by Bob Barr | Nov 11, 2020 | Townhall Article |
Townhall The razor-thin margin between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden was not the result for which Republicans hoped but holding the line against Sen. Chuck Schumer becoming majority leader, and actually weakening Speaker Pelosi’s House majority are not insignificant achievements. Also, Republican gains in state legislatures as we brace for redistricting is further cause for at least muted celebration. The real task Republicans in Washington and in “red states” now face is to resist the understandable urge to focus on the election that just ended. This will take a degree of discipline and leadership not always abundant in the Grand Old Party. But still, first things first. Between now and next January, Republican leaders, donors and voters must do everything in their power to ensure both sitting Georgia GOP senators win the run-off election scheduled for January 5, 2021. Only by doing this will Mitch McConnell remain in control of the Senate as a crucial check on the worst excesses of a Biden-Harris Administration. Once this pair of victories is won, Republicans must immediately pivot and turn their attention to 2022. If the GOP plays its hand not just well but expertly, it very well could wrest the House majority back from the Democrats in two short years. Achieving this blue-ribbon prize will be difficult, but not impossible. In fact, it was Republican messaging that stressed economic recovery and law and order that was key to last week’s closer-than-expected presidential vote and up-ending the Democrats’ hoped-for congressional “blue wave.” Consistent delivery of this message will be especially relevant if, as he has promised, a President Biden listens to the...
by Bob Barr | Nov 4, 2020 | Townhall Article |
Townhall As I write this, millions of Americans are still voting. There is no way to predict what the outcome will be election eve, or if Americans will know the outcome of the election days or even weeks from now. It did not have to be this way. The GOP should have won in a blowout, and that they are almost certain not to is a clear sign the Grand Old Party is in desperate need of a Grand Old Rebuild. The lack of leadership and coordination by the Republican Party’s leadership on Capitol Hill and in “red” States across the country has placed the burden of party messaging squarely on Trump’s shoulders; it is both a benefit and a burden he has borne. Trump’s strength as President, and indeed what has made him so effective in his first term, is getting things done. Trump is a businessman and political outsider, not a philosopher or erudite pundit; so, expecting that he, and he alone, should be responsible for the incredibly important task of articulating clear and consistent messaging to voters was at best shortsighted. It also explains why the GOP turned what should have been a blowout victory against a weak and extremist candidate into a down-to-the-wire nail-biter. GOP leaders did a far better job heading into 2020 with messaging about Democrats than about Republicans. Whether voters agreed with Democrats’ radicalism or not, there was no question as to where they stood on the environment, healthcare, gun control, illegal immigration, criminal justice, and more. These positions were repeatedly reinforced not just from the Biden campaign, but with symbolic legislation passed in the House...
by Bob Barr | Oct 28, 2020 | Townhall Article |
Townhall April 19 was the day America lost the fight against COVID-19. It was on that day that two hospital workers in Denver stood in front of a truck with people heading to the Capitol to protest the state’s stay-at-home order. Suddenly there was clarity. You were either with the hospital workers or the protestors in the truck. That was it; no in-between, no confusion. The lines had been drawn. COVID was — like every other issue in this Year of Our Lord 2020 — absolutely partisan. This, of course, was not by accident. Partisan leaders on each side recognized the value in making COVID political, and went all-in hoping their position would better resonate with voters. Consider the Great Shutdown debate. Republicans arguing it was about the economy, and Democrats about health and safety. Subtlety was thrown to the wind, as nuance is not helpful when trying to stoke people’s emotions and further drive them into embittered tribes. Predictably, today’s debate over COVID-19, which should be discussed seriously as a national crisis impacting both our health care and economy, is just another toxic mess full of vile rhetoric and misinformation designed only to better each party’s chances in November. Take, for instance, the ghoulish joy liberals express at infection rates in the South because these states’ leaders dared to defy Leftist orthodoxy on COVID shutdowns; or how many anti-Trumpers openly hoped the president’s COVID infection would remove him from office, and perhaps even from this physical world. To characterize this situation as unhealthy is an extreme understatement. There really are no winners in such an environment. Citizens are held hostage...
by Bob Barr | Oct 21, 2020 | Townhall Article |
Townhall The long-awaited and much-discussed anti-trust suit against Big Tech behemoth Google has been filed by the Justice Department. While many on the conservative side of the ledger are applauding the government’s action, the reality is that Google, while big and powerful, is not a “monopoly” that ought to be subject to such drastic action by the federal government. I do not make that statement as a die-hard fan of Google. I have been among those critical of the search engine company for using manipulative algorithms to direct internet users in ways that skew the results, the so-called “search engine manipulative effect” or “SEME.” I also have chastised Google for the way it has stretched the “fair use” doctrine beyond reasonable limits in the company’s years-long battle with Oracle over “application programming interfaces.” Those and other criticisms of Google, however, are reflective of issues that can be remedied by civil lawsuits (as in the Oracle case now awaiting Supreme Court action), or through targeted action by the Congress (if it would wake from its customary somnambulance and actually follow up its oversight responsibility with focused, meaningful legislative proposals rather than just talk). Pulling the trigger on a massive antitrust action against Google, however, is simply not called for. A decision reached in 2013 by the Federal Trade Commission following a two-year investigation of its own. In the broad scheme of things, little has changed since then that would render Google a monopoly to be broken apart by the feds. Yes, Google is still big, and yes it wields considerable power as a global search engine. But Google is by...
by Bob Barr | Oct 14, 2020 | Townhall Article |
Townhall Privacy is one of the pillars of a free society. In fact, as renowned philosopher and writer Ayn Rand noted in The Fountainhead more than seven decades ago, privacy is the essential foundation of a civilized society, without which individual freedom cannot be maintained. Yet, when it comes to protecting this essential cornerstone of our society, Congress consistently falls short. Whether controlled by Democrats or the GOP, congressional committees put on great shows. They invite all the big names in Big Tech to a hearing, where members pose eloquent soundbites about “privacy,” “security,” and, of course, “profiting from user data.” Yet, as for doing something meaningful to protect individual privacy rights by legislation or through oversight, Congress is little better than the CEOs they verbally harangue. It is beyond question that private companies, including Big Tech players like Google, Facebook and Twitter, use the vast databases of information they accumulate, to hawk products and develop user “profiles” for commercial benefit. It is also clear that the power they wield can be, and demonstrably has been abused to harm individuals, often because they hold political views at odds with the so-called “Lords of Social Media.” At the end of the day, however, it is only government that can use such databased information to put someone in jail. And it is here – at the intersection between data accumulation and government power – that Congress repeatedly fails to guard against abuse. Ever since the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791, the government has been bound by the Fourth Amendment, which was designed and intended to limit how law enforcement may invade a person’s privacy and gather information...
by Bob Barr | Oct 7, 2020 | Townhall Article |
Townhall.com Move over COVID-19. There is a new contagion loose in America. This virus attacks that part of the brain which develops and controls the adult male’s sense of self-esteem and courage of conviction. Its effect is felt quickly once the victim exercises any degree of independent thought contrary to the prevailing politically correct orthodoxy. One of the most recent victims of this viral infection is Ohio State University Professor Matthew Mayhew, who succumbed to the intellectually debilitating disease shortly after publishing an opinion piece praising the return of college football at Ohio State. Apparently oblivious to the fate that awaited him, Mayhew last month co-authored an opinion piece titled “Why America Needs College Football,” published September 24th by Inside Higher Ed. The symptoms of the disease swiftly and mercilessly manifested themselves. Three days after Mayhew’s opinion piece was published, a fellow academic – Andrew McGregor, who teaches history at Dallas College in Texas – excoriated Mayhew in the same publication for writing in support of the long-standing Fall tradition known as “college football.” Mayhew’s prostration in the face of this politically correct onslaught quickly followed. The seriousness of the attack on Mayhew’s intellect became evident just two days thereafter, on September 29th, when his complete loss of self-esteem caused him to write an apology in which he berated himself for having voiced support for college football. Some observers might feel compassion for Prof. Mayhew as he confronts the complete, and likely permanent loss of his intellectual courage. It is far more important, however, that we focus on the damage to our culture resulting from the emergence of the disease known...
