Uncommon Common Sense

This is the basic text of the speech I gave on April 11th at the Tea Party in Des Moines: Good afternoon. My name is Larry Voorhees, and I am a recovering American. What do I mean by that phrase…”recovering American”…. Many things. First of all, it means to me that for a period of time, I forgot what it was to be “an American”. I forgot that ours is a nation built on principles. A nation built on ideals. Built on the concepts of courtesy, being people of integrity, being people who have the capacity for perseverance, people of self-control….a nation with an indomitable spirit. What else do I mean by stating that I am a “recovering American”? It means that while I sat back, and for a period of time, made some foolish choices, and that, either through my actions…or, more often, through my inactions, I allowed things to come into the life of my family, my community, my state, and my country….that I really shouldn’t have let happen. But you see, I got suckered. I bought into the Grea...

I did a quick read of the House Rules yesterday. It appears that the public hearing was held under the auspices of the Ways and Means Committee, and the hearing was chaired by that committee's chairman. Therefore, according to the House Rules, only that committee chair had the authority to clear the House chambers. Speaker Murphy only has the authority to do so when the full House is In Session, but not during individual committee meetings/hearings.Therefore, according to the House Rules, it appears that Mr. Murphy simply usurped the authority of the Committee Chair, and ordered the chambers cleared. Whassamatta, Mr. Murphy...hearing stuff you didn't like to hear? It would appear that way. Remember...perception is reality. ...my two cents worth this morning. --Larry Voorhees

Well, I guess I'll have to blame my public school education. For years, I was taught that the House of Representatives was the "People's House". Turns out that I was wrong, as proven by Speaker Murphy at the Iowa House of Representatives last night. He cleared the gallery. It seems that the vast majority of "the people" in "the people's house" are able to see through this blatant attempt to redistribute money from one group of people to another group of people. And, as is usually the case, there still seems to be some "gray" about whether or not all of the money would be used for "tax relief". First problem: taxing a tax. Second problem: making Joe Public over here essentially give money to Joe Public over there. Third problem: very thinly veiled communism, in my opinion. Fourth problem: Robin Hood was fiction. THIS stuff, on the other hand, is very very real. "The People" are not going to stand for this. ...