Don's Tuesday Column

           THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson  Red Bluff Daily News   2/16/2016

          A judicial giant, Trump’s insults

Those interested in the status of the State of Jefferson movement, now that petitions have been turned in to Sacramento, may want to attend tonight’s Tea Party Patriots meeting at the Westside Grange at 6 PM. Terry and Sally Rapoza from the Redding Tea Party will have updates.

Weekend events inform my thoughts today. Upon first hearing of the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, I placed my flag at half-staff out of honor and respect for the towering, influential jurist that almost single-handedly provided an ideological and judicial North Star to guide all present and future aspirants to the bench.

If one places value in the meaning of the text and writings of those brilliant men who conceived this nation in constitutional liberty, with justice under law for all, then there is simply no refutation to Scalia’s arguments. Even if, as a conservative, you think that the American flag ought to be protected by criminal statute against being burned in protest, his reasoned overturning of such laws cannot be ignored.

After lowering my flag, I called my wife to share the sad news. On Justice Scalia’s 30 years on the Supreme Court, I remarked that he may have done more than President Ronald Reagan to assure Americans of the rights our Framers intended for our security. That is proven true for Americans’ 2^nd Amendment right to arm themselves for their own self-defense. A slim majority of 5 Supreme Court Justices overturned local laws, first in Chicago, then Washington, DC, and said to state and local gun rights opponents that the 2nd Amendment means what plain English and the laws of Nature and Nature’s God intended. Reagan could not have had passed, and signed, legislation with such far-reaching impact.

Senate Majority Leader McConnell was reflecting my own gut reaction to the prospect of a vacancy on the Supreme Court, leaving it tied, 4 conservatives and 4 liberals. Not just “no replacement” of Scalia by Obama, but “Heck No.” Obama will, of course, use every trick in his conniving, manipulative, disingenuous playbook to attempt to force Senate submission through intimidation, character assassination and browbeating. He will have the reliable in-kind contributions of the news media.

He will probably use the militant “Occupy Wall Street” and “Black Lives Matter” left to load buses with the usual miscreants and rabble-rousers ready to provide shouting, signage and twisted, angry faces for the above mentioned media partisans and their cameras. Obama will search for just the right combination of gender, race and credentials to hold over politically vulnerable Republican Senators.

Scalia’s passing provided a somber framework for the South Carolina Republican debate that night. They all made appropriate comments but something about the “moment of silence” struck me as off-putting: While all other candidates reverentially bowed their heads, Donald Trump did not, as if to say by his body language that he was above such trite affectation.

Setting that relatively small item aside, I did have some observations and take-aways on the remaining candidates. I was not put off by the audience reactions as I suspect each candidate’s supporters found seats to occupy. Some “hoorays” and some “boos” ensued.

Overall, I don’t think Gov. John Kasich, former-Gov. Jeb Bush or retired Dr. Ben Carson either advanced or hurt their respective causes and are not likely to change their polling status. That means there is no more likelihood now than there was last week that they emerge from the lower tier to become the Republican nominee. I have a Ben Carson sticker on my car and will proudly display it until it decomposes in place (next to my “Nobama” sticker).

I have felt from the beginning that my conservative values would be well served by either Sen. Marco Rubio or Sen. Ted Cruz (or Rick Perry or Scott Walker); Donald Trump, not very much and even less so after the debate. I have never felt personally inspired by Trump, nor have I seen that principled constitutional conservatism is evident in his pronouncements.

I believe he would effectively and sincerely 1) crack down on illegal immigration, 2) strengthen America’s trade and military standing in the world, and 3) take Republican legislation and sign it or work with Congress to reach a generally right-leaning consensus. I have never felt elevated by his conduct as a candidate and don’t see anything to suggest that he would work to persuade Americans of the efficacy and rightness in restoring American constitutional governing principles.

Trump’s actual positions on issues, political contributions and alliances over the years have not demonstrated an ideological adherence to our founding system, except as he is driven to be the leader of it. That leaves, then, little more than the aspirations that his supporters vest in him, for what they are worth. To the extent that Trump’s discourse has devolved into a virtual gutter of trash-talk, insults and low-blow-hard-ism, I find myself hoping for the worst fate that could befall the man: Let the voters in Republican primaries make him a political loser! Then, let him serve America best by recommending that his supporters help make our nominee the President.

Trump had already ignorantly assigned blame for the recession to President Bush rather than the government-mandated loose lending that created the housing bubble. It was the last straw to hear him peddle loony-left, Code Pink, 9/11 Bush-blaming, and “Bush lied us into the Iraq war.” Republican voters should shun such a demagogue, even when he spouts things you like to hear.