There’s nothing wrong with Congress. Right?
First of all, I need to mention something in all fairness. Back in March of this year I became aware of Darren Ayres and his decision to challenge Rep. Bill Young for his seat in the U.S. Congress when I attended a candidate forum. Based upon what he had to say at that forum I became an instant supporter and enthusiastically spread the word about his campaign on Facebook and Twitter. By doing so, I became increasingly familiar with Darren Ayres’ positions on the issues and my support for his campaign grew even more. Recently, I was asked to do more in light of that support by giving my time and energy to the campaign and doing what I could to help Mr. Ayers by volunteering for his campaign directly. I met him and his staff at his campaign office where we talked things over and by the end of that very in-depth conversation I felt very much that it was the right thing to do; and so I accepted. I say all of this because of what I am about to say. Yes, what follows may seem self-serving, but I hope I have established enough credibility and integrity with those who know me personally for my words to be accepted on their face where appropriate.
As conservatives of the tea party movement, there are certain things to which we are unanimously opposed. We rail loudly and often about career politicians who won election to their seats years ago, who subsequently were absorbed into the political culture of Capitol Hill, and every two years have been sent back to Congress by their constituents because they’ve developed a reputation for bringing federal money back to their home districts. This is precisely the ‘status quo’ that brought about the tea party movement in the first place.
But interestingly, some of these members of Congress have an ‘R’ after their name, and some of these Republicans are considered reliable votes on issues of social importance (whether they are in actuality or not). Without exception, they’ve established a great deal of clout in Washington and are considered political institutions at home, responsible for donating many thousands of dollars to their party at the local level year in and year out, ensuring that their local base remains strong while they spend 80% of their time or more living away from the very people they are expected to represent.
But let’s pause a moment to reflect upon what it was that brought us out of our living rooms and onto the streets of Washington D.C. and all across the country in 2009. Congress, in particular, was obviously the heart of everything that had gone wrong, the ultimate source of all the out-of-control federal spending and the unbearable burden of our national debt. Well, how do we suppose that came about?
We know how. Constituents sending the same people to Congress year after year and those same people developing a knack for making sure that their district gets as many goodies from the federal government as possible is how it happened. As tea party patriots, we have yelled and screamed about the appalling fiscal irresponsibility inherent in this practice that has become all-too-common on Capitol Hill and we’re right.
So, why is it that when all of a sudden it’s our Congressman that’s asking to be sent back to Washington D.C. to send federal tax dollars back home that we think it’s suddenly different? Why is it repugnant and the cause of the bulk of our nation’s woes when some other district’s Congressman sends pork home but when our guy does it, it’s suddenly a good thing? Is this really what we mean when we say our Congressman takes good care of us? Are we actually aware of the fact that we’re essentially saying that we want all the federal money we can get, but that it’s wrong for the rest of America?
We know what this is because we see it all the time in Progressives, and if our movement is going to be successful we need to recognize it in ourselves, too. It’s called hypocrisy, and we can’t do it.
Congressman Bill Young has been sent back to Congress for 42 years after winning 21 consecutive elections because he does exactly what we hate in other politicians: he “brings federal money home” to his district. We have to stop this. We talk all the time about standing up against the status quo, of putting a stop to ‘business as usual’, of sending fiscal conservatives to Congress to get our country’s insane spending under control. But how does bringing the most federal money back home square with being fiscally conservative? It doesn’t, does it?
If we really want the runaway spending in Washington D.C. to stop, then we have to stop it. We stop it by not sending our own free-spending congressmen back to Congress. Rep. Bill Young wants to go back to Congress to continue to do what he’s always done. We have to say “no”. We have to say “no” to Bill Young and look at people like Darren Ayres who see Congress as a public service rather than a career.
There is a clear choice for Congress and it’s vital for our nation’s future to make the right choice. The people of Indiana got it right in their Republican primary when they chose Richard Mourdock over Dick Lugar, 61%-39%. That’s exactly what we need to do all across the country, and we know it.
Our Republican primary in Florida is August 14th. Stop the insane spending by sending citizen-statesman Darren Ayres to Congress. It’s the right thing to do.
GENERAL QUARTERS! GENERAL QUARTERS! ALL HANDS ON DECK!
Sadly, this is now absolutely true. Now.. what are we going to DO about it?
I encourage everyone who has been a listener and viewer of Glenn Beck in the past to subscribe to GBTV. It’s not that expensive, and the information is beyond price.
Even moreso, I encourage everyone to realize the importance, the dire importance, of not only sending this President packing in November, but just as importantly, sending reliable conservatives to the House and Senate. Vet every candidate, regardless of incumbency, regardless of party; ask yourself if you trust YOUR representatives in Congress to vote to repeal ObamaCare, and then ACT accordingly to MAKE CERTAIN that they will be the ones to represent you on Capitol Hill, just as much as you work to make sure that Obama goes back to “Sweet Home Chicago”.
Now is the time for ACTION. Thoughtful, pragmatic, effective ACTION. Act beginning TODAY. We are the tea party movement that shocked the political establishment in 2008/9 because we WORKED to grab their attention. We are the same people who put conservatives in Congress with landslide victories in 2010 because we WORKED to make it happen. Our nation needs us again and still.
Vent your frustrations today, and tonight think long and hard first about what what YOU as an individual can do to help your local conservative candidates win their primaries this summer, and then what YOU as an individual can do to help Mitt Romney win in November. Mitt is going to need a House and Senate with a spine and it’s up to ALL OF US to make SURE that he gets it.
Nothing can be left to chance now. It is time to ACT.
American Progressivism and the Fruits of Liberty
I have dear friends, even now, who believe that Progressive ideology is a perfectly valid ideology and that it’s un-American for Conservatives to hold the view that Progressive policies are anti-American and will ruin this country, that Progressive politicians should never be trusted with power. I’ll grant that Americans have always debated, and very heatedly, over just how much power the government should have, and specifically just how much power the federal government should be given. But there is a point at which the power given to government becomes so extensive that the freedoms we have come to consider our birthright as Americans will be gone.
After all, government power can only exist at the cost of liberty, and personal liberty can only come at the expense of government control. There is only so much power. Once you have it all, you have total power. When total power is in the hands of the government, you have tyranny; whether that tyranny is a hard tyranny with a totalitarian dictatorship or a repressive theocracy or a soft tyranny with a pseudo-Constitutional plutocracy is immaterial. When total power is in the hands of the individual, you have anarchy; and whether that anarchy is the social anarchy of a collapsed government or the political anarchy of an intentional anarchist community is immaterial. Neither is desirable. Tyranny oppresses the people. Anarchy is too weak and places too many barriers for people to cooperate, even voluntarily.
The solution that has historically worked best has been the solution provided in the U.S. Constitution, and it placed America in a spot on the political spectrum that allowed just enough government to allow us to cooperate effectively. Power is tricky. It’s seductive and addictive; and it has always been the nature of government to grow, to draw ever more power unto itself from the people, and there is a point at which it is our American duty to stop the growth of government before it can rob us of the liberties so many have fought and died to claim and preserve.
So, yes, my dear, sweet liberal friends, it IS pro-American to denounce Progressivism for the anti-American ideology that it is, because for the Progressive dream to be realized requires a government with near-total control. And I will fight the cancer of Progressive thought wherever it rears its ugly head. I’m not an extremist. I’m an American that understands what it means to be an American, our history, our creed, our legacy. Our birthright. And our duty to preserve the fruits of liberty for the next generation. And, as much as it pains me to say it, because some very dear friends are in this group, if you don’t see Progressivism for the cancer that it is, then you’re simply blind. Certainly not wittingly so, but blind nonetheless, and woefully ignorant of what America stands for and what being American means.
How Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan Affects Consumer Prices
SPC Health Care Forum – A Joke in Search of a Punchline
Fortunately, ObamaCare detractors and skeptics seemed to outnumber supporters and proponents in the audience by about a 2:1 ratio from what I could tell. I must admit that I enjoyed it when Janet Long read my question as I could imagine her struggling not to choke on the words. But perverse pleasures aside, the question I asked was:
Since Florida is facing a $3 Billion budget shortfall and the federal government is running a deficit that’s currently $2 Trillion dollars and rising, with the new Health Care law mandating an almost 50% increase in Medicaid enrollment while simultaneously reducing the federal contribution to the states, where is the funding coming from to cover the new Medicaid enrollees?”
My question was directed to the guy from St. Pete Times/Politifact (I forget his name), and he said some words, but didn’t really answer the question. He said that there could be some federal grants available that they might apply for or other federal sources that could be used and just generally tried to obfuscate the fact that there’s no real funding source for this. I think his answer was rather transparent. He did a good dance, but I think most people recognized the steps.
Jim DeMint: Welcome, Senate Conservatives – WSJ.com
Hello all,
The more I learn about Senator Jim DeMint, the more I like him. He wrote an article that was published in the Wall Street Journal and I’ve linked to it here. It’s very much worth reading.
Jim DeMint: Welcome, Senate Conservatives – WSJ.com.
What makes me even happier is that our newly-elected Senator from Florida apparently doesn’t need the advice. Here’s a great quote from his acceptance speech on Tuesday night:
“We make a grave mistake if we believe that tonight these results are somehow an embrace of the Republican Party. What they are is a second chance, a second chance for Republicans to be what they said they were going to be not so long ago.”
It’s important that we make sure that all of our Representatives in both houses of Congress retain their integrity. We do that by watching them closely and making sure they remember that they are being watched. We may not agree with every position they take or every vote they cast, but they must be able to demonstrate that their personal integrity has not been compromised and that their principles are still the same as they were when we elected them to Congress. This includes Senators DeMint and Senator-elect Rubio.
Union worker fired for wearing military sweatshirt (Transcript from Glenn Beck’s radio program)
GLENN: Let me ask you this. When we have the president giving a speech some place and, you know, for instance in California and some union worker, a union worker is building the stage and putting things together, hours before the president arrives, and he has a son who is serving in the military and so he wears a George H. W. Bush, not George Bush 43 but George Bush 41 and he’s wearing, you know, the blue cap with the, you know, yellow writing that military wears that says USS George H. W. Bush and then CVN and has the number on it, he’s wearing the carrier cap and he’s wearing a carrier jacket because his son is serving on that ship, since when in America do you lose your job for showing up working to work in that outfit, hours before, where you can’t even build the stage for the president of the United States wearing a jacket and a hat that reflects an aircraft carrier that your son is stationed on? I’ve never heard that before. Could we play the audio, please, of this dismissed worker?
REPORTER: He is a stagehand, a union stagehand who is working to put up the Obama rally stage here on campus this morning. He was wearing a hat that said George H. W. Bush and a sweatshirt that said the same thing. Now, the George H. W. Bush is the name of an aircraft carrier that Dwayne’s son is serving on. His son has been in the Navy for the last three years. Dwayne says his union fired him from his job here this morning setting up the stage because he was wearing clothing with the name Bush on it.
GLENN: When, since when is our president so thin skinned that he can’t even have somebody hours before he arrives working there with a sweatshirt and a hat that says the name of a carrier? America, where are we headed? Anybody who says that they are not interested in they are not interested in, you know, voting, they don’t know who to vote for, they don’t know what to vote for, get the hell off your ass. Find out. You are, you are entering a time in America unlike any other time we’ve ever seen. No, I can’t say that. We haven’t seen it since Woodrow Wilson. We haven’t seen it since FDR. Remember what I told you about the Supreme Court. I said, mark my words this is a year ago: Mark my words. They are going to go after the Supreme Court. They are going to attack the Supreme Court. When Obama attacked them during the state of the union address, that was a sign that that is the next place to attack. And what are they doing? Now the left is suing the Supreme Court Justice John Roberts. They are suing him. Not the other five. Just him. They are sending signals. America, you have to understand the progressive left sends signals. Why do you think they fired Juan Williams? To send a signal. Do not treat Fox News as anything other than an enemy. They are an enemy, and if you want to be a friend of ours, you will treat them as an enemy. You do you cannot have loyalties to both them and us. They are sending a signal not to America but to journalists. “You better choose carefully” is what they’re saying. Because only one side will stand. And if you stand with them, you will be done with us. This is a hostile, hostile regime. And America needs to wake up and know what you’re facing and know the way out.
Here’s video of the report:
Perspective
Hey, everyone. I’m posting something personal here because I just spoke with my dad a couple of hours ago for about 5 minutes. That might not seem all that unusual, but in this case it’s a bit more significant as my Dad passed away exactly 740 days ago. To say that I’m affected by the experience is an understatement and I’m trying to remain focused upon the message he gave me, which was to “take hold of your dreams and go for it”.
My father was an optimistic and upbeat man, but he was also very traditional and had a very traditional view on things like careers. As an example, he discouraged me from pursuing a career in music (which was good advice – not that I don’t have musical talent, but that I don’t have marketable musical talent, so good call there, Dad). But now I’m strongly considering a career as a novelist and my Dad, ‘the Traditionalist’, while he was still with us would almost certainly have advised me to temper my expectations and to make sure I didn’t jeopardize my ‘day job’ chasing fantastic dreams.
I’m stunned, elated, emotional, (and still missing my Dad terribly), and the intriguing thing to me is the realization that being “on the other side” has somehow changed his perspective. My Dad had big dreams of his own but he always played it safe. He never achieved any of his dreams. Not that he didn’t have big accomplishments, because he definitely did. He is still a giant in my eyes for the things he did. But beyond those things he had dreams that he never pursued. To me, this was the point of his message to me, to not let moments and opportunities pass. “Take hold of your dreams and go for it.”
Life is hard all over and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all of the misfortune and frustration we see around us every day. But what we need to keep in our minds as we experience the adversity of life and see bad things happen to good people close to us, is that the events of our lives are not what’s important. That’s not why we’re here. There’s a reason we so often refer to ‘life’s lessons’. Life is school. In life we develop skills and gain knowledge we will need later. Bad things hurt but they don’t really harm us. Good things feel great, but they don’t really benefit us. Not really. To echo the words of Shakespeare, all the world really is a stage, and we really are merely players. That doesn’t mean life is insignificant, far from it. It just means that there are lessons in everything and everything that happens here shapes us, but nothing that happens here can really affect us. In adverse times, perspective is a critical commodity, and hope is the currency with which we purchase our destiny.
So, like my Dad told me:
“Take hold of your dreams and go for it.”
Sweet Freedom's Song 
Tough Love for Conservatives
Jul 17
Posted by Tristan
Okay, folks. I’ve got to take a moment to say something. I need to give some of my dear conservative friends some tough love. I don’t mean to be harsh, but…
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!
Now, this won’t apply to all of you, but those of you it does apply to should hopefully recognize yourselves in what I’m about to say, and that is that I’m sick to death of watching conservatives tear each other apart. You people that are doing this, and most of you know who you are, YOU are the primary reason that Main Street America can be convinced by the media that conservatives are a bunch of narrow-minded, radical extremists that aren’t worth listening to. And the reason they can be so easily convinced of that is because that’s exactly what many of you are! What’s worse is that you make the rest of us look as fringy as you are because what we believe in is so similar at first glance and you are not only shooting yourselves in the foot, but you’re hindering the entire conservative cause!
Forget ideological purity! I mean it! FORGET IT!! Do you want to know how progressives have managed to dominate political discourse? They’ve accomplshed it by making alliances with people and groups that are similar enough that they can find common cause and work together. But what do many of you do? You do the opposite! Instead of looking for common ground, you look for the differences and you use that to justify attacking the very people you should be working with!
STOP BEING STUPID!!!
I just saw a post where a well-known senator, well-known for being a ‘moderate’, or a ‘RiNO’, publicly pointed out a problem with pending legislation, in this instance taking a rather conservative position. The first comments on that post consisted of an attack on the senator for not being a reliable conservative. That may be true, but is that really the point?
Don’t get me wrong. A strong ideological foundation is critical to effective political action and promoting our values. But we have got to stop being so tightly wedded to the ideal of ideological purity that we make it impossible to work together. We have to start looking for allies amongst ourselves and working with people with whom we have common cause, even if we don’t agree on everything. Even if we don’t agree on important things! Basically, we have to grow up and stop acting like a bunch of spoiled babies if we want to be able to make our message appeal to the average Joe and help the 9 to 5 crowd wake up from their comas and join us in setting the country back on the right path.
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