“It’s About the Votes, Stupid”

As shared at my Column with Examiner.com:
http://www.examiner.com/republican-in-san-francisco/it-s-about-the-votes-stupid


When I was young, my mother used to say to me, “Do as I say, not as I do.” For as wise as she was sweet, this clever quip never worked for me. The example set in what she actually did had the greater impact on my own choices and behavior. I have otherwise heard it aptly put, “Your actions speak so loud, I cannot hear what you are saying.” In the current political climate heading into the 2010 mid-term elections, the usual siege of campaign rhetoric, promises and smears are no different; these mere, empty, last minute words cannot undo 20 months of choices and behavior, and therefore, no longer have enough depth to hold air let alone our trust.

The polarizing issues of the 2008 Presidential Elections began disturbing the slumber of the politically apathetic. Unfortunately, as often goes with apathy, the awakening comes a day late and a dollar short, now racing from the disadvantage of the back of the field. It’s like “The Frog in the Kettle” analogy: toss a frog into boiling water, it will immediately jump out, but, put the frog in tepid water and slowly turn up the heat, it will boil alive because it won’t even feel it.

While the cost of our apathy eventually gave us an Obama Presidency, fortunately, we the people did feel the heat (called the TARP Bill) soon enough to begin our subsequent uphill fight, furiously calling and writing our respective Congressional Representatives to not support the Bill, all to no avail. Against the will of “we the people,” especially those of us in the Republican Party, even John McCain, the 2008 Republican Presidential Candidate, voted in favor of it, speaking huge disappointing volumes.

What a rude awakening. Not only was our voice not heard, worse - while we’d slumbered, our voice became irrelevant to those voted into Office to serve us. Instead, Congressional Representatives, including Republicans, were lording over us and serving themselves, as if this was normal and acceptable, as if they knew what was best for us, the ignorant and stupid. We were just asleep and therefore silent… but no more.

This under-estimation of we the people has subsequently exposed that it’s not we who are the ignorant and stupid or the only ones asleep. While we are now wide awake and motivated to action as reflected in the grassroots TEA Party movement, they remain clueless, especially to the fact that we feel most betrayed by the votes of those in our own Party, the “moderate” Republicans, or RINO’s (Republicans In Name Only).

From that first vote for the TARP Bill to all the votes that quickly followed Obama’s Presidential Inauguration, we the people have been taking copious notes. RINO’s made 3 key mistakes, thus, outing themselves and forever etching their names in our minds: 1) they voted for Obama’s radical agenda at every turn, 2) they believed we would forget these votes, and 3) they demonized us for opposing them. They’re like the dross which surfaces and is then removed in the process of purifying silver. All it took was turning up the heat to expose them. As we fast approach the 2010 mid-term elections, we haven’t forgotten. Anything but – we’ve been like a stampede of horses chomping at the bit to get out of the gate and to the ballot box to finally be heard.  The heat of the TEA Party is purging the dross of compromise right out of the Republican Party.

Still fresh in our minds are the names of every RINO who voted for the passage of Cap and Trade, the Stimulus Bills, the Obama Care Bill, and the confirmation of radicals to our National Supreme Court, all in spite of the passionate opposition from the majority of we the people, essentially shoving their will down our throats time and time again. When Cap and Trade barely passed, due to the votes of just 8 RINO’s, a “Wanted Poster” of them quickly circulated over the internet.

The reason there is such uproar over the primary election of Christine O’Donnell instead of incumbent Mike Castle is because RINO’s still don’t get it. Dick Morris does.

        Morris said labeling candidates like O’Donnell “extremist” was based on outdated political calculations. “There is a basic misconception which the establishment has about these primaries. When a tea party candidate or an ‘extremist’ wins the primary, normally that would mean there’s a lesser chance of winning the election.”

        “The issue is not extremism or moderation, its sincerity or insincerity.”

        “Fiscal and economic concerns are more important to voters.”

        “Someone who is an ‘extremist,’ in the words of the establishment, is probably more trustworthy on those issues.”

We don’t care about O’Donnell’s “dabbling in witchcraft” as a teenager, or any other stupid issue for which she has been attacked, and more scrutinized and scandalized than Obama ever was. We only care about the conservative principles she stands for and how she will vote. We already know by the aforementioned "Wanted Poster" what Castle believes and how he votes.

What is so surprising then about the ousting of these RINO’s like Crist, Murkowski, and now Castle? Their votes for Obama’s radical agenda, against our will, were painful to helplessly witness. We prayed, we called, we wrote, we rallied, we did all we could to make it clear, “Please do not vote for Obama’s agenda!” Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” For each vote that betrayed the will of we the people, our hearts grew increasingly sick with deep disappointment. Of course we no longer want them to have the opportunity to vote against us again. We don’t want any more painful and hopeless angst with each vote cast against our will; we want the peace and confidence that the votes will represent it.

Call it extremist, purist, or foolish, we don’t care. We only care about one thing - the votes. That’s what it boils down to. There’s no mystery here. It’s about the votes, stupid!

We don’t care about the attacks on the TEA Party or the candidates we endorse, attacks which only reinforce our assessment of the opposition. We are not swayed but their deflection of blame onto Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, or Fox News. They have no one to blame but themselves. No one else placed their vote in the box.

We don’t care about last minute campaign ads trying to save their hides; our minds were made up when they voted. Campaigning now doesn’t erase all they’ve done and how they voted in the previous 20 months.

Fortunately, in the beauty of our sacred Republic our Founders established the failsafe of empowering us, the people, with voting these public servants not only into but also out of Office.

President George Washington said in 1787, "The power under the Constitution will always be in the People. It is entrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own choosing; and whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their servants can--and undoubtedly will--be recalled."

Patrick Henry said, "The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government."

Instead of building upon Reagan’s proven conservative legacy after he left Office, RINO’s have dragged the Republican Party away from it by the leaven of their compromise. First it paved the way for an Obama Presidency, and now it’s been paving the way for the blasphemous Obama agenda to fundamentally transform America. They have dragged us so far away from true Reagan conservatism that our current efforts to return to our Founding principles of smaller government, fiscal responsibility, and a strong national defense, are now ironically viewed as extremist.

Every time we have been diminished, mocked, attacked, and ignored, it has only fueled our resolve. We want public servants who indeed serve the will of the people and not a radical Presidential agenda.  It is time for the Republican Party to get behind we the people and no longer the other way around.

In the end, if they do not represent the will of the people when they vote, they will be purged by the votes of the people they refuse to represent. If they vote for us, we will vote for them. If they don’t – we won’t. It doesn’t get clearer than that.

"No More Leaven of Compromise"

As shared at my Column with Examiner.com:
http://www.examiner.com/republican-in-san-francisco/no-more-leaven-of-compromise
(includes the sourced links)


The recent primary battle between longtime Republican Senator Mike Castle, an establishment politician liberal Republican, and the grassroots TEA Party citizen contender Christine O’Donnell, perfectly exemplifies the very serious problem that conservatives have with the Republican Party; they keep endorsing the wrong candidate, just as they did when John McCain became the only option for the 2008 Presidential Election. It wasn’t until the principled conservative, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, joined the ticket that conservatives felt they finally stood a fighting chance against the Obama campaign machine.

The RNC continues to make the mistake that they need “moderate” candidates in order to secure independent votes. Even under the leadership of Michael Steele, the RNC fails to recognize that such compromise of true Republican principles, conservative principles, secures the liberal agenda, as often, these “moderate” Republicans, otherwise known as RINO’s (Republican In Name Only), tend to cast Congressional votes in favor of the liberal agenda. This compromise is exactly how Obama Care, as well as all the other tax and spending Bills which Americans passionately oppose, was shoved down the throats of the American people.

Conservatives do not want leaven-like Republicans in Office who “reach across the aisle.” Americans want candidates who have enough principle and conviction to stand firm on the conservative side of the aisle. Never before in America’s history has this mattered more as the Obama Administration is in full force to “fundamentally transform” Her.

If the RNC fails to understand that the TEA Party movement is not just about opposing Obama’s radical “fundamental transformation” agenda, but also about conservatives taking back the Republican Party in order to have an arm to fight with let alone a leg to stand on, then they demonstrate why their own tone-deaf candidate endorsements will cause their eventual removal from Office as well, via the cleansing affects of the ballot box.

A majority of Conservatives today still hold to the same convictions of former President Ronald Reagan who shared in a 1977 CPAC speech about revitalizing the Republican Party. He encouraged Republicans to stand on conservative principles, and then make room for others to join. He demonstrated the success of this concept, eventually winning the respect of the Democrat Party, hence the term, “Reagan Democrats.”

Sacrificing conservative principles to make room for independents was not the compromise Reagan encouraged. He did not espouse trading in common sense to win them, only to then hand over the reins of the Party to them. If it takes apples of compromised principles to get them, it will take those same apples to keep them. This is exactly how the Republican Party became the tail wagging the neutered dog; conservatives and TEA Party patriots are passionately trying to correct this crippling error.

However, if independents, most of whom are center-right, are won without compromise, because of common sense principles, then the Republican Party will once again be the empowered Party of the successful Reagan era. This is not a complicated task. Until they do, the Republican Party will continue to be a lukewarm losing Party, something this Country desperately can no longer afford.

One well known definition of insanity is continuing to travel down the same road and expecting a different result. How insane has the RNC become? Compromise does not work! If you give the left a peephole, they make it into a loophole to advance their agenda, an agenda that a majority of Americans adamantly do not want. The Bible says in Galatians 5:9, “A little leaven, leavens the whole lump of dough.” It doesn’t take much.

Americans have been making this as clear as possible every time they get behind candidates that better represent conservative principles, even as far as rejecting the “RNC endorsed” anointed candidates. This recently happened again in Alaska with the primary win of Joe Miller over the RNC backed Lisa Murkowski.

Why then, is the RNC working so hard like a Democrat to demonize the people’s choice of Christine O’Donnell to secure the win of Mike Castle? If there is even a remote chance he could vote with the Democrats on any part of Obama’s transformational agenda, as he has already done, he is of no help to conservatives fighting to remain the America of our blessed inheritance.

Thursday, the Christian Science Monitor crafted an article that asks, “Could Mike Castle be part of a new Republican middle?” The answer is a resounding “no!” Mark Levin clearly explained on his Facebook page, “This is what I’ve been warning about both on my show and here. So-called moderates will be swept into office on the coattail of the anti-Democrat, anti-Obama, pro-TEA Party surge in November, and they will organize against conservatives and the conservative agenda… It will mean the end of the GOP as a potential conservative party that can counter statists, and more importantly, it will mean that America has crossed over to a socialist nation.”

Sarah Palin called into Sean Hannity’s radio program Thursday to officially give her endorsement to Christine O'Donnell. "Let me go ahead and endorse Christine O'Donnell because, Sean, she's the conservative in the race," Palin said. "She is against Obama's cap-and-tax scheme, she is against Obamacare, and she is for the free market principles that need to get plugged in to put our economy back on the right track."

There is a clear line drawn in the sand in this a tug-of-war for the Republic which we cannot afford to lose; either America will be fundamentally transformed into a European style welfare state, looking more like Venezuela, or America will remain the Republic of Her founding. There is no middle ground. America still has a chance, but the window of opportunity is quickly closing. Risks of compromising shots in the dark between these two camps will all but secure the unacceptable success of the Obama agenda.

Compromise, therefore, is no longer an option. It is how Republicans have been needlessly drawn this far into the battle to begin with; we are far too close to that middle line. Any closer to the fire and it will consume the small hope that still remains, which is why conservatives will no longer concede to their compromise; they will never give up this fight. Instead, they will continue to vote for solid and unleavened candidates in order to revive America and, once again, become that shining light upon a hill.

The RNC would be wise to finally get a clue and get the leaven out of the Republican Party already. America cannot afford to become like a fluffy loaf of white bread stripped void of all its nutrients. It is up to them to come back to the people and stop dragging the people away from conservatism. It isn’t working. If they do not, they will make themselves a losing third party with no one to blame but themselves.

"The American Poker Game" (updated version)

As shared at my Column with Examiner.com:
http://www.examiner.com/republican-in-san-francisco/the-american-poker-game

** AUTHORS NOTE:  Democrats have continued to proclaim that voters will forget their political frustration come the November mid-term elections, even as it is now fast approaching.  I share this article again (originally published at "American Thinker," December 22, 2009), with a few minor updates, to emphasize the point: voters have not forgotten, feeling the same now as then, perhaps even more so.  With growing concern for the future of our Country, voters have been impatiently counting down the days until the November 2, 2010 vote, an election day already predicted to be historical.


When the Senate reached the 60 votes needed to pass cloture on the Obama Care Bill in late 2009, President Obama declared “this scored a big victory for the American people,” continuing to ignore that “we the people” didn’t consider this a victory by any stretch. At that time, a CNN Poll revealed that 61% of Americans didn’t want Obama Care in any form. A Rasmussen Poll showed that 57% of voters said passing nothing would be preferable to passing the legislation.  Since then, a recent Rasmussen poll explains that 58% of Americans favor repealing the now official Health Care Law.

The passage of Obama Care into Law alone has been enough to critically upset the voters.  Add to it the many "transformational," far-left policies of the Obama Administration being forced upon the American people against their will, as well as the constant demonization of them for their opposition, and it is no secret as to why 71% of Americans have been angry at the current Government.

There’s been discussion that the Democrat’s believe “we the people” will forget all of it in the fast approaching November 2010 mid-term elections. This belief underscores the huge disconnect between the people and them. The Democrats and the Obama Administration are blinded by political ambition, emboldened by the 2008 Elections, even now.

No poker face – the majority of Americans are brazenly clear: they have not forgotten and are not going to forget. Still, the Democrats cannot see that the voters haven’t folded their hand in this poker game they are playing with American lives; there is no intention of doing so. Every time they refuse to hear the protests, downplaying the significance of the grass roots TEA Party movement, the voters fight harder to be heard. They raise the stakes of the game, the voters see their call, toss in more chips, and raise them in kind.

The majority of Americans fervently do not want to “fundamentally transform” America. They want to live in the free America of their blessed inheritance, the Republic for which the Founding Fathers gave their lives, the shining light on a hill. John Quincy Adams said, “You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." Anything less is a shameful travesty, spitting on the blood which was shed to provide it.

We are America, not Cuba, not Europe. Our forefathers left Europe and fought the Revolutionary War to give us America. Why would we throw that away to become like Europe once again? As Proverb 26:11 says, it is “like a dog who returns to his own vomit.”

President Ronald Reagan 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.” If the Obama Administration believes Americans are going to lie down and accept the “remaking” of America, they completely under estimate that the people's votes hold the winning hand with plenty of constitutional chips to spare.

President George Washington said in 1787, "The power under the Constitution will always be in the People. It is entrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own choosing; and whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their servants can--and undoubtedly will--be recalled."

Patrick Henry said, "The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government."

The Obama Administration can keep upping the ante in this fight for America, even until November 2, 2010. Rest assured, voters will respond accordingly on this day with an unexpected passion. Forget? Voters can hardly wait to finally be heard! They are like a stampede of horses chomping at the bit to get out of this gate and get to the 2010 Elections. They anxiously anticipate the moment they can reveal their winning hand, triumphantly gathering the chips of their America. They'll not stand for the remaking of America. But they’ll fight without ceasing to retake Her. Though Democrats cannot see it, it’s no gamble at all for “we the people.” The odds are in their favor. They have grown increasingly grateful to the Founding Fathers who paid with their lives to make sure it would be so.