2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #250 "NO ONE PROTECTS THE TAXPAYERS!"

      While I was still on the bench I heard from several members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office that they were set up financially for life because of the Sheriff’s Union.  How did that come about?  Because who cares more about which candidates are elected to the County Board of Supervisors than their union?  So they find candidates who are sympathetic to their cause, rally around them “for safety purposes,” and make sizeable donations to their elections.  Then, of course, when those candidates win, they pay the union back by providing them frequent raises in their salaries and also with lush benefits.  And, if the newly-elected supervisors don’t do enough for the union’s bidding after they take office, they know full well that the union will support a different candidate in the next election.  And the same situation is present for other public employees’ unions as well, like the state’s prison guards’ union.

      What kind of benefits do they get?  (You’ll love this.)  Most public employees through their unions have a provision that when they retire they will get let’s say three percent of their last year’s salary for every year they were employed.  So if they worked for 20 years, they would receive 60 percent of their last year’s salary.  (Conceptually I don’t think that is unreasonable, up to a point.)   But how is their last year’s salary computed?  Here is the huge problem.  They take all of the overtime in their last year that they can possibly take, and since their supervisors are a part of the game, that is a lot.  Then that is counted throughout their retirement as their last year’s salary.  But there’s more, because they also don’t take any of their vacation during that last year, which they sell back – and that counts as well!  So by the time the last year’s salary is computed, it often is more than 100 percent of what their base salary was – for the rest of their lives!  And with the so-called “California Rule,” it is prohibited to change that equation after they first are hired.  So throughout this process, no one is there to protect the taxpayers.  And that is mostly and precisely why most cities and counties have so much un-funded debt today.  And guess who will be saddled with paying those deficits?  Mostly our children and our grandchildren!   Does that make you as upset as it makes me?  In fact, you might remember that even pro-union FDR actually was against public employee unions.  So if you are opposed to what is happening so rampantly today, vote Libertarian every time you can!  We are basically the only salvation in sight.

      Irony of the week:  Probably the most misspelled word in our language is the word “misspell.”

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss timely issues, and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches.  You can hear it every Friday morning at 7 Pacific/10 Eastern by going to www.VoiceAmerica.com, clicking on the Variety Channel and then upon the word “live.”  You can also hear past shows on demand as well.  And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on my website at www.JudgeJImGray.com, Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.  In addition, my new book entitled “2 Paragraphs 4 Liberty: Solutions that are Practical, Effective, Responsible, Libertarian, is now available at Amazon.com.   Please read and discuss it with friends, and send in a review.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #249 "EVEN MORE BUREAUCRACY!"

     As any reasonable assessment will show, the California government is top-heavy in bureaucracy, which directly hinders successful ventures and adds greatly to the burden on taxpayers.  And now, as if more governmental agencies were needed, California’s governor is proposing to add to that bureaucracy.  How?  By creating a new Department of Early Childhood Development, an Office of Health Care Affordability, and a Department of Better Jobs and Higher Wages.  Likely the only positive result of these will be for the governor to be able to argue to his constituents that he is doing something for their benefit.  Just the Department of Early Childhood Development alone will add $8.5 million to the budget.  And the Office of Health Care Affordability, which would be tasked with “cracking down on any part of the health care industry that isn’t doing enough to reduce costs,” will simply be heaping more compliance and legal costs on to our medical bills, etc. and etc.

     Does the governor actually believe that the government can mandate better early childhood development?  Perhaps by “teaching for the test,” which was the self-defeating result of the federal government’s intrusion into the national education system.  The fact is that if California were actually serious about wanting to create more high-paying jobs it would stop taxing and hindering successful companies so much that it chases those good jobs away to places like Texas.  And that is not even considering how this result would be compounded if the new state Proposition 13 passes, because this would further materially increase the costs of companies doing business in California.  So what we have here, as stated in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, is a “failure to communicate.”  And who better to communicate reality to the governor than the taxpayers and voters?  Let’s get busy!    

      Thought for the week: “Ban pre-shredded cheese.  Make America grate again!”

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss timely issues, and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches.  You can hear it every Friday morning at 7 Pacific/10 Eastern by going to www.VoiceAmerica.com, clicking on the Variety Channel and then upon the word “live.”  You can also hear past shows on demand as well.  And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on my website at www.JudgeJImGray.com, Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.  In addition, my new book entitled “2 Paragraphs 4 Liberty: Solutions that are Practical, Effective, Responsible, Libertarian, is now available at Amazon.com.   Please read and discuss it with friends, and send in a review.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #242 "THE LARGEST 'COMPANY' IN THE WORLD"

     Question: What is the largest and most expensive “company” in the world?  Answer: Our federal government.  It is virtually mindboggling to see how large this government is!  If you want to get an idea, Google either “The Plum Book 2019“ or “Political Appointments by Donald Trump” in Wikepedia.  These will show you that there are 7,000 civil service “leadership and support” positions in the Executive and Legislative branches of government, and that the President actually appoints 4,000 of them, of which about 1212 must be confirmed by the Senate.  (A partial list is enclosed herein.)  Our federal government alone has 15 separate departments, as well as two more independent intelligence agencies and another 9 separate agencies, plus additional agencies, banks, commissions, councils and offices – and these do not include any of the judicial branch of government.  And virtually all of these positions pay well more than $100,000 per year!

      Unfortunately, the government of the Government of the State of California is just as bad.   Google “List of California State Agencies” in Wikipedia and see that there are 231 separate state government agencies alone!  Maybe there are some that have outlived their usefulness and should be abolished?  Or at least there might be some jurisdictions that are duplicated that could be combined.  In that regard, how about agency numbers 225, the California Water Commission, 226, the California Water Quality Monitoring Council, 227 the Department of Water Resources, and 228, the State Water Resources Control Board?  Is anyone looking into these issues?  Does anyone else join me in thinking that the public sector workers are becoming the privileged class in our society today, with good pay, benefits and job security, all at taxpayer expense?  Does anyone else agree with me that “the bigger the government, the less important the citizens and their liberties?”  You know the saying: “Fish swim, birds fly, and regulators regulate,” even though none of them are elected by “We the People.”  And you wonder why taxes and government spending are so high, and our liberties are being reduced . .  Our Founders would truly be shocked!

Quote for the week: No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions.  He had money as well.”  Margaret Thatcher

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss timely issues, and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches.  You can hear it every Friday morning at 7 Pacific/10 Eastern by going to www.VoiceAmerica.com, clicking on the Variety Channel and then upon the word “live.”  You can also hear past shows on demand as well.  And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on my website at www.JudgeJImGray.com, Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.  In addition, my new book entitled “2 Paragraphs 4 Liberty: Solutions that are Practical, Effective, Responsible, Libertarian, is now available at Amazon.com.   Please read and discuss it with friends, and send in a review.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #232 "CALIFORNIA COASTAL COMMISSION: JUST LIKE BREXIT?"

       The old saying is that Big Government is truly effective at least at one thing, and that is increasing the cost, power and control of Big Government.  And what could be a better example than the California Coastal Commission?  These non-elected bureaucrats have continued to extend their jurisdiction into many things not imaginable by reasonable people.  For example, SeaWorld was forced to cancel its killer whale shows because the California Coastal Commission decided that it was cruel to the whales.  Now you can agree with this outcome or not, but no reasonable person can conclude that this commission had or should have had the authority to control it.

         Maybe you noticed, but it was the unelected bureaucrats in Brussels that caused Britain to vote to withdraw from the European Union.  People in Britain legitimately concluded that these officials were controlling many things in their lives, and that they had no effective recourse other than withdrawal.  If fact, when I heard that the bureaucrats were attempting to tell the Brits what type of kettles they could and could not use to make their tea due to their perceived overuse of electricity, I knew it was just a question of time.  So before we have a similar exit from government, let’s all do our part to vote for going back to representative government in which only elected officials, who can be held to be responsive to the voters, are empowered to make such decisions.  Maybe it’s only a question of time. . . .

Quote for the week: “There is no dishonor in losing.  But there is dishonor in not competing because you might lose.”  From the movie: “The Art of Racing in the Rain.”

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss timely issues, and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches.  You can hear it every Friday morning at 7 Pacific/10 Eastern by going to www.VoiceAmerica.com, clicking on the Variety Channel and then upon the word “live.”  You can also hear past shows on demand as well.  And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com.  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.