Festivus: We're Back With an Axe to Grind

Dearest Reader,

As some of you may have noticed, while most of you have been blissfully ignorant, your favorite porcupine themed conservative blog has not posted in some time. Mortgages had to be paid, children had to be raised, and speaking for myself, there were fish in the streams and rivers around our nation’s capital that needed to be caught. This is not to say that John Dos Passos Dos and I don’t enjoy writing articles to lay out ‘the way we see it’ or, at times, to badger and ridicule one another through snarky and snide slights buried within an otherwise valid piece of opinion writing.

The goal of the PT was to bring a NeoCon and an anarchi…err…Libertarian together to lament about the lost soul of our beloved party by circumstance. As writers and editors we have lost sight of this.  In a temporary moment where I found myself both nostalgic and sentimental, and after one too many glasses of Blanton’s, I let John convince me that the PT was worth reviving.  That as writers and as men, we still had something to say.

Finding ourselves in a new year, just over a month out from December 23rd (better known as Festivus), I’m going to take a moment to channel my inner Frank Costanza and air my grievances:

1. The impeachment is neither important nor interesting.

   Our friends on the left thought they had Donald Trump with the Mueller investigation.  When the Mueller Report was released, it was a dud. Some things happened that were questionable, but all in all, nothing of substance to prosecute.  Instead of calling it a day and focusing on actually finding a candidate who could take on President Trump in 2020, the Dems doubled down. They brought forth impeachment hearings on some of the shakiest grounds imaginable (even by Swamp standards).

   
   This just solidifies that the Democratic Caucus is terribly outmatched when it comes to procedure. Sure they impeached the president, but what did they gain? In the weeks after the impeachment the reds got redder and the blues bluer. That just doesn’t win national elections. So realizing the dud they had on their hands, Nancy ‘The Clapper’ Pelosi decides that she is going to hold on to the articles of impeachment and delay their arrival to the upper chamber. Why? According to Pelosi, it’s because the Senate was unwilling to allow for witnesses.  In reality, it’s because she realized that Mitch McConnell is a master of procedural rules in the Senate and would scoot this whole matter along to a quick acquittal.

   
   After weeks of holding out Pelosi did what Democrats do best. She folded.  The House held a vote and the articles of impeachment have been delivered. The whole matter is a monumental waste of time. Trump will be acquitted. He will campaign on how the Dems did their best, but once again, no one can put Donny in a corner.

   
   To be clear, Trump is not a paragon of morality. We should not raise our children to use him as a compass for how to navigate life. His election and subsequent administration has been mired by controversy after controversy, many started by the man’s own twitter account. But what I’m getting at is that numerous presidents have committed impeachable offenses, their poll numbers were either high enough to avoid the matter or the lower chamber didn’t have the prerogative to initiate impeachment hearings.  The new Left’s beloved former leader Droney McPeaceprize (known by some as Barrack Obama) is among that list. Did he get congressional authorization for every use of force? Would his administration’s bumbling and obfuscation after the failed ATF plot ‘Fast and Furious’ not have qualified under the articles that Trump is being impeached? You may feel differently about the matter, but I see many similarities.

   
   My opinion is that we should just get rid of impeachments. It is an aspect of the constitution that has aged poorly. When written, term limits did not exist. Thanks to the public being sick of Franklin ‘Scoot After Any Skirt in the Room’ Roosevelt and his four terms as president, the congress ratified the 22nd amendment. Additionally, the impeachment proceedings are not about ‘protecting the Republic’ they are almost entirely politically motivated. Gerald Ford was at least being honest when, as leader of the House Republican Conference, he argued that high crimes and misdemeanors might as well be whatever a majority of the House of Representatives defined it to be, and would vote for.
   The whole process if flawed, the House of Representatives have proven to be ineffectual investigators ignoring or valuing certain evidence over others based on who is sitting in the Speaker’s chair. Let the people decide who serves as the head of state. And if we make a mistake…so be it.

2. Stop blaming the Bureaucracy. It all starts in Congress.

   Since the Carter administration, bureaucrats have become the de facto target of all “right wingers.” We say that are “lazy” or “unskilled.” Does the federal bureaucracy tend to vote for democrats? Yes. Do I blame them? No. When Woodrow ‘Just Make Me King Already’ Wilson was still a lowly academic at Bryn Mawr College, he wrote an essay, “The Study of Administration” wherein he laid out what would become a foundational treatise of what has become the field of public administration. He posited that the political administration and the bureaucratic administration should be wholly separated so as to ensure that the bureaucracy and uphold the fleeting political sentiments. To some, this is ‘classic King Wilson’, but he wasn’t advocating for the replacement of a citizen centric/rule by the governed system (at least not at that point). He believed that the bureaucracy needed to be manned by highly specialized individuals and function as a professional cadre with no allegiance to politics. Unfortunately both for the country and the bureaucracy, Wilson did not continue to hold these sentiments when he took office. He re-segregated the civil service and did everything in his power to bend government to his will.

   
   For my entire professional career I have worked in, with, and around the bureaucracy at every level of government. Many times drawing a salary funded by you, dear reader, as Joe Taxpayer. From early in my childhood I felt what, as a practicing and devout Catholic, I can only describe as a calling to an avocation which served the people and not simply the bottom line. In my time in the bureaucracy I can attest that parts of Wilson’s dream is still alive and well, I have had the pleasure of working with some incredibly hard working, intelligent (sometimes even brilliant), and wholly committed bureaucrats who care about their role and the work they produce and the people they impact.
   I will concede that the bureaucracy is too large and does need to be reigned in. But the culprit is not the bureaucracy itself or the bureaucrats manning their posts. The real target of our frustration is our own elected officials in Congress.  As we all know, it is Congress that wields the power of the purse. Every added agency, program, and hire is a direct result of a policy which has been passed by those chosen to represent the people. If there is one aspect of the current administration that I find myself continually impressed by, it is the willingness to trim some of the most burdensome regulations imposed by the previous administration, and more importantly oppose new regulations. This is one promise President Trump has delivered upon.

   
   In a June 2019 interim report, released by the Council of Economic Advisors, noted that the Trump administration has undertaken twenty federal deregulatory actions which would save American consumers and businesses a whopping $220 billion per year once they go into full effect. This action would raise real incomes by 1.3%.

   
   The issue is that it has become all too easy to blame the faceless bureaucracy, the men and women in the gray flannel suits who clock in every morning and fulfill the statutory requirements of the laws passed by our legislature. What many fail to come to terms with is that as conservatives we tend to write off demographics as “unwinnable”. Inner-city? Unwinnable. Youth vote? Unwinnable. Government employees? Unwinnable.  We need to not only extend the olive branch (not stopping the constant attack) and start recruiting, and dare I say it, forcibly taking over. We should encourage our youth to serve our nation’s civil service. The best and brightest can serve their nation by taking their principled approach to government and holding a seat at the table when it comes to designing the application and administration of the policy.

3. A New Party of Ideas…Maybe Even a Compromise

   I have never understood the self-righteousness and pride of our elected officials for their record of voting ‘no’. There are entire congressional careers which have been filled with the ‘no’ vote with very few original ideas coming out of their respective office. We must stop deifying the hard liners and recognize that their stances will net few returns for our causes. Numerous members who share our distaste for a government run healthcare system have voted ‘no’ (as they should have, it is a very bad idea), but the GOP’s answer/alternative has been lacking. We can’t hope to win the hearts and minds of the coveted middle 50% of America without bringing something of value to the table. The party that fails to innovate has little hope of surviving. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather the GOP didn’t go the way of the Whigs.

   
   I see only one alternative to rectify our current course. Our legislature must actually do its job the way the founders intended. There is a reason why the House and Senate are set up in Article I; they are the big show. They were supposed to be the bold who guided our nation through well thought out policy which was poignant for the times (a representative only has two years to get things done before facing reelection) and responsible (a senator enjoys six years of comfort before being made to account for their sins…er…actions). Our elected representatives must, in no uncertain terms, craft policy. Not just any policy, but passable policy that can make it through committee and onto the floor. Then they must put in the same effort to build consensus not only within the GOP, but across the aisle. If we stop being the party of opposition, we can be the party of inspiration. That is the goal, the gold standard, and the epitome of what it means to be a public servant.

What's In a Question?

President Trump views the Supreme Court decision, last week, against the addition of a controversial citizenship question to the 2020 Census as a temporary setback as opposed to an unfavorable conclusion.  While Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said that after the decision the administration would be dropping the effort, tweets on Wednesday and Thursday has spurred the Justice and Commerce departments to pull out the stops and burn the midnight oil in order to come up with a new legal rationale for the inclusion of the question in time to meet the 2p.m. deadline today (Friday, 7/5/2019) set by a federal judge in Maryland to explain how it plans to proceed.  While this renewed fight may come at the ire of moderate Republicans who believe it to be fruitless and a waste of time, there is still a vocal contingent urging the president to continue the effort.  President Trump has even hinted at the potential of getting the question back on the form through use of executive order.

The tie between the Census and the formation of electoral districts makes any matter regarding the addition or subtraction of questions from the form inherently political.  Ross has stated previously that the proposed citizenship question would use the same wording as what is already in use in the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.  Supporters of the addition of the question, such as The Heritage Foundation’s Senior Legal Fellow Hans A. von Spakovsky, view its addition as common sense in order to attain accurate data on the US population.  While detractors, such as Rep. Ilhan Omar, suggest that such a question would discourage immigrants, especially illegal immigrants, from participating in the Census.  This would, as they argue, lead to an undercount of the U.S. population and would impact the amount of federal funds and congressional seats going to districts with larger immigrant populations.

There is no question that the ruling served as a major setback for President Trump.  But it is important to understand that the ruling does not kill the issue, it merely sends it back to lower courts to be hashed out.  In a dissent joined by Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the court should have stopped its analysis when it determined that the citizenship question was both constitutional and within the authority of the Commerce Secretary, and that by doubting Secretary Ross’ motives ignored the “the presumption of regularity” the courts owe to federal agencies.  Further cementing Justice Thomas as a bright and shining example of originalism on the Court today.

Now that we’ve gotten the context portion of this piece out of the way, lets jump into the hard reality.  Politics is a zero-sum game.  What helps Republicans hurts Democrats, and vice versa.  The fact that in 2019 a federal form tasked with gathering demographic data about people living in the United States asking if people living within the United States are citizens of the United States is ridiculous.  The fearmongering being spun up on the Left is blatantly irresponsible.  Let’s just clear the air, the data gathered by the Census cannot be used by federal law enforcement agencies to rally up illegal immigrants for mass deportation.  Title 13 of the US Code (The Census Law) is very straight forward, responses to Census Bureau surveys and censuses are required to be kept confidential and used for statistical purposes only.  The Census Bureau only publishes aggregated statics which do not reveal information about particular individuals, households or businesses.

This question is not malevolent or even unique to the United States in the “Trump Age”.  The United Nations recommends that its member countries ask a citizenship question on their censuses.  The United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany all ask the question.  Only in the U.S. has this issue been considered controversial.  Former Attorney General Eric “Too Fast Too Furious” Holder claim that the question is “irresponsible” and “unconstitutional”.  I’d beg to differ.  The question traces it’s roots back to none other than Thomas Jefferson, who first proposed the question in 1800.  The question officially became part of the decennial census in 1820 and was included on every census until 1950 when it was moved to the “long form”, which was sent to one in every six households, until its discontinuation in 2000.  Since then the question has been sent with the American Community Survey.  To recap, the question traces it roots back to the father of the Declaration of Independence, has been asked for longer than it has not been asked.

Regarding Holder’s doubts of constitutionality, I’d urge him to dust off his pocket constitution (I’m positive I’m not the only one who has one) and flip to Art. 1, Sec. 2, Cl. 3 wherein the power to conduct the census is given to the Congress, and in 13 U.S. Code Sec. 5, the power is delegated to the Secretary of Commerce who “shall prepare questionnaires, and shall determine the inquiries, and the number, form, and subdivisions thereof, for the statistics, surveys, and censuses provided for in this title.”

In my time analyzing the bureaucracy I’ve found that Occam’s razor tends to apply.  When there exist multiple explanations for an occurrence, the one that requires the least speculation is usually correct.  In reality this citizenship question is nothing more than a mundane bureaucratic form change.  One which is inline with numerous other nations and allies throughout the world.  The Democrats are providing lip service stating that they are looking out for vulnerable immigrant communities, while in reality they are simply fearmongering.  They don’t care about response rates; they care about how the returns will affect future electoral maps.  The reality is that the question provides valuable data which will improve the electoral equality for all U.S. citizens by staying true to the principle, one person, one vote.

Backed Up Against the Wall: Trump's Options Moving Forward

As Nancy Pelosi regained her speakership after spending the past eight years in the minority, she gaveled in the end of Republican unified government for the foreseeable future.  One of her first acts in the role was to call a vote to reopen the government, noticeably and poignantly, lacking any funding for the border wall.  What is sure to be remembered as a Republican mishandling of a previously bi-partisan issue, the question has shifted to “Now what?” for many on the Right who have been left, unceremoniously, without closure.  Has border security become an afterthought?  Will Republicans go home and tell their constituents “we’ll get ‘em next time?”

One hopes not, there is still much to be done and fight left in the administration.  What Republicans need to be asking is what actions can President Trump take to unilaterally protect the border?  Back in November, the Center for Immigration Studies released a backgrounder by Dan Cadman which provided an overview of the President’s emergency immigration powers.  Among the many listed, use of the military, border agent force multipliers, and modifying the asylum policy show the most promise.

In late October 2018, the President deployed more than 5,000 active-duty soldiers to the US-Mexico border to assist Border Patrol agents in preparation for the arrival of the caravan of migrants making their way from Central America.  Troops were utilized for their specialized skills in setting up the logistical supply chains and infrastructure needed to handle the asylum seekers, numbering in the thousands.

With the operation set to end on Jan. 31st, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is preparing to request that the Pentagon not only extend the deployment, but send additional troops.  One hopes the severity of this crisis will not be lost on the new Democratic majority in the House and urges them to reconsider their stance on the border wall funding.  As they have a history of ignoring the expertise of border officials in the past, it’s unlikely they will change course now.

As mentioned previously, President Trump’s options don’t solely rely on the armed forces.  Per Cadman in the backgrounder, “the president can assign as many federal law enforcement personnel as he chooses, en masse, to be temporarily assigned to border security duties.”  The federal agency most likely to be readily prepared to deal with this issue and most impact the border security goals as a force multiplier is the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).  DEA agents are already active along the US-Mexico border battling the ever present threats of drug trafficking by illegal immigrants affiliated with the cartels.  They possess the specialized training (language, logistics, terrain) to deal with the migrants, and by securing the border they also work towards their agency’s mission of reducing the flow of drugs and gangs entering the Country.

The President is also empowered by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to cross-designate and deploy local and state law enforcement officers to assist in the enforcement of immigration laws.  Section 103(a)(10) of the INA reads:

(10) IN the event the Attorney General determines that an actual or imminent mass influx of aliens arriving off the coast of the United States, or near a land border, presents urgent circumstances requiring an immediate Federal response, the Attorney General may authorize any State or Local law enforcement officer, with the consent of the head of the department, agency, or establishment under whose jurisdiction the individual is serving, to perform an exercise any of the powers, privileges, or duties conferred or imposed by this chapter or regulations issued thereunder upon officers or employees of the Service.

Empowering local and state agencies to assist in border security has numerous positives.  Chief among them is that these local officers operating in the region are familiar with illegal immigration and are best equipped to know what solutions would work best in their jurisdiction.  Additionally since it is unlikely that the Governor of California, Jerry Brown, would condone such actions, but Doug Ducey (Governor of Arizona) or Greg Abbott (Governor of Texas) might, it would allow for the President to focus federal law enforcement resources on the California border and entrust the state/local officials in Arizona and Texas to be dedicated to the cause of protecting their communities.

The options listed above are all reactionary in nature.  To truly impact our broken immigration policies, we will need to close the loopholes in the asylum system.  Too often illegal immigrants are able to shirk a quick deportation by claiming asylum.  With a success rate of around 10% actually being granted asylum it is clear that the system is broken.  On December 20th, the Administration took steps to deal with the issue when Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen accounted that the United States will begin the process of invoking Section 235(b)(2)(C) of the INA, better known as the Migration Protection Protocol (MPP).

Under the MPP, individual who enter the United States from Mexico illegally may be returned to Mexico for the duration of their immigration proceedings.  In the announcement Nielson said, “We will confront this crisis head on, uphold the rule of law, and strengthen our humanitarian commitments.  Aliens trying to game the system to get into our country illegally will no longer be able to disappear into the United States, where many skip their court dates.  Instead, they will wait for an immigration court decision while they are Mexico.  ‘Catch and release’ will be replaced by ‘catch and return.’”

The impacts of this move will serve to reduce the number of asylum claims by removing the incentive to attempt to game the system and skip their court appearance and never be seen again.  Those who actually need asylum will receive the focus they deserve and experience faster processing times since the system will not be burdened by false claimants.  Our border security personnel will be able to focus on their primary mission of keeping our borders secured instead of reducing the asylum backlog.

In an age when the Left is calling for the dissolution of ICE and CBP and refuse to fund a physical barrier along the border, this Administration must find a creative solution to surpass the barriers and ensure that the border is secure.  This is not only an immigration issue, but much broader national security issue.  Something must be done, if not a physical barrier then we must use what tools and options we have at our disposal.

- William F. Buckley Jr. Jr.