Whispering Stalin

TWEET THIS  WpjYDqLKFs#(8!jdk5

A reminder of Stalin:

After defeating Trotsky and ridding the party of all his rivals, Stalin began to build up Russia. As he said, "Other countries are 50 years ahead of Russia. We must make this up in 10 years." As such, he had two main aims: (i)a centrally-planned economy called a command economy; (ii)a totalitarian system of government  ....... During this period, Russia's economy was completely transformed. The state planned the entire economy through the State Planning Commission, or Gosplan. They issued instructions and orders, commands that were then passed down to factories, businesses or farms. .........The government controlled the resources it needed to achieve the economic targets. Factories, mines, transport and farms were owned by the state.
.......... Many workers had to slog for 11 hours! However, none of them revolted, as they knew their wages were paid in food rations, which meant they would DEFINITELY not eat if they did not work.
.......... The arts were controlled by the state which used them for propaganda purposes. Pressure was put on writers to write novels about the glorious achievements of the government. Musicians, artists and film-makers who refused to follow the state's direction were persecuted or purged. Russia Under Stalin Thinkquest.otg

I was looking up the arts in the Soviet Union , when I came upon the above page on Stalin, which describes many similarities to what is happening in the United States and in Maine. Stalin didn't begin his political career with the reign of terror in which many were murdered by the state, he began with creating a state controlled economy, which is what we (almost) have in Maine, as we move further and further away from our constitutional roots.

The creation in 1977, by special act of legislation,  of The Maine Development Foundation  established a newly invented "essential government function". The Maine Development Foundation has managed to keep a relatively low profile since then, even as it has members on about every board of every business or organization in the state's "targeted sector" ( The Brunswick Development Corporation being a curious exeption). MDF is overshadowed by more high profile "agencies" of the state such as  FAME MTI, and the SEGF. Currently the website for the Maine Development Foundation describes itself in carefully parsed language as "a private, non-partisan membership organization", but what private "organization" is chartered  as a corporation by special act of legislation, rather than established as an organization, or corporation under general laws?

§916. Establishment ( Maine Development Foundation)

The Maine Development Foundation is hereby established to foster, support and assist economic growth and revitalization in Maine. The foundation shall carry out its purposes in complement to and in coordination with the economic development activities of the private sector, community and regional agencies and State Government. [1977, c. 548, §1 (NEW).] The foundation shall exist as a not-for-profit corporation with a public purpose, and the exercise by the foundation of the powers conferred by this chapter shall be deemed and held to be an essential governmental function. [1977, c. 548, §1 (NEW).]

 I was researching artists during the Soviet Union because I remember once seeing a show that told that during the Soviet Union, artists had to be very self aware that there could be nothing in their work that might be interpreted as even an unconscious criticism of the state. This was achieved through fear of being imprisoned and/or executed.

Under the current federal administration of the IRS, a less lethal form of fear is being used to control the activities of non-profit organizations. Although the politicization of the IRS has been outed by the media, some say this has not brought an end to the practice of using the IRS for the political purposes of the current administration. Once such a  fear is established, its effect will not be vanquished until the United States has an entirely different administration, not just new leadership, and not even a new party in control, but an entirely different administration which is committed to the philosophical foundations of the United States of America

America got a peek inside that culture when Lois Lerner, the IRS director for exempt organizations was called to testify before the House Oversight Committee.  Giving the stunned lawmakers a classic example of how to have your cake and eat it too, Ms. Lerner read a statement denying any wrongdoing and then invoking the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.  “I refuse to answer on the grounds that it might incriminate me.”
So understand the logic here.  She says she is innocent but she isn’t talking because she knows her answers will incriminate her.  She led the division that targeted any prospective non-profit that had the word “Constitution” in it but used the Constitution to hide her guilt. Doug Weed The Blog

It is reported that one of the warning signals for the current IRS to instigate an investigation into an organization applying for non-profit status is the word "constitution", which is progressively being portrayed as the mark of the most violent extremist, although a true constitutionalists will advocate using the tools provided within constitutions be used to return to the Rule of Law established in constitutions -to do anything else would endanger the very constitution that constitutionalists seek to preserve. Once a people has broken with an established rule of law, a new rule of law must be established. The possibility that the new rule of law will be identical to the original constitution of the system with which the bond has just been broken are remote.

SENATE UNANIMOUSLY SUPPORTS IMPROVED ACCESS TO CAPITAL FOR MAINE BUSINESSES

Jun 27, 2013

Maine Seed Capital Tax Credit Program strengthened to encourage Maine investment   AUGUSTA—Today, the Senate enacted a measure to provide funding to help Maine businesses secure financing by extending and improving the successful Maine Seed Capital Tax Credit Program.   “We know this program helps Maine businesses,” said Senator Linda Valentino of Saco, the sponsor... Maine Senate.org

Governor Lepage campaigned as a constitutionalists with the support of  tea party organizers in Maine. As I interpreted my interactions with the organized tea party movement. the attitude was  conveyed by some that I was breaking with the ranks and going off in my own direction of economic development research. I was told that the economic development issues that I wrote about were (1. ) too much work to read and (2) not an important issue during a campaign season.

Soon after Lepage was elected, I wrote to both Governor Lepage and cc'd his Attorney General about my concerns about the constitutional violations embedded in the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority and other economic development corporations that the legislature had chartered. That letter and the response from the AG and the Governor are found HERE, The AG wrote back to say that he represents the state and is prohibited by statute from representing an individual citizen. His response was correct in the fact that in order to challenge the state in court, a person would have to have standing, which means a person would have to show personal harm as a result of the state's actions. The Attorney General would represent the state against a citizen of Maine. An individual cannot claim standing in court by claiming to represent the public, and so in that sense that AG was right to interpret my letter as asking for personal representation, although that was not the way I saw it at the time, and the letter was actually addressed to the Governor and only cc'd to the AG.

The Governor responded months later with a letter that said just about nothing .
The Governor, can use a different set of powers than that of the AG, if he so chooses, as is articulated in this passage from The Maine State Constitution- A Reference Guide , By Marshall J Tinkle

Judicial Interpretations of constitutional provisions are rendered in Maine under either of two conditions. If resolutions of a court case necessitates such interpretation, or under Article VI section 3, of the constitution, If the justices of the Supreme Court are asked for such interpretations under appropriate circumstances by the Governor, Senate, or House of Representatives. That availability of the latter basis have enabled Mainers to have the benefit of judicial analysis of a variety of constitutional issues that otherwise might never reach the courts. Although purely advisory, “opinions of the justices” have in nearly every instance been respected by the other branches of government as the most definitive interpretation of the law readily available. The Maine State constitution, A Reference Guide, Maine Constitutional History by Marshall J. Tinkle

But of course Governor Lepage was not about to use such a power because he would rather enjoy the perks of being executive CEO of Maine State Inc , which he has exercised by reclaimimg state ownership of the liquor industry, extending sales tax exemptions to Tempus Jets, a "targeted sector" favorite, while raising sales taxes for retailers in the "un-targeted sector, granting Pine Tree Zone tax exemptions to Tempus Jets even as it challenges credibility to argue that a private jet company would not move to the location of a former naval base without such bribes, and promoting a national sales tax on the internet in his new found defense of those brick and mortar retailers in the un-targeted sector, causing many others in Maine to lose affiliate income, in yet another instance of special interest legislation.

Die hard Lepage supporters will hear no criticism of his administration. They praise Lepage for paying off the hospital debt, occluding from any considered evaluation, the means by which he did so. The means LePage used was to reclaim state ownership of the liquor industry, which constitutes state control of the means of production-as is the basis of Marxist political theory. This digging in with the Marxist make over of the State of Maine is sold to the public with future projections of financial return and considered a done deal. Promises of future successes is the same means by which Obama sold the stimulus spending to America, which has now been proven to be nothing but flim flam and a large increase in our national debt.

Paying off the hospital bills is a good thing but there is more than one way to do so. In 2010 when Lepage took office the Opega report on Maine's economic development policies had been in existence for four years. As observed by Pine Tree Watchdog, the amount of spending for the economic development programs was about the size of the hole in the state budget-and the consensus was that it has never been established that these programs actually create jobs , while they are doorways to fraud and abuse. This is not my opinion but the findings of the OPEGA report.

As Governor, Lepage should have been well aware of the OPEGA report, giving all the more reason why, as a politician claiming to be a constitutionalists, LePage should have been willing to consider putting the economic development programs on the cutting block to close a hole in the budget as large as the cost of those same programs,which have never demonostrated even a rhetorically justified return on investment for the taxpayer. ( rhetorically justified as in 'creating jobs'- as if this does not apply to all business)

But  Governor Lepage is not a constitutionalists .Instead Lepage chose to take Maine further down the path that leads away from our constitution by entrenching a state owned liquor industry as "an essential government function". The statute doesn't use those words or even the word "corporation" for the liquor industry, which is parsed, instead as an "agency" , but what private sector liquor distributor would not be a corporation, and why should it be any different for a state owned industry? And does any one believe that adding an industry to government reduces its size and expenditures? Not to mention that inherent hypocrisy in using the revenue from the sales of alcohol to pay for health care, especially if and when state controlled health care includes "preventative health care". You can't have it both ways! Governor Lepage can be more appropriately described as a Socialist Republican.

The Republican political class invests in rhetoric about the constitution, but in practice the Republicans and Democrats alike are invested in a new corporate state paradigm, for which consent was never asked of the people, and as media has joined the political class. Maine's primary alternatives to our liberal media are just as much a part of the problem as the rest. The underlying paradigm of an unconstitutional government is never touched in main stream politcal discourse, as it is a silent agreement between both parties that the fundamental transformation of Maine is here to stay.

While I applauded when the Pine Tree Watchdog published an investigative report on the effectiveness of The Pine Tree Zone program, I have received complete silence from The Maine Center Public Interest  Reporting  when I contact them

The Center For Maine Public Interest Reporting has a deal with Ethics and Excellent In Journalism Foundation,  to donate a dollar for every share Maine Center for Public Interest reporting generates for selected articles.

I decided to try filling an application for a grant at The Ehics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation- but I was stopped at the get go for not being an organization. At that point it occurred to me that the reason why I might be getting the cold shoulder from The Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting is because I am an unabashed constitutionalists and the MCPR is a non-profit organization subject to oversight by the IRS. In my typically brazen manner I wrote to Ethics and Excellence in Journalism and asked them to comment on this hypothesis. Do they think ethics can be maintained if non-profit organizations have to be concerned about the politicization of the IRS? I made the mistake of also mentioning that I had tried to apply for a grant but could not for the reason of not being an organization. Why did they give grants only to organizations and not individuals?

The Ethics and Excellence Foundation responded by sending a grant form that enabled an individual to apply but without any accompanying communication. Before proceeding with that I looked up the laws for a foundation giving a grant to an individual. The organization has to get special approval from the IRS. This would require believing that the IRS would not harrass a constitutionalists and also believing that  that the Ethics and Excellence in Jornalism Foundation would go the extra mile to help a constitutionalist apply for a grant. Neither hypothesis seemed plausible- and so by saying nothing and sending only the application, the Ethics and Excellence Foundation had answered my question. Ethics in the purest sense is an impossibility in a society in which the IRS has become politcized. It is frightening to think of the future when the IRS also is in charge of processing health care. This is just a hair's length away from Stalin's lethal methods of controlling a society through fear. How did we get here so soon?