Governed By The Majority?

Popular or Plural

It is with much amusement that I read that Hillary Clinton won the “popular vote”. As has been dutifully pointed out by those with formal education in such matters what she actually won was a plurality.

None of this matters to the “college educated” liberal. Their point is and rightfully so that she won more votes than anyone else. Fortunately the race for the Presidency is not a race for Prom Queen.

What they overlook is that there were five candidates in the race. Hillary won 48.2%, Trump with 46.1%, Gary Johnson garnered 3.3%, Jill Stein managed 1% and Evan McMullin gathered .4%. Without question Hillary won more votes than any other candidate. No one won a majority.

However, democracies aren’t built on who gets the most votes but on who gets a majority. Had Hillary received 30% but still outstripped her competitors would the Democratic argument that the system is flawed and she was robbed still ring true? At best a fair-minded individual would agree that a runoff is called for. Our Founding Fathers considered that possibility and crafted a solution.

Abolish The Electoral College

This brings us to the Electoral College. It seems that anytime a tenet of the Constitution does not favor the liberal camp they deride it as “outdated”. Apparently American History was not a popular elective among our college educated liberal friends.

America is not a Democracy, it was founded as a Constitutional Republic. The Constitution clearly says the Federal Government only has those powers enumerated to it in the Constitution and all others remain with the States.

The operative term here is States. We are not the United People we are the United States. Our Founding Fathers were clearly concerned that some states would be more populous than others and could dominate the Federal Government.

Their solution was two-fold. The Congress consists of two houses. The Senate apportions two Senators per state assuring equality among the states and the House of Representatives apportions Representatives based on population providing equality across the population. The Electoral College is equal to the number of Senators plus the number of Congressmen plus three additional Electors for the District of Columbia.

Rules regarding how those Electors are awarded are set by the States. Currently forty-eight states award Electors on a winner take all basis. These rules can be changed but not after the fact. If the Democratic Party is concerned about the fairness of the current system they have the right to work within it to make changes.

What history shows us is that the Democrats were fine with the status quo when it worked in their favor. It only became unfair when they lost. I would caution them about rushing into changes headlong. Much like Harry Reid’s experiment with the “Nuclear Option” these things can come back to haunt you.

Inspiration

Coming Soon

About

My journey into what today is referred to as “prepping” began before I was born. My grandmother was born and raised on a small farm in Valley View Texas. As a child her family grew most of their produce and raised all of their own meat. The exceptions were dry goods such as coffee, sugar and spices. In her time this wasn’t referred to as prepping. It was simply known as living on the land.

In 1895 she came to Dallas in a covered wagon to seek her fortune. She met and married my grandfather and they settled into a small home. In her entire life her yard was filled with a garden, chicken coops and rabbit pens. Some of my fondest memories as a child were following her in her garden and eating fresh cherry tomatoes right off the vine.

She instilled this same sense of self reliance in my father and he in me. I never saw him hire or pay anyone to do something he could do himself. I recall as a senior in high school he bought the family a new car and I was given the old one. Within a year it blew a head gasket. I’ll never forget the two of us in the garage rebuilding the engine over a weekend.

Much like other families of the time I was fortunate enough to attend college and spent a portion of my life in marketing for a Fortune 500 company. But I always had a small garden with at least tomatoes, onions and the like.

In 1970 my mother purchased a lifetime subscription to a fledgling magazine called the Mother Earth News. It was in one of the early issues I found an article that introduced me to the thought that the worlds resources are finite and that for the standard of living for the rest of the world to improve we would have to consume a smaller share.

As I grew older and became more politically aware it became apparent how dysfunctional our political and economic system is. It is my philosophy is that the best way to bring change to the current system is to starve it financially. In this pursuit my wife and I have sold the house in the suburbs and moved onto a 14 acre farm in North Central Texas about an hour and a half from the closest major metropolitan area.

We now have cows, goats, llamas, chicken, guinea fowl and a garden. I’ve purchased the hardware for a 12,000 watt solar system that I’m installing now. Along the way we’ve learned many lessons, some of them the hard way. The purpose of this blog is to share our experiences and the knowledge we’ve acquired along the way.

Choosing The Calibers for Your Long Guns

Why are there different calibers and weights of projectiles? Simply put, to vary the “power” (in foot pounds) you deliver to the intended target at the end of the projectiles flight based on its speed (terminal velocity).

Look up a picture of a lineup of common rounds. As the case gets larger it can hold more powder and propel a larger projectile down range, often farther. Once again, it’s all about terminal velocity. E=MC2, energy (in foot pounds) is equal to mass (weight in grains) times velocity (speed in feet per second) squared.

If anyone has researched the effects of speed and weight on a rifled projectile it’s the military. During WWII the round of choice was the 30-06 in the M1 Garand. By the time Viet Nam rolled around the military had moved to the 5.56/.223 (not identical but nearly so). Why?

The short answer was that their studies concluded that most armed confrontations occurred at less than 500 +/- yards. The 5.56 has enough power (terminal velocity) to achieve the intended effect and, being lighter, troops could carry more ammunition into battle for the same given total weight.

They did discover that occasionally there were snipers that would take up position just beyond the range of the 5.56. The military has now moved to a designated sniper formation where one member of the platoon carries a 7.62/.308 which has an effective range of 1000+ yards in the hands of a trained marksman.

If you stand 10 feet from me and I hit you with a tennis ball you would scarcely be moved. If I hit you with a bowling ball at the same speed and distance you’ll be knocked off your feet. By varying the weight and speed of the projectile you can choose the amount of power you deliver at the target

As a projectile travels through the atmosphere drag, caused by friction with air and gravity slow it and pull it downward. As with the bowling ball, a heavier projectile traveling at the same speed as a lighter projectile will deliver more power at the end of its flight.

You can’t kill a deer with a BB gun but you’ll disintegrate it with a cannon. You need just enough power to kill it quickly and humanely. If you’re chasing a wounded deer through the brush you should put down your firearm and go home. You have no business being there.

You take this one step further to choose a caliber for the task at hand. The science of size and velocity of a projectile for the distance and weight of a target fills volumes and drives an entire industry.

In general your smaller, high velocity rounds such as the .223, .22/250, .243 and .270 are suitable for small game and varmints as well as small deer like the whitetail. As you move above the .30 caliber spectrum you move to those suitable for mule deer and larger game. For even larger game such as elk you move into calibers such as the .300 Winchester Magnum or the 7mm Magnum.Many of these overlap in their use. There is always the hunter that claims to hunt elk with a .270.

Given all this, legend grows up around certain weapons and their calibers. There are those who collect some or all. I’m a tool guy. I use a 20 oz. framing hammer to drive a 16d nail, a 16 oz. claw hammer to drive finish nails and a tack hammer to drive…well…a tack.

I want a large enough assortment to do all the jobs I have but small enough to keep down cost and the size of the tool box small. My safe contains one .22LR semi-auto rifle, one 5.56/.223 AR15, one 7.62/..308 AR10 and one .338 Lapua Magnum, Bolt Action Rifle.

The purpose of the .22LR is multi-fold. It is an adequate round for small game and varmint hunting. It is also stellar for providing suppression fire at close range. Though not powerful by defense standards it is cheap and I have yet to see someone say, wait, that’s a .22 and walk into the oncoming fire. Together with the rest of my firearms I can protect my family, out to 1700 yards if necessary and further if I hand load rounds.

Study, ask questions and compare opinions. You’ll eventually arrive at the ideal assortment for you and that is what it’s all about.