At our annual officer nominations meeting last night members of DCR nominated each other for 2012-2013 officer positions. The nominees are as follows:
Chair:
Michael Ridgewood
Patrick Howser
Vice Chair:
Dustin Call
Communications Director:
Adam Castle
Gabriel Yaffe
Treasurer:
Gagan Singh
Asher Mirvish
Secretary:
Lindsey Harden
Advisor to the Board:
Charles Seamount
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Elections will be held during our next meeting at 7 p.m. on May 30, 2012 in Olson Hall 118.
Electioneering Monday, May 20, 2012
This S–t’s Getting Real
Hello and welcome back to electioneering. I apologize for my lack of attendance to my blog over the past several months as I have been consumed with my own personal involvement in a couple small races in Napa and Yolo County as well as a host of other issues that took me away from my “blogligations”. This said I am back in the saddle and excited for the general election which has informally started in the lead up to the respective party caucuses later this summer.
So What Has Been Going On?
In the past week or so Ron Paul (aka every college student’s dream president) suspended his campaign and subsequently dropped out. This, coupled with the grudgingly given support of former GOP hopefuls, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, has effectively ended the GOP primary allowing Romney to take a much needed break from the intensity of the primary campaign, giving him a chance to replenish the campaign coffers before entering into what I am sure will be an epic general election.
With the GOP primary essentially over Romney now can also position himself as more of a centrist without as much fear of being perceived as not Republican “enough”. Though often at the expense of what I will call “sound-bite consistency” this is a good tactic in that it allows Romney to effectively challenge Obama in gaining the support of moderate/independent voters—the demographic which arguably decides most elections, this one being no exception.
In the past week we have seen Romney try to do just this with the best example being his recent praise for former President Bill Clinton saying things such as:
“Bill Clinton, remember he said the era of big government was over? President Obama brought it back with a vengeance.” (May 8, 2012- Lansing, Michigan)
AND
“President Obama tucked away the Clinton doctrine in his large drawer of discarded ideas, along with transparency and bipartisanship”. (May 15, 2012- Des Moines, Iowa)
So Why Is Big, Bad Bill All Of The Sudden Sweet William Now?
According to Politico, Romney invoking the memory of the Clinton Administration is intended to drive a wedge between two groups of Democrat and Independent voters identified during the highly charged 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary; the group that supported Hillary Clinton (who generally were more white, blue collar, working class Americans) and the group who supported Obama (who generally were more non-white, younger, working class Americans).
Additionally, I believe that Romney’s usage of Bill Clinton’s Presidency, is meant to make himself one—look more pragmatic rather than ideologically motivated and, two—block Obama from using Bill Clinton later on down the campaign trail for what I would guess would be the same thing, appealing to the notion of pragmatism. Romney pulled the “Clinton Card” first and if Obama were to play the same card I would perceive, and I think the media and the American people would similarly perceive, the attempt somewhat lame and unoriginal which President Obama surely does not want to come across as especially since his competency and leadership abilities have fallen under heavy fire as our nation and also our world continues to hover near the brink of financial insolvency and presumed chaos.
Next Time…
I think that’ll be about it for today. Next week I’m going to be writing on any new developments as well as commenting on what could be the something of the second half of today’s post: what Obama’s Campaign is doing and how they are doing.
Until the stay safe, stay informed and, stay classy. 😉
Written By: Adam Castle, Political Science
Held on January 24th, 2012, John Morley, Tony Amador, and Kevin McGary brought to UC Davis their Diversity of Conservatism speaker forum.
Their mission:
“Our goal is to provide people throughout the country, especially our youth, who we believe have been deprived of such information, a clear understanding of conservatism and its ability to appeal to ALL men who were CREATED equal!”
Find and like their Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/DiverestyOfConservatism
The Forum Featured:
Tony Amador:
LAPD, U.S. Marshal (ret.), recent candidate for U.S. Congress and Lodi City Council, Juris Doctor, U. O. P. (1988), Current vice chairman of the San Joaquin County Republican Party and candidate for Assembly district 9.
Kevin McGary:
Author of “Instanity”, Hi-tech professional, B.S in Sociology/Psychology from San Jose State, President of the Frederick Douglass Foundation of California, Member of Hayward Rotary, The NAACP, the 912 Freedom Fighters, and supporter of The 100 Black Men.
John Morley:
Co-founder of the Tracy Tea Party Patriots, Member of the San Joaquin County Republican Party and the Frederick Douglass Foundation, and a Firefighter/Paramedic.
Diversity of Conservatism
00:19 Introduction: John Morley
03:12 Kevin McGary
10:14 Tony Amador
20:43 Do inner city blacks realize that entitlements are bad in the long run?
30:29 How can we approach politicians with our concerns?
31:28 Educate and empower yourself: John Morley
34:17 How do you feel about the Occupy movement?
46:07 What part of the Republican party can we influence to effect change?
1:09:45 Saul Alinsky: John Morley
1:19:28 What about property rights?
1:24:27 With partisanship, how can we rebuild our country?
1:38:17 Food for thought: Kevin McGary
1:44:40 Closing statement: John Morley
1:49:10 Thank you!: Tony Amador
The CCR Convention was an amazing experience! I am so glad I mustered up the courage to go. When I joined the CCR conference carpool I was heading down to San Diego with people who were relatively strangers (I had just started attending DCR that month), but when I returned, I came back with many new friends, memories, and a passion for politics and the Republican party alike (a level of passion that I never knew I could have). I had so much fun and it was obvious everyone else did too, with volleyball on the beach, hot tubs, free drinks, an amazing banquet dinner on the beach- what else could you ever ask for? It was also fun to meet other college Republicans from all over the state and get to know them and their club’s style. My new friends and I were even inspired to make new DCR shirts (one club had really cool bold “bro” shirts). We also were inspired by many of the speakers. One of the nights we were so passionate about a speaker’s topic on how to grow and improve your club that we spent hours lying in our beds that night talking about how we wanted to change and improve our club. Many people also got job and internship opportunities through this conference- can you imagine interning for a congressman!?! Overall I would say if you missed CCR, you really missed out, however, there will be more in the future, so do not miss your chance on an incredibly inspiring and fun experience. Might I mention that this whole event was only $10- a steal!
CCR, legitimately changed me.
~Laura Chapman
An important political economist once lived over a century ago. His name was Frédéric Bastiat. Although Bastiat’s public life as an economist was short lived (he died of tuberculosis), he was responsible for the most well constructed and persuasive arguments against socialism of his time.
The first work I read by Bastiat was The Law (available for free here: http://mises.org/books/thelaw.pdf), a brief 75 page “pamphlet” on the rule of law and its abuse and manipulation. I was astounded that I managed to live 25 years without learning about this work. Our nation prides itself on its tradition of free market capitalism, yet there is an alarming lack of endorsement for this principally American ideology in our education system. I attended a private high school and private liberal arts university that never alluded any interest in educating me with basic arguments for our capitalist system. Sadly, the alternative to apathetic private educators are notoriously liberal public educators. Why is it such a surprise that socialism is alive and prospering in America? Our generation wasn’t even familiarized with most eloquent defenses of free market economics! Instead, we were engrained with notions of “tariffs, protection, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wages, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit, and so on, and so on. All these plans as a whole – with their common aim of legal plunder – constitute socialism.”
And socialism we have – in record amounts, none the less. But what’s wrong with it? Socialism is legal plunder, as opposed to illegal plunder. “The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginning of the world…France has provided police, judges, gendarmes, prisons, dungeons, and scaffolds for the purpose of fighting illegal plunder.” The law punishes petty thieves but protects sanctioned embezzlers. “Sometimes the law places the whole apparatus of judges, police, prisons, and gendarmes at the service of the plunderers, and treats the victim – when he defends himself – as a criminal.” How are we to identify this legal plunder? “Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay, for it is not only an evil itself, but also it is a fertile source for further evils because it invites reprisals.”
But what is fundamentally wrong with legal plunder so long as it is lawful plunder? “Each of us has a natural right – from God – to defend his person, his liberty, and his property. These are the three basic requirements of life, and the preservation of any one of them is completely dependent upon the preservation of the other two. For what are our faculties but an extension of our individuality? And what is property but an extension of our faculties? If every person has the right to defend – even by force – his person, his liberty, and his property, then it follows that a group of men have the right to organize and support a common force to protect these rights constantly. Thus, the principle of collective right – its reason for existing, its lawfulness – is based on individual right. And the common force that protects this collective right cannot logically have any other purpose or any other mission than that for which it acts as a substitute. Thus, since an individual cannot lawfully use force against the person, liberty, or property of another individual, then the common force – for the same reason – cannot lawfully be used to destroy the person, liberty, or property of individuals or groups.”
Legal plunder is morally reprehensible because it is stealing, regardless of the rhetoric in its defense. “When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.” In 1850, Frédéric Bastiat tactfully dismantled socialist ideology with a few well constructed sentences.
Today, socialistic programs are parroted by both political parties. But if Republicans wish to claim the moral high ground in the political debate, would it not be wise to abandon these fundamentally immoral ideas and instead focus on protecting the property rights and liberties of Americans? At any rate, socialism has been a proven failure all over the world. It is time for the Republican Party to venture back into the once familiar moral sanctuary of free market capitalism. And I encourage you to read Frédéric Bastiat and give free markets and property rights a fighting chance.
“Is there any need to offer proof that this odious perversion of the law is a perpetual source of hatred and discord; that it tends to destroy society itself? If such proof is needed, look at the United States [in 1850]. There is no country in the world where the law is kept more within its proper domain: the protection of every person’s liberty and property. As a consequence of this, there appears to be no country in the world where the social order rests on a firmer foundation.”
OK. I promise this is the last post I’ll make regarding the election article. There are two more recent articles that belong in this discussion that should not be dismissed. The first describes how many of Mitt Romney’s relatives are not even voting for him. They are campaigning for Ron Paul.
That story might seem dismissible but this one is not. If you cannot get your own family to vote for you and you are plagued by record low likeability on the national scale, you cannot win the Presidency. Period.
But the GOP does not care.
Did you know that the EPA classifies milk as an oil, and therefore it is regulated as such for preventing oil spills? There are hundreds, if not thousands of ridiculous and stupid laws out there that are either still in effect, or once were. This week, we split into teams and played a quiz game show where the object was to guess the real law from a list riddled with fake ones. In truth, this was quite a bit harder to do than one might think. When there are real laws out there such as “Restaurants, airports, and other places of business must classify miniature horses as service animals”, it can be quite hard to tell which ones are made up. Here are some more examples of silly laws that were once on the books:
- In Alabama, it’s illegal to wear a funny fake mustache to church.
- No vehicle without a driver may exceed 60 miles per hour in California.
- No one may use a white cane, unless they are blind in Connecticut.
- Donut holes may not be sold in Lehigh, Nebraska.
- Elephants may not be used to plow cotton fields in North Carolina.
- Road kill may be taken home for supper in West Virginia.
- You may not take a picture of a rabbit during the month of June in Wyoming.
Nelson Harris
Secretary
Davis College Republicans
Spring is here, and DCR is at it again! For our first meeting of the quarter, our topic was “The Ideology of Catastrophe”. Marcus started off the discussion with some examples of crises that have come into the public’s awareness in the recent past – from bird flu, to melting polar ice caps, to peak oil. The panic that ensues as a result of these so-called “catastrophes” create an environment in which brash and illogical decisions are easily made, and public sentiment is easily swayed.
Coincidentally, on the very day of our meeting, the Reynoso Task Force that was established to investigate the pepper-spraying of students involved in the Occupy protests on campus released their official ruling. The Reynoso report claimed that Lt. Pike was wrong for having deployed pepper spray. As a witness of the events that day, a contributor of testimony to the task force’s report, and as an attendee of the committee’s official presentation of their opinion, I felt it was important to bring up this case as an example of “The Ideology of Catastrophe” at work. As I explained in the meeting, it is my view that the response to the actions taken by the campus police has been yet another instance of a knee-jerk reaction that swings things too far in the opposite direction in light of a (perceived or real) crisis. The proposed disbanding of the campus police force would be a negligent decision that would put many more students in danger of much worse than pepper-spray. As Republicans, as students, as people: we must always be able to take a step back and think logically about the decisions we make. When faced with a crisis, it becomes much easier to be ruled by our emotions and our fear than to think objectively, but a time of crisis is the very time that objectivity is needed most.
A big thank you to everyone who made it to our first meeting of the quarter! We had a great turnout this week. To all our new members: I look forward to seeing you again! To those of you who weren’t able to make it, come check us out next week!
Nelson Harris
Secretary
Davis College Republicans
Yet more drama from the land of poverty and great-leader-ness. Kim Jong Un’s latest actions as despot of North Korea are, as one might think, just the type of provocation we’ve come to expect from everyone’s favorite hermit kingdom. On Sunday, April 8th, the erratic regime invited foreign journalists to visit the Sohae launch facility, where the three-stage Unha 3 rocket is being prepped for launch. This rocket will supposedly carry a combination weather satellite/”propaganda cube” into orbit, probably sometime around April 12-16. Though, amateur rocketry enthusiasts are dubious as to whether or not the rocket can even reach it’s intended orbit. What is more likely, is that rather than being an innocuous satellite launch, this is instead a test of the technologies relevant to popping off a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead thousands of kilometers away. Oh, and of some interest to the people within a few thousand kilometers of North Korea–their rocket is probably going to be dropping rocket stages willy-nilly all over the place (hi there Philippines!), while the South Korean and Japanese governments have threatened to shoot it down if it passes over their territory. Oh, yeah, there’s also a chance it could veer off into China upon launch…if it even gets that far.
To add insult to injury, as it were, satellite imagery also shows that the North Koreans are potentially preparing for a third nuclear test.
Yet another few steps in the endless dance the North Korean leadership seems to have suckered the world into accepting.
After all, not too long ago, the North agreed to put a limit on its nuclear program, in exchange for a massive dose of food aid, courtesy of yours truly the US of A.
Now that they are planning on launching this missile, which happens to be prohibited under some UN Security Council resolutions putting a moratorium of North Korean long range missile testing, that food aid is going to be cancelled.
North Korean dealings with their neighbors/us seem to vacillate between provocation, and pacification. That is, the North Koreans will engage in some provocative action, and then after the hullabaloo has somewhat died down, they will agree to some sort of concessions or whatever else. Generally in exchange for desperately-needed food aid. And then the cycle begins anew…after all, that country has very little money, most of which is pumped into the anemic (yet numerically large) military, and pockets of the party elite. Food is the primary leverage we hold over them, now that they are a nuclear power and all. Which makes me wonder–given Kim Jong Un’s penchant for eating all the things, and his population’s penchant for being, well, horribly malnourished (and eating none of the things), might we not have some way of controlling their behavior? The good ol’ carrot-and-stick approach?
Well, probably not. Given the way things have gone over the years, and the recent turn of events RE rocketry = “no food for you,” it appears we are back to the status quo, and until we decide to call the North’s bluff, there we shall remain. Until then, have fun reading the news, and just don’t get too alarmed over the North’s aggressive posturing.
“Oh, Dear!” The mainstream media admits Romney is in trouble!
Davis College Republicans 