WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU TURN IT UP TO “11”?

A conversation elsewhere brought up a topic that lets me get ahead of things and put down a marker for future reference. It was noted that the Democrats and their allies farther Left have had their outrage meters literally turned up to “11” [on a 1-10 scale] since the election. The first calls for Trump’s impeachment actually came from the Democrats as soon as he was nominated. And for that matter, during the General Election campaign, it was not restricted to Democrats. Republican Congress-critter Mike Coffman [CO-6] was running radio ads in English and Spanish promising to oppose Trump in everything he tried to do if Trump was elected.

That outrage got a boost when Neil Gorsuch was confirmed to the Supreme Court. But the increase was slightly muted because it was a case of a conservative Justice replacing the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia who died under questionable circumstances. It would not be a net change of the balance of the court.

Starting a few weeks ago, rumors started that Leftist supporting Justice Anthony Kennedy might retire. And the scale went at least a couple of notches higher. Then a week or so later people were reminded that Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who dares not visit a medical school for fear that her resemblance to a cadaver might get her dissected by a doctor in training, has health problems. She has had colon cancer and recovered after surgery and radiation therapy. She has had pancreatic cancer; it is said that she recovered from that. And three years ago, she had to have a stent placed in her right coronary artery. That medical history in an 84-year-old woman is not encouraging. Leaving aside the jokes about doing a Supreme Court remake of the movie “Weekend at Bernies”, the odds of her reaching the end of Donald Trump’s term in office [and age 90] are not good.

As we have been discussing for the last few weeks, much of the political consensus in this country is gone. The Democrats are openly saying that the election was not legitimate, because Hillary was supposed to win. In Democrat run cities, gangs of street thugs dressed in imitation of ISIS have made it a practice to physically assault anyone trying to speak, on or off campuses, saying anything not agreed to by the Left. And in Democrat controlled cities, the police have been directly ordered not to interfere. Arson and vandalism by Democrats and their allies have been also tolerated and gone unpunished.

That has been the running background theme since the General Election campaign. The rule of law has been deliberately discarded by the Democrats and the Left. The supremacy of the Constitution has been deliberately discarded by the Democrats and the Left, in that they deny the validity of the Electoral College [Article II, Section 1] and of the Bill of Rights, in that they deny the right of others to have or express any beliefs that differ with the Left and insist on the supremacy of the State to determine what can be said and thought. We have heard them say that “Hate speech is not protected speech under the Constitution.” Who determines what is hate speech in their view? The State and the Leftist mobs.

As I have said, this has been the normal background noise since the election campaign. They have been working to make political violence a regular and normal part of the process. And it is critical to note that all the violence, all the vandalism, and all the attempts to suppress speech have been by the Democrats and the Left.

That is with the outrage meter at “11”. It has gone up, even outside those worried about the Supreme Court. We are now dealing with literal attacks and death threats on Members of Congress. They are coming from one side, and they are aimed at Republicans only. The resort to violence as a routine is a rejection of the entire political order created by the Constitution and is an attempt to substitute another in its place. That other does not have restrictions on the power of the State, and indeed makes it supreme over the individual.

It is not accidental. CNN, Politico, and The Hill; all Left-leaning at best news sites, have been publishing the times, dates, and locations of REPUBLICAN Representatives’ town halls. Not Democrats. And encouraging Leftists of all stripes to attend and disrupt the proceedings and “resist” the election and the policies of those who were elected.

In a way, I feel a smidgen of pity for Republican Representatives. For 8 years we on the conservative side have been doing our best to make their lives miserable for their refusal to stand and fight the Democrats despite repeated promises to do so. And now, since the election for their inaction and at times their protection of the Democrats’ programs. When they showed up in public, the TEA Party and conservative allies were there. We did not yell, we did not threaten. We were well mannered as always, and called them on their own statements and specific actions [and inaction’s]. I am proud to say that I personally have been there and I’m pretty sure that I am not on Congressman Doug Lamborn’s Christmas card list.

I cannot speak for other congressional districts or counties, but I know that here in our County, despite promises neither Lamborn nor his staffers visited us during the election campaign. In contrast the Democrat candidate came to two TEA Party meetings and stood and delivered on questions at both.

During the Easter Break [Congress only worked 8 days in April, which may explain why they somehow have not yet confirmed the president’s cabinet and sub-cabinet appointments in a timely manner. The rumors that they have filed a complaint with the Labor Department for being overworked is as yet unsubstantiated.] Republican Congress-critters had town halls where Democrats outnumbered Republicans. I did not say “constituents” on purpose, because many if not most Democrats were not from the District. Congressman Lamborn did not have an easy time of it, but as far as I know, his life was not endangered.

Not so, elsewhere. Definitely not so elsewhere.

In the Congressional District covering Tucson, Arizona the Representative is former Air Force Major Martha McSally. She is no stranger to danger as she flew A-10 “Warthog” close support aircraft; low, slow, and under fire from every weapon every enemy soldier could bring to bear, to protect our soldiers and Marines. One Steve Martan, an employee of the Tucson Unified School District’s Miles Exploratory School threatened that her “days were numbered”, that he would “wring her neck”, and most especially, “Yeah Martha, our sights are set on you, right between the eyes … Can’t wait to fucking pull the trigger bitch”. All because she had voted in support of President Trump. All of this is recorded.

In Virginia’s fifth congressional district, Republican Rep. Tom Garrett received a series of disturbing threats at home during the Easter recess—not just against him but also his wife and family, even his dog. One message said bluntly, “This is how we’re going to kill your wife.” This, because he wants to get rid of Obamacare. And they are also recorded.

Tennessee Congressman David Kustoff and an aide left a townhall at the University of Tennessee and their car was chased by one Wendi Wright in her car. After several attempts by Wright to force the Congressman’s car off the highway, Kustoff called the police and pulled into a driveway. Wright blocked his car in, ran up to the Congressman’s car reaching in to grab the occupants and then began beating on it screaming threats about his support for repealing Obamacare. Wright was arrested when the police arrived.

In Mandan, North Dakota on May 11, Congressman Kevin Cramer was physically attacked by Democrat Mike Quinn, at a townhall because Quinn objected to Cramer wanting to get rid of Obamacare. For this one we have the good fortune a picture of the act:

http://legalinsurrection.com/?s=cramer+town+hall&image.x=0&image.y=0

There are a lot more examples, but I’m not going to take up the entire blog.

And it is not only the Democrat rank and file doing this. Y’all may remember the magazine “Newsweek”. It was a reliably Liberal Democrat weekly newsmagazine, reflecting the beliefs of the mainstream Democrat Party. It was in print from 1933-2012, when it became online only due to collapsing circulation. It was acquired by the openly Leftist web site “The Daily Beast”. In 2014, a print edition returned, with a weekly worldwide circulation of only just over 100,000 copies.

Newsweek Senior Writer Kurt Eichenwald wrote on Newsweek’s Twitter account on May 6; “As one w/ preexisting condition: I hope every GOPr who voted for Trumpcare sees a family member get a long term condition, lose insurance, and die. … I want the GOPrs who support this to feel the pain in their own families because I want them to be tortured.”. Remember, this is the “rational” part of the Democrats who are always calling for civility.

Moving back to the question that started this, of what would happen if President Trump gets a chance to appoint more Supreme Court Justices, remember what the REAL political situation is in this country. Right now, the Legislative Branch which was intended to be the most active branch of the government, has voluntarily yielded its powers to the Executive and the Courts; instead seeking regardless of party to maximize personal income. Members of the people’s House, the House of Representatives, are paid $174,000 a year. Out of that they have to live for part of the year in one of the most expensive cities in the country, and in theory have a residence for themselves and their families in their districts. Those families frequently end up living in Capitol City.

Through some fiscal magic, the median net worth of members of the House [by reporting rules that understate worth] is well over a million dollars. It has been estimated that members of Congress actually make about $60,000 a day from various sources not available to the average citizen. It is good work if you can get it, and actually working for the country might interfere with that.

The real governance of the country now is done by the Executive [now held by President Trump over the objection of both parties] and the courts. The confirmation of Gorsuch returned the balance of the Supreme Court to a shaky, albeit Left leaning, status quo ante the death of Scalia. The replacement of a Leftist Justice by a conservative would create a shaky but conservative leaning rough balance. The replacement of a second Leftist would make it a conservative leaning court that might actually retain respect for the written texts of the Constitution and statutes, thus overturning the underlying basis of the Democrat Party. They live for the rule of men, not laws.

Remember, the Democrats and the Left are making violence and the disregard of laws the political norm in the country. It is being done deliberately. Faced with that, a third Supreme Court vacancy to be filled by Trump will most likely lead to pre-emptive violence, or more. Much, much more.

After the 1860 election, the southern states [all Democrat ruled] seceded from the Union based not on anything that the Republican president [Lincoln] and the overwhelmingly Republican and Republican ally Congress had done. They seceded because they knew the Republicans controlled the government, so the Democrats left.

They cannot leave on a state by state basis now, because they are mostly in a few large urban areas. But they would rather bring down the country rather than allow the rule of law and the Constitution to prevail. That’s the marker for the future I am laying down.