The Risk of Post-Election Republican Betrayal
Several Tea Party-favored candidates have had surprising success this primary season. Most of them have a very good chance of winning, in many cases against savvy, experienced incumbents with ties to major funding and media they can rely on for support. Overall, Republicans are poised to become a majority in the House and possibly even the Senate this November.
There’s been a sea change in the country, much quicker and more substantial than liberty lovers might have expected as recently as a year ago. Yet for some of us, it’s hard to escape a nagging question.
What happens after January when the new congressional session begins?
That feeling can seem like foolish pessimism. Things could be worse — left unreversed, current trends guarantee it. And the odds of our situation getting better next year are so good it seems ungrateful to indulge gloomy thoughts.
Still, for those who have been through this euphoria before — after Nixon’s resignation, after Reagan’s election, and after the 1994 Contract with America — the potential for disappointment does not seem small.
Even initially well-intentioned politicians make compromises, backslide, and ultimately neglect the American people.
Fortunately, that’s not inevitable. In our political system, we do often get more or less the government we ask for, where “we” is everyone but those at the two ends of the bell curve. With the shift of the electorate towards the right on that curve, things look promising this year for getting semi-decent representation.
The trick is how to keep the momentum going after January, assuming victory in November. How can we ensure that candidates who promise less spending, adherence to Constitutional limits, and relief from the perpetual tightening of the federal noose live up to their commitments once in office?
There are several ways to encourage that result.
One is to keep the pressure on — not just over the next two months, but through the next two years and indefinitely. Progressivism didn’t come to dominate the state and federal governments overnight; it was a gradual process carried out over generations by patient, dedicated destroyers. Similarly, the pro-freedom movement is not going to succeed simply because of elections in 2010, 2012, or even a decade hence.
Our situation will not improve solely via electing “the right people.”
There’s enormous pressure on politicians with even the best character to dilute their good principles. The spoils system in place makes it far too easy for even mostly honorable politicians to sell out those who elected them. Anyone who’s worked for a big company has seen that many times. Guys you’ve worked with for years who’d never think to lie, bootlick, or play politics get into management and quickly become corporate players. Men you would’ve once handed a blank check to pay for lunch soon become your biggest enemy under pressure from above.
What is needed is a hostile takeover of the MSM. It is dirt-cheap now. The owners refuse to sell to other than other liberals. It will require a stealth buyer to make it happen.
If the Media becomes somewhat honest again, the exposes alone will huge amounts of papers and airtime, making them financially viable again.
It will take away the Left’s greatest weapon and shield simultaneously. No longer will Republican’s be smeared while the far-more-vile Left get a pass. The Left simply cannot withstand the scrutiny. With the light of scrutiny, they simply will scurry away like cockroaches.
The long term projects are the media which has already been somewhat circumvented. Rush Limbaugh starting on AM radio. The expansion in bandwidth (cable) which eventually brought us Fox News. And the internet with its almost unlimited bandwidth and penetration ability, to totally circumvent the MSM stranglehold.
The other is the education system. Which can be helped with School Choice so as to help circumvent the stranglehold there, with the Teachers Unions, the dumbing down of cirricula, the inappropriate focus on self esteem divorced from achievement, and the enforcement of PC and New Left identity politics cultural Marxist ideas upon it.
What both need further however is the old New Left strategy of purposely entering into these institutions and then discriminating against your political adversaries in hiring, so as to eventually become the status quo, and those who wish to advance learn quickly that holding wrong opinions is the quick way to stalling your career. You wont get the promotions, if you manage to get hired.
Here is a Ron Rodash article on this ideological discrimination that is rampant in the education system (and also the media and bureacracy).
The Sandbagging of Robert “KC” Johnson
By Ronald Radosh
http://hnn.us/articles/1116.html
Exactly. Objective truth is the enemy of the Progressive Left. They do not Reason, they Emote.
They survive and prosper because their position is hidden and disguised by a deliberate spin, misrepresentation and obfuscation of the facts and the reality of the results of their policies are blamed on someone else.
Information rules. Information available to all AND the ability to discriminate between disinformation and true information. That’s the key.
Wise words, Mr. Perren. One of the reasons 1994 went wrong is that conservative voters figured the battle was won and went home, leaving the new Congress at the mercy of the corruptors.
Corruption in government doesn’t necessarily come as a big bribe all at once. Usually it begins as a series of small favors used to establish a ‘friendship’. Then the favors get bigger and bigger, other bonding occurs, anmd eventually our reformer is one of the people he or she sought to replace.
Being an informed voter and neighbor is also wise. It is important to engage liberals wherever they happen to be running their mouths and genially refute their attitudes with facts. They are indeed deeply entrenched throughout society. As are Republicans who want to go along to get along. A lot of tough primary battles lie ahead.
The fight’s just started.
I totally agree, Maximus, and very well said.
Also, the Ivy League-educated STAFFERS who write up pending legislation have to be replaced when a new representative or senator comes in. They seem to remain as the congress critters come and go, and have to be recognized as a source of progressive agenda.
Speaking of post elections, I got to thinking last night that maybe we had it all wrong with McCain, who might have been even more of a sly weasel than I had heretofore realized.
Perhaps the reason why he ran such a lackluster campaign was because, when he saw that the Democrat-controlled Congress was screwing up the economy and everything else big time and that the econoomy was already tanking, old weasely Mr. Magoo thought to himself, Hmmmm, if Obama wants the presidency, he can have it, ’cause I’m bailing out of here to watch from a safe distance when the crowd with torches and pitchforks comes to Washington.
Until now, I believed that, to have lost to that empty suit and slick street hustler and decadent dilettante, Obama, of all people, old weasely Mr. Magoo had to be the worst politician in history. But maybe that unprincipled opportunist threw that dufus, Obama, to the wolves intentionally.
If our dufus president hasn’t figured that out by now, you can be sure that his nagging wife has, and behind closed doors, our dufus president has now become the most henpecked president in history …, yes, even more than Bill Clinton was. (If that’s any consolation, folks.)
There now, you see? There is a God. Obama, Pelosi, Holder and Clinton are the gifts which keep giving, and they’ve become the best assets that the Republican Party has ever had. And the ditzy Democrats are toying with the screwy idea that they can save face and regain control by running Hillary for POTUS in 2012??? Why not? Smooth move. Those dimwits will turn a massacre into a holocaust.
I’m not the least bit apprehensive about how the Republicans will perform when they regain control of Congress. For one thing, I’m confident that they learned their lesson, and that they will perform splendidly, perhaps even exceeding our expectations …., and for another thing, remember that Obama, Pelosi, Holder and Clinton will still be there, continuing to give the citizenry reasons to elect a Republican POTUS and to purge even more Democrats from Congress in 2012.
You protest too much. Either you are in fact justifiably afraid that many of them are RINOs or it’s something else. In your case, I vote for the ditziness you describe in others. Lower dose, and start over, Dianne.
Whoa, not bad for a knuckle-dragging, misogynist neanderthal, Larry.
I think it will go back to the media and what they vomit out to the public. They need to be brought into line.
Free speech is a great gift. However, the MSM misuses it to the liberal advantage. Conservatives need to yell as loud..louder, than liberals. We have been placid and lackluster. i’m all for the ‘liar liar” thing. Prove what you’re saying etc..
You might be right about McCain. It is difficult to believe that a drier, under the radar campaign could have been waged.
Also, did he misjudge Palin? Was she to be the “downfall’ card, but instead she pumped fresh blood into politics in general and that is why they deserted her and treated her so shabbily within the campaign.
If I had any respect for McCain…I completely lost it between the treatment of his running mate and his politics in AZ., or hell, policies in general.
I think that your points were right on target. BTW, thanks for reading my comments.
“For one thing, I’m confident that they learned their lesson, and that they will perform splendidly, perhaps even exceeding our expectations”
LOL!
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. I’m with you, Brianna: You think there’s rancor between the right and the left? The fight for the future of the Republican Party — whether it’ll be a party effectively opposing the left or hopping in bed with it in perpetuity — will not be pretty. The powerful do NOT give up without a fight. I expect them to be just as nasty as their buddies across the so-called aisle, and just as desperate. Why, even now John McCain is sticking his ugly, progressive nose into the Miller Senate race in Alaska, paling around with him and ‘aiding’ him in his fight to gain the seat.
You can’t really think that McCain is doing it to PROMOTE conservatism? Well, I don’t; he’s merely widening his influence so that when it’s time for McCain to fell America with yet another progressive measure, he’ll have Miller beholden to him to side with him, and that at the very cost of Miller’s conscience — if we can believe Miller is the conservative he claims to be.
“I’m confident that they learned their lesson, and that they will perform splendidly, perhaps even exceeding our expectations ”
I have three words for you…
BATTERED WIFE SYNDROME!
Battered Wife Syndrom!
Indeed!
One can only HOPE….
I have some – but not much – faith in the in-coming crowd. My belief, however, is that they will be the same as the establishment GOP. Time will be devoted to such issues as defining marriage, when the real issues – making sweeping cuts in the size and intrusiveness of government – will be neglected.
In short: same old same old.
We certainly will NOT give up the fight even after November and well into next year. All the Tea Party candidates have to do is stick by the principles that got them elected and they will be fine. If they start voting the other way, if they start compromising and acting as RINOs, then they will be voted out of office too. Worse, if that happens, they could be responsible for pushing Americans into a very real third party. And since the strength and principles of the Tea Party are so popular with so many Americans, this new party would gain a lot of traction very quickly. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but the threat alone should wake up more than a few people in Washington. And everyone in Washington should know that we mean business, because look at how much we’ve achieved in so short an amount of time. We will be keeping a strict eye on the people we send to Washington. Hopefully, they will be giving birth to a new, CONSERVATIVE, Republican party we can actually be proud of.
Jeff, good topic. The primary system for elections will also be a way to keep the newly elected reps straight. As each election cycle turns, Patriots of more skill and knowledge will step up to want to help. I am grateful to the Tea Party people who have stepped up but we must keep our leaders motivated and clear on what is important. the best way to do that is COMPETITION! If they have strong Conservative =s to beat in the primary, they will stay on the right path….or be replaced!
The easy part will be getting our Conservative friends elected (IF that happens) and as outlined here within lies the hardest part of the job again outlined very well by the author, but it’s one of the tougher jobs that Us, We, You must continue to hold on to and hold those we elected accountable and IMO I believe it will be alittle easier than getting them elected because there will be less of a frenzy with Media outlets surrounding the candidates on a near 24/7 cycle.
To keep our allies in check I believe one of the first thing we must ask our Newly Elected Conservative friends is to allow those who fought tooth & nail in the background to help put them in office to accept our e-mails, letters, phone calls from around the Country regardless if your not a constituent as I’m a firm believer that a Senator or House rep. on the East Coast when they may cast there vote on a piece of legislation not only affects those from his or hers respective State but it also affect me, you, Us in the other 49 (56) States from the Left Coast, Midwest, Flyover over Country or the Sun Belt.
We are collectively one Nation, our Elected officials in Congress are Individuals, but again Collectively they all vote on legislation that will affect all of us in one forum or another therefore it’s should be up to all of us to collectively no matter were we may reside to keep all elected officials in check regardless of what our newly elected officials may think !!
>Progressives will likely suffer electoral defeat this November and in 2012, but they’re not about to give up and go away. They’ll still be a serious influence in education, media, and think tanks. George Soros, Pinch Sulzberger, and fifty more like them could disappear tomorrow and there will be a hundred standing in line to advocate statism for another generation.<
First, imprint this in your mind…. These comrades in arms are enemies of liberty. They are intensely dedicated and will not fold their tents and retreat, no more than the communists of the USSR at its downfall in 1990. Just as the communists redefined themselves as "european socialists" and effectively assimilated into the existing political structures and institutions of Euroope, these "American Socialists" will steadfastly maintain their insidious dedication to their "cause."
The only differncee is that these now-identified "domestic enemies" have had 6-7 decades to establish their "cultural beach head" firmly within the body politic of every American institution.
Secondly… and write this down.. these enemies of freedom and of our republic are "Marxist/Stalinists communists on steroids." Even though they are many, they must be rooted out and constantly exposed for who they are and what they represent.
They are every bit as dedicated to the destruction of America and a true capitalist economy as those who profess and practice Koranic Islam.
Indeed, these two "threats to freedom" are the two fronts of the long-term, intentional attack on our Judeo-Christian inheritance.. the USofA. Each front, "Progressive Socialism" and "Militant Islam" must be acknowledged, appropriately engaged and decisively defeated.
Good warning, Jeff. It will surely go unheeded as all similar in the past.
I read your suggested books. Great. Especially Sowell.
Your “man in the street” won’t read them.
Suggest Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” — it’s still a story well told and even mouth breathers from the public schools system will enjoy it.
We’re turning over 1/3 of the senate. Most of the rino aren’t up for re-election. we must continue to purge the party of rinos, this will take 2 elections to achieve, and we won’t get ‘em all. now is the time to focus on dimocrats during the first stage of undoing the damage that obumma, and his minions have inflicted on this country. As long as he can sustain a veto, we can’t completely stop him, but we can certainly throw up a lot of insurmountable roadblocks to his marxist agenda!
One thing the GOP should learn in this election cycle is that the silent majority that have risen up (tea party movement) is the conservative majority that are fed up of “leaders” that get drunk with the power loaned to them by the people who voted them in. The tea party movement is here and is here to stay. any Republican that betrays the conservative constituents that they are supposed to represent will not take it lightly and they will be voted out on the next election cycle. the silent majority is fed up and they are watching closely.
You are absolutely correct. We must be vigilant and watch for the inevitable tendency for elected officials to slide into compromise with powerful and very rich agendas that seek their own advantage. At the expense of freedom.
But I do not share your optimism.
These guys have an agenda they have been pushing through since ‘pa fell off the bus’.
If one reads Garet Garrett’s essay The Revolution Was, written in 1938, one sees it was the same political machinery working at the same goals to destroy freedom and achieve economic control.
They pushed through their agenda then and have been at it way before then and ever since.
Do you imagine they might suddenly stop in 2010?
If they needed another world war I am sure they would even make one.
Some additional thoughts. There is an old saw, “All politics are local!” This has been the main line of attack of our current infestation. While the immediate problem is baling the water from the sinking Ship of State, the holes through which the water pours must be plugged. As we have seen the far left is absolutely toxic to the Republic. The point of injection for that toxin are the schools. The poorly performing school systems have too many incompetent and even more incompetent parents. Those teachers have been have been trained in Colleges of (incompetent) Education and are protected by a union, that has no interest in education. Home schooling is a catastrophe. By and large Home schooling removes the best and the brightest from the classroom. It also removes the most competent and involved parents. I do not fault the home schoolers, they are doing what is right for their children. Pressure must be brought to bear on the incompetent parents that they are primarily responsible for their child’s education. Control of School Boards is a must. Again an old saw, “Power corrupts and absolute power . . .” We must watch one another and inform and stop our friends, if necessary, as gently as possible, yet as firmly as necessary, when their actions at odds with the good of the Republic. The motto should be, “It’s the Republic Stupid!!!” One last thought, liberals are dreamers, but dreams can be nightmares.” We are living one right now.
You said, “Home schooling is a catastrophe. By and large Home schooling removes the best and the brightest from the classroom. It also removes the most competent and involved parents.”
This is a feature and not a bug, and may the exodus increase more and more. Those best and brightest have not been removed from the country. Public education must inevitably collapse under the sheer weight of its (increasing) incompetence. Thank God for the internet, which is enabling and making homeschooling practical.
Homeschooling will probably be the refuge along the way to complete privatization of schools. Watch for legislation banning homeschooling.
“Homeschooling will probably be the refuge along the way to complete privatization of schools. Watch for legislation banning homeschooling.”
Heh…Job One in NEA and AFT headquarters.
What I would expect is legislation establishing tax exemption for private school tuition and tax rebates for homeschoolers’ parents. Then tax rebates for the childless,(who do not use the schools).
This would “starve the beast” by shrinking the entire pie, and it would force the parasites to eat each other.(Don’t think for a minute that the leeches don’t know who the other leeches are).
It would also limit the debate over the public schools to only those who have “skin in the game”.
If you’re not required to pay the freight, then you should have nice big cup of STFU.
Government buys other services from the private sector, why not education? We do not prohibit Medicare funds from buying services at private hospitals when your grandfather needs heart surgery, why pick on schools? This is a goal that’s pretty far down the road, but I am convinced that schools need to be for-profit entities.
Politics flows from the culture, and education is the transmission of the culture. We have to get it right.
Glad to see this issue being broached before the election. Party candidates tend to be more loyal to the party than the People, unless the People continue to be involved. The biggest threat to this new Liberty movement would be for voters to think that we have solved a problem this coming November and then go back to our own lives.
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” – Wendell Phillips
The problem is never going away, as long as the sirens of lust, greed, and vanity continue to sing via campaign money, power, deal-making, interns, etc.
“Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” – Lord Acton
Also, we need to continue to pull the moral high ground out from beneath the poseurs. “Progressive?” They are destroyers of Liberty masquerading as people who care about children, trees, whales, etc.
“Regressives” would be more accurate.
Having lived among them in California for 18 years, I know the depths of denial that expresses as hypocrisy. They voted for O because they wanted to convince themselves and others they are tolerant. But curiously, their neighborhoods are lily-white.
As California descends into the permanent recession resulting from liberals running the state government, a curious socio-economic system arises. The middle class is fleeing because working people can’t afford to live there. What’s left is the moneyed class and their illegal immigrant nannies and gardeners. To a fascist, feudalism by another name smells as sweet.
Feudalism is the end-game of all progressives.
Well stated, sir.
Hazlitt’s book is much shorter than Sowell’s Basic Economics, and as such might be a better first choice. Some other good choices are
Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand
Capitalism and Freedom – Milton Friedman
Road to Serfdom – Fredreich Hayek
Freedom to Choose – Milton Friedman
Vision of the Anointed – Thomas Sowell
Enjoy
Although the references which you suggested are certainly good reads, they provide, for lack of better descriptions, information which is more philosophical, technical and ethereal than useful for practical applications.
An excellent, up-to-date and current reference source is The Washington Times National Weekly, which is available by subscription, and which provides excellent, in-depth, but condensed, up-to-date information weekly, which will enable you to get a much better understanding of the dynamics of elections, and world events, and which will also provide you with an in-depth analysis of the positions which candidates are taking on issues, evaluating their viability, also. (Plus it contains polls, jabs at Democrats in cartoons, and much, much more.) In fact, you will find [much] more useful information in each one of that publication’s weekly editions than you will find on all of the conservative blogs combined, well-written and accurate information that has a decidedly conservative bent to it, also. That subscription and book would be a bargain at twice their price, also, because they provide such a huge wealth of useful information, which is written to be a concise, quick read for people on the go, also.
Just call their 800 number to subscribe to it with a credit card. Along with your subscription and at no additional cost if you ask for it, also, you can get them to send you a book called Capital Contacts, which will provide you with additional useful information, such as lists of all of the members of Congress, governors of states, their biographies and much, much more which you will find indispensible, and what’s great, too, is that after elections, you can obtain updates to that book of the newest governors and members of Congress.
That book and that subscription are must haves for any well informed political junkie.
It is a very easy task to keep our newly elected conservatives on the straight and narrow. Keep reminding them that they do not have job security,that “We The People”can fire them anytime we want. The most important thing to politicians is their job,if they know their job is in jeopardy they will do what we ask of them.
Thank you for using the correct term.
BETRAYAL!
It is important to remember some simple but important facts during the next two years when the MSM begins to try to convince the Republican Majority that they speak for the American People…
1) You can never take from someone something they never possessed.
Welfare takeaways are impossible.
2) You can never give to someone something they already posess.
Tax Giveaways are impossible.
3) Your Enemy can never betray you.
Only someone who has your trust cand betray that.
jd
We need to simply and consistently express that we are not throwing out the bandits in order to install thieves.
Right.
Just remember Scott Brown elected with great promise for those who supported his election, whose first major act as Senator was, if I’ve got it right, to vote For the “Healthcare Bill”. One assumes that he, as so many others before voting its passage also did not read the bill. If I’m wrong in this so much the better. But remember that to get a job with the perks of Senator, Representative in the US Congress, ambitious people will tell you what they know you want to hear.
Even with best intentions, when having the brass ring in the hsnds having a flexible memory of what was actually said, and what actually meant is a handy tool. However sorry they are at the misunderstanding, they must act to their meaning.
It takes a brave and unbelievably honourable person when confronted with the schmooze of fellow Congressmen holds to principles of trust to constituents when his constituents want different things? In the end he must use his judgement. That means, he must be watched continuously. Hard work and probably not even a reasonable proposal. But IF
acting on his judgement he votes for things not acceptable to the constituents they must let him know and let him know until he gets it right.
In other words. The responsibility of the citizens does not stop in the voting booth. It’s a full time job to keep an eye on the housekeepers of the nation and make sure they do not steal more of the household goods, i.e. citizens rights, than reasonable and any theft is not cemented in law.
Scott Brown did not vote for the health care bill. He never had the chance to, because it was the fact of his election that forced that “reconciliation” chicanery. He voted for plenty of other stupid crap (stimulus bills, etc.) but we kinda knew he’d do stuff like that. Nobody was deluding themselves that this was a principled free-marketer; they voted him in because he promised not to vote for health care.
Brown voted against it. The important thing to remember about Brown is that he is a moderate Republican in a very blue state. His constituency is not, Oklahoma, Southern Illinois or Texas. He is voting his constituency wishes. Getting and keeping the seat Republican is the key to beginning to change. Permanent change will happen when neo-liberalism and progressivism get defeated wherever it pops up and soundly refuted whenever it is attempted. The schools are the key to everything. Reverse the indoctrination is schools and the war is won.
“The schools are the key to everything”
True dat. And well said. The media is already a done deal…
Now the schools.
Here was part of the problem. Extremely important! Please help make this REAL information on this poser, viral. The future of this country depends on it.
THE REAL NEWT GINGRICH: http://vimeo.com/6445068
Gingrich’s book discusses getting beyond the “outdated” Constitution & going for Global government!
also:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5086684803142778108
NEWT GINGRICH Building the New World Order
Newt Gingrich is often viewed as a conservative politician. This video is a speech John McManus, president of the John Birch society gave in 1996 which exposes the REAL Newt Gingrich by examining his track record.
Some closing historic observations:
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” — George Orwell
“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” – - Greek Philosopher, Plato 429-347 BC
“The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”
-Marcus Tullius Cicero – (106-43 B.C.) Roman Statesman, Philosopher and Orator Dated: 63 BC
“No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.” -Samuel Adams
“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
— George Santayana (1863–1952) (& later quoted by Churchill)
The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see. -Ayn Rand
The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow. They come to be accepted by degrees, by precedent, by implication, by erosion, by default, by dint of constant pressure on one side and constant retreat on the other – until the day when they are suddenly declared to be the country’s official ideology. ~ Ayn Rand
A little extra for your collection .
Li Chi, The Chinese Book of Rights of the 1st century BCE:
1. The ruins of states
2. The destruction of families
3. The perishing of individuals
Are ALWAYS PRECEDED by the abandonment of the rules of propriety.
I too agree that when the GOP takes power in January they will revert in large part back to their RINO-ist tendencies. That’s when the Tea Party will replace the GOP.
Get real. You know as much about the Republican Party as the closet liberal at #20 who would like us to believe that Newt Gingrich is NOT a conservative. Relatively speaking, there are only a handful of Rinos left in Congress. The conservatives outnumber the moderates and liberals at a ratio of 11 to 1.
You give the Tea Party too much credit. They need the Republicans more than the Republicans need them. Even Rand Paul made statements to that effect.
The GOP will still be flourishing long after the TP was a blip in history. They have their place. But it sure as hell won’t be to take over the GOP.
Subscribe to The Washington Times News Bulletin that will be mailed to your home. It provides a wealth of in-depth, accurate information that you won’t find on any blog, and it will enable you to stay abreast and fully informed of what’s going on out here in the real world.
A subscription to that weekly news bulletin is better than Googling it, because upon request along with a subscription, you can receive a book that lists all of the members of Congress and all of the states’ governors and their backgrounds and a whole lot of other useful information that is worth the cost of the subscription, and you can get updates on that book every time a new Congress is convened with its new members. They’re a must have for any news junkie who wants to stay up to date and informed on the issues.
I agree 100%.
When I was in college, exposing entrenched, intransigent liberal professors and their impressionable student sycophants to The Washington Times National Weekly was like exposing vampires to a crucifix and to sunlight.
They withered and cringed, recognizing that their arguments were specious, and a few open minded ones found religion and they became converts, recognizing that they had been brainwashed by their shallow parents and teachers.
No doubt the instruments of Liberty and Self Determination, and Prosperity is ours, if we choose to keep it, like Ben Franklin so succinctly put it.
Well I for one never in all my life have chosen anything but, but know I am thank God not alone, what a great thing!
I believe in my heart this is not the beginning, nor the end, but the beginning of the end of the slow creeping tyranny that I have witnessed my entire life, and now I am not alone, what a beautiful thing!
We are once again a Republic of Heroes, a Republic of Principles, Values and Virtue, and none of us in this Exceptional Constitutional Republic are alone, what a glorious thing!
Well I for one am proud beyond words to be alive in this time of our History, that we as a people and nation have right here in our very own hands our Destiny, to do with as we see right and fit, we need no more to be alone, what a powerful Sovereign thing!
Right now, right here, we are on the cusp of attaining the dreams, ideals, and yes, the gift our founders left for us, our founders are after all we as a nation have endured and been tested by are not alone, what a profound thing!
Can we keep it? I say hell ya!
Will we keep it? I say Oh Yes!
I say we not only keep it, but we create something even better than we had these last 234 years, something greater than ourselves. We are going to change the world. The exceptionalism that has been part and parcel of what has defined us is what will drive us to reach down within us where we are more than the sum of our parts, where we are more than even our founders could imagine in all their genius and brilliance, because we have never been alone, we only lost sight and touch of who we are and that we understand now we where never alone, what a good and rightful thing, this Savings Grace!
Savings Grace;
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
T’was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
‘Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
When we’ve been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’ve first begun.
It seems as if Pubs always fear the MSM Jorno-Lists. But, nowadays, they have to know the alternative media can counter-attacks so much of the socialist Left’s propaganda. Second, the conserv reps elected have to put pressure on the Boehners, the McConnells and warn them that the 2012 election is so near,they could go down if they do not go hard after the liberal progressive agenda on a daily level. In fact, if the Establishment types get uppity,I would ask new people to challenge them for leadership roles.
That’s why it’s wise for people to keep in mind that Republicans would be just a much in favor of net neutrality legislation as Democrats.
The Republican Party are not the good guys in the white hats — they will have to be watched just as carefully as any Democrat, and the media and academia can and will lick their boots (if the Republicans show signs of taking up the progressive causes) just as easily as it does the Democrats now.
If the Republicans win a majority in a few short weeks, all well and good…but that’s just the opening salvo in what is going to be a very long conflict. The American public must take back control of their government or face the consequences — and all this while we have social issues, a tattered economy, and a terrorist threat (and war) going on. There is no quick and easy fix.
The media bias needs to be addressed, but what is going on in education is perhaps a more pressing concern.
Forget about instantaneous cure. I’ve been going against the grain of msm and local corrupt misinformation concerning matters of truth or omission thereof for fifty years. Silver tongued orators and three piece suits have become a stigma to detest purely out of association observation and effect on drowsy voters that never knew that history is replete with such puke. There has been very little reaction from individuals among my captive audience until the recent party debacle, but not enough to tempt me to rest.
The cure will be the same thing practiced by a few seed that were aware of contagious corruption spreading on the backs of the lazy minded that refused to rock the boat for fear of causing discomfort to their own kind. It’s name is ETERNAL VIVILENCE.
Forget about instantaneous cure. I’ve been going against the grain of msm and local corrupt misinformation concerning matters of truth or omission thereof for fifty years. Silver tongued orators and three piece suits have become a stigma to detest purely out of association observation and effect on drowsy voters that never knew that history is replete with such puke. There has been very little reaction from individuals among my captive audience until the recent party debacle, but not enough to tempt me to rest.
The cure will be the same thing practiced by a few seed that were aware of contagious corruption spreading on the backs of the lazy minded that refused to rock the boat for fear of causing discomfort to their own kind. It’s name is ETERNAL VIGILANCE.
Part of the reason for the insta-corruption is that when you only replace a few politicians at a time, they come into the Capitol House a couple at a time and can be easily isolated and controlled by congressional bureaucracy, since having no seniority means you have little to no power. This “revolution” is going to have to be in stage. The biggest thing that needs to happen is the removal of entrenched Republicrats. I was so disappointed that Arizona choose to believe McCain’s election year change of heart on immigration and award him another six years. That is a serious blow to the cause. McCain is everything that the Tea Party means to change. He is a socialite coward (in politics) who would rather go along to get along that make any meaningful stands, unless of course it means calling your own supporters racists for not supporting Amnesty.
I think some of the recent primary results have scared the bejeezus out of Republicans however. They now know that people are less incline to re-elect, or elect them, just because they have an ‘R’ behind their names. Republicans who are up for reelection in 2012 may be less inclined to back the liberal, openly, if the Tea Party can maintain its influence. However, with dolts like McCain back in power, the senior leadership may do its best to subvert that influence by stymieing incoming legislators who had Tea Party backing.
Another important factor that is often overlooked is winning the governors races. If Governors were less inclined to live off the Federal teet, and more willing to strive to make their states more independent of Federal dollars, we wouldn’t have as much to worry about from Congress. So, please, everyone, make sure you are involved with your state elections as well. We can’t just look to the national stage, or to one man (or woman) in 2012 to make all the difference, otherwise we are just like the Hope and Change myrmidons of 2008.
I agree, Jeff. So let’s take this vigilance thing a few important steps further.
In a country that honors individual rights, the public need not be eternally vigilant — not in the sense that politicians are constantly violating our rights and we have to watch them.
We need a new constitution completely honoring individual rights. We need a public educated on the thoughts of Ayn Rand, so that a majority of the public insists on complete liberty — no robber-baron welfare or Social Security or regulations.
As long as the public, including the Tea Party, does not understand what true liberty is, then the public’s elected politicians will constantly be violating our rights, and we will have to be vigilant.
Americans should not have to be vigilant. We should be able to go about our day knowing that politicians wish the same thing and wouldn’t dare take away our rights.
Only Ayn Rand’s ideas can get us to that point.
Meanwhile, yes, vigilance, with the vision that one day we need not have to undertake it.
Careful with the Ayn Rand worship: some of her ideas, taken to their conclusions, are not that much removed from the thing you’re saying we need to fight against. There are plenty of other authors and thinkers who do just as good a job, or better, in setting the tone (in fact, I’d say be very wary of “intelligentsia” type thinking — intellectualism does not always equal wisdom, and wisdom is more important in the running of a country).
The most important thing that people are overlooking is that we MUST get control of our schools again. From kindergarten to college, leftists are indoctrinating our kids. It’s imperative to get after our state legislatures to STOP funding state universities who hire communists as faculty members. These leftists control most colleges in the country, and churn out teachers who have absorbed their doctrine. These teachers then go out and corrupt our kids. Local control of schools is essential. Parents must be in charge of what their kids are being taught, not some faceless leftist bureaucrat in DC.
In the meantime, get your kids out of government schools. Homeschool or send them to private Christian schools. We must teach the next generation, or we’ll lose them.
My thanks to everyone who has commented.
I don’t normally participate on the comment thread, but since the subject has come up a couple of times, I’d like to refer readers to my article, Beyond Politics.
There, I discuss how to take the country back, well beyond the efforts of the upcoming election. In particular, I refer you to the section on Education.
Thanks,
Jeff
Friends, we did indeed see the “turning to the dark side” after the Contract with America vote – where many of our representatives went native once they got to DC.
I believe there is a very simple way to resolve this issue: Term Limits. Don’t let anyone stay there long enough to become corrupted, as they will be going to Washington knowing they will have to come home again, or at least find work elsewhere after their term is up.
Secondly, to stop the usurpation of power by Washington, strengthen the 10th amendment and weaken the Commerce Clause.
Right now, and in the immediate future, we should have the opportunity to strengthen the “Rule Book’ and ensure that those who would wish to “rule us” will never find the means to do so, even if they do come back into power.
The question is, can the elected conservatives accomplish a small but decisive turn in the correct direction towards a sustainable economy. The problems to be fixed have been building over fifty years or more, and cannot be fixed overnight, but the turning of direction can be accomplished.
The elected conservatives, including Democrat conservatives of some record, must determine together that plan towards economic sustainability. Afterward invite the moderates, the Republican Upper Managers, and the other Democrats to get on board with the majority of Americans.
If they don’t get on board, they will spend the rest of their careers explaining why, and the Tea Parties will be watching, keeping track and holding feet to the fire right up to 2012. Fighting against a sustainable economy, should not be healthy for anyone, and will more likely be very deadly. Moving towards a sustainable economy allows more time to fix the problems of the long term past.
I am prepared for the betrayal.
That’s why I’m an Independent conservative and will vote Democrats into office in 2014 if the Republicans screw us over.
Jeff,
Join us tomorrow morning. Eternity Road blog.
Great article.
Rachel Peepers
Ummm, you are aware that “progressives” are usually made up of the best and the brightest of any defined political group in this country: they are usually idealists, extremely well-educated, extremely well-informed, frame their arguments with sound reason and checkable facts, are highly ethical, play fair, and want the best for this country and the world at large, right?
Oh, wait a second, these are all the opposite characteristics of right wingers and this is a right wing blog site, which makes progressives the enemy. My bad.
BC bleated out from the progressive sheep cot…well, let me work it a little so it makes more sense to someone capable of critical thinking.
“progressives” believe they are made up of the best and the brightest of any defined political group in this country. They just know they are because all the passengers in the progressive clowncar simultaneously and endlessly jabber on to each other about how wicked smart they are. The ‘best and the brightest’ progressives are completely oblivious to fact that outside the clowncar, they are considered nothing but the incoherent by-blows of higher education.
“progressives” are marching morons who mindlessly subscribe to the agendas of their manipulators. Depending on the target of the day, they bleat out ‘four legs good, two legs bad’, or ‘two legs good, four legs bad’. “progressives” claim this is idealism. Their manipulators get a kick out of that. People who have independent minds and know how to use them don’t find it at all funny.
“progressives” consider themselves extremely well-educated and extremely well-informed. People who are extremely well-educated and extremely well-informed consider them poorly educated blithering idiots with little or no understanding of much of anything whatsoever.
“progressives” frame their arguments with logical fallacies inexpertly disguised as checkable facts. When run down to their origins, their checkable facts are invariably found to be the unfounded assertions of one imbecile raving to an audience of even duller imbeciles.
“progressives” confuse self-serving ‘nuance’ with an ethical framework, Ethical people know that that is the antithesis of actual ethics.
“progressives” play foul always with the aim of demonizing anyone not in lockstep with their idealism by any means possible. This works as long as their enablers in the media see it as advantageous to their bottom line.
“progressives” work for the best outcome for their manipulators. Their manipulators appreciate that so much that whenever they have historically gotten the upper hand, the “progressives” are the first ones sent to the wall. Wise, because no one wants to have such biddable fools available for the next crew of manipulators to use.
Oh, wait a second, these are all the opposite characteristics of a successful and contributing member of society. Conservatives, who are successful and contributing members of society busy with real world pursuits and concerns, tend to dismiss “progressives” as late maturing yawping idiots. When it becomes obvious to the casually observing citizen that the numbers of “progressives” that are resisting maturity and will always remain hopelessly benighted fools is getting to the point of being able to do real damage, they consign them to the wilderness for 30 years. This is occurring in November. The dregs will be mopped up in 2012.
@BC: I suggest you read some history on the Progressives, my friend. Progressive ideology has always been repugnant, racist, elitist, warmongering, tribalist, without principles, denying reason, and has caused untold harm in this country since around 1900–all with their good intentions “for this country and the world”.
Oh, and by the way, as long as you’re still caught up in the whole left/right crap, you’re fighting on the same team as the ‘right wingers’ you’re referring to. That’s right: Bush. Obama. McCain. Palosi. Etc. Progressives all.
To Kenneth: Ah, I see — you guys are pretending that being politically progressive today is the same as being a member of the old “Progressive Party” from the early 1900′s — which ironically came from a split in the old Republican Party.
So are you then saying that progressives today are indeed like those old school Republicans, therefore evil RINOS, and so must be eliminated?
Trust me on this one, Ken:
BC has latent conservative tendencies. Like other liberals, he is lost and wandering aimlessly in the wilderness with nothing to believe in, taking consolation in his delusions.
Right now, he doesn’t have any common sense. But his primordial instincts tell him that the tenants of liberalism are immoral and evil and destructive to this country. So he comes here, subconsciously searching for the Holy Grail and for his salvation.
Well, its either that, or he is a masochist and a glutton for punishment.
Presently I’m testing that latter possibility to determine if I should discard it. I’m a sadist. So I just ignore him.
35. Brian
Right on brother! Hadn’t thought of that angle, but it makes perfect sense. When I want to know what the progressives are up to, I read what THEY write and say, (At least until I come across two fallacies at which point I can easily discard them for being emoters and not thinkers!), not what leftwing nut bloggers say.
I have no latent deep seeded need to search out the truth on such sites as I am thoroughly comfortable in my beliefs which are evidentiary based and not the end result of a process of self flagellating navel gazing.
.
Why vote for any “Tea Party” candidate who is only partially conservative? If all you have to say is that you are against ObamaCare, against run-away spending, and in favor of strengthening our borders, then you have missed some of the greatest issues of the day. It does not take much moral character to be in favor of lower taxes, better health care, and a country the assimilates worthy immigrants reasonably.
What takes moral character is to stand up for the unborn, oppose any normalization of sodomy, to enforce decency on the airwaves, to insist that real and honest history be taught in our public schools, to impeach justices that violate the constitution by subordinating it to their privately held opinions or to international law, and to resist the convenient untruths and expose the lies of the “inconvenient truth” crowd. With great force and skill ammendments need to be passed that restate what we know the founders intended on some of these issues. Illegals need to be deported, and the children of illegals should not receive citizenship. That goes far beyond a simple reinforcement of our borders.
Until the Tea Party is willing to act on behalf of moral interest instead of just conservative self interest we are doing no more by electing these candidates than supplanting a liberal narcissism with a more financially conservative one. The backlash against this milktoast-conservative leadership will be worse than the evil it suppanted.
The Tea Party doesn’t get my vote until I know it has moral fibre to augment its fiscal outrage.
You were on a roll, until you referred to the leaders of the Republicans in Congress as milquetoast conservatives.
Get real. Don’t blame the Republicans. Blame the Democrats. How the hell could the Republicans stop the agenda of the progressives while the Republicans were in the minority in both houses? It was remarkable that Mitch McConnel and John Boehner held the Republican coalition together as well as they did.
You need to recognize, too, that there aren’t ANY milquetoast conservative Republicans in Congress. There are gutsy, hardcore conservatives, wishy-washy moderates and irrational, unreasonable, unprincipled, opportunistic and immoral liberals, the latter of whom are euphamistically called Rinos.
Otherwise, you made some pretty good points.
Brian,
I think the liberal democrats bear the lion’s share of the blame, but republicans bear great blame for allowing liberals (I refuse to call them progressive in the same way that I refuse to call the advance of a terminal disease progressive) to define the very terms of the debate. A big example of this is that the best conservatives seem to be able to do right now is to talk about “values.” Values are relative. We need to be talking bedrock ideas like “morals.” Morals will remain morals whether we value them or not. For instance, the founders thought it was grotesquely immoral for a government to rob the people to give their hard earned product of their labors to someone else. Republican leadership also seems to focus on the thought that the Obama administration is out of step with Main Street America. Well, that is good, as far as that goes. But what if Obama is actually in step with Main Street America in the same way that a man giving unlimited free icecream to children is in step with them. The purveyor is still out of step with good sound judgement. Republicans time and time again appeal to the people rather than to good sound judgment. And for this reason people define every question in Washington politically, rather than in terms of what is for the ultimate common good of the republic. In this, Republican leadership has failed.
The republicans are guilty for putting someone like McCain up for president. In some important ways he was fundamentally different from Obama, but in other ways he was qualitatively equivalent, only to a lesser degree, or at a slower pace. McCain was quite clear in an earlier presidential run that he despised religious conservatives. Why? Because he is a compromiser. To be conservative is to be willing to compromise methods when needed. But you don’t compromise principals. McCain too often did, so I did not vote for him. Of course, he called this being a “Maverick.” Translation: He is ungovernable by principal. He makes up his own rules based on what he thinks works and will keep the ship on an even keel. But an even keel is not what’s needed when destruction lies ahead. He needed to tack hard right, and he didn’t have the fibre to do it. And yet, the republicans made him their nominee.
Neither did I vote for Obama. I wrote in the name of someone I felt was better than both of them.
As long as we are willing to settle for the “lesser of two evils” the republican party will be willing just be a Democrat-Lite kind of political beverage. I don’t want Democrat-Lite. I want “original intent,” moral, unashamed, eloquently plain talking conservatives who don’t dance around issues, and have the backbone to stand compassionately on principal. If you love this country you work to build its moral foundations. You don’t teach people that their bad choices have no negative personal consequences. People learn responsibility by facing the music.
I think I know what you’re trying to say, but I’m not seeing much real conservatism from anywhere in Washington, except on select issues that they think are “winable.” Maybe they are trying to steal from the Democrat playbook and conceal their real conservative intentions. Maybe they plan to get into office and undo through their own Czars and executive orders the damage that has been done. Tactically that makes us as deceitful on the right as Obama has been on the left. I’d like an overt conservatism that educates the populace as it goes along.
Sorry, Dave.
Proud Constitutional Conservative here. Many more like me out there.
Best of luck to you, but I, and those like me are not joining in your moral agenda.
Sorry, Dave.
I’m a proud Constitutional Conservative – and there are many more like me.
More power to you in your social conservative agenda, but I (and many more) decline to join in on it.
Actually, even more important than political reform, is the cultural reform of teaching people to stop asking for more gov’t.
Media and education need reform.
So does humor — we must make fun of the Left, and all big gov’t folks.
Even Reps who think the “adult conversation” is about which taxes to raise, rather than which pork to cut, or at least freeze.
Actually freezing all gov’t spending would be better than trying for a cut, and failing.
The real adult conversation is how to use current gov’t cash to make sure the deserving poor have decent lives, even when they’re irresponsible.
@BC: I’m well aware of where the progressives came from, and I’m also asserting that they’re the same guys who call themselves progressive now–and even many who don’t call themselves progressives. It’s exactly the same underlying philosophy and it has inundated political thought on the ‘left’ and the ‘right’. So yes, RINOs must go. I’m not a Republican, by the way, despite what you seem to think. Republicans and Dems are two wings of the same party. The Statists. And the left/right dichotomy is crap.
@Dave: The government has no business enforcing your morals for you. It’s lazy, and further, it’s morally repugnant to ask them to. Asking the government to use the force of law to enforce your moral standards on others is a good indication that your arguments don’t stand on their own. If you believe they do stand on their own, then go convince people with the reason behind your arguments. Whining to daddy that they won’t play your game pathetic and makes you no different from all the other whiners who ask daddy to enforce their morals upon you. If you want to keep your liberties, and be free from others’ morals being forced upon you, you must not advocate a system that others may use to do the same to you. Because they will. They already are. Giving them more power to do your bidding is simply giving them more power to others’ bidding as well.
You are naive to think that the government can be morally neutral. The government enforces “my” morals, and I am assuming “yours” too, when it insists that murderers be stopped, or corporations be honest, or child abusers be punished, or that the government stop mandating that we buy a particular type of health care product, or any kind of health care product at all. It isn’t pathetic to expect the government to be moral or act in a moral way.
Your arguments have exposed you, and your case doesn’t work. Yes, I and others will make the case to the world for the things that are right and true. We don’t need the government as an enforcer to prove that the case for good government is a wise one. But people like me vote, and we vote for representatives that stand for something, and we expect those representatives to act. That is republican democracy at work. The founders understood that, and it’s time that we remember what they had in mind. Statesmen act for the good of the whole. They educate. They persuade. They have a moral compass. They do what is right above what is fashionable, and they play by the rules. Liberty is not their ultimate god. Liberty is inextricably coupled to the morality and responsibility that secures it, and they act for the higher good that lifts the whole nation.
You think that kind of leadership is a pathetic game. I think it is the essence of good government.
Notice that BC @ #33 didn’t mention sanity as a prerequisite to be a progressive.
Someone earlier posted “Atlas Shrugged” as a good book to read concerning our current plight. That person is correct. Even though the book was published in 1957, it is as relevant today as ever. Why? Because good and evil are universal and unchanging over time. Read Francisco D’Antonio’s speech by following the link below. It is probably the best summary of the book ever written, it just happens to have been written in the voice of a character the author invented.
Brilliant stuff this: http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/index.php?news=1826
Don’t you guys know about Net Neutrality?? They (gov’t) are working hard to destroy our ability to communicate over the internet. Regulating our ISP’s like the phone system, finding ways to listen in on voip conversations, reading our email, and limiting our access to the internet by ‘normalizing’ access. In other words, you will never get on line again because it will be like your old dial-up connection.
THE END OF BARACK OBAMA
YouTube Videos
Video. 1.
“CIA Millenium Hilton conspiracy”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvG4nLRn4PI
Video 2.
“Hillary Clinton and KGB”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgCOzGZ9H0k
Obama fired a co-conspirator Rahm Emanuel, his Chief of Staff, to cover himself.
Who’s next ? Hillary Clinton ?
Politicians should be kept on a very short leash by an informed public. That informed public should, by now,realize the folly of allowing their affairs to be run by the Ruling professional political class. Even now we have people unaware that oil prices are dictated by speculators(as opposed to supply and demand), ethanol is supported by both parties at taxpayer expense, and that “Green” means control of the public. That control means profits for their chronies in business. In turn, they get cash from those who benefit from the rigged game. Essentially, we are in trouble and just hoping to have people in office who have some ties to everyday life. A sociopathic Alinsky Democrat pretends to be “for the little guy” while stomping on his head to get to a higher vantage point. Most people do not get just how hard core these people are; it’s all about power. The professional Ruling Class Republicans are essentially “Democratic lite.”