by Bob Barr | Nov 14, 2018 | Townhall Article |
Townhall.com In the immediate aftermath of last week’s mid-term elections, which saw the Democrats regain control of the House, many in the GOP fretted that this could portend a long-term trend, extending well beyond the 2020 cycle. However, and notwithstanding the understandable disappointment in the Republican caucus at being demoted to minority status, the “agenda” being put forth by soon-to-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her band of extreme Liberals poised to chair important House committees, might actually be a silver lining to this dark cloud. The Democratic Party’s “agenda” is, after all, no real agenda at all; unlike the last, truly historic mid-term election in 1994. The 1994 election brought the first Republican House majority in four decades; in large measure because then-Minority Whip Newt Gingrich and a small group of firebrand colleagues crafted and presented to the voters a real agenda. The “Contract with America” described for the electorate 18 issues to be voted on within 100 days of the 104th Congress, if the voters gave the GOP a majority in the House. The voters responded positively, and the new Republican majority followed through on its part of the bargain; bringing such important matters as term limits and a balanced budget amendment to the floor for open votes. That policy-driven agenda set the stage for historic action by the Republican majority in the House over the ensuing two-and-one-half years, leading in mid-1997 to a balanced federal budget for the first time since the 1960s. All this and more was accomplished with a Congress controlled by the GOP and a Democrat in the White House. And while factors relating to President...
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 | Jul 11, 2018 | Townhall Article |
Townhall.com By Bob Barr In an extremely troubling move three years ago, the Republican-controlled Congress handed the Internal Revenue Service the power to strip individuals of one of the most important and tangible rights possessed by American citizens – their passports. The Service is now starting to use this hammer. What is perhaps even more disturbing than giving the IRS this power, is the manner by which the Republicans maneuvered the legislative language through the Congress – hidden deep within a multi-hundred-page piece of legislation that had nothing whatsoever to do with passports. The vehicle chosen for this nefarious deed was something cleverly titled the “FAST Act,” the “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act.” Even if an astute student of the modern legislative process was on the lookout for such a provision as this, he or she would be hard-pressed to find it. The tool given to the IRS with which to pressure taxpayers into giving Uncle Sam his due, is found in the 32nd Title of the massive 2015 transportation infrastructure bill; it is simply an “Offset.” In other words, the IRS now can direct that the State Department refuse to issue a passport to an applicant, or to revoke one already issued, simply because that citizen owes some back taxes. The federal government can now “lawfully” do this because the Congress, in its zeal to implement thousands of pet transportation projects, needed to conjure “offsets” to help pay for them. Much of my childhood – from third grade until graduating high school – was spent overseas; following my Dad who was a civil engineer. I grew up in locales...
