Usually what happens over time is that you end up not being able or willing to afford or even care about the Deep State. The solution is you eventually outsource it. In the vernacular I believe the word is Invasion.
There’s a book from years ago by a Thomas T. Thomas (apparently his real name) entitled “First Citizen”. It’s a thinly disguised retelling of the rise to power of an American G.Julius Caesar in the early 21st Century. One of the things that happens that enables this is the destruction of Washington City by a nuke of unknown origin.
I’m beginning to think that while another Caesar isn’t the answer, the decapitation of the US gov’t has its plus side.
On the other hand, is a lot of ways, the Community-Organizer-in-Chief was our non-bloody version of Sulla– the man who showed that the rules of the Republic could be broken with ease, and with no consequences. At what point do they start with private armies and lists of proscriptions?
BLM / Antifa already are a private army …they just aren’t very disciplined.
I believe Corporal Hicks had the right idea.
If you’re thinking of the line I think you’re thinking of, I believe that idea was Ripley’s.
Fuckin A
Joe Biden might destroy the federal Govt
Best tactic is what Trump did; slash regulations stop the growth of such. Believe he claimed (pre-Covid) that for every regulation enacted he eliminated at least two. Fewer regulations equals fewer un-elected regulators to enforce them. Probably firing them isn’t likely but after you pressure them into retirement just don’t replace them.
Unfortunately, where Trump failed is you need systemic reform, or your regulatory cuts can just be undone by the next administration. Personally, I think a good start on this would be reversing Chevron and generally enforcing the non delegation doctrine more strictly. Which means we need more conservative and libertarian organizations to bring lawsuits against regulatory overreach.
Elections in the current form certainly won’t fix anything. The “Machine” is too deeply entrenched in the election infrastructure to allow for anything other than the status quo. Anyone remember when the League of Women Voters would publish local election guides covering -every- candidate on the ballot which you could get for free at the library? Anyone remember when Presidential debates included all of the candidates who were on all the ballots, and not just Demicans/Republocrats?
I think a good clean election would do wonders for the citizenry. I would suggest that the National Guard provide ballot collection and tally security and oversight. You can only vote on Election Day. You get a purple finger. You must ID with at minimum a voter registration card, which is stamped with the current election when you vote. Physical ballots filled out by hand and then scanned with a receipt given to the voter with their choices noted. It would not be foolproof, obviously, but the point is to restore confidence in the basic mechanism of government, the voting in of citizens who legit win elections.
The military isn’t allowed at polling places because that’s how the government intimidates people and bars them from voting. Similarly, most states have laws on the books that you can’t arrest someone who is their way to the polls until after they cast their ballot.
A receipt showing your vote choices is how union bosses force their peasantry to prove they voted for the correct candidate in order to keep one’s job.
Those who fail to learn the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat them…
National Guard, not the Army, Air Force, etc. I wouldn’t trust the Pentagon either, but guardsmen tend to have a stronger local connection. Who would you propose secure the collection and tally of votes.
Unions, not as big a thing anymore. Interesting that you consider the citizenry to be peasants. How would you propose we be able to double-check votes cast versus votes tallied? An “independent” third party chosen by the Machine?
Do you have anything constructive to offer as suggestions?
In addition to Voter ID (not a big fan of Drivers Licenses for this) I’m in favor of printed ballots with serial numbers and some form of anti-counterfeit measure, like stamped on holograms or embedded strips in the ballot form itself, unique to that election cycle. Polling places are handed a strict number of serialized ballets, which are then randomly shuffled before being handed out to voters. At the end of the polling day, all ballots, including the un-cast ones have to be accounted for. Include a tear-off strip you can optionally take with you that has the same serial number printed on it as your ballot. Then after all the ballots are counted, publish them all on the Internet anonymously by serial number. You can check the vote tally on-line to see if the published ballot matched your choices. Or if you don’t want to, don’t take the tear off tab. But if you don’t have that, you can’t dispute the public tally within a 10-day limit to dispute a bad count. You don’t get to re-vote, but you can challenge to have a bad tally on your behalf removed from the official count IF you kept your tab. Your tab has the same anti-counterfeit measures printed on or in it as your ballot.
I suppose the tear-off tab has the same “union boss” problem. But any serialized ballot would have that issue. You fix that problem by making such tampering a federal felony and plant anonymous moles in the union. RICO laws take care of the rest…
of serialized ballets…
Like the Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, etc. And then you randomly shuffle the scenes between them…. er… or maybe you just shuffle serialized ballots.
Thank goodness nobody reads this blog….
Electing the right people to Congress can certainly fix this problem, quickly and decisively. The agencies run on money authorized and appropriated by Congress, which has the sole authority to commit the United States to any and all expenditures. With a simple majority in the House and a veto-proof majority in the Senate, the Congress can simply defund the administrative state, no matter who is president, the same way various state and local governments defunded the police. How will CDC pay for itself? Join BLM and Antifa in looting Louis Vuitton? (I guess it’s now called “Looty Vuitton.”)
The trick is to elect enough of the right people to Congress.
The trick is to make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing.
Didn’t you hear that Milton’s not in charge any more?
To do that, you’d need to replace 100% of the Democrats and at least 90% of the Republicans in Congress. That’s a big challenge.
Big companies mask “down-sizing” with “re-organization” often in combination with “re-location” projects. The Federal system would benefit from that, further (truthfully) claiming the military benefits of DISPERSING assets. However attractive the fantasy of a nuclear strike on Washington DC might momentarily seem, we don’t want that to happen NOR do we want our systems completely destroyed if it does happen. So, re-organize, re-locate, and disperse. (And, er, without saying so, “DOWNSIZE”)
Dept of Labor goes to Detroit. The city needs an infusion of “desk” workers to replace the “factory” jobs lost.
Dept of Agriculture moves to Iowa. Ames, maybe.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives downsizes and moves to a target shaped building in Oklahoma City. Remember the cost of intrusive over-reach, and behave!
The Dept of Energy moves to Barrow, Alaska. The civil servants there can freeze in the dark unless and until they figure out how to produce more reliable energy…
The Department of Education moves, not far, into inner-city Baltimore. Every GS-10 and above is also responsible to teach a high school class half-days, at least three days per week. (Can’t do any worse…)
Other suggestions?
Don’t put any agency in a college town. Not even one with a community college.
IMHO the only solution is to abolish the organizations that are worse than useless, being utterly partisan and corrupt.
That includes the FBI, DOJ, and BATF.
How about just renaming them to set morale at the proper level and the problem solves itself?
Instead of FBI, DOJ and BATF, we have FU, PIG, BOHICA, ANAL, FETID, DUPES, IDIOT, SLIME, SCUMBAG, BOOZER, DIRTBALL and JACKASS?
Usually what happens over time is that you end up not being able or willing to afford or even care about the Deep State. The solution is you eventually outsource it. In the vernacular I believe the word is Invasion.
There’s a book from years ago by a Thomas T. Thomas (apparently his real name) entitled “First Citizen”. It’s a thinly disguised retelling of the rise to power of an American G.Julius Caesar in the early 21st Century. One of the things that happens that enables this is the destruction of Washington City by a nuke of unknown origin.
I’m beginning to think that while another Caesar isn’t the answer, the decapitation of the US gov’t has its plus side.
On the other hand, is a lot of ways, the Community-Organizer-in-Chief was our non-bloody version of Sulla– the man who showed that the rules of the Republic could be broken with ease, and with no consequences. At what point do they start with private armies and lists of proscriptions?
BLM / Antifa already are a private army …they just aren’t very disciplined.
I believe Corporal Hicks had the right idea.
If you’re thinking of the line I think you’re thinking of, I believe that idea was Ripley’s.
Fuckin A
Joe Biden might destroy the federal Govt
Best tactic is what Trump did; slash regulations stop the growth of such. Believe he claimed (pre-Covid) that for every regulation enacted he eliminated at least two. Fewer regulations equals fewer un-elected regulators to enforce them. Probably firing them isn’t likely but after you pressure them into retirement just don’t replace them.
Unfortunately, where Trump failed is you need systemic reform, or your regulatory cuts can just be undone by the next administration. Personally, I think a good start on this would be reversing Chevron and generally enforcing the non delegation doctrine more strictly. Which means we need more conservative and libertarian organizations to bring lawsuits against regulatory overreach.
Elections in the current form certainly won’t fix anything. The “Machine” is too deeply entrenched in the election infrastructure to allow for anything other than the status quo. Anyone remember when the League of Women Voters would publish local election guides covering -every- candidate on the ballot which you could get for free at the library? Anyone remember when Presidential debates included all of the candidates who were on all the ballots, and not just Demicans/Republocrats?
I think a good clean election would do wonders for the citizenry. I would suggest that the National Guard provide ballot collection and tally security and oversight. You can only vote on Election Day. You get a purple finger. You must ID with at minimum a voter registration card, which is stamped with the current election when you vote. Physical ballots filled out by hand and then scanned with a receipt given to the voter with their choices noted. It would not be foolproof, obviously, but the point is to restore confidence in the basic mechanism of government, the voting in of citizens who legit win elections.
The military isn’t allowed at polling places because that’s how the government intimidates people and bars them from voting. Similarly, most states have laws on the books that you can’t arrest someone who is their way to the polls until after they cast their ballot.
A receipt showing your vote choices is how union bosses force their peasantry to prove they voted for the correct candidate in order to keep one’s job.
Those who fail to learn the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat them…
National Guard, not the Army, Air Force, etc. I wouldn’t trust the Pentagon either, but guardsmen tend to have a stronger local connection. Who would you propose secure the collection and tally of votes.
Unions, not as big a thing anymore. Interesting that you consider the citizenry to be peasants. How would you propose we be able to double-check votes cast versus votes tallied? An “independent” third party chosen by the Machine?
Do you have anything constructive to offer as suggestions?
In addition to Voter ID (not a big fan of Drivers Licenses for this) I’m in favor of printed ballots with serial numbers and some form of anti-counterfeit measure, like stamped on holograms or embedded strips in the ballot form itself, unique to that election cycle. Polling places are handed a strict number of serialized ballets, which are then randomly shuffled before being handed out to voters. At the end of the polling day, all ballots, including the un-cast ones have to be accounted for. Include a tear-off strip you can optionally take with you that has the same serial number printed on it as your ballot. Then after all the ballots are counted, publish them all on the Internet anonymously by serial number. You can check the vote tally on-line to see if the published ballot matched your choices. Or if you don’t want to, don’t take the tear off tab. But if you don’t have that, you can’t dispute the public tally within a 10-day limit to dispute a bad count. You don’t get to re-vote, but you can challenge to have a bad tally on your behalf removed from the official count IF you kept your tab. Your tab has the same anti-counterfeit measures printed on or in it as your ballot.
I suppose the tear-off tab has the same “union boss” problem. But any serialized ballot would have that issue. You fix that problem by making such tampering a federal felony and plant anonymous moles in the union. RICO laws take care of the rest…
of serialized ballets…
Like the Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, etc. And then you randomly shuffle the scenes between them…. er… or maybe you just shuffle serialized ballots.
Thank goodness nobody reads this blog….
Electing the right people to Congress can certainly fix this problem, quickly and decisively. The agencies run on money authorized and appropriated by Congress, which has the sole authority to commit the United States to any and all expenditures. With a simple majority in the House and a veto-proof majority in the Senate, the Congress can simply defund the administrative state, no matter who is president, the same way various state and local governments defunded the police. How will CDC pay for itself? Join BLM and Antifa in looting Louis Vuitton? (I guess it’s now called “Looty Vuitton.”)
The trick is to elect enough of the right people to Congress.
The trick is to make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing.
Didn’t you hear that Milton’s not in charge any more?
To do that, you’d need to replace 100% of the Democrats and at least 90% of the Republicans in Congress. That’s a big challenge.
Big companies mask “down-sizing” with “re-organization” often in combination with “re-location” projects. The Federal system would benefit from that, further (truthfully) claiming the military benefits of DISPERSING assets. However attractive the fantasy of a nuclear strike on Washington DC might momentarily seem, we don’t want that to happen NOR do we want our systems completely destroyed if it does happen. So, re-organize, re-locate, and disperse. (And, er, without saying so, “DOWNSIZE”)
Dept of Labor goes to Detroit. The city needs an infusion of “desk” workers to replace the “factory” jobs lost.
Dept of Agriculture moves to Iowa. Ames, maybe.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives downsizes and moves to a target shaped building in Oklahoma City. Remember the cost of intrusive over-reach, and behave!
The Dept of Energy moves to Barrow, Alaska. The civil servants there can freeze in the dark unless and until they figure out how to produce more reliable energy…
The Department of Education moves, not far, into inner-city Baltimore. Every GS-10 and above is also responsible to teach a high school class half-days, at least three days per week. (Can’t do any worse…)
Other suggestions?
Don’t put any agency in a college town. Not even one with a community college.
IMHO the only solution is to abolish the organizations that are worse than useless, being utterly partisan and corrupt.
That includes the FBI, DOJ, and BATF.
How about just renaming them to set morale at the proper level and the problem solves itself?
Instead of FBI, DOJ and BATF, we have FU, PIG, BOHICA, ANAL, FETID, DUPES, IDIOT, SLIME, SCUMBAG, BOOZER, DIRTBALL and JACKASS?