Hearing the Falconer #8 ~ 16-March-2019 ~ Saving Checks and Balances

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

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16-March-2019: Saving the checks and balances
Will Senator's Support for Trump's Emergency Come Back to Haunt Them?
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Bad idea from the right.

Trump's declaration of a national emergency to get money for a border wall, and Republican support for him on this issue, are setting dangerous precedents.

One of the most important principles for political centrists should be to maintain the checks and balances in the government that prevent any one branch from seizing excessive power.

When Congress allocates money for specific projects and the president declares an emergency to get around those allocations we are weakening important checks and balances and walking down a dangerous road.

When both Houses of Congress vote against the declaration of emergency and the president refuses to back down, but insists on getting his own way regardless of the will of Congress, we are not just walking down a dangeorus road anymore; we are RUNNING down a dangerous road.

Citizens trying to be independent, moderate, and centrist, need to oppose these kinds of power grabs, whether they come from the right or the left.

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Indpendent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Hearing the Falconer #7 ~ 15-March-2019 ~ Information on why we need the Motion to Recommit in the House

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

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15-March-2019: Technical Report on the House Motion to Recommit
A Congressional report on the House Motion to Recommit
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A bad idea from Democrats - More information on the Motion to Recommit in the House

Yesterday I wrote about some Freshman Democrats in the House seeking to abolish or change the procedure called the Motion to Recommit (MTR). This would be a BAD idea. The current procedure on the MTR is a GOOD idea. Today I wanted to provide some more background information on the MTR.

The attached document is from the Congressional Research Service in January 2016. It is a little technical but some main points are:

"Due to its inclusion of policy language, the motion to recommit might also have political effects, such as allowing Members to go on record as supporting or opposing a specific policy and creating a comprehensive public record to emphasize the minority party’s differences from the platform of the majority."

"As described below, the motion to recommit underwent fundamental changes in 1909 with the stated purpose of giving the minority the right “to have a vote upon its position upon great public questions.” This seems to imply that the motion was intended to have not only procedural effects but also political ones, allowing Members to go on record as supporting or opposing a specific policy, an opportunity that may be important for demonstrating their policy preference to constituents that might not otherwise occur in the absence of the motion."

"A motion to recommit may combine several proposed amendments, providing the opportunity to package together a set of views as a way to create a comprehensive public record to emphasize the minority party’s differences from the platform of the majority."

On the whole the MTR was designed to give the minority party in the House a little more influence and to provide a way for the minority to get member's views on the record. These are good independent, moderate, centrist goals. Democrats should leave the MTR alone.

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Indpendent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Hearing the Falconer #6 ~ 14-March-2019 ~ Should the Minority in the House Have a Voice?

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

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14-March-2019: Freshman Democrats Want to Weaken Republicans in the House
House Democrats Eye Ditching a Procedure That Gives Republicans a Voice
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Bad idea from Democrats

Seventeen freshman Democrats in the House want to end the ability of the minority party to offer a Motion to Recommit (MTR) a bill for a specific purpose. This procedure, which has been used since 1909, allows the minority party to make final suggestions before a bill is passed, and to get a vote on those suggestions.

It also allows the minority party to expose divisions in the majority by making a suggestion that some members of the majority will agree with, while others will not.

The Republicans have made good use of the MTR recently, using it about two dozen times, and actually getting changes made to two bills before they were passed.

For moderates and centrists the MTR is a good thing. It allows the minority party to be heard by giving them a way to put their ideas about a bill on the record and by forcing a vote on those ideas. Even if the MTR is used in "bad faith," just to expose disagreements in the majority party, this is still a service to the citizens of the country who are able to see more clearly where their representatives stand on issues.

The freshman Democrats who want to end the MTR are wrong. Ending the MTR is a bad idea.

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Indpendent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

Hearing the Falconer #5 ~ 13-March-2019 ~ Declaring a National Emergency

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

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13-March-2019: Declaring a National Emergency
Declaring a National Emergency
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Too wrong.

Declaring a national emergency to take money for a purpose that Congress has not agreed to fund at the level the president wants is an unconstitutional and dangerous precedent.

A president should argue for the policies and funding he or she wants.
Then the president should take whatever money Congress allocates and make the best of it.

If presidents of either party can just ignore Congress and do whatever they want we are no longer following our Constitutional system of checks and balances and we are heading down a very dangerous road indeed.

The moderate position on this issue is to just follow the Constitution. We need the will of the president, ANY president, to be checked by the will of Congress.

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Indpendent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Hearing the Falconer #4 ~ 12-March-2019 ~ Pelosi Not Ready for Impeachment

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

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12-March-2019: Pelosi Not Ready to Impeach Trump
Nancy Pelosi Against Trump Impeachment
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Good idea from Democrats.

Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says Democrats should NOT be focused on impeaching Trump. She believes this would be too divisive for the country.

On the other hand, she also said that if Trump has broken laws, and if that becomes so obvious that there is bipartisan support for impeachment and removal, THEN we could think about going down the impeachment road at that time.

This is a very good moderate and centrist position. It is also a responsible and mature position. Pelosi is trying to avoid the extremes of rushing to impeachment on the one hand and taking impeachment entirely off the table on the other hand.

By doing this I assume Pelosi is hoping to focus Demcorats on their most important task: defeating Trump in 2020.

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Indpendent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics