News From Washington DC

This week will be difficult for me to blog - I am currently in a week long leadership training course in Washington DC, with little access to the web.

Since I have this opportunity in between my nightly reading curriculum, I decided to provide a few words of encouragement and insight from the front lines.

First - Democratic over-reach, corruption, and blunders are abound... though it is adding to hardships from our economy, the true nature of their agenda is hung out on the line for all to see - there is no longer a safe haven of hatred for Bush with which to shield their ugliness - The playing field is being levelled day by day... and when the field is level, Conservative Values - Republican Values - will win every day. It may seem discouraging, but we must endure, protest, and endure some more - always offering the logical and sound solution to the increased problems created by the Democrats. It is our goal, not to simply endure, but to live and die by our Conservative convictions - so much so that our credibility returns, and we can regain the momentum and power to return this country to a free nation of states.

Secondly - now is the moment of reflection and introspection for those who truly wish to see the GOP rise from the ashes of 2008. This does not mean inaction - it merely means that every action must be calculated, every inaction must be calculated, and every opportunity must be seized to reflect and spread the message of what we find within ourselves and within what we believe this party needs to be. We must not only be the change, we must first envision the strategy and goal of our change - the strategy and goal of our party. We must not change for the sake of changing... we must change to regain respect and credibility... we must change to return freedom and liberty to her rightful owners... we must change to survive... for liberty to survive.

Lastly - on change - it should never be the message of the party which changes... liberty, freedom, life... Conservative values, Libertarian values - they are connected... we can encourage social conservatism and the return of true liberties - empowering the people to thrive as responsible individuals... This is the platform of the party - the rest is merely politics. Our message should remain the same... what should change is how we communicate the message... we need to become enlightened on the art of communication - our message is already superior.

Breaking News – 2nd Amendment Upheld by Supreme Court

The first ruling by the Supreme Court regarding the right for private citizens to own weapons was handed down today, marking a turning point in the NRA’s struggle. The question was always whether the amendment was intended to be defined as the State having rights to train a militia and keep arms on their behalf, or if the citizens armed are the militia, and their private use and knowledge of the weapons served to better the protection of the state and the self.

The ruling was 5-4, along “party” lines, that the amendment should be understood that it is the right of a private citizen to own a weapon, and that laws to that effect cannot infringe on their ownership or assembly status.

The NRA finally gets a win. Fox News suggests that the NRA will now bring suits against other large cities that have a ban on hand-guns as well. This is a great day for the personal responsibility and liberty of a free society and free man (or woman).

The opinion of the court reads, in part, {The Second Amendment is naturally divided into two parts: its prefatory clause and its operative clause. The former does not limit the latter grammatically, but rather announces a purpose. The Amendment could be rephrased, “Because a well regulated Militia is necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.” }

It continues with a very well written opinion breaking apart the language, and how it is used throughout the rest of the document, in an attempt to fully define and interpret this Right accurately:

1. Operative Clause.
a. “Right of the People.” The first salient feature of the operative clause is that it codifies a “right of the people.” The unamended Constitution and the Bill of Rights use the phrase “right of the people” two other times, in the First Amendment’s Assembly-and-Petition Clause and in the Fourth Amendment’s Search-and-Seizure Clause. The Ninth Amendment uses very similar terminology (“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people”). All three of these instances unambiguously refer to individual rights, not “collective” rights, or rights that may be exercised only through participation in some corporate body.
b. “Keep and bear Arms.” We move now from the holder of the right—“the people”—to the substance of the right: “to keep and bear Arms.” - a “right” (singular) rather than “rights” (plural), implying a right of an individual, not the right of a plural state militia.
c. Meaning of the Operative Clause. Putting all of these textual elements together, we find that they guarantee the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation. This meaning is strongly confirmed by the historical background of the Second Amendment.We look to this because it has always been widely understood that the Second Amendment, like the First and Fourth Amendments, codified a pre-existing right. The very text of the Second Amendment implicitly recognizes the pre-existence of the right and declares only that it “shall not be infringed.”

There could not be a more historic event regarding personal freedoms from the government. The court, which I am often critical of, has made the correct decision today, fully understanding that there is a separation from what was being created to what was being agreed to… that the creation of this union was not intended to infringe on rights that free men already had in existence.

Let me state clearly, that through all the doom and gloom I hear about this country, moments like this are a shining beacon of hope… there is still hope in my heart that this country will remain a country of freedom and liberty.

Elections in the North East - States won update

Below is an update of the states won by each candidate. Romney is out, McCain and Huckabee are soaring in the polls as the last two contenders... and state after state is dishing out delegates. Mike Huckabee continues to win in the southern states, and McCain edges out Huckabee in Washington state by 200 votes. Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC vote today, likely to be a sweep for McCain. But perhaps the Potomac region has some tricks up it's sleeves?

I will continue to update this map as results come in.

As well, Democratic results are below. With these two candidates fighting for a majority, and in a very clear delegate tie with the potential for legal battles to come up should Hillary lose, The Democratic party is not in a good position. They spent the early part of this campaign season berating the Republicans for a hotly contested seat, but now find themselves in the only non-civil contest at risk of dividing their party. The Potomac contests seem to favor Obama, in another round of the Clinton machine self-destructing in the public forum.