Paul Ryan: Nicest Swamp Creature

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. In other words, due to one's high status that person can claim anything without fear of being challenged by those who know less. So it is with Washington Times columnist Richard W. Rahn's muddled analysis of Paul Ryan (R-WI), an 18-year veteran of the Washington bog. Given this writer's flowery assertions, however, he sounds like the newly appointed cheerleader of the Republican excuses brigade! To that end, his doe-eyed opening sentence speaks volumes:

“It is tough to play hardball with your friends.”

Has Congress metastasized into a millionaires' social club? Are Mr. Ryan's fellow representatives supposed to be playboys for him to pal around with? If that's now the prevailing mind-set on Capitol Hill, it certainly explains a lot! Specifically, Gallup's record low approval rating for Congress in 2017: a measly 16%. And is that statistic any surprise given their collective failure to repeal Obamacare—after seven years of broken GOP promises? Thus, is it reasonable to sing Paul Ryan's praises as he's one of the primary figures responsible for the ongoing legislative morass?

That's not Pauly's fault, says Rahn. The real trouble is he's just so darn agreeable! Is affability suddenly a personality flaw in politics, or in the business of governance? If so, will someone send Mr. Ryan “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie? Recall, in the natural world that honey's sweetness attracts many more flies than vinegar; so it is with human nature. In fact, didn't President Ronald Reagan epitomize a sunny disposition—and didn't that trait make him more effective as a leader, not less so?

Naturally, the reality of Speaker Ryan's inherent inability to lead is quickly glossed over:

“[He is] not particularly good at managing a large number [read: 240 of 435; one vacancy] of independently-minded people.”

For his unsuccessful cat wrangling of only his party (and half of the legislature) a premium is earned: a $223,500 annual salary. That's a whopping $49,500 more than the House's rank and file. (By comparison, President Trump runs the entire executive branch for $400,000 a year, per Title 3 of the U.S. Code; donating his whole salary, save one dollar, to charity.) Mr. Ryan has not followed suit—and given his lack of positive results—perhaps he should.

But wait, Rahn claims, Mr. Ryan real aptitude is as a “policy wonk”. If that's so, why did he capitulate to the Democrats' two trillion dollar debt-busting budget rather than opposing it? Likewise, is he “highly accomplished” for losing control of the budgetary schedule as Mr. Rahn admits? For context, when Speaker Ryan assumed his leadership role on October 29, 2015, the national debt was $18,152,590,112,385.69. As of this writing, it has increased to $20,173,505,864,062.25. After almost two years, why are all of the economic indicators under his “expert” tutelage still going in the wrong direction?

Beyond the escalating debt, proof is seen in the pitiful pre-Trump 2% GDP. By those measures alone, Mr. Ryan would have been fired in the private sector long ago. After all, as Speaker he determines the agenda; same as his chamber controls the nation's purse strings. And despite his hollow-sounding protestations about not initially wanting the post, the fact remains that he took it. In this way, he seems to cultivate a regular guy “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington” persona. Still, the fact that Mr. Rahn doesn't see through this slick veneer is troubling. It means his favorable depiction of Mr. Ryan is untrustworthy. As that is the case, perhaps a fictional one can illuminate his real-life subject better:

“Listen, I'm a politician which means I'm a cheat and a liar, and when I'm not kissing babies I'm stealing their lollipops. But it also means I keep my options open.” – Dr. Jeffrey Pelt, National Security Adviser, played by Richard Jordan in “The Hunt for Red October” (1990)

Now that sounds like a realistic baseline with which to evaluate any longtime D.C. insider. Yet, unlike Dr. Pelt, one would never expect Paul “not ready” Ryan to be so candid about his own history of mealy-mouthed capriciousness regarding his faux support of President Trump.

Hence, in the Trump era, the American electorate has had their fill of nice guy RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) who embrace the status quo by subverting “M.A.G.A.” policies. By his record and his actions, that's who Paul Ryan really is. That's also precisely why our results-driven president cut a three-month extension with the Democrats (for government funding, and Hurricane Harvey relief). And why not? When has that fresh-faced facade of the do-nothing Republican establishment ever been a friend to him? Indeed, championing such incompetence demonstrates a profound obliviousness to modern-day political dysfunction—that even a clear-eyed low-information voter can see.

Twitter: @DavidHunterblog

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Invasion of Political Body Snatchers

“It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.” - Ronald Reagan

Why does the Washington Times consistently allow know-nothing liberals—the Oren M. Spieglers of the world—to speak for conservatives? After a robust Republican primary of 17 impressive candidates, the voters have made their choice. That selection—unconventional Donald Trump—has accrued more votes than former nominees Mitt Romney and John McCain. In America true political power still resides with 'We the People.' Therefore, Mr. Ryan's coy, Johnny-come-lately “support” doesn't demonstrate patriotism (as Mr. Spiegler wrongly claims), but contempt for it.

Despite what ever personal reservations he is privately entitled to, Mr. Ryan's long-forgotten duty is to us, not himself. Yet, his entrenched elitist resistance shows he “knows better.” Therefore, the House Speaker is no longer a public servant (a representative). He's been in Washington so long he fancies himself a de facto overlord. Is it any wonder that average citizens want an outsider (beyond the body snatching beltway) for president?

Though has actions, Mr. Ryan doesn't believe in the “traditional tenets of the Republican Party” either. Beyond lip service—to ideals like limited government or his broken promise to repeal Obamacare—he hasn't “made a career out of railing against” the ills of government, he has enabled them. Recall, Mr. Ryan's been in office since the tail end of Bill Clinton's presidency (1999) and all through the economically disastrous Obama years. Further, who else but he has recklessly and irresponsibly approved 2 trillion more to the nation's Chinese credit card? In truth, during Mr. Ryan's entire time in Congress, the country has already had budgets “wildly out of balance and add[ed] trillions of dollars to the deficit.” Therefore, anything billionaire businessman Trump likely does will be an improvement. Yet, a vote for Hillary is for an economy-killing, Obama-preserving third term. It's mad hatter lunacy: the wrongheaded decision to ram the same intractable iceberg that sunk the RMS Titanic.

Speaking of a monstrous block of ice, Mrs. Clinton, as president, is not the “lesser of two evils.” Not by a long shot. A habitual liar under multiple federal investigations for corruption, influence peddling—and perhaps even Server-gate treason—is preferable? After the editor who approved publication of Mr. Spiegler's propagandist “Hold Ryan accountable” is subdued and heavily medicated, the men with straitjackets should be immediately dispatched to that author's Upper Saint Clair, PA address. One expects this utter nonsense from the progressive Washington Post, but not from their evidently body snatched counterparts at the Washington Times.

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Trump's Revolution: 2016 – 1984 = 1776

“The 2016 election cycle is all about Americans rebelling against those who lied to them and who are exploiting the system. This is Donald Trump’s America. This year is about removing those who caused the problem and starting anew. That is why policy details matter less than the willingness to topple the current establishment... It [is] fight first, sort out [policy details] later.” - The Washington Times's Scot Faulkner

Is Donald Trump a 21^st century re-Founding Father of a modern American Revolution? If so, his much maligned temperament—by “friend” Paul Ryan and foe Hillary Clinton alike—reminds one distinctly of Patrick Henry who famously said: “Give me liberty or give me death.” Indeed, in his unconventional candidacy, Mr. Trump is rightfully channeling the discontent of marginalized true-blue Americans (in the vast geographical spaces between “important” coastal urban centers) who don't like faceless mobs waving Mexican flags while burning American ones. Perhaps Mr. Trump should revive the Colonial Gasden flag of the coiled snake on a yellow background proclaiming “Don't tread on me.” These same disregarded voters have fueled Mr. Trump to the Republican nomination—and likely in the future, to the presidency itself.

The galvanized electorate clearly does not want more of the same: the false choice of a polished establishment candidate (with only the distinction of a little “D” or a little “R” by the name), then more business-as-usual. In the last two election cycles, the voters have handed Republicans both houses of Congress: golden opportunities completely squandered. Have they controlled the purse strings? Strike one: Mr. Ryan's minions approved 2 trillion more in deficit spending. Did they repeal Obamacare as promised? That's strike two. More at issue, did they even attempt to rein in a lawless president (whose many scandals, more lies and ultra-constitutional acts make Nixon's wrongdoing look like a child's naughtiness?) That's strike three: game over.

While the know-it-all jet-setters of Hollywood lecture the rest of us on our carbon footprints and “intolerance,” their elitist fellows in New York banking interests have done very well with both Bush and Obama bailouts (funded, naturally, by the forced generosity of the American taxpayer). Indeed, the only thing booming in Mr. Obama's lifeless economy is Wall Street. Therefore, why would any of these cosmopolitan ubanites—or the pampered beltway bandits of Washington D.C.—want an unpredictable outsider beyond their control? That's Mr. Ryan's real beef. His ilk—elitist weasels—desperately want to transform Mr. Trump into a statesman clone, another Mitt Romney failure. (Recall, Mr. Romney—who was smeared in the MSM for giving a guy a noogie in high school—lost his own White House bid precisely because he never would say a contrary word about Mr. Obama). As a result, three million unconvinced Republican voters stayed home. The progressive was reelected; an epic tragedy for the country. One suspects sour grapes (Romney's and the Bush Family's) are the casual factor for the Republican establishment withholding its endorsement. Well, they can keep their highfalutin approval. One suspects populist Mr. Trump doesn't want it, and with the silent majority backing him, it makes no difference.

In this regard, Republican nominee Donald Trump's path to the presidency is as unconventional as his candidacy. While political wonks (not incorrectly) scrutinize electoral maps to see which combination of accrued states lead to the magic 270, the roots of the Trump phenomenon go far deeper than that. It is a natural and necessary tectonic shift upon the political landscape. It will likely realign not only the presidency, but also the other two branches of government. At present, no one of either party is holding anyone accountable for anything. Part of Trump's solution is plainly speaking about the problems that plague our society, which are obvious, and many.

Everyone in this present generation is so conditioned by the importance of not making impolitic statements. Such a trivial concern is equivalent to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic that is America: musicians playing soothing melodies while self-centered political powerbrokers drive the country to absolute economic ruin. Of the oft-mentioned criticism that Donald Trump lacks specific plans, Mr. Faulkner insightfully adds a historical context:

“No policy manifesto or legislation existed [in 1775] when those heroic individuals rose up against a collective evil.”

That was red-coated British Imperialism, quaint by today's standards. For us, today's collective evil is a nefarious combination of red and brownshirts: word-burning political correctness leading inexorably to 1984 style thought-crime, and big government expanding fascists who call themselves progressives, socialists or Democrats. That's why these creatures of Washington actively attack the First and Second Amendments—and ignore the strictures of the Constitution itself. A society's leaders who do not respect law, quash verbalized dissent (under the jackboot of Obama's Orwellian “equality and fairness”) and actively seek to disarm a population ensure one totalitarian voice, theirs. That unchecked voice says anything, and lies with abandon. (Hence the Obama years, also defined by societal chaos and economic downturn.) Progressives don't care about the train wreck of 19 trillion dollar debt. Or 93 million unemployed Americans. Let these uncounted millions ignored even by labor statistics fend for themselves among what's left of overregulated industries and outsourced jobs. While they live in their palatial estates, there are always scraps from the collective table, the public dole or bankruptcy for the rest of us.

Likewise is their blasé attitude about our porous borders. Rest assured, their loved ones are perfectly secure in stretch limousines, gated compounds, and armed security details. Republicans always need low wage gardeners or servants to keep their water glasses full. Likewise, Democrats need a permanent underclass off-the-books voters to keep themselves in office despite the abject failures of their policies. Therefore, the government these Congressional millionaires willfully mismanage works perfectly well for them. What does that leave for the rest of us, specifically those in sanctuary cities, the Kate Steinles of the world? We get porous borders permitting a human flood of the lawless: the potential criminal and/or terrorist hidden among masses of border jumping squatters. And what of these (11 million or 30?) illegal aliens, apparently unable to survive with all the natural advantages of family connections, a common language and culture, and legal employment in their birth country? It is the re-occupation of America by a silent army of invaders without having to fire a single warring shot. Montezuma's re-browning revenge.

America is indeed poised for a reckoning or a rebirth. If Donald Trump is a 21^st century Patrick Henry who is Hillary Clinton in the Grand Experiment that is America? She, of Server-gate, is a high-tech Benedict Arnold. Yet, her foreign masters are not the British. They are Communists like the Chinese—fiscal contributors to her money-for-influence “charity”—the Clinton Foundation sham. Mr. Trump's first duty to the country will be thwarting her queenly White House coronation. Hopefully, he will also follow though on his plainly spoken words, and send Mrs. Clinton where all traitors belong:

“I will say this. Hillary has to go to jail. She has to go to jail.”

Twitter: @DavidHunterblog
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Ryan's hot air smoke screen

“Others merely talk about limiting government, cutting taxes and reforming entitlements, but Mr. Ryan spends most of his waking hours trying to accomplish all three; to him it’s the goal and not the process that’s all-important.” - The Washington Times' David Keene

If that's the goal, let's review the facts. Paul Ryan has been U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 1^st congressional district since 1999. Therefore, his 17 year tenure encompasses the tail end of Bill Clinton's presidency, and all of George W. Bush's and Barack Obama's. Using the basic measurements of government size by spending and personnel—both of which indicate expansion—when has this “leader” ever honored his limited government pledge? Now as House Speaker—the highest-ranking Republican—has this policy-driven wonk finally curtailed government? How about a desperately needed tax cut for the economically squeezed middle class? More to the point, as Congress controls the purse strings, has Mr. Ryan held the line against further deficit spending?

What did Mr. Ryan do in the big chair? Using lofty rhetoric, his “clean slate” speech made nice with Democrats—and he rubber stamped two trillion more to the nation's Chinese credit card.

Recall the debt has almost doubled from GWB's accumulated 10.6 to Mr. Obama's added 9 trillion—and counting. In this, Mr. Ryan's former facial hair was apropos as he's definitely hiding something. What's that? He's the Democrats' beard. Where it matters—one's actions—he's not fundamentally different from big government progressives.

History demonstrates a cowed, do-nothing Republican establishment whose value of conservative principles is hot air. That's not my assessment, that's Dave Brat's (R-VA). He writes: “Conservatives are supposed to stand for fiscal discipline, balanced budgets and reducing government waste. Yet House leadership is currently whipping votes for a bad budget deal that was negotiated behind closed doors by party leaders and that blows through the budget caps.” He works there, so he should know. Better than me and certainly better than Mr. Keene.