep voice and army bearing, make him come off very like a comic book model of a film character I’m certain he despises – four-star Common James Mattoon Scott, performed by Burt Lancaster, in “Seven Days in Might”, however with out the related firepower – the U.S. Military, Air Pressure, and Marines plus a army coup de etat in planning – to make good on his options.
Not a very good first look.
Teddy Kennedy stated after disastrously shedding the Iowa caucuses to Carter in early 1980, “Properly, we coulda achieved slightly higher in Iowa”.
Time to do “slightly higher in Iowa”, Colonel. Get some advisors, go to some seminars, be taught one thing about how this nation works earlier than pre-launching your subsequent Presidential bid.
Notes
Quoting the immortal FDR from his first inaugural: “Motion on this picture and to this finish is possible beneath the type of authorities which we’ve got inherited from our ancestors. Our Structure is so easy and sensible that i t is feasible at all times to satisfy extraordinary wants by modifications in emphasis and association with out lack of important type. That’s the reason our constitutional system has proved itself essentially the most fantastically enduring political mechanism the fashionable world has produced. It has met each stress of huge enlargement of territory, of overseas wars, of bitter inside strife, of world relations.
It’s to be hoped that the traditional steadiness of government and legislative authority could also be wholly satisfactory to satisfy the unprecedented process earlier than us. However it could be that an unprecedented demand and want for undelayed motion might name for momentary departure from that ordinary steadiness of public process.
I’m ready beneath my constitutional obligation to suggest the measures {that a} stricken nation within the midst of a stricken world might require. These measures, or such different measures because the Congress might construct out of its expertise and knowledge, I shall search, inside my constitutional authority, to convey to speedy adoption.
However within the occasion that the Congress shall fail to take one in every of these two programs, and within the occasion that the nationwide emergency continues to be essential, I shall not evade the clear course of obligation that can then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to satisfy the disaster–broad Govt energy to wage a warfare in opposition to the emergency, as nice as the ability that might be given to me if we had been in truth invaded by a overseas foe.”
It ought to be famous, even FDR, in his first inaugural, avoided promising meals, vitality, and housing. He promised insurance policies that would supply jobs from which residents themselves might present meals, vitality, and housing. Even afterward, in his “4 Freedoms” he was indirect: he promised “Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from need, freedom from worry” I assume “freedom from need” might be interpreted as freedom of “grub, central heating, and homes”, however, in that case, the thought, good as it could be, is disguised. The closest FDR got here to offering freebies to of us was AFDC welfare, which he satisfied Congress to enact simply earlier than World Struggle II and should have regretted previous to his premature demise.
See word 1, above.
Farmers have been in a “unhealthy” a part of the meals provide chain for years. The fertilizer corporations (the suppliers) earn 18% on fairness; the cereal and meals distribution corporations (the shoppers) earn excessive returns on fairness. However the man within the center – the farmer – usually runs losses. Maybe Macgregor desires to alter this basic state of affairs. In that case, it could indicate an enormous re-structuring of the present “fertilizer to desk” meals chain. Does he notice this?
