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!

What Happened to Our Values?

As I've been listening to the radio, watching TV and surfing the internet lately, the same nagging question keeps popping into my head: What has happened to our values in this country?

When Conservatism is a second language

I found this article today.... When Conservatism is a second language.  Written by a former political director for Ronald Reagan, it is a very well written piece that makes an incredibly important point - if Conservatism is going to beat back the onslaught of liberal ideology in the political realm, we must stop nominating and electing Republicans for whom Conservatism is only their second language.  There are incredibly bright, qualified and eager Conservatives out there of every race and gender who we need to be cultivating and raising up through our ranks to take the mantle of leadership.

The issue of Centralization

Centralization of the government should be one of the greatest concerns for Conservatives.  After last night's election, I ran across a great piece dealing with just that....

The Central Issue - John Hayward

What to expect over the next four years

Here are my predictions of what we can expect from the Executive Branch over the next four years.  Please understand that I do not expect that all of this will be implemented or be successful because we do still have the Legislative and Judicial branches to counteract some of this, but this is what I predict we will see....

Where do we go from here?

The polls are closed.  The speeches are all given and the balloons and confetti have all fallen.  The people have spoken, and amazingly they have chosen to give President Obama another four years in office.

Conservatives around the country are waking up in disbelief and (in some cases) despair this morning realizing that one of the most liberal Presidents in our nation's history has just won re-election.  Many of us are wondering, "What do we do now?"

The answer is simple - DO NOT GIVE UP!  I don't mean fight the election results or complain about the legitimacy of the election or point fingers at whose fault this is.  I mean put on your big boy (or girl) pants, suck it up and keep fighting the good fight!  Yes, we suffered a major loss with this election, but the reality is that if we sink into quiet despair or worse yet finger pointing at each other or the blame game, then not only have we lost the fight, we WILL lose the war!

One of the underlying themes of Ayn Rand's book, "Atlas Shrugged" is that society fundamentally changed to accept government control over all aspects of life because people just kept quiet, went about their business and passively allowed the transformation of society into one where everyone was dependent on the government.  If Conservatives don't suck it up and battle on, then that is exactly what will happen and this election will be looked back on as the beginning of the end of freedom and capitalism in the United States.

I for one absolutely refuse the let that happen.

Conservative Reading List

I was having a conversation with a friend recently  about kids going off to college and the liberal "indoctrination" that many colleges seem to put freshmen through.  I mentioned that when my younger sister went off to college, when I heard about the freshman class she was required to take, I immediately put together a few books and sent those to her with a "Conservative Reading List" so that she could counteract the liberal brainwashing that they were putting her through.

My friend asked me if I could send her what I considered to be my baseline reading list for Conservatives.  I thought I would take a few moments and share the list with my readers.

Conservative Declaration

It's been a while since I posted, but sometimes life has a way of keeping us from doing the things that we really want to be doing!  I saw this from the Heritage Foundation today, and thought it was worth sharing.  It is a great synopsis of Conservative thought.  Here is the original if you would like to sign with me!

With a record like this...

Some interesting numbers on how the economy has fared under President Obama.  Admittedly, there are some economic numbers that are better such as mortgage rates and the level of consumer debt, but the reasons that these are better are somewhat dubious...government bailouts and other government assistance have helped to improve these numbers artificially.

The stats:

Jobs	2008	2009	2010	2011	January 2012	April/May 2012
Unemployment rate	5%	7.8%	9.7%	9.1%	8.3%	8.2%
Broader unemployment rate "U-6"	9.2%	14.2%	16.7%	16.1%	15.1%	14.8%
White unemployment rate	4.4%	7.1%	8.7%	8.1%	7.4%	7.4%
Black unemployment rate	9.1%	12.7%	16.5%	15.7%	13.6%	13.6%
Hispanic unemployment rate	6.5%	10%	12.6%	12%	10.5%	11%
Total private-sector jobs	115.6 M	111 M	106.8 M	108.2 M	110.5 M	111 M
Total government jobs	22.4 M	22.6 M	22.5 M	22.2 M	22 M	22 M
Median weeks unemployed	9	10.7	20.1	21.7	21.1	20.1

Income	2008	2009	2010	2011	January 2012	April/May 2012
Disposable personal income per capita	$33,229	$32,166	$32,481	$32,667	--	$32,677
Personal bankruptcies	1,074,225	1,412,838	1,536,799	1,362,847	--	--
Poverty rate	12.5%	13.2%	14.3%	15.1%	--	--
People receiving food stamps	--	32 M	39 M	44 M	46 M	46 M

Federal government	2008	2009	2010	2011	January 2012	April/May 2012
Federal discretionary spending as percent of GDP	7.9%	8.9%	9.4%	9%	--	8.5%
Federal mandatory spending as percent of GDP	11.1%	15%	13.3%	13.5%	--	14.4%
Annual federal deficit	$458 B	$1.41 T	$1.29 T	$1.3 T	--	$1.33 T
Cumulative public debt	$5.14 T	$6.37 T	$7.81 T	$9.39 T	$10.45 T	$10.95 T

Based on these statistics, unemployment has jumped dramatically; disposable income has dropped; bankruptcies are up; more people are receiving food stamps than ever before; and the Federal Government is on an out of control spending binge!

It's time to bring back a political question that was used rather effectively several years back.....  Ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago?  The numbers would seem to answer with a resounding "NO!"

Great article on UN ATT

This article by former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton articulates very well why the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty should not be ratified.

To beat, or not to beat: that is the question!

The latest media over-hype is over whether Mitt Romney will pick Condoleezza Rice as his VP.  The buzz seems to be that if he does, social conservatives will stay home en masse, thus giving the election to President Obama.  I understand why social conservatives don't want Condoleeza Rice as the VP pick - she is pro-abortion and it signals that Romney is not nearly the conservative that he claims to be (that's a surprise?).  However, if we cut off our collective nose to spite our face and stay home because of this issue, we will have another four years of President Obama, and our country cannot afford that socially, culturally or fiscally.  Social conservatives need to pay attention to the big picture on this election.  Abortion is an abomination, but we risk seeing this country irreparably damaged if we let Barack Obama have four more years in the White House.

When conservatives say stupid things...

It drives me up a wall when I hear liberal commentators say idiotic generalizations about Republicans, tea-party members or conservatives in general, but what makes me even more crazy is when I see a fellow conservative make just as idiotic of a statement.  This weekend, one of my favorite conservative commentators, Michelle Malkin, did just that.  On Fox News, Ms. Malkin was drawing a comparison between Mitt Romney and his supporters and President Obama and his supporters.  Her purpose was to talk about which of the two candidates is "qualified" to handle the economy.  Ms. Malkin said this...

"The Romney types, of course, are the ones who sign the front of the paycheck, and the Obama types are the one who have spent their entire lives signing the back of them."

With all due respect to Michelle Malkin, this statement was just plain WRONG!  I understand the comparison she was trying to draw between the candidates.  I hope that she was trying to draw a comparison between people like the President who have spent most of their lives promoting government control over the economy and those such as Mitt Romney who have been in the private sector creating jobs.  Unfortunately, her comment ended up as a comparison between job creators and those who work for someone else.

Stooping to the level of class warfare is, in my opinion, never acceptable from a conservative.  So many people spend their time trying to paint conservatives as "elitist" or "rich" or whatever else, and when prominent conservatives make statements like this, it just feeds that stereotype.  The fact is, there are people on BOTH sides of the political spectrum who sign the front of the paychecks and I can guarantee that there are just as many conservatives as there are liberals who have spent their entire lives signing the backs of paychecks. (Personally, I have spent more time signing backs than fronts!)

Obama slaps business owners in the face

President Obama had his disdain for business owners and self-initiative on full display this weekend at a campaign event.  It absolutely amazes me that a sitting President would actually try to tell business owners that they don't deserve credit for building their business because they obviously did not do it on their own!  Every business owner in the U.S. should push to make sure this man does not get re-elected!

The quote speaks for itself:

There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back.  They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.  You didn’t get there on your own.  I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.  There are a lot of smart people out there.  It must be because I worked harder than everybody else.  Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.  (Applause.)
     If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.  There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.  If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.  The Internet didn’t get invented on its own.  Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.
     The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.  There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own.  I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service.  That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.

U.N. Treaty Is a Real Threat

Recently, I have been seeing several "articles" in conservative publications going on about the United Nations' Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and how dangerous it is.  I have held off writing anything about the treaty simply because too many of the articles I had read contained very little in the way of facts.  Most of the articles just simply rattled on about how the treaty was a U.N. plot to usurp the Constitution and take away our 2nd Amendment rights without detailing at all what was so nefarious about the treaty.

Please make no mistake - I am not a huge fan of the U.N. and I am a very strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment; however, I don't willingly see a "new world order" plot around every corner either.  So I embarked on a bit of research myself.  What I found, unfortunately, has backed up the alarm cries that I have heard so far.  If the U.S. were to ratify the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, it could have very serious implications for our 2nd Amendment rights.

The ATT seems innocuous on its face.  It purports to be an “International Arms Control Treaty” to fight against “terrorism,” “insurgency” and “international crime syndicates.”  All of these are very laudable goals that deserve our support.  Unfortunately, when you read more information about the treaty and the underlying ideas behind it, the treaty definitely is NOT so "laudable."

Just a few of the reasons I see this treaty as a danger to U.S. interests:

1)  It could very possibly prevent us from aiding our allies such as Taiwan and Israel
2) The treaty supporters have been very open about pushing for domestic enforcement of the "international" regulations - meaning giving the U.N. full information on domestic gun ownership in the United States and member nations.
3) Supporters of the treaty have made it quite clear leading up to this conference that they believe governments have a legitimate reason to own arms, but private citizens do not.


There are a number of other reasons to oppose this treaty, but as opposed to re-stating all of the reasons, I will just post a couple links to the better articles I have read on it.....

Heritage Foundation Blog Article 

Heritage Foundation WebMemo 

Fox News 

The New American