Opinion
By We the People
04-22-24
| A small but mighty organization….To We the People – If you aren’t aware of the Center for Renewing America (CRA), you’re not alone. I hadn’t heard of it until conservative friends from south Florida encouraged us to attend CRA’s annual conference at the Omni Amelia Island, April 19-21. It was a privilege to attend and, based on what I learned, I’m encouraging you to give this organization a look-see. I think you’ll be impressed. First of all, I love their tag line: For God. For County. For Community. Aside from family, what could be more important than that. This organization clearly has their priorities straight. As the opening of their 2023 Annual Report states: “The Center for Renewing America (CRA) launched on Inauguration Day 2021, to boldly advance an America First agenda. An agenda that puts God, county, and community at the center of the political debate in Washington.” In just three short years since our founding, the Center has become the tip of the America First spear in some of the biggest fights in Washington. We confront weaponized federal bureaucracies working against the interests of the American people head-on and advancing paradigm-shifting policies that have put the D.C. cartel on defense.” The CRA’s small yet impressive staff is comprised of some amazingly down to earth folks who were part of the Trump Administration. For example: Russ Vought (pronounced Vote), President, was Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget from July 2020 to January 2021. He was previously deputy director of OMB from 2018 to 2020, and acting director from 2019 to 2020. Adam Candeub, Senior Fellow (and professor of law at Michigan State), was Trump’s Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Telecommunications and Information and Deputy Associate Attorney General. Jeff Clark, Senior Fellow and Director of Litigation, was the Trump-selected and Senate-confirmed Assistant Attorney General of the Environment & Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Justice Department. From 2020 – 2021, he simultaneously served as Acting Assistant Attorney General of DOJ’s Civil Division (where he supervised ~ 1,400 lawyers at DOJ). Ken Cuccinelli, Senior Fellow for Immigration and Homeland Security, served as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) and Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under Trump. In 2010-2014 he was Attorney General of VA. Ashlea Frazier, Chief Operating Officer, served as Chief of Staff at the White House Office of Management and Budget under Director Russ Vought. Steve Friend, Fellow of Domestic Intelligence and Security Services, joined the FBI in 2014 and became an FBI whistle-blower in 2022 after making protected disclosures to Congress about the FBI’s questionable and manipulative investigations of January 6th protesters. Paige Hauser, Policy Director, served as Associate Director for Domestic Policy in the Trump Administration. Wade Miller, VP and Executive Director, served as an infantryman in the US Marines before serving as Political Director for Senator Ted Cruz and Chief of Staff to Congressman Chip Roy. Mark Paoletta, Senior Fellow, served as General Counsel of the Office of Management and Budget for three years in the Trump Administration. He helped develop the legal pathway to build the wall along the southern border. Keynote speakers: On the first evening of the event, President Trump called-in to speak to us (after being in court all day in NYC). Steve Bannon was the after-dinner speaker. Matt Gaetz called-in as our Saturday luncheon speaker (he was supposed to speak in-person, but was stuck in D.C. for the Congressional vote on that horrendous Ukraine funding bill). Vivek Ramaswamy was our after-dinner speaker on Saturday night. Panel discussion topics were very interesting: Securing the Boarder & Restoring Law and Order Pivoting to an America First Defense & Foreign Policy America First Movement’s Future Restoring Fiscal Sanity Deconstructing the Administrative State Fearlessness at the Point of Attack Dismantling Woke and Climate Extremism Congressmen Chip Roy (TX-21) and Bob Good (VA-5) called in to participate briefly (from the halls of Congress in DC) for some of these discussions. Perhaps the best news I heard during the event was that this awesome team–who worked with President Trump before–is already busy drafting budgets and Executive Orders for President Trump to sign on January 20, 2025. Other good news (from Ken Cuccinelli) is that the President CAN deploy the military to secure the southern border, and it can be done without funding (although it will take Congressional cooperation to get budget for the large-scale deportations Trump intends to conduct). Meanwhile, the state governors can deploy their National Guard to assist with the active invasion. Last month Cuccinelli co-authored a 50-page paper entitled Policy Brief: The U.S. Military May be Used to Secure the Border. The brief concludes as follows: “We strongly believe that the inherent constitutional authority of the President of the United States as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces (and the militia) provides the President with all necessary authority needed to utilize the U.S. military to secure America’s borders from invasion by any person, group, or force. We also believe that the Posse Comitatus Act does not conflict with or restrict that set of presidential powers, and the PCA has, in fact, never barred the use of the military to secure the U.S. border, contrary to certain presumptions that appear to have taken hold in the modern era—as aided and abetted by a mainstream media that has never made a study of these questions or really shown any indication to engage in a sober appraisal of PCA law and history. “Right now, the Southern border of the United States is wide open. Since President Biden took office, the U.S. Border Patrol has observed or interdicted over 10 million illegal border crossers between ports of entry on the Southwest border. In addition to people seeking employment at the expense of lower-income Americans, this number, unfortunately, also includes criminals and terrorists alike. This is nothing short of a full-blown foreign invasion. Our Constitution and our laws allow the President to use the U.S. military to enforce our laws, protect our border, and stop this invasion, before the United States suffers further consequences. “At the Center for Renewing America, we unashamedly believe use of the military to secure our border is long overdue, and objections based on concerns related to the Posse Comitatus Act are clearly unfounded. The President possesses all necessary powers under the Constitution, the Insurrection Act, the Military Cooperation with Civilian Law Enforcement Officials Act, and other congressional statutes we outline above to get the border under control. “And no slippery slope to martial law in the interior of the United States will be created if the President simply wields his constitutional and statutory powers to safeguard the interior of the country from the southern border crisis. “You can read the complete document at the link provided below. You can also learn more about The Center for Renewing America at the same website. I highly encourage you to learn more about this organization. |
Deb Boelkes
Business World Rising, LLC
1417 Sadler Road, Suite 207
Fernandina Beach, FL 32034
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florid
