Special Report
Gentlemen, Start Your Engines -- Quickly!
There are few places in the world like the Daytona International Speedway at Tea Party time.
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida -- I was trapped in conversation this week with a candidate for high public office who, anticipating my rude question, blurted out that she was "running to restore people's trust in government." All I could think to say in return was, "Why would you want to do that?"
You will already have surmised that the nice lady was not quoting from the platform of the Tea Party. No, she is the leading candidate, in a medium-red state, of the Republican Party and that's the message she will carry to the voters this year with a high-church sense of GOP purpose.
You see our problem.
Here we are, stuck in a political cycle where almost nothing has gone right. We have taken a beating on politics, on economics, on culture. It's tough out there for everybody without Federal fix or favor. The only ray of sunshine is this healthy skepticism of government that's been rekindled among the citizenry -- and now, here comes our well-coiffed candidate with the straight seams determined to stamp out all the sparks before personal freedom breaks out in unplanned ways. I'm kicking myself. I should have cajoled her into joining me for the race down here and then introduced her to the crowd. There's nothing like the sound of 195,000 constituents booing to sharpen a politician's sense of direction.
Truth be, there are few places in the world like the Daytona International Speedway when it comes to spritzing lighter fluid all over that rekindling process. Remember that scrawny little C-SPAN wonkenanny they held over in Nashville the other day? They called it the Tea Party Convention, but it served up little more than tourist samples of see-through herbal tea. Here at the Daytona 500 we are mustered up at the Southern Command, surrounded by the fully caffeinated, double-shot foot soldiers of the national Tea Party movement. Most of these folks can't even remember when they lost their trust in government and they wouldn't spend much time in lamentation if they did. The very heritage of stock car racing, we are reminded, is swaddled in the myth of the moonshiners, the backcountry boozers who, sensing the approach of the revenoors, revved up their'57 Chevys and trusted their wheels to be somewhat hotter than the government's. My candidate would have rooted for the revenooers. But she's a quick study, give her that. It would have taken her about ten minutes to figure out that, while some of these folks have evidently been looking for love in the wrong places, not a one of them has been looking for her trust-in-government project.
What she also would have noticed is that these small-t tea partiers are intensely political. They plaster wit and wisdom all over their tee-shirts, none of it reflecting the 46% of the country that, Mr. Gallup insists, support the President. Unlike a baseball crowd, or a Philly crowd, they actually cheer for the good guys. They like Tim McGraw's songs. They like the preacher who prays for a good race "in the name of Jesus." They like the F-15's aerial turns and the waterskier's tricks. They like Harry Connick Jr.'s old-school rendition of the national anthem. But most conspicuously, their affection for Sarah Palin is uninflected. After the shortest political speech in history, they like her for Grand Marshall or President or Best Female Recording Artist or Whatever That Gal Wants. They just-plain like her, almost as much as they like giving the digital salute to David Brooks, David Gergen, and various other pairs of fancy pants.
The point is that, as wired as they are just now by the politics of the day, they care a lot more about their families. And their communities. And their churches. And lots of other things that never pop up in the box slugged "Today's Events" in the Washington Post. Today, for instance, they like cars. I claim no expertise in things NASCAR. I'm just dipping into the bucket list and traipsing after Miss Sarah, but I think I get it. Fans from across a ten-state region hustle over here three hours before the flag drops to steep themselves in a uniquely American experience. Handsome young men strapping themselves into high-performance machines, performing unnatural acts of skill and courage. This isn't curling or poker. These drivers are great athletes. And it helps, I'm told, if you have a bit of the crazy in you. To win the "great American race," you have to average -- average -- 140-some miles per hour around a tightly banked track that's only 40 feet wide and 2.5 miles long. That's like trying to gun a motorcycle around your living room. Tough enough to do if you're out there all alone, a dam-sight tougher if you're banging fenders with 42 other crazies, most of whom would probably prefer that you survive the afternoon but have no strong feelings on the question. And here's the kicker: you have to keep up this suicidal pace for more than three hours and 500 miles, which of course would be 804 kilometers for those of you seeking to restore trust in government. What I'm saying is that these folks are real Americans, which means that they have better things to do than mess with politics. They're making a one-time offer to the rest of us and the expiration date is fast approaching.
It's my clear sense that we're at an inflection point in the Tea Party movement. We know what they're against: the sad and widely unremarked fact that Obama is conducting what looks to many people very much like a third Bush term -- bailouts, stimulus, entitlement expansion, war escalation, wall-to-wall Tenth Amendment overreach from the school to the hospital to the bank to the gas station. Over the last few years, alarmingly, we seem to be getting all the government we're paying for.
It's not nearly as clear what the Tea Partiers are for. Now that they've busted up the incumbent paradigms, where will they turn next? As I count them, it could be any one of three ways. First and most likely, they could go home. They don't fancy politics, most of them, and they could easily slide back into apathy and disgust, back there with the normal people. Second, they could stumble toward a "third way" and nominate their own hard-case candidates, many of them unelectable in the Fall but most of them capable of inflicting damage on incrementalist Republicans. The third possibility is that they could be wooed and won by a reinvigorated GOP and provide the winning margin for conservatives in 2010 and beyond. A reinvigorated GOP, did I say? Okay, that may be asking too much. How about a GOP that can add and subtract?
My advice to Republicans is to take yes for an answer. Slick down your hair, dash across town and make your best pitch . . . now.
If exhortation doesn't do the trick, let me try an analogy. For 35 years, beginning in 1945, the United States, eyeball-to-eyeball with implacable enemies in the Soviet Union, followed a strategy first advanced by George Kennan and generally identified by the shorthand term, "containment." Over the course of those years, we more or less succeeded, blunting the thrust of Soviet expansion here and there while keeping the nuclear peace for several decades. But in the 1980s, we phased out "containment" and replaced it with the more aggressive approach, first promoted by James Burnham and later adopted by Ronald Reagan, described as the "liberation" strategy. By directly confronting an overstuffed and unstable regime, the U.S. managed to liberate the captive peoples of the Soviet empire. Before the decade was out, the Soviet empire had receded, withered and died. Question: is it possible that we stand at a comparable moment today, as we struggle here at home with the pervasive power of the administrative state? Is it possible that, with the infused energies of the Tea Party movement, we could muster the resources, moral and political, to replace our current strategy of "containment" with a strategy of rolling back the intrusive powers of central government? Is it possible that we have before us an opportunity, both unexpected and unearned, to rebalance the relationship between the citizen and the state? Is it possible, in other words, that the Tea Partiers are making us an offer that we not only can't refuse, but shouldn't?
A final thought for D.C. Republicans: When you get across town and knock on that Tea Party door, not to worry. If you find yourself fumbling for words on the front porch, feel free to crib from my own ten-plank platform for 2010:
• Cap government employee pay and benefits at private-sector comparables.
• Rescind the Bush drug benefit for everybody under 60.
• Pressure Bernanke to drain the monetary swamp by selling $1 trillion worth of bonds over the next 18 months.
About the Author
Neal B. Freeman is chairman of the Blackwell Corporation and blogs about national politics at www.conservativepresident.org.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (98) | Leave a comment
Leave a Comment
Related Articles
More Articles by Neal B. Freeman
More Articles From Special Report
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/02/16/gentlemen-start-your-engines-q
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- Useless Wonks
- Religion Is Not the Enemy
- Madison vs. Obamacare
- Digital Subscription (Save 78%)
- Buy a single issue (Save 50%)
- Send Spectator as a gift
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Stephanie| 2.16.10 @ 6:26AM
And Sarah's the gal to do it.
Richard Baker| 2.16.10 @ 7:12AM
Whether it's Palin or not, the country has had enough and the author's suggested remedies are a good first start. I'd add eliminate the Departments of Energy and Homeland Security, at minimum, as well. What's wrong with the producers of illegal tax-free alkeehol, as a Virginia Sheriff friend used to call it? They are as American as Apple Pie and Baseball.
Alan Brooks| 2.16.10 @ 6:21PM
Shut down dept. of Education,
skools are now babysitting services teaching postmodernist race-baiting at a cost of hundreds of wasted billions.
Because of variation in abilities, it would be hard to teach students anyway (No Child Left Behind is feel-good) but today's skools teach students not to think.
Alan Brooks| 2.16.10 @ 6:52PM
Govts. left hand simply doesnt know what its right is doing. Did you see Victor D. Hanson's piece on th war at NRO? Cripes.
Hush this cry of progress for the duration.
martin j smith| 2.16.10 @ 7:13AM
Neal Freeman: What people are against also points directly what they are for. My take is that the Tea Party Folks want, as I do a government that works for the people, that shows patriotism for this country, and that respects the Consitition and the Bill of Rights for All Americans. It want limited government and a government that takes seriously its job of protecting the American people. You turn these ideas upside down and you can see what the deal is and why the Tea Party's grow.
ggoblue| 2.16.10 @ 7:25AM
the governor of new jersey has fired the first broadside into the governments overinflated blimp...as the hot air rushes out, watch his poll numbers....he is at the front and standing alone, but not for long i hope.
and yes democrats, by all means, keep believing your own BS, we just haven't heard your message yet! so keep up the mantra....
Margie| 2.16.10 @ 1:24PM
Yes, the great governor of NJ, Chris Christie, who they all said was a "RINO"~ The tough on crime ex U.S. Attorney for the state of NJ, has swept in our state like a hurricane, and as I hoped, is off to a great start~sweeping out corruption, tightening up the budget, warning the Unions! If there's hope for NJ, there's hope everywhere!
Franklin| 2.16.10 @ 8:18AM
Think I could use some o' that roomatizz medicine 'bout right now! Then we take it to our next march in D.C. and share it with the uber libs. Might just be what they need to get their heads out of their ... um, hiding places.
Ken (Old Texican)| 2.16.10 @ 8:29AM
Yeah, Mr. Freeman
We like her. I sorta' liked watching her lugging her baby around on her hip...without loosing one iota of her grace and personal stature.
Yeah, we like her.
I have no question in my mind but that she would be delighted to support a man for the Presidency.....if he could simply measure up to the "first dude", in terms of integrity and courage....and toughness.
Yeah, we like her.
She sorta reflects back to us the best in us, as all truly great leaders do. I call it "holding up a mirror to us".
Yeah, we like her.
We sorta' like her sense of honor. She felt deeply honored by John McCain, and will reciprocate it to her dying breath.
Yeah, we like her.
She reminds us of the "pioneer, can-do" spirit that has made America what it is...and can be... if we work together to "raise the barn".
Yeah, we like her.
She has borne with grace and dignity being personally bankrupted by the legal-beagle sleazebag gubmint types on the left.... heh heh heh, and found a way around and over them.
Yeah we like her.
In very broad strokes she has demonstrated that she is a "restorationist". Like every fellow sucessful CEO I know, she paints "the mission" in broad strokes, and humbly lets the policy wonks around her fill in the intricate routes and turnings.
Her only demand is that those wonks and policies serve "the mission".
Yeah, we like her.
She often reminds me of Lee Iacoca: "I'm a car salesman. I want to sell fun cars that work right."
Lee and I were pen pals for some years. He and I got a lot of help from our people when we walked the "shop floors, engineering desks, and admin. cubbies"... and listened! ...and said thank you a lot.
Yeah, we like her.
Perhaps most of all, we like her because we like her mission. The best in us wants the same things she wants for our families and our country.
Best regards
Stephanie| 2.16.10 @ 9:21AM
Well Ken, thank you for putting as you did.
She is one of us, speaks for us and wants the best for us and this great nation.
I will vote for her in a new york minute.
Mike| 2.16.10 @ 11:05AM
You Palinistas are on drugs. The woman is a sell out and a quitter without the mental firepower to take down Joe Biden, much less B. Obama.
We as Republican are following her into the wilderness. Her nomination inf 2012 would be lock for 4 more years of Obama.
ds80| 2.16.10 @ 11:19AM
Your Lib Troll panties are showing, Mike.
Nick| 2.16.10 @ 11:39AM
Are you sure you aren't the same "Mike" who posed as a conservative while making racist rants?
You sure write like him.
Nate| 2.16.10 @ 3:12PM
Same guy, for sure. Haha
LQQKY| 2.16.10 @ 11:47AM
Get a life Mike! As has been reported almost everywhere except the MSM, liberal blogs, and your circle of friends; Mrs. Palin had two major reasons for resigning.
First, the avalanche of frivolous charges against her was costing the state millions of dollars in response. The time it took by being forced to answer the idiocies, also kept Mrs. Palin and her staff from doing the job she was elected to do i.e., govern the state -- a job she took seriously and did well.
Secondly, it was personally costing her and her family a small fortune as well, so she simply couldn't afford to continue the fight.
She did the honorable thing in resigning. She saved the state millions and gave her lieutenant governor the opportunity to continue what she had started in Alaska.
You really need to get better information from better sources than the comics page or an MSM which has abrogated its second amendment rights through biased partisan coverage and disinformation.
Sam| 2.16.10 @ 2:05PM
Well said, Mike. One thing the Tea partiers forget is that enthusiasm alone doesn't win you elections. Obama didn't win because liberals were in love with him. He won because he convinced independents that he could restore a shitty economy. Palin does not have the ability to pull voters from center. Staying true to the right is great, but it won't bring her victory.
John Navratil| 2.16.10 @ 3:20PM
She can't pull voters from the center? Perhaps you can tell use where all those poll respondants who put her at the top of the pack are coming from. They aren't Romney (much as I like the man) supporters, nor are they Newt or Huckabee supporters. Who are they?
Margie| 2.16.10 @ 3:54PM
"He won because he convinced independents that he could restore a shitty economy."
Yes, Sam. He deceived them. Just ask them how that Hopey-changey thing's working out for them.
UpChuck.Liberals| 2.18.10 @ 1:14AM
Mikey is angry because he's the result of a failed abortion.
Richard Rodewald| 2.16.10 @ 8:11PM
Amen and well spoken!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ACE SEZ| 2.17.10 @ 3:18PM
Tex--you nailed it 100%--this lady is an inspiration for Constitutional patriots----there's just something about her that smacks of integrity, loyalty and 'good sense' ---what a heroine for the American way!!
Copyleft| 2.16.10 @ 8:36AM
Why would you want to restore people's trust in government?
Because the opposite of government isn't "freedom." It's "anarchy." Followed quickly by "death."
Conservative Bob| 2.16.10 @ 9:53AM
What we have is anarchy; this government is so dysfunctional it is farcical. In effective program upon ineffective program that seeks only to expand their funding and their reach.
From local jurisdictions to the burgeoning federal bureaucracies waste and inefficiency are the rule of the day. Each level intruding into areas of our lives they have no business and more importantly no constitutional authority to intervene.
The leviathan seeks only to serve itself, to grow and protect its power and prerogative. It has grown to the point where it openly ignores the constitutional limits on it authority and by such actions renders itself illegal and tyrannical.
The political class of both parties seeks office for the enrichment of themselves and their cronies without shame or sanction. Gone is the true public servant that accepts the burden of government for a time and returns after thereafter to live under the laws and regulations they pass.
We must soon return this government to its founding limits or lose forever what little liberty we have left. To achieve this we must inshine as a first principle individual responsibility and self reliance, it is not proper necessary or desirable to seek to have the government solve every problem.
Faffnir| 2.16.10 @ 12:10PM
Concur. It is a fallacy to assume that "no government" equals "anarchy". It means "self-reliance". I recall that the country got along just fine when the government in Washington was confined to defending the coasts and delivering the mail. People relied on themselves with an occasional assist from their neighbors or church.
The litany of government failure is far too long to recite here, but it started when the "elite" started to think that they could do a better job of "ruling" than "We the People" and they did not need to heed the restraints built into the system by our far-sighted founders.
We pay the price (boy, do we ever!) for the constantly expanding mess in D.C. We need legislators who have the courage to take an axe to the whole structure and reduce leviathan to its' proper size and functions.
SoCon| 2.16.10 @ 8:24PM
No government means anarchy and death? Not so sure about that--but I do know that BIG GOVERNMENT becomes authoritarian and tyrannical.
I'll take my chances with the people--not the arrogant, know it all elitists like Copyleft/LibReader.
John Navratil| 2.16.10 @ 3:26PM
The opposite of government may be anarchy, but it is a black-and-white fallacy with which you subtly suggest the "running to restore people's trust in government" is to preserve the nation from anarchy. It is not, it is a talking point which presumes virtue (unknown and untested) in the candidate.
As the Aussies say, its "Fig Jam". (F- I'm good. Just ask me).
One needn't seek anarchy to look work for a little less "archy".
Ret. Marine| 2.16.10 @ 8:40AM
Are We the People on a balancing act these days, why yes indeed. The true question I have is, will We the People keep the heat on simmer or will we go for the extreme heat and bow to no one.
I have a particular problem with Sarah, being that she intends to stump for John McAmnasty. I saw him yesterday and he seems to think because of her involvement he is in for a good fight. No mr. McNasty you are in for a good fight because your sense of entitlement as a Senator of your state has been taken for granted, much like most incumbents who are currently running for the hills, you are as good as gone. I hope and pray that J.D. wipes the floor with your republican-democrat- lite arse, your "reaching across the isle" is paramount to treason to the Conservative brand. Smell the roses "my friend" and seek out a quit spot and retire. A good poker player always known when to hold them and when to bow out. Take a hint.
As far as the eye see's this Nation is in trouble on the financial, cultural, and moral fronts. The obamanation is the best thing to ever happen to this country, across these lands in the gun shops, we see a picture of this fraud, and upon closer inspection on the bottom of the picture reads, The BEST SALESPERSON of the YEAR. Very telling.
Looking at the list presented in this article, I have but one thing to say, it's a good start but, only a good start. More needs to be done and the sooner the real American People get back to positions of responsibility, the sooner We as a Nation can begin the healing process, back to a Representative Republic from which we began.
Dirtrack| 2.16.10 @ 8:42AM
RE:revenooers vs. good old boys. The moonshine haulers did not just rely upon their "tankers" to run faster than the government chasers,they rebuilt the engines so they could run faster whilst hauling the booze to market. Big Bill France knew where the fastest "stock" cars ran and he sought them for his racing series. The fans of NASCAR appreciate the strongest political candidates who reflect their own aspirations and support them.
Pingback| 2.16.10 @ 9:07AM
Gentlemen, Start Your Engines — Quickly! links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Anthony| 2.16.10 @ 9:26AM
Mr. Freeman, I don't know how you calculate your political spectrum meter, but to say that the hard core Leftist Obama is conducting Bush's 3rd term is as absurd as AGW.
To Ret. Marine: I wish Sarah didn't come out for McCain either, but don't walk away from her for that. There are several reasons why she did it, some not so good, but I'd like to think the main reason was to shove it up Steve Schmidt's fat ass, as McCain is toast without Sarah's help, so much for her being a liability and a lightweight, eh Schmidt?
maverick muse| 2.16.10 @ 10:06AM
Why would you want to restore people's trust in government?
"Government IS the problem." Ronald Reagan
Why should conservatives trust the government officials who are attempting to revise our Constitutional Governance?
Having a healthy skepticism of propaganda is a good thing, particularly when conducting a scholarly and scientific independent research that is not sponsored by the very interests vested in covering their collective and separate @ss in government to retain power. Rather, follow up and pursue to the end where elected and appointed government officials were unwilling to expose their involvement or their lack of responsible involvement in conducting their official duties. Non-partisan independent research notes what blunts investigations to influence outcomes. At least since Nixon's administration, government reports are written by partisans to promote their own interests.
Sure, conservatives like Sarah Palin the woman. But Constitutional conservatives lose respect for politicians who play the back scratching game and have the audacity to call it "loyalty" without noting the corruption involved in the arrangement.
Tea Party Independent Conservatives unanimously support the Constitution, not the neoconservative revisionism that "contains" revolutionary momentum in order to thwart the Tea Party grass roots efforts to rescind power from corrupt kickback career politicians. The dichotomy between what "cause" Palin says she represents and funds, and whom she endorses is brazen hypocrisy. And that is a sad thing to recognize. Rather than promote the personality cult, rationally gather up and rally around the Constitutional Conservative PLATFORM to abort GOP compassionate, progressive, revisionists who empower globalist interests to usurp our Liberty. Admit and remember what is wrong in the RNC, and pay attention to how neoconservatives revise the Tea Party into its own big tent in order to "contain" the momentum that would have rescinded power from the corrupt in office.
"Vanity, vanity, all is vanity."
"I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh."
For those confused why "neoconservatism" gets such a bad rap from critics, look again at the Dept. of Education that failed to fix our nation's illiteracy (Reagan via Bill Bennett) and has sexually perverted curriculum enforced by today's Safe School Czar; and witness the Dept. of Homeland Security that today simultaneously empowers Islamofascist Terrorists while it conducts domestic surveillance against law abiding Constitutional conservative US citizens, independents and veterans that the DHS tags as domestic terrorists threatening our national security.
It is important to exercise a far reaching vision that projects forward as readily as historically in the past in order to perform the classical balancing act in separating powers and limiting those powers. That is what our Founding Fathers managed when they built our nation. But neoconservatives would revise the Constitutional Government with unconstitutional bureaucracies that Leftists further utilize to totally rescind our unalienable rights as humans and our Constitutional Rights as US Citizens. And the only way to tackle and rescind whatever powerfully wealthy and established corrupt "special" interest influences that exist within our government today is to utilize the Tea Party momentum to rescind the neoconservative agenda from the Republican Party.
So far, the neoconservatives have enlisted Palin to endorse their own rather than her endorsing those "mavericks" who would tackle corruption using Constitutional powers to rescind unconstitutional measures within our government.
Otis, my man!| 2.16.10 @ 10:18AM
Neal,
How do you abolish the Dept. of Education and protect it from a spending freeze at the same time?
You need to choose one or the other.
Faffnir| 2.16.10 @ 12:21PM
A federal department that exists to promote "education" and has failed to do so should be abolished.
A federal department that purports to promote "agriculture" that has more employees than there are farmers should be abolished.
We do not need federal departments that promote "commerce" or "labor".
We do not need a federal department that promotes "energy" when markets can do a much better job for significantly less money.
So, how much have I saved the long-suffering taxpayer so far? I could expound on he subject at greater length, but I've gotta get back to work.
Mark Lowery| 2.16.10 @ 10:28AM
I thought this was going to be a rather pedestrian post about the common tea party people and their love for Sarah Palin (haven't heard that one before), but was surprised to read some very good proposals. The first idea is a great one. Cap the damn pay of federal workers. It's ridiculous to see the gap between public and private sector pay.
JohnD| 2.16.10 @ 10:45AM
Reducing the size of the federal work force could be done through mere attrition. About 30% of the federal work force is due to retire in the next 5 years. Just don't hire anyone, and fire recent 6 month hires before their probationary period ends. No "buyouts" or lawsuits needed.
Osbourne Cox| 2.16.10 @ 10:59AM
Yes to all of the 10-point program, and yes also to Sarah Palin.
Pingback| 2.16.10 @ 11:01AM
Logan school celebrates National African American Parent Involvement Day | The Africa links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Drew| 2.16.10 @ 11:25AM
Its long been a truism that populism and economics don't mix. And thanks to the Tea Party idiots, its becoming apparent that populism and politics aren't much of a mix either.
Let's examine Mr Freeman's bizarro-world tea Party platform, shall we?
"Rescind the Bush drug benefit for anyone under 60?" That might satisfy the sadistic urges of those Tea Partiers who get off on seeing poor, sick people dying as quickly as possible. But it will do nothing to rein in Medicare Part D's out-of-control costs. Medicare D is a disaster because it specifically prevents the Fed. Govt. from negotiating drug prices with pharamceutical companies.
"Drain the monetary swamp by selling bonds"? Aside from the fact that the Federal Reserve is already planning to do just that, any such policy needs to be guided by a cautious and prudent approach. Selling bonds precipitously would likely lead to a spike in interest rate, with potentially catastrophic effects on the economy as a whole - to say nothing of the Budget deficit.
"Pick and war and win it"? Strange, but that sounds like a pretty good description of what Preisdent Obama is doing right now. Iraq, for better or worse, is winding down as a military commitment. And we seem to be making measurable progress in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region.
"Raise the retirement age to 70"? An idea with some merit. But politically unsaleable. Who, exactly, is going to get behind that - other than those already over 70?
"Extract no earmark and budget overage pledges?" Sounds like a good way to bring the country to a point of absolute chaos. Ranting about earmarks might make good copy on Fox News. But its strange how often the same Republicans who make the most noise are the same ones holding up nominees to steer contracts to their districts. There has never, in the entire history of the Republic, been a spending bill that didn't contain pork barrel spending in it. Extracting pledges is a good way to make liars out of any anyone who signed on to them.
jon| 2.16.10 @ 2:09PM
what does "unsaleable" mean?
Drew| 2.16.10 @ 3:04PM
Adj. 1. unsaleable - impossible to sell
I struggle to think of a policy proposal more difficult to implement, in todays political environment, than significant tinkering with the Social Security system.
Arbitrarily raising the age for Social Security eligibility would cause (deserved) outrage among just about every worker who had failed to attain that age. What does one say to the person who has worked all their life, contributing to the system, only to be told - a year or two prior to their planned retirement - that they must continue to work another five years before they can start collecting? What do you say to those individuals who work in physically demanding occupations, who may not be bodily able to continue working up until they are seventy?
Americans are not, historically, a particularly selfish people. We give generously to charity. Our wealthy endow Universities and Art Museums. And during World War II we endured high taxes and rationed goods (along with the death and injuries suffered by our combatants) in a sense of common purpose to defeat a global threat.
But as concerned as many of us are about the long-term fiscal health of the United States government, there exists an outright skepticism of plans to restore our nation's financial health that seem to fall squarely on us - as employees - rather than anyone else.
The conservative mantra of reduced taxes seems to constantly make reference to cutting business taxes. Or reducing inheritance taxes. Or capital gains taxes. All of which benefit, necessarily, the wealthy few.
Quite frankly, I'll be damned if the Federal Budget gets balanced on my back, while the idiot Republicans give tax breaks to billionaires and their heirs.
jon| 2.16.10 @ 3:16PM
"Adj. 1. unsaleable - impossible to sell"
... wrong - my point is that "unsaleable" is not a word. And your arguments are as empty (and fraudulent) as your defense of your use of it.
Drew| 2.16.10 @ 3:47PM
Are you really that stupid?
I'm looking, right this very moment, st two dictionary entries listing precisely that word, with its meanings, and with the very spelling I used.
And yet you, with you unbelievable arrogance, choose to disagree with that?
I think your utter disregard for a fact as simple (and easily confirmed) as the existence of a word in the English language gives lie to the validity of ANY argument you might care to make.
Go find a dictionary - literally, any dictionary - and use it before you have the gall to dare criticize your moral and intellectual superior.
You silly little man.
Margie| 2.16.10 @ 4:15PM
Looks like Liberal Reader has a new handle.
Hey Leftist Liar, if jon has the "gall" and "arrogance" to deal with you and your intellectual superiority" (which you have none of because liars have no superiority what so ever), then why don't you pick on someone "your own size" huh, el creepo?
SoCon| 2.16.10 @ 6:24PM
Jeremiah/Liberal Reader/Copyleft/ Groucho are the same Axelrod Astroturfing troll. Bonehead's been posting his nonsense here for about a year. Must be our 'minder'.
El Creepo works for me, Margie.
SoCon| 2.16.10 @ 6:25PM
...Drew.. is also in the mix. Arrogant nitwit.
John Navratil| 2.16.10 @ 3:32PM
You say none of this will work. All right, what will? Step up to the plate or live to see your kids living in penury. Of course, the best and the brightest can emigrate further accelerating the decline.
Ken (Old Texican)| 2.16.10 @ 11:39AM
Some Stupids here...
...Would you all for crying out loud quit grinding your petty little axes?
There ain't no perfect candidate for you... anywhere, because if he or she were perfect for you ...any of you ... he or she would NOT be perfect for me.
Can you stupids finally get that?
Instead, let's rally behind some candidates with integrity and honesty, and no need to agrandize themselves at our expense.
You are the very people who would have been screaming to crucify Jesus Christ, because He "differed" with you on something... dumbunnies... and He was perfect.
Please, get over your self-righteousness, and do something constructive.
Franklin| 2.16.10 @ 2:12PM
Agreed. That was the problem with little o in the first place - people thought he was the man for everyone. He became the 'savior' and look where that got us.
Palin isn't perfect and neither is Scott Brown. But after he won in Mass there were rumblings of "Scott Brown for Prez". Now, I was pretty excited he won, but for goodness sakes, let the man prove himself before proclaiming him our choice.
What it comes down to is working within our states GOP, local Tea Party, or even your local school board to find candidates that best fit what you want to happen in a conservative constitutional government.
If no one is perfect, then run yourself!
Margie| 2.16.10 @ 4:04PM
The Leftists run on faux-intellectualism & lies. That's all they have. Socialist ideology.
The Right runs on SMART and Truth. Conservative principles based on an understanding (something the Left doesn't have), of a Constitutional and representative government based on individual freedom,(granted to us by the Creator), limited government, lower taxes.
The Left and Liberals cannot STAND it! That is why they also hate Sarah Palin~who represents everything we hold dear.
She IS like Ronald Reagan in these respects.
She isn't defeatable. no matter what she plans on doing.
Pingback| 2.16.10 @ 12:04PM
Morgan Freeman on Invictus | Morgan Freeman Celebrity Monitor links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Jeff| 2.16.10 @ 12:51PM
Just one more step needs to be added...
A thorough investigation into Obama and Acorn!
Ken (Old Texican)| 2.16.10 @ 1:04PM
Good thought, Jeff.
The cool thing is that the "investigation" is going on right now... every day...right out in public.
In fact, almost every day, Obama/ACORN add to their "confession"...of their own free will.
I pray for a day when O just hides in the whitehouse, afraid to face anyone. Once he "abdicates" (heh), we can start firing millions of gubmint noworkers.
molonlabe28| 2.16.10 @ 2:07PM
NASCAR racing puts a public face on Christian conservatism in much the same way that Sarah personifies it.
NASCAR racing provides the perfect passtime for sports fans who like seeing competitors whose courage is matched only by their immense driving capabilites and who are not covered in tatoos and do not look like they are gangbangers, felons, on work release, etc.
Unlike basketball, which is to sports what rap is to music, the participants don't taunt, jeer, get arrested in strip joints after their sporting events, and generally provide deplorable role models to children.
No, they climb in cars which go 200 miles per hour and engage in races in which many of the best racers have lost their lives.
I was at Daytona International Speedway a few weeks ago and watching the race was immeasurably more exciting than watching some gangbanger type try to sink his free throws in the waning seconds of the game.
Barack likes basketball, but I like car racing and Sarah.
No contest.
SoCon| 2.16.10 @ 4:35PM
I like Sarah, too. There's an intangible quality about her that attracts people.
Perhaps it's Sarah's intrinsic goodness or her courage to fight for what she believes is right, but there's something unique about Sarah Palin that makes me willing to work my fingers to the bone to elect her.
I've never worked for a candidate before and Sarah's the only one I'd work for now. The 'Silent Majority' can be silent no more--there's too much at stake.
Lullaby's, Legends and Lies| 2.16.10 @ 5:27PM
The Silent Majority SoCon? Who's that? That is so 2008, don't you know?
Today, it's the "In the know, doing our part, and can't be shut up anymore Majority." Or as the leftist Democrats/Progressives like to call us, Tea Baggers (Whatever!!). Call us, whatever you want to Commies (see, we can call them names too), I'll just call us good American citizens.
Just today, in the mail, I got a thank you letter from Senator Scott Brown's campaign, for the contribution I made back in January. I went around to all the offices here, showing it to everybody I could (they all think I'm nuts, but that's okay, I am). I think I'm going to frame it now, and hang it in my office, so everybody knows where I stand on things (as if they didn't know).
So it looks like things are really going the way of the Tea Party Movement now, and no worse thing has ever happened before to the Left. They have no idea had to stop this, nor could they anymore, if they wanted to. It must really suck right now, to wake up everyday being a Liberal in America, realizing, that all your plans are going to sh*t, and there's nothing you can do about it!!
I "so" can't wait for November!!
SoCon| 2.16.10 @ 6:19PM
Call 'it' whatever you want, all I know is--I want in.
I cannot and will not watch silently as our beloved country is destroyed.
NOT ON OUR WATCH!
Jim Hlavac| 2.16.10 @ 2:54PM
So many comments, too little time, but still -- there is a difference between the Federal gov't and the lower levels. And to have no faith or trust in the Feds doesn't mean you are for anarchy, you are probably for local government. A lot less federal government means merely people keep their own money, and the smaller tax burden by the states, cities, counties, is much more amenable to reform and the watchdog, and throwing out the bums when necessary.
Palin is great not because she can run the federal government, but because she is the shock needed to start to turn the feds back towards national defense and out of the intricate workings of the nation. Let the local governments do what they do.
She is the dismantler, that's what people like.
Furthermore, neither she, nor anyone, is going to turn around the Ship of State in one term, or two -- it took us decades to get here, it'll take us decades to get out. And perhaps it might well take a brainier sort to really dismantle the interconnected mushpit of DC> but what is needed first is a wake up call. So view Palin as the slap in the face that hysterical people need when freaking out. Or she's Paul(ette) Revere telling us the Brits are coming and we should be ready. She'd so disorient the big-gov't socialist types, and the complacent 'oh let Washington do it' go-along to get along types, that the proper business of devolving power back to more local means can be effected in the most orderly way.
Go Sarah, disrupt, dismantle, defeat & destroy the behemoth.
SoCon| 2.16.10 @ 4:14PM
Sarah is a leader--that's why I like her: She can always hire the 'brainier' types to help her disrupt, dismantle, defeat and destroy the behemoth that is our government.
ScottyP| 2.16.10 @ 10:51PM
As said once before, "[Palin] puts a happy, sexy face on ugly emotions ..." If you read the general tone of the supporting statements of Sarah Palin here, you see that is so true -- her support is driven by hatred. Not good. That's one reason why I will never support her.
SoCon| 2.17.10 @ 4:29AM
Liberal haters like you are doomed, Scotty; people like you offer nothing but hopelessness.
Sarah's fresh faced good looks are just part of her appeal; her messages of hope and American self reliance seal the deal. I pity you.
See ya on November 2, 2010.
ScottyP| 2.17.10 @ 8:45PM
You assume someone who doesn't buckle at the knees to any conservative a liberal? It may be a rough time for conservatives right now, but I'm not desperate. Sorry to spoil your party man, but Palin is just a total fraud. Name call all you want. It's only an indicator that you're not confident in the force of decent argument alone.
ZerObama | 2.18.10 @ 12:05AM
"Rough time for conservatives right now..." I don't know what you're smoking, clown, but we're cleaning your leftist clock in major elections, polls and popularity right now.
Whatever you're smoking, keep it up--maybe getting destroyed in the November elections won't hurt so much. LOL!
Ken (Old Texican)| 2.16.10 @ 4:46PM
Hi SoCon
I would hope you change one concept in your mind.
Sarah is terribly "brainy"...sharp as a razor in my estimation.
Could you be comfortable substituting "she can always hire 'specialist types'......"
Best regards
SoCon| 2.16.10 @ 6:06PM
C'mon, Old Texican, you should know me better than that! I was commenting on something Jim Hlavac wrote in his 2:54PM post.
I know Sarah's smart, real smart, but I believe her leadership qualities are even more important because she has the ability to galvanize others to work on her behalf.
Sarah Palin's got smarts, integrity, courage and charisma; the girl's got it all!
Okay?
Matt| 2.16.10 @ 11:11PM
Sarah, "sharp as a razor"?! The one discreetly looking at her hand in preparation for an "off the cuff" interview? The one who thinks there is a "Department of Law" in the White House? The one who, when asked what she reads and which is her favorite founding father, responded "all of them"? THAT Sarah? Sharp as a razor?
Oh, this country is indeed going downhill quickly then.
SoCon| 2.17.10 @ 4:32AM
Obama's too stupid to read a teleprompter correctly and Dianne Feinstein's used 'hand-notes, too.
Why don't you have a problem with their sharpness, hypocrite?
Marc Jeric| 2.16.10 @ 4:58PM
I was hoping that Sarah Palin would counter-sue those commie operatives of Abu Hussein from Kenya that accused her of invented misdeeds.
SoCon| 2.16.10 @ 6:08PM
Wait until she's POTUS, then she can sic a special prosecutor on them! Ha!
Ken (Old Texican)| 2.16.10 @ 6:43PM
Hey SoCon,
I just wanted to be sure we shifted our lexicon. The left keeps trying to make her out a "brainless stump speaker". Never mind that she can give a splendid 45 minute speech off the cuff, (heh literally), without a teleprompter. Nevermind that she had an 80 something approval rating in Alaska as Governor. Nevermind her sending "goodoleboys" to jail and whipped the rest of them in the polls up there.
I do hope you saw my post way up above. We like her.
Pingback| 2.16.10 @ 6:33PM
How to Make Use of Your Alone Time links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
SoCon| 2.16.10 @ 8:18PM
I'm already part of Palin's posse; you're preaching to the choir with me, Ken. Hlavac seemed unsure of Palin's intelligence cred ( I think).
Jane| 2.16.10 @ 11:58PM
Make the Bush tax cuts permanent.
Roll back the federal budget to 2007--at which point it would be balanced, or almost so.
Pingback| 2.17.10 @ 10:21AM
The American Spectator : Gentlemen, Start Your Engines — Quickly! | Drakz Free Online links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 2.18.10 @ 1:45AM
osuchin.tk || Watch live online: San Antonio Spurs vs Indiana … | San Antonio Spurs N links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 2.18.10 @ 8:26AM
osuchin.tk || Watch live online: Miami Heat vs New Jersey Nets – NBA | Miami Heat NBA links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 2.19.10 @ 12:19AM
Is ADD Getting You Down? 6 Tips to Sharpen Your Celebrating Skills links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 2.19.10 @ 2:54AM
Start Your Day on Your Terms links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 2.20.10 @ 7:26PM
Thought for the Day - A Micro-Break in Our Fast-Paced Culture links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Jon B| 3.12.10 @ 9:01PM
I wonder how many people here are actually aware of the fact that the Boston Tea Party was not about high taxes? The Tea Act of 1773 made Tea from the East India company so cheap that it threatened to put colonial merchants out of business. Another reason is that the Townsend program took money made from the Tea and paid some of the colonial Governor's salaries with it: Corporate control in a sense. Yet today Tea Partiers are protesting tax cuts for 95% of Americans and the rebuilding of the infrastructure Bush gutted...Amazing hypocrisy to misuse the original tea party for a purpose directly against it's intent..Amazing. The original Tea Party's fought against a foreign corporation under cutting colonial merchants, while today's Tea Partiers unknowingly fight for corporate control of our Government against their own interests.
"Colonial merchants, some of them smugglers, played a significant role in the protests. Because the Tea Act made legally imported tea cheaper, it threatened to put smugglers of Dutch tea out of business.."
Puma x Alexander McQueen| 8.13.11 @ 12:00AM
is good