Tag: Republicans

Are New Jersey’s “Governor Zeppelin’s” Presidential Aspirations Going Down in Flames? Oh, The Humanity!

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

Chris Christie CartoonNew Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the Keynote Speaker of last year’s Republican Convention, finds himself at the center of some political chicanery, that just may shoot out of the sky any aspirations he may be floating to be the Republican Presidential Candidate in 2016.

The political shenanigans involve lane closures on the George Washington Bridge.  Gov. Christie spoke out on the matter yesterday, as the local CBS affiliate reported:

“What I’ve seen today for the first time is unacceptable. I am outraged and deeply saddened to learn that not only was I misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge. One thing is clear: this type of behavior is unacceptable and I will not tolerate it because the people of New Jersey deserve better. This behavior is not representative of me or my Administration in any way, and people will be held responsible for their actions,” the governor said in a statement.

As CBS 2’s Jessica Schneider reported, Christie had said previously that no one in his office or his campaign knew about the lane closures back in September.

But the email and text messages between Christie’s deputy chief of staff and the governor’s appointees to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey show a seemingly deliberate effort to create traffic gridlock by shutting Fort Lee’s access to the George Washington Bridge after its mayor refused to endorse Christie for re-election.

“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly wrote to David Wildstein, a top political appointee at the Port Authority, which runs the George Washington Bridge, one of the world’s busiest spans.

“Got it,” Wildstein reportedly replied before ordering the closures.

Kelly wrote the email on Aug. 13, about a month before two of three local access lanes to the bridge were diverted, causing hour-long backups in Fort Lee during the first week of school. The lane closures were not announced in advance.

“They are the children of Buono voters,” Kelly joked – referring to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono who was challenging Christie.

Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, said the now-public documents have confirmed his suspicions.

“I didn’t want to jump in to this arena because I’ve got enough to do in Fort Lee. But it’s now pretty clear that there’s intentionality involved,” he told WCBS 880′s Levon Putney.

State Democrats have long said the gridlock-inducing lane closures were political retaliation.

“I don’t know if this is comical or if it’s criminal. We went through absolute hell and misery here in Fort Lee for four days,” said Sokolich.

For those of you who have not been paying attention, Chris Christie, or “Goveror Zeppelin” as he was named by my friend, New Jersey native Gene Hoyas, has long been considered to be the Republican Establishment’s top choice to be their Presidential Candidate in 2016.

Never mind that he betrayed 2012 Republican Candidate Mitt Romney by having a bromance with President Barack Hussein Obama, as he visited New Jersey on a photo op, touring the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy.

The fact of the matter is that Reagan Conservatives, down here in America’s Heartland, “Flyover Country”, if you will, never trusted Gov.  Zeppelin to begin with.

Let’s face it: Christie is not a Conservative. He claims to be one…but he isn’t. He is, at best, a Political Moderate, or a “Squish”.

Kurt Schlichter, writing for Townhall.com in an article posted last November, nails the way Conservatives feel about the Vichy Republican’s potential 2016 Presidential Nominee:

We feel you’re in it for yourself and that if you get elected your administration will be a festival of squishiness that would make George W. Bush look like Ted Cruz.

Getting up to talk about Mitt Romney and talking about yourself? Classless. Getting in a micturition contest with conservative warrior Rand Paul? Lame. And don’t delude yourself that we are mad because you hugged the President on the eve of the election. Our beef was your evident glee, as if you were publicly repudiating our imagined “irrational hatred.” We had beefs with Mitt Romney, but we respected him as a decent man and we saw your act as a cheap backstab designed to promote yourself when he needed you most.

…We think that you think we’re stupid. Call it a feeling or a vibe, but we are used to a certain class of Republican acting as if conservatives are drooling morons. Inevitably, these same GOP geniuses are the ones who prattled on and on about the electability of McCain and Romney. Note that they’re also giddy about you.

Whenever the fawning mainstream media – let’s see how fawning it is once you start endangering Hillary – interviews you, you always have a long list of things we conservatives have done wrong. You never offer us much credit for the little things we’ve done right, like – oh, I dunno – winning back the House.

We suspect your attitude demonstrates a willingness to disregard our concerns. After all, who cares what a bunch of dummies thinks, right? Just keep in mind that if these “dummies” stay home, you get to spend 2017 running out the clock in the Garden State while being the Curley of the Three Stooges of GOP presidential failure.

You have a real problem. Right now, a lot of conservatives – I need to emphasize, a lot – are threatening to stay home if you get nominated. Go ask Presidents McCain and Romney how that works out on election night.

Of course, now that it appears that the big man is up to his suspenders in a political scandal, we Conservatives may not have to worry about staying home or holding our noise and voting for a Republican Squish, as we did in 2012.

Even if he escapes from this political crash virtually unscathed, it will damage Gov. Zeppelin’s political reputation enough to where he will be lucky to hold on to his current job.

And, that will be just fine. Americans have had enough of the Republican Presidential Candidates, chosen by the Republican Establishment.

2016 will be our Golden Opportunity.

In his 1975 speech to CPAC Ronald Reagan said that,

Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people.

Talking straight to the American People will win the day. 

Squishiness will lose…again.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Senate Democrats Vote to Cut Military Pensions Benefits…Keep IRS Credit for Illegal Immigrants.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

veterans marchIf you ask any average American, out here in the Real World, which we refer to as the Heartland of America, if they think that Pension Benefits to our Military Veterans who have defended our freedom, should be cut, in order to keep an IRS Credit for Illegal Immigrants, they would look at you as if you were wearing your underwear on top of your head and their answer to your question would not just be “no”, but H@ll, no!

Evidently, Senate Democrats prefer to protect “benefits” for those who have entered our country illegally, instead of taking care of  those who have fought to protect and defend our freedom.

Foxnews.com reports that

A final effort by Senate Republicans to halt cuts to pensions of military retirees failed late Tuesday, after Democrats blocked an amendment to the controversial budget bill.

The two-year budget agreement, which cleared a key test vote earlier in the day, was expected to get a final vote no later than Wednesday.

Ahead of the final vote, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., tried unsuccessfully to use a parliamentary tactic to force a vote on the amendment, which he wrote to undo the cuts for military retirees.

A provision in the already House-passed bill would cut retirement benefits for military retirees by $6 billion over 10 years.

Sessions wanted to instead eliminate an estimated $4.2 billion in annual spending by reining in an IRS credit that illegal immigrants have claimed.

He and fellow senators argued the bill unfairly sticks veterans and other military retirees with the cost of new spending.

“It’s not correct, and it should not happen,” Sessions said on the floor.

“By blocking my amendment, they voted to cut pensions for wounded warriors,” he said afterwards. “Senators in this chamber have many valid ideas for replacing these pension cuts, including my proposal to close the tax welfare loophole for illegal filers, and all deserved a fair and open hearing. But they were denied.”

Sessions’ office claimed the vote Tuesday to block the amendment was a vote to “cut military pensions instead of cutting welfare for illegal immigrants.”

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash.,who brokered the budget deal with House counterpart Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., argued the GOP effort was really an attempt to kill the entire bill.

The Republican-led House passed the bill last week in an effort to avoid another stalemate leading to a potential government shutdown, like the one in October that polls showed was largely unpopular with voters.

Where was the GOP Leadership in the Senate? You know, The Sunshine Boys, McCain and McConnell? Why weren’t they supporting Sen. Sessions?

After the House passed the Budget “Compromise” last week, Rush Limbaugh made the following astute observation:

The Republicans are scared to death to say anything critical of Obama and the Democrats. And they’ll do anything to avoid a government shutdown, including giving Obama what he wants, which we just saw.

Back on October 20th, Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin wrote these words in an Op Ed, posted on Breitbart.com. They fit what is happening, regarding the Budget Issue, perfectly:

…GOP politicians claim they’re against Obamacare and promise to repeal it. But when it came time to stand up and use the Constitutional tools they have – the power of the purse strings – to finally halt the implementation, they balked, waved the white flag, and joined the lapdog media in trashing the good guys who fought for us.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, these same politicians are covertly pushing through amnesty despite evidence that the 33 million newly legalized voters will overwhelmingly lean Democrat! Obviously this makes the likelihood of a GOP hat trick electoral victory, and hence the repeal of socialized healthcare, even more improbable.

The media wants you to believe that the partial government shutdown “fractured” the Republican machine from grassroots commonsense conservatives who go by the acronym TEA Party (that stands for “Taxed Enough Already”). No, Tea Party patriots rose up because the Republican machine “fractured” itself years ago by marginalizing its conservative base. The recent “slimdown” didn’t cause the fracture. It happened because of the fracture – because wayward Republicans have refused for years to stand up and fight for economic freedom and limited government, despite campaigning on those principles every election cycle. That’s how we got into this debt-ridden mess in the first place. They campaigned one way, but governed another.

It’s the establishment’s choice whether this fracture remains unfixed because the conservative grassroots will never give up the fight for freedom. Never. Never. Generations of our sons and daughters sent off to war to protect our freedom have paid too high a price for us to ever give up the fight.

As the Republican Establishment continues to propagate its “Live to fight another day” theme in all of its cave-ins to the wishes of Congressional Democrats, they would be wise to remember the words of the Great Communicator, Ronald Reagan, who said,

Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

It is time for the Vichy Republicans to put down their pacifiers and MAN UP.

…If they want to keep their jobs.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The House Budget Proposal: Vichy Republicans Capitulate. Sell Out Conservative Base.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics9 Comments

boehnercryingDo you realize that since 1988, a Republican Party Presidential Candidate has won the Popular Vote only once? And, that was George W. Bush in 2004.

There is a reason for that, and it is not what the Liberals, of both political parties would have you think.

Like Reagan before him, Dubya exuded a “Optimistic Conservatism”, which appealed not only to The Republican Party Conservative Base, but to Conservative Democrats, as well.

After losing twice in the Presidential Election to a Far Left Ideologue in the person of Barack Hussein Obama, by now, you would think that the Republican Party would return to the “Optimistic Conservatism” which actually has won both Congressional and Presidential Elections for them in the past, but no….

According to thehill.com…

Speaker John Boehner called it “ridiculous” Wednesday that outside conservative groups oppose a budget deal crafted by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).

RSC Chairman Steve Scalise dismissed Teller later in the day over accusations that Teller was leaking intel to the groups.

“We are saddened and outraged that an organization that purports to represent conservatives in Congress would dismiss a staff member for advancing conservatism and working with conservatives outside of Congress,” the leaders’ statement reads. “Paul Teller is one of the true heroes of the conservative movement. For over a decade, he has been the guiding light of conservatism on Capitol Hill. No one has done more to advance conservative principles and block the liberal agenda than Paul Teller. In the tradition of President Reagan, he is a true happy warrior who is both forceful and courageous.”

The effort was put together by the Conservative Action Project, a weekly gathering of more than 100 CEOS of organizations representing conservative movement, economic, national security and social groups. Co-signers include: Ed Meese, former attorney general under President Ronald Reagan; former Rep. David McIntosh (R-Ind.); Brent Bozell, chairman of For America; Mike Needham, CEO of Heritage Action for America; and Colin Hanna, president of Let Freedom Ring.

Conservatives have a right to be upset, as reported on cnbc.com,

House Republicans “capitulated” in agreeing to the two-year budget deal reached last night and left the country to deal with an unsustainable fiscal situation until the peak of the presidential primaries in 2015, when nothing will get done, former federal budget director David Stockman told CNBC on Wednesday.

“First, let’s be clear—it’s a joke and betrayal,” Stockman, who served under President Ronald Reagan, said on “Squawk on the Street.” “It’s the final surrender of the House Republican leadership to Beltway politics and kicking the can and ignoring the budget monster that’s hurtling down the road.”

Stockman added that the budget deal means lawmakers would take a “two-year vacation” from dealing with the country’s fiscal situation and revisit it in 2015 at around the same time as the Iowa straw polls. Without an incumbent in the presidential race, both political parties will be too busy to touch the budget, he said.

While some hailed the budget deal as a breakthrough in Washington’s political gridlock, Stockman compared the accord to “kicking the can” into “low Earth orbit.”

“There’s plenty of room, but they’re unwilling to make the tough choices,” he said. “Now, I understand Democrats doing that. The only hope of getting our fiscal situation under control is if the House Republicans stand up. And they’ve totally capitulated.”

The two-year deal averts deeper cuts to military spending, but Stockman said that’s where lawmakers should have looked for savings. The U.S. no longer faces threats from developed countries and has been “fired as the world’s policemen,” he said.

Any meaningful changes to the budget wouldn’t happen until nearly 2020 if lawmakers don’t address them now, he said. Washington still has a chance to duel over the debt ceiling this February, however, and over unemployment benefits in the shorter term.

Conservative Radio Talk Show Host Rush Limbaugh thinks that these Vichy Republicans are scared of another Shutdown:

The Republicans in Congress — and I would say that this is probably true of the Republicans in Washington. They are suffering shell shock.

They are not moved at all by Obama’s plummeting poll numbers. They are not moved at all by the problems people are having with Obamacare. They are in shell shock. I’ve described it as posttraumatic stress disorder. Whatever, they are literally afraid of one thing, and that is being blamed again for the government shutdown. That was the objective, to make sure there wasn’t a government shutdown, and it didn’t matter what was required.

If it meant funding Obamacare, which has happened, that’s what they’d do. It’s this simple. The Republicans didn’t like the idea of defunding Obamacare. They didn’t like the idea of a partial government shutdown. They’re living in a different world. They believe that the country despises and hates them.

They believe that Obama is still universally loved and adored and that there is nothing they can do to overcome that.

They think that anything that goes against Obama’s way is going to result in them being blamed, and it’s an election year next year, and they don’t want to get anywhere near another government shutdown. No matter the principle involved. No matter the issues involved. They just weren’t gonna go there. I’ve never seen anything like this. I have never seen this degree of shell shock or whatever else you want to call it.

…Preventing another shutdown is all that mattered. They really, to this minute, believe that they may have been irreparably harmed by being blamed for the shutdown a couple of months ago. They are paralyzed. The fear of what the media will say and do and report has them paralyzed. I think, in large part, that’s also why so many of them are talking about moving ahead with amnesty and so forth.

…they hate the idea of another partial government shutdown. They just do. It isn’t gonna happen no matter what, because they still haven’t gotten over what they think is being blamed for it. Most people don’t even remember. This is the thing. The disconnect with their own voters and base, I have never seen anything like it. They are so frightened of being blamed for another shutdown that they gave up parts of the sequester, which had been a hard line on spending.

I have some news from the Heartland for the Vichy Republicans who have politically barricaded themselves from the American citizens they are supposed to be serving: 

They have good reason to be afraid. 2014 is close than they think. and given the way they are treating American Conservatives, 2014 is going to make the Political Massacre of 2010 seem like a co–ed pillow fight.

The Mid-Term Elections of 2014 are on their way to looking like the opening Battle Scenes in the movie “Gladiator” with Russell Crowe.

And guess what, Speaker Boehner? You ain’t Maximus and your fellow Vichy Republicans aren’t the victorious Roman Legionnaires.

I hope you guys have a trade to fall back on.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Dems Stifle Freedom of Speech in the Senate. Obama Praises Them.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

obamabillofrightsYesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in what was either a “Look! Squirrel!” moment, designed by the Democrats to distract Americans from the Obamacare Disaster, or to ensure that activist judges would continue to do the bidding of the Progressives and their Petulant President, lead the Senate Democrats in approving a historic rules change that eliminated the use of the filibuster on all presidential nominees except those to the U.S. Supreme Court.

By using the long-threatened “nuclear option”, the Democrats have ensured that most of President Barack Hussein Obama’s judicial and executive branch nominees no longer need to clear the 60-vote threshold that was formerly required to reach the Senate floor and get an up-or-down vote.

Of course, President Obama was as happy as Star War’s Emperor Palpatine, when he was “elected” to rule the Empire and “Liberty died…to thunderous applause”…

All too often, we’ve seen a single senator or a handful of senators choose to abuse arcane procedural tactics to unilaterally block bipartisan compromises, or to prevent well-qualified, patriotic Americans from filling critical positions of public service in our system of government.

Now, at a time when millions of American have desperately searched for work, repeated abuse of these tactics have blocked legislation that might create jobs. They’ve defeated actions that would help women fighting for equal pay. They’ve prevented more progress than we would have liked for striving young immigrants trying to earn their citizenship. Or it’s blocked efforts to end tax breaks for companies that are shipping jobs overseas. They’ve even been used to block common-sense and widely supported steps to protect more Americans from gun violence, even as families of victims sat in the Senate chamber and watched. And they’ve prevented far too many talented Americans from serving their country at a time when their country needs their talents the most.

The American people’s business is far too important to keep falling prey, day after day, to Washington politics.

I’m a former senator. So is my Vice President. We both value any Senate’s duty to advise and consent. It’s important, and we take that very seriously. But a few now refuse to treat that duty of advise and consent with the respect that it deserves. It’s no longer used in a responsible way to govern. It’s rather used as a reckless and relentless tool to grind all business to a halt. And that’s not what our Founders intended, and it’s certainly not what our country needs right now.

And I just want to remind everybody, what’s at stake here is not my ability to fulfill my constitutional duty. What’s at stake is the ability of any President to fulfill his or her constitutional duty. Public service is not a game. It is a privilege. And the consequences of action or inaction are very real. The American people deserve better than politicians who run for election telling them how terrible government is, and then devoting their time in elected office to trying to make government not work as often as possible.

That, boys and girls, is what we call “irony”.

Obama is right…but, not in the way he thinks.

The American people don’t deserve this. We deserve America leadership which will respect the wishes of our Founding Fathers, not attempt to interpret them for their own nefarious purposes, in order to attempt a coupe d’ tat of our judiciary system and to sabotage our System of Checks and Balances.

In the 1939 American Cinema Classic, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, a naive young man, Jefferson Smith, brilliantly portrayed by the legendary Jimmy Stewart, is appointed to fill a vacancy in the US Senate. His plans promptly collide with political corruption, but he doesn’t back down.

He winds up holding a filibuster on the Senate Floor, one man, standing for what is right, against the corruption of Political Ideologues, bought and paid for by special interest groups.

Sound familiar?

Here are a couple of excerpts from that classic scene on the Floor of the Senate. They ring as true today as they did all those years ago.

You see, boys forget what their country means by just reading The Land of the Free in history books. Then they get to be men they forget even more. Liberty’s too precious a thing to be buried in books, Miss Saunders. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say: I’m free to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn’t, I can, and my children will. Boys ought to grow up remembering that.

…Just get up off the ground, that’s all I ask. Get up there with that lady that’s up on top of this Capitol dome, that lady that stands for liberty. Take a look at this country through her eyes if you really want to see something. And you won’t just see scenery; you’ll see the whole parade of what Man’s carved out for himself, after centuries of fighting. Fighting for something better than just jungle law, fighting so’s he can stand on his own two feet, free and decent, like he was created, no matter what his race, color, or creed. That’s what you’d see. There’s no place out there for graft, or greed, or lies, or compromise with human liberties. And, uh, if that’s what the grownups have done with this world that was given to them, then we’d better get those boys’ camps started fast and see what the kids can do. And it’s not too late, because this country is bigger than the Taylors, or you, or me, or anything else. Great principles don’t get lost once they come to light. They’re right here; you just have to see them again!

But, what power do we average Americans have? What weapon do we have to stand up to this exercise of tyranny by those who are supposed to serve us?

President Ronald Reagan answered that question on September 26, 1986 at the investiture of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Associate Justice Antonin Scalia at the White House…

…the Founding Fathers designed a system of checks and balances, and of limited government, because they knew that the great preserver of our freedoms would never be the courts or either of the other branches alone. It would always be the totality of our constitutional system, with no one part getting the upper hand. And that’s why the judiciary must be independent. And that is why it must exercise restraint.

So, our protection is in the constitutional system, and one other place as well. Lincoln asked, “What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty?” And he answered, “It is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us.” Yes, we the people are the ultimate defenders of freedom. We the people created the Government and gave it its powers. And our love of liberty and our spiritual strength, our dedication to the Constitution, are what, in the end, preserves our great nation and this great hope for all mankind. All of us, as Americans, are joined in a great common enterprise to write the story of freedom — the greatest adventure mankind has ever known and one we must pass on to our children and their children, remembering that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.

The warning, more than a century ago, attributed to Daniel Webster, remains as timeless as the document he revered. “Miracles do not cluster,” he said, “Hold on to the Constitution of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands — what has happened once in 6,000 years may never happen again. Hold on to your Constitution, for if the American Constitution shall fall there will be anarchy throughout the world.”

The Great Communicator was, per usual, exactly right. We must remain strong and steadfast if we are to remain free.

Stay vigilant, Americans.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Pelosi Denies Obamacare Disaster

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

pelosigavelRemember the Victory March, which Democrats took on their way  to the signing of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare?

My, how things have changed. Democrats are running away from Obama and his Signature Legislation, like rats jumping off of a sinking ship.

But, hey. The House Minority Leader says, “Nothing to see here. Move along.”

Yesterday, on NBC’s Meet The Press, David Gregory interviewed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, concerning  the disaster that is Obamacare.

DAVID GREGORY: Why aren’t you concerned at this point that this is in grave danger of not being done right?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, I’m very unhappy about the website, as you can just imagine the president is. But I know the makings of the legislation, and what it does for people. And, again, look, this Republican measure on Friday, what makes matters so worse, allows the marketplace to be deprived of people who should be there getting lower prices with better benefits and perhaps even a tax credit.

So that wasn’t a fix, it was a make matters worse. But they’re running a political arena and you expect that. But you can’t be knocked for a loop just because somebody’s playing politics. If that was the case, we would have never passed it in the first place.

DAVID GREGORY: Final point: Democrats won’t lose seats next year over Obamacare?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: I don’t think you can tell what will happen next year. But I will tell you this: Democrats stand tall in support of the Affordable Care Act. We have great candidates who are running, who are concerned about our economy, and are concerned that government was shut down because of a whim on the part of the Republicans, costing us $25 billion to our economy and 0.6% of our GDP growth.

They’re concerned that overwhelmingly the American people support immigration reform, support background checks, support ending discrimination against people in the workplace; all of these kinds of things are the concerns of the American people. Jobs will be the major issue in the campaign, as they always are.

And this is an issue that has to be dealt with, but it doesn’t mean, “Oh, it’s a political issue, so we’re going to run away from it.” No, it’s too valuable for the American people. What is important about it is that the American people are well served, not who gets reelected.

On March 10, 2010, Rep. Pelosi said the following, in a speech to the 2010 Legislative Conference for National Association of Counties…

You’ve heard about the controversies within the bill, the process about the bill, one or the other. But I don’t know if you have heard that it is legislation for the future, not just about health care for America, but about a healthier America, where preventive care is not something that you have to pay a deductible for or out of pocket. Prevention, prevention, prevention—it’s about diet, not diabetes. It’s going to be very, very exciting.

But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.

On June 10, 2012, during a luncheon with Opinion Writers, including The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart, Rep. Pelosi tried to explain her now famous remarks,

“In the fall of the year,” Pelosi said today, “the outside groups…were saying ‘it’s about abortion,’ which it never was. ‘It’s about ‘death panels,’’ which it never was. ‘It’s about a job-killer,’ which it creates four million. ‘It’s about increasing the deficit’; well, the main reason to pass it was to decrease the deficit.” Her contention was that the Senate “didn’t have a bill.” And until the Senate produced an actual piece of legislation that could be matched up and debated against what was passed by the House, no one truly knew what would be voted on. “They were still trying to woo the Republicans,” Pelosi said of the Senate leadership and the White House, trying to “get that 60th vote that never was coming. That’s why [there was a] reconciliation [vote]” that required only a simple majority.

“So, that’s why I was saying we have to pass a bill so we can see so that we can show you what it is and what it isn’t,” Pelosi continued. “It is none of these things. It’s not going to be any of these things.” She recognized that her comment was “a good statement to take out of context.” But the minority leader added, “But the fact is, until you have a bill, you can’t really, we can’t really debunk what they’re saying….”

Despite Pelosi’s protestations, time has revealed to be true that Americans’ concerns about the Affordable Care Act, the legislation which was crafted to socialize the American Healthcare System, and which is designed to lead into a Government-run Single Payor National Healthcare System.

Norman Mattoon Thomas, six-time Socialist candidate for president, said in a 1944 speech, that,

The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But, under the name of “liberalism,” they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation without knowing how it happened … The Democratic Party has adopted our (Socialist) platform.

Later, in 1961, Future United States President Ronald Reagan said,

One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. Most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it.

What give me hope, though, is the backlash to the disastrous launch of Obamacare. Those Americans, who may have been supportive of Obamacare, at first, have now seen the reality of this misbegotten piece of legislation staring them in them face. The high premiums and lost insurance policies have been a cold slap in the face to Americans, who were expecting the legislation to be something quite difference due to the lies and manipulation of Obama, his Administration, Pelosi, Reid, and all of their sycophants in Congress.

Now that reality has set in, Obama and Pelosi’s protestations ring hollow with Americans.

There are two actions which are now paramount:

1. Repeal Obamacare fully.

2. Vote anybody who voted for it, out in 2014.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Election Aftermath: The Tea Party/Reagan Conservatives Vs. Liberals on Both “Sides of the Aisle”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics6 Comments

McCainObamaMay I ask y’all something?  Whose side are the Beltway Republicans on?  You know who I’m talking about.  The I’m smarter-than-you, reach-across-the aisle RINOs, whose go along to get along embracing of Liberalism resulted in the 2006 election of the worst Congress in history and the horrible first two years of this national nightmare called the Obama Presidency.

I’m not just talking about politicians.  I’m also talking about the squishy national so-called Conservative Pundits, whose Conservatism bends to the Left with the prevailing D.C. political winds.

In Tuesday’s Election, the divide between these Vichy Republicans and the Conservative Base of the Republican Party, was made clearly evident, by their unflagging support for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, RINO Extraordinaire, and their lack of support for Virginia Gubernatorial Republican Candidate, Ken Cuccinelli.

Rush Limbaugh nails it, per usual.

Cuccinelli was supposed to lose this thing in a landslide. He ended up losing it by one to two percent. So it fits the Clinton model to a T. Bagman candidate, third-party candidate that’s a bogus placeholder, to siphon off votes, and it worked like a charm. But the details coming out of Virginia are even more frustrating and maddening than that. Even though they were predicted, it’s still frustrating to see it happen.

And I must tell you, folks, I’ve got audio sound bites here, I’m somewhat surprised, because in a series of these sound bites the Drive-By Media is not all that ecstatic over what happened in Virginia. I mean, they’re not looking at it as a repudiation of the Tea Party ’cause they know that’s not what happened. You know who wants you to think it’s a repudiation of the Tea Party? The GOP establishment. There’s some fascinating numbers here. The Republican National Committee in 2009 in the gubernatorial race there for Bob McDonnell, the Republican National Committee spent three times as much money four years ago on the same race as they did this year.

They spent $1 million. That’s it. One million for Ken Cuccinelli. Their candidate. The Chamber of Commerce spent zero helping Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli begged Chris Christie to come in and campaign for him. Christie said no, he wasn’t gonna do it. The Chamber of Commerce spent a million dollars four years ago in the governor’s race in Virginia, as I say, not a dime on Cuccinelli. And here we go again. Just like Mitt Romney. Cuccinelli won independents by nine points, 47 to 38%.

Now, what have we been told collectively for decades by the media? Well, hell, by the political establishment? That is, “You need to win the independents. You can’t win without the independents.” That’s what they’ve all told us. And that has been part of a trick that the media and the Democrats launched to great success against the Republicans. The theory has always been that the Democrats are gonna get 80%, the Republicans are gonna get 80%, and then there’s that great unwashed in there, that 20%. And every political candidate has been approached by every political consultant and the consultant has said, “I’m the guy that can get you that 20% of the vote. I’m the guy that can get you the independents.” And what that did was make the Republicans abandon their base and campaign, rather than for everybody, the Republicans end up with a centrist, moderate, wimpy, linguine-spined campaign aimed at so-called independents, at 20%.

Cuccinelli didn’t, by the way. But in national elections, the Republicans end up making this move. They get talked into believing that you win the independents and you win. Well, Romney won the independents going away, and he lost, didn’t he? And Cuccinelli won the independents going away. He won independents by nine points, 47 to 38%. And you now know what they’re saying? “Well, the independents are different than the moderates.” Oh, that’s new now. Now that Republicans are running the independents, it isn’t any big deal anymore. No, now you don’t need the independents. Now you gotta go out and win the moderates.

Well, what is a moderate? Tell me, Snerdley, how would you, if somebody asked you to explain to ’em what a moderate is, what would you say? It’s a liberal without the guts to say so. A moderate is one of two things: a liberal that won’t admit it or somebody that waits to see which way the wind’s blowing and joins the crowd. By definition, a moderate isn’t passionate about anything. Can’t be. But now we gotta go after the moderates.

And there’s also another lesson that’s being said here by the Republican establishment. They’re looking at Christie, they’re looking at Cuccinelli, saying, “If Cuccinelli would have just been for amnesty, and if he woulda just moderated on the social issues, who knows, he coulda won. But we couldn’t support him when he didn’t.” It’s just absolutely obscene what’s happened here, if you ask me.

Beltway politicians and Pundits live in a bubble.  They have disassociated themselves from the common people.  The only time the Beltway Elite Republicans seem to pay attention to the wishes of Americans in the Heartland is when we melt the Congressional Phone Lines down and threaten their well-paying jobs. 

That’s why the rise of the Tea Party movement and America’s return to Conservatism, which resulted in the political massacre known as the Midterm Elections, was such a surprise to them.  In their self-imposed isolation, they actually thought that the America people wanted them to continue their deal-making, soul-selling, business-as-usual politics.

Now, Republicans are scrambling, trying to figure out how to appease an angry electorate and keep their cushy jobs, in the face of their mishandling of the catastrophe known as Obamacare and their support in the push for Amnesty for Illegal Aliens.  

Pundits are trying give them all the cover they can, while offering criticism in columns specifically written as to not cost the pundit their place on the Broadcast television networks’ Sunday morning shows or to cause them to be left off the invitation list for all the cool Beltway cocktail parties.

In summation, there is still an us and them mentality in the Beltway, even among the resurgent Republican Party.  If the Republicans don’t legislate as Conservatives, and ignore the message sent to them by American voters on November 2nd, 2010, it won’t matter if the Pundits praise them or criticize them, they will be out of a job.

After all, there is much more to America than just the Beltway.  And there are a lot more American voters than there are ” Severely Conservative” Politicians and Pundits.

The Vichy Republicans remind me of “Blazing Saddles”:

We must protect our phony baloney jobs, gentlemen! Hrumph!

The greatest U.S. President of our Generation, Ronald Wilson Reagan, once said,

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and other “Tea Party Republicans” seem to be willing to do just that.

If the old guard Vichy Republicans care more about their Capitol Hill way of life than their country and their constituents, then it is time for them to get out of the way, and allow Sen. Cruz, and his allies to lead the battle against this corrupt anti-American Administration.

Because, as the old saying goes,

If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obamacare: NBC Cried, “Obama Lied!!!”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics9 Comments

obamadoctorWhen Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmm) assumed the office of President of the United States, he promised to have the most transparent Administration evah.

To say that ol’ Scooter has fallen just a wee bit short of that promise, is like saying that the Titanic hit an ice-cube.

On Saturday, August 8, 2009, during his Weekly Address, “The Smartest Guy in the Room” said,

As we draw close to finalizing – and passing – real health insurance reform, the defenders of the status quo and political point-scorers in Washington are growing fiercer in their opposition. In recent days and weeks, some have been using misleading information to defeat what they know is the best chance of reform we have ever had. That is why it is important, especially now, as Senators and Representatives head home and meet with their constituents, for you, the American people, to have all the facts.

So, let me explain what reform will mean for you. And let me start by dispelling the outlandish rumors that reform will promote euthanasia, cut Medicaid, or bring about a government takeover of health care. That’s simply not true. This isn’t about putting government in charge of your health insurance; it’s about putting you in charge of your health insurance. Under the reforms we seek, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.

And while reform is obviously essential for the 46 million Americans who don’t have health insurance, it will also provide more stability and security to the hundreds of millions who do. Right now, we have a system that works well for the insurance industry, but that doesn’t always work well for you. What we need, and what we will have when we pass health insurance reform, are consumer protections to make sure that those who have insurance are treated fairly and that insurance companies are held accountable.

Remember what happened a month after that, on September 9, 2009, during President Barack Hussein Obama’s very first State of the Union Speech?

On September 10, 2009, CNN.com reported the following:

A Republican House member shouted, “You lie” during President Obama’s health care speech to Congress on Wednesday, and members of both parties condemned the heckling.

After the speech, South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson issued a statement apologizing for his outburst.

“This evening, I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill,” the statement said. “While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.”

Wilson also called the White House to apologize and spoke with Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who accepted the apology on the president’s behalf, according to a senior administration official.

“We can disagree without being disagreeable,” Emanuel said to Wilson, according to the official. “That was the point of the president’s speech.”

The outburst came when Obama denied that proposed health care legislation would provide free health coverage for illegal immigrants. Immediately, Wilson shouted, “You lie!”

The outburst caused Obama to stop and look toward the heckler. “That’s not true,” the president responded.

Hotair.com reported the following on August 28, 2009:

In what he called the “first myth” being spread by critics of his proposal for a government-run health care system, Obama said they are wrong in claiming illegal immigrants will be covered: “That is not true. Illegal immigrants would not be covered. That idea has not even been on the table.” Obama said.

Well, Mr. President, that idea must have been tucked under a stack of background briefing papers over there in the corner of the table because the Congressional Research Service (CRS) says this about H.R. 3200, the Obamacare bill approved just before the recess by the House Energy and Commerce Committee chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-CA:

“Under H.R. 3200, a ‘Health Insurance Exchange’ would begin operation in 2013 and would offer private plans alongside a public option…H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitzens—whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently—participating in the Exchange.”

So you see, gentle reader, Joe Wilson was exactly right. Although he, like the rest of the nation, had no idea to what extent Obama did and would lie to all of us.

Last night NBC News reported that

President Obama repeatedly assured Americans that after the Affordable Care Act became law, people who liked their health insurance would be able to keep it. But millions of Americans are getting or are about to get cancellation letters for their health insurance under Obamacare, say experts, and the Obama administration has known that for at least three years.

Four sources deeply involved in the Affordable Care Act tell NBC NEWS that 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a “cancellation” letter or the equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don’t meet the standards mandated by the new health care law. One expert predicts that number could reach as high as 80 percent. And all say that many of those forced to buy pricier new policies will experience “sticker shock.”

None of this should come as a shock to the Obama administration. The law states that policies in effect as of March 23, 2010 will be “grandfathered,” meaning consumers can keep those policies even though they don’t meet requirements of the new health care law. But the Department of Health and Human Services then wrote regulations that narrowed that provision, by saying that if any part of a policy was significantly changed since that date — the deductible, co-pay, or benefits, for example — the policy would not be grandfathered.

Buried in Obamacare regulations from July 2010 is an estimate that because of normal turnover in the individual insurance market, “40 to 67 percent” of customers will not be able to keep their policy. And because many policies will have been changed since the key date, “the percentage of individual market policies losing grandfather status in a given year exceeds the 40 to 67 percent range.”

That means the administration knew that more than 40 to 67 percent of those in the individual market would not be able to keep their plans, even if they liked them.

Yet President Obama, who had promised in 2009, “if you like your health plan, you will be able to keep your health plan,” was still saying in 2012, “If [you] already have health insurance, you will keep your health insurance.”

Indeed. 

How bad must evidence of the President’s duplicitous behavior, regarding his “Affordable Care Act” be, for the Vanguard of his Main Street Media Minions, NBC, to turn on him, in this manner? 

Joe and Mika, from Morning Joe, must have headed to the nearest bar, when they heard that NBC was going to go public with Obama’s treachery.

First CBS’ 60 Minutes’ report on Benghazi. Now this.

Could the sniveling weasels in the MSM have come to the realization that, if they keep trying to cover for this Administration, they will go down with Obama’s Sinking Ship of State?

Is the MSM simply in Survival Mode, or are they distancing themselves, in order to be a viable force for the Democratic Party, with the purpose of saving them from a Political Massacre in the 2014 and 2016 Elections?

Either way, the MSM is quickly distancing themselves from the indefensible disaster known as Obamacare, like it is last call at the local pub, and the last one there has to pick up the check.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Republican Civil War: Bold Colors Vs. Pale Pastels

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

Cartoon-Cruz-Vs-Establishment-600Three years after the now-legendary Grassroots Movement known as “The Tea Party”, the Republican Party is in a state of disarray and discontent, to put it mildly. The Republican Establishment, or Vichy Republicans, as I have dubbed them, are desperately clinging to the Washingtonian Status Quo: reaching across the aisle, and going along to get along, known non-politically as “caving in”, while pushing potential Presidential Candidates for 2016 whose platforms are so similar to those of their potential Democrat Opponents are to be virtually indistinguishable.

Oblivious of their past failures (i.e., Dole, McCain, and Romney), while pursuing their milksop Political Philosophy, the Vichy Republicans, or GOPe, as an internet friend has named them, cling to their mission to hold onto their cushy Seats of Power, by playing an old, tired political game.

Make no mistake, they will defend the Washingtonian Status Quo to their last breath, and savage anyone who threatens it, with the help of their allies from “across the aisle”, the Democrats and their minions in the Main Stream media. Look at how they have attacked Former Alaskan Governor and Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate, Sarah Palin., and now the Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.

They have called them both everything but Children of God.

However, they are not the first Conservative Republican Politicians to be attacked in this manner, in this generation.  That honor belonged to the greatest United States President in our lifetime.

On March 1, 1975, the Great Communicator and Future President of the United States, Ronald Wilson Reagan, spoke the following words at the 2nd Annual CPAC Convention. He may as well have been speaking yesterday.

I don ‘t know about you, but I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, “We must broaden the base of our party” — when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.

It was a feeling that there was not a sufficient difference now between the parties that kept a majority of the voters away from the polls. When have we ever advocated a closed-door policy? Who has ever been barred from participating?

Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?

Let us show that we stand for fiscal integrity and sound money and above all for an end to deficit spending, with ultimate retirement of the national debt.

Let us also include a permanent limit on the percentage of the people’s earnings government can take without their consent.

Let our banner proclaim a genuine tax reform that will begin by simplifying the income tax so that workers can compute their obligation without having to employ legal help.

And let it provide indexing — adjusting the brackets to the cost of living — so that an increase in salary merely to keep pace with inflation does not move the taxpayer into a surtax bracket. Failure to provide this means an increase in government’s share and would make the worker worse off than he was before he got the raise.

Let our banner proclaim our belief in a free market as the greatest provider for the people. Let us also call for an end to the nit-picking, the harassment and over-regulation of business and industry which restricts expansion and our ability to compete in world markets.

Let us explore ways to ward off socialism, not by increasing government’s coercive power, but by increasing participation by the people in the ownership of our industrial machine.

Our banner must recognize the responsibility of government to protect the law-abiding, holding those who commit misdeeds personally accountable.

And we must make it plain to international adventurers that our love of peace stops short of “peace at any price.”

We will maintain whatever level of strength is necessary to preserve our free way of life.

A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.

I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.

Timeless Advice.

Here’s some from ol’ KJ, if I may be so bold: you members of the Republican Establishment need to climb down off of your bar stools at the Congressional Country Club, and travel outside the Echo Chamber of the Beltway, where actual, average Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, trying to provide for their families, while attempting to make a better life for their children and grandchildren.

Come on down to Mississippi and sit a spell and have some barbecue, sweet tea, and ‘nana puddin’ with us average Americans, instead of hanging out with Obama at the White House and partaking of Arugula and Wagyu Beef.

You want to know why Folks like Sarah Palin, Mike Lee, and Ted Cruz are so popular with average, real-life Americans (as opposed to statistics in an anonymous poll)?

Check out the pictures from a week ago Saturday of the Veterans March on Washington. They were there, GOPe. Why weren’t you?

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Shutdown: The Surrender of the GOP Elite

On By kingsjesterIn Politics7 Comments

Republicans Vs. Tea PartyUnited we stand, Divided we fall. – Aesop

As my mind began to attempt to wrap itself around the sorry events of yesterday, the ancient saying above, came to mind.

I was going to say that no other words describe the present-day Republican Party as well, but, that would be wrong. I can think of several words to describe the Republican Establishment, or Vichy Republicans, as I dubbed them, a while back. However, forbearance precludes me from using those words, lest I “lose my witness”. (That’s a Southern Evangelical thang, y’all. Ask somebody.)

The Republican Party, itself, is right on the verge of a Civil War. You have the Vichy Republicans, the Moderate Republican Elite, who firmly believe that they speak for all Republicans, even though most of them have been up on Capital Hill so long, their chauffeur has to use a Garmin GPS to find their way back to their constituency. (Pardon me…but do you have any Gray Poupon?)

Opposing the Vichy Republicans are the Tea Party, or Reagan, Republicans. These are public servants who were elected on the promise to cut government spending, and shrink the size of the Federal Government, while opposing the policies of President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) at every turn. The Tea Party Republicans are Conservatives who were placed in office during the Great Purge, otherwise known as the Mid-Term Elections of 2010.

They were, of course, named for the Grassroots Movement who put them in office.

As opposed to the Vichy Republicans, they truly seem to be down-to-earth individuals, with a servant’s heart, as was proven recently by Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz’s speaking to the Veterans last weekend, during their March on Washington, along with their gracious supporter, Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin.

As a result of their popularity and attempts to go to Washington and get something done, the Tea Party Republicans have been vilified during the entire Government Shutdown Ordeal, by the Democrats, the Main Stream Media, and the Vichy Republicans.

The Vichy Republicans have responded to the Tea Party Republicans, as if they are jealous of and embarrassed by the zealousness and popularity of these political “newcomers”, who have stolen their thunder. These “do-gooders” cramp their style and disrupt the Washingtonian Status Quo.

Sen. Ted Cruz has been their biggest target, as his charisma and common sense have made him one of the Tea Party Movements favorite politicians. Just as Sarah Palin before him, he is being called everything but a child of God

Every since his “Not-a-Filibuster” against Obamacare, leading up to the Government Shutdown, the MSM, the Democrats, and the Vichy Republicans have formed a new “Axis” (to borrow a World War II term) , launching a smear campaign against the Senator From Texas, who dares to call them out, concerning their nefarious duplicity and political maneuvering.

It’s high time someone did.

As Former Representative, Lt. Col. Allen West (another Tea Party Favorite) observed yesterday,

I’m watching the spectacle occurring on the Senate floor. They have passed the 60 vote threshold for ending cloture. I want the American people to understand that tonight the Constitutional Republic we know as America has suffered a horrible defeat. Obamacare is not the law of the land. It is an edict handed down by a tyrant, not a President. The US Senate has just voted to affirm a new precedent that the executive branch can amend law without Congressional approval, and Congress allows it. The waivers, exemptions, and delays implemented by President Obama have delineated a separation, not of powers, but between the political elite and their cronies – and you, my fellow Americans. This is reprehensible, and we can expect even more bad behavior from a President that continues to spit on our Constitution and in our eyes…and smile. The incessant government spending continues with no solution for economic growth. Anyone voting for this tonight owes some explaining to Americans….but maybe not. As Obama stated, “I won.”

After Lt. Col. West watched that spectacle, he was treated to another, as the House of Representatives, led by the Spelunker of the House,  Cryin’ John Boehner, passed the Senate Bill, completing the capitulation, and another sell-out of the Republican Party’s Conservative Base.

The problem with all of the old Vichy Republicans, is the fact that they have been up on Capital Hill so long, the lines between ethical and unethical, and public-serving behavior and self-serving behavior, in their minds, have become blurred.

For instance, within Sen. McConnell/Sen. Reid’s bill,, it has been discovered that the bill includes a nearly $3 billion earmark for a Kentucky project.

Language in a draft of the McConnell-Reid deal (see page 13, section 123)shows a provision that increases funding for the massive Olmsted Dam Lock in Paducah, Ky., from $775 million to nearly $2.9 billion.

Nothing like a little pork to insure your re-election by the home folks, huh, Sen. McConnell?

It seems to me that the Republican Establishment have reacted to the resurgence of the Tea Party Republicans, like, excuse the expression, a bunch of cockroaches in the kitchen, scurrying for cover when the lights got turned on them.

When they regrouped from the initial shock, they became even more determined that no one, and I mean, no one, would disrupt “business as usual” in Washington, DC. Not Cruz, Lee, Palin, West, or any of us “smelly” Conservatives, living in America’s Heartland.

This obstinate “smartest people in the room” conceit, led directly to the spectacle that Lt. Col. West and the rest of us watched  yesterday.

The last time people saw something like that, was when the French Soldiers, defending their country from the German Invasion in World War II, dropped their rifles, and ran like scalded dogs.

Same thing.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Shutdown: Still…”A Time for Choosing”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

reaganI really did not know what to write about today. Like the rest of you, I am getting sick and tired of the self-serving politicians, up in the Halls of Power, acting like a bunch of spoiled children choosing sides for a kickball team.

Our petulant President, while remaining in the middle of a now 13-day-long Temper Tantrum, wants everything his way, refusing to negotiate, because those eeeevil Republicans won’t bow down and kiss his Imperial Hindquarters, as the Vichy “Moderates” among them usually do.

Give them a couple of days. Paul Ryan is working on it, even now.

Anyway, my mind traveled back, as it often does, to a seminal moment in our nation’s history, which might give us guidance in a situation like this.

I found an appropriate message in the words of the greatest President in our Generation, Ronald Wilson Reagan.,delivered on a legendary night in 1964, as he was out delivering stump speeches for the Republican Presidential Campaign of Barry Goldwater. The title of the speech is “A Time For Choosing”, and The Gipper’s words ring as true today, as they ever have…

It’s time we asked ourselves if we still know the freedoms intended for us by the Founding Fathers. James Madison said, “We base all our experiments on the capacity of mankind for self government.”

This idea — that government was beholden to the people, that it had no other source of power — is still the newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man. This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man’s age-old dream–the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order — or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, “The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.”

The Founding Fathers knew a government can’t control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing.

Public servants say, always with the best of intentions, “What greater service we could render if only we had a little more money and a little more power.” But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector.

Yet any time you and I question the schemes of the do-gooders, we’re denounced as being opposed to their humanitarian goals. It seems impossible to legitimately debate their solutions with the assumption that all of us share the desire to help the less fortunate. They tell us we’re always “against,” never “for” anything.

…Are you willing to spend time studying the issues, making yourself aware, and then conveying that information to family and friends? Will you resist the temptation to get a government handout for your community? Realize that the doctor’s fight against socialized medicine is your fight. We can’t socialize the doctors without socializing the patients. Recognize that government invasion of public power is eventually an assault upon your own business. If some among you fear taking a stand because you are afraid of reprisals from customers, clients, or even government, recognize that you are just feeding the crocodile hoping he’ll eat you last.

If all of this seems like a great deal of trouble, think what’s at stake. We are faced with the most evil enemy mankind has known in his long climb from the swamp to the stars. There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no fiscal and economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation.

They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong. There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right. Winston Churchill said that “the destiny of man is not measured by material computation. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits–not animals.” And he said, “There is something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty.”

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.

Today, as we watch our nation’s Veterans, who sacrificed for this great nation, visit the memorials built in their honor, closed right now by the order of a Petulant  President, in the middle of a Temper Tantrum, think about the words of The Great Communicator, who also said, 

Man is not free unless government is limited.

Call your Republican Representatives and tell them, in the words Scotsman William Wallace, to “Hold that Line!” against this present-day tyranny which America is suffering under.

Remind them that our Freedom and their jobs depend on it.

Until He Comes,

KJ