By definition white elephant gifts refer to a possession whose maintenance cost exceeds its usefulness. White elephant gift exchanges have been over the years a popular holiday party game.The 2 Regular Guys have a few white elephants to unload from this past year. These stories and events from this past year have cost us much. At this point one wonders how we ever found them useful.
Would you be interested in taking any of these off our hands?
VIDEO: White Elephants The 2 Regular Guys Wouldn't Mind Giving Up For GoodThe enemy combatant detention camp at Guantanamo Bay must go. Few brave souls are left to defend Gitmo’s propriety. The Supreme Court last summer delivered the final blow in the case Al Odah v. United States. By striking down the President’s Military Commission Act and thereby granting certain constitutional rights to the detainees, it was only a matter of months before the doors to this camp would be closed. Though closure is a must, we do wish that a reasonable debate might be used to clarify presidential power in times of war.
It is time once and for all to reassess the importance given to the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. Two relatively small, insignificant and unrepresentative states have for too long kidnapped our presidential nomination sweepstakes. The amount of time and money spent in Iowa and New Hampshire is difficult to defend. Worse, how do we explain that without winning one of them you cannot be president? We love both states. But do we love them that much? It is time to think about a rotating regional primary system in order for a far greater representative selection process.
The currently used Presidential Debate format needs overhauling. Most would agree that too often the moderators see themselves as part of the show. Questions are asked to make headlines rather than make informed citizens. A generation of citizens now believes a debate is nothing more than a well-rehearsed infomercial. Why not use the Lincoln-Douglas debates as a model? Candidates should tour the country holding conversations about the timeliest issues. Such events should not be numbered on one hand but made more routine. It is time for real debate.
High-level discussions have already begun and it is about time to replace the War Powers Act (1973). The relationship between the executive and legislative war making powers has for too long been unseemly. The executive branch has assumed too much power. The legislative branch has become a willing accomplice. Checks and balances during wartime have disappeared. Our Congress has been unwilling to make tough choices. The President has been allowed to make tough choices too easily. A reconsideration of this important constitutional relationship would protect all of our interests.
One last white elephant gift that continues to cost us is the fact that Illinoisans so overwhelmingly rejected the referendum to revisit the state’s constitution. A state constitutional convention is no panacea. Yet as our most recent scandal would attest, many of our political problems here are systemic. With the lack of true campaign finance reform and a pay to play expectation, political impropriety is not just the fault of a few errant rogues. Here in Illinois we have institutionalized graft. The referendum back on Election Day sure looks pretty good albeit in our rear view mirror.
The good news about these gift exchanges is that no receipt is required. With these white elephants, take all of the time you need. Our feelings will not be hurt. In fact we urge you, please return these.
1 comment:
I pretty much agree on all of them except for Gitmo and the War Powers Act. The suspects held at Guantanamo Bay are Prisoners of War. This is a war on terrorism, and they chose to take up arms against the United States. Thus, they should not be treated as civilian prisoners. Besides, the Wall Street Journal reported today that 61 of the suspects released from Gitmo have returned to terrorism.
As for the War Powers Act, I see where you're coming from, but remember that wars develop far too quickly now to go through the process of a formal declaration of war. If you look at the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 or the Russian invasion of Georgia last August, you will find the invasions had achieved their objectives long before a declaration of war could be formulated. Besides, the last two times we declared war, it was just a formality. Hardly anybody voted against the declaration of war in 1917, and Jeanette Rankin was the only person who voted against it in 1941. The disparity of warmaking powers between Congress and the President goes back way before the War Powers Act. In fact, that shift dates to the Polk Administration, when President James K. Polk essentially cajoled Congress into declaring war against Mexico.
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