Stating the obvious can bring clarity to any subject. Objectivity is necessary in the affordable housing sector, as well as the manufactured home segment of housing. Businesses and investors act upon reality, or what they think is reality.
More broadly, objectivity – the search for truth vs. a convenient or comfortable story – is useful if not necessary in all things. For example, a person of sound mind doesn’t pay a physician to give a knowingly false diagnosis.
With that understanding, there are powerful currents at play in the U.S. in our era. Indeed, they are global currents, at work here and abroad. The Open Markets Institute (OMI) described it in these terms.
“Big business and wealthy donors fund lobbyists and think tanks, corrupt academic science with “sponsored” research, and underwrite popular media publications and news networks. Through all these mechanisms, moneyed interests can control the flow of information in public debates and determine which issues become part of the nation’s political agenda, and which remain on the fringe,” said OMI.
That in a nutshell describes much of what MHProNews and our sister site, MHLivingNews, has been working to unmask via research, following the money, and documenting the evidence for years.
The Two Major Parties and Political Clout
One ought to mention in passing the “unholy alliance” that Senator Rand Paul (KY-R) has cited between Democrats and Republicans. That unholy alliance extends to ballot access at the state or local level. It’s a way of protecting the two major parties against potential alternatives. Libertarian, Green, Constitutional, and other parties are often kept off the ballot through standards that routinely are difficult for any but the two major parties to achieve.
Rephrased, it’s political collusion between Democrats and Republicans that results in a political monopoly. More precisely, it’s a duopoly.
That’s not news for some, but it would be for tens of millions of others. Nor does that does mean that the two parties are the same. They clearly are not. But they do at times work to preserve each other’s monopolies – duopoly – in the political sphere.
Once that “unholy alliance” is better understood, several items come into focus. These issues absolutely impact manufactured housing, and other professions as well.
But what makes HUD Code manufactured homes more vulnerable than other professions to political and regulatory winds is the relative weakness of the sector, due to its current size. In that limited sense, a point previously made by Nathan Smith of SSK Communities is correct, today, manufactured homes are a “boutique industry.”
That relatively small size of our industry today allows connected power players, including Smith and his “F” rated by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) SSK Communities, to influence the system more than others. Smith, a prominent Democrat, is the former chairman of the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and their current MHI PAC chair. Quoting Smith should NOT be construed in any sense as an endorsement, we merely note that he is correct on the narrow point about the industry being “boutique” in size, more on Smith is found at the link here.
The industry’s small size clearly means that manufactured housing is more subject to other political or economic forces. When billionaires or wealthy firms want to buy influence, they can do so readily. If necessary, those with deep pockets can back candidates on both sides of the two-party political aisle, knowing they will then have an open door to whomever gets in office. Smith and others have made that same point.
Which goes back to the concept cited from Open Markets. Those who think that term limits or rolling back the Citizens United decision will change American politics may be sincere, but that vantagepoint is nevertheless mistaken.
Here’s how Open Markets explained it in an article entitled, Democracy and Monopoly.
“More fundamentally, the focus on campaign finance reform fails to address the many other ways in which concentrated moneyed interests corrupt the political process.”
With that sobering yet arguably accurate backdrop consider this.
Each Major Party Has at Times Weaponized Federal Power
What the former President Richard Nixon (R-GOP) era Watergate scandal brought to light was the high-level weaponization of the intelligence and federal law enforcement services. Before Democratic supporters gloat over that reality, it’s arguably happened as recently as the Obama Administration (D) era too. Some presidents – across the left-right divide – have done so with more or less vigor than others.
For the next few minutes, this Daily Business News on MHProNews brief will underscore the following points.
The Trump Administration has purportedly been somewhat hobbled by forces launched within the federal government while President Barack Obama (D) was still in office.
Former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell, JD, in the interview below explains some aspects of that problem.
Former CBS News investigative journalist and now independent “Full Measure” journalist Sharyl Attkisson has similarly documented how the Obama Administration targeted her work in journalism. Fox News’ reporter James Rosen was likewise targeted by members of the Obama Administration.
There are solutions to these and other vexing issues. It begins, as does all problem solving, with understanding.
Its Elementary. Its About the Constitution
Once the issues are understood, the solutions can emerge. Put simply, the road to solutions begins by enforcing the U.S. Constitution as written and following the original resolution. Other solutions – however well intentioned – are arguably ineffective at best, or a smokescreen at worst. The false notion, for example, of an evolution of the meaning of a law or the constitution disrupts the stability of the law, which makes ownership or property, investing, and other peaceful pursuits possible.
After decades of national drift, intolerance for red herrings and more posturing without solutions should be stronger.
Where does the Final Word Rest?
Many today feel frustrated by politics, but they may not be aware of the power they have.
The ultimate power of the legal system – the final word – lies in the hands of potential jurors. The power to enforce a law – whenever a defendant insists upon it – is decided by citizen-jurors.
So never forget, you have more power over the law than you may realize. One juror can hold out, and effectively nullify a prosecution. It’s a principle long established in U.S. law. The juror can even ignore the judge’s instructions, and vote “not guilty,” as the legal citations below demonstrate. That’s why the jury system was put in place in the constitution. Constitutional rights protect individual liberty, including against the power of rouges in runaway government, or the uber-rich who may misuse wealth to dominate the political system.
You don’t have to be a fan of President Donald J. Trump to want equal justice under the law to be the the goal. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe has arguably been illicit from the beginning. Democrat-backer Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law professor emeritus, has argued against it. Mark Levin, JD, was anti-Trump before he became pro-Trump. Levin has been shining a light on this topic for over a year. So too has MHProNews.
The president is a man, so by definition, he’s imperfect. That said, there is no known evidence of Russian collusion. Yet over 40 percent of the nation, according to public opinion polls, believe that to be the case. That’s possible because of the repeated reference to “allegations” of “Russian Collusion.” A lie, falsehood, spin or error repeated often enough becomes more widely believed. Manufactured housing professionals – as part of a widely misunderstood industry – should be very sensitive to that sad reality.
As Attkisson suggests, question authority, follow the money, follow the evidence, and think objectively for yourself.
If POTUS Trump was a Russian pawn, as some oddly claim, then why is his foreign policy taking so many hard stands against Russian interests?
Russia has interfered in American and other elections for decades. But so too as the U.S. interfered in the internal affairs of Russia and other nations. The claim of Russian collusions with the candidate Trump are absurd on its face. Whatever the political motivations of those who continue that false narrative, the reality is there is no evidence for it, after years and millions of dollars spent.
So the points – several – could be summed up like this. As the special counsel’s probe winds down, a report will be issued. As Mark Levin – himself a former Reagan era federal attorney – argues, this probe was tainted from the start. Mueller’s appointment was a political tool. It has had some success, as the 2018 midterms demonstrated.
As political independents, the publishers of MHProNews believe there are places that the two parties can and should work together in a bipartisan way. We’ve preached separating ‘wheat from chaff‘ for years. A new example is the report linked here and below.
But it is important to recognize that the news can and is manipulated. The Open Markets Institute (OMI) is arguably correct about that claim. It’s a point that MHProNews – as the largest and most-read trade publisher in manufactured housing – has hammered on for years.
We source across the left-right divide, ever seeking truth over spin. Spin is what the powers that be in the Omaha-Knoxville-Arlington axis produce, via their echo-chamber house organs. But that’s a subset of a greater challenge.
There are reasons that the axis and their surrogates fear MHProNews in industry trade publishing, because unmasking the truth is the start of becoming more free. Or as the Good Book says, “My People perish for a lack of knowledge,” (Hosea 4:6) and “…the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32b).
The rule of law is necessary and healthy for investment and the ownership of private property. So, violations or abuses of the rule of law will routinely harms numbers of individuals, investors, and businesses.
Understanding combined with correct action are the ways that manufactured housing will regain – and can surpass – its prior glory days. The same is true for our American Republic.
That’s “News through the lens of manufactured homes, and factory-built housing,” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (News, analysis, and commentary.)
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