In 2010, a landslide of new candidates and new ideas flooded the political landscape. The TEA party came to town and they shook the miry ground on which the establishment in D.C. stood on. But since then it seems that the TEA party influence at least on a national scale is diminishing. We see the disasters of Todd Akin and Mourdock like candidates who say things that leave us looking like kooks. We have the fact that party establishment get's their way a majority of the time. Case in point, Mitt Romney.
This could be due to the negative campaigning and propaganda that has been spewed by the leftists in the media. Every ill and every evil seems to originate from the TEA party and their "obsession" with the Constitution. According to the media, the people who make up the TEA party are old, white supremacists who only rise up because a black man is in the White House.
Now of course none of this is true. The TEA party is a diverse organization that spans the spectrum of American society. It is made up of the religious and the non-religious. It includes all races and ages. It is not like the Democratic and Republican Party who's designs stamp out local innovation and promote top down backroom candidates who's loyalties lie not with the people but with the elites. The TEA party is an idea. It is a concept. You can call it many things. The Evangelical Right, The Conservative movement, Libertarians, or TEA party. Labels aside, they all share one universal goal. The scaling back of government to a Constitutional level. The protection of moral values and religious liberty. The preservation of freedom. The protection of our homeland and sovereignty. These tenets should unite us all on the side of freedom.
Sadly there is infighting among all these groups. The battle is not over ideas or over doctrinal issues. It boils down to the basest of all human desire, power. Everyone wants to be number one. Instead of uniting and fighting as one, we on the right are fractured. Libertarians are running as third party spoilers and handing races to the democrats like in the Virginia Gubernatorial race this past year. The evangelical right is fighting the TEA party as too obsessed with the economy and taxes. While the TEA party for the most part shuns moral issues like abortion and gay marriage. All the while the establishment continues to have their way. They continue to beat back our candidates and they continue to implement their leftist policies.
In NC we have the perfect example. Thom Tillis was the establishment's choice. Karl Rove spent millions to get him elected. The Washington elite endorsed him. He was the fair haired boy. The Conservative movement needed just one candidate. Based on the numbers of votes split between the other candidates in the race, a majority of voters voted for someone other than Thom Tillis. If we had unified that effort behind one candidate instead of five, than who knows. We might actually have a conservative choice for US Senate against Kay Hagan. Instead, we have a "hold our nose" candidate.
I'm not going to get into Brannon or Harris debate. That time and place has passed. I will say that instead of fielding two candidates that basically agree on everything let's unite behind one person and get on with it.
We see TEA party candidates being beaten back by people like Boehner, McConnell, and Rove. Frank Roche was the conservative choice yet he loses to the well financed and well coached charlatan Renee Ellmers. We have already discussed Thom Tillis. We see it all across the political landscape. We cannot agree on budget issues. You have great ideas like the Penny plan or even the Ryan budget but those plans are not only attacked by the left and their lapdogs in the press. They are even attacked by our own side. We cannot agree on tactics when it comes to defeating Obamacare. Instead of fighting Barack Obama we have too many on our side who thinks that Ted Cruz is the enemy.
We cannot win a two front war. We are facing an uphill battle against Washington D.C. and it's elites. We cannot win against a better funded and better organized foe while fighting each other. If the TEA party, or better yet the Constitutional movement in this country wants to succeed we must unite. Libertarians, Evangelicals, Neo-Cons, and whoever else resides on the right needs to stop shooting our own and start firing back at the leftist agenda in this country.
If we do not unite we will fail. We may win a few races but not enough to turn the tide. We will be powerless and our nation will continue down the path to destruction. The Conservative movement needs to stop fighting each other and start fighting the true enemy. We'll see what happens.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
The GOP and Crony Capitalism
We always hear the term "special interests". Typically the average American thinks of men with three piece suits and $100 dollar bills used as matches for their Cuban cigars. In some cases this is true. Anytime you have government involvement in any facet there arises the need for advocacy. Many times this advocacy is specialized, and needs the services of lawyers and lobbyists. There is nothing wrong with lobbying. There is, however, something wrong when lobbyists and corporations placing their interests over the interests of the people.
This raises two points. First, is that if you want to decrease the need for lobbyists than we need to reduce the role of government in every facet of our lives. If government wasn't so intrusive in areas like energy, agriculture, and business than we wouldn't need as many special interests groups. Government should only adhere to the roles granted to it by "we the people" in our Constitution.
The second point is that on our side of the aisle we need to reject crony capitalism. Crony capitalism is the special treatment and unfair practice of favoring certain industries and economic endeavors with the power, and financial resources of government.
In a recent article in Politico, the headline reads, "Chamber of Commerce gives ultimatum to GOP." This is not a joke. The business community who normally would be on the side of free enterprise and liberty is now pushing our reps and senators into the trap of amnesty.
Folks, this article is not about immigration reform, but allow me to make a point. We already had immigration reform. Simpson-Rizzoli in 1986 was supposed to secure the border and grant amnesty to the 2 million illegal aliens in our country. Well the only part that worked in the bill was the amnesty part. The border was never secure and today we are about to do the same thing again. I thought the definition of insanity was to do the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Oh, I forgot we are talking about Washington politics, the very definition of insanity.
The GOP needs to stand up and tell the Chamber of Commerce that they can take their threats and put it some place. Those representatives were elected by you and I. We the people do not want to bullied by the corporations and businesses who don't give a rat's posterior about immigration. These entities only see cheap labor. We need to stand up and say that no more will we play the game of crony capitalism.
We need to embrace a tax reform system that levels the playing field for all businesses not just the privileged few. We need to do away with economic "incentives" and "subsidies" which many times are political pay offs and unfair advantages to big corporations over local businesses.
If the GOP wants to win and wants to appeal to the middle class, it's time we stop ladling the gravy on the pork and actually say we are a free market economy and that we will be held hostage by corporations who throw billions in campaign contributions. If you want to give money fine, but it will not buy our votes.
The only way this system will collapse is if you and I show our reps that they do not need the millions in legal bribes from the corporations and lobbyists. If we show them that the only thing that helps them is if we vote for them. The only way we should vote for them is if they believe in our constitution and not the gravy train of crony capitalism.
Links:
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/chamber-of-commerce-2016-election-immigration-106577.html?hp=l9
This raises two points. First, is that if you want to decrease the need for lobbyists than we need to reduce the role of government in every facet of our lives. If government wasn't so intrusive in areas like energy, agriculture, and business than we wouldn't need as many special interests groups. Government should only adhere to the roles granted to it by "we the people" in our Constitution.
The second point is that on our side of the aisle we need to reject crony capitalism. Crony capitalism is the special treatment and unfair practice of favoring certain industries and economic endeavors with the power, and financial resources of government.
In a recent article in Politico, the headline reads, "Chamber of Commerce gives ultimatum to GOP." This is not a joke. The business community who normally would be on the side of free enterprise and liberty is now pushing our reps and senators into the trap of amnesty.
Folks, this article is not about immigration reform, but allow me to make a point. We already had immigration reform. Simpson-Rizzoli in 1986 was supposed to secure the border and grant amnesty to the 2 million illegal aliens in our country. Well the only part that worked in the bill was the amnesty part. The border was never secure and today we are about to do the same thing again. I thought the definition of insanity was to do the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Oh, I forgot we are talking about Washington politics, the very definition of insanity.
The GOP needs to stand up and tell the Chamber of Commerce that they can take their threats and put it some place. Those representatives were elected by you and I. We the people do not want to bullied by the corporations and businesses who don't give a rat's posterior about immigration. These entities only see cheap labor. We need to stand up and say that no more will we play the game of crony capitalism.
We need to embrace a tax reform system that levels the playing field for all businesses not just the privileged few. We need to do away with economic "incentives" and "subsidies" which many times are political pay offs and unfair advantages to big corporations over local businesses.
If the GOP wants to win and wants to appeal to the middle class, it's time we stop ladling the gravy on the pork and actually say we are a free market economy and that we will be held hostage by corporations who throw billions in campaign contributions. If you want to give money fine, but it will not buy our votes.
The only way this system will collapse is if you and I show our reps that they do not need the millions in legal bribes from the corporations and lobbyists. If we show them that the only thing that helps them is if we vote for them. The only way we should vote for them is if they believe in our constitution and not the gravy train of crony capitalism.
Links:
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/chamber-of-commerce-2016-election-immigration-106577.html?hp=l9
Monday, May 12, 2014
Slow Down on Fracking
The North Carolina General Assembly approved fracking last year. Currently the process is at the point where the panel who is writing the recommendations as far as the rules and regulations is awaiting approval of a bill to extend the deadline for those regulations. The bill will probably pass.
The bill should pass provided a controversial part of it is changed, because it will give the panel more time to make recommendations and to get more counsel. More time and patience should be the theme for this panel. Fracking is divisive issue in the state and we need to listen to both sides before a decision is made.
A controversial provision in the bill is that the chemicals which are used in the Fracking process would be classified as "trade secrets" of the companies doing the process. The only time that the list of chemicals would be made available would be to first responders in the event of an emergency.
This provision is very bad in my view. First, we the people, should know all the facts before this process gets the full green light. I think withholding this information is wrong. Let's put all the options on the table and lets see what happens. It sounds like to me that the oil and gas industry is afraid of the failure of the legislation if the chemicals are known. Why? Are the chemicals so toxic and so terrible that the very mention of their names will ensure panic and opposition? What are they afraid of, or better yet what are they hiding?
The next concern I would have about fracking is the zoning rights. I think the zoning should be two fold. First the County in which the property resides must have zoning regulations that allow it. Second, that the local municipality should have zoning privileges as well. If they get both the county and local municipal zoning privileges than and only then can the fracking take place.
Another concern I would have would be contingency planning. The companies involved should have ESCROW account set up for clean-up, disaster relief, and victim compensation. On the state level, we need to have disaster and relief plans drawn up in the rare but possible event of an accident.
There are still a lot of unanswered questions that need to be answered on fracking. I am all for energy exploration and for energy independence, but these questions and valid points need to be addressed.
I would encourage all Moore County citizens to write, call, or e-mail Jamie Boles and Jerry Tillman and tell them that we in Moore County want to know what is being put into the ground.
Jamie Boles
House District 52
email-Jamie.Boles@ncleg.net
Jerry Tillman
Senate District 29
email-Jerry.Tillman@ncleg.net
Links:
http://www.wncn.com/story/25470966/nc-lawmakers-still-looking-at-fracking-options
The bill should pass provided a controversial part of it is changed, because it will give the panel more time to make recommendations and to get more counsel. More time and patience should be the theme for this panel. Fracking is divisive issue in the state and we need to listen to both sides before a decision is made.
A controversial provision in the bill is that the chemicals which are used in the Fracking process would be classified as "trade secrets" of the companies doing the process. The only time that the list of chemicals would be made available would be to first responders in the event of an emergency.
This provision is very bad in my view. First, we the people, should know all the facts before this process gets the full green light. I think withholding this information is wrong. Let's put all the options on the table and lets see what happens. It sounds like to me that the oil and gas industry is afraid of the failure of the legislation if the chemicals are known. Why? Are the chemicals so toxic and so terrible that the very mention of their names will ensure panic and opposition? What are they afraid of, or better yet what are they hiding?
The next concern I would have about fracking is the zoning rights. I think the zoning should be two fold. First the County in which the property resides must have zoning regulations that allow it. Second, that the local municipality should have zoning privileges as well. If they get both the county and local municipal zoning privileges than and only then can the fracking take place.
Another concern I would have would be contingency planning. The companies involved should have ESCROW account set up for clean-up, disaster relief, and victim compensation. On the state level, we need to have disaster and relief plans drawn up in the rare but possible event of an accident.
There are still a lot of unanswered questions that need to be answered on fracking. I am all for energy exploration and for energy independence, but these questions and valid points need to be addressed.
I would encourage all Moore County citizens to write, call, or e-mail Jamie Boles and Jerry Tillman and tell them that we in Moore County want to know what is being put into the ground.
Jamie Boles
House District 52
email-Jamie.Boles@ncleg.net
Jerry Tillman
Senate District 29
email-Jerry.Tillman@ncleg.net
Links:
http://www.wncn.com/story/25470966/nc-lawmakers-still-looking-at-fracking-options
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