Monday, September 24, 2012

DEAR GOVERNOR ROMNEY

The enclosed check is the largest donation I have ever made to any political candidate.

I want you to win the election.

I want you to win because I think that the present administration is taking the United States of America down a path which Alexis de Tocqueville so eloquently described 200 years ago.

He said, “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.”

You must remind the American people that we are not a democracy, we are a republic.

We are not 300 million people ruled by a single government in Washington D.C.; we are fifty sovereign republics united under a constitution which gives only limited, necessary powers to those who conduct the affairs of our national union.

You were the Governor of Massachusetts. Remind the American people that every state has its own history, its own economy, its own weather, its own people and its own politics.

De Tocqueville told us that there are two things democracies find hard to do: start wars and end them.

Remind us that our constitution was made to provide for the common defense, not to police the world, nor export western style democracy.

Tell it like it is: we can afford to maintain the strongest military force on the planet for our defense, but we cannot afford to underwrite the military occupation of hostile nations all around the world.

Have the courage and integrity to tell the American people that you will bring the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan on your first day in office.

Have the courage to tell the American people that we need to reform our Congress; amend the constitution to prohibit omnibus bills, require that every bill address only one subject, require members to read what they vote for.

Governor, everyone keeps saying that this is the most important election in our lifetime.

It is not so important just because you are a more skilled and experienced executive than your opponent.

This election is important because we are inching down the road to become a one party nation, ruled by a political establishment with a collectivist mindset, abetted by a concupiscent media which coddles its heroes and impales dissenters with ridicule and scorn.

It the name of national security, your opponent assumes the power of life and death, maintains a Presidential kill list, authorizes indefinite detention of suspected troublemakers, and tolerates wholesale violations of the Bill of Rights.

You have to say so.

You have to tell us that when you take the oath of office to support and defend the constitution, you mean the constitution as it was written and ratified by the people, not some unwritten constitution that is supposed to have evolved because nobody objected.

This will be the most important election of our lifetime only if you make it a contest between a Republic and a Democracy.

A contest between freedom and collectivism.

De Tocqueville wrote: “Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”

Ronald Reagan fought for Christianity against Godless collectivism.

So should you, Governor, so must you.

11 comments:

  1. Right on Judge, right on. You said so eloquently what many of us are feeling. I do hope that your letter reaches Governor Romney and that he also can pass your thoughts on to the rest of the American people who are waiting so desparately to hear them. God Bless.
    Lo

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  2. Your honor I'm a 3L in that little school you founded. I've been a faithful if silent reader of your blog for a few years now. I would concur with the previous comment; I hope your letter reaches Governor Romney. He needs to hear it. Our country needs to hear it. I have nothing but respect for any individual who holds the office of the presidency but I don't believe President Obama is leading our country in a direction that is right for American. Not for our national security, not for our national prosperity, and not for our standing among the nations of the world. For all our sakes let us pray that freedom wins.
    -John

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  3. Tom (Your Honor)
    What an outstanding summary of what the American people are facing if Obama gets reelected. Thank you for again taking the time to educate some folks who do not understand he is destroying are way of life and the freedom we have enjoyed and fought for, that our grandchilden will never know if he is not defeated in this election.
    Semper Fi!
    Jim Murphy

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  4. The problem Judge Brennan has is he just donated money to a candidate whose party has publicly declared that if elected it will veto the Constitution by refusing to call a convention even if the states apply. The reasons or justification for such action is immaterial. Mr. Romney supports a party that says it will act counter to all Judge Brennan says he holds dear. Perhaps Judge Brennan should reconsider and ask for his donation back.

    (PS You can go to the RNC website, look up "counsel" then scroll down the page until you come to the resolution opposing a convention to check out this assertion. And remember Judge Brennan even now is working to hold an online convention in Convention USA so the fact is Mr. Romney opposes one of the most fundamental beliefs Judge Brennan has held for at least 30 years.)

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  5. Your honor, I am a reader of de Toqueville like you. I also insist on holding elected representatives to a fiscally responsible strategy, like you. I also oppose omnimbus bills, endless military occupations, and nearly everything you say here.

    But there is one place where you and I are not in agreement. I don't support Romney or the current incarnation of Republican party.

    I didn't come to your blog to start an argument, though. I'm hoping you can help me understand your point of view better. I really, truly, don't get why to people with views as congruent as you and I can see things so opposite, and I really want to understand.

    The fact is, deficit spending was well out of control long before Obama became president. President Bush nearly doubled the size of our national debt - and this was in a time of economic expansion, when the responsible course of action would have been to pay down our bills. Obama at least has the excuse that the economy has been poor and revenues have been down. Bush had no excuse.

    You mention the problem of creating wars without end, yet these wars were indisputably started by a Republican administration. Objectively, it sounds as if the Republicans would like to start yet another war in Iran, the cost of which would dwarf the two previous wars.

    You mention "...Presidential kill list, authorizes indefinite detention of suspected troublemakers, and tolerates wholesale violations of the Bill of Rights" but President Bush did all these things as well, and usually more egregiously than President Obama.

    And of course there is the issue of Omnibus Bills. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that Omnibus bills have been a cornerstone strategy for both parties. Nothing in the current party dialog would indicate the Republicans have any intention of doing away with this strategy which they have exploited and enjoyed for so many years.

    You might say "Romney is no Bush" and you would of course be correct. But Romney hasn't outlined any strategy to differentiate himself from Bush, and has given us no reason to believe he would govern any other way. Indeed, the tax cuts he propose would only throw us further into debt. Further, as Governor of Massachusetts, Romney was pro-gay rights, pro-choice and created one of the largest government programs at the state level in history. He also signed away the right to own assault rifles. His record is extremely left-wing, despite his party affiliation.

    Please don't mistake me as an Obama supporter. I don't see either choice as very palatable in this election, but the Republicans appear to me to be a far worse choice than Obama. Can you help explain to me what I'm missing?

    Thank you for your time.

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  6. First:
    My friend Bill Walker is quite right. The RNC opposes an Article V convention. But I don't think that the DNC, the Brookings Institute or MoveOn.org are any more enthusiastic about Article V than the RNC, the Heritage Foundation or the Cato Institute.

    The RNC and the DNC have the same middle name: National.

    Those who run Washington, or want to run Washington, have no problem with an all powerful national government.

    In Presidential politics, what the candidate says is more important than what the Party says. I think Romney can and should espouse constitutional sanity, no matter what the Party minions have to say about it.

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  7. Second:
    The commentator who posted at10:40 this morning is to be congratulated. His contribution to the discourse is precisely what is need and lacking in this silly season of sassy sound bites.

    And I must agree with much of what he said. It is certainly true that both Republicans and Democrats have been culpable in the march toward an omnipotent national government.

    Presidents of both parties have waged undeclared wars and exercised powers the Congress had no constitutional right to delegate to them.

    So I can understand the writer’s feelings of tweedledum and tweedledee.

    Still, I trust that folks can understand my personal perspective.

    I met Mitt Romney in his father’s living room on January 1, 1967, when I administered the oath of office to Governor George Romney of Michigan.

    I admired George. He was the quintessential executive. He was a doer. He always said to get something done you had to get up out of your chair and walk someplace.

    I don’t think the acorn has fallen far from the tree. Mitt Romney is basically an executive, a doer, a leader who gets the job done.

    He’s not a policy wonk. He can work with Republicans and Democrats.

    He was the Governor of the “People’s Republic of Massachusetts”, for heaven sake! It was his job to carry out the laws, to effectuate what the legislature and the people they represented want. And that’s what he did.

    A balanced budget isn’t a liberal or a conservative goal. It’s a matter of making good executive decisions, and that, I believe, Mitt Romney will do.

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  8. I'm with Mitt Romney 100% and was almost with Judge Brennan 100% until he wrote "Ronald Reagan fought for Christianity against Godless collectivism. So should you, Governor, so must you".

    Judge, read Amendment I of the Constitution. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;". It it this kind of "Christianity-speak" that will cause the Republican party to lose. Religion should have absolutely nothing to do with politics. Religion is the root cause of division in conservative, rational, reasonable thinking. More important, religion has done more damage to world peace, look at all of the disagreements around the world, centered on someone's foolish belief in religion. Like the Democrat party that has been hi-jacked by special interests, our Republican party has been hi-jacked by so-called Christians who are anti-gay, embrace the foolishness of the bible taking it literally, want to get into our bedrooms where they don't belong, telling women how to make decisions about birth control and pregnancy and more. None of this should be on the Republican platform. Even Mitt keeps his Mormon beliefs out of politics. ..... so must you.

    Irish, Catholic kid from Boston who's eyes have opened.

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  9. I'm the commentator who weighed in at 10:40am yesterday. Thank you for your kind compliments, Judge Brennan. I didn't realize you had such a personal connection with the Romney family. Your comments mean that much coming from the man who swore in the best governor in Michigan's history. I hope none of my criticisms gave any offense; certainly none was intended.

    Since I made my initial comments, I've had a chance to read some of your other blog entries, and you have successfully challenged some of my preconceived notions and caused me to rethink some of my positions. Your endorsement of Governor Romney (the younger) is certainly a significant point in his favor. With all the noise in the media lately painting Romney as an out-of-touch blueblood, it's refreshing to hear a calm and reasonable assessment of his character.

    Still, for my part, I've never hired anyone who wouldn't tell me what they were planning to do once they had the job. To win my vote, Governor Romney needs to provide some of the specifics about his plan which he is currently withholding. I will continue to listen carefully to what he says, as well as the statements of President Obama. Both men deserve a fair evaluation.

    Thanks again for widening my worldview. I will continue to follow your blog with great interest.

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  10. I suppose there's a wide gulf between the theology of an Irish Catholic kid from Boston and an Irish Catholic octogenarian from Detroit, but let me try to reconcile them.

    The Cold War between 1950 and 1980 was between communism and those nations we used to lump together as Western Civilization.

    Communist nations, with their emphasis on regimentation and the supremacy of the state were overt enemies of the religious traditions of Christianity. To them, man had no spiritual dimension.

    The Catholic Church took a leading role in opposing the spread of communism. Other Christian denominations, both liberal and conservative, did likewise.

    The battle wasn't about sexual mores; it was about human dignity and freedom.

    It still is.

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  11. Your Honor,

    2012 has not been a banner year, but I am trying to contribute as much as I can when I can to support the Romney/Ryan ticket. The taxes for Obama's landmark legislation (funny how seldom the incumbent mentions health care while campaigning) do not kick in until 2014, but the American economy will never recover unless this massive governmental power grab is stopped.

    George W. Bush was far from perfect, but it frosts me to read about the increased deficit spending that occurred on his watch as if he assumed office prepared for the September 11, 2001 attacks. The War on Terror has lasted longer than any of us could have imagined, but there has been an absolute lack of purpose and direction since Obama became the Commander in Chief. It is worth remembering that some of the Arab states that Obama seeks to placate on a regular basis considered Hitler an ally seventy-five years ago.

    While our Federal Constitution prohibits the establishment of an officially sanctioned state religion no less an authority than William O. Douglas, as an Associate Justice of the United Supreme Court, held in Zorach v. Clauson that “We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.”

    That is not a judicial opinion mandating a state religion. It is a public acknowledgement of the realities of mainstream American culture. This is a culture that the current transformative president would undermine and abolish.

    Dan Kelley


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