Clearing out the cobwebs, mothballs and dust bunnies

Admittedly, I pretty much abandoned writing this blog a couple of years back, but in light of current Presidential politics and the debate over the fate/future of Conservatism, I think it's time to clear out the cobwebs, mothballs and dust bunnies and get back to writing.

Government Shutdown Deal is a Disgrace

My take on what happened in Washington: 

If most of us saw one of our neighbors do what just happened in Washington, we would think they were insane - An average family of 5 (2 working parents and three teen/early teen kids). They have all of the "normal" luxuries - they drive decent cars, have smartphones, premium cable channels, go out to eat regularly and go to the movies and take vacations every year. What we find out later is that they have been doing with with both parents working two jobs, debt out their ears - two mortgages, notes on both cars, and credit cards maxed out. One day the parents figure out that they are out of money to keep up the lifestyle. They start fighting over the household budget - why does she have to get her nails done every couple weeks? Why is the weekly golf outing so important to him? Why do they eat out three nights a week? Do the kids REALLY need smartphones? The parents both refuse to compromise on ANY household budget concessions, so the cable gets cut off by the cable company because the bill isn't paid - same for the smart phones. Dinners out end, golfing gets cut off and nails don't get done at the salon. Finally, the day before the bank is going to file foreclosure, Dad comes home with a shiny new credit card in his hand. "I've solved ALL of our problems!" he declares. "We can now borrow another $10,000!!!" The whole family rejoices and the cable is turned back on, Mom goes to get her nails done and Dad goes golfing. The kids start texting their friends on their re-activated smartphones about how wonderful it is to have everything back to normal. Flash forward six months to a year later - the family is RIGHT back where they were.

We don't need this crappy "deal" that was worked out in Washington! We NEED a balanced budget, a government that realizes they have to CUT spending to fix the country's problems, and an American public that wakes up and realizes that all of these fancy promises and and subsidies and handouts from the government are simply mortgaging our future.No, I for one will NOT celebrate the deal in Washington or the government re-opening. I think it is a sham and a disgrace to those who founded this country.

Great Reading

I've been working my way through Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, and I have to say that it is an amazing work.  I think that the philosophy behind the book is incredibly misunderstood and distorted by many in the general public today.  I do take exception to a few of her ideas, but as a whole, her philosophy is an amazing expression of what I have always believed.  The most interesting aspect for me is how the book seems almost prophetic of what is going on in today's society.

The number of blog ideas that I have just as a result of 2/3 of the book are mind boggling.  Stay tuned for more!

The Republican Dilemma

To put it bluntly, since the November elections, the Republican Party has been doing what it seems to do best sometimes....circling the wagons and shooting inward at ourselves.  Don't get me wrong, as a party, we do need to go through some self-examination and evaluate where we are, how we got here and where we need to go.  However, the infighting that seems to result from this for our party is not what we need.  The dilemma that the party faces is that we seem to have multiple distinct factions...the social conservatives, the fiscal conservatives, the Constitutional conservatives and the "inclusive" faction (some might call these the RINOs in the party, but I hate that term).  That is admittedly a simplified breakdown because there are probably more factions than even that.  Despite what the major media will say, the party is not simply the "Tea Party" and the establishment....or the Tea Party and the centrists, or whatever simpleton labels they try to apply.

The problem with the party doing this self-examination is that none of the factions are willing to concede anything.  Social Conservatives have their litmus tests and if the party doesn't pass those, they will take their marbles and go home...same for the fiscal Conservatives, and Constitutional Conservatives.  The "inclusive" faction seems to simply want to pander to the electorate and not want to stand on Conservative principles unless they are expedient.  What we need to recognize is that none of us can have everything that we want!  We need to begin looking at the fights that we can win, the principles that we can stand on, and the solutions that we can offer the electorate and reform the party around those.  Then and only then can the Republican party hope to achieve dominance in the political landscape.

Back in the saddle

I've been lax in blogging lately...life has a way of getting in the way of what we truly want to be doing!  I'm back and have tons of ideas for posts...more to come shortly.

Right to work is an assault on working families??

Michigan is poised to become the 24th state to pass "right to work" laws which prohibit unions from forcing workers to pay dues.  The basic effect of these laws is that you can no longer be required to join a union to work at a particular factory or business.  Translation - if you want to be a non-union worker at the auto factory, you can!

I applaud Michigan on following the lead of Wisconsin and Indiana.  It must be the conservative in me, but I just don't see how giving workers a choice on whether or not to join the union is an assault on working families.  It seems to me that when unions were first formed, it was the choice of the workers to unionize to gain collective bargaining power.  Now unions have become so powerful and so bullying in their tactics, that workers no longer have a choice about whether or not to join - they have to pay their dues to a union who may use the dues for the workers' benefit or for political pressure (not exactly the original intention of the unions).

Right to work is about choice, and giving workers the right to be free from union control if they want to - not about union busting!

DeMint to lead The Heritage Foundation

I just heard that Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) will be leaving the Senate to become the next president of The Heritage Foundation.  The Senate is losing a great Conservative leader in Senator DeMint, but he is an incredible choice to head Heritage.  The Heritage Foundation is a bastion of Conservative thought and defender of the Constitution and Senator DeMint will definitely continue the fantastic tradition started by current president and founder, Ed Feulner!