Political Pistachio
The Foundation of American Principles, and the Keys to Keep the Republic
This is the speech on the third day of the Constitution Week Event in Meridian, Idaho (near Boise). Since you couldn’t make it in person, here’s the speech live (and available later).
By Douglas V. Gibbs
The term “Ghost Gun” was a creation of the anti-gun left who would love to confiscate every firearm in America. The term is a clever piece of political branding that implies something sinister and untraceable, when in reality all we are talking about is firearms that people assemble themselves.
In Rigby v. Jennings, Judge Maryellen Noreika permanently enjoined Delaware’s bans on possessing and self-manufacturing untraceable firearms, ruling the state laws as clear violations of the right to keep and bear arms, using the Second Amendment as the foundation. The court specifically held that “an untraceable firearm is an Arm under the Second Amendment” and that firearm frames and receivers are likewise protected “Arms” under the Constitution.
The fascinating part of the ruling is that the court addressed the historical tradition approach, as we first saw in the Bruen Case.
Delaware attempted to justify its ban by pointing to historical laws on clubs, Bowie knives, and other weapons, but the Third Circuit had already rejected those analogues as “too late, the wrong ‘why,’ or the wrong ‘how.'” The court determined that an outright ban on a class of arms used for self-defense is not “relevantly similar” to those historical rules.
The broader purpose of the Second Amendment is not really about guns, anyway. The right to keep and bear arms was always intended as a safeguard against tyranny and as a means to ensure “the security of a free state.” The court’s recognition that the Second Amendment includes “the ancillary right to acquire [arms]” by building them at home reinforces this fundamental purpose.
This ruling also highlights how anti-gun rights advocates often use misleading terminology to advance their agenda. As the Firearms Policy Coalition noted, “Governments do not get to erase the Second Amendment by calling protected arms ‘ghost guns,’ ‘assault weapons,’ or whatever other pejorative labels they invent.”
The Delaware case is part of a broader pattern of courts rejecting similar restrictions. In a separate case, Chief District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that the ATF’s “frame or receiver rule” was unconstitutional on both Fifth Amendment and Second Amendment grounds, further cementing the principle that unfinished frames and receivers enjoy the same constitutional protections as completed firearms.
While Delaware’s commercial distribution rules and CAD/3D-print file ban survived this particular challenge, the core principle that law-abiding citizens have the right to make their own firearms has been firmly established.
This represents an important check on government overreach and a reaffirmation of the natural right to self-defense and self-reliance.
The only error in the case is the reliance on the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment applies to federal laws, and the Delaware bans were pieces of state legislation. Therefore, the proper constitutional argument would not be the Second Amendment as much as Article I, Section 20 of the Delaware State Constitution, enacted in 1987, which reads, “A person has the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of self, family, home, and State, and for hunting and recreational use.”
The provision, according to local state jurisprudence, also affirms the fundamental right to public carry. The term “arms” is applied in the same way as the Second Amendment, supporting the courts recent ruling in Rigby v. Jennings.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
Fear is a nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes. When we believe an economic crisis is at hand and we believe it is out of our direct control to do anything about it, we experience a kind of psychological paralysis. We lose the ability to use critical thinking to make our decisions, and through fear we begin to normalize actions that would normally be seen as taboo: bank runs, hoarding, reduced spending and theft.
Fear is irrational and counterproductive. Worry solves no problems, and stress kills. We then begin to think with our emotions, rather than common sense. We are then prevented from taking the very actions that would resolve the crisis because in our panic we believe the perpetrators of the fear that their strategies are the best. “After all,” we convince ourselves, “they are the experts.” Psychological restoration occurs when we move away from emotional reactions, and begin to use logical and analytical approaches. Through that process, we then also build confidence, which pushes against the paralysis of fear.
In our Constitutional Republic, historically the greatest threats to our American System have not been external evils. Fear of those evils, and fear of internal evils, causes us to voluntarily surrender our freedoms. The opposition to our System of Liberty and Free Market understand this. You can’t fix what isn’t broken, and new policies calling for drastic change can never take place if the American public feels confident about their lives in America – so, a deception must be put into place if the hard-left is ever going to be able to achieve the fundamental transformation of America that they are seeking. You must be convinced not to believe your eyes and ears, and place all of your fears and anger into the one place the leftists fear the most – which in current times is President Trump and his policies.
As has happened numerous times in history, fear of recession, or an “affordability crisis,” becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because the purveyors of the deception claim the correct policies are the wrong policies and then put up all kinds of information that just is not true if given proper context. But, out of fear, we believe their lies, and those very fears then lead to the destruction of what keeps us afloat and opens up the floodgates to actual economic problems.
Yes, we are experiencing incredible damage from a rising national debt that is now over forty trillion dollars, and half of a century of “free trade deals” that drove manufacturing overseas leaving millions of blue-collar American workers unemployed and added to the rising list of those who receive some kind of government benefit. Public policies have arrested American population growth by discouraging marriage, discouraging families, rewarding government dependents who have children without the father in the home, encouraging promiscuity, and encouraging abortions (now, all the way up to the due-date). As a result, we live in a dark world. We walk through the “valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4). Many segments of our population live in deep darkness, extreme fear, experience unimaginable trials in this world that has become highly sexualized, self-indulgent, impatient, uninspired, and a lonely place to exist. Then, to allegedly solve the problems, they have thrown open our borders, welcoming foreign ideas that oppose America’s Christian and Constitutional foundation, transforming our prosperous land of liberty and virtue into a battleground of warring factions, attacks against Christianity, and attacks against our traditions and heritage. Today we fight to preserve any semblance of tranquility, security, our American identity, and our Western beliefs.
We are under attack from within as well as from abroad. The enemy is not only at the gates, they are inside the gates, and they have been infesting the halls of government.
America, however, may be under assault, but we have not yielded to the enemy just yet. While China and the United Kingdom uses surveillance cameras to spy on their citizens, Americans are targeting and destroying the Flock Safety cameras that have been increasingly plaguing our cities. While governments that we claim share our Western values (like Canada, United Kingdom and Australia) censor online communication and criminalize public dissent, in America our fight to preserve our First Amendment enumerated rights to speech and the press is in high gear. We have seen the enemy, and we know that “political correctness,” “disinformation,” and “misinformation” are simply code names for censorship and suppression of our God-given rights.
In America the public awareness seems to be a little bit stronger, and the taste of liberty still lingers on the tips of our tongues. So, we stand firm. And, I believe we are winning the battlefield in America. You wouldn’t know it, however, if you were to listen to the mainstream media, leftist politicians, and communist candidates for the Democratic Party.
While The West is already beginning to write its own obituary, something happened in America on the way to collapse. President Donald J. Trump emerged, and he became the ultimate proverbial stick in their spokes. With firmness and fervor he stands between America and tyranny, using tariffs to eliminate an international scheme of a “redistribution of wealth” against the United States, and taking into his own body the fiery darts of the enemy as he works to turn things around after so much damage caused by the Obama and Biden administrations (along with two centuries of gradual creeping rot within).
But, he can’t do it alone. We have a choice to get into the fight with him, or succumb to the fear that the enemy is trying to pump into our brains.
Here’s the truth:
It began with DOGE, but the search to locate and eliminate fraud and waste didn’t end with getting rid of USAID. The Trump administration has uncovered massive fraud within the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), as well. Between 2021 and 2024, for example, roughly $10 billion in taxpayer money was improperly paid out due to weakened enrollment safeguards under President Joe Biden. The current administration has already removed nearly three million fraudulent or improper Obamacare enrollments, and estimate another 2.6 million questionable enrollments remain.
ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising powerhouse, is being investigated after it weakened fraud safeguards, accepting suspicious contributions and misleading Congress about how it screens donations. ActBlue took the lax approach despite detecting at least 22 significant fraud campaigns on the platform in recent years, including several from foreign sources. Congressional investigators are now accusing ActBlue of accepting illegal foreign political contributions and attempting a “subsequent cover-up” when investigators begin digging into the platform’s practices. Internal communications reveal staff approving donations despite potentially suspicious signals. ActBlue is rejecting the claims that they knowingly facilitated illegal foreign donations.
President Trump’s call for a National Fraud Enforcement Division was made permanent when the bill for the division passed the House of Representatives with a bi-partisan vote of 352-72. The division has already targeted fraud affecting the federal government, federally funded programs, and private citizens and earlier this year had its sights on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and State Attorney General Keith Ellison, referring them for a potential criminal investigation.
Leftist policies have not only bankrupted the State of California, and made it the home of more homeless people than any other state in the Union, but after 114 years even Paramount is planning an exit from California. Their contingency plan to leave the dark-blue State of California depends upon a current legal fight against its Warner Bros. Discovery merger and more importantly any settlement tied to the antitrust case. The complaint about taxes and regulations by California were already in the mix, and Paramount’s board has already approved a relocation strategy as other states are currently and openly courting the company. Paramount’s proposed acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery ended up in court when California and eleven other states sued to block the move on antitrust grounds. The threat to leave California follows years of production declines, strikes and layoffs.
President Trump’s policies, however, have pushed us in the right direction regarding affordability, despite claims to the contrary. The Trump administration provided a chart to compare major household costs during the first 20 months of his current term to the same stretch of the Biden presidency. Across inflation, groceries, gasoline, rent, electricity and vehicles, the Trump-era increase shown on the chart is lower in every single category.
- Inflation: Biden it rose 12.3%, Trump 4.3%
- Groceries: Biden rose 15.8%, Trump 3.3%
- Gasoline: Biden 69%, Trump 12%
- Rent: Biden 7.7%, Trump 4.5%
- Electricity: Biden 19.1%, Trump 8.4%
- New and Used Vehicles: Biden rose 23.9%, Trump decreased 1.2%
That does not mean prices are wonderfully low, or that there is no affordability difficulties at all. Prices in all items, except vehicles, rose in all categories for both Presidents, and steps are being taken by President Trump to bring down costs. President Trump recently took various actions to tackle beef prices, recognizing in the animal protein markets the culprit is supply and demand, and the cost of doing business. When it comes to fuel prices, President Trump is engaging in a sweeping agreement with Venezuela, expanding American influence over one of the world’s largest collections of oil reserves. The deal will send tens of billions of barrels of oil to the U.S., plus dramatically increase the supply of oil on the international stage. And it is not a short-term fix. The U.S., with a joint venture with another private company, is gaining 100-year rights over 17 oil fields that have proven reserves of over 65 billion barrels. When that oil hits the American market it will help bring down U.S. gas prices.
According to President Trump a “big decision” is coming soon regarding the war in Iran. Economic isolation through the “Operation Economic Outcast” effort should cripple what remains of the Iranian Islamic regime, and an end to the hostilities will also provide an important impact on the reduction of fuel prices.
The economic impact of President Trump’s economic policies have been good domestically – being particularly beneficial to minority populations and children. Poverty rates, including for child poverty and Hispanic poverty, have hit the lowest numbers on record – ever. Meanwhile, median household income after inflation is at a record high. As Trump’s administration roots out fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/Food Stamps), with the USDA finding “250,000 people that are using dead people’s social security numbers in one state alone,” almost 6 million people have been moved off of SNAP in just a year and a half. The numbers are a direct result of President Trump’s promise to add work requirements to welfare programs, eliminate illegal aliens on Welfare, and get rid of the fraud.
The number of Americans filing unemployment benefit claims has fallen below 200,000 for the fifth time this year, according to new government data, marking the third-lowest level since 1969. Private employers added an average of 16,250 jobs per week in the four weeks ending August 29, up from an average weekly increase of 12,250 in the previous four-week period. Nonfarm payrolls data confirms the U.S. economy added 162,000 new jobs in August.
Meanwhile, Democratic Party run economies like California are moving in the opposite direction. Los Angeles, for example, ranks last among 100 metro areas for affordability and new home construction. Des Moines, Iowa ranked first. Failing grades also belonged to New York City; Providence, Rhode Island; Honolulu; and Boston.
The most interesting twist is while Democrats claim there is an affordability crisis, affordability concerns that do exist or are being taken care of haunt us because of leftist policies. They created the elements of the crisis they scream about. And in their actions, Democrats admit they want to bring the Third World to America, and place them on Welfare. It’s about overwhelming the system. It’s about forcing America’s hand, and then the Democrats swooping in to claim they will fix the problems they largely created through their own one-party rule. New York City’s socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani, in fact, announced that his city will lead a new lawsuit suing President Trump’s efforts to deny green cards to “immigrants” who are “likely at any time to become a public charge.”
It’s a classic Cloward and Piven move – overwhelm the system, and then from the rubble raise up a new socialist system. That’s the plan, and it begins with convincing you to give them power so that they can fix problems they created as they scream that President Trump and the Republicans have created an “affordability crisis.”
It’s a classical tyrannical move by people who care nothing about affordability, and everything about increasing their own political power. A coup based on fear and deceptive tactics to get you to believe anything, without ever revealing the true context, or actual numbers.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
The air in the Pennsylvania State House on September 17, 1787, was thick with the weight of history. Thirty-nine men, delegates from across the fledgling Union of states, gathered in what we now call Independence Hall. Outside, Philadelphia carried on with its daily bustle. Inside, behind closed doors, after four months of grueling debate and compromise, something extraordinary was taking shape; the very foundation of a new republic.
The room was modest in size but grand in purpose. Heavy velvet curtains framed tall windows that filtered the morning light onto polished mahogany tables. Inkwells stood ready, quills at attention, while the scent of old paper and beeswax mingled with the sweat of anticipation. At the head of the room sat George Washington, his presence commanding yet humble, presiding over this Constitutional Convention with the dignity that had carried the revolution.
James Madison, once the architect of the Virginia Plan that had favored the populous states, now sat with a different perspective. The intellectual journey of the past months had transformed him. He had come to understand that true liberty required not just representation by population, but a system of checks and balances that would prevent any single entity, state or federal, or any of the branches of government, from accumulating too much power. His eyes scanned the document before him, seeing not merely words, but a framework that would give the states oversight through the Senate, protect minority interests through the Electoral College, and preserve the power of amendment through ratification by the states themselves.
As the delegates prepared to sign, three men stood apart: Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, Edmund Randolph of Virginia, and George Mason of Virginia. Those three men, though present during the entire convention, would not put their names to parchment. Mason, who had refused to sign, spoke with quiet determination: “It wants amendments,” he said, referring to what would become the Bill of Rights. Gerry and Randolph shared similar concerns, about protections for individual liberties and the document’s silence on slavery. Their refusal was not an act of disloyalty, but of principle, a reminder that even in this moment of creation, the work of liberty would remain unfinished.
One by one, the delegates approached the document. The scratching of quills on parchment filled the room as names were affixed to what would become the supreme law of a new Union of States in a world of empires. Each signature represented months of debate, compromise, and vision; a testament to what could be achieved when reasonable men, despite their differences, committed themselves to the creation of a system based on The Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God – the Rule of Law.
As the last signature was placed, Benjamin Franklin, the eldest delegate at 81 years, looked toward Washington’s chair. Its back featured a carved half-sun, and throughout the long months of debate, delegates had addressed the man in the chair, George Washington, during debate.
Now, as the convention concluded, Franklin spoke with characteristic wit and wisdom: “I have often and often in the course of the session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that sun behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.”
The delegates smiled, understanding the metaphor. America was indeed rising, and this Constitution, this framework of limited government, separation of powers, and federalism, was its dawn.
As we commemorate Constitution Day today, we would do well to remember that September
morning in Philadelphia. These were not perfect men, nor did they create a perfect document. But they forged something remarkable: a vibrant constitution, a compact among the States, that has served our republic for over two centuries. Adaptable through amendment, yet enduring. The ultimate balancing act, balancing the consent of the governed with mechanisms to ensure that the voice of the minority could also be heard. A system of government that has weathered storms that might have destroyed lesser nations.
Perhaps it is time to elevate September 17 to its proper place as a national holiday. I wonder how many Americans truly realize that today is Constitution Day – a day not just of historical remembrance, but in its celebration each year of rededication to the principles of constitutional government that continues to light America’s rising sun.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Four historic milestones trace the centuries-long British struggle to limit royal power and build a government ruled by law. They moved England from absolute royal rule to a stable system where Parliament holds the ultimate power. Why are they important? Because they also became key events that ultimately led to American Liberty. Remember, the Founding Fathers were Englishmen, and this was a part of their history and their inspiration.
The Magna Carta (1215)
A historic charter forced on King John by angry noblemen (barons) at Runnymede on June 15, 1215. The basis of the Magna Carta was to establish that the king was not above the law. It enumerated Natural Rights, religious freedom and the Church’s rights, stopped unfair imprisonment, and promised fast justice. It established that the king could not unilaterally set taxes. Taxation would also require noble approval.
The English Civil War (1642–1651)
A brutal armed fight between King Charles I and Parliament over who held supreme power. Parliament argued that the king was not above the people’s represenation, but was co-equal with Parliament. Ultimately, the forces in opposition to the king’s supreme power was victorious. Charles I was put on trial and executed in 1649. England briefly became a republic before the monarchy returned to full and absolute power in 1660.
The Glorious Revolution (1688–1689)
The notion of a divine right of kings was challenged. The largely bloodless ousting of the Catholic King James II by a union of Parliament and Dutch leader William of Orange led to a return of co-equal power between the king and Parliament. Again, the message was that the king was not above the law, and could not largely operate without Parliament’s consent. As a result, James II fled. His Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William took the joint throne after agreeing to respect Parliament’s laws.
The English Declaration of Rights (1689)
The formal list of conditions (later called the English Bill of Rights) was presented to William and Mary before they took power. The document set permanent limits on the king, banning the monarch from making or stopping laws without Parliament, collecting taxes without permission, or keeping a standing army in peacetime. It guaranteed free speech in Parliament and fair trials.
Freedom Truck
By Douglas V. Gibbs
Six Freedom Trucks remain in motion, traveling America from sea to shining sea. The one I visited was in Pendleton, Oregon during the Round-Up event. I was stunned that at 9:30 am, a half hour after the truck’s access opened for the day, we were told we were the first ones to visit. The whole time my wife and I were the only people inside the traveling museum, exploring its interior for more than an hour. The two young people outside the truck who served as the guardians of the entrance were fantastic to talk to, and the interior of the truck was amazing. In fact, it was more than I expected. The good news is that if you can’t catch a truck in your area, the website for it has all of the features available online, as well.
When you walk in, you are greeted by George Washington. His painting comes alive and delivers a message about America. As you look around the walls are adorned with history about tensions escalating in the early colonies, leading to the Declaration of Independence. There is a George vs. George display (King George vs. George Washington) as well as various pictorials and information panels regarding events and persons from the early years of our American Republic. The displays go over everything from the Royal Proclamation of Rebellion and Sedition issued by The Crown to George Washington’s spectacles.
America’s Christian heritage is also discussed, and while the Geneva Bible is not mentioned (that I saw), which came over with the Pilgrims to Plymouth in 1620, the Aitken Bible is (The Bible of the Revolution). It was printed after the ability to purchase Bibles from Britain was cut off by the British government.
An interactive map of the original colonies allows the visitor to learn about each of the colonies with a simple touch on the screen. Early colonies like Jamestown are also explored on displays, along with the Pilgrims at Plymouth, and the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay.
A large focus on the Revolutionary Period and the Constitution fills the heart of the traveling museum. Displays discuss the battle among delegates in Philadelphia over whether or not to declare independence, Thomas Paine’s pamphlet “Common Sense,” and there is even an interactive quiz of ten questions from the citizenship exam (which both my wife and I scored 100% on, though I admit my wife needed clues from me for two of her questions).
America’s expansion westward dominates one of the interactive displays, discussing:
Other displays go into detail about how each colony became a state, what was going on in other parts of the world during that time, and key events during the Revolutionary War.
Washington’s Spies dominated one section, with even details about the route of the Culper Spy Ring. One can even attempt to decipher the secret code they used. As each of the Washington’s Spies displays reveal, espionage played a critical role in winning the American Revolution.
Particular care inside the Freedom Trucks is also paid to the making of the Declaration of Independence. The Committee of Five is discussed, the debate over the Declaration and the vote for independence (a fantastic presentation of that very debate is available at no cost at the replica of Independence Hall in Buena Park’s Knott’s Berry Farm in California, too – learn about Walter Knotts’ journey to build it HERE), and there is even a full display inside the Freedom Truck of the Declaration of Independence that allows you to sign your own name to the iconic Founding Document. A number of storyboards and interactive displays are dedicated to that blessed event in 1776, with one display going over three important principles from the Declaration: Equality, Liberty and Consent of the Governed.
The Revolutionary War comes alive with storyboards and interactive displays that takes you through the entire war, battle by battle if you so desire. Letters from the Revolution, word by word, are provided on one display (often from names you’ve never heard of before), and after all of the battles and information from the Revolutionary War are provided, the final storyboard titled “Victory on the Battlefield” goes over Yorktown, and the Treaty of Paris.
The depiction of the sun on the top of George Washington’s chair during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 comes alive with the story about Benjamin Franklin’s allegorical comments regarding if America is a rising sun, or a setting one – as he observed that chair.
RELATED: THE RISING SUN – A TALE OF CONSTITUTION DAY
The words of the Constitution then come alive on the displays, from “We the People,” to displays explaining the importance of our Natural Rights to the Founding Fathers in their endeavors. Various personages are explored during the Revolutionary Period and the Constitutional Convention period, with detailed explanations regarding more than the Founding Fathers. Women of the Revolutionary Period, Black Patriots, Clergymen, and even members of the Native Population as they were related to our early founding are all explored in the displays. The section of the traveling museum dedicated to the Constitution also provides a full display of the document itself, the United States Constitution. I did notice there was no section discussing Elizabeth Powel, probably the most important woman during that period – or at least that is my opinion.
The Federalist Papers are discussed, the ratification process and the formation and approval of the Bill of Rights, and each of the first seven articles with individual examinations. The Promise of Liberty and our Natural Rights are discussed at length, as is the institution of slavery and its role, impact and ultimately emancipation after the War Between the States.
Overall, the experience inside the Freedom Truck was wonderful – and as I said, the displays are available also online (links above and HERE hopefully give you full access to those displays and videos).
After exiting the truck, my wife and I got pictures outside in front of the truck and told the pair of young people sitting at the nearby table that it was definitely more than we expected. Then again, considering it came from President Trump, we shouldn’t have been so surprised.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary