Will our nation fall to the continued growth of negative power?

September 23, 2025

Those of us who are not radical leftists, or those who share the same philosophy, but use a different term, are aware of and worried about the left’s efforts to gain power over the rest of the country.

This situation is addressed in the new book by author, American lawyer, former president of the Landmark Legal Foundation, and political commentator, Mark Levin. Titled, “On Power,” this book addresses how power determines exactly how liberty and rights are manifested in our lives and our society

In chapter two, titled “On Negative Power,” Levin deals with the ways negative power limits individual liberty and sovereignty, noting that negative power is the weapon of Communist and fascist regimes, and terrorist quasi-states.

He also notes that negative power does not have to be aggressively pursued, and that western institutions — like the USA — “have been established gradually, by experience and practice, or constituted by design, to counter or limit the most aggressive forms of negative power, such as dictatorships or oligarchies.”

But even these well-thought-out systems become gradually susceptible to the less aggressive efforts of negative power. Levin calls this approach, “authoritarian democracy,” and says that this process may involve one branch of the democracy gaining power, or that all branches eventually coalesce into one.

He goes on to say that typically, unelected governmental branches, like the judiciary and the administrative state, gain power. That pretty much details what has happened to our government.

“In America — a constitutional republic that built barriers, checks and balances, and the separation of powers within the construct of the national government and between and among the national government and the state and local governments — the Constitution was established for the explicit intent of defending against the failed experiences of past republics, such as Athens and Rome, as well as the tyranny of the monarchy, such as Britain, or the mob, such as the French Revolution.”

Despite the thoughtful efforts to defend against the gradual growth of power by government, Levin says that these efforts “are unlikely to birth a republic forever safe from the … plotting of tyrannical minds and forces?”

What he calls “the cunningly named progressive movement” throughout history has worked to fundamentally transform the United States of America. In fact, former President Barack Obama said those very words.

“This is precisely why the early progressive intellectuals in America in the late 1800s and early 1900s, including future Democrat president Woodrow Wilson, relentlessly and furiously assailed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution — especially separation of powers and federalism,” Levin wrote. 

“Wilson wrote about the need for a living and breathing constitution and insisted it be understood within an allegory to the human body,” he continued. “How, Wilson asked, can a person live if his organs are constantly working against each other rather than in harmony? In other words, separation of powers, the heart of the Constitution, is as deadly to America as the separation of organs in the human body would be.”

Levin then notes that Wilson and others believed that a complete change from the constitutional philosophy was needed. Wilson, he said, initially could not decide whether this new system should be accomplished by an all-powerful president or judiciary. He ultimately decided on what Levin called the most obvious and certain means, which was the judiciary.

“What better means to achieve the progressive ends, he believed, than the careful selection and appointment of ideological soul mates, who serve for life and without any effective method for public accountability,” Levin wrote, “who would drive this revolution and give it a legal pretext, justification, authority, and protection?”

“Indeed, if your objective is the fundamental transformation of constitutional republics and parliamentary democracies into centralized leviathans, the path of least resistance and maximum impact would seem to be the judiciary.”

We can see this plan in action, with the number of members of our federal judiciary who believe in a “living constitution,” a document that means whatever they want it to at any given time, and not what it meant at its origin, and should continue to mean forever, or until it is properly amended.

Texas Democrat Representative Jasmin Crockett exemplifies the living document idea with her recent comment that committing crimes does not make one a criminal. Other examples come from blue state and blue city judicial officials who decide that certain laws should not be enforced, and make dangerous and arbitrary decisions about bail for those charged with crimes, and reduced charges, or no charges, for serious crimes.

The Democrats have worked toward the “supreme judiciary” concept in their attempts to pack the Supreme Court by increasing the number of justices, and appointing their fellow progressives to the new seats. They also have appointed activist judges whose actions too often are politically driven to other federal court positions. We see judicial activism in action in the numerous recent federal district court rulings that attempt to impose rulings affecting the entire nation, rather than the parties involved, to achieve political ends.

The progressive movement has been active for more than a hundred years, but has not completely taken control of the country. But it has made progress, and it must be reversed.

An effective challenge to the climate catastrophe narrative

Sept. 16, 2025

Despite the desperate efforts of the climate catastrophe crowd, very good opinion pieces arguing against their narrative keep being released. Another one appeared in the Wall Street Journal, written by Steven E. Koonin.

The article, titled, “At Long Last, Clarity on Climate,” began: “A recent Energy Department report challenged the widespread belief that greenhouse gas emissions pose a serious threat to the nation. It likely soothed Americans irked by forced energy transitions, but you would be wrong to assume it reassured many alarmed by hypothetical climate catastrophes.” 

Koonin, who is an author and a senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, continued, writing that “There is a disconnect between public perceptions of climate change and climate science — and between past government reports and the science itself. Energy Secretary Chris Wright understands this. It’s why he commissioned an independent assessment by a team of five senior scientists, including me, to provide clearer insights into what’s known and not about the changing climate.”

He noted that this group has more than 200 years of research experience collectively, most of which was closely related to climate studies.

“The resulting peer-reviewed report is entirely our work, free from political influence — a departure from previous assessments,” he wrote. “It draws from United Nations and U.S. climate reports, peer-reviewed research, and primary observations to focus on important aspects of climate science that have been misrepresented to nonexperts.” 

Among the report’s key findings:

• Elevated carbon-dioxide levels enhance plant growth, contributing to global greening and increased agricultural productivity. 

• Complex climate models provide limited guidance on the climate’s response to rising carbon-dioxide levels. Overly sensitive models, often using extreme scenarios, have exaggerated future warming projections and consequences. 

• Data aggregated over the continental U.S. show no significant long-term trends in most extreme weather events. Claims of more frequent or intense hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and dryness in America aren’t supported by historical records. 

• While global sea levels have risen about 8 inches since 1900, aggregate U.S. tide-gauge data don’t show the long-term acceleration expected from a warming globe. 

• Natural climate variability, data limitations and model deficiencies complicate efforts to attribute specific climate changes or extreme events to human CO2 emissions. 

• The use of the words “existential,” “crisis” and “emergency” to describe the projected effects of human-caused warming on the U.S. economy finds scant support in the data. 

• Overly aggressive policies aimed at reducing emissions could do more harm than good by hiking the cost of energy and degrading its reliability. Even the most ambitious reductions in U.S. emissions would have little direct effect on global emissions and an even smaller effect on climate trends. 

Koonin notes that this group’s report is the first in a good while that challenges the narrative of catastrophic climate change, and that many people are surprised by it because government has failed to accurately communicate climate science.

What is commonly called “climate science” is often more like “climate crises.” The idea is to scare people about the climate so that they will comply with the narrative and the proposed actions to protect us from catastrophe. 

So many of the previous predictions of devastation have not been correct. Here are some of the many examples of false predictions and the year in which they were made:

1967: Dire Famine Forecast by 1975

1969: Everyone Will Disappear in a Cloud of Blue Steam by 1989

1970: Urban Citizens Will Require Gas Masks by 1985

1971: New Ice Age Coming by 2020 or 2030

1988: Maldive Islands will Be Underwater by 2018

1989: Rising Sea Levels Will Obliterate Nations if Nothing Done by 2000

1989: UN Warns Global Warming Will Wipe Nations Off the Face of the Earth by 2000 

2000: Snowfalls Are Now a Thing of the Past

2002: Famine In 10 Years If We Don’t Give Up Eating Fish, Meat, and Dairy

2005: Manhattan Underwater by 2015

2008: Arctic will Be Ice Free by 2018

2008: Climate Genius Al Gore Predicts Ice-Free Arctic by 2013

2009: Climate Genius Prince Charles Says We Have 96 Months to Save the World

In 2024 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website published the components of our atmosphere, and the dreaded CO2 (carbon-dioxide), the gas that is blamed for leading us to a ¬catastrophic future, makes up just .04% of it. 

Some scientists say that we need twice as much CO2 to enhance plant growth, and more plants produce more oxygen. And they say that reducing the .04% level by half would seriously endanger plant and human life. 

Others who support the global warming theory, admit that lower CO2 levels would lead to lower — perhaps much cooler — temperatures, since CO2 is credited for raising temperatures.

“Climate policies must balance the risks of climate change against a response’s costs, efficacy and collateral effects,” Koonin wrote. “Reports like ours may draw a lot of anger but our work accurately portrays important aspects of climate science. Acknowledging the facts is essential for informed policy decisions.”

Given the large number of climate catastrophes that have been predicted, and that have not occurred, and given the relatively moderate current atmospheric conditions, perhaps we should relax on this topic.

Blue states and cities are paying a price for their policies

September 9, 2025

We know things are not good in blue states and cities, but over the last seven months we have more clearly seen just how bad things really are. 

Over a ten-year period, from 2012 - 2022 (the latest year for which data is available), there has been a surprising movement of people out of blue states.

The 5 states that have lost the most people are: New York - 1,757,720; California - 1,632,774; Illinois - 881,012; New Jersey - 350,111; Massachusetts - 283,838.

The 5 states that have gained the most people are: Florida - 1,591,626; Texas - 1,268,227; North Carolina - 520,615; Arizona - 483,368; South Carolina - 459,395.

The reasons for this transfer of population are that people in blue states often prefer the lower costs of living, a desire for policies that better match their political and social expectations, economic factors like job opportunities, a less regulated business climate and a preferable tax system that red states offer.

Looking at the tax issue, nine states have no income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Others are committed to eliminating it. And 14 more have a flat income tax ranging from Arizona at 2.5% to Idaho at 5.695%.

In addition to losing lots of people to red states, the blue states also lost money, as reported by Newsmax. Take California, for example. The 68,449 who moved to Florida took with them $12 billion in personal income over that ten-year period. And the 361,623 who moved to Texas took along $21 billion, the 74,978 who moved to Tennessee took $4.5 billion, and the 146,280 took $9.2 billion to Washington state.

New York has also seen substantial population decline. Over ten years 2 million people have left the state, and Cornell University researchers predict another 2 million will leave over the next 25 years.

While taxes and the business climate are significant factors, other policies are also significant. Harboring, protecting, and even inviting illegal aliens in has definitely caused much harm. The most harmful things are the crimes these illegals commit, like drug and child trafficking, robberies, assaults, rapes and murders.

Illegals are not the only ones committing crimes in blue states and cities, and even in red states, of course. But the policies of blue cities and states invites crime by not aggressively trying to prevent crime, and not punishing criminals.

Ideas like defunding police, failing to aggressively prosecute criminal behavior, which are frequent features of blue states and cities, send a message. These foolish policies actually protect criminals, and endanger citizens.

Some cities refuse to arrest people who rob stores unless they steal more than nearly $1000 worth of merchandise. Some refuse to enforce laws that focus on “minor” crimes, leaving the victims with no recourse against the people that harm them. 

What is the predictable result of failing to arrest people for their crimes? Is it possible that these ne’er-do-wells will continue their criminal behavior, or perhaps increase it? Well, duh!

And more recent news items note the problem of even teenagers who are “committing crimes with impunity.” The perception of these young people that the lack of consequences for their actions has raised concerns among residents and law enforcement officials. Ed Gonzalez, president of the Washington, D.C. Police Union, has said that kids are not afraid of consequences because they know nothing will happen to them. If something does happen to them, it is most often rehabilitation, not punishment.

Defending this approach is D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. She argues that providing young offenders with opportunities for redemption is more important than punishment.

If these problems are to be fixed, we have to look to the people in government, many of whom are failing to protect their constituents. Looking at some of the candidates, along with some of the incumbents, this doesn’t look promising.

Take, for example, Illinois and its major city, Chicago. Chicago has had more murders than any other American city for 13 consecutive years.

Yet, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat and potential 2028 presidential candidate, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, also a Democrat, seem to think this situation is not worthy of much concern.

Looking ahead, in the race for mayor of New York City, the winner of the Democrat primary was Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed socialist. He has stated that “Capitalism is theft!” and campaigns on making child care and buses free, and wants grocery stores to be city-owned. He also has pushed reparations and abolishing the police.

He is anti-Israel, believes that billionaires should not exist, wants a $30 minimum wage, and wants to increase the income tax on the wealthy by 50%. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he does that, the billionaires will move to Florida or Texas, or another red state. Or, perhaps he just want to be rid of them.

And economist Stephen Moore believes that if Mamdani wins, his policies will drive Wall Street and its stock exchange to Texas.

Wake up America! The continued existence or growth of the flawed philosophy of blue states and cities is the death knell for the United States of America.

Can America’s traditional cultural possibly be restored?

 

September 2, 2025

A kindergarten teacher posted some comments on Facebook about her experience with some youngsters on their first days at her school.

“It broke my heart these past 4 days to see how many kindergarteners showed up to school with NO previous exposure to almost anything. It was so overwhelming for them to understand the concept of staying in line, wiping themselves, buttoning their own pants, opening a milk container, holding a pencil correctly.

“I had one who didn’t understand how to unzip his lunchbox so he could eat. Some can’t tell you their name, or don’t KNOW their actual given name that is on the roster. So many had never held a pencil at all, couldn’t sing the alphabet song (let alone recognize any letters/numbers), couldn’t count to ten or recognize shapes/colors.”

She expressed the frustration others show her, saying things like: “Isn’t that what school is for??” Or, “Why should parents have to do YOUR job for you?”

“Yes, school is for learning,” she said, “But when they come in SO far behind right off the bat, it is so defeating and frustrating for these babies. Even at the age of five, they recognize when they don’t know things other kids know. If a child knows who Pennywise the clown is and can recite every word (including the explicit ones) to the latest Cardi B song, but can’t recite the alphabet, count to ten, or open a ketchup packet, we got probs.” 

Now to be realistic, there probably have been some young people like this for as long as there have been humans on the Earth. But apparently, the proportion of this type of unpreparedness for life’s basics has grown enormously.

In the old days, things that previously occurred at home started the learning process. Learning to dress ourselves, feed ourselves, follow rules and procedures, doing simple tasks. And when we got to kindergarten or first grade, or whatever the first “school” experience was, we had a functional basis to begin learning our ABCs, numbers and the other subjects that schools help us learn.

But the nuclear family that has been such an important part of America since its founding is dwindling away. Far too many single-parent families exist today, with many children growing up in a family with no father, or perhaps only a part-time dad.

And there seems to be a lack of understanding among adults about true parenting, the importance of proper and traditional child rearing. And, there is a substantial lack of knowledge about America’s story, and the culture upon which our country was built that parents would pass on to their children by interaction.

And so, we now find that many in the younger generations — Gen Z, Gen X, Gen Alpha, for example — have less and less of an understanding of the background that the older generations have always had. And with the decreased understanding of our founding and our development, we find a country with an ever-weakening sense of itself. 

Our traditional values, institutions, arts, and morality are weakening. More and more we see family instability, materialism, entertainment saturation, and political division. We are losing our identity, our soul. We are committing cultural suicide.

Not only have we as a people failed to maintain our standards, but the ridiculous and dangerous virtual open border of the Biden administration, which invited millions of people — we still do not actually know how many — to enter the country illegally, has compounded the problem. This was done without having any idea of who these people were, or what their intent was.

Some of them were good people looking for a better life. But many others were drug and child traffickers, robbers, rapists, terrorists and murderers. And even those illegals who sought a better life were not oriented to the core values of America, which further diluted our cultural values.

Feelings about a cultural decline are not new. Former U.S. Secretary of Education William J. Bennett noted in an article in Education Week back in 1993 the following: “When the late Walker Percy was asked what concerned him the most about America’s future, he answered: ‘Probably the fear of seeing America, with all its great strength and beauty and freedom ... gradually subside into decay through default and be defeated, not by the Communist movement, demonstrably a bankrupt system, but from within by weariness, boredom, cynicism, greed, and in the end helplessness before its great problems.’”

At the end of the article, Bennett offers this: “The social regression of the past 30 years is due in large part to the enfeebled state of our social institutions and their failure to carry out their critical and time-honored tasks.”

Thirty-plus years past Bennett’s dire observations we find the country even further down the path to cultural collapse. Whether that direction can be reversed is a question yet to be answered.