For those of you who don’t believe that your calls and e-mails to Members of Congress work, let me assure you that they do. Members “freak out” when they receive more than half a dozen calls on any issue.
Rep Justin Amash
I don’t know anyone other than myself personally that take the time to call their representatives and urge them to vote one way or another on legislation that is coming up. And if you think about it, there’s 300 million Americans, and yet we’re all so “busy” that we can’t even make sure that we keep our elected officials in check. Not caring enough to make those calls or emails is going to bite us in the butt. It’s actually already in process with the most likely passage of the NDAA which includes provisions that allow for the indefinite detention of American citizens, yes that could be your or I, without charge or trial.
If you follow politics at all, and have studied history, especially the GOP, you’ll notice that the party today hardly resembles the principles that the party was based on in the past. That’s ultimately because during the Wilsonian era of the party, the party lost it’s core convictions, it’s priciples, and it’s way…completely. The conservatives today, debating fiscal conservatism, values, etc., are not Conservatives at all. They are Neoconservatives. All of that said with one exception, Ron Paul.
Here is a brief summary of the general understanding of what neocons believe:
- They agree with Trotsky on permanent revolution, violent as well as intellectual.
- They are for redrawing the map of the Middle East and are willing to use force to do so.
- They believe in preemptive war to achieve desired ends.
- They accept the notion that the ends justify the means–that hardball politics is a moral necessity.
- They express no opposition to the welfare state.
- They are not bashful about an American empire; instead they strongly endorse it.
- They believe lying is necessary for the state to survive.
- They believe a powerful federal government is a benefit.
- They believe pertinent facts about how a society should be run should be held by the elite and withheld from those who do not have the courage to deal with it.
- They believe neutrality in foreign affairs is ill advised.
- They hold Leo Strauss in high esteem.
- They believe imperialism, if progressive in nature, is appropriate.
- Using American might to force American ideals on others is acceptable. Force should not be limited to the defense of our country.
- 9/11 resulted from the lack of foreign entanglements, not from too many.
- They dislike and despise libertarians (therefore, the same applies to all strict constitutionalists.)
- They endorse attacks on civil liberties, such as those found in the Patriot Act, as being necessary.
- They unconditionally support Israel and have a close alliance with the Likud Party.
I don’t post jokes often, but during our political talk at work, a co-worker told me this and I found it quite funny.
Q: An Irishman, a Portuguese, and a Greek go into a bar and have a round of drinks. Who pays?
A: The German.
First off, SPLOST stands for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. It’s an additional tax that’s added to the sales tax that voters vote on. The proposed tax always comes with a project list that it would support. E-SPLOST is an educational SPLOST, and T-SPLOST is a transportation SPLOST.
I’m against both of the taxes that are coming up for vote/renewal for different reasons.
I’m against the E-SPLOST because of the way our county operates it’s budget and has managed the previous E-SPLOST. I’m sure many will vote ‘yes’ on this for the sole reason that it has to do with funding going to education. But before one votes to give them another check to spend as they see fit, they need to look at the prior projects that E-SPLOST has provided. It’s almost a running joke around everyone in the entire county how they just can’t seem to ever have enough schools built. I don’t even know the number of schools we have now, because every time you turn around, another $20-30M school is being built. We’re to the point that we’re neglecting the older schools to give way for a future project-that project being to tear down and replace the neglected school rather than go the cheaper route and maintain the school. I went to the school that I’m talking about, and even though it’s been over 10 years ago, there is no way that it would be to the point that it is unsafe for the children if they had not ignored maintenance for so long. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that one of the contractors for all of these new schools has some ties to those that propose these sort of taxes on the voters.
I like to see people standing up for what they believe in, but, it would be nice if they would educate themselves on what it is that they should really be standing up against first.
Not everyone that is protesting is protesting for the wrong reasons. But seeing what some are there for, and their demands, alot of them are. If the movement was protesting the root of all of the problems in this country, our monetary policy, then it could potentially bring about the change that we need. The movement needs to focus on the end of the Federal Reserve, because the Fed is the facilitator of all things that are starving the middle class, and killing our country. It’s ability to print money out of thin air, allows our leaders to lead us into never-ending wars by pretending that deficits don’t matter. It allows the markets to make investments that it would not otherwise make by forcing artificially low interest rates which lead to bubbles that eventually burst, i.e. housing market. The Fed is the problem, plain and simple.
The Tea Party gets alot of attacks from people that don’t understand what the movement stands for, especially from the Left. It’s pretty easy to understand though, those that were sent to Washington from the Tea Party, were sent with the message that the people are sick and tired of all the wasteful spending that is driving up our national debt with these unfathomable yearly deficits. This book is definitely worth reading if you are unsure what the Tea Party is really about, or if you find yourself being one of those people that blindly attack the movement.
As usual, I tuned into the debate last night. I think I laughed more during the debate than on the premier of the new season of Two and a Half Men. Primarily because of the media bias of giving Perry and Romney the most talk time is working against them in the way that they wish it wouldn’t. Unlike the other candidates, who usually stick to informing the people their stances on issues, Perry and Romney used their time to bash one another. I really don’t know which one came out of it it worse shape than entering between the two. And although he’s not my pick, it was nice to see that Fox News decided to let Gary Johnson participate. The fact that he was left out of the last debate is just another attempt of the media choosing our candidate for us. At one point Fox thought they had Ron Paul on the question regarding the border fences, but Paul came out swinging and knocked their attempt to discredit him out of the park.
A huge thanks to the friendly staff at Ron Paul’s DC Congressional office when we stopped by on our recent trip, and of course to Ron Paul for the amazing job you do for not just your constituents but for every single American across this nation. Our Founders would be so proud to see you defending Liberty and the Constitution with the honesty and integrity that you have for your entire public career! The autographed photo really made my day!
My personalized autographed photo from Ron Paul
Today, Chase & I went down to Perry, Ga with our buddy Jim to attend the Annual GA Republican Fish Fry. This was a new experience for all of us, one that we all enjoyed quite well. We got the opportunity to meet and talk with a lot of Ron Paul supporters as well as meet some higher up officials such as the former Governor of Georgia Sonny Perdue, and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. As we were walking through looking at all of the campaign tables and saw the supporters for each of the candidates, the one thing that we noticed was that the Ron Paul supporters were the most well-organized, enthusiastic, passionate, and friendliest group of any of the others there. And I’m proud that we are all a part of such a wonderful and passionate group of people.
Everyone that purchased a ticket got a free lunch, which consisted of catfish, fries, and slaw, as well as a ticket to vote for the candidate that you want to ultimately win the primary and become the Republican Nominee. Herman Cain came in 1st with 232 votes and Ron Paul came in 2nd with 229 votes. Not bad at all considering this is Cain’s home state and three votes is almost a statistical tie. The Revolution is growing, and with the time between now and the primaries, victory should be ours!
The town hall meeting today with Georgia Senators Chambliss and Isakson was a very neat experience. I went with Chase and one of our friends, Jim. We all sported Ron Paul tees which attracted quite a bit of positive attention. Having never went to one, I wasn’t sure what it would be like, but as soon as we got there, I felt so much like I had done it many times before. We were greeted as we approached the school by some very friendly people from around the Gilmer County area. A lot of people seemed very surprised to see people our age there, and were excited to see it as well.
The Senators took quite a few questions, and also took quite a bit of criticism from some very angry constituents. As expected, on some questions that were addressed as ‘yes or no’ questions the Senators did what politicians do best, and water down the answer trying to get by without a one word answer. This angered someone in the crowd who made it known that he was not happy with the dodging of the question.
If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.
—
© Copyright 2007-2012 Shane Holden
All Rights Reserved.
