A Constitutional Question

I’ve done a pretty bad job of posting lately. My interest in politics has been tested throughly. I’m just tired of the same arguments coming from either side over government spending and taxation. The Tea Party has thoroughly destroyed my faith in Congress, and the American public. I will talk more about that in a later post. Today, I want to pose a question. It’s a question I thought of a long time ago, but never got around to asking. First, a little reminder of our recent history.

Back in March, all the talk was about Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walker was trying to push a bill that stripped the collective bargaining rights of public employees. State Senate Democrats fled in an effort to obstruct him. In the end the bill was passed, but not without gaining significant national attention and a repeated FOXNews claim that was completely wrong. In the last six months, I’ve been mulling this issue over in my head. Education is very important to me. I’ve been a public school system employee. I have strong views about the issue. Personally, I don’t believe that public school teachers have the awesome, easy job that conservative talking heads say they do. I also believe that we should be encouraging people to become teachers not discouraging it. Having the smartest people want to be teachers is good. Education in the cornerstone of everything we do.

All that aside, I thought of an argument that makes the repeal of public employee’s collective bargaining rights is unconstitutional. This argument maybe crazy. It may have been addressed already. I would genuinely like to know what you think. So please leave comments below. As long as their civil and honest of course.

The 1st Amendment to the Constitution says:

     “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

We’re going to focus on the last part of that amendment. The government cannot abridge our “right to peacefully assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”  The way I read that is that collective bargaining is a right of public employees. Collective bargaining is people assembling (as a union) and petitioning the government over grievances (such as pay, working conditions and so on.)

I know that a strict constructionist view of the Constitution would not allow this, because it doesn’t talk specifically about collective bargaining, but collective bargaining didn’t exist. I believe we have to view the Constitution in the era it was written in, and decide for ourselves what is right and wrong. Let me know what you think.

Okay, Let’s Talk About Jobs

Well, as I mentioned in my last post Bank of America is planning to lay-off thirty thousand employees over the next couple of years. This news was announced with stunning irony, on the same day that President Obama sent his recently announced “American Jobs Act” to Congress. So, the talk in politics is all about jobs. What can Congress, or the President really do to create jobs in this country? The answer is. . . not much.

All the talk is about the record of job creation a person has. Rick Perry is touting the economic success “he’s had” in Texas. Mitt Romney is taking shots at him about it, and all the Republicans are blaming President Obama for the economy. John Boehner gave a speech today in Detroit basically outlining the fact that congressional Republicans aren’t going to work with the President. Unless, of course, he does whatever they want. Their ideas are the same tired ideas they’ve had for years, but I will deal with that later.

There is an idea that is more broad and it needs addressed. The American public has a huge misconception about the role of government in the economy. We talk about a President’s record of creating job, but the truth is that president’s don’t create jobs. Unless, they require the government to hire more people. George W. Bush, for example, created the job of Secretary of Homeland Security. President’s can only provide incentives, like tax credits and tax cuts, for employers to hire more people, but that won’t work.

Take a look at it this way. I’m CEO of the Worldwide Widget Corporation, J. Pierpont Finch. We sell two million widgets a year that are produced in two factories employing 100 people. The accountants come to me and say if we build a new factory and hire 50 more people, we’ll get a tax credit. What would you do? If your smart you’d go to the sales team and ask, “If we build a new factory how many more widgets can we sell?” If they say there is no more demand for widgets, you would be crazy to spend the money on a factory and employees that you don’t need. You would be throwing money away. Yes, the government is going to reimburse you for some of it but then your stuck with a factory that is a drain on your profit.

Now, if the sales team comes to you and says, “If we build a factory and hire some people we can sell one million more widgets and our profit will grow 50%.” What would you do? You’d build the factory, and I bet you would do it even if you weren’t getting a tax credit. You’d build it because it is good for Worldwide Widgets.

The President and Congress have no actual role in that decision. Only one thing does, and that is demand. The economy isn’t a physical thing. It is the compilation of all of the uncountable transactions that take place between people and business every day. The mood of the masses drives the economy. President Bush issued rebate checks to American taxpayers. If you filed a tax return you got a $600 check if you were a single person and a $1200 check if you filed jointly. That could stimulate the economy, but only if people spend that money. If the public puts it in their savings for another day, it doesn’t do anything until that other day.

That means that people are the economy. We make it succeed or fail, grow or retract. Capitalism is built on people spending money. That’s why consumer confidence is so important. If we believe the economy is going well and we can afford to spend money, then things will be okay. Christina Stein wrote an interesting article about this at the Kansas Free Press.

I’ve said before that the best way to stimulate the economy would be to eliminate taxes on the poorest people. Poor people are unique in that they are the only group of people who spend every dollar they have. The middle-class, and the wealthy don’t do that. They can afford to have a savings or a retirement account. If you give poor people more of their paycheck, a lot of money will immediately be returned into the economy.

The real truth about the economy is that it hinges on the behavior of people. Presidents don’t control that. Congress doesn’t control that. If you vote on the state of things now, you are voting for the wrong reasons. We need to be voting for the person who is thinking about the future. We need to look at a candidates vision, intellect, and drive. We need to take our eyes off of today and think about tomorrow, and pick the right person to lead us there.

Bank of America Talks Layoffs. I Talk Hot Dogs.

What do Bank of America, and a guy known as “The Chili Man” have in common?

They both call beautiful Charlotte, North Carolina home. Why do I know this? Well, I’m a frequent listener of NPR. Especially, “All Things Considered,” “Car Talk,” and when it works out, “Marketplace.” Today happened to be a day when I listened to “Marketplace,” and I heard this story. If you read a little of it you will find that reporter Amy Scott talks to Charlotte resident and businessman,

Charlotte hot dog man, Vic Werany

Vic Werany. Vic is the aforementioned “Chili Man.” Here’s my thing. He sells hot dogs. Yes, I know that we often put chili on a hot dog. I a huge proponent of doing so. The chili dog is one of my favorite foods, but the “Chili Man” should sell chili. At best, Vic is the “Chili Dog Man.” Little things like that bother me.

Here’s a couple more that nobody ever talks about. Hot dogs are sometimes referred to as “frankfurters” or “wieners,” and nobody complains? These terms mean something. First of all, they’re all sausages really, but a frankfurter and a wiener would be different. Frankfurters are based on the sausages of Frankfurt, and wieners on the sausages of Vienna. So explain to me how Oscar Meyer sells “franks” and “wieners” that are both hot dogs, and don’t get me started on Vienna sausages!

In reality much can be learned by reading the hot dog entry on Wikipedia. It turns out that these terms do not mean what they originally meant. Not really all that surprising. We, Americans, have a way of changing the definition of things to suit our own needs. Anyway, you should take some time to learn about a classic American grilling food, and no it’s not “barbecue”. I’m from Kansas City. If you misuse that holy word I will have a lengthy discussion with you about “barbecue.”

Oh yeah, the story also mentions that Bank of America is going to lay-off 30,000 people over the next couple of years. You didn’t expect me to talk about that, did you?

 

A Debate, A Speech, And Oh, My God, I Forgot Claude Rains

The past couple of days have been eventful in the world of politics. There was a Republican debate, a presidential address to Congress, and shortly thereafter we kicked off the NFL regular season. I’m not sure what it says about this country that the President had to schedule his speech around a football game to make sure people watched, but that’s what happened. Scheduling aside, there is much to talk about.

First, the debate. I didn’t watch it. I have read the highlights. I probably should have watched because it is the first one Texas Governor Rick Perry has participated in, but I wasn’t that interested. Mostly, I didn’t care because the Republican party is not going to nominate anyone that I would consider voting for.  Michele Bachmann claimed she would get the price of gas down to $2 a gallon. I thought that was interesting. I’m sure her reasoning is that if we open the whole country up to drilling we’ll find enough oil. In reality that is nonsense. The price of gas is largely dependent on the price of oil and we will never find enough to compete with the national oil companies of countries like Saudi Arabia. I thought the small exchange between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry about job creation was funny. Perry pointed out the Micheal Dukakis had a better job creation record than Romney did as Governor of Massachusetts. Romney shot back that former Texas governors Ann Richards and George W. Bush had a better record than Perry. Personally, I believe that shows that governors don’t have a whole lot of power over job creation.

Jon Huntsman would be interesting candidate, but I don’t think he has a chance. He might not be a bad choice for VP. He is a seasoned diplomat, and the eventual nominee is almost certain to lack foreign policy experience. Why won’t they have that experience? The answer is simple. Rick Perry is going to be the nominee. I don’t have a doubt about it. He really is the best candidate that the Republicans can put forward. He’s got all the conservative bona fides. He’s got all the folksy appeal. He’s George W. Bush on steroids. Unlike Bush he’s a real Texan. He went to Texas A&M (though his grades weren’t that great.) With the economy stagnating and job creation basically non-existent, he has all the ammunition to take down President Obama. Obama’s problem is simple. His argument is more complicated. Perry can tout his record of job creation in Texas. On the surface this record looks good, but if you look deeper you find that most of those jobs are low-paying and don’t have benefits like health insurance. Obama’s problem will be that most people don’t look deeper.  On NPR’s “All Things Considered”, a Democratic strategist from Texas called Rick Perry, “the best, most talented politician to come out of Texas since LBJ.” If that’s true this election should be something to watch. Which brings us to the President’s speech.

Frankly, I didn’t think it was one of his best. I don’t believe it was particularly well-written. He told Congress to, “pass this bill,” far too often. From a policy standpoint, however, I think he is doing the right thing. His proposals will help everyday Americans. The middle class that doesn’t get talked about nearly often enough will benefit from the bill. The extension of the payroll tax cut, and unemployment benefits are good ideas. The fact that it won’t add to the deficit (which the president pointed out more than once) should make it palatable to Republicans. The President pointed out that the proposals in the bill have been supported by both Republicans and Democrats in the past. That, along with the fact that it won’t add to the deficit, should make it harder for Republicans to oppose it as another “government spending binge.” I firmly believe that the President has the best interests of the American people in mind. Yes, he has a political incentive as well. Job creation and a growing economy will help his reelection effort, but I think in this case he really wants to improve things for the people. We will see what Congress thinks.

Finally, I made a horrible omission. In my last post I recommended the film “Casablanca.” I talked about how the movie contained anything you could want. I talked about the amazing screenplay, and I talked about the stellar performances of all the cast members. To my dismay, I failed to mention Claude Rains. Claude Rains, in the role of “Louie” is absolutely one of the best parts in the movie. He even delivers the unforgettable line, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” So, I must apologize for my error, and once again recommend that you see “Casablanca” It is one of the best films ever made.

5 Film Recommendations

List posts seem to be popular around the blogging community and I’ve done a couple. Today I’ve decided to step outside the world of politics.  Summer is coming to a close and there is no better time for a movie night. If that is in your family’s future, I want to recommend five of my favorite films.

1) CLUE (1985)

Some people may argue that board games don’t make for good movies. CLUE in one case that proves them wrong. Based on the Parker Bros. game Clue is a classic whodunnit mystery.  Tim Curry, Martin Mull, Micheal McKean, Christopher Lloyd, Madeline Kahn, Eileen Brennan, and Lesley Ann Warren made an all-star cast of comedic actors from the mid 1980’s. The premise was simple. Six people show up at a dinner party. Then Mr. Boddy arrives. Mr. Boddy is quickly killed and we are left to figure out who murdered him.  With fantastic performances by the entire cast, and 3 alternate endings, Clue is an underappreciated classic of American comedy.

2) Uncle Buck (1989)

If you talk to people about John Hughes films, you will likely hear about “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles.” You may even come across the occasional fan of “Ferris Buehler’s Day Off.” The one John Hughes flick you aren’t likely to hear about is “Uncle Buck.” “Uncle Buck” starred John Candy as, Buck Russell, the estranged uncle of a suburban Chicago family. When his sister-in-law’s father has a heart attack the family must turn to Buck to look after the three children, only one of whom knows he even exists. Uncle Buck has all the humor of an outright comedy, and the touching growing up story of teenage angst that is the hallmark of John Hughes films. It’s a definite must see.

3) O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000)

Ethan and Joel Cohen might just be the most creative filmmakers alive today. Their films range from the hilarious to absurd to downright frightening. How a pair can come up with “The Dude” for one movie and then have a characters body put through a wood chipper in another is beyond me. I was exposed to the Coen brothers early in my life when I first saw “Raising Arizona.” Since then I have had the pleasure of seeing 8 of the 15 or so movies they have released. While I constantly fight myself over which is my favorite, I believe 2000’s “O, Brother Where Art Thou” is possibly the most creative film of my lifetime. Centered around Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney) and his chain gang companions, Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson), the film is an adaptation of Homer’s “Odyssey” set in the Depression Era South. After they escape from a penal farm, the trio sets out to find treasure. Along the way they encounter a blind soothsayer on the railroad, a guitar player named Tommy(Chris Thomas King), a one-eyed Bible salesman (John Goodman), infamous bank robber George “Baby-Face” Nelson (Michael Badalucco), Governor Pappy O’Daniel (Charles Durning), and a man who will pay you 20 dollars to sing into a can (Stephen Root). Backed up by the brilliant musical direction of T-Bone Burnett, “O Brother Where Art Thou?” is a film you just can’t miss.

4) Inherit The Wind (1960)

When I was growing up my mother took it upon herself to make sure I had an appreciation for classic American cinema. I was the only kid in the elementary school who could talk about Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart and Danny Kaye. My friends didn’t have a clue about who Andy Griffith was,  but I had seen “No Time For Sergeants” ten times. At some point this experience led me to “Inherit The Wind.” Based on the real-life events of the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, “Inherit The Wind” is a fantastic film. “Inherit The Wind” has a top-notch cast with Spencer Tracy, Frederic March, and Gene Kelly, in a rare dramatic, non-dancing role. The cast, the script, and the directing are all reasons to watch this film, but the most important reason is the subject itself.  “Inherit The Wind” is based on the real trial that pitted conservative hero William Jennings Bryan and famous trial lawyer Clarence Darrow against each other. The argument of faith vs. science is explored in-depth. This is the debate that is still going on today. If you want an example of a film that is as relevant today as it was when it was made, “Inherit The Wind” is a great example.

5) Casablanca (1942)

Intrigue, romance, suspense, murder, and most importantly Nazis, “Casablanca” has it all. If you pick one movie from this list to watch, this is it. “Casablanca” is always in the top five of any list of the greatest films ever made. There is good reason. “Casablanca” gave us great lines like, “Here’s looking at you, kid,” “Of all the gin joints in all the world, she had to walk into mine,” “Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” and “Play it again, Sam,” which is actually never said in the movie. Like the other movies I’ve recommended in this list, “Casablanca” has an amazing cast. Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, and Paul Henreid put in stellar performances. However, Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman make Casablanca unforgettable. If you had to pick one movie to watch on a random night, “Casablanca” will never dissapoint.

While this list is not meant to promote the five best movies ever made, I believe that these five are great movies to watch. I hope you will take the time to see them.