“Who am I? Why am I Here?”: KJ’s 2014 in review

On December 31, 2014 By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

I am an anachronism.

I have been told that, by “libertarians”, repeatedly, on Internet Chat Boards, on the World Wide Web.

Dictionary.com defines an anachronism as

something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, especially a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time.

I suppose that’s me.

I started this Blog as a way to vent my frustrations with the ever-evolving “societal norms” and political mayhem around me. A lot of things just grated on my nerves. They still do.

I was “reared” (as we say in Dixie) by a Mother and Daddy (Southern colloquialism for a Male Parental Unit) who were members of the Greatest Generation. In fact, I was born 3 days before my mother’s 40th brithday. To this day, I believe that they were going to name me “Oops”.

My view of the world around me was shaped and nurtured by my Daddy, a Christian American, and the finest man I’ve ever known, who served with an Army Engineering Unit, as a Master Sergeant, in World War II, and who jumped off of a perfectly good boat into a hail of gunfire to join his American Brothers in the tide-turning American Victory known as “D-Day”.

Between him and my Mother, they taught me what it was to be a hard-working, Middle Class Christian American Conservative….and, to be proud of it.

But now, at 56 years old, trying to survive the presidency of an anti-American, Muslim-sympathizing, political-pandering, class warfare-preaching, racially-dividing, card-carrying Communist, who went golfing this weekend, displacing the wedding of two Army Captains (an actual male and female!), while more than 3,000 of our Brightest and Best, are serving in Africa, being exposed to a disease which has landed on our very shores, threatening our citizenry, I wonder if at times, if my self-assigned duty of writing this blog everyday, is actually worth the effort. I’m beginning to feel like I’m beating my dadgum head against the wall until it’s bloody, and for no cotton-pickin’ reason at all.

Why am I feelng that way?

Well, there are several reasons.

1. This country re-elected an idiot. Now, I realize that’s been done before. But, they all paled in comparison to this guy. I believe that “Scooter”, my pet name for Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmm), burnt up the vast majority of his gray matter during his “Choom Gang” days in Hawaii, and now, as an old friend, a former Meth-head, who, sadly, later committed suicide this time of year, used to tell me, he has “2 brain cells left and they’re fighting to the death”. I pray we survive the next 4 years.

2. Evidently, Americans, at least the majority of the ones that actually got up off the couch (Pookie, included) to vote on November 6th, want the Federal Government to take care of them, cradle to grave. Rush Limbaugh labelled this symptom, “The Baracky Claus Effect”. I pray, that, just as the Proletariat eventually figured out in the old Soviet Union, Americans are going to wake up one day, to find that mega-dependence on The State to run your life, leads to the loss of personal freedom. And those, who believe that they are “the most enlightened people in the room”, will be the first ones hollering, when they discover that their freedom has been taken away.

3. America seems to be devolving into a collection of Libertines. Notice, I did not say “Libertarians”, although, both descriptive words come from the same root word. A Libertine is, per Merriam-Webster.com,

a person who is unrestrained by convention or morality: one leading a dissolute (lacking moral restraint) life

Being a Libertarian used to mean you wanted less Government in your life and less restrictions on your personal happiness. Notice I said used to mean. Now, Libertine and Libertarian both seem to mean the same thing to the majority of posters self-identifying as members of the latter group on Internet chat boards.

Caligula’s Horse approves.

I suppose I could pontificate on the fallen nature of Man at this point, but, that’s fairly self-evident…and, as the late Freddie Prinze used to say, “Ees not my yob, man.”

4. Finally, I have been told by Liberal Trolls on the Worldwide Web, that my blog was considered a “joke”. I used to allow this to hurt me very deeply. You see, since April of 2010, I have devoted a lot of time and effort to putting my ideas, however old-fashioned and cornball they are, down on paper. I truly enjoy doing it. I must. I haven’t made a dadgum dime off of it.

Have you ever stood back on New year’s Eve and tried to remember what you accomplished during the past year?

Since I began this blog in April of 2010, I have not had that problem.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 51,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 19 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

For those of you who have not figured me out, yet, I, a Christian American Conservative, am a follower of Jesus Christ and a citizen of the United States of America (by the Grace of God), who holds to traditional values and attitudes.

So, where do I go from here? Do I run away, pummedled into submission by “The Smartest People in the Room”, with my tail between my legs, and live out the rest of my days in quiet desperation?

To any of you who repled, “yes”…you don’t know me very well.

Greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world.

My Creator, while endowing me with certain inalienable rights, also endowed me with an indomitable will. Then, somewhere along my journey, He gave me the gift of being able to express my thoughts and feelings on this computer keyboard.

I will not give up. I will not surrender my Christianity, my love of the Greatest Nation on God’s Green Earth, or my Conservatism, to appease those who wish everybody would just get in line and acquiesce to the prevailing “societal norms”. I follow another set of guidelines, written a long time ago, but which remain as relevant as the moment in which the Hand of God guided those who wrote them down.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, – Colossians 3:23 (ESV)

I pray that you, the reader, are able to glean that from my blogs. Because, as Matthew 6:21 tells us:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

May God bless you and yours in 2015,

Rand Paul Wants GOP Conservative Base to “Agree to Disagree on Social Issues”

On March 14, 2014March 15, 2014 By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, a second generation politician who learned politics at the feet of his father, the perpetual presidential hopeful Dr Ron Paul, announced yesterday that social issues would just have to take a back seat and Conservatives would basically have to sit down and shut up about them, in order for the GOP to grow and prosper and, therefore, win the Presidency in 2016.

The Washington Post reported that

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says in a new interview that Republicans should embrace a more tolerant view of those who don’t hold conservative positions on social issues.

“I think that the Republican Party, in order to get bigger, will have to agree to disagree on social issues,” Paul told vocativ.com. “The Republican Party is not going to give up on having quite a few people who do believe in traditional marriage. But the Republican Party also has to find a place for young people and others who don’t want to be festooned by those issues.”

Paul’s comments harken back somewhat to former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels’s (R) call for a “truce” on social issues within the GOP. The comment at the time drew a rebuke from social conservatives.

At that same time, those groups aren’t as influential in today’s Republican Party, where an increasing number of people now support gay marriage, for instance.

Has Rand Paul lost his ever loving mind? Has he forgotten who elected him to public office in the first place? It sure wasn’t the GOP establishment. It was Kentucky conservatives who put him in office.

Rand Paul became a favorite of TEA Party Rallies Before the last midterm elections, which perfectly positioned him as a man of the people and endeared him to Kentucky Conservatives. Since his election to the Senate, there are times when he has been a chameleon, professing to be a TEA Party Conservative with one breath, and being in favor of amnesty for illegal aliens with the next.

Now, he comes forth with this opinion, asking social conservatives aka Reagan Conservatives, To put aside their faith and value system “For the good of the party”.

Does that sound like something a Tea Party Conservative would say? Or, rather, does that sound like something the GOP Establishment would say?

Has Senator Paul, like Senator Rubio before him, been seduced by the power brokers in the Republican Party?

Perhaps. Or, perhaps his political aspirations have superseded his desire to be a good public servant, and represent the wishes of those who elected him in the first place. As I said before there is a concerted effort within the ranks of the Republican Party to marginalize the conservative base to the point of nonexistence.

And, now it is apparent that Rand Paul is playing both sides against the middle in an effort to be everything to everybody and further his political aspirations.

Why are Conservatives always the ones being asked to compromise their beliefs?

Probably because Liberals change their belief systems as often as George Clooney changes girlfriends.

Rush Limbaugh made some interesting points on his October 1st show, last year:

The Republican Party knows everything, and they believe, …that conservatism is the problem.

That’s why they think they can eliminate, or if not eliminate, they can marginalize this demonization if they are also a little bit for amnesty, and if they moderate on abortion and a woman’s right to choose, or if they go along with some form of national health care. And of course that’s guaranteed to lose because then they’re just pretenders, they’re not the real deal. The Democrats are the real leftists. But it has resulted in so many people, and not just politicians on the Republican side, but Republican media people being literally cowed, literally scared to death.

Now, there are people — you know them, you’ve met them; there’s nothing wrong with this, don’t misunderstand — to whom their reputation is everything. Particularly their reputation with people that don’t know them. And they will do whatever they can to avoid bad press. And if you happen to be a Republican or conservative, and your mission is to avoid bad press, you have to deny who you are. You have to be stealth. You have to cover up who you are, and that’s no good.

…How long did it take them to destroy George W. Bush and everything that he wanted to do? It took them years, but they were relentless, they never stopped. And they didn’t care the outcome. Bush wasn’t even a conservative. Bush was just a good old standard rock ‘n’ roll establishment Republican, and they still had to take him out. As I say, the problem here is that Republicans know this, and people who are just obsessed with their reputations among people that don’t know them, their goose is cooked. They’re going to easily compromise who they are in the pursuit of being liked and loved.

…And I think Ted Cruz, if he ever wants to be president, the biggest thing he’s got going for him is that he’s conservative. This ongoing effort, even now among Republicans, to place an albatross around the necks of conservatives — we’re not the problem. We are not the problem. We are the last-gasp effort to stave all of this off. Conservatives in this country are the only ones fighting any of this, really.

Unfortunately, Republican politicians such as Rand Paul have decided that is better for them to stick with the failed practices of the Moderate Republican Party of the past several elections, than to embrace the Conservative movement which gave them the House of Representatives in 2010.

It appears that Senator Paul, now apparently an adjunct member of the Establishment Republicans , would rather twerk with a Beltway Bimbo than dance with the one who brung him.

Reagan Conservatism Still Rules

On August 26, 2012 By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics4 Comments

Are Americans more Socially Conservative or Fiscally Conservative?

Gallup reported on an interesting poll, back on May 25th.

Americans are more than twice as likely to identify themselves as conservative rather than liberal on economic issues, 46% to 20%. The gap is narrower on social issues, but conservatives still outnumber liberals, 38% to 28%.

These results are based on Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs poll, conducted May 3-6. Since 2001, the poll has asked Americans to say whether they are liberal, moderate, or conservative on “economic” and, separately, “social” issues. The interpretation of what qualifies as social or economic issues is left to the respondent, given that the question does not define or provide examples of these types of issues.

In the same poll, on Gallup’s standard measure of ideology — not asked in reference to any set of issues — 41% identified themselves as conservatives, 33% as moderates, and 23% as liberals. Those figures are similar to what Gallup typically finds when it asks people to identify their ideology.

Thus, compared with the standard measure of ideology, slightly more Americans say they are economically conservative and slightly fewer say they are socially conservative. Also, significantly more Americans say they are socially liberal than identify their basic ideology as liberal.

Over the last four years, an average of 48% of Americans have said they are conservative on economic issues, including a high of 51% in May 2010. From 2001-2008, an average of 42% said they were economically conservative. This increase in economic conservatism has been coupled with a decline in the percentage who say they are moderate on economic issues. There has also been a slight increase in the percentage of Americans identifying as economic liberals, to a high of 20% this year.

The changes in self-identified economic conservatism coincide with the economic downturn and President Barack Obama’s time in office. But because the jump occurred between 2008 and 2009, and Americans were already concerned about the economy in 2008, the change in presidential administrations from Bush to Obama may be the bigger factor.

The major shift in Americans’ identification on social issues in recent years has been a decline in the percentage who say they are moderate, from 39% as recently as 2005 to 31% today. There have been roughly equal increases in the percentage of self-identified social liberals (four percentage points) and social conservatives (three points) today compared with 2005.

For the most part, Americans fall on the same ideological side on economic and social issues. Sixty-one percent are conservative, moderate, or liberal on both dimensions, with the largest percentage, 31%, conservative on both. Fifteen percent are liberal on both social and economic issues, and 15% are moderate on both.

The bulk of those who are not consistent say they are economically conservative and socially moderate (11%), or economically moderate and socially liberal (10%). Only 4% are liberal on one dimension and conservative on the other, with most of those being economically conservative and socially liberal.

More Americans identify as economic conservatives than as social conservatives or conservatives in general. And that tendency has increased in the last four years, perhaps due to President Obama’s economic agenda. This suggests that a conservative economic message from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney may resonate with voters this year.

Americans are also more likely to say they are conservative than liberal or moderate on social issues, underscoring the conclusion that the conservative label has more appeal in the United States today than either the moderate or the liberal label.

Also, the moderate label seems to be losing some of its appeal in recent years, as Americans have become less likely to say they are moderate on both social and economic issues. The movement away from the moderate label may be another example of the increasing polarization of U.S. politics.

Throughout the Republican Primary and now on the eve on the Convention, there has been a concerted effort by Romney “supporters” on the internet to try to discourage, insult, and downright mock the beliefs of Reagan (Social) Conservatives.

As a matter of fact, if you read what they are still writing on Conservative websites, one would think that we Reagan Conservatives are outnumbered by “Fiscal” Conservatives and Moderates, when, at least according to this survey, that ain’t necessarily so.

The fact that people are becoming more polarized is interesting. People are taking a stand, one way or another.

Where do you stand?

Do you stand with those who feel no compunction at all about ending an innocent life in its Mother’s womb. while babbling some nonsense about the baby not being human or being some sort of “punishment”?

Do you stand with those who believe that a nanny-state Federal Government can take care of you better than you can take care of yourself and your family?

Do you stand with those who would take away law-abiding citizens’ firearms in the naive belief that somehow an unarmed populace is safer from outlaws and psychos than a populace who is trained in the use of firearms and carrying?

Finally, do you stand with those who believe that the schemes and plans thought up by limited men overrule those created by a limitless God?

You see, what 92% of Americans have already figured out for themselves, is no matter where you go, you can’t run away from the reach of God.

Just ask the RNC what happened to the first day of their Convention.