by Ron Nehring

Citing his issues with the “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed in Congress last week, Elon Musk has threatened to form a new third party to rival the Republicans and Democrats for control of Washington.

Legislating is the work of compromise, as intended by the founding fathers. Those compromises inevitably upset some, and on rare occasion it leads to threats to form a third party. Yet, a quick review of the history of those efforts should provide Mr. Musk with a dose of caution.

No successful political party in America has ever been founded by a single figure, even one with vast resources like Mr. Musk.

The most recent example of this historical truism was the 1992 attempt by Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot to turn his independent campaign for president into a third party under the banner of United We Stand America. Interestingly, Mr. Perot’s complaints, like Mr. Musk’s, primarily concerned spending and the national debt, and was aimed largely at Republicans.

Today, few can recall UWSA and Mr. Perot has faded into history.

America’s national debt and federal spending… Read More

Following up on the failure of the Homeless Industrial Complex in Los Angeles where I stated the government dysfunction was worse at the California state government level, I wrote about the chicanery of Ricardo Lara, the Insurance Commissioner. That was not the end of it as another constitutional officeholder who wants to be the next governor has a different problem, but just as serious. This problem is a major conflict of interest that allows her to profit from her involvement in state government. Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis (EK) is not exactly a household name. The good part about EK is that she worked in the private sector, a rare attribute for a Democrat in Sacramento. After serving as Ambassador to Hungary under President Obama, she later ran for Lt Governor as her first elected office and won. Traditionally no one wants the position except for obscure politicians because there is not much to do unless the Governor leaves the state or dies. EK has bigger plans. After winning the election in 2018, she ran again in 2022 eclipsing the competition of no name opponents. Then her true plans manifested very quickly as she soon launched her campaign to… Read More

Ronald Reagan was very fond of simple solutions, simple answers. That was what made him such a great communicator. People understood what he was telling them. My favorite statement of his is written in beautiful calligraphy and hung in my office. Regarding the Soviet Union, he stated “My idea of American policy is simple, and some would say simplistic. It is this: We win, they lose. What do you think of that? On the subject of simple solutions, I have one for our ridiculously bloated government benefit programs. “Time limits.” We establish programs like food stamps (SNAP), Medicaid, SSI Disability — even regular Social Security — and we have meager checks on whether the person is worthy of still receiving the benefits or whether they are even alive. Our elected officials including many Republican members of Congress are “gutless wonders” regarding capping these programs. Let’s take it out of their hands, automatically terminate the benefits after a year or some other time limit, and have the recipient reapply. A perfect example of how things are out of control is not even being debated in Congress. It is regarding home… Read More

In the middle of a challenging situation Americans hope their elected officials will act in a manner displaying professionalism and integrity. The elected officials do that in a spectrum of behavior. Rarely does an elected official act in a grossly irresponsible manner. That was what happened last week when Senator Alex Padilla entered a room where Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was having a press briefing. Let me explain. Let us lay out the facts as we know them and not as distorted by the legacy media. Senator Padilla states he was in the building for a scheduled meeting with the head of the National Guard in Los Angeles. That person is General Gregory Michael Guillot who is the commander of the United States Northern Command. Padilla found out that Secretary Noem was in the building and he diverted to her scheduled press briefing because he claims he and his colleagues had not received responses to inquiries. If that was so, the proper thing to do was approach Noem after her activities were over, politely address her face-to-face, and request a meeting. It appears he had in his mind the proper way to manage the situation was to… Read More

When people are running for an elected position, they often launch their campaign with a book making the case why they are the best candidate for the position, along with their backstory. I have read a few of these over the years and they are mostly ho-hum pablum. Steve Hilton, who is running for Governor of California in the upcoming 2026 election, writes a different version of the candidate book entitled Califailure. He lays out the problems and then outlines his solutions. Quite a novel approach, so I interviewed him about his plans. Hilton moved to California in 2012. He told me he is running for Governor because he truly considers the state his home and loves the state. He believes it can become the great state it once was with the best freeways, the best schools, and affordable housing. When he talks about this it makes me think of how the state was when I came here in 1969 (the year of Hilton’s British birth into a family that immigrated from Communist Hungary). Hilton became a U.S. Citizen in 2021. The first two hundred pages of his book lay out the various problems. I queried Hilton after reading his book why anyone in their right… Read More

California’s Arrogant, Lazy, Incompetent Authoritarian in Charge (ALIAIC, yes I know I added the word incompetent), Governor Gavin Newsom, has been busy calling the kettle black over the last several days. Newsom has been calling President Trump an authoritarian because he federalized California National Guard units to keep the peace in Los Angeles, a peace that ALIAIC Newsom and Mayor Bass specifically refused to ensure because they don’t like federal immigration laws.

To those who haven’t been following this story, ALIAIC Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass refused to enforce local law to prevent assaults on law enforcement officers, car burnings, looting and rioting in Los Angeles because Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were in Los Angeles enforcing federal immigration law, and capturing murderers, rapists, drug traffickers, human slave smugglers, and others who were in this country illegally. Some smug California law enforcement officers around the state said they “don’t enforce federal laws” as if the actions of the illegal aliens are not a violation of law. Nobody asked them to do that. However, rioting, car… Read More

It is fair to say most columnists write on a broad array of subjects. Some have gained knowledge over many years of being involved in a particular issue. Some issues become the issue of the day, and you must immerse yourself in sifting through the news to discern the best version of the facts to provide for your readers. Then there are issues where the writer possesses in-depth knowledge and thus can speak with authority. President Trump nailed the travel ban and I can speak from authority. The Beautiful Wife (BW) and I have been to 92 countries together and all seven continents. BW keeps a detailed list of the countries we have been to and the year(s) we were there. The list also contains where we have not been but want to go, and which ones we have firm plans to see. I am always scouring the list of the other 102 countries to which we may wish to travel. For example, our recent trip to South America provided us ample evidence from local sources we should add Bolivia to our list. People often ask me two questions. Where do you want to return to and where will you not go? I have in recent years developed a standard answer to the second question –… Read More

Elon Musk has made some waves lately saying the “Big Beautiful Bill” doesn’t do enough to address the deficit. He is right, it doesn’t. Donald Trump points to the $1.7 Trillion permanent cuts in spending and says it is a good start. He is right, it is. Others point to the tax cuts and say those will cost the federal government money. They are wrong, tax cuts never “cost” the government money. Money that stays in the private sector will actually increase revenue to the government, because of the multiplier effect of private spending. In any event, the “Big, Beautiful Bill” is a great start to reducing the size and impact of the federal government on all our lives.

I played high school football. That experience taught me two great life lessons. First, as a team sport, everybody on the team had to do their part to advance the success of the team. Second, you don’t score a touchdown on every play. The goal of each play is to advance the ball down the field until you score the points. Getting first downs is a critical part of that process. Moving the ball an average of 3.4 yards per play wins the game.… Read More