TEA Partiers in Sheep's Clothing

Every political organization has a great idealogical origin. They begin with the best of intentions. They say they will fight the good fight and always stand up for their values. As time goes on those values and platitudes are replaced by ruthless pragmatism and sheer avarice. Just look at the GOP and the liberal Democratic Party. Is the TEA party in danger of doing the same? 

In 2010 the political world was rocked by the TEA party movement. With their banners of "Don't Tread on Me" and their flood of little constitutions, they turned the political establishment of both parties upside down. They fought hard for candidates who believed in balanced budgets, less taxes, less government. These insurgents came to Washington with a clear mandate; Don't just talk about change, Do it! 

The old guard on both sides of the aisle descended like vultures on a fresh piece of road kill. Many  of the newcomers were sucked into the stinking slough of corporatism and Tammany Hall style politics. Our own Congresswoman Renee Ellmers was a victim. Once shunned by the establishment, she quickly embraced it and began to spout with vigor the watered down talking points from the speaker's office. She is no different than the man she replaced. Now she votes the right way enough of the time, but the train is still heading towards the abyss. Renee Ellmers is throwing chaff at the wheels and then looking at us with those dough eyes and saying "Well, I Tried." She needs to be replaced. 

This example should be a warning to the TEA party. There are wolves out there who will brandish as many constitutions as they can carry to win a seat. They will don a powdered wig and pantaloons and play the part of Thomas Paine or Patrick Henry. They will say they believe in what we believe. Yet when they win they will act like the good ole boys and girls they are. They will vote the right way enough to win re-election but when the chips are down they will turn tail and run. 

It happened to the GOP and it can happen to the TEA party. The local chapters need to research candidates dispassionately and judicially. They need to look into their backgrounds and their past actions. Thy need to choose people who aren't going to talk about "legal rape" or Obama's birth certificate. They need to choose candidates who are moral and who are conservative. 

Sadly many times the candidate they choose is based on emotion and whim. As soon as someone says a line from the Declaration of Independence or pulls a US Constitution from their inner jacket pocket, the TEA party swoons. 

If the TEA party wants to stay legitimate and actually make a difference than they need to do a better job of picking candidates. If they don't than two things will happen. They will elect fools to office or worse, charlatans who will sell their principles to the highest bidder. Both things will weaken and destroy the TEA party. This movement may be our nation's last resistance to the madness of liberalism. We can't afford to screw it up. 

Anybody But Tillis.

The primary battle for the GOP nomination for US Senate has entered the back straightaway. The choices could not be more clear. On the liberal side you have Thom Tillis. Tillis is a state Rep, and speaker of the NC House. Thom Tillis is taking credit for a lot of conservative legislation that has been passed over the last couple of years. Even though many conservatives in the NC House and Senate would argue that he was more of a hindrance than a help. There have been charges that he was a Richard Morgan plant when he beat Rep.Jim Rhodes in 2006. He has denied this but the fact remains that he runs with a crowd that is too liberal for many of us on the right. He has also  been embroiled in several scandals and innuendos. Some of his staff had to resign because of improper relationships and corruption. Tillis also has come under scrutiny for some of his "picks" for the board of governors. It seems like Tillis is all for you getting the position if you contribute to his campaign. These things may all be circumstantial. However they will be repeated with vigor by our liberal friends in the press and by the  Kay Hagan campaign. We can do better. If you vote for Tillis, You will be voting for amnesty, more government, and more of the same from establishment GOP leaders. 

Fortunately we have two great choices. You have Dr. Greg Brannon. Dr. Brannon is a libertarian/ TEA party candidate. He labels himself as a constitutional conservative. He is against Obamacare and is endorsed by Senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee. 

Brannon is however involved in a legal issue that is of some concern. He has been sued, with other co-defendants, for fraud. He has denied these charges vehemently. He was found guilty however by a jury and was ordered to compensate the plaintiffs. Since that decision, several sites, including the Daily Haymaker.com have reported that the judge in the case is a democrat with ties to Kay Hagan. This is troubling but the fact that it was a jury who handed down the judgement and not the judge is a valid point that Brannon supporters will have trouble refuting. There are rumors that a complaint will be filed against the judge. Brannon is a smart man who would make a good senator but his legal issues will be exploited by the press and the Hagan campaign as well. 

Another good choice is Mark Harris. Mark Harris is a pastor of a large congregation in the Charlotte area. He has also been involved in the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is a classic conservative who stresses moral values, lower taxes, and strong national defense views. 

The negatives on Harris are that he isn't well known. He will be lambasted by our liberal press and the Hagan campaign as a bible thumping, homophobic, woman hating Baptist. 

He is endorsed by Former Governor Mike Huckabee and other conservative Christian groups, such as Return America. 

We cannot choose a candidate based on what Hagan and her lap dog press will say or do. We should pick a candidate that represents the conservative values of our state. 

No one is perfect. The point here is that in my opinion, the conservatives in this state have two good choices in Mark Harris and Greg Brannon. Thom Tillis is no conservative and does need any power let alone the position of US senator. Research Harris and Brannon for yourselves and decide whom is the better choice. We need a conservative in Washington for NC. Not another John Boehner, Mitch McConnell wannabe like Tillis and certainly not Kay Hagan. 

It's Just A Website

Recently, Pat Corso of Partners on Progress floated the idea to our County Commissioners of a website. This website would be used to attract industry to our county. 

It sounds great. Of course the next step was money. Corso wanted close to $100,000 to get the website up and running. According to a report from 990 WEEB, two of the commissioners, Larry Caddell and Randy Saunders, voiced financial support for the project. 

Let's start on the obvious. Government is not very good at running websites. The next concern is practicality. We have a Chamber of Commerce and a Partners in Progress. They have their own budgets and websites. Why spend more taxpayer dollars on something that is unnecessary? Lastly, I doubt that a website is going to be our economic Field of Dreams. I don't think that the folks at IBM are going to move here because of a web page. 

The request was pulled before the meeting this past Tuesday night. Thankfully some of our commissioners used their common sense and good judgement. Government can attract industries with low taxes, good infrastructure, good schools, and public safety. We don't need gravy train subsidies or websites. Like I said the last thing we need is a government built website. 

Can't Fix Stupid.

Conservatives' predictions of disaster about Obamacare have come true. I would love nothing better than to gloat, but that is not what America needs. America needs salvation from this travesty of a law. 

The law is so unpopular that it's chief architect, President Obama, is trying to take his name off of the law. The Democrats are panicking and with good reason. 

The GOP needs to make 2014 about Obamacare. They need to hang this albatross around the necks of Congressional Democrats. I believe that as more Americans see their insurance plans canceled they will turn to the GOP in 2014. 

If the GOP will stop fighting each other and start focusing on the real enemy, Obama and his liberal agenda, then they can win in 2014. However the GOP needs one clear message. Repeal Obamacare and institute real reform. 

There are some that say we can fix it. To those I say, you can't fix stupid. This law is fundamentally flawed. The rollout is just another example of big government incompetence. This is one pig that you can't put lipstick on. 

GOP candidates need to run on a clear common sense agenda of repealing Obamacare, reducing spending, reforming entitlements, and restoring our greatness at home and abroad. The GOP needs to stop thinking like Washington and start thinking like common sense Americans. If they do they will win in 2014. If not,blike I said you can't fix stupid. 

Government is not supposed to create jobs

It seems that all you hear about at all levels of government is that government needs to create jobs. I can't tell you how many times I have heard members of both parties talk about how the government needs to create jobs. The last time I checked the only jobs government should have any role in is hiring government employees. I would also argue we have too many government employees.
The goal of government should be to make sure that the climate is good for business. Taxes and regulations should be low, so that businesses have more capital to expand and invest in creating jobs. Again the private sector or the free market creates jobs. Many times when you hear of government creating jobs is where there are tax breaks or subsidies or grants.
These types of things create a false market. Just look at our agriculture system. If the government eliminated all the subsidies it would cause the agriculture market to plummet because the market or a great majority of it would have been removed. When the free market is allowed to work then jobs and industries thrive based on what the people or the market wants. The government at this point is propping many industries that would fail in the market place but are propped up by tax breaks and subsidies.
A perfect example of this would be "green" energy companies. Many of them are sustained only by the tax payer's dime. We have seen the scandals of Solyndra, and Green Tech. Our government, under the guise of creating jobs, is spending tax payer dollars on things that in many cases would fail otherwise.
Another example would be the film making industry. For years in NC, there have been "incentives" to bring Hollywood here to film projects. Now that these incentives are going away, there is a possibility that those jobs are not coming here again. That is fine. Government in NC should focus on reducing the heavy tax burden on NC businesses and reduce regulation and let the market work it's will. Throwing money at businesses and basically bribing them to do business with you is not good for our economy or for our wallets.
Another example is when we give tax breaks to companies or subsidies to do things they normally wouldn't do. I don't think we should be giving billions in "incentives" to oil companies or any company for that matter. If they want to expand let them use their private capital and pay for it. This is why we need to reduce taxes and regulations so businesses will have more capital. Now we tax them almost to failure and then prop them up with tax payer dollars. That is wrong, stupid, and insane.
We even see it here locally. Recently, our Moore County Commissioners gave $15,500 in a matching amount for a state grant for improvements so that a company can add more jobs. The name of the company is International Tray Pads and Packaging. This is a very successful company who could afford, if it was worth it, to put up the money themselves. Instead our state and three of our county commissioners agreed to spend tax payer dollars on something that government should have no business doing. I will link to the story so you can read how three commissioners on our local county board wasted our tax dollars under the guise of "creating jobs".
I wrote a while back that the gravy train had to stop. This is another perfect example of how our government at all levels has lost it's constitutional priorities. They are interested in spending money on pet projects, political favors, and "jobs" because it translates into votes. This is greed. They want to stay in power. So they spend tax payer dollars to stay in power. It is pay to play politics and it is on both sides of the aisle. It needs to stop. We need to get government out of the market and get government out of the gravy train and pork barrel spending business.


http://www.thepilot.com/news/article_3e794962-003a-11e3-9bcb-001a4bcf6878.html

Delay or defund

The GOP is locked in a battle of tactics. You have the conservative wing, led by Mike Lee, who believe that defunding Obamacare could be done through the CR to fund the government. There are some issues with this tactic. First the GOP needs all Republican Senators to vote to defund Obamacare. Right now there are just over a dozen who have committed to vote this way. There are several including Richard Burr who have said they will not sign onto such an effort.  So at this point it looks like we won't get all GOP senators. Then the next problem is that we would need a few democrats to vote against the President and vote to defund Obamacare. There is no democrat who will do this. So conceivably this tactic may be great, but in reality it is tough to enact. 

The next tactic is to delay. Grover Norquist and other conservative groups have sent a letter, encouraging our leaders to delay the laws implementation. Karl Rove and many other GOP leaders are advocating this delay tactic. They feel that if we delay and avoid a government shutdown that the Senate will be in GOP hands after the 2014 elections. There are some holes in this tactic as well. There is no guarantee of victory in 2014. Even if the GOP did gain a majority it would fall short of the sixty vote threshold to pass legislation. Even if the defund Obamacare  movement was successful after the 2014 elections, the President would veto it and the GOP doesn't have enough votes to override his veto. 

Conservatives are pushing the defund Obamacare option for several reasons. First they feel that this is the best opportunity to stop the law. They also are tired of past GOP promises that have never come to fruition. Much of the anger we see in this debate, and rightfully so, is from past betrayals. 

The GOP leadership wants to delay. They feel that a government shutdown will spell disaster for republicans in the 2014 elections. 

In the end it is a gamble. Either we can try and in Paul Ryan's words, "swing for the fences", or we can take the safe route. 

There is no guaranteed outcome. My personal opinion is to try to defund. We have got to try and do all we can. Playing it safe has gotten us nowhere. Romney was the safe choice. Picking the safe route here will dispirit the base and will send everyone a message that the GOP is weak. I don't mind swinging for the fences. I may strike out but at least I took my cuts and tried. I hope our GOP leadership will do the same. 

Tillis needs to copy Moore County

Recently on his Twitter and Facebook accounts, NC House speaker Thom Tillis has been touting the new budget. He highlights that we are spending more money on education than when the liberal democrats were in the majority. The speaker is clearly trying to appear moderate. He is running for US Senate, and he wants voters to think that he is for the children. 

I think that the legislature did some good things, but the budget still increased spending. You would think that with a GOP led legislature, that spending might actually have gone down. Tillis is sounding like the liberal democrats when he proclaims that we are spending more like it is a good thing. Speaker Tillis and the rest of the NCGA need to study what our Moore County board of commissioners have been doing. 

Moore County has made investments in education, water infrastructure, and public safety. They did this while reducing property taxes and reducing spending through various methods. Instead of simply moving the money around to different places, the GOP led legislature needs to start looking at ways to actually reduce spending. 

Thom Tillis is running for Senate. NC does not need to elect another establishment politician. We see how that has turned out for our nation. There is another candidate running named Greg Brannon who sound like the kind of conservative we haven't had in Washington since Jesse Helms. We need to take a serious look at alternatives in this race. In Washington, Raleigh, and Moore County we need to have leaders who are committed to fiscal responsibility which means less taxes, less spending and more prosperity. At the local level we are on the right track. We still have a lot of work to do at the state  and federal levels. I do know that voting for Thom Tillis is a vote for six years of more of the same. This is a primary, we don't have to settle.