What is “An Expression of the American Mind”?

After Obama’s election, after Obama and his team brought Chicago thug politics to our nation’s capital, I did not feel it made sense to ask anyone to “Look to the West”.  In fact, I wanted them to look away or inward.  Many other nations, having been inspired by America in the past, had recently taken sold steps towards freedom – nations like Georgia, Ukraine, Chile, Germany, even France. 

We lunged left while they lunged right.  The last thing I wanted was for freedom fighters around the world to see Obama’s election as evidence our great experiment had failed – that, in fact, old Europe, whom Obama seems to want to emulate, had it right all along.  So, I lost some of the passion for writing that motivates me to make writing a priority in an otherwise very busy life.  

I’ve returned to write again for this blog inspired and embarassed.  I was inspired by the tea party rallies I attended, sometimes with my daughter Kate, and by the elections in Virginia (my home), New Jersey and Massachusettes.  Who cannot be inspired by the “Scott heard round the world”? 

I also return to writing a little embarassed.  In retrospect, this is precisly the time to ”Look2theWest” to see how America handles a domestic threat like Obama.   Things looked very bleak.  The Progressives already had control of TV, film, news media, unions, education and now, with Obama’s election and filibuster-proof majorities, they seemed unstoppable.  Thankfully, Americans responded and it was a beautiful thing to watch.

In the meantime, I had been doing a lot of reading, like many of you, about our founding and our founders.  I was particularly impressed by author Andrew M. Allison, in Part I of The Real Thomas Jefferson.  In it, Allison describes how some contemporaneous critics of The Declaration of Independence claimed its ideas were borrowed from other writers.  Thomas Jefferson readily admits this and explained that,

“The object of the Declaration of Independence was not to find out new principles or new arguments never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we [were] compelled to take.

Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular or previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion.”

Likewise, I do not see it as my charge, nor within my ability, to put forward ideas not already described somewhere else in human history, but to attempt to describe the “common sense of the subject” and to provide “an expression of the American mind” regarding the challenges facing 21st century America.  

Please let know your thoughts on my thoughts.  I hope to spawn debate, not end it, to engage my readers, to advance our founder’s ideals and to learn as much as possible.

I Was Right, Obama Was Left – Far Left

Back in October, 2008, I printed this blog opining about how far left Obama was, that he was even left of a self-described Socialist and that it didn’t take too much research into his radical Chicago neighborhood to reckon “Primary Obama” was the truth and “General Election Obama” was the lie.

Now that he has spent more money than anyone in human history (even more than the Soviet and Chinese Communists), now that his war on free markets (capitalism) has sent investors running for the exits (and reduced our net worth by trillions of dolllars) and now that he has decided to spike our energy costs (with Cap & Trade), despite all the pain it will cause in a depressed economy – I can officially declare, unfortunately, I was right, Obama was left – far left. 

In his first 100 days, with millions losing their jobs, Obama still wants to spend much of his time, and hundreds of billions of dollars of our money, attempting to advance his progressive-socialist agenda rather than focus on the financial and housing crisis.  At last night’s press conference the President said, “I think that the last 64 days has been dominated by me trying to figure out how we’re going to fix the economy”. 

Really?  If he’s been working so hard at fixing the economy, why has he only filled one (Secretary Geithner) of the 18 open slots at Treasury that require Senate confirmation?  There is no Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, yet Obama is making tax policy.  There is no Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets – no wonder Obama totally mismanaged the AIG mess.  Why didn’t he clear his calendar in the first week in office and fully staff these Treasury positions to help turn this economy around? 

Even supporters are stunned that, instead of focusing on the economy, Obama has found time to close Gitmo, give $3 billion to ACORN, cut defense spending while troops are still fighting and dying, support a plan to take away a worker’s right to a secret ballot, add millions more to federal health insurance plans, implement an extreme environmental agenda, raise taxes, suspend trials for terrorists, make wounded warriors pay for their combat injuries, fly to California to insult disabled Americans on late night television, research what teams should be in this year’s NCAA college basketball brackets and laugh on 60 Minutes about the bad economy. 

This is reckless and sad – nothing funny about it.    

This is one of those moments where it is useful to see why some of us conservatives were warning America about Obama back when America still had a chance to chose a different path.  Contrary to the popular Democratic/Media narrative at the time, we were not alarmists – conservatives were dead-on accurate, and deserve the credibility that comes with being dead-on accurate. 

Here’s what I said back in October, 2008 about how far left Obama was and why:  

More Liberal Than A Socialist

Many people have heard that the National Journal rated Barack Obama the Most Liberal Senator in 2007.   Obama’s could have picked anyone to be his running mate, and he chose Senator Joe Biden – the 3rd most liberal.

What you may not know is that one of my Vermont Senators, Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was rated 5th most liberal and is a self-described Socialist. 

That makes Obama left of a Socialist.

Before you tune me out because I used the “S” word, do a little research.  Invest a little bit of time learning about:

• Saul Alinsky – the father of community organizing.  Clinton wrote her senior thesis about Alinsky.  Obama learned Alinsky’s methods so well that he taught them to others.
• Weather Underground – radical group known for bombing the Pentagon, the NY Police HQ and the Capitol.  Co-founded by Bill Ayers.  
• Bill Ayers – co-founder of Weather Underground who hosted a party to launch Obama’s political career in his living room.  
• Bernardine Dohrn – Bill Ayers’ wife, convicted for Weather Underground activities, unrepentant in her support for Marxism-Leninism, now an adjunct professor of law @ Northwestern.  
• Black Panther Party – Ayers and the Weather Underground declared war on the U.S. Government after the death of a Panther Fred Hampton.
• Haymarket Riot – An event that seemed to have started it all. 
• Rashid Khalidi – former PLO spokesman & Obama family friend.
• Tony Rezco – a huge Obama fundraiser convicted of fraud and bribery.
• ACORN – The nation’s largest radical organization and Chicago ACORN it’s most radical chapter.   They played a big part in pushing sub-prime loans that crippled our financial system and committing voter fraud in several states. 

Just Obama’s ties to ACORN should disqualify him from running for office.  Add in all the rest and the prospect of an Obama Presidency is truly frightening.

I have no doubt in my mind that Obama is a socialist and, with a little education, you will know that too.

Maybe you’re OK with that.  I’m not.

Extortion, Now Looting

This week the Senate finally approved the $410 Billion Omnibus Spending bill, chock full of 9000 earmarks that Obama opposed during the campaign but signed into law anyway secretly, behind closed doors. 

It’s a brazen fiscal looting of our treasury, and our children’s treasury. 

I hesitate to use language like looting, but doesn’t this feel like that?  Despite widespread opposition (calls against the stimulus bill were reported to be 90 to 1), with no press coverage allowed, Obama signed an omnibus spending bill with 9000 pet pork projects that, combined with the stimulus bill, will represent an 80 percent spending increase in discretionary spending, from $378 billion to $680 billion.   In other words, in private, against our will, he took all our money – sounds like looting to me.

Obama’s not the only two-faced actor in this ugly drama.  Here’s what Shailagh Murray at the Washington Post had to say early this morning, 

The bill represents a bonanza for federal agencies that felt a budget squeeze for much of President George W. Bush’s two terms.

Wow – that’s got to be a world record for revisionist history.  Wasn’t it just last week that Democrats, including Obama, were blasting the GOP for having the nerve to criticize Obama’s socialist spending spree when they were so “irresponsible” during the Bush years?  Now the media is trying to float the idea federal agencies were “squeezed” during the Bush years and now receive proper nourishment at Obama’s fat teat (that we paid for). 

Hogwash!

Honestly, how stupid do they think we are?  At this point, I’d like to apply the old cliché that “they can’t have it both ways” but they’re actually making a pretty good living having it both ways. 

Obama and the newscrats (those in the news media that propogate the views of Democrats, especially those of new progressive-socialists like Obama, Sanders, Frank, Soros, etc…) want us to feel they’re not bad for spending too much because Bush also spent too much.  Now they want us to feel they’re good for spending too much because Bush starved our withering federal agencies.

The ugly truth is the Democrats were very bad then for forcing Bush to spend too much and very bad now for spending way too much themselves. 

Yes, Bush came advertised as a “compassionate conservative” and would probably have spent more than other GOP Presidents, but Bush had to compromise with Democrats, more than other GOP Presidents, because Democrats would not support the War on Terror (in Iraq, Afghanistan and domestically) otherwise.  Bush could not compromise on measures to keep America safe so the Democrat’s cooperation had to be bought year after year with compromises on spending. 

This is true even though Democrats were in the minority during Bush’s first 6 years because they held more than enough seats to filibuster or block any legislation they did not want.  How many times did you hear loud public opposition from Congressional Democrats to a Bush War-on-Terror proposal only to see the measure pass with bi-partisan support?  Ever wonder why, if Democrats could have blocked it?

I believe they knew Bush was right on War-on-Terror issues but feigned opposition to appeal to their base and win concessions on other Democratic priorities like growing the size of government. Remember – these were the years when Move-on.org, building on their success in 2004, began to intimidate Democratic lawmakers to pass their progressive agenda that included stopping the war and growing the size of government. 

According to the Heritage Foundation:

From 2001 through 2008, domestic programs grew 23 percent faster than inflation, due in part to large increases for education (35 percent), health research (37 percent), and veterans’ benefits (54 percent).

Hardly the “budget squeeze” Ms. Murray at the Post described.  What’s even worse?  Dodd & Frank, armed with the filibuster bat, prevented reforms, by Bush and McCain, of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, resulting in the “worst financial crisis since the Great Depression”.   Thanks Democrats!  

Now, in the latest of cruel ironies, Obama and the Democrats will again rape the federal treasury and, remarkably, at the same time, blame Bush for starving a federal government that ate very well during the last eight years because the Democrats made a Faustian trade with Bush – a sort of pork-for-peace extortion. 

Extortion, now looting.  I’m afraid to ask what’s next.

Obama Making History Again

Lately, left-leaning economic pundit Jim Cramer has received friendly fire from Obamacrats for comments like this posted @ TheStreet.com:

We need to declare a war on unemployment and solve it before we let it get out of hand. We need to stop house-price depreciation. Neither the pork-laden stimulus plan nor the confusing mortgage proposal put forward by Obama will defeat either enemy. When Obama trounces both unemployment and house-price depreciation, he will have the power to enact anything he wants. But all the initiatives he wants to rush, like tax hikes, changes in health care, tinkering with the mortgage deduction — good grief, right now in the midst of the worst housing downturn ever — and the tough cap-and-trade rules, will derail any chance we have of turning this economy around. Instead, they put the Second Great Depression smack on the nation’s table.

I couldn’t have said it any better myself.   Obama doesn’t care, but maybe there are some Democrats who will listen to Mr. Cramer and respectfully decline to join Mr. Obama in the history books. 

Speak English – It’s A Love Thing

Recently, I had such an unpleasant experience trying to understand a customer service person at a major U.S. company, that I had to reprint this blog from last August.  I want the people that I talk to on a regular basis (at my workplace, my kid’s schools, the companies I buy products from, etc…) to speak English well – that’s not asking too much, that just makes sense.  I know no company’s perfect but this kind of thing happens consistently enough that I wanted to speak up. 

Here’s the deal…if you want to come to America – learn English first.  If you’re here already illegally – self-deport.  If you’re here legally, learn English as soon as possible.  If you want to work in a job that communicates with the public – learn English first.  If you’re a company that has staff that communicates with the U.S. public – only hire people who speak English well and lay off the people who don’t.  If they learn English and come back to you, put them first in line for the next available position.  In any case, do not give customers the option to press 2 for Spanish because…well, I cover that below…

Speak English – It’s A Love Thing

Recently I read a news report about a small Illinois town that wants English to be the official language. One Hispanic in the “no” column said he got involved because a flyer being distributed asked the question, “Are you tired of pressing 1 for English?” He said that’s racist. Huh?

It’s a fact that “everyone speaking the same language” brings people together. What’s racist about trying to bring people together? Nothing! So if we want to bring Americans together, what language should we all try to speak? Good question.

It’s important to honor one’s culture and heritage so maybe we should speak the language we’ve used for most of our songs, films, plays, ads, TV, poetry, newspapers and books for the last 400 years? Or maybe, to make things as easy as possible, we should speak the language most of us speak now? Or maybe we should forget about easy and work hard to learn the language the rest of the world uses to talk to each other?

Lucky for us, English is the answer to all three.

Most of the American culture has been spoken, written, displayed and broadcast in English for 400 years. Most Americans speak English now. Many of the world’s leaders were educated in our English-speaking Universities. Most U.N. diplomats learn English as a second language because they live, eat and work in New York. Most kids in India, China, Japan, Europe and the Middle East learn English as a second language to help them succeed.  Bill Gates once recalled, in a meeting with Japanese and Chinese businessmen, they all spoke English – no translators were needed.

In the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, most every sign is in English. 

The huge banners on the side of buildings says “Beijing 2008″ – that’s an English phrase.  The women’s bicycle events had the name of each country on the side of their shorts, “France”, “Russia”, “Estonia”, “Italia” even “China” – all English writing, not Chinese.  Do you know why the Chinese are using English, instead of Chinese, for 2008 Olympic Games in China?  Because it’s the language most people around the world speak in addition to their own. 

Luckily, most American kids are immersed in English every day. Some want to change that by having us communicate in both English and Spanish. Huh? Why won’t Spanish speaking people in America learn English?  According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, “Applicants for naturalization must be able to read, write, speak, and understand words in ordinary usage in the English language.” 

Why would you want to start separating Americans by introducing a second language?

Asking that we all speak the same language – English – reflects a desire to come together and stay together.  Complaining about pressing 1 for English and 2 for Spanish is not racist – it’s touching, actually. 

English language advocates want us to come together, to understand each other better – it’s a love thing.

Little Man Smears Palin

Last night on Fox News, including the Fox Report and the O’Reilly Factor, Carl Cameron spread rumors about Sarah Palin.

Shame on Fox News for passing along Cameron’s unfounded & anonymous smears about Sarah Palin.

Cameron seems like a little boy who gleefully spreads rumors about a pretty girl in class who wouldn’t sit with him at lunch.

Seriously, did it ever occur to him that this may be McCain staffers taking a preemptive strike at Palin to deflect criticism of them for running a bad campaign and mishandling Palin?

It sickens me that Cameron would be so friendly with Palin during the campaign only to stab her in the back when it’s over.

If this is a “he said / she said”, I believe Sarah.

For those of you that still believe Fox News is always fair and balanced, read a story I wrote back in January about how Fox News Enabled McCain’s Political Hit Job of Mitt Romney.

To be fair, Fox usually gets it right but that does not mean they are bias-free.  To any fair observer of their GOP primary coverage, they spun things for McCain. 

Now, it appears, that bias has reared it’s ugly head again in the form of Cameron’s smear of Palin.

I’m still waiting for McCain to reign in these jerks or repudiate their statements.  

p.s. – btw…”little” does not refer to Carl Cameron’s physical stature, but the smallness and pettiness of Carl’s comments and that of his source – the anonymous McCain staffer(s).

Obama Landslide in 2012?

Most Presidents, with modest victories, try to govern from the middle because if they overreach, they risk losing their narrow margin of victory in the next election. 

However, I believe Obama will “break free from the essential constraints” of most Presidents because he sees a way to structurally move this country left for generations.  Obama has a path to victory that will permit him to govern from the left, perhaps the far left, and still win by a landslide in 2012.   

Obama can make his next election a landslide in four steps:

1. Fairness Doctrine – Like most issues, Obama has been vague but the leaders of his own party (Durbin, Pelosi, Kerry) have not – they want the fairness doctrine back and conservative talk radio shut down.  Without talk radio, conservative free speech goes dark and liberals, like Obama, will benefit. 
2. Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) – Another act that sounds like it promotes freedom but does the opposite.  This bill will make voting for a union public.  Right now, it is private.  If the EFCA is passed, union reps can come to your house and ask if you’re going to vote to unionize.  How intimidating is that?  Even George McGovern is against this.  In a rare instance of clarity – Obama came out in favor of this bill as a Senator.  When Obama is President, it will become law. 
3. ACORN – ACORN will have a good friend in the White House.  Obama promises to add 250,000 “civil service” jobs to the federal payroll.  Instead of investigating ACORN for voter fraud in 15 states, or for their part in the sub-prime mortgage mess that crippled our financial markets, Obama will reward ACORN with more federal funding.  How much will the new and expanded ACORN help with Obama’s re-election?  Will Obama put Black Panthers on the federal payroll?  I’m just asking. 
4. Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants – Obama will have to time it carefully, but we will see another Amnesty bill.  Remember what stopped it last time?  Conservative talk radio (see step 1).  Without talk radio, Amnesty will pass and create 20 million new Obama supporters for the next election.  Obama won by just 7 million this time.

So, Obama has little reason to reach across the aisle, move right and govern from the middle because he has the power to move the center of the electorate left, thus ensuring a landslide victory in four years.      

Pretty scary, huh??  I’m worried about my country.  Are you?

Let’s organize a March for Freedom.

Obama Has No Mandate

At the risk of stating the obvious…

Obama had a thin resume, an even thinner voting record and shifting campaign positions.  Therefore, he has no mandate!

Remember how many positions Obama changed relative to his promises in the Democratic Primary?  In this Sept. 4 O’Reilly interview of Obama, Obama actually modifies his capital gains tax rate, during the interview, because of the give and take between O’Reilly and Obama.  During a famous exchange with Charles Gibson in a Hillary debate, Obama proposed doubling the cap gains rate to 28%.  O’Reilly suggests keeping it at 15%.  Obama eventually commits to O’Reilly to limit the rate to 20%.  Remarkable.

This is why people struggle to tell reporters what he has done and what he will do.  If people can’t say why they’re voting for Obama, then he has no mandate. 

To achieve a mandate you must take the risk of defining your agenda clearly before an election and if you win decisively, you’re given the reward of a mandate.  A great example is the 1994 Republicans and the Contract with America.  Their positions and agenda were clearly defined, they won decisively (first GOP Congress in 40 years) so they took office in January 1995 with a strong mandate.

Obama has no mandate because a) he never defined clearly his agenda (90% soaring rhetoric) and b) he did not win decisively.  In fact, given a level playing field (fair media, equal dollars, no ACORN), McCain-Palin would have won.

That says the media finally succeeded in getting their candidate elected, not that Americans chose Obama’s agenda. 

Sarah Lifted U.S. Up!

So many of us worked so hard to help make history tonight by electing the first Mom ever to be Vice-President of the United States of America.  Although we fell a little short, I am so proud of what they have accomplished.

Thank you John McCain & Sarah Palin!

I especially wanted to thank Sarah Palin for inspiring my daughter Kate.  My daughter and I were fortunate enough to attend a Palin Rally in Lanconia, NH.  Here’s some pictures from that event:

             

My daughter was lucky enough to get Sarah’s signature on my copy of the National Review with the Governor on the cover.  Although we drove 3 hours from Vermont to attend the event, it was completely worth it.  Sarah gave a great speech and provided my daughter with a real life example of a strong successful woman campaigning at the highest levels of our great democracy.

Think about all Sarah Palin has endured.  The media, the Obama campaign, writers on the left and right slammed with boat loads of unfair criticism and sexist questioning – she never lost her cool. 

Sarah was under enormous pressure to perform during her GOP Convention speech and at the V.P. debate and she passed with flying colors!  She seemed to excel under pressure and showed grace and wit.  She even took on corruption in her own party and ran against an incumbent GOP Governor – who does that??

Sarah Palin has accomplished a lot and has shown to be a natural leader as a mayor, regulator and Governor. 

She understands and respects the limits placed on our government by the founding fathers.  She speaks with conviction about how even flirting with socialism can hurt our work ethic and erode opportunity.  Her real life examples of walking the walk, by choosing life, and having a son in the military, not only inspires others, it convinces them to listen to what she has to say – she speaks from experience, with wisdom.

Sarah – we are so grateful for the work you have done during this campaign inspiring conservatives young and old to stand up and fight for America.  As Geraldine Ferraro said, “Sarah Palin helps parents keep that promise to their little girls that they daughters can be whatever they want to be”. 

Thanks Sarah!

Great Job McCain-Palin!

What a remarkable election!  Despite the fact that Obama supporters dominated our education system, our film industry, our unions and our news media, John McCain and Sarah Palin fought the good fight and came close to winning anyway.

Despite being outspent 5 to 1 and 4 to 1 in many key states, McCain-Palin only lost Florida (27) by 2 points, Ohio (20) by 3 points and Virginia (13) by 3 points.  If those three states (60 votes total) had gone the other way, the totals would have been Obama-Biden 277 to McCain-Palin 260. 

Over 110 million Americans cast their votes and McCain-Palin only lost by 4 million or 3.6% of the total – not a landslide or a mandate by any stretch – just a hard-fought contest between two strong campaigns.

I know a lot of pundits will start nit-picking McCain-Palin first thing tomorrow, if not already, but I wanted to say how proud I was of the way they fought this campaign and how much they accomplished against very long odds.

My family feels like we have gotten to know both John McCain and Sarah Palin and feel great affection for the inspiring leaders they both are, for their wonderful families and for the long hours they put in helping to keep U.S. free and reminding us how great this country is. 

Thank you Senator McCain!  Thank you Governor Palin!