As of: May 25, 2022
October 3,
2018 -- (copy of a message sent to the Republican National
Committee)
You keep sending
me requests to donate money. In fact, your wretched website defaults to
a pop-up request for donations. Apparently your primary focus is raising
money, rather than any coherent political strategy.
I feel it is only fair to explain why I'm not sending you anything. Pure and simple, you guys and gals are a bad investment. You can't get anything done, despite having a majority in both houses and a Republican President.
If you haven't figured it out yet, we are in America's second Civil War, and our side is losing. The Kavanaugh confirmation circus is just the latest example. It is EVIL we are fighting, not misguided but honorable opponents. And what are you doing? The country needs Winston Churchill, and the Republican party offers Neville Chamberlain. The sorry example of the aptly-named Sen. Flake is but the latest in the sad stream of "go along to get along", "let's all get re-elected" goofiness that has become the hallmark of this party. Show me some backbone, and I may reconsider. Until then, the checkbook stays shut.
If that's not
possible, let me offer an alternative strategy:
September 13,
2019 --- Letter to Texas Governor Greg Abbot about gun
violence
Governor Abbot:
I am writing to express my concern about your response to the recent tragic deaths in Texas, caused by despicable users of firearms. Naturally, when events such as this occur, there is an overwhelming tendency, particularly among politicians, to “Do Something”. The difficult part is to insure that what we do is (1) appropriate; (2) does not make the problem worse; and (3) does not create additional burdens on law-abiding citizens. Sadly, in the larger view, I am pessimistic about our ability to retain our freedom.Edmund Burke wrote
in 1791: “Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact
proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own
appetites, — in proportion as their love to justice is above their
rapacity, — in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of
understanding is above their vanity and presumption, — in proportion
as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and
good, in preference to the flattery of knaves.”
So why do we not talk about this? Why does the hysterical Left control the arguments, and why are many of our leaders so spineless? You are the governor, you have, as Teddy Roosevelt said, the “bully pulpit”. What you do with it is up to you.
(no reply was
received)
March 25, 2020 -- (Email to Senator Ted Cruz, regarding the proposed Corona virus bailout bill)
Senator, if the bailout bill passes WITH the incredible number of unassociated garbage introduced by the left-Democrat cabal, then we are doomed. Has anyone in Foggy Bottom taken a look at the national debt? We simply cannot have everything we want. The Democrats, as you know, are using this emergency to push their agenda ("never let a crisis go to waste"). I would rather see no bill at all than allow this to happen. You all might try being honest with the American people for once. I realize this is a novel and untried idea, but it might just work.
September 24, 2021 -- I sent a comment to Senators Cruz and Cornyn (both from Texas) opposing the proposed debt ceiling increase. Here is the reply from Senator Cornyn:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 budget resolution (S.Con.Res.14). I appreciate having the benefit of your comments.
The FY2022 budget resolution, which passed the Senate on August 11, 2021, contains a wish list of partisan priorities including expanding welfare programs, job-killing tax hikes on small businesses and individuals across the country. Instead of providing fiscal discipline, this budget amounts to a reckless tax-and-spending spree that will unlock a massive expansion of the federal government. It will also drive up consumer prices, undermine wages earned by hard-working taxpayers, and adds trillions to the federal debt over the next ten years. Because this budget jeopardizes future economic growth and the financial well-being of millions of Americans, I voted against it.
I have consistently supported legislation which would add an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to require the federal government to balance its budget each year. In addition, a Balanced Budget Amendment would make it more difficult for the federal government to continue its reckless spending by requiring a two-thirds vote of the U.S. House and Senate before increasing taxes or the debt limit. Families across Texas have to balance their budgets and make tough choices to live within their means. There is no reason the federal government should operate any differently.
I appreciate having the opportunity to represent the interests of Texans in the United States Senate, and you may be certain that I will keep your concerns in mind. Thank you for taking the time to contact me.
Sincerely,
JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator
September 25, 2021 -- Follow-up email to Senators
Cruz and Cornyn
Senator Cornyn: Thank you for your reply to my message concerning the budget. I certainly agree with your comments, and with Senator Cruz about the need for a Balanced Budget Amendment. However, that is years in the future, if ever. Constitutional amendments are difficult and lengthy, as they should be.
THIS WEEK is when we need to stand up and simply vote NO to the disastrous plans of the Democrats. Vote NO to increase the debt ceiling, NO on the infrastructure bill, NO on the rest of the multi-trillion dollar package.
I don't want to see any more "go along to get along", no more Republican "me too, only less", no more craven caving. The government's going to have to shut down? Fine, let it. Considering the on-going debacle that the Biden clown show has become, yanking the plug seems to be a pretty good idea.
How many debt ceiling increases have we had? If we’re not going to stop it, then who will? If we don’t stop it now, then when will it happen? It’s time to do the right thing, not the easy thing.
September 29,
2021 -- Comments sent to Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas)
Senator Cotton: I
wish to thank you for your remarks yesterday to GEN Milley. You
were absolutely spot on!
A quick digression. My father was born and raised in
Dardanelle, served in the Army Air Corps in WW II, and is buried
in the Dardanelle cemetery. My oldest son had a tour with the "Old
Guard" in Arlington.
When I left the Navy after 20+ years active duty, the military was a
proud and honorable institution. GEN Milley and others have
trashed that, to our lasting detriment. Although he doesn't appear
to realize it, Milley needs to resign because he is no longer qualified
to lead. Why would present and future soldiers - assuming we have
any - follow someone who has demonstrated his incompetence on such a
vast scale, and who will probably get them killed for no purpose?
It has long been a military tradition that leaders could not escape
failure; they were removed not for punishment but because the failure
occurred on their watch. You might be interested in an article I
wrote about this topic. It's available at
http://www.civ17.com/ARTICLES/DHC_2021-08-23-2235.pdf
With sincere thanks, and best wishes for your continued success.
October 5, 2021 --- Letter to the Frenship ISD School Board (Wolfforth, Texas)
As you are probably aware, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) has asked the Biden administration to declare that parents who object to school board actions be labeled as "domestic terrorists". Yesterday the DOJ announced formation of a task force to investigate this. The idea that protesting school board actions can be considered "domestic terrorism" and a "hate crime" is beyond reason, and represents actions typical of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
I am requesting
information about the following:
(1)
Is the FISD Board currently a member, or does it have current
relationship with, NSBA?
(2)
Has the FISD Board, in the past, had any relationship with NSBA?
(3)
Has the FISD Board, or another entity, transferred any funds to NSBA, or
used funds in support of NSBA or related activities? This would include,
but not limited to, membership dues, payment for services or supplies,
travel for meetings or conventions, and participation in any other
activities coordinated or sponsored by NSBA?
(4)
If the answer is yes, please provide a year-by-year breakdown for years
2010-2021.
If you have any questions about this request, please feel free to contact me via email, or at xxx-xxx-xxxx. The favor of your reply is requested not later than October 11.
(following reply received on October 8)
Mr. Gray,
After checking with our Superintendent’s office and our Frenship ISD Business Office, it appears we do not have any memberships with the NSBA. Our responses to each question are highlighted below:
(1) Is the FISD Board currently a member, or does it have current relationship with, NSBA? No
(2) Has the FISD Board, in the past, had any relationship with NSBA? No
(3) Has the FISD Board, or another entity, transferred any funds to NSBA, or used funds in support of NSBA or related activities? This would include, but not limited to, membership dues, payment for services or supplies, travel for meetings or conventions, and participation in any other activities coordinated or sponsored by NSBA? No responsive records
(4) If the answer is yes, please provide a year-by-year breakdown for years 2010-2021
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance,
Tiffany Taylor
Director of Communications & Community Engagement
O: 806.866.9541 | Ttaylor@frenship.us
Well, I
knew it was too good to be true. All of the solemn pronouncements that
the Democrats "are going to own the debt increase". All of the posturing
by Senator McConnell about "standing firm". In the end, the usual
happened. Republican "leadership" caved.
So, we're back to the traditional Republican lack of intestinal fortitude. The sad dirge plays once again. "Me too, only less." "Let's go along to get along." "We'll just kick the can down the road and let our children pay for it." Don't you guys and gals get tired of being Charlie Brown with the football?
For posterity's sake, let's record the names of the Republican Senators who voted for this train wreck, so I can put this on my Web site and make sure the names are not forgotten:
So here we are, within spitting distance of a $29 TRILLION dollar debt, Biden & Co. trying to spend another $5 trillion, and this is the best you can do?
Senator Cornyn, there is an election in 2026, and I sincerely hope your name is not on the ballot. However, perhaps you have some facts that will change my mind. If so, I look forward to your reply.
Congressman Arrington:
I was traveling during your last open house and unable to attend. I believe you asked voters to express their major concerns, so here are mine. Let me divide my concerns into two categories: tactical and strategic. The former are mostly amenable to achievable solutions; the latter represent long-term problems with no quick or even obvious remedy.
Tactical concerns: Well, to quote from the movie Top Gun, this is
a target-rich environment. In no particular order, I would list
the following:
• Fallout from the debacle in Afghanistan. My
greatest concern, as a retired Navy officer, is the collapse of
accountability in our senior military leadership. Please see my
article at http://www.civ17.com/ARTICLES/DHC_2021-08-23-2235.pdf
• The southern border. As with many other
concerns, this is relatively easy to fix, politics aside. The
major issue is the inability of the Executive Branch to accept reality.
o Finish the
wall.
o Enforce the
existing laws.
o Deport illegal
immigrants.
• COVID. This clown show has gone on too
long. No one trusts Fauci, Biden is a clueless tyrant, and on any
given day you can get 50 conflicting opinions.
o Cancel the
unconstitutional vax mandate.
o Stop requiring
masks. This includes airlines and federal buildings. Allow
citizens the freedom to make personal choices.
o Return health
issues back to the states and move on.
• Inflation. Well, what did you folks in Congress when you spend trillions of dollars we don’t have? Then there’s the ridiculous claim by President Biden that we can keep spending, it “won’t cost anything”, and will actually make inflation better. You should be ashamed of your 13 Republican colleagues in the House who voted for the infrastructure boondoggle.
• Crime and domestic violence. Here again, Left-Progressive ideology supersedes reality. If more police lead to less crime, then the reverse is also true. Of significantly greater concern is the toleration or even promotion of crime by those in authority, as long as the perpetrator has a favored ethnic background or chants politically correct slogans.
• Racism. We’ve managed to turn Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech upside down. Now, the only thing that matters is the color of your skin. Again, as with so many of our problems, reality plays second fiddle to Progressive ideology and the visions of the anointed class.
… and the list goes on. Election integrity, Second Amendment rights, gender foolishness, failure to learn the lessons of history, the ever-growing national debt, attacks on Christianity, etc., etc. But let’s turn to what I have labeled as some of America’s strategic concerns. These are critical to our survival, but do not have a “quick fix”.
• Acculturalization. It is necessary in any functional society that a sizeable majority of the population is in general agreement as to the principles by which the society operates. Acculturalization comes primarily from the family, but also from education, work experiences, religion, media, and other sources. The United States is losing this, in favor of trendy morality based on group, tribe or racial identity. It should be obvious that teaching citizens to hate their country is not a recipe for long-term success, or even existence.
• Education.
Whether it’s Critical Race Theory, “woke” social manipulation,
elimination of parental influence, “dumbing down” the curriculum, gender
follies, arrogant and unresponsive teacher unions and school boards, or
domination of the process by tiny minorities claiming to be
“threatened”, our public educational system is a mess. Education
has been going downhill since the 1960’s, and there isn’t going to be a
quick fix. However, consider these:
o Charter
schools. Parental choice will reward the good and punish the
bad. If public school administrators get tax funds regardless of
performance, then why should they care about quality?
o Eliminate the
federal Department of Education (“Defund the DOE”). This was a
Jimmy Carter payback to the American Federation of Teachers for campaign
support
Size of the federal government.
As the government expands, freedom contracts. My primary concern is the out-of-control Executive bureaucracy. These unelected bureaucrats now make most of our laws, and it keeps getting worse. For example, please see this article (https://www.aier.org/article/bidens-hhs-we-dont-have-time-to-review-regulations-were-too-busy-enforcing-them/). Congress has abandoned its responsibilities to an endless string of “alphabet agencies”. They are very difficult to control; the preferred solution would be to completely eliminate some. The problem is that every agency has is lobbyists and beneficiaries. It is the concentration of benefits accompanied by distributed costs that makes elimination or downsizing so difficult.
Let me close with a final observation. There is no physical principal or cosmic law that requires the continued success, or even existence, of the United States. Arnold Toynbee observed that most civilizations die by suicide rather than by conquest. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “... if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide.”
Thank you for sharing your views with me. I always appreciate hearing
from my fellow West Texans. I am honored to serve as your voice in our
nation’s capital. Your insights are invaluable to me as I work to solve
the problems facing our country and advance the values and interests of
our region.
From his first day in office, President Biden has been obsessed with
repealing repeal every policy with President Trump’s name on it.
President Biden reinstated “catch and release,” repealed funding for the
border wall, and rescinded the Remain in Mexico policy, just to name a
few. The President is pandering to the Radical Left and failing to
uphold the law and protect the American people.
As a result of these reckless policies, we have seen a record 1.7
million border crossings in the first 10 months of the Biden
Administration. Border states and communities bear the brunt of Biden’s
self-inflicted disaster through the strain on their hospitals, the
overcrowding of their classrooms, and the uptick of gangs and crimes in
their neighborhoods. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) tracks data on
crimes committed by illegal immigrants, and the 2021 statistics are
harrowing:
350% increase in Driving Under the Influence
450% increase in Illegal Drug Possession and
Trafficking
475% increase in Burglary, Robbery, Larceny, and
Theft
210% increase in Sexual Offenses
1600% increase in Homicide and Manslaughter
Article 4, Section 4 of the US Constitution, the “Guarantee Clause,”
states that the federal government must provide to each of the states
protection against invasion. In addition, Article 1, Section 10 of the
Constitution grants states the explicit authority to defend against an
invasion when the state is “in such imminent danger as will not admit of
delay.”
In reviewing the Constitution, two things are clear: President Biden has
failed to faithfully execute the laws of the land, and the State of
Texas has the Constitutional authority to protect its citizens and
secure its border. Texas does not have to be a passive victim of a
failed federal government.
I introduced H. J. Res. 50 to affirm states’ Constitutional right and
sovereign power to defend against border invasion. Paramilitary,
narco-terrorist drug cartels have capitalized on President Biden’s
open-border policies and are trafficking people, drugs, and crime into
our nation at unprecedented rates. I will continue to demonstrate strong
support for Texas exercising its constitutional powers to defend our
communities, protect our families, and secure our border.
Again, thank you for reaching out. If you would like to receive regular
updates on important policy issues and know how I am fighting for West
Texas, please follow my Facebook page, or visit my website and sign up
for my e-newsletter.
Your friend and fellow West Texan,
Jodey