Men's Leadership Series

 On June 25^th, a group of men met in Topeka for the first of several monthly meetings designed to assist and equip them to become better public servants.  Many of these men already hold key positions in state and local government and others are active in the political arena.

The first part of the day's activities was conducted in the House chambers.  There were 60 men participating in this first Men's Leadership Series. 

The first speaker to address the Men's Leadership group was Lieutenant Governor Jeff Colyer.  Jeff gave us, what I would call, his state of the state address.  Fiscal issues remain at the forefront of our state's problems. Kansas isn't alone.  Other states across the country are facing similar problems.  Several measures were taken by the Kansas legislature and the governor's office to begin the process of getting our fiscal house in order.  Jeff outlined many of the accomplishments of this past legislative session and the challenges that remain.  

The morning session included Jeff Glendening, Vice President of Public Affairs with the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, and House Majority Leader Arlen Siegfreid.  Again, fiscal issues were discussed. Jeff and the chamber have several ideas for improving the Kansas economy.  Finding ways to lower the tax burden on business owners and taxpayers is paramount.  There is a plan to eliminate the earnings tax.  As we begin to recover from this economic downturn revenues will increase.  A percentage of the revenue increases will be used to "pay down" the earnings tax until that tax is eventually eliminated. Many feel that this is the best thing we can do to stimulate the economy and create jobs.  House Majority Leader Siegfreid reminded us that legislators must be people of character.  Above all else they must make sure they are in possession of the facts and always truthful.  If they lack integrity, if they aren't truthful, if they lack moral character much of the good that they could accomplish will never be realized.  Arlen commended the Men's Leadership organizers. Arlen will soon be 65 years old.  He knows that we need people, especially younger people, who are well equipped to be leaders and ready to take the positions in government.  It's refreshing to know that the Men's Leadership Series will be there helping new leaders to be well equipped and ready to serve.   

We heard from the Kansas Republican Party Executive Director, Clay Barker.  Clay talked about the upcoming state meeting in Wichita in August. Kansas will host a Presidential Preference Caucus and the State Executive Committee will set all the details at the state's meeting in August.  It's not cast in stone but the caucus may be in March of 2012.

We also had the opportunity to hear from Senate Majority Leader Jay Emler.  Jay gave us a glimpse into the different ways business is conducted by the House and Senate chambers. According to Jay, Senate business is conducted in a much more formal way.  The House, he says, appears to be unruly at times.  Like everyone else, Jay addressed the budget.  He said that people are finally beginning to realize that we simply don't have the money to continue funding state programs at their current levels.  He also gave his opinion on legislation that would change the way Kansas judges are selected.  Jay, who is a lawyer by profession, doesn't favor changes. 

We heard from Alan Cobb from Americans for Prosperity (AFP). Although AFP usually confines itself to fiscal policy, Alan also commented on Judicial Selection.  He favors the federal model where the governor appoints and the Senate confirms. 

Ed O'Brien - 2nd Congressional District Vice Chairman

Freedom Is Our Strategy

How is it that millions of people located in disparate places - each individual with unique knowledge of their community and circumstances - can voluntarily cooperate and coordinate plans to create something far greater and more valued than any one individual could have done alone?  The answer is freedom.   I am describing the miracle of the market, what Nobel Laureate economist F.A. Hayek called the spontaneous order.  The basis of Hayek's critique of central government planning and Keynesian attempts to "stimulate" the economy through new spending is this understanding of the market process of discovery.  Even the most benevolent Czar or the smartest bureaucrat sitting on the IPAB rationing board in the bowels of HHS could not possibly know better than free people acting to better themselves and their communities. 

 "Spontaneous order" equally describes the emergence and power of the citizen protest against big government we now commonly refer to as the Tea Party.  Tea Party values are based on a fundamental belief in freedom, but so is our strategy.  There is no leader, no one is in charge.  Our movement is fueled by the decentralization of information on the internet and the ease of connecting with like-minded citizens through social networking.  We have evolved from a protest movement to a GOTV machine to what is now one of the most important nonviolent social movements in American history.  

 Too many worry about the limits of decentralization, but I say that the best way to beat the left is by fully embracing the beautiful chaos of this citizen revolt against big government.  That's how we have accomplished so much in such a short period of time, and it is the only conceivable way that we will ever beat the well-financed special interests that comprise the big government coalition.   If we try to match them toe to toe, dollar for dollar, we will lose.  But the left intrinsically believes in order from the top down.  Someone needs to be in charge: a Czar, a better benevolent bureaucrat that knows better than you do.  They can't help but build hierarchical structures because that's what they believe in.  This is our strategic window.  Embrace the beautiful chaos of citizen action, because freedom works.

Matt Kibbe is the President of FreedomWorks and the coauthor of Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto

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Born on the 4^th of July

PRESIDENT CALVIN COOLIDGE, the only President born on the 4th of July, said:

"About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful.  It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern.  But that reasoning cannot be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final.  If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final.  If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. ... No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions.  If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress."

That quote alludes to a movement that had great gains in the early 1900's known as Progressivism, whose chief advocate of that time was the Harding/Coolidge administration's predecessor Woodrow Wilson (D).  Wilson believed the United States had outgrown the Constitution and he was a founding member of the League of Nations (predecessor to UN) which the Republican dominated Congress refused to allow the US to join.  Exponential government expansion and increased taxation (gave us the first Income Tax) and oversight marked Wilson's presidency, only being overshadowed by WWI, after Wilson was narrowly elected for a second term.  Wilson also brought us the Federal Reserve banking system and advocated nationalized health care.

Wilson's successor, Warren Harding was a "moderate" Republican who died after 2 years in office leaving his conservative VP Coolidge in the Oval Office. Coolidge was a true conservative, believing that issues not addressed in the U. S. Constitution were better left up to the states.  This was proved out during his tenure as Governor of Mass. when he signed into law measures that opposed child labor, reduced hours for women (to 48 or less) and raised pay in the factories, stating "we must humanize industry".  He also pushed the legislature to give a $100 bonus to WWI Veterans in that state.

Conversely, on the Federal level, as President, he believed that labor unions were a skid to socialism, and opposed them at every turn.  He also fought Congress on government subsidization of agriculture stating that "government control cannot be divorced from political control".  He believed that taxes should be lower and fewer people should have to pay them.

Coolidge is not without his warts, and many blame lack of controls on Wall Street for the Crash of '29.  I believe this criticism is warranted.  Hindsight is always better than foresight and commentary easier than commission, but I would contend that policies of his successor Herbert Hoover (moderate Rep) followed by FDR (another Progressive) contributed to the duration of the Great Depression.

Hoover was not Coolidge's VP, but Commerce Secretary, and after Coolidge announced he was not going to run in '28 the Republicans nominated Hoover.  Coolidge once said of Hoover, "for six years that man has given me unsolicited advice-all of it bad".  However, he did not want to split the party and quietly went back to private life.  Known as "Silent Cal", someone at a dinner party once challenged him, "I have a bet with someone that I can get you say more than 2 words".  He replied, "You lose."  When this same person was informed of his death years later, she asked, "How could you tell?"

Coolidge's presidency is now largely forgotten along with the unprecedented economic growth during that time.  Few people know who he was, let alone his politics.  He was a Republican yes, but more than that he was a conservative who realized the bounds of the US Constitution, and the restraints that must be applied to government.  He was very popular and after the landslide victory won with Harding in '20, Coolidge went on to win his own landslide in '24.

I believe that without this conservative tempering between Wilson and FDR, we may very well have had a similar type of revolution as experienced in Germany and Russia as the Socialists and Communists struggled for power.  They were very present here in America. They're back.

In my reading of this era of American History, I realized that there is a pendulum swing in American politics from left to right and usually the swing matches the distance marked on the opposite side.  We have recently been witness to a drastic swing to the left.  However, with the 2010 sweeping victory in the House of Representatives, and the "re-awakening" of grassroots America, it seems the momentum has become static.  As we move into the next election cycle, look for continued retaking of Congressional seats and a shift in the Senate, along with Obama returning to Chicago, or Honolulu, or maybe Nairobi to look for new digs.

So while you celebrate the "4th" and this great country we have been given, maybe give a passing thought to "Silent Cal" Coolidge on his birthday. Then have another hotdog...God Bless America!

Kirk Sours