Evolution of America's One Party System

I just sent the following letter to the Olive Press, our local penny saver.  Paul Smart, the editor, published two letters for me this issue as he had forgotten to publish both Gus Murphy's and my letter in the last issue:

Gus Murphy is right that government is a nessary evil.  Mr. Murphy is also right that the ideas of Hamilton, Madison and Jay in the Federalist emphasized centralization.  But while the anti-Federalists, who opposed the Constitution, lost the argument, they won key battles.  The best part of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, was due to the anti-Federalists.  Even today most Americans believe that freedom of speech, enshrined in the First Amendment, is the most important right. 

As Charles Beard pointed out a century ago in his Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States the authors of the Constitution, who favored centralization and Federalism, were bankers and merchants.  Alexander Hamilton, co-founder of the Bank of New York, was the most intellectually important Federalist.  The centralizing party was always the party of the rich.   Following the Federalists, the Whigs were formed to fight Andrew Jackson, the president of the working man, who abolished the equivalent of the Fed.  The Republicans were formed to stop the South from seceding and to fight for higher tariffs, public works and the Fed.  

In the late 1890s the Republican Party adopted Progressivism, another way to argue for centralization and the Fed.  The final step was the creation of conservatism and the transformation of the two party system into a single Federalist Party.  First, there was a conflict between William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt over whether the US economy should be socialist and regulated, which Theodore Roosevelt (a Republican) favored, or whether anti-trust enforcement should be the responsibility of the Justice Department, which Taft favored.  As president, Taft ignored Roosevelt. This made Taft the first "conservative".  Roosevelt ran as a third party candidate in the Bull Moose or Progressive Party, and helped Woodrow Wilson defeat Taft. This made Roosevelt the first "liberal". The debate between "liberals" and "conservatives" is between two kinds of Progressives.  Both liberals and conservatives today would have been Federalists in 1786, Whigs in 1836 and Progressives in 1904.  We have a one party Federalist system just like in 1788 when Washington was elected. 

Franklin Roosevelt took the fake liberal-conservative distinction further.  He realized that support for big business would be more effective if cloaked in rhetoric that sounded like it was supportive of labor.   The Democrats became super-Federalists, even more aggressively supportive of centralization of power into the hands of the Federal Reserve Bank and Wall Street, by using the rhetoic of helping the poor.  The supposed help was through ineffective programs like Social Security and the National Labor Relations Act.  None of these laws cost big business very much and and involved wealth transfers from lower to middle income taxpayers. Progressivism created inner cities characterized by drug addiction and dependency.  The welfare-dependent lumpen proletariat became a political bargaining chip, just like the Roman proletariat in the days of Augustus Caesar.

Has America been getting greater and greater since the Federalists/Progressives took power in 1904?  Do increasing income inequality, the Depression, the Stagflation of the 1970s, the mismanagement of the oil spill, the banking crisis, inflation, the massive increase in big business power, the massive increase in Wall Street's power, the stagnating real hourly wage and the exodus of manufacturing tell us that the one party Federalist system has succeeded? 

While Mr. Murphy is right that government is a necessary evil, is Berndt Leifeld's giving Olive's school teachers a six percent raise when everyone else is not getting a raise a necessary evil? Is it necessary to spend 45% of your income on wortheless government "services"? Is providing Medicaid to non-residents who arrive in New York and whose first stop is the Medicaid office a necessary evil?  Was seeing 500,000 jobs exodus the state during the Cuomo administration a necessary evil?

Sincerely,

Mitchell Langbert

Paladino Campaign Submits Petitions, Asks for Support

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 15, 2010
Contact: Michael Caputo
716-863-0806
mc@paladinoforthepeople.com


PALADINO FORCES REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR PRIMARY
WITH LOBBYIST LAZIO
Paladino Files Double Legal Requirement of GOP Signatures for Governor Race

(BUFFALO, NY) - Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino, Republican candidate for Governor of New York, today announced that his campaign, after the hard work of thousands of volunteers across the state, will this afternoon file 28,000 Republican signatures on petitions with triple the requirement spread across 21 Congressional districts and 62 counties. This petition submission will successfully place businessman Carl Paladino in a Republican primary for New York State Governor against lobbyist Rick Lazio.

"Today we will file a bullet proof package of 28,000 Republican petitions to place Carl Paladino on the Republican primary ballot," said Michael R. Caputo, campaign manager, Paladino for the People. "With tens of thousands of Republicans calling for Carl Paladino to be in the Republican primary, only one thing could explain why Rick Lazio would decide to challenge our petitions; fear. Rick Lazio can not beat Carl Paladino in a primary so he wants to knock him out of the process."

Carl Paladino, a successful Western New York real estate developer and attorney, declared his candidacy for Governor of New York in Buffalo in April. He and Tom Ognibene have submitted for approval enough petitions for the Republican primary and are now collecting petitions for the Taxpayer line. For more information on where Carl Paladino stands on the issues, please visit www.paladinoforthepeople.com.

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Dear Friend,

I just had one of the most incredible experiences of my life- and I want to share it with you.

For weeks I had been promised that I would be allowed to speak as a candidate for Governor at the New York State Republican Convention in New York City.

When I arrived at the convention I learned that the Republican leadership had slipped in a convention rule that said candidates for Governor would be allowed to speak after the voting to select the Republican candidate and only those candidates who received 25% would be allowed to speak!

Have you ever heard of anything so backwards and undemocratic?

This so typical of the New York political situation where both parties have contributed to the dysfunction in Albany.

After a motion to move candidate speeches before the voting failed, and some quick thinking by Erie County Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy who was my convention floor manager, I was given a proxy so I could address the convention- by nominating myself! I had ten minutes to lay out our agenda for radical reform in Albany.

I never expected to be the choice of the Republican party bosses who have so much invested in the current system in Albany. I have always vowed to take my fight to the voters in the Republican Party primary. I know I will win the Republican Primary against former liberal Republican Congressman Rick Lazio whose days in Washington were marked by his strong support for the big-government style, sub-prime mortgage program push by Andrew Cuomo when he was the Secretary of Housing. Together Lazio and Cuomo cost US taxpayers $2.4 Billion in failed mortgages.

I have no illusions- just getting my name on the ballot will take a super-human effort to collect more than the 15,000 valid Republican voter signatures- which could cost our campaign more than $500,000. I have no choice.

If you want to volunteer to collect valid Republican voter signatures in your community please contact me by clicking here. Unless we press our people's campaign to clean up Albany- I am convinced that nothing will change under political insiders Rick Lazio or Andrew Cuomo. When I see the lobbyists and other special interests shoveling money into Cuomo and covering their bet with token contributions to Lazio you can see they are both members of the political elite that are destroying this state.

The political establishment will stop at nothing to stop real reform that erodes their power and riches.

I have a very specific and comprehensive plan to revive New York's economy to:

• cut taxes 10%.
  
  
• cut spending by 20% by eliminating waste, fraud and government programs that aren't working.
  
  
• cancel pension benefits and free health care for state legislators.
  
  
• impose 8 year term limits for all state elected offices including the legislature.
  
  
• institute a one-year residency requirement before anyone can receive welfare payments.
  
  
• re-negotiate the fat public employee pension deals that have literally driven us to the brink of bankruptcy.
  
  
• appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute corruption in the State Legislature and give him the subpoena power to get at the facts.

I have no illusions about how difficult it will be to force this package of reforms through the famously dysfunctional and corrupt New York State legislature. The people of New York must demand these reforms so that our legislators understand that there will be consequences for their inaction.

I can't do it alone. Democrat Andrew Cuomo has $20 Million dollars in special interest campaign contributions filling his war chest. Observers expect him to raise another $30 Million from the lobbyist, bankers, investment houses, Wall Street insiders, law firms, insurance companies and all those interested in maintaining the status quo in Albany.

While I have pledged to spend up to $10 Million of my own money, it will take far more if we are going to defeat the entrenched liberal special interests who have a stranglehold on our government.

That's why I am asking you to make a contribution to Paladino For the People today. I wish I could do it alone and while I have been blessed by my success in business, I cannot compete with the multi-Billion dollar special interests and public employees unions who like dysfunctional New York government just the way it is.

Together you and I can rally those New Yorkers who are fed-up and ready for radical reform. My campaign must raise an additional $200,000 in the next two weeks to keep our campaign plan on schedule.

Won't you send a contribution today?

I did not expect to be a candidate of the Republican Party bosses when they meet at their convention the first week of June. As I said, I intend to take my case directly to the Republican primary voters by collecting the 30,000 signatures that would ensure that my name appears on the September Republican Primary ballot. This effort alone could cost my campaign as much as $500,000.

If you want to help my campaign gather valid voter signatures as a volunteer please e-mail me by clicking here.

Because the New York State Conservative Party has also been co-opted by deal making, patronage hungry career politicians, I will also petition my way onto the November ballot on a Tea Party-oriented line. I believe this will create a vehicle to attract the votes of conservative Democrats and Independents who agree with us on the issues but are not comfortable voting Republican.

I'm doing my part, will you do yours? Will you help me save New York State?

You can use your Visa or Mastercard to make a contribution now. Won't you send $200, $100, $75 or $50? Even a contribution of $25 would be a big help.

Together we can defeat the bosses of the Republican establishment in their attempt to saddle our party with a weak nominee and defeat Andrew Cuomo and the liberal special interests who hope to make him Governor.

I would not be running and spending my own money if I didn't think I could win- but I cannot do it alone. Please help our campaign with a contribution today.

I will be checking for your response online. Thank you. Please let me hear from you today.

Carl P. Paladino

Candidate for Governor

PS - Don't let the attacks on me by the liberal media and political insiders distract you. The real obscenity is Albany and what they are doing with our money, not to mention the succession of corrupt politicians representing us. It seems like a new one is arrested every day. We can turn Albany upside down and take out the trash. Please go to https://www.paladinoforthepeople.com/donate.php and rush me your answer today.

PSS- If you want to volunteer to circulate petitions in your neighborhood to get my name on the ballot go to http://paladinoforthepeople.com/petition. Our campaign is a people's campaign and we need your help. If you want a Paladino for the people yard sign go to http://paladinoforthepeople.com/volunteer

New York City Looks at 440,672 More Acres in Catskills

The Times Herald Record ran an article today describing a major New York City initiative to purchase nearly 100,000 acres  (looking at 440,672 acres but actually planning to buy about one fifth of that amount). But is it a coincidence that Congressman Maurice Hinchey aims to turn the entire Hudson Valley into a federal park just as New York City buys ever more land in the Catskills?  I wrote this letter to the editor of the Times Herald Record:

Adam Bosch (July 15, "NY City Wants Control Over Another 440,672 Acres in Area's Watershed") raises several useful points but neglects to ask the $64,000 question: Is there a connection between Congressman Maurice Hinchey's proposal for a federal park in the Hudson Valley and the City's aggressive land grab in the Catskills? In 1992 then-Assemblyman Hinchey proposed a bill that would have established socialist-style zoning boards in the Adirondack Park. Mr. Hinchey has repeatedly proposed aggressive land-use controls for 20% of Utah. Now, he claims that his federal park proposal for the Hudson Valley cannot possibly lead to radical restrictions on property rights. Maybe not today. But acceding power to a parks administrator eliminates the rule of law. And such restrictions can be implemented down the road without public debate once a park administration is in power.


Is the NYC land purchase a coincidence? Might the intention be to turn the Catskills into an Adirondack-style park and squeeze Hudson Valley residents out via a gradually tightening pincers (City owned watershed land on one side, a federal park on the other), forcing the Hudson Valley's population south to New Jersey and New York City? This is very much the gist of UN Agenda 21, and UNESCO has already been given administrataive control of more than a dozen parcels of land within the borders of the United States. Is depopulation the long term plan for this region? Or is it just a coincidence that the City is grabbing land just as Mr. Hinchey offers the Trojan horse of a federal park?

Sincerely,

Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.
Town of Olive Republican Commitee

Guest Article: Conservative Universities: Finding an Alternative to a Left-Leaning College Education

Special to Mitchell Langbert's blog.  By Alexis Banari.*

Conservative Universities: Finding an Alternative to a Left-Leaning College Education

It has been said —and rightly so— that the majority of institutions of higher education are left leaning.  Statistics from a recent study state that 72% of all university professors self identify as liberals.  Only 15% say that they’re conservatives.  Private, Ivy League schools are even more lopsided with 87% of the faculty identified as liberal and 13% as conservative.

While a little bit of debate never hurt anyone, some conservative high school graduates desire an education founded in principles that more closely match their own.  The answer can be found among the various conservative-leaning private universities and colleges.  Listed below are three conservative options and what they have to offer:

Baylor University- Waco Texas

One of the larger private universities to top the conservative list, Baylor University has around 14,000 students and offers 150 undergraduate programs.  Their educational philosophy is based on the Baptist faith.   The school has a relatively high tuition and many of the students are from affluent backgrounds.  There are many multi-generational Baylor families.

Hillsdale College- Hillsdale Michigan

This college averages around 1,200 students at any given time.  Only undergraduate degrees are offered in over 50 concentrations.  75% of all Hillsdale students receive some type of financial aid from the university itself.  Hillsdale does not accept federal financial aid.  A morality code is applied to all students who attend the school, and required coursework includes a two-course sequence on great books of the western world, the constitution, and United States history.

Hillsdale students do well when competing for places in professional programs, and their website claims that 98% of all graduates have a job or enter graduate school six months after graduation.

College of the Ozarks- Hollister Missouri

Known as “Work Hard U”, College of the Ozarks provides a free, accredited college program to motivated students who demonstrate financial need.  Students apply for grants through the government aid program, and then work on campus 15 hours a week plus two 40-hour weeks each semester.  The difference between the cost of tuition and the grant received is covered by working and grants from the university.

Academics are consistently ranked in the top 300 by credible sources.  Students are expected to abstain from alcohol both on and off campus, and a strict dress code is enforced.

Conclusion

These three conservative alternatives represent a small piece of the conservative college continuum.  With a little bit of research, a young conservative student can find the perfect fit for their beliefs, budget, and educational goals.

*Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at onlinedegrees.org, researching online degree programs. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

Ognibene Offers Hope for Ulster County's Ailing Economy

Thomas Ognibene, gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino's running mate, spoke to the Kingston/Rhinebeck Tea Party on Monday evening, July 12, at the Town of Ulster Town Hall. About 40 Tea Partiers were present. Ognibene, a former New York City Councilman, complements Paladino's Buffalo roots.  Ognibene ran for mayor against Michael Bloomberg in 2005 but the Bloomberg campaign challenged his electoral petitions, knocking him off the GOP ballot.

Ognibene said that the Paladino campaign is hopeful about its own petition drive, the outcome of which will be known as the Eagle goes to print.  Although the Democratic press has painted a rosy economic picture here in Ulster County, that picture is deceptive. The "pork" band aids that the Democratic politicians have put on the canker sores that they have created through over-taxation and over-spending are trumpeted in the Democratic media.  But what Democratic voters fail to realize is that the upstate area has been paying far more than it has been receiving.  Job growth in Ulster County since 1990 has been at less than one fifth of the national rate.  Neither the Democratic politicians nor the Democratic media discuss this trend because the Democrats are the reason.

Ognibene pointed out that Sheldon Silver, the Speaker of the Assembly, ought to be unelectable because of the damage that he and the Democrats have done to New York's economy.  As well, New York's wasteful spending (with per capita Medicaid spending double that of California) has caused firms and talented workers and business people to move elsewhere. Ognibene, along with Paladino, is calling for a modest 20% cut in the state's budget. 

One question from the audience was how Paladino and Ognibene will improve their profile in the New York City area.  They are better known upstate, especially in western New York, but will not be able to take the primary against Republican in Name Only (RINO) Rick Lazio if they cannot win New York City.  Ognibene told the audience that Carl Paladino, a successful, self-made real estate developer (the only gubernatorial candidate, Democrat or Republican, who has not spent his career at the public trough) has a ten million dollar war chest for that purpose.

To Socialists, the World Is a Classroom

Schools are mostly government-run operations and reflect government values.  Few institutions in American life have failed as badly as the education system.  My claim is that socialism is modeled after the classroom.  The teacher, Professor Obama, stands before the classroom. Any students who disobey the Professor's instructions are disciplined.  The school board, US Congress, concocts ever more elaborate and stricter rules.  If a student does not learn, does not obey, he or she must serve detention.  Those who obsequiously learn the professor's lessons most studiously, the socialists, consider themselves smarter than everyone else.  Because they lack the legitimation of a state diploma, those who would rather not comply with the Professor are intimidated.  But they are productive and competent. The socialist lesson plan is that the state is all knowing; that those who obey are intelligent; that subservience to government is morality; that the Professor and the school board know best.

Five Louts Extend Invitation to Destructive Oaf

Mike Marnell, crusading publisher of the Lincoln Eagle of Kingston, NY, just sent me this press release.  Congressman Maurice Hinchey has a long history of camouflaging extremist environmentalism in moderate rhetoric.  For instance, he proposed to turn the Adirondacks into a socialist dictatorship run by Soviet-like planning boards, and was able to convince the Adirondack Enterprise that this was a "moderate" proposal. Likewise, he was able to convince stock trading maniac Jim Cramer that he really does intend to permit drilling of the Marcellus oil field.

***NEWS RELEASE***

For Immediate Release July 2, 2010	Contact: Mike Morosi  202-225-6335 (Hinchey)

Reps. Hinchey, Murphy, Tonko, Lowey and Hall Invite

U.S. Interior Secretary Salazar to Visit Hudson Valley

                Washington, D.C. -- Five members of Congress for New York's Hudson Valley have invited U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to visit the region as part of his America's Great Outdoors initiative.  U.S. Representatives Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Scott Murphy, Paul Tonko, Nita Lowey and John Hall asked that the secretary make the trip in order to learn about innovative strategies being used to conserve lands and waters for public benefit in the Hudson Valley.

                Salazar recently announced that he is touring several regions of interests in order to develop the America's Great Outdoors program, which aims to reconnect Americans to the outdoors.  The full text of the letter inviting the secretary to the Hudson Valley is below. More details about the America's Great Outdoors program can be found at: http://www.doi.gov/americasgreatoutdoors/ .

July 1, 2010

The Honorable Ken Salazar

Secretary

U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20240

Dear Mr. Secretary,

As you continue to plan and develop America’s Great Outdoors program, we hope you will consider visiting the Hudson Valley region to conduct a listening session and learn about innovative strategies at work to conserve our lands and waters for public benefit now and for future generations. 

The Hudson River Valley is one of the most significant river corridors in the country. The historical, natural, cultural, commercial, scenic, and recreational resources spread throughout the region are unparalleled. Our region is home to a wealth of history and beautiful landscapes that inspired a school of art and fostered innovation that drove our nation's early economy. Today, the region is a model for the green job movement, with an emerging solar energy industry and a $4.7 billion tourism economy that is closely linked with conservation and outdoor recreation industries.

Currently, the Hudson River Valley is designated as a National Heritage Area, National Estuarine Research Reserve and a New York State Greenway. In addition, the House of Representatives recently passed legislation authorizing a National Park Service special resource study of the Hudson River Valley.

We applaud your effort to promote and support innovative community-level efforts to conserve outdoor spaces and to reconnect Americans to the outdoors. Stakeholders from across our region have been involved in exactly these types of efforts for many years. Whether it is connecting residents of the New York City metropolitan area to one of our country's greatest landscapes or working on a regional-level through the Greenway to conserve our historic, cultural and natural resources in the face of persistent population growth, the Hudson River Valley has been at the forefront of promoting innovative and cooperative solutions to our challenges.

We are confident that you will find many projects and partnerships that exemplify the America’s Great Outdoors agenda in the Hudson Valley and we hope that you will be able to include our region in your upcoming tour of the country.

Sincerely,

Maurice D. Hinchey

Scott Murphy

Paul Tonko

Nita Lowey

John J. Hall

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Americans Likely to Vote Against Incumbents

Mike Marnell, crusading publisher of the Lincoln Eagle of Kingston, NY, sent me a link to a recent Marist Poll which found that about equal proportions of Americans are likely to vote for (42%) and against (43%) incumbents.  This is better than last year, when only 37% said that they would vote against incumbents and 51% said that they would vote for them.  The poll also found that 56% say that the nation is headed in the wrong direction.  That seems high for a republic.  The poll also found that 55% of Democrats say that they will support an incumbent while 52% of Republicans say that they will vote for someone else.

The Marist blog posts a table which shows the distribution of the population that feels the country is headed in the wrong direction. Liberals feel that the country is headed in the right direction and independents, Republicans and conservatives feel it is heading in the wrong direction.

This seems hopeful for the nation at large, although Mike is concerned that the predominance of Democrats in New York will prevent improvement here.  I have been thinking of buying some land in a more civilized locale, like West Virginia.  According to this site a two bedroom house in West Virginia on 22 acres costs $165,000.  Why would anyone want to live in New York any more?