My first rule of politics reads: Democrats lose elections because, once elected, they keep their campaign promises. Republicans lose because, once elected, they break theirs. Republicans claim to stand for freedom. Now is the time when the “rubber meets the road.” Lawsuits, press conferences, and objections are fine, but they are not enough.

Ronald Reagan once said:

Perhaps you and I have lived with this miracle too long to be properly appreciative. Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction.It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.” (Reagan’s First Gubernatorial Inaugural Address, January 5, 1967).

Perhaps we have lived with this miracle too long. I thought there were those in elected office who were willing to fight for freedom. Maybe I expect too much. I have served with many of them, seen them in action. People from a variety of walks of life, who have told the voters of their city, county, or district, that they will… Read More

On April 30, in a stunning political move, Gov. Newsom ordered all Orange County beaches closed indefinitely. But this is not just about the beaches.

This is a fight about whether free people, acting through their local governments, can retain control of their lives and their economy. The alternative pushed explicitly by the governor is for him and his administration to fundamentally re-engineer the once Golden State. Enter Tom Steyer.

Billionaire investment banker Tom Steyer scrambled from the wreckage of his recent presidential campaign to answer Gov. Newsom’s call to run the governor’s so-called Business and Jobs Recovery Task Force. This is an 80-person team supposedly to advise the governor on how to re-open California.

Of course, an 80-person committee is so large and ridiculously unwieldy that it cannot produce sustained, rational, linear thought. It just can’t; no government committee that size can. Eighty people is the size of one entire house of the state legislature. Because of its size and resultant inertia, Steyer’s committee will say and do whatever Steyer and the governor want it to say and do.

That is the problem:… Read More

A friend recently told me a story: He had a very close relationship with someone who was his friend and his attorney. They spoke religiously every day, early in the morning, before their workday started. One day his friend called him and told him he could no longer maintain a relationship as long as my friend supported the President. My friend responded by saying there were plenty of other attorneys and he had plenty of other friends. You probably have had a similar experience if you support President Trump. The thing is this incident occurred in 2004. It took ten years for his friend to call and apologize.

Just like a certain element of our society thinks that all problems emanate from Mr. Trump and their distaste for him is different because it is Trump, they think their “imaginary” leader would be handling the COVID-19 response so much better.

Trump often repeats the fact that he shut down flights from China which is true. And during the March daily press briefings, he focused on his current plan of action. Since the MSM has sworn an oath to destroy Trump and his presidency, they badgered him about what he did during February. This is despite his having… Read More

I think it is appropriate, when earned, to offer praise to elected and other government officials when they have acted in the defense of liberty. Sometimes it’s baby steps, sometimes it’s putting on the armor of liberty, and standing face to face with those who would destroy that strength of this country, that is, that unique form of American liberty that, while under attack in our modern era, has survived longer than any other country in any other time.

So first, to Sheriff Chad Bianco of Riverside County — Thank you for announcing you would not make criminals of law abiding citizens. I represented Riverside County for 14 years in the Legislature. I know the people of that County, they are good people who struggle every day to make their life, and the lives of their family, better. Many of them spend hours a day on the freeway, abandoned by traffic planners in Sacramento and Riverside County government, just to get back and forth to work. They don’t deserve to face the threat of arrest for doing what is necessary to feed their family. More of the state’s Sheriffs should have the courage to do what you did, Sheriff Bianco.

To… Read More

Today we learned that our Arrogant Lazy Authoritarian (ALA) Newsom claims that “California can’t cope with its budget deficit without federal help.”

My advice to the feds: Don’t do give us the help. I don’t want to have to launder my taxes through the federal government to bail ALA Newsom out of his ill-considered orders, and his continuing arrogance.

California state government must now pay the price for the order issued by ALA Newsom, just like hundreds of thousands of Californians have. Hundreds of thousands of Californians were forcibly laid off from their jobs because of the totally unnecessary statewide lock down order, and now that it is clear that it was totally unnecessary, ALA Newsom still refuses to lift the order, choosing what he calls a “phased in” restoration of liberty to the people of California. What that means is, if you are not one of the favored few, large businesses, politically connected groups, or supporters of Democrats in Sacramento, you will continue to starve, and you might get some kind of government bail out at some time in the future (READ: when we feel like getting around to it). If you… Read More

In the 12th century, there were kingdoms and fiefdoms, but who really ruled the day was the high priests. Try to argue against the high priests you were considered a heretic. Many were burned at the stake for the sin of questioning the high priests. Flash forward 200 years and there was Joan of Arc. Today there are new high priests and dare to question one and you are scorned and ostracized.

That occurred for me a few years back. Through the modern miracle of social media, I located a very close friend of mine, Elliott, from junior high when I lived in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He was ‘smarter’ than me and went on to get a degree at Brown University. The fact that he used his high level degree to become a publicist for the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) baffled me. One would think he would have loftier goals – maybe one of the scientists. I found he was dedicated to his beliefs.

We did not debate the value of the UCS, but we did get into a debate about a concept presented by Paul Krugman, a Nobel Laureate in economics, but currently slumming as a columnist on the New York Times. We were now discussing a field I know a lot about. I disagreed with Krugman on… Read More

First off, Kudos to the thousands of statewide protestors who voiced their opposition to the quarantine order. You are the heroes of liberty.

Second, shame on any elected official who condemned them. Such behavior from an elected official is “irresponsible and unacceptable.” The exercise of free speech is a fundamental right, and it is the duty of elected officials to protect that right. I should also add shame on any local elected official who says he or she will enforce the unconstitutional order. You are violating your oath of office.

Third, shame on any law enforcement officer who arrested any of the protesters. You are allowing yourself to be instruments of the oppressor, that is, the Arrogant-Lazy-Authoritarian-in-Chief (ALAIC), Gavin Newsom. Those protesters have been your biggest supporters over the years. Don’t lose their support by violating your oath as well. “Just following orders” never got any oppressor off the hook for violating fundamental liberties.

To the Orange County Sheriff, who announced he would NOT enforce the order to close the beaches, my hats off to you. That is exactly what an elected… Read More

I received an email from a local elected official yesterday that told me to “understand” that the order that quarantined people who are not infected with COVID-19 was not issued by his agency, it was issued by the state. His email told me that, in his opinion, there was not much he could do about it. Seeing this comment from someone I know to be a freedom loving elected official told me how important it is to let local elected officials know what power they really have. You have what is known as “administrative discretion.” You have the right to determine what work your employees will do, and what they won’t do, and no court or any other agency has the power to tell you how to exercise that discretion.

What does that mean? It means you can ignore the quarantine order of the Arrogant-Lazy-Authoritarian-In-Chief (ALAIC), Gavin Newsom, and there’s not a damn thing he, or anyone else, can do about it. City Managers, County Executives, City Attorneys, and County Counsel will spend a lot of time trying to explain the nature of executive authority in the time of an emergency, but the fact is, if you ignore them, and order your police… Read More