Federalist Republicans

Story.

This is going to rumble on for a while, yet...

I wrote some remarks about this in another blog - Little Miss Atilla - a couple of days ago:

The American Conservative magazine asks this week that "which sacred Republican priciple will be thrown out next?"

It's been astonishing to me to watch how quickly SOME people in the GOP, who usually shout loudly for a strict constructionist interpretation of the constitution, of the Federal Government bring reduced in size and scope, and against activist judges, have now drunk the Federal kool-aid and realized that this Federal Power stuff is kind of neat when pressed into service of their own ideas. There was a time - ten, maybe 14 days ago - when people who demanded the use of federal and judicial power to further their own agenda were called "liberals" or "activist judges" if they happened to own a gavel. No longer.

The legal reality is this. This is a matter exclusively for Florida and the Florida courts, unless the woman's Federal rights - generally speaking, the 14th Amendment rights - have been violated. Your opinion does not matter. My opinion does not matter, either. What matters is the laws in place in Florida at the time, whether they were followed, and whether the woman's federal rights were breached. Every level of the Federal Court system has now stated unambiguously that they see no evidence of this; they stated it before the extraordinary scenes of the other weekend, and they have stated it since.

The test of how strongly held a party's principles are is not how loudly they shout about them, but whether they follow those principles when it is disadvantageous to them to do so. Of course, the right to life is a principle deeply held in many sections of the GOP, myself included, but there is now a serious divide between those in the GOP who believe in the afore-mentioned principles - strict constructionist interpretation of the constitution, of the Federal Government bring reduced in size and scope, and judges ruling what the law says, not what it OUGHT, in their opinion, to say - and those who will throw out the rule of law, the constiutiton, and every other principle they hold over one issue, blind to the consequences.

And the consequences are these. The next time you hear a conservative complaining about an activist judge, ask them what there opinion on Terri Schiavo was. If that person opposes what the Judges did, which was to strictly follow the laws of the land, to not overturn state statute, to follow what the law said rather than what they thought it ought to say, then to me, that person isn't a conservative - they're a liberal with a different social agenda. They have unwisely forfeited their credibility (and, by proxy, robbed from all of us our credibility) to complain about judicial activism just at the moment we need to be able to critique judicial activism the most.

While I do not doubt the sincerity of the good intentions of those in the GOP trying to save this woman, we cannot throw out the constitution, nor abandon every other principle we hold to save her - otherwise, we run the risk of finding out exactly where that road paved with glittering good intentions is leading.

Cracks ahead?

I was going to just post the article from the Washington Post which talks about how the GOP is being placed under enormous stress over the President's ludicrous immigration plans ("Operation Roll Out The Welcome Wagon" - q.v. entries 1/27/2004, 12/15/2004 and 3/7/2005), but I also wanted to express my astonishment at a post by another LJ Republican, who argues that "The Republican party has become much more Federal-policy oriented. From No Child Left Behind to potential ammendments, it has left its traditional policy of letting the states solve their own matters. This may not be such a bad thing...The Federal government will continue to become larger, to take more policy away from the states. This does not necessarily have to be a bad thing".

Is it just me, or have certain Republicans gotten drunk on the same federal spending and federal authority that the Democrats imbibed during their long hold of Congress, and now those leaders find that big spending, big government and federal power, which they decried when unable to wield it, are actually kind of neat when pressed into service of our - at least, their - ideals?

When the the heat of the moment fades, and Congress' actions in the Schaivo case are seen in the cold light of retrospect, I think that it's going to be (or should be) even more of a failure point for the GOP as the immigration deabte, because this case pits the party's principles at war with...Its other principles. It pits the party which argues for rule of law and strict constructionism in Constiutional interpretation against the party which wants to save lives at any cost, Constitutional restrictions and the federalism be damned.

T-shirt ideas

Two witty t-shirt ideas that a couple of Snowe 08 volunteers threw back and forth:





Really only funny to people who live in Maine, but I like t-shirts that mix wit and politics.

911 services "optional extra" for vonage customers

Story.

What. The. Hell.

Texas sued Vonage Holdings Corp., the largest provider of Internet-based calling, accusing it of deceptive practices after a customer couldn't reach 911 emergency services using a Vonage connection.

Vonage subscribers Peter and Sosamma John, parents of Joyce John, were shot Feb. 2 in Houston as Joyce John tried to call 911 during a break-in at their home, according to the office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. The parents, who survived their injuries, didn't specifically request 911 services when they signed up. Joyce John, who tried to reach authorities from an upstairs phone when her home was being robbed, received a recording saying that emergency services weren't available from the phone line, the attorney general said.

Abbott, who is seeking $20,000 for each violation, said Vonage's marketing materials don't make it clear that users need to sign up to make 911 calls.

Now the appellate court rejects Schaivo appeal

Story.

The ruling drew a similar assessment from congressional leaders, including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), the chief backer of the new law. "Congress explicitly provided Terri Schiavo's family recourse to federal court, and this decision is at odds with both the clear intent of Congress and the constitutional rights of a helpless young woman," he said.

Judge finds no grounds for intervening in Schaivo Case

Story.

The 14th Amendment requires due process of law; the case was going to turn on whether there had been due process of law; the judge found that due process had been followed. IMO, it became pretty clear which way this was going to go when the Supreme Court refused to take the case last week.

##EDIT: I strictly refuse to take any moral position on this. I have no idea what the right moral answer is. I'm just commenting on the legal (or rather, constitutional) perspective.

My answers to Newt's test

Newt Gingrich has a test on his website to determine whether a person is more in line with traditional American values or the secular left-liberal system (and, more importantly, to promote his book, Winning the Future, available now from all good bookstores and libraries. I have my copy). Don't expect this to be scientific. ;)

I think we're supposed to score our agreement with the statements below.

Questions
1. We should be allowed to say “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Able-bodied people on welfare should be required to work.
3. Men who assault pregnant women and kill the unborn child should be prosecuted for assault and murder.
4. The United States should put its own interests first and cooperation with international organizations second.
5. Believe in God.
6. Proud to be an American.
7. Schools should teach new immigrants about American values.
8. Everyone should learn English.
9. Personal injury lawyers should get no more than 15 percent of any award.
10. It is possible to use new technology and new science to develop clean, renewable energy that protects the environment and the economy.

Answers
1. Allowed to? 10. Required to? 2.
2. 7. I think that there's scope for education to filter into between-job downtime, and it makes more sense to spend time educating a person to get a $50k job than sending them to flip burgers for minimum wage. I have a problem with waste; I have no problem with investment.
3. 10. No-brainer.
4. 10. That's not to say that international organizations can't or shouldn't exist - I'm no foaming-at-the-mouth world government isolationist conspiracy theorist - but yes. America ahead of ideology in trade policy, and the right to defend ourselves with whatever tools and policies are necessary and appropriate.
5. Tough one. I want to, I just have real problems with faith. I guess I'm going to sit on the fence with a 5.
6. 10. This is now home, and I'm proud of this country.
7. American values like independence, personal responsibility, individual liberty, freedom of speech, and so on? 10.
8. Having seen the ghettoization stemming from fity years of the failure to enforce this policy in Britain, definitely a 10.
9. 10. Although personally, I'd aim for 10% and negotiate up to 15% rather than starting at 15%.
10. 10. Senator Snowe gave a press conference not long back concurring with this exact point. Given Gingrich's recent comments praising the center, I have to say it - Snowe/Gingrich '08, anyone? ;)

Okay, so I scored a 72, plus whatever you want to count for question 1. So at least 74, maybe an 82. Darn, my moderate RINO street cred may be slipping. ;)

Now even security will be outsourced

Pentagon looks abroad for new military purchases The Pentagon is increasingly shopping overseas for its weapons, ending a long made-in-America tradition that assured U.S. defense contractors of nearly exclusive sales to their best customer. The Navy's recent selection of a British-Italian design for the president's next helicopter demonstrated the breadth of the move toward foreign suppliers. The U.S. incumbent, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., surprisingly lost to an international team led by Lockheed Martin Corp. In another blow to Buy America advocates, the Army will base the design of its newest spy planes on Brazilian-made Embraer jets instead of Georgia-built Gulfstream aircraft. Some in Congress worry that relying too much on foreign military suppliers would hurt domestic industries and raise national security concerns. They contend that foreign governments could choose to slow or stop production of U.S.-bound products when the Pentagon needs them most. While critics are concerned that the trend could reduce the already shrinking aerospace workforce, the Pentagon argues that foreign competitors are creating jobs. Last year, EADS NV, Europe's largest defense firm, opened a helicopter plant in Mississippi. Embraer SA of Brazil is leasing a 71,000-square-foot plant in Jacksonville, Fla., to assemble the Army spy planes. Foreign investment in the United States from 2000 to 2003 fell 12 percent, to $566 billion, according to a Pentagon report. But in the same period, foreign investment in the aerospace sector jumped 198 percent, to $3.4 billion.

Immigration again

Illegal immigration accross America's southern border is increasing:

A decade ago, the United States began trying to fortify the border, starting with Operation Gatekeeper in 1994. Since then, U.S. officials have added more patrols, lights and walls every year, especially since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Yet instead of stopping illegal immigration, those measures have just made many Mexicans already in the United States stay longer, according to Mexican officials.

U.S. officials made 1.1 million apprehensions along the border last year, a 24 percent increase over the year before. It is unclear whether the rising apprehensions signify that more people are trying to cross or that a greater percentage are being caught. But experts in both countries estimate that perhaps 500,000 or more still make it through each year.

Mexican workers in the United States, including millions of illegal immigrants, are vital to the Mexican economy, sending a record $17 billion home last year.

John Hostettler (R-Ind.) noted that legislation passed by Congress last year authorized the addition of 10,000 new Border Patrol agents over the next five years.

"I was therefore deeply disappointed that his (Bush's) budget calls for an increase in Border Patrol agents of barely 10 percent of that called for by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act," the Indiana Republican said.

The big tent

Someone asked me to justify why I consider myself a Republican. Here's some thoughts.

The short answer:

Because I believe in limited, constitutional and fiscally responsible government, in personal liberty and individual responsiblity, in a robust foreign policy, and a trade policy which puts American interests ahead of recalcitrant free trade dogma. I believe in a free society of equal opportunities for all, which means (among other things) that affirmative action has to go, and I believe that we have to take necessary, rational steps to safeguard the lives of the unborn.

And I just don't think that the Democratic party is interested in those things.

It's true that I differ from current orthodoxy on a number of policy points - but that can be measured to a great extent by how far the GOP has moved away from Nelson Rockefeller and Margaret Chase Smith. (Although, for the record, I would still consider myself to their right - I feel that I hover, slightly uncomfortably, somewhere between the libertarian, Rockefeller and neocon wings of the party). I think that there are times when government must step in because no other agency can - and the passage of the increase in FCC fines is an example of when the Fed HAS to take steps because someone must and no-one else can or will. Antitrust laws are another example - monopolization is antithetical to the free market. I don't think that a person who resorts to clever legal tricks to justify torture is someone who the Senate should have confirmed as our Attorney-General. I don't think that the way to save social security is to bankrupt the country further. I don't think that the way that Tom runs the House is healthy for the institution of the Congress (we're likely to differ on this, because my first love in politics is the Congress, while I think you hold in in quiet disdain, from your previous postings). But these are not Democratic stances (or, for that matter, Republican stances) - they're simply the conclusions I have to draw from the facts available. As much as I hate to invoke the ghost of Andrew Jackson, we are all charged with interpreting events and doing what we think is right.

Going live

The campaign to draft Olympia Snowe is delighted to announce that, as of this morning, the first edition of our website is now available at www.OlympiaSnowe2008.com.

The campaign, which is not sanctioned by Senator Snowe, aims to encourage the Senator to seek the Republican nomination to be President of the United States in 2008, to promote the Senator and her views, and to build a national base of support for her candidacy. We aim to send out a message of hope to moderate Republicans across the country: we are still a part of this party, and our voice will be heard.

This website is being launched earlier than scheduled, following press coverage in Maine, New Hampshire and Washington DC's National Journal Hotline. Although we will continue to develop the site in the forthcoming weeks, we hope that the site as it stands forms a strong introduction to Senator Snowe, and we encourage comments and views to be sent to feedback@olympiasnowe2008.com.