Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Congressional Gods?

"I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won't hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover. I really hope that someone can agree with me on that. ... You want people who don't worry about the next election."
…..North Carolina governor Bev Perdue

Now, there's a great idea.

We have a Congress today that does not play well together….so let’s give them another two years in which to learn to play well. In the meantime, Congress will remain gridlocked in the same way it is today.

How typically "cartoonish" of the liberal mindset. It reminds me of the Roadrunner, Wile E. Coyote cartoons I used to love as a kid. No matter how bad things get, if you just keep trying variations of the same theme, you are going to catch the roadrunner.

Or in this case…if you just throw more money at the problem it will solve it, or if you just give Congress more time, they will start working, or if only you gave Obama another ten years world peace would miraculously happen, the US economy would be a powerhouse and the world would be bowing before America welcoming the impact it has on their economies, and freedoms bells would ring out from every minaret on every street corner…5 times a day!!
Yep…that is how it is in liberal land.

If something doesn’t work, try it again…and again…and again.

The definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”…and based on that definition, the left is truly insane.

But that is not what I want to concentrate on today.

That stupid Governor Perdue did identify a truth in her outlandish statement.

Congress is not working and part of that is because of the need for politicians to protect their positions for the next election.

Her solution is to abandon the constitution and just give a failing Congress more time to fail more often.

I guess I can be as critical as I wish to be but without providing some ideas for potential solutions, I am just another hot air purveyor throwing out criticisms.

That is not me…so today I will throw out some ideas for real change in Congress…but not stupid unconstitutional ideas.

We have heard much talk of term limits to prevent the professional politician from remaining in office forever. I do not think that is necessary. The constitution clearly sets out the terms between elections and the people have the opportunity to remove those members every two years for the House and every 6 years for Senators. The decision of who one should vote for should be taken with extreme caution as you will be stuck with the election winner for at least 2 years in the case of the House and 6 years for Senators.

The problem I see is that the political game has become a power play and a career and a route to significant wealth.

The prestige and power that comes with being a Member of the House or a Senator is a drug that is not easily ignored. The politicians become seduced by this drug, craving more and more, and, as a result lose sight of the reason they wanted it in the first place.

And of course, with the power and prestige great wealth will soon follow.

Currently these politicians pay is about $163,000 per year (more for the leaders with House minority leaders getting $193k and Leader of the House $222k approximately). On top of that they all receive budgets for the staff, their offices, their meals, their travel and accommodation costs, even the cost of parties etc in some situations.

Quite frankly, it does not surprise me that people want to be career politicians. They get a great salary and most of their expenses are covered…and it is us, the taxpayer, who foots the bill. In addition, their power and prestige provides opportunity to meet people they would not have met otherwise, and do deals they would never have been exposed to, and make money they would never have had the opportunity to make. I am not even going to go into the corruption aspects….let’s simply assume that everything is above board.

The opportunity for large financial gain while a member of Congress is significant. So, a career politician has significant wealth creation opportunities. He doesn’t want to give that up easily.

These facts make it very appealing for people to want to enter politics for the wrong reasons. People enter for the purpose of long term financial success…and to achieve that they must stay in office. To stay in office they must give freebies to their constituents as often as possible…buying the votes that keep them in power, regardless of what is best for the country.

How do we stop this cycle?

A simple answer.

Make it unappealing financially for them. Instead of paying $160k - $220k salaries each year, pay them at a MUCH lower rate. Congressional salaries are set by Congress. Of course, this creates a conflict of interest, so the Constitution requires that any changes cannot kick in until AFTER the next election. Nevertheless career politicians know that they will likely still have their job after the next election anyway.

What if Congress was to set salary levels at , say, $100 per day, and payable only when Congress was in session and they were in their seats that day?

Would the same hungry career politicians looking for financial gain still want re-election? Human nature says that they would be off looking for another easier opportunity to make money.

I believe people would run for office because they BELIEVE they have something to offer in service to their country, not because they have the opportunity for financial gain!

But why stop there?

What about the costs of their staff, their offices, their offices in their constituency and so on? If the aim is for smaller, less wasteful government…then some simple answers can be found here.
Travel should be in the back of the bus on commercial aircraft. No first class seats, no chartered planes. If the politician wants anything else, he pays for it himself. I know people will claim that security is an issue, and that is a fair statement…so I would be willing to provide a small security detail when requested.
No government vehicles to be provided. When in Washington, they can rent a vehicle or use public transport just like we do.

No allowances for lunch, dinner, food, entertainment or parties. The taxpayer does not need to fund these things. When they are an essential part of the politician’s job, they can pay for it themselves. (This one change alone will make a huge difference!)

So, what about their staff? I do not see why they need a staff of 20 or 30 staffers all running around messing up the works. Two staffers and two interns should be plenty.

The time for giving politicians unknown sums of money has long passed. It is time for us to make it clear that government must no longer waste our taxes, and that the politicians will take the lead by reducing their remuneration and expenses.

While it will never happen because there are too many greedy corrupt politicians in Washington, it is at least a better solution than taking away the rights of the people by deferring elections.

If America is to see long term success, it must start with the leaders on The Hill. They must stop seeing themselves as the elites, and start seeing themselves as our SERVANTS, paid for by us to do a job that we define, and to execute the people’s wishes.

What they want, or believe, or desire is totally irrelevant. We have done ourselves a great disservice by allowing the men and women in Congress to believe that they are more important than us. They are not. They are our servants. Nothing more.

And yet they pay themselves more than the average American earns, they build their own little empires and strut around like they own the country. People fawn at their feet like they are Gods. They are treated with great reverence. It is our fault they believe the way they do.

Is there a problem in Congress? Hell yes, there is.

It is filled with minor Gods who care not about the people who put them there, or what the people want. They care only about the next election, and their financial success.

2012 provides a chance to continue to change the status quo. What started in 2010 must be continued. The people must send to Washington only those folk who have a love of Country, and will do the people’s wishes disregarding their own.

After all, THAT is their job.

…..devereaux

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The dogma you know....?

"I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier."
                                                                                                    ….Rufus, Dogma 1999

I have been watching and listening to the exchanges between Obama and his supporters, the Congressional Black Congress and Obama, and the Republican hopefuls…and it occurred to me that what was playing out in today’s political arena is not politics at all.

It is something far deeper, far more fundamental to the psyche than mere politics.

Obama is all about fundamentals….not the economic fundamentals that have never changed since Adam was a boy…no, not the natural laws of supply and demand, not the fundamental laws that control the money supply and value of the currency…he has no interest whatsoever in those fundamentals.

He is all about fundamental change.

But what is so broken that it requires fundamental change? What is so broken that we need to tear it apart and rebuild it in a new image?

I believe the fundamental change he is talking about is the completion of the process of turning left wing ideologies into beliefs….the sort of beliefs that allow for political dogma as a control tool.

Just as the Christian church has created dogma (man-made rules) to control the method and style of belief, to put limits and guidelines on the methods of worship, to create rules about how to live, how to gain redemption, who to confess to and even whether eating meat on Fridays is a sin, or not. The dogma is the tool for the Churches to control their congregations, their worshipers and their fringe dwellers. In a society where such rules are not created, it is believed that chaos would ensue.

The argument is that by regulating these things, the Churches are able to create an environment that is safe for all people, enabling a comfortable worship style, and preventing the possibility of offensive worship styles. 

While I do not necessarily agree with this thinking, I do understand why it is so.

The big problems arise when dogma becomes the guiding light of the church, supplanting God’s word as the basis of faith and belief. People become so concerned with complying with dogma that they lose sight of the simplicity of faith.

And this is Obama’s plan for this country. He wishes to supplant the idea of progressivism with the belief in it. Once people believe that the progressive ideologies are right and true, then he will be able to create the dogma that traps people in those beliefs.

This gradualism of socialist views is no longer happening slowly. And the conversion of ideas to beliefs is well on its way to completion.

Here are a few examples:-

1.      There was once an understanding in this country that all men were created equal. That all men would be provided the same opportunity. That all men could do with that opportunity whatever they wanted.

It is sad to see that this is no longer the case. First came the idea that those born in difficult circumstances were in need of more help just to become equal with everyone else. Then that idea grew to include people of certain races who needed more help than people of other races. Over time, this idea took hold, and even people of conservative views started believing that society should help some folk more than others.

When an idea becomes a belief, there is then room to create the dogma. In this case it is affirmative action, giving people of certain races better opportunities than people of other races. The dogma becomes a legal structure that traps us in the belief that some folk need more help than others.

Over many years the left has turned an idea into a belief and then created the dogma to trap us in that belief.

2.      There was once an understanding in this country that a man’s labor was paid for at a rate negotiated between the man and the employer. 

And then we came up with the idea that men could not negotiate a fair wage by himself because evil employers would not be willing to pay a fair wage. This concept/idea started to gain strength…and society started looking for a solution to the problem. It did not take long for people to ignore the basic premise of free trade…that labor was a commodity and would be paid for at market rates. Once that idea was ignored, it was easy for the idea of a minimum wage to take root….to become a belief that it was only fair that a person be paid a minimum amount for his labor regardless of the value of that commodity.

The idea became a belief, and the dogma soon followed in the form of Government mandated minimum wages.  Unions are simply another example of dogma locking in beliefs.


 There was an understanding that human life was valuable. Abortions were considered evil.And then the idea came along that women should be responsible for their own bodies.

A movement espousing the belief in the woman’s right to choose to terminate a pregnancy if she so wanted became powerful, changing the idea into a belief.

Once it became a belief, it was easy to create the dogma that gives the woman rights to terminate for any reason she wants.

As a result, hundreds of thousands of babies are terminated before they take their first breath every year.

Ideas lead to belief. Belief leads to dogma. Dogma traps you in that belief.

And this is the aim of Obama when he wants to fundamentally transform America. He wants to change ideas into beliefs.

His attacks on the obstructionist, intransigent terrorists of the right are all designed to make the right look extreme…and the left look like their ideas are reasonable. Soon, those ideas become beliefs.

And as the quote above says…” You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier.”

There is a second element to all this thinking about ideas and beliefs.

People are less inclined to fight for an idea than they are to fight for a belief. By creating believers of political ideology, Obama can be assured of a powerful force willing to do almost anything to protect those beliefs.

While the right has just two defenses:-
1.      The truth
2.      Freedom

In the long run, it does not matter what dogma is created to protect falsehoods. The truth has a way of surviving all attacks on it. It has a way of surfacing in a way that cannot be denied. The beliefs of the left will ultimately be unable to stand in the face of truth, regardless of the dogma walls created to protect those false beliefs.

And the desire for freedom will always be the strongest motivational force ever known in this country. When the truth is visible, the people will throw off the shackles that have chained them to a belief in lies, and will rise up and fight for their freedom.

So, in the long term, all Obama’s efforts will be for nought. But in the short term, he will continue to fundamentally transform an America of ideas into an America of false beliefs. He will use regulation and congressional stupidity to build walls of dogma around those false beliefs…and he will gloat at what he has achieved.

2012 is your last chance to prevent this. As Obama said yesterday to a group of supporters….”the result of this election will fundamentally drive America for years to come”.

He makes no secret of what he is doing….we simply don’t want to believe that he is as dangerous as he is.

Be wary of the dangers of dogma.

…..devereaux

Monday, September 26, 2011

Divide and Conquer.

This last weekend, I took some time out and started to consider exactly what it is about the Fool-in-Chief and his ghetto queen first lady that I so abhor.

The calls from the left tell me that I am a racist and that is what is driving my opinions. Could that possibly be true? Nope. Not even remotely possible. While I think there is a tendency for blacks to want different treatment than whites are given, while blacks tend to be greater in number on the unemployment rolls, and greater in number in the prisons….while blacks tend to be more frequently caught by security cameras during drug store robberies, or are the ones sought by police in home invasions…..I am definitely not racist. Denial of the truth of the above facts simply because of the word blacks would make me a racist.

So, no….that is definitely not it. And I have several black friends who can attest to the fact that I have not a racist bone in my body. But I will tell the truth, and the truth is that the black community has a long way to go.

So, if not racism, what else could it be?

I am sorry to disappoint my left leaning friends, but it is really pretty easy to determine why I have a problem with the current administration.

While I have major differences on policy and think this man is a fool, leading a band of lemmings down a one way street….but going the wrong way….that is not all there is to my issues. (Although, that would definitely be enough to create the abhorrence I hold for this pretender.)
Nope. The main reason is that this fool is determined to split this country. He is the Divider-in-Chief and has, since he first won the 2008 election set sail for a “divided we conquer, united we fail” presidency.

What do I mean by that?

Well, just look at the divisions he and his minions in the media have created or tried to create…..

-        The classic democrat/conservative relationship in this country has often involved a spirited debate between two groups of people who have differing opinions on how the country should be run, but have always succeeded in standing together when the rubber hits the road and there is work to do to maintain the health of the country both groups love. The belief that people with different views were simply misguided was the driving force of political discussion.

Now, however, in just a few short years, that is no longer the case. People who disagree with the political philosophies of the left are labeled deranged, terrorists, intransigents and obstructionists…oh, and don’t forget that they must also be racists.

Never before has this country been split so evenly between conservatives and progressives. And never before has the hate from the progressives been filled with such vile rhetoric. And they call the conservatives the dangerous ones?

This president has stood over and watched, nay, encouraged, the total destruction of reasoned political and ideological debate in this country.

He has created two armies….one demanding that more socialist policies be forced upon this nation or violence will ensue, and the other quietly preparing to protect themselves, their families and their assets from the marauding hordes who are constantly being told by the Divider-in-Chief that what is ours is theirs.

The Divider-in-Chief has certainly succeeded if his aim was to divide the people along political and ideological lines.

But it doesn’t end there.

-        The struggle between white and black has been raging for two hundred years….really? As I look around me I see many colored Americans working side by side with white Americans. I see many white Americans denied a place in college because black Americans with lower performance take the spots for reasons of cultural diversity. I personally know of several white Americans who were chopped from their jobs while black Americans were retained (notwithstanding poor work records, poor attendance records, and poor attitudes) but retained because they were needed to make up the numbers required by affirmative action.


I see black Americans being accountable for their own lives alongside white Americans. I see black Americans taking advantage of government largesse, alongside white Americans.

In short I see the same problems and the same issues faced by both black Americans and white Americans. And at the end of the day, they are all Americans…pure and simple.

We happen to have a black President. Oooops…sorry….not correct. He is NOT black….he has a black father and a white mother. But he displays his skin color as a badge of honor, reminding everyone that he is the black president. And if anyone disagrees with him, they must be racist. Ably supported by the two goons Sharpton and Jackson, the Divider-in-Chief is hammering a wedge into the relationship between black and white in this country.  When their work is done, he brings out the Congressional Black Caucus to spread their hate and incite the brothers. It is clear that if you are conservative, and happen to be white, you are definitely on the wrong side of this Presidents goals.

You are nothing but a racist terrorist….and you better watch out before the uprising of the brothers who will come and get what they want.

-        So now, he has managed to divide this great nation along two very distinct lines…color and political leaning. So what remains?

The Divider-in-Chief knows that reasonable people will eventually come to terms with the politics and the race issues as they have for years and decades. The divisions he causes there are simply picking at the scabs that have been healing slowly. This by itself is not going to result in an unstoppable movement. The type of movement that can shove America further to the left.

He knows that he needs some physical strength to instill a sense of strength in the eyes of his followers, and strike fear into the hearts of his opponents. The unions are his weapon of choice here. The perceived strength of the union movement, and its visible bullies, is the Divider-in-Chiefs tool to provide boots on the ground. Wherever the Unions can make noise and intimidate those who stand against them, they will. The divide between union and non-union employers will become smaller and smaller as the Divider-in-Chief offers more and more ways for unions to gain strength. From giving the Unions stock in failed auto makers, to preventing corporations moving to right to work states, to requiring employees pay Union fees even when they are not a member, this Divider-in-Chief will do everything he can to reward his bullies for a job well done.

The unions are the big stick….and the country is being divided along Union and non-union lines.

And then there is his latest move…

-        Class warfare between the rich and those who are not rich.

The Divider-in-Chief is using the jealousies of the lower classes to ignite a class war against those they see as richer than they are. More times than I can count, I have heard this statement….”Why should they have so much? Why don’t they give it to the poor?” and on and on. Sigh.

When we ask the right questions…”Why do you care? What business is it of yours?” we are decried as heartless, uncaring capitalist pigs…and we know that we are nothing of the sort.

Yes, the Divider-in-Chief knows that if he can ignite hate against the rich, by claiming they don’t pay their fair share (without ever stating what that fair share should be), his ultimate plan for dividing this country will succeed.

There is one more player in this design….the media. Although not a division, the media has generally chosen to support the Presidents positions on ideology, color, unions and wealth.

Every tyrant knows that to control the people you must first control the media. Well, he controls the media but does not yet control the internet based media.

In a world of sound bites and poor reporting, with an audience more inclined to watch reruns of Gilligan’s Island than serious news coverage, the media has it’s challenges….but it has stoically continued the fight…a fight to divide the country as much as possible to ensure there is no powerful group that can coalesce and present a threat to the Divider-in-Chief.

And therein lays the reason for so many divisions.

You see, many people can fall into one or more of the groups outlined above.

As an example, the tea party contains conservatives, blacks and possibly union members in their numbers. As the President further defines the divisions he wants, some of these people may find themselves unsure of which segment best suits them. They agree with some of the philosophies from each but do not totally agree with any. This makes them ineffective in every way….and is the end game for the Divider-in-Chief.

So what can we do about this?

There is only one way to fight this process …and that is through education.

If you have read some of my posts you will know that I am big on finding a voice or spreading the voice of others. That is a small part of what we have to do.

We have to speak to our friends and family. We have to be willing to accept the name calling and the anger that will come when people hear a truth they do not want to accept.

We need to face those who would divide this nation and tear down the fences they erect as fast as they can build them.

We need to build bridges of truth.

We need to accept that Obama is not just misguided but that he has an agenda that will ultimately destroy this nation. He is not simply misguided but is actively seeking to divide and conquer.

He must be stopped and 2012 is the way to stop him. But as we get closer to the election expect more attempts at division from this man. Expect more racial troubles. Expect more union violence. Expect more riots aimed at the rich. Expect more disturbances and “civil outrage”. Expect violence against middle America to increase.

And when you see it, understand that this is the direct result of the Administration wanting to retain power.

You know, several black leaders have already suggested that should Obama lose in 2012 there will be riots in the streets….have you heard Obama say that this should not, under any circumstances occur? Has he stood up and said that the free elections of the people are sacrosanct and the results should be and will be respected?

Nope.

He has said nothing. NOTHING!

If you think I am being over dramatic, or that I am just crazy, I don’t care. All I ask is that you take a look at the way this man has run his presidency, and watch each step as it is played out.

If I am wrong, I will be a happy camper.

But if I am right, we need to be prepared.

It is up to you.

…..devereaux

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Will she or won't she.....

…..run in the 2012 Presidential race?

With the next Republican candidate debate being held tonight in Florida and on Fox News, many people are looking at the hopefuls on stage and perhaps are not seeing the face that lights their fire. Not seeing the candidate that most closely resembles their own political beliefs, not seeing the candidate that they believe can cut through the BS and actually achieve true reformation in the corrupt and halls of Washington.

Is there someone who can convince the voters that they are dedicated enough to make the tough choices, to do the hard things, to show the strong leadership that this country yearns for more than it has in years?

When I look at the candidates, I see several who can beat Obama (but that is not a big deal because, as I have said before, a box of rocks could beat that fool).  So being able to beat Obama in a general election is a very low barrier to overcome. What is a much higher barrier is being able to achieve what you say, and being able to convince the voters that you can achieve what you say. Two very different things….

Which brings me to the question “Will she or won’t she?”

You may think I am talking about Sarah Palin….there is certainly a groundswell occurring that could lead her to announce a run, but as I have said many times, I do not believe she will. I think she serves a valuable role as a “foil” that the media can waste precious air time and column inches on, while the real candidates continue gathering strength. I do not think she will run.

So, why do I ask, “Will she or won’t she?” when I don’t think Sarah Palin will?

Because the question is not about Sarah Palin at all. The question is about another very strong, very capable, and very powerful woman….Hillary Clinton.

And, I have to tell you, that if she decides to challenge Obama in a primary, she will most likely beat him handily. And as for the current group of Republican candidates, she would present a very different problem.

You see, the current candidates have a clear target in Obama. They have more ammunition than they know what to do with. They have Obamacare, failed economic policy, insincere foreign policy, dangerous liaisons with third world dictators, lies about taxation, stupidity and arrogance to name a few. They will have the support of virtually all conservatives, most independents and many traditional democrats who are ready to desert their party because the fundamental change they expected is entirely different to the fundamental transformation they have been given.

The only people left to vote for Obama are the people who believe that the color of his skin is more important than the content of his character, and those young socialists still green behind the ears having been indoctrinated with socialist dogma while in college and have not yet realized the real world does not work that way. Idealists who have no idea. Oh, and there will still be a small group of people who believe that if given enough time Obama will buy their cell phones for them, give them houses, and pay their gas bills (it is not Obama’s fault that this hasn’t happened yet…it is those crazy terrorists in the tea party that have stopped him). When asked what congress is, these same people answer simply with …”Huh?”

There is no doubt that Obama has some support remaining. But how strong is that support?

The Congressional Black Caucus said recently that if Obama was not black, if there was any other President in the White House that they would be beating down that WH door to get some action on black unemployment. So, because he is black, they won’t?

This is a big issue that Hillary has to overcome if she wants to challenge Obama, but I believe she can…and she has the balls to do it.

The bigger question is whether the democratic party supporters are willing to do what the conservatives have to do, and face taunts of racist when they vote for the white one. You better believe race is going to play a huge part in the political plays of the next 14 months.
But don’t forget…Hillary is married to Bubba, often referred to as the first “black” President of the United States. That will be a huge assist when Hillary weighs her expectations. If she can find a way to leverage that, she could overcome that aspect and then she could win the nomination in a land slide. Obama would be toast and the general election would take an interesting new turn.

Will she attempt this?

I don’t know. There is no doubt that she and Bubba have long ago put aside their hippie desires and have slipped into the comfortable life of wealth and hobnobbing with the elites. There is no doubt that they would love another stint in the White House….I hear Bubba is already starting the search for an intern to work under…umm…for him. There is no doubt that Hillary has achieved some world respect firstly as the First Lady, then a Senator and now Secretary of State. Her credentials are much better than anyone else on the left…and far superior to the Community Organizers…and of course, there is no question about where she was born.

The only reason she lost to Obama in 2007/8 was because the media were in love with Obama and gave him a pass at every turn. He was their darling then…not so much now.

I suspect she would get significant support from the left should she run. I suspect she will initially run on a platform of “sanity” and “leadership”. She will placate the far left by showing a longer term slower moving plan that is far more likely to succeed than the failed total fundamental change that Obama tried. She will appeal to the more moderate democrats by having a platform of reasonableness, of lower spending and re-allocation of the available funds with minimal tax increases. She will use her foreign policy experience to show how poorly the Obama policies have been accepted abroad.

Yes…I have no doubt that she can beat Obama, using the same tactics that the current Republican candidates are planning on using. And therein lays the threat to the conservative movement.

Clinton will steal their thunder…and they will find themselves faced with an astute and powerful opponent, who brushed aside the incumbent President with barely an effort.

And the left will see in her the answer to their dilemma. Those that were thinking about abandoning the party will rethink their positions. She may well be appealing to many of the independents who still find the democratic philosophies appealing but simply do not agree with the socialist philosophies of the current Doofus-In-Chief. Of course there will be a small contingent who does not want the Clinton's back in the WH but I doubt that they will be a determining factor.  The fear of a Clinton dynasty akin to a Bush dynasty is well held…but probably not influential.

If the Democrats want any chance of winning the next general election, they must find a way to convince Hillary to challenge Obama. Bubba, in a recent interview with Newsmax did not rule out the possibility that Hillary might raise a challenge. He said it was her decision.

I guarantee that with Bubba acting as the defacto voice of the Democratic party, there is a significant movement behind the scenes to get Hillary into the race. Of course, she will not enter the fray until all the deals are done and victory is guaranteed. This will most likely come in the form of a statement by Obama that he will not run for re-election, and Hillary will then stand unopposed for the Presidential nomination.

If any of this plays out in the next six to 9 months, Republicans need to be wary. The current crop of candidates could easily beat Obama…but Clinton is a totally different proposition.

What is that saying about counting chickens…?

The fight for victory in 2012 has not yet started….let’s not count chickens!

…..devereaux