If Elected, Hillary Clinton Will Reshape The Supreme Court And Remake The United States

If Hillary Clinton is elected, she may have the opportunity to appoint 3 or possibly 4 justices to the Supreme Court.  First up is filling the late Antonin Scalia’s seat, which will give the Court a 5-vote liberal majority consisting, on her inauguration, of Sonia Sotomayor (age 63), Elena Kagan (56), Ruth Bader Ginsburg (83), and Stephen Breyer (78).   She may be able to appoint young liberals to replace Ginsburg and Breyer, giving the Court a 5-vote liberal majority for decades.  If she gets the opportunity to replace Anthony Kennedy (80), the Court will have a 6-vote liberal majority.   Subject to remaining in good health, Clarence Thomas (68), Samuel Alito (67) and John Roberts (62), who is not reliably conservative, are likely to outlast two terms of Clinton.

A 5-vote liberal majority in the Court will enable Hillary Clinton to remake the United States.  It’s important to remember that the law and the Constitution are what the Supreme Court says they are.

Weaken the First Amendment.  Reduce free speech by restricting conservative talk radio and other conservative expression.  Increase the scope of content designated “hate” speech, subject to federal prosecution.  Limit religious freedom by requiring all religious organizations to abide by the rules of federal programs.

Weaken, preferably eliminate, the Second Amendment.  Reduce gun ownership by banning specific guns.  Instruct the attorney general to litigate existing gun laws and reverse previous court decisions to reduce and eliminate private ownership of guns.

Issue Executive Orders to bypass Congress and impose federal regulations by decree.  The potential range of measures is described in the 31 issues listed on her campaign website.  Her potential use of Executive Orders, perhaps even more than President Obama, would further lift the United States off its constitutional moorings.

Appoint an IRS Commissioner who will increase audits of conservative individuals (and others on her enemies list) and all other conservative-oriented organizations.

Appoint an SEC Commissioner to harass wealthy Republican donors.

Vitiate what remains of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments by shifting existing state powers to the federal government, further concentrating federal authority over the states.

Erode private property rights by imposing more restrictions on its development and usage.

Her ability to remake America is limited only by her imagination and those of her supporters.

Under President Clinton, Congress will become a vestigial organ of government for four to eight years.  Article II of the Constitution, the Executive Branch, will supplant Article I, the Legislative Branch.

#NEVERTRUMP conservative intellectuals prefer the possibility of Clinton’s liberal remaking of America to a President Trump.  The United States is a free country, and that is their choice.  How free it will be in 2020 or 2024 if Clinton becomes president is the 64 trillion dollar question.

Let China Pay

The United States is militarily and financially overextended.  For decades, U.S. taxpayers have financed a security umbrella over Europe paying 75% or more of NATO’s costs and supplying most of the military personnel.  European members are not paying their fair share.  Instead, they have spent their taxpayers’ money on expanded social programs.  Enjoying U.S. protection, they even have the gall to criticize the U.S. for its harsh market economy, in which individuals lack taxpayer-provided health insurance, free university education, long maternity/paternity leave, long vacations, and so forth.

If Europe does not want to pay for its defense, so be it.  Continued U.S. military protection for Europe only encourages European politicians to disregard their own defense requirements.

Now to China.

U.S. foreign policy should encourage China to overextend itself.  Here are some concrete proposals.

The U.S. does not import much, if any, oil from the Middle East.  China, along with Japan, Korea, and other Asian countries, depends heavily on Gulf oil.  Let China patrol the Gulf, the Indian Ocean, the Straits of Malacca, the East China Sea, and other waters to secure safe passage of oil tankers to Asia.

Let China bear the cost of security for Afghanistan, the Caucasus, and elsewhere in the Western Middle East.  China is concerned about radical Islam infecting its Western provinces.

Each year Chinese military power strengthens.  Each year U.S. military power weakens.  The U.S. can no longer afford to provide a “Pax Americana” over North, East and Southeast Asia.  As it is, the bulk of Asian trade is with China, which will continue to increase.  China will increasingly dominate Asia commercially, socially, and politically.

Let China bear the cost of loans and infrastructure projects in Africa.  They will not recover or earn a return on their investments.  Their loans will not be repaid.  They will be targeted as villains in national elections, blamed for racism, unemployment, and social ills.  They will become the “ugly Chinese” who exploit Africans.

Ditto for Latin America.  Think $50 billion in lost loans to Venezuela, and incomplete infrastructure projects in Brazil and other Latin American countries that will not be completed for years and years.  Let China get blamed by Latin American politicians for their mismanaged economies..

Anywhere a hurricane, health, earthquake or other catastrophe occurs, let China pay half of all rescue and rebuilding costs.

How should the U.S. structure its relations with China?  So long as China adheres to GATT, WTO, and other trade agreements, the U.S. should allow trade to flow freely as it will.  But the U.S. should impose dollar-for-dollar costs on state-owned and/or private Chinese firms when China violates the letter and spirit of these agreements.

If China uses regulations to favor Chinese firms over American firms, (e.g., labeling, quotas, limits on foreign ownership, banning U.S. media, etc.), the U.S. should respond in kind.  For example, the U.S. could limit Chinese ownership to 49% of a U.S. firm, ban CCTV, restrict Chinese newspapers and magazines, close Confucius Institutes in American universities, and so on.  You cheat, you pay.

One way to accomplish this change in strategy is to build facilities in Beijing and Shanghai in which the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and other global organizations spend half the year meeting and conducting their business in China.  And let China pay for it.

China will learn, as has Britain, France, and the United States, that money does not buy love and goodwill in Africa, Latin America, and other poor countries around the globe.  In fact, it generally produces the opposite effect.

The Stop Trump Coalition Is Changing Tack

The Academic Political Media Industrial Complex (APMIC) failed to stop Donald Trump for nine months, from mid-June 2015 through early May 2016, from winning the Republican Party nomination for president.  The more APMIC denounced Trump in the primaries, the stronger his support became.

Having failed to stop Trump in the primaries, APMIC has embarked on a new strategy.  They are telling Trump what he must do if he wants to win the November election (which they don’t want to happen) and, if he wins, horror of horrors, how he must govern.

First, APMIC wants Trump to pick a traditional, moderate, vice-presidential candidate from the Republican establishment.  APMIC thinks that selecting such a candidate would turn off some enthusiasts who voted for Trump in the primaries.  If he picks an establishment candidate, it would signal that he wasn’t serious about ending the corrupt political system he railed against and that it was just a political ploy to win votes.

Second, APMIC wants Trump to moderate his positions on immigration, trade, NATO, and other controversial issues to fit the establishment’s long-held views.

Third, APMIC wants him become more gentlemanly in his demeanor.

I could go on and on, but the general plan is to force Trump out of his political comfort zone.  If Trump resists APMIC’s entreaties, it can blame him for Hillary’s election.

Try to keep uppermost in your mind that APMIC failed for nine months.  As it tries to derail his campaign, it will only strengthen his support in November—unless he capitulates to APMIC.

I’m from Missouri, the “show me state.”  We’ll see.

Political Science Flunked American Politics 101

On June 16, 2015, Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.  His overwhelming win in Indiana on May 3, 2016, makes him the presumptive nominee.

So far as I know, as of May 3, 2016, not a single political scientist has stepped forward to claim that he or she correctly forecast that Trump could, or would, win the Republican nomination.

Indeed, the opposite is true.  One after another wrote articles, blogged, tweeted, and presented slide shows incorporating rigorous statistical analyses based on past voting behavior, “proving” that Trump would fall out of the race. As his poll numbers rose, the predictions that he would lose grew in number and volume.

How did so many get it so wrong?  (Although the economics profession largely missed the financial crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession, at least a handful got it right.)  Political scientists are not likely to issue a mea culpa and tell you why.

Your friendly proprietor will give it a shot.  Here are some reasons.

Ideology.  About 80 percent or more of the profession favor “liberal” Democrats.  They are hostile to Republicans in general and appalled that a “bombastic” businessman such as Trump could win his party’s nomination and, horror of horrors, the presidency.

The profession is resistant to change.  Moreover, the industry is its own consumer.  Most political scientists write for other political scientists.  Only a small fraction writes in the popular media.  It’s hard to take a position way outside the normal range of professional consensus on a subject and get promoted, attract offers from other universities, and enjoy cordial relations with colleagues.  Those who present an extreme view are often ridiculed, called names and excluded from rewards and honors.

Poll analysts missed the lesson of the “Shy Tory Voter,” who told pollsters they would vote for Britain’s Labour Party, but then voted Conservative, giving David Cameron a big win.  This phenomenon crossed the Atlantic Ocean and was duplicated by the shy Trump voter.

The only thing worse in political science, and in the academy more generally, than having predicted that Trump would win, is openly stating that Trump is one’s first choice (the subject of the next post)!

Trump’s Foreign Policy Speech Sets Forth Three Important Themes

On April 27, 2016, Donald Trump delivered a major foreign policy speech. This post highlights three important themes.

This blog has posted several articles on the topic of democracy follies. Here are Trump's words on this theme.

One

“It all began with the dangerous idea that we could make Western democracies out of countries that had no experience or interest in becoming a Western Democracy….We tore up what institutions they had and then were surprised at what we unleashed. Civil war, religious fanaticism; thousands of American lives, and many trillions of dollars, were lost as a result….One day we’re bombing Libya and getting rid of a dictator to foster democracy for civilians, the next day we are watching the same civilians suffer while that country falls apart….We have made the Middle East more unstable and chaotic than ever before....After losing thousands of lives and spending trillions of dollars, we are in far worse shape now than in the Middle east than ever before."

Two

The Republican Foreign Policy Praetorian Guard includes a few remaining Reagan administration officials, but consists largely of those who served in both Bush administrations.  Many of them were advisers to Jeb Bush and several other Republican candidates.  None, not a single one, is associated with Trump.  Here are Trump's words on members of his foreign policy team.

"That is why I will also look for talented experts with new approaches, and practical ideas, rather than surrounding myself with those who have perfect resumes but very little to brag about except responsibility for a long history of failed policies and continued losses at war."  The absence of any individuals of the Republican Foreign Policy Praetorian Guard is the reason that many in the Academic Political Media Industrial Complex have mounted a sustained, vicious attack against Trump.

Three

Trump says he will "put the interests of the American people, and American security, above all else."  This doctrine repudiates globalism, what the French call "mondialism," subordinating national interests to global governance.  It means that American values, not some arbitrary notion of universal or global values, will guide U.S. foreign policy.  The U.S. will continue to play its global role, but will demand reciprocity from its partners and allies.  No more going it alone at U.S. expense.  Here are Trump's words on the primacy of America and the West.

"Finally, I will work with our allies to reinvigorate Western values and institutions.  Instead of trying to spread "universal values" that not everyone shares, we should understand that strengthening and promoting Western civilization and its accomplishments will do more to inspire positive reforms around the world than military interventions."

He concludes:  "We are getting out of the nation-building business, and instead focussing on creating stability in the world."

Trump has called out the Academic Political Media Industrial Complex (APMIC) for its foreign policy failures, wants fresh faces with new pragmatic ideas, and wants renewed emphasis on Western values and institutions.

President Trump is the Hieronymus Bosch nightmare of APMIC.  One cannot overstate its members hatred of Trump, especially in the academy.