by Bob Barr | Oct 10, 2018 | Front page, Townhall Article |
Townhall.com On October 27, 1964, Ronald Reagan, still two years away from serving in public office himself, delivered one of the greatest speeches in modern American history. Delivered to a nationwide radio audience in support of then-GOP presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, the former movie star declared America at a crossroads. Failure to grasp and aggressively defend against the dangers then faced by our country would, Reagan warned, push us into “a thousand years of darkness.” While the specific dangers about which Reagan then spoke were external, his call to action against existential threats applies with at least equal validity to internal forces tearing at the foundations of our freedom. Looking back at the last month of insanity surrounding the confirmation process of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, it seems we are standing at Reagan’s shoulder, staring directly into that black abyss. The disturbing level of irrational hatred and willingness to use violence demonstrated by those protesting Kavanaugh was outshone only by the level of contempt Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein, Mazie Hirono, Cory (aka “Spartacus”) Booker, and Chuck Schumer displayed for their constitutional “advice and consent” duty. And, if not for Sen. Lindsey Graham slapping many of his Republican colleagues (notably Sen. Jeff Flake) back to their senses, we might have just taken that last step into darkness. The mobs of seething liberals may have physically receded temporarily from the halls of Congress and the steps of the Supreme Court, but the effects of their psychotic breakdown remain. Already in the Beltway media, liberals are pushing the idea that Democrats were insufficiently “ruthless” in their resistance and political chicanery. Enabled by the lack...
by Bob Barr | Oct 4, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Bob Barr Brietbart.com A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. (Second Amend., U.S. Const.) Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech . . . (First Amend., U.S. Const.) The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor Prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. (Tenth Amend., U.S. Const.) Probably no 27 words in our founding documents have caused so much controversy as have those comprising the Second Amendment’s guarantee of the right to keep and bear arms; except, perhaps, the ten words in the First Amendment that protect freedom of speech. When these two amendments intersect, get ready for a constitutional free-for-all; which is exactly what we have in the ongoing litigation between a private company (Texas-based Defense Distributed) and several state attorneys general, led by Washington State’s anti-gun Bob Ferguson. Adding to the constitutional melee, and fearful of the catastrophe Defense Distributed’s action might visit on the world, Ferguson and his colleagues have shoe-horned in the Tenth Amendment as a shield behind which they should be allowed to put the company out of business. The heart of the controversy is clear — whether government (in this case, state government, not Uncle Sam) can prohibit a company from making software instructions for firearms parts available to the public. So-called “3-D firearms.” It is common knowledge that the internet is replete with instructions to manufacture all manner of items big and small – from...
by Bob Barr | Oct 2, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com The Kavanaugh-Ford hearing last week might have “riveted” the nation and boosted cable TV ratings, but it showed graphically why congressional hearings should not be compared to courtroom proceedings. They make for good viewing but bad truth-finding. The “take-aways” from the day-long session were everywhere and from everyone. Cable news pundits tripped over themselves offering their opinions on who was telling the truth, who was lying, who was credible and who wasn’t. Most viewed Dr. Ford sympathetically; but no one dared criticize her, notwithstanding the many and often glaring lapses in her memory even regarding recent events. Public opinion polls quickly appeared; supposedly accurate reflections of how the public-at-large viewed the proceedings. Members of Congress quickly weighed in, opining as to the veracity of one witness over the other and offering as fact their personal impressions of how federal investigative agencies such as the FBI conduct investigations. But what did the hearing actually reveal? Did the process lend itself to coming even close to establishing with any degree of certainty what the reality is regarding what happened on a summer day some 36 years ago? The answer is, no, it did not; but the process of a Senate hearing is not meant to be (and was never intended to be) a full and robust search for the truth in the same sense for which a criminal trial is designed. A confirmation hearing, at least to this point in our history, is supposed simply to provide a public forum by which, and through questioning a nominee (and sometimes other witnesses), Senators are able to gauge the nominee’s fitness for...
by Bob Barr | Oct 1, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Breitbart.com Any member of Congress is capable at any time of doing harm to his or her political party or even the country itself. Casting a vote undermining a carefully crafted piece of legislation after committing to colleagues not to do so. Making a public statement clearly at odds with universally accepted norms. Engaging in conduct that is unlawful, unethical, or both. Refusing to apologize when such an act clearly is necessary and appropriate. These are but a few actions in which a senator or member of Congress can engage that can hurt their party colleagues or, in extreme cases, the country. Rarely, however, can someone in as important a position as a sitting United States senator do such great harm as that by Arizona’s Sen. Jeff Flake in telling his Republican Party, and indeed the entire country, that he would refuse to vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the floor of the Senate — even after voting to have the nomination reported favorably by the Judiciary Committee on which he serves — unless the FBI conducts another investigation; this one focused on the allegations leveled against Kavanaugh after the week-long hearings conducted by the committee earlier this month. Many Republicans in Congress and the administration, while critical of Flake’s last-minute but not altogether unexpected shenanigans, downplay the potential cost of subjecting Kavanaugh and his family to yet another week of the Hell to which they already have been subject. The silver lining on which these Republicans focus seems to be their conclusion that all the witnesses who already have come out in support of the judge’s side...
by Bob Barr | Sep 26, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com From the safety of the historian’s perspective, what made the French Revolution’s “Reign of Terror” truly terrifying was not the streets of blood or the crash of guillotines, but the Revolutionary government’s utter rejection of the rule of law in order to satisfy the people’s bloodlust during that moment in time. When it was decided that justice must be served quicker and more efficiently when facing enemies of the new order, pillars of western civilization were simply cast aside in favor of mob “justice.” Public trials, legal representation, verdicts short of death sentences — all were deemed nuisances to the changes sought by the revolutionaries; and all were discarded with an ease that was truly frightening. Today, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would be justified in feeling as if he has been transported back to Paris in 1793, as his accusers in the United States Senate scream hysterically about the hindrances of due process in pursuit of their concept of “justice.” To them, the unverified accusations of an accuser are more than sufficient grounds to send the Judge to the chopping block. His senatorial accusers and the mob they represent “feel” his guilt, with the coup de grace being his membership in a class of persons each guilty by association – white men. “Her credible allegation of sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh should disqualify him from ever being confirmed to the Supreme Court,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand stated more than a week ago, just days after Christine Ford’s accusations were leaked to the media. Meanwhile, Sen. Mazie Hirono told CNN that Kavanaugh’s “credibility is already very questionable” based on nothing more than her distaste for...
