Fifteen: A New Constitution

In the most recent Economist magazine, I saw a review of a new book by a professor out of Virgina (I think) named Sabato (excuse me, Professor, if I've fractured your name). Anyway, the book seems to echo what I have been advocating for many years; i.e., government reform at the Constitutional level. Although the professor's approach is more thought out and, certainly informed, than mine (after all, he is professional scholar, and I am just a small town lawyer and life-long political and government critic), we appear to be on the same track, which tells me that many, many Americans feel the same way.

My pet proposed constitutional amendments (which would hopefully be embodied in Sabato's new document) are: Term limits on all elected federal office holders; Mandatory government service for all Americans, to be performed between the ages of 18 and 25; and Tax Reform (preferably the Forbes flat tax). The first of these proposals, term limits, is without a doubt the most important, because, as Sabato would probably agree, since all human beings always act in their own self interest, the current system of virtual lifetime public welfare (excessive salaries, gross sumptuous perquisites, lifetime health and pension coverage, etc.) for U.S. Representative and Senators will never allow those office holders to make decisions for the public good and their own expense.

What are the chances of Saboto's convention or my amendments coming to pass in the next several generations? I put the odds at less than one in ten.

Fourteen: WSJ/NBC News Poll

Today I saw a poll cited in a WSJ article which states results from the Poll thusly: "51% of those polled say that [Hillary Clinton] is knowledgeable and experienced enough to handle the presidency." This is further proof that either: a) only people from Arkansas participate in polls, or b) a majority of Americans and virtually all Democrats have absolutely no clue what kind knowledge and experience are required to do a passable job of being President of the U.S.

Let's face it, most of those who would vote for Hillary actually don't give a rat's behind about her; it's Bill they really long for. For some reason, many Americans associate good things in their lives with Bill Clinton as president. Maybe it's the tech bubble, or the moral equivocating, or the gridlock in at the federal level, but whatever the case, I suspect that just knowing Bill Clinton is roaming the halls of the White House (no doubt looking for the indiscriminate sex he couldn't get in high school or college) is enough to get many folks to swallow hard and vote for HC.