My local paper in South Florida, the SunSentinel, has published an editorial stating that the Electoral College is obsolete and that we should get rid of it.  I think the members of the editorial board of the SunSentinel should go to the library to brush up on their ignorance.  The cleverness of our Founding Fathers that set us up to be a representative democracy (a republic), not a pure democracy, is the reason why they established the Electoral College.

The Founding Fathers feared that placing unlimited power to elect a president into the politically, naive hands of the people, could lead to “Tyranny of the Majority”.  The Electoral College gives rural states with lower populations an equal voice in determining our laws and policies. If the popular vote alone decided elections, the presidential candidates would rarely visit rural states or consider the needs of its residents in their policy platforms.

If we were a “pure democracy”, the highly populated states like California, New York, Illinois, and Pennsylvania would almost always control our federal government.  Large urban cities today are all practically one-party cities (and states) that mainly vote for Democrats.  Their lifestyle, customs, and interests are generally not the same as other cities and states around the country.  Shouldn't smaller communities who supply most of our food and energy etc. have a say in how our country is run as opposed to those citizens who live in large urban communities and states?

To get rid of the Electoral College, as some advocate, including the SunSentinel, would be an almost impossible task.  First off, you'd need a Constitutional Amendment passed by 39 of the 50 states and a 2/3 vote in both Houses of Congress to get rid of the Electoral College.  “It ain't gonna happen”.  Most of the smaller population states wouldn't want to “cut off their noses to spite their faces”.  They rightly conclude that they don't want to be dominated by the states with large populations.

As stated before, the United States is not a “pure democracy” but a representative democracy, a republic, whereby the citizens rule through representatives whom they elect periodically to hold them accountable.  The power of the people to control their government is unlimited.  There has been a desire on the part of one of our political parties to gain control of our government at any or all costs.  The Democrats, through their efforts, have been able to get some highly influential sectors of our country to ban together, with the goal of acquiring and maintaining power.  A good example was this past election whereby voting rules and procedures were changed, by the Democrats, to orchestrate a outcome for the benefit of their candidate.  That's an example of a party attempting and succeeding to undermine our representative democracy.

So, in response to the editorial in the SunSentinel, we should not and will not,  accede to your call to abolish the Electoral College.  The Electoral College is just one example of what makes our country great, especially if our election laws are faithfully and honestly carried out.

Conservative Commentary by Chuck Lehmann

Have you seen the metamorphosis of the main stream media upon commenting on the Joe Biden inauguration?  After 4 years of constant haranguing, second-guessing, and antipathy toward Donald Trump, the media have done a 180 degree turnaround and have praised the new occupant of the White House to the heavens.  You'll find no negative comments, no snarky questions, no personal vilification, and no mention of an organized resistance against their boy in shining armor, Joe Biden.  Anything and everything is peachy-keen as the “Orange Man” has left Washington, D.C. for the sunny climes of South Florida.  They now can all feel relief that their most hated punching bag is no longer around to beat up on. What are they going to do now to generate ratings for their networks? It seems that there will be a great void in their lives without Trump around.

If you watched the haggard old man try to generate enthusiasm as  he read his speech from the teleprompter, you had to came away with an empty feeling.  Is this the leader we need to run the greatest country in the world? Will he be able to handle the job on his own or are there puppeteers behind him pulling the strings?  I get the feeling that the powers-to-be in the Democrat Party, with eyes on VP Kamala Harris, that they are warming up the 25th Amendment for use in the not too distant future.  I'll bet the odds makers in Las Vegas are putting their money on President Biden not finishing his term in office.

Just watch when the media vultures begin to confront Sleepy Joe during one of his very infrequent press conferences. The “love affair” will be for all to see.  No snarky questions, no rude questions camouflaged in place of statements, as they did with the hated Trump and his spokespersons.  The self-promoting Jim Acosta, of CNN,  will gush with praise as opposed to his hostility and rudeness that he displayed with Trump and his crew.

Just right under the surface, the radical Marxist/Socialists, headed up by Bernie Sanders and the “Squad” who have been gaining power in the Democrat Party, will be pushing a weakened Biden to stop with the “moderation” nonsense, and get down and dirty by instituting their radical agenda, or else.  Will Sleepy Joe be able to withstand the future onslaught or will he fold like a cheap camera?  I would bet on the cheap camera.

When Sleepy Joe attempts to undo the many popular and beneficial policies of the Trump Administration, he'll face some blow back by the general public, as even the people who voted for him cherish their pocketbooks over Trump's personality.

When will the Biden honeymoon come to a close?  Who knows, as the fickle news media has a stake in making the Biden Administration a success by propping up their fair-haired boy, Sleepy Joe.  His tenure in the Oval Office will be very boring, as compared with Trump, so they won't know what to do to generate enthusiasm. I think the pressure to elevate Kamala to the pinnacle of power will be very strong as Sleepy Joe falters, as his cognitive decline will become more and more evident.

My prediction is the worst is yet to come with the elevation of Kamala to the White House.  May God have mercy on the United States when that occurs.

Conservative Commentary by Chuck Lehmann

The practice of changing words or phrases to make them sound more appealing and politically correct, is exactly what we do when we call Democrats “Progressives” (a/k/a liberals), instead of what they should actually be called, which is Marxist/Socialists. 

The Democrats think that the word “liberal” is a term that carries a negative meaning, so that's why they use the word “Progressive”.  It's still the same leftist programs no matter what you call it.  Joe Biden, in order to appease the left-flank of his party and get their vote, tried to portray himself as a “progressive moderate” (an oxymoron if there ever was one), but was that a good description of his program?  Is it moderate to propose a government-run healthcare program (Universal Medicare); is it moderate to ban fossil fuels in the future to be replaced by unreliable renewable energy sources by proposing a “Green New Deal”; is it moderate to institute a government mandated minimum wage thereby causing mass unemployment of the very inexperienced workers they claim they want to help; is it moderate to raise everyone's income taxes by rescinding the Trump tax cuts;  is it moderate to halt construction of the southern border wall which has greatly cut down on the number of illegal aliens entering the country; is it moderate to call for the “defunding of the police” claiming it would have a positive effect upon the communities, when in fact it had the opposite effect. The list could go on and on as the proposals by Biden are really not moderate but “Progressive” (a/k/a Marxist/Socialist). 

The undercurrent in the Democrat Party is the group led by Bernie Sanders and the “Squad” headed up by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who are dedicated to the overturning of our capitalist system and put in its place a form of Marxism/Socialism.  Both Speaker Pelosi and future Majority leader Chuck Schumer have proclaimed that when they take control of the government, they will try to totally transform it from a free enterprise capitalist system to a more “fair” system of democratic socialism.  Whatever they want to call it they must remember that they cannot polish horse manure, for that is what it is, horse manure. Because of decades of indoctrination in our schools and colleges, and a one-sided biased media, the “Progressives” (a/k/a Democrats) seem to be reaping success as a result upon their efforts to bring a form of Marxism/Socialism into our economic and political system that was handed down to us by our founding fathers.

The Democrats have been following the “Rules for Radicals” philosophy, as handed down by the father of Community Organizing, Saul Alinsky.  That was the “modus operandi” of the Democrats and the media for the 4 years of the Trump presidency.  Even today, as the government transition takes place, the vindictive and vengeful Democrats are attempting the impeachment of President Trump with only a few days left in his tenure.  Biden has been preaching “unity”, but his rhetoric and inaction has been in direct opposite of what he has been preaching.

As what usually happens, the “Progressives” will overreach by using vindictiveness instead of common sense in initiating their anti-democratic policies.  They will face the “Grim Reaper” in the 2022 mid-term elections as by then the voters will have had enough of the repressive policies, and the voters “will throw the rascals out” as a result of their disastrous governance. The citizens will realize that Marxist/Socialist policies, put forth by the “Progressives”, was not what they were cracked up to be as they realized that our country should not emulate countries like Cuba and Venezuela into the abyss of self-destruction.  Hopefully, we will get back our sanity by re-embracing the free enterprise capitalism system as put forth by our founding fathers.
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Conservative Commentary by Chuck Lehmann

To listen to the Democrats you'd think that the people who are a success in life and who have accumulated financial independence, are the people who should be scapegoats for the financial condition of the country.  Therefore, according to the Democrats, we need to “punish” them by over taxing them to make up for the government's malfeasance in running their financial affairs.  They never tell you that the top 10% of all taxpayers pay approximately 70% of all income taxes (is that paying their “fair share”?).  Without these much maligned taxpayers, we'd be in much more of a financial crisis than we now find ourselves.  In that regard, I do believe that some corporations who earn millions in profits should pay something instead of nothing in income taxes, within reason (the list of corporations who earned a profit but paid no income tax included such companies as Amazon, Netflix, IBM, U.S. Steel etc.). Actually, we'll need more people in the 10% category paying taxes, not less.

Look at what has happened when the politicians tried to pass a stimulus bill to help small business and laid off workers suffering under the COVID-19 virus deliberately sent around the world by China.  Instead of passing a “clean” bill, to help the businesses and people impacted by the virus, the feckless politicians included billions of dollars worth of “pork” including non-essential items such as museums, nonsensical studies of inane projects, and foreign aid to countries, some of which are not our friends, and other areas of non-virus beneficiaries.  A total disgrace by our legislators, especially Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

Look what Joe Biden and the Democrats are promising the people as they take office. Free college tuition, forgiving student debt, a “Green New Deal”, with a timetable for getting rid of fossil fuels, giving amnesty to illegal aliens including free health care, free college, and a path to citizenship for those who have come into our country illegally (hoping they will vote Democrat in the future),  and in addition, Biden has said that they won't automatically send illegals back to their country of origin when apprehended.  From many reliable reports, “illegal” caravans are already forming in countries below our border ready to take advantage of the ill-informed policy of Biden and the Democrats.  All these policies will add trillions of dollars to our debt and might eventually bankrupt our country.  If or when that happens, the citizens will have wished that Donald Trump was still President, but, by then, it will be too late. Will the Biden administration be a good steward of our tax money or will they continue on the path to financial ruin? Don't bet on the first question.

The radical arm of the Democrat Party (with the likes of Bernie Sanders, the “Squad” headed up by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the ultra-radical Congressional Black Caucus), seems to be gaining real power in the Democrat Party establishment.  Their socialist ideas, which sound good to uniformed voters and brain-washed millennial's, will not solve the problems facing our country, for wherever socialism has been tried, economic disaster follows.

A very prescient saying I once read seems to explain what socialism is all about -  “Any government that is capable of giving you everything you need, is powerful enough to take everything you have”.  The only way that socialism can survive is for capitalism to support it, therefore why do we need socialism? We all should support capitalism which is the greatest economic system to get people out of poverty ever instituted.

So, my advice to all who will listen, is to reject calls by the Democrats that they have your best interests at heart by giving you “free stuff” and that they will take care of you. Remember what our headline states,  The Democrats Credo -  “We've Got What it Takes to Take What You've Got” is not just a saying, but a real wake up call to avoid getting bamboozled into thinking that there is a “free lunch” offered by a government embracing Socialism over Capitalism.

Conservative Commentary by Chuck Lehmann 

The human creature is one of God's imperfections. The proof was displayed during the aftermath of a peaceful rally in support of President Trump. This rally exposed the consequences of the injustices rendered by the liberal mass media's shafting of Pres. Trump, who wouldn't play the Beltway game. It is unfortunate that Conservatives' nonviolent reputation is being diminished by the few, nondescript, provocateur inciters clad in black garb, helmets, and gas masks, intent to do harm.

The majority of the populous gains access to information from a media  
that has been transformed from honest journalism, to a bias source of 
propaganda without restraint. Our media feeds the public what they feel we should accept as "truth", while omitting facts they don't agree with so as not to obliterate their narratives. It's a consensual marriage with the liberal's governance, to cover their backs on controversial implementations, opening the question of, "Who is actually running the country?"

It is obvious that election reform is imperative to rectify the abysmal display that marred the legitimacy of this past federal election, so that  chaos will 
never happen again. An election must be run on an even playing field, conducted by the same federal laws so that one party is not advantaged over the other. Following individual state rules and encouraging mail-in ballots created one big, chaotic, controversial mess, wrought with fraud. Requiring a photo ID is vital to prove who the voter claims to be. This does not create a hardship because applying for food stamps, welfare, Medicaid, Social Security, unemployment and getting married already require a photo ID. 

The only difference to consider, should be how to best assist voters who can't get to  the polls on their own. Requirements for voting should not be altered due to age, race, ethnicity, economic status or any cockamamie reason. Absentee voting should not be used as a convenience accommodation, but instead be offered to those who, for legitimate, provable reasons cannot appear in person to vote otherwise.

Not subscribing to this mandate, (or "woman date" to accommodate the loonies) will signify an ulterior motive!

Conservative Commentary by George Giftos

After four years of turning a blind eye to violence against public order around the country, it finally evolved into a disgraceful breech of the U.S Capitol building.  The phrase “when you reward bad behavior, you get more bad behavior” has come about full circle.  What happened at the Capitol should be condemned by all sides of the political spectrum.  This same outrage for this kind of behavior is unacceptable in a democratic republic like the United States.

Ever since, and before, President Trump became president, he has been vilified by the Democrats and their lackey's in the main stream media.  He has been called a dictator, a bigot, a racist, a homophobe, and an illegitimate president.  Appeals to commit violence was prevalent by his ardent detractors.  Representative Maxine Waters was shown in a video encouraging people to harass and forcibly confront the opposition members of the Trump administration. Some members were shouted at and verbally abused in restaurants as they dined with their family.  Others were confronted and harassed in public places, sometimes being threatened with harm.  Where was the condemnation by the Democrats and the mainstream media?

Riots and illegal behavior on the part groups such as ANTIFA and BLM were not condemned or confronted by some state and local officials.  Their silence sort of condoned that violent and illegal behavior, which in way lead up to situation at the U.S. Capitol on January 5.  Many innocent people are frustrated by the indifference of their elected leaders in letting this violent and illegal behavior consume their cities and neighborhoods.  Burning buildings and police cars, looting of stores, attacking and verbally assaulting police, are not acts of a peaceful protest.  In fact, one CNN reporter said on air that he was witnessing a “peaceful” protest, while in the background there was was a massive fire set by “peaceful” protesters.  That was “fake news”.

Hundreds of thousands of citizens came to Washington, D.C. to vent their frustrations on the state of affairs and the real possibility that the past election was determined by fraudulent voting procedures.  The mainly peaceful protest turned violent as thugs entered the fray with the intent to cause mayhem, thereby bringing discredit upon the many peaceful Trump supporters, which the thugs have, unfortunately, succeeded in doing.  

It was just a matter of time when the violence condoned and encouraged by government officials, came home to roost in what happened at the Capitol.  This total lack of condemnation by the Democrats of the violence in the various states and cities over the years, morphed into violence by some who attended the opposition demonstration in favor of President Trump. The behavior by some of the Trump supporters totally ruined the theme of protesting an illegal election.  President Trump came out of this debacle as the big loser due to the misbehavior of some of his supporters in using the tactics of the anarchist groups, ANTIFA and BLM.  He should have been more forceful in his condemnation of this violent behavior.

Now is the time for the Democrats and Republicans to bury their differences and strident rhetoric, and get together to bridge the gap of differing ideas that seem to alienate each other because of each side's quest for political power.  “The end does not justify the means”, and our democratic republic demands that civility must be the main tone of the parties going forward. Law and order, wherever and whenever it is breached, must be maintained for the good of the country. Violence must not be condoned and encouraged, especially by public officials.
The “Chickens came home to roost”. It is time to change our manner of speaking to and about each other, so that comity can exist between opposing sides and issues can be debated peacefully, without rancor. If not, we will slowly become another “Banana Republic”.
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Conservative Commentary by Chuck Lehmann

We've seen a raft of nominations by President-Elect Joe Biden, and all seem to be classified, not by their competence in the office they are being nominated for, but rather for their race, gender, national origin, and sexual orientation.  Is that anyway to run a government?  If the people nominated are competent, fine, but if they just fit a certain identity, that is wrong and stupid to boot. Shouldn't government positions (or any positions in life for that matter) be filled by people meeting merit based qualifications?  What does skin color or gender have to do with expertise for the position they are nominated to fill?

This whole diversity nonsense is going to be the downfall of our wonderful American Republic.  A person should be judged and evaluated on his/her expertise and character, not on their race or sexual orientation.  Great, Civil Rights hero, Martin Luther King Jr., must be turning over in his grave with what this country is doing to itself under the rubric of “diversity”.  In August, 1963, MLK delivered  his emotional, "I Have a Dream" speech, in Washington D.C.  of which, a famous phrase used by him went like this:  “I had a dream that my 4 little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”.  The meaning of what he said is that we must not use race, gender, national origin, or sexual orientation in determining the worth of an individual, but on what that person offers to society as an individual.

Contrary to this belief, Joe Biden is choosing his cabinet members, not on their competence (although they might be competent), but on characteristics that have nothing to do with the position they are being nominated to fill.  Take for instance, Pete Buttigieg, the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who was nominated for Transportation Secretary.  He has zero experience in transportation, but is homosexual.  What does being gay have anything to do with transportation?  I guess his sexual orientation 'checks a box' on Biden's diversity list.

What we should strive for is fair rules for everybody and the best people will achieve, no matter their skin color, gender, ethnic background, or sexual orientation.  The MLK speech implied that we should be a “color blind” society.
The Democrats have been using the “race card” for quite some time in trying to mobilize and appeal to the black community to vote for them.  The word minority no longer carries the dictionary definition.  It is now merely a label used to justify giving complainers (a/k/a racial hustlers) anything they demand under penalty of being called a racist, a sexist, a bigot, or a homophobe.  That's a form of a “shakedown”. The term used today to apply guilt to the white person is the term “White Privilege”, which means a minority doesn't have a chance of becoming someone of value because the white person will hold them down.  Tell that canard  to Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, the athletes in the NBA, NFL, and major league baseball, and the black entertainers and Hollywood stars, and business CEO's, who are all multi-millionaires in a white majority country like the United States.
Identity politics, which the left uses constantly (especially the Democrats) is tearing our country apart for no good reason except for the quest of political power on the part of those who use it.

To illustrate the ridiculousness of using identity as a determining factor, I saw a headline which stated the following:  “Biden wants Boston Mayor Marty Walsh for Labor Secretary, but is “concerned” about him being white”.  You might want to ask, “What about his qualifications to do the job and what difference does it make what color he is”? We must, if our country is to survive and prosper, judge each individual on the basis of their competence and character, otherwise we will become a country of mediocrity.

Conservative Commentary by Chuck Lehmann