Tag: thoughts
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Legislator as Communicator
The job of being a legislator demands that anyone who hopes to fill the role be a capable communicator. I’m not talking about the ability to speak in sound-bitese (although there is a place for that). I am talking about the ability to send and receive messages to voters and to other public officials they…
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Liberty is . . .
If I am pursuing liberty it seems reasonable to try defining what “liberty” is. Let me start off by saying that I chose the name very carefully and in the years since then I have confirmed many times that I chose correctly – liberty is what I am pursuing, and nothing short of liberty will…
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Legislator as Campaign Strategist
I had thought to cover the ideal candidacy of a good legislator in a single post but it has become obvious to me that there is just too much to cover in one sitting. On top of that, the campaign is arguably the aspect of being a good legislator where candidates – whether they end…
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A Legislator as a Person
When I assert that anyone who would be a good legislator must have some basic life qualifications I base that assertion on the example outlined in the Constitution where requirements are set for members of the House to be at least 25 years old and members of the Senate to be at least 30 years…
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An Ideal Legislator
I seem to have caught the interest of some people when I offered to describe the job of a being a legislator. I said that it would take multiple posts (and it will), but I thought I should start out by explaining the scope of what I would be describing. My view is that being…
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No Individual Mandate. Period.
photo credit: wstera2 When I responded to Obama’s Health Care Speech I said the following about the potential inclusion of an individual mandate in whatever health care overhaul bill is eventually debated in Congress: In a nod to the necessity of compromise and political expediency (I do have a pragmatic bone in my body –…
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What is the Job of a Representative?
One of my favorite questions to ask candidates in the past has been “in your own words, what is the job description for the office you are seeking?” That continues to be one of my candidate questions because observing the representatives I have had (as well as members of Congress in general) convinces me that…
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Securing Liberty
photo credit: Brian Wilson Photography I got a complaint on facebook over a statement I made that later amendments take legal precedence over earlier ones where both conflictingly address the same point of law. Here was the complaint: I have a problem with the rationalization . . . that a later amendment takes precedence over…
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Government Can’t Do Charity
Those pushing the need for health care reform spend a lot of time talking about the uninsured and the many unfortunate people who cannot or will not afford to pay for health care. (Mostly they talk about the “cannot pay” people except when they are proposing to have individual mandates, then they start talking about…
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Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
I was tempted not to include Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address among my review of founding documents, but I have become very interested in the parallels between the struggles over slavery and some of the struggles of our day. One question I asked as I read it again was, “have we learned anything in the last…