Michele Bachmann’s exact words

Introduction:

I read all 2443 words of Michele Bachmann’s speech declaring her candidacy for the US presidency, which are on this link:

http://www.michelebachmann.com/2011/06/bachmann-officially-announces-her-run-for-the-presidency-of-the-united-states-in-waterloo-iowa/

In 25 words or less, I’ve never seen so many words wasted saying so little. To expand a bit: She doesn’t say, even once, exactly what she would do if elected. It’s easy enough to complain in general terms – barflies from coast to coast indulge this way. To illustrate her shortfalls, I will now quote from her speech interjecting my comments.

QUOTE:

I want to bring a voice, your voice, to the White House…

COMMENT:

It’s not enough to bring our voices to the White House. Electing one person to act on our behalf won’t be enough unless we replace every single Democrat and Republican in Congress with Independents. The Two-Party System is the problem – a greater threat to our security than bin Laden ever was.

QUOTE:

… I have brought your voice to the halls of congress …

COMMENT:

Right!! And that’s another problem. I’m sure Michele did a crackerjack job of representing her Congressional District. Hers was the voice of those people. And all of her peers did their best to represent their people. Tell me: Who represents the interests of the United States as a whole? That’s the problem: Nobody does. Somehow, magically, the House and Senate – with members representing only their own specific geographical entities – are supposed to cobble together policies good for the country as a whole and good enough to get themselves reelected.

My system of Cross-Sectional Representation can make that happen – without any magic being necessary. Details are on this link:

http://ind4prez2012.blogspot.com/2011/05/alternatives-to-fourth-reich.html

QUOTE:

But our government keeps getting bigger…

COMMENT:

The Two-Party System and regional (as opposed to Cross-Sectional) representation are directly responsible for this growth. Not to mention that we vote to make this happen. Democrats will grow the government for social welfare purposes; Republicans will grow the Military Industrial Complex. Either way – we get bigger government.

QUOTE:

I want my candidacy for the presidency to stand for the moment when "we the people" reclaimed our independence…

COMMENT:

Then follow my campaign slogan for the US Presidency:

“Declare your Independence by voting for Independents.”

We-the-people cannot reclaim our independence by allowing the Two Party System to maintain its tentacle-like grip.

QUOTE:

My early days were difficult as they were for many Americans, especially during the time when my mother struggled to raise us after divorce. But we made our own way. We depended on our neighbors and ourselves and not our government for help.

COMMENT:

Did Michele “make her own way” through college or did she take out student loans made possible by Big Government?

QUOTE:

My first involvement in politics was working for Jimmy Carter's election in 1976. But when I saw the direction President Carter took our country…

COMMENT:

Sure, Carter was a weak president. But he took over from an awful one, a crook named Richard Nixon and his toady Gerald Ford. In Carter’s day, we were all suffering from PTSD at worst or an identity crisis at best. There have been presidents from both parties who have contributed to our country’s downfall. But both parties love the strongman style of imperial president. If we’re ever going to curtail Big Government, we’ve got to reign in the powers of the Chief Executive.

My own proposal? Elect a POTUS with a written contract who will forfeit his office if he violates his campaign promises stated in that contract. Eventually, I’d like to see a new constitutional system (as detailed on the yellowed link above) in which the president is a Congressman elected by his fellow Reps, but serving in a vastly reduced, mostly ceremonial role.

QUOTE:

We cannot continue to rack up debt on the backs of future generations.

COMMENT:

Well, Ms. Bachmann, does this mean you’ll reduce expenses by pulling us out of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. And by closing down all of our military bases the world over? If not, then what specific cuts do you propose? You haven’t proposed any at all in this particular speech.

QUOTE:

We can't afford an unconstitutional health plan that costs too much and is worth so little.

COMMENT:

What do you propose in its place? Anything? Nothing? Would you at least propose that the insurance industry be placed under the same anti-monopoly controls which serve to regulate every other type of big business in this country?

QUOTE:

We can't afford four more years of a foreign policy that leads from behind and doesn't stand up for our friends and stand up to our enemies.

COMMENT:

Why aren’t you more categorical about this sweeping accusation? Which friends haven’t we stood up for and how would you propose we stand up for them – while keeping in mind that you’d also like to reduce the size of Big Government? Which of our enemies haven’t we stood up to? How would you stand up to them? How much more money will you want to borrow to do that?

QUOTE:

As a constitutional conservative, I believe in the Founding Father's vision of a limited government that trusts in and preserves the unlimited potential of the American people.

COMMENT:

As a modern day wannabe Founding Father, I believe we should no longer be restricted by the original Founding Fathers’ vision. We are quite capable of having visions of our own. Why do we insist on allowing the dead to rule the living? For reasons of sentimentality? Our Constitution is – not – working. It’s an outdated embarrassment barely held together (by means of creative interpretations) by our courts and selectively ignored by our Congress.

You cannot expect a set of rules set down two hundred years ago to last forever. Wake up now – I mean it!

QUOTE:

I don't believe that the solutions to our problems come from Washington: more than ever, Washington IS the problem…

COMMENT:

But how, exactly, is Washington the problem? Was it the problem when Reagan was president? Are liberals the problem? You say nothing of reigning in the influence of lobbyists – who surely must be part of the problem. I can only guess here because you say nothing on what the problem is or how to solve it. Problem solving starts with defining the situation in the first place.

QUOTE:

… the real solutions will come from our businesses, our communities, our schools and the most basic and powerful unit of all-our families.

COMMENT:

No they won’t. Not by themselves. Each of these sources you cite can offer their best thoughts on solutions and how to implement them. But overall policy has to be created from above. There has to be some kind of government to funnel ideas to and make them into a cohesive whole. It’s one thing to argue against Big Government; it’s quite another to suggest that policy can magically come into being by itself from the four sources you cite.

QUOTE:

Our problems don't have an identity of party, they are problems created by both parties.

COMMENT:

Exactly! Which is why we have to get rid of the Two Party System. We-the-People can do this by insisting on voting only for independents for office.

QUOTE:

And the truth is that Americans ARE the solution and not the government!

COMMENT:

Which Americans? Different groups of us might have our own ideas about solutions (for one thing, there is no such thing as “the” solution). So who decides which of these groups ought to rule the day? We Americans are supposed to compromise. But Bachmann pretends we’re a homogenous lot being hammered by a not-quite-human force called Big Government.

Government is a necessary evil and I agree it has to be reigned in. I have written amply on this blog to offer ideas on how to do just that. Bachmann offers nothing.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

Founder of The Independent Contractors’ Party

“Michele Bachmann isn’t just devoid, she’s malevolent.”

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com