Barack Obama has turned lying into an art form. The only time he is not lying is when he is not talking. As far as anyone can tell, that is never. Obama has so refined the practice of lying that in politics it has now become acceptable. Even many of his supporters know he is lying but they don't care. In fact, even when they know it is a lie they pretend to believe it anyway.
Obama draws lines in the sand and then says he didn't. He said during his first campaign there would be no lobbyists in his administration, when of course there are dozens. He said he would make government more open and transparent, when it is anything but. He claimed Fast and Furious was begun under George Bush, when it didn't start until 2009. He says no civilians are killed in Middle Eastern drone strikes, when human rights groups prove otherwise. He lied about the NSA spying scandals, on both US citizens and our foreign allies, thereby violating our privacy and poisoning relations with our friends. He lied about how few jobs would be created by the Keystone Pipeline. He lied about Benghazi. He lied about the IRS scandal. What hasn't he lied about? When has he ever told the truth? To Barack Obama, winning is all about claiming false credit and diverting deserved blame. He avoids accountability like the plague, which for him it would be.
His biggest lie of all is about ObamaCare. He said if you like your current doctor and your current health plan you can keep them. Thousands have already found out differently. He claims ObamaCare will provide better health care at a lower cost for all. It will do neither of those. He said there is no widespread evidence that ObamaCare is hurting jobs, when more than 300 companies have already announced eliminating jobs and cutting hours due to ObamaCare. Now he says he didn't know the launch of the program would be such a disaster.
Actually, none of that matters to Obama. Providing affordable health care is not the program's objective. ObamaCare is another welfare program designed to redistribute money from the working middle class and young people to minorities, labor unions and public employees. That is because minorities, labor unions and government employees depend on bigger government, which he promises to deliver. And it makes just about every health care issue effecting women free, thereby buying the female vote. Younger generations, who are major financial victims of the legislation, also vote for him because they are either too indoctrinated in the liberal educational system or too inexperienced in dealing with political bullshit to know any better.
In 2012 only 39% of white people voted for Obama, while over 80% of minorities did - including 93% of African-Americans. 58% of union members voted for Obama, a number which includes most public employees. 55% of women voted for Obama, while only 45% of men did. Interestingly, as people advanced in age the less likely they were to vote for Obama, while 60% of those under the age of 30 voted for him. Obviously there is something to be said for maturity and experience. Maybe the voting age should be raised to 30. Oh, and by the way, 45% of those with income above $50,000 voted for Obama while 60% with income under $50,000 did.
It is a complete waste of time to debate Obama supporters. They aren't listening. All they contribute to the conversation is the Obamacratic Party line lying points. It is hard to believe how far gone they are until you read a few of their uninformed, hate-filled responses to editorials and commentaries in newspapers and magazines. Their vitriol is off the charts. Their "facts" are fictitious. They don't want to be confused by the real facts or deal with reality. They are totally indoctrinated in the cult of Obama, and are as close-minded as madrassah trained terrorists. They can't handle the truth. They have their heads so far up Obama's ass they can't pull them out. Bursting their bubble could be apocalyptic. America will be lucky to survive three more years of this insanity.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Friday, October 25, 2013
Time To Admit A Mistake
Many people voted for Barack Obama because he convinced them that he would improve our relations with foreign countries. After five years in office he has destroyed them. He has shriveled in a corner while Vladimir Putin has become the new world leader. He has lost all influence in the Middle East. He has let France - yes, France - become Western Civilization's most vocal defender of global human rights. Now he has trashed our relations with our friends in Europe due to the NSA's spying on European leaders. Yes, every country spies. But tapping the cell phones of your most faithful supporters in world affairs? That is inexcusable.
Here in America Obama has presided over the most sluggish economic recovery in modern times with persistent high unemployment and lack of job opportunities. He has created a massive new unaffordable and ineffective entitlement program that the majority of people don't want. His presidency is by far the most damaging and the worst failure in American history. Bet even after five years his supporters still refuse to acknowledge that any of this is Obama's fault.
I suppose one could argue it is not all his fault, that it really is the fault of a political party that put an inexperienced, naïve, polarizing, egocentric, left wing radical who lies every time he opens his mouth in front of a teleprompter or a microphone as their presidential candidate, one that once elected the party unanimously continues to support in Congress. This argument would indicate our situation is the fault of the Democratic Party, not one man.
Perhaps to an even greater extent it is the fault of more than 70% of the American people, the nearly 30% who voted for him and the 40% who didn't vote at all. They were either too gullible in believing an obvious snake oil selling con man or too disinterested in the future of our country to care about it. You folks know who you are. The country would be a lot better off if you would admit it, and we could end his and his party's destruction of our country now instead of 3 years down the road when the damage will be much worse.
Rejecting the Democrats does not mean one has to become a Republican. My personal preference is neither political party. I consider myself an independent. But I suppose the best label for me would be Anti-Obamacrat. The Obamacrats are not our parents Democrats. The sooner today's knee jerk Democrats realize that the better off we will be. The Obamacrats are killing us.
Here in America Obama has presided over the most sluggish economic recovery in modern times with persistent high unemployment and lack of job opportunities. He has created a massive new unaffordable and ineffective entitlement program that the majority of people don't want. His presidency is by far the most damaging and the worst failure in American history. Bet even after five years his supporters still refuse to acknowledge that any of this is Obama's fault.
I suppose one could argue it is not all his fault, that it really is the fault of a political party that put an inexperienced, naïve, polarizing, egocentric, left wing radical who lies every time he opens his mouth in front of a teleprompter or a microphone as their presidential candidate, one that once elected the party unanimously continues to support in Congress. This argument would indicate our situation is the fault of the Democratic Party, not one man.
Perhaps to an even greater extent it is the fault of more than 70% of the American people, the nearly 30% who voted for him and the 40% who didn't vote at all. They were either too gullible in believing an obvious snake oil selling con man or too disinterested in the future of our country to care about it. You folks know who you are. The country would be a lot better off if you would admit it, and we could end his and his party's destruction of our country now instead of 3 years down the road when the damage will be much worse.
Rejecting the Democrats does not mean one has to become a Republican. My personal preference is neither political party. I consider myself an independent. But I suppose the best label for me would be Anti-Obamacrat. The Obamacrats are not our parents Democrats. The sooner today's knee jerk Democrats realize that the better off we will be. The Obamacrats are killing us.
Turn Out The Lights
For years Congress has had the lowest approval rating of any public or private institution in America. That is because the same old farts in both political parties have been there doing nothing at best and serious damage at worst for a long time. It is undeniable that America cannot afford the entitlements we already have - social security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment benefits, food stamps, etc. - let alone the massive new one called ObamaCare. Yet we carry on with business as usual as many Americans refuse to acknowledge the situation by sending the same people back to Washington who are responsible for it. A year ago the Republicans finally send some young guys with principles and ideas to try and restore sanity to the process of governing and they are cut to shreds by the old guys and crucified in the media. Somehow the old guard and the media pundits blame the new guys as the ones causing problems, and the public buys it.
The president, the Congressional establishment and the pinko media were able to convince the people to ignore that fact that the revolt of the rookies was caused by a massive new entitlement that nearly everyone knows has no chance of achieving its stated objective of better health care for all at a lower cost. This is legislation that has a direct impact on 20% of the economy, that very few elected representatives had read, and was passed by the Democrats without a single Republican vote so members of Congress "could find out what was in it". It was also opposed by the majority of the American people. It is and will continue to be a monumental disaster. Beyond that, the people continue to ignore that the President of the United States has assumed dictatorial power to create laws and exempt his cronies from them. Clearly we are living in the Twilight Zone, getting closer and closer to the day when everything goes permanently dark.
The president, the Congressional establishment and the pinko media were able to convince the people to ignore that fact that the revolt of the rookies was caused by a massive new entitlement that nearly everyone knows has no chance of achieving its stated objective of better health care for all at a lower cost. This is legislation that has a direct impact on 20% of the economy, that very few elected representatives had read, and was passed by the Democrats without a single Republican vote so members of Congress "could find out what was in it". It was also opposed by the majority of the American people. It is and will continue to be a monumental disaster. Beyond that, the people continue to ignore that the President of the United States has assumed dictatorial power to create laws and exempt his cronies from them. Clearly we are living in the Twilight Zone, getting closer and closer to the day when everything goes permanently dark.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Obamaism
"A house divided against itself cannot stand". Abraham Lincoln said that in 1858, two years before he became president. One hundred and fifty-five years later we have again become irreconcilably divided, all due to the actions and rhetoric of one man named Barack Obama. At no other time in our history have we had a president who tells us every day that winners of elections can do whatever they damn well please and losers shut the fuck up. At no other time in American history have we had a president who absolutely refused to work with the opposing party to negotiate on legislation. In America it has always been the responsibility of the president to work for all the people, not just those who voted for him. In Barack Obama's case less than 3 in 10 eligible voters did vote for him, and that undoubtedly included some people who were dead, ineligible to vote, and voted more than once.
Over the last three months Barack Obama has been quoted as saying, "The one unifying principle in the Republican Party is making sure that 30 million people don't have health care". And "In order to achieve this they are willing to tank the entire economy". And "The Republicans promise economic chaos if they don't get their way." And "The Republicans desire to actually plunge this country back into recession - all to deny the basic security of health care to millions of Americans". And "Republicans want to default on the debt to cause a world-wide financial crisis". And "You have never seen in the history of the United States the threat of not raising the debt ceiling being used to extort a president or a governing party", when in fact that is exactly what a rookie Senator named Barack Obama did in 2006 to attempt to defund the Iraq war.
Obama is not saying that in his opinion a deep recession, a global financial catastrophe, or people losing health care coverage would likely be the result of Republican policies. He is saying those are the Republicans goals. He is saying Republicans are mean and evil monsters intent on making fellow Americans suffer. The previous three sentences and the prior paragraph were culled from an article in the Wall Street Journal by Karl Rove. No matter what anyone may think of Karl Rove, the last paragraph and a half are part of the public record and therefore indisputable.
Let's assume you are a Democrat, or more accurately today, an Obamacrat. Have you ever heard Republicans demean your intelligence and integrity by saying such things as "Because of your opposition to school choice and charter schools you obviously don't want children to get a decent education"? Or "Because of your support for ObamaCare you evidently want to inflict on the public a health care system that subjects citizens to higher costs, long waits for substandard medical care provided by an unfamiliar physician, and reliance on government health panels to approve needed medical procedures". Or "You clearly want future generations to live in poverty by burdening them with massive debt, high unemployment and unavailable job opportunities". Or "Your goal is for all of us to die in a nuclear holocaust because you are unilaterally dismantling our defense capabilities". In other words, you intentionally want to destroy our country.
What would you think if you constantly heard Republicans saying these things? Would these provocative accusations inspire you to change your opinions? I seriously doubt it. It would just piss you off. But this is what anyone who disagrees with our president has to put up with every day. Could anything be more polarizing? I am not even a Republican and it pisses me off. I am an independent. I don't agree with many Republican positions on the issues either. But I adamantly disagree with most of the Obamacrat policies, and therefore strongly object to the arrogant bully's condescending lectures and inflammatory rhetoric.
Obama said if he negotiated with the Republicans it would mean the Republicans would get everything they want and the Democrats would get nothing. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Republicans wanted to postpone the implementation of ObamaCare for one year and make it applicable to Congress and the Congressional staffs. That was it. There was nothing in the Republican proposals about what they really want, such as reducing taxes, reforming Medicare and Medicaid, increasing defense spending, rationalizing welfare or approving the Keystone Pipeline. For Obama his rhetoric was all just his standard operating procedure, more malignant slanders about throwing old people under the bus, eating the children, and exploiting the poor. He lies deliberately with impunity, and no one from his major media propaganda machine ever objects, calls him out or holds him accountable.
The recent budget agreement ending the government shutdown naturally has been proclaimed by the groveling talking heads of his in-house media as a total victory for Obama and the Obamacrats. But was it really? Is it a victory when for the foreseeable future we will continue on the road to oblivion with political business as usual, having to argue over the same issues every few months? Obamacrats will continue to demean, vilify and slander Republicans with outrageous lies. The illusionists of the Obama controlled major media networks will continue to call the Republicans doctrinaire and obstructionist, even though the Republicans were the ones that submitted proposal after proposal to reach a budget compromise that Obamacrats refused to even consider. We now know without a doubt that Obamacrats will never stop the growth in unaffordable entitlement programs no matter how much damage they are doing to the future of the country. That is because it buys them votes.
So who is the obstructionist here? If Barack Obama and Harry Reid would have agreed to any of the minor changes to the law Republicans requested then the government shutdown would not have occurred. These were changes that should have been made, particularly in view of Obama's unilateral actions to delay the employer mandate, grant over a thousand wavers to his financial backers, and in light of the fact that it wasn't ready to be implemented as has been proven by its disastrous launch. The only thing that held America hostage was Obama's monumental ego. Any attempt to get Obamacrats to act in a responsible and rational manner is always met by vitriolic name calling and a refusal to consider opposing opinions. That is not the way a government based on separation of powers is supposed to work.
Obamacrats love to say the Republicans dogmatic pursuit of unrestrained capitalism and heartless social policies are the reason we have unsatisfactory economic growth, inadequate health care, high unemployment, homelessness, income inequality, etc., etc., etc. What a crock of bullshit. Social security has been with us for nearly eighty years. Medicare and Medicaid have been in existence for nearly fifty years. They are all now out of control and growing at unsustainable rates. Unemployment insurance, free food, public welfare for the indigent, and other income security programs have been around for years. Government rules and regulations have expanded exponentially to handcuff and straightjacket private enterprise and job creation. Where is the heartless social policies and unrestrained capitalism Obamacrats incessantly complain about? Massive government bureaucracies and unmanageable entitlements programs have created our problems, not over-indulged capitalism or inadequate social safety nets.
ObamaCare is not only another unaffordable entitlement, it is also the one that is most unjustifiable. Social Security is probably necessary since most Americans are not capable of planning ahead to adequately save for their own retirement. Medicare and Medicaid serve a useful purpose, but would be more effective if merged into one program that provides basic care for the indigent and universal insurance for catastrophic injuries and illnesses that are too expensive for all but the extremely wealthy to afford. Basic health care services should rely on free market competition among insurance companies to offer affordable insurance for the ordinary and routine medical care people need. We don't need and can't afford ObamaCare. We need the current health care industry to be privatized, restructured and rationalized.
The Democratic Party used to believe in the traditional American foundation of democracy, capitalism, individual rights, personal responsibility, and equal opportunity. But they have now morphed into the Obamacratic Party, populated with Obamacrats believing in Obamaism. They no longer believe in democracy. They believe in one party rule. They no longer believe in individual liberty. They believe in monitoring and controlling citizens behavior. They no longer believe in justice for all. They believe in favoring special interests and ethnic groups to buy their votes. They no longer believe in private enterprise and free markets. They believe in government control of economic activity, including federal subsidies for favored industries and financial supporters. They no longer believe in capitalism, where incentives for personal gain lead to creativity, innovation, economic expansion and widespread affluence. They believe in redistributing income from the productive middle class to those dependent on government, including the special interest groups who need government funding to promote their agenda. And apparently Obamacrats no longer believe in a socially unified nation that stands for equal rights and opportunity for all. They now believe that anyone who opposes their policies and actions must be demonized, marginalized, humiliated, denigrated and silenced.
One thing I have learned over my nearly 65 years is that the way something is perceived in the present is often not the way it is perceived in the future. As already mentioned, the national media painted the Republicans in general and the so-called tea party in particular as the big losers in the government shutdown fiasco. Personally, I think the biggest losers were the establishment Republicans. They have been outed as nothing more than Obamacrats Light, supporters of big government and advocates of political business as usual. A lot of these fat and happy dinosaurs may find themselves out on their butts next November.
Perhaps over the long run the biggest loser in the shutdown debacle will be the Obamacrats themselves. November 2014 is still more than a year away. More and more independents are realizing every day that we cannot sustain big government and political business as usual. Maybe some folks who call themselves Democrats will become enlightened and realize the Obamacrats are not who they thought they were. Perhaps they will toss a few of the entrenched, obstructionist oligarchs of their party out on the street as well.
Regardless, there remains a very large segment of the population that will not forget the tactics of demonization and the malicious names they have been called by the president of their country just because they do not kiss his ass and endorse his policies. He has polarized America beyond reconciliation. Either the Obamacrats will eventually pay the price for this uncivil behavior of their leader, or the country will. That is not a threat. I have no influence or power over anybody. It is a prediction.
A year from now ObamaCare will likely be exposed as a monumental disaster, so dysfunctional and damaging to the country's physical and financial health that even the Obamacrat controlled media will no longer be able to cover it up. Obamacrats will pay for that at the polls, if we are still allowed to have elections by His Eminence in the White House. Furthermore, if Americans continue to condone a party in power that refuses to negotiate with the other one that represents an almost equal amount of Americans, and whose only arguments about policy contain nothing but slanderous lies, hysterical demonization, outrageous accusations and irrational insinuations regarding their opponents, then this country is going down.
The only people in this country that can restore America's traditional principles of liberty, justice and limited government are the independents who reject both political parties and the segment at the core of the Republican Party that focuses on the important issues and could care less about the demands of the religious right. I am not saying the religious right is wrong, but they need to understand there are much more important issues than gay rights and abortion. They also need to understand that America was founded on separation of church and state, and that they cannot impose their beliefs on every American citizen.
The most recent Gallup poll of less than a month ago found that 30% of Americans identify themselves as Democrats, down just 2% from a year before. 20% identify themselves as Republicans (down 8%) while 47% (up 9%) are independents. Independents reject the ideological rigidity of the extremists of both mainstream parties. A party in the middle that rejects the big government domination and expansion of the Obamacrats and the unpopular social restraints of the Republican far right could coalesce to become the viable alternative to extreme leftists that now run the country. They could bring rationality, responsibility, cooperation and civility to the American political environment. It could bring an end to the unproductive and dangerous polarization of American society.
Finally, I will venture a forecast that to most folks will appear to be absurd folly. I predict the biggest winner of the October 2013 budget war will eventually be Ted Cruz. He fought the good fight against another entitlement because ObamaCare is wrong. He did it because of principle and the knowledge that America will not survive with business as usual. It was exactly what his constituents elected him to do. Someday soon Americans will again realize that government leaders with intelligence, principles and integrity are what we must have to survive as a free, just, and prosperous nation. Our elected representatives must represent us, not themselves. If I am wrong, then it is time to start praying to the God of your choice, if you are still allowed to have one other than Barack Obama.
Over the last three months Barack Obama has been quoted as saying, "The one unifying principle in the Republican Party is making sure that 30 million people don't have health care". And "In order to achieve this they are willing to tank the entire economy". And "The Republicans promise economic chaos if they don't get their way." And "The Republicans desire to actually plunge this country back into recession - all to deny the basic security of health care to millions of Americans". And "Republicans want to default on the debt to cause a world-wide financial crisis". And "You have never seen in the history of the United States the threat of not raising the debt ceiling being used to extort a president or a governing party", when in fact that is exactly what a rookie Senator named Barack Obama did in 2006 to attempt to defund the Iraq war.
Obama is not saying that in his opinion a deep recession, a global financial catastrophe, or people losing health care coverage would likely be the result of Republican policies. He is saying those are the Republicans goals. He is saying Republicans are mean and evil monsters intent on making fellow Americans suffer. The previous three sentences and the prior paragraph were culled from an article in the Wall Street Journal by Karl Rove. No matter what anyone may think of Karl Rove, the last paragraph and a half are part of the public record and therefore indisputable.
Let's assume you are a Democrat, or more accurately today, an Obamacrat. Have you ever heard Republicans demean your intelligence and integrity by saying such things as "Because of your opposition to school choice and charter schools you obviously don't want children to get a decent education"? Or "Because of your support for ObamaCare you evidently want to inflict on the public a health care system that subjects citizens to higher costs, long waits for substandard medical care provided by an unfamiliar physician, and reliance on government health panels to approve needed medical procedures". Or "You clearly want future generations to live in poverty by burdening them with massive debt, high unemployment and unavailable job opportunities". Or "Your goal is for all of us to die in a nuclear holocaust because you are unilaterally dismantling our defense capabilities". In other words, you intentionally want to destroy our country.
What would you think if you constantly heard Republicans saying these things? Would these provocative accusations inspire you to change your opinions? I seriously doubt it. It would just piss you off. But this is what anyone who disagrees with our president has to put up with every day. Could anything be more polarizing? I am not even a Republican and it pisses me off. I am an independent. I don't agree with many Republican positions on the issues either. But I adamantly disagree with most of the Obamacrat policies, and therefore strongly object to the arrogant bully's condescending lectures and inflammatory rhetoric.
Obama said if he negotiated with the Republicans it would mean the Republicans would get everything they want and the Democrats would get nothing. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Republicans wanted to postpone the implementation of ObamaCare for one year and make it applicable to Congress and the Congressional staffs. That was it. There was nothing in the Republican proposals about what they really want, such as reducing taxes, reforming Medicare and Medicaid, increasing defense spending, rationalizing welfare or approving the Keystone Pipeline. For Obama his rhetoric was all just his standard operating procedure, more malignant slanders about throwing old people under the bus, eating the children, and exploiting the poor. He lies deliberately with impunity, and no one from his major media propaganda machine ever objects, calls him out or holds him accountable.
The recent budget agreement ending the government shutdown naturally has been proclaimed by the groveling talking heads of his in-house media as a total victory for Obama and the Obamacrats. But was it really? Is it a victory when for the foreseeable future we will continue on the road to oblivion with political business as usual, having to argue over the same issues every few months? Obamacrats will continue to demean, vilify and slander Republicans with outrageous lies. The illusionists of the Obama controlled major media networks will continue to call the Republicans doctrinaire and obstructionist, even though the Republicans were the ones that submitted proposal after proposal to reach a budget compromise that Obamacrats refused to even consider. We now know without a doubt that Obamacrats will never stop the growth in unaffordable entitlement programs no matter how much damage they are doing to the future of the country. That is because it buys them votes.
So who is the obstructionist here? If Barack Obama and Harry Reid would have agreed to any of the minor changes to the law Republicans requested then the government shutdown would not have occurred. These were changes that should have been made, particularly in view of Obama's unilateral actions to delay the employer mandate, grant over a thousand wavers to his financial backers, and in light of the fact that it wasn't ready to be implemented as has been proven by its disastrous launch. The only thing that held America hostage was Obama's monumental ego. Any attempt to get Obamacrats to act in a responsible and rational manner is always met by vitriolic name calling and a refusal to consider opposing opinions. That is not the way a government based on separation of powers is supposed to work.
Obamacrats love to say the Republicans dogmatic pursuit of unrestrained capitalism and heartless social policies are the reason we have unsatisfactory economic growth, inadequate health care, high unemployment, homelessness, income inequality, etc., etc., etc. What a crock of bullshit. Social security has been with us for nearly eighty years. Medicare and Medicaid have been in existence for nearly fifty years. They are all now out of control and growing at unsustainable rates. Unemployment insurance, free food, public welfare for the indigent, and other income security programs have been around for years. Government rules and regulations have expanded exponentially to handcuff and straightjacket private enterprise and job creation. Where is the heartless social policies and unrestrained capitalism Obamacrats incessantly complain about? Massive government bureaucracies and unmanageable entitlements programs have created our problems, not over-indulged capitalism or inadequate social safety nets.
ObamaCare is not only another unaffordable entitlement, it is also the one that is most unjustifiable. Social Security is probably necessary since most Americans are not capable of planning ahead to adequately save for their own retirement. Medicare and Medicaid serve a useful purpose, but would be more effective if merged into one program that provides basic care for the indigent and universal insurance for catastrophic injuries and illnesses that are too expensive for all but the extremely wealthy to afford. Basic health care services should rely on free market competition among insurance companies to offer affordable insurance for the ordinary and routine medical care people need. We don't need and can't afford ObamaCare. We need the current health care industry to be privatized, restructured and rationalized.
The Democratic Party used to believe in the traditional American foundation of democracy, capitalism, individual rights, personal responsibility, and equal opportunity. But they have now morphed into the Obamacratic Party, populated with Obamacrats believing in Obamaism. They no longer believe in democracy. They believe in one party rule. They no longer believe in individual liberty. They believe in monitoring and controlling citizens behavior. They no longer believe in justice for all. They believe in favoring special interests and ethnic groups to buy their votes. They no longer believe in private enterprise and free markets. They believe in government control of economic activity, including federal subsidies for favored industries and financial supporters. They no longer believe in capitalism, where incentives for personal gain lead to creativity, innovation, economic expansion and widespread affluence. They believe in redistributing income from the productive middle class to those dependent on government, including the special interest groups who need government funding to promote their agenda. And apparently Obamacrats no longer believe in a socially unified nation that stands for equal rights and opportunity for all. They now believe that anyone who opposes their policies and actions must be demonized, marginalized, humiliated, denigrated and silenced.
One thing I have learned over my nearly 65 years is that the way something is perceived in the present is often not the way it is perceived in the future. As already mentioned, the national media painted the Republicans in general and the so-called tea party in particular as the big losers in the government shutdown fiasco. Personally, I think the biggest losers were the establishment Republicans. They have been outed as nothing more than Obamacrats Light, supporters of big government and advocates of political business as usual. A lot of these fat and happy dinosaurs may find themselves out on their butts next November.
Perhaps over the long run the biggest loser in the shutdown debacle will be the Obamacrats themselves. November 2014 is still more than a year away. More and more independents are realizing every day that we cannot sustain big government and political business as usual. Maybe some folks who call themselves Democrats will become enlightened and realize the Obamacrats are not who they thought they were. Perhaps they will toss a few of the entrenched, obstructionist oligarchs of their party out on the street as well.
Regardless, there remains a very large segment of the population that will not forget the tactics of demonization and the malicious names they have been called by the president of their country just because they do not kiss his ass and endorse his policies. He has polarized America beyond reconciliation. Either the Obamacrats will eventually pay the price for this uncivil behavior of their leader, or the country will. That is not a threat. I have no influence or power over anybody. It is a prediction.
A year from now ObamaCare will likely be exposed as a monumental disaster, so dysfunctional and damaging to the country's physical and financial health that even the Obamacrat controlled media will no longer be able to cover it up. Obamacrats will pay for that at the polls, if we are still allowed to have elections by His Eminence in the White House. Furthermore, if Americans continue to condone a party in power that refuses to negotiate with the other one that represents an almost equal amount of Americans, and whose only arguments about policy contain nothing but slanderous lies, hysterical demonization, outrageous accusations and irrational insinuations regarding their opponents, then this country is going down.
The only people in this country that can restore America's traditional principles of liberty, justice and limited government are the independents who reject both political parties and the segment at the core of the Republican Party that focuses on the important issues and could care less about the demands of the religious right. I am not saying the religious right is wrong, but they need to understand there are much more important issues than gay rights and abortion. They also need to understand that America was founded on separation of church and state, and that they cannot impose their beliefs on every American citizen.
The most recent Gallup poll of less than a month ago found that 30% of Americans identify themselves as Democrats, down just 2% from a year before. 20% identify themselves as Republicans (down 8%) while 47% (up 9%) are independents. Independents reject the ideological rigidity of the extremists of both mainstream parties. A party in the middle that rejects the big government domination and expansion of the Obamacrats and the unpopular social restraints of the Republican far right could coalesce to become the viable alternative to extreme leftists that now run the country. They could bring rationality, responsibility, cooperation and civility to the American political environment. It could bring an end to the unproductive and dangerous polarization of American society.
Finally, I will venture a forecast that to most folks will appear to be absurd folly. I predict the biggest winner of the October 2013 budget war will eventually be Ted Cruz. He fought the good fight against another entitlement because ObamaCare is wrong. He did it because of principle and the knowledge that America will not survive with business as usual. It was exactly what his constituents elected him to do. Someday soon Americans will again realize that government leaders with intelligence, principles and integrity are what we must have to survive as a free, just, and prosperous nation. Our elected representatives must represent us, not themselves. If I am wrong, then it is time to start praying to the God of your choice, if you are still allowed to have one other than Barack Obama.
Tuesday, October 08, 2013
Suicide Is Not Painless
The Democrats have found a new candidate to lead their charge toward becoming relevant in the state of Texas. Wendy Davis announced last Thursday as a candidate for Governor. She jumped from obscurity onto the radar screen and became a national celebrity in June with an 11 hour filibuster against an abortion bill in the Texas legislature. Democrats have trucked her all over the country ever since, raising funds nationally to promote a new female liberal to run in Texas. Of course Texas is the Democrats ultimate prize. They figure if they can win Texas the game would be all over for Republicans in the United States of America. They might be right.
So far Ms. Davis has said mostly the right things. She said she opposes raising sales or property taxes, although she didn't mention anything about income taxes. She claims to have supported business interests in her tenure on the Fort Worth city council. She has a very impressive resume, apparently a very competent attorney with a law degree from Harvard. And of course the best thing she has going for her is she is a woman. Davis is a very legitimate threat to the Republican old boy network in Texas, whether they want to believe it or not.
The one readily identifiable problem with Wendy Davis is that she is on the wrong side of the argument of by far the most important issue regarding the future of America. She is a Democrat, and Democrats want to spend more money on everything (except our national security) whether it does any good or not. A recent article in the Dallas Morning News reported that she said we need to spend more money on public education, highways and health care. As most Democrats do, she calls it investing in the future.
Why can't Democrats ever acknowledge that government spends too much money. They say Republicans don't want to spend money on education, health care and infrastructure. That is just not true. Republicans don't object to spending money, they object to wasting money. Besides, Democrats don't spend money to invest in the future, they spend money we don't have to buy votes.
The real problem is that government is spending too much money on programs and public services that don't do anyone any good. Kids aren't learning anything despite the fact America spends more money per student than any other country in the world. A recent Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study reported that we spend $15,171 per person in the educational system, or 7.3% of GDP, versus the average for all developed countries of $9,313 and 6.3%. The primary problem is that the ranks and salaries of school administrators have skyrocketed and the incompetent teachers are rewarded the same as the competent ones. Unfortunately, powerful teachers unions control school boards that grant compensation packages the taxpayers cannot afford and institute politically correct curriculums that result in educational mediocrity.
America's health care system has been a disaster for a long time, and ObamaCare will make it even worse. Why would anyone believe that a massive federal bureaucracy could generate better health care services at a better price when everything in history that has been run by such a beast has been a colossal failure. Nothing generates the best results in any endeavor better than free market competition among providers of goods and services who must continually work to offer the best product at the best price. ObamaCare goes in the opposite direction. Besides leading to less favorable outcomes for patients, rules and regulations of ObamaCare are de-incentivizing medical professionals, leading to fewer practitioners down the road. It also is discouraging business enterprises from hiring new employees and encouraging them to reduce the number of full time employees, re-classifying them as part time to reduce health care costs. It is really nothing more than another irrational massive government entitlement program that America cannot afford.
Spending money on infrastructure is often a good idea, but not when it is for some Congressman's or special interest group's unnecessary boondoggle. Furthermore, under the current system of awarding government contracts in most states, necessary infrastructure projects are too costly due to union influence and cronyism when awarding the contracts. In many cases, allowing private enterprise to bid for these projects and manage them once completed produces considerably better results than does awarding contracts to a unionized bidder who happens to be some politicians brother-in-law or fraternity brother.
The people who are generating the income to pay for government's profligacy want their tax dollars to be spent wisely, not wasted. If government is just going to waste the money, or even worse give it away to create more dependency on government (meaning confiscating more money from America's producers), then taxpayers would rather just keep more of what they earn. Democrats, and some Republicans, are salesmen, not managers. They promise everything since it isn't their money. They are good at selling themselves to get elected but couldn't manage a port-o-potty. They do not care about the concepts of efficiency, productivity, and cost versus benefit. They just care about making the sale. They presume they can raise taxes on the middle class and print money indefinitely.
Unfortunately, too many voters don't give a shit about anything mentioned in the last five paragraphs. Blacks and Hispanics will vote for Wendy Davis because she is a Democrat. Women will vote for Wendy Davis because she is a woman. That is what voting has degenerated to in America. Rational policies don't mean a damn thing. Besides, Republicans are doing nothing in Texas to help themselves gain supporters.
Greg Abbott, the Texas Attorney General, is the front running Republican candidate who will most likely oppose Wendy Davis. He has a very strong resume as well, but may suffer with his dependence on the shrinking traditional voting groups Republicans have relied on in Texas. He has cultivated Christian evangelical support around his opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Most liberal commentators declare that those are the issues of the tea party, although I seem to remember the original tea party focus was on limited government, not the religious right's agenda. Whatever, opposing those issues is a losing strategy in today's America. And what is the point of opposing them? That war has been lost.
Republicans in Texas are going to lose if they keep catering to the far right religious wing-nuts. These are the same folks who made Obama president because they didn't vote at all in the last election, apparently because they couldn't bring themselves to vote for a Mormon. That is inexcusable. Republicans need to appeal to the largest segment of voters in America today, the intelligent, rational and fiscally conservative independents who are not exactly thrilled with the choices either party produces. Who can blame them?
Republicans need to become more centrist while defining the Democrats in Texas as the irresponsible spenders they would be, and nationally as the left wing extremists they are. Republicans must focus on fiscal responsibility, social tolerance, limited government intrusion into our lives, maintaining viable safety nets for those truly in need, and rebuilding a strong national defense. Making an issue of abortion and gay marriage will lead them into irrelevance. Republicans had better wake up to the world we now live in or they will disappear.
So far Ms. Davis has said mostly the right things. She said she opposes raising sales or property taxes, although she didn't mention anything about income taxes. She claims to have supported business interests in her tenure on the Fort Worth city council. She has a very impressive resume, apparently a very competent attorney with a law degree from Harvard. And of course the best thing she has going for her is she is a woman. Davis is a very legitimate threat to the Republican old boy network in Texas, whether they want to believe it or not.
The one readily identifiable problem with Wendy Davis is that she is on the wrong side of the argument of by far the most important issue regarding the future of America. She is a Democrat, and Democrats want to spend more money on everything (except our national security) whether it does any good or not. A recent article in the Dallas Morning News reported that she said we need to spend more money on public education, highways and health care. As most Democrats do, she calls it investing in the future.
Why can't Democrats ever acknowledge that government spends too much money. They say Republicans don't want to spend money on education, health care and infrastructure. That is just not true. Republicans don't object to spending money, they object to wasting money. Besides, Democrats don't spend money to invest in the future, they spend money we don't have to buy votes.
The real problem is that government is spending too much money on programs and public services that don't do anyone any good. Kids aren't learning anything despite the fact America spends more money per student than any other country in the world. A recent Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study reported that we spend $15,171 per person in the educational system, or 7.3% of GDP, versus the average for all developed countries of $9,313 and 6.3%. The primary problem is that the ranks and salaries of school administrators have skyrocketed and the incompetent teachers are rewarded the same as the competent ones. Unfortunately, powerful teachers unions control school boards that grant compensation packages the taxpayers cannot afford and institute politically correct curriculums that result in educational mediocrity.
America's health care system has been a disaster for a long time, and ObamaCare will make it even worse. Why would anyone believe that a massive federal bureaucracy could generate better health care services at a better price when everything in history that has been run by such a beast has been a colossal failure. Nothing generates the best results in any endeavor better than free market competition among providers of goods and services who must continually work to offer the best product at the best price. ObamaCare goes in the opposite direction. Besides leading to less favorable outcomes for patients, rules and regulations of ObamaCare are de-incentivizing medical professionals, leading to fewer practitioners down the road. It also is discouraging business enterprises from hiring new employees and encouraging them to reduce the number of full time employees, re-classifying them as part time to reduce health care costs. It is really nothing more than another irrational massive government entitlement program that America cannot afford.
Spending money on infrastructure is often a good idea, but not when it is for some Congressman's or special interest group's unnecessary boondoggle. Furthermore, under the current system of awarding government contracts in most states, necessary infrastructure projects are too costly due to union influence and cronyism when awarding the contracts. In many cases, allowing private enterprise to bid for these projects and manage them once completed produces considerably better results than does awarding contracts to a unionized bidder who happens to be some politicians brother-in-law or fraternity brother.
The people who are generating the income to pay for government's profligacy want their tax dollars to be spent wisely, not wasted. If government is just going to waste the money, or even worse give it away to create more dependency on government (meaning confiscating more money from America's producers), then taxpayers would rather just keep more of what they earn. Democrats, and some Republicans, are salesmen, not managers. They promise everything since it isn't their money. They are good at selling themselves to get elected but couldn't manage a port-o-potty. They do not care about the concepts of efficiency, productivity, and cost versus benefit. They just care about making the sale. They presume they can raise taxes on the middle class and print money indefinitely.
Unfortunately, too many voters don't give a shit about anything mentioned in the last five paragraphs. Blacks and Hispanics will vote for Wendy Davis because she is a Democrat. Women will vote for Wendy Davis because she is a woman. That is what voting has degenerated to in America. Rational policies don't mean a damn thing. Besides, Republicans are doing nothing in Texas to help themselves gain supporters.
Greg Abbott, the Texas Attorney General, is the front running Republican candidate who will most likely oppose Wendy Davis. He has a very strong resume as well, but may suffer with his dependence on the shrinking traditional voting groups Republicans have relied on in Texas. He has cultivated Christian evangelical support around his opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Most liberal commentators declare that those are the issues of the tea party, although I seem to remember the original tea party focus was on limited government, not the religious right's agenda. Whatever, opposing those issues is a losing strategy in today's America. And what is the point of opposing them? That war has been lost.
Republicans in Texas are going to lose if they keep catering to the far right religious wing-nuts. These are the same folks who made Obama president because they didn't vote at all in the last election, apparently because they couldn't bring themselves to vote for a Mormon. That is inexcusable. Republicans need to appeal to the largest segment of voters in America today, the intelligent, rational and fiscally conservative independents who are not exactly thrilled with the choices either party produces. Who can blame them?
Republicans need to become more centrist while defining the Democrats in Texas as the irresponsible spenders they would be, and nationally as the left wing extremists they are. Republicans must focus on fiscal responsibility, social tolerance, limited government intrusion into our lives, maintaining viable safety nets for those truly in need, and rebuilding a strong national defense. Making an issue of abortion and gay marriage will lead them into irrelevance. Republicans had better wake up to the world we now live in or they will disappear.
Tuesday, October 01, 2013
Temper Tantrums
Barack Obama is throwing another temper tantrum today because Republicans are not kissing his ass as he blames them for shutting down the government. Somebody needs to tell this guy to grow up, pull his head out of Saul Alinsky's dead butt, and get an education in how the real world works. Oh, and maybe it is time for one of his fawning brownnosers to inform him not everyone in this country thinks he is God. In fact, many folks think he is a Muslim, a follower of Muhammad. Personally, I think he believes he is Muhammad.
Who are the obstructionists here? The House of Representatives has produced four budgets over the last few days as the fiscal year deadline approached, each summarily rejected without consideration by Obama and Harry Reid. The only issue in contention was that Republicans proposed to postpone the implementation of ObamaCare on private individuals for one year, not an outrageous request since Obama had already done that for employers. Besides, ObamaCare is not ready to be implemented as it is becoming one giant clusterf**k. Interestingly, one of the issues that really pissed off us ordinary citizens was Congress exempting themselves and their staffs from ObamaCare. How many people know that the last of the four Republican budgets included language that would have repealed that exemption, making the privileged denizens of Capitol Hill subject to the rules of ObamaCare just like the rest of us? Not happening.
Whatever happened to the principle of responsibility, the concept that the decision makers at the top are responsible for their actions? The editors of America's tabloid publishing and broadcasting organizations, the New York Times, the Washington Post, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, etc., never hold Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid and the rest of the Democratic Party that has been in charge for the last seven years (lest we forget, they controlled the House and Senate the last two years of W's presidency) responsible for anything. Somehow a first term Senator from Texas who hasn't even been in office for two years gets blamed for the last five years of government mismanagement.
Apparently the news organizations don't want to confuse the public with the facts. Barack Obama has presided over the weakest economic recovery ever while at the same time turning us into a whiny wimpy weakling on the world stage. Even though the Constitution requires the Senate to produce a budget every year, Harry Reid's Senate had not done so in four years until last Saturday on a party line vote, but only after throwing out the one passed by the House that the Democrats refused to even consider. How does Hillary Clinton escape any responsibility for our plunge in global relevance during her reign as Secretary of State? She spent most of her time in the Middle East, and look how that has turned out. And those were her people who died in Benghazi, but she seemed to care less. Yet she is now the Democrat's leading candidate for 2014.
The United States is becoming a nation of zombies, brain dead but still breathing. In the real world people get fired for not doing their jobs, or doing them badly. In Washington, D.C., they get re-elected, re-appointed or move on to higher office. It's insane.
Who are the obstructionists here? The House of Representatives has produced four budgets over the last few days as the fiscal year deadline approached, each summarily rejected without consideration by Obama and Harry Reid. The only issue in contention was that Republicans proposed to postpone the implementation of ObamaCare on private individuals for one year, not an outrageous request since Obama had already done that for employers. Besides, ObamaCare is not ready to be implemented as it is becoming one giant clusterf**k. Interestingly, one of the issues that really pissed off us ordinary citizens was Congress exempting themselves and their staffs from ObamaCare. How many people know that the last of the four Republican budgets included language that would have repealed that exemption, making the privileged denizens of Capitol Hill subject to the rules of ObamaCare just like the rest of us? Not happening.
Whatever happened to the principle of responsibility, the concept that the decision makers at the top are responsible for their actions? The editors of America's tabloid publishing and broadcasting organizations, the New York Times, the Washington Post, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, etc., never hold Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid and the rest of the Democratic Party that has been in charge for the last seven years (lest we forget, they controlled the House and Senate the last two years of W's presidency) responsible for anything. Somehow a first term Senator from Texas who hasn't even been in office for two years gets blamed for the last five years of government mismanagement.
Apparently the news organizations don't want to confuse the public with the facts. Barack Obama has presided over the weakest economic recovery ever while at the same time turning us into a whiny wimpy weakling on the world stage. Even though the Constitution requires the Senate to produce a budget every year, Harry Reid's Senate had not done so in four years until last Saturday on a party line vote, but only after throwing out the one passed by the House that the Democrats refused to even consider. How does Hillary Clinton escape any responsibility for our plunge in global relevance during her reign as Secretary of State? She spent most of her time in the Middle East, and look how that has turned out. And those were her people who died in Benghazi, but she seemed to care less. Yet she is now the Democrat's leading candidate for 2014.
The United States is becoming a nation of zombies, brain dead but still breathing. In the real world people get fired for not doing their jobs, or doing them badly. In Washington, D.C., they get re-elected, re-appointed or move on to higher office. It's insane.
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