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Postscripts on the election …
Hold on, folks, don’t rush to judgment.
You would think anyone with a sense of fair play would say that reassuring Americans of the integrity of our elections is far more important than declaring an early unofficial victory.
You can be sure that’s what 71 million Americans (those who voted for Donald Trump) are convinced should be done.
They deserve the truth.
Fact is, if you read and believe in the U.S. Constitution, contrary to the pronouncements of Joe Biden and the Democrat Party Machine (e.g., most notably its media shill proxies), Biden technically is not president-elect. The official counting is far from complete, nor certified.
Those of us who lived through the 2000 Bush-Gore recounts in Florida remember that it took until Dec. 12, 2000 — 37 days — for the Supreme Court to rule Bush won Florida. And that was for recounts in only one state and three of its counties.
As of this publication, it has been only 10 days since the election. And the scope and magnitude of the suspected nefariousness is far beyond what occurred in 2000.
It started with H.R. 1, misnamed the “For the People Act,” filed March 19, 2019, by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. It was the start in earnest of the party’s efforts to change election laws in their favor for 2020.
Subsequent to that, Democrat representatives filed hundreds of lawsuits and bills in state legislatures with the intent to remove most of the safeguards that have helped this country maintain the integrity of its elections for two-and-a-half centuries. The results of these efforts occurred Nov. 3, in particular in all of those states and cities now being questioned.
We’ll say it again: If you have even half of a fairness bone in your body, you’d have to ask yourself: Why did the alleged misdeeds occur only in states and cities that Democrats control?
One more time: If you have even half of a fairness bone in your body and you’re on the Biden side, you would want the process to play out the way it is stipulated in the Constitution.
To do otherwise will be the death of American exceptionalism and 240 years of the successful experiment that has carried on the legacy of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
If the legal challenges are not resolved fairly, you can be sure half of American voters will never, ever, ever believe the results of future elections, and we will have joined the ranks of all other crooked, tin-pot hellholes with rigged elections.
If Biden beats Donald Trump according to the rules, then so be it. But at this point, the legal process is in its early stages. In this charged moment, honest, ethical patriots would put the Constitution above politics.
***
Floridians should give a shoutout to Secretary of State Laurel Lee and the 67 county supervisors of elections.
They processed and counted 11,141,882 votes Nov. 3 with nary a glitch — or at least none that bubbled up to a headline. It makes you wonder: How can the election system of the third-most populous state run so smoothly while others did not?
Former state Sen. Mike Bennett, who won his third term as the Manatee County supervisor of elections, explained: “Because we screwed up so many elections before.”
That started with the 2000 Bush-Gore fiasco. Then there was a string of botched elections in 2002, 2004, 2006 in Broward County. With each screw-up, elections supervisors and the Legislature reformed and refined the system, ultimately becoming a national model.
“It’s not that difficult,” Bennett told us. “When the rule says ballots in by 7 p.m. on election night — except those for the military, that’s it, … 7 o’clock.”
Bennett advocates standardized procedures and laws for federal elections for president and Congress. That should be done. That should be the real H.R. 1 “For the People” bill.
***
It won’t surprise our regular readers that we’ve been a Never Bidener from the start. Not because of personality or character but because of his and his party’s DNA for statism, collectivism and taxation and their rejection of individual freedom, the Constitution and entrepreneurial capitalism.
When Biden pulls out the standard Democrat trope of making high earners and businesses “pay their fair share,” he once again expresses his ignorance of economics and the virtues of capitalism.
If carried out, the Biden-(Bernie) Sanders Unity Platform will be economically destructive, especially to those who are lowest on the economic ladder. When you restrict oil output, you drive up fuel costs for the poor (and everyone else).
'It’s not that difficult. When the rule says ballots in by 7 p.m. on election night — except those for the military, that’s it, … 7 o’clock.' Mike Bennett, supervisor of elections, Manatee County
In addition, economists Stephen Moore and Arthur Laffer have shown repeatedly this truth: State economies with rising tax burdens always underperform states with falling tax burdens. Likewise with personal incomes. They go up faster in states with falling tax burdens.
Go ahead, Joe, raise taxes on businesses. See how that works out. Rational people know businesses never pay taxes. Their customers and employees do — in higher prices and lower wages.
It’s remarkable that the “fair share” gang is so oblivious to the reason so many people are fleeing New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Illinois, California, et al., and moving to Florida, Texas and Tennessee. Reason? Onerous taxes! Hello?
Thank goodness Floridians did not buy into the Biden-Sanders platform. Floridians made it clear in the election results — 51.23% for Trump; 47.86% for Biden — they prefer the Trump policies of lower taxation and regulations, an emphasis on jobs and a defense of the Bill of Rights (free speech, bear arms, freedom of religion).
Not only did Floridians endorse the Trump, but they also endorsed the policies of the Republican-led Legislature. The Florida Senate will keep 23 of the 40 seats it held over the past two years,and perhaps add a 24th, depending on the outcome of a recount in Miami-Dade. In the House, Republicans gained three more seats, increasing its majority from 75 to 78 of the 120 seats.
Along the Gulf Coast from Pasco to Collier counties, including Polk County, the territory remains solidly on the side of low taxes and regulation and economic growth. Republican senators outnumber Democrats 11-2; and in the House, Republicans hold a 28-6 margin.
This bodes well for Florida’s economy. Gov. Ron DeSantis is proving to be a worthy economic successor to Gov. Rick Scott, whose eight years were devoted to creating one of the most business-friendly, job-generating climates in the country. To his credit, DeSantis remains determined to keep Florida’s economy open while balancing the challenges of the pandemic.
Altogether, here’s what we’d like to think is one of the key messages of Florida’s election results:
Florida remains one of the few solid free states — committed to individual freedom, low taxation and free enterprise. And for all newcomers moving to this great state, let’s be clear: We like Florida the way it is. We don’t want any of the tax and regulatory policies that made your states the failures they are.
If you happen to be new to Florida and are reading this, a word to the wise: Floridians never respond well when they hear a recent Northern transplant tell us: “The way we did it up North … ” Frankly, we don’t care.
***
If there were one blemish in the election results, it was the approval of Amendment 2 — increasing the state’s mandated minimum wage.
The amendment received 60.82% of the vote — just enough to pass.
We can thank John “For the People” Morgan for this. The well-known trial lawyer funded the campaign for its passage, spending more than $5 million. He should now be known as John “Not for the People” Morgan.
It’s so easy to think that mandating a $15 minimum wage is the compassionate way to help those people at the low-end of the earnings scale. But most employers know these mandates hurt people more than they help.
Even if it’s going to take until 2026 to reach $15 an hour, this measure is bad for Florida workers and consumers and the economy in general.
But brace yourselves. It’s likely going to get worse. In Colorado, voters approved a new state payroll tax on employers and employees to cover 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, plus four additional weeks for pregnancy.
Florida employers and business owners: If there’s a Biden presidency, this is also the time to fight harder and louder to keep Florida free and for free enterprise.
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