The American Spectator : A Referendum, Not an Election

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A Referendum, Not an Election

By Geoffrey Norman on 9.14.10 @ 6:08AM

On the last two years, on the last fifty years.

The Republicans will win big in November. We know this because the people who are supposed to know these things — pollsters, pundits, and so forth — are telling us so. These same people are also telling us that this does not mean that voters have suddenly fallen in love — or even back in love — with the Republicans. Because they haven’t. If the Republicans in Congress are any more popular than the Democrats, the margin is thin enough that weak sunlight can pass through it. It is Congress that voters are mad at and there are more Democrats than Republicans in Congress. Therefore, this is the Democrats’ year to take it in the chops and the Republicans will get the bigger offices, the better to accommodate all those lobbyists who will now be calling on them.

It will be merely another election, then. One party in; the other one out. Life in Washington will go on. Which makes it hard to get excited about the election unless …

Unless voters treat it not as a choice between Republicans and Democrats but as a referendum on Washington. And not just on the last two years but on the last two generations.

That would be an election that the ordinary voter, living out in the wilderness beyond Fairfax County and struggling to survive, could get excited about.

The voter could march down to the polls full of purpose as he contemplated the way Washington has gotten richer and richer on his money. He sees how government workers (sic) make more than he does and wonders, given the quality of their product over the last 40 years, why this should be.

Just for instance, there was that war that Washington declared on poverty and that it is still fighting… and losing. But like all wars — hot, cold, or metaphorical — it has been excellent for “the health of the state.” So many new government agencies, so many jobs for community organizers and public interest lawyers and lobbyists, so much money sloshing around to nonprofits and think tanks. There is still plenty of poverty, of course, but then you can’t fight a war without an enemy. Which is what makes this war, like the one on drugs, so good for Washington. The enemy is indestructible, so the appropriations just keep rolling in. The voter in this referendum on Washington might like a chance to express himself on those wars. Time, he might say, to surrender, cashier the generals, and demobilize the troops. Let them find honest work.

Then, there are those other great tasks that Washington has taken on, lest the people undertake things they are not trained or qualified to handle. Like educating children. Washington created a Department of Education the better to serve… well, the bureaucrats who work for it and the teachers’ unions that dictate its policies. At the time of its creation, the Department of Education was said to be necessary because the United States was a “Nation at Risk.” Things are no less dire on the education scene these days, but there are a lot of consultants doing very nicely and, in Washington, that is the definition of success.

We have a Department of Energy, created to end our “Dependence on Foreign Oil.” Well, we are no longer dependent on foreign oil. Now, according to the locutions of Washington, we are “addicted to foreign oil.” Which may, or may not, count as progress.

Not so long ago, Washington decided that it would be good for the country if everyone owned a house. So it ginned up the action at Fannie and Freddie, since these operations were going to make it possible. Soon there were mortgages for all. And soon after that, foreclosures for millions. And bailouts costing hundreds of billions for Fannie and Freddie.

Washington has lately decided that it is spending too much money. It was, of course, the last to notice. Which merits at least a vote of no-confidence in this coming referendum. A trillion dollars is hard to miss even when you keep books the way they do in Washington where, if you spend more than you did last year, but the increase is less as a percentage than it was in the previous year (or something like that) then you have “cut spending.” People who operated according to these accounting principles for years and years are now running one of those commissions that are so popular in Washington and that employ so many people at good wages. This commission is going to figure a way out of all this deficit spending.

The voter, who is itching to get to the polls in this referendum, already knows what this commission will recommend as a solution. Taxes. And he remembers that it was a Republican candidate who said, “Read my lips. No new taxes.”

And then raised taxes.

So he isn’t voting for the Republicans in this referendum. Not voting against the Democrats, either, for that matter.

He’s voting against the political class and a 50 year record of doing what is good for Washington and less so — a lot less so — for the country.

He’s sending a message.

“Get out of town and take the ****ing town with you.”

About the Author

Geoffrey Norman is the author of Riding With Jeb Stuart and the editor of Vermonttiger.com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (80) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Shamus| 9.14.10 @ 6:41AM

The big danger for Republicans would come after winning control. The public would expect them to produce results, while Obama would do his best to sabotage their efforts. It could be very difficult to reach consensus on effective action. It could also be difficult to overcome veto threats.

Stephanie| 9.14.10 @ 7:22AM

Precisly Shamus. It's all so depressing.

Michael L. Hauschild| 9.14.10 @ 7:50AM

Stephanie,
Be of stout heart, the danger does not lie in a cascade of Obama ink (see the old Texican below). A”majority” or “plurality” are naught as our battle is non-partisan; the significant manifestation of this election is that a number of our “ruling class” are first stymied (fiscally) by the fact that the county is now aware of their malfeasance in managing the national debt, second the the RINOs have their PP’s knocked in the dirt (pedestals and podiums), and third their hierarchy “good old boy” system of entitlement and incest is broken. The magnificent and seemingly unfractured focus of the tea party is simply the first step in the process or returning to the Republic that our founding fathers imagined. The career criminal and the career politician have the same creed; they are incorrigible. We must remove them from society; the jury will return the verdict in November.

DB| 9.14.10 @ 1:04PM

Well said, Michael. This is a long term battle, a way of life that we ignored out of laziness but no more! We as patriotic Americans concerned about our children's chance at prosperity and liberty, must keep up the pressure on DC forevermore. We must make wise and responsible decisions in our own households and we must hold our representatives to do the same at all levels of gov. We cannot go to sleep again, once the economy finally turns around. Never give up!

Tom Osterman| 9.14.10 @ 9:43AM

The way to go, then, is to keep explaining the need for repeal to the American people. Remind them that Obamacare was passed in the face of an electorate that opposed it in a huge majority. Remind the People that Obamacare was passed by politicians who didn't bother to read it, much less debate it. Remind the People that the Speaker of the House said that they would have to pass it before they could read it. Remind the People that the same Speaker, when asked about its Constitutionality, replied "Are you serious? Are you serious?" Then let, no, *make* the Democrats explain why it shouldn't be repealed.

The battle needs to be fought in the field of public opinion as well as in the halls of Congress.

Anthony| 9.14.10 @ 2:37PM

Slight correction; our D. moron Speaker of the House, Ms. Pelosi, with an I.Q. of a walnut, said, "we have to pass this legislation in order to know what's in it".
I say we have to drown these hack pols in order to see if they can float.

dcd| 9.14.10 @ 10:33AM

Don't worry about obama, the republicans will do plenty to sabotage themselves

sans| 9.14.10 @ 3:28PM

sort of what you're doing to obama now? Read Animal Farm - pretty much covers what Republicans are these days.

1FreeMan| 9.14.10 @ 8:47PM

sans,

Obama is the "pig" in Animal farm. He got into power promising transparancy, a better life and no mortgage payments for freeloading poor people. In reality he sent BILLIONS to his buddies, hires the SEIU to be his strong-arm-bullies and has signed legislation without even reading it. The pig in the farmhouse is OBAMA, REID and Pelosi. Get a clue, IDIOT, the ruling class at the moment is the DEMOCRATS. The story breaks there because we are not a bunch of idolistic horses willing to die in the yoke of bondage. We will take this nation back to the costitution. November is just the beginning. YOU TOO, REPUBLICAN ESTABLISHMENT!!! Freedom will prevail and you RINO's are next.

Bob the Engineer| 9.14.10 @ 11:58PM

Shamus,
The Republicans can block Obummer. They will control the purse strings if they win the House. They can refuse to fund things like the EPA, Dept. of Education and Obamacare. I think they will do it because the people are sick of government spending and will support real spending cuts.

UpChuck.Liberals| 9.15.10 @ 1:21AM

You're giving the elitists in the GOP credit for seeing the light. Not gonna happen until we have a clean sweep and take over the party.

BackToBasics| 9.15.10 @ 2:19AM

The old gaurd will still be in the top positions. Depending on the scope of the win, the newcomers will have a litttle to a moderate effect on the elitist Repubs. It will take a couple election cycles to get better traction.

If the Republicans can take over the house I still think Obam will feel he's got nothing to lose and he may possibly sign an executive order to grant amnesty to all illegals BEFORE the 2012 elections. The house may impeach him but the Senate will not "convict," just like Clinton.

Will RINOs try to stop such an executive order - I've got my doubts. If he pulls it off, it's a whole new ballgame come 2012.

BackToBasics| 9.15.10 @ 2:22AM

He may sign an Amnesty EO that is, if the lame duck Dems don't pass an amnesty bill before Christmas this year.

megapotamus| 9.16.10 @ 7:47PM

This is why failure to take the Senate is far from an analloyed tragedy. Much of our current travail stems from decades of skillful blame-shifting; an ordinary politicians' skill but elevated to a perverted art by that great traitor, Franklin Roosevelt, and carried forward by his treacherous heirs.

Ken (Old Texan)| 9.14.10 @ 6:59AM

Shamus,

I would like to see an oval office floor covered with vetoes.
I would hope that defunding new government employees and regulators is task numero uno.

Booger| 9.14.10 @ 9:24AM

Ditto to that. Lead with vetoes to the repeal of and/or zero funding for Obamacare. The Demosocialists hated voting for it the 1st time. Make them do it a hundred times between now and 2012, and make Obama use his veto to preserve it a hundred times, all as our health care situation grows worse under this monstrosity, and the wave coming in '12 will dwarf the one this year.

Appleby| 9.14.10 @ 7:04AM

There will be another election in 2 years; make sure the people who get in on the tidal wave realize this and as our grandmothers used to say, *We brought you into this world and we can take you out of it.*

Keep your eyes on them and your torches and pitchforks handy, and make sure you believe nothing and trust no one that cometh out of The Beltway.

Jeremiah| 9.14.10 @ 7:44AM

Your advice is absolutely on target, Appleby. The big danger is that, after the election, voters will go into despair as they see clearly that a good 80% of Republicans are members in good standing of the ruling class. I have worked too long with these clowns (though I am sitting this one out - I cannot be a good team player right now) not to know how self-absorbed and vain they are. For every Chris Christie or Sarah Palin there are 20 self-promoters in the Republican ranks who just want to manage the monstrosities the Democrats have wrought.

I get sick to my stomach as I listen to old insider colleagues in the GOP tell me that, well, they really won't be able to repeal Obamacare after the election, but they can't say that right now. After the election they will explain to the country why it can't be done (after making a few feints at it to show they meant well). Then they will 'improve' it and run it themselves. You think they are serious about earmarks? Ha! Just a bunch of rhetoric for the folksies. They think right now that they can manage us and beguile us away from our determination to restore government to its proper - and limited - role.

To turn this around is a two-step. We must first send the Democrats packing. That takes care of a good chunk of the left. What we then must focus on is not giving up because of Republican cupidity - because it will be there for all to see. Act with the same sturdy resolve to identify and take out all the Republican members of the ruling class in the primary elections of 2012. If we let our dismay over what the Republicans do after election allow us to simply give control back to Democrats in two years, we will simply lurch back and forth under the control of different sets of leftists in an ever-deepening spiral of chaos. Continuing to spurn Democrats while forcefully repudiating Republican fellow-travelers will eventually get it through their thick heads that it is the culture of Washington we are sick of.

The people have been focused and inspired by a cause greater than themselves. Most of our political leaders believe there is nothing greater than themselves. If we are to return to what this country was intended to be, we must be resolute and steady in relentlessly turning out all the mere self-promoters.

We will know we have begun to succeed when people start to cease to complain about lobbyists and special interests. You see, if government were limited to its proper sphere, there would be little need for lobbyists and much fewer of them. As it is, with our governmental overseers putting their fingers on the scales to determine who society's winners and losers are rather than letting markets and elections sort that out, it is only natural that groups should send agents to plead for the government to weight the scales on their behalf. Remove the government's power to do so and we won't need lobbyist reform. They will wither on the vine and die of their own accord in a genuinely Constitutional government of the people.

canuckistani| 9.14.10 @ 9:39AM

Palin is not a self-promoter?
Also, when 51% of the electorate actually votes for true conservatives, how long do you believe that support will last when they finally choose the first entitlement to cut?
Will it be corporate welfare or social welfare programs? The GOP, including TP candidates, have identified zero programs they are going to attempt to cut in the 2012 budget - two years before any of the Obamacare entitlements come into effect. Some have suggested Medicare, or social security - but none with any impact on the 2012 budget. The GOP wants 2008 spending. This is not progress, it is revisionist self-loathing.

Ken (Old Texican)| 9.14.10 @ 10:00AM

".............bleat, bleat, bleat," Canukist bleated.

canuckistani| 9.14.10 @ 10:08AM

What I do despise is choosing candidates based on dogged principle versus winning ability. It is a lose-lose for all of us when the electorate has to choose between a whacko or a known quantity.
It only makes the GOP a protest party. Anger is the weakest emotion and only has a half-life as long as the unemployed stay above 6%. What then?
Ken, are you going to cut your SS or medicare as a token of your willingness to "give back"?

Jeremiah| 9.14.10 @ 10:41AM

"............bleat, bleat, bleat," Canuckist responded.

Nunya| 9.14.10 @ 12:00PM

Canuck, you are right on one point--it's going to be incredibly difficult to cut back. However, it's our only hope as a country.

As to choosing "candidates based on dogged principle versus winning ability", I stand on PRINCIPLE. It's something sorely lacking in Washington today.

I'd rather vote for someone I believe in, than choose the "lesser of two evils". If more people thought like that, we'd have far fewer "ruling class" in Washington today. Voting for someone with "winning ability" has led us to this point in our history, and continuing this path is going to destroy the country.

BackToBasics| 9.15.10 @ 2:33AM

I agree but I also do not see change coming in a meaningful way until it is forced on us through a financial disaster that leads us into insolvency and depression.

Let's hope that within 2 election cycles we can get enough of a plurality to make headway. Tea Party types will have more "winning ability" than seems apparent right now but lets hope we move fast enough over the next 2 cycles to stop the foolish spending in DC or else the external forces I mentioned will do it for us.

Albert| 9.14.10 @ 3:06PM

Let me answer that one. I don't want Social Security, or Medicare, or a slough of other federal "programs". I don't even want a mortgage tax deduction. Just lower my tax RATES! And get Washington out of my wallet and out of my neighborhood.

Tim*| 9.14.10 @ 7:07AM

We're Tanned , Rested And Ready .

The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates .

Remember In November

David Shoup| 9.14.10 @ 8:11AM

In a more honorable time, tarring and feathering and being ridden out of town on a fence rail, with a warning to NEVER come back, was the solution for such vermin as live and operate in Washington.

Howard| 9.14.10 @ 8:26AM

We are never going to get the world we believe in. Life is never like that. However, I will put my chips in with the GOP every time, as opposed to the modern Democratic party. We need to keep the GOP to the fire, and not let it be a repeat of the "Compassionate Conservative" and "earmark" years of the Bush administration. That was an abomination, designed to get on Ted Kennedy's Christmas party invitation , or the like. It is imperative that the Tea Party movement be supported, as they are the only thing keeping us away from serfdom.

canuckistani| 9.14.10 @ 10:03AM

...or the broken promise years of the Daddy admin, or the senile inertia years of RR2, or the corrupt years of the Nixon admin, or the........
Why do you believe the GOP has the formula for productive administration any more than the dems? There is nothing in it's history that suggests this to be true.
All major transformational change in the last 100 years has come on the dems watches. I don't agree with their changes, but it is dishonest to suggest the GOP has been the leader in the last century. The only conservative policy the GOP has demonstrated is the conservation of dem policy after they take power. Why is this crop any different? And who in 2012 will have the cojones to isolate on a specific group that will face tough policy decisions? Medicare recips? Nope. SS recips? Not a chance. Military? Too funny. What's left? Crack whores and illegals. They don't vote, and their entitlements pale in comparison to the above three.

Deborah D | 9.14.10 @ 11:42AM

Blah, blah,blah. Where's your solution? Oh, that's right, you have none. Yes, everyone is full of you know what, but the GOP hasn't dragged us to the brink as the Demwits have. Every journey begins with a single step. The Tea Party is the first step -- we're not done. Go back to Canada.

Nunya| 9.14.10 @ 12:02PM

You GO girl! :-)

canuckistani| 9.14.10 @ 5:00PM

Ok, try this:
Medicare deductible: double it and single-source meds under one government contract. Measure the best pricing worldwide and demand 5% lower.
Medicaid: cap it to certain dollar values
SS: prorate age to 70 years - starting now, and criminalize forced retirements at 65. Full clawback on seniors earning $100,000 or more in investment income. Double credit IRA deposits.
Welfare: food stamps ended, fire the bureaucracy and send the mandate down to the states.
Military: eliminate 20% of officer staff and admin staff by 2012. Reintroduce the draft and partner with state designates more effectively. Reopen RFP's for contractors and demand a 20% rebate for the current term and a 25% minimum cost cut for any new contract.
Until we have the balls to back up the bravado and chest pumping, nothing will happen.
The private sector operates this way, why not government?

BackToBasics| 9.15.10 @ 2:41AM

Some good points but these policies would never be implemented by those you speak of having "winning ability." You speak above that past Repub admins have been weak in many ways but did not these presidents have "winning ability?"

Actually the "far right whackos" you speak of would implement your agenda more quickly than any of the "winning-ability" types. You cannot have it both ways.

But still you have some good points but let's also get rid of medicare as well as get the government OUT OF HEALTH CARE altogether.

Lord Karth| 9.15.10 @ 4:40PM

That's not a plan, that's a capitulation.

Try this on for size:

Medicare/Medicaid/Social Security: ERADICATION. Stop the checks, stop the taxes. Period.

Welfare: Send the whole kit-plus-caboodle back to the states.

Military: Redeploy troops in Europe, Japan and Korea to the southern border. Give the redeployed troops orders to shoot to kill, and shoot on sight, ANY individual seen in the new no-man's land along the Mex border. Award prizes (a week in Vegas, expenses-paid) to the top shooter.
Permanently abolish the draft. Streamline procurement procedures; renegotiate ALL contracts downward 40 %.

That's just for openers, of course.

Your servant,

Lord Karth

Albert| 9.14.10 @ 3:10PM

OK. You've convinced me. The GOP is a bunch of whores. I'll vote Democrat. They're honest and trustworthy and ethical and frugal and they all love their mothers (even those who have no mothers) and their cats. After all, we need more change and who better to change things than Democrats?

canuckistani| 9.14.10 @ 4:46PM

I sense you've misunderstood my POV....
I have never voted dem, but I also am not drinking the koolaid waiting for the bell to be rung by simpletons on the fringe right that are offering billboard, or better yet "drive by" solutions to policies that have taken generations to get to this point......after successive legitimate elections where these programs were on the winning platform. SS MC Obamacare Welfare HUD Fannie and Freddie are crime scenes staged by both parties to win the hearts and minds of voters. The GOP has been the author of none of these programs, they've only found ways to bastardize them and create the lobby-ocracy that we have today. To suggest otherwise is dishonest.
I do not want neophytes elected to the senate or any other high office. It has been repeated over and over again knowing the only losers in the normal hazing process is us.

megapotamus| 9.16.10 @ 7:54PM

I'm going to come in for the Great White here, except to point out that if entitlements are not radically curtailed, and I do mean radically, the checks they issue will bounce. Certainly even dedicated teat-pullers will prefer draconian cuts to collapse, if only they know their options. A might big IF, perhaps, but it is a time of wonders. And if it fails, there is no prospect for the status quo to continue. The choice is between a controlled if rough landing and a right-angle impact with bedrock. Maybe I'm a dreamer but I don't think even hardcore Liberals are that dumb, but I could be convinced.

Sam Vaughn| 9.14.10 @ 8:30AM

I once admitted that I was an Eagle Scout a long time ago. Many I know made fun of that accomplishment and asked if I was a homophobe. Though long ago, I still remember the pride of achievement, the discipline, the things I had to learn. To me that's what this election is about. It's not about turning the clock back it's about rediscovering who we are and who we imperfectly strive to be.

Message in a bottle - this morning I found a bottle washed up on shore. Two well-written pages started, "To my unborn baby: I love you very much there are no words that I can say to you to tell you how sorry I am for ending your life before it began......."

"I need to make things right for you baby Pelletier, I will share this experience with other women who are considering abortion, ending your life has been heavy on my heart for 6 years." "I know your in heaven wth memere & pepere" "I love you baby, please forgive me for ending your life began it began. I love you always, mommy"

There was more, drugs, alcohol, etc. They want to give condoms to children in middle school here without parents permission. Liberal agenda's are full of inintended consequences and so much damage to the soul.

A walk on the ocean with my dogs this morning and this is what I find, a message in a bottle. Perhaps it's a message for all of us. Those that pretend to rule us and tell us how to live taught a child it if feels good do it, unintended consequences are for later. People like this need to be thrown out.

Stephanie| 9.14.10 @ 9:49AM

Sam, my father was an Eagle Scout and was very proud to have been one as were his parents. It was in his obituary after he passed.
I am proud of him and you for having accomplished this. I know it made you a better person as it did my dear dad.
I weep for our nation.

Margie| 9.14.10 @ 10:56AM

Sam's the kind of guy I wish could run for office. The country class candidate he would be!

Nunya| 9.14.10 @ 12:18PM

Sam, congratulations on your accomplishment. I was a Boy Scout, and proud of it. Unfortunately I never had the chance to go for my Eagle, our troop disbanded when the leader quit.

The message you found in a bottle is heartbreaking, those are the things that Planned Parenthood never want young women to know--the feelings of regret and sorrow after doing something inherently wrong, they are told it's "easier" and "better" for them at the time. Very sad.

Louis Jenkins| 9.14.10 @ 12:57PM

In times of strife and discord those young boys and men of the BSA will be in demand to help lead this nation back from the void of bankruptcy. But snobs in the media, DC, and Hollyweed must call them homophobes, or other such useless names. Stand up and be proud Sam. We could use a few more of you guys.

TR| 9.14.10 @ 1:08PM

Sam, I certainly understand your post.
I too was a Boy Scout, and like many others, discovered girls and cars just as I made Life Scout. Eagle was not in the works for me, and I have always had a deep admiration for the disclipline that is displayed by those who make it all the way.
My father was my Scoutmaster, and his example propelled me to be the Scoutmaster of my son's Troop a decade ago.
Now that I have had a little self indulgence, I would like to make a quick few comments in response to your great post.
I have grown impatiently angry with the liberal clowns who spew their ignorant comment "oh, you want to go back to slavery" when a concerned patriot demands observance to the Constitution. I usually respond "ignorance is dangerous, and by the way, it was Democrats that prolonged slavery". It took Republicans to force the end of that crime.
As I have commented in previous posts, abortion is murder, period. It is, to me, just as criminal as slavery was. Don't forget, slavery was once supported by color of law just as the crime of abortion is. The fuzzy wording that liberals use (choice) is a soft-soap attempt to cloud a horrible crime and the effects and scars it leaves behind. I have known too many women who confided in me over the years about the guilt and saddness they carry for a decision made in their youth. The destruction wrought by "progressives" since the 1960s has left us in a situation that may possibly only be overturned by violent revolution. I pray not, but I am not a "head in the sand" fool. I can see and read and logicically understand the point we are at. We have been force fed lies and immorality by a delinquent and complicit liberal media for too long. People with a moral backbone have been silent for decades because of the bully pulpit created by the left, but the proliferation of the internet has stopped their unopposed and unanswered vile (which is why thise same intolerant liberals work day and night to come up with a way to silence us through internet regulation). We ARE the majority, we are just so busy working to support our families (unlike "community organizer" types) that we don't have the time to rally and protest like the professional agitators on the left. They collect their government support checks, paid by the producers, the actual hard working conservatives, and have all day to agitiate for "hope and change" by the destruction of our nation.
It is over for them. We are done tolerating them. There will be no more socialist/marxist politicians, or we will ensure that they are marginalized to the point of extinction.
DO NOT VOTE FOR ONE SINGLE DEMOCRAT. Even a local democrat politician will grow up to be a marxist like ObaMao and Pinky Reid. They are all marxists in the making.
Repubs had better hear us, and know we are not kidding. They had better understand we patriots are DONE accepting the evils wrought by Democrats, and they would be best served to be TRUE constitutional conservatives or the consequenses may be horrible.

BackToBasics| 9.15.10 @ 2:53AM

The next time someone asks if you are a "homophobe." say, "Yes, and rightfully so." It is a very insecure and unhappy and unhealthy lifestyle they live. And their drive is INSATIABLE and consumes especially the men since it does not fill the extremely deep needs they have inside.

They need help and try if you can and want to but to encourage this destructive lifestlye is something to be rightly afraid of and that without apology.

Redstateboy| 9.14.10 @ 8:51AM

I dispair but then.. optimism comes back and says... Finally.. Perhaps for the first time in the History of Mankind.. the Bloom of Liber-ulism, of Socialism - is off the Rose. It's abject failure leaves those faithful adherents to its philosophy looking like the Village idiot deserving to be shunned.

Mt Top Patriot| 9.14.10 @ 9:03AM

The true leeches in this great country are not the ones on the dole, it is the ones who dole out what are essentially scraps for the victims of a Ponzi scheme.
ENOUGH!
Send all these crooks charlatans and carpetbaggers packing. Blood suckers every one of them just on the basis of principle alone.
Time to clean house and rid ourselves of these vermin, this virus of cronyism and the ruling class Nomenklaturer of Amerika.

davelnaf| 9.14.10 @ 9:36AM

Undoing the Obama mess is not the only layer of Washington crud Republicans will have to scrap away after their new senators and congressmen are sworn in next year. If they want independents--not to mention conservatives--to stay with them they will have to begin downsizing the entire Federal government. Washington has been a drag on the country for too long and, frankly, we can no longer afford it.

But if the needed downsizing does not take place the political landscape of this country could be very different by 2020. If any politician doubts this he or she should stop suppressing their gut instinct that has been trying to tell them that there is a lot more to that Tea Party iceberg than meets the eye.

Steve A| 9.14.10 @ 9:42AM

The truth is that the politicians have changed little, with few exceptions (C Christie etc) but the American public is vastly more informed & aware of the folly of liberalism. Things have changed & the toothpaste aint goin back in the tube.

Stephanie| 9.14.10 @ 9:57AM

I hope you're right Steve. I worry about the generations that follow us though . Do they have any fortitude to fight for liberty and freedom? The don't know about communism or a dictatorship except what they have learned in the government schools and that Che Guevara who's on a Tshirt or handbag was a cool dude. It's truely frightening. And now with the imam telling the press and that group he was in front of yesterday that sharia law is compliant with our constitution. They are very similar he says. These PC bastards in congress best step up to the plate soon or we gals will all have efing rags around our heads. I'm writing my rep and senator today. Wittman and Webb, I hope you are paying attention to the GZ imam and take seriously what he is saying.

Tom| 9.14.10 @ 12:48PM

I have hopes about Christie, but then again I remember Pataki. He started out as a solid conservative and ended up a dedicated liberal. I hope Christie does not fall more in love with power than what is right.

loulou| 9.14.10 @ 12:52PM

Pataki was never a solid conservative.

Tom| 9.14.10 @ 1:04PM

The CATO institute - hardly a liberal establishment - gave Pataki an A in 1996.He cut taxes, he cut spending, and limited the scope on NY government. Note, only 3 governors recieved an A in 1996 . They were hardly grading on a curve.

BackToBasics| 9.15.10 @ 2:58AM

And Christie started to sounhd soft on illegal aliens recently. As I said in a recent post, theillegal alien problem is no the only problem but it is an excellent litmus test to measure how truly conservative a person is or will be, and I do mean excellent.

Kishego| 9.14.10 @ 10:44AM

There is one thing I don't think any of the progressives, (right or left) can kill, and that is "The American Spirit". There have been many times in the history of this great country where the shaows of evil, (progressive ideology) have cast its pall. Only to be pushed back by our firm reliance upon God, and the divine influence that created the greatest nation on Gods green earth. This Spirit is, I believe, reawakening. Look at the number of people that are, for the first time, getting out of their houses and back yards to get invloved. Look at the huge crowds of patriots gathering in washington of late. We as Americans must keep the faith, understand the times and, do the right things for the right reasons.

Margie| 9.14.10 @ 10:58AM

Good & encouraging words, thanks!

Proud Mormon| 9.14.10 @ 11:09AM

Governor Christie is BULBOUS! Keep Bristol out of the White House and vote Romney for President.

BackToBasics| 9.15.10 @ 3:00AM

Romney's a good man but I don't think he's got the stomach for tough reforms.

Mr. Lindstrom| 9.14.10 @ 11:42AM

If the Republicans win big in November it will indeed be a referendum - one which states loud and clear that the public is happy with the status quo that the GOP and Democrats have brought us to. It will be a clear sign that the public adores federal social programs, and that they wish our government to continue spending us into oblivion in the grand tradition of Obama-Bush-Reagan-Carter.

Deborah D | 9.14.10 @ 11:49AM

Huh? So what will send a message? A big Dem win? No, we're fighting in the primaries and making much progress. We've only just begun. If the Republicans don't figure it out, they'll be fighting for their jobs next. The end.

Mr. Lindstrom| 9.14.10 @ 12:03PM

A big Dem win will send the same message: "Yes, keep spending more and more but do not cut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security or military spending OR raise taxes to pay for it."

Ken (Old Texican)| 9.14.10 @ 1:14PM

Mr. Lindstrom,

Thank you for dropping by and dropping a turd in the punchbowl.
I have a great idea. Sit at home on election day, and throw turds at your mirror.
Be sure to pick them up on the "clean" end.

Folks,
you just can't fix stupid.

canuckistani| 9.14.10 @ 4:48PM

Try this: get the money out of elections.
Too socialist?

uncle curmudgeon| 9.14.10 @ 12:07PM

Amen! Pulling one weed once doth not equal weeding the garden, let alone gardening. It is, as they say out in the City by the Bay, a lifestyle. This one's healthy; essential. Here in Virginia's 5th district a noxious weed, Littletommy Perriellous, has been poisoning our garden for two years. On November 2nd we snap on the gloves and rip him out by the roots. Best place for him then is in a pile of previously owned horse chow. After a few weeks in the pile at least he will be good for something.

Louis Jenkins| 9.14.10 @ 1:01PM

This is a referendum, not an election. Do we want to sit down after Nov.? Hardly. It is time to keep moving, not let up, the next referendum is only a scant two years away. Move and shoot, so to speak. Do not stay in place, as you become a target.

ari| 9.14.10 @ 1:13PM

congratulations on becoming an Eagle Scout. It is something to be so proud of. People don't know what it is- I didn't, until I read a few articles online. Last weekend we met a scouting family, with one Eagle Scout, and two more on their way. My husband was nearly in tears- they were nearly everything we want for our two young boys.

Why, I ask sincerely, are conservatives afraid to take on liberals? Why the -not gossiping- I guess is the good way to put it? The fragile looking away. I think if you talked about what they were like in their daily lives- not just their writings, but their daily lives, and eventual ends- that the children raised in the seventies would recognize that pathological selfishness they'd seen demonstrated growing up by their parents? And that that is our worst nightmare? Why not? I was plunged into reading political stuff when my child came home traumatized from a too- early sex ed lesson. I raged, then read, and now I talk to just about every parent and teacher I meet about what the people who started the whole thing were like. We know people like that, too- who likes their neighbor who sleeps around? Who likes the loudly racist neighbor? Nobody, but somehow we are supposed to like and agree with Margaret Sanger. Why? We would recognize her now, and avoid her now. Why be respectful and afraid now?

Or, say, Marx. He was a smelly, dependent wife- beater low-life. We've met him, since. We stay away. Must we be respectful now? Or can we call him a smelly old freakish terrible husband and father?

Just saying.

martin j smith| 9.14.10 @ 4:03PM

To understand why we are here politically you have to look at the behavior of several RINO Republicans who cared more about"getting along" with the Left Democrat Leadership during the GW Bush administration. Also, look at GWB --his silence in the face of constant Left onslaughts
all gave the Republican party's image as one of impotence and curruption. So they lost in 06 and 08. We in 08 we got our miracle man our savior or uniter, etc etc. But after about less than one year it became apparent that Obama, and the Socialist leaders in the House and Senate were not what people expected. They were tearing this country down in every way . The economy--and things such as Obamacare,loss of millions of jobs, sever blows to business big and smal--takeovers of banks and auto companiesetc. Then there is the appeasement and apologia of America and then there is a Dictatorial thugish manner of ruling( not governing ) and to this came the Tea Party Movement. Basically focusing on ecomic conservative ideas--I believe the Tea Party Movement also represents a broad base of dissatisfaction . The Republican Party and the Democrat Party both are seen as currupt but given that th3e Democrat Party is behaving as if they are the Socialist Party USA and are in charge of the whole sheband--they are the target--they are responsible--not GWB at this stage. So since voters by and large regardless of the problems with each party voters gravitate to one or the other-its R or D and either you are for what the D's are doing ( a yes vote ) or you are not ( a no vote)
Since this election is not specifically spelled out as a referendum the only choice then is to vote R as a NON vote. The Republican Party has some good people but also has some very problematic people--those called RINOS-who are no better than the currupt Socialists in the D party. Yet, it is the conservative thinkers of the R side that make it the choice as a vote against the Socialist party USA. That is my explanation

ujijin| 9.14.10 @ 4:23PM

I just wish that America would win in November.

But which one? I used to think I knew which one I wanted. Definitely not the party of Baby Bam.

But not the chameleons of the rest of the Dems.

Certainly now, though, the Repubs aren't even close to winning my trust, for their lust for power is all too evident.

Who's to say the Tea Partiers will remain worthy of that trust too? As we are all so fond of saying, Washington changes people rather than the other way around. The big offices, the glitzy affairs, the lobbyists, the decorum the book deals...and human nature itself has a reliable way of turning the Abels into Cains.

Fifty years is a long time, and I can't help but wonder whether it's been fifty years too long to leave us with any standard bearer this time around.

We desperately need something to believe in, but it must be the essential America. And what would that mean? I must confess that I am becoming cynical of the Becks' and the Gingrichs' and the other professional conservatives' ["profcons"?] efforts to popularize a primitivist vision of America in the service of a Republican Party revival. I feel as if they are playing us just as much as their socialist counterparts in the White House are playing us...perhaps the "Worldview Weekend" movement has a point after all.

Can America win in November? Or, will the raw lust for power itself win again, and something worse than an election take place as the American people turn to measures they would never countenance under other circumstances?

The world is watching us...I think, this time around, more closely than in 2008. Many now may be watching with more desperation than hope, needing to see that the American experiment can right itself. I hope it can.

canuckistani| 9.14.10 @ 4:49PM

Agreed.

Lord Karth| 9.15.10 @ 4:45PM

It can't; not with entitlement spending so completely out of whack, and with the beneficiary classes still allowed to vote---it's a classic case of misaligned feedback mechanisms.

The real question is whether the Human experiment is capable of righting itself.

As to that, I flatly REFUSE to place any cash bets on a "yes" answer.

Your servant,

Lord Karth

somnolence| 9.14.10 @ 4:58PM

When the GOP takes back control in November I would suggest that dramatic histrionics be employed in the scenario of Obama vetoes. And I do mean dramatic, precisely if slamming a fist through a desk works, so be it. This compromise bit didn't work in the past, it won't work now. The "kinder, gentler" approach is dead. There should be a complete focus on annhilating Obamacare, not repealing it.

RCV| 9.14.10 @ 5:30PM

The GOP won't have "control in November" even if they take back the House. Their chances of taking the Senate are greatly diminished by the success of tea party candidates in places like Nevada, Alaska and perhaps Delaware today, because those primary victories give Democrats a shot at winning seats that would otherwise be overwhelming GOP victories.

No repeal of Obamacare is possible in the next two years. Couldn't get through the Senate even if the GOP had a numerical advantage, owing to Senate rules which the GOP has demonstrated so well.

What we will end up with after November is a stalemate. The GOP likely in control of the House, the Senate and the WH (or just the WH) in control of the Democrats. If any action is to occur, it will require compromise. John Boehner know that, which is why he is willing to compromise with Obama on issue of extension of the Bush top-end tax cuts. Senate GOP intransigence will only insure that the tax cuts all die and are not extended. No action = expiration of the tax cuts, so the President gets his wish.

By 2012, all those folks who thought this tea party movement would bring change will be frustrated, angry and disillussioned. The GOP will go through a bruising nomination fight between the new tea party insurgents and the McCain-Romney wing of the party. Whoever wins, the party will be blown asunder, which will only work to the re-election prospects of President Obama.

It's not a good long-term outlook for conservatives.

The One We've Been Waiting For| 9.14.10 @ 6:41PM

We're buying shrimp, RCV. YOU IDIOT. You are giving up when we need to be telling people about the fantastic summer of recovery, wind farms heating our homes and charging their newly purchased $40k Chevy Volts, the potential for lots of free time to pursue your artistic side since you won't have a job and the economy will have collapsed, the opportunity to shed a couple of pounds since you will only be able to afford about 500 calories a day, free abortions for all your children and grandchildren, have you ever been to Greece?, no, we'll bring it to you. Repeat after me, "every day and in every way it is getting better and better. Think Cuba, Venezuela and other third world countries. We will be poor but it will be fair except for the lucky few party members. It is party week, baby.

Margie| 9.15.10 @ 1:34AM

So saith RCV. Heh. Keep looking into that crystal ball of yours.

Bill| 9.14.10 @ 5:27PM

If nothing else happens after November, I will be deeply gratified if our political leaders put a stop to the mantra that "we can't afford tax cuts" for this reason or that reason. Saying that "we can't afford" a tax cut suggests that tax money belongs to the government (since that's the "we" the politicians are talking about) instead of to the people.

Stay away from our money, we'll keep it, and we the people will decide what we want to spend it on.

Greycoat | 9.15.10 @ 9:01PM

We need people in DC who will wholesale close down completely many of the alphabet Federal agencies and return such power and control back to the States. We need to emasculate DC so they can no longer rape "We the People".

JFS wrote on another AS article, "Idiots, theocrats, uneducated, lying, delusional, simpletons. We'll be nuked and conquered before we can blink. Be afraid; be very afraid."

Well it was the "intelligent", "elites", "educated", "truthful", "undelusional", and "sophisticated" that has really F'd UP this country, so "Idiots, theocrats, uneducated, lying, delusional, simpletons" would be a WELCOME CHANGE. They can't do any worse than the destructive fools we already have in D.C.

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